November 18
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
November 18 is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 42 days remaining after November 18 until the end of the year.
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[change] Events
- 1095 – The Council of Clermont, called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land, begins.
- 1302 – Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull Unam sanctam ("The One Holy").
- 1307 – According to legend, William Tell shoots an apple off of his son's head.
- 1421 – A seawall at the Zuiderzee dike breaks, flooding 72 villages and killing about 10,000 people in the Netherlands.
- 1493 – Christopher Columbus first sights what is now Puerto Rico.
- 1803 – The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, is fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.
- 1883 – American and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.
- 1903 – The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the Americans exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
- 1904 – General Esteban Huertas steps down after the government of Panama fears he wants to stage a coup.
- 1905 – Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.
- 1918 – Latvia declares its independence from Russia.
- 1926 – George Bernard Shaw refuses to accept the money for his Nobel Prize, saying, "I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize."
- 1928 – Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the second appearances of cartoon stars Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. This is also considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey's birthday.
- 1940 – German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.
- 1943 – World War II: 440 Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF lost nine aircraft and 53 air crew.
- 1978 – In Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple cult in a mass murder-suicide. 918 people died, 909 of them at Jonestown itself, including over 270 children.
- 1987 – In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station at King's Cross St Pancras.
- 1988 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law allowing the death penalty for murder in regards to drug traffickers.
- 1991 – Church of England envoy Terry Waite and American academic Thomas Sutherland are released in Lebanon, where they had been held hostage; Waite since 1987 and Sutherland since 1985.
- 1993 – In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution.
- 2000 – Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas marry.
- 2002 – United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.
- 2004 – Russia officially ratifies the Kyoto Protocol.
[change] Births
- 1630 – Eleanor Gonzaga, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1686)
- 1647 – Pierre Bayle, French philosopher (d. 1706)
- 1736 – Anton Graff, Swiss painter (d. 1813)
- 1743 – Johannes Ewald, Danish playwright (d. 1781)
- 1772 – Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (d. 1806)
- 1774 – Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia (d. 1837)
- 1786 – Carl Maria von Weber, German composer (d. 1826)
- 1787 – Louis Daguerre, French artist and physicist (d. 1851)
- 1832 – Adolf Erik Nordenskiold, Finnish-Swedish explorer (d. 1901)
- 1836 – W. S. Gilbert, British philosopher (d. 1911)
- 1877 – Arthur Cecil Pigou, British economist (d. 1959)
- 1883 – Carl Vinson, American politician (d. 1981)
- 1888 – Frances Marion, American screenwriter and director (d. 1973)
- 1897 – Patrick Blackett, British physicist (d. 1974)
- 1901 – George Gallup, American statistician and pollster (d. 1984)
- 1906 – Alec Issigonis, Greek-British car designer (d. 1988)
- 1906 – Klaus Mann, German writer (d. 1949)
- 1906 – George Wald, American scientist (d. 1997)
- 1907 – Compay Segundo, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (d. 2003)
- 1920 – Mustafa Khalil, 77th Prime Minister of Egypt (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Alan Shepard, American astronaut, first American to travel into space (d. 1998)
- 1923 – Ted Stevens, American politician (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Hank Ballard, American musician (d. 2003)
- 1936 – Don Cherry, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1995)
- 1939 – Margaret Atwood, Canadian writer
- 1940 – Qaboos bin Said al Said, Sultan of Oman
- 1942 – Linda Evans, American actress
- 1944 – Wolfgang Joop, German fashion designer
- 1945 – Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka
- 1952 – Harald Konopka, German footballer
- 1953 – Alan Moore, British author
- 1960 – Elizabeth Perkins, American actress
- 1960 – Kim Wilde, British singer
- 1962 – Kirk Hammett, American guitarist (Metallica)
- 1963 – Peter Schmeichel, Danish footballer
- 1968 – Owen Wilson, American actor
- 1973 – Darko Kovacevic, Serbian footballer
- 1976 – Shagrath, Norwegian singer (Dimmu Borgir)
- 1980 – Francois Duval, French rally driver
- 1980 – Junichi Okada, Japanese singer
- 1983 – Michael Dawson, English footballer
- 1984 – Johnny Christ (Real name: Jonathan Lewis Seward), American Bassist of Avenged Sevenfold
- 1987 – Jake Abel, American actor
- 1992 – Nathan Kress, American actor
[change] Deaths
- 1785 – Louis Philippe I, French soldier and writer (b. 1725)
- 1827 – Wilhelm Hauff, German poet (b. 1802)
- 1886 – Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the United States (b. 1829)
- 1920 – Matthias Jochumsson, Icelandic poet (b. 1835)
- 1922 – Marcel Proust, French writer (b. 1871)
- 1941 – Walther Nernst, German chemist (b. 1864)
- 1941 – Chris Watson, third Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1867)
- 1962 – Niels Bohr, Danish physicist, Nobel Prize winner (b. 1885)
- 1965 – Henry A. Wallace, Vice President of the United States (b. 1888)
- 1973 – Alois Haba, Czech composer (b. 1893)
- 1976 – Man Ray, American artist (b. 1890)
- 1977 – Kurt Schuschnigg, Austrian politician (b. 1897)
- 1978 – Leo Ryan, United States Congressman (b. 1925)
- 1978 – Jim Jones, American cult leader (suicide) (b. 1931)
- 1987 – Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (b. 1934)
- 1991 – Gustav Husak, Czechoslovakian politician (b. 1913)
- 1994 – Cab Calloway, American musician (b. 1907)
- 1999 – Paul Bowles, American writer (b. 1910)
- 2002 – James Coburn, American actor (b. 1928)
- 2009 – Jeanne-Claude, French artist (b. 1935)
