1880 – Best selling American novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of The Christ” by soldier Lew Wallace is published
1909 – Mackenzie King takes his seat in the House of Commons as Minister of Labour
1927 – Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, paving the way for Joseph Stalin to consolidate complete power
1933 – 1st game at NFL Pitts Pirate’s Forbes Field, lose to Bkln Dodgers 32-0
1935 – Egas Moniz performs the first modern brain surgery on the frontal lobes to treat mental disorders, at Santa Marta Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal
1952 – Philadelphia A’s pitcher Bobby Shantz wins AL MVP
1981 – 1st balloon crossing of Pacific is completed (Double Eagle V)
1986 – France performs nuclear test
1998 – Vice President of the United States Al Gore symbolically signs the Kyoto Protocol.
2014 – European Space Agency’s Rosetta lands the Philae probe on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Author: gil7
Today in History for 12th November 2020
Historical Events
1921 – Washington Conference for Limitation of Armaments
1936 – Oakland Bay Bridge opens
1936 – St Louis Browns sold to Donald L Barnes and William O DeWitt
1970 – Cyclone Bhola makes landfall in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) killing up to 500,000, making it the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded
1977 – France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
1988 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
Famous Birthdays
1916 – Paul Emery, British racing driver (d. 1993)
1943 – Wallace Shawn, American actor (My Dinner with Andre, Princess Bride), born in NYC, New York
1945 – Michael Bishop, American sci-fi author (Nebula, Stolen Faces)
1964 – Gerald Perry, NFL tackle (Oakland Raiders)
1968 – Aaron Stainthorpe, British singer (My Dying Bride), born in England, United Kingdom
1984 – Conrad Rautenbach, Zimbabwean rally driver, born in Harare, Zimbabwe
Famous Deaths
1567 – Anne Pierre Adrien duke of Montmorency, Marshal of France, dies at 74
1960 – John Trim, cricketer (occasional WI quick 1948-52, 18 wkts), dies
1981 – William Holden [Beedle], American actor (The Blue Knight, Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, The Bridge on the River Kwai), slips on a rug and bleeds to death at 63
1995 – Curley Fox, fiddler, dies at 85
1997 – Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer (b. 1915)
2003 – Jonathan Brandis, American actor (Lucas Wolenczak-seaQuest DSV), commits suicide at 27
Famous Deaths for 11th November 2020
405 – Arsacius, intruding archbishop of Constantinople
1810 – Johann/John Zoffany, German painter (Tribuna degl’ Uffizi), dies at 77
1886 – Paul Bert, Auxerre, French Zoologist, Physiologist and pioneer of aerospace medicine whose study of the effects of air pressure on the body made possible space and ocean exploration, dies of dysentery at 53
1939 – Jan Opletal, Czech student, victim of Nazi violence in Prague
1974 – Jane Ace, comedian (Easy Aces), dies at 74
1976 – E Q Davies, cricketer (9 runs and 7 wickets in 5 Tests for South Africa), dies
1999 – Jacobo Timmerman, Argentine writer and journalist (b. 1923)
2005 – Moustapha Akkad, Syrian-American film producer and director (Lion of the Dessert), dies at 75
2009 – Dhanpat Rai Nahar, Indian labour leader (b. 1919)
2013 – George Reinholt, American actor (Steve-Another World, One Life to Live), dies at 73
Historical Events for 11th November 2020
1836 – Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru
1868 – 1st American amateur track and field meet (NYC)
1922 – Largest US flag displayed (150′ X 90′) expanded in 1939 (270′ X 90′)
1925 – Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five begin their first recording session
1926 – Future Baseball Hall of Fame second baseman Eddie Collins is released as Chicago White Sox player/manager; replaced by another future HOF’er catcher Ray Schalk
1935 – Explorer 2 balloon sets altitude record of 72,000 feet over South Dakota
1961 – Congolese soldiers murder 13 Italian UN pilots
1987 – “Roza” closes at Royale Theater NYC after 12 performances
1994 – Bill Gates buys Leonardo da Vinci’s “Codex” for $30,800,000
2008 – Taylor Swift releases her 2nd studio album “Fearless” (2009 Billboard Album of the Year, Grammy Album of the Year 2010, American Music Awards 2009)
Today in History for 11th November 2020
Historical Events
1673 – Second Battle of Khotyn in the Ukraine, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forces under the command of Jan Sobieski. defeat the Ottoman army. In this battle, rockets of Kazimierz Siemienowicz were successfully used.
1862 – Opera “La Forza Del Destino” is produced (St Petersburg Russia)
1918 – Dutch SDAP leader Troelstra announces revolution
1930 – Patent number US1781541 is awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention of the Einstein refrigerator
1979 – Boston Court issues occupancy permit for Cambridge Buddhist Center
2001 – Journalists Pierre Billaud, Johanne Sutton and Volker Handloik are killed in Afghanistan during an attack on the convoy they were traveling on top off.
Famous Birthdays
1891 – Rabbit Maranville, American baseball player (Boston Braves), born in Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 1954)
1903 – Charles Bruce Perry, Professor of Medicine (Bristol University) (d. 1996)
1912 – Thomas C. Mann, American diplomat (U.S. Ambassador to Mexico), born in Laredo, Texas (d. 1999)
1918 – Stubby Kaye [Bernard Solomon Kotzin], American actor (Guys and Dolls, Lil’ Abner, Cat Ballou), born in NYC, New York (d. 1997)
1970 – Lee Battersby, Australian author
1974 – Phillip Ward, linebacker (Indianapolis Colts)
Famous Deaths
1831 – Nat Turner, slave rebel who led a violent insurrection in Virginia, hanged at 31
1942 – Anton Hendrik Blaauw, Dutch botanist (Perception of the Lichtes), dies at 60
1962 – Joseph Allen Jr, American actor (The Night Before the Divorce, Motor Madness), dies at 44
1993 – Erskine Hawkins, American trumpeter and composer (After Hours), dies at 79
1995 – Kenneth Goldstein, folklorist/enthomusicologist, dies at 68
2010 – Baby Marie Osborne, American actress (b. 1911)
Famous Deaths for 10th November 2020
461 – St. Leo I, the Great, Italian Pope (440-61), dies in office
1241 – Celestine IV [Goffredo Castiglioni], Pope (1241, 16 days), dies
1549 – Paul III [Alessandro Farnese], Italian Pope (1534-49), dies at 81
1673 – Michał Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (1669-73), dies at 33
1959 – Lupino Lane, English actor (Deputy Drummer), dies at 67
1976 – Theodore Besterman, British bibliographer and psychical researcher, dies at 71
1982 – Elio Petri, Italian director (Workers Class), dies at 53
1991 – Franco Malfatti, president of Commission of Europe (1970-1972), dies
2006 – Fokko du Cloux, mathematician (b. 1954)
2010 – Dave Niehaus, American sportscaster (b. 1935)
Historical Events for 10th November 2020
1919 – American Legion’s 1st national convention (Minneapolis)
1926 – Guomindang-regring deallocates seat of Kanton to Wuhan (Hankou)
1946 – Communists win many seats at French parliamentary election
1955 – “Vamp” opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 60 performances
1957 – Cleveland Browns’ Don Paul sets club record for longest fumble return with a 89-yard run (and TD), beating Pittsburgh 24-0
1967 – KXNE TV channel 19 in Norfolk, NB (PBS) begins broadcasting
1978 – NY Yankees trade Lyle, Rajsich, McCall, Heath and Ramos to Texas for Righetti, Mirabella, Beniquez, Jemison and Griffin
2012 – 22nd College Football Holy War: Notre Dame beats Boston College 21-6 in Chestnut Hill
2012 – The final US presidential election results are declared after Barack Obama wins Florida to defeat Mitt Romney 332-206 in Electoral College votes
2017 – BBC removes drama from Christmas line-up after one of its stars, Ed Westwick, accused of rape by two women
Today in History for 10th November 2020
Historical Events
1891 – 1st Women’s Christian Temperance Union meeting held (in Boston)
1924 – Dion O’Banion, leader of the North Side Gang is assassinated in his flower shop by members of Johnny Torrio’s gang, sparking the bloody gang war of the 1920s in Chicago.
1938 – Nobel for literature awarded to Pearl Buck (Good Earth)
1945 – General Enver Hoxha becomes leader of Albania
1978 – NY Yankees trade Lyle, Rajsich, McCall, Heath and Ramos to Texas for Righetti, Mirabella, Beniquez, Jemison and Griffin
1981 – “Oh, Brother!” opens at ANTA Theater NYC for 3 performances
Famous Birthdays
1845 – John Thompson, 4th Prime Minister of Canada (C: 1892-94), born in Halifax, Nova Scotia (d. 1894)
1888 – Andrej Tupolev, Russian aircraft builder, born in Pustomazovo, Russia (d. 1972)
1935 – Bernard Babior, American physician and biochemist, born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2004)
1948 – Aaron Brown, American broadcast journalist (World News Now), born in Hopkins, Minnesota
1952 – Pat Severs, American country singer (Pirates of Mississippi-Fred Jake), born in Camden, South Carolina
1981 – Tony Blanco, American baseball player (Washington Nationals), born in San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic
Famous Deaths
901 – Adelaide of Paris, Queen of Western Francia
1981 – Abel Gance, French movie director (J’accuse), dies at 92
1984 – Xavier Herbert, Australian author (b. 1901)
1991 – Alessandro Lessona, Minister of Italian Colonies (1931-38), dies
1992 – Chuck Connors, American author, actor (The Rifleman, Branded, Cowboy in Africa), professional basketball and baseball player, dies at 71
1993 – Wensley Pithey, South-African actor (Oliver!, The Saint, Little Women), dies at 79
Famous Deaths for 9th November 2020
1862 – John Bordenave Villepigue, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 32
1929 – Nicolaas Theunissen, South African cricket break bowler (2nd Test 1889), dies
1937 – Ramsay MacDonald, British Prime Minister (Labour: 1924, 1929-35), dies of natural causes at sea on board the liner Reina del Pacifico at 71
1953 – Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, Founder and first King of Saudi Arabia (1932-53), dies of a heart attack at 78
1970 – William L Dawson, (Rep-D-Ill), dies at 84
1991 – Guido Claus, Belgian actor (Sacrament), dies
1994 – Priscilla Morrill, American actress (Edie Grant-Mary Tyler Moore), dies at 67
1995 – F. G. Emmison, British archivist and historian, dies at 88
2017 – Fred Cole, American rock artist (The Lollipop Shoppe, Dead Moon, Pierced Arrows), dies from cancer at 69
2017 – John Hillerman, American actor (Magnum PI, Chinatown, Blazing Saddles), dies at 84
Historical Events for 9th November 2020
1821 – 1st US pharmacy college holds 1st classes, Philadelphia
1864 – 1st export of goods from Burrard Inlet, British Columbia to a foreign country
1956 – Lou Thesz beats Whipper Billy Watson in St Louis, to become NWA wrestling champion
1965 – 1st NY Knick game postponed (black-out) vs St Louis
1969 – “Bridge over Troubled Water” single recorded by Simon and Garfunkel
1971 – David Storey’s “Changing Room” premieres in London
1978 – North American Soccer League (NASL) realigns its 24 teams into 6 divisions
2009 – Joe Cada becomes the youngest champion of the World Series of Poker’s main event.
2015 – “Love Yourself” single released by Justin Bieber (Billboard Song of the Year 2016, Grammy Song of the Year)
2019 – Unprecedented 70 bush fires in New South Wales, Australia, destroys 100 homes killing three people with seven missing