EVENTS
- 1703 – A “Great Storm” lasting two days struck southern England, flooding the Thames and Severn Rivers, killing at least 8,000 persons.
- 1778 – Captain James Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui.
- 1789 – The first American holiday occurred, proclaimed by President George Washington to be Thanksgiving Day, a day of prayer and public thanksgiving in gratitude for the successful establishment of the new American republic.
- 1832 – The first horse-drawn streetcar carried passengers in New York City along Fourth Avenue between Prince Street and 14th Street.
- 1917 – The National Hockey League is formed
- 1922 – Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Egyptian King Tutankhamun in over 3000 years.
- 1940 – During the Holocaust, Nazis began walling off the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw, sealing in 400,000 inhabitants while denying them adequate food, sanitation and housing.
- 1942 – The famous film Casablanca premieres.
- 1965 – France launches Astérix. The launch of the satellite from Hammaguir, Algeria made France the 6th country in the world after the US, the USSR, the UK, Canada, and Italy to have an artificial satellite in orbit. The satellite is named after the Asterix the popular comic character created by French writer René Goscinny.
- 1966 – World’s first tidal power station opens in France. The Rance Tidal Power Station on the Rance River in Brittany, France was inaugurated by French president Charles de Gaulle. Today, it is one of the largest tidal power stations in the world.
- 1979 – After an absence of 21 years, the International Olympic Committee voted to re-admit China
- 1983 – Brink’s Mat gold heist. The £ 26 million robbery took place in a Brink Mat warehouse at Heathrow Airport in London. The stolen gold, diamonds and cash has never been recovered.
- 1992 – British Prime Minister John Major announced Queen Elizabeth II had agreed to pay taxes on her personal income.
- 1998 – In Dublin, Tony Blair became the first British Prime Minister to appear before the Irish Parliament, which had been created 80 years earlier in defiance of the British government.
- 2003 – Concorde retired from service. Concorde retired from service after 27 years of flight
BIRTHDAYS
- 1607 – Harvard College founder John Harvard (1607-1638) was born in London.
- 1827 – Ellen G. White (American author, co-founder of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church)
- 1832 – American physician and women’s rights leader, Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919) was born in Oswego, New York. She was the first female surgeon in U.S. Army, serving during the Civil War. She was captured and spent four months in a Confederate prison. In 1865, she became the first and only woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor.
- 1876 – Ibn Saud (Saudi Arabian king)
- 1922 – Charles M. Schulz (Cartoonist – Snoopy)
- 1939 – Tina Turner (Singer)
- 1956 – Dale Jarrett (Nascar Driver)
- 1969 – Shawn Kemp (Basketball Player)
- 1972 – Arjun Rampal (Indian actor
- 1973 – Peter Facinelli (Actor)
DEATHS
- 1504 – Isabella I of Castile.
- 1855 – Adam Mickiewicz (Polish poet)
- 1883 – Sojourner Truth (American activist)
- 1943 – Edward O’Hare (American pilot, Medal of Honor recipient)
- 1952 – Sven Hedin (Swedish geographer, explorer)