Today in History

On This Day In History, November 21st

1979 Mob burns down US embassy in Pakistan
The mob was allegedly incensed by a rumour that the United States was involved in an attack on a mosque in the holy city of Mecca.

1964 Verrazano Narrows Bridge opens in NYC
The suspension bridge connects Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City and at the time of its opening, it was the world’s longest suspension bridge until the Humber Bridge in the UK opened in 1981.

1962 War between China and India ends
The month-long war began over a border dispute between the two countries and ended with a unilateral ceasefire by the Chinese.

1941 Tweety Bird makes its debut
The fictional cartoon canary also just called Tweety made his first appearance in A Tale of Two Kitties, a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon. Tweety was created by animator Bob Clampett who worked on Loony Tunes cartoons.

1920 Bloody Sunday in Ireland
A key event in the Irish War of Independence, which was a conflict between the British government and Irish revolutionaries in Ireland, Bloody Sunday began with the killings of 14 people by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) under the leadership of Michael Collins. Two other violent incidents against civilian and IRA members during the day added to the death count, which was over 30 by the end of the day.

Births On This Day, November 21st

1969 Ken Griffey, Jr.
American baseball player

1965 Björk
Icelandic singer-songwriter, producer, actress

1945 Goldie Hawn
American actress

1854 Pope Benedict XV

1694 Voltaire
French philosopher

Deaths On This Day, November 21st

2012 Ajmal Kasab
Pakistani terrorist

1996 Abdus Salam
Pakistani physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1970 C. V. Raman
Indian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1959 Max Baer
American boxer, actor

1899 Garret Hobart
American lawyer, politician, 24th Vice President of the United States

On This Day In History, November 22nd

2005 Angela Merkel takes office as German Chancellor
The physical chemist from former East Germany became the first female chancellor of the country.

2004 Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine
The revolution began after an election that was marred by widespread rumours of corruption and fraud. The protests resulted in electoral reforms in the country and November 22 was declared a Day of Freedom in 2005. The holiday was then moved to January 22 2011.

1995 Toy Story released
Produced by Pixar, the movie which follows the adventures of human-like toys, was the world’s first feature-length computer-animated movie. Considered to be one of the best animated films ever released, Toy Story won 3 Oscars including Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song.

1986 Mike Tyson wins fight against Trevor Berbick
The victory won Tyson the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight championship and made him the world’s youngest heavyweight champion at the age of 20 years.

1963 John F. Kennedy assassinated
The 35th President of the United States was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, while travelling in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. He was the 4th American president to be assassinated while in office. The other 3 were Abraham Lincoln, James Abram Garfield, and William McKinley.

Births On This Day, November 22nd

1986 Oscar Pistorius
South African sprinter

1984 Scarlett Johansson
American actress, singer

1967 Boris Becker
German tennis player

1890 Charles de Gaulle
French general, politician, President of France

1819 George Eliot
English author

Deaths On This Day, November 22nd

1963 Aldous Huxley
English author

1963 John F. Kennedy
American lieutenant, politician, 35th President of the United States

1963 C. S. Lewis
Irish author, poet

1900 Arthur Sullivan
English composer

1718 Blackbeard
English pirate

22nd November

1869 The clipper Cutty Sark was launched In Dumbarton, Scotland. She was one of the last clippers ever built, and is the only one still surviving today. She is preserved as a museum ship, located near the centre of Greenwich, in south-east London.

1943 World War II: Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek met in Cairo, to discuss ways to defeat Japan.

1990 Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister in British history, announced her resignation after 11 years in Britain’s top office.

1995 Rosemary West sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 10 young women and girls. Justice Charles Mantell told Britain's most prolific female serial killer she should never be released.

2003 England's rugby team won the World Cup, beating Australia 20-17 in a nail biting final in Sydney.

On This Day In History, November 23rd

2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines
Considered to be the worst attack on journalists in recorded history, the massacre occurred in the southern Philippines, when 57 citizens and journalists en route to register voters in Esmael Mangudadatu for the upcoming gubernatorial elections, were killed by gunmen and buried. 34 journalists were killed on the day.

2005 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf elected as President of Liberia
The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner is also the first woman to be elected as head of state in an African country.

1976 First person to dive 100 meters in the sea without breathing equipment
Frenchman Jacques Mayol, who is also sometimes known as Dolphin Man, was 49 years old at the time. He broke his own record 7 years later by diving 105 meters.

1963 Doctor Who debuts on TV
The longest-running science fiction TV show first aired with an episode called An Unearthly Child on the British Broadcasting Channel. The show which has had 11 different actors play the lead role, follows the time-traveling adventures of Doctor Who, who uses the Time and Relative Dimension in Space or TARDIS to jump around in time and space.

1910 Last person to be executed in Sweden
Johan Alfred Ander was convicted of murdering Victoria Hellsten during a robbery of a currency exchange. He was the only person in Swedish history to be executed using a guillotine. Capital punishment in the country was abolished for all peacetime crimes in 1921 and for all crimes in 1973.

Births On This Day, November 23rd

1992 Miley Cyrus
American singer-songwriter, actress

1982 Asafa Powell
Jamaican sprinter

1950 Chuck Schumer
American politician

1859 Billy the Kid
American criminal

912 Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor


Deaths On This Day, November 23rd

2014 Marion Barry
American politician, 2nd Mayor of the District of Columbia

2006 Alexander Litvinenko
Russian spy

2006 Willie Pep
American boxer

1990 Roald Dahl
English pilot, author, screenwriter

1923 Urmuz
Romanian judge, author

1869
Clipper Cutty Shark is launched in Dumbarton, Scotland one of the last clippers ever built
1897
John Lee Love patents portable pencil sharpener
1936
1st issue of Life Magazine is published,the idea was to show the news of the day in pictures.It ceased publication on Dec 29,1972
1945
most of U.S. wartime rationing of foods including meat, & butter ends
1960
Hollywood Walk of Fame at Hollywood Blvd & Vine Street is dedicated in Los Angeles
1984
Boston College's football QB, Doug Flutie throws a 48 yard 'Hail Mary Pass' was caught in end zone with no time left defeated Miami 47-45
2021
a manuscript of the early works of Albert Einstein's 'Theory of Relativity' sells at auction for $13 mil

On This Day In History, November 24th

2012 Fire breaks out in a clothing factory in Dhaka
Over 110 people were killed and about 200 people were injured at the Tazreen Fashion factory on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The tragedy brought to light the poor working conditions of workers who made export clothing in Bangladesh. It also led to major labour reforms in the country and in the fashion world, which promised to take steps to ethically source their products.

1971 Hijacking of Northwest Orient Airline 305
Considered to be one of the only unsolved hijacking cases in American history, a man named DB Cooper or Dan Cooper hijacked the Seattle, Washington-bound plane. After his demands of $ 200,000 in cash and parachutes were fulfilled at the Seattle airport, he released the passengers, refuelled the aeroplane and asked to be flown to Mexico. On the way, however, he used a parachute to escape from the plane. Cooper has never been identified or caught.

1963 Lee Harvey Oswald shot
Oswald had assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th American president, two days prior to being shot by Jack Ruby while being transported by the police. The murder was broadcast live on TV.

1877 Black Beauty is published
The classic novel about the life of a horse called Black Beauty was written by English author Anna Sewell. The book quickly gained popularity and became an important part of the animal rights movement. It was Sewell’s only published work.

1859 Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species published
One of the most influential books of all time, On the Origin of Species, put forth the theory of evolution and described the process of natural selection.

Births On This Day, November 24th

1978 Katherine Heigl
American actress, producer

1961 Arundhati Roy
Indian author, activist

1946 Ted Bundy
American serial killer

1867 Scott Joplin
American pianist, composer

1632 Baruch Spinoza
Dutch philosopher

Deaths On This Day, November 24th

1991 Freddie Mercury
Tanzanian/English singer-songwriter, producer

1963 Lee Harvey Oswald
American assassin of John F. Kennedy

1920 Alexandru Macedonski
Romanian author, poet

1572 John Knox
Scottish clergyman

1265 Magnus Olafsson
Manx king

On This Day In History, November 25th

1973 Military coup in Greece
President George Papadopoulos was ousted by the army, just a week after student-led protests at the Athens Polytechnic were violently put down by the government.

1960 Assassination of the Mirabal Sisters
The 3 Dominican sisters, Patria, Minerva, and Antonia Mirabal, were activists that were opposed to the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. On this day, they were brutally killed and their deaths were staged to look like accidents. In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly declared November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

1952 Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap opens at London’s West End
The longest-running show in history, the play began as a radio play called Three Blind Mice. It is based on the death of Dennis O'Neill, who died while in foster care.

1950 “Storm of the Century” hits Eastern US
Also known as the Appalachian Storm, the storm reached blizzard conditions and dumped nearly 60 inches of snow in the Appalachian area. It brought unseasonal temperatures to the region and caused widespread damage to property. About 150 people were thought to have been killed as a result of it.

1936 Nazi Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact
The treaty was directed towards the Soviet Union and stipulated that in case of Soviet aggression towards either country, the other would consider it as an act of aggression towards it as well. The pact was later signed by other countries including Italy, Romania, Spain, and Turkey.

Births On This Day, November 25th

1952 Imran Khan
Pakistani cricketer, politician

1915 Augusto Pinochet
Chilean general, politician, 30th President of Chile

1914 Joe DiMaggio
American baseball player

1844 Karl Benz
German engineer, businessman, founded Mercedes-Benz

1835 Andrew Carnegie
Scottish/American businessman founded the Carnegie Steel Company

Deaths On This Day, November 25th

2005 George Best
Irish/English footballer

1997 Hastings Banda
Malawian politician, 1st President of Malawi

1974 U Thant
Burmese diplomat, 3rd United Nations Secretary-General

1974 Nick Drake
English singer-songwriter, musician

1944 Kenesaw Mountain Landis
American judge

25th November

1120 Henry I's only legitimate son, William, was drowned when The White Ship (la Blanche-Nef) carrying him from Normandy to England sank off Barfleur. This set up a conflict, known as the Anarchy, for the English crown between Stephen and Henry's daughter, Matilda.

1703 The Great Storm of 1703. A catastrophic hurricane ripped across East Anglia. It was the worst storm in British history and killed 8,000 people.

1953 Hungary, led by their talented footballer Ferenc Puskas, beat England 6-3 at Wembley to become the first foreign team to achieve an away win at Wembley.

1963 John F Kennedy is laid to rest. The funeral of the assassinated President, John F Kennedy, took place in Washington. An estimated 800,000 Americans lined the streets to watch the coffin's procession from the Capitol, where the president's body had lain in state.

1984 Band Aid rock stars gathered at Sarm Studios in London to record 'Do They Know It's Christmas', to aid famine relief in Ethiopia.