Events

Up to 1950 
 1227 - Polish prince Leszek the White is murdered.
 1248 - A mass of rock collapses from Mont Granier in Southeastern France in the night to November 25, causing over 1,000 casualties.
 1429 - Joan of Arc unsuccessfully besieges (tries to take control of) La Charite.
 1542 - Battle of Solway Moss: An English army defeats a much larger Scottish force near the River Esk, Dumfries and Galloway.
 1594 - In Goa, India, Portuguese missionaries start building the Basilica do Bom Jesus.
 1631 - The Dutch occupy the city of Olinda, the capital of Pernambuco in present-day Brazil, and set it on fire, as they feel they can make more money in nearby Recife.
 1642 – Abel Tasman becomes the first European to discover the island Van Diemen's Land (later renamed Tasmania).
 1850 - Danish troops defeat a Schleswig-Holstein force in the town of Lottorf, Schleswig-Holstein.
 1859 – Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species.
 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Lookout Mountain.
 1874 - American Joseph Glidden receives a patent for his invention, barbed wire.
 1906 - A local newspaper in Ohio accuses two teams of trying to deliberately lose games, causing the first major scandal in American football.
 1917 – Nine police officers and one civilian are killed when a bomb explodes at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin police headquarters building.
 1922 - Nine IRA members are executed by an Irish Free State firing squad.
 1932 – In Washington, D.C., the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opens.
 1940 - World War II: The first Slovakian Republic joins the Axis Powers, the countries that supported Nazi Germany in the war.
 1943 - World War II: The battleship USS Liscombe Bay is torpedoed near Tarawa, in the Gilbert Islands, present-day Kiribati. Despite this, the Allies manage to take control of the islands on the same day. 
 1944 – World War II: The first bombing raid against the Japanese capital is carried out by 88 American aircraft.
 1947 – Robert Schuman becomes Prime Minister of France.
 1950 - The "Storm of the Century" snowstorm forms before affecting the Northeastern United States the next day.

1951  2000 
 1962 - British television programme That Was the Week That Was is first broadcast.
 1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald is assassinated by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas police department headquarters.
 1963 – Vietnam War: Newly sworn-in US President Lyndon B. Johnson says that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam both militarily and economically.
 1965 – Joseph Désiré Mobutu seizes power in the Congo and becomes President; he goes on to rule the country (which he renames Zaire in 1971) for over 30 years, until being overthrown by rebels in 1997.
 1966 - Bulgarian TABSO Flight 101 crashes near Bratislava, then-part of Czechoslovakia, killing all 82 people on board.
 1969 - The Apollo 12 Moon mission successfully ends when it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.
 1971 – During a severe thunderstorm over Washington, a man calling himself D. B. Cooper hijacks a plane and gets US$200,000 in ransom money. He jumps from the plane and is never seen again (this is the only unsolved skyjacking in history). His identity and fate both remain unknown to this day.
 1973 - A speed limit lasting only four months is introduced on German Autobahns during the 1973 oil crisis.
 1974 – A 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, nicknamed "Lucy" after The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," is found in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression.
 1976 – Parts of Iran and the Soviet Union are struck by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake, killing around 5,000 people.
 1980 – A National Park is created at the southern end of Lake Malawi.
 1988 – Mystery Science Theater 3000 premieres.
 1991 - Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen dies a day after announcing that he had AIDS. Kiss musician Eric Carr dies on the same day.
 1992 – A China Southern Airlines plane crashes on an internal flight, killing all 141 people on board.
 1995 – Estonia applies for EU membership.

From 2001 
 2002 - The first human case of rabies in the UK for over 100 years occurs.
 2005 – Pubs in England and Wales, through new alcohol licensing laws, are given new 24-hour opening hours.
 2007 – Kevin Rudd is elected Prime Minister of Australia, succeeding John Howard, who loses his own parliamentary seat in the election.
 2012 - A garment factory fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh, kills over 112 people.
 2013 - Iran agrees to limit its nuclear development program in exchange for less sanctions, which meant that they had limits on what they could export and import, after talks in Geneva, Switzerland.
 2014 - United States Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel resigns.
 2016 - A bomb attack near Hilla, Iraq, kills at least 77 people.
 2017 - Emmerson Mnangagwa is sworn in as President of Zimbabwe, following the resignation of Robert Mugabe.
 2017 - Sooronbay Jeenbekov becomes President of Kyrgyzstan.
 2017 - A terrorist attack on a mosque in the North of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula results in at least 305 people being killed.
 2019 - Pro-democracy activists make gains in local elections in Hong Kong.
 2019 - A plane crash in Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo kills at least 19 people.

Births

Up to 1800 
 1273 - Alphonso, Earl of Chester (d. 1284)
 1394 – Charles, Duke of Orléans (d. 1465)
 1472 - Pietro Torrigiano, Italian sculptor (d. 1528)
 1583 - Juan Martinez de Jauregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet and painter (d. 1641)
 1615 - Philip William, Elector Palatine (d. 1690)
 1632 – Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (died 1677)
 1655 – King Charles XI of Sweden (d. 1697)
 1690 - Charles Theodore Pachelbel, German composer (d. 1750)
 1712 - Ali II ibn Hussein, Tunisian ruler (d. 1782)
 1713 – Laurence Sterne, English-Irish writer (d. 1768)
 1713 - Junípero Serra, Spanish priest and missionary (d. 1784)
 1724 – Maria Amalia of Savoy, Queen of Spain (d. 1760)
 1729 - Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (d. 1800)
 1745 - Maria Luisa of Spain, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1792)
 1766 - Friedrich Weinbrenner, German architect (d. 1826)
 1773 - Shadrach Bond, 1st Governor of Illinois (d. 1832)
 1774 - Thomas Dick, Scottish minister, educator and author (d. 1857)
 1784 – Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (d. 1850)

1801  1900 
 1801 - Ludwig Bechstein, German writer (d. 1860)
 1806 – William Webb Ellis, English clergyman and alleged inventor of Rugby (d. 1872)
 1808 - Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, French journalist and writer (d. 1890)
 1811 - Ulrich Ochsenbein, Swiss politician (d. 1890)
 1815 – Grace Darling, English heroine (d. 1842)
 1826 – Carlo Collodi, Italian writer (d. 1890)
 1830 - Michael Hahn, 19th Governor of Louisiana (d. 1886)
 1849 – Frances Hodgson Burnett, English-American writer (d. 1945)
 1857 - Miklos Kovacs, Hungarian-Slovenian poet (d. 1937)
 1858 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Russian painter (d. 1884)
 1859 - Cass Gilbert, American architect (d. 1934)
 1864 – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (d. 1901)
 1867 – Alfred Pampalon, Canadian priest (d. 1896)
 1868 – Scott Joplin, American musician (d. 1917)
 1869 – Antonio Oscar Carmona, Portuguese politician, 97th Prime Minister and 11th President (d. 1951)
 1874 – Charles William Miller, Scottish-Brazilian footballer (d. 1953)
 1875 - Nobuyuki Abe, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1962)
 1876 - Walter Burley Griffin, American architect, designed Canberra, Australia (d. 1937)
 1877 – Alben W. Barkley, Vice President of the United States (d. 1956)
 1880 – King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia (d. 1953)
 1884 - Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, 2nd President of Israel (d. 1963)
 1884 - Michel de Klerk, Dutch architect (d. 1923)
 1887 - Raoul Paoli, French boxer and rower (d. 1960)
 1888 – Dale Carnegie, American writer (d. 1955)
 1889 - Kim Chwa-chin, Korean politician and activist (d. 1930)
 1891 - Mariano Ospina Pérez, 42nd President of Colombia (d. 1976)
 1893 - Charles F. Hurley, 54th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1946)
 1894 - Herbert Sutcliffe, English cricketer (d. 1978)
 1896 – Lucky Luciano, American gangster (d. 1962)

1901  1950 
 1904 - Albert Ross Tilley, Canadian surgeon (d. 1988)
 1908 - Libertad Lamarque, Argentine actress and singer (d. 2000)
 1912 - Bernard Delfgaauw, Dutch philosopher (d. 1993)
 1913 - Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish-American actress (d. 2005)
 1914 - Agostino Casaroli, Italian cardinal (d. 1998)
 1916 - Frankie Muse Freeman, American civil rights attorney (d. 2018)
 1916 - Forrest J Ackerman, American magazine editor and science fiction writer (d. 2008)
 1921 - John Lindsay, 103rd Mayor of New York City (d. 2000)
 1922 - Stanford R. Ovshinsky, American scientist and inventor (d. 2012)
 1923 - Octavio Lepage, Acting President of Venezuela (d. 2017)
 1924 - Victor Grinich, Croatian-American businessman (d. 2000)
 1925 – William F. Buckley, Jr.. American writer and political commentator (d. 2008)
 1925 – Simon van der Meer, Dutch physicist (d. 2011)
 1926 – Tsung-Dao Lee, Chinese-American physicist
 1929 - George Moscone, 37th Mayor of San Francisco (d. 1978)
 1930 - Inge Feltrinelli, German-Italian photographer and director (d. 2018)
 1930 - Bob Friend, American baseball player (d. 2019)
 1930 - Yale Lary, American football player, businessman and politician (d. 2017)
 1930 - Ken Barrington, English cricketer
 1931 - Tommy Allsup, American musician (d. 2017)
 1934 – Alfred Schnittke, Russian composer (d. 1998)
 1935 - Ron Dellums, American politician, 48th Mayor of Oakland, California
 1935 - Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain
 1938 - Willy Claes, Belgian diplomat, 8th Secretary-General of NATO
 1938 - Oscar Robertson, American basketball player
 1941 - Donald "Duck" Dunn, American musician (d. 2012)
 1941 – Pete Best, Indian-born English drummer (The Beatles)
 1942 – Billy Connolly, Scottish comedian and actor
 1942 - Martin Fitzwater, 17th White House Press Secretary
 1942 - Craig Thomas, Welsh author (d. 2011)
 1943 – Dave Bing, American basketball player and politician, 70th Mayor of Detroit
 1943 - Kuniwo Nakamura, Palauan politician, 6th President of Palau
 1944 – Bev Bevan, English rock drummer
 1944 – Dan Glickman, American politician, 26th United States Secretary of Agriculture
 1944 - Roberto Sagastume Pinto, Guatemalan politician (d. 2014)
 1944 - Ibrahim Gambari, Nigerian politician
 1946 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer (d. 1989)
 1947 – Dwight Schultz, American actor
 1947 – Dave Sinclair, English musician
 1947 - Jorge Obeid, Argentine politician (d. 2014)
 1950 - Bob Burns, American drummer (d. 2015)

1951  1975 
 1951 - Margaret Mountford, Northern Irish lawyer and businesswoman
 1951 - Graham Price, Welsh rugby union player
 1952 - Thierry Lhermitte, French actor
 1954 - Emir Kusturica, Bosnian-Serbian moviemaker, actor and musician
 1954 - Susan Gilmore, English actress
 1955 – Clem Burke, American drummer (Blondie)
 1955 – Einar Kárason, Icelandic writer
 1955 – Ian Botham, English cricketer
 1955 - Najib Mikati, 31st Prime Minister of Lebanon
 1956 - Ruben Santiago-Hudson, American actor
 1957 – Denise Crosby, American actress
 1958 - Margaret Curran, Scottish politician
 1958 – Roy Aitken, Scottish footballer and manager
 1958 - Alain Chabat, French actor and director
 1959 - Zeinab Badawi, Sudanese-British journalist and broadcaster
 1960 – Armen Grigoryan, Russian-Armenian singer
 1961 – Arundhati Roy, Indian writer and activist
 1962 – John Squire, British guitarist (The Stone Roses)
 1963 - Neale Cooper, Scottish footballer (d. 2018)
 1965 - Tom Boyd, Scottish footballer
 1965 - Brad Wall, Canadian politician, Premier of Saskatchewan
 1965 - Shirley Henderson, Scottish actress and singer
 1966 – Russell Watson, English singer
 1968 – Bülent Korkmaz, Turkish footballer
 1970 - Julieta Venegas, Mexican singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
 1971 – Lola Glaudini, American actress
 1974 - Stephen Merchant, English comedian, actor and director

From 1976 
 1976 – Stephanie zu Guttenberg, German noblewoman, married to Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg
 1976 – Chen Lu, Chinese figure skater
 1977 – Colin Hanks, American actor
 1978 – Katherine Heigl, American actress
 1979 - Joseba Llorente, Spanish footballer
 1979 - Carmelita Jeter, American athlete
 1979 - Sue Smith, English footballer
 1980 – Beth Pheonix, American wrestler
 1983 – Dean Ashton, English footballer
 1983 - Gwilym Lee, English actor
 1983 - Karin Vanasse, Canadian actress
 1984 – Maria Höfl-Riesch, German skier
 1984 - Kagisho Dikgacoi, South African footballer
 1985 - Julia Alexandratou, Greek model, actress and singer
 1986 - Aida Folch, Spanish actress
 1987 - Jeremain Lens, Dutch footballer
 1990 - Sarah Hyland, American actress and singer
 1990 - Tom Odell, British singer-songwriter
 1993 - Ivi Adamou, Cypriot singer
 1994 - Nabil Bentaleb, Algerian footballer
 1994 - Reece Mastin, English-Australian singer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 654 - Emperor Kotoku of Japan (b. 596)
 1072 - Bagrat IV of Georgia (b. 1018)
 1227 - Leszek I the White, Polish prince
 1265 - Magnus Olafsson, Manx King
 1531 - Johannes Oecolampadius, Swiss religious reformer (b. 1482)
 1572 – John Knox, Scottish reformer (b. 1514)
 1600 - Balthasar Russow, Baltic German chronicler and clergyman (b. 1536)
 1675 - Guru Tegh Bahadur, Indian religious leader (Sikhism) (b. 1621)
 1722 - Johann Adam Reincken, Dutch-German organist and composer (b. 1623)
 1741 - Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden (b. 1688)
 1775 – Lorenzo Ricci, Italian Jesuit leader (b. 1703)
 1830 - Bungaree, Australian Aboriginal explorer and community leader (b. c. 1775)
 1837 - Joseph Kent, Governor of Maryland (b. 1779)
 1848 – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1779)
 1885 – Nicolás Avellaneda, President of Argentina (b. 1837)

1901  2000 
 1916 - Hiram Stevens Maxim, American-English inventor (b. 1840)
 1920 - Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian author and poet (b. 1854)
 1922 – Sidney Sonnino, Italian politician (b. 1847)
 1923 - Michel de Klerk, Dutch architect (b. 1884)
 1929 – Georges Clemenceau, Prime Minister of France (b. 1841)
 1948 – Anna Jarvis, American, founder of Mother's Day (b. 1864)
 1956 - Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (b. 1920)
 1957 – Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (b. 1886)
 1958 – Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, British politician (b. 1864)
 1960 - Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia (b. 1882)
 1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald, American accused assassin of John F. Kennedy (b. 1939)
 1963 - Marotrao Kannamwar, Indian politician, 2nd Chief Minister of Maharashtra
 1964 - Herbert Johanson, Estonian architect (b. 1884)
 1965 – Abdullah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1895)
 1980 - George Raft, American actor (b. 1895)
 1982 - Barack Obama, Sr., Kenyan father of Barack Obama (b. 1936)
 1985 – Big Joe Turner, American singer (b. 1911)
 1990 – Dodie Smith, English novelist and playwright (b. 1896)
 1991 – Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar-born singer (Queen), of AIDS (b. 1946).
 1991 – Eric Carr, American drummer (Kiss) (b. 1950).
 1993 - Albert Collins, American blues singer and guitarist (b. 1932)
 1996 - Sorley MacLean, Scottish poet (b. 1911)
 1997 - Barbara, French singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1930)
 1998 – John Chadwick, British philologist (b. 1920)

From 2001 
 2001 - Melanie Thornton, American singer (b. 1967)
 2002 – John Rawls, American philosopher (b. 1921)
 2005 – Pat Morita, American actor (b. 1932)
 2008 - Cecil H. Underwood, 25th Governor of West Virginia (b. 1922)
 2009 – Samak Sundaravej, Thai politician (b. 1935)
 2010 – Huang Hua, Chinese politician (b. 1913)
 2012 - Héctor Camacho, Puerto Rican boxer (b. 1962)
 2013 - Amedeo Amadei, Italian footballer (b. 1921)
 2014 - Viktor Tikhonov, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1930)
 2014 - Jorge Herrera Delgado, Mexican politician (b. 1961)
 2015 - Varduhi Varderesyan, Romanian-Armenian actress (b. 1928)
 2015 - Heinz Oberhummer, Austrian physicist and astronomer (b. 1941)
 2016 - Florence Henderson, American actress and singer (b. 1934)
 2017 - Wesley L. Fox, American colonel (b. 1931)
 2017 - Neil Gillman, Canadian-American rabbi and philosopher (b. 1933)
 2017 - Stephen Knapp, American artist (b. 1947)
 2017 - Mitch Margo, American singer (The Tokens) (b. 1947)
 2017 - Jaime Ortí, Spanish football businessman and sports commentator (b. 1947)
 2017 - Hermann Schwörer, German businessman and politician (b. 1922)
 2017 - John Thierry, American football player (b. 1971)
 2018 - Ambareesh, Indian actor and politician (b. 1952)
 2018 - Gordon Copeland, New Zealand politician (b. 1943)
 2018 - David Defiagbon, Nigerian-Canadian boxer (b. 1970)
 2018 - Ricky Jay, American stage magician, actor and writer (b. 1946)
 2019 - Goo Ha-ra, South Korean pop singer (b. 1991)
 2019 - Clive James, Australian author and broadcaster (b. 1939)
 2019 - Kailash Chandra Joshi, Indian politician (b. 1929)
 2019 - Colin Mawby, English organist, composer and conductor (b. 1936)
 2019 - Dion Neutra, American architect and activist (b. 1926)
 2019 - Yehoshua Porath, Israeli historian and politician (b. 1938)
 2019 - John Simon, Serbian-born American essayist and critic (b. 1925)
 2019 - Joan Staley, American actress (b. 1940)

Observances 
 Lachit Divas (Assam)
 Teacher's Day (Turkey)

Days of the year