November 30

Events
Up to 1900
3340 BC - Earliest believed record of an eclipse.
1700 - Battle of Narva: A Swedish army of 8,500 men under Charles XII of Sweden defeats a much larger Russian army at Narva (present-day Estonia, next to Russian border).
1707 - The Second Siege of Pensacola comes to an end with the failure of the British to capture Pensacola, Florida.
1718 - Charles XII of Sweden dies during a siege of the fortress of Fredriksten, Norway.
1731 - An earthquake in Beijing kills thousands of people.
1782 - American Revolutionary War: Treaty of Paris - In Paris, representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace agreements - they later become official in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.
1786 - The Grand Duchy of Tuscany, under the future Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, becomes the first modern state to ban the death penalty.
1803 - In New Orleans, Louisiana, Spanish representatives officially transfer Louisiana Territory to a French representative. Just 20 days later, France transfers the same land to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase.
1853 - Crimean War: Battle of Sinop - The Imperial Russian Navy under Pavel Nakhimov destroys the Ottoman Empire fleet under Osman Pasha at Sinop, present-day Turkey.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Franklin, Tennessee.
1872 - The first-ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow on Saint Andrew's Day, between Scotland and England. It ends 0-0.
1886 - The Folies Bergere in Paris stages its first performance.
1901 2000
1908 - 154 miners are killed in a mining explosion in Marianna, Pennsylvania.
1916 - Costa Rica signs the Buenos Aires Copyright Convention.
1920 - Liberato Ribeiro Pinto becomes Prime Minister of Portugal.
1934 - The LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman becomes the first steam locomotive known to have reached a speed of 100 miles per hour.
1936 - In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire.
1939 - Winter War: Soviet forces invade Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.
1940 - Actress Lucille Ball marries Desi Arnaz in Greenwich, Connecticut.
1942 - World War II: Battle of Tassafaronga - A smaller squadron of Japanese destroyers led by Raizo Tanaka defeats a US cruiser force under Carleton H. Wright.
1943 - World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin agree to the planned June 1944 invasion of Europe code-named Operation Overlord.
1953 - Edward Mutesa II, the last King of Buganda, is deposed and exiled to London by Andrew Cohen, British Governor of Uganda.
1954 - In Sylacauga, Alabama, United States, an 8.5 lb (3.86 kg) sulfide meteorite crashes through a roof and hits Mrs. Elizabeth Hodges in her living room after bouncing off her radio. She got a bad bruise. This is the only known case of a human being hit by a rock from space.
1956 - Floyd Patterson becomes heavyweight world boxing champion against Archie Moore.
1958 - French Equatorial Africa splits up into the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Chad and the Central African Republic, all of which becomes fully independent in 1960.
1966 - Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1967 - The People's Republic of South Yemen becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1967 - Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
1975 - Dahomey is renamed the "People's Republic of Benin".
1981 - Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings ended inconclusively on December 17).
1982 - A parcel bomb is delivered to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at 10 Downing Street.
1982 - Michael Jackson releases his hit, "Thriller".
1989 - Richard Mallory of Palm Harbor, Florida becomes serial killer Aileen Wuornos's first victim.
1989 - German banker Alfred Herrhausen is killed by a Red Army Faction bomb. He was a board member at Deutsche Bank.
1993 - Steven Spielberg's movie Schindler's List is first shown, in Washington, DC.
1994 - The ship MS Achille Lauro catches fire off Somalia.
1995 - Official end of Operation Desert Storm.
1995 - Bill Clinton visits Northern Ireland, as the first US president to do so.
1996 - The Stone of Scone is installed at Edinburgh Castle on its official return to Scotland from England.
1998 - Exxon and Mobil sign an agreement to merge.
1999 - British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems.
From 2001
2001 - Green River Killer Gary Ridgway is arrested in Renton, Washington, ending a killing spree in which 49 people were murdered.
2004 - Lion Air Flight 538 crash-lands in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, killing 26 people.
2004 - Longtime Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings of Salt Lake City, Utah finally loses, leaving him with $2,520,700 USD, television's all-time biggest game show haul.
2005 - John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in the Church of England when he becomes Archbishop of York.
2006 - Typhoon Durian causes a mud avalanche from the Mount Mayon volcano on Luzon, Philippines, killing 300 people.
2013 - Actor Paul Walker, star of the "Fast and Furious", is killed in a car crash.
2015 - Climate change talks begin in Paris.
2017 - Katrin Jakobsdottir becomes Prime Minister of Iceland, leading a three-party coalition.
Births
Up to 1800
539 - Gregory of Tours, French bishop and historian (d. 594)
1327 - Andrew, Duke of Calabria (d. 1345)
1340 - John, Duke of Berry, son of John II of France (d. 1416)
1427 - Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland (d. 1492)
1466 - Andrea Doria, Genoese naval officer (d. 1560)
1498 - Andres de Urdaneta, Spanish friar, sail-captain and explorer (d. 1568)
1508 - Andrea Palladio, Italian architect (d. 1580)
1554 - Philip Sidney, English courtier, soldier and writer (d. 1586)
1602 - Otto von Guericke, German politician, jurist, physicist and inventor (d. 1686)
1642 - Andrea Pozzo, Italian painter and architect (d. 1709)
1645 - Andreas Werckmeister, German organist, theorist and composer (d. 1706)
1667 - Jonathan Swift, Irish writer (d. 1745)
1670 - John Toland, Irish philosopher (d. 1722)
1719 - Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (d. 1772)
1723 - William Livingston, revolutionary Governor of New Jersey (d. 1790)
1761 - Smithson Tennant, English chemist (d. 1815)
1768 - Jedrzej Sniadecki, Polish writer, physician, chemist and biologist (d. 1838)
1781 - Alexander Berry, Scottish surgeon, merchant and explorer (d. 1873)
1791 - Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg, Austrian soldier and statesman (d. 1848)
1796 - Carl Loewe, German composer (d. 1869)
1801 1900
1813 - Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet (d. 1890)
1813 - Claude-Valentin Alkan, French composer (d. 1888)
1817 - Theodor Mommsen, German historian and writer (d. 1903)
1821 - Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1902)
1825 - William-Adolphe Bouguereau, French painter (d. 1905)
1835 - Mark Twain, American writer (d. 1910)
1836 - Lord Frederick Cavendish, British politician (d. 1882)
1847 - Afonso Augusto Moreira, 6th President of Brazil (d. 1909)
1858 - Jagadish Chandra Bose, Indian physicist (d. 1937)
1866 - Andrey Lyapchev, Bulgarian politician (d. 1933)
1869 - Gustaf Dalen, Swedish physicist (d. 1937)
1872 - John McCrae, Canadian poet (d. 1918)
1874 - Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1965)
1874 - Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian writer (d. 1942)
1875 - Otto Strandman, 2nd Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1941)
1887 - Andrej Gosar, Slovenian-Yugoslavian politician, economist and theorist (d. 1970)
1887 - Beatrice Kerr, Australian swimmer, diver and aquatic performer (d. 1971)
1889 - Edgar Douglas Adrian, English doctor, won the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1977)
1901 1950
1904 - Clyfford Still, American painter (d. 1980)
1906 - John Dickson Carr, American author (d. 1977)
1907 - Jacques Barzun, French-American historian and author (d. 2012)
1909 - Robert Nighthawk, American musician (d. 1967)
1911 - Jorge Negrete, Mexican singer and actor (d. 1953)
1912 - Gordon Parks, American photographer, musician, writer and movie director (d. 2006)
1915 - Henry Taube, Canadian-American physicist (d. 2005)
1918 - Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (d. 2014)
1920 - Virginia Mayo, American actress (d. 2005)
1924 - Klaus Huber, Swiss composer (d. 2017)
1924 - Shirley Chisholm, American politician (d. 2005)
1926 - Andrew W. Schally, Polish-Canadian Nobel Prize winner in medicine
1927 - Richard Crenna, American actor (d. 2003)
1928 - Takako Doi, Japanese scholar and politician (d. 2014)
1928 - Karin Soder, Swedish politician (d. 2015)
1929 - Dick Clark, American entertainer (d. 2012)
1929 - Joan Ganz Cooney, American television presenter
1930 - G. Gordon Liddy, American Watergate scandal operative and talk show host
1930 - Jacques Hamel, French priest (d. 2016)
1931 - Bruce C. Murray, American geologist (d. 2013)
1933 - Tsai Chin, Chinese-English actress
1936 - Dmitri Anosov, Russian mathematician (d. 2014)
1936 - Abbie Hoffman, American political and social activist (d. 1989)
1937 - Tom Simpson, English cyclist (d. 1967)
1937 - Ridley Scott, English movie director
1937 - Frank Ifield, English-Australian singer
1938 - Margarita Salas, Spanish biochemist and molecular geneticist (d. 2019)
1939 - Chandra Bahadur Dangi, Nepalese shortest-man-ever record holder (d. 2015)
1943 - Terrence Malick, American movie producer
1944 - George Graham, Scottish footballer
1945 - Hilary Armstrong, English politician
1945 - Roger Glover, Welsh bassist (Deep Purple)
1945 - Radu Lupu, Romanian pianist
1945 - Pita Paraone, New Zealand politician (d. 2019)
1947 - Stuart Baird, English movie editor, producer and director
1947 - David Mamet, American director and writer
1950 - Wolfgang Niersbach, German journalist and football official
1951 1975
1952 - Mandy Patinkin, American actor and musician
1952 - Keith Griffen, American comic book writer and artist
1953 - Shuggie Otis, American musician, composer and producer
1953 - June Pointer, American singer (Pointer Sisters) (d. 2006)
1954 - Simonetta Stefanelli, Italian actress
1954 - Lawrence Summers, American economist and academic
1955 - Billy Idol, English musician
1955 - Richard Burr, American politician
1955 - Andy Gray, Scottish footballer
1957 - Richard Barbieri, English keyboardist and composer
1957 - Patrick McLoughlin, English politician
1957 - Colin Mochrie, Scottish-Canadian actor and comedian
1957 - Margaret Spellings, American politician
1957 - Gary Lewis, Scottish actor
1958 - Stacey Q, American singer, actress and dancer
1959 - Cherie Currie, American musician, singer, songwriter and actress
1959 - Lorraine Kelly, Scottish television presenter
1960 - Gary Lineker, English footballer
1960 - Bob Tewksbury, American baseball player
1961 - Innocent Egbunike, Nigerian sprinter and coach
1962 - Daniel Keys Moran, American computer programmer and author
1965 - Ben Stiller, American actor and comedian
1965 - Prince Akishino of Japan
1965 - Aldair, Brazilian footballer
1965 - David Laws, British politician
1966 - David Berkoff, American swimmer
1966 - John Bishop, English comedian
1966 - Mika Salo, Finnish racing driver
1968 - Des'ree, English R&B singer
1968 - Laurent Jalabert, French cyclist
1969 - Amy Ryan, American actress
1973 - Kate Fischer, Australian model and actress
1974 - Sebastien Tellier, French singer
1975 - Ben Thatcher, English-Welsh footballer
1975 - Mindy McCready, American country music singer (d. 2013)
From 1976
1976 - Josh Lewsey, English rugby player
1976 - Paul Nuttall, English politician, former leader of UKIP
1977 - Kozumi Saito, Japanese baseball player
1978 - Clay Aiken, American singer
1978 - Gael Garcia Bernal, Mexican actor
1981 - Otto Fredrikson, Finnish footballer
1982 - Jason Pominville, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 - David Carney, Australian footballer
1983 - Adrian Cristea, Romanian footballer
1984 - Alan Hutton, Scottish footballer
1984 - Nigel de Jong, Dutch footballer
1984 - Francisco Sandaza, Spanish footballer
1985 - Kaley Cuoco, American actress
1985 - Chrissy Teigen, American model
1985 - Luis Valbuena, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2018)
1986 - Jordan Farmar, American basketball player
1987 - Dougie Poynter, English singer and musician (McFly)
1987 - Ian Hecox, American comedian
1987 - Naomi, American dancer, model, singer and professional wrestler
1987 - Victoria Thornley, Welsh cyclist
1988 - Phillip Hughes, Australian cricketer (d. 2014)
1988 - Vitaliy Polyanskyi, Ukrainian footballer
1989 - Vladimir Weiss, Slovakian footballer
1990 - Magnus Carlsen, Norwegian chess player
1993 - Yuri Chinen, Japanese actor and singer
1994 - William Melling, English actor
Deaths
Up to 1900
30 BC - Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt (b. 69 BC)
1016 - Edmund II, King of England (b. 989)
1580 - Richard Farrant, English composer and playwright (b. 1530)
1600 - Nanda Bayin, King of Burma (b. 1535)
1626 - Thomas Weelkes, English organist and composer (b. 1576)
1703 - Nicolas de Grigny, French organist and composer (b. 1672)
1705 - Catherine of Braganza, Queen-Consort of King Charles II of England and Scotland (b. 1638)
1718 - King Charles XII of Sweden (b. 1682)
1873 - Alexander Berry, Scottish surgeon, merchant and explorer (b. 1781)
1892 - Dimitrios Valvis, 69th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1814)
1894 - Joseph E. Brown, American politician, Governor of Georgia (b. 1821)
1900 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854)
1901 2000
1901 - Edward John Eyre, English explorer (b. 1815)
1908 - Nishinoumi Kajiro I, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1855)
1920 - Vladimir May-Mayevsky, Russian general (b. 1867)
1930 - Pannambalam Ramanathan, Ceylonese Tamil statesman (b. 1851)
1934 - Helene Boucher, French pilot (b. 1908)
1934 - Roy Turk, American songwriter (b. 1892)
1935 - Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet (b. 1888)
1938 - Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, Romanian leader of the far-right Iron Guard (b. 1898)
1939 - Bela Kun, Hungarian politician (b. 1886)
1944 - Paul Masson, French cyclist (b. 1876)
1947 - Ernst Lubitsch, German actor and director (b. 1892)
1953 - Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (b. 1879)
1954 - Wilhelm Furtwangler, German conductor (b. 1886)
1957 - Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (b. 1890)
1958 - Hubert Wilkins, Australian soldier, explorer and photographer (b. 1888)
1970 - Nina Ricci, Italian-French fashion designer (b. 1883)
1972 - Compton Mackenzie, Scottish novelist, actor and political activist (b. 1883)
1977 - Terence Rattigan, English playwright (b. 1911)
1979 - Zeppo Marx, American actor and comedian (b. 1901)
1989 - Alfred Herrhausen, German banker (b. 1930)
1989 - Ahmadou Ahidjo, 1st President of Cameroon (b. 1924)
1994 - Guy Debord, French theorist and author (b. 1931)
1994 - Lionel Stander, American actor (b. 1908)
1995 - Stretch, American rapper, producer and actor (b. 1968)
1996 - Tiny Tim, American entertainer (b. 1932)
1999 - Charlie Byrd, American guitarist (b. 1925)
From 2001
2003 - Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (b. 1906)
2004 - Seung Sahn, South Korean spiritual leader (b. 1927)
2005 - Jean Parker, American actress (b. 1915)
2005 - Nora Denney, American actress (b. 1927)
2007 - Evel Knievel, American daredevil and stuntman (b. 1938)
2008 - Munetaka Higuchi, Japanese drummer and producer (b. 1958)
2009 - Milorad Pavic, Serbian writer (b. 1929)
2009 - Paul Naschy, Spanish actor, screenwriter and director (b. 1934)
2011 - Leka, Crown Prince of Albania, Albanian royal and pretender (b. 1939)
2011 - Zdenek Miler, Czech animator (b. 1921)
2012 - I. K. Gujral, Prime Minister of India (b. 1919)
2013 - Jean Kent, English actress (b. 1921)
2013 - Yury Yakovlev, Russian actor (b. 1928)
2013 - Paul Walker, American actor (b. 1973)
2014 - Go Seigen, Chinese-Japanese Go player (b. 1914)
2014 - Qayyum Chowdhury, Bangladeshi painter (b. 1932)
2014 - Fred Catherwood, English politician and writer (b. 1925)
2014 - Martin Litton, American environmentalist (b. 1917)
2014 - Jarbom Gamlin, Indian politician (b. 1950)
2015 - Eldar Ryazanov, Russian movie director (b. 1927)
2015 - Gerrit Holdijk, Dutch politician (b. 1944)
2015 - Greg Fisk, American politician (b. 1945)
2017 - Alfie Curtis, British actor (b. 1930)
2017 - Dick Gernert, American baseball player (b. 1928)
2017 - Colin Groves, British-Australian biologist and professor (b. 1942)
2017 - Jim Nabors, American actor, singer and comedian (b. 1930)
2017 - Surin Pitsuwan, Thai politician and diplomat (b. 1949)
2017 - Marina Popovich, Soviet-Russian air force colonel, engineer and test pilot (b. 1931)
2017 - Vincent Scully, American architecture historian (b. 1920)
2018 - Palden Gyatso, Tibetan Buddhist monk (b. 1933)
2018 - George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States (b. 1924)
2019 - Michael Howard, English historian (b. 1922)
2019 - Mariss Jansons, Latvian conductor (b. 1943)
2019 - Petr Malek, Czech sport shooter (b. 1961)
2019 - Harold Rahm, American-Brazilian Roman Catholic priest and humanitarian (b. 1919)
2019 - Milagrosa Tan, Filipina politician (b. 1958)
2019 - Brian Tierney, English historian (b. 1922)
Holidays and observances
Barbados - Independence Day (from the United Kingdom, 1966)
Official end of the North Atlantic hurricane season
Saint Andrew's Day - Christian apostle, and patron saint (several countries including Scotland and Barbados)
Cities for Life Day
National Day (Benin)
Regina Mundi Day (South Africa)
Days of the year