November 12

## Events 
### Up to 1900 
* 764 &ndash; Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days.
* 1028 &ndash; Future Byzantine empress Zoe marries Romanus Argyrus according to the wishes of dying Constantine VIII
* 1439 &ndash; Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.
* 1555 &ndash; The English Parliament decides that Roman Catholicism will be the state religion of England.
* 1602 &ndash; Sebastian Viscaino lands at, and names, San Diego, California.
* 1793 &ndash; Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first Mayor of Paris, is executed on the guillotine.
* 1892 &ndash; William Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, taking part in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.
* 1893 &ndash; The Treaty of the Durand is signed between present–day Pakistan and Afghanistan; the Durand Line has become the international border between the two countries.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1905 &ndash; Newly independent Norway holds a referendum on its system of government. Most voters decide to have a monarch as their Head of State, over having a president.
* 1908 &ndash; An explosion at a mine shaft in Hamm, present–day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, kills 348 people.
* 1912 &ndash; The bodies of Robert Falcon Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf.
* 1918 &ndash; Austria becomes a republic.
* 1920 &ndash; Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo.
* 1927 &ndash; Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin with complete control of the Soviet Union.
* 1928 &ndash; The ship SS *Vestris* sinks around 200 miles (320 kilometers) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing over 110 people.
* 1933 &ndash; Hugh Gray takes the first–known photograph alleged to show the Loch Ness Monster.
* 1936 &ndash; The San Francisco Bay Bridge is opened.
* 1942 &ndash; World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal. The battle lasts for three days.
* 1944 &ndash; World War II: The Royal Air Force launches one of the most successful bombing attacks of war and sinks the German battleship *Tirpitz* off the coast of Norway.
* 1945 &ndash; Sudirman is elected as the first commander–in–chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces.
* 1948 &ndash; In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials, including Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.
* 1956 &ndash; Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the UN.
* 1958 &ndash; A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first successful climb of the "Nose" on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, California.
* 1968 &ndash; Equatorial Guinea joins the UN.
* 1969 &ndash; Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre – Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the My Lai story.
* 1970 &ndash; The Oregon Highway Division attempt to destroy a rotting bleached sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now–infamous "exploding whale" incident.
* 1973 &ndash; It is announced that Gerald Ford is to succeed Spiro Agnew as Vice President of the United States.
* 1975 &ndash; The Comoros join the UN.
* 1980 &ndash; The Voyager 1 space probe takes images of Saturn's rings.
* 1981 &ndash; The Space Shuttle Columbia launches on its second flight.
* 1982 &ndash; In the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding the late Leonid Brezhnev.
* 1982 &ndash; Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa is released.
* 1985 &ndash; Xavier Suarez becomes Miami's first Cuban–American Mayor.
* 1990 &ndash; Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch. He had already succeeded his father Hirohito, who died on January 7, 1989.
* 1990 &ndash; Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
* 1991 &ndash; Dili Massacre: Indonesian forces opened fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.
* 1994 &ndash; Chandrika Kumaratunga becomes President of Sri Lanka.
* 1995 &ndash; Mozambique joins the Commonwealth of Nations. As a former Portuguese colony, it is the first Commonwealth member not to have had any historical links with the present–day United Kingdom.
* 1995 &ndash; Azerbaijan holds its first parliamentary elections.
* 1996 &ndash; A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin II–76 cargo plane collide in mid–air near New Delhi, India, killing 349 people in the deadliest mid–air collision to date.
* 1997 &ndash; Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of planning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

### From 2001 
* 2001 &ndash; Taliban forces abandon Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Northern Alliance troops.
* 2001 &ndash; A plane crash in the New York Borough of Queens kills all (260) of those on board, and 5 people on the ground. American Airlines Flight 587 had come down shortly after take–off and was bound for the Dominican Republic.
* 2003 &ndash; Iraq War: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, including the war's first Italian casualties, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on the Italian police base.
* 2003 &ndash; Shanghai Transrapid sets a new world speed record, 501 kilometers per hour (311 miles per hour), for commercial railways systems, which remains the fastest for unmodified commercial rail vehicles.
* 2004 &ndash; Official Guided by Voices Day in Los Angeles, California.
* 2004 &ndash; Resignation of Colin Powell as United States Secretary of Defense.
* 2010 &ndash; The 16th Asian Games begin in Guangzhou, China.
* 2011 &ndash; In the wake of an economic crisis, Silvio Berlusconi resigns as Prime Minister of Italy. Mario Monti is selected to replace him shortly after.
* 2013 &ndash; One World Trade Center is announced as being the tallest building in the United States.
* 2014 &ndash; The Philae lander from the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe lands on the surface of the Comet *67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko*. It is the first man–made object to land on a comet.
* 2015 &ndash; At least 40 people are killed in suicide bomb attacks in Beirut, Lebanon.
* 2017 &ndash; A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes the Iran–Iraq border area, killing at least 450 people and injuring hundreds.

## Births 
### Up to 1900 
* 1493 &ndash; Bartolomeo Bandelli, Italian sculptor (d. 1560)
* 1528 &ndash; Qi Jiquang, Chinese general (d. 1588)
* 1547 &ndash; Claude of Valois, French princess (d. 1575)
* 1615 &ndash; Richard Baxter, English clergyman (d. 1691)
* 1651 &ndash; Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican nun and poet (d. 1695)
* 1679 &ndash; Firmin Bauzit, French scholar (d. 1767)
* 1729 &ndash; Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French explorer (d. 1811)
* 1746 &ndash; Jacques Charles, French physicist (d. 1823)
* 1755 &ndash; Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (d. 1813)
* 1774 &ndash; Charles Bell, Scottish physiologist and anatomist (d. 1842)
* 1790 &ndash; Letitia Christian Tyler, American First Lady, wife of John Tyler (d. 1842)
* 1815 &ndash; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American women's rights activist (d. 1902)
* 1817 &ndash; Baha'u'llah, religious leader of the Baha'i faith (d. 1892)
* 1830 &ndash; Brynjulf Bergslien, Norwegian sculptor (d. 1898)
* 1833 &ndash; Alexander Borodin, Russian composer (d. 1887)
* 1840 &ndash; Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (d. 1917)
* 1841 &ndash; Preston Lea, Governor of Delaware (d. 1916)
* 1842 &ndash; John Strutt, 3rd Baron Raleigh, English physicist (d. 1919)
* 1850 &ndash; Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (d. 1908)
* 1865 &ndash; Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary and politician (d. 1925)
* 1872 &ndash; William Fay, Irish actor and theatre musician (d. 1947)
* 1881 &ndash; Olev Siinmaa, Estonian architect (d. 1948)
* 1882 &ndash; Infanta María Teresa of Spain (d. 1912)
* 1883 &ndash; James W. Mott, American politician (d. 1945)
* 1886 &ndash; Ben Travers, British playwright (d. 1980)
* 1890 &ndash; Lily Kronberger, Hungarian figure skater (d. 1974)
* 1891 &ndash; Seth Barnes Nicholson, American astronomer (d. 1963)
* 1892 &ndash; Tudor Davies, Welsh operatic tenor (d. 1958)
* 1895 &ndash; Amandus Adamson, Estonian sculptor (d. 1929)
* 1898 &ndash; Leon Stukelj, Slovenian gymnast (d. 1999)

### 1901 &ndash; 1950 
* 1901 &ndash; James Luther Adams, American theologian (d. 1994)
* 1903 &ndash; Jack Oakie, American actor (d. 1978)
* 1908 &ndash; Harry Blackmun, United States Supreme Court justice (d. 1999)
* 1911 &ndash; Buck Clayton, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1991)
* 1911 &ndash; Chad Varah, British founder of the Samaritans telephone helpline (d. 2007)
* 1915 &ndash; Roland Barthes, French writer and philosopher (d. 1980)
* 1917 &ndash; Jo Stafford, American singer (d. 2008)
* 1920 &ndash; Richard Quine, American actor (d. 1989)
* 1922 &ndash; Kim Hunter, American actress (d. 2002)
* 1923 &ndash; Loriot, German comedian, humorist, producer and writer (d. 2011)
* 1923 &ndash; Rubén Bonifaz Nuño, Mexican poet and scholar (d. 2013)
* 1924 &ndash; Sam Jones, American jazz musician (d. 1981)
* 1928 &ndash; Bob Holness, South African–born television presenter and actor (d. 2012)
* 1929 &ndash; Michael Ende, German writer (d. 1995)
* 1929 &ndash; Grace Kelly, American actress and Princess of Monaco (d. 1982)
* 1930 &ndash; Bob Crewe, American songwriter, dancer, singer and record producer (d. 2014)
* 1931 &ndash; Norman Y. Mineta, American politician
* 1933 &ndash; Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq (d. 2017)
* 1934 &ndash; Vavá, Brazilian footballer (d. 2002)
* 1934 &ndash; Leonid Stein, Soviet–Ukrainian chess player (d. 1973)
* 1934 &ndash; Charles Manson, American cult leader (d. 2017)
* 1935 &ndash; Lyudmila Gurchenko, Russian actress and singer (d. 2011)
* 1936 &ndash; Heiner Zieschang, German mathematician (d. 2004)
* 1936 &ndash; Mills Lane, American boxer, referee, lawyer and judge
* 1937 &ndash; Richard H. Truly, American astronaut
* 1938 &ndash; Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania
* 1938 &ndash; Mort Shuman, American singer-songwriter (d. 1991)
* 1939 &ndash; Lucia Popp, Slovakian soprano (d. 1993)
* 1939 &ndash; Ruby Nash Garnett, American singer
* 1940 &ndash; Jürgen Todenhöfer, German judge and politician
* 1941 &ndash; Cristina Peri Rossi, Uruguayan writer
* 1943 &ndash; Errol Brown, English singer (d. 2015)
* 1943 &ndash; Bjorn Waldegard, Swedish rally driver (d. 2014)
* 1943 &ndash; Wallace Shawn, American actor and playwright
* 1944 &ndash; Booker T. Jones, American rock musician
* 1944 &ndash; Al Michaels, American sportscaster
* 1945 &ndash; Dale Schlueter, American basketball player (d. 2014)
* 1945 &ndash; Neil Young, Canadian singer
* 1946 &ndash; Krister Henriksson, Swedish actor
* 1948 &ndash; Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran
* 1949 &ndash; Jack Reed, American politician

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1952 &ndash; Ernie Fletcher, 60th Governor of Kentucky
* 1952 &ndash; Stuart Cosgrove, Scottish broadcaster and journalist
* 1955 &ndash; Louan Gideon, American actress (d. 2014)
* 1955 &ndash; Les McKeown, Scottish singer
* 1957 &ndash; Tim Samaras, American storm chaser (d. 2013)
* 1957 &ndash; Cécilia Attias, former First Lady of France
* 1958 &ndash; Megan Mullally, American actress
* 1959 &ndash; Toshihiko Sahashi, Japanese composer
* 1960 &ndash; Maurane, Belgian singer (d. 2018)
* 1961 &ndash; Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast
* 1961 &ndash; Enzo Francescoli, Uruguayan footballer
* 1962 &ndash; Naomi Wolf, American author and feminist
* 1962 &ndash; Mariella Frostrup, Norwegian–British journalist
* 1962 &ndash; Mark Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and manager
* 1963 &ndash; Susumu Terajimi, Japanese actor
* 1964 &ndash; Danny Ellefson, American musician
* 1964 &ndash; Thomas Berthold, German footballer
* 1964 &ndash; Vic Chesnutt, American musician (d. 2009)
* 1964 &ndash; Michael Kremer, American economist
* 1965 &ndash; Eddie Mair, Scottish journalist
* 1968 &ndash; Aya Hisakawa, Japanese voice actress and singer
* 1968 &ndash; Kathleen Hanna, American musician and activist
* 1968 &ndash; Sammy Sosa, Dominican baseball player
* 1970 &ndash; Tonya Harding, American figure skater
* 1971 &ndash; Chen Guangcheng, Chinese human rights activist
* 1973 &ndash; Radha Mitchell, American actress
* 1974 &ndash; Alessandro Birindelli, Italian footballer
* 1975 &ndash; Katherine Grainger, Scottish rower
* 1975 &ndash; Dario Simic, Croatian footballer

### From 1976 
* 1976 &ndash; Miroslaw Szymkowiak, Polish footballer
* 1977 &ndash; Benni McCarthy, South African footballer
* 1978 &ndash; Eric Addo, Ghanaian footballer
* 1978 &ndash; Ashley Williams, American actress
* 1980 &ndash; Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor
* 1980 &ndash; Charlie Hodgson, English rugby player
* 1981 &ndash; D. J. Campbell, English footballer
* 1982 &ndash; Maxim Tchoudov, Russian biathlete
* 1982 &ndash; Anne Hathaway, American actress
* 1983 &ndash; Carlton Cole, English footballer
* 1984 &ndash; Omarion, American singer
* 1985 &ndash; Adlène Guedioura, French–Algerian footballer
* 1987 &ndash; Bryan Little, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1988 &ndash; Russell Westbrook, American basketball player
* 1988 &ndash; Paul Samaras, American storm chaser (d. 2013)
* 1989 &ndash; Hiroshi Kiyotake, Japanese footballer
* 1990 &ndash; Taulupe Faletau, Welsh rugby union player
* 1990 &ndash; Florent Manaudou, French swimmer
* 1990 &ndash; James McCarthy, Irish footballer
* 1992 &ndash; Adam Larsson, Swedish ice hockey player
* 1992 &ndash; Giulietta, Australian singer
* 1992 &ndash; Trey Burke, American basketball player
* 2001 &ndash; Raffey Cassidy, English actress

## Deaths 
### Up to 1900 
* 607 &ndash; Pope Boniface III
* 1035 &ndash; Canute the Great, Danish king of England, Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden (b. 995)
* 1094 &ndash; King Duncan II of Scotland (b. 1060)
* 1139 &ndash; King Magnus IV of Norway (b. 1115)
* 1202 &ndash; King Canute VI of Denmark (b. 1163)
* 1434 &ndash; King Louis III of Naples (b. 1403)
* 1595 &ndash; John Hawkins, English shipbuilder, merchant, and slavetrader (b. 1532)
* 1671 &ndash; Thomas Fairfax, English Civil War general (b. 1612)
* 1720 &ndash; Peter Tordenskiold, Danish–Norwegian naval officer (b. 1690)
* 1742 &ndash; Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
* 1757 &ndash; Colley Cibber, English poet (b. 1671)
* 1793 &ndash; Jean Sylvain Bailly, French politician, first Mayor of Paris (executed on the Guillotine) (b. 1736)
* 1813 &ndash; J. Hector St John de Crèvecoeur, French–American writer (b. 1735) 
* 1836 &ndash; Juan Ramon Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (b. 1773)
* 1857 &ndash; Manuel Oribe, Uruguayan politician (b. 1792)
* 1865 &ndash; Elizabeth Gaskell, English writer (b. 1810)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1902 &ndash; William Henry Barlow, British railway engineer (b. 1812)
* 1903 &ndash; Camille Pissarro, French painter (b. 1830)
* 1912 &ndash; José Canalejas, Spanish politician and writer (b. 1854)
* 1916 &ndash; Percival Lowell, American astronomer (b. 1855)
* 1933 &ndash; John Cady, American golfer (b. 1866)
* 1933 &ndash; F. Holland Day, American photographer (b. 1864)
* 1939 &ndash; Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (b. 1890)
* 1942 &ndash; Laura Hope Crews, American actress (b. 1879)
* 1944 &ndash; Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician (b. 1876)
* 1945 &ndash; James W. Mott, American politician (b. 1883)
* 1946 &ndash; Albert Bond Lambert, American golfer (b. 1875)
* 1946 &ndash; Madan Mohan Malaviya, Indian academic and politician (b. 1861)
* 1948 &ndash; Umberto Giordano, Italian composer (b. 1867)
* 1950 &ndash; Lesley Ashburner, American athlete (b. 1883)
* 1958 &ndash; James Michael Curley, American politician, Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1874)
* 1969 &ndash; Iskander Mirza, President of Pakistan (b. 1899)
* 1969 &ndash; Liu Shaoqi, Chinese revolutionary and politician (b. 1898)
* 1974 &ndash; Thorbergur Thordarson, Icelandic writer (b. 1889)
* 1976 &ndash; Walter Piston, American composer (b. 1894)
* 1990 &ndash; Eve Arden, American actress (b. 1908)
* 1994 &ndash; Wilma Rudolph, American runner (b. 1940)
* 1997 &ndash; Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer (b. 1915)
* 2000 &ndash; Leah Rabin, widow of Yitzhak Rabin (b. 1928)

### From 2001 
* 2003 &ndash; Jonathan Brandis, American actor (b. 1976)
* 2007 &ndash; Ira Levin, American writer (b. 1929)
* 2008 &ndash; Mitch Mitchell, English drummer (b. 1947)
* 2010 &ndash; Henryk Gorecki, Polish composer (b. 1933)
* 2012 &ndash; Sergio Oliva, Cuban–born American bodybuilder (b. 1941)
* 2013 &ndash; Aleksandr Serebrov, Soviet–Russian cosmonaut (b. 1944)
* 2013 &ndash; John Tavener, English composer (b. 1944)
* 2014 &ndash; Warren Clarke, English actor (b. 1947)
* 2014 &ndash; Marge Roukema, American politician (b. 1929)
* 2014 &ndash; Rebekah Gibbs, English actress (b. 1973)
* 2015 &ndash; Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer (b. 1983)
* 2015 &ndash; Aaron Shikler, American artist (b. 1922)
* 2015 &ndash; Jihadi John, Kuwaiti–British terrorist (b. 1988)
* 2016 &ndash; Lupita Tovar, Mexican–American actress (b. 1910)
* 2017 &ndash; Bernard Panafieu, French cardinal (b. 1931)
* 2017 &ndash; Jack Ralite, French politician (b. 1928)
* 2017 &ndash; Edith Savage-Jennings, American activist (b. 1924)
* 2017 &ndash; Liz Smith, American gossip columnist (b. 1923)
* 2017 &ndash; Santiago Vernazza, Argentine footballer (b. 1928)
* 2018 &ndash; Ananth Kumar, Indian politician (b. 1959)
* 2018 &ndash; Stan Lee, American comic book writer, publisher and actor (b. 1922)
* 2018 &ndash; Igor Luchenok, Belarussian composer (b. 1938)
* 2018 &ndash; David Pearson, American racing driver (b. 1934)
* 2018 &ndash; Stuart H. Walker, American yachtsman (b. 1923)
* 2019 &ndash; Edwin Bramall, British army officer (b. 1923)
* 2019 &ndash; Herb Dickenson, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1931)
* 2019 &ndash; Bob Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1936)
* 2019 &ndash; Víctor Manuel Pérez Rojas, Venezuelan Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1940)
* 2019 &ndash; Mitsuhisa Taguchi, Japanese footballer (b. 1955)
* 2020 &ndash; Masatoshi Koshiba, Japanese physician (b. 1926)

## Observances 
* Birth of Baha'u'llah (Baha'i faith)
* Birth of Sun Yat-sen (Republic of China)
* World Pneumonia Day
* Constitution Day (Azerbaijan)