From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
November 12 is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 49 days remaining.
[edit] Events
- 764 - Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days.
- 1028 - Future Byzantine empress Zoe marries Romanus Argyrus according to the wishes of the dying Constantine VIII
- 1439 - Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.
- 1893 - The treaty of the Durand Line was signed between present day Pakistan and Afghanistan and which has gained international recognition as an international border between the two sister-nations.
- 1905 - (November 12 & 13) Norway holds referendum in favour of monarchy over republic.
- 1912 - The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
- 1918 - Austria becomes a republic.
- 1922 - Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., was founded on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.
- 1927 - Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin with undisputed control of the Soviet Union.
- 1927 - The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicular tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City.
- 1933 - Hugh Gray takes the first known photos of the Loch Ness Monster.
- 1934 - The musical Babes in Toyland debuts, featuring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as comic relief (see Laurel and Hardy).
- 1936 - In California, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
- 1938 - Hermann Göring announces Nazi Germany plans to make Madagascar the "Jewish homeland", an idea that actually was first considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl.
- 1941 - World War II: Temperatures around Moscow drop to -12 ° C and the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.
- 1941 - A Soviet cruiser "Chervona Ukraina" was destroyed during the battle of Sevastopol
- 1942 - World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal, will last for three days.
- 1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force launches 29 Avro Lancaster bombers in one of the most successful precision bombing attacks of war and sinks the German battleship Tirpitz, with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs off Tromsø, Norway
- 1946 - A branch of the Exchange National Bank in Chicago opens the first ten drive-up teller windows.
- 1948 - In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials to death, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II.
- 1969 - Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre - Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the My Lai story.
- 1970 - The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now -infamous exploding whale incident
- 1971 - Vietnam War: As part of Vietnamization, US President Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
- 1979 - Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
- 1980 - The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes first images of its rings.
- 1981 - The 2nd shuttle mission of Columbia 2. It was the 1st time a spacecraft was launched twice.
- 1982 - In the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov becomes the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev.
- 1982 - Lech Wałęsa, Solidarity leader, is released from a Polish prison after eleven months.
- 1990 - Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.
- 1990 - Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
- 1991 - Dili Massacre, Indonesian forces opened fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.
- 1993 - Decree of President of Kazakhstan "About introducing national currency of Republic of Kazakhstan" was issued.
- 1993 - The first Ultimate Fighting Championship is held in Denver, Colorado.
- 1996 - A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, India killing 349. See New Delhi Air Crash.
- 1997 - Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
- 1998 - Daimler-Benz completes a merger with Chrysler to form Daimler-Chrysler.
- 1999 - Düzce earthquake in Turkey with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale.
- 2001 - In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 on its way to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.
- 2001 - 2001 Attack on Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops.
- 2003 - Occupation of Iraq: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
- 2004 - Scott Peterson is found guilty of first degree murder of his wife Laci Peterson and their unborn son Conner after a five-and-a-half month long trial.
- 2006 - The former Soviet republic of South Ossetia holds a referendum on independence from Georgia.
[edit] Births
- 1493 - Bartolommeo Bandinelli, Italian sculptor (d. 1560)
- 1528 - Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (d. 1588)
- 1606 - Jeanne Mance, French Canadian settler (d. 1673)
- 1615 - Richard Baxter, English clergyman (d. 1691)
- 1651 - Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican scholar, nun, and writer of the baroque school.
- 1729 - Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French explorer (d. 1811)
- 1755 - Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (d. 1813)
- 1795 - Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (d. 1856)
- 1815 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American women's rights activist (d. 1902)
- 1817 - Bahá'u'lláh, Persian founder of the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1892)
- 1833 - Alexander Borodin, Russian composer (d. 1887)
- 1840 - Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (d. 1917)
- 1842 - John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
- 1848 - Eduard Müller, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1919)
- 1850 - Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (d. 1908)
- 1866 - Sun Yat-sen, first President of the Republic of China (d. 1925)
- 1881 - Maximilian von Weichs, German field marshal (d. 1954)
- 1886 - Ben Travers, British playwright (d. 1980)
- 1889 - DeWitt Wallace, American magazine publisher (Reader's Digest) (d. 1981)
- 1896 - Salim Ali, Indian ornithologist (d. 1987)
- 1898 - Leon Štukelj, Slovene gymnast, Olympic gold medalist and athlete (d. 1999)
- 1903 - Jack Oakie, American actor (d. 1978)
- 1908 - Harry Blackmun, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1999)
- 1911 - Buck Clayton, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1991)
- 1915 - Roland Barthes, French critic and writer (d. 1980)
- 1916 - Jean Papineau-Couture, French Canadian composer (d. 2000)
- 1917 - Jo Stafford, American singer
- 1920 - Richard Quine, American actor (d. 1989)
- 1922 - Kim Hunter, American actress (d. 2002)
- 1923 - Vicco von Bülow, German graphic artist, actor and film director
- 1927 - Yutaka Taniyama, Japanese mathematician (d. 1958)
- 1929 - Michael Ende, German writer (d. 1995)
- 1929 - Grace Kelly, Princess Grace of Monaco, American actress (d. 1982)
- 1930 - Ann Flood, American actress
- 1931 - Bob Crewe, American songwriter and producer (The Four Seasons)
- 1934 - Charles Manson, American cult leader and mass murderer
- 1936 - Mills Lane, American judge and boxing referee
- 1936 - Mort Shuman, American songwriter and singer (d. 1991)
- 1938 - Denis DeJordy, National Hockey League goaltender
- 1939 - Ruby Nash Curtis, American singer (Ruby & the Romantics)
- 1939 - Lucia Popp, Slovakian soprano (d. 1993)
- 1940 - Michel Audet, Québécois economist and politician
- 1940 - Jürgen Todenhöfer, German politician
- 1943 - Brian Hyland, American singer
- 1943 - Wallace Shawn, American actor and playwright
- 1944 - Booker T. Jones, American musician, singer, and songwriter (Booker T and the MG's)
- 1944 - Al Michaels, American television sportscaster
- 1945 - Tracy Kidder, American journalist and author
- 1945 - Neil Young, Canadian singer, songwriter, and musician
- 1947 - Ron Bryant, baseball player
- 1947 - Patrice Leconte, French film director and screenwriter
- 1948 - Cliff Harris, American football player
- 1953 - Vasilis Karras, Greek singer
- 1958 - Megan Mullally, American actress
- 1961 - Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast
- 1961 - Enzo Francescoli, Uruguayan footballer
- 1961 - Michaela Paetsch, American violinist
- 1962 - Mark Hunter, National Hockey League player
- 1964 - David Ellefson, American musician (Megadeth)
- 1966 - David Schwimmer, American actor
- 1967 - Grant Nicholas, frontman of british rock group Feeder
- 1967 - Michael Moorer, American boxer
- 1968 - Glenn Gilberti, American professional wrestler
- 1968 - Sammy Sosa, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- 1968 - Aaron Stainthorpe, British singer (My Dying Bride)
- 1969 - Ian Bremmer, American political scientist
- 1969 - Kathleen Hanna, American singer and songwriter
- 1969 - Heinz-Christian Strache, Austrian politician
- 1969 - Johnny Gosch, child kidnap victim
- 1970 - Tonya Harding, American figure skater
- 1970 - Harvey Stephens, British child actor
- 1970 - Craig Parker, New Zealand actor
- 1970 - Donna Adamo, American female professional wrestler
- 1972 - Vassilis Tsiartas, Greek footballer
- 1973 - Mayte Garcia, American dancer
- 1973 - Radha Mitchell, Australian actress
- 1975 - Angela Watson, American actress
- 1976 - Tevin Campbell, American R&B musician
- 1976 - Judith Holofernes, German singer (Wir sind Helden)
- 1976 - Mirosław Szymkowiak, Polish footballer
- 1977 - Dalene Kurtis, American Playboy model
- 1978 - Andrew Kinlochan, English singer and musician
- 1978 - Ashley Williams, American actress
- 1979 - Matt Cappotelli, American professional wrestler
- 1979 - Cote de Pablo, Chilean actress
- 1980 - Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor
- 1980 - Trent Acid, American professional wrestler
- 1981 - DJ Campbell, English football player
- 1982 - Anne Hathaway, American actress
- 1984 - Omarion, American R&B musician
- 1984 - Sandara Park, South Korean actor
- 1986 - Evan Yo, Taiwanese pop singer
- 1992 - Macey Cruthird, American actress
[edit] Deaths
- 607 - Pope Boniface III
- 1035 - Canute the Great
- 1094 - King Duncan II of Scotland (b. 1060)
- 1434 - King Louis III of Naples
- 1555 - Stephen Gardiner, English statesman
- 1567 - Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France (b. 1493)
- 1595 - John Hawkins, English shipbuilder and trader (b. 1532)
- 1667 - Hans Nansen, Danish statesman (b. 1598)
- 1671 - Thomas Fairfax, English Civil War general (b. 1612)
- 1742 - Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
- 1757 - Colley Cibber, English poet (b. 1671)
- 1836 - Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (b. 1773)
- 1865 - Elizabeth Gaskell, English novelist (b. 1810)
- 1916 - Percival Lowell, American amateur astronomer, founder of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona (b. 1855)
- 1939 - Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (b. 1890)
- 1941 - Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, American mobster (b. 1907)
- 1944 - Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician (b. 1876)
- 1948 - Umberto Giordano, Italian composer (b. 1867)
- 1955 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878)
- 1965 - Syedna Taher Saifuddin, Bohra Spiritual Leader (b. 1888)
- 1972 - Rudolf Friml, composer of operettas (b. 1879)
- 1976 - Walter Piston, American composer (b. 1894)
- 1981 - William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)
- 1984 - Chester Himes, American author (b. 1909)
- 1990 - Eve Arden, American actress (b. 1908)
- 1993 - H. R. Haldeman, White House Chief of Staff (b. 1926)
- 1994 - Wilma Rudolph, American runner (b. 1940)
- 1997 - Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer (b. 1915)
- 2000 - Leah Rabin, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, (b. 1928)
- 2000 - Franck Pourcel, French popular orchestra leader (b. 1913)
- 2001 - Tony Miles, English chess player (b. 1955)
- 2003 - Jonathan Brandis, American actor (b. 1976)
- 2003 - Penny Singleton, American actress (b. 1908)
- 2003 - Tony Thompson, American drummer (CHIC, Power Station) (b. 1954)
- 2003 - Kay E. Kuter, American actor (b. 1925)
- 2004 - Tito Francona, baseball player (b. 1933)
- 2005 - William G. Adams, former mayor of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. (b. 1923)
- 2006 - General Jacob E. Smart, US Air Force leader World War II (b. 1909)
[edit] Holidays and observances
[edit] Fiction
- 1955 - In the Back to the Future film trilogy, this is a key date. Lightning strikes the Hill Valley, California Clock Tower at exactly 10:04 PM, stopping the clock's arms for several decades. This storm sends Marty McFly back to 1985 in Doc's De Lorean time machine, and the date Marty gets his parents together. In Back to the Future Part II, Marty and Doc Brown return to this date to stop Biff Tannen from changing history. Doc Brown hypothesizes that this date might hold some special significance, being the temporal junction point for the entire space-time continuum (or, as he says, "it could just be an amazing coincidence").
[edit] External links
