November 2
is the 306th day of the year (307th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining.
*
676 -
Donus became
Pope.
*
1675 - A combined attack by the
Plymouth,
Rhode Island,
Massachusetts Bay and
Connecticut colonies attacks the Great Swamp Fort, owned by the
Narragansetts during
King Philip's War.
*
1772 -
American Revolutionary War:
Samuel Adams and
Joseph Warren form the first
Committee of Correspondence.
*
1783 - In
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, US General
George Washington gives his "Farewell Address to the Army".
*
1795 - The
French Directory succeeds the French
National Convention as the government of Revolutionary France.
*
1861 -
American Civil War: Western Department
Union General
John C. Fremont is relieved of command and replaced by
David Hunter.
*
1868 -
Time zone:
New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally, and is perhaps the first country to do so.
*
1889 -
North and
South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th
U.S. states.
*
1895 - The first gasoline-powered race in the
United States. First prize: $2,000
*
1899 - The
Boers started their 118 day
siege of
British held
Ladysmith during the
Second Boer War.
*
1914 -
Russia declares war on the
Ottoman Empire.
*
1917 -
Zionism: The
Balfour Declaration proclaims support for
Jewish settlement in
Palestine.
*
1920 - In the
United States,
KDKA of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania starts broadcasting as the first commercial
radio station. The first broadcast was the results of the
U.S. presidential election, 1920.
*
1930 -
Haile Selassie is crowned emperor of
Ethiopia.
*
1936 - The
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is established.
* 1936 -
Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini proclaims the Rome-Berlin Axis, establishing the alliance of the
Axis Powers.
* 1936 - the
British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the
BBC Television Service, the world's first regular, high-definition (then defined as at least 200 lines) service. Renamed BBC1 in
1964, the channel still runs to this day.
*
1947 - In
California, Designer
Howard Hughes performs the maiden flight of the
Spruce Goose; the largest fixed-wing
aircraft ever built.
*
1948 -
U.S. presidential election, 1948:
Harry S. Truman defeats
Thomas E. Dewey for the
US presidency.
*
1953 - The Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan names the country The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
*
1957 - The
Levelland UFO Case in
Levelland, Texas, generates national publicity, and remains one of the most impressive
UFO cases in American history.
*
1959 -
Quiz show scandals: "Twenty-One"
game show contestant
Charles Van Doren admits to a
Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.
* 1959 -
Ice Hockey: After being struck in the face with a puck,
goalkeeper Jacques Plante returns to play wearing a protective
mask for the first time in professional play.
* 1959 - The first section of the
M1 motorway, the first inter-urban
motorway in the
United Kingdom, was opened between the present junctions 5 and 18, along with the
M10 motorway and [[M45 motorway]
*
1960 -
Penguin Books is found not guilty of
obscenity in the
Lady Chatterley's Lover case
*
1963 -
South Vietnamese President
Ngô Ðìhn Diệm is assassinated following a military
coup.
*
1964 -
King Saud of
Saudi Arabia was deposed by a family
coup, and replaced by his half-brother
King Faisal.
*
1965 - At 5:15 P.M.,
Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old
Quaker, set himself on fire in front of the river entrance to the
Pentagon to protest the use of
napalm in the Vietnam war.
*
1966 - The
Cuban Adjustment Act enters force, allowing 123,000
Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the
United States.
*
1967 -
Vietnam War: US President
Lyndon B. Johnson and "the Wise Men" conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war.
*
1974 - 78 die as the
Time Go-Go Club in
Seoul,
South Korea burns down. Six of the victims jumped to their deaths from the seventh floor after a club official barred the doors after the fire started.
*
1981 -
Antigua and Barbuda become independent from the United Kingdom.
*
1982 -
Channel 4 in the United Kingdom was launched.
*
1983 - U.S. President
Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating
Martin Luther King Day, the only current national holiday honoring an individual American.
*
1984 -
Capital punishment:
Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the
United States since
1962.
*
1988 - The
Morris worm, the first
internet-distributed
computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, was launched from
MIT.
*
1991 -
Bartholomew I becomes the
Patriarch of Constantinople.
*
1992 -
Douglas Adams finally
announces why he chose 42 to be
The Answer to Life, the_Universe, and Everything*
1998 - WWF hardcore title awarded to Mankind
*
2000 - The first crew arrives at the
International Space Station.
*
1082 -
Emperor Huizong of China (d.
1135)
*
1636 -
Edward Colston, English merchant and philanthropist (d.
1721)
*
1667 -
James Sobieski, Crown Prince of Poland (d.
1737)
*
1692 -
Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer, Dutch composer (d.
1766)
*
1699 -
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter (d.
1779)
*
1709 -
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (d.
1759)
*
1734 -
Daniel Boone, American frontiersman (d.
1820)
*
1739 -
Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Austrian composer (d.
1799)
*
1741 -
Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, Dutch politician (d.
1784)
*
1755 -
Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (d.
1793)
*
1766 -
Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal (d.
1858)
*
1795 -
James Knox Polk, 11th
President of the United States (d.
1849)
*
1808 -
Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, French writer (d.
1889)
*
1815 -
George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (d.
1864)
*
1821 -
Sir George Bowen, British provincial governor (d.
1899)
*
1844 -
Mehmed V,
Ottoman Sultan (d.
1918)
*
1865 -
Warren G. Harding, 29th
President of the United States (d.
1923)
*
1877 -
Joseph De Piro, Maltese founder of the Missionary Society of St. Paul (d.
1933)
* 1877 -
Victor Trumper, Australian cricketer (d.
1915)
* 1877 -
Aga Khan III, Shia Imam (d.
1957)
*
1885 -
Harlow Shapley, American astronomer (d.
1972)
*
1886 -
Dhirendranath Datta, Bangladeshi politician (d.
1971)
*
1893 -
Battista "Pinin" Farina, founder of Pininfarina coachbuilding company (d.
1966)
*
1894 -
Alexander Lippisch, German scientist (d.
1976)
*
1897 -
Vito Genovese, American gangster (d.
1969)
*
1903 -
Travis Jackson, baseball player (d.
1987)
*
1906 -
Daniil Andreev, Russian poet, writer, and mystic (d.
1959)
*
1908 -
Fred Bakewell, English cricketer (d.
1983)
*
1911 -
Odysseus Elytis, Greek writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1996)
* 1911 -
Raphael Robinson, US mathematician (d.
1995)
*
1913 -
Burt Lancaster, American actor (d.
1994)
*
1914 -
Johnny Vander Meer, baseball player (d.
1997)
*
1921 -
Shepard Menken, American voice actor
*
1927 -
Steve Ditko, American artist
*
1929 -
Muhammad Rafiq Tarar,
President of Pakistan* 1929 -
Richard E. Taylor, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
1934 -
Bill Gothard, Conservative Christian speaker
*
1934 -
Ken Rosewall, Australian tennis champion
*
1936 -
Jack Starrett, American actor and director (d.
1989)
* 1936 -
Abdullah the Butcher, Wrestler
*
1938 -
Pat Buchanan, American journalist and politician
* 1938 -
Queen Sofia of Spain*
1941 -
Bruce Welch, English musician and songwriter (
The Shadows)
*
1942 -
Shere Hite, American author
* 1942 -
Stefanie Powers, American actress
*
1944 -
Keith Emerson, British keyboardist and composer (
Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
*
1946 -
Alan Jones, Australian race car driver
* 1946 -
Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (d.
2001)
*
1954 -
Pat Croce, American entrepreneur
*
1958 -
Willie McGee, baseball player
*
1960 -
Tihomir Blaškić, Croatian war criminal
*
1961 -
k.d. lang, Canadian musician
*
1963 -
Craig Saavedra, American filmmaker
*
1965 -
Shahrukh Khan, Indian actor
*
1966 -
Tim Kirkman, American filmmaker
*
1967 -
Kurt Elling, American Jazz Vocalist
*
1969 -
Reginald Arvizu, American bassist (
KoЯn)
*
1970 -
Sharmell Sullivan, American professional wrestling valet
*
1972 -
Samantha Janus, British entertainer
*
1974 -
Nelly, American rapper (
St. Lunatics)
* 1974 -
Prodigy, American rapper (
Mobb Deep)
*
1976 -
Sidney Ponson, Aruban Major League baseball player
*
1979 -
Julie Lund, Danish actress
*
1982 -
Kyoko Fukada, Japanese actress and singer
*
1984 -
Julia Stegner, German supermodel
*
1986 -
Erika Jo, American musician
* 1986 -
Lara Sacher, Australian actress
*
1989 -
Katelyn Tarver, American singer
*
1083 -
Matilda of Flanders, was
Queen consort of the
Kingdom of England (b.
1031)
*
1285 - King
Peter III of Aragon (b.
1239)
*
1327 - King
James II of Aragon (b.
1267)
*
1483 -
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English politician (b.
1454)
*
1610 -
Richard Bancroft,
Archbishop of Canterbury (b.
1544)
*
1618 - Archduke
Maximilian III of Austria (b.
1568)
*
1716 -
Engelbert Kaempfer, German physician and traveler (b.
1651)
*
1807 -
Baron de Breteuil, French statesman (b.
1730)
*
1852 -
Pyotr Kotlyarevsky, Russian general (b.
1782)
*
1863 -
Theodore Judah, American railroad engineer (b.
1826)
*
1877 -
Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, Prussian field marshal (b.
1784)
*
1887 -
Jenny Lind, Swedish soprano (b.
1820)
*
1898 -
George Goyder, English-born surveyor-general of South Australia (b.
1826)
*
1905 -
Albert von Kölliker, Swiss anatomist (b.
1817)
*
1935 -
Jock Cameron, South African cricketer (b.
1905)
*
1944 -
Thomas Midgley, American chemist and inventor (b.
1889)
*
1950 -
George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1856)
*
1960 -
Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek conductor, pianist, and composer (b.
1896)
*
1961 -
James Thurber, American humorist (b.
1894)
*
1963 -
Ngo Dihn Diem, President of South Vietnam (b.
1901)
*
1966 -
Peter Debye, Dutch chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1884)
*
1975 -
Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian film director (b.
1922)
*
1984 -
Velma Barfield, American murderer (executed) (b.
1932)
*
1986 -
Paul Frees, American voice actor (b.
1920)
*
1992 -
Hal Roach, American director and producer (b.
1892)
*
2002 -
Tonio Selwart, German actor (b.
1896)
* 2002 -
Charles Sheffield, American author and physicist (b.
1935)
*
2003 -
Frank McCloskey, American politician (b.
1939)
*
2004 -
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, President of the United Arab Emirates (b.
1918)
* 2004 -
Theo van Gogh, Dutch filmmaker (b.
1957)
* 2004 -
Gerrie Knetemann, Dutch cyclist (b.
1951)
*
Catholicism -
All Souls Day (unless on a
Sunday)
*Ancient
Latvia -
Dveselu Diena held
*
Mexico and the
United States -
Day of the Dead (
Spanish: El Dia de los Muertos), a Mexican and
Mexican-American celebration of dead ancestors.
*
USA - admission day (
1889) of
North Dakota and
South Dakota as 39th and 40th states.
*
Rastafari movement - The coronation of
Haile Selassie (
1930) celebrated
*
BBC: On This DayNovember 1 -
November 3 -
October 2 -
December 2 --
listing of all dates
