It happened today – this day in history – November 18

1307: William Tell reputedly shoots an apple off his son’s head.

1477: First English dated printed book “Dictes & Sayengis of the Phylosophers” by William Caxton.

1497: Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama reaches the Cape of Good Hope.

1626: The present St. Peter’s Basilica is consecrated.

1686: Charles Francois Felix operates on King Louis XIV of France’s anal fistula after practising the surgery on several peasants.

1738: France and Austria sign a peace treaty.

1742: Prussia & Brtain sign anti-French military covenant.

1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie’s troops occupy Carlisle.

1852: State funeral of the Duke of Wellington at St Paul’s Cathedral.

1902: Brooklyn toymaker Morris Michton names the teddy bear after US President Theodore Roosevelt.

1905: George Bernard Shaw’s “Major Barbara” premieres in London.

1906: Anarchist’s bomb St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

1909: The US invades Nicaragua.

1916: General Douglas Haig finally calls off the 1st Battle of the Somme in World War I after more than 1 million soldiers had been killed or wounded.

1918: Latvia declares independence from Russia.

1922: Death of French author Marcel Proust.

1926: George Bernard Shaw accepts the Nobel Prize for Literature but refuses the prize money.

1928: Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie is released, the first talking cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse.

1936: Germany and Italy recognise the Spanish government of General Francisco Franco.

1939: The IRA explodes three bombs in Piccadilly Circus.

1941: Mussolini’s forces leave Abyssinia.

1943: 444 British bombers attack Berlin.

1956: Morocco gains independence.

1964: Director of the FBI, J Edgar Hoover describes Martin Luther King as a “most notorious liar”.

1967: Harold Wilson’s government devalues the pound.

1970: Joe Frazier knocks out Bob Foster in the second round for the heavyweight boxing title.

1972: Guitarist and songwriter Danny Whitten dies of a drug overdose.

1976: Dada artist Man Ray dies aged 86.

1978: In Jonestown, Guyana 918 members of the People’s Temple are murdered or commit suicide under the leadership of cult leade r Jim Jones.

1979: Ayatollah Khomeini charges the US ambassador and embassy in Tehran with espionage.

1983: Argentina announces its ability to produce enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.

1984: The Soviet Union helps deliver American wheat during the Ethiopian famine.

1987: 31 people die in a fire at King’s Cross tube station.

1991: France deports Marlon Brando’s daughter Cheyenne. On the same day, Muslim Shi’ites release hostages Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland.

1994: Death of bandleader Cab Calloway aged 86.

1997: Gary Glitter is arrested by British police in a child porn probe.

2002: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.

2015: Death of New Zealand rugby union winger Jonah Lomu aged 40.

BIRTHDAYS: Margaret Atwood, author, 80; Herman Rarebell, musician (The Scorpions), 70; Graham Parker, singer, 69; Oscar Nunez, actor, 61; Cindy Blackman Santana, drummer, 60; Kim Wilde, singer, 59; Elizabeth Perkins, actress, 59; Kirk Hammett, guitarist (Metallica), 57; Peter Schmeichel, former goalkeeper, 56; Owen Wilson, actor, 51; Chloe Sevigny, actress, 45; Ant McPartlin, TV personality, 44.