It happened today – this day in history – November 19

1274: The Mongol army lands at Hakata Bay in Japan during their first invasion attempt and are defeated;. A typhoon destroys most of the fleet as it withdraws.

1493: Christopher Columbus discovers Puerto Rico.

1581: Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich dies three days after being attacked by his father Ivan the Terrible.

1600: Birth of Charles I in Dunfermline.

1620: The Mayflower reaches Cape Cod.

1798: Irish revolutionary Wolfe Tone dies at 35 in unclear circumstances on the day he was to be hanged.

1824: A storm causes flooding in St Petersburg, killing 10,000.

1828: Austrian composer Franz Schubert dies from typhoid fever aged 31.

1850: Alfred Tennyson becomes Poet Laureate.

1863: Abraham Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg address.

1895: Frederick E. Blaisdell patents the pencil.

1905: 100 people drown when the steamer “Hilda” sinks in the English Channel.

1906: London is selected to host 1908 Olympics.

1911: New York receives the first Marconi radio transmission from Italy.

1923: Béla Bartòk’s “Tancsuite” premieres.

1926: The miners’ strike ends in Britain after 28 weeks.

1939: Superheroes Flash and Hawkman first appear in Flash Comics No 1 published by DC.

1940: The first major German air raid on Birmingham. 450 people are killed.

1942: Russia launches a winter offensive against the Germans.

1949: Coronation of Ranier III as ruling Prince of Monaco.

1950: General Dwight D Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of NATO-Europe.

1952: Spain joins UNESCO.

1955: Carl Perkins recorded ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ at Sun Studios in Memphis.

1961: Album chart:

1. Another Black And White Minstrel Show – The George Mitchell Minstrels
2. West Side Story – Original Soundtrack
3. Something For Everybody – Elvis Presley
4. The Black And White Minstrel Show – The George Mitchell Minstrels
5. 21 Today – Cliff Richard
6. Sound Of Music – Original London Cast
7. The Shadows – The Shadows
8. That’ll Be The Day – Buddy Holly
9. G.I. Blues – Elvis Presley
10. Sinatra Sings – Frank Sinatra

1968: After a military coup in Mali, president Modibo Keita flees.

1969: The Apollo 12 mission lands on the Moon.

1972: IRA leader Seán MacStiofáin is arrested in Dublin.

1977: President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, becomes the first Arab leader ever to visit Israel. On the same day, Libya drops diplomatic relations with Egypt.

1979: Chuck Berry is released from prison after serving a four-month sentence for tax evasion.

1983: Tom Evans, bassist with Badfinger, commits suicide aged 36 by hanging himself in his back garden from a willow tree. He co-wrote the song Without You with fellow band member Pete Ham, who had also killed himself a few years before.

1985: President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.

1990: Pop duo Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award after the revelation by producer Frank Faron that they did not sing on their album.

1994: Britain’s first national lottery draw is shown on BBC1. On the same day, singer-songwriter received a successful liver transplant in LA.

1998: Vincent van Gogh’s “Portrait of the Artist Without Beard” sells at auction for $71.5 million.

2000: Singles chart:

1. Can’t Fight The Moonlight – Leann Rimes
2. One More Time – Daft Punk
3. Who Let The Dogs Out – Baha Men
4. Please Don’t Turn Me On – Artful Dodger ft Lifford
5. Feel The Beat – Darude
6. Gravel Pit – Wu-Tang Clan
7. Number 1 – The Tweenies
8. Same Old Brand New You – A1
9. My Love – Westlife
10. Shape Of My Heart – The Backstreet Boys

2002: Michael Jackson dangles his baby from a third-floor hotel balcony in Berlin.

2004: Record producer Terry Melcher, the son of actress Doris Day and the Manson gang’s real target in 1969, dies aged 62 after a long battle with skin cancer.

2011: Cricket all-rounder Basil d’Oliveira dies form Parkinson’s disease aged 80.

2014: Film director Mike Nichols (Mikhail Peschkowsky) dies aged 83.

2017: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe refuses to resign in a TV speech after being ousted as leader of ruling ZANU-PF party. On the same day, cult leader Charles Manson dies in prison aged 83. Also, Czech tennis star Jana Novotná, dies from cancer aged 49.

2019: More than 1,000 protesters are detained by police after three-day battle at Hong King Polytechnic University. On the same day, Spurs sack manager Mauricio Pochettino and replace him with Jose Mourinho.

BIRTHDAYS: Larry King, TV host, 87; Dick Cavett, US TV personality, 84; Calvin Klein, fashion designer, 78; Fred Lipsius, saxophonist (Blood Sweat and Tears) 77; Eddie Rayner, keyboards, (Split Enz) 68; Bill Sharpe, pianist, (Shakatak) 68; Charlie Kaufman, screenwriter/director, 62; Allison Janney, actress, 61; Matt Sorum, drummer (Guns n Roses/Velvet Revolver) 60; Meg Ryan (Margaret Hyra) actress, 59; Jodie (Alicia) Foster, actress/director, 58; Jason Pierce, singer-songwriter (Spiritualized) 55; Laurent Blanc, football manager, 55; Adam Driver, actor, 37.