It happened today – this day in history – November 19
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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:
- Another Black And White Minstrel Show – The George Mitchell Minstrels
- West Side Story – Original Soundtrack
- Something For Everybody – Elvis Presley
- The Black And White Minstrel Show – The George Mitchell Minstrels
- 21 Today – Cliff Richard
- Sound Of Music – Original London Cast
- The Shadows – The Shadows
- That’ll Be The Day – Buddy Holly
- G.I. Blues – Elvis Presley
- 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:
- Can’t Fight The Moonlight – Leann Rimes
- One More Time – Daft Punk
- Who Let The Dogs Out – Baha Men
- Please Don’t Turn Me On – Artful Dodger ft Lifford
- Feel The Beat – Darude
- Gravel Pit – Wu-Tang Clan
- Number 1 – The Tweenies
- Same Old Brand New You – A1
- My Love – Westlife
- 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.
