On this day in History - Nov. 18

0009 - Vespasian was born (d. 0079). Roman Emperor
1095 - The Council of Clermont began. The council was called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land.
1154 - Adélaide de Maurienne dies (b. 1092). Queen of Louis VI of France
1302 - Pope Boniface VIII issued the Papal bull Unam sanctam ("The One Holy"), which historians consider one of the most extreme statements of Papal spiritual supremacy ever made.
1305 - John II, Duke of Brittany dies (b. 1239)
1307 - According to legend, William Tell shoots an apple off his son's head.
1421 - A seawall at the Zuider Zee dike breaks, flooding 72 villages and killing about 10,000 people in the Netherlands.
1477 - William Caxton produces "Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres", the first English book printed on a printing press.
1493 - Christopher Columbus first sights what is now Puerto Rico. He will land on it the following day and name it San Juan Batista.
1522 - Lamoral, Count of Egmont was born (d. 1568).Flemish general and statesman
1559 - Cuthbert Tunstall dies (b. 1474). English churchman.
1590 - George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury dies (b. 1528). English statesman
1626 - St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated
1647 - Pierre Bayle was born (d. 1706). French philosopher
1686 - Charles Francois Felix operates on King of France Louis XIV's anal fistula after practicing the surgery on several peasants.
1724 - Bartolomeu de Gusmão dies (b. 1685). Portuguese naturalist
1785 - David Wilkie was born (d. 1841). Scottish artist
1786 - Carl Maria von Weber was born (d. 1826). German composer
1787 - Louis-Jacques Daguerre was born (d. 1851). French inventor and photographer.
1796 - Catharina II, "The Great" dies. Tsarina of Russia (1762-96).
1797 - Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat dies (b. 1719). French shipbuilder and merchant
1804 - Alfonso Ferrero la Marmora was born (d. 1878). Italian general and statesman
1814 - William Jessop dies (b. 1745). English civil engineer
1814 - Aleijadinho (Francisco Antonio Lisboa) dies in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais (b. 1730). Brazilien sculptor and architect, known for his beautiful Rococo statues and his churches
1832 - Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld was born (d. 1901). Swedish explorer
1836 - Sir William S. Gilbert was born (d. 1911). English dramatist
1836 - Cesare Lombroso was born (d. 1909). Italian psychiatrist and founder of criminology.
1839 - August Kundt was born (d. 1894). German physicist.
1856 - Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov was born (d. 1929). Grand Duke of Russia
1861 - Dorothea Dix was born (d. 1887). American activist (not to be confused with journalist, Dorothy Dix)
1870 - Dorothy Dix pseudonym of US journalist, Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer, was born (d. 1951)
1865 - Mark Twain's story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is published in the New York Saturday Press.
1874 - Clarence Day was born (d. 1935). American author
1882 - Jacques Maritain was born (d. 1973). French philosopher.
1882 - Wyndham Lewis was born. English artist and writer who founded the abstract Vorticist movement, which, in painting and literature before World War I, sought to relate art to the industrial process.
1882 - Amelita Galli-Curci was born in Milan. Famed operatic soprano.
1883 - Carl Vinson was born (d. 1981). U.S. Congressman
1883 - American and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.
1886 - Chester A. Arthur dies (b. 1829). 21st President of the United States
1889 - William Allingham dies. Irish author
1897 - Patrick Blackett was born (d. 1974). English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1898 - Joris Ivens was born (d. 1989). Dutch filmmaker.
1899 - Eugene Ormandy was born (d. 1985). Hungarian-born conductor.
1901 - George Gallup was born (d. 1984). American statistician and opinion pollster.
1903 - The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the Americans exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
1904 - General Esteban Huertas steps down after the government of Panama fears he wants to stage a coup. The Panamanian army is disbanded the next day.
1905 - Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.
1906 - Klaus Mann was born (d. 1949). German writer.
1906 - George Wald was born (d. 1997). American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1907 - Compay Segundo was born (d. 2003).Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club)
1908 - Imogene Coca was born (d. 2001). American actress and comedienne
1909 - Johnny Mercer was born (d. 1976). American lyricist.
1909 - Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of dictator José Santos Zelaya.
1914 - Iberê Camargo was born in Restinga Seca-RS . Brazilian painter
1916 - Amelita Galli-Curci, was born (d. 1963).Italian soprano.
1916 - World War I: First Battle of the Somme ends - In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.
1918 - Latvia declares its independence from Russia.
1921 - Estréia oficial da Selecção Portuguesa de Futebol.
1921 - Natália Nunes was born in Lisbon. Portuguese writer.
1922 - Luis Somoza Debayle was born (d. 1967). Nicaraguan president.
1922 - Marcel Proust dies (b. 1871). French novelist.
1923 - Alan Shepard was born (d. 1998). Astronaut.
1925 - Gene Mauch was born (d. 2005). Baseball manager.
1925 - Ênio Silveira was born (d. 1996). Brazilian sociologist.
1926 - George Bernard Shaw refuses to accept the money for his Nobel Prize, saying, "I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize."
1927 - Hank Ballard was born (d. 2003). American musician.
1928 - Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the second appearances of Cartoon stars Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
1929 - 1929 Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake centered on Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula area.
1935 - Rudolf Bahro was born (d. 1997). German dissident.
1938 - Trade union members elect John L. Lewis as the first president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
1939- Margaret Atwood was born. Canadian writer
1939 - Brenda Vaccaro was born. American actress
1940 - Qaboos ibn Sa’id was born. Sultan of Oman
1940 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.
1941 - David Hemmings was born (d. 2003). English actor.
1941 - John Christian Watson dies in Sydney.The first Labour prime minister of Australia
1941 - Walther Nernst dies (b. 1864). German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 - Chris Watson dies (b. 1867). third Prime Minister of Australia
1942 - Linda Evans was born. American actress
1943 - World War II: 440 Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF lost nine aircraft and 53 aviators.
1944 - Susan Sullivan was born. American actress
1946 - Alan Dean Foster was born. American author
1947 - Jameson Parker was born. American actor
1948 - Andrea Marcovicci was born. American singer and actress
1948 - Jack Tatum was born. American football player
1950 - Eric Pierpoint was born. American actor
1952 - Delroy Lindo was born in London. Actor
1952 - Paul Eluard dies (b. 1895). French poet
1953 - Frank Olson dies (suicide). American scientist
1953 - Alan Moore was born. English comic book writer and novelist
1954 - John Parr was born. British pop singer
1956 - Warren Moon was born. American football player
1957 - Seán Mac Falls was born. Irish-born poet
1958 - Laura Miller was born. mayor of Dallas, Texas
1958 - Claudia Jimenez was born in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian actress
1959 - William Wyler's film Ben-Hur premieres at Loew's Theater in New York City.
1960 - Elizabeth Perkins was born in Queens, New York. American actress
1960 - Kim Wilde was born. English singer
1962 - Kirk Hammett was born. American guitarist (Metallica)
1962 - Niels Bohr dies (b. 1885). Danish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1963 - Dante Bichette was born. baseball player
1963 - Peter Schmeichel was born. Danish footballer
1965 - Henry A. Wallace dies (b. 1888). Vice President of the United States
1966 - Jorge Camacho was born. Spanish poet
1966 - Jean Peugeot dies. French auto manufacturer.
1967 - Luis Somoza Debayle dies (b. 1922). Nicaraguan president
1968 - Owen Wilson was born in Dallas, Texas. American actor
1969 - Sam Cassell was born. American basketball player
1969 - Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. dies (b. 1888). American politician
1970 - US President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for US$155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government (US$85 million was for military assistance in order to help prevent the overthrow of the government of Premier Lon Nol by the Khmer Rouge and North Vietnam).
1970 - Singer Jerry Lee Lewis divorces his third wife, Myra Gail, after 12 years.
1971 - Hard rock band Led Zeppelin release an untitled album, often dubbed "Led Zeppelin IV," featuring "Rock & Roll," "Stairway to Heaven" and other classic songs.
1974 - Chloë Sevigny was born in Darien, Connecticut. American actress
1975 - David Ortiz was born. Dominican Major League Baseball player
1976 - Man Ray dies (b. 1890). American artist
1978 - Leo Ryan dies (b. 1905). U.S. Congressman.
1978 - Damien Johnson was born. Irish footballer
1978 - Jonestown mass suicide: In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his People's Temple in a mass murder-suicide; 913 die, including 276 children.
1982 - Mariasela Alvarez of Dominican Republic, crowned 32nd Miss World
1982 - Duk Koo Kim died unexpectedly from injuries sustained during a 14-round match against Ray Mancini in Las Vegas, prompting reforms in the sport of boxing.
1982 - Duk Koo Kim dies (b. 1959). Korean boxer.
1986 - Jon Johansen was born. Norwegian software developer
1985 - Calvin and Hobbes, a comic strip by Bill Watterson, was first published.
1985 - Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theisman breaks his leg on Monday Night Football, ending his pro football career.
1986 - Gia Carangi dies (b. 1960). American model.
1987 - Iran-Contra scandal: The U.S. Congress issues its final report on the Iran-Contra affair, stating that US President Ronald Reagan bore "ultimate responsibility" for wrongdoing by his aides and his administration exhibited "secrecy, deception, and disdain for the law."
1987 - King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station at King's Cross St Pancras.
1987 - Jacques Anquetil dies (b. 1934). French cyclist.
1988 - War on Drugs: US President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers.
1990 - Chris Eubank defeats Nigel Benn in arguably the greatest British boxing match ever.
1991 - Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon set Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland free.
1991 - After the 3-month siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar is invaded by Serbians
1991 - Gustáv Husák dies (b. 1913). President of Czechoslovakia.
1993 - In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution.
1994 - Cab Calloway dies (b. 1907). American bandleader.
1995 - Jacqueline Aguilera Marcano, 19, of Venezuela, crowned 45th Miss World
1996 - World-renowned bird expert Tony Silva is sentenced to seven years in prison without parole for leading an illegal parrot smuggling ring.
1996 - A fire occurs in the Channel Tunnel soon after it opened.
1997 - Gary Glitter is arrested in the United Kingdom on child porn charges.
1998 - Alice McDermott wins the National Book Award with her novel Charming Billy.
1999 - In College Station, Texas, 12 are killed and 28 injured at Texas A&M University when a huge bonfire under construction collapses.
1999 - In Jasper, Texas, 24-year old Shawn Allen Berry is sentenced to life in prison, becoming the third person convicted in the racially-motivated dragging death of James Byrd, Jr..
1999 - Paul Bowles dies (b. 1910). American novelist.
2001 - The Nintendo GameCube is released in North America
2002 - Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.
2002 - James Coburn dies (b. 1928). American actor.
2003 - In the UK the Local Government Act 2003, repealing the controversial anti-gay amendment Section 28, becomes effective.
2003 - The congress of the Communist Party of Indian Union (Marxist-Leninist) decides to merge the party into Kanu Sanyal's CPI(ML).
2003 - Michael Kamen dies (b. 1948). American composer
2004 - Russia officially ratifies the Kyoto Protocol.
Latvia - Independence Day (1918)
In Catholicism, the feast of St. Odo of Cluny, St Romanus of Antioch, St Mawes, and St Rose Philippine Duchesne Calvin and Hobbes Day (1985)