On this day in History - Nov. 2

• 0655 - IX Concilio de Toledo.
• 0676 - Donus becomes Pope replacing Pope Adeodatus II
• 0943 - Queen Emma of France dies (b. 0894).
• 1082 - Emperor Huizong of China was born (d. 1135).
• 1083 - Matilda of Flanders dies (b. 1031). Queen consort.
• 1285 - King Peter III of Aragon dies (b. 1239).
• 1327 - King James II of Aragon dies ( b. 1267).
• 1389 - Pope Boniface IX is elected.
• 1470 - Edward V was born. King of England.
• 1483 - Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham dies (b. 1454). English politician.
• 1512 -D. Leonor de Bragança dies (b. c. 1480). Portuguese noble.
• 1570 - A tidal wave in the North Sea devastates the coast from Holland to Jutland, killing more than 1,000 people.
• 1610 - Richard Bancroft dies (b. 1544). Archbishop of Canterbury.
• 1618 - Archduke Maximilian III of Austria dies (b. 1568).
• 1636 - Edward Colston was born (d. 1721). English merchant and philanthropist.
• 1667 - James Sobieski was born (d. 1721). Crown Prince of Poland.
• 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.
• 1692 - Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer was born (d. 1766). Dutch composer.
• 1696 - Conrad Weiser was born (d. 1760). Pennsylvania's ambassador to the Native Americans.
• 1699 - Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin was born (d. 1779). French painter.
• 1709 - Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange was born (d. 1759).
• 1716 - Engelbert Kaempfer dies (b. 1651). German physician and traveler.
• 1721 - Peter the Great Crowned: Tsar Peter I the Great declared himself emperor of Russia.
• 1734 - Daniel Boone was born (d. 1820). American frontiersman.
• 1739 - Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf was born (d. 1799). Austrian composer.
• 1739 - Charles Jervas dies (b. c. 1675). Irish portraits painter.
• 1741 - Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol was born (d. 1784). Dutch politician.
• 1755 - Marie Antoinette was born (d. 1793). Queen of France.
• 1766 - Joseph Radetzky von Radetz was born (d. 1858). Austrian field marshal.
• 1772 - American Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren form the first Committee of Correspondence.
• 1777 - Fortunat Alojzy Gonzaga Żółkowski was born (d. 1822). Polish actor.
• 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.
• 1795 - James Knox Polk was born (d. 1849). 11th President of the United States.
• 1807 - Baron de Breteuil dies (b. 1730). French statesman.
• 1808 - Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly was born (d. 1889). French writer.
• 1815 - George Boole was born (d. 1864). English mathematician and philosopher.
• 1820 - José Joaquim de Oliveira was born in São Cristóvão (d. 16 Sep 1872). Brazilian physician and writer.
• 1821 - Sir George Bowen was born (d. 1899). Governor of Queensland and Victoria (Australia) and of New Zealand and Hong Kong at various times.
• 1837 - Émile Bayard was born (d. 1891). French artist, illustrator.
• 1844 - Mehmed V was born (d. 1918). Ottoman Sultan.
• 1847 - Georges Sorel was born (d. 29 Aug 1922). French philosopher and sociologist.
• 1852 - Pyotr Kotlyarevsky dies (b. 1782). Russian general.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Fremont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.
• 1861 - Braz do Amaral was born (d. 1949). Brazilian physician and historian.
• 1863 - Theodore Judah dies (b. 1826). American railroad engineer
• 1865 - Warren G. Harding was born (d. 19213). 29th President of the United States.
• 1868 - Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally, and is perhaps the first country to do so.
• 1868 - Mário Pederneiras was born in Rio de Janeiro (d. 8 Feb 1915). Brazilian poet and journalist.
• 1873 - Dimitrie Paciurea was born (d. 13 Jul 1932). Romanian sculptor.
• Piro was born (d. 1933). Maltese founder of the Missionary Society of St. Paul.
• 1877 - Victor Trumper was born (d. 1915). Australian international test cricketer.
• 1877 - Teixeira de Pascoaes was born (d. 1952). Portuguese poet and writer.
• 1877 - Joseph De Piro was born (d. 1933). Maltese founder of the Missionary Society of St. Paul.
• 1877 - Aga Khan III was born (d. 1957). Shia Imam.
• 1877 - Friedrich Graf von Wrangel dies (b. 1784). Prussian field marshal.
• 1883 - Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve was born (d. 1947). Cardinal and archbishop of Quebec.
• 1885 - Harlow Shapley was born (d. 1972). American astronomer.
• 1886 - Dhirendranath Datta was born (d. 1971). Bangladeshi politician.
• 1887 - Jenny Lind dies (b. 1820). Swedish soprano.
• 1889 - North and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states.
• 1892 - Alice Brady was born (d. 1939). Academy Award-winning American actress.
• 1893 - Battista Farina was born (d. 1966). Founder of Pininfarina company.
• 1894 - Alexander Lippisch was born (d. 1976). German scientist.
• 1895 - The first gasoline-powered race in the United States. First prize: $2,000.
• 1897 - Vito Genovese was born (d. 1969). American gangster.
• 1898 - Cheerleading is started at the University of Minnesota with Johnny Campbell leading the crowd in cheering on the football team.
• 1898 - George Goyder dies (b. 1826). English-born surveyor-general of South Australia.
• 1899 - The Boers started their 118 day siege of British held Ladysmith during the Boer War.
  
• 1902 - Rudolph Albert von Kölliker dies. Swiss biologist.
• 1903 - Travis Jackson was born (d. 1987). American baseball player.
• 1904 - Louis Eugène Félix Néel was born (d. 2000). French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1905 - James Dunn was born (d. 1967). American actor.
• 1905 - Albert von Kölliker dies (b. 1817). Swiss anatomist.
• 1906 - Daniil Andreev was born (d. 1959). Russian poet, writer, and mystic.
• 1906 - Luchino Visconti was born. Italian film director (Damned, Death in Venice).
• 1907 - Joseph Rudyard Kipling won The Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1908 - Fred Bakewell was born (d. 1983). English cricketer.
• 1909 - Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity is founded at Boston University.
• 1910 - Enrique Molina was born. Argentine poet.
• 1908 - Fred Bakewell was born (d. 1983). English cricketer.
• 1910 - Fouad Serageddin was born (d. 1999). Egyptian politician.
• 1911 - Odysseus Elytis was born (d. 1996). Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate in 1979.
• 1911 - Raphael Robinson was born (d. 1995). American mathematician.
• 1913 - Burt Lancaster was born (b. 1994). American actor.
• 1914 - Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
• 1914 - Johnny Vander Meer was born (d. 1997). Baseball player.
• 1915 - Sidney Luft was born (d. 2005). American movie director.
• 1917 - The Balfour Declaration proclaims support for Jewish settlement in Palestine.
• 1919 - Jorge de Sena was born in Lisbon (d. 4 Jun 1978). Portuguese writer and poet.
• 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.
• 1920 - Ann Rutherford was born. American actress.
• 1921 - Shepard Menken was born (d. 1999). American voice actor.
• 1921 - Bill Mosienko was born (d. 19949. National Hockey League player.
• 1924 - Artur Semedo was born in Arronches (d. 8 Feb 2001). Portuguese actor and director.
• 1924 - Father David Bauer was born (d. 1988). Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1927 - Steve Ditko was born. American artist.
• 1927 - Luis Chacón was born. Venezuelan sculptor.
• 1929 - Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was born. President of Pakistan.
• 1929 - Richard E. Taylor was born. American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1930 - Haile Selassie is crowned emperor of Ethiopia.
• 1931 - Juan Zorrilla San Martín dies. Uruguyan poet.
• 1932 - Melvin Schwartz was born. American physicist who would win the 1988 Nobel Physics Prize, jointly with Lederman and Steinberger “for the neutrino beam method and the demonstration of the doublet structure of the leptons through the discovery of the muon neutrino”.
• 1932 - António Barbosa de Melo was born. Portuguese politician (PSD).
• 1934 - Bill Gothard was born. American speaker.
• 1934 - Ken Rosewall was born. Australian tennis champion.
• 1935 - Jock Cameron dies (b. 1905). South African cricketer.
• 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.
• 1936 - Jack Starrett was born (d. 1989). American actor and director.
• 1936 - Abdullah the Butcher was born. Canadian wrestler.
• 1937 - Earl Carroll was born. Lead vocalist of The Cadillacs.
• 1938 - Pat Buchanan was born. American journalist and politician.
• 1938 - Queen Sofia of Spain was born.
• 1938 - Jay Black was born. American singer (Jay and the Americans).
• 1940 - Jim Bakken was born. American football player.
• 1941 - Bruce Welch was born. Rhythm guitarist and songwriter (The Shadows).
• 1942 - Shere Hite was born. American author.
• 1942 - Stefanie Powers was born. American actress.
• 1944 - Keith Emerson was born. British keyboard player and composer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer).
• 1944 - Patrice Chéreau was born. French director, actor and producer.
• 1944 - Thomas Midgley dies (b. 1889). American chemist and inventor.
• 1945 - Costa Rica and Liberia join to United Nations/ Costa Rica e Libéria são admitidas como Estados-Membros da ONU.
  
• 1945 - Princess Thyra foes (b. 1880). Daughter of Frederick VIII of Denmark.
• 1946 - Giuseppe Sinopoli was born (d. 2001). Italian conductor and composer.
• 1946 - Alan Jones was born. Australian Formula One racing car driver.
• 1946 - Marieta Severo was born. Brazilian actress.
• 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.
• 1949 - The Netherlands and the Republic of Indonesia signed the Hague Agreement, an attempt to end conflict over Indonesia's proclaimed independence.
• 1949 - Simon Augustini was born. Albanian politician.
• 1949 - Jerome F. Donovan dies (b. 1872). American politician.
• 1950 - George Bernard Shaw dies (b. 1856). Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate in 1925.
• 1951 - Thomas Mallon was born. American novelist and critic.
• 1951 - Lindy Morrison was born. Australian musician (The Go-Betweens).
• 1952 - Maxine Nightingale was born. English singer.
• 1953 - The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan names the country The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
• 1954 - Pat Croce was born. American entrepreneur.
• 1955 - Chris Burnett was born. American musician.
• 1957 - The Levelland UFO Case in Levelland, Texas, generates national publicity, and remains one of the most impressive UFO cases in American history.
• 1957 - Carter Beauford was born. American drummer (Dave Matthews Band).
• 1958 - Willie McGee was born. American baseball player.
• 1959 - Said Aouita was born. Moroccan athlet.
• 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 in Britain, was opened between the present junctions 5 and 18.
• 1960 - Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case.
• 1960 - Tihomir Blaškić was born. Croatian war criminal.
• 1960 - Dimitri Mitropoulos dies (b. 1896). Greek conductor, pianist and composer.
• 1961 - James Thurber dies (b. 1894). American humorist.
• 1961 - k.d. lang was born. Canadian singer.
• 1962 - US President Kennedy announces end of Cuban Missile Crisis.
• 1962 - Mireille Delunsch was born. French soprano.
• 1963 - South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem is assassinated following a military coup.
• 1963 - Craig Saavedra was born. American filmmaker.
• 1963 - Ngo Dihn Diem dies killed in a couple (b. 1901). President of South Vietnam.
• 1964 - King Saud of Saudi Arabia was deposed by a family coup, and replaced by his half-brother King Faisal.
• 1964 - Britta Lejon was born. Swedish politician.
• 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.
• 1965 - Shahrukh Khan was born. Indian actor.
• 1966 - David Schwimmer was born in Astoria, Queens, New York. American actor.
• 1966 - The Cuban Adjustment Act enters force, allowing 123,000 Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the United States.
• 1966 - Tim Kirkman was born. American filmmaker.
• 1966 - Mississippi John Hurt dies (b. 1892). American blues singer.
• 1966 - Peter Debye dies (b. 1884). Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 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.
• 1967 - Kurt Elling was born. American jazz vocalist.
• 1967 - Marc van Roon was born. Dutch improvising musician.
• 1968 - Ultra Naté was born. American musician.
• 1969 - Reginald Arvizu was born. American bassist (KoЯn).
• 1970 - Richard Cardinal Cushing dies (b. 1895). Archbishop of Boston.
• 1971 - Dr. Gerhard Herzberg receives The Nobel Prize for Chemics.
• 1972 - Samantha Janus was born. British entertainer.
• 1972 - Darío Silva was born. Uruguayan footballer.
• 1972 - Vladimir Vorobiev was born. Russian ice hockey player.
• 1973 - The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India forms a 'United Front' in the state of Tripura.
• 1973 - Marisol Nichols was born. American actress.
• 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 club official barred the doors after the fire started.
• 1974 - Prodigy was born. American rapper (Mobb Deep).
• 1974 - Orlando Cabrera was born. Colombian baseball player.
• 1974 - Stéphane Sarrazin was born. French rally driver.
• 1974 - Nelly was born. American rapper.
• 1975 - Chris Walla was born. American musician (Death Cab for Cutie).
• 1975 - Pier Paolo Pasolini dies (b. 1922). Italian film director.
• 1976 - U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats incumbent Gerald Ford to become first candidate from deep south to win since the Civil War.
• 1976 - Sidney Ponson was born. Aruban baseball player.
• 1977 - Randy Harrison was born. American actor.
• 1977 - Jason Cerbone was born. American actor (The Sopranos).
• 1978 - Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro was born. Brazilian mixed-martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion.
• 1979 - Joseph Beuys opened his first exhibition at New York's Guggenheim Museum. It was the first time since the Second World War that the world’s attention was focused on German art.
• 1979 - Julie Lund was born. Danish actress.
• 1979 - Jacques Mesrine dies (b. 1936). French criminal.
• 1980 - Diego Lugano was born. Uruguyan football player.
• 1980 - Kim So-yeon was born. South Korean actress.
• 1981 - Antigua and Barbuda become independent from the United Kingdom.
• 1981 - Wilson Betemit was born. Dominican baseball player.
• 1981 - Avy Scott was born. American actress.
• 1982 - Channel 4 in the United Kingdom was launched.
• 1982 - Kyoko Fukada was born. Japanese actress, model and singer.
• 1983 - US President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King Day.
• 1984 - Capital punishment: Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962.
• 1984 - Julia Stegner was born. German supermodel.
• 1984 - Velma Barfield dies executed (b. 1932). American murderer.
• 1985 - A atleta portuguesa Aurora Cunha torna-se, pela segunda vez, campeã mundial de estrada.
• 1986 - 16th New York City Women's Marathon won by Grete Waitz in 2:28:06.
• 1986 - 17th New York City Marathon won by Gianni Poli in 2:11:06.
• 1986 - Erika Jo was born. American musician.
• 1986 - Lara Sacher was born. Australian actress.
• 1986 - Paul Frees dies (b. 1920). American voice actor.
• 1988 - The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, was launched from MIT.
• 1988 - Lindze Letherman was born. American actress (General Hospital).
• 1989 - Katelyn Tarver was born. American singer.
• 1990 - Moçambique: Nova Constituição que consagra o multipartidismo e a economia de mercado.
• 1991 - Bartholomew I becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople.
• 1991 - Jermaine Jackson's single Word to the Badd!, which attacks his brother Michael, is leaked to radio station KPWR in Los Angeles.
• 1991 - Frederick Chiluba assumes the presidency of Zambia.
• 1991 - Irwin Allen dies (b. 1916). American film producer.
• 1992 - Hal Roach dies (b. 1892). American director and producer.
• 1995 - Former South African defence minister General Magnus Malan and 10 other former senior military officers are arrested and charged with murdering 13 black people in 1987, (all the accused are later acquitted).
• 1995 - Álvaro Gómes Hurtado dies assassinated in Bogotá. Colombian journalist, diplomat and politician. President of Colombia ( 24 Nov 1982 - 5 Sep 1984).
• 1996 - Eva Cassidy dies (b. 1963). American singer.
• 1997 - 27th New York City Women Marathon won by Franziska Rochat-Moser of Switzerland 2:28:43.
• 1997 - 28th New York City Marathon won by John Kagwe of Kenya in 2:08:12.
• 1997 - Typhoon Linda kills at least 208 in southern Vietnam.
• 1998 - WWF hardcore title awarded to Mankind.
• 1998 - Vincent Winter dies (b. 1957). British actor.
• 2000 - The first crew arrives at the International Space Station.
• 2001 - Monsters, Inc. debuts with the best ticket sales ever for an animated film.
• 2001 - By a vote of 87-4 (Norway, Russia, Turkey, Venezuela) with 15 abstentions (Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, Israel, Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Uruguay) the 31st General Conference of UNESCO adopts the Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which took experts four years to finalize Text of the Convention in English.
• 2002 - In Norwegian-brokered peace negotiations held in Thailand, the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam agreed to set up a panel to discuss ways to share power.
• 2002 - Tonio Selwart dies (b. 1896). German actor.
• 2002 - Charles Sheffield dies (b. 1935). American author and physicist.
• 2003 - Frank McCloskey dies (b. 1939). American politician.
• 2004 - President George W. Bush wins U.S. Presidential Election over John Kerry.
• 2004 - Theo van Gogh dies shot (b. 1957). Dutch filmmaker (Submission). His murderer, Mohammed Bouyeri [08 Mar 1978~], was on 26 July 2005, sentenced to life in prison.
• 2004 - Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan dies (b. 1918). President of the United Arab Emirates.
• 2004 - Gerrie Knetemann dies (b. 1951). Dutch cyclist.
• Catholicism - All Souls Day / Dia dos fiéis defuntos, conhecido popularmente por Dia de finados.
• Ancient Latvia - Dveselu Diena held.
• Rastafari movement - The coronation of Haile Selassie celebrated.
• USA - admission day (1889) of North Dakota and South Dakota as 39th and 40th states.
• Brazil - Memorial Day (Portuguese: Dia de Finados), a Brazilian celebration of dead ancestors.
• Mexico - Day of the Dead (Spanish: El Dia de los Muertos), a Mexican and Mexican-American celebration of dead ancestors.