On this day in History - Nov. 25

• 0311 - Peter of Alexandria dies. Christian martyr.
• 1034 - Malcolm II of Scotland dies killed (b. 0980). Duncan, the son of his second daughter, inherits the throne ahead of Macbeth, the son of his eldest daughter.
• 1120 - The White Ship sinks in the English Channel, drowning William Adelin (b. 1104), son of Henry I of England.
• 1177 - Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Chatillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.
• 1185 - Pope Lucius III dies (b. 1087).
• 1326 - Prince Koreyasu dies (b. 1264). Japanese shogun.
• 1374 - Philip II of Taranto dies (b. 1329). Emperor of Costantinople.
• 1454 - Catherine Cornaro was born (d. 1510). Queen of Cyprus.
• 1456 - Jacques Cœur dies. French merchant.
• 1491 - The siege of Granada, last Moorish stronghold in Spain, begins.
• 1501 - Yi Hwang was born (d. 1570). Confucian scholar.
• 1542 - Battle of Solway Moss. The English army defeats the Scottish.
• 1560 - Andrea Doria dies (b. 1466). Italian naval leader.
• 1562 - Félix Lope de Vega was born in Madrid (d. 1635). Spanish playwright and poet.
• 1577 - Piet Hein was born (d. 1629). Dutch naval commander and folk hero.
• 1609 - Henrietta Maria was born (d. 1669). Queen of Charles I of England.
• 1626 - Edward Alleyn dies (b. 1566). English actor.
• 1638 - Catherine of Braganza was born (d. 1705). Queen of Charles II of England, daughter of John IV of Portugal and D. Luisa Francisco de Gusmão.
• 1667 - A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha, Caucasia, killing 80,000 people.
• 1686 - Nicolas Steno dies (b. 1638). Danish geologist.
• 1694 - Ismael Bullialdus dies (b. 1605). French astronomer.
• 1700 - Stephanus Van Cortlandt dies (b. 1643). First native Mayor of New York.
• 1703 - The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the British Isles, reaches its peak intensity and maintains it through November 27. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people perish in the mighty gale.
• 1703 - Jean-François Séguier was born (d. 1784). French astronomer and botanist.
• 1712 - Charles-Michel de l'Épée was born (d. 1789). French philanthropist and developer of 'Signed French'.
• 1714 - Yoriyuki Arima was born (d. 1783). Japanese mathematician.
• 1748 - Isaac Watts dies (b. 1674). British hymnwriter.
• 1755 - King Ferdinand IV of Spain granted the Beaterio dela Compania de Jesus or now known as the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary(RVM) a royal protection.
• 1755 - Johann Georg Pisendel dies (b. 1687). German musician.
• 1758 - French and Indian War: British forces capture Fort Duquesne from French control.
• 1758 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is founded.
• 1778 - Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck was born (d. 1856). British Christian writer.
• 1783 - American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
• 1785 - Richard Glover dies (b. 1712). British poet.
• 1795 - Partitions of Poland: Stanislaus August Poniatowski, the last king of independent Poland, is forced to abdicate and exiled to Russia.
• 1814 - Julius Robert von Mayer was born (d. 1878). German physician and physicist.
• 1817 - John Bigelow was born (d. 1911). American statesman and author.
• 1826 - The Greek frigate Hellas arrives in Nafplion to become the first flagship of the Hellenic Navy.
• 1835 - Andrew Carnegie was born (d. 1919). British-born industrialist and philanthropist
• 1839 - Disastrous cyclone slams India with terrible winds and a 40 foot storm surge, literally wiping out the port city of Coringa, never to be entirely rebuilt again. Powerful winds level everything in sight, the storm wave sweeps inland tens of miles, taking with it 20,000 ships and thousands of people. An estimated 300,000 deaths resulted from the disaster, making this one of history's greatest catastrophes.
• 1841 - Ernst Schröder was born (d. 1902). German mathematician.
• 1843 - Henry Ware Eliot was born (d. 1919). American industrialist, philanthropist and the father of T. S. Eliot.
  
• 1844 - Karl Benz was born (d. 1929). German mechanical engineer who designed and built in 1885 the world's first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine.
• 1845 - José Maria Eça de Queiroz was born in Póvoa de Varzim (d. 1900). Portuguese writer. His works include "O Crime do Padre Amaro" (1875), "O Primo Basílio" (1878), "Os Maias" (1888), A Ilustre Casa de Ramires (1894), this one published after his death.
• 1846 - Carry Nation was born in Garrard County, Kentucky (d. 1911). American temperance advocate.
• 1858 - Alfred Capus was born (d. 1922). French author.
• 1862 - Ethelbert Nevin was born (d. 1901). American pianist and composer.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Missionary Ridge - At Missionary Ridge in Tennessee, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the Siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg.
• 1864 - American Civil War: A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City.
• 1865 - Heinrich Barth dies (b. 1821). German explorer.
• 1867 - Alfred Nobel patents dynamite.
• 1869 - Ben Lindsey was born (d. 1934). American judge and social reformer.
• 1870 - Winthrop Ames was born (d. 1937). American theatrical director.
• 1874 - Joe Gans was born (d. 1910). American boxer.
• 1874 - The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party consisting primarily of farmers affected by the Panic of 1873.
• 1876 - Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack Chief Dull Knife's sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River.
• 1876 - Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was born (d. 1936). Grand Duchess of Hesse.
• 1880 - Elsie J. Oxenham was born (d. 1960). British children's author.
• 1881 - Angelo Roncalli was born in Sotto il Monte, Italy (d. 1963). In 1958 he become Pope John XXIII.
• 1881 - Theobald Boehm dies (b. 1794). German inventor of the modern flute.
• 1883 - Harvey Spencer Lewis was born (d. 1939). American mystic.
• 1883 - Merrill C. Meigs was born (d. 1968). American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter.
• 1884 - Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe dies (b. 1818). German chemist.
• 1885 - King Alfonso XII of Spain dies (b. 1857).
• 1885 - Thomas Hendricks dies (b. 1819). Vice President of the United States.
• 1886 - Patricio Escobar Cáceres sworn as President of Paraguay.
• 1887 - Nikolai Vavilov was born (d. 1943). Russian physicist.
• 1890 - Juan Gualberto González becomes President of Paraguay.
• 1890 - Isaac Rosenberg was born (d. 1918). English war poet and artist.
• 1893 - António Guilhermino Dias, Portuguese actor, dies on stage at Teatro do Princípe Real - Porto.
• 1894 - Juan Bautista Luis Egusquiza Isasi becomes President of Paraguay.
• 1895 - Helen Hooven Santmyer was born (d. 1986). American writer.
• 1895 - Wilhelm Kempff was born (d. 1991). German conductor.
• 1895 - Ludvík Svoboda was born (d. 1979). President of Czechoslovakia.
• 1896 - Virgil Thomson was born (d. 1989). American composer and music critic.
• 1897 - Spain grants Puerto Rico autonomy.
• 1898 - Emilio Aceval Marín becomes President of Paraguay.
• 1900 - Rudolf Hoess was born (d. 1947). Commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
• 1901 - Arthur Liebehenschel was born (d. 1948). Commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp.
• 1902 - Juan Antonio Escurra becomes President of Paraguay.
• 1902 - Eddie Shore was born (d. 1985). Canadian baseball player.
• 1904 - Ba Jin was born (d. 2005). Chinese novelist.
• 1904 - Lillian Copeland was born (d. 1964). American athlete.
• 1904 - Pa Kin was born. Chinese writer.
• 1904 - Toni Ortelli was born (d. 2000). Italian composer and alpinist.
• 1905 - The Danish Prins Carl arrives in Norway to become King Haakon VII of Norway.
• 1906 - Benigno Asunción Ferreira becomes President of Paraguay.
• 1907 - John Stuart Hindmarsh was born (d. 1938). British racing driver and aviator.
• 1910 - Manuel Gondra Pereira becomes President of Paraguay.
• 1911 - Roelof Frankot was born (d. 1984). Dutch painter.
• 1913 - Panama becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1913 - Lewis Thomas was born (d. 1993). American physician and essayist.
• 1914 - Joe DiMaggio was born (d. 1999). American baseball player.
• 1914 - Léon Zitrone was born (d. 1995). Russian-born French journalist and television host.
• 1915 - Augusto Pinochet was born (d. 2006). Chilean politician.
• 1917 - Russia holds its last free election for more than 50 years.
• 1918 - Vojvodina, former Austro-Hungarian crownland, proclaims its secession from this state to join the Kingdom of Serbia.
• 1920 - Noel Neill was born. American actress.
• 1920 - Ricardo Montalbán was born. Mexican actor.
• 1920 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail was born (d. 2000). King of Malaysia.
• 1920 - Gaston Chevrolet dies (b. 1892). Swiss-born race car driver and automobile pioneer.
• 1922 - Gloria Lasso was born (d. 2005). French-Spanish singer.
• 1923 - Mauno Koivisto was born. Former president of Finland.
• 1924 - Takaaki Yoshimoto was born. Japanese poet, critic, and philosopher.
• 1925 - Jeffrey Hunter was born (d. 1969). American actor.
• 1926 - The worst, deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. November history strikes on Thanksgiving day. 27 twisters of great strength reported in the midwest, including the strongest November tornado, an F4, that devastates Heber Springs, Arkansas. 51 deaths in Arkansas alone, 76 deaths and over 400 injuries in all.
• 1926 - Jeffrey Hunter was born (d. 1969). American actor.
• 1926 - Poul Anderson was born (d. 2001). American writer.
• 1933 - Kathryn Grant was born. American actress.
• 1935 - Iyasu V dies. Emperor of Ethiopia (1913-1916).
• 1936 - In Berlin, Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, thus agreeing to consult on what measures to take "to safeguard their common interests" in case of an unprovoked attack by the Soviet Union against either nation.
• 1936 - Trisha Brown was born. American choreographer and dancer.
• 1938 - Rosanna Schiaffino was born. Italian actress.
• 1939 - Martin Feldstein was born. American economist.
• 1940 - First flight of the deHavilland Mosquito and Martin B-26 Marauder.
• 1940 - Woody Woodpecker first appears, in the film "Knock Knock".
• 1940 - Reinhard Furrer was born (d. 1995). American physicist and astronaut.
• 1940 - Joe Gibbs was born. American football coach.
• 1941 - Finland joined the Anti-Comintern Pact.
• 1941 - Percy Sledge was born. American musician.
• 1941 - Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi was born (d. 2001). Pakistan Muslim Sufi, author, spiritual leader.
• 1942 - Bob Lind was born. American folk singer and songwriter.
• 1942 - Alfredo Carneiro da Cunha dies in Lisbon (b. in Fundão, 21 Dec 1863). Portuguese poet and journalist.
• 1943 - Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina was re-established at the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia.
• 1944 - World War II: A German V-2 rocket hits a Woolworth's store in Deptford, killing 160 shoppers.
• 1944 - Ben Stein was born. American actor, game show host, and political consultant.
• 1944 - Kenesaw Mountain Landis dies (b. 1866). American baseball commissioner.
• 1945 - George Webster was born (d. 2007). American football player.
• 1945 - Patrick Nagel was born (d. 1984). American artist.
• 1946 - Bev Bevan was born. English rock drummer (The Move, Electric Light Orchestra).
• 1946 - Slim Borgudd was born in Borgholm, Kalmar. Swedish F1 car racer (1981 - 1982 : 10 GP).
• 1947 - Red Scare: The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.
• 1947 - New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.
• 1947 - John Larroquette was born. American actor.
• 1947 - Jonathan Kaplan was born. American filmmaker.
• 1947 - Tracey Walter was born. American actor.
• 1947 - Léon-Paul Fargue dies (b. 1876). French poet.
• 1948 - Jacques P. Dupuis was born. French Canadian politician.
• 1948 - Kanbun Uechi was born (d. 1877). Karate master.
• 1949 - Bill "Bojangles" Robinson dies (b. 1878). African American entertainer.
• 1950 - The People's Republic of China joins the Korean War, sending thousands of troops across the Yalu river border to fight United Nations forces.
• 1950 - The "Storm of the Century", a violent snowstorm, paralyzes the northeastern United States and the Appalachians, bringing winds up to 100 mph and sub-zero temperatures. Pickens, West Virginia records 57 inches of snow. 323 people die due to the storm.
• 1950 - Alexis Wright was born. Australian author.
• 1950 - Gustaf John Ramstedt dies (b. 1873). Finland-Swedish linguist and diplomat.
• 1950 - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen dies (b. 1873). Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1951 - Arturo Pérez Reverte was born. Spanish novelist and war reporter.
• 1951 - Bill Morrissey was born. American musician.
• 1951 - Bucky Dent was born. American baseball player.
• 1952 - Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London and eventually becomes the longest continuously-running play in history.
• 1952 - Imran Khan was born. Pakistani test cricketer.
• 1952 - John Lynch was born. American politician current governor of New Hampshire.
• 1953 - The England football team suffer their first home defeat against continental opposition, losing to Hungary.
• 1953 - Graham Eadie was born. Australian rugby league player.
• 1953 - Jeffrey Skilling was born. Former CEO of Enron.
• 1955 - Bruno Tonioli was born. Italian born British dancer.
• 1956 - Hélène Goudin was born. Swedish politician.
• 1957 - Bob Ehrlich, Jr. was born. Former Maryland governor.
• 1958 - French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community.
• 1958 - Senegal becomes an autonomous state in the French Community.
• 1958 - Irene Lisboa dies (b. 1892). Portuguese writer.
• 1959 - Charles Kennedy was born. British politician.
• 1959 - Steve Rothery was born. British guitarist (Marillion).
• 1959 - Gérard Philipe dies (b. 1922). French actor.
• 1960 - The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated.
• 1960 - Amy Grant was born. American singer.
• 1960 - John F. Kennedy, Jr. was born (d. 1999). American publisher.
• 1960 - Kasey Smith was born. American keyboardist.
• 1961 - Hubert Van Innis dies (b. 1866). Belgian archer.
  
• 1962 - Gilbert Delorme was born. National Hockey League defenseman.
• 1963 - President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
• 1963 - Bernie Kosar was born. American football player.
• 1963 - Holly Cole was born. Canadian jazz singer.
• 1963 - Kevin Chamberlin was born. American actor.
• 1963 - Sorin Cerin was born. Romanian philosopher.
• 1963 - Alexander Marinesko dies. Soviet sailor, Captain of the S-13 submarine, which sank the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff.
• 1964 - Mark Lanegan was born. American musician (Screaming Trees).
• 1965 - Cris Carter was born. American football player.
• 1965 - Dougray Scott was born. Scottish television and film actor.
• 1965 - Dame Myra Hess dies (b. 1890). British pianist.
• 1965 - Ana Paula Padrão was born. Brazilian journalist.
• 1965 - José Leon Machado was born in Braga. Portuguese writer.
  
• 1966 - Billy Burke was born. American actor.
• 1966 - Tim Armstrong was born. American musician (Rancid and The Transplants).
• 1967 - Gregg Turkington was born. American comedian (as Neil Hamburger) and musician.
• 1967 - Kazuya Nakai was born. Japanese voice actor.
• 1967 - Ossip Zadkine dies in Paris (b. 1890). Russian painter.
• 1968 - Erick Sermon was born. American rap music artist.
• 1968 - Galin Nikov was born. Bulgarian pole vaulter.
• 1968 - Jacqueline Hennessy was born. Canadian actress and talk show host.
• 1968 - Jill Hennessy was born. Canadian actress.
• 1968 - Paul Siple dies (b. 1908). American explorer of the Antarctic.
  
• 1968 - Upton Sinclair dies (b. 1878). American journalist, politician, and writer.
• 1969 - Anthony Peeler was born. American basketball player.
• 1970 - Yukio Mishima dies (b. 1925). Japanese writer.
• 1970 - In Japan, author Yukio Mishima and two compatriots commit ritualistic suicide after an unsuccessful coup attempt.
• 1971 - Christina Applegate was born. American actress.
• 1971 - Magnus Arvedson was born. Swedish hockey player.
• 1971 - Paulo Torres was born. Portuguese football player, World Champion (under 21) and football coach.
• 1972 - Henri Coanda dies (b. 1886). Romanian aerodynamics pioneer.
• 1973 - Laurence Harvey dies (b. 1928). Lithuanian-born actor.
• 1973 - Greek President George Papadopoulos is ousted in a military coup led by Lieutenant General Phaidon Gizikis.
• 1973 - Erick Strickland was born. American basketball player.
• 1974 - Nick Drake dies (b. 1948). British singer and songwriter.
• 1974 - U Thant dies (b. 1909). Burmese UN Secretary-General
• 1975 - Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands.
• 1975 - Netherlands grants Surinam independence (National Day).
• 1975 - Politic-militar confrontation that would go be known by the name of the date "25 de Novembro" It was an important day for the normalization of portuguese democratic life after the revolutionary process following 25 th April (Revolução dos Cravos) that ended the fascist politic regimen.
• 1976 - Clint Mathis was born. American soccer player.
• 1976 - Donovan McNabb was born. American football player.
• 1977 - Former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. was found "guilty" by the Philippine Military Commission No. 2 and was sentenced to death by firing squad.
• 1977 - Guillermo Cañas was born. Argentine tennis player.
• 1977 - Marcus Marshall was born. Australian racing driver.
• 1978 - American Airlines DC-10 crashes on takeoff from Chicago, kills 275
• 1978 - Ringo Shiina was born. Japanese musician.
• 1978 - Taís Araujo was born in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian actress.
• 1978 - Elaine Esposito dies (b. 1934). American woman who hold the record for longest coma.
• 1979 - Michael Lehan was born. American National Football League player.
• 1979 - Thea Gilmore was born. British singer and songwriter
• 1980 - No Más Fight: Sugar Ray Leonard regains the WBC world welterweight boxing title in a bout against Roberto Duran.
• 1980 - Aaron Mokoena was born. South African soccer player.
• 1980 - Josh Lomberger was born. American professional wrestling backstage interviewer.
• 1981 - Barbara Bush and Jenna Bush were born. Daughters of George W. Bush and Laura Bush.
• 1981 - Jared Jeffries was born. American basketball player
• 1981 - Mauricio Rua was born. Brazilian Mixed Martial Artist.
• 1981 - Xabi Alonso was born. Spanish international footballer.
• 1981 - Jack Albertson dies (b. 1907). American actor.
• 1982 - The Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day Fire destroys an entire city block, including the Northwestern National Bank building and the recently closed Donaldson's Department Store.
• 1983 - Joey Chestnut was born. American champion competitive eater.
• 1983 - Kirsty Crawford was born. Scottish singer, songwriter.
• 1984 - 36 top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
• 1984 - A KCR train derails between Sheung Shui and Fanling.
• 1984 - Gaspard Ulliel was born. French actor.
• 1985 - Franz Hildebrandt dies (b. 1909). German Theologian.
• 1985 - Ray Jablonski dies (b. 1923). American baseball player.
• 1986 - The King Fahd Causeway was officially opened in the Persian Gulf.
• 1986 - Iran Contra Affair: US Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
• 1986 - Amber Hagerman was born (d. 1996). American kidnapping and murder victim, basis of the Amber Alert system.
• 1986 - Craig Gardner was born. English footballer.
• 1986 - Katie Cassidy was born. American singer and actress.
• 1987 - Supertyphoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 165 mph and a surge that swallows entire villages. at least 1,036 deaths attributed to the storm.
• 1987 - Harold Washington dies (b. 1922). Mayor of Chicago.
• 1988 - German politician Rita Süssmuth becomes president of the Bundestag.
• 1989 - Alva R. Fitch dies (b. 1907). American World War II and Korean soldier.
• 1990 - Lech Walesa wins in Poland's 1st popular election
• 1992 - The Czech parliament voted to split the country into separate Czech and Slovak republics beginning January 1, 1993.
• 1992 - The Czechoslovakia Federal Assembly votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia from January 1, 1993.
• 1992 - Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas becomes President of Lithuania. Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas is the Prime Minister.
• 1993 - Portugal: Manuel Lopes is considered guilty about the case of the assassination of João Champalimaud and is sentenced to 18 years of prison.
• 1993 - Júlio Pomar, Portuguese painter receives the Prize " Montaigne 1993" , from the Foundation FVS ( Hamburg).
• 1994 - Sony founder Akio Morita announces he will be stepping down as CEO of the company.
• 1995 - Alan Nicholls dies (b. 1973). English footballer.
  
• 1995 - Léon Zitrone dies (b. 1914). French journalist and television host.
  
• 1996 - An Ice storm strikes the central U.S. killing 26 people. Powerful windstorm affects Florida, winds gust over 90 mph, toppling trees and flipping trailers.
• 1997 - Barbara dies (b. 1930). French singer.
• 1997 - Kamuzu Banda dies (b. ca. 1898). President of Malawi.
  
• 1998 - Flip Wilson dies (b. 1933). American actor and comedian.
• 1998 - Nelson Goodman dies (b. 1906). American philosopher.
• 1999 - International day to eliminate violence against women. The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution designating November 25 as the annual International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women. The resolution, which was introduced by the Dominican Republic, marked the anniversary of the death of three sisters, Maria, Teresa, and Minerva Mirabel, who were brutally murdered there in 1961
• 1999 - Six-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez was rescued by a pair of sport fishermen off the coast of Florida.
• 2000 - 2000 Baku earthquake took place.
• 2001 - CIA officer Johnny ''Mike'' Spann was killed during a prison uprising in Mazar-e-Sharif, becoming America's first combat casualty of the conflict in Afghanistan.
• 2002 - US President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law.
• 2002 - Reported assassination attempt on Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov.
  
• 2002 - Karel Reisz dies (b. 1926). Czech theatre director.
• R.C. Saints - Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
• 2003 - Yemen arrested Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal, a top al-Qaida member suspected of masterminding the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker off Yemen's coast.
• 2004 - Begins today the trial of the case "Casa Pia" (Portugal).
• 2004 - Korean Research team announce that they have used cord blood stem cells to regrow a parapeligic's spinal cord. Patient walks for the first time in 19 years.
• 2005 - Polish Minister of National Defence Radek Sikorski opens Warsaw Pact archives to historians. Maps of possible nuclear strikes against Western Europe, as well as the possible nuclear annihilation of 43 Polish cities and 2 million of its citizens by Soviet-controlled forces, are released.
• 2005 - George Best dies (b. 1946). Northern Irish football player.
• 2005 - Richard Burns dies (b. 1971). English rally driver.
• 2006 - Sean Bell dies (b. 1983). American shooting victim.
  
• 2006 - Luciano Bottaro dies (b. 1931). Italian comic book artist.
  
• 2006 - Leo Chiosso dies (b. 1920). Italian lyricist.
  
• 2006 - Valentin Elizalde dies (b. 1979). Mexican singer.
  
• 2006 - Kenneth M. Taylor dies (b. 1919). American pilot.
  
• 2006 - Phyllis Fraser dies (b. 1916). American actress and children's book publisher.
  
• 2007 - The first European Parliament election and a referendum on changing the voting system (called by the President and declared invalid because of insufficient turnout) were held in Romania.
• R.C. Saints - Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
  
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: National Day (1943).
• Suriname - Independence Day (from the Netherlands, 1975).
• International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
  
• International Men's Day in Canada.