This Day in History
November 12

Copyright © 2006-2024 Ken Polsson
internet e-mail: ken@kpolsson.com
URL: http://kpolsson.com/thisday/
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What happened in history on this day: November 12?

On November 12 in ...

  • 295 - Origin of Era of Ascension.
  • 607 - Boniface III ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
  • 1035 - Canute "The Great" King of the Danes (1016-1035), dies at age 41.
  • 1437 - French forces enter Paris.
  • 1558 - Rabbi Shalom Shakna ben Joseph founder of first Polish Yeshiva, dies.
  • 1651 - Birth of Juana Ines de La Cruz Mexico, poet/nun/feminist (Primer Sueno).
  • 1775 - General George Washington forbids recruiting officers enlisting blacks.
  • 1794 - The Jacobin Club is banned in France.
  • 1817 - Birth of Bahá'u'lláh (Mirza Husayn Ali); founded Bahá'ís faith.
  • 1833 - Birth of Aleksandr Borodin in Russia; composer (Robert LeDiable).
  • 1840 - Birth of François Auguste René Rodin in Paris, France; sculptor (The Age of Bronze, The Thinker).
  • 1841 - Birth of Lord Rayleigh in England; physicist/chancellor of Cambridge (1908-14).
  • 1859 - At the Cirque Napoléon in Paris, Jules Leotard performs the first Flying Trapeze circus act.
  • 1860 - Birth of Sun Yat-sen in China; first president of Republic of China (1912), founded Chinese Nationalist Party.
  • 1879 - In Huan-hsiang, China, a rain of stones is reported; many houses damaged.
  • 1889 - Birth of DeWitt Wallace in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; publisher, founded Readers Digest (1921).
  • 1892 - Allegheny Athletic Association beats Pittsburgh Athletic Club, 4-0 in football.
  • 1892 - Pudge Heffelfinger receives $500, becomes first pro football player.
  • 1903 - Birth of Lewis Delaney Offield AKA Jack Oakie in Sedalia, Missouri, USA; actor (Benzino Napaloni - The Great Dictator, The Real McCoys, Bonanza, 1974 Photoplay Award) (dies 1978).
  • 1908 - Birth of Harry A Blackmun in Illinois, USA; Supreme Court justice (1970-).
  • 1910 - First movie stunt: man jumps into Hudson River from a burning balloon.
  • 1911 - Birth of Buck Clayton AKA Wilbur Dorsey Clayton in Parsons, Kansas, USA; jazz trumpeter (with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Jazz At The Philharmonic), arranger (for Benny Goodman, Harry James, Count Basie).
  • 1912 - Birth of Alphonse [Tuffy] Leemans; NFL fullback (New York Giants).
  • 1914 - Birth of Roberto Cavanagh in Argentina; polo (Olympic-gold-1936).
  • 1914 - Birth of Sylvi Saimo in Finland; 500m kayak (Olympic-gold-1952).
  • 1915 - Birth of Roland Barthes; French literary critic (L'Empire des Signer).
  • 1915 - Britain annexes Gilbert and Ellice Islands.
  • 1917 - Birth of Jo Stafford in Coalinga, California, USA; singer (The Stafford Sisters, The Pied Pipers, "Shrimp Boats Are A-Comin'", "Jambalaya", "Long Ago and Far Away", "You Belong to Me", "Make Love to Me").
  • 1918 - Birth of Jo Stafford in Coalinga, California, USA; singer ("I'll Never Smile Again").
  • 1918 - Emperor Karl of Austria-Hungary abdicates, Austria becomes a republic.
  • 1919 - Ross and Smith start a one month flight from London to Australia.
  • 1920 - Birth of Richard Quine in Detroit, Michigan, USA; actor/director (The Mickey Rooney Show, Clay Pigeon, Hec Ramsey, Project UFO, How to Murder Your Wife, Bell Book and Candle, Sex and the Single Girl).
  • 1920 - Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis elected first US baseball commissioner.
  • 1921 - Washington Conference for Limitation of Armaments is held.
  • 1922 - Birth of Kim Hunter AKA Janet Cole in Detroit, Michigan, USA; actress (A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, Academy award), Planet of the Apes, Lilith, Playhouse 90, The Edge of Night, All My Children, The Education of Max Bickford).
  • 1923 - Birth of Richard Venture; actor (Law and Order, Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Street Hawk).
  • 1927 - Notre Dame's Fighting Irish sports team changes blue jerseys for green.
  • 1927 - Josef Stalin's faction wins All-Union Congress in USSR, Leon Trotsky expelled.
  • 1928 - British steamer Vestris capsizes and sinks off Virginia, USA, kills 110.
  • 1929 - Birth of Grace Kelly; Monaco princess/actress (Philadelphia Story, Rear Window).
  • 1931 - NHL's Maple Leaf Gardens opens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Toronto Maple Leafs beat Chicago Black Hawks 2-1.
  • 1931 - Birth of Bob Crewe; record producer (Music to Watch Girls By).
  • 1932 - Birth of Mary Louise Wilson; actress (One Day at a Time, The Thorns, All My Children).
  • 1933 - First Sunday football game in Philadelphia (previously illegal).
  • 1933 - First known photo of Loch Ness monster (or whatever) is taken.
  • 1933 - National-Socialists receive 92 percent of vote in Germany.
  • 1933 - The Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago closes (first of two years).
  • 1934 - Birth of Ann Flood in Jamaica, New York, USA; actress (As the World Turns, Edge of Night, All My Children, Search for Tomorrow, One Life to Live).
  • 1934 - Birth of Charles Manson [No Name Maddox] in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; criminal (Tate-Labianco).
  • 1935 - Birth of Jerry Douglas; actor (John - The Young and the Restless).
  • 1936 - The BBC airs the world's first televised gardening show, In Your Garden with Mr. Middleton.
  • 1936 - The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opens to public use.
  • 1937 - Birth of Ina Balin; actress (Danger in Paradise).
  • 1937 - Birth of Richard H Truly in Fayette, Mississippi, USA; Rear Admiral US Navy/astronaut (STS T-2, T-4, 2, 8).
  • 1938 - Hermann Goering announces he wants Madagascar as a Jewish homeland.
  • 1938 - Germany imposes 1 billion mark fine on Jews and forbids them to engage in trade.
  • 1939 - Birth of Ruby Nash Curtis; rhythm-and-blues singer (Ruby and the Romantics).
  • 1939 - Birth of Lucia Popp in Uhorská Ves, Czechoslovakia; soprano (Die Zauberflute).
  • 1939 - Jews of Lodz Poland are ordered to wear yellow armbands.
  • 1940 - Blizzard strikes midwestern US, 154 die (69 on boat on Great Lakes).
  • 1941 - Germany's drive to take Moscow halts.
  • 1943 - Birth of Brian Hyland in Queens, New York, USA; rocker ("Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini").
  • 1943 - Birth of Jimmy Hayes; rhythm-and-blues singer (The Persuasions).
  • 1943 - Birth of Wallace Shawn; Actor-playwright (Gossip Girl, Crossing Jordan, Clueless).
  • 1944 - Birth of Al Michaels in Brooklyn, New York, USA; sportscaster (ABC Monday Night Baseball/Football).
  • 1944 - Twelve British Lancaster bombers from Lossiemouth, Scotland, carrying special 12,000-pound bombs, attack German battleship Tirpitz. They score three hits, causing a great explosion, sinking the ship near Tromsö, Norway, off Hakey Island.
  • 1944 - Birth of Booker T. Jones; organist (Booker T. and the MGs - "Green Onions").
  • 1945 - Birth of Neil Young in Canada; singer/songwriter (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young).
  • 1946 - First drive-up bank window established (Chicago, Illinois, USA).
  • 1946 - RKO Radio Pictures releases Disney's animated and live-action feature film Song of the South to theaters. Its premiere is held at Loew's Grand theater in Atlanta, Georgia. The film is based on the book Tales of Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris.
  • 1947 - Birth of Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser; rock musician (Blue Oyster Cult).
  • 1948 - In Tokyo, Japan, the International War Crimes Tribunal announces final verdicts. It sentences former Japanese President Hedeki Tojo and six other Japanese leaders to death. Sixteen others are sentenced to life in prison.
  • 1949 - NBC begins airing the Kukla, Fran, and Ollie puppet children's TV show.
  • 1950 - Gene Roberts sets NFL New York Giants rushing record (218 yards) against Chicago Cardinals.
  • 1953 - US district Judge Grim rules NFL can black out TV home games.
  • 1954 - Ellis Island, immigration station in New York Harbor, closes, after processing more than 12 million immigrants since opening in 1892.
  • 1955 - E Arcaro, E Sande and G Woolf first inductees in Jockey hall of fame.
  • 1956 - Largest observed iceberg, 208 by 60 miles, first sighted.
  • 1958 - Birth of Megan Mullally; actress (Will and Grace).
  • 1959 - Canadian aircraft company Avro makes the first untethered free flight of the VZ-9Z Avrocar prototype.
  • 1960 - Mercury-Redstone 1 test launch fails at 10 cm altitude.
  • 1961 - Birth of Nadia Comaneci in Onesti, Romania; gymnast (Olympics-gold-1976, 1980).
  • 1962 - Death of Sid Tomack at age 55 of a heart ailment; actor (Gillis - Life of Riley, Al - My Friend Irma).
  • 1963 - Birth of Sam Lloyd; actor (Scrubs, Desperate Housewives).
  • 1963 - US President John Kennedy instructs NASA administrator James Webb to develop a program of "joint space and lunar exploration" with the Soviet Union.
  • 1964 - Birth of Alex Carter in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; actor (CSI, Black Harbour).
  • 1964 - Paula Murphy sets female land speed record 226.37 MPH.
  • 1965 - Venera 2 launched by Soviet Union toward Venus.
  • 1967 - Birth of Charlie Pennaelino in Queens, New York, USA; rocker (Linear - "I Never Felt This Way").
  • 1970 - Cleveland Cavaliers' first NBA victory (11th game), beating Portland Trail Blazers 105-103.
  • 1973 - Birth of Melanie Gaffin in Santa Monica, California, USA; actress (Cheryl - Whiz Kids).
  • 1974 - Birth of Angela Watson; actress (Step by Step).
  • 1974 - Birth of Tamala Jones; actress (Castle, One on One, Veronica's Closet).
  • 1975 - Anthony Ross, TV host (Telltale Clue), dies at age 69.
  • 1975 - Birth of Angela Watson; actress (Karen Foster - Step by Step).
  • 1975 - US Supreme Court Justice William O Douglas retires after 36 years.
  • 1978 - Birth of Ashley Williams; actress (Good Morning Miami, How I Met Your Mother).
  • 1979 - Tony Franklin of Philadelphia Eagles kicks 59-yard field goal.
  • 1979 - In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, U.S. President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all oil imports into the United States from Iran.
  • 1979 - Süleyman Demirel, of AP forms the new government of Turkey (43rd government, a minority government).
  • 1979 - Birth of Cote de Pablo in Chile; actress (NCIS).
  • 1980 - Birth of Chris Huffman; bassist (Casting Crowns).
  • 1980 - Birth of Ryan Gosling in London Ontario, Canada; actor (Young Hercules, Breaker High).
  • 1980 - The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn, when it flies within 77,000 miles of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth.
  • 1981 - The Church of England General Synod votes to admit women to holy orders.
  • 1981 - First balloon crossing of the Pacific is completed (Double Eagle V).
  • 1981 - Second shuttle mission, first time a spacecraft is launched a second time (Columbia 2).
  • 1981 - Billy Martin named American League Manager of the Year (Oakland Athletics).
  • 1982 - Birth of Anne Hathaway; actress (Get Real).
  • 1982 - In the Soviet Union, former KGB head Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding the late Leonid I. Brezhnev.
  • 1983 - Four die in a train crash in Marshall, Texas.
  • 1983 - New Jersey Devils, first overtime game, lose to Calgary Flames 4-3.
  • 1984 - Space shuttle astronauts snare a satellite; first space salvage.
  • 1986 - Australian singer John Farnham releases the album Whispering Jack, which becomes the highest selling album in Australia's history.
  • 1987 - Heavy snow closes schools from Washington DC to Maine.
  • 1987 - Roger Lewis, aviation executive (Lockheed, C Wright, Pan Am), dies at age 75.
  • 1988 - Japan beats Major League Baseball All-Star team 5-4 in Tokyo (Game 6 of 7).
  • 1989 - Birth of twins Ryan and Paul Jessup; actors (Mikie - Baby Talk).
  • 1989 - Brazil holds its first free presidential election since 1960.
  • 1990 - Death of Eve Arden AKA Eunice Quedens at age 82 of arteriosclerotic heart disease; actress (Our Miss Brooks radio and TV shows).
  • 1990 - Death of Dave Willock at 81 from complications of a stroke; actor (Tugwell - Jack Carson Show radio show, Boots and Saddle TV show, The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show).
  • 1990 - Akihito is enthroned as the 125th emperor of Japan.
  • 1990 - Tim Berners-Lee publishes a more formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
  • 1991 - The 100th episisode of US TV show Full House airs.
  • 1992 - Birth of Macey Cruthird; actress (Hope and Faith).
  • 1992 - Death of Eddie Mayehoff at age 81; actor, bandleader, radio comedy writer, television emcee (Dad - That's My Boy movie, "Jarring" Jack Jackson - That's My Boy TV series).
  • 1993 - Buena Vista Pictures Distribution releases the Walt Disney Pictures / Caravan Pictures live-action feature film The Three Musketeers to theaters in the US.
  • 1993 - Death of Harry. R. Haldeman, Chief of Staff for President Richard Nixon, American Watergate scandal figure (born 1926).
  • 1996 - Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 has a mid-air collision with Kazakhstan Airlines Il-76, resulting in the loss of 349 lives.
  • 1996 - Near the coast of Peru, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurs. At least 14 people killed, 560 injured and 12,000 homeless.
  • 1997 - Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America and Mitsubishi Electric America sign an agreement with the Rainforest Action Network, committing the companies to ecological sustainability and social responsibility.
  • 1997 - Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
  • 1998 - Daimler-Benz completes a merger with Chrysler Corporation to form Daimler-Chrysler.
  • 1999 - In northwest Turkey, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurs. At least 894 people killed and 4,948 injured.
  • 2001 - In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587 en route to the Dominican Republic crashes in Queens, New York minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board.
  • 2001 - (to November 13) Stack's of New York sells at auction the finest known 1893-S Morgan dollar for US$414,000, second highest price paid for a Morgan dollar at auction.
  • 2001 - Taliban forces abandon Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops, which take the city on November 14.
  • 2001 - Death of Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, American-born Hindu guru who spearheaded a global Hindu renaissance and founder of Kauai's Hindu Monastery (born 1927).
  • 2003 - Death of Jonathan Brandis at age 27 by hanging himself; actor (SeaQuest DSV).
  • 2003 - Death of Penny Singletonat age 95 after a stroke; actress (Blondie in the movies and on radio, voice of Jane Jetson - The Jetsons), labor activist.
  • 2003 - In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
  • 2004 - In Redwood City, California, a jury finds Scott Peterson guilty of the murder of his wife Laci and unborn son Conner.
  • 2005 - United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan makes his first visit to Iraq since the Iraq War began, and urges Iraqis to embrace a process aiming to reconcile all the country's ethnic and religious groups.
  • 2006 - Gerald Ford surpasses Ronald Reagan as the longest lived President of the United States.
  • 2006 - The former Soviet republic of South Ossetia holds a referendum on independence from Georgia.
  • 2008 - The US Treasury decides not to use money of the Troubled Asset Relief Program to buy mortgage-backed securities, but instead to directly inject cash into selected banks.
  • 2008 - Death of Mitch Mitchell at age 61, found dead in his hotel room in Portland, Oregon, USA; British drummer (Jimi Hendrix Experience).
  • 2013 - Three Studies of Lucian Freud, a series of portraits of Lucian Freud by the British painter Francis Bacon, sells for US$142.4 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for an auctioned work of art.
  • 2014 - The Rosetta spacecraft's Philae probe successfully lands on Comet 67P, the first time in history that a spacecraft has landed on such an object.
  • 2015 - Several suicide bombings occur in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 43 and injuring 239. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant claim responsibility.
  • 2017 - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes the border region between Iraq and Iran leaving at least 530 dead and over 70,000 homeless.
  • 2019 - Disney launches the Disney+ video streaming service in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands. Cost is $6.99 per month.
  • 2020 - Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers resign en masse, in response to four lawmakers' disqualification made by the government.
  • 2020 - Death of Jerry Rawlings, President of Ghana (born 1947).
  • 2021 - Death of Matthew Festing, 79th Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (born 1949).

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