26 November

Events

• 1778 - In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to discover Maui.
• 1805 - Official opening of Thomas Telford's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct
• 1825 - At Union College in Schenectady, New York a group of college students form Kappa Alpha Society as the first college social fraternity (it was the first to combine aspects of secret Greek-letter societies, literary societies and formalized student social groups).
• 1862 - Charles Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll) sends the handwritten manuscript of Alice's Adventures Underground to 10-year-old Alice Liddell.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Mine Run - Union forces under General George Meade position against troops led by Confederate General Robert E. Lee (Meade's forces could not find any weaknesses in the Confederate lines and give-up trying after five days).
• 1872 - The San Francisco Evening Bulletin exposes one of the most notorious mining scandals in US history, The Great Diamond Hoax.
• 1922 - Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Egyptian King Tutankhamun in over 3000 years.
• 1922 - Toll of the Sea debuts as the first general release film to use two-tone Technicolor (The Gulf Between was the first film to do so but it was not widely distributed).
• 1941 - US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States (this partly reverses a 1939 action by Roosevelt that changed the celebration of Thanksgiving to the third Thursday of November).
• 1941 - World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor - A fleet of six aircraft carriers commanded by Japanese Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo leaves Hitokapu Bay for Pearl Harbor under strict radio silence.
• 1941 - World War II: The Hull note ultimatum is delivered to Japan by the United States.
• 1942 - The film Casablanca premieres at the Hollywood Theater in New York City.
• 1949 - The Indian Constituent Assembly adopts India's constitution. [1]
• 1950 - Korean War: Troops from the People's Republic of China move into North Korea and launch a massive counterattack against South Korean and American forces, ending any thought of a quick end to the conflict.
• 1965 - In the Hammaguira launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launches a Diamant-A rocket with its first satellite, Asterix-1 on board, becoming the third country to enter space.
• 1968 - Vietnam War: United States Air Force 1st Lt. and Bell UH-1F helicopter pilot James P. Fleming gets and responds to an urgent message from an Army Special Forces unit pinned down by Viet Cong fire. After a failed first rescue attempt Fleming lands under heavy fire and picks up the unit (he was later rewarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery).
• 1983 - Brinks Mat robbery: In London, 6,800 gold bars worth nearly UK£26 million are taken from the Brinks Mat vault at Heathrow Airport (only a fraction of the gold was ever recovered, and only two men were convicted of the crime). [2]
• 1985 - US President Ronald Reagan signs over rights to his autobiography to Random House for a record US$3 million.
• 1986 - Iran-Contra scandal: US President Ronald Reagan announces that as of December 1 former Senator John Tower, former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft will be serving as members of the Special Review Board looking into the scandal (they became known as the Tower Commission).
• 1998 - Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Republic of Ireland's parliament.
• 2003 - Last ever flight by Concorde.

Births

• 1607 - John Harvard, cleric (d. 1638)
• 1792 - Sarah Grimke, abolitionist, feminist (d. 1873)
• 1832 - Mary Edwards Walker, feminist, physician (d. 1919)
• 1869 - Maud, Queen of Norway (d.1938)
• 1876 - Willis Carrier, engineer, inventor (d. 1950)
• 1885 - Heinrich Brüning, German Reichskanzler 1930-1932 (d. 1970)
• 1894 - Norbert Wiener, mathematician, founder of Cybernetics (d. 1964)
• 1899 - Bruno Hauptmann, kidnapper of Charles Lindbergh III (d. 1936)
• 1910 - Cyril Cusack, actor (d. 1993)
• 1912 - Eugène Ionesco, playwright (d. 1994)
• 1912 - Eric Sevareid, journalist (d. 1992)
• 1915 - Earl Wild, pianist
• 1922 - Charles Schulz, cartoonist (d. 2000)
• 1924 - George Segal, sculptor
• 1925 - Eugene Istomin, pianist (d. 2003)
• 1927 - Jean-Pierre Daras, actor (d. 1999)
• 1933 - Robert Goulet, singer, actor
• 1934 - Barry Coe, actor
• 1937 - Boris Yegorov, cosmonaut
• 1938 - Rich Little, comedian, actor
• 1939 - Tina Turner, singer, actress
• 1943 - Bruce Paltrow, producer, director (d. 2002)
• 1951 - Ilona Staller, aka Cicciolina, pornographic film actress, politician
• 1959 - Jamie Rose, actress

Deaths

• 1252 - Blanche of Castile, wife of Louis VIII of France
• 1836 - John MacAdam, road builder
• 1956 - Tommy Dorsey, Big Band leader
• 1959 - Albert Ketèlbey, composer
• 1963 - Amelita Galli-Curci, opera singer
• 1980 - Peter DePaolo, automobile racer
• 1996 - Michael Bentine, comedian
• 2002 - Verne Winchell, founder of Winchell's Donuts.
• 2002 - Wilhelm Bittorf, journalist
• 2003 - Stefan Wul, French sf writer

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith: Day of the Covenant
• Mongolia : Independence Day

See also

November 25 - November 27 - October 26 - December 26 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By