November 1st

Events

• 1512 - The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.
• 1604 - At Whitehall Palace in London, the William Shakespeare tragedy Othello is presented for the first time.
• 1611 - At Whitehall Palace in London, William Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest is presented for the first time.
• 1683 - The British crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties.
• 1755 - 1755 Lisbon earthquake: In Portugal, Lisbon is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between sixty and ninety thousand people.
• 1765 - The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the 13 colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America.
• 1800 - US President John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House).
• 1848 - In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, The Boston Female Medical School (which later merged with Boston University School of Medicine), opens.
• 1859 - The current Cape Lookout, North Carolina, lighthouse was lighted for the first time. Its first-order Fresnel lens can be seen for nineteen miles.
• 1861 - American Civil War: US President Abraham Lincoln appoints George McClellan as commander of the Union Army, replacing the aged General Winfield Scott.
• 1870 - In the United States, the newly-created Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast: "High winds at Chicago and Milwaukee... and along the Lakes."
• 1894 - Russian Tsar Alexander III dies and is succeeded by his son Nicholas II.
• 1914 - World War I: Battle of Coronel fought - A Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Craddock is met and defeated by the superior German forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee. This is the first British naval defeat of the war.
• 1922 - The Ottoman Empire is abolished and its last sultan, Mehmed VI, abdicates.
• 1943 - World War II: Operation Goodtime launched - United States Marines invade Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
• 1950 - While staying at the Blair-Lee House in Washington, D.C. during White House repairs, Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry S. Truman.
• 1952 - Nuclear testing: Operation Ivy - The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike" ["m" for megaton], at Eniwetok island in the Bikini atoll located in the Pacific Ocean.
• 1955 - A United Airlines DC-6B exploded in mid-air and crashed near Longmont, Colorado killing 44 people
• 1960 - While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps.
• 1969 - After seven years off the top of the charts, Elvis Presley's song "Suspicious Minds," hits No. 1 on the Billboard Music charts (this was the last time any song by Presley hit no. 1 while he was still alive).
• 1973 - Watergate Scandal: Leon Jaworski is appointed as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor.
• 1979 - Iran hostage crisis: Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini urged his people to demonstrate on November 4 and to expand attacks on United States and Israeli interests (on November 4 militants seized the US embassy in Tehran and took 63 Americans hostage).
• 1981 - Antigua and Barbuda gain independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1993 - The Maastricht Treaty activates, formally establishing the European Union.
• 1994 - George Lucas leaves the day-to-day operations of his filmmaking business and starts a sabbatical (while on sabbatical, he wrote the prequel Star Wars trilogy).
• 1998 - The European Court of Human Rights is instituted.

Births

• 1778 - Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden († 1837)
• 1798 - Sir Henry Lee Guinness, brewer
• 1801 - Vincenzo Bellini, composer († 1835)
• 1871 - Stephen Crane, writer († 1900)
• 1877 - Roger Quilter, composer († 1953)
• 1880 - Alfred Wegener, meteorologist, geophysicist (&dagger 1930)
• 1880 - Sholom Asch, writer († 1957)
• 1880 - Grantland Rice, sports writer († 1954)
• 1892 - Alexander Alekhine, chess player († 1946)
• 1902 - Eugen Jochum, conductor († 1987)
• 1923 - Gordon R. Dickson, science fiction author († 2001)
• 1923 - Victoria de los Angeles, soprano
• 1929 - Betsy Palmer, actress
• 1934 - William Mathias, composer († 1992)
• 1935 - Gary Player, golfer
• 1943 - Salvatore Adamo Belgian/Italian singer
• 1952 - Larry Flynt, magazine publisher
• 1957 - Lyle Lovett, singer
• 1962 - Anthony Kiedis, singer
• 1963 - Rick Allen, Def Leppard drummer
• 1967 - Sophie B. Hawkins, musician
• 1972 - Toni Collette, actress

Deaths

• 1903 - Theodor Mommsen, author and recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1902
• 1924 - William Tilghman, frontier marshal
• 1963 - Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam
• 1972 - Ezra Pound, poet
• 1979 - Mamie Eisenhower, First Lady of the United States
• 1982 - King Vidor, film director
• 1982 - James Broderick, actor
• 1983 - Anthony van Hoboken, musicologist
• 1985 - Phil Silvers, actor, comedian
• 1999 - Walter Payton, American football player
• 2002 - Käte Jaenicke, actress

Holidays

• Catholicism - Festival of All Saints. Holiday in Spain and Croatia.
• Lá Samhna the traditional first day of Winter in modern Ireland, see also Samhain
• Mexico and United States - The Day of the Dead

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

Referenced By