Events
of the day
Day
of the Imprisoned Writer
The Day of the Imprisoned Writer is an
annual, international day intended to
recognize and support writers who resist
repression of the basic human right to
freedom of expression and who stand up
to attacks made against their right to
impart information. This day is observed
each year on November 15. It was started
in 1981 by PEN International's Writers
in Prison Committee.
655 – Battle of Winwaed: Penda of Mercia
is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria.
1315 – Battle of Morgarten: the Schweizer
Eidgenossenschaft ambushes the army of
Leopold I.
1532 – Commanded by Francisco Pizarro,
Spanish conquistadors under Hernando de
Soto meet Inca leader Atahualpa for the
first time outside Cajamarca, arranging
a meeting on the city plaza the following
day
1533 – Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cuzco,
the capital of the Inca Empire.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: After
16 months of debate the Continental Congress
approves the Articles of Confederation.
1791 – The first U.S Catholic college,
Georgetown University, opens its doors.
1806 – Pike expedition: Lieutenant Zebulon
Pike sees a distant mountain peak while
near the Colorado foothills of the Rocky
Mountains (it is later named Pikes Peak).
1859 – The first modern revival of the
Olympic Games takes place in Athens, Greece.
1864 – American Civil War: Union General
William Tecumseh Sherman burns Atlanta,
Georgia and starts Sherman's March to
the Sea.
Pedro II is deposed and Brazil becomes
a republic.
1889 – Brazil is declared a republic by
Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca and Emperor
Pedro II is deposed in a military coup.
1920 – First assembly of the League of
Nations is held in Geneva.
1923 – The German Rentenmark is introduced
in Germany to counter Inflation in the
Weimar Republic.
1926 – The NBC radio network opens with
24 stations.
1928 – The RNLI Lifeboat Mary Stanford
capsized in Rye Harbour with the loss
of the entire 17 man crew.
1935 – Manuel L. Quezon is inaugurated
as the second president of the Philippines.
1939 – In Washington, D.C., US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone
of the Jefferson Memorial.
1942 – World War II: First flight of the
Heinkel He 219.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal
ends in a decisive Allied victory.
1943 – Holocaust: German SS leader Heinrich
Himmler orders that Gypsies are to be
put "on the same level as Jews and
placed in concentration camps". (see
Porajmos)
1945 – Venezuela joins the United Nations.
1949 – Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte
are executed for assassinating Mahatma
Gandhi.
1951 – Greek resistance leader Nikos Beloyannis,
along with 11 resistance members, is sentenced
to death by the court-martial.
1959 – Four members of the Herbert Clutter
Family are murdered at their farm outside
Holcomb, Kansas.
1966 – Gemini program: Gemini 12 completes
the program's final mission, when it splashes
down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.
1966 – A Boeing 727 carrying Pan Am Flight
708 crashes near Berlin, Germany, killing
all three people on board.
1967 – The only fatality of the X-15 program
occurs during the 191st flight when Air
Force test pilot Michael J. Adams loses
control of his aircraft which is destroyed
mid-air over the Mojave Desert.
1969 – Cold War: The Soviet submarine
K-19 collides with the American submarine
USS Gato in the Barents Sea.
1969 – Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C.,
250,000-500,000 protesters staged a peaceful
demonstration against the war, including
a symbolic "March Against Death".
1969 – In Columbus, Ohio, Dave Thomas
opens the first Wendy's restaurant.
1971 – Intel releases world's first commercial
single-chip microprocessor, the 4004.
1976 – René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois
take power to become the first Quebec
government of the 20th century clearly
in favour of independence.
1978 – A chartered Douglas DC-8 crashes
near Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 183.
1979 – A package from the Unabomber Ted
Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo
hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington,
forcing the plane to make an emergency
landing.
1983 – Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
is founded. Recognised only by Turkey.
1985 – A research assistant is injured
when a package from the Unabomber addressed
to a University of Michigan professor
explodes.
1985 – The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed
at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach
Garret FitzGerald.
1987 – Continental Airlines Flight 1713,
a Douglas DC-9-14 jetliner, crashes in
a snowstorm at Denver, Colorado Stapleton
International Airport, killing 28 occupants,
while 54 survive the crash.
1987 – In Braşov, Romania, workers rebel
against the communist regime of Nicolae
Ceaușescu.
1988 – In the Soviet Union, the unmanned
Shuttle Buran makes its only space flight.
1988 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An
independent State of Palestine is proclaimed
by the Palestinian National Council.
1988 – The first Fairtrade label, Max
Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands.
1990 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle
Atlantis launches with flight STS-38.
1990 – The People's Republic of Bulgaria
is disestablished and a new republican
government is instituted.
2000 – A chartered Antonov An-24 crashes
after takeoff from Luanda, Angola killing
more than 40 people.
2000 – Jharkhand state comes into existence
in India.
2003 – The first day of the 2003 Istanbul
Bombings, in which two car bombs, targeting
two synagogues, explode, killing 25 people
and wounding about 300. Additional bombings
follow on November 20.
2005 – Boeing formally launches the stretched
Boeing 747-8 variant with orders from
Cargolux and Nippon Cargo Airlines.
2007 – Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, killing
an estimated 5000 people and destroyed
the world's largest mangrove forest, Sundarbans.
Holidays
and observances
America
Recycles Day (United States)
Christian Feast Day:
Abibus of Edessa
Albert the Great
Blessed Hugh Faringdon
Didier of Cahors
Leopold III, a public holiday in Lower
Austria and Vienna.
Malo
Mechell
November 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of the German-speaking Community of
Belgium (German-speaking Community of
Belgium)
Independence Day, unilaterally declared
in 1988. (Palestine)
King's Feast (Belgium)
Republic Proclamation Day (Brazil)
Shichi-Go-San (Japan)
The beginning of Winter Lent (Eastern
Orthodox)
For details, contact Datacentre
