November
15
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.
Events
November
15
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
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