20 Years On

Like I've said in years past here on my blog, today is my favorite day of the year, since it's my birthday of course! Thanks to all who have written on my Facebook wall to wish me happy birthday so far. I entered my third decade of life today, but, so far, that fact has been overshadowed by the fact that I’ll never again have –teen suffixed to the end of my age. Unless, that is, I happen to be around in the year 2099. But I’m not planning on such a thing at the present time.

According to Wikipedia’s entry on November 25 – which, by the way, is the 329th day of the year – some important historical events took place on this day, some important historical figures were born on this day, and, likewise, some important historical figures died on this day. Here’s a rundown of what I find to be some of the more important or interesting events/births/deaths. The full list can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_25.

Events

• 1034 - Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots dies. Donnchad, the son of his second daughter Bethóc and Crínán of Dunkeld, inherits the throne.
• 1120 - The White Ship sinks in the English Channel, drowning William Adelin, son of Henry I of England.
• 1491 - The siege of Granada, last Moorish stronghold in Spain, begins.
• 1542 - Battle of Solway Moss. The English army defeats the Scottish.
• 1667 - A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha, Caucasia, killing 80,000 people.
• 1703 - The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the British Isles, reaches its peak intensity and maintains it through November 27. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people perish in the mighty gale.
• 1758 - French and Indian War: British forces capture Fort Duquesne from French control.
• 1783 - American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
• 1874 - The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party consisting primarily of farmers affected by the Panic of 1873.
• 1905 - The Danish Prins Carl arrives in Norway to become King Haakon VII of Norway
• 1926 - The worst, deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. November history strikes on Thanksgiving day. 27 twisters of great strength reported in the midwest, including the strongest November tornado, an F4, that devastates Heber Springs, Arkansas. 51 deaths in Arkansas alone, 76 deaths and over 400 injuries in all.
• 1936 - In Berlin, Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, thus agreeing to consult on what measures to take "to safeguard their common interests" in case of an unprovoked attack by the Soviet Union against either nation.
• 1940 - Woody Woodpecker first appears, in the film "Knock Knock."
• 1943 - Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina was re-established at the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia.
• 1947 - New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.
• 1950 - The People's Republic of China joins the Korean War, sending thousands of troops across the Yalu river border to fight United Nations forces.
• 1952 - Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London and eventually becomes the longest continuously-running play in history.
• 1963 - President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
• 1973 - Greek President George Papadopoulos is ousted in a military coup led by Lieutenant General Phaidon Gizikis.
• 1975 - Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands.
• 1992 - The Czechoslovakia Federal Assembly votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia from January 1, 1993.
• 1999 - The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution designating November 25 as the annual International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women.
• 2004 - Korean Research team announce that they have used cord blood stem cells to regrow a parapeligic's spinal cord. Patient walks for the first time in 19 years.

Births

• 1501 - Yi Hwang, Confucian scholar (d. 1570)
• 1835 - Andrew Carnegie, British-born industrialist and philanthropist (d. 1919)
• 1841 - Ernst Schröder, German mathematician (d. 1902)
• 1843 - Henry Ware Eliot American industrialist, philanthropist and the father of T. S. Eliot (d. 1919)
• 1844 - Karl Benz, German engineer (d. 1929)
• 1881 - Pope John XXIII (d. 1963)
• 1914 - Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 1999)
• 1915 - Augusto Pinochet, Chilean dictator
• 1938 - Charles Starkweather, American serial killer (d. 1959)
• 1944 - Ben Stein, American actor
• 1947 - John Larroquette, American actor
• 1953 - Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO of Enron
• 1960 - Amy Grant, American singer
• 1960 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., American publisher (d. 1999)
• 1971 - Christina Applegate, American actress
• 1976 - Donovan McNabb, American football player
• 1979 - Brooke Haven, American porn star
• 1981 - Barbara Bush and Jenna Bush, daughters of George W. Bush and Laura Bush.
• 1986 - Amber Hagerman, American kidnapping and murder victim, basis of the Amber Alert system (d. 1996)

Deaths

• 1185 - Pope Lucius III (b. 1097)
• 1374 - Philip II of Taranto, Emperor of Costantinople (b. 1329)
• 1881 - Theobald Boehm, German inventor of the modern flute (b. 1794)
• 1884 - Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, German chemist (b. 1818)
• 1885 - King Alfonso XII of Spain (b. 1857)
• 1885 - Thomas Hendricks, Vice President of the United States (b. 1819)
• 1920 - Gaston Chevrolet, French-born American race car driver and automobile pioneer (b. 1892)
• 1968 - Upton Sinclair, American journalist, politician, and writer (b. 1878)
• 1998 - Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (b. 1933)

As you could guess from reading what historical events happened on November 25, the date is celebrated as Independence Day in Suriname and National Day in Bosnia and Herzegovina.