On this day...

Feast day of St Leo the Great, St Justus of Canterbury, St Aedh MacBrice, St Theoctista, and St Andrew Avellino.

1775 The Continental Congress authorised the creation of the "Continental Marines," now known as the US Marines.

1862 The first performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Forza del Destino was held in St Petersburg.

1871 Henry Morton Stanley, who had been sent to track down missing explorer David Livingstone, met him at Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika.

1938 Kristallnacht, or "night of (broken) glass," took place when Nazis burned 267 synagogues and destroyed thousands of Jewish homes and businesses in Germany.

1928 Hirohito was crowned Emperor of Japan, at the age of 27.

1989 Bulldozers began demolishing the 28 year-old Berlin Wall, following the government's announcement it would allow free travel between East and West Germany.

Birthdays which occurred on November 10th:

1483 Martin Luther, Eisleben Germany, founded Protestantism
1683 George II, King of England (1727-60)
1697 William Hogarth, England, satiric painter/engraver (Rake's Progress)
1730 Oliver Goldsmith, Ireland, novelist/dramatist (She Stoops to Conquer)
1759 Frederich von Schiller, Germany, poet/lyricist (Ode to Joy)
1793 Jared Kirtland, US, physician/naturalist/reformed penitentiaries
1819 Cyrus West Field, financier/success of first transatlantic cable
1844 Sir John SD Thompson (C), 4th PM of Canada (1892-94)
1851 Waldemar Brígger, Norway, geologist/mineralogist (Metamict State)
1861 Robert TA Innes, Edinburgh Scotland, astronomer (Proxima Centauri)
1873 Henri Rabaud, Paris France, composer (Le Premer Glaire)
1879 Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, US, poet (Gen. William Booth enters Heaven)
1879 Vachel Lindsay, Springfield Illinois, poet (Johnny Appleseed)
1880 Sir Jacob Epstein, sculptor (Adam, Jacob & the Angel)
1882 Frances Perkins, first woman Cabinet member (Sec of Labor 1933-45)
1889 Claude Rains, London, actor (Invisible Man, Casablanca)
1895 John Knudsen Northrop, aircraft designer (Northrop Air)
1907 Jane Froman, St. Louis, singer (Jane Froman's USA Canteen)
1911 Harry Andrews, Kent England, actor (Equus, Man of La Mancha)
1916 Billy May, Pittsburgh, orchestra leader (Milton Berle Show)
1916 Guido Turchi, Rome Italy, composer (Invettiva)
1918 Jack McCoy, Akron Ohio, TV host (Live Like a Millionaire)
1919 Clyde (Bulldog) Turner, NFL center (Chicago Bears)
1919 George Fenneman, TV announcer (You Bet You're Life)
1919 Moise Tshombe, President of Katanga, then Premier of the Congo (Zaire)
1925 Richard Burton, South Wales, actor (Cleopatra, Virginia Woolf)
1934 Norm Cash, Eldorado Texas, first baseman (Detroit Tigers)
1935 Pippa Scott, Los Angeles, actress (Virginian, Mr Lucky)
1935 Roy Scheider, Orange NJ, actor (All That Jazz, Jaws)
1937 Albert Hall, Boothton Alabama, actor (Trouble in Mind, Ryan's 4)
1944 Dave Loggins, singer (Please come to Boston)
1944 Tim Rice, lyricist (Chess Moves, One Night in Bangkok)
1945 Donna Fargo, NC, country singer (Happiest Girl in Whole USA)
1946 Alaina Reed, Springfield Ohio, actress (Rose Lee Holloway-227)
1946 David Stockman, Reagan's budget director
1948 Greg Lake, rock guitarist (Emerson, Lake & Palmer-Tarkus)
1949 Ann Reinking, Seattle, dancer/actress (All the Jazz, Micki & Maude)
1950 Jack Scalia, Brooklyn NY, actor (Berrengers, Hollywood Beat)
1955 Jack Clark, all star outfielder (Giants, Cards, Yanks, Padres)
1956 Sinbad, comedian/actor (Different World, At the Apollo)
1959 MacKenzie Phillips, Alexandria VA, actress (Julie-One Day at a Time)
1961 Junior [Norman Giscombe], R&B singer (Mama Used to Say)

Deaths which occurred on November 10th:

1865 Henry Wirzm, Confederate prison superintendent executed for excessive cruelty
1938 Kemal Atark, first President of Turkey
1968 Gerald Mohr, actor (Christopher-Foreign Intrigue), dies at 54
1978 Linda Scot,t dies at 28
1981 Abel Gance, French movie director, dies at 92
1982 Leonid I. Brezhnev, Soviet dictator, dies of a heart attack at 75
1984 Sudie Bond, actress, dies at 56 of a respiratory ailment
1985 Pelle Lindbergh, Philadelphia Flyer's Goalie, dies in drunk driving accident