On this day...

1307 William Tell shoots apple off his son's head
1421 Zuider Zee floods 72 villages, killing estimated 10,000 in Netherlands
1497 Bartolomeu Dias discovers Cape of Good Hope
1755 Worst earthquake in Massachusetts Bay area strikes Boston; no deaths report
1776 Hessians capture Fort Lee, NJ
1787 First Unitarian minister in US ordained, Boston
1803 Battle of Vertieres, in which Haitians defeat French
1805 30 women meet at Mrs. Silas Lee's home in Wiscasset, Maine, organizes Female Charitable Society, the first woman's club in America
1820 US Navy Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer discovers Antarctica
1865 Mark Twain publishes "Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
1874 National Woman's Christian Temperance Union organizes in Cleveland
1883 Standard time zones established by railroads in US & Canada
1889 Oahu Railway begins public service in Hawaii
1894 First newspaper Sunday color comic section published (NY World)
1903 Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty gives US exclusive canal rights in Panama
1905 Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway
1909 US invades Nicaragua, later overthrows President Zelaya
1911 Britain's first seaplane flies
1911 The opera "Lobetanz" first American performance
1912 Albania declares independence from Turkey
1913 Lincoln Deachey performs first airplane loop-the-loop (San Diego)
1918 Latvia declares independence from Russia
1928 Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse debuts in NY in "Steamboat Willie"
1929 Large quake in Atlantic breaks Transatlantic cable in 28 places
1932 "Flowers & Trees" receives First Academy Award for a cartoon
1936 Germany & Italy recognized Spanish government of Francisco Franco
1936 Main span of Golden Gate Bridge joined
1943 First US ambassador to Canada, Ray Atherton, nominated
1949 Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers, named NL's MVP
1951 "See it Now" premieres on TV
1954 Yankees trade Woodling, Byrd, McDonald, Triandos, Miranada & Smith to Orioles for Turley, Larsen & Hunter as part of an 18 player deal
1955 Bell X-2 rocket plane taken up for first powered flight
1958 First true reservoir in Jerusalem opens
1960 Copyright office issues its 10 millionth registration
1961 US Ranger 2 launched to Moon; failed mission
1964 J. Edgar Hoover describes Martin Luther King as "most notorious liar"
1966 US Roman Catholic bishops did away with rule against eating meat on Fridays
1970 Russia lands self propelled rover on the Moon
1975 Calvin Murphy (Houston) ends NBA free throw streak 58 games
1976 Spain's parliament establishes democracy after 37 years of dictatorship
1976 Yankees sign free agent Don Gullett
1980 "Heaven's Gate" premiers
1987 31 die in a fire at King's Cross, London's busiest subway station
1990 NFL NY Giants beat Detroit Lions 20-0, to run 1990 record to 10-0
1990 Saddam offers to free an estimated 2,000 men held in Kuwait
1991 France deports Marlon Brando's daughter Cheyenne to Tahiti
1991 Muslim Shiites release hostages Terry Waite & Thomas Sutherland

Birthdays which occurred on November 18th:

1789 Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, developed a method of photography
1810 Asa Gray, Sauquoit NY, botanist (Flora of North America)
1836 William Schwenck Gilbert, London, composer (Gilbert & Sullivan)
1869 James E. Sullivan, founder (Amateur Athletic Union)
1874 Clarence Shepard Day, New York, writer (Life with Father)
1881 Percy Lesueur, hockey player/inventor (large goalie glove)
1882 Jacques Maritain, France, Catholic philosopher (exponent of St. Thomas)
1882 Wyndham Lewis, English writer/painter (Tarr, Apes of God)
1889 Amelita Galli-Curci, Italy, operatic soprano (Cave of the Winds)
1897 Jules Buffano, St. Louis, pianist (Jimmy Durante Show)
1898 Joris Ivens, Nijmegen Netherlands, director (Rain)
1899 Eugene Ormandy (Blau), Budapest, Hungary, conductor (Philadelphia Orchestra)
1900 Constantin Alajalov, Russia, artist (Ditters & Jitters)
1900 Howard Thurman, theologian/author (Deep River, Deep in the Hunger)
1901 George Gallup, Jefferson Iowa, public opinion pollster (Gallup Poll)
1908 Imogene Coca, Philadelphia, comedienne (Your Show of Shows, Grindl)
1909 Johnny Mercer, Savannah Georgia, lyricist (Moon River, Old Black Magic)
1912 Arthur Peterson, Mandan ND, actor (Major-Soap, Crisis)
1919 Jocelyn Brando, San Francisco, actress (Ugly American)
1921 Peter Pocklington, NHL team owner (Edmonton Oilers)
1922 Marjorie Gestring, US, springboard diver (Olympic-gold-1936)
1923 Alan B. Shepard, Jr., East Derry NH, astronaut Merc 3, Apollo 14)
1926 Dorothy Collins, Windsor Ontario, singer (Your Hit Parade)
1928 Mickey Mouse, cartoon strip
1929 William (Pete) Knight, X-15 pilot
1936 Hank Ballard, Detroit, rocker
1938 Karl Schranz, Austria, slalom (Olympic-1968)
1939 Brenda Vaccaro, Brooklyn, actress (Cactus Flower, Sara, Paper Dolls)
1941 David Hemmings, England, actor (Blow-up, Barbarella)
1942 Jeffrey Siegel, Chicago, pianist (Chicago Symphony)
1942 Linda Evans, Hartford, actress (Dynasty, Big Valley)
1943 Susan Sullivan, New York, actress (Having Babies, Falcon Crest)
1945 Glen Walken, Astoria Queens, actor (Leave it to Larry)
1947 Jameson Parker, Baltimore, actor (American Justice, Simon & Simon)
1948 Andrea Marcovicci, New York, actress (Gloria-Berrengers, Fran-Trapper John)
1948 Jack Tatum, Cherryville NC, NFL defensive back (Raiders)
1949 Ted Sator, Utica NY, NHL coach (NY Rangers, Buffalo Sabres)
1950 Elizabeth Perkins, actress (About Last Night, Big)
1950 Graham Parker, musician (Live Sparks, Mercury Poisoning)
1956 Tony Franklin, NFL kicker (Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots)
1957 Jenny Burton, New York, rocker (Nobody Loves Me Like You Do)
1960 Kim Wilde, England, rocker (You Keep Me Hanging On)
1961 Janice Lynn Kuehnemund, St. Paul MN, rocker (Vixen-Rev It Up)


Deaths which occurred on November 18th:

1886 Chester A. Arthur, (21st US President), dies in NY at 56
1946 Donald Meek, Glasgow Scotland, actor (Stage Fair, Stagecoach)
1962 Niels Bohr, physicist who won the Nobel Prize in 1922, dies at 77
1969 Joseph P. Kennedy, dies in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, at 81
1970 Hal Dickinson, singer (Modernaires), dies at 56
1978 Leo J. Ryan, (Rep-Cal) & 4 others killed in Jonestown, Guyana by members of Peoples Temple, followed by ritual mass suicide of 912 member
1982 Donald Dillaway actor, dies at 78