November 25
November 25 is the 329th day of the year (330th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 36 days remain until the end of the year.
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.
- 1177 - Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Chatillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.
- 1491 - The siege of Granada, last Moorish stronghold in Spain, begins.
- 1542 - Battle of Solway Moss. The English army defeats the Scots.
- 1667 - A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha, in the Caucasus, killing 80,000 people.
- 1703 - The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the British Isles, reaches its peak intensity which it maintains 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.
- 1758 - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is founded.
- 1783 - American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
- 1795 - Partitions of Poland: Stanislaus August Poniatowski, the last king of independent Poland, is forced to abdicate and is exiled to Russia.
- 1826 - The Greek frigate Hellas arrives in Nafplion to become the first flagship of the Hellenic Navy.
- 1839 - A cyclone slams India with high winds and a 40 foot storm surge, destroying the port city of Coringa (never to be entirely rebuilt again). The storm wave sweeps inland, taking with it 20,000 ships and thousands of people. An estimated 300,000 deaths result from the disaster.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Missionary Ridge - At Missionary Ridge in Tennessee, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the Siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg.
- 1864 - American Civil War: A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City.
- 1867 - Alfred Nobel patents dynamite.
- 1874 - The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party consisting primarily of farmers affected by the Panic of 1873.
- 1876 - Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack Chief Dull Knife's sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River.
- 1905 - The Danish Prins Carl arrives in Norway to become King Haakon VII of Norway.
- 1913 - Panama becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1918 - Vojvodina, former Austro-Hungarian crownland, proclaims its secession from this state to join the Kingdom of Serbia.
- 1926 - The 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 estimated 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 - First flight of the deHavilland mosquito and Martin B-26 Marauder.
- 1941 - Finland joined the Anti-Comintern Pact.
- 1943 - Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina was re-established at the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia.
- 1944 - World War II: A German V-2 rocket hits a Woolworth's store in Deptford, United Kingdom, killing 160 shoppers.
- 1944 - World War II: Battle of Peleliu - At Peleliu, Palau, American forces led by the general officer William H. Rupertus defeat the Japanese army led by Colonel Kunio Nakagawa.
- 1947 - Red Scare: The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.
- 1947 - New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.
- 1950 - The "Storm of the Century", a violent snowstorm, paralyzes the northeastern United States and the Appalachians, bringing winds up to 100 mph and sub-zero temperatures. Pickens, West Virginia, records 57 inches of snow. 323 people die due to the storm.
- 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.
- 1958 - French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community.
- 1960 - The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated.
- 1963 - President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1970 - In Japan, author Yukio Mishima and two compatriots commit ritualistic suicide after an unsuccessful coup attempt.
- 1973 - George Papadopoulos, head of the military Regime of the Colonels in Greece, is ousted in a military coup led by Lieutenant General Phaidon Gizikis.
- 1975 - Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands.
- 1977 - Former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. was found "guilty" by the Philippine Military Commission No. 2 and was sentenced to death by firing squad.
- 1982 - The Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day Fire destroys an entire city block, including the Northwestern National Bank building and the recently closed Donaldson's Department Store.
- 1984 - 36 top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
- 1984 - A KCR train derails between Sheung Shui and Fanling, Hong Kong.
- 1986 - Iran Contra Affair: US Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
- 1986 - The King Fahd Causeway was officially opened in the Persian Gulf.
- 1987 - Supertyphoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of 165 mph and a surge that swallows entire villages. at least 1,036 deaths attributed to the storm.
- 1988 - German politician Rita Süssmuth becomes president of the Bundestag.
- 1992 - The Czechoslovakia Federal Assembly votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia from January 1, 1993.
- 1994 - Sony founder Akio Morita announces he will be stepping down as CEO of the company.
- 1996 - An Ice storm strikes the central U.S. killing 26 people. Powerful windstorm affects Florida, winds gust over 90 mph, toppling trees and flipping trailers.
- 2000 - 2000 Baku earthquake took place.
- 2005 - Polish Minister of National Defence Radek Sikorski opens Warsaw Pact archives to historians. Maps of possible nuclear strikes against Western Europe, as well as the possible nuclear annihilation of 43 Polish cities and 2 million of its citizens by Soviet-controlled forces, are released.
- 2007 - The first European Parliament election and a referendum on changing the voting system (called by the President and declared invalid because of insufficient turnout) were held in Romania.
- 2007 - President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili resigns.
Births
- 1454 - Catherine Cornaro, queen of Cyprus (d. 1510)
- 1501 - Yi Hwang, Confucian scholar (d. 1570)
- 1562 - Félix Lope de Vega, Spanish playwright (d. 1635)
- 1577 - Piet Hein, Dutch naval commander and folk hero (d. 1629)
- 1638 - Catherine of Braganza, Queen of Charles II of England (d. 1705)
- 1703 - Jean-François Séguier, French astronomer and botanist (d. 1784)
- 1712 - Charles-Michel de l'Épée, French philanthropist and developer of 'Signed French' (d. 1789)
- 1714 - Yoriyuki Arima, Japanese mathematician (d. 1783)
- 1778 - Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, British Christian writer (d. 1856)
- 1814 - Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (d. 1878)
- 1817 - John Bigelow, American statesman and author (d. 1911)
- 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)
- 1845 - José Maria de Eça de Queiroz, Portuguese novelist (d. 1900)
- 1846 - Carrie Nation, American temperance advocate (d. 1911)
- 1858 - Alfred Capus, French author (d. 1922)
- 1862 - Ethelbert Nevin, American pianist and composer (d. 1901)
- 1869 - Ben Lindsey, American judge and social reformer (d. 1934)
- 1870 - Winthrop Ames, American theatrical director (d. 1937)
- 1874 - Joe Gans, American boxer (d. 1910)
- 1876 - Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Grand Duchess of Hesse (d. 1936)
- 1880 - Elsie J. Oxenham, British children's author (d. 1960)
- 1881 - Pope John XXIII (d. 1963)
- 1883 - Harvey Spencer Lewis, American mystic (d. 1939)
- 1883 - Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter (d. 1968)
- 1887 - Nikolai Vavilov, Russian geneticist (d. 1943)
- 1890 - Isaac Rosenberg, English war poet and artist (d. 1918)
- 1895 - Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist (d. 1991)
- 1895 - Ludvík Svoboda, President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1979)
- 1895 - Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer (d. 1986)
- 1896 - Virgil Thomson, American composer and music critic (d. 1989)
- 1900 - Rudolf Höß, commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp (d. 1947)
- 1901 - Arthur Liebehenschel, Commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp (d. 1948)
- 1902 - Eddie Shore, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1985)
- 1904 - Lillian Copeland, American athlete (d. 1964)
- 1904 - Ba Jin, Chinese novelist (d. 2005)
- 1904 - Toni Ortelli, Italian composer and alpinist (d. 2000)
- 1907 - John Stuart Hindmarsh, British racing driver and aviator (d. 1938)
- 1911 - Roelof Frankot, Dutch painter (d. 1984)
- 1913 - Lewis Thomas, American physician and essayist (d. 1993)
- 1914 - Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 1999)
- 1914 - Léon Zitrone, Russian-born French journalist and television host (d. 1995)
- 1915 - Augusto Pinochet, Chilean Dictator (d. 2006)
- 1920 - Tuanku Syed Putra ibni Almarhum Syed Hassan Jamalullail, King of Malaysia (d. 2000)
- 1920 - Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican actor
- 1920 - Noel Neill, American actress
- 1922 - Gloria Lasso, French-Spanish singer (d. 2005)
- 1923 - Mauno Koivisto, former president of Finland
- 1924 - Takaaki Yoshimoto, Japanese poet, critic, and philosopher.
- 1926 - Jeffrey Hunter, American actor (d. 1969)
- 1926 - Poul Anderson, American writer (d. 2001)
- 1933 - Kathryn Grant, American actress
- 1936 - Trisha Brown, American choreographer and dancer
- 1938 - Rosanna Schiaffino, Italian actress
- 1940 - Reinhard Furrer, American physicist and astronaut (d. 1995)
- 1940 - Joe Gibbs, American football coach
- 1941 - Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi, Muslim Sufi, author, spiritual leader (d. 2001)
- 1941 - Percy Sledge, American musician
- 1942 - Bob Lind, American folk singer and songwriter
- 1944 - Ben Stein, American actor
- 1945 - George Webster, American football player (d. 2007)
- 1946 - Bev Bevan, English rock drummer (The Move, Electric Light Orchestra)
- 1947 - Jonathan Kaplan, American filmmaker
- 1947 - John Larroquette, American actor
- 1947 - Tracey Walter, American actor
- 1948 - Jacques P. Dupuis, French Canadian politician
- 1951 - Bucky Dent, American baseball player
- 1951 - Bill Morrissey, American musician
- 1951 - Arturo Pérez Reverte, Spanish novelist and war reporter
- 1952 - Imran Khan, Pakistani test cricketer
- 1952 - John Lynch, American politician current governor of New Hampshire
- 1953 - Jeffrey Skilling, former CEO of Enron
- 1953 - Graham Eadie, Australian rugby league player
- 1955 - Bruno Tonioli, Italian born British dancer
- 1956 - Hélène Goudin, Swedish politician
- 1957 - Bob Ehrlich, Jr., former Maryland governor
- 1959 - Charles Kennedy, British politician
- 1959 - Steve Rothery, British guitarist (Marillion)
- 1960 - Amy Grant, American singer
- 1960 - John F. Kennedy, Jr., American publisher (d. 1999)
- 1960 - Kasey Smith, American keyboardist
- 1962 - Gilbert Delorme, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1963 - Kevin Chamberlin, American actor
- 1963 - Holly Cole, Canadian jazz singer
- 1963 - Bernie Kosar, American football player
- 1964 - Mark Lanegan, American musician (Screaming Trees)
- 1965 - Cris Carter, American football player
- 1965 - Dougray Scott, Scottish television and film actor
- 1966 - Tim Armstrong, American musician (Rancid and The Transplants)
- 1966 - Billy Burke, American actor
- 1967 - Kazuya Nakai, Japanese voice actor
- 1967 - Gregg Turkington, American comedian (as Neil Hamburger) and musician
- 1968 - Jill Hennessy, Canadian actress
- 1968 - Erick Sermon, American rap music artist
- 1968 - Jacqueline Hennessy, Canadian actress and talk show host
- 1968 - Galin Nikov, Bulgarian pole vaulter
- 1969 - Anthony Peeler, American basketball player
- 1971 - Christina Applegate, American actress
- 1971 - Magnus Arvedson, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1973 - Erick Strickland, American basketball player
- 1976 - Donovan McNabb, American football player
- 1976 - Clint Mathis, American soccer player
- 1977 - Guillermo Cañas, Argentine tennis player
- 1977 - Marcus Marshall, Australian racing driver
- 1978 - Ringo Shiina, Japanese musician
- 1979 - Thea Gilmore, British songwriter
- 1979 - Michael Lehan, National Football League player
- 1980 - Josh Lomberger, American professional wrestling backstage interviewer
- 1980 - Kushan Liyanarachchi, Prominent Live Buddhism Practitioner, Sri Lanka
- 1980 - Aaron Mokoena, South African soccer player
- 1981 - Xabi Alonso, Spanish international footballer
- 1981 - Barbara Bush, daughter of George W. Bush and Laura Bush
- 1981 - Jenna Bush, daughter of George W. Bush and Laura Bush
- 1981 - Jared Jeffries, American basketball player
- 1981 - Mauricio Rua, Brazillian Mixed Martial Artist
- 1983 - Kirsty Crawford, Scottish singer/songwriter
- 1984 - Gaspard Ulliel, French actor
- 1986 - Katie Cassidy, American singer and actress
- 1986 - Craig Gardner, English footballer
- 1986 - Amber Hagerman, American kidnapping and murder victim, basis of the Amber Alert system (d. 1996)
Deaths
- 311 - Peter of Alexandria, Christian martyr
- 1034 - King Malcolm II of Scotland
- 1120 - William Adelin, son of Henry I of England (drowned) (b. 1104)
- 1185 - Pope Lucius III (b. 1097)
- 1326 - Prince Koreyasu, Japanese shogun (b. 1264)
- 1374 - Philip II of Taranto, Titular emperor of Costantinople (b. 1329)
- 1456 - Jacques Cœur, French merchant
- 1560 - Andrea Doria, Italian naval leader (b. 1466)
- 1626 - Edward Alleyn, English actor (b. 1566)
- 1686 - Nicolas Steno, Danish geologist (b. 1638)
- 1694 - Ismael Bullialdus, French astronomer (b. 1605)
- 1700 - Stephanus Van Cortlandt, first native Mayor of New York (b. 1643)
- 1748 - Isaac Watts, British hymnwriter (b. 1674)
- 1755 - Johann Georg Pisendel, German musician (b. 1687)
- 1785 - Richard Glover, British poet (b. 1712)
- 1865 - Heinrich Barth, German explorer (b. 1821)
- 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)
- 1944 - Kenesaw Mountain Landis, American baseball commissioner (b. 1866)
- 1947 - Léon-Paul Fargue, French poet (b. 1876)
- 1948 - Kanbun Uechi, karate master (b. 1877)
- 1949 - Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, African American entertainer (b. 1878)
- 1950 - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1873)
- 1950 - Gustaf John Ramstedt, Finland-Swedish linguist and diplomat (b. 1873)
- 1959 - Gérard Philipe, French actor (b. 1922)
- 1965 - Dame Myra Hess, British pianist (b. 1890)
- 1968 - Upton Sinclair, American journalist, politician, and writer (b. 1878)
- 1968 - Paul Siple, American explorer of the Antarctic. (b. 1908)
- 1970 - Yukio Mishima, Japanese writer (b. 1925)
- 1972 - Henri Coandă, Romanian aerodynamics pioneer (b. 1886)
- 1973 - Laurence Harvey, Lithuanian-born actor (b. 1928)
- 1974 - Nick Drake, British singer and songwriter (b. 1948)
- 1974 - U Thant, Burmese UN Secretary-General (b. 1909)
- 1978 - Elaine Esposito, American woman who hold the record for longest coma (b. 1934)
- 1981 - Jack Albertson, American actor (b. 1907)
- 1985 - Ray Jablonski, American baseball player (b. 1926)
- 1985 - Franz Hildebrandt, German Theologian(b. 1909)
- 1987 - Harold Washington, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1922)
- 1989 - Alva R. Fitch, American World War II and Korean soldier (b. 1907)
- 1995 - Léon Zitrone, French journalist and television host (b. 1914)
- 1995 - Alan Nicholls, English footballer (b. 1973)
- 1997 - Barbara, French singer (b. 1930)
- 1997 - Kamuzu Banda, President of Malawi (b. ca. 1898)
- 1998 - Nelson Goodman, American philosopher (b. 1906)
- 1998 - Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (b. 1933)
- 2001 - Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi, Muslim Sufi, author, spiritual leader (b. 1941)
- 2002 - Karel Reisz, Czech theater director (b. 1926)
- 2005 - George Best, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1946)
- 2005 - Richard Burns, English WRC champion (b. 1971)
- 2006 - Sean Bell, American shooting victim (b. 1983)
- 2006 - Luciano Bottaro, Italian comic book artist (b. 1931)
- 2006 - Leo Chiosso, Italian lyricist (b. 1920)
- 2006 - Valentin Elizalde, Mexican singer (b. 1979)
- 2006 - Kenneth M. Taylor, American pilot (b. 1919)
- 2006 - Phyllis Fraser Cerf Wagner, American actress, journalist and children's book publisher (b. 1916)
- 2007 - Kevin DuBrow, American singer (Quiet Riot) (b. 1955)
Holidays and observances
- R.C. Saints - Saint Catherine of Alexandria; Elizabeth of Reute
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: National Day (1943)
- Suriname - Independence Day (from the Netherlands, 1975)
- International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
- International Men's Day in Canada