November 28

Events

• 1095 - On the last day of the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II appointed bishop Adhemar of Le Puy and Count Raymond IV of Toulouse to lead the First Crusade to the Holy Land.
• 1520 - After navigating through the South American strait, three ships under the command of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reach the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first Europeans to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.
• 1582 - In Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway pay a 40-pound bond for their marriage license.
• 1660 - At Gresham College, 12 men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray decide to found what is later known as the Royal Society.
• 1843 - Ka Lahui: Hawaiian Independence Day. The Kingdom of Hawai`i was officially recognized by the United Kingdom and France as an independent nation.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Cane Hill.
• 1895 - First American Automobile race. 54 miles from Chicago's Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois. Frank Duryea wins in about 10 hours.
• 1905 - Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founds Sinn Féin as a political party whose goal is the independence for all of Ireland.
• 1907 - In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayer opens his first movie theater.
• 1912 - Albania declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire.
• 1914 - World War I: Following a war-induced closure in July, the New York Stock Exchange re-opens for bond trading.
• 1919 - Lady Astor is elected to be the first female member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
• 1920 - The Mask of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr opens.
• 1925 - Country-variety show Grand Ole Opry makes its radio debut on station WSM.
• 1942 - In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove night club kills 491 people.
• 1943 - World War II: Tehran Conference - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran to discuss war strategy.
• 1958 - Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community.
• 1960 - Mauritania becomes independent of France.
• 1964 - Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 4 probe toward Mars.
• 1964 - Vietnam War: National Security Council members agree to recommend that US President Lyndon B. Johnson adopt a plan for a two-stage escalation of bombing in North Vietnam.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: In response to US President Lyndon B. Johnson's call for "more flags" in Vietnam, Philippines President Elect Ferdinand Marcos announces he will send troops to help fight in South Vietnam.
• 1969 - The Newcomers stopped airing on the BBC
• 1969 - The Rolling Stones release the classic album Let It Bleed.
• 1975 - East Timor declares its independence from Portugal.
• 1975 - As the World Turns and The Edge of Night, the final two American soap operas that had resisted going to pre-taped broadcasts, aired their last live episodes.
• 1979 - In Antarctica, a DC-10 carrying Air New Zealand Flight 901 crashes into Mount Erebus on a sightseeing trip, killing all 257 people on board.
• 1982 - Representatives from 88 countries gather in Geneva to discuss world trade and ways to work toward aspects of free trade.
• 1984 - Over 250 years after their deaths, William Penn and his wife Hannah Callowhill Penn are made Honorary Citizens of the United States.
• 1987 - A Boeing 747 carrying South African Airways flight 295 crashes into the Indian Ocean, killing all 159 people on-board.
• 1987 - In Wappingers Falls, New York, Tawana Brawley is found wrapped in garbage bags, with feces smeared all over her body and a racial slur on her body.
• 1989 - Cold War: Velvet Revolution - In the face of protests the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces they will give up their monopoly on political power.
• 1994 - In Portage, Wisconsin, convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is clubbed to death by a deranged inmate in the Columbia Correctional Institute gymnasium.
• 1994 - Voters in Norway reject European Union membership.
• 1995 - US President Bill Clinton signs a highway bill that ends the federal 55 mph speed limit.
• 2000 - Ukrainian politician Oleksander Moroz touches off the Cassette Scandal by publicly accusing President Leonid Kuchma of involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.
  

  Births

• 1628 - John Bunyan, cleric, author (Pilgrim's Progress) (d. 1688)
• 1632 - Jean-Baptiste Lully, French composer (d. 1687)
• 1700 - Revd Nathaniel Bliss, Astronomer Royal (d. 1764)
• 1757 - William Blake, English poet and artist (d. 1827)
• 1772 - Luke Howard, scientist, developed system for naming clouds (d. 1864)
• 1785 - Achille-Charles, duc de Broglie, Prime Minister of France (d. 1870)
• 1805 - John Stephens, archeologist (d. 1852)
• 1810 - William Froude, engineer, naval architect (d. 1879)
• 1820 - Friedrich Engels, German social philosopher (d. 1895)
• 1821 - Nikolai Nekrasov, poet, journalist (d. 1878)
• 1829 - Anton Rubinstein, Russian composer, pianist, and conductor (d. 1894)
• 1837 - John Wesley Hyatt, inventor of celluloid (d. 1920)
• 1853 - Helen Magill White, educator, first American woman to earn a Ph.D (1877) (d. 1944)
• 1866 - Henry Bacon, architect (d. 1924)
• 1881 - Stefan Zweig, Austrian writer (d. 1942)
• 1887 - Ernst Röhm, Nazi official (d. 1934)
• 1894 - Brooks Atkinson, drama critic (d. 1984)
• 1895 - José Iturbi, Spanish pianist (d. 1980)
• 1896 - Lilia Skala, actress (d. 1994)
• 1902 - Victor Jory, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1904 - Nancy Mitford, essayist, satirist (d. 1973)
• 1907 - Alberto Moravia, writer (d. 1990)
• 1908 - Claude Lévi-Strauss, French social anthropologist
• 1908 - Erich von Holst, behaviorist (d. 1962)
• 1916 - Mary Lilian Baels, Princess of Rethy, Belgium (d. 2002)
• 1916 - Guy Lapebie, cyclist
• 1920 - Cecilia Colledge, figure skater
• 1925 - Gloria Grahame, actress (d. 1981)
• 1925 - Virginia Hewitt, actress (d. 1986)
• 1929 - Berry Gordy Jr, record company owner (Motown)
• 1931 - Hope Lange, actress
• 1931 - Tomi Ungerer, graphic artist, author
• 1936 - Gary Hart, American politician
• 1941 - Laura Antonelli, actress
• 1942 - Paul Warfield, American football player
• 1943 - Randy Newman, composer, musician
• 1949 - Alexander Godunov, Russian composer and ballet dancer (d. 1995)
• 1949 - Paul Shaffer, orchestra leader, musician
• 1950 - Ed Harris, American actor
• 1957 - David Van Day, musician
• 1958 - Dave Righetti, baseball player
• 1959 - Judd Nelson, actor
• 1961 - Martin Clunes, actor
• 1961 - Alfonso Cuarón, director
• 1961 - Jane Sibbett, actress
• 1962 - Jon Stewart, comedian, actor, television host
• 1964 - Cornelia Guest, debutante
• 1965 - Erwin Mortier, Belgian author
• 1967 - Anna Nicole Smith, model and television personality
• 1984 - Andrew Bogut, Australian basketball player
• 1988 - Scarlett Pomers, actress
  

  Deaths

• 741 - St. Gregory III, Pope
• 1170 - Owain Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd
• 1262 - Shinran, founder of Japan's True Pure Land Buddhist sect
• 1290 - Eleanor of Catile, queen of Edward I of England (b. 1241)
• 1680 - Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian baroque sculptor (b. 1598)
• 1694 - Matsuo Basho, Japanese haiku poet
• 1815 - Johann Peter Salomon, violinist, impresario and composer
• 1827 - Dov Baer Schneersohn, Lubavitch leader, author
• 1859 - Washington Irving, writer
• 1872 - Mary Fairfax Somerville, British scientific writer
• 1878 - Orson Hyde, American religious leader (b. 1805)
• 1907 - Stanisław Wyspiański, Polish dramatist, poet, painter, architect (b. 1869)
• 1921 - `Abdu'l-Bahá, son of Bahá'u'lláh
• 1935 - Erich von Hornbostel, musicologist
• 1939 - James A Naismith, creator of basketball
• 1945 - Dwight F. Davis, secretary of war and donator of the Davis cup
• 1953 - Enrico Fermi, physicist
• 1960 - Richard Wright, author
• 1962 - Queen Mother Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
• 1963 - Fred Uttal, television host
• 1963 - Karyn Kupcinet, actress
• 1964 - Charles Meredith, actor
• 1971 - Wasfi Tal, Prime Minister of Jordan
• 1972 - Havergal Brian, composer
• 1976 - Rosalind Russell, actress
• 1977 - Trevor Bardette, actor
• 1983 - Christopher George, actor
• 1986 - Herb Vigran, actor
• 1987 - Choh Hao Li, biochemist
• 1994 - Jerry Rubin, 1960s anti-war activist
• 1994 - Jeffrey Dahmer, serial killer
• 2001 - William Kienzle, author
• 2003 - Harold von Braunhut, American, creator of Amazing Sea-Monkeys

  Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith: Holy Day - Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha
• Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii: Feast of the Holy Sovereigns in honor of the founders of the Anglican Church of Hawaii
• Albanian Independence day
• Scotland: Saint Andrew's Day
  

  External links

• BBC: On This Day

November 27 - November 29 - October 28 - December 28 -- listing of all days