November 2

is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 59 days remaining.

Events

676 - Donus became Pope.
1675 - A combined attack by the Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut colonies attacks the Great Swamp Fort, owned by the Narragansetts during King Philip's War.
1772 - American Revolutionary War: Samuel Adams and Joseph Warren form the first Committee of Correspondence.
1783 - In Rocky Hill, New Jersey, US General George Washington gives his "Farewell Address to the Army".
1795 - The French Directory succeeds the French National Convention as the government of Revolutionary France.
1861 - American Civil War: Western Department Union General John C. Fremont is relieved of command and replaced by David Hunter.
1868 - Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally, and is perhaps the first country to do so.
1889 - North and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states.
1895 - The first gasoline-powered race in the United States. First prize: $2,000
1899 - The Boers started their 118 day siege of British held Ladysmith during the Second Boer War.
1914 - Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1917 - Zionism: The Balfour Declaration proclaims support for Jewish settlement in Palestine.
1920 - In the United States, KDKA of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania starts broadcasting as the first commercial radio station. The first broadcast was the results of the U.S. presidential election, 1920.
1930 - Haile Selassie is crowned emperor of Ethiopia.
1936 - The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is established.
1936 - Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaims the Rome-Berlin Axis, establishing the alliance of the Axis Powers.
1936 - the British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, the world's first regular, high-definition (then defined as at least 200 lines) service. Renamed BBC1 in 1964, the channel still runs to this day.
1947 - In California, Designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden flight of the Spruce Goose; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built.
1948 - U.S. presidential election, 1948: Harry S. Truman defeats Thomas E. Dewey for the US presidency.
1953 - The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan names the country The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
1957 - The Levelland UFO Case in Levelland, Texas, generates national publicity, and remains one of the most impressive UFO cases in American history.
1959 - Quiz show scandals: "Twenty-One" game show contestant Charles Van Doren admits to a Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.
1959 - Ice Hockey: After being struck in the face with a puck, goalkeeper Jacques Plante returns to play wearing a protective mask for the first time in professional play.
1959 - The first section of the M1 motorway, the first in the United Kingdom, was opened between the present junctions 5 and 18.
1960 - Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case
1963 - South Vietnamese President Ngô Ðìhn Diệm is assassinated following a military coup.
1964 - King Saud of Saudi Arabia was deposed by a family coup, and replaced by his half-brother King Faisal.
1965 - At 5:15 P.M., Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker, set himself on fire in front of the river entrance to the Pentagon to protest the use of napalm in the Vietnam war.
1966 - The Cuban Adjustment Act enters force, allowing 123,000 Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the United States.
1967 - Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson and "the Wise Men" conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war.
1974 - 78 die as the Time Go-Go Club in Seoul, South Korea burns down. Six of the victims jumped to their deaths from the seventh floor after a club official barred the doors after the fire started.
1981 - Antigua and Barbuda become independent from the United Kingdom.
1982 - Channel 4 in the United Kingdom was launched.
1983 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King Day, the only current national holiday honoring an individual American.
1984 - Capital punishment: Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962.
1988 - The Morris worm, the first internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, was launched from MIT.
1991 - Bartholomew I becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople.
1992 - Douglas Adams finally announces why he chose 42 to be The Answer to Life, the_Universe, and Everything
1998 - WWF hardcore title awarded to Mankind
2000 - The first crew arrives at the International Space Station.

Births

1082 - Emperor Huizong of China (d. 1135)
1636 - Edward Colston, English merchant and philanthropist (d. 1721)
1667 - James Sobieski, Crown Prince of Poland (d. 1737)
1692 - Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer, Dutch composer (d. 1766)
1699 - Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter (d. 1779)
1709 - Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (d. 1759)
1734 - Daniel Boone, American frontiersman (d. 1820)
1739 - Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Austrian composer (d. 1799)
1741 - Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, Dutch politician (d. 1784)
1755 - Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (d. 1793)
1766 - Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal (d. 1858)
1795 - James Knox Polk, 11th President of the United States (d. 1849)
1808 - Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, French writer (d. 1889)
1815 - George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (d. 1864)
1821 - Sir George Bowen, British provincial governor (d. 1899)
1844 - Mehmed V, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1918)
1865 - Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States (d. 1923)
1877 - Joseph De Piro, Maltese founder of the Missionary Society of St. Paul (d. 1933)
1877 - Victor Trumper, Australian cricketer (d. 1915)
1877 - Aga Khan III, Shia Imam (d. 1957)
1885 - Harlow Shapley, American astronomer (d. 1972)
1893 - Battista "Pinin" Farina, founder of Pininfarina coachbuilding company (d.1966)
1894 - Alexander Lippisch, German scientist (d. 1976)
1897 - Vito Genovese, American gangster (d. 1969)
1906 - Daniil Andreev, Russian poet, writer, and mystic (d. 1959)
1908 - Fred Bakewell, English cricketer (d. 1983)
1911 - Odysseus Elytis, Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
1911 - Raphael Robinson, US mathematician (d. 1995)
1913 - Burt Lancaster, American actor (d. 1994)
1921 - Shepard Menken, American voice actor
1927 - Steve Ditko, American artist
1929 - Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, President of Pakistan
1929 - Richard E. Taylor, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1934 - Bill Gothard, Conservative Christian speaker
1934 - Ken Rosewall, Australian tennis champion
1936 - Jack Starrett, American actor and director (d. 1989)
1938 - Pat Buchanan, American journalist and politician
1938 - Queen Sofia of Spain
1941 - Bruce Welch, English musician and songwriter (The Shadows)
1942 - Shere Hite, American author
1942 - Stefanie Powers, American actress
1944 - Keith Emerson, British keyboardist and composer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
1946 - Alan Jones, Australian race car driver
1946 - Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (d. 2001)
1954 - Pat Croce, American entrepreneur
1958 - Willie McGee, baseball player
1960 - Tihomir Blaškić, Croatian war criminal
1961 - k.d. lang, Canadian musician
1963 - Craig Saavedra, American filmmaker
1965 - Shahrukh Khan, Indian actor
1966 - Tim Kirkman, American filmmaker
1967 - Kurt Elling, American Jazz Vocalist
1969 - Reginald Arvizu, American bassist (KoЯn)
1970 - Sharmell Sullivan, Professional wrestling valet
1972 - Samantha Janus, British entertainer
1974 - Nelly, American rapper (St. Lunatics)
1974 - Prodigy, American rapper (Mobb Deep)
1976 - Sidney Ponson, Aruban Major League baseball player
1979 - Julie Lund, Danish actress
1982 - Kyoko Fukada, Japanese actress and singer
1984 - Julia Stegner, German supermodel
1986 - Erika Jo, American musician
1986 - Lara Sacher, Australian actress
1989 - Katelyn Tarver, American singer

Deaths

1083 - Matilda of Flanders, was Queen consort of the Kingdom of England (b. 1031)
1285 - King Peter III of Aragon (b. 1239)
1327 - King James II of Aragon (b. 1267)
1483 - Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English politician (b. 1454)
1610 - Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1544)
1618 - Archduke Maximilian III of Austria (b. 1568)
1716 - Engelbert Kaempfer, German physician and traveler (b. 1651)
1807 - Baron de Breteuil, French statesman (b. 1730)
1852 - Pyotr Kotlyarevsky, Russian general (b. 1782)
1863 - Theodore Judah, American railroad engineer (b. 1826)
1877 - Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, Prussian field marshal (b. 1784)
1887 - Jenny Lind, Swedish soprano (b. 1820)
1898 - George Goyder, English-born surveyor-general of South Australia (b. 1826)
1905 - Albert von Kölliker, Swiss anatomist (b. 1817)
1935 - Jock Cameron, South African cricketer (b. 1905)
1944 - Thomas Midgley, American chemist and inventor (b. 1889)
1950 - George Bernard Shaw, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
1960 - Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek conductor, pianist, and composer (b. 1896)
1961 - James Thurber, American humorist (b. 1894)
1963 - Ngo Dihn Diem, President of South Vietnam (b. 1901)
1966 - Peter Debye, Dutch chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
1975 - Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian film director (b. 1922)
1984 - Velma Barfield, American murderer (executed) (b. 1932)
1986 - Paul Frees, American voice actor (b. 1920)
1992 - Hal Roach, American director and producer (b. 1892)
2002 - Tonio Selwart, German actor (b. 1896)
2002 - Charles Sheffield, American author and physicist (b. 1935)
2003 - Frank McCloskey, American politician (b. 1939)
2004 - Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, President of the United Arab Emirates (b. 1918)
2004 - Theo van Gogh, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1957)

Holidays and observances

Catholicism - All Souls Day (unless on a Sunday)
Ancient Latvia - Dveselu Diena held
Mexico and the United States - Day of the Dead (Spanish: El Dia de los Muertos), a Mexican and Mexican-American celebration of dead ancestors.
USA - admission day (1889) of North Dakota and South Dakota as 39th and 40th states.
Rastafari movement - The coronation of Haile Selassie (1930) celebrated

External links

BBC: On This Day

November 1 - November 3 - October 2 - December 2 -- listing of all dates

Gourt Home::Gourt :: November 2

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links