It happened today – this day in history – November 28
1291: Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I, dies in Northants.
1499: Edward Plantagenet, 17th Count of Warwick and Plantagenet heir, is beheaded for treason aged 24.
1520: Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing the Pacific Ocean.
1582: William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway.
1628: The birth of author John Bunyan in Elstow, Beds.
1660: The Royal Society is formed at Gresham College, London, after a lecture by Christopher Wren.
1680: Baroque sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini dies aged 81.
1717: Blackbeard (Edward Teach) attacks and captures a French merchant slave ship, which he renames as his flagship the “Queen Anne’s Revenge”.
1720: Anne Bonny and Mary Read are tried, found guilty of pirating, and sentenced to death in Spanish Town, Jamaica, but their pregnancies win them stays of execution.
1729: Natchez Indians massacre 138 Frenchmen, 35 French women, and 56 children at Fort Rosalie, Mississippi.
1757: Artist and poet William Blake is born in London.
1813: Cossacks occupy Utrecht.
1814: The Times is first printed by automatic, steam powered presses which make newspapers available to a mass audience.
1821: Panama declares independence from Spain.
1843: The Kingdom of Hawaii is officially recognized by the UK and France as an independent nation.
1854: The Dutch army stops a Chinese uprising in Borneo.
1859: Author Washington Irving dies from a heart attack aged 76.
1878: The most famous trial in art history ends with artist James McNeill Whistler awarded a token farthing in compensation after suing the writer and critic John Ruskin for libel.
1893: Women vote in a national election for the first time in the New Zealand general election.
1895: America’s first auto race – Chicago to Evanston and back; six cars, 55 miles. Frank Duryea wins averaging 7mph.
1901: Premiere of Gustav Mahler’s 4th Symphony in G.
1905: Arthur Griffith forms Sinn Féin in Dublin.
1906: Tommy Burns retains his world heavyweight boxing title after being pushed to a 20-round draw by “Philadelphia” Jack O’Brien in Los Angeles.
1907: Scrap metal dealer Louis B. Mayer opens his first movie theatre in Haverhil, Massachusetts.
1909: Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 premieres at the New Theatre in New York with the composer himself as soloist.
1912: Ismail Qemali declares Albania independent from Turkey.
1913: Heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson KOs Andre Spaul in Paris.
1918: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia and Germany abdicates.
1919: Lady Nancy Astor is elected as the first female member of the House of Commons.
1939: The Soviet government revokes the Russian-Finnish non-aggression treaty.
1942: A fire at the Coconut Grove nightclub in Boston kills 429.
1943: US president Franklin D Roosevelt, British prime minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin meet at the Tehran Conference in Iran to map out a strategy against the Nazis.
1951: Military coup in Syria under Col Adib el-Shishakli.
1956: Soviet runner Vladimir Kuts wraps up an Olympic double by winning the 5,000m gold medal at the Melbourne Games.
1960: Mauritania gains independence from France.
1962: Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands dies aged 82. On the same day, Yoko Ono marries film producer Anthony Cox.
1964: Mariner 4, the first probe to fly by Mars, is launched by NASA.
1966: A coup in Burundi overthrows the monarchy and a republic is declared.
1967: All horse racing in Britain is suspended indefinitely to help prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.
1968: John Lennon is fined £150 for drug possession. On the same day, children’s author Enid Blyton dies aged 81.
1971: Cambs farmer Ray Convine uncovers a major immigrant smuggling ring when he rams a plane which had landed in one of his fields in Kimbolton.
1972: Two members of the IRA are killed in a premature bomb explosion in the Bogside area of Londonderry.
1975: The Democratic Republic of East-Timor is proclaimed. On the same day, George Best makes his first of just three appearances for Fourth Division Stockport County against Swansea.
1976: Singles chart:
- Under The Moon Of Love – Showaddywaddy
- If You Leave Me Now – Chicago
- You Make Me Feel Like Dancing – Leo Sayer
- Somebody To Love – Queen
- Livin’ Thing – ELO
- Money Money Money – ABBA
- Love Me – Yvonne Elliman
- If Not You – Dr Hook
- Lost In France – Bonnie Tyler
- Mississippi – Pussycat
Album chart:
- 20 Golden Greats – Glen Campbell
- 20 Golden Guitar Greats – Bert Weedon
- Arrival – ABBA
- 100 Golden Greats – Max Bygraves
- Songs In The Key Of Life – Stevie Wonder
- Greatest Hits – Hot Chocolate
- Soul Motion – Various Artists
- Greatest Hits – Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
- Greatest Hits – ABBA
- Sound Of Glory – The London Philharmonic Choir
1986: The Reagan administration exceeds SALT II arms limitations.
1988: Picasso’s “Acrobat & Harlequin” sells for $38.46 million.
1993: Steppenwolf drummer Jerry Edmonton is killed aged 47 in a car crash not far from his Santa Barbara home. On the same day, “Carry On..” actor Kenneth Connor dies aged 75.
1994: Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is clubbed to death by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver in the Columbia Correctional Institution gymnasium in Wisconsin.
1999: Eleven people are injured at a church in Croydon after a naked man wielding a Samurai sword bursts in during Sunday Mass.
2005: Barcelona and Brazil midfielder Ronaldhino wins the Ballon d’Or.
2010: Actor Leslie Nielsen dies aged 84.
2015: Tyson Fury beats Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko by unanimous decision to win WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO, The Ring magazine and lineal heavyweight titles in Düsseldorf.
2016: A plane carrying the Brazilian Chapecoense football team crashes near Medellin, Colombia, killing 71 players and journalists.
2019: The EU declares a climate emergency.
2020: At least 110 people are killed in an attack on Koshobe village in north-east Nigeria by jihadist group Boko Haram. On the same day, Darth Vader and Green Cross Code Man actor Dave Prowse dies from COVID-19 aged 85.
2021: Barbados becomes a republic with Sandra Mason sworn in as the first president. On the same day, racing team boss Frank Williams dies aged 79.
BIRTHDAYS: Berry Gordy, Songwriter/founder of Motown Records, 93; Bruce Channel, singer, 82; Randy Newman, singer-songwriter, 79; Paul Shaffer, musician, 73; Ed Harris, actor/director, 72; David van Day, singer (Dollar), 66; Kriss Akabusi, athlete, 64; Judd Nelson, actor, 63; Alfonso Cuarón, director/screenwriter, 61; Martin Clunes, actor, 61; Jon Stewart, comedian/TV host, 60; Armando Iannucci, writer/director/comedian, 59; Sian Williams, journalist, 58; Bronagh Gallagher, actress, 50; Ryan Kwanten, actor 46; Aimee Garcia, actress, 44; Dane Bowers, singer (Another Level) 43; Rostam Batmanglij, multi instrumentalist (Vampire Weekend) 39; Mary Elizabeth Winstead, actress, 38; Jessica Knappett, comedian/writer, 38; Chloe Madeley, TV personality, 35; Karen Gillan, actress, 35.
