1534 – English Parliament passes Act of Supremacy, making King Henry VIII head of the English church – a role formerly held by the Pope.
1657 – Spanish forces fail to retake Jamaica at the Battle of Ocho Rios during the Anglo-Spanish War.
1735 – John Adams, American politician, 2nd President of the United States (d. 1826) was born.
1831 – In Southampton County, Virginia, escaped slave Nat Turner is captured and arrested for leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history.
1864 – Helena, Montana is founded after four prospectors discover gold at “Last Chance Gulch”.
1885 – Ezra Loomis Pound, Hailey Idaho, poet (Cantos), (Father of the Modern Anti Federal Reserve Movement) (d. 1972) Born
1893 – Roland Freisler, German soldier, lawyer, and judge (d. 1945) was birthed
1905 – “October Manifesto” Russian Tsar Nicholas II grants civil liberties and accepts the first Duma (Parliament).
1917 – British government gives final approval to Balfour Declaration
The Balfour Declaration (dated 2 November 1917) was a letter from the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland.
His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
The text of the letter was published in the press one week later, on 9 November 1917. The “Balfour Declaration” was later incorporated into the Sèvres peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire and the Mandate for Palestine. The original document is kept at the British Library.
1922 – Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy.
1925 – John Logie Baird creates Britain’s first television transmitter.
1938 – Orson Welles and members of his company touch off mass panic with a CBS dramatic radio adaptation of the 1898 novel “The War of the Worlds” by H.G. Wells. The play was so well performed that it caused mass hysteria with about a million Americans believing the Martians were invading readied their guns for battle, fled and prayed for deliverance from what they believed was a real threat.
1939 – Grace Slick, American singer-songwriter and model (Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and The Great Society) was born.
1941 – Otis Williams, American singer-songwriter and producer (The Temptations) was born.
1941 – World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves U.S. $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allied nations.
1945 – Henry Winkler, American actor, director, and producer was born.
1945 – Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier.
1946 – Chris Slade, Welsh drummer (Asia, The Firm, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, AC/DC, Uriah Heep, and Michael Schenker Group) was born.
1947 – The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is the foundation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), is founded.
1950 – Pope Pius XII witnesses the “Miracle of the Sun” while at the Vatican.
1953 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document National Security Council Paper No. 162/2, which states that the United States’ arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.
1956 – Pío Baroja y Nessi, Spanish Basque writer, author of over 100 novels (The Struggle for Life, Zalacain the Adventurer), dies at 83
1960 – Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
1961 – Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 50 megatons of yield, it is still the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise.
1961 – Because of “violations of Lenin’s precepts”, it is decreed that Joseph Stalin’s body be removed from its place of honour inside Lenin’s tomb and buried near the Kremlin Wall with a plain granite marker instead.
1965 – Gavin Rossdale, Kilburn, London, English heavy metal vocalist and actor (Bush) Born
1965 – Vietnam War: Close to Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas.
1968 – Rose Wilder Lane, American journalist and author (b. 1886) died.
1969 – The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that an inquest into the death of Mary Jo Kopechne found in Senator Kennedy’s car in a pond on Chappaquiddick Island on July 19th, 1969. will be held in secret, as requested by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy .
1970 – Ben Bailey, American host of the game show Cash Cab, Born
1974 – The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali KOs George Foreman in 8th round
1973 – Edge, Canadian wrestler and actor was born.
1975 – Ian D’Sa, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Billy Talent) was born.
1979 – Rachele Mussolini, Italian wife of Benito Mussolini (b. 1890) died.
1991 – The Madrid Conference for Middle East peace talks opens.
1993 – The Troubles: The Ulster Defence Association, an Ulster loyalist paramilitary, carry out a mass shooting at a Halloween party in Greysteel, Northern Ireland. Eight civilians are murdered and thirteen wounded.
1995 – Quebec citizens narrowly vote (50.58% to 49.42%) to remain a province of Canada in their second referendum on national sovereignty.
1997 – Shirley Allen, 51, held Illinois police off for 39 days captured
2000 – Steve Allen, American actor and singer (b. 1921) died.
2002 – Jam Master Jay, American rapper and musician (Run DMC) (b. 1965) Murdered
2002 – Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1922) Dies
2005 – The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project.
2012 – Walt Disney purchases Lucasfilm Ltd and its rights for Star Wars and Indiana Jones for $4.05 billion
2013 – The Boston Red Sox defeat the St Louis Cardinals in game 6 to win the MLB 2013 World Series