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This day in history

This day in history: 23 November

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Key facts

382 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 23 November.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2019: The last Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia, Imam, dies, making the species officially extinct in the country.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Alexander Nevsky (Repose, Russian Orthodox Church)

Christian feast day: Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro – one of Saints of the Cristero War (Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church)

Christian feast day: Columbanus

Christian feast day: Felicitas of Rome

Christian feast day: November 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Paulinus of Wales

Christian feast day: Pope Clement I (Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and the Lutheran Church)

Christian feast day: Trudo (or Trond)

Christian feast day: Wilfetrudis (or Vulfetrude)

Labor Thanksgiving Day (Japan)

Repudiation Day (Frederick County, Maryland, United States)

St George's Day (Georgia) or Giorgoba (Georgia)

Events

2019The last Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia, Imam, dies, making the species officially extinct in the country.

2018Founders of Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana issue an apology following a series of offensive advertisements on social media promoting a fashion show in Shanghai, China, which was canceled.

2015Blue Origin's New Shepard space vehicle became the first rocket to successfully fly to space and then return to Earth for a controlled, vertical landing.

2011Arab Spring: After 11 months of protests in Yemen, Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh signs a deal to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity.

2010Bombardment of Yeonpyeong: North Korean artillery attack kills two civilians and two marines on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea.

2009The Maguindanao massacre occurs in Ampatuan, Philippines; 58 opponents of Andal Ampatuan Jr. are kidnapped and killed.

2007MS Explorer, a cruise liner carrying 154 people, sinks in the Antarctic Ocean south of Argentina after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands. There are no fatalities.

2006A series of bombings kills at least 215 people and injures 257 others in Sadr City, making it the second deadliest sectarian attack since the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003.

2005Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is elected president of Liberia and becomes the first woman to lead an African country.

2004The Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, the largest religious building in Georgia, is consecrated.

2003Rose Revolution: Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over flawed elections.

2002Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-113 to the International Space Station carrying the Expedition 6 crew and the P1 truss.

2001The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime is signed in Budapest, Hungary.

1996Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 is hijacked, then crashes into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125.

1992The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

1991Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury announces in a statement that he is HIV-positive. He dies the following day.

1985Gunmen hijack EgyptAir Flight 648 en route from Athens to Cairo. When the plane lands in Malta, Egyptian commandos storm the aircraft, but 60 people die in the raid.

1981Iran–Contra affair: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

1980The 6.9 Mw Irpinia earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 2,483–4,900, and injuring 7,700–8,934.

1978Cyclone kills about 1,000 people in eastern Sri Lanka.

1978The Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975 goes into effect, realigning many of Europe's longwave and mediumwave broadcasting frequencies.

1976Jacques Mayol is the first man to reach a depth of 100 m (330 ft) undersea without breathing equipment.

1974Sixty Ethiopian politicians, aristocrats, military officers, and other persons are executed by the provisional military government.

1972The Soviet Union makes its final attempt at launching the N1 rocket.

1971Representatives of the People's Republic of China attend the United Nations, including the United Nations Security Council, for the first time.

1963The first episode of Doctor Who ("An Unearthly Child") is broadcast by the BBC, which is now the world's longest running science fiction drama.

1959French President Charles de Gaulle declares in a speech in Strasbourg his vision for "Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals".

1955The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to that of Australia.

1946French naval bombardment of Hai Phong, Vietnam, kills thousands of civilians.

1944World War II: The Lotta Svärd Movement is disbanded under the terms of the armistice treaty in Finland after the Continuation War.

1943World War II: Tarawa and Makin atolls fall to American forces.

1943World War II: The Deutsche Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is destroyed. It will eventually be rebuilt in 1961 and be called the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

1940World War II: Romania becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis powers.

1939World War II: HMS Rawalpindi is sunk by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

1934An Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission in the Ogaden discovers an Italian garrison at Walwal, well within Ethiopian territory. This leads to the Abyssinia Crisis.

1924Edwin Hubble's discovery, that the Andromeda "nebula" is actually another island galaxy far outside our own Milky Way, is first published in The New York Times.

1923Thousands of Irish Republicans end the 1923 Irish hunger strikes, five die from starvation.

1921Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States, signs the Willis–Campbell Act into law, prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes.

1914Mexican Revolution: The last of U.S. forces withdraw from Veracruz, occupied seven months earlier in response to the Tampico Affair.

1910Johan Alfred Ander becomes the last person to be executed in Sweden.

Born on this day

2001Tino Anjorin, English footballer

1999Boubacar Kamara, French footballer

1998Caoimhín Kelleher, Irish footballer

1996Alexis Ren, American social media personality, model, and actress

1996Anna Yanovskaya, Russian ice dancer

1996James Maddison, English footballer

1995Kelly Rosen, Estonian footballer

1994Wes Burns, Welsh footballer

1992Gabriel Landeskog, Swedish ice hockey player

1992Miley Cyrus, American singer-songwriter and actress

1991Ahmed Shehzad, Pakistani cricketer

1991Christian Cueva, Peruvian footballer

1991Willian José, Brazilian footballer

1990Alena Leonova, Russian figure skater

1990Christopher Quiring, German footballer[better source needed]

1990Eddy Kim, South Korean singer-songwriter and guitarist

1990Shaun Hutchinson, English footballer

1987Nicklas Bäckström, Swedish ice hockey player

1987Snooki, American reality television personality

1985Viktor An, South Korean speed skater

1984Amruta Khanvilkar, Indian actress and dancer

1984Hilton Armstrong, American basketball player

1984Justin Turner, American baseball player

1984Lucas Grabeel, American actor, singer, and songwriter

1983Fatih Yiğituşağı, Turkish footballer

1982Asafa Powell, Jamaican sprinter

1982Colby Armstrong, Canadian ice hockey player

1980Ishmael Beah, Sierra Leonean child soldier and American author

1980Jonathan Papelbon, American baseball player

1980Kirk Penney, New Zealand basketball player

1979Ivica Kostelić, Croatian skier

1979Kelly Brook, English model and actress

1977Adam Eaton, American baseball player

1977Myriam Boileau, Canadian diver

1976Kohei Suwama, Japanese wrestler

1976Murat Salar, German-Turkish footballer and manager

1976Page Kennedy, American actor and rapper

1976Tony Renna, American race car driver (died 2003)

1974Malik Rose, American basketball player, sportscaster, and executive

1974Saku Koivu, Finnish ice hockey player

Died on this day

2024Chuck Woolery, American game show host and television personality (born 1941)

2024Fred R. Harris, American politician (born 1930)

2024Rico Carty, Dominican baseball player (born 1939)

2020Tarun Gogoi, Indian Chief Minister of Assam (born 1934)

2017Stela Popescu, Romanian actress (born 1935)

2016Andrew Sachs, German-born British actor (born 1930)

2016Joe Esposito, road manager for Elvis Presley (born 1938)

2016Ralph Branca, American baseball player (born 1926)

2016Rita Barberá Nolla, Spanish politician (born 1948)

2015Douglass North, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920)

2015Jamiluddin Aali, Pakistani poet, playwright, and critic (born 1925)

2015Manmeet Bhullar, Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1980)

2014Dorothy Cheney, American tennis player (born 1916)

2014Marion Barry, American lawyer and politician, 2nd Mayor of the District of Columbia (born 1936)

2014Murray Oliver, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (born 1937)

2014Pat Quinn, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1943)

2013Connie Broden, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1932)

2013Costanzo Preve, Italian philosopher and theorist (born 1943)

2012Chuck Diering, American baseball player (born 1923)

2012Diana Isaac, English-New Zealand businesswoman and philanthropist (born 1921)

2012José Luis Borau, Spanish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1929)

2012Larry Hagman, American actor, director, and producer (born 1931)

2011Jim Rathmann, American race car driver (born 1928)

2010Joyce Howard, English-American actress (born 1922)

2010Nassos Daphnis, Greek-American painter and sculptor (born 1914)

2009José Arraño Acevedo, Chilean journalist and historian (born 1921)

2007Joe Kennedy, American baseball player (born 1979)

2007Óscar Carmelo Sánchez, Bolivian footballer and manager (born 1971)

2007Pat Walsh, New Zealand rugby union player (born 1936)

2007Robert Vesco, American-Cuban financier (born 1935)

Quote of the day

“Hang on to your youthful enthusiasms; you will be able to use them better when you are older.”

Seneca

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From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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