12 History Lessons + 7 Births & 7 Deaths for November 28, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1520 – Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet emerges from the strait later named for him and enters the Pacific Ocean.
- 1582 – William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway in Warwickshire.
- 1660 – A group of natural philosophers meets at Gresham College in London, effectively founding the Royal Society.
- 1785 – Treaty of Hopewell is signed between the United States and the Cherokee Nation.
- 1893 – New Zealand women vote in a general election for the first time, a world first for parliamentary elections.
- 1912 – Albania declares independence from the Ottoman Empire at Vlora.
- 1919 – Nancy, Viscountess Astor, wins a by-election, becoming the first woman elected to the U.K. Parliament.
- 1942 – Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in Boston kills 490+ and transforms U.S. fire-safety codes.
- 1964 – NASA launches Mariner 4, the first successful Mars flyby mission.
- 1979 – Air New Zealand Flight 901 crashes on Mount Erebus, Antarctica, killing all 257 aboard.
- 1990 – John Major is appointed prime minister of the United Kingdom.
- 2016 – LaMia Flight 2933 carrying Brazil’s Chapecoense soccer team crashes near Medellín, Colombia; 71 people die.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1929 – Berry Gordy Jr., Motown founder and music executive (96).
- 1943 – Randy Newman, singer-songwriter and film composer (82).
- 1949 – Paul Shaffer, musician/bandleader (David Letterman) (76).
- 1950 – Ed Harris, actor/filmmaker (Apollo 13, Westworld) (75).
- 1960 – John Galliano, fashion designer (65).
- 1961 – Alfonso Cuarón, Oscar-winning director (Gravity, Roma) (64).
- 1962 – Jon Stewart, comedian/TV host (The Daily Show) (63).
Today’s Deaths:
- 1680 – Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian Baroque sculptor/architect (81).
- 1859 – Washington Irving, American author (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) (76).
- 1939 – James Naismith, inventor of basketball (78).
- 1954 – Enrico Fermi, Nobel Prize–winning physicist (nuclear reactor pioneer) (53).
- 1994 – Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer (34).
- 2010 – Leslie Nielsen, actor (Airplane!, The Naked Gun) (84).
- 2020 – David Prowse, actor/bodybuilder (portrayed Darth Vader physically) (85).
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