November 23

November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 38 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

• 800 – Charlemagne arrives at Rome to examine the alleged crimes of Pope Leo III.
• 1174 – Saladin enters Damascus.
• 1248 – Spanish Reconquista: Christian troops under Ferdinand III of Castile conquer Seville.
• 1510 – First campaign of the Ottoman Empire against the Kingdom of Imereti, present–day western Georgia.
• 1531 – The Second War of Kappel results in Switzerland's Protestant Alliance dissolving.
• 1644 – John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet against censorship.
• 1791 – The Snares Islands to the south of New Zealand are discovered.
• 1810 – Sarah Booth has her first performance at the Royal Opera House.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant reinforce troops at Chattanooga, Tennessee and counter–attack Confederate troops.
• 1889 – The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco, California.
• 1890 – King William III of the Netherlands dies. His death ends the shared monarchy between the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In the Netherlands, his daughter Wilhelmina becomes Queen, with Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont as regent. In Luxembourg, Grand Duke Adolphe becomes the next monarch.

1901 – 2000

• 1904 – The 1904 Olympics in St. Louis officially end.
• 1910 – Johan Alfred Ander becomes the last person to be executed in Sweden before the death penalty becomes illegal there.
• 1914 – The US Army retreats from Mexico.
• 1924 – Edwin Hubble's discovery of the Andromeda Galaxy is first published in a newspaper. Previously, the Milky Way was thought to be the only galaxy in existence.
• 1936 – Life magazine is re–published as a photograph magazine and becomes an immediate success.
• 1939 – World War II: German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sink the British aid ship Rawalpindi to the southeast of Iceland, killing 265 people.
• 1940 – World War II: Romania officially joins the Axis Powers.
• 1942 – World War II: British steamer Tilawa is sunk in the Indian Ocean by Japanese U-boat I-29, killing 280 people.
• 1955 – The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.
• 1959 – General Charles de Gaulle, President of France, declares in a speech in Strasbourg his vision for a "Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals."
• 1961 – Sturt's Desert Pea, Swainsona formosa, becomes the floral emblem of South Australia.
• 1963 – The first episode of the long–running science fiction television series Doctor Who, "An Unearthly Child", airs on the BBC.
• 1971 – The representatives of the People's Republic of China first attended the United Nations, including the United Nations Security Council, as China's representatives.
• 1974 – Sixty Ethiopian politicians, aristocrats, military officers and other persons are executed by the provisional military government.
• 1976 – Jacques Mayol is the first man to reach a depth of 100 meters undersea without breathing equipment.
• 1978 – A cyclone kills 1,000 people in Eastern Sri Lanka.
• 1980 – A series of earthquakes in southern Italy kills approximately 4,800 people.
• 1981 – 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.
• 1985 – Gunmen hijack EgyptAir Flight 648 while it is travelling from Athens to Cairo. When the plane lands in Malta, it is stormed by Egyptian commandos, though 60 people die in the raid.
• 1990 – The first all–woman expedition to the South Pole (3 Americans, 1 Japanese and 12 Russians), sets off from Antarctica on the 1st leg of a 70–day, 1287–kilometre ski trek.
• 1996 – The Republic of Angola officially joins the World Trade Organization.
• 1996 – A plane crash in the Indian Ocean near the Comoros kills 125 people.

From 2001

• 2001 – The Convention on Cybercrime is signed in Budapest.
• 2003 – Eduard Shevardnadze resigns as President of Georgia.
• 2004 – Tbilisi's Holy Trinity Cathedral is consecrated.
• 2005 – Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is elected President of Liberia, becoming Africa's first female President.
• 2006 – A series of bombings in Sadr City, Iraq, kills at least 215 people.
• 2007 – MS Explorer, a cruise liner carrying 154 people, sinks in the Antarctic Ocean south of Argentina after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands.
• 2009 – The Maguindanao massacre occurs on the island of Mindanao, Philippines.
• 2010 – North Korea attacks Yeonpyeong Island, prompting a military response from neighbouring South Korea, in one of the fiercest exchanges since the Korean War.
• 2019 – People in the autonomous island region of Bougainville start voting on whether they want to be an independent country or whether they want to gain more autonomy as part of Papua New Guinea.

Births

Up to 1900

• 912 – Otto I, Duke of the Saxons, King of the Germans and Holy Roman Emperor (d. 973)
• 1221 – King Alfonso X of Castile (d. 1284)
• 1553 – Prospero Alpini, Italian botanist and physician (d. 1617)
• 1616 – John Wallis, English mathematician (d. 1703)
• 1709 – Julien Offray de La Mettrie, French physician and philosopher (d. 1751)
• 1715 – Pierre Charles Le Monnier, French astronomer (d. 1799)
• 1749 – Edward Rutledge, American politician (d. 1800)
• 1754 – Abraham Baldwin, American politician (d. 1807)
• 1781 – Theodor Valentin Volkmar, German politician, 1st Mayor of Marburg (d. 1847)
• 1785 – Jan Roothaan, Dutch priest (d. 1853)
• 1804 – Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States (d. 1869)
• 1815 – William Dennison, Jr., 24th Governor of Ohio (d. 1882)
• 1820 – Isaac Todhunter, English mathematician and author (d. 1884)
• 1837 – Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Dutch physicist (d. 1923)
• 1838 – Stephanos Skouloudis, 97th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1928)
• 1851 – Jonas Basanavicius, Lithuanian physician, scientist and political activist (d. 1927)
• 1855 – John I. Cox, 33rd Governor of Tennessee (d. 1946)
• 1859 – Billy the Kid, American outlaw (d. 1881)
• 1860 – Hjalmar Branting, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1925)
• 1861 – Konstantin Korovin, Russian painter (d. 1939)
• 1865 – George P. McClellan, Jr., Mayor of New York City (d. 1940)
• 1869 – Valdemar Poulsen, Danish engineer (d. 1942)
• 1871 – William Watt, 24th Premier of Australia (d. 1946)
• 1875 – Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian politician (d. 1933)
• 1876 – Manuel de Falla, Spanish composer (d. 1946)
• 1882 – John Rabe, German businessman and humanitarian (d. 1950)
• 1883 – José Clemente Orozco, Mexican painter (d. 1949)
• 1886 – Eduards Smilgis, Latvian actor and theatre director (d. 1966)
• 1886 – Lloyd C. Stark, Governor of Missouri (d. 1972)
• 1887 – Hobart Henley, American actor and director (d. 1964)
• 1887 – Boris Karloff, British actor (d. 1969)
• 1887 – Henry Moseley, British physicist (d. 1915)
• 1888 – Harpo Marx, American actor, comedian and mime (d. 1964)
• 1888 – George F. Shafer, Governor of South Dakota (d. 1948)
• 1890 – El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (d. 1941)
• 1892 – Erté, French artist (d. 1990)
• 1896 – Sandy Archibald, Scottish footballer (d. 1946)
• 1896 – Tsunenohana Kan'ichi, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1960)
• 1896 – Klement Gottwald, Czechoslovakian Communist leader (d. 1953)
• 1897 – Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Indian writer (d. 1999)
• 1899 – Manuel dos Reis Machado, Brazilian martial artist (d. 1974)

1901 – 1950

• 1902 – Victor Jory, Canadian–American actor (d. 1982)
• 1906 – Betti Alver, Estonian poet (d. 1989)
• 1907 – Run Run Shaw, Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist (d. 2014)
• 1914 – Richard Percival Lister, English author, poet and artist (d. 2014)
• 1914 – Emmett Ashford, American baseball umpire (d. 1980)
• 1916 – Michael Gough, British actor (d. 2011)
• 1919 – P. F. Strawson, British philosopher (d. 2006)
• 1921 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (d. 1960)
• 1922 – Vo Van Kiet, Vietnamese politician (d. 2008)
• 1922 – Joan Fuster, Spanish writer (d. 1992)
• 1922 – Manuel Fraga Iribarne, President of Spanish Galicia (d. 2012)
• 1923 – Daniel Brewster, American politician (d. 2007)
• 1925 – Jose Napoleon Duarte, President of El Salvador (d. 1990)
• 1926 – Sathya Sai Baba, Indian religious and spiritual leader (d. 2011)
• 1927 – Angelo Sodano, Italian cardinal
• 1930 – Herberto Hélder, Portuguese poet (d. 2015)
• 1930 – Geeta Dutt, Indian singer (d. 1972)
• 1931 – Tosiwo Nakayama, Micronesian politician, 1st President of the Federated States of Micronesia (d. 2007)
• 1932 – Renato Martino, Italian cardinal
• 1933 – Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer
• 1934 – Lew Hoad, Australian tennis player (d. 1994)
• 1935 – Vladislav Volkov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1971)
• 1935 – Volodymyr Sabodan, Ukrainian religious leader (d. 2014)
• 1935 – Jeremy Stone, American scientist and arms control activist (d. 2017)
• 1938 – Patrick Kelly, former Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool
• 1939 – Betty Everett, American singer and pianist (d. 2001)
• 1940 – Luis Tiant, Cuban baseballer
• 1941 – Franco Nero, Italian actor
• 1943 – Andrew Goodman, American civil rights activist (d. 1964)
• 1943 – David Nolan, American activist (d. 2010)
• 1943 – Günther Beckstein, German politician, former Prime Minister of Bavaria
• 1943 – Sue Nicholls, English actress
• 1944 – Peter Lindbergh, German–French photographer and director (d. 2019)
• 1944 – Joe Eszterhas, Hungarian–American writer
• 1944 – James Toback, American screenwriter and movie director
• 1945 – Assi Dayan, Israeli actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2014)
• 1945 – Jim Doyle, American politician, former Governor of Wisconsin
• 1945 – Dennis Nilsen, Scottish serial killer (d. 2018)
• 1946 – Bobby Rush, American politician
• 1947 – Jean-Pierre Foucault, French television host
• 1948 – Reiner Calmund, German football official
• 1949 – Sandra Stevens, British singer
• 1950 – Chuck Schumer, American lawyer and politician

1951 – 1975

• 1953 – Francis Cabrel, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1953 – Johan de Meij, Dutch trombonist, conductor and composer
• 1954 – Bruce Hornsby, American singer, songwriter and pianist
• 1954 – Ross Brawn, British Formula 1 team principal
• 1955 – Ludovico Einaudi, Italian composer and pianist
• 1955 – Mary Landrieu, American politician
• 1956 – Shane Gould, Australian swimmer
• 1957 – William Kaelin Jr., American physician and Nobel laureate
• 1959 – Dominique Dunne, American actress (d. 1982)
• 1962 – Nicolas Maduro, President of Venezuela
• 1963 – Andreas Schmidt, German actor (d. 2017)
• 1964 – Frank Rutherford, Bahamian triple jumper
• 1965 – Sergio Vázquez, Argentine footballer
• 1966 – Vincent Cassel, French actor
• 1966 – Kevin Gallacher, Scottish footballer
• 1966 – Russell Watson, English tenor
• 1968 – Robert Denmark, English athlete
• 1968 – Kirsty Young, Scottish television presenter
• 1968 – Hamid Hassani, Iranian linguist and lexicographer
• 1970 – Karsten Müller, German chess player and writer
• 1970 – Zoë Ball, English television presenter
• 1971 – Khalid Al-Muwallid, Saudi Arabian footballer
• 1971 – Chris Hardwick, American comedian, actor and TV host
• 1971 – Sajid Khan, Indian movie actor and director
• 1972 – Alf-Inge Haaland, Norwegian footballer
• 1974 – Saku Koivu, Finnish ice hockey player

From 1976

• 1978 – Tommy Marth, American musician (d. 2012)
• 1979 – Nihat Kahveci, Turkish footballer
• 1979 – Kelly Brook, British actress and model
• 1979 – Ivica Kostelic, Croatian skier
• 1980 – Paulie Malignaggi, American boxer
• 1982 – Asafa Powell, Jamaican runner
• 1983 – Nasser Al-Shamrani, Saudi Arabian footballer
• 1984 – Lucas Grabeel, American actor, singer and songwriter
• 1984 – Amruta Khanvilkar, Indian actress
• 1985 – Victor Ahn, South Korean speed skater
• 1985 – Scott Brash, Scottish equestrian show–jumper
• 1987 – Kasia Struss, Polish model
• 1987 – Snooki, Chilean–born American reality television personality and author
• 1990 – Alena Leonova, Russian figure skater
• 1990 – Eddie Kim, South Korean singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1992 – Miley Cyrus, American actress and singer (Hannah Montana)
• 1992 – Go Eun-bi, South Korean singer (d. 2014)
• 1996 – James Maddison, English footballer
• 1996 – Anna Yanovskaya, Russian ice dancer
• 1998 – Bradley Steven Perry, American actor

Deaths

Up to 1900

• 947 – Berthold, Duke of Bavaria (b. 900)
• 955 – Edred, King of England (b. c. 923)
• 1407 – Louis I, Duke of Orleans (b. 1372)
• 1457 – King Ladislaus Posthumus of Bohemia and Hungary (b. 1440)
• 1499 – Perkin Warbeck, English pretender, executed
• 1503 – Margaret of York (b. 1446)
• 1572 – Bronzino, Italian painter and poet (b. 1503)
• 1585 – Thomas Tallis, English composer (b. 1505)
• 1616 – Richard Hakluyt, English priest and author (b. 1552)
• 1814 – Elbridge Gerry, Vice President of the United States (b. 1744)
• 1826 – Johann Elert Bode, German astronomer (b. 1747)
• 1833 – Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, French general and politician (b. 1762)
• 1864 – Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German–born Russian astronomer (b. 1793)
• 1866 – Cave Johnson, American politician (b. 1793)
• 1890 – King William III of the Netherlands (b. 1817)

1901 – 2000

• 1902 – Walter Reed, American bacteriologist (b. 1851)
• 1910 – Hawley Harvey Crippen, American physician and murderer (b. 1862)
• 1923 – Urmuz, Romanian judge and author (b. 1883)
• 1934 – Giovanni Brunero, Italian cyclist (b. 1895)
• 1937 – Jagdish Chandra Bose, Indian physicist (b. 1858)
• 1941 – Horace F. Graham, American politician, Governor of Vermont (b. 1862)
• 1965 – Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium (b. 1876)
• 1966 – Séan T Ó Ceallaigh, 2nd President of Ireland (b. 1882)
• 1970 – Yusof bin Ishak, Singaporean politician (b. 1910)
• 1972 – Marie Wilson, American actress (b. 1916)
• 1973 – Sessue Hayakawa, Japanese actor, director and producer (b. 1889)
• 1974 – Massacre of Sixty in Ethiopia:
  • Abiye Abebe, Ethiopian general and politician (b. 1918)
  • Aman Andom, President of Ethiopia (b. 1924)
  • Aklilu Habte-Wold, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (b. 1912)
  • Asrate Medhin-Kassa, Ethiopian commander (b. 1922)
  • Endelkachew Makonnen, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (b. 1927)
• 1976 – André Malraux, French theorist and author (b. 1901)
• 1979 – Merle Oberon, British actress (b. 1911)
• 1983 – Tom Evans, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1947)
• 1990 – Roald Dahl, Welsh writer (b. 1916)
• 1991 – Klaus Kinski, German actor (b. 1926)
• 1992 – Roy Acuff, American country musician (b. 1903)
• 1992 – Jean-François Thiriart, Belgian politician (b. 1922)
• 1995 – Louis Malle, French director (b. 1932)
• 1995 – Junior Walker, American singer and saxophonist (b. 1931)

From 2001

• 2001 – Gerhard Stoltenberg, German politician (b. 1928)
• 2001 – Mary Whitehouse, British campaigner (b. 1910)
• 2002 – Roberto Matta, Chilean painter (b. 1911)
• 2005 – Constance Cummings, American–English actress (b. 1910)
• 2006 – Alexander Litvinenko, Russian spy (b. 1962)
• 2006 – Philippe Noiret, French actor (b. 1930)
• 2006 – Anita O'Day, American singer (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Willie Pep, American boxer (b. 1922)
• 2010 – Ingrid Pitt, British actress (b. 1937)
• 2011 – Montserrat Figueras, Spanish operatic soprano (b. 1942)
• 2012 – Larry Hagman, American actor (b. 1931)
• 2013 – Jay Leggett, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1963)
• 2014 – Marion Barry, American politician, Mayor of Washington, DC (b. 1936)
• 2014 – Dorothy Cheney, American tennis player (b. 1916)
• 2014 – Pat Quinn, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1943)
• 2015 – Yoram Tsafrir, Israeli archaeologist (b. 1938)
• 2015 – Manmeet Bhullar, Canadian politician (b. 1980)
• 2015 – Douglass North, American economist (b. 1920)
• 2015 – Dan Fante, American author and playwright (b. 1944)
• 2016 – Ralph Branca, American baseball player (b. 1926)
• 2016 – Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili, Iranian cleric and jurist (b. 1926)
• 2016 – Rita Barbera, Spanish politician, former Mayor of Valencia (b. 1948)
• 2016 – Andrew Sachs, German–born English actor (b. 1930)
• 2017 – Stela Popescu, Romanian actress (b. 1935)
• 2018 – Kevin Austin, English–Trinidadian footballer (b. 1973)
• 2018 – Betty Bumpers, former First Lady of Arkansas (b. 1925)
• 2018 – Menahem Degani, Israeli basketball player (b. 1927)
• 2018 – Mick McGeough, Canadian ice hockey referee (b. 1956)
• 2018 – Bob McNair, American businessman (b. 1937)
• 2018 – Nicolas Roeg, English film director (b. 1928)
• 2018 – George Ty, Filipino banker (b. 1932)
• 2018 – Gerard Unger, Dutch graphic and type designer (b. 1942)
• 2019 – Asunción Balaguer, Spanish actress (b. 1925)
• 2019 – Francesc Gambús, Spanish politician (b. 1974)
• 2019 – Barbara Hillary, American adventurer (b. 1931)
• 2019 – Catherine Small Long, American politician (b. 1924)

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith – Feast of Qawl (Speech) – First day of the 14th month of the Bahá'í calendar
• Georgia – St George's Day
• Japan – Kinro kansha no hi (Labour Thanksgiving Day)
• Slovenia – Rudolf Maister Day