Tuesday 12 November 2024 Calendar with holidays, observances and special days

World Pneumonia Day

Pneumonia kills more children under the age of five than any other disease, claiming a young life every 20 seconds. That’s 4,300 young lives lost every day! For every chi..→

Holidays and observances

• Ambato Independence Day in Ecuador
• Argentina's Anti-Obesity Day
• Birth of Sun Yat-Sen, also Doctors' Day and Cultural Renaissance Dayin the Republic of China (Taiwan)
• Constitution Day of Azerbaijan
• Father's Day in Indonesia
• National Book Day in Mexico
• National Happy Hour Day in USA
• National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day and Chicken Soup for the Soul Day in USA
• National Voluntary Blood Donor Day in Uruguay
• National Youth Day in East Timor
• Postman's Day in Mexico
• Prince of Wales Day in Tuvalu
• San Miglian Day in San Miglian de la Cogolla and Castile
• World Antibiotic Awareness Week
• Yitzhak Rabin Memorial (Unofficial, but widely commemorated - יצחק רבין)

Events

• 2003 – Iraq War: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
• 2001 – In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 en route to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.
• 1981 – Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a manned spacecraft is launched into space twice.
• 1980 – The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.
• 1979 – Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
• 1971 – Vietnam War: As part of Vietnamization, US President Richard Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
• 1970 – The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous "exploding whale" incident.
• 1958 – A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.
• 1942 – World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal. The battle lasts for three days and ends with an American victory.
• 1941 – World War II: Temperatures around Moscow drop to -12 °C as the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German forces near the city.
• 1892 – William Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.
• 1793 – Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first Mayor of Paris, is guillotined.
• 1439 – Plymouth, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.

Births

• 1992 – Trey Burke, American basketball player. Alfonso Clark "Trey" Burke III (born November 12, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
• 1988 – Russell Westbrook, American basketball player. He is also an eight-time All-NBA Team member, led the league in scoring in 2014–15 and 2016–17, and won back-to-back NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player awards in 2015 and 2016.
• 1985 – Arianny Celeste, American model and actress. Arianny Celeste (born Penelope López Márquez on November 12, 1985) (/æriˈɑːni/) is an American ring girl and model.
• 1984 – Benjamin Okolski, American figure skater. With Brooke Castile, he is the 2008 Four Continents bronze medalist, 2007 Nebelhorn Trophy champion, and 2007 U.S. national champion.
• 1982 – Anne Hathaway, American actress. Her films have earned over $6.8 billion worldwide, and she appeared in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2009.
• 1980 – Shaun Cooper, American bass player. Shaun David Cooper (born 5 October 1983) is a retired English professional footballer.
• 1979 – Corey Maggette, American basketball player and sportscaster. Corey Antoine Maggette (/məˈɡɛti/; born November 12, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
• 1979 – Lucas Glover, American golfer. Lucas Hendley Glover (born November 12, 1979) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour.
• 1979 – Matt Cappotelli, American wrestler and trainer, was an American professional wrestler. After co-winning Tough Enough III with John Hennigan, he worked in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), the primary developmental territory for WWE.
• 1976 – Richelle Mead, American author and educator. She is known for the Georgina Kincaid series, Vampire Academy, Bloodlines and the Dark Swan series.
• 1976 – Tevin Campbell, American R&B singer-songwriter and actor. Following an audition for jazz musician, Bobbi Humphrey, in 1988, Campbell was signed to Warner Bros.
• 1971 – Chen Guangcheng, Chinese-American lawyer and activist. Chen Guangcheng (born 12 November 1971) is a Chinese civil rights activist who has worked on human rights issues in rural areas of the People's Republic of China.
• 1970 – Tonya Harding, American figure skater. Tonya Maxene Price (née Harding; born November 12, 1970) is an American former figure skater, retired boxer, and reality television personality.
• 1969 – Ian Bremmer, American political scientist and author. Ian Arthur Bremmer (born November 12, 1969) is an American political scientist specializing in U.S. foreign policy, states in transition, and global political risk.
• 1969 – Rob Schrab, American writer and artist. Robby Christopher Schrab (born November 12, 1969) is an American comic book creator, actor, comedian, writer, and film and television producer.
• 1968 – Kathleen Hanna, American singer-songwriter. Kathleen Hanna (born November 12, 1968) is an American singer, musician, artist, feminist activist, pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer.
• 1968 – Sammy Sosa, Dominican-American baseball player. Sosa hit his 400th home run in his 1,354th game and his 5,273rd at-bat, reaching this milestone quicker than any player in National League history.
• 1967 – Disco Inferno, American wrestler and manager. "Disco Inferno" is a song by American disco band The Trammps from their 1976 fourth studio album of the same name.
• 1967 – Michael Moorer, American boxer. He is a multiple-time world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBO light heavyweight title from 1988 to 1991; the WBO heavyweight title from 1992 to 1993; the unified WBA, IBF and lineal heavyweight titles in 1994; and the IBF heavyweight title again from 1996 to 1997.
• 1965 – Lex Lang, American voice actor and producer. Lex Lang (born November 12, 1965 in Hollywood, California) is a two-time Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards-honored voice actor, voice match specialist, songwriter, music producer, entrepreneur, poet and philanthropist, who has provided voices and served as a director for a number of cartoons, anime, and video games, most notably as Doctor Neo Cortex in the Crash Bandicoot series from 2004 to present day, to which he has garnered widespread acclaim.
• 1964 – David Ellefson, American bass player and songwriter. David Warren Ellefson (born November 12, 1964) is an American bassist, co-founder and second-longest serving member of the American heavy metal band Megadeth from 1983 to 2002 and again from 2010.
• 1964 – Vic Chesnutt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009), was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little, was released in 1990, but his breakthrough to commercial success did not come until 1996 with the release of Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, a charity record of alternative artists covering his songs.
• 1962 – Naomi Wolf, American author and activist. Wolf (born November 12, 1962) is an American liberal progressive feminist author, journalist, and former political advisor to Al Gore and Bill Clinton.
• 1962 – Neal Shusterman, American author and poet. He won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature for his book Challenger Deep.
• 1959 – Vincent Irizarry, American actor. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 1985 and 2002, and won in 2009.
• 1958 – Megan Mullally, American actress and singer. She also received nominations for numerous other accolades for her portrayal, including seven consecutive Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, winning three times in 2001, 2002, and 2003, as well as receiving four Golden Globe Award nominations.
• 1958 – Nick Stellino, Italian-American chef and author. He hosts the cooking programs Cucina Amore and Nick Stellino's Family Kitchen on public television station KCTS 9 in Seattle, Washington.
• 1954 – Rob Lytle, American football player (d. 2010). Lytle played college football at the University of Michigan from 1973 to 1976.
• 1947 – Buck Dharma, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Donald Brian Roeser (born November 12, 1947), more commonly known by his stage name Buck Dharma, is an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being a member of Blue Öyster Cult since the group's formation in 1967.
• 1945 – Judith Roitman, American mathematician and academic. Judith "Judy" Roitman (born November 12, 1945) is a mathematician, a retired professor at the University of Kansas.
• 1945 – Neil Young, Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. Young had released two solo albums and three as a member of Buffalo Springfield by the time he joined Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1969.
• 1945 – Tracy Kidder, American journalist and author. John Tracy Kidder (born November 12, 1945) is an American writer of nonfiction books.
• 1944 – Al Michaels, American sportscaster. Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television sportscaster.
• 1944 – Booker T. Jones, American pianist, saxophonist, songwriter, and producer. Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s.
• 1943 – Brian Hyland, American pop singer, was particularly successful during the early 1960s. He continued recording into the 1970s.
• 1943 – Wallace Shawn, American actor, comedian and playwright. James Hall in Clueless (1995) and providing the voice of Rex in the Toy Story franchise.
• 1941 – Carol Gluck, American historian, author, and academic. She is the George Sansom Professor of History at Columbia University and served as the president of the Association for Asian Studies in 1996.
• 1938 – Mort Shuman, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1991), was an American singer, pianist and songwriter, best known as co-writer of many 1960s rock and roll hits, including "Viva Las Vegas". He also wrote and sang many songs in French, such as "Le Lac Majeur", "Allo Papa Tango Charlie", "Sha Mi Sha", "Un Eté de Porcelaine", and "Brooklyn by the Sea" which became hits in France.
• 1934 – Charles Manson, American cult leader and mass murderer, was an American criminal and cult leader. In mid-1967, he formed what became known as the "Manson Family", a quasi-commune based in California.
• 1930 – Bob Crewe, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2014), was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. He was known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Seasons.
• 1929 – Grace Kelly, American actress, later Princess Grace of Monaco (d. 1982), was an American film actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early- to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956.
• 1922 – Kim Hunter, American actress (d. 2002), was an American film, theatre, and television actress. She won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, each as Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Stella Kowalski in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire.
• 1920 – Richard Quine, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1989), was an American stage, film, and radio actor and, later, a film director. He began acting as a child in radio, vaudeville, and stage productions before being signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in his early twenties.
• 1917 – Jo Stafford, American singer (d. 2008), was an American traditional pop music singer and occasional actress, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical training to become an opera singer before following a career in popular music, and by 1955 had achieved more worldwide record sales than any other female artist.
• 1911 – Buck Clayton, American trumpet player and academic (d. 1991), was an American jazz trumpet player who was a leading member of Count Basie's "Old Testament" orchestra and a leader of mainstream-oriented jam session recordings in the 1950s. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong.
• 1908 – Harry Blackmun, American lawyer and judge (d. 1999), was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 until 1994. Appointed by Republican President Richard Nixon, Blackmun ultimately became one of the most liberal justices on the Court.
• 1905 – Louise Thaden, American pilot (d. 1979), was an American aviation pioneer, holder of numerous aviation records, and the first woman to win the Bendix trophy, alongside Blanche Noyes. She was inducted into the Arkansas Aviation Historical Society's Hall of Fame in 1980.
• 1903 – Jack Oakie, American actor (d. 1978), was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. He portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940), receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
• 1901 – James Luther Adams, American minister and theologian (d. 1994), was the most influential theologian among American Unitarian Universalists in the 20th century.
• 1889 – DeWitt Wallace, American publisher and philanthropist, co-founded Reader's Digest (d. 1981), was an American magazine publisher.
• 1817 – Bahá'u'lláh, Persian spiritual leader, founded the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1892), was a Persian religious leader, and the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, which advocates universal peace and unity among all races, nations, and religions.
• 1815 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American activist (d. 1902), was an American suffragist, social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early women's rights movement. Her Declaration of Sentiments, presented at the Seneca Falls Convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, is often credited with initiating the first organized women's rights and women's suffrage movements in the United States.
• 1795 – Thaddeus William Harris, American entomologist and botanist (d. 1856). For the last few years of his life Harris was the librarian of Harvard University.
• 1606 – Jeanne Mance, French-Canadian nurse, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal (d. 1673), was a French nurse and settler of New France. She arrived in New France two years after the Ursuline nuns came to Quebec.

Deaths

• 2016 – Lupita Tovar, Mexican-American actress (b. 1910)
• 2015 – Aaron Shikler, American painter (b. 1922)
• 2015 – Earl E. Anderson, American general (b. 1919)
• 2015 – Philip Ciaccio, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1927)
• 2014 – Marge Roukema, American educator and politician (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Daniel Stern, American psychologist and theorist (b. 1934)
• 2012 – Sergio Oliva, Cuban-American bodybuilder (b. 1941)
• 2008 – Catherine Baker Knoll, American educator and politician, 30th Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1930)
• 2007 – Ira Levin, American novelist, playwright, and songwriter (b. 1929)
• 2003 – Penny Singleton, American actress (b. 1908)
• 2001 – Albert Hague, German-American actor and composer (b. 1920)
• 1998 – Sally Shlaer, American mathematician and engineer (b. 1938)
• 1997 – Carlos Surinach, Spanish-American composer and conductor (b. 1915)
• 1994 – Wilma Rudolph, American sprinter and educator (b. 1940)
• 1993 – H. R. Haldeman, American diplomat, 4th White House Chief of Staff (b. 1926)
• 1990 – Eve Arden, American actress and comedian (b. 1908)
• 1986 – Minoru Yasui, American lawyer and activist (b. 1916)
• 1981 – William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)
• 1976 – Mikhail Gurevich, Russian engineer, co-founded Mikoyan (b. 1893)
• 1976 – Walter Piston, American composer and academic (b. 1894)
• 1972 – Rudolf Friml, Czech-American pianist and composer (b. 1879)
• 1955 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect, designed the Grand Hotel Aranybika (b. 1878)
• 1955 – Sarah Wambaugh, American political scientist, world authority on plebiscites (b. 1882)
• 1950 – Julia Marlowe, English-American actress (b. 1865)
• 1950 – Lesley Ashburner, American hurdler (b. 1883)
• 1946 – Albert Bond Lambert, American golfer and pilot (b. 1875)
• 1933 – F. Holland Day, American photographer and publisher (b. 1864)
• 1916 – Percival Lowell, American astronomer, mathematician, and author (b. 1855)
• 1847 – William Christopher Zeise, Danish chemist who prepared Zeise's salt, one of the first organometallic compounds (b. 1789)