today.nukz.net: Almanac November 12

Neil Percival Young, (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Young began performing as a solo artist in Canada in 1960, before moving to California in 1966, where he co-founded the band Buffalo Springfield along with Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, and later joined Crosby, Stills & Nash as a fourth member in 1969. He forged a successful and acclaimed solo career, releasing his first album in 1968; his career has since spanned over 40 years and 35 studio albums, with a continual and uncompromising exploration of musical styles. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website describes Young as "one of rock and roll’s greatest songwriters and performers". He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame twice: first as a solo artist in 1995, and second as a member of Buffalo Springfield in 1997.

Events

764 – Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days.
1028 – Future Byzantine empress Zoe takes the throne as empress consort to Romanus Argyrus.
1330 – Battle of Posada, Wallachian Voievode Basarab I defeats the Hungarian army in an ambush
1439 – Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.
1555 – The English Parliament re-establishes Catholicism.
1602 – Sebastian Viscaino lands at and names San Diego, California.
1793 – Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first Mayor of Paris, is guillotined.
1892 – William "Pudge" Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.
1893 – The treaty of the Durand Line is signed between present day Pakistan and Afghanistan; the Durand Line has gained international recognition as an international border between the two nations.
1905 – Norway holds a referendum in favor of monarchy over republic.
1912 – The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
1918 – Austria becomes a republic.
1920 – Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo.
1927 – Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union.
1928 – SS Vestris sinks approximately 200 miles (320 km) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing at least 110 passengers, mostly women and children who die after the vessel is abandoned.
1933 – Hugh Gray takes the first known photos of the Loch Ness Monster.
1936 – In California, the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.
1938 – Hermann Göring proposes plans to make Madagascar the "Jewish homeland", an idea that had first been considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl.
1940 – World War II: The Battle of Gabon ends as Free French Forces take Libreville, Gabon, and all of French Equatorial Africa from Vichy France forces.
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.
1941 – World War II: The Soviet cruiser Chervona Ukraina is destroyed during the Battle of Sevastopol.
1942 – World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal. The battle lasts for three days.
1944 – World War II: The Royal Air Force launches 29 Avro Lancaster bombers in one of the most successful precision bombing attacks of war and sinks the German battleship Tirpitz, with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs off Tromsø, Norway.
1948 – In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials, including General Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.
1956 – Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the United Nations.
1958 – A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.
1968 – Equatorial Guinea joins the United Nations.
1969 – Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre – Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the My Lai story.
1970 – The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous "exploding whale" incident.
1970 – The 1970 Bhola cyclone makes landfall on the coast of East Pakistan becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history.
1971 – Vietnam War: as part of Vietnamization, US President Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
1975 – The Comoros joins the United Nations.
1978 – Pope John Paul II takes possession of his Cathedral Church, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, as the Bishop of Rome.
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.
1980 – The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.
1981 – Space Shuttle program: mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marks the first time a manned spacecraft is launched into space twice.
1982 – In the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov becomes the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev.
1990 – Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.
1990 – Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
1991 – Dili Massacre: Indonesian forces open fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.
1996 – A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, killing 349. The deadliest mid-air collision to date.
1997 – Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
1999 – The Düzce earthquake strikes Turkey with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale.
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.
2001 – Attack on Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops.
2003 – Iraq war: in Nasiriya, 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.
2003 – Shanghai Transrapid sets a new world speed record (501 kilometres per hour (311 mph)) for commercial railway systems, which remains the fastest for unmodified commercial rail vehicles.
2011 – Silvio Berlusconi resigns as Prime Minister of Italy due, in large part, to the European sovereign debt crisis.

Births

1528 – Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (d. 1588)
1547 – Claude of Valois, French princess (d. 1575)
1606 – Jeanne Mance, French settler of New France (d. 1673)
1615 – Richard Baxter, English clergyman (d. 1691)
1651 – Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican mystic and author (d. 1695)
1684 – Edward Vernon, English Royal Navy admiral (d. 1757)
1729 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French explorer (d. 1811)
1755 – Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (d. 1813)
1790 – Letitia Christian Tyler, US First Lady (d. 1842)
1793 – Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, Baltic German biologist (d. 1831)
1795 – Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (d. 1856)
1815 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American suffragette (d. 1902)
1817 – Bahá'u'lláh, Persian spiritual figure (d. 1892)
1833 – Alexander Borodin, Russian composer and chemist (d. 1887)
1840 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (d. 1917)
1842 – John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, English physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1919)
1848 – Eduard Müller, Swiss politician (d. 1919)
1850 – Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (d. 1908)
1866 – Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary and politician (d. 1925)
1872 – William Fay, Irish actor and theatre producer (d. 1947)
1881 – Olev Siinmaa, Estonian architect (d. 1948)
1881 – Maximilian von Weichs, German field marshal (d. 1954)
1886 – Günther Dyhrenfurth, German geologist, and mountineer (d. 1975)
1886 – Ben Travers, British playwright (d. 1980)
1889 – DeWitt Wallace, American magazine publisher (d. 1981)
1890 – Lily Kronberger, Hungarian figure skater (d. 1974)
1892 – Tudor Davies, Welsh operatic tenor (d. 1958)
1896 – Salim Ali, Indian ornithologist (d. 1987)
1896 – Nima Yooshij, Iranian contemporary poet (d. 1960)
1897 – Karl Marx, German composer (d. 1985)
1898 – Leon Štukelj, Slovene gymnast (d. 1999)
1901 – James Luther Adams, American theologian (d. 1994)
1903 – Jack Oakie, American actor (d. 1978)
1908 – Harry Blackmun, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1999)
1910 – Dudley Nourse, South African cricketer (d. 1981)
1911 – Buck Clayton, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1991)
1915 – Roland Barthes, French critic and writer (d. 1980)
1916 – Rogelio de la Rosa, Filipino actor and politician (d. 1986)
1916 – Paul Emery, English racing driver (d. 1993)
1916 – Jean Papineau-Couture, French-Canadian composer (d. 2000)
1917 – Jo Stafford, American singer (d. 2008)
1919 – Jackie Washington, Canadian blues musician (d. 2009)
1920 – Richard Quine, American actor (d. 1989)
1922 – Kim Hunter, American actress (d. 2002)
1923 – Vicco von Bülow, German film director (d. 2011)
1924 – Sam Jones, American jazz bassist and cellist (d. 1981)
1927 – František Štastný, Czech motorcycle racer (d. 2000)
1927 – Yutaka Taniyama, Japanese mathematician (d. 1958)
1928 – Bob Holness, English presenter and actor (d. 2012)
1928 – Marjorie Sharmat, American children's writer
1929 – Michael Ende, German writer (d. 1995)
1929 – Grace Kelly, American actress and Princess consort of Monaco (d. 1982)
1930 – Ann Flood, American actress
1931 – Bob Crewe, American songwriter and producer (The Four Seasons)
1933 – Jalal Talabani, Iraqi politician
1934 – Charles Manson, American cult leader and convicted murderer
1936 – Mills Lane, American jurist, television personality, and boxing referee
1936 – Mort Shuman, American songwriter and singer (d. 1991)
1937 – Jack Betts, American actor
1937 – Richard H. Truly, former American vice admiral
1938 – Denis DeJordy, Canadian ice hockey player
1938 – Benjamin Mkapa, Tanzanian politician
1939 – Ruby Nash Garnett, American singer (Ruby & the Romantics)
1939 – Terry McDonald, English footballer
1939 – Lucia Popp, Slovakian soprano (d. 1993)
1940 – Michel Audet, Quebec economist and politician
1940 – Jürgen Todenhöfer, German politician
1941 – Carol Gluck, American academic and Japanologist
1943 – Julie Ege, Norwegian actress (d. 2008)
1943 – Brian Hyland, American singer
1943 – Wallace Shawn, American actor and playwright
1943 – Björn Waldegård, Swedish rally driver
1944 – Booker T. Jones, American musician and songwriter (Booker T and the MG's)
1944 – Al Michaels, American television sportscaster
1945 – Tracy Kidder, American journalist and author
1945 – Neil Young, Canadian singer and guitarist (Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
1946 – Krister Henriksson, Swedish actor
1947 – Ron Bryant, American baseball player
1947 – Buck Dharma (born Donald Roeser), American vocalist and guitarist (Blue Öyster Cult)
1947 – Patrice Leconte, French film director and screenwriter
1948 – Errol Brown, English singer (Hot Chocolate)
1948 – Cliff Harris, American football player
1949 – Ron Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey coach (d. 1992)
1949 – Jack Reed, American politician
1949 – Sinyan Shen, American physicist and composer
1950 – Barbara Fairchild, American country music/Gospel singer
1952 – Ronald Burkle, American entrepreneur
1953 – Vasilis Karras, Greek singer
1953 – Baaba Maal, Senegalese singer and guitarist
1954 – Rob Lytle, American football player (d. 2010)
1954 – Rhonda Shear, American television personality, actress and comedienne
1955 – Katharine Weber, American novelist
1958 – Megan Mullally, American actress and singer
1958 – Nick Stellino, Italian-born American television chef
1959 – Vincent Irizarry, American actor
1959 – Toshihiko Sahashi, Japanese composer
1960 – Ismo Alanko, Finnish musician (Hassisen Kone, Sielun Veljet, Ismo Alanko Säätiö)
1960 – Maurane, Belgian singer
1961 – Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast
1961 – Enzo Francescoli, Uruguayan footballer
1961 – Jonathan Nossiter, American film director
1961 – Michaela Paetsch, American violinist
1962 – Mariella Frostrup, Norwegian journalist and television presenter
1962 – Mark Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player
1962 – Neal Shusterman, American writer
1962 – Brix Smith, American singer and guitarist (The Fall, The Adult Net)
1962 – Naomi Wolf, American author and feminist
1963 – Sam Lloyd, American actor
1963 – Michael Rogers (activist), American blogger and media publisher
1963 – Susumu Terajima, Japanese actor
1964 – Vic Chesnutt, American singer and songwriter (d. 2009)
1964 – Dave Ellefson, American bassist (Megadeth)
1964 – Wang Kuang-hui, Taiwanese baseball player and coach
1965 – Lex Lang, American voice actor
1967 – Michael Moorer, American boxer
1967 – Grant Nicholas, British singer (Feeder)
1967 – Iryna Khalip, Belarusian dissident journalist
1968 – Glenn Gilbertti, American professional wrestler
1968 – Kathleen Hanna, American singer and songwriter
1968 – Aya Hisakawa, Japanese voice actress and singer
1968 – Sharon Shannon, Irish musician, known for playing the accordion
1968 – Sammy Sosa, Dominican baseball player
1968 – Aaron Stainthorpe, British singer (My Dying Bride)
1969 – Ian Bremmer, American political scientist
1969 – Jason Cundy, English footballer and broadcaster
1969 – Johnny Gosch, American kidnap victim
1970 – Donna Adamo, American professional wrestler
1970 – Tonya Harding, American figure skater
1970 – Sarah Harmer, Canadian singer-songwriter and activist
1970 – Craig Parker, New Zealand actor
1970 – Harvey Spencer Stephens, British actor
1972 – Vassilis Tsiartas, Greek footballer
1973 – Mayte Garcia, American dancer
1973 – Radha Mitchell, Australian actress
1973 – Ethan Zohn, American footballer and reality show contestant
1974 – Tamala Jones, American actress
1975 – Nina Brosh, Israeli model and actress
1975 – Jason Lezak, American swimmer
1975 – Angela Watson, American actress
1976 – Tevin Campbell, American R&B singer
1976 – Judith Holofernes, German singer (Wir sind Helden)
1976 – Richelle Mead, American writer
1976 – Miroslaw Szymkowiak, Polish footballer
1977 – Dalene Kurtis, American model
1977 – Benni McCarthy, South African footballer
1977 – Lee Murray, English mixed martial artist
1978 – Aaron Heilman, American baseball player
1978 – Alexandra Maria Lara, Romanian-born German actress
1978 – Andrew Kinlochan, British singer (Phixx)
1978 – Ashley Williams, American actress
1978 – Lena Yada, American actress, model, surfer and professional wrestler
1979 – Matt Cappotelli, American professional wrestler
1979 – Cote de Pablo, Chilean actress
1979 – Lucas Glover, American professional golfer
1979 – Corey Maggette, American basketball player
1979 – Matt Stevic, Australian rules football umpire
1980 – Trent Acid, American professional wrestler (d. 2010)
1980 – Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor
1981 – Annika Becker, German pole vaulter
1981 – D. J. Campbell, English footballer
1981 – Sergio Floccari, Italian footballer
1982 – Anne Hathaway, American actress
1982 – Mikele Leigertwood, English footballer
1983 – Carlton Cole, English footballer
1983 – Charlie Morton, American baseball player
1984 – Sepp De Roover, Belgian footballer
1984 – Omarion, American R&B singer, pianist and songwriter (B2K)
1984 – Sandara Park, South Korean actor, singer/rapper of (2NE1)
1984 – Conrad Rautenbach, Zimbabwean rally driver
1985 – Arianny Celeste, American model
1986 – Evan Yo, Taiwanese pop singer
1986 – Robert Müller, German footballer
1986 – Nedum Onuoha, English footballer
1987 – Bryan Little, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Russell Westbrook, American basketball player
1990 – Harmeet Singh, Norwegian footballer
1992 – Adam Larsson, Swedish ice hockey player
1992 – Giulietta (singer), Australian pop singer

Deaths

607 – Pope Boniface III, Roman-born (birth date unknown)
1035 – King Cnut the Great, Danish-born King of Denmark, England and Norway (b. 985 or 995)
1094 – King Duncan II of Scotland (b. 1060)
1434 – King Louis III of Naples (b. 1403)
1555 – Stephen Gardiner, English statesman (b. 1497)
1567 – Anne de Montmorency, Marshal and Constable of France (b. 1493)
1595 – John Hawkins, English shipbuilder and trader (b. 1532)
1606 – St. Nicholas Owen, English Jesuit and martyr (b. c. 1550)
1667 – Hans Nansen, Danish statesman (b. 1598)
1671 – Thomas Fairfax, English Civil War general (b. 1612)
1742 – Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
1757 – Colley Cibber, English poet (b. 1671)
1793 – Jean Sylvain Bailly, first Mayor of Paris (b. 1736)
1836 – Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (b. 1773)
1865 – Elizabeth Gaskell, English novelist (b. 1810)
1902 – William Henry Barlow, British railway engineer (b. 1812)
1916 – Percival Lowell, American amateur astronomer (b. 1855)
1933 – John Cady, American golfer (b. 1866)
1933 – F. Holland Day, American photographer and publisher (b. 1864)
1939 – Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (b. 1890)
1941 – Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, American mobster (b. 1907)
1944 – Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician (b. 1876)
1945 – Jaro Fürth, Austrian actor (b. 1871)
1946 – Albert Bond Lambert, American golfer (b. 1875)
1946 – Madan Mohan Malaviya, Founder Banaras Hindu University, Indian leader (b.1861)
1948 – Umberto Giordano, Italian composer (b. 1867)
1950 – Lesley Ashburner, American athlete (b. 1883)
1955 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878)
1958 – Gustaf Söderström, Swedish athlete (b. 1865)
1965 – Syedna Taher Saifuddin, Indian-born Bohra Spiritual Leader (b. 1888)
1969 – Liu Shaoqi, Chinese revolutionary, and statesman (b. 1898)
1972 – Rudolf Friml, Czech composer (b. 1879)
1976 – Walter Piston, American composer (b. 1894)
1976 – Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1893)
1981 – William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)
1984 – Chester Himes, American writer (b. 1909)
1987 – Cornelis Vreeswijk, Dutch-Swedish musician (b. 1937)
1990 – Eve Arden, American actress (b. 1908)
1993 – H. R. Haldeman, American White House Chief of Staff (b. 1926)
1994 – Wilma Rudolph, American runner (b. 1940)
1997 – Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer (b. 1915)
2000 – Leah Rabin (née Schlossberg), German-born widow of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (b. 1928)
2000 – Franck Pourcel, French popular orchestra leader (b. 1913)
2001 – Tony Miles, English chess player (b. 1955)
2001 – Albert Hague, German-born American actor and songwriter (b. 1920)
2003 – Cameron Duncan, New Zealand director (b. 1986)
2003 – Kay E. Kuter, American actor (b. 1925)
2003 – Penny Singleton, American actress (b. 1908)
2003 – Tony Thompson, American drummer (Chic, Power Station) (b. 1954)
2003 – Jonathan Brandis, American actor (b. 1976)
2005 – William G. Adams, Canadian politician (b. 1923)
2006 – General Jacob E. Smart, American World War II figure (b. 1909)
2007 – Khanmohammed Ibrahim, Indian cricketer (b. 1919)
2007 – Ira Levin, American novelist (b. 1929)
2008 – Catherine Baker Knoll, American politician (b. 1930)
2008 – Mitch Mitchell, English drummer (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (b. 1947)
2010 – Henryk Górecki, Polish composer (b. 1933)
2010 – Karl Plutus, Estonian jurist and centenarian (b. 1904)