Skip to content

Home arrow Trivia Resources arrow On this day in history

On this day in History Archives
 
At PaulsQuiz.com we aim to provide you with as much information as we possibly can. That's why we have built our On This Day in History section, to do just that. Our database is forever growing, we're adding more and more events from history to help you write your quiz questions.

Simply enter a date using the drop-down boxes below and click the 'Go' button to display events from the past that ocurred on that day.
 

 
21 November, 2004
The second round of the Ukrainian presidential election is held, unleashing massive protests and controversy with regards to the elections integrity.
21 November, 2004
The island of Dominica is hit by its most destructive earthquake in history; the northern half of the island receives the most damage, especially in the town of Portsmouth. It is also felt in neighboring Guadeloupe, where one person is killed as a result.
21 November, 2004
The Paris Club agrees to write off 80% (up to $100 billion) of Iraqs external debt.
21 November, 2002
NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.
21 November, 1996
A propane explosion at the Humberto Vidal shoe store and office building in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 33.
21 November, 1995
The Dayton Peace Agreement was initialled in the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, ending three and a half years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The agreement was formally ratified in Paris, on December 14 that same year.
21 November, 1995
Toy Story is released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery.
21 November, 1995
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 5,000 (5,023.55) for the first time.
21 November, 1991
"The Apple of Gods Eye", an undercover investigative journalism piece exposing the fundraising practices of American televangelist Robert Tilton, airs on ABCs Primetime Live newsmagazine show for the first time.
21 November, 1990
Charter of Paris for a New Europe refocusses the efforts of the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europeon post-Cold War issues.
21 November, 1990
Nintendos successor to the Famicom, the Super Famicom was released in Japan.
21 November, 1988
Canadian federal election, 1988 - Canadians re-elect the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney after an election campaign fought mainly over the issue of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement.
21 November, 1986
Iran-Contra Affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary start to shred documents implicating them in the sale of weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
21 November, 1985
United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard is arrested for spying (he was caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations and was eventually sentenced to life in prison).
21 November, 1980
A deadly fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada (now Ballys Las Vegas). 87 people are killed and more than 650 are injured in the worst disaster in Nevada history.
21 November, 1980
Lake Peigneur drained into an underlying salt deposit. A misplaced Texaco oil probe drilled into the Diamond crystal salt mine; water flowing down into the mine eroded the edges of the hole. The whirlpool created sucked the drilling platform, several barges, houses and trees thousands of feet, to the bottom of the dissolving salt deposit.
21 November, 1980
Who Shot JR? - The Dallas Episode "Who Done It?" aired on US television. It was one of the highest-rated episodes of a TV show ever aired.
21 November, 1979
The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan is attacked by a mob and set alight, killing four. (see: Foreign relations of Pakistan)
21 November, 1977
Minister of Internal Affairs Hon Allan Highet announced that the national anthems of New Zealand shall be the traditional anthem God Save the Queen and the poem God Defend New Zealand, written by Thomas Bracken, as set to music by John Joseph Woods, both being of equal status as national anthems appropriate to the occasion.
21 November, 1974
The Birmingham Pub Bombings by the IRA killed 21 people. The Birmingham Six were sentenced to life in prison for this and subsequently acquitted.
21 November, 1971
Indian troops partly aided by Mukti Bahini (Bengali guerrillas) defeated the Pakistan army in the Battle of Garibpur.
21 November, 1970
Vietnam War: Operation Ivory Coast - A joint Air Force and Army team raids the Son Tay prison camp in an attempt to free American POWs thought to be held there.
21 November, 1969
The first ARPANET link is established.
21 November, 1969
US President Richard Nixon and Japanese Premier Eisaku Sato agree in Washington, DC on the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. Under terms of the agreement, the US is to retain its rights to bases on the island, but these are to be nuclear-free.
21 November, 1967
Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."
21 November, 1964
The Verrazano Narrows Bridge opens to traffic (at the time it was the worlds longest suspension bridge).
21 November, 1964
Second Vatican Council: The third session of the Roman Catholic Churchs ecumenical council closes.
21 November, 1962
The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army declares a unilateral cease-fire in the Sino-Indian War.
21 November, 1956
Don Newcombe of the then Brooklyn Dodgers wins the Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award of the National League. He won because he posted a staggering 27-7 record and an E.R.A. of 3.06.
21 November, 1953
Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announce that the "Piltdown Man" skull, held to be one of the most famous fossil skulls in the world, was a hoax.
21 November, 1945
The first issue of the French magazine, ELLE is launched.
21 November, 1942
The completion of the Alaska Highway (also known as the Alcan Highway) is celebrated (the highway was not usable by general vehicles until 1943, however).
21 November, 1941
The radio program King Biscuit Time is broadcast for the first time (it would later become the longest running daily radio broadcast in history and the most famous live blues radio program).
21 November, 1934
Ella Fitzgerald makes her singing debut at age 16 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York.
21 November, 1927
Columbine Mine Massacre: Striking coal miners were allegedly attacked with machine guns by a detachment of state police dressed in civilian clothes.
21 November, 1922
Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first woman United States Senator.
21 November, 1920
Bloody Sunday during the Anglo-Irish War
21 November, 1916
The HMHS Britannic sinks in the Aegean Sea after an explosion from an unknown object, killing 30 people.
21 November, 1905
Albert Einsteins paper, "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", is published in the journal "Annalen der Physik". This paper reveals the relationship between energy and mass. This leads to the mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc².
21 November, 1894
Port Arthur massacre: Port Arthur, Manchuria falls to the Japanese, a decisive Japanese victory of the First Sino-Japanese War.
21 November, 1877
Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record sound.
21 November, 1861
American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin secretary of war.
21 November, 1791
Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to full general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic.
21 November, 1789
North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 12th U.S. state.
21 November, 1783
In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis dArlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight.
21 November, 1775
First performance of Richard Brinsley Sheridans The Duenna at Covent Garden Theatre, London.
21 November, 1620
Plymouth Colony settlers sign the Mayflower Compact (11 November, O.S.).
21 November, 1272
Following Henry III of Englands death on November 16, his son Prince Edward becomes King of England.
21 November, 235
Anterus is elected Pope.

Choose another day in history

January

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

February

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29

March

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

April

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

May

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

June

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

July

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

August

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

September

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

October

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

November

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

December

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31

PaulsQuiz.com Exclusive: Free Questions in Your Inbox

Join the PaulsQuiz.com Facebook Group

Christmas Quizzes