November 18 birthdays & history

Famous people born on November 18

• 1939Margaret Atwood, Canadian author
• 1787Louis Daguerre, French artist, photographer and inventor
• 1786Carl Maria von Weber, German composer and conductor (probable; died 1826)
• 1968Owen Wilson, American actor
• 1897Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1647Pierre Bayle, French philosopher and author
• 1945Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 6th President of Sri Lanka
• 1923Alan Shepard, American astronaut
• 1953Alan Moore, English author
• 1963Peter Schmeichel, Danish footballer and sportscaster

What happened on November 18

• 1865"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was published, becoming the first great success of American author Mark Twain.
• 1883In the "day of two noons", American and Canadian railroad companies institute four standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.
• 1889Elisha P. Ferry is inaugurated as first governor of Washington.
• 1901Britain and the United States sign the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, which nullifies the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty and withdraws British objections to an American-controlled canal in Panama.
• 1903The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
• 1905Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.
• 1910In their campaign for women's voting rights, hundreds of suffragettes march to the British Parliament in London. Several are beaten by police, newspaper attention embarrasses the authorities, and the march is dubbed Black Friday.
• 1918Latvia declares its independence from Russia.
• 1956At the Polish embassy in Moscow, a phrase in an address by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was translated into English as "We will bury you", prompting Western envoys to leave the room.
• 1977Solomon Islands ratified the adoption of a new flag.
• 1991The current flag of Uzbekistan was adopted, making the country the first newly independent republic in Central Asia to choose a new flag.
• 2011The sandbox video game Minecraft exited beta with the official release of version 1.0.

Also observed on November 18

• Independence Day (Morocco), celebrates the independence of Morocco from France and Spain in 1956.
• National Day (Oman)
• Proclamation Day of the Republic of Latvia celebrates the independence of Latvia from Russia in 1918.
• Remembrance Day of the Sacrifice of Vukovar in 1991 (Croatia)