November 18

Today in History
• 1307 - William Tell reputedly shoots apple off his son's head
• 1421 - Southern sea floods 72 villages, killing estimated 10,000 in Netherlands
• 1497 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama reaches the Cape of Good Hope
• 1755 - Worst quake in Massachusetts Bay area strikes Boston; no deaths reported
• 1804 - Palver Purim 1st celebrated to commemorate miraculous escape
• 1883 - Four standard time zones for the Continental US introduced
• 1889 - Oahu Railway begins public service in Hawaii
• 1902 - Brooklyn toymaker Morris Michton names the teddy bear after Pres. Teddy Roosevelt


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Apple Cider Day
• Battle of Vertières Day
• Family Volunteer Day
• Latvia Independence Day
• Mickey Mouse Day
• National Adoption Day
• National Princess Day
• Occult Day

Birthdays
• 1630 - Eleonora Gonzaga, Empress of the Holy Roman Empire (1651-57)
• 1772 - Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia Christian, composer
• 1774 - Wilhelmine of Prussia, Queen of the Netherlands (1815-37)
• 1787 - Louis-Jacques Daguerre, French inventor and photographer (daguerreotype)
• 1797 - Sojourner Truth, African-American abolitionist and feminist
• 1804 - Alfonso Ferrero la Marmora, general and statesman (6th Prime Minister of Italy, 1864-66)
• 1860 - Ignacy Jan Paderewski, composer/1st premier of Poland, 1919-20
• 1874 - Carrie White, oldest US woman (dies Nov 1990 at 116)