6 Azar 1383 | Friday 26 November 2004

This day in four calendars

1812 (214 years ago) The Battle of Berezina begins during Napoleon's retreat from Russia.
1863 (163 years ago) United States President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November. Following the Franksgiving controversy from 1939 to 1941, it has been observed on the fourth Thursday in 1942 and subsequent years.
1986 (40 years ago) Iran–Contra affair: U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces the members of what will become known as the Tower Commission.
1986 (40 years ago) The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of committing war crimes as a guard at the Nazi Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem.
1991 (35 years ago) National Assembly of Azerbaijan abolishes the autonomous status of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of Azerbaijan and renames several cities with Azeri names.
1998 (28 years ago) Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland.
2008 (18 years ago) Mumbai attacks, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks took place in Mumbai killing 166 citizens by 10 terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan based extremist Islamist terrorist organisation.
2025 (a year ago) The Wang Fuk Court fire, a catastrophic fire in Tai Po, Hong Kong, leaves at least 168 dead and 79 injured.

1857 (169 years ago) Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and author (died 1913)
1894 (132 years ago) Norbert Wiener, American-Swedish mathematician and philosopher (died 1964)
1898 (128 years ago) Karl Ziegler, German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973)
1909 (117 years ago) Eugène Ionesco, Romanian-French playwright and critic (died 1994)
1939 (87 years ago) Tina Turner, American-Swiss singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress (died 2023)
1948 (78 years ago) Elizabeth Blackburn, Australian-American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1990 (36 years ago) Rita Ora, Kosovan-English singer-songwriter and actress
1990 (36 years ago) Danny Welbeck, English footballer

399 (1627 years ago) Siricius, pope of the Catholic Church (born 334)
1504 (522 years ago) Isabella I, queen of Castile and León (born 1451)
1855 (171 years ago) Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet and playwright (born 1798)
1857 (169 years ago) Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, German poet and author (born 1788)
1883 (143 years ago) Sojourner Truth, American activist (born 1797)
1952 (74 years ago) Sven Hedin, Swedish geographer and explorer (born 1865)
1981 (45 years ago) Max Euwe, Dutch chess player, mathematician, and author (born 1901)
2018 (8 years ago) Stephen Hillenburg, American animator, voice actor, and marine science educator (born 1961)