What happened on November 23? There are more than 294 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About November 23
November 23 is the 327th day of the year 2025. There are 38 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday. This day falls under the 47th week of the year 2025.
On this day in May, Texas 76857 sunrise will occur at 07:10 AM and sunset will occur at 05:34 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Sagittarius. The modern birthstone for this month is Topaz while the mystical birthstone is Pearl.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 86 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (February 17, 2026).
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Historical Events For November 23
- 534 BCThespis of Icaria becomes the first recorded actor to portray a character onstage.
- 1248Conquest of Seville by the Christian troops under King Ferdinand III of Castile.
- 1499Pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck is hanged for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London. He had invaded England in 1497, claiming to be the lost son of King Edward IV of England.
- 1510First campaign of Ottoman Empire against Kingdom of Imereti (modern western Georgia). Ottoman armies sack its capital Kutaisi and burn Gelati Monastery.
- 1531The Second war of Kappel results in the dissolution of the Protestant alliance in Switzerland.
- 1644John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship.
- 1808French and Poles defeat the Spanish at battle of Tudela
- 1863American Civil War: Battle of Chattanooga begins – Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant reinforce troops at Chattanooga, Tennessee and counter-attack Confederate troops.
- 1867The Manchester Martyrs are hanged in Manchester, England for killing a police officer while freeing two Irish nationalists from custody.
- 1876Corrupt Tammany Hall leader William Magear Tweed (better known as Boss Tweed) is delivered to authorities in New York City after being captured in Spain.
- 1889The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.
- 1890King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir and a special law is passed to allow his daughter Princess Wilhelmina to become his heir.
- 1910Johan Alfred Ander becomes the last person to be executed in Sweden.
- 1914Mexican Revolution: The last of U.S. forces withdraw from Veracruz, occupied seven months earlier in response to the Tampico Affair.
- 1918Heber J. Grant succeeds Joseph F. Smith as the seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- 1934An Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission in the Ogaden discovers an Italian garrison at Walwal, well within Ethiopian territory. This leads to the Abyssinia Crisis.
- 1936Life magazine is reborn as a photo magazine and enjoys instant success.
- 1940World War II: Romania becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers.
- 1943World War II: Tarawa and Makin atolls fall to American forces.
- 1943World War II: The Deutsche Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is destroyed. It will eventually be rebuilt in 1961 and be called the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
- 1946French Navy fire in Hai Phong, Viet Nam, kills 6,000 civilians.
- 1955The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.
- 1959General Charles de Gaulle, President of France, declares in a speech in Strasbourg his vision for a “Europe, ”from the Atlantic to the Urals.\"
- 1963The BBC broadcasts the first ever episode of Doctor Who (starring William Hartnell) which is the world’s longest running science fiction drama.
- 1971Representatives of the People’s Republic of China attend the United Nations, including the United Nations Security Council, for the first time.
- 1972The Soviet Union makes its final attempt at successfully launching N-1 Rocket. The launch is a failure and the rocket is destroyed.
- 1976Apneist Jacques Mayol is the first man to reach a depth of 100 m undersea without breathing equipment.
- 1979In Dublin, Ireland, Provisional Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.
- 1980A series of earthquakes in southern Italy kills approximately 3,000 people.
- 1981Iran-Contra Affair: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
- 1985Gunmen hijack EgyptAir Flight 648 while en route from Athens to Cairo. When the plane lands in Malta, Egyptian commandos storm the aircraft, but 60 people die in the raid.
- 1990The first all woman expedition to the South Pole (3 Americans, 1 Japanese and 12 Russians), sets off from Antarctica on the 1st leg of a 70 day, 1287 kilometre ski trek.
- 1993Rachel Whiteread wins both the £20,000 Turner Prize award for best British modern artist and the £40,000 K Foundation art award for the worst artist of the year.
- 1996Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 is hijacked, then crashes into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125.
- 2001The Convention on Cybercrime is signed in Budapest, Hungary.
- 2003Rose Revolution: the Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over flawed elections.
- 2004The Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, the largest religious building in Georgia, is consecrated.
- 2005Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is elected president of Liberia and becomes the first woman to lead an African country.
- 2006A series of bombing kills at least 215 people and injures 257 others in Sadr City, making it the second deadliest sectarian attack since the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003.
- 2007MS Explorer, a cruise liner carrying 154 people, sinks in the Antarctic Ocean south of Argentina after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands. There are no fatalities.
- 2009The Maguindanao massacre occurs in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Mindanao, Philippines
- 2010The Bombardment of Yeonpyeong occurs on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea. The North Korean artillery attack kills 2 civilians and 2 South Korean marines.
- 2011Arab Spring: After 11 months of protests in Yemen, The Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh Signs a deal to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity.
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Who Were Born On November 23?
- 912Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 973)
- 1221King Alfonso X of Castile (d. 1284)
- 1402Jean de Dunois, French soldier (d. 1468)
- 1417William FitzAlan, 16th Earl of Arundel, English politician (d. 1487)
- 1553Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (d. 1617)
- 1616John Wallis, English mathematician (d. 1703)
- 1632Jean Mabillon, French palaeographer and diplomat (d. 1707)
- 1641Anthonie Heinsius, Dutch statesman (d. 1720)
- 1705Thomas Birch, English historian (d. 1766)
- 1715Pierre Charles Le Monnier, French astronomer (d. 1799)
- 1719Spranger Barry, Irish actor (d. 1777)
- 1749Edward Rutledge, American statesman (d. 1800)
- 1760François-Noël Babeuf, French revolutionary figure (d. 1797)
- 1781Theodor Valentin Volkmar, German politician (d. 1847)
- 1785Jan Roothaan, Dutch priest (d. 1853)
- 1803Theodore Dwight Weld, American abolitionist (d. 1895)
- 1804Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States (d. 1869)
- 1820Isaac Todhunter, British mathematician (d. 1884)
- 1837Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1923)
- 1838Stephanos Skouloudis, Greek banker and diplomat (d. 1928)
- 1855Stevan Sremac, Serbian writer
- 1859Billy the Kid, American outlaw (d. 1881)
- 1860Hjalmar Branting, Swedish diplomat; Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1925)
- 1861Konstantin Korovin, Russian painter (d. 1939)
- 1864Henry Bourne Joy, American automobile executive (d. 1936)
- 1869Valdemar Poulsen, Danish engineer (d. 1942)
- 1871William Watt, Premier of Victoria, Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives (d. 1946)
- 1875Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian literary critic and politician (d. 1933)
- 1876Manuel de Falla, Spanish composer (d. 1946)
- 1883José Clemente Orozco, Mexican painter (d. 1949)
- 1887Boris Karloff, British actor (d. 1969)
- 1887Eduardo Corrochio, Spanish dancer (d. 1943)
- 1887Henry Moseley, English physicist (d. 1915)
- 1888Harpo Marx, American comedian (d. 1964)
- 1889Harry Sunderland, Australian rugby league administrator and journalist (d. 1964)
- 1889Nelly’s, Greek photographer (d. 1998)
- 1890El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (d. 1941)
- 1892Erté, French artist (d. 1990)
- 1896Tsunenohana Kan'ichi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 31st Yokozuna (d. 1960)
- 1896Venere Pizzinato, Italian supercentenarian (d. 2011)
- 1897Karl Gebhardt, German Nazi figure (d. 1948)
- 1897Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Indian writer (d. 1999)
- 1899Manuel dos Reis Machado, Brazilian martial artist (d. 1974)
- 1902Aaron Bank, American Office of Strategic Services figure (d. 2004)
- 1902Victor Jory, Canadian actor (d. 1982)
- 1907Lars Leksell, Swedish physician (d. 1986)
- 1908Nelson S. Bond, American writer (d. 2006)
- 1909Nigel Tranter, British historian and writer (d. 2000)
- 1912George O'Hanlon, American actor (d. 1989)
- 1914Roger Avon, English actor (d. 1998)
- 1915John Dehner, American actor (d. 1992)
- 1916Michael Gough, English actor (d. 2011)
- 1916P. K. Page, Canadian poet (d. 2010)
- 1920Paul Celan, Romanian-born German poet (d. 1970)
- 1920Wayne Thiebaud, American painter
- 1921Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (d. 1960)
- 1922Manuel Fraga Iribarne, Spanish Galicia politician
- 1923Billy Haughton, American harness driver and trainer (d. 1986)
- 1923Daniel Brewster, American politician (d. 2007)
- 1923R. L. Burnside, American musician (d. 2005)
- 1924Anita Linda, Filipino actress
- 1924Colin Turnbull, British anthropologist (d. 1994)
- 1924Paula Raymond, American actress (d. 2003)
- 1925Johnny Mandel, American songwriter
- 1925José Napoleón Duarte, Salvadoran politician (d. 1990)
- 1926Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru and philosopher (d. 2011)
- 1927Angelo Sodano, Italian prelate and Cardinal
- 1927Guy Davenport, American author and scholar (d. 2005)
- 1928Jerry Bock, American musical theatre composer (d. 2010)
- 1929Hal Lindsey, American evangelist
- 1930Jack McKeon, American baseball manager
- 1931Gloria Lynne, American singer
- 1932Michel David-Weill, French investment banker
- 1933Ali Shariati, Iranian sociologist and revolutionary
- 1933Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer
- 1934Lew Hoad, Australian tennis player (d. 1994)
- 1934Robert Towne, American screenwriter and director
- 1935Vladislav Volkov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1971)
- 1936Robert Barnard, British mystery writer
- 1938Esko Nikkari, Finnish actor
- 1939Betty Everett, American singer (d. 2001)
- 1940Luis Tiant, Cuban baseball player
- 1941Franco Nero, Italian actor
- 1942Susan Anspach, American actress
- 1943Andrew Goodman, American civil rights activist (d. 1964)
- 1943David Nolan, American political activist (d. 2010)
- 1943Sue Nicholls, British actress
- 1944James Toback, American writer and director
- 1944Joe Eszterhas, Hungarian-born American producer and screenwriter
- 1945Dennis Nilsen, Scottish serial killer
- 1945Jerry Harris, American sculptor
- 1945Jim Doyle, American politician
- 1945Keith Hampshire, English singer-songwriter
- 1945Steve Landesberg, American actor and comedian (d. 2010)
- 1946Bobby Rush, American politician
- 1946Diana Quick, English actress
- 1946Giorgos Koudas, Greek footballer
- 1947Jean-Pierre Foucault, French television host
- 1948Bruce Vilanch, American comedy writer
- 1948Frank Worthington, English footballer
- 1949Alan Paul, one of the founding members of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer
- 1949Jerry verDorn, American actor
- 1949Sandra Stevens, British singer (Brotherhood of Man)
- 1949Tom Joyner, American radio personality
- 1950Chuck Schumer, American politician
- 1950Maik Galakos, Greek footballer
- 1951David Rappaport, English actor (d. 1990)
- 1952Bill Troiano, American musician
- 1953Francis Cabrel, French singer
- 1953Johan de Meij, Dutch conductor and composer
- 1953Rick Bayless, American chef and restaurateur
- 1954Bruce Hornsby, American musician
- 1954Glenn Brummer, American baseball player
- 1954Ross Brawn, English motorsport engineer and F1 team owner
- 1955Dinos Kouis, Greek footballer
- 1955Ludovico Einaudi, Italian composer and pianist
- 1955Mary Landrieu, American politician
- 1955Steven Brust, American author
- 1959Dominique Dunne, American actress (d. 1982)
- 1959Maxwell Caulfield, British actor
- 1960Robin Roberts, American television reporter
- 1961Keith Ablow, American psychiatrist and author
- 1961Merv Hughes, Australian cricketer
- 1963Mamoru Takuma, Japanese convicted mass murderer and rapist (d. 2004)
- 1964Frank Rutherford, Bahamian athlete
- 1965J. T. the Brick, American sports talk radio host
- 1965Jennifer Michael Hecht, American poet and historian
- 1966Jerry Kelly, American professional golfer
- 1966Vincent Cassel, French actor
- 1967Gary Kirsten, South African cricketer
- 1967Salli Richardson, American actress
- 1968Hamid Hassani, Iranian scholar and lexicographer
- 1968Kirsty Young, Scottish television journalist
- 1969Jonathan Seet, Canadian singer
- 1970Danny Hoch, American actor
- 1970Karsten Mueller, German chess grandmaster and author
- 1970Oded Fehr, Israeli actor
- 1970Zoë Ball, British television and radio presenter
- 1971Chris Hardwick, American comedian
- 1971Khalid Al-Muwallid, Saudi footballer
- 1971Lisa Arch, American actress
- 1971Vin Baker, American basketball player
- 1972Alf-Inge Haaland, Norwegian footballer
- 1972Chris Adler, American drummer (Lamb of God)
- 1974Jamie Sharper, American football player
- 1974Juventud Guerrera, Mexican professional wrestler
- 1974Malik Rose, American basketball player
- 1974Saku Koivu, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1976Kohei Suwama, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1976Murat Salar, Turkish footballer
- 1976Page Kennedy, American actor
- 1977Adam Eaton, American baseball player
- 1977Myriam Boileau, Canadian diver
- 1978Alison Mosshart, American musician
- 1978Kayvan Novak, English actor
- 1979Kelly Brook, English actress and model
- 1979Nihat Kahveci, Turkish footballer
- 1980David Britz, American nano-technologist
- 1980Ishmael Beah, Sierra-Leone born American author
- 1980Jonathan Papelbon, American baseball player
- 1982Asafa Powell, Jamaican sprinter
- 1982Colby Armstrong, Canadian ice-hockey player
- 1983Nasser Al-Shamrani, Saudi Arabian footballer
- 1983Thomas Pridgen, American musician
- 1984Amruta Khanvilkar, Indian actress
- 1984Lucas Grabeel, American actor and singer
- 1985Ahn Hyun-Soo, South Korean short track skater
- 1986Gia Johnson, British fashion model
- 1986Luigi Scaglia, Italian footballer
- 1986Maxene Magalona, Filipina actress
- 1987Nicklas Bäckström, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1987Nicole Polizzi, Chilean-born American reality television personality
- 1988Saab Magalona, Filipina actress
- 1992Miley Cyrus, American actress and singer
- 1998Bradley Steven Perry, American child actor
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Who Died On November 23?
- 947Berthold, Duke of Bavaria
- 955King Edred of England (b. c. 923)
- 1407Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans, brother of Charles VI of France (b. 1372)
- 1457King Ladislaus Posthumus of Bohemia and Hungary (b. 1440)
- 1499Perkin Warbeck, Flemish imposter (b. 1474)
- 1503Bona of Savoy, Italian noblewoman (b. 1449)
- 1503Margaret of York, wife of Charles I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1446)
- 1572Agnolo di Cosimo, Italian artist and poet (b. 1503)
- 1585Thomas Tallis, English composer (b. 1505)
- 1616Richard Hakluyt, English writer (b. 1552)
- 1682Claude Lorrain, French painter (b. 1604)
- 1763Friedrich Graf von Seckendorf, German soldier (b. 1673)
- 1769Greek prince Constantine Mavrocordatos of Wallachia and Moldavia (b. 1711)
- 1783Yoriyuki Arima, Japanese mathematician (b. 1714)
- 1803Roger Newdigate, British politician (b. 1719)
- 1804Richard Graves, British writer (b. 1715)
- 1807Jean-François Rewbell, French politician (b. 1747)
- 1814Elbridge Gerry, 5th Vice President of the United States of America (b. 1744)
- 1833Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, French marshal (b. 1762)
- 1890King William III of the Netherlands (b. 1817)
- 1899Thomas Henry Ismay, British shipping company owner (b. 1837)
- 1902Walter Reed, American bacteriologist (b. 1851)
- 1905Sir John Scott Burdon-Sanderson, English physiologist (b. 1828)
- 1910Dr H.H. Crippen, American murderer executed in England (b. 1862)
- 1923Urmuz, Romanian writer (b. 1883)
- 1934Giovanni Brunero, Italian cyclist (b. 1895)
- 1937George Albert Boulenger, Belgian naturalist (b. 1858)
- 1937Jagdish Chandra Bose, Indian physicist (b. 1858)
- 1948Hack Wilson, American baseball player (b. 1900)
- 1958Johnston McCulley, American writer (b. 1883)
- 1958Nikolaos Georgantas, Greek athlete (b. 1880)
- 1966Seán T. O'Kelly, Irish politician (b. 1882)
- 1970Yusof bin Ishak, Singaporean politician (b. 1910)
- 1972Marie Wilson, American actress (b. 1916)
- 1973Sessue Hayakawa, Japanese actor (b. 1889)
- 1974Cornelius Ryan, Irish-born author (b. 1920)
- 1976André Malraux, French author (b. 1901)
- 1979Judee Sill, American musician and songwriter (b. 1944)
- 1979Merle Oberon, British actress (b. 1911)
- 1982Grady Nutt, American humorist (b. 1934)
- 1983Juhan Muks, Estonian artist (b. 1899)
- 1983Waheed Murad, Pakistani actor (b. 1938)
- 1990Bo Díaz, Venezuelan baseball player (b. 1953)
- 1990Roald Dahl, British author (b. 1916)
- 1991Klaus Kinski, German actor (b. 1926)
- 1992Jean-François Thiriart, Belgian politician (b. 1922)
- 1992Roy Acuff, American country musician (b. 1903)
- 1994Art Barr, American professional wrestler (b. 1966)
- 1994Tommy Boyce, American songwriter (b. 1939)
- 1995Junior Walker, American musician (b. 1931)
- 1995Louis Malle, French film director (b. 1932)
- 1996Art Porter, Jr., American jazz musician (b. 1961)
- 1996Mohamed Amin, Kenyan photojournalist (b. 1943)
- 1997Jorge Mas Canosa, Cuban anti-Fidel Castro activist (b. 1939)
- 1998Dan Osman, American rock climber (b. 1963)
- 2000Rayner Unwin, British book publisher (b. 1925)
- 2001Bo Belinsky, American baseball player (b. 1936)
- 2001Mary Whitehouse, British social activist (b. 1910)
- 2001O.C. Smith, American singer (b. 1932)
- 2002Roberto Matta, Chilean painter (b. 1911)
- 2004Pete Franklin, American talk radio host (b. 1928)
- 2005Constance Cummings, American-born British actress (b. 1910)
- 2005Frank Gatski, American football player (b. 1919)
- 2006Alexander Litvinenko, Russian spy (b. 1962)
- 2006Anita O'Day, American singer (b. 1919)
- 2006Betty Comden, American lyricist (b. 1917)
- 2006Jesus Blancornelas, Mexican journalist (b. 1936)
- 2006Nick Clarke, English radio presenter (b. 1948)
- 2006Philippe Noiret, French actor (b. 1930)
- 2006Willie Pep, American boxer (b. 1922)
- 2007Óscar Carmelo Sánchez, Bolivian footballer (b. 1971)
- 2007Joe Kennedy, American baseball player (b. 1979)
- 2007Pat Walsh, New Zealand rugby union footballer (b. 1936)
- 2009Juzefas Jurgelevičius, Lithuanian footballer (b. 1947)
- 2010Ingrid Pitt, Polish-born British actress (b. 1937)
- 2010James Tyler, American musicologist and author (b. 1940)
- 2010Joyce Howard, British film actress (b. 1922)
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