2 November 2024 (MIA)

619 – A qaghan of the Western Turkic Khaganate is assassinated in a Chinese palace by Eastern Turkic rivals after the approval of Tang emperor Gaozu.

1410 – The Peace of Bicêtre suspends hostilities in the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War.

1675 – Plymouth Colony governor Josiah Winslow leads a colonial militia against the Narragansett during King Philip’s War.

1795 – The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created.

1868 – Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally.

1889 – North Dakota and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states.

1898 – Cheerleading is started at the University of Minnesota with Johnny Campbell leading the crowd in cheering on the football team.

1899 – The Boers begin their 118-day siege of British-held Ladysmith during the Second Boer War.

1912 – Bulgaria defeats the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Lule Burgas, the bloodiest battle of the First Balkan War, which opens her way to Constantinople.

1914 – World War I: The Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire and the Dardanelles are subsequently closed.

1917 – The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” with the clear understanding “that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities”.

1917 – The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, in charge of preparation and carrying out the Russian Revolution, holds its first meeting.

1920 – In the United States, KDKA of Pittsburgh starts broadcasting as the first commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the result of the United States presidential election, 1920.

1930 – Haile Selassie is crowned emperor of Ethiopia.

1936 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is established.

1936 – The British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, the world’s first regular, “high-definition” (then defined as at least 200 lines) service. Renamed BBC1 in 1964, the channel still runs to this day.

1940 – World War II: First day of Battle of Elaia–Kalamas between the Greeks and the Italians.

1947 – In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Spruce Goose or H-4 The Hercules; the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built.

1949 – The Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference ends with the Netherlands agreeing to transfer sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies to the United States of Indonesia.

1951 – Canada in the Korean War: A platoon of The Royal Canadian Regiment defends a vital area against a full battalion of Chinese troops in the Battle of the Song-gok Spur. The engagement lasts into the early hours of November 3.

1953 – The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan names the country The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

1959 – Quiz show scandals: Twenty One game show contestant Charles Van Doren admits to a Congressional committee that he had been given questions and answers in advance.

1959 – The first section of the M1 motorway, the first inter-urban motorway in the United Kingdom, is opened between the present junctions 5 and 18, along with the M10 motorway and M45 motorway.

1960 – Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the trial R v Penguin Books Ltd, the Lady Chatterley’s Lover case.

1963 – South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm is assassinated following a military coup.

1964 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia is deposed by a family coup, and replaced by his half-brother Faisal.

1965 – Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker, sets himself on fire in front of the river entrance to the Pentagon to protest the use of napalm in the Vietnam war.

1966 – The Cuban Adjustment Act comes into force, allowing 123,000 Cubans the opportunity to apply for permanent residence in the United States.

1967 – Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson and “The Wise Men” conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war.

1973 – The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India form a ‘United Front’ in the state of Tripura.

1983 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

1984 – Capital punishment: Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962.

1988 – The Morris worm, the first Internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT.

1990 – Pance Mirovski, the first lyric tenor at the Macedonian Opera and a legend of Stip, passed away. Along with a group of enthusiasts, he took part 1924 in the “Pagliacci” opera performance, conducted by Sergej Mihailov, founder of the musical life in Stip. This opera is considered to be the first musical play performed in Macedonia. He was born in 1902.

1990 – British Satellite Broadcasting and Sky Television plc merge to form BSkyB as a result of massive losses.