On this day: November 4

Events on November 4

• 1501 Catherine of Aragon (later Henry VIII's first wife) meets Arthur, Prince of Wales, Henry VIII's older brother – they would later marry. Wikipedia
• 1677 The future Mary II marries William, Prince of Orange; they later jointly reign over England, Scotland, and Ireland as William and Mary. Wikipedia
• 1780 Túpac Amaru II led a rebellion of Aymara, Quechua, and mestizo peasants in protest against the Bourbon Reforms in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. Wikipedia
• 1783 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria. Wikipedia
• 1847 Sir James Young Simpson, a Scottish medical doctor, discovers the anaesthetic properties of chloroform. Wikipedia
• 1852 Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, becomes the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, which soon expands to become Italy. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Nathan Bedford Forrest led a cavalry division in an attack on a Union Army supply base at Johnsonville, Tennessee, resulting in the capture of 150 prisoners. Wikipedia
• 1890 The City and South London Railway, the first deep-level underground railway in the world, officially opened, running 3.2 mi (5.1 km) between the City of London and Stockwell. Wikipedia
• 1912 The keel of USS Nevada was laid down, beginning construction on the United States Navy's first "super-dreadnought". Wikipedia
• 1921 The remains of an unknown soldier were buried with an eternal flame at the Altare della Patria in Rome. Wikipedia
• 1921 The Saalschutz Abteilung (hall defense detachment) of the Nazi Party is renamed the Sturmabteilung (storm detachment) after a large riot in Munich. Wikipedia
• 1922 The tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered by a team led by British Egyptologist Howard Carter. Wikipedia
• 1924 In a special election in Wyoming, Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first woman to be elected as a governor in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1938 The Hlinka Guard and Slovakian police began the deportation of several thousand Jews from the country. Wikipedia
• 1944 Second World War: Allied forces completed Operation Pheasant, a major operation to clear German troops from the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. Wikipedia
• 1952 Robert A. Lovett, United States Secretary of Defense, issued a memorandum establishing the National Security Agency, with responsibility for all communications intelligence for the government. Wikipedia
• 1956 Soviet troops enter Hungary to end the Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter million leave the country. Wikipedia
• 1964 Ruhollah Khomeini was arrested by SAVAK, the Iranian secret police, and exiled to Turkey. Wikipedia
• 1970 Authorities in California discovered a 13-year-old feral child, pseudonymously known as Genie, who had spent nearly her entire life in social isolation. Wikipedia
• 1970 Salvador Allende takes office as President of Chile, the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections. Wikipedia
• 1973 The Netherlands experiences the first car-free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways are used only by cyclists and roller skaters. Wikipedia
• 1980 Ronald Reagan is elected as the 40th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter. Wikipedia
• 1995 Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a right-wing extremist, at a peace rally at Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv. Wikipedia
• 2008 Barack Obama became the first person of biracial or African-American descent to be elected President of the United States. Wikipedia
• 2016 The Paris Agreement, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, came into effect. Wikipedia
• 2025 A UPS Airlines plane crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, killing at least twelve people. Wikipedia

Born on November 4

• 1575 Guido Reni, Italian painter and illustrator (died 1642) Wikipedia
• 1787 Edmund Kean, British Shakespearean stage actor (died 1833) Wikipedia
• 1879 Will Rogers, American actor and screenwriter (died 1935) Wikipedia
• 1908 Joseph Rotblat, Polish-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1916 Walter Cronkite, American journalist, voice actor, and producer (died 2009) Wikipedia
• 1916 Ruth Handler, American businesswoman, created Barbie (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1918 Art Carney, American actor (died 2003) Wikipedia
• 1919 Martin Balsam, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1929 Shakuntala Devi, Indian mathematician and astrologer (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1932 Thomas Klestil, Austrian politician and diplomat, 10th President of Austria (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1933 Charles K. Kao, Chinese physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1946 Laura Bush, American educator and librarian, 45th First Lady of the United States Wikipedia
• 1948 Amadou Toumani Touré, Malian soldier and politician, President of Mali (died 2020) Wikipedia
• 1951 Traian Băsescu, Romanian captain and politician, 4th President of Romania Wikipedia
• 1955 Matti Vanhanen, Finnish journalist and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Finland Wikipedia
• 1957 Tony Abbott, English-Australian scholar and politician, 28th Prime Minister of Australia Wikipedia
• 1969 Matthew McConaughey, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1969 Sean Combs, American rapper, producer, and actor Wikipedia
• 1971 Tabu, Indian actress Wikipedia
• 1972 Luís Figo, Portuguese footballer and sportscaster Wikipedia
• 1985 Marcell Jansen, German footballer Wikipedia
• 1998 Achraf Hakimi, Moroccan footballer Wikipedia

Died on November 4

• 1411 Khalil Sultan of Timurid (born 1384) Wikipedia
• 1847 Felix Mendelssohn, German pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1809) Wikipedia
• 1856 Paul Delaroche, French painter and educator (born 1797) Wikipedia
• 1918 Wilfred Owen, English lieutenant and poet (born 1893) Wikipedia
• 1921 Hara Takashi, Japanese politician, 10th Prime Minister of Japan (born 1856) Wikipedia
• 1924 Gabriel Fauré, French pianist, composer, and educator (born 1845) Wikipedia
• 1954 Stig Dagerman, Swedish journalist and writer (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 1957 Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith (born 1897) Wikipedia
• 1974 Bert Patenaude, American soccer player (born 1909) Wikipedia
• 1995 Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli general and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (born 1922) Wikipedia
• 1995 Gilles Deleuze, French philosopher and scholar (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2008 Michael Crichton, American medical doctor, author, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1942) Wikipedia
• 2015 René Girard, French-American historian, philosopher, and critic (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 2020 Ken Hensley, English rock singer-songwriter and musician (born 1945) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Charles Borromeo (Roman Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Emeric of Hungary Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Felix of Valois Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joannicius the Great Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Modesta Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Our Lady of Kazan (Russian Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pierius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Teresa Manganiello Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vitalis and Agricola Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: November 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Community Service Day (Dominica) Wikipedia
• Flag Day (Panama) Wikipedia
• National Tonga Day (Tonga) Wikipedia
• National Unity and Armed Forces Day or Giorno dell'Unità Nazionale e Festa delle Forze Armate (Italy) Wikipedia
• Unity Day (Russia) Wikipedia
• Yitzhak Rabin Memorial (unofficial, but widely commemorated) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “November 4” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/November 4” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “November 4” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for November 4 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.