1925 – Executed at the age of 52, one of the highest exponents of British espionage in Europe, Sidney Reilly. Reilly was a secret agent of the Secret Intelligence Service (later MI6) who, was sent to Russia during the period of the Civil War 1918-1922. He was captured and executed by the Soviet Counterintelligence OGPU, in Lubyanka’s cells in Moscow, after being accused of being a conspirator against the communist regime.
1943 – During the Second World War, the Vatican is bombed in Rome. The first case was on the evening of November 5, 1943, when an Allied plane dropped bombs on the southwestern area of St. Peter’s Basilica, causing considerable damage but no casualties. While the second bombing occurred a year later.
1955 – After being destroyed in World War II, the rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens with a performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio. US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was present. The state broadcaster ORF took the opportunity to do the first live broadcast, at a time when there were only c. 800 viewers across Austria.
1964 – Hollywood actress Famke Jensen is born in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. Jensen is also a director, screenwriter and former model. She starred Xenia Unstop in Golden Eye, Jean Gray Phoenix in the X-Men movie series, Ava Moore in Nip Tuck and Lenore Mills in the Taken movie trilogy. In 2008, she was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for Integrity by the United Nations.
1968 – Richard Nixon is elected the 37th President of the United States. During the presidential election, he would convincingly triumph over Democratic Party rival Hubert Humphrey. Nixon, would resign in the summer of 1974 after the so-called Watergate Scandal. According to polls, he would be considered one of the most unpopular politicians in American history.
1983 – The Byford Dolphin oil and water extraction platform accidentally explodes, killing five engineers and injuring three others. This would be one of the worst tragedies ever to occur on an oil-water extraction platform. Byford Dolphyn at the time of the explosion, was stationed in the North Sea.
1995 – André Dallaire attempts to assassinate Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. His attempt failed when the Prime Minister’s wife blocked the door. Dallaire claimed to have heard rumors that led him to break into the 24 Sussex Drive residence. Judge Paul Bélanger determined Dallaire’s previous diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and found him guilty of attempted murder.
