Died on Sunday, 2nd November – Famous Deaths
On 2nd November, 92 remarkable people passed away — from 1083 to 2024. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.
Two notable figures whose deaths are recorded on this date represent distinct contributions to their respective fields. Paul Stephenson, a British civil rights activist born in 1937, left a significant mark on the struggle against racial discrimination in the United Kingdom. His work addressed systemic inequalities and contributed to broader social change during a transformative period in British history. Similarly, Janey Godley, the Scottish actor, writer and comedian born in 1961, achieved recognition through her sharp wit and honest storytelling across stage, screen and digital platforms, becoming a prominent voice in Scottish entertainment before her death in 2024.
The date is Sunday, 2nd November 2025. Weather conditions favour partly cloudy skies with moderate temperatures typical of autumn. The moon is in its waning gibbous phase, just past full illumination, whilst the zodiac falls under Scorpio, the sign associated with this time of year.
DayAtlas provides a comprehensive resource for historical research, allowing users to explore significant events, notable births and deaths for any given date and location. The platform offers weather data retrospectively, enabling a complete picture of how conditions aligned with major historical moments. By combining meteorological records with biographical information and historical events, the service supports both casual enquiry and detailed scholarly work.
See who passed away today 17th April.
02/11/2024
Janey Godley, Scottish actor, writer and comedian (born 1961)
Jane Godley Currie, known professionally as Janey Godley, was a Scottish stand-up comedian, actress, writer and political activist. She began her stand-up career in 1994, and won various awards for her comedy in the 2000s.
Alan Rachins, American actor (born 1942)
Alan L. Rachins was an American actor and comedian, known for his role as Douglas Brackman in L.A. Law which earned him both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, and his portrayal of Larry on the television series Dharma & Greg.
Paul Stephenson, British civil rights activist (born 1937)
Paul Stephenson was a British community worker, activist and long-time campaigner for civil rights for the British African-Caribbean community in Bristol, England.
02/11/2023
Humaira Himu, Bangladeshi actress (born 1985)
Humaira Nusrat Himu, better known as Humaira Himu was a Bangladeshi television and film actress. She made her film debut in Amar Bondhu Rashed in 2011. She had appeared in TV dramas like DB, Sanghat, Chairman Bari, Batighor, and Shonena She Shonena.
02/11/2022
Atilio Stampone, Argentine pianist and composer (born 1926)
Atilio Stampone was an Argentine pianist, composer, and arranger prominent in the Tango genre.
02/11/2021
Neal Smith, American politician (born 1920)
Neal Edward Smith was an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives for the Democratic Party from Iowa from 1959 until 1995, the longest-serving Iowan in the United States House of Representatives.
02/11/2019
Walter Mercado, Puerto Rican television personality, astrologer, actor, and dancer (born 1932)
Walter Mercado Salinas, also known by his stage name Shanti Ananda, was a Puerto Rican astrologer, actor, dancer, and writer, best known as a television personality for his shows as an astrologer. His astrological prediction shows began airing in Puerto Rico, eventually spreading to Latin America and the United States. Walter became known as a cultural phenomenon in the Hispanic community.
02/11/2018
Raymond Chow, Hong Kong film producer (born 1927)
Raymond Chow Man-wai was a Hong Kong film producer and executive. He was responsible for successfully launching martial arts and the Hong Kong cinema onto the international stage. As the founder of Golden Harvest, he produced some of the biggest stars of the martial arts film genre, including Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. In 2020, he was inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame.
02/11/2017
Aboubacar Somparé, Guinean politician (born 1944)
El Hajj Aboubacar Somparé was a Guinean politician who was President of the National Assembly of Guinea from 2002 to 2008. He was previously Guinea's Ambassador to France from 1978 to 1984 and was Secretary-General of the Unity and Progress Party (PUP) from 1995 to 2002.
02/11/2015
Andrzej Ciechanowiecki, Polish painter, historian, and academic (born 1924)
Andrew Stanislaus Ciechanowiecki was a Polish-British nobleman, diplomat, and art historian. He was considered an authority on French baroque sculpture in the second half of the 20th century.
Mike Davies, Welsh-American tennis player and businessman (born 1936)
Michael Grenfell "Mike" Davies was a Welsh professional tennis player, entrepreneur and administrator. He had a 60-year career in the tennis business, first as an amateur and professional tennis player, including a period as the number one ranked player in Great Britain and a member of the British Davis Cup team, then as an entrepreneur and one of the pioneers of the professional game.
Roy Dommett, English scientist and engineer (born 1933)
Roy Leonard Dommett was a British engineer and rocket scientist, and the United Kingdom's Chief Missile Scientist, who for many years led the United Kingdom's research and development of both ballistic missiles and space rockets for the delivery of satellites into orbit. In retirement he lived in Hampshire.
Tommy Overstreet, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1937)
Thomas Cary Overstreet was an American country music singer. Often referred to as "T.O." by fans and radio disc jockeys, Overstreet had five top-five hit singles in the Billboard country charts and 11 top-10 singles. His popularity peaked in the 1970s. He lived in Hillsboro, Oregon.
02/11/2014
Acker Bilk, English singer and clarinet player (born 1929)
Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk was an English clarinetist and vocalist known for his breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register style, and distinctive appearance – of goatee, bowler hat and striped waistcoat.
Michael Coleman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1956)
Michael Coleman was a Chicago blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was voted one of the top 50 bluesmen in the world by Guitar World magazine. He released five solo albums and worked with James Cotton, Aron Burton, Junior Wells, John Primer and Malik Yusef.
Veljko Kadijević, Croatian general and politician, 5th Federal Secretary of People's Defence (born 1925)
Veljko Kadijević was a Serbian general of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). He was the Minister of Defence in the Yugoslav government from 1988 until his resignation in 1992, which made him de facto commander-in-chief of the JNA during the Ten-Day War in Slovenia and the initial stages of the Croatian War of Independence.
Herman Sarkowsky, German-American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded the Seattle Seahawks (born 1925)
Herman Sarkowsky was a Seattle, Washington, United States businessman, philanthropist, thoroughbred breeder, and former sports executive. He was a co-founder of two Pacific Northwest sports franchises, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Seahawks.
Shabtai Teveth, Israeli historian and author (born 1925)
Shabtai Teveth was an Israeli historian and author.
02/11/2013
Walt Bellamy, American basketball player (born 1939)
Walter Jones Bellamy was an American professional basketball player. He played 14 seasons as a center in the National Basketball Association, playing for four different teams. As a star for Indiana University in basketball, he was invited to join the 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team. In the Games that year, the team won every game by an average of over 40 points and is considered among the best amateur level basketball teams of all time. Bellamy was the first overall pick of the 1961 draft, where he was selected by the expansion team Chicago Packers. In his rookie season, he averaged 31.6 points per game and 19 rebounds on his way to winning Rookie of the Year in what has been called one of the best rookie seasons in NBA history.
Ghislaine Dupont, French journalist (born 1956)
Ghislaine Dupont was a French journalist who specialised in African issues.
Clifford Nass, American author and academic (born 1958)
Clifford Ivar Nass was a professor of communication at Stanford University, co-creator of The Media Equation theory, and a renowned authority on human-computer interaction (HCI). He was also known for his work on individual differences associated with media multitasking. Nass was the Thomas M. Storke Professor at Stanford and held courtesy appointments in Computer Science, Education, Law, and Sociology. He was also affiliated with the programs in Symbolic Systems and Science, Technology, and Society.
Kjell Qvale, Norwegian-American businessman (born 1919)
Kjell Qvale was a Norwegian-American business executive. Qvale was one of the key figures in the creation of the Jensen-Healey. Qvale became the first distributor for Jaguar on the West Coast. Qvale was one of the founders of the San Francisco Auto Show and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. He was credited with the concept of the Corkscrew signature corner of Laguna Seca.
02/11/2012
Shreeram Shankar Abhyankar, Indian-American mathematician and academic (born 1930)
Shreeram Shankar Abhyankar was an Indian American mathematician known for his contributions to algebraic geometry. At the time of his death, he held the Marshall Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Chairman at Purdue University, and was also a professor of computer science and industrial engineering. He is known for Abhyankar's conjecture of finite group theory. His later research was in the area of computational and algorithmic algebraic geometry.
Robert Morton Duncan, American soldier and judge (born 1927)
Robert Morton Duncan was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Joe Ginsberg, American baseball player (born 1926)
Myron Nathan "Joe" Ginsberg was an American professional baseball player. A catcher, he played for seven Major League Baseball teams: the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians (1953–54), Kansas City Athletics (1956), Baltimore Orioles (1956–60), Chicago White Sox (1960–61), Boston Red Sox (1961) and New York Mets (1962).
Pino Rauti, Italian journalist and politician (born 1926)
Giuseppe Umberto "Pino" Rauti was an Italian neo-fascist politician who was a leading figure of the Italian far-right for many years. Involved in active politics since 1948, he was one of founders and for many years the leader of the Italian Social Movement (MSI). He was the main representative of the MSI's radical faction until the party dissolution in 1995.
Han Suyin, Chinese-Swiss physician and author (born 1916)
Rosalie Matilda Kuanghu Chou was a Chinese-born Eurasian physician and author better known by her pen name Han Suyin. She wrote in English and French on modern China, set her novels in East and Southeast Asia, and published autobiographical memoirs which covered the span of modern China. These writings gained her a reputation as an ardent and articulate supporter of the Chinese Communist Revolution. She lived in Lausanne, Switzerland, for many years until her death.
Kinjarapu Yerran Naidu, Indian politician (born 1957)
Kinjarapu Yerran Naidu was an Indian politician from Andhra Pradesh. He served as the Union Minister in H. D. Deve Gowda and I. K. Gujral Cabinets. Formerly, he was the Legislator of Andhra Pradesh, won four times from the Harishchandrapuram. Further, he contested successfully from Srikakulam Parliament four times.
02/11/2011
Boots Plata, Filipino director and screenwriter (born 1943)
Boots Plata was a Filipino movie director and writer.
02/11/2010
Clyde King, American baseball player and manager (born 1924)
Clyde Edward King was an American pitcher, coach, manager, general manager and front office executive in Major League Baseball.
02/11/2009
José Luis López Vázquez, Spanish actor, costume designer and assistant director (born 1922)
José Luis López Vázquez de la Torre was a Spanish actor, comedian, costume designer, scenic designer, and assistant director whose career spanned nearly seven decades. He was one of the most prolific and successful actors in Spain in the 20th century, starring in 262 films between 1946 and 2007. Internationally he was best known for his lead role in the surrealist horror telefilm La cabina (1972).
Nien Cheng, Chinese-American author (born 1915)
Nien Cheng or Zheng Nian was the pen name of Yao Nien-Yuan. She was a Chinese author known for recounting her experiences during the Cultural Revolution in her memoir Life and Death in Shanghai.
02/11/2008
Madelyn Dunham, American banker and business executive (born 1922)
Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham was an American banker and the maternal grandmother of Barack Obama, a former President of the United States. She and her husband Stanley Armour Dunham raised Obama from age ten in their Honolulu apartment. She died on November 2, 2008, two days before her grandson was elected president.
02/11/2007
Charmaine Dragun, Australian journalist (born 1978)
Charmaine Margaret Dragun was an Australian broadcast journalist and presenter. She was a co-anchor on Ten Eyewitness News. Dragun, who had been diagnosed with depression and had a history of anorexia, died by suicide in 2007.
Igor Moiseyev, Russian dancer and choreographer (born 1906)
Igor Aleksandrovich Moiseyev was a Soviet and Russian ballet master, dancer, choreographer and pedagogue. Moiseyev was widely acclaimed as the greatest 20th-century choreographer of character dance, a dance style similar to folk dance but with more professionalism and theatrics.
The Fabulous Moolah, American wrestler (born 1923)
Mary Lillian Ellison was an American professional wrestler, promoter and trainer better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah.
02/11/2005
Ferruccio Valcareggi, Italian footballer and manager (born 1919)
Ferruccio Valcareggi was an Italian football player and coach, who played as a midfielder.
02/11/2004
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the 1st president and founder of the UAE (born 1918)
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was an Emirati politician, philanthropist, and the founding father of the United Arab Emirates. Zayed served as the governor of Eastern Region from 1946 until he became the ruler of Abu Dhabi in 1966, and served as the first president of the United Arab Emirates from its independence on 2 December 1971 until his death in 2004. He is referred in the United Arab Emirates as the Father of the Nation for being the principal driving force behind the unification of the United Arab Emirates.
Theo van Gogh, Dutch actor, director, and producer (born 1957)
Theodoor "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch film director. He directed Submission: Part 1, a short film written by Somali writer and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, which criticised the treatment of women in Islam in strong terms. On 2 November 2004, he was murdered by Mohammed Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan Islamist who objected to the film's message. The last film Van Gogh had completed before his murder, 06/05, was a fictional exploration of the assassination of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn. It was released posthumously in December 2004, a month after Van Gogh's death, and two years after Fortuyn's death.
02/11/2003
Frank McCloskey, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician (born 1939)
Francis Xavier McCloskey was an American journalist, lawyer, and politician from Indiana who served in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from 1983 to 1995.
02/11/2002
Charles Sheffield, American physicist and author (born 1935)
Charles Sheffield, was an English-born mathematician, physicist, and science-fiction writer who served as a President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and of the American Astronautical Society.
02/11/2000
Robert Cormier, American journalist and author (born 1925)
Robert Edmund Cormier was an American writer and journalist, known for his deeply pessimistic novels, many of which were written for young adults. Recurring themes include abuse, mental illness, violence, revenge, betrayal, and conspiracy. In most of his novels, the protagonists do not win.
02/11/1998
Vincent Winter, Scottish actor and production manager (born 1957)
Vincent Winter was a Scottish child film actor who, as an adult, continued to work in the film industry as a production manager and in other capacities. He was an assistant director and actor, known for Superman (1978), The Little Kidnappers (1953) and Superman III (1983). He died on 2 November 1998 in Chertsey, Surrey, England, UK.
02/11/1996
Eva Cassidy, American singer (born 1963)
Eva Marie Cassidy was an American singer and musician known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, sung with a powerful, emotive soprano voice. In 1992 she released her first album, The Other Side, a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown, followed by a 1996 live solo album titled Live at Blues Alley. Although she had been honored by the Washington Area Music Association, she was virtually unknown outside her native Washington, D.C. area at the time of her death from melanoma at the age of 33 in 1996.
John G. Crommelin, American admiral and politician (born 1902)
Rear Admiral John Geraerdt Crommelin Jr. was a prominent American naval officer and later a frequent political candidate who championed white supremacy.
02/11/1994
Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright (born 1917)
Matthew Hillsman Taylor Jr., known professionally as Peter Taylor, was an American novelist, short story writer, and playwright. Born and raised in Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri, he wrote frequently about the urban South in his stories and novels.
02/11/1992
Robert Arneson, American sculptor and academic (born 1930)
Robert Carston Arneson was an American sculptor and professor of ceramics in the Art department at University of California, Davis for nearly three decades.
Hal Roach, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1892)
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr. was an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter, who was the founder of the namesake Hal Roach Studios.
02/11/1991
Irwin Allen, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1916)
Irwin Allen was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. His most successful productions were The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974). He also created and produced the popular 1960s science-fiction television series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, and Land of the Giants.
Mort Shuman, American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1936)
Mortimer Shuman was an American singer, pianist and songwriter, best known as co-writer of many 1960s rock and roll hits, including "Viva Las Vegas". He also wrote and sang many songs in French, such as "Le Lac Majeur", "Papa-Tango-Charly", "Sha Mi Sha", "Un Été de Porcelaine", and "Brooklyn by the Sea" which became hits in France and several other European countries. Shuman wrote over 500 songs, including those for Ben E. King, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Andy Williams, and Janis Joplin. He was also responsible for the English-language production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Shuman was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
02/11/1990
Eliot Porter, American photographer, chemist, and academic (born 1901)
Eliot Furness Porter was an American photographer best known for his color photographs of nature.
02/11/1982
Lester Roloff, American preacher and radio host (born 1914)
Lester Leo Roloff was an American fundamentalist Independent Baptist preacher and the founder of teen homes across the American South. The operation of those teen homes placed him in the public spotlight.
02/11/1981
Wally Wood, American author, illustrator, and publisher (born 1927)
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and MAD Magazine from its inception in 1952 until 1964, as well as for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and work for Warren Publishing's Creepy. He drew a few early issues of Marvel's Daredevil and established the title character's distinctive red costume. Wood created and owned the long-running characters Sally Forth and Cannon.
02/11/1975
Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1922)
Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian poet, writer, film director, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist and a political figure. He is known for directing The Gospel According to St. Matthew, the films from Trilogy of Life and Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom.
02/11/1972
Grigoriy Plaskov, Soviet artillery lieutenant (born 1898)
Grigoriy Davydovich Plaskov, also known as G.D. Plaskov and Hirsch Plaskov, was a Lieutenant General of Artillery for the Soviet Union. He is known for being one of the most prominent Jews in the Red Army.
02/11/1971
Robert Mensah, Ghanaian footballer (born 1939)
Robert Mensah was a Ghanaian footballer who played as a goalkeeper. As a player, he was best known for his exploits at Asante Kotoko where he won the African Clubs Cup in 1970. He was also a runner-up with the Ghana squad for the 1968 African Cup of Nations and represented Ghana at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
02/11/1970
Richard Cushing, American cardinal (born 1895)
Richard James Cushing was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970 and was made a cardinal in 1958. Cushing's main role was as fundraiser and builder of new churches, schools, and institutions. Unlike his predecessor, he was on good terms with practically the entire Boston elite, as he softened the traditional confrontation between the Catholic Irish and the Protestant upper-class. He built useful relationships with Jews, Protestants, and institutions outside the usual Catholic community. He helped presidential candidate John F. Kennedy deflect fears of papal interference in American government if a Catholic became president.
Pierre Veyron, French race car driver (born 1903)
Pierre Veyron was a French Grand Prix motor racing driver active from 1933 through 1953.
02/11/1966
Peter Debye, Dutch-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1884)
Peter Joseph William Debye was a Dutch-American physicist and physical chemist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.
Mississippi John Hurt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1892)
John Smith Hurt, known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
02/11/1963
1963 South Vietnamese coup
Ngô Đình Diệm was a South Vietnamese politician who was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955) and later the first president of South Vietnam from 1955 until his capture and assassination during the CIA-backed 1963 coup d'état.
1963 South Vietnamese coup
Ngô Đình Nhu was a Vietnamese archivist and politician. He was the younger brother and State Counsellor of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm. Although he held no formal executive position, he wielded immense unofficial power, exercising personal command of both the ARVN Special Forces and the Cần Lao political apparatus which served as the regime's de facto secret police.
02/11/1961
Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa I, Hakim of Bahrain (born 1894)
Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, was the ruler of Bahrain from the death of his father Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa on 20 February 1942 until his own death in 1961. His title was Hakim of Bahrain. He was succeeded by his son Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa in December 1961.
Harriet Bosse, Swedish-Norwegian actress (born 1878)
Harriet Sofie Bosse was a Swedish–Norwegian actress. A celebrity in her day, Bosse is now most commonly remembered as the third wife of the playwright August Strindberg. Bosse began her career in a minor company run by her forceful older sister Alma Fahlstrøm in Kristiania. Having secured an engagement at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, the main drama venue of Sweden's capital Stockholm, Bosse caught the attention of Strindberg with her intelligent acting and exotic "oriental" appearance.
James Thurber, American humorist and cartoonist (born 1894)
James Grover Thurber was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University (OSU), leaving in 1918 without graduating. He spent over a year in Paris, working for the US State Department as a code clerk, and on his return to Columbus in 1920 was hired as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. He married his first wife, Althea Adams, in 1922. Thurber was hired by The New Yorker in early 1927, and soon became a prolific and popular contributor.
02/11/1960
Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek conductor and composer (born 1896)
Dimitri Mitropoulos was a Greek and American conductor, pianist, and composer.
02/11/1959
Michael Considine, Irish-Australian trade union leader and politician (born 1885)
Michael Patrick Considine was an Irish-born Australian politician and unionist. He represented the seat of Barrier in the House of Representatives from 1917 to 1922. A controversial figure, Considine was pressured to resign from the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He won in 1919 as an independent before joining the Socialist Labor Party in 1920, but his seat was abolished for the 1922 election and he was defeated in an attempt to transfer to the seat of Darling.
02/11/1958
Jean Couzy, French mountaineer and engineer (born 1923)
Jean Couzy was a French mountaineer. He studied aeronautical engineering at the École Polytechnique. At age 27, he was a member of Maurice Herzog's 1950 expedition to Annapurna. Prior to this, his usual climbing partner was Marcel Schatz, another member of the expedition. On the 1955 French Makalu expedition Couzy made the first ascent of Makalu with Lionel Terray on 15 May 1955.
02/11/1952
Mehmet Esat Bülkat, Greek-Turkish general (born 1862)
Mehmet Esat Bülkat was a Turkish or Albanian officer of the Ottoman Army who fought during the First Balkan War, where he led the Yanya Corps, and in World War I, where he served as a senior commander in the Gallipoli campaign. Prior to the 1934 Surname Law, he was known as Mehmed Esad Pasha.
02/11/1950
George Bernard Shaw, Irish author, playwright, and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1856)
George Bernard Shaw, known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
02/11/1949
Jerome F. Donovan, American lawyer and politician (born 1872)
Jerome Francis Donovan was an American lawyer and politician who served two terms as a United States representative from New York from 1918 to 1921.
02/11/1945
Hélène de Pourtalès, Swiss sailor (born 1868)
Countess Hélène de Pourtalès was an American-born Swiss sailor who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris representing Switzerland and became the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She was also the first woman to represent Switzerland at the Olympics.
02/11/1944
Thomas Midgley Jr., American chemist and engineer (born 1889)
Thomas Midgley Jr. was an American mechanical and chemical engineer. He played a major role in developing leaded gasoline and some of the first chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), better known in the United States by the brand name Freon; both products were later banned from common use due to their harmful impact on human health and the environment. He was granted more than 100 patents over the course of his career.
02/11/1935
Jock Cameron, South African cricketer (born 1905)
Jock Cameron was a South African cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s. A tragic figure owing to his premature death when probably the best wicket-keeper in the world, Cameron is often forgotten today but regarded by those who know about him as one of the best wicket-keepers in the history of cricket. Cameron was also a brilliant, hard-hitting middle-order batsman who once hit Hedley Verity for thirty runs off one over.
02/11/1933
Gao Qifeng, Chinese painter (born 1889)
Gao Qifeng was a Chinese painter who co-founded the Lingnan School with his older brother Gao Jianfu and fellow artist Chen Shuren. Orphaned at a young age, Gao spent much of his childhood following Jianfu, learning the techniques of Ju Lian before travelling to Tokyo in 1907 to study Western and Japanese painting. While abroad, Gao joined the revolutionary organization Tongmenghui to challenge the Qing dynasty; after he returned to China, he published the nationalist magazine The True Record, which later fell afoul of the Beiyang government. Although offered a position in the Republic of China, Gao chose to focus on his art. He moved to Guangzhou in 1918, taking a series of teaching positions that culminated with an honorary professorship at Lingnan University in 1925. Falling ill in 1929, Gao left the city for Ersha Island, where he took students and established the Tianfang Studio.
02/11/1930
Viggo Jensen, Danish weightlifter, target shooter, and gymnast (born 1874)
Alexander Viggo Jensen was a Danish weightlifter, sport shooter, gymnast, and athlete. He was the first Danish and Nordic Olympic champion, at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.
02/11/1911
Kyrle Bellew, English actor (born 1850)
Harold Kyrle Money Bellew was an English stage and silent film actor. He notably toured with Cora Brown-Potter in the 1880s and 1890s, and was cast as the leading man in many stage productions alongside her. He was also a signwriter, gold prospector and rancher mainly in Australia.
02/11/1905
Albert von Kölliker, Swiss anatomist and physiologist (born 1817)
Albert von Kölliker was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, and histologist.
02/11/1898
George Goyder, English-Australian surveyor (born 1826)
George Woodroffe Goyder was a surveyor in the Colony of South Australia during the latter half of the nineteenth century.
02/11/1893
Daniel Payne, American educator and bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (born 1811)
Daniel Alexander Payne was an American bishop, educator, college administrator and author. A major shaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), Payne stressed education and preparation of ministers and introduced more order in the church, becoming its sixth bishop and serving for more than four decades (1852–1893) as well as becoming one of the founders of Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1856. In 1863, the AME Church bought the college and chose Payne to lead it; he became the first African-American president of a college in the United States and served in that position until 1877.
02/11/1887
Alfred Domett, English-New Zealand poet and politician, 4th Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1811)
Alfred Domett was the fourth premier of New Zealand, a close friend of the poet Robert Browning and author of the epic poem Ranolf and Amohia, a South Sea Day Dream. Born in England, he emigrated to New Zealand in 1842 and remained there for a further thirty years, holding many significant political posts.
Jenny Lind, Swedish operatic soprano (born 1820)
Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind , was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and undertook an extraordinarily popular concert tour of the United States beginning in 1850. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1840.
02/11/1883
William Morgan, English-Australian politician, 14th Premier of South Australia (born 1828)
Sir William Morgan was the Premier of South Australia between 1878 and 1881.
02/11/1863
Theodore Judah, American engineer (born 1826)
Theodore Dehone Judah was an American civil engineer who was a central figure in the original promotion, establishment, and design of the first transcontinental railroad. He found investors for what became the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR). As chief engineer, he performed much of the route survey work to determine the best alignment for the railroad over the Sierra Nevada, which was completed six years after his death.
02/11/1852
Pyotr Kotlyarevsky, Russian general (born 1782)
Pyotr Stepanovich Kotlyarevsky was a Russian military officer of Ukrainian origin. He was known for his service in the Russo-Persian War (1804–1813), where he won many battles against Iran.
02/11/1610
Richard Bancroft, English archbishop and academic (born 1544)
Richard Bancroft was an English churchman, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1604 to 1610 and "chief overseer" of the King James Bible.
02/11/1521
Margaret of Lorraine, Duchess of Alençon and nun (born 1463)
Margaret of Lorraine, Duchess of Alençon was a French noblewoman and a nun of the order of Poor Clares. She was beatified in 1921.
02/11/1483
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English politician, Lord High Constable of England (born 1454)
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, was an English nobleman known as the namesake of Buckingham's rebellion, a failed but significant collection of uprisings in England and parts of Wales against Richard III of England in October 1483. He was executed without trial for his role in the uprisings. Stafford is also one of the primary suspects in the disappearance of Richard's nephews, the Princes in the Tower.
02/11/1319
John Sandale, Bishop of Winchester
John Sandale was a Gascon medieval Lord High Treasurer, Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Winchester.
02/11/1261
Bettisia Gozzadini (born 1209)
Bettisia Gozzadini, was a Bolognese jurist who lectured at the University of Bologna from about 1239.
02/11/1148
Saint Malachy (born 1094)
Malachy is an Irish saint who was Archbishop of Armagh, to whom were attributed several miracles and an alleged vision of 112 popes later attributed to the apocryphal Prophecy of the Popes.
02/11/1083
Matilda of Flanders (born 1031)
Matilda of Flanders was Queen of England and Duchess of Normandy by marriage to William the Conqueror, and regent of Normandy during his absences from the duchy. She was the mother of at least nine children who survived to adulthood, including two kings of England, William II and Henry I.