18 November in Indian and World History is celebrated, observed, and remembered for various reasons. 18 November is the birth anniversary of Surendranath Banerjee and Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre, Neeti Mohan Sharma.
18 November is also observed as the death anniversary of Vallinayagam Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai, Tara Singh Hayer, S. R. D. Vaidyanathan, and Rudraiah Chockalingam.
Birth Anniversary
18 November in Indian history is celebrated as the birth anniversary of the following personalities:
Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre (18 November 1901 – 30 October 1990), referred to as V. Shantaram or Shantaram Bapu, was an Indian filmmaker, film producer, and actor known for his work in Hindi and Marathi films. He is most known for films such as Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani (1946), Amar Bhoopali (1951), Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955), Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957), Navrang (1959), Duniya Na Mane (1937), Pinjara (1972), Chani, Iye Marathiche Nagari and Zunj.
Neeti Mohan Sharma (born 18 November 1979) is an Indian singer. She sings mainly in Hindi and Tamil films but has also done songs in Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, and English. Born in Delhi, she was one of the winners of Channel V’s reality show Popstars, subsequently being chosen for Aasma, with other winners of the show.
Death Anniversary
18 November in Indian history is observed as the death anniversary of the following personalities:
Vallinayagam Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai (5 September 1872 – 18 November 1936), also known as Kappalottiya Tamizhan (“Tamil Helmsman”), was an Indian freedom fighter and a prominent leader in the Indian independence movement. He founded the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in 1906 to compete against the monopoly of the British India Steam Navigation Company (BISNC). He launched the first indigenous Indian shipping service between Tuticorin (India) and Colombo (Sri Lanka) with the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (SSNC), competing against British ships. Tuticorin Port Trust, one of India’s thirteen major ports, is named after him. Once a member of the Indian National Congress, he was later charged with sedition by the British government and sentenced to life imprisonment, and his barrister license was revoked.
Tara Singh Hayer (15 November 1936 – 18 November 1998) was an Indian-Canadian newspaper publisher and editor who was murdered after his outspoken criticism of fundamentalist violence and terrorism. In particular, he was a key witness in the trial of the Air India Flight 182 bombing.
S. R. D. Vaidyanathan (15 March 1929 − 18 November 2013) was an Indian musician who played the Nadaswaram. He was appointed and recognized as Adheena Vidwan by Dharmapuram Adheenam, Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam and Thirupanandal Adheenam. He has also worked as Reader in Nagaswaram in Annamalai University (Chidambaram) and Retd. Reader in Nagawasram Tamil Isai Sangam, Raja Annamalai Mandram, Chennai.
Rudraiah Chockalingam (25 July 1947 – 18 November 2014) was an Indian film director most known for directing the film, Aval Appadithan (1978) which starred Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth and Sripriya.
Tabassum (9 July 1944 – 18 November 2022), was an Indian actress, talk show host and YouTuber, who started her career as child actor Baby Tabassum in 1947. She later had a television career as the host of first TV talk show of Indian television, Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan. It ran on National broadcaster Doordarshan from 1972 to 1993, wherein she interviewed film and TV personalities.
Notable events on 18 November in Indian and World History
18 November 1901 – Britain and the United States sign the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, which nullifies the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty and withdraws British objections to an American-controlled canal in Panama.
18 November 1903 – The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.
18 November 1905 – Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.
18 November 1909 – Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya.
18 November 1910 – In their campaign for women’s voting rights, hundreds of suffragettes march to the British Parliament in London. Several are beaten by police, newspaper attention embarrasses the authorities, and the march is dubbed Black Friday.
18 November 1916 – World War I: First Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.
18 November 1918 – Latvia declares its independence from Russia.
18 November 1928 – Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. This is considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey’s birthday.
18 November 1929 – Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake, centered on the Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula.
18 November 1939 – Margaret Atwood, a Canadian poet, and Nobel Prize Laureate, was born.
18 November 1940 – World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini’s disastrous Italian invasion of Greece.
18 November 1943 – World War II: Battle of Berlin: Four hundred and forty Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses nine aircraft and 53 air crew.
18 November 1944 – The Popular Socialist Youth is founded in Cuba.
18 November 1947 – The Ballantyne’s Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand.
18 November 1949 – The Iva Valley Shooting occurs after the coal miners of Enugu in Nigeria go on strike over withheld wages; 21 miners are shot dead and 51 are wounded by police under the supervision of the British colonial administration of Nigeria.
18 November 1961 – United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.
18 November 1963 – The first push-button telephone goes into service.
18 November 1970 – U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government.
18 November 1971 – Oman declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
18 November 1978 – The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet makes its first flight, at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland, United States.
18 November 1978 – In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children.
18 November 1987 – King’s Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city’s busiest underground station, King’s Cross St Pancras.
18 November 1991 – Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon release Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland.
18 November 1991 – After an 87-day siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar capitulates to the besieging Yugoslav People’s Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces.
18 November 1991 – The autonomous Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, which would in 1993 become a republic, was established in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
18 November 1993 – In the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is approved by the House of Representatives.
18 November 1993 – In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution, expanding voting rights and ending white minority rule.
18 November 1996 – A fire occurs on a train traveling through the Channel Tunnel from France to England causing several injuries and damaging approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) of tunnel.
18 November 1999 – At Texas A&M University, the Aggie Bonfire collapses killing 12 students and injuring 27 others.
18 November 2002 – Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.
18 November 2003 – The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4–3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gives the state legislature 180 days to change the law-making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples.
18 November 2012 – Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria becomes the 118th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
18 November 2013 – NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars.
18 November 2020 – The Utah monolith, built sometime in 2016 is discovered by state biologists of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
Important Days
Oman National Day – November 18th: Celebrates the Sultanate’s independence and the birthday of Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said, who ruled Oman for many years until his passing in 2020.
Latvia’s Independence Day, officially known as the Proclamation Day of the Republic of Latvia, is celebrated annually on 18 November in Latvia. It marks the anniversary of the Proclamation of Independence of Latvia by the People’s Council of Latvia in 1918.