18 November History
- 1477 - William Claxton publishes the first dated book printed in England. It is a translation from the French of The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosopers by Earl Rivers.
- 1626 - St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome is officially dedicated.
- 1861 - The first provisional meeting of the Confederate Congress is held in Richmond, Virginia.
- 1865 - Mark Twain's first story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is published in the New York Saturday Press.
- 1901 - The second Hay-Pauncefote Treaty is signed. The United States is given extensive rights by Britain for building and operating a canal through Central America.
- 1905 - The Norwegian Parliament elects Prince Charles of Denmark to be the next King of Norway. Prince Charles takes the name Haakon VII.
- 1906 - Anarchists bomb St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
- 1912 - Cholera breaks out in Constantinople, in the Ottoman Empire.
- 1921 - New York City considers varying work hours to avoid long traffic jams.
- 1928 - Mickey mouse makes his film debut in Steamboat Willie, the first animated talking picture.
- 1936 - The main span of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is joined.
- 1939 - The Irish Republican Army explodes three bombs in Piccadilly Circus.
- 1949 - The U.S. Air Force grounds B-29s after two crashes and 23 deaths in three days.
- 1950 - The Bureau of Mines discloses its first production of oil from coal in practical amounts.
- 1968 - Soviets recover the Zond 6 spacecraft after a flight around the moon.
- 1978 - Congressman Leo Ryan is announced missing on a visit to Jonestown, Guyana.
- 1983 - Argentina announces its ability to produce enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.
- 1984 - The Soviet Union helps deliver American wheat during the Ethiopian famine.
18 November Birthdays
- 1789 - Louis Jacques Daguerre, French painter, physicist and photography pioneer.
- 1810 - Asa Gray, botanist (Gray's Manual).
- 1836 - William S. Gilbert, English playwright and humorist, one half of Gilbert & Sullivan.
- 1870 - Dorthea Dix, pseudonym for Elizabeth Gilman, who wrote syndicated advice.
- 1874 - Clarence Day, American writer (Life with Father).
- 1899 - Eugene Ormandy, orchestra conductor.
- 1900 - Dr. Howard Thurman, theologian and first African American to hold a full-time position at Boston University.
- 1901 - George Horatio Gallup, American journalist and statistician.
- 1909 - Johnny Mercer, songwriter.
- 1923 - Alan Shepard, first American astronaut in space.
- 1939 - Margaret Atwood, Canadian writer (The Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale).