On Nov. 22, 1718, English pirate Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was killed during a battle off the North Carolina coast (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).
In 1819, Mary Ann Evans, who wrote under the name of George Eliot, was born in England.
In 1890, French President Charles de Gaulle was born in Lille, France.
In 1906, the SOS signal for ships in distress was adopted by an international convention in Berlin.
In 1909, Helen Hayes made her New York stage debut in ”Old Dutch” at the Herald Square Theater.
In 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo to discuss measures to defeat Japan in World War II.
In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that arbitrary discrimination against women was unconstitutional.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon lifted a 22-year ban on American travel to mainland China.
In 1974, the United Nations General Assembly granted observer status to the Palestine Liberation Organization. On the same date, President Gerald Ford arrived in Vladivostok for talks with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
In 1975, Juan Carlos de Borbon was proclaimed King of Spain.
In 1977, the supersonic Concorde jet began service to New York from London and Paris.
In 1979, 13 freed hostages returned to the United States from Iran but 52 other Americans remained captive.
In 1980, actress Mae West died in her Hollywood home at age 87.
