1492 Christopher Columbus learns how to grow and harvest maize (corn) from Cuba's Indigenous population.
… 1605 Guy Fawkes,born in York was arrested when around 30 barrels of gunpowder, camouflaged with coal, were discovered in the cellar under Parliament. Robert Catesby’s small band of Catholic zealots who planned to blow up James I and Parliament were only arrested after Fawkes revealed their names when tortured on the rack. Conspirators met at the Old Lion Inn, Dunchurch, Warwickshire
on 5th November to await news of the destruction of Westminster. …
On the 5th November 1757, the Welsh poet Goronwy Owen emigrated to America.
1773 John Hancock is elected as moderator at a Boston town meeting that resolves that anyone who supports the Tea Act is an "Enemy to America".
On 5th November 1854, Hugh Rowlands, a captain in the 41st (Welsh) Regiment of Foot, from Llanrug, near Caernarfon, became the first Welshman to be awarded the Victoria Cross. At Inkerman during the Crimean War, Captain Rowlands and Private John McDermond rescued Colonel Hayly of the 47th Regiment who had been wounded and surrounded by Russian soldiers. He also distinguished himself during the siege of Sevastopol and was again nominated for a Victoria Cross. He served in the West Indies and India and as a brigadier-general during the later stages of the Zulu War. On his return to Britain, he was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London.
Merthyr born Samuel Griffith became Premier of Queensland in November 1883. Griffith's family moved to Queensland, which was then known as the Moreton Bay district of New South Wales, in 1853, when he was eight years old. He was well educated, and on graduating with first class honours, he travelled widely in Europe, becoming particularly enamoured of Italian Literature. He was the first Australian to translate Dante.
1909 Woolworths opened its first British store, in Liverpool.
1912 Democrat candidate Woodrow Wilson is elected President of the United States, defeating Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and Progressive candidate Theodore Roosevelt.
1925: Master Spy Sidney Reilly is executed in the Soviet Union on the direct orders of Stalin. Alleged to have spied for at least four nations, Reilly's exploits were used as a model for Ian Fleming's James Bond and were later dramatised for television in 1983 as Reilly: Ace of Spies starring Sam Neill.
1927 Britain’s first automatic traffic lights were installed at Princess Square road junction in Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands.
1932 Gillespie Road London Underground station, which also served Arsenal Football Club’s Highbury ground, had its name changed to Arsenal after representations by the club.
1967 At least 40 people were killed and 80 hurt after a train derailed near Hither Green, south-east London. Survivors included Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees.
2013 The village of Wool, in the Purbeck district of Dorset, reported that at least 160 sheep had been stolen from nearby fields, sometime between 1st and 3rd November.
5 Nov 1982 Channel 4 TV's The Tube had its first showing. Presented by Paula Yates and Jools Holland, the show featured The Jam and an interview with Mick Jagger. The first live act on the show was local band Toy Dolls. The show ran until 1987 and was named after the plexiglass tunnel which led down into Studio Five at Tyne Tees TV, the place where all the stars from the 80’s subsequently appeared.
