122 things happened on 30 November, from AD 978 to 2023. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1936 · 90 years ago
The English mathematician Alan Turing published the first details of what became known as the Turing machine. It is an imaginary machine that follows a table of rules to change symbols on a strip of tape. Simple as it is, it can carry out any computer algorit…
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
Scotland and England played the first official international football match. It took place at Hamilton Crescent, a cricket ground in Partick, Glasgow, and about 4,000 people watched. The game ended in a 0–0 draw. FIFA, the organisation in charge of world football, officially recognises it as the first international match.
UK story
The steam locomotive Flying Scotsman became the first to be officially recorded going faster than 100 miles per hour (161 km/h). It was built in 1923 at Doncaster Works for the London and North Eastern Railway, to a design by Sir Nigel Gresley. It pulled express trains between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley. The locomotive was named after that service, the Flying Scotsman.
UK story
The English mathematician Alan Turing published the first details of what became known as the Turing machine. It is an imaginary machine that follows a table of rules to change symbols on a strip of tape. Simple as it is, it can carry out any computer algorithm, which is a set of step-by-step instructions. Turing is widely regarded as the father of theoretical computer science.
UK story
The Crystal Palace, a huge building of iron and glass in south London, was destroyed by fire. Designed by Joseph Paxton, it was first built in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851, then rebuilt at Sydenham Hill. The glow of the fire could be seen across eight counties, and 100,000 people came to watch. Among them was Winston Churchill, who said, 'This is the end of an age'.
UK story
Bill Clinton, the President of the United States, visited Northern Ireland. At Belfast City Hall, he spoke to a huge crowd in support of the Northern Ireland peace process. The peace process was the effort to bring lasting peace after years of conflict in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is the part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland.
UK story
Great Northern War: Swedish forces led by King Charles XII defeated the Russian army at the Battle of Narva.
UK story
Queen Anne's War: The second Siege of Pensacola comes to end with the failure of the British Empire and their Creek allies to capture Pensacola, Spanish Florida.
UK story
American Revolutionary War: Treaty of Paris: In Paris, representatives from the United States and Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris).
UK story
Russian warships led by Pavel Nakhimov destroyed an Ottoman fleet of frigates at the Battle of Sinop, prompting France and the United Kingdom to enter the Crimean War.
UK story
After the United Nations voted to adopt a partition plan for Palestine, a civil war broke out between the region's Jewish and Arab communities.
UK story
Mutesa II, Kabaka of Buganda, was temporarily deposed and exiled to London by Andrew Cohen, the British governor of Uganda.
UK story
The People's Republic of Southern Yemen gains its independence from the United Kingdom
UK story
The Wall, a rock opera and concept album by the English band Pink Floyd, was first released.
UK story
British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems, Europe's largest defense contractor and the fourth largest aerospace firm in the world.
UK story
John Sentamu was enthroned as Archbishop of York, becoming the first black archbishop in the Church of England.
A Spanish expedition led by the doctor Francisco Javier de Balmis set sail from A Coruña, Spain. Its aim was to vaccinate people against the disease smallpox in Spanish America, the Philippines and China. The vaccine was carried on the long voyage by orphaned boys who sailed with the expedition. It was the first international vaccination campaign in history, and it vaccinated hundreds of thousands of people.
Barbados, an island nation in the Caribbean, became a republic. This means its head of state is no longer a king or queen. Barbados had become independent from the United Kingdom on the same date in 1966, and 30 November is celebrated there as Independence Day. The capital and largest city of Barbados is Bridgetown.
The company OpenAI released ChatGPT, a chatbot that uses artificial intelligence, or AI. It uses computer programs called large language models to create text, speech and images in response to what people type or say. ChatGPT sped up a boom in AI, with huge investment and public interest around the world.
Franco-German war of 978–980: Holy Roman Emperor Otto II lifts the siege of Paris and withdraws.
In New Orleans, Spanish representatives officially transfer the Louisiana Territory to the French First Republic.
American Civil War: The Confederate Army of Tennessee led by General John Bell Hood suffers heavy losses in an attack on the Union Army of the Ohio under General John Schofield in the Battle of Franklin.
Costa Rica signs the Buenos Aires Convention, a copyright treaty.
A college football game between the SMU Mustangs and the TCU Horned Frogs became the first game in Texas to be broadcast nationally on radio.
World War II: Signing of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of 1940 between the Empire of Japan and the newly formed Wang Jingwei-led Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China. This treaty was considered so unfair to China that it was compared to the Twenty-One Demands.
World War II: Japanese warships defeated the U.S. Navy in a nighttime naval battle off Tassafaronga, Guadalcanal.
Decolonization: Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
The Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who becomes its first chairman.
Pro-Soviet communists in the Philippines establish Malayang Pagkakaisa ng Kabataan Pilipino as its new youth wing.
Iran seizes the Greater and Lesser Tunbs from the Emirates of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah.
Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam because troop levels are now down to 27,000.
Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe. (The meetings end inconclusively on December 17.)
Official end of Operation Desert Storm.
A series of protests by anti-globalization activists against the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 in Seattle forced the cancellation of the opening ceremonies.
Exxon and Mobil sign a US$73.7 billion agreement to merge, thus creating ExxonMobil, the world's largest company.
NASA launches STS-97, the 101st Space Shuttle mission.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “Alan Turing describes the Turing machine, a key idea in computing”?
C: 1936. 1936 — that’s 90 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “US President Bill Clinton speaks for peace in Belfast”?
B: 1995. 1995 — that’s 31 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
B: Scotland and England play the first international football match. 1995: US President Bill Clinton speaks for peace in Belfast · 1872: Scotland and England play the first international football match · 1936: Alan Turing describes the Turing machine, a key idea in computing Find it on the page
“Scotland and England play the first international football match” happened in 1872. How many years ago was that?
C: 154 years. 2026 − 1872 = 154. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 30 November.
UK story
Sir Winston Churchill was a British statesman, army officer and writer. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. He was a Member of Parliament for about 62 of the years between 1900 and 1964. He was also awarded a Nobel Prize.
Lucy Maud Montgomery, who wrote as L. M. Montgomery, was a Canadian author. She is best known for her novel Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908, which was the start of a long writing career. She also wrote essays, short stories and poetry. She was born on exactly the same day as Winston Churchill.
Well-known people who died on 30 November.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 30 November somewhere in the world.
UK story
St Andrew's Day is Scotland's official national day and the feast day of St Andrew, Scotland's patron saint. In the New Testament, Andrew is the disciple who introduced his brother Peter to Jesus. Scotland's flag, the Saltire, is also called St Andrew's Cross. The day is marked with Scottish food and music, and begins a season of winter festivals that includes Hogmanay and Burns Night.
Content note: these entries mention things like war, violence, deaths, disasters or crime. They are part of history, but they can be upsetting. Grown-ups and teachers: you may want to read them first. They come straight from Wikipedia and have not been rewritten for children.
Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “November 30” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.