November 14

332 BC – Alexander the Great is crowned pharaoh of Egypt. 1680 – German astronomer Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680, the first comet to be discovered by telescope. 1770 – James Bruce discovers what he believes to be the source of the Nile. 1812 – Napoleonic Wars: At the Battle of Smoliani, French Marshals Victor and Oudinot are defeated by the Russians under General Peter Wittgenstein. 1851 – Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville, is published in the USA. 1889 – Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) begins a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completes the trip in 72 days. 1910 – Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performs the first takeoff from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia, taking off from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham in a Curtiss pusher. 1914 – The Joensuu City Hall, designed by Eliel Saarinen, was inaugurated in Joensuu, Finland. 1918 – The Provisional National Assembly of the new republic of Czechoslovakia meets to devise a constitution. 1920 – Pesäpallo, the Finnish version of baseball developed by Lauri Pihkala, is played for the first time at Kaisaniemi Park in Helsinki. 1921 – The Communist Party of Spain is founded, and issues the first edition of Mundo obrero. 1922 – The British Broadcasting Company begins radio service in the United Kingdom. 1938 – The Lions Gate Bridge, connecting Vancouver to the North Shore region, opens to traffic. 1940 – World War II: In England, Coventry is heavily bombed by German Luftwaffe bombers. Coventry Cathedral is almost completely destroyed. 1941 – World War II: The aircraft carrier sinks due to torpedo damage from the sustained on November 13. 1941 – World War II: German troops, aided by local auxiliaries, murder nine thousand residents of the Słonim Ghetto in a single day. 1952 – The New Musical Express publishes the first regular UK Singles Chart. 1957 – The "Apalachin meeting" in rural Tioga County in upstate New York is raided by law enforcement; many high-level Mafia figures are arrested while trying to flee.