http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/this_day_in_history/this_day_November_1.php
1st November
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1952: U.S. detonates hydrogen bomb
On a remote atoll in the Pacific Ocean, the United States successfully detonates Mike, the world's first hydrogen bomb. The 10.4-megaton thermonuclear device, built upon the Teller-Ulam principles of staged radiation implosion, instantly vaporized an entire island and left behind a crater more than a mile wide. The incredible explosive force of Mike was also apparent from the magnitude of its mushroom cloud--within 90 seconds the mushroom cloud climbed to 57,000 feet and entered the stratosphere. One minute later, it reached 108,000 feet, eventually stabilizing at a ceiling of 120,000 feet. Half an hour after the test, the mushroom stretched 60 miles across, with the base of the head joining the stem at 45,000 feet. Its explosive power was more than 800 times that of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. In 1955, the Soviet Union detonated a hydrogen bomb on the same principle of radiation implosion, and the world started to live under the threat of thermonuclear war for the first time in history.
1982
In Britain, a new terrestrial television channel, Channel Four begins transmitting its first programme - the word game 'Countdown'.
1978
The launch of a new daily newspaper in Britain, 'The Daily Star'.
1976
Jimmy Carter is elected US President.
1972
At least 10,000 people are killed and a further 5 million are left homeless when a tidal wave hits the coast of India.
1963
During a military coup in South Vietnam, President Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated.
1963
The pop group 'The Rolling Stones' release their first single: 'I Wanna Be Your Man'.
1959
In Britain, the official opening of the country's first full-length motorway (M1).
1956
Premium Bonds first go on sale in Britain with the winning numbers picked at random by a machine with the acronym 'ERNIE'.
1951
US President Harry Truman survives an assassination attempt by two Puerto Rican nationalists.
1946
In London, the first Royal Command Performance in public cinema at the 'Empire', Leicester Square.
1945
In Britain, it is announced that all available evidence supports the theory that German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler has committed suicide in Berlin.
1944
Britain's Home Guard, formed in 1939 to fight the expected German invasion, is ordered to disband.
1940
In France, archaeologists discover a prehistoric painting in a cave at Lascaux in the Dordogne.
1914
World War I: British warships 'Good Hope' and 'Monmouth' are sunk by a German fleet at the Battle of Coronel.
1894
In Russia, the death of Alexander III. Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1848
WH Smith opens its first railway bookstall at Euston Station in London.
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