On This Day - 18th November
1477 Caxton’s book, the Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres, was published. It was the first printed book in England bearing a date.
1720 The English pirate of the Caribbean, John Rackham (born 26th Dec. 1682) was hanged On This Day after being captured by the Royal Navy in mid October. He was often called Calico Jack, from the calico clothing that he wore, while Jack is a nickname for John. He is most remembered for two things: the design of his Jolly Roger flag, a skull with crossed swords, which contributed to the popularization of the design, and for having two female crew members, Mary Read and his lover Anne Bonny.
1836 Sir W.S. Gilbert, who collaborated with Sir Arthur Sullivan to produce light operas, was born.
1852 The state funeral of the Duke of Wellington took place at St Paul’s
Cathedral. It was one of the biggest
ever held in London. Known as the Iron Duke, he was Tory Prime Minister from 1828-30. His hereditary title was derived from the Somerset town of Wellington and was created for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington. The Wellington Monument (see 
picture) is located on the highest point of the Blackdown Hills, 1.9 miles from the town of Wellington.
1906 Birth of Sir Alec Issigonis, born in Turkey of a Bavarian mother and a Greek father. He came to Britain in 1922 and made his way slowly in the motor industry, designing the Morris Minor in 1948, the first British car to sell more than a million. In 1959 he had his greatest triumph when he unveiled the Mini Minor ('the Mini') which ten years later became the first British car to sell over two million.
1910 More than 100 were arrested by police when suffragettes tried to storm the House of Commons at Westminster, London.
1916 General Douglas Haig called off the Battle of the Somme in Europe after five months of futile battle, a battle which included the first use of tanks. In 141 days the British had advanced just seven miles and failed to break the German defence. The Allied advance claimed 420,000 British and 195,000 French casualties. German losses were over 650,000.
1926 George Bernard Shaw refused to accept the money for his Nobel Prize, saying, 'I can forgive Alfred Nobel for inventing dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize.' The Nobel prize is awarded annually for outstanding contributions in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physiology or Medicine, and Economic Sciences.
1943 440 Royal Air Force planes bombed Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF lost nine aircraft and 53 air crew.
1967 A ban on the movement of farm animals across the whole of England and Wales came into effect at midnight, in a bid to curb the spread of foot and mouth disease.
1983 The world's first all-girl sextuplets were born, to Mrs. Janet Walton at Liverpool Maternity Hospital. They were named Hannah, Lucy, Ruth, Sarah, Kate and Jenny.
1987 The worst fire in the history of the London Underground killed 30 people. The blaze began in the machinery below a wooden escalator in King’s Cross Underground station and soon filled the tunnels with dense, choking smoke and intense heat.
1991 Church envoy Terry Waite was freed by the Islamic extremists who kidnapped him in Beirut in 1987.
2002 United Nations weapons inspectors arrived in Iraq. It had been alleged that Iraq was producing weapons of mass destruction but no evidence was ever found. Nevertheless, on 20th March 2003, an alliance of primarily U.S. and British forces invaded Iraq with the authority of President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
2003 The Local Government Act 2003, repealing the controversial anti-gay amendment Section 28, became effective. Section 28 stated that a local authority 'shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality' or 'promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.'
2014 Benjy, a bull branded gay, was saved by charity donations, including £5,000 from Sam Simon, the co-creator of the Simpsons. Benjy, from County Mayo, Ireland, had been destined for the abattoir after showing more interest in breeding with other bulls than cows.
2014 Tony and Jan Jenkinson were 'fined' £100 by the Broadway Hotel in Blackpool after they wrote a damning review about it on TripAdvisor. After their stay, the couple found that their credit card had been debited, as the hotel had a 'no bad review policy' included in its terms and conditions. The money was later refunded and the policy changed.
2014 Sara Payne, the mother of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne (murdered in 2000 by Roy Whiting ) shut her social network account after she had endured "over 10 years of online unrelenting stalking and harassment". Sara's husband Michael Payne, who had fought a battle with alcohol since the murder of his eight-year-old daughter, died in October 2014, aged just 45.