November 30 Through History

Explanation: Thriller remains to this day the best-selling album in music history, with around 65 million copies sold worldwide. Its eponymous music video, directed by John Landis, revolutionized the music video format and is considered one of the most influential ever made.

Explanation: Cesare Beccaria, a Milanese philosopher of the XVIIIe century, had published in 1764 his treatise On Crimes and Punishments, which profoundly influenced penal reforms across Europe. Leopold, who later became Emperor Leopold II of the Holy Roman Empire, made Tuscany a laboratory of the Aufklärung in matters of justice.

Explanation: The Winter War, also called the Soviet-Finnish War, pitted the USSR against Finland until March 13, 1940. Despite being outnumbered, the Finns resisted fiercely, inflicting heavy losses on the Soviets. The Mannerheim Line, a Finnish defensive fortification, became famous during this conflict.

Explanation: The Wall is a concept album telling the story of a fictional rock star named Pink, progressively isolated from the world. Roger Waters is its main composer. It was adapted into a film in 1982 by Alan Parker, with Bob Geldof in the lead role.

Explanation: Barbados gained independence from the United Kingdom on November 30, 1966, then became a republic on November 30, 2021, on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of that independence. Dame Sandra Mason became the first president of Barbados, replacing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.

Explanation: Churchill received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953, notably for his six-volume memoirs on the Second World War and his many speeches. He is one of the rare statesmen to have been recognized for a literary work, alongside figures like Rabindranath Tagore and Jean-Paul Sartre.

Explanation: Mark Twain is the author of the famous novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). He had himself predicted that he would die with the return of Halley's Comet, and he did indeed pass away on April 21, 1910, the day after the comet reached perihelion.

Explanation: COP 21 was held in Le Bourget, in Seine-Saint-Denis, and resulted in the Paris Agreement, signed by 196 parties. This agreement aims to limit global warming to 1.5 °C compared to pre-industrial levels. Its adoption was hailed as a major diplomatic achievement, especially after the November 13, 2015 attacks that had nearly caused the event to be cancelled.

Explanation: Magnus Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster. He became world chess champion in 2013 by defeating Viswanathan Anand and has defended his title several times. He reached the highest Elo rating ever recorded in the history of chess, surpassing 2 880 points.

Explanation: This founding match between England and Scotland ended in a 0-0 draw and was held at Hamilton Crescent, in Glasgow. At the time, the rules of the game were still very basic, and the national teams did not yet have an official manager. This derby remains one of the oldest rivalries in world football.