November 18

Events

• 1938: PM Ioannis Metaxas leaves for Ankara to attend the funeral of Kemal Ataturk.
• 1949: The UN General Assembly passes resolution 288, calling on all states to repatriate Greek children that were taken during the Greek Civil War to Eastern Bloc countries.
• 1967: The Greek government recalls Gen Georgios Grivas from Cyprus.
• 1997: The Hellenic Parliament approves the "Kapodistrias" law relating to municipalities and communities reforms.
• 1997: A strong earthquake (6.6 on the Richter scale) causes damage to structures and buildings in Gargalianoi, Kalamata, Amaliada and other cities and town in the west of Peloponnesus.

Sports

• 2009: Greece qualify for the finals of World Cup 2010 after a 1-0 victory in Donetsk against Ukraine.

Births

• 1906: Alec Issigonis, the engineer who designed the legendary Mini in the 50s
• 1934: Vasilis Vasilikos, novelist, writer, born at Kavala
• 1977: Dimitris Daskalakis, Cypriot international footballer.

Deaths

• 1940: Dimitris Pierrakos, footballer killed in the Battle of Pogradec
• 1985: Dimitris Gogos, better known as "Bayianteras", rebetika singer