Today in History for 12th September 2023

Historical Events

1908 – Canada appoints a Civil Service Commission, initiating a more equitable system for selecting civil servants
1935 – US National Championship Men’s Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Wilmer Allison beats Sidney Wood 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 for his lone major singles title
1953 – Brooklyn Dodgers clinch NL pennant earlier than any other team, defeating Milwaukee Braves 5-2. Brooklyn finishes season with record of 105-49.
1956 – Black students enter and are barred from Clay Ky elementary school
2005 – Hong Kong Disneyland opens in Penny’s Bay, Lantau Island, Hong Kong.
2009 – US Open Women’s Tennis: Belgian Kim Clijsters becomes first unseeded player and wildcard to win the tournament; beats Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 7-5, 6-3

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Famous Birthdays

1855 – Jacobus of Looy, Dutch writer and painter (Death of My Cat), born in Haarlem, Netherlands (d. 1930)
1901 – Ernst Pepping, German composer, born in Duisburg, Germany (d. 1981)
1944 – Ron Ward, Canadian ice hockey player (Toronto Maple Leafs), born in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada
1946 – Tony “T-Bone” Bellamy, American rock guitarist (Redbone), born in Las Vegas, Nevada (d. 2009)
1962 – Amy Yasbeck, American actress (Casey Davenport-Wings, Mask), born in Blue Ash, Ohio
1996 – Colin Ford, American actor (Under the Dome; We Bought a Zoo), born in Nashville, Tennessee

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Famous Deaths

1732 – Jean Philippe Eugène de Mérode, Belgian marquis of Westerloo, dies at 58
1947 – Harry Rowe Shelley, American hymn composer, dies at 89
1953 – Hugo Schmeisser, German inventor and weapons designer, dies at 68
2004 – John Buller, British composer, dies at 77
2008 – David Foster Wallace, American author and essayist (b. 1962)
2017 – Edith Windsor [née Schlain], American LGBT rights activist (lead plaintiff in United States v. Windsor), dies at 88

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Famous Deaths for 11th September 2023

1646 – Johann Stobäus, North German composer, dies at 66
1721 – Rudolph J. Camerarius, German physician (sexuality plans), dies
1891 – Théodule-Augustin Ribot, French realist painter (Breton Fishermen and Their Families), dies at 68
1922 – Louis Coerne, American composer (Zenobia; Excalibur), and educator (The Evolution of Modern Orchestration), dies at 52
1948 – Albert Powell, South African cricketer and Rugby player (one Test South Africa v England 1898-99), dies at 75
1967 – Tadeusz Żyliński, Polish technician and textilist, dies at 62
1970 – Chester Morris, American actor (Diagnosis: Unknown), dies at 69
1988 – Roger Hargreaves, English author and illustrator of children’s books (Mr. Men and Little Miss), dies of a stroke at 53
2007 – Ian Porterfield, Manager of Armenia National Football Club (b. 1946)
2018 – Fenella Fielding, English actress (Carry On films), dies at 90

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Historical Events for 11th September 2023

1877 – Rijkslandbouwhoge school opens in Wageningen
1883 – American architect James Cutler patents postal mail chute for Elwood Building, Rochester, New York
1893 – Bronx Gas and Electric Company opens on Frisby and Tremont Ave
1926 – Spain leaves the League of Nations due to Germany joining
1964 – Gillette’s 20 year contract with Madison Square Garden and ABC to televise fights for free ends as Dick Tiger defeats Don Fullmer at Cleve Auditorium
1983 – Pittsburgh running back Franco Harris runs for 118 yards in Steelers 25-21 win at Green Bay to become the only the third player in NFL history to rush for 11,000 yards
1994 – US Open Men’s Tennis: Andre Agassi wins first US title; beats Michael Stich of Germany 6-1, 7-6, 7-5
2009 – Sweden emerges from the recession after witnessing GDP growth of 0.2% in the second quarter
2009 – The Brazilian economy technically leaves the recession when GDP grew 1.9% in the second quarter of 2009 after having fallen in the first quarter of 2009 and last quarter of 2008
2022 – US Open Men’s Tennis: Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz defeats Casper Ruud of Norway 6–4, 2–6, 7–6, 6–3 for his first major title

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Today in History for 11th September 2023

Historical Events

1912 – Philadelphia second baseman Eddie Collins steals MLB record 6 bases in the Athletics’ 9-7 win over Detroit Tigers at Navin Field
1922 – The Treaty of Kars is ratified in Yerevan, Armenia
1961 – Founding of the World Wildlife Fund in Morges, Switzerland
1963 – Typhoon Gloria strikes Taiwan killing 330, with $17.5 million damage
1987 – Shoot out at Jean-Bertrand Aristides’ church in Haiti, 12 die
2016 – US Open Men’s Tennis: Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland wins his 3rd major title; beats defending champion Novak Đoković 6-7, 1-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3

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Famous Birthdays

1741 – Johann Jakob Engel, German author (Herr Lorenz Stark), born in Parchim, Germany (d. 1802)
1753 – Friedrich August Baumbach, German composer, born in Gotha, Germany (d. 1813)
1876 – Stan Rowley, Australian athlete (Olympic gold 5,000m team, bronze 60m, 100m, 200m 1900), born in Young, Australia (d. 1924)
1953 – Lenise Bent, American audio engineer in music (Blondie, The Knack) and film (L.A. Heat), born in Los Angeles, California
1956 – Tony Gilroy, American screenwriter and director (Bourne), born in Manhattan, New York
1968 – Kay Hanley, American singer-songwriter (Letters to Cleo), born in Boston, Massachusetts

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Famous Deaths

1709 – Oxenstiern, Dutch general, dies in the Battle of Malplaquet
1926 – Matsunosuke Onoe [Tsuruzo Nakamura], Japanese actor (Araki Mataemon, Yajîkita: zenpen), Japanese actor, dies at 50
1956 – Billy Bishop, Canadian First World War flying ace with 72 kills, dies at 62
1993 – Antoine Izmery, Haitian businessman and advisor to President Aristide, murdered by paramilitaries
2001 – Daniel M. Lewin, American–Israeli mathematician and founder of Akamai Technologies, dies in the terror attacks aboard flight 11 at 31
2020 – (Frederick) “Toots” Hibbert, Jamaican singer-songwriter (The Maytals – “Pressure Drop”), dies with COVID-19 symptoms at 77

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Famous Deaths for 10th September 2023

1547 – Pierlugi Faraese, Italian son of Pope Paul III, murdered
1604 – William Morgan, Welsh Bible translator (b. 1545)
1828 – Count d’Andreossi, French general and parliament leader, dies at 67
1845 – Karl August von Lichtenstein, German composer, dies at 78
1858 – Henry Wellington Greatorex, English American composer (Gloria Patri), dies at 44
1898 – Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, and wife of Franz Joseph I, dies from a stab wound at 60
1961 – Leo Carrillo, American actor (American Empire, Cisco Kid), dies at 80
1972 – Sidney Pegler, South African cricket leg spinner (16 Tests), dies at 84
1983 – “John Vorster, South African Prime Minister (1966-78), dies at 67
1995 – Charles Denner, French actor (The Bride Wore Black, The Man Who Loved Women), dies at 69

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Historical Events for 10th September 2023

1869 – Baptist minister supposedly invents rickshaw in Yokohama, Japan
1937 – Cleveland (Los Angeles) Rams plays their 1st NFL game, lose 28-0
1954 – Attempting to handle Hoyt Wilhelm’s knuckleball catcher, Ray Katt of Giants sets a major league record with 4 passed balls
1960 – Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia runs WR 2:15:16.2 barefoot to take out the men’s marathon at the Rome Olympics; Africa’s first ever Olympic gold medal
1962 – KLRN TV channel 9 in San Antonio, TX (PBS) begins broadcasting
1978 – 4th game of Boston Massacre; NY Yankees beat Red Sox, 7-4 to tie for AL East 1st place; Yanks out hit arch rivals, 67-21; score 42-9
1994 – Chong Hey swims female record 400m medley (4:01.67)/100m backstroke
2002 – Switzerland, traditionally a neutral country, joins the United Nations
2016 – US Open Women’s Tennis: Angelique Kerber beats Karolína Plíšková 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to become first German player to win the event since Steffi Graf in 1996
2020 – California’s August Complex wildfire becomes largest recorded in state history at 471,000 acres (736 square miles)

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Today in History for 10th September 2023

Historical Events

1872 – Karl Marx speaks in Amsterdam
1963 – 20 black students enter public schools in Alabama
1980 – Peter Comita replaces Tom Peterson of Cheap Trick
1988 – Gretchen Elizabeth Carlson (Minnesota), 22, crowned 62nd Miss America 1989
2004 – “Crash” directed by Paul Haggis and starring Don Cheadle and Sandra Bullock premieres at the Toronto Film Festival (Best Picture 2006)
2016 – US Open Women’s Tennis: Angelique Kerber beats Karolína Plíšková 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to become first German player to win the event since Steffi Graf in 1996

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Famous Birthdays

1866 – Tor Aulin, Swedish composer, born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1914)
1897 – David L. Snell, American pianist and composer for films (MGM Studio), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 1967) 
1908 – Raymond Scott [Harry Warnow], American composer (‘The Toy Trumpet’), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1994)
1935 – Mary Oliver, American poet (1984 Pulitzer Prize), born in Maple Heights, Ohio (d. 2019)
1968 – Guy Ritchie, British film director (Sherlock Holmes), born in Hartfield, England
1986 – Hiroki Uchi, Japanese Idol singer, model and actor, born in Habikino, Japan

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Famous Deaths

918 – Baldwin II, Count of Flanders, dies at about 53
1308 – Emperor Go-Nijō of Japan (b. 1285)
1419 – John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (1404-19), assassinated by adherents of the Dauphin, the future Charles VII of France at 48
1954 – Peter Anders, German opera singer, dies at 46
1975 – George Paget Thomson, English physicist who demonstrated electron diffraction (Nobel 1937), dies at 83
1976 – Dalton Trumbo, American writer and film director (Johnny Got His Gun), dies at 70

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Famous Deaths for 9th September 2023

1573 – Andre de Resende, Portuguese Dominican friar and humanist, dies at 74 or 75
1841 – Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, Swiss botanist, established a plant classification system and coined the term taxonomy , dies at 63
1866 – Gergely Czuczor, Hungarian-Czech poet and translator (Great Hung dictionary), dies at 65
1876 – American Horse, Oglala Lakota warrior chief, dies in Battle of Slim Buttes (b. c. 1830)
1891 – Jules Grévy, 2nd President of the French Third Republic, dies at 84
1958 – Charles Macartney, Australian cricket all-rounder (35 Tests, 2,131 runs at 41.78, 7 x 100s, 45 wickets), dies at 72
1977 – John Breeden, American actor (Salute, Madame Racketeer, Joy Street), dies at 73
1989 – Tim Hovey, American child actor (Slim Carter, Man Afraid), dies of a drug overdose at 44
1999 – David Stafford-Clark, English psychiatrist, dies at 83
2014 – Antonín Tučapský, Czech composer, teacher, and choral conductor, dies at 86

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Historical Events for 9th September 2023

1919 – Boston’s police force goes on strike
1932 – Spanish Cortes grants Catalonia autonomy
1942 – 1st bombing on continental US soil at Mount Emily, Oregon during WWII by Japanese planes
1944 – US 113th cavalry passes Belgian-Dutch borders
1950 – 1st use of TV laugh track by “The Hank McCune Show” in the US
1964 – German DR government allows short visits to West Germany
1970 – Feyenoord wins soccer’s Club World Cup
1972 – West German equestrian rider Liselott Linsenhoff follows her dressage teams gold in Mexico City with the individual dressage title at her home Olympics in Munich
2013 – US Open Men’s Tennis: Spaniard Rafael Nadal wins his second US title; beats Novak Đoković 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
2016 – North Korea conducts its fifth nuclear test at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, at the time its largest ever test at 10 kilotons but superseded by the 2017 test

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Today in History for 9th September 2023

Historical Events

1817 – Alexander Twilight, probably first African American to graduate from a US college, receives BA degree at Middlebury College
1922 – St Louis Brown “Baby Doll” Jacobson hits 3 triples beating Tigers 16-0
1982 – Conestoga 1, 1st private commercial rocket, makes suborbital flight
2002 – MLB Arizona Diamondbacks’ lefthanded pitcher Randy Johnson reaches 300 strikeouts for the fifth consecutive season, extending his major league record
2012 – 100 people are killed and 350 injured after a wave of attacks across Iraq
2016 – North Korea conducts its fifth nuclear test at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, at the time its largest ever test at 10 kilotons but superseded by the 2017 test

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Famous Birthdays

1731 – Francisco Javier Clavijero, Mexican Jesuit teacher and writer, born in Veracruz, Mexico (d. 1787)
1875 – Jack O’Connor, Australian cricket fast bowler (4 Tests, 13 wickets, BB 5/40; NSW CA, SA CA), born in Boorowa, Australia (d. 1941)
1896 – Fritz Reutter, German composer and pedagogue, born in Löbtau, Saxony, German Empire (d. 1963)
1926 – Robert Reese, American actor, born in Port Arthur, Texas (d. 1992)
1929 – Stan Parris, American politician (Rep-R-VA, 1973-74, 81-91), born in Champaign, Illinois (d. 2010)
1974 – Mathias Färm, Swedish guitarist (Millencolin), born in Örebro, Sweden

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Famous Deaths

1612 – Nakagawa Hidenari, Japanese warlord (b. 1570)
1963 – Ernst Kantorowicz, German-American historian (Laudes regiae), dies at 68
1966 – Leon de Smet, Belgian painter (Luminist school), dies at 85
1981 – Jacques Lacan, French psychoanalyst and semanticist, dies at 80
2014 – Antonín Tučapský, Czech composer, teacher, and choral conductor, dies at 86
2019 – Robert Frank, Swiss-American photographer (The Americans), and filmmaker (Pull My Daisy; Candy Mountain), dies at 94

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