1584 – Gent surrenders to Duke of Parma
1691 – Massachusetts Bay Colony granted new charter
1745 – Edinburgh occupied by Jacobites under Charles Edward Stuart (aka the Young Pretender or Bonny Prince Charlie)
1849 – Harriet Tubman 1st escapes slavery in Maryland with two of her brothers
1862 – Battle of Antietam [Battle of Sharpsburg], bloodiest day in the American Civil War: 22,000 dead, wounded or missing in first battle on Union soil
1928 – US National Championship Men’s Tennis: Frenchman Henri Cochet wins his only US title; beats American Frank Hunter 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
1957 – Scott Crossfield takes X-15 up for 1st powered flight
1976 – NASA publicly unveils space shuttle Enterprise in Palmdale, California, named after Star Trek Enterprise with cast attending
2001 – Despite suffering from lung cancer and Parkinson’s disease, Jack Buck stirs emotions by reading a patriotic-themed poem during the pregame ceremonies on baseball’s first night back after the September 11th terrorist attacks
2019 – Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg tells US Congress “I know you are trying but just not hard enough. Sorry.”
Author: gil7
Today in History for 17th September 2020
Historical Events
1900 – USA, Anthracite coal miners go out on strike for better wages until the October 25, by which time the owners are persuaded that their stand is harming President McKinley’s campaign
1939 – US National Championship Men’s Tennis, Forest Hills, NY: Reigning Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs beats fellow American Welby van Horn 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
1941 – World War II: A decree issued by the Soviet State Committee of Defense, restoring Vsevobuch “Universal compulsory military training of the citizens of the USSR” in the face of the “Great Patriotic War”
1959 – Typhoon kills 2,000 in Japan and Korea
1992 – NFL decides to suspend World League Football
2004 – SF Giants outfielder Barry Bonds hits his 700th career MLB home run, off San Diego’s Jake Peavy
Famous Birthdays
1825 – Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, American politician and U.S. Supreme Court Justice, born in Eatonton, Georgia (d. 1893)
1929 – Patricia “Pat” Crowley, American actress (Money from Home, There’s Always Tomorrow), born in Olyphant, Pennsylvania
1938 – Francisco Aritmendi, Spanish athlete (International Cross Country Championships 1964), born in Cogolludo, Spain (d. 2020)
1965 – Bryan Singer, American director
1980 – Asashoryu Akinori, Mongolian sumo wrestler (born as Dolgorsuren Dagvador)
1986 – Dimitrios Regas, Greek sprinter
Famous Deaths
1823 – Abraham L Breguet, French clock maker, dies at 76
1862 – William Edwin Starke, Confederate brigadier general, dies in battle at about 48
1948 – Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist (Patterns of Culture), dies at 61
1983 – Humberto Madeiros, US cardinal to Boston, dies at 67
1991 – Zino Francescatti, French violinist (NY Phil-1939), dies at 89
1998 – Ted Binion, Las Vegas casino heir (b. 1943)
Famous Deaths for 16th September 2020
655 – Martinus I, bannished Pope (649-53), dies
1589 – Michael Baius, Flemish theologian (b. 1513)
1696 – Lambert Pietkin, Flemish composer, dies at 83
1896 – Antônio Carlos Gomez, Brazilian opera composer, 1st from New World to be successful in Europe, dies at 60
1945 – Johannes “Pa” van der Steur, Dutch missionary and philanthropist (Java), dies at 80
1961 – Yme Schuitmaker, Dutch potato farmer/dramatist, dies
1994 – Dolly Hare, German/British actress (Broken Blossom), dies at 84
2005 – Gordon Gould, American physicist (inventor of the laser) dies at 85
2018 – Big Jay [Cecil James] McNeely, American RandB saxophonist, dies of prostate cancer at 91
2018 – Frank Parker, American actor (Days of our Lives, Never Too Young), dies at 79
Historical Events for 16th September 2020
1400 – Owain Glyndŵr is declared Prince of Wales by his followers
1859 – Lake Nyasa, which forms Malawi’s boundary with Tanzania and Mozambique discovered by British explorer David Livingstone
1941 – German armoured troops surround Kiev, Ukraine
1955 – Yankee Mickey Mantle pulls a hamstring muscle running out a bunt
1990 – Pirate Radio NY International begins transmissions on WWCR
1990 – Iraq televises an 8 minute uncensored speech from George H. W. Bush
1999 – 1st ever season of “Big Brother” reality show begins on the Veronica channel in The Netherlands
2006 – 31st Toronto International Film Festival: “Bella” directed by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde wins the People’s Choice Award
2013 – 21 people are killed by Hurricane Ingrid in Mexico
2015 – Oil tanker explosion kills 170 in Maridi, South Sudan
Today in History for 16th September 2020
Historical Events
1858 – 1st overland mail for California
1951 – US National League umpire Frank Dascoli clears the Dodgers bench, ejecting 15 players
1960 – Amos Alonzo Stagg retires as a football coach at 98
1996 – Space Shuttle STS 79 (Atlantis 17), launches into space
2007 – 59th Emmy Awards: The Sopranos, 30 Rock, James Spader and Sally Field win
2019 – Guantánamo Bay is the world’s most expensive prison at US$13 million per prisoner according to investigation by “The New York Times”
Famous Birthdays
1666 – Antoine Parent, French mathematician, born in Paris (d. 1716)
1887 – Jean Arp [Hans Arp], French-Swiss sculptor, artist and poet, born in Strassburg, Germany (d. 1966)
1911 – Wilfred Burchett, Australian communist and writer (Catapult to Freedom), born in Clifton Hill, Melbourne (d. 1983)
1916 – Julius B. Richmond, 12th US Surgeon General (1977-81) created Head Start program, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2008)
1925 – Charles Haughey, Irish Taoiseach (1979-81, 82, 87-92), born in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland (d. 2006)
1930 – Anne Francis, American actress (Honey West, Forbidden Planet, Pancho Villa), born in Ossining, New York (d. 2011)
Famous Deaths
1933 – George Gore, American baseball player, dies at 79
1945 – Johannes “Pa” van der Steur, Dutch missionary and philanthropist (Java), dies at 80
1945 – John McCormack, Irish-American tenor (Irish folksongs), dies at 61
1957 – Qi Baishi, Chinese artist, dies at 93
1993 – Willie Mosconi, American world billiards champ, dies of heart attack at 80
2005 – Harry Freedman (Henryk Frydmann), Canadian composer, dies at 83
Famous Deaths for 15th September 2020
1596 – Leonhard Rauwolf, German physician and botanist (b. 1535 or 1540)
1747 – Johann Gotthilf Ziegler, German baroque composer and organist, dies at 59
1923 – Sayed Darwish, composer, dies at 31
1925 – Leonard Borwick, English concert pianist, dies at 57
1934 – David Vaughan Thomas, Welsh musician and composer, dies at 61
1965 – Steve Brown, American musician (b. 1890)
1980 – Bill Evans, American jazz pianist (Peace Piece; Waltz For Debbie), dies of a bleeding ulcer at 51
1990 – Valentin Ignatyevich Filatyev, Russian cosmonaut, dies at 60
2007 – Aldemaro Romero, Venezuelan musician (b. 1928)
2018 – Jeff Lowe, American mountain climber (co-founder Lowe Alpine), dies of pneumonia at 67
Historical Events for 15th September 2020
1590 – Giambattista Catagna elected as Pope Urban VII
1913 – 1st US milch goat show held, Rochester, NY
1928 – Alfred “Tich” Freeman becomes the only bowler to take 300 wickets in an English cricket season.
1930 – 1st international bridge match is held in London. US team defeats England
1935 – Nuremberg Laws deprives German Jews of citizenship and makes swastika official symbol of Nazi Germany
1938 – John Cobb sets world auto speed record at 350.2 MPH (lasts 1 day)
1966 – Gemini XI (Conrad/Gordon) returns to Earth
1970 – Rotterdam dock strikes end
1978 – Muhammad Ali beats Leon Spinks in 15 rounds for heavyweight boxing title
1998 – With the landmark merger of WorldCom and MCI Communications completed the day prior, the new MCI WorldCom opens its doors for business.
Today in History for 15th September 2020
Historical Events
608 – St Boniface IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1616 – First non-aristocratic, free public school in Europe is opened in Frascati, Italy
1923 – US National Championship Men’s Tennis, Germantown CC, Philadelphia: Bill Tilden wins 4th of 6 straight US singles titles; beats Bill Johnston 6-4, 6-1, 6-4
1941 – Nazis kill 800 Jewish women at Shkudvil, Lithuania
1949 – WJXT TV channel 4 in Jacksonville, FL (CBS) begins broadcasting
1970 – Officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Northern Ireland vote narrowly in favour of remaining unarmed
Famous Birthdays
1911 – Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-born American golf entrepreneur (d. 2000)
1922 – Jackie Cooper, American actor and director (Skippy, Superman), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2011)
1940 – Frank Linzy, American baseball player, born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma
1962 – Aubrey Matthews, NFL wide receiver (Detroit Lions)
1971 – Myron Bell, NFL safety (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1979 – Amy Davidson, American actress
Famous Deaths
1654 – Cornelis Bicker, merchant/mayor of Amsterdam, dies at 61
1916 – Isidore Edouard Legouix, composer, dies at 82
1972 – Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Turkish composer, one of “The Turkish Five” (Köçekçe – Dance Rhapsody for Orchestra), dies from a stroke at 66
1983 – Prince Far I, reggae deejay, producer and Rastafarian
2003 – Josef Hirsal, Czech novelist (b. 1920)
2007 – Brett Somers, Canadian-born American actress and Match Game panelist (b. 1924)
Famous Deaths for 14th September 2020
1759 – Louis Joseph Montcalm, French general (Plains of Abraham), dies at 47
1926 – Johan LE Dreyer, Danish astronomer (Catalog of Nebulae), dies at 74
1927 – Isadora Duncan, American free form/interpretative dancer, dies at 50 due to her scarf becoming entangled in her car’s wheel
1959 – Wayne Morris, American actor and decorated WWII pilot (Paths of Glory, The Bushwackers), dies from a heart attack at 45
1989 – Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban bandleader and musician, dies at 71
1991 – Julie Bovasso, American actress (Willie and Phil, Just Me and You), dies of cancer at 61
1995 – Eiji Okada, Japanese actor (Hiroshima mon amour, The Ugly American), dies of heart failure at 75
1996 – Clive Beadon, British RAF Wing Commander and pilot (WWII), dies at 77
1996 – Juliet Prowse, actress and dancer (Mona McCluskey), dies at 59
2019 – John Ralston, American College Football Hall of Fame linebacker, coach and executive (Cal, Stanford, Denver Broncos), dies at 92
Historical Events for 14th September 2020
1960 – Coup under Colonel Joseph-Desire Mobutu in Congo
1973 – Israel shoots down 13 Syrian MIG-21s
1975 – Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton canonized as 1st US-born saint by Pope Paul VI
1986 – Saskatchewan and Hamilton play 1st CFL regular-season overtime game
1986 – Bo Jackson’s 1st HR-a 475-foot blast (longest at Royal Stadium)
1990 – Ken Griffey, Sr and Jr, hit back-to-back HRs in 1st inning
1996 – Tara Dawn Holland (Kansas), 23, crowned 70th Miss America 1997
1999 – Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations.
2009 – David Attenborough and Prince William officially open the Darwin Centre at the National History Museum London, in what is the Museum’s most significant expansion since 1881
2015 – Malcolm Turnbull ousts Tony Abbott as Australian Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Liberal Party