1459 – Battle of Blore Heath in Staffordshire: an inferior Yorkist force defeats a larger Lancastrian force in a major battle of the English Wars of the Roses
1912 – First Mack Sennett “Keystone Comedy” movie releases “Cohen Collects a Debt”
1926 – “Upset of the Decade”: Gene Tunney defeats defending champion Jack Dempsey by 10-round unanimous decision at Sesquicentennial Stadium (later known as JFK Stadium) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the world heavyweight boxing title
1962 – Dave Brubeck and Louis Armstrong debut songs from “The Real Ambassadors”, a jazz musical loosely based on their experiences touring for the US State Department, at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California; libretto written by Iola Brubeck, Dave’s wife
1962 – ABC’s first color TV series, “The Jetsons,” created by Hanna-Barbera, premieres
1967 – Greek Colonels’ regime frees former Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou
2019 – Haitian Senator Jean-Marie Ralph Féthière opens fire, hitting a journalist while leaving parliament in Port-au-Prince
2022 – Tennis great Roger Federer plays his final professional match during Laver Cup in London; teams with friend and rival Rafael Nadal but loses 6–4, 6–7 [9–11] to Americans Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe
Author: gil7
Today in History for 23rd September 2026
Historical Events
1821 – Fall of Tripolitsa: Greek forces massacre 6,000 to 15,000 Muslim and Jewish civilians during the Greek War of Independence
1982 – Columbia Records releases “The Nylon Curtain,” singer-songwriter Billy Joel’s eighth studio album
1990 – PBS begins an 11-hour miniseries on the Civil War
2017 – US President Donald Trump withdraws invitation to the White House for NBA champions Golden State Warriors after Stephen Curry says he doesn’t want to attend
2024 – Israel launches airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, killing more than 490 people
Famous Birthdays
1771 – Kōkaku [Morohito], 119th Emperor of Japan (1779-1817), born in Kyōto, Japan (d. 1840)
1897 – Walter Pidgeon, Canadian actor (Mrs Miniver, Madame Curie), born in Saint John, New Brunswick (d. 1984)
1916 – Aldo Moro, Italian Prime Minister (1963-68 and 1974-76), born in Maglie, Italy (d. 1978)
1984 – Nathan Jendrick, American fitness trainer, health instructor, and author, born in Tacoma, Washington
2002 – Maleah Joi Moon, American Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning singer and stage actress known for “Hell’s Kitchen”, born in Franklin Township, New Jersey
Famous Deaths
1764 – Robert Dodsley, English writer (b. 1703)
1835 – Vincenzo Bellini, Italian opera composer (La Sonnambula, Norma), dies at 33
1987 – O. B. McClinton, American country singer (Man needs a woman), dies at 47
2010 – Malcolm Douglas, Australian conservationist (b. 1941)
2017 – Charles Bradley, American RandB and funk singer, known as ‘The Screaming Eagle of Soul’, dies of stomach cancer at 68
Famous Deaths for 22nd September 2026
1286 – Mugaku Sogen, Zen Rinzai line founder of Engakuji temple, dies at 60
1539 – Guru Nanak, Founder of the religion of Sikhism and the 1st Sikh Guru, dies at 70
1952 – Cor Ruys, Dutch actor (Princess Stage, The Cross-Patch), dies at 63
1953 – William Brann, South African cricketer (3 Tests for South Africa), dies at 54
1960 – Melanie Klein, Austrian-British author and child psychoanalyst (object relations theory), dies at 78
1979 – Otto Robert Frisch, Austrian-British physicist who coined the term nuclear fission (Manhattan Project), and educator (Cambridge), dies at 74
1994 – Edward Shackleton, English explorer, geographer and Labour Party politician, dies at 83
2010 – Eddie Fisher, American pop singer (“Oh My Papa”: I’m Walking Behind You”), dies from complications from hip surgery at 82
2021 – Orlando Martínez, Cuban boxer (Olympic gold bantamweight 1972), dies at 77
2025 – Aron Bell [Bielski], Polish-American WWⅡ resistance fighter and scout for the Bielski partisans, dies at 98
Historical Events for 22nd September 2026
1851 – City of Des Moines, Iowa, incorporated as Fort Des Moines
1885 – Lord Randolph Churchill delivers a speech in Ulster opposing Home Rule, stating, “Ulster will fight and Ulster will be right”
1919 – Steel strike begins in the US and continues for four months
1937 – Date celebrated as the first International Hobbit Day and the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins
1959 – Chicago White Sox clinch AL pennant
1973 – Henry Kissinger is sworn in as America’s first Jewish Secretary of State, succeeding William Rogers
1979 – Montreal Expo Larry Parrish hits home runs off Phillies’ Rawly Eastwick in a doubleheader
2018 – Singer Rihanna is appointed as an ambassador for Barbados
Today in History for 22nd September 2026
Historical Events
1905 – US Open Men’s Golf, Myopia Hunt GC: Willie Anderson wins his third consecutive Open title, and his record fourth overall, two strokes ahead of runner-up Alex Smith
1968 – KMTC (now KDEB) TV channel 27 in Springfield, MO (IND) begins broadcasting
1987 – US TV series “Full House,” starring Bob Saget and John Stamos, premieres
1993 – A Transair Georgian Airlines Tu-154 is shot down by a missile in Sukhumi, Georgia
2013 – Angela Merkel and the Christian Democrats win a third term with their best result since 1990 in the German federal elections
Famous Birthdays
1601 – Anna of Austria, Spanish princess, Austrian archduchess, Queen of France as wife of Louis XIII and regent of France (1643-51) for her son Louis XIV, born in Benavente Palace, Valladolid, Spain (d. 1666)
1822 – Eppa Hunton, American representative and Brigadier-General who fought in most ANV campaigns, born in Warrenton, Virginia (d. 1908)
1931 – Fay Weldon [Franklin Birkinshaw], British feminist, novelist (Praxis; The Lives and Loves of a She-Devil), playwright, and screenwriter, born in Birmingham, England (d. 2023)
1958 – Neil Cavuto, American television commentator (Fox), born in Westbury, New York
1961 – Kofi Burbridge, American blues-rock keyboardist and flute player (Derek Trucks Band, 1999-2019; Tedeschi Trucks Band, 2010-2019), born in The Bronx, New York (d. 2019)
Famous Deaths
1345 – Henry Plantagenet, 3rd Earl of Leicester (b. 1281)
1978 – Lina Carstens, German actress (Homeland, Broken Jug), dies at 85
1993 – Margaret MacDonald ‘Bobo’, Scot-born maid to Queen Elizabeth II, dies at 89
1994 – (John Edward) “Teddy” Buckner, American Dixieland jazz trumpeter, dies at 85
2025 – Henry Jaglom, American actor, screenwriter and director (Last Summer in the Hamptons, Always), dies at 87
Famous Deaths for 21st September 2026
1542 – Juan Boscán Almogáver, Spanish poet (b. c. 1490)
1944 – James E. Ferguson, American Democratic party politician (Governor of Texas, 1915-17; First Gentleman of Texas, 1925-27 and 1933-35), dies at 73
1997 – Eric William Hunter Christie, British lawyer and advocate for the Falkland Islands, dies at 75
1997 – Jennifer Holt, American actress (b. 1920)
2002 – Robert L. Forward, American physicist and writer (b. 1932)
2010 – Don Partridge, British folk-pop singer-songwriter and one-man band (“Blue Eyes”, “Breakfast on Pluto”), dies of a heart attack at 68
2019 – Christopher Rouse, American Grammy Award-winning composer (Trombone Concerto – Pulitzer Prize for Music, 1993), and educator (Eastman School, 1981-2002; Juilliard, 1997-2017), dies of renal cancer at 70
2020 – Bob Nevin, Canadian ice hockey right wing (Stanley Cup 1962, 63; Toronto Maple Leafs; NY Rangers; 1,128 career NHL games), dies at 82
2020 – Tommy Devito, American rock baritone vocalist and guitarist (Four Seasons – “Sherry”), dies of COVID-19 at 93
2020 – Lars-Åke Lagrell, Swedish sports administrator (President Swedish Football Association 1991-2012) and politician (Governor Kronoberg County 2002-06), dies at 80
Historical Events for 21st September 2026
1746 – French expeditionary army occupies Labourdonnais and Dupleix Madras
1904 – The general strike called by the Socialist Party that spread throughout Italy ends
1955 – USSR performs nuclear test
1964 – The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the world’s first Mach 3 bomber, makes its maiden flight from Palmdale, California
1972 – Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law in the Philippines (not publicly announced until 23rd Sep)
1981 – MLB Philadelphia Phillies lefthander Steve Carlton strikes out NL record 3,118th (Andre Dawson)
1997 – NY Yankee Cecil Fielder hits his 300th HR
2022 – Russian authorities claim 5,397 Russian soldiers have died fighting in Ukraine, Westerns sources put the figure at 25,000 to over 80,000 (NY Times)
Today in History for 21st September 2026
Historical Events
1823 – Moroni first appears to Joseph Smith, according to Smith
1971 – AL OKs Washington Senator move to Arlington (Texas Rangers)
1988 – Mike Tyson smashes TV camera outside his Bernardsville, New Jersey home
2001 – Deep Space 1 flies within 2,200 km of Comet Borrelly
2018 – American singer-songwriter Paul Simon closes his “Homeward Bound – The Farewell Tour” at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, NYC
Famous Birthdays
1809 – Sophia Hawthorne, American writer, painter and illustrator, born in Salem, Massachusetts (d. 1871)
1868 – Olga Knipper, Russian-Soviet stage actress, and wife of Anton Chekhov, born in Glazov, Russian Empire (d. 1959)
1938 – Atli Heimir Sveinsson, Icelandic composer (Time and Water), born in Reykjavik, Iceland (d. 2019)
1970 – Michael O’Shea, Canadian CFL linebacker (Toronto Argonauts), born in North Bay, Ontario
1988 – Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistani politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs, son of PM Benazir Bhutto, born in Karachi, Pakistan
Famous Deaths
1629 – John Pieterszoon Coen, Dutch merchant and Governor-General of the East Indies, dies at 42
1748 – John Balguy, English clergyman and moral philosopher, dies at 62
1974 – Jacqueline Susann, American author (Valley of the Dolls), dies of cancer at 56
2010 – Geoffrey Burgon, British jazz trumpeter, and film, television and concert composer (City Adventures), dies at 69
2017 – Liliane de Bettencourt, French heir to L’Oreal and richest woman in the world from 2016, dies at 94
Famous Deaths for 20th September 2026
1630 – Claudio Saracini, Italian composer, dies at 44
1863 – Jacob Grimm, German philologist, folklorist and editor of “Grimm’s Fairy Tales”, dies at 78
1908 – Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (Spanish Dancer), dies at 64
1933 – Annie Besant, English social reformer and supporter of Indian independence, dies at 85
1974 – Carlyle Blackwell Jr, American actor (The Pilgrim Lady, The Triumph of the Rat), dies at 71
1996 – Paul Erdos, Hungarian mathematician, dies of a heart attack at 83
1999 – Willy Millowitsch, German actor (National Lampoon’s European Vacation), dies from heart failure at 90
2011 – Robert Whitaker, British photographer whose work was used on Beatles and Cream album covers, dies at 71
2021 – Billy Maxwell, American golfer (US Amateur C’ship 1951; Ryder Cup 1963; 7 x PGA Tour wins), dies at 92
2025 – Marian Burros, American food writer best known for her plum torte recipe (NYT Cooking, The Summertime Cookbook), dies at 92
Historical Events for 20th September 2026
1859 – George Simpson patents the electric range
1861 – Battle of Lexington, MO, is captured by Union
1938 – Emlyn Williams’ semi-autobiographical comedic play “The Corn is Green” premieres in London and runs for 600 performances
1943 – Liberator bomber sinks U-338
1970 – Jim Morrison is found guilty of “open profanity and indecent exposure” after allegedly exposing himself at a concert in Miami in 1969
1989 – Musical “Miss Saigon,” created by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, premieres in London
2001 – In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, US President George W. Bush declares a “war on terror”
2018 – Woman shoots seven people, killing three and herself, at a Rite Aid distribution center near Baltimore, Maryland