Historical Events
1608 – John Smith elected president of Jamestown colony council, Virginia
1926 – Allies-German treaty of Koblenz drawn
1960 – Abebe Bikila runs Olympic/World record marathon (2:15:16.2)
2002 – Switzerland, traditionally a neutral country, joins the United Nations
2011 – US Open Women’s Tennis: Samantha Stosur becomes first Australian to win a Grand Slam title since 1980; upsets Serena Williams 6-2, 6-3
2012 – 16 people are killed by a suicide bombing in Kunduz, Afghanistan
Famous Birthdays
1898 – Waldo Semon, American inventor (polyvinyl chloride), born in Demopolis, Alabama (d. 1999)
1925 – Roy James Brown, American soul singer (Good Rockin’ Tonight), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1981)
1929 – Pentti Siimes, Finnish actor (Miriam), born in Helsinki, Finland (d. 2016)
1940 – Roy Ayers, American disco jazz artist (Fever, You Send Me), born in Los Angeles, California
1948 – Judy Geeson, English actress (To Sir With Love, Berserk), born in Arundel, England
1964 – Jack Ma, Chinese entrepreneur and founder of Alibaba Group, born in Hangzhou, China
Famous Deaths
1600 – John Bruhesius [Bruhesen], bishop of Groningen, dies
1868 – Franz Anton Adam Stockhausen, German composer and harpist, dies at 79
1937 – Sergei Tretyakov, Russian constructivist writer, playwright and special correspondent for Pravda, executed by Stalinist regime at 47
1975 – Hans Swarowsky, Austrian conductor (Graz Opera 1947-50), dies at 75
1995 – Derek Meddings, special Effects technician, dies at 64
2005 – Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, American blues singer (Mary is Fine), dies at 81