Today in History

On This Day In History, September 7th

1978 Georgi Markov is murdered
The Bulgarian writer and dissenter had left Bulgaria in 1969 and was working at BBC in London during the time of his murder. His murder, which is popularly known as the Umbrella Murder took place while he was crossing the Waterloo Bridge in London. The assassin, nicknamed Piccadilly, used a modified umbrella to shoot a pellet full of ricin into Markov’s leg. Markov died 4 days later, on September 11 of ricin poisoning.

1977 Treaty giving the Panama Canal to Panama is Signed
The Torrijos–Carter Treaties were two treaties signed between the heads of state of the US and Panama. The treaties gave control of the canal that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean to Panama. The canal was constructed by and had been in the control of, the United States since 1904.

1940 Germans Begin the Blitz over London
The Germans began strategically bombing the United Kingdom and London on this day. For 57 days, the German Luftwaffe aerially bombed London, killing over 20,000 people and destroying over a million homes in the city. The strategy lasted until May 1941 but did not succeed in breaking British resolve. By 1941, German attention was diverted to the Soviet Union.

1936 The Tasmanian Tiger Becomes Extinct
The last surviving Tasmanian Tiger – a carnivorous marsupial, died in captivity at the Hobart Zoo, Tasmania, Australia. Called Benjamin, the thylacine, as the species was called, is believed to have died due to neglect. Thylacines were natives of Australia and New Guinea and went extinct due to overhunting and the introduction of invasive species like dingos.
 


Births On This Day, September 7th 🎂

1984 Vera Zvonareva
Russian tennis player

1940 Abdurrahman Wahid
Indonesian politician, 4th President of Indonesia

1909 Elia Kazan
Greek/American actor, director, producer, writer

1908 Paul Brown
American football coach, executive

1533 Elizabeth I of England

Deaths On This Day, September 7th 🪦

2011 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl air disaster
Victims of the

1997 Mobutu Sese Seko
Congolese politician, President of Zaire

1984 Don Tallon
Australian cricketer

1978 Keith Moon
English drummer, songwriter, producer

1566 Suleiman the Magnificent
Ottoman sultan
 
1630
city of Boston, Massachusetts founded
1888
Edith McLean is 1st U.S. baby to be placed in an incubator at State Emigrant Hospital on Wards Island, NY
1915
Johnny Gruelle patents his 'Raggedy Ann' doll
1936
Boulder Dam on Colorado River between Nevada&Arizona begins operation. The name is changed to Hoover in honor of 31st U.S. President, Herbert Hoover
1963
TV show' American Bandstand' moves to California, airs once/week on Saturdays. Dick Clark hosted the show from 1956-1989
1979
ESPN{Entertainment &Sports Programming} launches as a 1/2 show Its 1st anchors were Lee Leonard&George Grande
2004
Hurricane Ivan,a Category 5 storm hits Grenada,destroys 90% of its buildings, kills 39 people
2021
El Salvador becomes the 1st country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender
 

On This Day In History, September 8th

2015 The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Makes its Debut
The comedian was a correspondent for The Daily Show and the host of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central before he took over David Letterman as the host of The Late Show on CBS. The first show featured Presidential hopeful and former Governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush and actor George Clooney.

1991 The Republic of Macedonia Declares its Independence From Yugoslavia
The landlocked Balkan country became independent after a referendum for independence from Yugoslavia was approved by about 96% of the voting public.

1986 Oprah Winfrey Show Airs For the First Time
The widely popular daytime talk show hosted and produced by Oprah Winfrey ran for 25 years and won over 45 Daytime Emmy Awards. The topic for the first episode of the show was titled “How to Marry the Man or Woman of Your Choice”.

1974 President Ford Pardons Nixon
Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the United States, issued Proclamation 4311, which pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed in his role as the U.S. President. In August 1974, Nixon had resigned from the office of the President - the only President to do so in the history of the United States after impeachment proceedings against him were started in the House of Representatives because of his connection to the Watergate Scandal. The pardon was controversial. Many experts believe that it was a contributing factor to Ford’s inability to get elected as President 2 years later.

1966 Star Trek Makes its Television Debut
The popular science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry was about the adventures of the crew of the starship USS Enterprise. The starship was commanded by Captain James T. Kirk, who was assisted by Science Officer Spock and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Leonard McCoy. The first episode of the series, which is now known as The Original Series (TOS), was called the Man Trap and aired on NBC.
 
Births On This Day, September 8th 🎂

1979 Pink
American singer-songwriter, producer, actress

1970 Neko Case
American singer-songwriter, guitarist

1932 Patsy Cline
American singer-songwriter, pianist

1925 Peter Sellers
English film actor, comedian, singer

1922 Lyndon LaRouche
American politician, activist, founded the LaRouche movement

Deaths On This Day, September 8th

2022 Queen Elizabeth II 🥹

2006 Peter Brock
Australian race car driver

2003 Leni Riefenstahl
German director

1949 Richard Strauss
German composer, conductor

1916 Friedrich Baumfelder
German pianist, composer, conductor
 
On This Day In History, September 9th

2015 Queen Elizabeth II becomes longest reigning British monarch
She broke the record set by Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne on June 20, 1837, and reigned for 63 years, 7 months and 2 days.

2007 Manuel Noriega's sentence in the United States ends
Manuel Noriega, former military ruler of Panama, was released after 17 years of imprisonment in the US. He was imprisoned on charges of drug trafficking, money laundering, and racketeering.

2001 Unix Billennium is Celebrated
Unix time or Unix epoch, POSIX time or Unix timestamp, is a time system that measures the number of seconds since midnight UTC of January 1, 1970, not counting leap seconds. At 01:46:40 UTC on September 9, 2001, Unix time reached the billionth-second timestamp.

1991 Tajikistan Declares its Independence from the Soviet Union
The Central Asian country had been conquered by Russia in the late 19th century. In 1929, the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic was created as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. Independence in 1991 came after the collapse of the USSR.

1948 Kim Il-sung Establishes North Korea
After the Second World War, the Korean peninsula had been divided across the 38th parallel. The northern part was occupied by the Soviets while the south was occupied by the Americans. The Cold War impeded unification and on October 9, 1948, Kim Il-sung declared the creation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea with the support of the USSR.
 
Births On This Day, September 9th 🎂

1975 Michael Bublé
Canadian singer-songwriter, actor

1960 Hugh Grant
English actor, producer

1941 Otis Redding
American singer-songwriter, producer

1890 Colonel Sanders
American businessman founded KFC

1828 Leo Tolstoy
Russian author

Deaths On This Day, September 9th 🪦

2003 Edward Teller
Hungarian/American physicist

2001 Ahmad Shah Massoud
Afghan commander

1978 Jack Warner
Canadian/American film producer

1976 Mao Zedong
Chinese military leader, politician

1087 William the Conqueror
King of England, Duke of Normandy
 
1776
Congress officially renames United Colonies to United States of America
1908
aviator, Orville Wright makes 1st hr long airplane flight which lasted 62 min at Fort Myer, Virginia
1945
1st computer'bug' in a computer program was discovered by a team of Cambridge, Mass engineers, incl Grace Hopper. A real life moth was removed by tweezers from a relay and taped into the log book
2001
HBO's mini series' Band of Brothers' based on the book by historian, Stephen Ambrose, created by film director, Stephen Speilberg&actor Tom Hanks. At the time it became the most expensive show ever, cost $125 mill to produce, each episode cost $12. 5 mil
2015
Queen Eliz II becomes Great Britain's longest reigning monarch at 63 yrs, 7 months. The previous record was held be her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria
 
On This Day In History, September 11th

2012 Attacks on The US Diplomatic Compounds in Benghazi, Libya
About 150 Islamic militants attacked two different US diplomatic buildings in the city with gunfire, grenades, and mortars. 4 Americans including US ambassador J. Christopher Stevens died in the attack. The incident led to political controversy in the country, especially related to the statements made by then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and members of the State Department.

2011 Occupy Wall Street movement begins
The Occupy Wall Street movement began in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street District of New York City

2007 Russia Tests Father of All Bombs
The world’s most powerful non-nuclear bomb was a thermobaric bomb – it detonated mid-air and uses the oxygen in the air to create an explosion. The energy released by the bomb equaled 44 tons of TNT.

2001 September 11 Attacks in the United States
A series of 4 coordinated suicide attacks were carried out by the terrorist group Al Qaeda on the morning of September 11. Nineteen militants hijacked 4 California-bound aeroplanes from East Coast cities in the US and used the planes to target major American landmarks.

Two planes crashed into the two towers of the World Trade Center, which caused them to collapse within two hours of being struck. One plane crashed into the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, while the fourth plane, thought to be bound towards Washington DC, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers tried to fight back against the hijackers. The attacks injured about 6000 people, claimed the lives of about 3000 people, caused significant economic damage, and destroyed property worth tens of billions of dollars. The attack was the precursor to the War Against Terror and the War in Afghanistan.
 
Births On This Day, September 11th 🎂

1977 Ludacris
American rapper, producer, and actor, founded Disturbing the Peace Records

1965 Moby
American singer-songwriter, DJ

1965 Bashar al-Assad
Syrian politician, 21st President of Syria

1924 Rudolf Vrba
Czech/Canadian holocaust survivor, educator

1885 D. H. Lawrence
English novelist

Deaths On This Day, September 11th 🪦

1987 Peter Tosh
Jamaican singer-songwriter, guitarist

1973 Salvador Allende
Chilean physician, politician

1971 Nikita Khrushchev
Soviet politician, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union

1948 Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Indian/Pakistani lawyer, politician, founder of Pakistan

1941 Christian Rakovsky
Bulgarian revolutionary, politician
 
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11th September

1297 Scottish hero William Wallace defeated the English at Stirling Bridge. Wallace's statement before the battle was - 'We come here with no peaceful intent, but ready for battle, determined to avenge your wrongs and set our country free.'

1777 American troops led by George Washington were defeated by the British at the Battle of Brandywine Creek, in the American War of Independence. The British victory was significant, but it was not decisive. In the end, the British troops occupied the battlefield, but they had not destroyed Washington's army nor cut it off from the capital at Philadelphia.

1895 The prestigious FA Cup trophy was stolen from football outfitters William Shillock of Birmingham. 68 years later an 83 year old man confessed he'd melted it down to make counterfeit halfcrown coins.

1973 President overthrown in Chile coup. President Salvador Allende of Chile, the world's first democratically-elected Marxist head of state, died in a revolt led by army leaders.

1978 Writer and broadcaster Georgi Markov died of blood poisoning, four days after he said he was stabbed with an umbrella at a London bus stop.

1997 Voters in Scotland approve the creation of a Scottish parliament in a national referendum.
 
On This Day In History, September 12

1992 First African American Woman Goes into Space
Mae C. Jemison, a physician, was a Mission Specialist on STS-47, the 50th space flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. It was the space shuttle Endeavour’s second flight. During over 190 hours she spent in space, she conducted experiments on weightlessness and motion sickness.

1974 A Coup in Ethiopia ousts Emperor Haile Selassie
The coup was led by a group of the Ethiopian armed forces and other law enforcement agencies of the country called the Derg. After the coup, Selassie was imprisoned. He died two years later, on August 28, 2015. Selassie is also often considered to be a Messiah by those who follow Rastafarianism, a religious belief that originated in Jamaica.

1970 The Soviet Union launches the Luna 16
It was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return to Earth with rock samples. Luna 16 landed on Earth on September 24.

1953 Jacqueline Bouvier Marries John Fitzgerald Kennedy
The much-talked-about wedding of the season took place in Newport, Rhode Island. At the time of the wedding, John F. Kennedy was a Senator in the US Congress from the state of Massachusetts. In 1960, Kennedy won the presidency after beating Republican candidate Richard Nixon.

1943 The Gran Sasso Raid is conducted by the German paratroopers at the behest of Hitler
The purpose of the airborne operation, also known as Operation Eiche, was to free Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from a ski resort where he was being held on the orders of the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel III. Using gliders, German troops entered the ski resort and successfully rescued Mussolini.
 
Births On This Day, September 12 🎂

1980 Yao Ming
Chinese basketball player

1967 Louis C.K.
American comedian, actor, screenwriter

1956 Sam Brownback
American politician, 46th Governor of Kansas

1951 Bertie Ahern
Irish politician

1892 Alfred A. Knopf, Sr.
American publisher founded Alfred A. Knopf Inc.

Deaths On This Day, September 12 🪦

2014 Ian Paisley
Irish minister, politician, 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland

2009 Norman Borlaug
American agronomist, humanitarian, Nobel Prize laureate

2008 David Foster Wallace
American author

2003 Johnny Cash
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor

1977 Robert Lowell
American poet
 
12th September

1683 John III of Poland and Charles of Lorraine lift the siege of Vienna, ending Ottoman expansion in Europe.

1846 While her family was away, Elizabeth Barrett sneaked out of the house and met Robert Browning at St. Marylebone Parish Church, where they were married. She returned home for a week, keeping the marriage a secret, then fled with Browning to Italy. She never saw her father again.

1908 The marriage of Winston Churchill to Clementine Hozier.

1919 The British government says the self-declared Irish parliament is illegal and bans the IRA and Sinn Fein.

1977 The leader of the black consciousness movement in South Africa, Steve Biko, died in police custody. Bantu Stephen Biko was the 21st black political detainee to die in detention in South Africa since June 1976.
 
13th September

1645 The Royalists are routed at the Battle of Philiphaugh, defeating Charles I's cause in Scotland.

1759 General James Wolfe claims the Canadian territories for Britain with victory over the French near Quebec.

1902 The first conviction in Britain using finger-prints as evidence was in the case against Harry Jackson by the Metropolitan Police at the Old Bailey. He had left his thumbprint in wet paint on a window sill and was tracked down through it. He was sentenced to seven years.

1940 Buckingham Palace was hit by a bomb during 'The Blitz'.

1980 Hercules, the bear who went missing on Benbecula (in the Outer Hebrides) while being filmed for a Kleenex television commercial, was recaptured after 24 days 'on the run'.

1993 A 'declaration of principles', the first peace accord between Palestinians and Israelis, is signed.
 
17th September 1931
The first long-playing record, a 33 1/3 rpm recording, was demonstrated at the Savoy Plaza Hotel in New York by RCA-Victor.
The venture was doomed to fail however due to the high price of the record players, which started around $95, and wasn't revived until 1948.
 
17th September 1956
The BBC announces the removal of Bill Haley and his Comets "Rockin' Through The Rye" from its play list because they felt the song went against traditional British standards.
The record, based on an 18th century Scottish Folk tune, stood at #5 on the UK chart and included the lyrics "All the lassies rock with me when rockin' through the rye."
 
On This Day In History, September 17th

1978 Camp David Accords are signed
The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The accords were the precursor to the 1974 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty

1939 Man runs 10,000 meters in less than 30 minutes for the first time in recorded history
Finnish runner, Taisto Mäki, broke his previous record by running the distance in 29 minutes 52 seconds.

1894 A day after Japan wins the Battle of Pyongyang it defeats China in the Battle of the Yalu River
Also known as the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the conflict was fought between Japan and China during the First Sino-Japanese War.

1862 Bloodiest Single Day of the American Civil War takes place
The Battle of Antietam was fought near Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Maryland. Thought to be the deadliest single day of the American Civil War – at least 4000 soldiers on both sides died – the battle ended Confederate General Robert E. Lee's incursion into the North. While there were no clear victors, many believed that the withdrawal of Confederate soldiers from the battlefield before the Union Army did mean that the Union had won the battle.

1809 Treaty of Fredrikshamn is signed between Sweden and Russia
Also known as the Treaty of Hamina, it concluded the Finnish War and ceded Swedish territories, which later formed Finland to Russia.
 

Births On This Day, September 17th 🎂

1985 Tomáš Berdych
Czech tennis player

1975 Jimmie Johnson
American race car driver

1923 Hank Williams
American singer-songwriter, guitarist

1915 M. F. Husain
Indian painter, director

1879 Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Indian businessman, politician, activist

Deaths On This Day, September 17th 🪦

1997 Red Skelton
American actor, comedian

1996 Spiro Agnew
American politician, 39th Vice President of the United States

1994 Karl Popper
Austrian/English philosopher

1948 Ruth Benedict
American anthropologist

1179 Hildegard of Bingen
German saint, philosopher, composer
 
1872
Phillip W. Pratt patents sprinkler system for extinguishing fires
1920
NFL is formed in Canton, Ohio, 12 teams pay $100 to join American Professional Football Assoc, name is changed to NFL in 1922
1947
Brooklyn Dodgers, baseball player, Jackie Robinson is named 'Rookie of the Year' by Sporting News.His batting avg was .297, hit 12 HRs, 31 doubles, lead National League in 29 stolen bases, scored 125 runs
1954
novel' Lord of the Flies' by author, William Golding is published. The story of British school boys stranded on a remote island, how they survive. The movie version was released in 1963
1976
NASA publically unveils space shuttle' Enterprise' in Palmdale, Calif. It was named after Star Trek Enterprise from TV show 'Star Trek' cast members were in attendance
2011
Occupy Wall Street movement begins with a protest in Zuccotti Park located in NYC"s financial district.The group took on the slogan' We are the 99 percent, protesting the disparity between most citizens and the wealthiest 1%,the group congregated in banks, corporate headquarters,college&university campuses
 


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