|
What happened in history on this day: September 20?
On September 20 in ...
- 622 - Mohammad's Hegira.
- 1066 - Battle of Fulford near York, England; King Harald Hardrada of Norway versus Anglo-Saxon armies of Mercia and Northumbria. Large losses on each side, King Harald is the winner.
- 1519 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan with five ships and 270 men sets sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia.
- 1565 - Spaniards capture Fort Caroline Florida and massacre the French.
- 1598 - Dutch land on and name island in Indian Ocean Mauritius in honor of Prince Maurice of Nassau.
- 1664 - Maryland enacts first anti-amaglmation law to prevent widespread intermarriage of English women and black men.
- 1697 - The Treaty of Ryswick is signed by Great Britain and France, with Swedish mediation. Zweibrücken is restored to the king of Sweden as count palatine of the Rhine.
- 1786 - Continental Congress passes ordinance for establishing a Mint and regulating value and alloy of coinage.
- 1792 - French defeat Prussians at Valmy.
- 1833 - Birth of Ernesto Teodoro in Moneta, Italy; journalist (Nobel Peace Prize 1907).
- 1850 - Slave trade abolished in District of Columbia, but slavery allowed to continue.
- 1854 - British and French defeat Russians at Alma, in the Crimea.
- 1857 - British are in full possession of city of Delhi, India.
- 1859 - Patent granted on the electric range.
- 1860 - First British royalty to visit US, Prince of Wales (King Edward VII).
- 1861 - Union Pact signed, uniting States of Bolívar, Boyacá, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Santander, and Tolima as Estados Unidos de Colombia.
- 1873 - Panic on New York Stock Exchange as railroad bonds default and bank failures lead to ten-day New York bank holiday.
- 1878 - Birth of Upton Sinclair; novelist (Jungle).
- 1884 - 6.2-mile Arlberg railroad tunnel completed in Austria.
- 1884 - Equal Rights Party nominates female candidates for US President and Vice President.
- 1886 - Witwatersrand district in Transvaal is declared a public goldfield.
- 1899 - In Menderes Valley, Turkey (Ottoman Empire), a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurs. 1,100 deaths. Severe damage to buildings, bridges, railroad and telegraph lines; many landslides.
- 1899 - Birth of Elliot Nugent; director (And so They were Married).
- 1900 - Pope Leo XIII dissolves the Papal States.
- 1902 - Birth of Kermit Maynard in Vevey, Indiana, USA; cowboy actor (Saturday Roundup).
- 1902 - Birth of Steve Smith; singer (Lawrence Welk Show).
- 1910 - Birth of Jacques-Baptise LeBrun in France; finn yachtsman (Olympic-gold-1932).
- 1911 - Birth of Frank Devol in Moundsville, West Virginia, USA; orchestra leader (I'm Dickens He's Fenster).
- 1917 - Birth of Arnold Jacob Auerbach AKA Red Auerbach; NBA coach, general manager (Boston Celtics).
- 1922 - Birth of Frank Comstock in San Diego, California, USA; orchestra leader (Jimmie Rodgers Show).
- 1924 - Birth of James Galanos in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; fashion designer (Coty Hall of Fame-1959).
- 1924 - Death of Edward D. Putnam, first curator of American Numismatic Association.
- 1927 - Birth of Clarice Taylor in Virginia, USA; actress (Nurse Bailey - Nurse).
- 1927 - Birth of Rachel Roberts in Wales; actress (Foul Play, Doctor's Wife).
- 1929 - Birth of Anne Meara in Brooklyn, New York, USA; comedian/actress (Stiller and Meara, Archie Bunker's Place).
- 1933 - Birth of Bob Banas in New York City, New York, USA; choreographer (Malibu U, Jonathan Winters Show).
- 1933 - Pittsburgh Pirates play first NFL game, lose 23-2.
- 1934 - Birth of Sophia Loren in Rome, Italy; actress (Desire Under the Elms, Black Orchid).
- 1936 - Birth of Dany Carrel in Touraine, Indo-china; actress (Passionate Summer).
- 1938 - Birth of Pia Lindstom; entertainment critic (WNBC-TV).
- 1938 - Birth of Tom Tresh; New York Yankees (1962 American League Rookie of the Year).
- 1938 - The Czech government refuses to accept the proposal to give up the Sudetenland.
- 1939 - Russians occupy Grodno, Poland, 90 miles southwest of Vilna in northeast Poland near the Lithuanian border.
- 1939 - German Colonel General Walther von Brauchitsch informs the German Army that "operations in Poland are completed". In twenty days of war, German forces occupied 100,000 square miles of territory, capturing 400,000 prisoners.
- 1941 - Birth of Dale Chihuly in Tacoma, Washington, USA; artist in glass (Louis Tiffany Award 1967).
- 1941 - Birth of John A Wismont Junior in California, USA; watercolor painter (over 50,000).
- 1942 - Gunther Hagg becomes world champion of all records from 1500m to 5000m.
- 1945 - German rocket engineers begin work in US.
- 1947 - Fiorello La Guardia, American politician (Mayor-Republican-New York City), dies.
- 1948 - Mexican Baseball league disbands.
- 1950 - Birth of Debi Morgan in Dunn, North Carolina, USA; actress (Angie - All My Children, Cry Uncle).
- 1950 - Birth of Loredana Berte in Milan, Italy; second wife of Björn Borg.
- 1950 - In Murray, Kentucky, USA, several buildings are struck by falling meteorites.
- 1951 - First North Pole jet crossing.
- 1951 - Birth of Guy LaFleur in Quebec, Canada; NHL right wing (Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers).
- 1951 - Birth of JoAnna Cameron in Colorado, USA; actress (I Love My Wife, Isis).
- 1951 - Ford Frick elected commissioner of Major League Baseball.
- 1952 - CBS premieres The Jackie Gleason Show 60-minute comedy variety series.
- 1953 - NBC premieres the A Letter to Loretta 30-minute anthology TV show.
- 1954 - First FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) computer program is run.
- 1954 - First National People's Congress adopts Chinese constitution.
- 1954 - Birth of Brinke Stevens [Charlene Brinkman] in California, USA; actress (Slumber Party Massacre).
- 1954 - Birth of Silvio Leonard in Cuba; 100m sprinter (Olympic-silver-1980).
- 1954 - Roger Bannister awarded Britain's Silver Pears Trophy.
- 1956 - NBC airs The Dinah Shore Show, formerly called The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, and expanded to 30 minutes.
- 1957 - Birth of Fran Drescher in New York City; actress (Cadillac Man).
- 1957 - Birth of Vladmir Tkachenko; USSR basketball (Olympic-bronze-1980).
- 1958 - Baltimore Orioles' knuckler Hoyt Wilhelm no-hits New York Yankees 1-0.
- 1959 - Birth of Alannah Currie; rocker (Thompson Twins - "Doctor, Doctor").
- 1959 - Olin Howlin, actor (Swifty - Circus Boy), dies at age 63.
- 1960 - United Nations General Assembly admits 13 African countries and Cyprus (total 96 nations).
- 1961 - After 84 1/3 innings Bill Fischer gives up a base on balls.
- 1961 - New York Yankees' Roger Maris hits home run number 59 and barely misses number 60 in game 154 of the season. New York Yankees clinch pennant 26.
- 1962 - James Meredith is blocked from entering Mississippi University as its first black.
- 1966 - Birth of Nuno Bettencourt in Azores; rock guitarist (Extreme - More Than Words).
- 1966 - US Surveyor B launched toward Moon; crashes September 23.
- 1967 - Birth of Gunnar Nelson; rock singer (Nelsons - "Love and Affection").
- 1967 - Birth of Matthew Nelson; rock singer (Nelsons - "Love and Affection").
- 1967 - Hurricane Beulah hits Texas-Mexican border, kills 38.
- 1968 - The NBC TV network airs the first The Name of the Game 90-minute crime drama TV show in the USA.
- 1968 - Mickey Mantle hits his 536th and final home run of his major league baseball career, during a 4-3 loss to the Chicago Red Sox at the Yankee Stadium.
- 1969 - NBC resumes airing The Andy Williams Show 60-minute musical variety TV show.
- 1969 - Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Bob Moose throws no-hitter at Shea Stadium defeating the New York Mets, 4-0.
- 1970 - Luna 16 lands on Moon's Mare Fecunditatis, drills core sample.
- 1971 - James Westerfield, actor (Travels of Jaime McPheeters), dies at age 59.
- 1973 - Billy Jean King beats Bobby Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in "The Battle of the Sexes" tennis match at the Houston Astrodome. Global TV audience estimated at 50 million. The winner collected $100,000.
- 1973 - Glenn Strange, actor (Sam the Bartender - Gunsmoke), dies at age 74.
- 1973 - Death of Jim Croce at age 30 in a plane crash; singer/songwriter ("You Don't Mess Around with Jim", "Time in a Bottle", "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", "I've Got a Name").
- 1973 - Willie Mays announces retirement at end of 1973 season.
- 1975 - David Bowie's "Fame" single goes #1 for two weeks.
- 1975 - Gary Sentman draws a record 176-pound longbow to a maximum 28.25" draw.
- 1976 - Sid Berstein offers US$230 million for a charity concert for The Beatles' reunion.
- 1976 - ABC-TV debuts the Captain and Tennille Show.
- 1977 - Voyager 2 launched for fly-by of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
- 1978 - General Rahimuddin Khan assumes the post of Martial Law Governor of Balochistan.
- 1979 - NASA launches HEAO.
- 1979 - French paratroopers help David Dacko to overthrow Bokassa in the Central African Republic.
- 1979 - Death of Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah, King of Malaysia (born 1907).
- 1979 - Death of Ludvík Svoboda, president of Czechoslovakia (born 1895).
- 1980 - Plaque dedicated in Thurman Munson's memory at Yankee Stadium.
- 1980 - Spectacular Bid runs in Belmont alone as three horses drop out.
- 1981 - Brazilian river boat Sobral Santos capsizes in Amazon River, Óbidos, Brazil, killing at least 300.
- 1981 - Joe Danelo kicks New York Giants' record 55-yard field goal.
- 1983 - 3,112 turn out to see the Pittsburgh Pirates play the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.
- 1984 - NBC-TV debuts The Cosby Show starring Bill Cosby.
- 1984 - ABC airs the first episode of TV show Who's the Boss?.
- 1984 - Hezbollah car-bombs the U.S. embassy annex in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 22 people.
- 1986 - Wichita State Shockers blow a 35-3 lead; lose 36-35 to Morehead State.
- 1986 - 38th Emmy Awards.
- Best Comedy: The Golden Girls,
- Best Drama: Cagney & Lacey.
- 1986 - NBC debuts the Matlock TV show, starring Andy Griffith.
- 1987 - Alain Prost wins record 28th Formula one auto race.
- 1987 - Walter Payton scores NFL record 107th rushing touchdown.
- 1989 - F. W. de Klerk is sworn in as State President of South Africa.
- 1990 - German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany ratify reunification.
- 1991 - (to September 21) In Sandy, Utah several patients are held hostage and a nurse is killed in the Alta View Hospital hostage incident.
- 1993 - Death of Erich Hartmann, world's highest-scoring Fighter Ace (born 1922).
- 1994 - Death of Abioseh Nicol, Sierra Leonean diplomat, United Nations official and author (born 1924).
- 1996 - Death of Paul Weston AKA Paul Wetstein at age 84; Orchestra leader, music arranger (Rudy Vallee's Fleischmann Hour radio show, Tommy Dorsey, Dinah Shore, Bob Crosby, Johnny Mercer's Music Shop radio show, Chesterfield Supper Club, Duffy's Tavern), TV musical director (Danny Kaye, Jonathan Winters, Jim Nabors).
- 1999 - Death of Raisa Gorbachev, Soviet first lady (born 1932).
- 2005 - In the USA, the NFL sees the groundbreaking ceremony for two new stadiums, the Indianapolis Colts' Lucas Oil Stadium and the Dallas Cowboys' temporarily named Dallas Cowboys New Stadium.
- 2005 - Simon Wiesenthal, Nazi hunter, dies in Vienna, Austria, at age 96. He was responsible for tracking down over 1100 war criminals.
- 2006 - American League East baseball title won by New York Yankees.
- 2006 - In the USA, the CW Television Network (a merger of The WB and UPN) officially begins operations.
- 2007 - Opening of the 2007 Universal Forum of Cultures, in the city of Monterrey, Mexico.
- 2008 - South African president Thabo Mbeki resigns at the request of the African National Congress.
- 2009 - In Imola, Italy, round 10 of the FIA World Touring Car Championship is held. Race 1 is won by Gabriele Tarquini; race 2 is won by Yvan Muller.
- 2011 - Death of Burhanuddin Rabbani, President of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996 (born 1940).
- 2018 - The MV Nyerere capsizes on Lake Victoria, killing at least 228 passengers.
- 2019 - (to November 2) The 2019 Rugby Union World Cup is held in Japan; the South Africa Springboks defeat the England national rugby union team 32-12.
- 2020 - BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) release the FinCEN Files, a collection of 2,657 documents relating to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network describing over 200,000 suspicious transactions valued at over US$2 trillion that occurred from 1999 to 2017 across multiple global financial institutions.
- 2021 - The 2021 Canadian federal election is held, with Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party retaining a minority government.
|
|
vvv advertisement vvv
^^^ advertisement ^^^
You can pick a particular day to view that day's events in history.
Bookmark this URL: http://kpolsson.com/thisday/ and revisit each day.
(this URL will automatically re-direct to the file containing the current day's events)
Or, visit my Timelines of History page.
|