11th SEPTEMBER
Pierre de Ronsard (b. 1524)
Hawley Crippen (b. 1862)
O Henry (b. 1862)
DH Lawrence (b. 1885)
Konstantin Chernenko (b. OS 1911)
Ferdinand Marcos (b. 1917)
Jessica Mitford (b. 1917)
Alan Badel (b. 1923)
Bill Simpson (b. 1931)
Gherman Titov (b. 1935)
Gerome Ragni (b. 1942)
Barry Sheene (b. 1950)
Jan Fyt (d. 1661)
Giovanni Cassini (d. 1712)
François Couperin (d. 1733)
Prince Louis Mountbatten (d. 1921)
Alice Keppel (d. 1947)
Robert Service (d. 1958)
Leon Payne (d. 1969)
Nikita Kruschev (d. 1971)
Max Fleischer (d. 1972)
Salvador Allende (d. 1973)
Peter Tosh (d. 1987)
Lorne Greene (d. 1987)
Jessica Tandy (d. 1994)
Anna Lindh (d. 2003)
Joe Zawinul (d. 2007)
William Wallace defeats English, Battle of Stirling Bridge, 1297
Battle of Malplaquet, near Mons, 1709
UK defeats Americans, Battle of Brandywine Creek, 1777
Battle of Lake Champlain, 1814
Collapsible tube for oil paints patented by John Rand, 1841
Jenny Lind gives her 1st US concert, Castle Garden, New York NY, 1850
Allies take Sebastapol, 1855
FA Cup stolen from football outfitters, Birmingham, 1895
Halley's Comet 1st observed, Heidelberg, 1909
WC Handy publishes St Louis Blues, 1914
Women's Institute founded, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwymdrobwlanrtsyiliogogogoch, 1915
UK mandate declared in Palestine, 1922
1st TV play, The Queen's Messenger, broadcast, WGY, US, 1928
Hitler makes his address at the Nuremberg Rally, 1935
Roosevelt inaugurates 1st hydroelectric generator, Boulder Dam NV, 1936
Miss California, Lee Ann Meriwether, crowned Miss America in network TV debut, 1936
1st mobile long-distance car-to-car telephone conversation held, US, 1946
Beatles re-record Love Me Do with Andy White on drums, London, 1962
Filming of Magical Mystery Tour begins, Teignmouth, 1967
1st bootleg LP, Dylan's Great White Wonder, appears on sale, US, 1969
Get Smart! ends, CBS TV, US, 1970
Mastermind 1st broadcast, UK, 1972
Junta take over Chilé after military coup, 1973
11 African gold miners killed during riot, near Johannesburg, 1973
Georgi Markov fatally stabbed with poisoned umbrella by Bulgarian secret agent, 1978
Worldwide Race Against Time or Fun Run takes place, 1988
16,000 East German refugees enter Bavaria, 1989
Big Issue 1st published, UK, 1991
Scotland votes to establish its own government, 1997
2,752 die in World Trade Center air attack, New York NY, 2001
Pentagon building damaged in air attack, Washington DC, 2001

12th SEPTEMBER
Richard Hoe (b. 1812)
Richard Gatling (b. 1818)
Lord (Herbert Henry) Asquith (b. 1852)
HL Mencken (b. 1880)
Maurice Chevalier (b. 1888)
Dmitri Shostokovich (b. OS 1906)
Louis MacNeice (b. 1907)
Jesse Owens (b. 1913)
Kenneth Lo (b. 1913)
Desmond Llewellyn (b. 1914)
Stanislaw Lem (b. 1921)
Ella Mae Morse (b. 1924)
Judy Clay (b. 1938)
Barry White (b. 1944)
Jean-Philippe Rameau (d. 1764)
Peter Roget (d. 1869)
Wilfrid Blunt (d. 1922)
Rupert D'Oyly Carte (d. 1948)
William Boyd (d. 1972)
Steve Biko (d. 1977)
Robert Lowell (d. 1977)
Dane Rudhyar (d. 1985)
Jacques-Henri Lartigue (d. 1986)
Roger Hargreaves (d. 1988)
Athene Seyler (d. 1990)
Anthony Perkins (d. 1992)
Raymond Burr (d. 1993)
Jeremy Brett (d. 1995)
Johnny Cash (d. 2003)
Fred Ebb (d. 2004)
Bobby Byrd (d. 2007)
Battle of Muret, 1213
Rebellion breaks out in Wales, 1294
Eton College receives 1st charter, from Henry VI, 1440
Henry Hudson in Half Moon discovers river, Albany NY, 1609
Cromwell sacks Drogheda, 1649
Tuba patented by Johann Moritz of Prussia, 1835
Franklin Expedition becomes stuck in ice, in Erebus and Terror, 1846
Cleopatra's Needle erected on Thames Embankment, 1878
PS Pilcher makes 1st successful controlled UK glider flight, Cardross, 1895
Churchill marries Clementine Hozier, 1908
Alice Wells appointed 1st policewoman, Los Angeles CA, 1910
Reichstag dissolved, Berlin, 1932
Howard Hughes flies plane of own design at record 352 mph, 1935
ENSA formed, 1939
5 boys discover cave & Cro-Magnon paintings, Lascaux, 1940
Mussolini rescued from imprisonment by Germans, 1943
1st US troops reach German soil, Trier, 1944
Allies and Romania sign armistice, 1944
Kruschev becomes 1st secretary of Central Committee of USSR Communist Party, 1953
John F Kennedy marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, Newport RI, 1953
Luna 2, 1st spacecraft to land on Moon, launched, 1959
Bonanza 1st broadcast, US, 1959
MOT tests introduced, UK, 1960
The Monkees 1st broadcast, NBC TV, US, 1966
Gemini 11 launched, US, 1966
Sportsnight With Coleman 1st broadcast, BBC, 1968
Concorde 1st lands at Heathrow to barrage of noise complaints, 1970
Newsbeat 1st broadcast, Radio One, BBC, 1973
Emperor Hailé Selassié deposed, Ethiopia, 1974
Arab commandos explode hi-jacked airliners, Jordan, 1976
Queen Mother appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, 1978
Hurricane Gilbert, worst recorded hurricane, 1st reaches Jamaica, 1988
1st non-Communist government since World War II elected, Poland, 1989
Treaty ending war victors' special powers over Germany signed, 1990
Same-sex couples awarded right to marriage, adoption and divorce, Holland, 2000

13th SEPTEMBER
Clara Schumann (b. 1819)
Milton Hershey (b. 1857)
Arnold Schöenberg (b. 1874)
JB Priestley (b. 1894)
Claudette Colbert (b. 1903)
Bill Monroe (b. 1911)
Leonard Feather (b. 1914)
Roald Dahl (b. 1916)
Charles Brown (b. 1922)
Mel Tormé (b. 1925)
John Smith (b. 1938)
Arleen Augér (b. 1939)
Les Harvey (b. 1945)
Fred (Sonic) Smith (b. 1949)
Stephen Lawrence (b. 1974)
Titus (d. 81)
Michel de Montaigne (d. 1592)
James Wolfe (d. 1759)
Emmanuel Chabrier (d. 1894)
William Heath Robinson (d. 1944)
Leopold Stokowski (d. 1977)
Helen Humes (d. 1981)
Titus Turner (d. 1984)
Mervyn Le Roy (d. 1987)
John Stevens (d. 1994)
Tupac Shakur (d. 1996)
George Wallace (d. 1998)
Covenanters beat Montrose, Philiphaugh, 1645
John Bunyan released from jail after 12 years, Bedford, 1672
Last Great Eclipse of Sun, Dark Sunday, 1699
New York becomes capital of United States of America, 1788
Battle of Tel el Kebir, Egypt, 1882
1st UK conviction based on the use of fingerprints, Old Bailey, 1902
Battle of the Aisne River begins, 1914
Process for making corn flakes patented, 1915
Germany attacks Stalingrad, 1942
Little Richard records Tutti Frutti, Los Angeles CA, 1955
The Mousetrap becomes longest running play in UK with 1998th performance, 1957
The Outer Limits 1st broadcast, US, 1963
Plastic Ono Band debuts at Varsity Stadium, after forming same day, Toronto, 1969
Princess Grace fatally injured in car crash, Monaco, 1982
AIDS declared world epidemic, World Health Organisation, 1985
Israel & PLO sign Middle East Peace Accord, Washington DC, 1993
Iain Duncan Smith becomes leader of the Conservative Party, 2001

14th SEPTEMBER
Cornelius Agrippa (b. 1486)
Michael Haydn (b. 1737)
Luigi Cherubini (b. 1760)
Theodor Storm (b. 1817)
Ivan Pavlov (b. OS 1849)
Charles Dana Gibson (b. 1867)
Hal B Wallis (b. 1899)
Sir Peter Scott (b. 1909)
Jack Hawkins (b. 1910)
Archibald (b. 1912)
Mae Boren Axton (b. 1914)
Terence Donovan (b. 1936)
Paul Kossof (b. 1950)
St Cyprian (d. 258)
Dante Alighieri (d. 1321)
John Harvard (d. 1638)
Nicholas Lancret (d. 1743)
Aaron Burr (d. 1836)
James Fenimore Cooper (d. 1851)
Augustus Pugin (d. 1852)
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (d. 1852)
William McKinley (d. 1901)
Isadora Duncan (d. 1927)
Furry Lewis (d. 1981)
Princess Grace of Monaco (d. 1982)
Janet Gaynor (d. 1984)
Juliet Prowse (d. 1996)
Charles Crichton (d. 1999)
Battle of Homildon-hill, 1402
1st US lighthouse lit, Boston Harbor, 1716
Handel completes The Messiah, London, 1741
Gregorian calendar succeeds Julian calendar, UK, NS 1752
Napoleon enters Moscow, 1812
Frances Scott Key writes words to The Star-Spangled Banner, 1814
US forces capture Mexico City, 1847
Allied forces land, Crimea, 1854
Niagara Falls 1st illuminated, 1860
Typewriter ribbon patented by George Anderson, Memphis TN, 1886
1st football penalty awarded in UK, 1891
Henry Bliss becomes 1st US automobile fatality, New York, 1899
Theodore Roosevelt elected 26th President of the US, 1901
Russia proclaimed a republic, 1917
Graf Zeppelin II, largest rigid airship, has maiden flight, 1938
6A, Pier Head-Bowring Pk, becomes last tram run in Liverpool, 1957
Lunik II becomes 1st machine on Moon, near Mare Serenitatis, 1959
1st Mothercare shop opened, Kingston, 1961
Daily Herald published for last time, to be replaced by The Sun, 1964
Paul VI abolishes the tonsure, 1972
Giant pandas Chia-Chia and Ching-Ching arrive, London Zoo, 1974
Elizabeth Seton becomes 1st US citizen to be canonised, 1975
FW de Klerk becomes State Secretary, South Africa, 1989
Discovery of Smiley, 1st asteroid beyond the orbit of Pluto, announced, 1992
Hendrix becomes 1st rock star honoured with a blue plaque, Mayfair, 1997

15th SEPTEMBER
Jesus Christ (most probable date) (b. 7 BC)
François, Duc de la Rochefoucauld (b. 1613)
Titus Oates (b. 1649)
Jean Sylvain Bailly (b. 1736)
James Fenimore Cooper (b. 1789)
José de la Cruz Díaz (b. 1830)
William Howard Taft (b. 1857)
Ettore Bugatti (b. 1881)
Hans Arp (b. 1887)
Robert Benchley (b. 1889)
Dame Agatha Christie (b. 1890)
Jean Renoir (b. 1894)
Roy Acuff (b. 1903)
Jacques Becker (b. 1906)
Sunnyland Slim (b. 1907)
Fay Wray (b. 1907)
Margaret Lockwood (b. 1916)
Shohei Imamura (b. 1926)
Cannonball Adderley (b. 1928)
William Huskisson (d. 1830)
Arthur Hallam (d. 1833)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (d. 1859)
John Speke (d. 1864)
William Seward Burroughs (d. 1898)
Thomas Wolfe (d. 1938)
Anton Webern (d. 1945)
Georgi Markov (d. 1978)
Prince Far-I (d. 1983)
Cootie Williams (d. 1985)
Johnny Ramone (d. 2004)
Raymond Baxter (d. 2006)
Rick Wright (d. 2008)
Edinburgh High School Riot takes place, 1595
Gen Howe takes New York, 1776
Lunardi makes 1st UK hydrogen balloon ascent, Chelsea-Standon Green End, 1784
Russians set fire to Moscow to halt French occupation, 1812
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua gain independence, 1821
Sir George Cayley flies 1st man-carrying glider, 1852
Army & Navy Co-Operative begins 1st UK mail-order business, 1871
Cocaine 1st used as local anaesthetic, Heidelberg, 1884
Jumbo, circus elephant, killed by train, Ontario, 1885
Tanks 1st used by British Army, Battle of the Somme, 1916
Kerensky proclaims Russia a republic, 1917
1st robot demonstrated in UK, Model Engineering Exhibition, London, 1928
12,000 Royal Navy crew in Atlantic Fleet strike, Invergordon, 1931
Jews outlawed and Swastika becomes official flag, Germany, 1935
Chamberlain visits Hitler, Berchtesgarten, 1938
Heavy German air raid, London, 1940
1st 4-engine jet-propelled fighter tested, Columbus OH, 1947
The Lone Ranger 1st transmitted, ABC TV, US, 1949
European Parliament comes into being, 1952
Kruschev visits United States, 1959
1st traffic wardens go on duty, London, 1960
1st laser beam created, by Theodore Maiman, Los Angeles CA, 1960
Beach Boys (as Pendletones) 1st record Surfin', Guild Music, Los Angeles CA, 1961
The Sun 1st published, replacing Daily Herald, 1964
Zond 5 launched on unmanned round trip to moon, USSR, 1968
Friends Of The Earth founded, San Francisco CA, 1969
John Cleese's silly walk 1st broadcast, Monty Python's Flying Circus, 1970
Newspaper production losses of 25% achieved by NGA industrial action, 1971
Civil war between Christians and Moslems develops, Beirut, Lebanon, 1975
Ali defeats Leon Spinks to regain world heavyweight title, New Orleans LA, 1978
Museum of the Moving Image opened by Prince Charles, London, 1988
Hurricane Gilbert reaches record 220 mph, North Mexico, 1988
Blur play on HMV roof, Oxford Street, London, 1995
Stephen Hawking marries Elaine Mason, Cambridge, 1995
22,000 mile longest footpath opened, Stranraer-Nice, 1999
Sinn Féin party 1st participate in Northern Ireland peace talks, 2000

16th SEPTEMBER
Henry V, King of England (b. 1387)
Andrew Bonar Law (b. 1858)
Alfred Noyes (b. 1880)
Nadia Boulanger (b. 1887)
Admiral Karl Dönitz (b. 1891)
Sir Alexander Korda (b. 1893)
Charlie Byrd (b. 1925)
Ronnie Drew (b. 1934)
Charles V, King of France (d. 1380)
Tomás de Torquemada (d. 1498)
Gabriel Fahrenheit (d. 1736)
Louis XVIII, King of France (d. 1824)
Edward Whymper (d. 1911)
John McCormack (d. 1945)
Maria Callas (d. 1977)
Marc Bolan (d. 1977)
Carol White (d. 1991)
The village of Shawmut changes its name to Boston, US, 1630
Great Seal of the United States 1st used, 1782
Cape Town taken by UK forces, 1795
Moscow burnt by the French under Napoleon, 1812
120 emigrants massacred by Indians, US, 1857
Typesetting machine patented, US, 1857
Livingstone discovers Lake Nyasa, 1859
1st photograph printed in UK magazine, 1859
Post Office Savings Bank instituted, 1861
Oldsmobile & Buick merge to form General Motors, 1908
Trench warfare begins, Aisne Salient, 1914
USSR becomes member of League of Nations, 1934
Shah of Iran abdicates, 1941
John Cobb is 1st to exceed 400 mph in automobile, Bonneville Salt Flats UT, 1947
1st Cinemascope film, The Robe, premiered, New York NY, 1953
Federations of Malaya, Singapore and Sarawak combine as independent Malaysia, 1963
Shindig 1st broadcast, US, 1964
1st Polaris submarine, Resolution, launched, 1966
Metropolitan Opera House opened, Lincoln Center, New York NY, 1966
Tony Jacklin scores hole-in-one, Masters tournament, Sandwich, 1967
Two-tier postal system introduced, UK, 1968
Nixon appears on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, 1968
Biba opened, Kensington High Street, London, 1969
Jimi Hendrix makes last public appearance, Ronnie Scott's, London, 1970
Papua New Guinea becomes independent, 1975
Ordination of women to priesthood approved by Episcopal Church, US, 1976
Liberals enter alliance with Social Democrat Party, 1981
Montreal Protocol, designed to protect ozone layer, agreed, Montreal, 1987
UK quits European Exchange Rate Mechanism, Black Wednesday, 1992

17th SEPTEMBER
Charles III, King of France (b. 879)
Cesare Borgia (b. 1475)
David Dunbar Buick (b. 1854)
William Carlos Williams (b. 1883)
Sir Francis Chichester (b. 1901)
Frank O'Connor (b. 1903)
Sir Frederick Ashton (b. 1904)
Edgar G Ulmer (b. 1904)
Chaim Herzog (b. 1918)
Hank Williams (b. 1923)
Bill Black (b. 1926)
Roddy McDowell (b. 1928)
Anne Bancroft (b. 1931)
Maureen Connolly (b. 1934)
Little Milton (b. 1934)
Ken Kesey (b. 1935)
James II, King of Gt Britain (d. 1701)
Tobias Smollett (d. 1771)
Alfred Victor Vigny (d. 1863)
Walter Savage Landor (d. 1864)
William Henry Fox Talbot (d. 1877)
Willy Messerschmitt (d. 1978)
Jean Piaget (d. 1980)
Richard Baseheart (b. 1984)
Laura Ashley (d. 1985)
Pat Phoenix (d. 1986)
Sir Karl Popper (d. 1994)
Spiro T Agnew (d. 1996)
Jessie Hill (d. 1996)
Frankie Vaughan (d. 1999)
Paula Yates (d. 2000)
Bob Cobbing (d. 2002)
Edinburgh occupied by Jacobites under Young Pretender, 1745
Presidio of San Francisco founded, as Spanish fort, 1776
Constitution of USA signed, Philadelphia, 1787
Wides in cricket 1st scored as such in Sussex v Kent game, 1827
Mount Cenis railway tunnel, Lyons-Turin, opened, 1871
International Potato Exhibition opened, Crystal Palace, 1879
The Gaiety Girl becomes 1st UK musical to open on Broadway, Day's Th, 1894
Lt Thomas Selfridge becomes 1st aeroplane fatality, Fort Meyer VA, 1908
American Professional Football Association formed, Canton OH, 1920
RCA demonstrate 1st 33_ rpm LP record, Savoy Plaza Hotel, New York NY, 1931
German U-boats sink HMS Courageous, 1939
USSR invades Poland, 1939
1st women workers begin duty on London Underground, 1940
Operation Market Garden invasion takes place, Arnhem & Eindhoven, 1944
5-year lighting ban rescinded for railway stations, buses and trains, UK, 1944
1st successful separation of Siamese twins, 1953
830 arrested at Ban The Bomb demo, London, 1961
The Fugitive premiered, US, 1963
Bewitched premiered, US, 1964
Mission Impossible premiered, US, 1967
M_A_S_H premiered, CBS TV, US, 1972
NASA unveil space shuttle Enterprise at ceremonies in Palmdale CA, US, 1976
Begin, Sadat and Carter sign Camp David accord, 1978
Vanessa Williams from New York is 1st black woman to become Miss America, 1983
Sinatra begins 6 nights with Buddy Rich Orchestra, Royal Albert Hall, 1984
Derek Beackon wins 1st UK council by-election for British National Party, 1993
Heather Whitestone from Alabama is 1st deaf woman to become Miss America, 1994
Trevor Nunn marries Imogen Stubbs, London, 1994
Björk receives letter bomb from fanatic who has commited suicide, 1996
Gateshead Millennium Bridge, 2001

18th SEPTEMBER
Trajan (b. 53)
Kirkpatrick Macmillan (b. 1812)
Jean Foucault (b. 1819)
Anton Mauve (b. 1838)
Fay Compton (b. 1894)
Greta Garbo (b. 1905)
Diana Lewis (b. 1915)
Jack Warden (b. 1920)
Mo Mowlam (b. 1949)
Dee Dee Ramone (b. 1952)
William Hazlitt (d. 1830)
Dion Boucicault (d. 1890)
George Macdonald (d. 1905)
Gwen John (d. 1939)
Das Hammarskjöld (d. 1961)
Sean O'Casey (d. 1964)
Franchot Tone (d. 1968)
Jimi Hendrix (d. 1970)
Rob Tyner (d. 1991)
Earl Van Dyke (d. 1992)
Vitas Gerulaitis (d. 1994)
Jimmy Witherspoon (d. 1997)
Russ Meyer (d. 2004)
France formally surrenders Quebec to the British, 1759
Liberty Bell removed from Philadelphia to Allentown PA, 1777
Washington lays cornerstone of US Capitol, Washington DC, 1793
Theatre Royal, Covent Gdn (Royal Opera House), opened, 1809
Chilé becomes independent after revolt against Spain, 1810
Anti-Corn Law League established, Manchester, 1838
Fugitive Slave Act passed, US, 1850
New York Times 1st published, 1851
1st annual illuminations switched on, Blackpool, 1879
Irish Home Rule bill receives Royal Assent, 1914
Battle of Megiddo begins, 1918
Columbia Broadcasting System inaugurated, US, 1927
Japan sets up puppet state of Manchukuo after take-over of Manchuria, 1931
Wagon Train premiered, US, 1957
Gilbert Harding weeps on television, remembering mother, Face To Face, 1960
Get Smart! premiered, US, 1965
1st car with aerofoils, Chaparral 2E, raced in Canada v US contest, 1966
National London & Manchester newspapers close down following NGA action, 1971
Patty Hearst arrested for involvement with Symbionese Liberation Army, 1975
Soyuz XXXVIII launched bearing 1st Cuban astronaut, 1980
France abolishes guillotine, 1981
£8m jewellery stolen from Princess Firyal's Belgravia home, London, 1992
Wales votes to form its own Assembly, 1997

19th SEPTEMBER
William Dyle (b. 1806)
George Cadbury (b. 1839)
Lord (William) Leverhulme (b. 1851)
Arthur Rackham (b. 1867)
Arthur Mullard (b. 1910)
Sir William Golding (b. 1911)
Frances Farmer (b. 1913)
Penelope Mortimer (b. 1918)
Brook Benton (b. 1930)
Derek Nimmo (b. 1930)
Brian Epstein (b. 1934)
Mama Cass Elliott (b. 1941)
Michael Elphick (b. 1946)
Mayer Amschel Rothschild (d. 1812)
James Garfield (d. 1881)
Thomas Barnardo (d. 1905)
Chester F Carlson (d. 1968)
Gram Parsons (d. 1973)
Jack May (d. 1997)
Patricia Hayes (d. 1998)
Skeeter Davis (d. 2004)
Paul Newman (d. 2008)
Earl Palmer (d. 2008)
Nappy Brown (d. 2008)
Battle of Poitiers, 100 Years War, 1356
US soldiers win first Battle of Saratoga, 1777
Montgolfier Bros 1st publically demonstrate hot-air balloon, Versailles, 1783
Auckland founded, New Zealand, 1840
1st commercial laundry established, Oakland CA, 1849
Great North of Scotland Railway opened, Aberdeen-Huntly, 1854
Prussia begins seige of Paris, 1870
1st carpetsweeper patented by Melville Bissell, Grand Rapids MI, 1876
Bertha Soucaret from Guadeloupe wins 1st beauty contest, Belgium, 1888
New Zealand is 1st nation to grant women the vote, 1893
Steamboat Willie, 1st cartoon talkie, shown, New York NY, 1928
Hauptmann charged with kidnap and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr, New York NY, 1934
Germany takes Kiev, 1941
Lord Haw-Haw sentenced to be hung, Old Bailey, 1945
Juan Péron deposed, Argentina, 1955
US conducts 1st underground nuclear test, Nevada, 1957
NASA founded, US, 1958
Buster Edwards gives himself up, Great Train Robbery, 1966
TV Times 1st published, UK, 1968
Mary Tyler Moore Show premiered, CBS TV, US, 1970
Fawlty Towers 1st broadcast, BBC, UK, 1975
1st camcorder launched by JVC, 1976
The Slits record 1st BBC session, for John Peel, 1977
Carl Bridgewater murdered on his paper round, Stourbridge, 1978
St Christopher & Nevis becomes independent, 1983
6,000 die in earthquakes, Mexico City, 1985
BSE (spongiform encephalopathy) 1st diagnosed in a cow, UK, 1985
George Best appears drunk on Wogan, 1990
Military leaders agree to step down to avert US invasion, Haiti, 1994
7 die in 125 mph rail collision, 1315 hr, Southall, 1997
Combat aircraft ordered to Persian Gulf in response to terrorist attacks, US, 2001

20th SEPTEMBER
Arthur, Prince of Wales (b. 1486)
Louisa, Countess of Albany (b. 1752)
Paul I, Tsar of Russia (b. OS 1754)
Sir James Dewar (b. 1842)
Sir George Robey (b. 1869)
Upton Sinclair (b. 1878)
Stevie Smith (b. 1902)
Kenneth More (b. 1914)
Fernando Rey (b. 1917)
Rachel Roberts (b. 1927)
Jakob Grimm (d. 1863)
Giovanni Battista Donati (d. 1873)
Annie Besant (d. 1933)
Guy Gibson (d. 1944)
Jean Sibelius (d. 1957)
Yvonne Arnaud (d. 1958)
Jim Croce (d. 1973)
Ben Webster (d. 1973)
Steve Goodman (d. 1984)
Roy Kinnear (d. 1988)
Jule Styne (d. 1994)
Raisa Gorbachev (d. 1999)
Gherman Titov (d. 2000)
Joan Littlewood (d. 2002)
Brian Clough (d. 2004)
Simon Wiesenthal (d. 2005)
Sven Nykvist (d. 2006)
Aëtius defeats Huns under Attila, Châlons-sur-Marne, 451
Richard I defeats French, Gisors, 1198
Salisbury Cathedral consecrated, 1258
Magellan begins 1st successful world circumnavigation, Seville, 1519
Treaty of Hampton Court signed, 1562
1st Battle of Newbury, English Civil War, 1643
Treaty of Ryswick signed, 1697
Bonnie Prince Charlie escapes to France in L'Heureux, 1746
Battle of Alma ends, Crimean War, 1854
UK recaptures Delhi from Indian Mutineers, 1857
Electric range patented, 1859
Chester A Arthur sworn in as 21st president of the United States, 1881
Cunard liner Mauretania is launched, R Tyne, 1906
1st RSPCA clinic opened, Liverpool, 1917
Sterling taken off gold standard, 1931
Methodist Church of Gt Britain and Ireland established, 1932
1st Cannes Film Festival opened, 1946
1st jet crossing of North Pole, 1951
Last fly-past of Hurricanes to commemorate Battle of Britain, London, 1959
James Meredith is blocked from enrolling at University of Mississippi, 1962
1st prenatal blood transfusion performed, Auckland, 1963
Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames disband, 1966
Queen Elizabeth II launched, Clydebank, 1967
Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in 'battle of sexes', Astrodome, Houston TX, 1973
Siouxsie & the Banshees play 1st gig, 100 Club Punk Festival, London, 1976
40 die when suicide bomber drives into US Embassy, Beirut, 1984
North West Times 1st published, 1988
Radio Data Systems (RDS) launched, BBC, 1988
Inter City 225 makes inaugural journey, Kings Cross-Leeds, 1989
France votes in favour of Maastricht Treaty, 1992
Tilting train sets record 1 hr 53 min journey time, London-Manchester, 2004




Last updated: April 09, 2009