26th September

Events

• 1580 - Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe
• 1687 - The Parthenon in Athens is partially destroyed after an explosion caused by the bombing from Venetian forces led by Morozini who were besieging the Ottoman Turks stationed in Athens.
• 1777 - British troops occupy Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the American Revolution.
• 1789 - Thomas Jefferson appointed first United States Secretary of State; John Jay appointed first Chief Justice of the United States; Samuel Osgood appointed first United States Postmaster General; Edmund Randolph appointed first United States Attorney General.
• 1907 - New Zealand becomes a dominion
• 1914 - The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.
• 1918 - Battle of Meuse
• 1934 - Steamship RMS Queen Mary is launched
• 1944 - Operation Market Garden fails
• 1950 - United Nations troops recapture Seoul from the North Koreans.
• 1957 - Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story opens on Broadway
• 1960 - In Chicago, Illinois the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
• 1961 - Bob Dylan makes his public debut
• 1962 - Yemen Arab Republic is proclaimed
• 1962 - Premiere of "The Beverly Hillbillies" on CBS
• 1969 - Chicago Seven trial begins
• 1969 - The Beatles album Abbey Road is released in the UK
• 1981 - Nolan Ryan sets a Major League Baseball record by throwing his fifth no-hitter.
• 1983 - Australia II, first non-American winner, wins the Americas Cup
• 1988 - Ben Johnson is stripped of his Olympic gold medal in the 100 meter dash for failing a drug test
• 1991 - Biosphere 2 opens
• 1997 - A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A-300 crashes near Medan, Indonesia, airport, killing 234
• 2002 - The Joola, an overloaded Senegalese ferry capsizes in the ocean off the coast of The Gambia killing more than 950

Births

• 1729 - Moses Mendelssohn, German philosopher
• 1774 - John Chapman ("Johnny Appleseed"), environmentalist
• 1870 - King Christian X of Denmark († 1947)
• 1871 - Winsor McCay, American cartoonist († 1934)
• 1874 - Lewis Hine, photographer, social activist († 1940)
• 1875 - Edmund Gwenn, actor († 1959)
• 1888 - T. S. Eliot, American poet († 1965)
• 1889 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher († 1976)
• 1897 - Pope Paul VI († 1978)
• 1895 - George Raft, acor († 1980)
• 1898 - George Gershwin, American composer († 1937) born in Brooklyn, New York
• 1914 - Jack LaLanne, fitness advocate
• 1925 - Marty Robbins, country music singer
• 1926 - John Coltrane, American musician († 1967)
• 1926 - Julie London, singer, actress
• 1933 - Donna Douglas, actress
• 1936 - Winnie Mandela, South African anti-apartheid activist
• 1945 - Bryan Ferry, singer
• 1948 - Olivia Newton-John, Australian singer
• 1951 - Dave Casper, Football Hall of Famer
• 1955 - Carlene Carter, country music singer
• 1956 - Clip Payne, musician (P Funk)
• 1956 - Linda Hamilton, actress
• 1956 - Linda Hamilton, American actress
• 1967 - Shannon Hoon, singer ("Blind Melon") († 1995)
• 1962 - Melissa Sue Anderson, American actress
• 1963 - Lysette Anthony, actress
• 1964 - Les Claypool, American musician
• 1968 - James Caviezel, actor
• 1981 - Serena Williams, American tennis player

Deaths

• 1802 - Jurij Vega, Slovene mathematician
• 1820 - Daniel Boone, American frontiersman
• 1868 - August Ferdinand Möbius, German mathematician and astronomer
• 1904 - John F. Stairs, businessman, statesman
• 1937 - Bessie Smith, American blues singer
• 1945 - Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer
• 1947 - Hugh Lofting, British writer
• 1952 - Philosopher George Santayana in Rome at age 88.
• 1991 - Miles Davis, American jazz musician
• 1998 - Betty Carter, jazz singer
• 2003 - Robert Palmer, British singer
• 2003 - Nawabzada Narullah Khan, Pakistani politician and democrat

Holidays

September 25 - September 27 - August 26 - October 26 - more historical anniversaries