September 23

September 23 is the 266th day of the year (267th in leap years). There are 99 days remaining. Also an important date in pagan history celebrating fall.

Events

• 490 BC – Battle of Marathon; origin of marathon long-distance race (run by Phidippides)
• 1122 – Concordat of Worms
• 1459 – The Battle of Blore Heath. The first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, fought at Blore Heath, in Staffordshire, England
• 1529 – Siege of Vienna begins as Suleiman II begins his attack on the city.
• 1642 – First commencement exercises occur at Harvard University.
• 1779 – USS Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, wins a fight against the British ships of war Serapis and Countess of Scarborough off the coast of England
• 1780 – British Major John Andre arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold's treason
• 1803 – Battle of Assaye
• 1806 – Lewis and Clark return, after exploring the Pacific Northwest.
• 1845 – The Knickerbocker Baseball Club, the first professional baseball team, is founded in New York.
• 1846 – Discovery of Neptune by French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier and British astronomer John Couch Adams; verified by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle
• 1868 – Grito de Lares (Lares Revolt) occurs in Puerto Rico against Spanish rule.
• 1875 – William Bonney ("Billy the Kid") is arrested for the first time.
• 1884 – Herman Hollerith patents his mechanical tabulating machine.
• 1912 – First Mack Sennett "Keystone Comedy" is released.
• 1922 – Gdynia Seaport Construction Act passed by the Polish parliament.
• 1932 – The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd renamed Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
• 1941 – First gas experiments at Auschwitz
• 1952 – Richard Nixon makes his "Checkers" speech
• 1962 – The Jetsons aired for the first time.
• 1969 – The Chicago 8 trial opens in Chicago
• 1973 – Juan Peron returns to power in Argentina
• 1981 – Jack Henry Abbott, best-selling author, is arrested for murder
• 1983 – Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations.
• 1983 – Gerrie Coetzee of South Africa becomes the first boxing world heavyweight champion ever to come from Africa when he knocks out defending WBA champion Michael Dokes in Akron, Ohio.
• 1993 – Sonic the Hedgehog CD is released for the Sega Mega-CD in Japan.
• 1999 – NASA announces that it lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
• 2002 – Mozilla Firefox (Phoenix) web browser is born: version 0.1
• 2004 – At least 1,070 in Haiti reported killed by floods due to Hurricane Jeanne.

Births

• 480 BC – Euripides, playwright (d. 406 BC)
• 63 BC – Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar
• AD 1158 – Geoffrey Plantagenet, Duke of Brittany
• 1598 – Eleonore Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1655)
• 1650 – Jeremy Collier, English bishop (d. 1726)
• 1713 – King Ferdinand VI of Spain
• 1800 – William McGuffy, educator (McGuffy's Readers)
• 1819 – Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist (d. 1896)
• 1838 – Victoria Woodhull, suffragist (d. 1927)
• 1852 – William Stewart Halsted, surgeon (d. 1922)
• 1863 – Mary Eliza Church Terrell, U.S. writer, social reformer (d. 1954)
• 1865 – Baroness Emmuska Orczy, novelist (d. 1947)
• 1889 – Walter Lippmann, journalist
• 1890 – Friedrich Paulus, German General (d. 1957)
• 1895 – Johnny Mokan, basball player (d. 1985)
• 1897 – Walter Pidgeon, actor (d. 1984)
• 1899 – Louise Nevelson, artist
• 1911 – Frank Moss, U.S. Senator Utah
• 1916 – Aldo Moro, Italian politician (d. 1978)
• 1920 – Mickey Rooney, actor
• 1926 – John Coltrane, saxophonist, composer (d. 1967)
• 1930 – Ray Charles, U.S. R&B and jazz musician, singer (d. 2004)
• 1931:
  • Gerald Stairs Merrithew, educator, statesman
  • Pat Suzuki, actor
• 1938 – Romy Schneider, actress (d. 1982)
• 1939:
  • Roy Buchanan, U.S. guitarist (d. 1988)
  • Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
• 1942 – Sila María Calderón, Governor of Puerto Rico
• 1943 – Julio Iglesias, singer
• 1945 – Paul Petersen, actor
• 1946 – Franz Fischler, politician
• 1947 – Mary Kay Place, actor
• 1949 – Bruce Springsteen, singer, songwriter
• 1958 – Marvin Lewis, American football coach
• 1959:
  • Jason Alexander, actor
  • Lita Ford, singer, guitarist
  • Elizabeth Peña, actress
• 1964 – Koshi Inaba, Japanese singer(B'z)
• 1969 – Gary Douglas Graham, "Walace". No-one in particular.
• 1970 – Ani DiFranco, musician
• 1974 – Harumi Inoue, Japanese actress, model, pop idol
• 1974  – Matt Hardy, professional wrestler
• 1975 – Jaime Bergman, American model and actress
• 1984 – Anneliese van der Pol, actress
• 1997 – Ahmed Bashein, athlete

Deaths

• 76 – Pope Linus
• 918 – King Conrad I of Germany
• 1241 – Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic historian, poet, and politician
• 1253 – (or September 22) King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia
• 1573 – Azai Hisamasa, Japanese warlord (b. 1524)
• 1835 – Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (b. 1801)
• 1870 – Prosper Mérimée, French author (b. 1803)
• 1873 – Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (b. 1823)
• 1889 – Wilkie Collins, author
• 1900 – William Marsh Rice, philanthropist, university founder
• 1917 – Werner Voss German World War I flying ace (b. 1897)
• 1939 – Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (b. 1856)
• 1943 – Elinor Glyn, English author (b. 1864)
• 1950 – Sam Barry, Hall of Fame basketball coach
• 1973 – Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet (b. 1904)
• 1974 – Cliff Arquette, comedian, actor
• 1978 – Lyman Bostock, Major League Baseball player, murdered (b. 1950)
• 1987 – Bob Fosse, dancer, choreographer, actor
• 1988 – Tibor Sekelj, Croat explorer (b. 1912)
• 1994 – Robert Bloch, author
• 1998 – Mary Frann, actress
• 2000
  • Aurelio Rodríguez, Major League Baseball player (b. 1947)
  • Carl Rowan, U.S. journalist (b. 1925)
• 2002 – Vernon Corea, broadcaster, pioneer of Radio Ceylon/BBC
• 2004 – Andre Hazes, Dutch singer

Holidays and observances

• Feast day of Saint Adomnan of Iona
• Feast day of St Constantius
• In ancient Latvia, the second day of Mikeli
• Japanese Autumnal Equinox Day (秋分の日/Shuubun no hi)
• Astrology: First day of sun sign Libra

External links

• BBC: On This Day

September 22 · September 24 · August 23 · October 23 · more historical anniversaries