September 20 is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 102 days remaining until the end of the year.
In the Northern Hemisphere, meteorological Autumn starts on 20 September. In the Southern Hemisphere, meteorological Spring starts on this date.
[edit] Events
- 480BC Greeks defeat Persians in the Battle of Salamis
- 1058 Agnes de Poitou and Andrew I of Hungary meet to negotiate about the border-zone in present-day Burgenland.
- 1187 Saladin begins the Siege of Jerusalem.
- 1260 the Great Prussian Uprising among the old Prussians begins against the Teutonic Knights.
- 1378 Cardinal Robert of Geneva, called by some the Butcher of Cesena, is elected as Avignon Pope Clement VII, beginning the Papal schism.
- 1498 The 1498 Meiō Nankaidō earthquake generates a tsunami that washes away the building housing the statue of the Great Buddha at Kōtoku-in in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan; since then the Buddha has sat in the open air.
- 1519 Ferdinand Magellan sets sail from Sanlϊcar de Barrameda with about 270 men on his expedition to circumnavigate the globe.
- 1596 Diego de Montemayor founds the city of Monterrey in New Spain.
- 1697 The Treaty of Rijswijk is signed by France, England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic ending the Nine Years' War (168897).
- 1737 The finish of the Walking Purchase which forces the cession of 1.2 million acres (4,860 km²) of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony.
- 1792 French troops stop allied invasion of France, during the War of the First Coalition at Valmy.
- 1835 Ragamuffin rebels capture Porto Alegre, then capital of the Brazilian imperial province of Rio Grande do Sul, triggering the start of ten-year-long Farroupilha Revolution.
- 1848 The American Association for the Advancement of Science is created.
- 1854 Battle of Alma: British and French troops defeat Russians in the Crimea.
- 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 ends with the recapture of Delhi by troops loyal to the East India Company.
- 1860 The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII of the United Kingdom) visits the United States.
- 1863 American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga ends.
- 1870 Bersaglieri corps enter Rome through the Porta Pia and complete the unification of Italy.
- 1871 Bishop John Coleridge Patteson is martyred on the island of Nukapu, a Polynesian outlier island now in the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. He is the first bishop of Melanesia.
- 1881 Chester A. Arthur is inaugurated as the 21st President of the United States following the assassination of James Garfield.
- 1893 Charles Duryea and his brother road-test the first American-made gasoline-powered automobile.
- 1906 Cunard Line's RMS Mauretania is launched at the Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyard in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
- 1909 The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the South Africa Act 1909, creating the Union of South Africa from the British Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal Colony.
- 1910 The ocean liner SS France, later known as the "Versailles of the Atlantic", is launched.
- 1911 White Star Line's RMS Olympic collides with British warship HMS Hawke.
- 1920 Foundation of the Spanish Legion.
- 1930 Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is formed by Archbishop Mar Ivanios.
- 1942 Holocaust in Letychiv, Ukraine. In the course of two days the German SS murders at least 3,000 Jews.
- 1961 Greek general Konstantinos Dovas becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
- 1962 James Meredith, an African-American, is temporarily barred from entering the University of Mississippi.
- 1967 RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched at John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland. It is operated by the Cunard Line.
- 1970 Syrian tanks roll into Jordan in response to continued fighting between Jordan and the fedayeen.
- 1971 Having weakened after making landfall in Nicaragua the previous day, Hurricane Irene regains enough strength to be renamed Hurricane Olivia, making it the first known hurricane to cross from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific.
- 1973 Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in The Battle of the Sexes tennis match at the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas.
- 1977 The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is admitted to the United Nations.
- 1979 A coup d'ιtat in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokasa I.
- 1982 The National Football League players begin a 57-day strike.
- 1984 A suicide bomber in a car attacks the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing twenty-two people.
- 1990 South Ossetia declares its independence from Georgia.
- 2000 The British MI6 Secret Intelligence Service building is attacked by unapprehended forces using a Russian-built RPG-22 anti-tank missile.
- 2001 In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "war on terror".
- 2002 The Kolka-Karmadon rock/ice slide.
- 2003 Maldives civil unrest: the death of prisoner Hassan Evan Naseem sparks a day of rioting in Malι.
- 2007 Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters marched on Jena, Louisiana, in support of six black youths who had been convicted of assaulting a white classmate.
- 2008 A dump truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others.
- 2011 The United States ends its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.
[edit] Births
- 524 Kan B'alam I, ruler of Maya state of Palenque (d. 583)
- 1486 Prince Arthur Tudor, son of King Henry VII of England (d. 1502)
- 1593 Gottfried Scheidt, German composer and organist (d. 1661)
- 1599 Christian the Younger, German Protestant military leader (d. 1623)
- 1608 Jean-Jacques Olier, French catholic priest, founder of The Sulpicians (d. 1657)
- 1685 Giuseppe Matteo Alberti, Italian Baroque composer and violinist (d. 1751)
- 1746 Mσric Benyovszky Hungarian count (d. 1786)
- 1758 Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Emperor of Haiti (d. 1806)
- 1778 Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian naval officer and explorer (d. 1852)
- 1800 Benjamin Franklin White, shape note "singing master", and compiler of the shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp (d. 1879)
- 1820 John F. Reynolds, American Civil War general (d. 1863)
- 1831 Kate Harrington, American teacher, writer and poet (d. 1917)
- 1833 Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1918)
- 1842 Sir James Dewar, Scottish chemist (d. 1923)
- 1844 William H. Illingworth, American photographer (d. 1893)
- 1851 Henry Arthur Jones, English writer (d. 1929)
- 1853 Chulalongkorn, King of Thailand (d. 1910)
- 1861 Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress (d. 1955)
- 1872 Maurice Gamelin, French army general (d. 1958)
- 1873 Sidney Olcott, Canadian film director (d. 1949)
- 1873 Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian race car driver (d. 1944)
- 1878 Upton Sinclair, American writer (d. 1968)
- 1880 Louise Peete, American murderer (d. 1947)
- 1884 Maxwell Perkins, American editor and publisher (d. 1947)
- 1885 Jelly Roll Morton, American jazz pianist, bandleader and composer (d. 1941)
- 1886 Charles Williams, British author (d. 1945)
- 1889 Charles Reidpath, American athlete (d. 1975)
- 1892 Roy Turk, American songwriter and lyricist (d. 1934)
- 1893 Hermann Lux, German footballer (d. 1962)
- 1899 Leo Strauss, German-born philosopher (d. 1973)
- 1902 Stevie Smith, British poet (d. 1971)
- 1906 Jean Drιville, French Film director (d. 1997)
- 1911 Shriram Sharma Acharya, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1991)
- 1913 John Collins, American jazz guitarist (d. 2001)
- 1914 Kenneth More, English actor (d. 1982)
- 1916 Malik Meraj Khalid, Former Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 2003)
- 1917 Red Auerbach, American basketball coach (d. 2006)
- 1917 Fernando Rey, Spanish-born actor (d. 1994)
- 1917 Don Starr, American-born actor (d. 2005)
- 1917 Clarice Taylor, American actress (d. 2011)
- 1920 Alberto de Lacerda, Portuguese poet (d. 2007)
- 1920 Jay Ward, American animated cartoonist (d. 1989)
- 1921 Chico Hamilton, American jazz drummer and bandleader
- 1922 William Kapell, American pianist (d. 1953)
- 1923 Geraldine Clinton Little, Irish-born poet (d. 1997)
- 1923 Maurice Sauvι, Canadian economist and politician (d. 1992)
- 1924 Gogi Grant, American singer
- 1924 Albert Marre, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2012)
- 1924 Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Indian actor
- 1925 James Bernard, English film composer (d. 2001)
- 1925 Ananda Mahidol, King of Thailand (d. 1946)
- 1925 Bobby Nunn, American singer (The Coasters) (d. 1986)
- 1926 Jackie Paris, American jazz singer and guitarist (d. 2004)
- 1927 Colette Bonheur, Canadian singer (d. 1966)
- 1927 Johnny Dankworth, English musician and composer (d. 2010)
- 1927 Red Mitchell, American jazz bassist, composer, lyricist, and poet(d. 1992)
- 1927 Rachel Roberts, Welsh actress (d. 1980)
- 1928 Olga Ferri, Argentine dancer and choreographer (d. 2012)
- 1928 Donald Hall, American poet and US Poet Laureate
- 1928 Kirsten Rolffes, Danish actress (d. 2000)
- 1929 Anne Meara, American comic and actress
- 1930 Eddie Bo, American singer and pianist (d. 2009)
- 1931 Cherd Songsri, Thai filmmaker (d. 2006)
- 1933 Dennis Viollet, English former footballer (d. 1999)
- 1933 Steve McCall, American jazz drummer (d. 1989)
- 1934 Takayuki Kubota, Japanese martial artist
- 1934 Sophia Loren, Italian actress
- 1935 David Pegg, English footballer (d. 1958)
- 1935 Keith Roberts, British science fiction author (d. 2000)
- 1935 Jim Taylor, American football player
- 1937 Birgitta Dahl, Swedish politician
- 1937 Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress and singer (d. 2005)
- 1938 Eric Gale, American jazz and session guitarist and record producer (d. 1994)
- 1939 Robert L. Gerry III, American businessman
- 1940 Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan
- 1941 Dale Chihuly, American glass artist
- 1941 Jim Cullum, Jr., American jazz cornetist
- 1941 Alix de Lannoy, Belgian mother of Stιphanie de Lannoy (d. 2012)
- 1942 Gιrald Tremblay, Canadian politician
- 1946 Pete Coors, American businessman
- 1946 Markandey Katju, Indian judge
- 1947 Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, French TV journalist and writer
- 1947 Steve Gerber, American comics writer (d. 2008)
- 1947 Jude Devereaux, American romance novelist
- 1947 Mia Martini, Italian singer (d. 1995)
- 1947 Billy Bang, American jazz violinist and composer (d. 2011)
- 1947 Chris Ortloff, former New York state Republican politician and admitted pedophile
- 1947 Bruce Pasternack, American CEO
- 1948 George R. R. Martin, American writer
- 1948 Chuck Panozzo, American musician (Styx)
- 1948 John Panozzo, American musician (Styx) (d. 1996)
- 1949 Mahesh Bhatt, Indian film director
- 1949 Anthony Denison, American actor
- 1951 Cornelia Behm, German politician
- 1951 Guy Lafleur, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1951 Javier Marνas, Spanish author, translator and academic
- 1954 Henry Samueli, American NHL team owner
- 1956 Gary Cole, American actor
- 1956 Debbi Morgan, American actress
- 1956 John Harle, English saxophonist/composer
- 1956 Steve Coleman, African American saxophone player, spontaneous composer, composer and band leader
- 1957 Alannah Currie, New Zealander musician (Thompson Twins)
- 1957 Rich DiSilvio, American new media developer & artist
- 1957 Michael Hurst, New Zealand actor
- 1958 Arn Anderson, American wrestler
- 1959 Danny Devos, Belgian artist
- 1959 Joanna Domańska, Polish classical pianist and music teacher
- 1960 Deborah Roberts, American journalist and TV reporter
- 1960 Dave Hemingway, British musician, songwriter, and vocalist
- 1961 Lisa Bloom, American lawyer and television personality
- 1963 Velcrow Ripper, Canadian documentary filmmaker
- 1964 Randy Bradbury, American musician (Pennywise)
- 1964 Maggie Cheung, Hong Kong actress
- 1965 Robert Rusler, American actor
- 1966 Nuno Bettencourt, Portuguese rock musician
- 1967 Martin Harrison, American football player
- 1967 Kristen Johnston, American actress
- 1967 Gunnar Nelson, American musician (Nelson)
- 1967 Matthew Nelson, American musician (Nelson)
- 1968 Van Jones, American attorney and activist
- 1968 Leah Pinsent, Canadian actress
- 1968 Ben Shepherd, American bassist (Soundgarden)
- 1968 Darrell Russell, American race car driver (d. 2004)
- 1969 Victoria Dillard, American actress
- 1969 Megumi Kudo, Japanese pro-wrestler
- 1969 Tim Rogers, Australian musician
- 1969 Patrick Pentland, Canadian musician (Sloan)
- 1969 Richard Witschge, former Dutch footballer
- 1971 Todd Blackadder, New Zealand rugby player
- 1971 Masashi Hamauzu, Japanese composer
- 1971 Henrik Larsson, Swedish footballer
- 1971 Dominika Peczynski, Swedish singer (Army of Lovers)
- 1971 Sebastian Roth, German musician
- 1973 Ronald McKinnon, American football player
- 1974 Michael Waddington, American defense lawyer
- 1975 Asia Argento, Italian actress
- 1975 Moon Bloodgood, American actress
- 1975 Jason Robinson, American jazz saxophonist, electronic musician, and composer
- 1975 Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombian race car driver
- 1976 Jon Bernthal, American actor
- 1976 Agata Buzek, Polish actress
- 1976 Yo Hitoto, Japanese pop singer
- 1976 Yui Horie, Japanese voice actress
- 1976 Enuka Okuma, Canadian actress
- 1976 Reuben Singh, British entrepreneur
- 1977 Namie Amuro, Japanese pop singer
- 1977 Chris Mooney, American writer
- 1978 Jason Bay, Canadian baseball player
- 1978 Patrizio Buanne, Italian singer
- 1978 Sarit Hadad, Israeli singer
- 1978 Dante Hall, American football player
- 1978 T.J. Tucker, American baseball player
- 1979 Sean Davis, English footballer
- 1979 Dan Gillespie Sells, British musician The Feeling
- 1979 Wilfried Tevoedjre, Beninese swimmer
- 1980 Mariacarla Boscono, Italian fashion model
- 1980 Vladimir Karpets, Russian cyclist
- 1980 Jonathan Le Billon, British actor
- 1980 Mehrzad Marashi, German singer
- 1980 Curtis Parker, Aussie Gun Fisho
- 1980 Madison Young, American pornographic actress
- 1980 Ryan Donowho, American actor
- 1981 Joanie Dodds, American model
- 1981 Feliciano Lσpez, Spanish tennis player
- 1981 Jordan Tata, American baseball player
- 1982 Jason Bacashihua, American ice hockey player
- 1982 Aaron Burkart, German rally driver
- 1982 Brian Fortuna, American dancer
- 1982 Sarah Glendening, American actress
- 1982 Athanasios Tsigas, Greek footballer
- 1983 Yuna Ito, Japanese singer and actress
- 1983 Freya Murray, Scottish athlete
- 1983 Αngel Sαnchez, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1984 Brian Joubert, French figure skater
- 1986 Aldis Hodge, American actor
- 1987 Tito Tebaldi, Italian rugby player
- 1987 Jack Lawless, American drummer
- 1987 Sarah Natochenny, American actress, film editor and fashion model
- 1990 Phillip Phillips, American Idol Season 11 winner
- 1990 Marilou, Canadian pop singer
- 1990 John Tavares, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1990 Erich Gonzales, Filipina actress
- 1991 Spencer Locke, American actress
- 1991 Isaac Cofie, Ghanaian footballer
- 1992 Amidu Salifu, Ghanaian footballer
- 1995 Laura Dekker, Dutch sailor
- 1995 Sammi Hanratty, American actress
[edit] Deaths
- 1246 Mikhail of Chernigov of Kiev (b. 1185)
- 1384 King Louis I of Naples (b. 1339)
- 1460 Gilles Binchois, Flemish composer (b. 1400)
- 1586 Chidiock Tichborne, English conspirator and poet (b. 1558)
- 1586 John Ballard, English Jesuit priest and conspirator
- 1590 Lodovico Agostini, Italian composer (b. 1534)
- 1625 Heinrich Meibom, German historian and critic (b. 1555)
- 1627 Jan Gruter, Dutch critic (b. 1560)
- 1630 Claudio Saracini, Italian composer (b. 1586)
- 1639 Johannes Meursius, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1579)
- 1643 Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland, English politician and writer (b. 1610)
- 1684 Kim Seok-ju, korean Neo-Confucian scholars, politicians and writers. (b. 1634)
- 1721 Thomas Doggett, Irish actor (b. 1640)
- 1803 Robert Emmet, Irish patriot (b. 1780)
- 1810 Mir Taqi Mir, Urdu poet (b. 1723)
- 1815 Nicolas Desmarest, French geologist (b. 1725)
- 1839 Sir Thomas Hardy, Royal Navy Vice-Admiral and First Lord of the Admiralty (b. 1769)
- 1840 Josι Gaspar Rodrνguez de Francia, Paraguay dictator and National Hero (b. 1766)
- 1852 Philander Chase, American university founder (b. 1775)
- 1855 Josι Trinidad Reyes, Honduran Catholic priest and educator (b. 1797)
- 1863 Jacob Grimm, German writer and folklorist (b. 1785)
- 1884 Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist (b. 1802)
- 1898 Theodor Fontane, German writer (b. 1819)
- 1906 Robert R. Hitt, American politician (b. 1834)
- 1908 Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (b. 1844)
- 1927 George Nichols, American actor and film director (b. 1864)
- 1930 Gombojab Tsybikov, Russian explorer (b. 1873)
- 1932 Wovoka, American Northern Paiute religious leader (b. 1856)
- 1933 Annie Besant, English suffragette (b. 1847)
- 1939 Paul Bruchιsi, French Canadian Catholic archbishop (b. 1855)
- 1945 William Buehler Seabrook, American occultist (b. 1884)
- 1945 Augusto Tasso Fragoso, Brazilian president (b. 1869
- 1945 Jack Thayer, RMS Titanic survivor (b. 1894)
- 1945 Eduard Wirths, Nazi physician (b. 1909)
- 1946 Raimu, French actor (b. 1883)
- 1947 Fiorello La Guardia, American politician (b. 1882)
- 1948 Husain Salaahuddin, Maldivian writer (b. 1881)
- 1957 Heino Kaski, Finnish composer (b. 1885)
- 1957 Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (b. 1865)
- 1958 Oscar O'Brien, Canadian catholic priest and folklorist (b. 1892)
- 1970 Alexandros Othonaios, Greek general, 126h Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1879)
- 1971 Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
- 1972 Pierre-Henri Simon, French historian, essayist and novelist (b. 1903)
- 1973 Jim Croce, American singer and songwriter (b. 1943)
- 1975 Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- 1979 Ludvνk Svoboda, Czech politician (b. 1895)
- 1980 Sanpei Hayashiya, Japanese comedian (b. 1925)
- 1984 Steve Goodman, American folk music singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
- 1985 Ruhi Su, Turkish folk music singer and songwriter
- 1987 Michael Stewart, American playwright (b. 1924)
- 1989 Richie Ginther, American race car driver (b. 1930)
- 1993 Erich Hartmann, German fighter pilot (b. 1922)
- 1994 Jule Styne, American songwriter (b. 1905)
- 1994 Abioseh Nicol, Sierra Leonean diplomat (b. 1924)
- 1996 Paul Erdős, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1913)
- 1996 Paul Weston, American arranger and conductor (b. 1912)
- 1997 Matt Christopher, American children's author. (b. 1917)
- 1997 Nick Traina, American singer (Link 80) (b. 1978)
- 1998 Muriel Humphrey Brown, American politician (b. 1912)
- 1999 Raisa Gorbachova, wife of Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1932)
- 1999 Robert Lebel, Quebec ice hockey administrator (b. 1905)
- 2000 Gherman Titov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1935)
- 2002 Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Russian actor (b. 1971)
- 2003 Lord Williams of Mostyn, British politician (b. 1941)
- 2003 Gordon Mitchell, American actor (b. 1923)
- 2003 Simon Muzenda, Zimbabwe politician (b. 1922)
- 2004 Brian Clough, English footballer and football manager (b. 1935)
- 2004 Townsend Hoopes, American politician (b. 1922)
- 2005 Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Nazi hunter (b. 1908)
- 2006 Armin Jordan, Swiss conductor (b. 1932)
- 2006 John W. Peterson, American songwriter (b. 1921)
- 2007 Johnny Gavin, Irish footballer (b. 1928)
- 2010 Kenny McKinley, American football player (b. 1987)
- 2010 Leonard Skinner, American high school gym teacher; namesake of rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd (b. 1933)
- 2011 Burhanuddin Rabbani, President of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996. (b. 1940)
[edit] Holidays and observances