Off Topic Bullsh*t Thread Volume XXIV

[NaturalRaptor]

Might possibly hit up the Crown! 

[Krandall]

I did that a few nights back, picked up a 12pk of coke. Mmmmmmmmmmmm

[NaturalRaptor]

So Peels is selling in bulk now!   

[Peelz]

I give a deposit on the packaging too

[Krandall]

peelz iz da man.

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History

On Sept. 17, 1862, Union forces hurled back a Confederate invasion of Maryland in the Civil War battle of Antietam. With 23,100 killed, wounded or captured, it remains the bloodiest day in U.S. military history.

On Sept. 17, 1934, Maureen Connolly, the first woman to win the tennis Grand Slam, was born. Following her death on June 21, 1969, her obituary appeared in The Times.
   
On September 17, 1859, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the conscription of naturalized American citizens into military service in their countries of origin.


On this date in:

1787    The U.S. Constitution was completed and signed by a majority of delegates attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

1907    Warren Burger, the 15th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was born in St. Paul, Minn.

1920    The American Professional Football Association - a precursor of the National Football League - was formed in Canton, Ohio.

1939    The Soviet Union invaded Poland during World War II.

1947    James V. Forrestal was sworn in as the first U.S. secretary of defense.

1972    The comedy series "M.A.S.H." premiered on CBS.

1976    NASA unveiled the space shuttle Enterprise.

1980    Former Nicaraguan president Anastasio Somoza was assassinated in Paraguay.

1986    The Senate confirmed the nomination of William H. Rehnquist as the 16th chief justice of the United States.

1994    Heather Whitestone of Alabama became the first deaf woman to be crowned Miss America.

1996    Former Vice President Spiro T. Agnew died at age 77.

1997    Northern Ireland's main Protestant party joined peace talks, bringing the major players together for first time.

1999    President Bill Clinton lifted restrictions on trade, travel and banking imposed on North Korea a half-century earlier.

2001    Wall Street trading resumed for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - its longest shutdown since the Depression; the Dow lost 684.81 points, its worst one-day point drop to date.

2001    Pro sporting events resumed after a six-day hiatus following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

2003    New York Stock Exchange chairman Dick Grasso resigned amid a furor over his $139.5 million pay package.

2004    Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev claimed responsibility for the recent school siege in Beslan and other terrorist attacks in Russia that claimed more than 430 lives.

2004    San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds hit his 700th career home run, joining Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755) as the only players to reach the milestone.

Current Birthdays



Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson turns 65 years old today.

83    George Blanda
Football Hall of Famer

77    Charles Grassley
U.S. senator, R-Iowa

71    David Souter
Retired Supreme Court justice

60    Fee Waybill
Rock singer (The Tubes)

59    Cassandra Peterson
Actress ("Elvira, Mistress of the Dark")

57    Rita Rudner
Comedian

48    Baz Luhrmann
Director ("Moulin Rouge")

45    Kyle Chandler
Actor ("Friday Night Lights")

40    Mark Brunell
Football player

35    Constantine Maroulis
Singer, actor ("American Idol," "The Bold and the Beautiful")

30    Dan Haren
Baseball player

25    Jon Walker
Rock musician (Panic at the Disco)

Historic Birthdays

Maureen Connolly

9/17/1934 - 6/21/1969
American tennis player
(Go to obit.)

64    Frederick von Steuben
9/17/1730 - 11/28/1794
German officer; helped the cause of U. S. independence

75    Mercy Jackson
9/17/1802 - 12/13/1877
American physician; pioneered women's acceptance in medicine

74    David Dunbar Buick
9/17/1854 - 3/6/1929
Scottish-born American automobile manufacturer

69    Christian Lange
9/17/1869 - 12/11/1938
Norwegian Nobel Prize-winning peace advocate (1921)

51    Rube Foster
9/17/1879 - 12/9/1930
American baseball player; founded the Negro National League

79    William Carlos Williams
9/17/1883 - 3/4/1963
American physician, poet, novelist and short story writer

70    Sir Francis Chichester
9/17/1901 - 8/26/1972
English adventurer; sailed solo around the world

83    Sir Frederick Ashton
9/17/1904 - 8/18/1988
English choreographer and director of the Royal Ballet

87    Warren Burger
9/17/1907 - 6/25/1995
American 15th chief justice of the United States (1969-86)

66    David Oistrakh
9/17/1908 (O.S.) - 10/24/1974
Ukrainian violin virtuoso

29    Hank Williams
9/17/1923 - 1/1/1953
American country western singer and guitarist

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History

On Sept. 20, 1973, Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a $100,000 winner-take-all tennis match.

On Sept. 20, 1878, Upton Sinclair, author of "The Jungle" and passionate crusader for social reform, was born. Following his death on Nov. 25, 1968, his obituary appeared in The Times.
   
On September 20, 1902, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about a leading reform mayor and potential Democratic presidential nominee.


On this date in:

1519    Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan set out from Spain on a voyage to find a western passage to the Spice Islands in Indonesia.

1870    Italian troops took control of the Papal States, leading to the unification of Italy.

1873    Panic swept the New York Stock Exchange in the wake of railroad bond defaults and bank failures.

1881    Chester A. Arthur was sworn in as the 21st president of the United States, succeeding James A. Garfield, who had been assassinated.

1962    James Meredith, a black man, was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Gov. Ross R. Barnett.

1973    Singer-songwriter Jim Croce, 30, died in a plane crash in Louisiana.

1977    The first wave of Southeast Asian "boat people" arrived in San Francisco under a U.S. resettlement program.

1984    A suicide car bomber attacked the U.S. Embassy annex in north Beirut, killing a dozen people.

1998    After playing in a record 2,632 consecutive games over 16 seasons, Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles sat out a game against the New York Yankees.

1999    Lawrence Russell Brewer was convicted in the dragging death of an African-American man, James Byrd Jr., in Jasper, Texas.

2005    Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal died at age 96.




Current Birthdays

Actress Sophia Loren turns 76 years old today.


86    Gogi Grant
Singer

81    Anne Meara
Actress, comedian

59    Guy LaFleur
Hockey Hall of Famer

43    Kristen Johnston
Actress ("3rd Rock From the Sun")

43    Gunnar Nelson
Rock singer (Nelson)

43    Matthew Nelson
Rock singer (Nelson)

Historic Birthdays

Upton Sinclair

9/20/1878 - 11/25/1968
American novelist and activist
(Go to obit.)

94    Sir Richard Griffith
9/20/1784 - 9/22/1878
Irish geologist and civil engineer

58    Sterling Price
9/20/1809 - 9/29/1867
American governor of Missouri and Confederate general

80    Sir James Dewar
9/20/1842 - 3/27/1923
English chemist and physicist

93    Herbert Putnam
9/20/1861 - 8/14/1955
American librarian; led the Library of Congress (1899-1939)

62    Maxwell Perkins
9/20/1884 - 6/17/1947
American editor

83    Sue Sophia Dauser
9/20/1888 - 3/8/1972
American nurse; oversaw the Navy Nurse Corps in World War II

74    Leo Strauss
9/20/1899 - 10/18/1973
German-born American political philosopher

68    Stevie Smith
9/20/1902 - 3/7/1971
English poet, novelist and short story writer

69    Sid Chaplin
9/20/1916 - 1/11/1986
English novelist and short story writer

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History

On Sept. 21, 1938, a hurricane struck parts of New York and New England, causing widespread damage and claiming more than 600 lives.

On Sept. 21, 1867, Henry Stimson, United States Secretary of War during World War II, was born. Following his death on Oct. 20, 1950, his obituary appeared in The Times.
   
On September 21, 1872, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Horace Greeley, Andersonville prison camp, and the presidential election of 1872.




On this date in:

1792    the French National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy.

1897    The New York Sun ran an editorial that answered a question from 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon: "Is there a Santa Claus?"

1931    Britain went off the gold standard.

1937    "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien was published.

1948    Milton Berle debuted as permanent host of "The Texaco Star Theater" on NBC.

1957    "Perry Mason," starring Raymond Burr, premiered on CBS.

1964    Malta gained independence from Britain.

1970    "NFL Monday Night Football" debuted on ABC.

1982    National Football League players began a 57-day strike.

1983    Interior Secretary James G. Watt described a special advisory panel as consisting of "a black ... a woman, two Jews and a cripple." Watt later apologized and resigned.

1996    The board of Virginia Military Institute voted to admit women.

1998    President Bill Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony in the Monica Lewinsky scandal was publicly broadcast, showing him answering one question from prosecutors by saying, "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is."

1998    Olympic gold medal track star Florence Griffith Joyner, 38, died in her sleep after suffering an epilectic seizure.

2001    Congress approved $15 billion to help an airline industry reeling from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

2003    NASA's Galileo spacecraft plunged into Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere, bringing a fiery conclusion to a 14-year exploration of the solar system's largest planet and its moons.

2004    The album "American Idiot" by Green Day was released.

2008    "Mad Men" became the first basic-cable show to win a top series Emmy award.






Current Birthdays

Actor Bill Murray turns 60 years old today.


92    Karl Slover
Actor ("The Wizard of Oz")

79    Larry Hagman
Actor ("I Dream of Jeannie," "Dallas")

76    Leonard Cohen
Poet, songwriter

69    James Woolsey
Former CIA director

66    Steve Beshear
Governor of Kentucky

66    Fannie Flagg
Author, comedian

63    Jerry Bruckheimer
Producer ("CSI")

63    Stephen King
Author

53    Ethan Coen
Writer, producer

49    Nancy Travis
Actress

48    Rob Morrow
Actor ("Numb3rs," "Northern Exposure")

45    Cheryl Hines
Actress ("Curb Your Enthusiasm")

44    Mike Richter
Hockey player

43    Faith Hill
Country singer

42    Ricki Lake
Actress, talk show host

31    Brian Westbrook
Football player

30    Autumn Reeser
Actress

29    Nicole Richie
TV personality ("The Simple Life")

27    Maggie Grace
Actress ("Lost")

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History

On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863.

On Sept. 22, 1902, John Houseman, the director, producer and actor of American stage, film and radio, was born. Following his death on Oct. 31, 1988, his obituary appeared in The Times.
   
On September 22, 1860, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the American tour of Prince Edward, the future King Edward VII of Great Britain.





On this date in:

1776    Nathan Hale was hanged as a spy by the British during the Revolutionary War.

1792    The first French Republic was proclaimed.

1927    Gene Tunney successfully defended his heavyweight boxing title against Jack Dempsey in the "long count" fight in Chicago.

1949    The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.

1964    The musical "Fiddler on the Roof" opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 3,242 performances.

1969    Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants hit his 600th career home run during a game in San Diego.

1975    Sara Jane Moore failed in an attempt to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel.

1980    The conflict between Iran and Iraq erupted into full-scale war.

1989    Songwriter Irving Berlin died at age 101.

1995    Time Warner struck a $7.5 billion deal to buy Turner Broadcasting System Inc.

2004    "Lost" premiered on ABC.

2005    John Roberts' nomination as chief justice cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 13-5 vote.

2008    The U.S. Mint unveiled the first changes to the penny in 50 years, with Abraham Lincoln's portrait still on the front, but new designs replacing the Lincoln Memorial on the back.

Current Birthdays

Rock singer-musician Joan Jett turns 52 years old today.


76    Lute Olson
Hall of Fame basketball coach

68    David Stern
NBA commissioner

59    David Coverdale
Rock singer (Deep Purple, Whitesnake)

56    Shari Belafonte
Actress

54    Debby Boone
Singer

53    Nick Cave
Singer

52    Andrea Bocelli
Opera singer

49    Scott Baio
Actor ("Happy Days," "Joanie Loves Chachi")

49    Catherine Oxenberg
Actress ("Dynasty")

34    Ronaldo
Soccer player

23    Tom Felton
Actor ("Harry Potter" movies)

Historic Birthdays

John Houseman

9/22/1902 - 10/31/1988
American stage, film and radio actor
(Go to obit.)

75    Michael Faraday
9/22/1791 - 8/25/1867
English physicist and chemist

78    Caroline Astor
9/22/1830 - 10/30/1908
American aristocratic leader of New York high society

91    Victor Shelford
9/22/1877 - 12/27/1968
American zoologist and animal ecologist

77    Dame Christabel Pankhurst
9/22/1880 - 2/13/1958
English women's suffragist

71    Erich von Stroheim
9/22/1885 - 5/12/1957
Austrian film director, writer and actor

87    Babette Deutsch
9/22/1895 - 11/13/1982
American poet, critic, translator and novelist

71    Paul Muni
9/22/1895 - 8/25/1967
Austrian-born American stage and film actor

66    William Spratling
9/22/1900 - 8/8/1967
American silver designer and architect

95    Charles Huggins
9/22/1901 - 1/12/1997
Canadian-born American Nobel Prize-winning surgeon and urologist (1966)

58    Eugen Sanger
9/22/1905 - /1964
German rocket propulsion engineer

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History

On Sept. 23, 1952, Republican vice-presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon went on television to deliver what came to be known as the ``Checkers'' speech as he denied allegations of improper campaign financing.

On Sept. 23, 1838, Victoria Clafin Woodhull Martin, who ran for United States president in 1872, was born. Following her death on June 9, 1927, her obituary appeared in The Times.
   
On September 23, 1899, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the Dreyfus Affair.



On this date in:

63 B.C.    Caesar Augustus was born in Rome.

1779    American commander John Paul Jones is said to have declared, "I have not yet begun to fight!" during a Revolutionary War naval battle.

1806    The Lewis and Clark expedition returned to St. Louis from the Pacific Northwest.

1846    The planet Neptune was discovered by German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle.

1926    Jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane was born in Hamlet, N.C.

1930    Musician Ray Charles was born Ray Charles Robinson in Albany, Ga.

1939    Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, died at age 83.

1957    Nine black students who had entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white mob outside.

1987    Choreographer-director Bob Fosse died at age 60.

1990    Iraq threatened to destroy Middle East oil fields and attack Israel if other nations tried to force it from Kuwait.

1999    The Mars Climate Observer apparently burned up as it was about to go into orbit around the Red Planet.

Current Birthdays

Rock musician Bruce Springsteen turns 61 years old today.


90    Mickey Rooney
Actor

69    Navi Pillay
U.N. high commissioner for human rights

67    Julio Iglesias
Singer

67    Marty Schottenheimer
Football cooach

52    Marvin Lewis
Football cooach

51    Jason Alexander
Actor ("Seinfeld")

49    Chi McBride
Actor

48    John Harbaugh
Football cooach

40    Ani DiFranco
Rock singer

38    Jermaine Dupri
Rapper, producer

19    Melanie Oudin
Tennis player

Historic Birthdays

Victoria Clafin Woodhull Martin

9/23/1838 - 6/9/1927
American women's rights advocate
(Go to obit.)

75    Caesar Augustus
9/23/63 BC - 8/19/14 AD
lst Roman emperor

72    William McGuffey
9/23/1800 - 5/4/1873
American educator; published popular elementary school readers

54    Helen Almira Shafer
9/23/1839 - 1/20/1894
American educator; president of Wellesley College (1888-94)

80    Robert Bosch
9/23/1861 - 3/9/1942
German engineer and industrialist

90    Mary Eliza Terrell
9/23/1863 - 7/24/1954
American social activist and civil rights advocate

82    Emmuska Orczy
9/23/1865 - 11/12/1947
Hungarian-born English novelist; wrote "The Scarlet Pimpernel"

85    Walter Lippmann
9/23/1889 - 12/14/1974
American newspaper commentator and author

77    Tom C. Clark
9/23/1899 - 6/13/1977
American associate justice of the United States Supreme Court

61    Aldo Moro
9/23/1916 - 5/9/1978
Italian five times premier; murdered by terrorists

40    John Coltrane
9/23/1926 - 7/17/1967
American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer

[Krandall]

its crazy to think that wasn't even 60 years ago!


1957    Nine black students who had entered Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas were forced to withdraw because of a white mob outside.

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History

On Sept. 24, 1996, the United States and the world's other major nuclear powers signed a treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons.

On Sept. 24, 1896, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the famed American novelist of the Jazz Age, was born. Following his death on Dec. 21, 1940, his obituary appeared in The Times.
   
On September 24, 1881, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the status of Native Americans within the American legal system.


On this date in:

1755    John Marshall, the fourth chief justice of the United States, was born in Germantown, Virginia.

1789    Congress passed the First Judiciary Act, which provided for an attorney general and a Supreme Court.

1869    Financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market, sending Wall Street into a panic and leaving thousands of investors in financial ruin.

1896    Author F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minn.

1957    The Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field before moving to Los Angeles for the next season.

1960    The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was launched at Newport News, Va.

1968    "60 Minutes" premiered on CBS.

1969    A trial began for the "Chicago Eight," who were accused of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.

1976    Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in a 1974 bank robbery.

1991    The album "Nevermind" by Nirvana was released.

1996    The world's major nuclear powers signed a treaty to end all testing and development of nuclear weapons.

1998    Redesigned $20 bills meant to be harder to counterfeit went into circulation.

2007    United Auto Workers walked off the job at GM plants in the first nationwide strike during auto contract negotiations since 1976. (A tentative pact ended the walkout two days later.)

Current Birthdays

Actress, screenwriter Nia Vardalos ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding") turns 48 years old today.


68    Gerry Marsden
Singer (Gerry and the Pacemakers)

65    Lou Dobbs
News anchor

62    Gordon Clapp
Actor ("NYPD Blue")

58    Joseph Kennedy II
Former U.S. representative, D-Mass.

52    Kevin Sorbo
Actor

37    Eddie George
Football player

28    Paul Hamm
Olympic gymnast

Historic Birthdays

F. Scott Fitzgerald

9/24/1896 - 12/21/1940
American novelist and short story writer
(Go to obit.)

50    Albrecht Wallenstein
9/24/1583 - 2/25/1634
Bohemian statesman and general in the Thirty Years' War

46    Johan de Witt
9/24/1625 - 8/20/1672
Dutch statesman and political leader of Holland (1653-72)

79    John Marshall
9/24/1755 - 7/6/1835
American congressman, secretary of state and 4th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

66    Mark Hanna
9/24/1837 - 2/15/1904
American industrialist and political kingmaker

81    Sir A. P. Herbert
9/24/1890 - 11/11/1971
English novelist, playwright, poet and politician

88    Stephen Bechtel
9/24/1900 - 3/14/1989
American construction engineer; founded Bechtel Corp.

88    Severo Ochoa
9/24/1905 - 11/1/1993
Spanish Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and molecular biologist (1959)

66    Svetlana Beriosova
9/24/1932 - 11/10/1998
Lithuanian-born prima ballerina

53    Jim Henson
9/24/1936 - 5/16/1990
American puppeteer; creator of the Muppets

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History


On Sept. 27, 1964, the Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy.

On Sept. 27, 1840, Alfred Thayer Mahan, the influential American naval strategist, was born. Following his death on Dec. 1, 1914, his obituary appeared in The Times.
   
On September 27, 1902, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about college football.



On this date in:

1540    Pope Paul III issued a papal bull establishing the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, as a religious order.

1779    John Adams was named to negotiate the Revolutionary War's peace terms with Britain.

1825    The first locomotive to haul a passenger train was operated by George Stephenson in England.

1928    The United States said it was recognizing the Nationalist Chinese government.

1939    Warsaw, Poland, surrendered after weeks of resistance to invading forces from Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II.

1954    "Tonight!" hosted by Steve Allen, made its debut on NBC-TV.

1959    A typhoon battered the main Japanese island of Honshu, killing nearly 5,000 people.

1990    The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Supreme Court nomination of David H. Souter.

1991    The Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked, 7-7, on the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.

1994    More than 350 Republican congressional candidates signed the "Contract with America," a 10-point platform they pledged to enact if voters sent a GOP majority to the U.S. House.

1996    The Taliban, a band of former seminary students, drove the government of Afghani President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of Kabul, captured the capital and executed former leader Najibullah.

1998    Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his record-setting 69th and 70th home runs in the last game of the season.

1999    Tiger Stadium closed after 87 years as home of baseball's Detroit Tigers.

2005    Army reservist Lynndie England was sentenced to three years behind bars for her role in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

2009    Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist and former Nixon speechwriter William Safire died at age 79.





Current Birthdays
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow turns 38 years old today.


91    Charles Percy
Former U.S. senator, R-Ill.

90    Jayne Meadows
Actress

88    Arthur Penn
Director ("The Miracle Worker," "Bonnie and Clyde")

81    Sada Thompson
Actress

74    Don Cornelius
Producer ("Soul Train")

67    Randy Bachman
Rock singer, musician (Bachman-Turner Overdrive)

63    Meat Loaf
Rock singer

63    Liz Torres
Actress

61    Mike Schmidt
Baseball Hall of Famer

52    Shaun Cassidy
Singer

28    Lil' Wayne
Rapper

26    Avril Lavigne
Rock singer

Historic Birthdays

Alfred Thayer Mahan

9/27/1840 - 12/1/1914
American naval strategist
(Go to obit.)

74    Cosimo de Medici
9/27/1389 - 8/1/1464
Florentine ruler

90    St. Alfonso Liguori
9/27/1696 - 8/1/1787
Italian theologian

81    Samuel Adams
9/27/1722 - 10/2/1803
American revolutionary leader

72    Benjamin Gould
9/27/1824 - 11/26/1896
American astronomer

62    Thomas Nast
9/27/1840 - 12/7/1902
American political cartoonist

80    Harry Blackstone
9/27/1885 - 11/16/1965
American magician and illusionist

88    Samuel Ervin
9/27/1896 - 4/23/1985
American senator from North Carolina; chairman of the committee that investigated Watergate

47    Vincent Youmans
9/27/1898 - 4/5/1946
American songwriter

66    Sir Martin Ryle
9/27/1918 - 10/14/1984
English physicist and astronomer

73    William Conrad
9/27/1920 - 2/11/1994
American radio, film and television actor and producer

37    Earl "Bud" Powell
9/27/1924 - 8/1/1966
American jazz pianist and composer

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History

On Sept. 28, 1924, two United States Army planes landed in Seattle, Washington, having completed the first round-the-world flight in 175 days.

On Sept. 28, 1901, Ed Sullivan, who entertained millions of Americans with his long-running Sunday night variety show, was born. Following his death on Oct. 13, 1974, his obituary appeared in The Times.
   
On September 28, 1861, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about financing the Union war effort during the Civil War.



On this date in:

1066    William the Conqueror, the duke of Normandy, invaded England.

1542    Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo arrived in present-day San Diego.

1781    American forces, backed by a French fleet, began the siege of Yorktown Heights, Va., during the Revolutionary War,

1787    Congress voted to send the Constitution to state legislatures for their approval.

1850    Flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the U.S. Navy.

1939    During World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed on a plan to partition Poland.

1972    Japan and Communist China agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations.

1974    First lady Betty Ford underwent a mastectomy at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland.

1989    Deposed Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii at age 72.

1991    Jazz musician Miles Davis died at age 65.

1995    Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat signed an accord to transfer much of the West Bank to the control of its Arab residents.

2000    The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of RU-486, a pill that allows a woman to terminate a pregnancy days or weeks after conception..

2000    Ariel Sharon, leader of Israel's hard-line opposition, sparked new Israeli-Palestinian clashes by touring the Temple Mount.

2000    Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau died at age 80.

2005    The U.S. Treasury unveiled the new $10 bill, which features splashes of red, yellow and orange.

2009    Iran tested its longest-range missiles and warned they could reach any place that threatens the country, including Israel, parts of Europe and U.S. military bases in the Mideast.




Current Birthdays

Actress Naomi Watts turns 42 years old today.


76    Brigitte Bardot
Actress

72    Ben E. King
R&B singer

64    Jeffrey Jones
Actor ("Ferris Bueller's Day Off")

56    Steve Largent
Football Hall of Famer, former congressman

48    Grant Fuhr
Hockey Hall of Famer

46    Janeane Garofalo
Actress, comedian

43    Mira Sorvino
Actress

43    Moon Zappa
TV personality

33    Young Jeezy
Rapper

33    Se Ri Pak
Golfer

Historic Birthdays

Ed Sullivan

9/28/1901 - 10/13/1974
American television host
(Go to obit.)

60    Pierre-Louis Maupertuis
9/28/1698 - 7/27/1759
French mathematician, biologist and astronomer

66    Prosper Merimee
9/28/1803 - 9/23/1870
French dramatist, historian, archaeologist and short story writer

88    Georges Clemenceau
9/28/1841 - 11/24/1929
French statesman; premier of the Third Republic (1917-20)

87    Avery Brundage
9/28/1887 - 5/8/1975
American president of the International Olympic Committee (1952-72)

74    Elmer Rice
9/28/1892 - 5/8/1967
American playwright, director and novelist

89    William Paley
9/28/1901 - 10/26/1990
American broadcaster; led CBS for over 50 years

70    Al Capp
9/28/1909 - 11/5/1979
American cartoonist; created "Li'l Abner"

77    Alice Marble
9/28/1913 - 12/13/1990
American tennis player

76    Michael Somes
9/28/1917 - 11/18/1994
English ballet dancer

70    Tom Harmon
9/28/1919 - 3/15/1990
American football player; won Heisman Trophy in 1940

72    Marcello Mastroianni
9/28/1924 - 12/19/1996
Italian actor

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History

On Sept. 29, 1957, the New York Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1. The Giants moved to San Francisco for the next season.

On Sept. 29, 1901, Enrico Fermi, the Italian-born physicist who helped develop America's first atomic weapons, was born. Following his death on Nov. 28, 1954, his obituary appeared in The Times.
   
On September 29, 1866, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Reconstruction.



On this date in:

1789    The U.S. War Department established a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.

1829    London's reorganized police force, which became known as Scotland Yard, went on duty.

1918    Allied forces scored a decisive breakthrough on the Hindenburg Line during World War I.

1963    The second session of the Second Vatican Council opened in Rome.

1978    Pope John Paul I was found dead in his Vatican apartment a little more than one month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church.

1989    Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was convicted of battery for slapping a Beverly Hills police officer who had pulled her over.

2000    Israeli riot police stormed a major Jerusalem shrine and opened fire on stone-throwing Muslim worshippers, killing four Palestinians and wounding 175.

2005    John Roberts was sworn in as the nation's 17th chief justice.

2008    the Dow Jones industrial average fell a record 777.68 points after the House defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue plan for the nation's financial system.





Current Birthdays

Actor Zachary Levi ("Chuck") turns 30 years old.


79    Anita Ekberg
Actress

75    Jerry Lee Lewis
Rock singer, musician

68    Ian McShane
Actor ("Deadwood")

68    Bill Nelson
U.S. senator, D-Fla.

68    Jean-Luc Ponty
Jazz violinist

62    Bryant Gumbel
TV personality

55    Gwen Ifill
Broadcast journalist

53    Andrew "Dice" Clay
Comedian

48    Roger Bart
Actor

44    Jill Whelan
Actress ("The Love Boat")

41    Erika Eleniak
Actress

40    Brad Cotter
Country singer ("Nashville Star")

Historic Birthdays

Enrico Fermi

9/29/1901 - 11/28/1954
Italian-born American Nobel Prize-winning physicist (1938)
(Go to obit.)

57    Pompey The Great
9/29/106 BC - 9/28/48 BC
Roman statesman and general of the Roman Republic

68    John Leslie
9/29/1527 - 5/31/1596
Scottish bishop; advisor to Queen Mary

66    Francois Boucher
9/29/1703 - 5/30/1770
French painter, engraver and designer

47    Horatio Nelson
9/29/1758 - 10/21/1805
English naval commander

84    Caroline Yale
9/29/1848 - 7/2/1933
American educator of the deaf

54    Walther Rathenau
9/29/1867 - 6/24/1922
German statesman, industrialist and philosopher

80    Miguel Aleman
9/29/1902 - 5/14/1983
Mexican president (1946-52)

91    Greer Garson
9/29/1904 - 4/6/1996
English-born motion-picture actress

71    Trevor Howard
9/29/1913 - 1/7/1988
English stage and screen actor


Go to a previous date.
SOURCE: The Associated Press
Front Page Image Provided by UMI