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.

Table of contents

1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Sports 5 Holidays

Events

• 490 BC - Battle of Marathon; origin of marathon long-distance race (26.2 miles run by Phidippides)
• 1529 - Siege of Vienna begins as Suleiman II begins his attack on the city.
• 1459 - The Battle of Blore Heath. The first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, fought at Blore Heath, in Staffordshire, England
• 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 Americann soldiers
• 1803 - Battle of Assaye
• 1806 - Lewis and Clark return
• 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
• 1875 - William Bonney ("Billy the Kid") is arrested for the first time
• 1868 - Puerto Rico declares its independence from Spain
• 1884 - Herman Hollerith patents his mechanical adding machine
• 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
• 1969 - The Chicago 8 trial opens in Chicago, Illinois
• 1973 - Juan Peron returns to power in Argentina
• 1981 - Jack Henry Abbott, best-selling author, is arrested for murder
• An equinox usually occurs on this date.
• 1993 - Sonic the Hedgehog CD is released for the Sega Mega-CD in Japan.

Births

• 480 BC - Euripides, playwright († 406 BC)
• 62 BC - Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar
• 1713 - King Ferdinand VI of Spain
• 1800 - William McGuffy, educator (McGuffy's Readers)
• 1838 - Victoria Woodhull, suffragist
• 1852 - William Stewart Halsted, surgeon († 1922)
• 1865 - Baroness Emmuska Orczy, novelist (The Scarlet Pimpernel) († 1947)
• 1889 - Walter Lippmann, journalist
• 1897 - Walter Pidgeon, actor († 1984)
• 1911 - Frank Moss, U.S. Senator Utah
• 1916 - Aldo Moro, Italian politician
• 1920 - Mickey Rooney, actor
• 1926 - John Coltrane, saxophonist, composer
• 1931 - Pat Suzuki, actor
• 1931 - Gerald Stairs Merrithew, educator, statesman
• 1932 - Ray Charles, singer
• 1938 - Romy Schneider, actress († 1982)
• 1939 - Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
• 1942 - Sila Maria Calderon, Governor of Puerto Rico
• 1943 - Julio Iglesias, singer
• 1945 - Paul Petersen, actor
• 1949 - Bruce Springsteen, singer, songwriter
• 1959 - Jason Alexander, actor
• 1959 - Lita Ford, singer, guitarist
• 1959 - Elizabeth Peña, actress
• 1970 - Ani Difranco, musician

Deaths

• 918 - King Conrad I of Germany
• 1241 - Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic historian, poet and politician
• 1835 - Vincenzo Bellini, composer (Norma)
• 1870 - Prosper Mérimée, author
• 1889 - Wilkie Collins, author (The Moonstone)
• 1900 - William Marsh Rice, philanthropist, university founder
• 1939 - Sigmund Freud, psychiatrist
• 1973 - Pablo Neruda, poet
• 1974 - Cliff Arquette, comedian, actor ("Charley Weaver")
• 1987 - Bob Fosse, dancer, choreographer, actor
• 1994 - Robert Bloch, author (Psycho)
• 1998 - Mary Frann, actress

Sports

• 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.

Holidays

• Feast of Saint Adomnan of Iona
• In ancient Latvia, the second day of Mikeli

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