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.

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2004 day arrangement
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Table of contents

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Sports
5 Holidays and observances

Events

490 BC - Battle of Marathon; origin of marathon long-distance race (run by Phidippides)
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 Americann soldiers
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 - Puerto Rico declares its independence from Spain
1875 - William Bonney ("Billy the Kid") is arrested for the first time
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.
1983 - Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations.
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.

Births

480 BC - Euripides, playwright (d. 406 BC)
63 BC - Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar
1158 - Geoffrey Plantagenet, Duke of Brittany
1650 - Jeremy Collier, English bishop (d. 1726)
1713 - King Ferdinand VI of Spain
1800 - William McGuffy, educator (McGuffy's Readers)
1838 - Victoria Woodhull, suffragist
1852 - William Stewart Halsted, surgeon (d. 1922)
1863 - Mary Eliza Church Terrell, U.S. writer, social reformer (d. 1954)
1865 - Baroness Emmuska Orczy, novelist (The Scarlet Pimpernel) (d. 1947)
1889 - Walter Lippmann, journalist
1897 - Walter Pidgeon, actor (d. 1984)
1899 - Louise Nevelson, artist
1911 - Frank Moss, U.S. Senator Utah
1916 - Aldo Moro, Italian politician
1920 - Mickey Rooney, actor
1926 - John Coltrane, saxophonist, composer
1930 - Ray Charles, U.S. R&B; and jazz musician, singer (d. 2004)
1931 - Gerald Stairs Merrithew, educator, statesman
1931 - Pat Suzuki, actor
1938 - Romy Schneider, actress (d. 1982)
1939 - Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
1939 - Roy Buchanan, U.S. guitarist (d. 1988)
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
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
1873 - Jean Chacornac, astronomer (b. 1823)
1889 - Wilkie Collins, author (The Moonstone)
1900 - William Marsh Rice, philanthropist, university founder
1939 - Sigmund Freud, psychiatrist (b. 1856)
1943 - Elinor Glyn, English author (b. 1864)
1950 - Sam Barry, Hall of Fame basketball coach
1973 - Pablo Neruda, poet
1974 - Cliff Arquette, comedian, actor ("Charley Weaver")
1987 - Bob Fosse, dancer, choreographer, actor
1988 - Tibor Sekelj, Croatian explorer (b. 1912)
1994 - Robert Bloch, author (Psycho)
1998 - Mary Frann, actress
2000 - Carl Rowan, U.S. journalist (b. 1925)

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 and observances

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

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