September 13


September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). There are
109 days remaining.

Events

   * 533 - Belisarius and the Roman Empire defeat Gelimer and the Vandals at
     the Battle of Ad Decimium.
   * 1743 - England, Austria and Savoy-Sardinia sign the Treaty of Worms.
   * 1759 - Battle of the Plains of Abraham: British defeat French near
     Quebec City in the Seven Years' War, known in the United States as the
     French and Indian War
   * 1788 - The United States Constitutional Convention sets the date for
     the first American presidential election, and New York City becomes the
     temporary capital of the US.
   * 1791 - King Louis XVI of France accepts the new constitution
   * 1813 - The British fail to capture Baltimore, Maryland. Turning point
     in the War of 1812.
   * 1862 - Union soldiers find Robert E. Lee's battle plans in a field
     outside Frederick, Maryland
   * 1847 - American General Winfield Scott captures Mexico City in the
     Mexican-American War
   * 1898 - Hannibal Williston Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film
   * 1899 - First fatality in an automobile accident, in New York City
   * 1906 - First airplane flight in Europe
   * 1940 - German bombs damage Buckingham Palace
   * 1940 - Italy invades Egypt
   * 1943 - Chiang Kai-shek elected president of China
   * 1948 - Margaret Chase Smith is elected senator, and becomes the first
     woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the United
     States Senate
   * 1953 - Nikita Khrushchev appointed secretary-general of the Soviet
     Union
   * 1956 - The dyke around the Dutch polder East Flevoland is closed
   * 1968 - Albania leaves the Warsaw Pact
   * 1970 - First running of the New York City Marathon
   * 1971 - State police and National Guardsmen storm New York's Attica
     Prison to end a prison revolt. 42 people die in the assault.
   * 1979 - South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not
     recognized outside South Africa)
   * 1988 - Hurricane Gilbert is the strongest recorded hurricane in the
     Western Hemisphere (based on barometric pressure)
   * 1989 - Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond
     Tutu
   * 1990 - Andrei Chikatilo is charged with the murders of 53 people in
     Rostov, Russia
   * 1993 - First Israeli-Palestinian agreement. The Palestinians are
     granted limited self-government on the Gaza Strip and in Jericho
   * 1994 - Ulysses spacecraft passes the Sun's south pole
   * 1999 - Bomb explodes in Moscow, Russia. At least 119 people are killed.

Births

   * 1819 - Clara Schumann, pianist, composer
   * 1860 - John Pershing, American general (+ 1948)
   * 1841 - Walter Reed, physician, biologist (+ 1902)
   * 1857 - Milton S. Hershey, chocolate entrepreneur and founder of the
     Hershey Chocolate Company (+ 1945)
   * 1874 - Arnold Schoenberg, composer (+ 1951)
   * 1876 - Sherwood Anderson, writer (+ 1941)
   * 1894 - J.B. Priestley, playwright, novelist (+ 1984)
   * 1903 - Claudette Colbert, actress (+ 1996)
   * 1911 - Bill Monroe, bluegrass and country music singer (Bluegrass Band)
     (+ 1996)
   * 1916 - Roald Dahl, writer (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) (+ 1990)
   * 1924 - Maurice Jarre, composer
   * 1925 - Mel Torme, singer (+ 1999)
   * 1932 - Barbara Bain, actress
   * 1938 - Don Bluth, animator
   * 1938 - Judith Martin ("Miss Manners"), etiquette writer
   * 1941 - David Clayton-Thomas, singer ("Blood Sweat and Tears")
   * 1944 - Peter Cetera, singer and bass guitarist (Chicago)
   * 1944 - Jacqueline Bisset, actress
   * 1948 - Nell Carter, actress, singer
   * 1952 - Randy Jones, musician (The Village People)
   * 1952 - Don Was, singer, composer
   * 1967 - Michael Johnson, Olympic Games gold medalist in track and field
   * 1971 - Goran Ivanisevic, tennis player
   * 1977 - Fiona Apple, singer
   * 1980 - Ben Savage, actor

Deaths

   * 81 - Roman Emperor Titus
   * 1321 - Dante Alighieri, writer (La Divina Commedia)
   * 1598 - King Philip II of Spain
   * 1759 - British General James Wolfe, at Battle of the Plains of Abraham
   * 1899 - Henry Bliss, first person killed by an automobile
   * 1987 - Mervyn LeRoy, film director
   * 1977 - Leopold Stokowski, conductor
   * 1996 - Tupac Shakur, rap musician
   * 1998 - George Wallace, American politician
   * 2001 - Dorothy McGuire, actress

Holidays

   * Programmer's day - (except for leap years).

Fiction

   * During the 1970s science fiction TV series Space: 1999, September 13th,
     1999 was the day when the Moon broke away its orbit around the Earth
     and began its voyage across the Universe, taking the inhabitants of
     Moon Base Alpha with it.