Saturday, September 3

This Day In History

• 1189   England's King Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) was crowned in Westminster.
  
• 1658   Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England, died.
  
• 1783   The Treaty of Paris between the United States and Great Britain officially ended the Revolutionary War.
  
• 1833   The first successful one-cent (or penny) newspaper was published. Benjamin H. Day issued the first copy of "The New York Sun". By 1836, "The Sun" had the largest circulation in the country: 30,000. Wouldn’t he be surprised at how successful a paper can be selling at a buck instead of a penny!
  
• 1838   Frederick Douglass, a black man, boarded a train in the slave state of Maryland, dressed as a sailor with borrowed ID papers. He rode the train to Wilmington, Delaware. There he caught a steamboat to Philadelphia. Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, was a free city. There Douglass transferred to a train that took him to New York City -- also a free city. It was in New York that he was helped by the underground railway network to freedom. Frederick Douglass became one of the nation’s strongest abolitionists, fighting for the struggle against slavery and one of America’s greatest orators. He published the weekly "North Star" which was later titled, "Frederick Douglass’ Paper", to reach the black people. It was mostly through his urging that there were black troops serving in the Civil War. His autobiography, "Life and Times", is a narrative classic of escape to freedom.
  
• 1895   The first professional football game was played -- in Latrobe, PA. The Latrobe YMCA defeated the Jeannette Athletic Club 12-0. Since 1967, St. Vincent College in Latrobe has been the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers training camp.
  
• 1935   Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first person to drive an automobile over 300 miles an hour. Campbell drove his Bluebird Special on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah at a speed of 301.13 MPH.
  
• 1939   Britain and France declared war on Germany, two days after the Nazi invasion of Poland.
  
• 1943   The British 8th Army invaded Italy during World War II, the same day Italy signed a secret armistice with the Allies.
  
• 1967   Nguyen Van Thieu was elected president of South Vietnam under a new constitution.
  
• 1970   Hall-of-fame football coach Vince Lombardi died at age 57.
  
• 1978   Pope John Paul I was installed as the 264th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
  
• 1991   Movie director Frank Capra died at age 94.
  
• 1994   China and Russia pledged they would no longer target nuclear missiles at or use force against each other.
  
• 1997   Arizona Gov. Fife Symington was convicted of lying to get millions in loans to shore up his collapsing real estate empire. His conviction was overturned in 1999.
  
• 2001   Movie critic Pauline Kael died at age 82.
  
• 2001   St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bud Smith became the 16th rookie in modern history to throw a no-hitter, blanking San Diego 4-0.
  

Happy Birthday To

• 1875   Ferdinand Porsche (auto designer; died Jan 30, 1951)
  
• 1913   Alan (Walbridge) Ladd (actor)
  
• 1914   Kitty Carlisle (Catherine Conn) (actress: panelist: To Tell the Truth)
  
• 1925   Hank (Henry Williams) Thompson (‘Crown Prince of Country Music’: singer)
  
• 1943   Valerie Perrine (actress)
  
• 1965   Charlie Sheen (Carlos Irwin Estevez) (actor)