Wednesday, September 28

This Day In History

• 1066   William the Conqueror invaded England.
  
• 1542   Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo arrived at 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 just-completed Constitution of the United States to state legislatures for their approval.
  
• 1850   Flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the U.S. Navy.
  
• 1892   A football game was played in Mansfield, PA. The game, between Mansfield State Normal School and Wyoming Seminary, was the first one in the U.S. to be played at night.
  
• 1939   During World War II, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed on a plan to partition Poland.
  
• 1967   Walter Washington took office as the first mayor of the District of Columbia.
  
• 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   Garth Brooks, big ol’ black hat and all, hit number one with his album "Ropin’ the Wind". He was the first country artist to debut an album at #1 on both the "Billboard" album chart and country album chart.
  
• 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   Capping a 12-year battle, the government approved use of the abortion pill RU-486.
  
• 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 in Montreal at age 80.
  
• 2002   Iraq rejected a U.S.-British plan for the United Nations to force President Saddam Hussein to disarm and open his palaces for weapons searches.
  
• 2002   Rep. Patsy Mink, a 12-term Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, died in Honolulu at age 74.
  
• 2003   A massive blackout struck almost all of Italy, leaving millions of people without power.
  

Happy Birthday To

• 1902   Ed (Edward Vincent) Sullivan (newspaper columnist, TV host: Toast of the Town, The Ed Sullivan Show; died Oct 13, 1974)
  
• 1909   Al Capp (Alfred Gerald Caplin) (cartoonist: Li’l Abner; died Nov 5, 1979)
  
• 1934   Brigitte Bardot (Camille Javal) (actress)
  
• 1972   Gwyneth Paltrow (Academy Award-winning actress)