Tuesday, September 6

This Day In History

• 1819   Thomas Blanchard of Springfield, MA patented a machine called the lathe. Blanchard said it was invented for the manufacturing of gun stocks. His lathe did the work of 13 operators.
  
• 1909   American explorer Robert Peary sent word that he had reached the North Pole five months earlier.
  
• 1939   South Africa declared war on Germany.
  
• 1941   Jews over the age of 6 in German-occupied areas were ordered to wear yellow Stars of David.
  
• 1966   South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was stabbed to death by a page during a parliamentary session in Cape Town.
  
• 1970   Palestinian guerrillas seized control of three jetliners, which were later blown up on the ground in Jordan after the passengers and crews were evacuated.
  
• 1975   Czechoslovakian tennis player Martina Navratilova, in New York for the U.S. Open, requested political asylum.
  
• 1992   A man who had received a transplanted baboon liver 10 weeks earlier died at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
  
• 1996   Eddie Murray of the Baltimore Orioles hit his 500th career home run during a game against the Detroit Tigers.
  
• 1997   Britain bade farewell to Princess Diana with a funeral service at Westminster Abbey.
  
• 1998   Japanese director Akira Kurosawa died at age 88.
  
• 2001   Mexican President Vicente Fox addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress.
  
• 2001   Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants became the fifth player in baseball history to hit 60 home runs in a season.
  
• 2002   Meeting outside Washington D.C., for only the second time since 1800, Congress convened in New York to pay homage to the victims and heroes of Sept. 11, 2001.
  

Happy Birthday To

• 1937   Jo Anne Worley (comedienne: Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Hollywood Squares)
  
• 1947   Jane Curtin (Emmy Award-winning comedienne, actress)