today.nukz.net: Almanac September 23

Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), was an American musician known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles (to avoid confusion with champion boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.) He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records.[He also helped racially integrate country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his Modern Sounds albums. While with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be given artistic control by a mainstream record company. Frank Sinatra called Charles “the only true genius in show business.”

Events

1122 – Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V agree to the Concordat of Worms to put an end to the Investiture Controversy.
1338 – The Battle of Arnemuiden was the first naval battle of the Hundred Years' War and the first naval battle using artillery, as the English ship Christofer had three cannon and one hand gun.
1409 – Battle of Kherlen, the second significant victory over Ming China by the Mongols since 1368.
1459 – Battle of Blore Heath, the first major battle of the English Wars of the Roses, is fought at Blore Heath in Staffordshire.
1568 – Spanish naval forces rout an English fleet, under the command of John Hawkins, at the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa near Veracruz.
1641 – The Merchant Royal, carrying a treasure worth over a billion US dollars, is lost at sea off Land's End.
1642 – First commencement exercises occur at Harvard College.
1779 – American Revolution: John Paul Jones on board the USS Bonhomme Richard wins the Battle of Flamborough Head.
1780 – American Revolution: British Major John André is arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold's change of sides.
1803 – Second Anglo-Maratha War: Battle of Assaye between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India.
1806 – Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
1821 – Tripolitsa, Greece, falls and 30,000 Turks are massacred during the Greek War of Independence.
1845 – The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under the modern rules, is founded in New York.
1846 – Astronomers Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier, John Couch Adams and Johann Gottfried Galle collaborate on the discovery of Neptune.
1868 – Grito de Lares ("Lares Revolt") occurs in Puerto Rico against Spanish rule.
1889 – Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) is founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.
1899 – American Asiatic Squadron destroyed single Filipino battery at the Battle of Olongapo.
1905 – Norway and Sweden sign the "Karlstad treaty", peacefully dissolving the Union between the two countries.
1908 – University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada, is founded.
1909 – The Phantom of the Opera (original title: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra), a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux, is first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois.
1932 – The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd is renamed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
1936 – First ascent of Siniolchu by a German team.
1938 – Mobilization of the Czechoslovak army in response to the Munich Crisis.
1941 – World War II: The first gas chamber experiments are conducted at Auschwitz.
1942 – World War II: The Matanikau action on Guadalcanal begins U.S. Marines attack Japanese unites along the Matanikau River.
1943 – World War II: The Nazi puppet state the Italian Social Republic is founded.
1952 – Richard Nixon makes his "Checkers speech".
1959 – Iowa farmer and corn breeder Roswell Garst hosts Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.
1959 – The MS Princess of Tasmania, Australia’s first passenger roll-on/roll-off diesel ferry, makes her maiden voyage across Bass Strait.
1962 – The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opens in New York City.
1969 – The Chicago Eight trial opens in Chicago.
1972 – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos announces over television and radio the implementation of martial law.
1973 – Juan Perón returns to power in Argentina.
1983 – Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations.
1983 – Gerrie Coetzee of South Africa becomes the first African boxing world heavyweight champion.
1983 – Gulf Air Flight 771 is bombed, killing all 117 people on board.
1986 – Jim Deshaies of the Houston Astros sets the major-league record by striking out the first eight batters of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
1988 – José Canseco of the Oakland Athletics becomes the first member of the 40-40 club.
1992 – A large Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb destroys forensic laboratories in Belfast.
1999 – Celebrate Bisexuality Day was first observed in the United States.
1999 – NASA announces that it has lost contact with the Mars Climate Orbiter.
2002 – The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.
2004 – Hurricane Jeanne: At least 1,070 in Haiti are reported to have been killed by floods.
2008 – Kauhajoki school shooting: Matti Saari kills 10 people before committing suicide.

Births

480 BC – Euripides, Greek playwright (d. 406 BC)
63 BC – Augustus Caesar, Roman Emperor (d. 14)
1158 – Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1186)
1161 – Emperor Takakura of Japan (d. 1181)
1215 – Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1294)
1434 – Yolande of Valois, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1478)
1598 – Eleonore Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II (d. 1655)
1642 – Giovanni Maria Bononcini, Italian violinist, composer (d. 1678)
1647 – Joseph Dudley, American statesman (d. 1720)
1650 – Jeremy Collier, English bishop (d. 1726)
1713 – King Ferdinand VI of Spain (d. 1759)
1740 – Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1813)
1759 – Clothilde of France, Queen of Piedmont-Sardinia (d. 1802)
1771 – Emperor Kokaku of Japan (d. 1840)
1778 – Mariano Moreno, Primera Junta official (d. 1811)
1781 – Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1860)
1791 – Johann Franz Encke, German astronomer (d. 1865)
1800 – William Holmes McGuffey, American educator and author (d. 1873)
1819 – Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist (d. 1896)
1838 – Victoria Woodhull, American suffragist (d. 1927)
1852 – William Stewart Halsted, American surgeon (d. 1922)
1853 – Princess Marie Elisabeth of Saxe-Meiningen (d. 1923)
1861 – Robert Bosch, German inventor and industrialist (d. 1942)
1863 – Mary Eliza Church Terrell, American writer (d. 1954)
1864 – Draga Mašin, Queen of Serbia (d. 1903)
1865 – Emmuska Orczy, British novelist (d. 1947)
1869 – Mary Mallon, Typhoid Mary (d. 1938)
1876 – Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli scholar and Israel Prize recipient (d. 1968)
1877 – Léon Sée, French fencer (d. 1960)
1880 – John Boyd Orr, Scottish physician, Nobel Laureate (d. 1971)
1889 – Walter Lippmann, American journalist (d. 1974)
1890 – Friedrich Paulus, German general (d. 1957)
1893 – Cläre Lotto, German actress (d. 1952)
1895 – Miron Merzhanov, Soviet architect (d. 1975)
1895 – Johnny Mokan, American baseball player (d. 1985)
1897 – Walter Pidgeon, Canadian actor (d. 1984)
1898 – Les Haylen, Australian politician and novelist (d. 1977)
1899 – Tom C. Clark, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1977)
1899 – Louise Nevelson, American sculptor (d. 1988)
1900 – William Frederick "Bill" Stone, English serviceman (d. 2009)
1901 – Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Laureate (d. 1986)
1902 – Su Buqing, Chinese mathematician and educator (d. 2003)
1905 – Tiny Bradshaw, American bandleader and musician (d. 1958)
1906 – Charles Ritchie, Canadian diplomat (d. 1995)
1906 – Bardu Ali, American singer, musician and promoter(d. 1995)
1907 – Albert Ammons, American pianist (d. 1949)
1907 – Dominique Aury, French novelist (d. 1998)
1907 – Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the Portugal throne (d. 1976)
1909 – Lorenc Antoni, Kosovo Albanian composer (d. 1991)
1911 – Frank Moss, American politician (d. 2003)
1912 – Ghulam Mustafa Khan, Pakistani critic and linguist (d. 2005)
1912 – Tony Smith, American sculptor (d. 1980)
1913 – Carl-Henning Pedersen, Danish artist (d. 2007)
1914 – Omar Ali Saifuddin III, Sultan of Brunei (d. 1986)
1915 – Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel Laureate (d. 2001)
1916 – Aldo Moro, Italian politician (d. 1978)
1920 – Mickey Rooney, American actor
1924 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan editor (d. 1978)
1924 – Heinrich Schultz, Estonian cultural functionary
1924 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan journalist (d. 1978)
1925 – Eleonora Rossi Drago, Italian actress (d. 2007)
1925 – Denis Twitchett, English scholar and historian (d. 2006)
1926 – John Coltrane, American saxophonist (d. 1967)
1926 – Jimmy Woode, American jazz bassist (d. 2005)
1927 – Mighty Joe Young, American guitarist (d. 1992)
1928 – Frank Foster, American musician and composer (d. 2011)
1929 – Wally Whyton, English musician (d. 1997)
1930 – Sehba Akhtar, Pakistani poet (d. 1996)
1930 – Colin Blakely, British actor (d. 1987)
1930 – Ray Charles, American musician (d. 2004)
1931 – Hilly Kristal, American club owner and musician (d. 2007)
1931 – Gerald Stairs Merrithew, Canadian educator (d. 2004)
1932 – Georg Keßler, German football manager
1934 – Ahmad Shah Khan, Crown Prince of Afghanistan
1935 – Prem Chopra, Indian actor
1935 – Les McCann, American pianist and singer
1935 – Ron Tindall, English footballer (d. 2012)
1935 – Arland D. Williams, Jr., hero of Air Florida Flight 90 (d. 1982)
1936 – Valentín Paniagua Corazao, Peruvian politician
1936 – Sylvain Saudan, Swiss extreme skier
1936 – Tareq Suheimat, Jordanian physician, nephrologist
1937 – Jacques Poulin, Canadian novelist
1938 – Tom Lester, American actor
1938 – Romy Schneider, French actress (d. 1982)
1939 – Henry Blofeld, English cricket commentator
1939 – Roy Buchanan, American guitarist (d. 1988)
1939 – Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
1939 – Sonny Vaccaro, American sports executive
1940 – Tim Rose, American singer-songwriter (d. 2002)
1940 – Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Iranian musician and songwriter
1941 – George Jackson, American activist (d. 1971)
1941 – Simon Nolet, Canadian ice hockey player
1941 – Norma Winstone, English singer and lyricist
1942 – Sila María Calderón, Puerto Rican politician
1943 – Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer
1943 – Marty Schottenheimer, American football coach
1943 – Tanuja, Indian actress
1944 – Eric Bogle, British-Australian singer and songwriter
1944 – Norbert Walter, German economist (d. 2012)
1945 – Igor Ivanov, Russian politician
1945 – Paul Petersen, American actor
1946 – Franz Fischler, Austrian politician
1947 – Christian Bordeleau, Canadian ice hockey player
1947 – Mary Kay Place, American actress
1947 – Neal Smith, American musician
1948 – Don Grolnick, American pianist and composer
1949 – Floella Benjamin, British actress and politician
1949 – Jerry Jenkins, American author
1949 – Bruce Springsteen, American singer-songwriter
1950 – George Garzone, saxophonist and jazz educator
1951 – Steven Springer, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2012)
1952 – Mark Bego, American biographer
1952 – Dennis Lamp, American baseball player
1952 – Jim Morrison, American baseball player
1952 – Peter Schrank, Political cartoonist
1954 – Charlie Barnett, American actor (d. 1996)
1954 – Cherie Blair, British lawyer and spouse of Tony Blair
1955 – Paolo Rossi, Italian footballer
1956 – Peter David, American writer
1957 – Rosalind Chao, American actress
1957 – Tony Fossas, Cuban baseball player
1957 – Kumar Sanu, Indian playback singer
1958 – Danielle Dax, British musician
1958 – Marvin Lewis, American football coach
1958 – Larry Mize, American golfer
1958 – Khaled El Sheikh, Bahraini singer, songwriter and composer
1959 – Jason Alexander, American actor
1959 – Martin Page, English singer and songwriter
1961 – Chi McBride, American actor
1961 – Willie McCool, American astronaut (d. 2003)
1961 – Elizabeth Peña, American actress
1963 – Anne-Marie Cadieux, Canadian actress
1964 – Clayton Blackmore, Welsh footballer
1964 – Koshi Inaba, Japanese singer (B'z)
1964 – Larry Krystkowiak, American basketball player
1964 – Bill Phillips, American author
1966 – Pete Harnisch, American baseball player
1966 – LisaRaye, American actress
1968 – Yvette Fielding, English television presenter
1969 – Donald Audette, Canadian ice hockey player
1969 – Patrick Fiori, French singer
1969 – Tapio Laukkanen, Finnish rally driver
1969 – Jan Suchopárek, Czech footballer
1970 – Lucia Cifarelli, American musician
1970 – Ani DiFranco, American musician
1970 – Georgios Koltsidas, Greek footballer
1971 – Moin Khan, Pakistani cricketer
1971 – Lee Mi-yeon, South Korean actress
1971 – Eric Montross, American basketball player
1972 – Sarah Bettens, Belgian singer (K's Choice)
1972 – Ana Marie Cox, American blogger and author
1972 – Jermaine Dupri, American music producer and rapper
1972 – Karl Pilkington, British radio personality
1972 – Shim Eun-ha, South Korean actress
1973 – Ingrid Fliter, Argentinian pianist
1973 – Vangelis Krios, Greek footballer
1973 – Artim Šakiri, Macedonian football player
1974 – Matt Hardy, American professional wrestler
1974 – Harumi Inoue, Japanese actress and model
1975 – Jaime Bergman, American model and actress
1975 – Layzie Bone, American rapper (Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
1975 – Chris Hawkins, British radio personality
1975 – Kim Dong-moon, South Korean badminton player
1975 – Eric Miller, Irish rugby player
1976 – Sarah Blasko, Australian singer-songwriter and musician
1976 – Faune A. Chambers, American actress
1976 – Kip Pardue, American actor and model
1976 – Rob James-Collier, British actor and model
1976 – Wladimir Sidorenko, Ukrainian boxer
1977 – Matthieu Descoteaux, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – Fabio Ongaro, Italian rugby player
1977 – Suzanne Tamim, Lebanese singer and actress (d. 2008)
1977 – Rachael Yamagata, American singer and songwriter
1978 – Worm Miller, American filmmaker
1978 – Keri Lynn Pratt, American actress
1979 – Ricky Davis, American basketball player
1979 – Anthony Mackie, American actor
1979 – Fábio Simplício, Brazilian footballer
1979 – Lote Tuqiri, Fijian/Australian rugby player
1980 – Cameron Litvack, American television producer
1980 – Matt White, American singer
1981 – Robert Doornbos, Dutch racing driver
1981 – Natalie Horler, German singer (Cascada)
1981 – Misti Traya, American actress
1982 – Mait Künnap, Estonian tennis player
1982 – Shyla Stylez, Canadian pornographic actress
1983 – Märt Israel, Estonian discus thrower
1983 – Joffery Lupul, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Patrick Ehelechner, German ice hockey player
1984 – Matt Kemp, American baseball player
1984 – Anneliese van der Pol, American actress
1984 – Kate French, American actress
1985 – Brian Brohm, American football player
1985 – Joba Chamberlain, American baseball player
1985 – Maki Goto, Japanese pop singer
1985 – Hossein Ka'abi, Iranian footballer
1985 – Lukáš Kašpar, Czech ice hockey player
1986 – Martin Cranie, English footballer
1988 – Juan Martín del Potro, Argentinian tennis player
1988 – Yannick Weber, Swiss ice hockey player
1989 – Brandon Jennings, American basketball player
1989 – Mara Scherzinger, German actress
1990 – Agustin Sierra, Argentine actor
1991 – Key, Korean pop singer (Shinee)
1991 – Melanie Oudin, American tennis player
1993 – Sophie Borja, Welsh actress

Deaths

79 – Pope Linus
1193 – Robert de Sablé, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
1241 – Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic historian, poet, and politician (b. 1178)
1386 – Voivode Dan I of Wallachia
1390 – John I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1346)
1535 – Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1513)
1571 – John Jewel, English bishop (b. 1522)
1573 – Azai Hisamasa, Japanese warlord (b. 1524)
1605 – Pontus de Tyard, French poet
1675 – Valentin Conrart, Académie française founder (b. 1603)
1728 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist (b. 1655)
1738 – Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (b. 1668)
1764 – Robert Dodsley, English writer (b. 1703)
1773 – Johann Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop and botanist (b. 1718)
1789 – John Rogers, American Congressman (b. 1723)
1830 – Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, American First Lady (b. 1768)
1835 – Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (b. 1801)
1851 – Émilie Gamelin, Canadian nun, Sisters of Providence founder (b. 1800)
1844 – Alexander von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman (b. 1783)
1846 – John Ainsworth Horrocks, English-born explorer of South Australia (b. 1818)
1850 – José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan soldier and statesman (b. 1764)
1867 – Michael O'Laughlen, American conspirator (b. 1840)
1870 – Prosper Mérimée, French author (b. 1803)
1871 – Louis-Joseph Papineau, Canadian politician (b. 1786)
1873 – Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (b. 1823)
1877 – Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician (b. 1811)
1889 – Wilkie Collins, British author (b. 1824)
1900 – William Marsh Rice, American philanthropist (b. 1816)
1913 – Donato Álvarez, Argentine general (b. 1825)
1917 – Werner Voss, German World War I pilot (b. 1897)
1929 – Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1865)
1939 – Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (b. 1856)
1940 – Marcel Van Crombrugge, Belgian rower (b. 1880)
1943 – Salvo D'Acquisto, Italian Carabiniere (b. 1920)
1943 – Elinor Glyn, English author (b. 1864)
1944 – Jakob Schaffner, Swiss novelist (b. 1875)
1950 – Sam Barry, American basketball player and coach (b. 1892)
1958 – Jacob Nicol, Canadian publisher and politician (b. 1876)
1968 – Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian Catholic saint (b. 1887)
1970 – Bourvil, French actor and singer (b. 1917)
1971 – J. W. Alexander, American mathematician (b. 1888)
1971 – Billy Gilbert, American actor (b. 1894)
1973 – Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel laureate (b. 1904)
1974 – Cliff Arquette, American comedian and actor (b. 1905)
1974 – Robbie McIntosh, Scottish musician (Average White Band) (b. 1950)
1978 – Lyman Bostock, American baseball player (b. 1950)
1981 – Chief Dan George, Canadian actor (b. 1899)
1987 – Bob Fosse, American dancer, choreographer, and actor (b. 1927)
1988 – Tibor Sekelj, Yugoslavian explorer (b. 1912)
1992 – James Van Fleet, U.S. Army general (b. 1892)
1994 – Jerry Barber, American golfer (b. 1916)
1994 – Robert Bloch, American author (b. 1917)
1994 – Jürgen Ohlsen, German actor (b. 1917)
1994 – Madeleine Renaud, French theater and film actress (b. 1900)
1996 – Fujiko F. Fujio, Japanese cartoonist (b. 1933)
1998 – Mary Frann, American actress (b. 1943)
1998 – Ray Bowden, English footballer (b. 1909)
1999 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter (b. 1910)
2000 – Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican baseball player (b. 1947)
2000 – Carl Rowan, American journalist (b. 1925)
2001 – Ron Hewitt, Welsh footballer (b. 1928)
2002 – Vernon Corea, Sri Lankan broadcaster (b. 1927)
2003 – Ronnie Dawson, American musician (b. 1939)
2003 – Yuri Senkevich, Russian TV anchorman (b. 1937)
2004 – André Hazes, Dutch singer (b. 1951)
2004 – Billy Reay, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1918)
2005 – Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Puerto Rican revolutionary (b. 1933)
2005 – Roger Brierley, English actor (b. 1935)
2006 – Sir Malcolm Arnold, English composer and trumpeter (b. 1921)
2006 – Etta Baker, American guitarist (b. 1913)
2008 – Peter Leonard, Australian journalist (b. 1942)
2008 – Loren Pope, American writer (b. 1910)
2009 – Paul B. Fay, American businessman and politician (b. 1918
2010 – Malcolm Douglas, Australian conservationist (b. 1941)
2010 – Teresa Lewis, American murderer (b. 1969)