today.nukz.net: Almanac September 28

Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner. He also wrote the comic strips Abbie an' Slats and Long Sam. He won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award in 1947 for Cartoonist of the Year, and their 1979 Elzie Segar Award (posthumously) for his "unique and outstanding contribution to the profession of cartooning."

Events

48 BC – Pompey the Great is assassinated on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt after landing in Egypt.
235 – Pope Pontian resigns. He and Hippolytus, church leader of Rome, are exiled to the mines of Sardinia.
351 – Battle of Mursa Major: the Roman Emperor Constantius II defeats the usurper Magnentius.
365 – Roman usurper Procopius bribes two legions passing by Constantinople, and proclaims himself Roman emperor.
935 – Saint Wenceslas is murdered by his brother, Boleslaus I of Bohemia.
995 – Members of Slavník's dynasty – Spytimír, Pobraslav, Porej and Cáslav are murdered by Boleslaus's son, Boleslaus II the Pious.
1066 – William the Bastard (as he was known at the time) invades England beginning the Norman Conquest.
1106 – The Battle of Tinchebrai – Henry I of England defeats his brother, Robert Curthose.
1238 – Muslim Valencia surrenders to the besieging King James I of Aragon the Conqueror.
1322 – Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor defeats Frederick I of Austria in the Battle of Mühldorf.
1448 – Christian I is crowned king of Denmark.
1538 – Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Navy scores a decisive victory over a Holy League fleet in the Battle of Preveza.
1542 – Navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo of Portugal arrives at what is now San Diego, California, United States.
1779 – American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay.
1781 – American forces backed by a French fleet begin the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, during the American Revolutionary War.
1787 – The newly completed United States Constitution is voted on by the U.S. Congress to be sent to the state legislatures for approval.
1791 – France becomes the first European country to emancipate its Jewish population.
1844 – Oscar I of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
1867 – Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario.
1867 – The United States takes control of Midway Island.
1868 – Battle of Alcolea causes Queen Isabella II of Spain to flee to France.
1889 – The first General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter as the distance between two lines on a standard bar of an alloy of platinum with ten percent iridium, measured at the melting point of ice.
1871 – Brazilian Parliament passes the Law of the Free Womb, granting freedom to all new children born to slaves, the first major step in the eradication of slavery in Brazil.
1901 – Philippine-American War: Filipino guerrillas kill more than forty American soldiers in a surprise attack in the town of Balangiga on Samar Island.
1912 – The Ulster Covenant is signed by half a million Ultonians in opposition to the Third Irish Home Rule Bill.
1918 – World War I: The Fifth Battle of Ypres begins.
1919 – Race riots begin in Omaha, Nebraska, US.
1928 – The U.K. Parliament passes the Dangerous Drugs Act outlawing cannabis.
1928 – Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.
1939 – Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree on a division of Poland after their invasion during World War II.
1939 – Warsaw surrenders to Nazi Germany during World War II.
1944 – Soviet Army troops liberate Klooga concentration camp in Klooga, Estonia.
1950 – Indonesia joins the United Nations.
1951 – CBS makes the first color televisions available for sale to the general public, but the product is discontinued less than a month later.
1958 – France ratifies a new Constitution of France; the French Fifth Republic is then formed upon the formal adoption of the new constitution on October 4. Guinea rejects the new constitution, voting for independence instead.
1960 – Mali and Senegal join the United Nations.
1961 – A military coup in Damascus effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.
1962 – The Paddington tram depot fire destroys 65 trams in Brisbane, Australia.
1971 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 banning the medicinal use of cannabis.
1973 – The ITT Building in New York City is bombed in protest at ITT's alleged involvement in the September 11, 1973 coup d'état in Chile.
1975 – The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people are taken hostage, takes place in London.
1994 – The car ferry MS Estonia sinks in Baltic Sea, killing 852 people.
1995 – Bob Denard and a group of mercenaries take the islands of Comoros in a coup.
1995 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat sign the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
1996 – Former president of Afghanistan Mohammad Najibullah is tortured and brutally murdered by the Taliban.
2000 – Al-Aqsa Intifada: Ariel Sharon visits Al Aqsa Mosque known to Jews as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
2008 – SpaceX launches the first private spacecraft, the Falcon 1 into orbit.
2009 – The military junta leading Guinea, headed by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, raped, killed, and wounded protesters during a protest rally in a stadium called Stade du 28 Septembre.

Births

551 BC – Confucius, Chinese philosopher (d. 479)
1330 – Nicolas Flamel, French scrivener, manuscript-seller, and alchemist (d. 1418)
1493 – Agnolo Firenzuola, Italian poet (d. 1545)
1605 – Ismaël Bullialdus, French astronomer (d. 1694)
1667 – Asano Naganori, Japanese warlord (d. 1701)
1681 – Johann Mattheson, German composer (d. 1764)
1705 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English statesman (d. 1774)
1705 – Johann Peter Kellner, German organist and composer (d. 1772)
1725 – Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer, founded Guinness (d. 1803)
1746 – Sir William Jones, English philologist (d. 1794)
1792 – Johann Georg Hiedler, Grandfather of Adolf Hitler (d. 1857)
1803 – Prosper Mérimée, French author (d. 1870)
1809 – Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (d. 1899)
1819 – Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol, Catalan intellectual, artist and engineer, inventor of the first combustion engine-driven submarine, which was propelled by an early form of air-independent propulsion (d. 1885)
1821 – Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, American politician (d. 1874)
1823 – Alexandre Cabanel, French painter (d. 1889)
1824 – Francis Turner Palgrave, British critic and poet (d. 1897)
1835 – Sai Baba of Shirdi (d. 1918)
1836 – Thomas Crapper, English inventor (d. 1910)
1841 – Georges Clemenceau, French politician (d. 1929)
1852 – Henri Moissan, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
1856 – Kate Douglas Wiggin, American children's author (d. 1923)
1860 – Paul Ulrich Villard, the French chemist and physicist who discovered gamma rays (d. 1934)
1861 – Amélie of Orléans, queen of Portugal (d. 1951)
1867 – Hiranuma Kiichiro, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1952)
1877 – Walter Thijssen, Dutch rower (d. 1943)
1877 – Albert Young, American welterweight boxer (d. 1940)
1878 – Joseph Ruddy, American freestyle swimmer and water polo player (d. 1962)
1881 – Pedro de Cordoba, American actor (d. 1950)
1887 – Avery Brundage, American athlete and sports official (d. 1975)
1889 – Jack Fournier, American baseball player (d. 1973)
1891 – Myrtle Gonzalez, American actress (d. 1918)
1893 – Giannis Skaribas, Greek writer and dramatist (d. 1984)
1898 – Carl Clauberg, Nazi concentration camp doctor (d. 1957)
1899 – Alice de Janzé, American heiress (d. 1941)
1900 – Joe Falcon, Cajun accordion player (d. 1965)
1901 – William S. Paley, American radio and television executive (d. 1990)
1901 – Ed Sullivan, American television show host (d. 1974)
1905 – Max Schmeling, German boxer (d. 2005)
1907 – Bhagat Singh, Indian Freedom Fighter (d. 1931)
1907 – Heikki Savolainen, Finnish gymnast (d. 1997)
1909 – Al Capp, American cartoonist (d. 1979)
1910 – Diosdado Macapagal, 9th President of the Philippines (d. 1997)
1910 – Wenceslao Vinzons, Filipino politician and resistance leader (d. 1942)
1913 – Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss artist and illustrator (d. 2007)
1915 – Ethel Rosenberg, Soviet spy, (d. 1953)
1916 – Peter Finch, English-born actor (d. 1977)
1916 – Olga Lepeshinskaya, Soviet ballerina (d. 2008)
1918 – Ángel Labruna, Argentinian football player and coach (d. 1983)
1918 – Arnold Stang, American comic actor (d. 2009)
1919 – Doris Singleton, American actress (d. 2012)
1923 – John Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch, British politician (d. 2007)
1923 – William Windom, American actor (d. 2012)
1923 – Tuli Kupferberg, American counterculture poet, author, cartoonist, pacifist anarchist, publisher and co-founder of the band The Fugs (d. 2010)
1924 – Marcello Mastroianni, Italian actor (d. 1996)
1924 – Rudolf Barshai, Soviet/Russian conductor and violist (d. 2010)
1925 – Seymour Cray, American computer scientist (d. 1996)
1925 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (d. 1991)
1925 – Frank Latimore, American actor (d. 1998)
1926 – Jerry Clower, American comedian (d. 1998)
1928 – Koko Taylor, American blues musician, popularly known as the "Queen of the Blues" (d. 2009)
1929 – Lata Mangeshkar, Indian playback singer
1930 – Immanuel Wallerstein, American sociologist
1932 – Víctor Jara, Chilean folk singer and activist (d. 1973)
1933 – Miguel Berrocal, Spanish sculptor (d. 2006)
1933 – Johnny "Country" Mathis, American country singer (d. 2011)
1934 – Brigitte Bardot, French actress
1934 – Janet Munro, British actress (d. 1972)
1935 – Ronald Lacey, British actor (d. 1991)
1935 – Heather Sears, British actress (d. 1994)
1936 – Emmett Chapman, jazz musician best known as the inventor of the Chapman Stick
1937 – Alice Mahon, English politician and labor leader
1937 – Rod Roddy, American television announcer (d. 2003)
1938 – Ben E. King, American soul singer
1939 – Elbridge Bryant, American tenor (The Temptations) (d. 1975)
1939 – Stuart Kauffman, American biologist
1939 – Rudolph Walker, British actor
1941 – Edmund Stoiber, German politician
1942 – Marshall Bell, American actor
1942 – Pierre Clémenti, French actor (d. 1999)
1942 – Tim Maia, Brazilian singer (d. 1998)
1942 – Edward "Little Buster" Forehand, soul and blues musician (d. 2006)
1943 – Warren Lieberfarb, American media executive
1943 – Nick St. Nicholas, Canadian musician (Steppenwolf)
1943 – J. T. Walsh, American actor (d. 1998)
1944 – Marcia Muller, American author
1945 – Marielle Goitschel, French alpine skier
1945 – Manolis Rasoulis, Greek lyricist (d. 2011)
1945 – Fusako Shigenobu, Japanese Red Army Founder
1946 – Jeffrey Jones, American actor
1946 – Helen Shapiro, English singer
1947 – Bob Carr, Australian politician
1947 – Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi politician
1948 – Panagiotis Adraktas, Greek politician
1949 – Jim Henshaw, Canadian actor and writer
1950 – Laurie Lewis, American musician
1950 – John Sayles, American director and screenwriter
1951 – Wei Chen, Canadian journalist
1951 – Norton Buffalo, singer-songwriter, country and blues harmonica player, record producer (d. 2009)
1952 – Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou, Greek basketball coach
1952 – Sylvia Kristel, Dutch actress
1954 – Steve Largent, American football player and U.S. Congressman
1954 – George Lynch, American musician (Dokken, Lynch Mob)
1955 – Stéphane Dion, Canadian politician
1955 – Kenny Kirkland, piano & keyboard player, member of Buckshot LeFonque (d. 1998)
1957 – C. J. Chenier, Zydeco musician
1959 – Ron Fellows, Canadian race car driver
1959 – Steve Hytner, American actor
1959 – Dantes Tsitsi, Nauruan politician
1960 – Frank Hammerschlag, German footballer
1960 – Jennifer Rush, American pop singer
1961 – Quentin Kawananakoa, pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii
1962 – Grant Fuhr, Canadian hockey player
1962 – Dietmar Schacht, German footballer
1962 – Chuck Taylor, American music journalist
1963 – Steve Blackman, American professional wrestler
1963 – Greg Weisman, American writer and animation producer.
1964 – Claudio Borghi, Argentine football manager (Colo-Colo)
1964 – Laura Cerón, American actress
1964 – Gregor Fisken, British racing driver and businessman
1964 – Janeane Garofalo, American actress and comedian
1964 – Paul Jewell, English football manager
1964 – Martinš Roze, Latvian politician (d. 2012)
1965 – Jens Melzig, German footballer
1966 – Maria Canals Barrera, American actress, singer
1966 – Ginger Fish, American musician (Marilyn Manson)
1966 – Puri Jagannadh, Indian film director
1966 – Leilani Sarelle, American Actress
1967 – Mira Sorvino, American actress
1967 – Moon Unit Zappa, American singer and actress
1968 – Mika Häkkinen, Finnish race car driver
1968 – Rob Moroso, American NASCAR driver (d. 1990)
1968 – Naomi Watts, English-born Australian actress
1969 – Marcel Dost, Dutch decathlete
1969 – Mark Everett, American fugitive (d. 2008)
1969 – Ben Greenman, American author
1969 – Éric Lapointe, Canadian singer
1969 – Nico Vaesen, Belgian footballer
1970 – Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japanese tennis player
1970 – Mike DeJean, American baseball player
1970 – Gualter Salles, Brazilian racing driver
1971 – Joseph Arthur, American singer-songwriter
1971 – Alan Wright, English footballer
1971 – A. J. Croce, American singer-songwriter and piano player
1972 – Dita Von Teese, American burlesque artist
1973 – Jori Hulkkonen, Finnish electronic musician
1973 – Brian Rafalski, American ice hockey player
1974 – Marco Di Loreto, Italian footballer
1974 – Mariya Kiselyova, Russian swimmer
1974 – Joonas Kolkka, Finnish footballer
1974 – John Light, English actor
1974 – Shane Webcke, Australian rugby league footballer
1975 – Stuart Clark, Australian cricketer
1975 – Lenny Krayzelburg, American swimmer
1976 – Ali Asel, Kuwaiti footballer
1976 – Fedor Emelianenko, Russian mixed martial artist
1977 – Ireneusz Marcinkowski, Polish footballer
1977 – Se Ri Pak, Korean golfer
1978 – Bushido, German rapper
1979 – Bam Margera, American skateboarder
1981 – José Calderón, Spanish basketball player
1981 – Melissa Claire Egan, American actress
1981 – Gül Gölge, Turkish model and actress
1981 – Jorge Guagua, Ecuadorian footballer
1981 – Iracema Trevisan, Brazilian musician (CSS)
1982 – Aleksandr Anyukov, Russian footballer
1982 – Abhinav Bindra, Indian shooter
1982 – Ray Emery, Canadian hockey player
1982 – Ranbir Kapoor, Indian actor
1982 – Nolwenn Leroy, French singer
1982 – Emeka Okafor, American basketball player
1982 – Dustin Penner, Canadian hockey player
1982 – Anderson Varejão, Brazilian basketball player
1982 – St. Vincent, American multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter
1983 – Stefan Moore, English footballer
1983 – John Schwalger, New Zealand rugby union footballer
1983 – Mary Kom, Indian Boxer
1984 – Melody Thornton, American singer and dancer (Pussycat Dolls)
1984 – Mathieu Valbuena, French footballer
1984 – Ryan Zimmerman, American baseball player
1985 – Alina Ibragimova, Russian violinist
1985 – Shindong, Korean Singer (Super Junior)
1986 – Andrés Guardado, Mexican footballer
1987 – Pierre Becken, German footballer
1987 – Hilary Duff, American actress and singer
1987 – Chloë Hanslip, English violinist
1988 – Marin Cilic, Croatian tennis player
1988 – Esmée Denters, Dutch singer
1988 – Aleks Vrteski, Australian soccer player
1989 – Mark Randall, English footballer
1990 – Kirsten Prout, Canadian actress
1992 – Skye McCole Bartusiak, American actress
1993 – Jodie Williams, British athlete
2000 – Frankie Jonas, American actor

Deaths

48 BC – Pompey the Great, Roman general and politician (b. 106 BC)
876 – Louis the German, King of Eastern Francia (b. 804)
935 – Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (b. 907)
1104 – Pedro I, king of Aragon and Navarre (b. 1068)
1197 – Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1165)
1429 – Cymburgis of Masovia, wife of Duke Ernest of Austria
1582 – George Buchanan, Scottish historian (b. 1506)
1618 – Joshua Sylvester, English poet (b. 1563)
1687 – Francis Turretin, Swiss theologian (b. 1623)
1694 – Gabriel Mouton, French scientist (b. 1618)
1702 – Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, English statesman (b. 1640)
1742 – Jean Baptiste Massillon, French churchman (b. 1663)
1781 – William Henry Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford, British diplomat and statesman (b. 1717)
1829 – Nikolay Nikolayevich Raevsky, Russian general (b. 1771)
1844 – Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy, Russian general and statesman (b. 1769)
1873 – Émile Gaboriau, French writer and journalist (b. 1832)
1891 – Herman Melville, American novelist (b. 1819)
1895 – Louis Pasteur, French scientist (b. 1822)
1914 – Richard Sears, American businessman (b. 1863)
1915 – Saito Hajime, Japanese samurai (b. 1844)
1918 – Georg Simmel, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1858)
1918 – Freddie Stowers, American soldier (b. 1896)
1935 – William Kennedy Dickson, Scottish inventor (b. 1860)
1938 – Charles Duryea, American automobile manufacturer (b. 1861)
1943 – Sam Ruben, American chemist (b. 1913)
1949 – Chrysanthus, Greek orthodox Archbishop of Athens (b. 1881)
1953 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (b. 1889)
1956 – William Edward Boeing, American aviation manufacturer (b. 1881)
1957 – Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan composer and musician (b. 1888)
1959 – Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (b. 1901)
1964 – Harpo Marx, American comedian and actor (b. 1888)
1966 – André Breton, French poet (b. 1896)
1970 – John Dos Passos, American novelist (b. 1896)
1970 – Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian statesman (b. 1918)
1972 – Rory Storm, English singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
1978 – Pope John Paul I (b. 1912)
1979 – John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist (b. 1921)
1981 – Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan politician (b. 1908)
1982 – Mabel Albertson, American actress (b. 1901)
1989 – Ferdinand Marcos, Filipino politician (b. 1917)
1991 – Miles Davis, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1926)
1993 – Peter De Vries, American novelist (b. 1910)
1993 – Fraser MacPherson, Canadian jazz saxophonist (b. 1928)
1993 – Alexander A. Drabik, American soldier (b. 1910)
1994 – Urmas Alender, Estonian singer and musician (b. 1953)
1994 – José Francisco Ruiz Massieu, Mexican politician (b. 1946)
1994 – Harry Saltzman, American film producer (b. 1915)
1996 – Mohammad Najibullah, Afghanistani president (b. 1947)
1999 – Escott Reid, Canadian diplomat (b. 1905)
2000 – Pierre Trudeau, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1919)
2002 – Patsy Mink, American politician (b. 1927)
2002 – Hartland Molson, Canadian businessman, politician, and sports executive (b. 1907)
2003 – Althea Gibson, American tennis player (b. 1927)
2003 – Elia Kazan, Greek-born American film director (b. 1909)
2003 – George Odlum, Saint Lucian politician (b. 1934)
2004 – Geoffrey Beene, American fashion designer (b. 1924)
2004 – Scott Muni, American disc jockey (b. 1930)
2005 – Constance Baker Motley, American judge (b. 1921)
2007 – René Desmaison, French mountaineer (b. 1930)
2007 – Wally Parks, American car racing executive (b. 1913)
2009 – Ulf Larsson, Swedish actor (b. 1956)
2009 – Guillermo Endara, Panamanian politician (b. 1936)
2010 – Kurt Albert, German mountaineer (b. 1954)
2010 – Dolores Wilson, American opera singer (b. 1928)