On this day in history

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From my inbox: Encyclopaedia Britannica
1777: During the American Revolution the British government sent General William Howe, commander in chief of the British army, and his brother Richard, Admiral Lord Howe, to negotiate a surrender with the American colonists in New York. The Americans refused to surrender and declared themselves independent on July 4, 1776. In subsequent battles, British forces under General Howe repeatedly defeated American forces, but near the end of 1776 the American general George Washington triumphed over Lord Cornwallis and his British troops in the Trenton-Princeton campaign. In the summer of 1777 a British army under General John Burgoyne moved south from Canada with Albany in New York as its goal, and in September Howe sailed from New York to Chesapeake Bay. Once ashore, he defeated Washington's forces at Brandywine Creek on September 11 and occupied the American capital of Philadelphia on this day.

1970: Hostilities came to an end during Black September, the brief but violent civil war between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordan.

1962: Sonny Liston became world heavyweight boxing champion with a first-round knockout of Floyd Patterson in Chicago.

1799: André Masséna, French nobleman and general under Napoleon, defeated Russian forces in the Second Battle of Zürich.

1513: Spanish conquistador and explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa became the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean.

1066: Tostig, earl of Northumbria, and Harald III, king of Norway, were killed in an attempt to depose Tostig's brother, King Harold II of England.

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Sunday, September 26, 2004
SHAMU DAY

http://shamu.com/ Shamu was born this day in 1985 in Orlando, Florida. She was the first killer whale to be born in captivity and survive. Her place of birth was Sea World.

Shamu and other killer whales with the same name (Shamu’s mother, Katina, also plays Shamu in the shows at Sea World Florida) have entertained millions at Sea World parks and at other ocean-life parks throughout the world. The giant, but seemingly gentle, creatures give rides to their trainers. They let children pet them and feed them. Shamu has even been known to give a visitor a sloppy, wet kiss.

The original Shamu ... her real name is Kalina ... moved to Sea World Texas, where she met the father of her calf Kito. She moved back to Sea World Florida to have her baby. It is there that Baby Shamu often performs with his mother.

 

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From my inbox: Encyclopaedia Britannica

George Gershwin, born in Brooklyn, New York, this day in 1898, was one of the most significant and popular of American composers. His primary field was the Broadway musical theatre, but important as well are his compositions in which the techniques and forms of art music are blended in varying degrees with the stylistic nuances and techniques of popular music and jazz.

"Jazz is the result of the energy stored up in America."
George Gershwin

1960: The first in a unique series of four televised debates between the U.S. presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon was broadcast on this day. An estimated 85 to 120 million Americans watched one or more of the debates. Both men showed a firm grasp of the issues, but Kennedy's superior physical poise while on camera convinced many viewers that he had won the debate; in contrast, most radio listeners felt the debate was a draw.

1969: The Beatles released Abbey Road, their last recorded album (Let It Be, though recorded earlier than Abbey Road, was released in 1970).

1820: American frontiersman and hero Daniel Boone died in St. Charles, Missouri.

1815: The Holy Alliance of Russia, Austria, and Prussia was formed, after the final defeat of Napoleon.

1687: During the bombardment of the Acropolis by Venetian forces, part of the Parthenon was destroyed in a powder explosion.

 

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From my inbox: Encyclopaedia Britannica


Élie, Duc Decazes

French politician Élie, Duc Decazes, born this day 1780, was the leader of the moderate constitutional monarchists during the Bourbon Restoration. He was an intimate adviser to King Louis XVIII.

"Those who have assassinated His Lordship the Duke of Berry are those who have rewarded treason and punished loyalty; those who have bestowed governmental office on the enemies of the Bourbons and the hirelings of Bonaparte!"

French ultraloyalists accusing Élie, Duc Decazes, in the assassination of the duc de Berry

Siege of Yorktown

1781: In Virginia the Siege of Yorktown, which began on this day during the American Revolution, pitted the British commander General Lord Cornwallis against the Franco-American Alliance forces led by General George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau. Washington and his allies steadily overcame the British Army's fortified positions at Yorktown, which were eventually surrendered by Cornwallis on October 19. Yorktown was the last major battle of the American Revolution.




1958: Madagascar voted for autonomy within the French Community.

1920: In what became known as the Black Sox Scandal, eight members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team were indicted by a grand jury on charges that they had thrown the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds in return for a bribe.

1911: Using the pretext of infringement of Italian interests in the Turkish provinces of Tripolitana and Cyrenaica (Libya), the Italian government issued an ultimatum to Turkey and declared war the next day.

351: Roman Emperor Constantius II defeated the usurper Magnentius in the Battle of Mursa, the bloodiest battle of the 4th century.