18 September - Definition and Overview

September 18 is the 261st day of the year (262nd in leap years). There are 104 days remaining.

Events

• 96 - Nerva elevated as Roman Emperor after Domitian was stabbed to death.
• 323 - Constantine the Great decisively defeats Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine's sole control over the Roman Empire.
• 1454 - In battle of Chojnice, Polish army is defeated by Teutonic army during the Thirteen Years' War
• 1739 - Treaty of Belgrade signed, ceding Belgrade to the Ottoman Empire
• 1759 - British capture Quebec City
• 1810 - First Government Junta in Chile. Though supposed to rule only in the absence of the king, it was in fact the first step towards independence from Spain, and it is commemorated as such.
• 1850 - The U.S. Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act.
• 1851 - The New-York Daily Times, which will become The New York Times, begins publishing
• 1872 - King Oscar II accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway
• 1873 - The Panic of 1873 begins
• 1895 - Daniel David Palmer makes the first chiropractic adjustment.
• 1906 - Typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10000 persons in Hong Kong
• 1914 - The Battle of Aisne ends
• 1927 - Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air
• 1931 - Mukden Incident. After that, Japan occupied Manchuria.
• 1932 - Actress Peg Entwistle commits suicide by jumping from the H in the Hollywood sign, forever turning the sign into a symbol for the paradox of the American film industry.
• 1942 - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation authorized
• 1943 - The Jews of Minsk are massacred at Sobibór
• 1947 - The United States Department of Defense begins operation (formerly known as National Military Establishment).
• 1975 - Patty Hearst arrested after a year on the FBI Most Wanted List
• 1985 - Steve Jobs resigns from Apple Computer
• 1989 - Hurricane Hugo hits Puerto Rico, killing six
• 1990 - Liechtenstein becomes member of the UN
• 1992 - The existence of the National Reconnaissance Office, operating since 1960, is declassified.
• 1997 - Ted Turner donates $1 billion to the United Nations
• 1997 - Voters in Wales vote yes (50.3%) on a referendum on Welsh autonomy
• 1998 - ICANN is formed
• 2003 - Hurricane Isabel makes landfall in the U.S.
• 2003 - The Local Government Act 2003, repealing Section 28, receives Royal Assent.

Births

• 53 - Trajan, Roman emperor (d. 117)
• 1709 - Samuel Johnson, essayist, critic, poet (d. 1784)
• 1718 - Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Russian statesman (d. 1783)
• 1733 - George Read, US judge/signer (Declaration of Independence)
• 1765 - Pope Gregory XVI (d. 1846)
• 1772 - Martin-Pierre Dalvimare, composer
• 1779 - Joseph Story, Mass, 19th Supreme Court justice (1812-45)
• 1819 - Leon Foucault, physicist (d. 1868)
• 1857 - John Hessin Clarke, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1945)
• 1870 - Clark Wissler, anthropologist (American Indian)
• 1876 - James Scullin, ninth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1953)
• 1889 - Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (d. 1970)
• 1890 - Vladimir Ambros, composer
• 1895 - John Diefenbaker, thirteenth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1979)
• 1901 - Harold Clurman, producer/director (Deadline at Dawn)
• 1905 - Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, actor (d. 1977)
• 1905 - Greta Garbo, actress (d. 1990)
• 1905 - Agnes de Mille, dancer, choreographer (d. 1993)
• 1907 - Leon Askin, actor
• 1916 - Rossano Brazzi, actor (d. 1994)
• 1917 - June Foray, voice over actress
• 1918 - John Berger, politician
• 1920 - Jack Warden, actor
• 1923 - Peter Smithson, architect (d. 2003)
• 1925 - Harvey Haddix, baseball pitcher (pitched perfect game into 12th)
• 1926 - Bud Greenspan, documentary film producer, director
• 1932 - Nikolai Rukavishnikov, cosmonaut (d. 2002)
• 1928 - Adam Walacinski, composer
• 1928 - Phyllis Kirk, Syracuse NY, actress (Thin Man, Red Button's Show)
• 1933 - Jimmie Rodgers, pop music singer, composer
• 1933 - Robert Blake, actor
• 1933 - Manfred Niehaus, composer
• 1937 - Norman Dinnerstein, composer
• 1939 - Fred Willard, Ohio, comedian (Fernwood 2 Night, Real People)
• 1939 - Kate (Katherine Jane) Westbrook, English painter, singer (jazz, cabaret), instrumentalist
• 1940 - Frankie Avalon, musician
• 1944 - Michael Franks, rocker
• 1950 - Anna Deavere Smith, conceptual artist
• 1950 - Shabana Azmi, Indian Actress
• 1950 - Darryl Sittler, NHL hockey player (mainly Toronto Maple Leafs)
• 1952 - Dee Dee Ramone, musician (d. 2002)
• 1952 - Rick Pitino, basketball coach
• 1954 - Murtaza Bhutto, politician
• 1959 - Ryne Sandberg, Spokane WA, infielder (Chic Cubs)
• 1960 - Kim Wilde, Chiswick England, vocalist
• 1961 - James Gandolfini, actor
• 1963 - James Cameron born
• 1964 - Holly Robinson, actress
• 1968 - Toni Kukoc, Croatian basketball player
• 1971 - Lance Armstrong, cycling champion
• 1971 - Jada Pinkett Smith, model, actress
• 1974 - Ticha Penicheiro, WNBA basketball player
• 1975 - Anthony McPartlin, English television presenter

Deaths

• 31 - Sejanus, Roman head of praetorisch guard, executed
• 96 - Roman emperor Domitian
• 993 - Arnulf vanf Gent, Westfries earl (988-93), dies in battle
• 1137 - Erik II Eimune, [Onvergetelijke], king of Denmark (1134-37), murdered
• 1180 - Louis VII, King of France, dies
• 1261 - Koenraad van Hochstaden, archbishop of Cologne, dies
• 1426 - Hubert Huybrecht van Eyck, painter, dies
• 1721 - Matthew Prior, poet/diplomat, dies
• 1783 - Leonhard Euler, mathematician
• 1792 - Gottlieb August Spangenberg
• 1827 - Robert Pollok, poet, dies
• 1831 - Peter Hansel, composer, dies at 60
• 1860 - Joseph Locke, railway builder and civil engineer
• 1905 - George MacDonald, sci-fi author (Princess & Curdie), dies at 80
• 1924 - Francis Herbert Bradley, British philosopher (neo-idealism), dies
• 1939 - Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz
• 1949 - Frank Morgan, actor (Annie Get Your Gun, Wizard of Oz), dies at 59
• 1952 - Hippoliet Daeye, Flemish painter (Dreamy), dies
• 1964 - Sean O'Casey, playwright
• 1967 - John Cockcroft, British, physicist (b. 1897)
• 1970 - Jimi Hendrix, rock musician
• 1973 - Nora Nicholson, actress (Blue Lagoon, Crow Hollow), dies at 80
• 1980 - Katherine Anne Porter, novelist
• 1994 - Franco Moschino, Italian fashion designer, dies at 44
• 1994 - Vitas Gerulaitis, tennis player
• 1996 - Spiro Agnew
• 2002 - Bob Hayes, American athlete
• 2003 - Emil Fackenheim, Holocaust survivor, philosopher
• 2004 - Norman Cantor, historian

Holidays and observances

• In ancient Greece, the fifth day of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
• Chile: Independence Day (see Events)
• In the French Revolutionary Calendar, the "Feast of Genius"

September 17 · September 19 · August 18 · October 18 · more historical anniversaries