Tag: September

Here are 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in September 2024 (listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for ‘On This Day in History’ features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into movies, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more. (Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2024, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries (an average of eight newsworthy anniversaries for every day of the year).

This month is a TV Special with several iconic shows appearing for the first time.

1 Sep 1949 – 75 years ago
The Christmas song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was released.
It was sung by Gene Autry.

2 Sep 1949 – 75 years ago
The Chongqing fire, China.
A fire swept through the city. 1,700 people were killed and more than 10,000 homes were destroyed. The fire began in the slum district but the cause is unknown. The Nationalists suspected that the Communists started it, and executed one of them for arson.

3 Sep 1964 – 60 years ago
The Wilderness Act was signed into law by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.
It established a national wilderness-preservation system and protected 9.1 million acres of land.

4 Sep 1774 – 250 years ago
British explorer Captain James Cook became the first European to discover New Caledonia in the south-west Pacific, during his second voyage. It was annexed by France in 1853.

5 Sep 1959 – 65 years ago
The UK’s first trunk phone call from a public call-box was made in Bristol.

6 Sep 1899 – 125 years ago
Carnation, best known for its evaporated milk products, was established in Washington, USA (as the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company).

7 Sep 1984 – 40 years ago
American Express launched its exclusive platinum credit card.

8 Sep 1944 – 80 years ago
World War II: the first German V-2 rockets hit Britain, landing in Kent.

9 Sep 1774 – 250 years ago
Intolerable Acts – the Suffolk Resolves.
The leaders of Suffolk County, Massachusetts voted to boycott imported British goods unless the Intolerable Acts were repealed. The Resolves were endorsed by the First Continental Congress.

10 Sep 1624 – 400 years ago
Birth of Thomas Sydenham, English physician who became known as the ‘father of English medicine’ and ‘the English Hippocrates’ after his death. Best known for his book Observationes Medicae (Observations of Medicine), which was the standard medical textbook in England for 200 years. He also discovered Sydenham’s chorea (also known as St Vitus’ Dance).

11 Sep 1974 – 50 years ago
The first episode of the television series Little House On The Prairie was broadcast on NBC in the USA. It ran for nine seasons until 1983.

12 Sep 1954 – 70 years ago
The first episode of the television series Lassie was broadcast on CBS in the USA. It ran until 1971.

13 Sep 1899 – 125 years ago
The first person to be killed by a car in the USA: Henry Bliss stepped off a streetcar in New York City and was hit by a taxi that was passing a parked truck. Bliss died in hospital the following morning, 14^th September.

14 Sep 1949 – 75 years ago
Birth of Steve Gaines, American rock guitarist and songwriter (Lynyrd Skynyrd). (Died 1977.)

15 Sep 1964 – 60 years ago
The Sun newspaper was first published.
It is Britain’s biggest-selling daily newspaper. It replaced the socialist newspaper the Daily Herald.

16 Sep 1984 – 40 years ago
The first episode of the crime drama television series Miami Vice was broadcast on NBC in the USA. It ran for five seasons until 1990.

17 Sep 1964 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the television sitcom Bewitched was broadcast on ABC in the USA. It ran for eight seasons until 1972.

18 Sep 1964 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the television comedy series The Addams Family was broadcast on ABC in the USA. It ran for two seasons until 1966.

19 Sep 1964 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the television series Flipper was broadcast on NBC in the USA. It ran for three seasons until 1967.

20 Sep 1964 – 60 years ago
The song Leader of the Pack by The Shangri-Las was released.
It became a #1 hit in the USA in November. It was banned from BBC radio in the UK because of its theme of gang violence and death, but reached #11 on the UK chart. The ban was lifted in 1972 and it was re-released, reaching #3.

21 Sep 1999 – 25 years ago
Google officially launched its search engine, removing the ‘beta’ label.

22 Sep 1964 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the television spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was broadcast on NBC in the USA. It ran for four seasons until 1968.

23 Sep 1974 – 50 years ago
Ceefax, the world’s first teletext service, was launched by the BBC in the UK. It operated until October 2012 when the switchover to digital television was completed.

24 Sep 1964 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the television sitcom The Munsters was broadcast on CBS in the USA. It ran for two seasons until 1966.

25 Sep 1964 to 8 Sep 1974 – 60 years ago
The Mozambican War of Independence.
The result was a military stalemate, but it led to independence negotiations, and Mozambique gained its independence from Portugal in June 1975. This led to the Mozambican Civil War (1976/77 – 1992).

26 Sep 1774 – 250 years ago
Birth of Johnny Appleseed, American folk legend and missionary who planted apple trees in large parts of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the USA and Ontario in Canada.

27 Sep 1954 – 70 years ago
The first episode of the television series The Tonight Show was broadcast on NBC in the USA. Steve Allen was the first host.

28 Sep 1924 – 100 years ago
The first successful flight around the world was completed.
A team of aviators from the U.S. Army Air Service landed in Seattle, Washington after a 175-day trip around the world. They had set off on 6^th April.

29 Sep 1899 – 125 years ago
Birth of Laszlo Biro, Hungarian inventor of the first commercially successful ballpoint pen.

30 Sep 1949 – 75 years ago
The Berlin Airlift ended after 14 months.
More than 270,000 flights had delivered over 2 million tons of food and supplies to West Berlin, which was blockaded by the Soviet Union.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2024. The 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The anniversaries are available as PDF ebooks, Excel spreadsheets, and printed paperback books.

How to use the anniversaries:

If you’d like to know more about how to turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines and newspapers, take a look at our free 68-page guide, Ditch Your Day Job: the easiest way to make a living (or earn some extra cash) as a writer.

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Here are 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in September 2023 (listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)

Historical anniversaries are great for ‘On This Day in History’ features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into films, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more. (Find out more at the end of this article.)

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.

1 Sep 1923 – 100 years ago
The Great Kanto earthquake, Japan. The deadliest earthquake in Japanese history. Over 140,000 people were killed and 1.9 million made homeless.

2 Sep 1973 – 50 years ago
Death of J. R. R. Tolkien, British fantasy writer, poet, scholar and educator. Best known for his novels The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

3 Sep 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: Italy surrendered to the Allies and signed the Armistice of Cassibile. The Allies invaded Italy the same day (see below). (The armistice was announced to the public on 8^th September.)

4 Sep 1998 – 25 years ago
Google, the internet search company, was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both students at Stanford University, California, USA. (The company was initially based in a friend’s garage in Menlo Park.)

5 Sep 1953 – 70 years ago
The world’s first privately operated atomic reactor began operating at North Carolina State University, USA.

6 Sep 1923 – 100 years ago
Birth of Peter II, last King of Yugoslavia. (Died 1970.)

7 Sep 1923 – 100 years ago
Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organisation, was founded.

8 Sep 2003 – 20 years ago
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed 261 lawsuits against alleged music file-sharers. They included a 12-year-old schoolgirl, whose parents paid $2,000 to settle the case the next day.

9 Sep 1948 – 75 years ago
The People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was established, headed by Kim Il Sung

10 Sep 1943 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Germans occupied Rome, Italy, and took over the protection of the Vatican City.

11 Sep 1973 – 50 years ago
General Augusto Pinochet seized power in Chile in a military coup, overthrowing President Salvador Allende who apparently immediately committed suicide. (Some claim he was killed and the suicide was staged.)

12 Sep 1958 – 65 years ago
The world’s first working integrated circuit was demonstrated by Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments. (He had built it while the plant was shut down for holidays – as a new employee he was not entitled to holidays.)

13 Sep 1948 – 75 years ago
Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate, and the first to serve in both houses of Congress.

14 Sep 1953 – 70 years ago
Nikita Khrushchev became leader of the Soviet Union.

15 Sep 1963 – 60 years ago
The 16^th Street Baptist Church bombing, Birmingham, Alabama, USA. A bomb planted by the Ku Klux Klan exploded at the African American church. 4 children were killed and 22 injured.

16 Sep 1963 – 60 years ago
Malaysia was founded when Malaya united with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore. (Singapore was expelled in 1965.)

17 Sep 1953 – 70 years ago
The first successful separation of Siamese twins where both twins survived. 8-week-old Carolyn Anne and Catherine Anne Mouton were joined at the waist and lower spine and shared a lower intestine. They were separated at the Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA in a three-hour operation.

18 Sep 1873 – 150 years ago
The Panic of 1873. The U.S. bank Jay Cooke & Company failed after overextending its investment in the Northern Pacific Railway. This contributed to the Panic of 1873, which triggered an economic crisis in North America and Europe, and led to the Long Depression – two decades of stagnation. On 20^th September (‘Black Friday’) the New York Stock Exchange was forced to close for the first time in its history. It remained closed for 10 days.

19 Sep 1983 – 40 years ago
Saint Kitts and Nevis became independent from the UK.

20 Sep 1848 – 175 years ago
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) was founded. It is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publishes the scientific journal Science.

21 Sep 1993 to 4 Oct – 30 years ago
Russian constitutional crisis. Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspended parliament, attempted to disband the Congress of People’s Deputies and the Supreme Soviet, and called for new elections. He was impeached and replaced by vice president Aleksandr Rutskoy. On 4^th October he ordered the Russian Army to storm the Supreme Soviet building with tanks and arrest the leaders of the resistance. Up to 2,000 people were killed (official figure: 187).

22 Sep 1973 – 50 years ago
Henry Kissinger became U.S. Secretary of State. He was the first naturalised citizen to hold the office.

23 Sep 1848 – 175 years ago
The first commercial production of chewing gum. American businessman John B. Curtis produced his batch of chewing gum at his home in Bangor, Maine. He called it State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.

24 Sep 1948 – 75 years ago
The Honda Motor Company was founded.

25 Sep 1963 – 60 years ago
Lord Denning’s report on the Profumo Affair was published in the UK. It found that the former Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, lied to the House of Commons about his relationship with Christine Keeler. She was the alleged mistress of a Russian spy, who was thought to be using their relationship to obtain classified information about British security.

26 Sep 1963 to 13 Oct – 60 years ago
Hurricane Flora, one of the deadliest hurricanes in history, killed 7,193 people in the Caribbean region, especially in Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

27 Sep 1898 – 125 years ago
Birth of Vincent Youmans, American Broadway composer and producer. Best known for the musical No, No Nanette and the song Tea for Two.

28 Sep 1923 – 100 years ago
The first issue of the BBC’s radio and television listings magazine Radio Times was published.

29 Sep 1923 – 100 years ago
The British Mandate for Palestine came into effect. Britain took control of Mandatory Palestine (formerly part of the Turkish Empire) until 1948 when Israel became an independent state.

30 Sep 1948 – 75 years ago
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) froze all outstanding television broadcast licence applications. It was inundated with hundreds of applications and there were several technical hurdles to be overcome, including the development of colour transmissions and interference between adjacent stations’ transmitters. The planned 6-month freeze lasted for 4 years.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2023. The 2024, 2025 and 2026 and 2027 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The anniversaries are available as PDF ebooks, Excel spreadsheets, and printed paperback books.

The 2028 edition will be available from April 2023. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

How to use the anniversaries:

If you’d like to know more about how to turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines and newspapers, take a look at our free 68-page guide, Ditch Your Day Job: the easiest way to make a living (or earn some extra cash) as a writer.

It has some terrific bonuses too, including a complete month of anniversaries from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, 301 article-writing ideas and tips, plus a 25 percent discount when you buy two or more editions of The Date-A-Base Book.

Share this:

Historical anniversaries are great for “On This Day in History” features and anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with readers and viewers, editors and producers love them, they’re easy to research, and you can easily turn them into newspaper and magazine articles, films, TV/radio/theatre shows, and more.

Here are 30 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in September 2022 (so you have time to write about them!)

We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2022. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2026 edition will be available from the end of March 2022 and the 2027 edition will be available from June 2022.

1 Sep 1897 – 125 years ago
The oldest subway system in North America opened: the Tremont Street Subway in Boston, Massachusetts.

2 Sep 1957 – 65 years ago
The Everly Brothers’ best-known song Wake Up Little Susie was released.

3 Sep 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II: Jewish uprising in the Lakhva Ghetto, Belarus. Thought to be the first ghetto uprising of the war.

4 Sep 2002 – 20 years ago
Kelly Clarkson won the first season of the television singing competition American Idol.

5 Sep 1972 – 50 years ago
Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic Village in Munich, West Germany during the 1972 Olympic Games and took eleven members of the Israeli team hostage. All of the hostages were killed, as well as five of the eight terrorists and a German police officer, when a rescue attempt failed.

6 Sep 1522 – 500 years ago
Spanish navigator Juan de Elcano returned to Spain and became the first person to circumnavigate the world. His ship, the Victoria, was the only vessel to survive Ferdinand Magellan’s 1519 expedition to the Spice Islands. (Magellan was killed in the Philippines in 1521.)

7 Sep 1822 – 200 years ago
Brazil declared its independence from Portugal.

8 Sep 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Sid Caesar, American actor, comedian and writer. Best known for the television comedy shows Your Show of Shows and Caesar’s Hour. He also had roles in numerous films and TV shows.

9 Sep 1947 – 75 years ago
Reputed to be the first case of an actual computer bug. The Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA was experiencing problems, and a moth was found lodged in one of its relays. The computer was successfully ‘debugged’ by removing it.

10 Sep 1897 – 125 years ago
The world’s first drunk-driving arrest. Taxi driver George Smith crashed into a building in London, UK while under the influence of alcohol. He was fined 25 shillings.

11 Sep 1972 – 50 years ago
The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system began operating in San Francisco, California, USA.

12 Sep 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II: the Laconia Incident. The British troopship Laconia was hit by a German torpedo and sank off the coast of West Africa, killing around 1,400 men. This had far-reaching consequences as the ship was carrying 1,500 Italian prisoners-of-war. When the Germans realised this they launched a rescue mission, but were then bombed by the Americans, despite displaying the Red Cross flag.

13 Sep 1922 – 100 years ago
The highest temperature ever recorded in the world: 57.7°C (136°F) in Al ‘Aziziyah, Libya. (Unofficial record.)

14 Sep 1982 – 40 years ago
Death of Princess Grace of Monaco, formerly the American film and television actress Grace Kelly. (Car crash, aged 52.)

15 Sep 1982 – 40 years ago
The first issue of the newspaper USA Today was published.

16 Sep 1992 – 30 years ago
Black Wednesday sterling crisis. The UK crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), raised interest rates from 10% to 15%, and spent billions of pounds buying up sterling that was being frantically disposed of on international markets.

17 Sep 1972 – 50 years ago
The first episode of the television series MAS*H was broadcast on NBC in the USA. (UK: 20^th May 1973.)

18 Sep 1947 – 75 years ago
The U.S. National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were established, the Department of Defense began operating, and the U.S. Air Force was established as a separate branch of the military.

19 Sep 1982 – 40 years ago
American computer scientist Scott Fahlman designed the first documented emoticons and posted them on Carnegie Mellon University’s bulletin board system. The emoticons were 🙂 and 🙁

20 Sep 1952 – 70 years ago
American biologists Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase conducted their famous ‘blender’ experiment. It confirmed that genetic material is stored in DNA rather than in proteins as had been previously thought.

21 Sep 1922 – 100 years ago
U.S. President Warren G. Harding signed the Lodge–Fish joint resolution of approval to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

22 Sep 1947 – 75 years ago
A U.S. Air Force plane made the first wholly automated flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The take-off, flight and landing were controlled by autopilot throughout the entire journey.

23 Sep 1962 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the animated television series The Jetsons was broadcast on ABC in the USA. (It was the first colour programme on ABC.)

24 Sep 1947 – 75 years ago
Majestic 12, a secret committee of scientists, military leaders and government officials, was allegedly established in the USA. Its purpose was to investigate and recover alien spacecraft following the Roswell incident. (The U.S. government denies it ever existed, and some sources say it may have been a fictional committee invented by the Soviet Union.)

25 Sep 1897 – 125 years ago
Birth of William Faulkner, American writer. Winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature and two Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction (1955 and 1963).

26 Sep 1962 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the television series The Beverly Hillbillies was broadcast on CBS in the USA. (UK: 1^st February 1963.)

27 Sep 1822 – 200 years ago
French orientalist Jean-François Champollion announced that he had successfully deciphered the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta stone.

28 Sep 2002 – 20 years ago
Death of Patsy Mink, American politician. The first Asian American woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

29 Sep 1982 – 40 years ago
Tylenol murders, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Seven people died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol painkiller capsules that had been laced with cyanide.

30 Sep 1947 – 75 years ago
Birth of Marc Bolan, British glam rock singer, songwriter, guitarist and poet (T. Rex). (Died 1977.)

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2022. The 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The 2026 edition will be available from the end of March 2022, with the 2027 edition following in June.
Find out more at ideas4writers.com.

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