September 4
is the 247th day of the year (248th in
leap years). There are 118 days remaining.
*
476 -
Romulus Augustus, the last
emperor of the Western
Roman Empire, is deposed when
Odoacer proclaims himself King of
Italy.
*
1260 - The
Senese Ghibellines, supported by the forces of King
Manfred of Sicily, defeat the
Florentine Guelphs at
Montaperti.
*
1781 -
Los Angeles, California, is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (the City of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of the Little Portion) by a group of 44
Spanish settlers.
*
1867 -
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. is founded at the
Adelphi Hotel in
Sheffield.
*
1870 - Emperor
Napoleon III of France is deposed and the
Third Republic is declared.
*
1886 -
Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting,
Apache leader
Geronimo surrenders with his last band of warriors to General
Nelson Miles at
Skeleton Canyon in
Arizona.
*
1888 -
George Eastman registers the trademark
Kodak, and receives a patent for his
camera which uses roll film.
*
1894 - In
New York City, 12,000 tailors
strike against
sweatshop working conditions.
*
1923 - In
Lakehurst, New Jersey, the first
U.S. airship, the
USS Shenandoah, takes to the sky for the first time.
*
1940 -
World War II: The
USS Greer becomes the first
United States ship fired upon by a
German submarine in the war, even though the United States is a neutral power. Tension heightens between the two nations as a result.
*
1944 - World War II: The
British 11th Armoured Division liberate the
Belgian city of
Antwerp.
*
1945 - World War II:
Japanese forces surrender on
Wake Island after hearing word of their nation's surrender.
*
1948 - Queen
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.
*
1949 - Maiden flight of the
Bristol Brabazon.
*
1950 - The "
Beetle Bailey" comic strip begins.
* 1950 -
Darlington Raceway is the site of the inaugural
Southern 500, the first 500-mile
NASCAR race.
*
1951 - The first live transcontinental
television broadcast takes place in
San Francisco, California, from the
Japanese Peace Treaty Conference.
*
1956 - The
IBM RAMAC 305, the first commercial computer that used
magnetic disk storage, was introduced.
*
1957 -
American Civil Rights Movement:
Little Rock Crisis -
Orville Faubus, governor of
Arkansas, calls out the National Guard to prevent black students from enrolling in
Central High School in
Little Rock.
* 1957 - The
Ford Motor Company introduces the
Edsel.
*
1963 -
Swissair Flight 306 crashes near
Dürrenäsch,
Switzerland, killing all on board.
*
1964 -
Scotland's
Forth Road Bridge, near
Edinburgh, officially opens.
*
1967 - The last new episode of the television sitcom
Gilligan's Island airs on CBS-TV.
* 1967 -
Vietnam War:
Operation Swift begins:
U.S. Marines launch a search-and-destroy mission in
Quang Nam and
Quang Tin Provinces. The ensuing four-day battle in
Que Son Valley kills 114 Americans and 376
North Vietnamese.
*
1971 - A
Boeing 727 carrying
Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes into the side of a mountain near
Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board.
* 1971 - In the ,
The Lawrence Welk Show airs its last show on
ABC-TV before moving to
syndication which would last until
1982.
*
1972 -
Mark Spitz wins his seventh swimming gold medal at the
1972 Summer Olympics in
Munich,
Germany, becoming the first
Olympian to win seven gold medals. Spitz swam in only seven events and set world records in each one.
* 1972 - Israeli Athletes taken hostage by
Palestinian Black September (group) at
1972 Summer Olympics in
Munich massacre* 1972 -
The Price Is Right returns to television as
The New Price Is Right on
CBS, hosted by
Bob Barker (it is still on the daytime schedule at present).
The Joker's Wild and
Gambit also premiere on CBS.
* 1972 -
KOCE, a PBS station for
Huntington Beach, CA starts showing programs.
*
1995 - The
Fourth World Conference on Women opens in
Beijing with over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.
*
1995 -
WCW Monday Nitro premieres, starting the
Monday Night Wars between
World Wrestling Entertainment and
World Championship Wrestling*
1996 -
War on Drugs: Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (
FARC) attack a military base in
Guaviare, starting three weeks of
guerrilla warfare that will claim the lives of at least 130
Colombians.
*
1997 - In
Lorain, Ohio,
United States, the last
Ford Thunderbird rolls off the
assembly line.
*
1241 - King
Alexander III of Scotland (d.
1286)
*
1454 -
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English politician (d.
1483)
*
1563 -
Wanli,
Emperor of China (d.
1620)
*
1596 -
Constantijn Huygens, Dutch poet and composer (d.
1687)
*
1717 -
Job Orton, English dissenting minister (d.
1783)
*
1768 -
François-René de Chateaubriand, French diplomat (d.
1848)
*
1803 -
Sarah Childress Polk,
First Lady of the United States (d.
1891)
*
1824 -
Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (d.
1896)
*
1832 -
Antonio Agliardi, Italian diplomat (d.
1915)
*
1846 -
Daniel Burnham, American architect (d.
1912)
*
1851 -
John Dillon, Irish nationalist (d.
1927)
*
1886 -
Albert Orsborn, the 6th General of
The Salvation Army (d.
1967)
*
1891 -
Fritz Todt, Nazi official (d.
1942)
*
1892 -
Darius Milhaud, French composer (d.
1974)
*
1895 -
Nigel Bruce, English actor (d.
1953)
*
1896 -
Antonin Artaud, French playwright(d.
1948)
*
1905 -
Mary Renault, English novelist (d.
1983)
*
1906 -
Max Delbrück, German biologist,
Nobel laureate (d.
1981)
*
1908 -
Edward Dmytryk, American film director (d.
1999)
* 1908 -
Richard Wright, American writer (d.
1960)
*
1913 -
Stanford Moore, American chemist,
Nobel laureate (d.
1982)
*
1917 -
Henry Ford II, American industrialist (d.
1987)
*
1918 -
Paul Harvey, American radio broadcaster
*
1920 -
Teddy Johnson, British singer
*
1924 -
Joan Aiken, English writer (d.
2004)
*
1925 -
Forrest Carter, American author
*
1927 -
John McCarthy, American computer scientist
*
1928 -
Dick York, American actor (d.
1992)
*
1929 -
Thomas Eagleton, American politician
*
1931 -
Mitzi Gaynor, American actress
*
1932 -
Carlos Romero Barcelo, Puerto Rican politician
* 1932 -
Dinsdale Landen, English actor (d.
2003)
*
1934 -
Clive Granger, Welsh-born economist,
Nobel laureate*
1937 -
Dawn Fraser, Australian swimmer
* 1937 -
Mikk Mikiver, Estonian actor and director (d.
2006)
*
1941 -
Marilena Chaui, Brazilian philosopher
* 1941 -
Sushilkumar Shinde, Indian politician
*
1945 -
Danny Gatton, American musician (d.
1994)
*
1946 -
Gary Duncan, American guitarist (
Quicksilver Messenger Service)
* 1946 -
Greg Elmore, American drummer (
Quicksilver Messenger Service)
*
1948 -
Samuel Hui, Hong Kong singer
*
1949 -
Tom Watson, American golfer
*
1957 -
Khandi Alexander, American actress
* 1957 -
Patricia Tallman, American actress
*
1959 -
Kevin Harrington, Australian actor
*
1960 -
Damon Wayans, American actor and comedian
*
1961 -
Kevin Kennedy, English actor
*
1963 -
John Vanbiesbrouck, American hockey player
*
1968 -
Mike Piazza, baseball player
*
1970 -
Igor Cavalera, Brazilian drummer (
Sepultura)
* 1970 -
Daisy Dee, West Indian-born singer
*
1971 -
Maik Taylor, Northern Irish footballer
*
1973 -
Jason David Frank, American actor
*
1974 -
Carmit Bachar, Member of the band the
Pussycat Dolls*
1977 -
Ian Grushka, American musician (
New Found Glory)
*
1980 -
Lucie Silvas, English musician
*
1981 -
Beyoncé Knowles, American singer
*
1982 -
Alessandra Rubi Streignard Villarreal, Spanish singer
*
799 -
Musa al-Kazim, Shia Imam (b.
745)
*
1037 - King
Bermudo III of Leon (b.
1010)
*
1063 -
Toghrül, Turkish conqueror of Persia and Baghdad
*
1199 -
Joan of England, Queen consort of Sicily, wife of
William II of Sicily (b.
1165)
*
1537 -
Johann Dietenberger, German theologian
*
1588 -
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English politician (b.
1532)
*
1767 -
Charles Townshend, English politician (b.
1725)
*
1780 -
John Fielding, English magistrate and social reformer (b.
1721)
*
1784 -
César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer (b.
1714)
*
1794 -
John Hely-Hutchinson, Irish statesman (b.
1724)
*
1804 -
Richard Somers, American naval officer
*
1852 -
William MacGillivray, Scottish naturalist and ornithologist (b.
1796)
*
1864 -
John Hunt Morgan, American Confederate military leader (b.
1825)
*
1907 -
Edvard Grieg, Norwegian composer (b.
1843)
*
1909 -
Clyde Fitch, American dramatist and playwright (b.
1865)
*
1916 -
José Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Spanish writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1832)
*
1965 -
Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian physician and missionary, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (b.
1875)
*
1974 -
Marcel Achard, French playwright (b.
1899)
*
1977 -
E. F. Schumacher, German economist and statistician (b.
1911)
*
1986 -
Hank Greenberg, baseball player (b.
1911)
*
1987 -
Bill Bowes, English cricketer (b.
1908)
*
1989 -
Georges Simenon, French author (b.
1903)
* 1989 -
Ronald Syme, New Zealand-born classicist and historian (b.
1903)
*
1991 -
Tom Tryon, American actor and novelist (b.
1926)
* 1991 -
Dottie West, American singer (b.
1932)
*
1993 -
Hervé Villechaize, French actor (b.
1943)
*
1995 -
William Kunstler, American lawyer and activist (b.
1919)
*
1997 -
Aldo Rossi, Italian architect (b.
1931)
*
2001 -
Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf, American radio personality (b.
1962)
*
2003 -
Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (b.
1921)
* 2003 -
Lola Bobesco, Romanian-Belgian violinist (b.
1921)
*
2004 -
Alphonso Ford, American basketball player (b.
1971)
* 2004 -
Moe Norman, Canadian golfer (b.
1929)
* 2004 -
James O. Page, American paramedic (b.
1936)
*
Roman festivals - start of the
Ludi Romani a.k.a.
Ludi Magni, until
19 September.
*
RC Saints -
Saint Rosalia,
Saint Rose of Viterbo* Also see
September 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)*
BBC: On This Day-
September 3 -
September 5 -
August 4 -
October 4 – more
historical anniversaries
