September 28
Events
Up to 1900
48 BC - Pompey the Great is assassinated on orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt after landing in Egypt. It may have occurred on September 29, his 58th birthday, but records are unclear.
235 - Pope Pontian resigns.
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.
1066 - William the Conqueror invades England.
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 Muhldorf.
1448 - Christian I is crowned king of Denmark.
1538 - The Ottoman Navy scores a decisive victory over the Holy League fleet in the Battle of Preveza.
1542 - Navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo of Portugal arrives as what is now San Diego.
1708 - Peter the Great defeats the Swedes at the Battle of Lesnaya.
1779 - 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 Heights, Virginia during the American Revolutionary War.
1787 - The just completed United States Constitution is voted on by the United States Congress to be sent to the State legislatures for approval.
1791 - France becomes the first country to emancipate its Jewish population.
1820 - The tomato is publicly proven safe when Robert Johnson eats a bushel (24 kg) of tomatoes in Salem, Massachusetts.
1821 - Mexico signs its final Declaration of Independence.
1823 - Leo XII is elected as pope.
1844 - Oscar I of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
1867 - Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario.
1867 - The US takes control of Midway Island, northwest of Hawaii.
1868 - Battle of Alcolea, causes Queen Isabella II of Spain to flee to France.
1871 - Brazil passes law freeing future children of slaves.
1885 - Riots break out in Montreal to protest against having to have smallpox vaccination.
1889 - The first Conference of General Weights and Measurements is held.
1892 - The first night match in American football takes place, between Wyoming Seminary and Mansfield State Normal.
1893 - FC Porto is founded.
1901 2000
1901 - Philippine-American War: Filipino guerrillas kill more than 40 American soldiers and lose 28 of their own, in a surprise attack in the town of Balangiga on Samar Island.
1907 - The football club Real Sociedad is founded in Cantabria, Northern Spain.
1912 - Corporal Frank S. Scott of the United States Army becomes the first enlisted official to die in an airplane crash, along with Lewis C. Rockwell at College Park, Maryland.
1919 - In a referendum, most voters in Luxembourg decide to keep the monarchy.
1928 - The UK passes the Dangerous Drugs Act.
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin.
1934 - Ocean liner RMS Queen Mary is launched at Clydebank.
1939 - 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 - Battle of Arnhem - Germans defeat British airborne at Arnhem, Netherlands.
1950 - Indonesia joins the UN.
1951 - CBS makes the first color televisions available for sale to the general public, though withdraws them less than a month later.
1958 - Guinea votes for independence from France.
1958 - France ratifies a new constitution; the Fifth Republic of France is formed.
1960 - Mali and Senegal join the UN.
1961 - A military coup in Damascus, Syria effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.
1964 - The Warren Commission concludes there was no conspiracy in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
1969 - Willy Brandt is elected Chancellor of Germany.
1970 - Gamal Abdel Nasser dies, and is succeeded by Anwar Sadat as President of Egypt.
1971 - UK Misuse of Drugs Act - medicinal cannabis is banned.
1972 - Paul Henderson scores the goal to win the Canada/USSR (ice hockey) "Summit Series".
1973 - ITT Building in New York City is bombed to protest ITT's involvement in the September 11 Coup in Chile.
1976 - R&B singer Stevie Wonder releases the classic double album Songs in the Key of Life.
1978 - Pope John Paul I dies after just 33 days as Pope.
1979 - Larry Holmes wins his Heavyweight World Boxing Title fight against Ernie Shavers.
1987 - "Encounter at Farpoint", the first episode of TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation airs.
1992 - An Airbus A300 of Pakistan International Airlines strikes a mountain near Kathmandu, killing all 117 on board.
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.
2000 - Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau dies.
2000 - Al-Aqsa Intifada begins after the visit of Ariel Sharon to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
2000 - In a referendum in Denmark, a majority of voters reject the Euro currency.
From 2001
2003 - A widespread power outage affects Italy.
2004 - Wayne Rooney makes his long-awaited Manchester United debut, scoring a hat-trick in the 6-2 Champions League victory.
2009 - 157 protesters are killed in Guinea, as they demonstrated against the military rule of Moussa Dadis Camara.
2010 - A massive landslide kills at least 7 people in Oaxaca, Mexico.
2012 - A plane crashes shortly after take-off from Kathmandu and bursts into flames, killing all 19 people on board.
2013 - Pakistan is struck by a second earthquake, after one of magnitude 7.7 struck four days earlier.
2013 - Several ministers from Silvio Berlusconi's party resign from the coalition government of Enrico Letta in Italy.
2014 - Europe wins its third Ryder Cup golf championship in-a-row, defeating the United States at Gleneagles, Scotland.
2016 - International investigators conclude that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a Buk missile that came from Russia.
2018 - 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami: The Indonesian island of Sulawesi is hit by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake and a tsunami, killing an estimated 4,340 people.
Births
Up to 1900
551 BC - Confucius, Chinese philosopher (d. 479 BC)
616 - Javanshir, Albanian King (d. 680)
1493 - Agnolo Firenzuola, Italian poet (d. 1545)
1555 - Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon, Marshal of France (d. 1623)
1573 - Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Italian artist (d. 1610)
1605 - Ismael Bullialdus, French astronomer (d. 1694)
1667 - Asano Naganori, Japanese warlord (d. 1701)
1681 - Johann Mattheson, German composer (d. 1764)
1698 - Pierre-Louis Maupertuis, French polymath (d. 1759)
1705 - Johann Peter Kellner, German organist and composer (d. 1772)
1735 - Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1811)
1746 - William Jones, English philologist (d. 1794)
1765 - Pope Gregory XVI (d. 1846)
1797 - Fyodor Litke, Russian geographer, navigator and Arctic explorer (d. 1882)
1803 - Prosper Merimee, French writer (d. 1870)
1809 - Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (d. 1899)
1811 - Friedrich Hecker, German-American lawyer, politician and revolutionary (d. 1881)
1819 - Narcis Monturiol i Estarriol, Catalan engineer, artist and inventor (d. 1885)
1821 - Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, American politician (d. 1874)
1823 - Alexandre Cabanel, French painter (d. 1889)
1828 - Friedrich Albert Lange, German philosopher (d. 1875)
1836 - Thomas Crapper, English inventor (d. 1910)
1838 - Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian national saint (d. 1918)
1841 - Georges Clemenceau, French politician (d. 1929)
1844 - Robert Stout, Scottish-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
1852 - Henri Moissan, French chemist (d. 1907)
1859 - Alfredo Baquerizo, President of Ecuador (d. 1951)
1860 - Paul Ulrich Villard, French chemist and physicist (d. 1934)
1863 - King Carlos I of Portugal (d. 1908)
1865 - Amelie of Orleans (d. 1951)
1867 - Hiranuma Kiichiro, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1952)
1871 - Pietro Badoglio, Italian soldier and politician (d. 1956)
1871 - Fred P. Cone, Governor of Florida (d. 1948)
1878 - Joseph Ruddy, American freestyle swimmer and water polo player (d. 1962)
1882 - Alexander Kutupov, Russian general (d. 1930)
1887 - Avery Brundage, American sports official, President of the International Olympic Committee (d. 1975)
1889 - Jack Fournier, American baseball player (d. 1973)
1892 - Elmer Rice, American dramatist (d. 1973)
1893 - Giannis Skaribas, Greek writer and dramatist (d. 1984)
1895 - Prentice Cooper, 36th Governor of Tennessee (d. 1969)
1901 1950
1901 - Ed Sullivan, American television host (d. 1974)
1901 - William S. Paley, American radio and TV executive (d. 1990)
1905 - Max Schmeling, German boxer (d. 2005)
1907 - Heikki Savolainen, Finnish gymnast (d. 1997)
1909 - Al Capp, American cartoonist (d. 1979)
1910 - Diosdado Macapagal, President of the Philippines (d. 1997)
1914 - Maria Franziska von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (d. 2014)
1915 - Ethel Rosenberg, American alleged spy (d. 1953)
1916 - Peter Finch, British actor (d. 1997)
1918 - Willi Ritschard, Swiss politician (d. 1983)
1923 - William Windom, American actor (d. 2012)
1924 - Rudolf Barshai, Russian conductor and violist (d. 2010)
1924 - Giuseppe Chiappella, Italian footballer (d. 2009)
1924 - Marcello Mastroianni, Italian actor (d. 1996)
1925 - Seymour Cray, American computer scientist (d. 1996)
1928 - Koko Taylor, American blues musician (d. 2009)
1930 - Immanuel Wallerstein, American sociologist and social scientist (d. 2019)
1932 - Victor Jara, Chilean singer and songwriter (d. 1973)
1933 - Madeleine M. Kunin, Swiss-born American politician, 77th Governor of Vermont
1933 - Miguel Berrocal, Spanish sculptor (d. 2006)
1934 - Brigitte Bardot, French actress and animal activist
1935 - Pierre Ryckmans, Belgian-Australian writer and diplomat (d. 2014)
1935 - Heather Sears, English actress (d. 1994)
1938 - Ben E. King, American singer (d. 2015)
1938 - Myechyslaw Hryb, former President of Belarus
1939 - Elbridge Bryant, American tenor (d. 1975)
1939 - Iain MacCormick, Scottish politician (d. 2014)
1939 - Rudolph Walker, Trinidadian-English actor
1939 - Stuart Kauffman, American physician and biologist
1941 - David Lewis, American philosopher (d. 2001)
1941 - Edmund Stoiber, German politician
1942 - Donna Leon, American writer
1942 - Tim Maia, Brazilian musician and songwriter (d. 1998)
1943 - Nick St. Nicholas, German-Canadian musician (Steppenwolf)
1944 - Yoshitada Yamaguchi, Japanese footballer
1944 - Milos Zeman, former Prime Minister, and current President, of the Czech Republic
1946 - Helen Shapiro, English singer
1947 - Bob Carr, former Premier of New South Wales
1947 - Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh
1947 - Jon Snow, English broadcast journalist
1949 - Jim Henshaw, Canadian actor, screenwriter and producer
1949 - George Kerevan, Scottish journalist, economist and politician, former SNP MP
1950 - John Sayles, American director and screenwriter
1950 - Laurie Lewis, American musician
1951 1975
1951 - Jim Diamond, Scottish singer (d. 2015)
1952 - Sylvia Kristel, Dutch actress, model and singer (d. 2012)
1953 - Otmar Hasler, 11th Prime Minister of Liechtenstein
1954 - Margot Wallstrom, Swedish politician
1955 - Stephane Dion, Canadian politician
1960 - Jennifer Rush, American singer
1960 - Socrates B. Villegas, Filipino archbishop
1960 - Kamlesh Patel, Baron Patel of Bradford, English politician
1961 - Quentin Kawananakoa, claimant to the throne of Hawaii
1961 - Yordanka Donkova, Bulgarian athlete
1961 - George Rossi, Scottish actor (d. 2022)
1964 - Janeane Garofalo, American actress and comedienne
1964 - Paul Jewell, English football manager
1965 - Christopher Evan Welch, American actor (d. 2013)
1966 - Ginger Fish, American musician
1966 - Maria Canals-Barrera, American actress
1966 - Leilani Sarelle, American actress
1967 - Mira Sorvino, American actress
1968 - Mika Hakkinen, Finnish racing driver
1968 - Naomi Watts, English-Australian actress
1969 - Angus Robertson, Scottish politician, SNP Deputy leader and former MP
1970 - Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japanese tennis player
1970 - Jo Wyatt, English singer and actress
1971 - George Eustice, English politician
1971 - Joseph Arthur, American singer
1972 - Dita Von Teese, American Burlesque dancer
1974 - Joonas Kolkka, Finnish footballer
From 1976
1976 - Fedor Emelianenko, Russian mixed martial artist
1977 - Ireneusz Marcinkowski, Polish footballer
1978 - Peter Cambor, American actor
1978 - Bushido, German rapper and musician
1979 - Bam Margera, American skateboarder and actor
1981 - Jorge Guagua, Ecuadorean footballer
1981 - Melissa Claire Egan, American actress
1982 - Takeshi Aoki, Japanese footballer
1982 - Abhinav Bindra, Indian Olympic shooter
1982 - Ray Emery, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 - Ranbir Kapoor, Indian actor
1982 - Matt Cohen, American actor
1982 - St. Vincent, American singer-songwriter and producer
1983 - Richard Henyekane, South African footballer (d. 2015)
1983 - Sarah Wright, American actress and model
1984 - Mathieu Valbuena, French footballer
1984 - Melody Thornton, American singer
1984 - Yvonne Ploetz, German politician
1985 - Shindong, South Korean singer and actor (Super Junior)
1986 - Andres Guardado, Mexican footballer
1987 - Hilary Duff, American actress and singer
1988 - Marin Cilic, Croatian tennis player
1988 - Esmee Denters, Dutch singer
1989 - Darius Johnson-Odom, American basketball player
1990 - Kirsten Prout, Canadian actress
1992 - Skye McCole Bartusiak, American actress (d. 2014)
1993 - Jodie Williams, English athlete
2000 - Frankie Jonas, American actor
Deaths
Up to 1900
48 BC - Pompey the Great, Roman consul (born 106 BC)
235 - Saint Pontianus, Pope
876 - Louis the German, King of Eastern Francia (born 804)
935 - Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (born 907)
1104 - Pedro I, king of Aragon and Navarre (born 1068)
1197 - Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1165)
1582 - George Buchanan, Scottish philosopher and historian (born 1506)
1781 - William Henry Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford, British statesman and diplomat (born 1717)
1797 - Gunning Bedford, Jr., American politician, Governor of Delaware (born 1742)
1829 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Raevsky, Russian general (born 1771)
1844 - Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy, Russian general and statesman (born 1769)
1859 - Carl Ritter, German geographer (born 1779)
1891 - Herman Melville, American writer (born 1819)
1895 - Louis Pasteur, French scientist (born 1822)
1899 - Giovanni Segantini, Italian-Swiss painter (born 1858)
1901 2000
1907 - Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden (born 1826)
1914 - Richard Sears, American businessman (born 1863)
1918 - Eduard von Keyserling, German writer and dramatist (born 1835)
1935 - William Kennedy Dickson, French-Scottish actor, director, producer and inventor (born 1860)
1935 - Hans Baluschek, German painter (born 1870)
1938 - Charles Duryea, American automobile manufacturer (born 1861)
1939 - William Dunlap, American painter and writer (born 1866)
1949 - Chrysanthus, Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Athens (born 1881)
1953 - Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (born 1891)
1956 - William Boeing, American aviation manufacturer (born 1881)
1959 - Rudolf Caracciola, German racing driver (born 1901)
1964 - Harpo Marx, American comedian and actor (born 1888)
1966 - Andre Breton, French poet (born 1896)
1970 - Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt (born 1918)
1978 - Pope John Paul I (born 1912)
1979 - John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist (born 1921)
1981 - Romulo Betancourt, President of Venezuela (born 1908)
1989 - Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (born 1917)
1990 - Larry O'Brien, American commissioner of the NBA (born 1917)
1991 - Miles Davis, American musician (born 1926)
1994 - Urmas Alender, Estonian singer (born 1953)
1994 - Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, Mexican politician (assassinated) (born 1946)
2000 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau, fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada (born 1919)
From 2001
2003 - Yukichi Chuganji, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1889)
2003 - Althea Gibson, American tennis player (b. 1927)
2003 - Elia Kazan, Greek-born American movie director (b. 1909)
2003 - Olle Anderberg, Swedish wrestler (b. 1919)
2009 - Guillermo Endara, President of Panama (b. 1936)
2010 - Arthur Penn, American screenwriter (b. 1922)
2012 - Michael O'Hare, American actor (b. 1952)
2014 - Petr Skoumal, Czech musician and composer (b. 1938)
2014 - Dannie Abse, Welsh writer (b. 1923)
2015 - Ignacio Zoco, Spanish footballer (b. 1939)
2015 - Michael Burgess, Canadian actor and tenor (b. 1945)
2015 - Walter Dale Miller, American politician, 29th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1925)
2015 - Frank Martinus Arion, Dutch Antillean writer (b. 1936)
2015 - Frankie Ford, American singer (b. 1939)
2016 - Shimon Peres, former President of Israel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1923)
2016 - Agnes Nixon, American television writer and producer (b. 1922)
2017 - Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi, Spanish film director (b. 1927)
2017 - Lee Hsin, Taiwanese politician (b. 1953)
2017 - Daniel Pe'er, Israeli television presenter (b. 1943)
2017 - Jurgen Roth, German journalist (b. 1945)
2017 - Benjamin Whitrow, British actor (b. 1937)
2017 - Andreas Schmidt, German actor (b. 1963)
2018 - Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini, Prime minister of Swaziland (b. 1942)
2018 - Ito Giani, Italian sprinter (b. 1941)
2018 - Bob Jane, Australian racing driver and entrepreneur (b. 1929)
2019 - Jose Aldunate, Chilean Roman Catholic prelate and activist (b. 1917)
2019 - Ismail Petra of Kelantan, Malaysian royal (b. 1949)
2019 - Jan Kobuszewski, Polish actor (b. 1934)
2019 - Jose Jose, Mexican singer and actor (b. 1948)
2019 - Mark Zakharov, Russian theatre and film director (b. 1933)
Holidays and observances
RC Saints - St. Wenceslas, Lorenzo Ruiz - Also see September 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Czech Republic - Czech Statehood Day
Taiwan - Teacher's Day (Confucius' birthday)
World Heart Day
World Rabies Day
Ask a Stupid Question Day (United States)
Other websites
BBC: On This Day
Days of the year