September 5

Birthdays:

1951 ~ Michael Keaton (né Michael John Douglas), American actor.

1950 ~ Cathy Guisewite (née Cathy Lee Guisewite), American cartoonist and creator of Cathy.

1946 ~ Freddie Mercury (né Farrokh Bulsara; d. Nov. 24, 1991), portrayed in the 2019 movie Bohemian Rhapsody.  He died at age 45.

1940 ~ Raquel Welch (née Jo Raquel Tejada), American actress.

1939 ~ William Devane (né William Joseph Devane), American actor.

1936 ~ John Danforth (né John Claggett Danforth), 24th United States Ambassador to the United Nations.  He served in this position from July 2004 until January 2005, during the President George W. Bush presidency.

1929 ~ Bob Newhart (né George Robert Newhart), American actor and comedian.

1927 ~ Paul Volcker (né Paul Adolph Volcker, Jr.), American economist.

1924 ~ Paul Dietzel (né Paul Franklin Dietzel, d. Sept. 24, 2013), American football player and coach who lived his final years in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  He was the head football coach at Louisiana State University from 1955 until 1961.  He died 3 weeks after his 89th birthday.

1916 ~ Frank Yerby (né Frank Garvin Yerby; d. Nov. 29, 1991), African-American historical novelist.  He died of congestive heart failure at age 75.

1914 ~ Stuart Freeborn (d. Feb. 5, 2013), British makeup artist who gave Star Wars life.  He died at age 98.

1914 ~ Nicanor Parra (né Nicanor Segundo Parra Sandoval, d. Jan. 23, 2018), Chilean physicist and mathematician.  He died at age 103.

1912 ~ John Cage (né John Milton Cage, Jr., d. Aug. 12, 1992), American avant-garde composer.  He died 24 days before his 80th birthday.

1905 ~ Arthur Koestler (né Artúr Kōsztler; d. Mar. 1, 1983), Hungarian-born British author.  He died at age 77.

1902 ~ Darryl F. Zanuck (né Darryl Francis Zanuck, d. Dec. 22, 1979), American actor and movie director.  He died of jaw cancer at age 77.

1897 ~ Arthur Nielsen, Sr. (né Arthur Charles Nielsen, d. June 1, 1980), American market analyst and founder of the AC Nielsen company.  He was 82 years old.

1867 ~ Amy Beach (née Amy Marcy Cheney; d. Dec. 27, 1944), American pianist and composer.  She was the first American woman composer to achieve success with large-scale art music.  She was from Henniker, New Hampshire.  She died at age 77.

1847 ~ Jesse James (né Jesse Woodson James, d. Apr. 3, 1882), American outlaw in the Wild American West.  He was killed at age 34 by Robert Ford, another outlaw.

1836 ~ Justiniano Borgoño (d. Jan. 27, 1821), President of Peru.  He served as President for 4 months, from April 1894 until August 1984.  He died at age 84.

1735 ~ Johann Christian Bach (d. Jan. 1, 1782), German composer.  He was the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach.  He died at age 46.

1725 ~ Jean-Étienne Montucla (d. Dec. 18, 1799), French mathematician.  He died at age 74.

1667 ~ Giovanni Girolamo Saccheri (d. Oct. 25, 1733), Italian mathematician and Jesuit priest.  He died at age 66.

1638 ~ King Louis XIV of France (d. Sept. 1, 1715).  He was a Bourbon monarch who has the distinction of being the longest-reigning king in European history.  He was known as Louis the Great or The Sun King.  He reigned for 72 years.  He died 4 days before his 77th birthday.

1187 ~ Louis VIII of France (d. Nov. 8, 1226).  He reigned as King from July 1223 until his death 2 years later.  He was known as Louis the Lion.  He died at age 39.

Events that Changed the World:

2016 ~ Labor Day in the United States.

2013 ~ Rosh HaShanah.

1996 ~ Hurricane Fran made landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina.  Nearly 30 people were killed as a result of the storm.

1978 ~ Menachem Begin (1913 ~ 1992) and Anwar Sadat (1918 ~ 1981) met at Camp David, Maryland to discuss talks to begin the peace process in the Middle East.

1975 ~ Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (b. 1948), made an assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford (1913 ~ 2006).  Although she was sentenced to life in prison for the attempted assassination, she was released on parole in August 2009.

1972 ~ During the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, a Palestinian terrorist group called Black September attacked and murdered 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games.  Two of the Israeli athletes were killed during the attack.  The remaining 9 died the following day.

1969 ~ United States Army Lieutenant William Calley (b. 1943) was charged with six specifications of pre-meditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre.

1957 ~ Jack Kerouac’s book, On the Road, was first published.

1941 ~ Estonia became entirely occupied by Nazi Germany.

1921 ~ A party thrown by silent film star, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle (1887 ~ 1933), ended with the death of Virginia Rappe (1895 ~ 1921), a young actress.  Arbuckle was accused of raping and killing the young actress, although he was ultimately acquitted at trial.  This was one of the first Hollywood scandals.

1905 ~ The Russo-Japanese War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth, which was mediated by President Theodore Roosevelt (1858 ~ 1919).  The treaty was signed in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

1882 ~ The first Labor Day parade in the United States was held in New York City.

1839 ~ The United Kingdom declared the First Opium War on the Qing Dynasty of China.

1839 ~ Sam Houston (1793 ~ 1863) was elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.

1774 ~ The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia.

1725 ~ King Louis XI (1710 ~ 1774) of France married Marie Leszcyńska (1703 ~ 1768).

1698 ~ Tsar Peter I (1672 ~ 1725) of Russia imposed a tax on beards for all men, with the exception of the clergy and peasantry.  This was in an effort to Westernize his nobility.

917 ~ Liu Yan (889 ~ 942) declared himself emperor of the Southern Han state of the southern portion of China.

Good-Byes:

2018 ~ Diane Leather (b. Jan. 7, 1933), British runner who set a milestone for women.  In 1954, she became the first woman to run a mile in under 5 minutes.  She died at age 85.

2017 ~ Nicolaas Bloembergen (b. Mar. 11, 1920), Dutch physicist and recipient of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 97.

2016 ~ Phyllis Schlafly (née Phyllis McAlpin Stewart, b. Aug. 15, 1924), American conservative political activist and anti-feminist.  She died 21 days after her 92nd birthday.

2014 ~ Mara Neusel (née Mara Dicle Neusel, b. May 14, 1964), German mathematician.  She died at age 50.

2013 ~ Rochus Misch (b. July 29, 1917), German bodyguard who defended Hitler to the end.  He died at age 96.

2011 ~ Salvatore Licitra (b. Aug. 10, 1968), Italian operatic tenor hailed as the next Pavarotti.  He died from head injuries when the motor scooter he was riding slammed into a wall in Sicily.  He died three weeks after his 43rd birthday.

2001 ~ Justin E. Wilson (b. Apr. 24, 1914), American Cajun chef and humorist.  He was born in Roseland, Louisiana and died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  He died in Baton Rouge at age 87.

1999 ~ Allen Funt (né Allen Albert Funt, b. Sept. 16, 1914), American radio and television personality.  He was best known for his role as host on Candid Camera.  He died less than 2 weeks before his 85th birthday.

1997 ~ Mother Teresa (née Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, b. Aug. 26, 1910), Albanian-born missionary and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.  She died less than 2 weeks after her 87th birthday.  On September 4, 2016, she became a Saint in the Catholic Church.

1994 ~ Shimshon Amitsur (b. Aug. 26, 1921), Israeli mathematician.  He died two weeks after his 73rd birthday.

1993 ~ Claude Renoir (b. Dec. 4, 1914), French cinematographer and son of impressionist painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  He died at age 79.

1975 ~ Alice Evans (née Alice Catherine Evans; b. Jan. 29, 1881), American pioneering microbiologist.  She demonstrated that Bacillus abortus in cattle caused Brucellosis in cattle and humans.  She died at age 94.

1972 ~ Victims of the Munich Massacre: Moshe Weinberg (b. 1939), Coach of the Israeli Wrestling team, and Yossef Romano (b. 1940), Israeli weightlifter.

• 1972 ~ Yossef Romano (b. Apr. 15, 1940), Israeli weightlifter who was murdered in the 1972 Summer Olympics Munich massacre.  He was 32 years old.

• 1972 ~ Moshe Weinberg (b. Sept. 19, 1939), Israeli wrestling coach who was murdered in the 1972 Summer Olympics Munich massacre.  He died 14 days before his 33rd birthday.

1964 ~ Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (b. Aug. 7, 1890), American social activist and labor leader.  She was a strong advocate for women’s rights issues.  She was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union.  She was born in Concord, New Hampshire.  She died while visiting the Soviet Union.  She died about a month after her 74th birthday.

1962 ~ Gertrude Rush (née Gertrude Elzora Durden, b. Aug. 5, 1880), American attorney.  She was the first African-American female lawyer in Iowa.  She was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1918.  She was also instrumental in founding the National Bar Association in 1925.  She died a month after her 82nd birthday.

1953 ~ Francis Ford (né Francis Feeney, b. Aug. 14, 1881), American film director.  He was born in Portland, Maine.  He died of cancer 22 days after his 72nd birthday.

1948 ~ Richard Tolman (né Richard Chace Tolman, b. Mar. 4, 1881), American mathematical physicist.  He was born in West Newton, Massachusetts.  He died at age 67.

1877 ~ Crazy Horse (b. 1840), leader of the Oglala Lakota tribe.  He was killed when he was bayoneted by federal soldier while allegedly resisting imprisonment at Camp Robinson during the American Indian Wars.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 36 or 37 at the time of his death.

1876 ~ Manuel Blanco Encalada (b. Apr. 21, 1790), 1st President of Chile.  He served as President for two months, from July 1826 until September 1826.  He died at age 86.

1548 ~ Catherine Parr (b. 1512), Queen consort of England and 6th and last wife of King Henry VIII.  The exact date of her birth is not known.  She is believed to have died about age 36.

714 ~ Shang, Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.  The date of his birth is not know.