26th September: Today In History

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 26th, the 269th day of 2017. There are 96 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

Events:

1892:  John Philip Sousa and his newly formed band performed publicly for the first time at the Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, New Jersey.

1777: British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.

1789:  Thomas Jefferson was confirmed by the Senate to be the first United States secretary of state; John Jay, the first chief justice; Edmund Randolph, the first attorney general.

1835:  The opera “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Gaetano Donizetti was first performed at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Italy.

1907:  New Zealand went from being a colony to a dominion within the British Empire.

1914:  The Federal Trade Commission was established.

1937:  The radio drama “The Shadow,” starring Orson Welles, premiered on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

1957:  The musical play “West Side Story” opened on Broadway.

1960:  The first-ever debate between presidential nominees took place as Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon faced off before a national TV audience from Chicago.

1977:  Sir Freddie Laker began his cut-rate “Skytrain” service from London to New York. (However, the carrier went out of business in 1982.)

1986:  William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member.

1991:  Four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Arizona, called Biosphere 2. (They emerged from Biosphere on this date in 1993.)

1997:  A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A-300 crashed while approaching Medan Airport in north Sumatra, killing all 234 people aboard.

Birthdays:

Retired baseball All-Star Bobby Shantz is 92.

Actor Philip Bosco is 87. Actor Richard Herd is 85.

South African nationalist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is 81.

Country singer David Frizzell is 76.

Actor Kent McCord is 75.

Television host Anne Robinson is 73.

Singer Bryan Ferry is 72.

Quotes Of The Day: 

 “Whatever you think, be sure it is what you think; whatever you want, be sure that is what you want; whatever you feel, be sure that is what you feel.”