It happened today – this day in history – September 26

1181: Birth of St Francis of Assisi.

1396: Sultan Bajezid I beheads hundreds of crusaders.

1580: Frances Drake completes his circumnavigation of the world, sailing into Plymouth aboard the Golden Hind.

1665: Height of the Great Plague of London with more than 7,000 deaths over the previous week.

1777: British General William Howe’s forces occupy Philadelphia during the American Revolution.

1815: Russia, Prussia and Austria sign the Holy Alliance. On the same day, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord resigns as Prime Minister of France.

1820: American frontiersman Daniel Boone dies aged 85.

1867: Tom Morris Sr. wins the British Open golf at Prestwick.

1887: Emile Berliner patents the Gramophone.

1888: The birth of poet T S Eliot.

1898: Composer George Gershwin is born in New York.

1901: Britain annexes the Ashanti Kingdom and places it under the governor of the Gold Coast (Ghana).

1904: Earl Grey is named British governor-general of Canada.

1907: New Zealand and Newfoundland each become dominions within the British Empire.

1918: Beginning of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, more than 1 million American soldiers in the largest and most costly offensive of the First World War.

1923: The Commonwealth Conference is held in London. Britain recognizes the right of the dominions to make treaties with foreign powers.

1934: The British liner Queen Mary is launched.

1937: Blues singer Bessie Smith died aged 43 after being involved in a car accident while travelling along Route 61 outside Memphis. Her right arm was amputated in hospital and she died without regaining consciousness.

1938: Adolf Hitler issues an ultimatum to the Czech government, demanding the Sudetenland.

1940: The Luftwaffe bombs the Spitfire factory in Woolston, Southampton, for a second time. On the same day, Japanese troops attack French Indo-China.

1944: British and Polish soldiers withdraw from Arnhem after days of fierce fighting. On the same day, Soviet troops occupy Estonia.

1945: Death of composer Béla Bartok aged 64.

1954: The Japanese ferry boat Toya Maru sinks in Strait of Tsugaru during a typhoon, killing 1,153 people.

1955: The New York Stock Exchange has its worst price decline since the crash of 1929.

1957: Dag Hammarskjöld is re-elected as secretary-general of the UN. On the same day, “West Side Story” premieres at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York.

1960: Almost 70 million Americans tune in to watch the first ever televised debate between the two presidential candidates, Democrat John F Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon in Chicago. On the same day, Cuban leader Fidel Castro delivers a 4 hour and 29 minute long speech at the UN.

1965: The Beatles are awarded their MBE’s by The Queen at Buckingham Palace.

On TV tonight (Sunday)

1968: Theatre censorship ends in Britain.

1969: General Ovando Candia leads a military coup in Bolivia.

1971: MP David Bleakley resigns in protest over the introduction of Internment and the lack of any new political initiatives by the Northern Ireland government.

Singles chart:

1. Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me – The Tams
2. Maggie May/Reason To Believe – Rod Stewart
3. Did You Ever – Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood
4. Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum – Middle Of The Road
5. Tap Turns On The Water – CCS
6. Cousin Norman – Marmalade
7. Nathan Jones – The Supremes
8. You’ve Got A Friend – James Taylor
9. I Believe In Love – Hot Chocolate
10. For All We Know _ Shirley Bassey

Album chart:

1. Every Picture Tells A Story – Rod Stewart
2. Fireball – Deep Purple
3. Top Of The Pops Volume 19 – Various Artists
4. Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon – James Taylor
5. Who’s Next – The Who
6. Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
7. Tapestry – Carole King
8. Teaser And The Firecat – Cat Stevens
9. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour – The Moody Blues
10. C’mon Everybody – Elvis Presley

1973: Concorde makes its first non stop flight across the Atlantic from Washington to Paris in three hours 32 minutes. On the same day, Turkey’s state of siege ends after two and a half years.

1977: Sir Freddie Laker begins his cut-rate “Skytrain” flights from London to New York.

1980: A bomb attack on Octoberfest in Munich kills 12 people.

1983: Australia II wins the America’s Cup yacht race – the first time a non American team has won. On the same day, cosmonauts Titov & Strekalov are saved from the exploding Soyuz T-10 and Soviet military officer Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war by judging a supposed missile attack from the US is an error.

1984: A Berlin appeals court clears Paul McCartney in a long-standing paternity suit.

1985: Tunisia drops diplomatic relations with Libya.

1989: Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze calls for the total destruction of all Soviet and US chemical weapons.

1993: The US wins the Ryder Cup at The Belfry. On the same day, Alain Prost finishes second in the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril to clinch his fourth Formula 1 World Drivers Championship then announces his intention to retire at the end of the season.

1994: Switzerland bans racist propaganda.

1997: Two earthquakes strike the Italian regions of Umbria and the Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse and damaging priceless artefacts.

2002: An overcrowded Senegalese ferry capsizes off the coast of Gambia, killing more than 1,000.

2003: Singer Robert Palmer died of a heart attack in Paris aged 54.

2008: Swiss pilot and inventor Yves Rossy becomes the first person to fly a jet engine-powered wing across the English Channel. On the same day, actor Paul Newman dies aged 83.

2012: The Syrian army massacres 40 civilians in Thiabieh, south of Damascus.

2017: Saudi Arabia announces it is overturning its ban on women driving – the last country in the world to do so. On the same day, fights break out in Uganda’s parliament during a debate to raise the presidential age limit and the world’s second-largest gem-quality diamond, the “Lesedi La Rona”, sells for $53m.

2019: Abortion is decriminalized in New South Wales, the last remaining Australian state to do so. On the same day, former French president Jacques Chirac dies aged 86.

BIRTHDAYS: Ricky Tomlinson, actor, 81; Anne Robinson, TV host, 76; Bryan Ferry, singer-songwriter, 75; Olivia Newton-John, singer, 72; Cesar Rosas, guitarist (Los Lobos) 66; Linda Hamilton, actress, 64; Will Self, writer, 59; Tracey Thorn, singer (Everything But The Girl) 58; Lysette Anthony, actress, 57; Jim Caviezel, actor, 52; Michael Ballack, German footballer, 44; Christina Milian, singer, 39; Serena Williams, tennis champion, 39; Keisha Buchanan, singer (Sugerbabes) 36.