September 30

American novelist and screenwriter Truman Capote born (1924); Babe Ruth is first player to hit 60 home runs in a season (1927);  Actor James Dean dies in a car crash (1955); President Kennedy authorizes federal troops to integrate University of Mississippi (1962); RIP Oscar-winning actress Simone Signoret (1985).

September 29

John D. Rockefeller becomes world’s first billionaire (1916); Pope John Paul II is first pope to visit Ireland (1979); Stacy Allison becomes first American woman to climb Mount Everest (1988); HBD basketball star Kevin Durant (1988). 

September 28

Chinese philosopher Confucius born (551 BCE); Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin (1928); Ted Williams is last major league baseball player to bat over .400 (1941); RIP jazz legend Miles Davis (1991); RIP American tennis great and color barrier breaker Althea Gibson (2003).

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

 (/ˈbeɪdər ˈɡɪnzbɜːrɡ/; born Joan Ruth Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death.[1] She was nominated by President Bill Clinton and at the time was generally viewed as a moderate consensus-builder. She eventually became part of the liberal wing of the Court as the Court shifted to the right over time. Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the Court, after Sandra Day O'Connor. During her tenure, Ginsburg wrote notable majority opinions, including United States v. Virginia (1996), Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. (2000), and City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York (2005).

Ginsburg was born and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her older sister died when she was a baby, and her mother died shortly before Ginsburg graduated from high school. She earned her bachelor's degree at Cornell University and married Martin D. Ginsburg, becoming a mother before starting law school at Harvard, where she was one of the few women in her class. Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated joint first in her class. She became a professor at Rutgers Law School and Columbia Law School, teaching civil procedure as one of the few women in her field.
Ginsburg spent much of her legal career as an advocate for gender equality and women's rights, winning many arguments before the Supreme Court. She advocated as a volunteer attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsel in the 1970s. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she served until her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1993.

September 25

US Congress passes the Bill of Rights (1789); "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve born (1952); The Little Rock Nine integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas (1957); HBD Will Smith (1968); HBD Catherine Zeta-Jones (1969).

September 24

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald born (1896); American astronomer Charlotte Moore Sitterly born (1898); Devils Tower is proclaimed the first American national monument (1906); "Muppets" creator Jim Henson born (1936); Honda Motor Company founded (1948); RIP Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel (1991).

September 23

American civil rights activist Victoria Woodhull born (1838); Nintendo is founded as a playing card company (1889); Musician Ray Charles is born (1930); RIP psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (1939); Hurricane Jeanne kills more than 3,000 people in Haiti (2004).

September 22

President Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in Confederate states (1862); Peace Corps formally authorized by Congress (1961); Iraq invades Iran, beginning the Iran-Iraq War (1980); “Friends” debuts on NBC (1994); RIP baseball great Yogi Berra (2015).

September 21

"The Hobbit" is published (1937); HBD Stephen King (1947); HBD Bill Murray (1950); Sandra Day O’Connor becomes first female Supreme Court justice (1981); RIP track and field legend Florence Griffith Joyner (1998).

September 18

Royal Opera House opens in London (1809); HBD New York Times (1851); Margaret Chase Smith becomes first woman to be elected to both the US House and Senate (1948); RIP Jimi Hendrix (1970); Cyclist Lance Armstrong born (1971).

September 17

 US Constitution is signed (1787); Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery for first time (1849); Actress Anne Bancroft born (1931); Camp David Accords signed providing framework for Egypt–Israel peace treaty (1978); Vanessa Williams becomes first Black woman crowned Miss America (1983).

September 16

Pilgrims depart from England on the Mayflower (1620); Actress Lauren Bacall born (1924); American musician BB King born (1925); HBD historian and author Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950).

September 15

Mystery writer Agatha Christie born (1890); Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin (1928); Muhammad Ali defeats Leon Spinks to win heavyweight title a record third time (1978); HBD Prince Harry (1984); Google.com registered as domain name (1997).

September 14

President William McKinley dies of gunshot wounds (1901); Soviet probe Luna 2 becomes the first man-made object to reach the moon (1959); OPEC is founded (1960); RIP Grace Kelly (1982); Singer Amy Winehouse born (1983).

Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux

 (6 May 1868[1] – 15 April 1927) was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.
In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, 1910), which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney, and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. His 1907 novel The Mystery of the Yellow Room is one of the most celebrated locked-room mysteries.

Leroux was born in Paris in 1868 and died in 1927 in Nice. After schooling in Normandy, he moved to Paris, where he completed his studies in law in 1889. He inherited millions of francs and lived wildly until he nearly reached bankruptcy. In 1890, he began working as a court reporter and theater critic for L'Écho de Paris. His most important journalism came when he began working as an international correspondent for the Paris newspaper Le Matin. He was present at, and covered, the 1905 Russian Revolution.
Another case at which he was present involved the investigation and in-depth coverage of the former Paris Opera (presently housing the Paris Ballet).[1] The basement contained a cell that held prisoners of the Paris Commune.
He left journalism in 1907 and began writing fiction. In 1919, he and Arthur Bernède formed their own film company, Société des Cinéromans, publishing novels and turning them into films. He first wrote a mystery novel titled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1908; English title: The Mystery of the Yellow Room), starring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. Leroux's contribution to French detective fiction is considered a parallel to those of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the United Kingdom and Edgar Allan Poe in the United States.
Leroux published his most famous work, The Phantom of the Opera, as a serial in 1909 and 1910, and as a book in 1910 (with an English translation appearing in 1911).
Leroux was made a Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur in 1909.

The Adventures of RouletabilleEdit

1907 - Le mystère de la chambre jaune (English translation: The Mystery of the Yellow Room, 1907; Rouletabille and The Mystery of the Yellow Room, 2009, translated by Jean-Marc Lofficier & Randy Lofficier, ISBN 978-1-934543-60-3)

1908 - Le parfum de la dame en noir (English translation: The Perfume of the Lady in Black, 1908)

1913 - Rouletabille chez le Tsar (Rouletabille and the Tsar; English translation: The Secret of the Night, 1914)

1914 - Rouletabille à la guerre (Rouletabille at War) consisting of

Le château noir (The Black Castle)

Les étranges noces de Rouletabille (The Strange Wedding of Rouletabille;)

1917 - Rouletabille chez Krupp (English translation: Rouletabille at Krupp's, 2013, by Brian Stableford, ISBN 978-1-61227-144-6)

1921 - Le crime de Rouletabille (The Crime of Rouletabille; English translation: The Slave Bangle, 1925; The Phantom Clue, 1926, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

1922 - Rouletabille chez les Bohémiens (Rouletabille and the Gypsies; English translation: The Sleuth Hound [UK], 1926; The Octopus of Paris [US], 1927, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

Chéri Bibil

Première Aventures de Chéri-Bibi (1913, English translations: The Floating Prison [UK] and Wolves of the Sea [US], Translated by Hannaford Bennett in 1923)

Chéri-Bibi et Cécily (1916, English translations: Missing Men: The Return of Cheri-Bibi [US], Cheri-Bibi and Cecily [UK], 1923, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

Nouvelles Aventures de Chéri-Bibi (1921, English translations: Part I - The Dark Road, 1924; Part II - The Dancing Girl [UK], Nomads of the Night [US], Translated by Hannaford Bennett 1925)

Le Coup d'État de Chéri-Bibi (1926, English translation: The New Idol, Translated by Hannaford Bennett 1928)

Other novels

Still of Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Poster of the film adaptation of Balaoo in 1913

La double vie de Théophraste Longuet (1903, English translations: The Double Life, 1909, translated by John E. Kearney; The Man with the Black Feather, 1912, translated by Edgar Jepson)

Le roi mystère (1908)

Le fauteuil hanté (1909, English translation: The Haunted Chair, 1931)

Un homme dans la nuit (1910)

La reine de Sabbat (1910, English translations: Part I as The Midnight Lady [UK], 1930; Part II as The Missing Archduke [UK], 1931)

Le fantôme de l'Opéra (1910, English translation: The Phantom of the Opera, 1911)

Balaoo (1911, English translation: Balaoo, 1913)

L' épouse du soleil (1912, English translation: The Bride of the Sun, 1915)

La colonne infernale (1916)

Confitou (1916)

L' homme qui revient de loin (1916, English translation: The Man who Came Back from the Dead, 1916)

Le capitaine Hyx (1917, English translation: The Amazing Adventures of Carolus Herbert, 1922, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

La bataille invisible (1917, English translation: The Veiled Prisoner [UK], 1923, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

Tue-la-mort (1920, English translation: The Masked Man, 1929)

Le coeur cambriolé (1920, English translation: The Burgled Heart, 1925; The New Terror, 1926)

Le sept de trèfle (1921)

La poupée sanglante (1923, English translations: The Kiss That Killed, 1934, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

La machine à assassiner (1923, English translation: The Machine to Kill, 1934)

Les ténébreuses: La fin d'un monde & du sang sur la Néva (1924)

Hardis-Gras ou le fils des trois pères (1924, English translation: The Son of 3 Fathers, 1927, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

La Farouche Aventure (serialized in "Le Journal" as La Coquette punie, 1924; English translation: The Adventures of a Coquette, 1926, translated by Hannaford Bennett)

La Mansarde en or (1925)

Les Mohicans de Babel (1926)

Mister Flow (1927, English translation: Part I as The Man of a Hundred Faces [USA] and The Queen of Crime [UK], 1930; Part II as Lady Helena, or The Mysterious Lady [USA], 1931)

Les Chasseurs de danses (1927)

Pouloulou (1990, posthumous)

Short stories

Gaston Leroux's "Not'olympe" was translated into English as "The Mystery of the Four Husbands" and published in the December 1929 issue of Weird Tales.

1887 - "Le petit marchand de pommes de terre frites"

1902 - "Les trois souhaits"

1907 - "Baïouchki baïou"

1908 - "L'homme qui a vu le diable" (English translation: "In Letters of Fire", 1908)

1911 - "Le dîner des bustes" (English translation: "A Terrible Tale", 1925)

1912 - "La hache d'or" (English translation: "The Gold Axe", 1925)

1924 - "Le Noël du petit Vincent-Vincent" (English translation: "The Crime on Christmas Night", 1930)

1924 - "La femme au collier de velours" (English translation: "The Woman with the Velvet Collar", 1929)

1924 - "Not'olympe" (English translation: "The Mystery of the Four Husbands", 1929)

Plays

1908 - Le Lys (co-author: Pierre Wolff)

1913 - Alsace (co-author: Lucien Camille)

September 11

Legendary college football coach Bear Bryant born (1913); Chilean President Salvador Allende dies by suicide in midst of coup d'état (1973); Pete Rose breaks baseball’s all-time hits record (1985); US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya attacked resulting in death of four Americans (2012).

Donald John Trump

(born June 14, 1946) is the 45th and current president of the United States. Before entering politics, he was a businessman and television personality.

Trump was born and raised in Queens, a borough of New York City. He attended Fordham University for two years and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He became president of his father's real-estate business in 1971, renamed it The Trump Organization, and expanded its operations to building or renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. Trump later started various side ventures, mostly by licensing his name. Trump and his businesses have been involved in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six bankruptcies. He owned the Miss Universe brand of beauty pageants from 1996 to 2015. He produced and hosted The Apprentice, a reality television series, from 2003 to 2015. As of April 2020, Forbes estimated his net worth to be $2.1 billion.^[a]

Trump's political positions have been described as populist, protectionist, and nationalist. He entered the 2016 presidential race as a Republican and was elected in a surprise victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, although he lost the popular vote.^[b] He became the oldest first-term U.S. president,^[c] and the first without prior military or government service. His election and policies have sparked numerous protests. Trump has made many false or misleading statements during his campaign and presidency. The statements have been documented by fact-checkers, and the media have widely described the phenomenon as unprecedented in American politics. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racially charged or racist.

During his presidency, Trump ordered a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, citing security concerns; after legal challenges, the Supreme Court upheld the policy's third revision. He enacted a tax-cut package for individuals and businesses, rescinding the individual health insurance mandate penalty. He appointed Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In foreign policy, Trump has pursued an America First agenda, withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Iran nuclear deal. He imposed import tariffs which triggered a trade war with China, recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and withdrew U.S. troops from northern Syria. Trump met three times with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, but talks on denuclearization broke down in 2019. Trump reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic; he minimized the threat, ignored or contradicted many recommendations from health officials, and promoted false information about unproven treatments and the availability of testing. He is seeking a second term as the Republican nominee in the 2020 presidential election.

A special counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller found that Trump and his campaign welcomed and encouraged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election under the belief that it would be politically advantageous, but did not find sufficient evidence to press charges of criminal conspiracy or coordination with Russia.^[d] Mueller also investigated Trump for obstruction of justice, and his report neither indicted nor exonerated Trump on that offense. After Trump solicited Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, the House of Representatives impeached him in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate acquitted him of both charges in February 2020.

September 10

Golfing legend Arnold Palmer born (1929); RIP Jane Wyman, actress and first wife of President Reagan (2007); Large Hadron Collider is tested for first time (2008); Hurricane Irma makes landfall in Florida, is responsible for 134 deaths and $65B in damage (2017).

September 9

United States of America officially gets its name (1776); HBD actor Hugh Grant (1960); HBD actor Adam Sandler (1966); China founding father Mao Zedong dies (1976); Queen Elizabeth II becomes longest-reigning monarch of the UK at more than 63 years with crown (2015).

September 8

Michelangelo’s David statue unveiled to the public (1504); St. Augustine, Florida, becomes first permanent European settlement (1565);  Singer Patsy Cline born (1932); HBD Bernie Sanders (1941); HBD Ruby Bridges, first Black student to attend an all-white school in Louisiana (1954).

Edmond Halley

Edmond^[1] (or Edmund^[2]) Halley, FRS (/ˈhæli/;^[3][4] 8 November [O.S. 29 October] 1656 – 25 January 1742 [O.S. 14 January 1741]) was an English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist. He was the second Astronomer Royal in Britain, succeeding John Flamsteed in 1720.^[5]

September 4

Edmond Halley observes Halley’s comet for first time (1682); HBD Beyoncé (1981); Google is founded (1998); Crocodile Hunter host Steve Irwin killed by a stingray (2006); RIP comedian Joan Rivers (2014).

September 3

Treaty of Paris signed, ending American Revolutionary War (1783); Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Marguerite Higgins born (1921); HBD author Malcolm Gladwell (1963); RIP football coaching legend Vince Lombardi (1970).

September 2

US Treasury Department is founded (1789); Japan surrenders, ending World War II (1945); Astronaut and teacher Christa McAuliffe born (1948); HBD Keanu Reeves (1964); Vietnamese president and revolutionary Ho Chi Minh dies (1969).

September 1

Lewis and Clark explorer William Clark dies (1838); Germany invades Poland (1939); HBD singer Gloria Estefan (1957); Bobby Fischer wins “Match of the Century” and becomes first American world chess champion (1972); Wreckage of the Titanic found at bottom of North Atlantic (1985); HBD actress and singer Zendaya (1996).