September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). There are 101 days remaining.
Events 1745 - Battle of Prestonpans - Hanoverian army under the command of John Cope is defeated, in ten minutes, by the Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart 1780 - Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point 1792 - French National Convention votes to abolish the monarchy 1827 - Joseph Smith, Jr claims that the angel Moroni gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which is translated into The Book of Mormon 1860 - In the Second Opium War, an Anglo-French force defeats Chinese troops at the Battle of Baliqiao 1896 - British force under Horatio Kitchener takes Dongola in the Sudan 1897 - The "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" letter is published in the New York Sun 1898 - Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power in China 1937 - J. R. R. Tolkien publishes The Hobbit 1942 - B-29 Superfortress makes its debut 1950 - George Marshall was sworn in as the 3rd Secretary of Defense of United States 1964 - Malta becomes independent from the United Kingdom 1970 - Monday Night Football premieres 1972 - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial law. 1981 - Belize granted full independence from the United Kingdom 1984 - Brunei gains its independence from the United Kingdom 2001 - Deep Space 1 flies within 2,200 km of Comet Borrelly's 2003 - Galileo probe has been mission was terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's crushing atmosphere nucleus Births 1756 - John MacAdam, road builder 1840 - Murat V, future Ottoman sultan 1842 - Abd-ul-Hamid II, future Ottoman sultan 1866 - H. G. Wells, science fiction author († 1946) 1874 - Gustav Holst, composer 1912 - Chuck Jones, animator († 2002) 1920 - Jay Ward, animator († 1988) 1931 - Larry Hagman, actor 1934 - Leonard Cohen, singer-songwriter 1935 - Henry Gibson, actor 1944 - Fannie Flagg, actress, novelist 1945 - Jerry Bruckheimer, film and television producer 1946 - Moritz Leuenberger, member of the Swiss Federal Council 1947 - Stephen King, author 1947 - Marsha Norman, playwright 1947 - Donald Felder, musician 1949 - Artis Gilmore, basketball star 1950 - Bill Murray, actor 1950 - Charles Clarke, British politician 1953 - Arie Luyendyk, Indianapolis 500 winner 1957 - Ethan Coen, film director 1960 - David James Elliott, actor 1961 - Nancy Travis, actress 1962 - Rob Morrow, actor 1963 - King Mohamed VI of Morocco 1968 - Ricki Lake, actress, talk show hostess 1971 - Luke Wilson, actor 1980 - Kareena Kapoor, Bollywood actress Deaths 1558 - Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1832 - Sir Walter Scott, historical novelist and poet 1904 - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce leader 1954 - Kokichi Mikimoto, inventor of the cultured pearl 1957 - King Haakon VII of Norway 1974 - Jacqueline Susann, novelist 1974 - Walter Brennan, Academy Award winning actor 1998 - Florence Griffith Joyner, Olympic Games track-and-field star 2002 - Robert L. Forward, physicist, writer 2003 - Robert Lochner, creator of Kennedy's "Ish been oin Bear-lee-ner" ("Ich bin ein Berliner") Holidays and observances In ancient Greece, the eighth day of the Eleusinian mysteries, when the secret rites in the Telesterion finish and the feast, Pannychis, begins. National Day in Belize Mabon - Neopagan festival of Mabon September 20 · September 22 · August 21 · October 21 · more historical anniversaries
See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December - more historical anniversaries