On This Day September 20

1993
Youngest girl to fly across the U.S.: 11-year-old Vicki Van Meter takes off from Maine, landing in San Diego three days later.

1989
The Night Stalker: Richard Ramirez is convicted in Los Angeles for 13 murders.

1984
Bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut: A terrorist drives a car loaded with explosives into the compound, killing at least 23 people, including two Americans.

1984
The Cosby Show debuts on NBC. It became the highest-rated series in 20 years.

1977
Jumping the Shark: The Fonz jumps a shark in this episode of Happy Days. The phrase "jumping the shark" has become the metaphor for when something has passed its peak and is desperately trying to hang on.

1973
Battle of the Sexes: 29-year-old Billie Jean King beats 55-year-old Bobby Riggs in three straight sets in this highly publicized tennis match.

1967
Queen Elizabeth II: The famous ocean liner is christened at Clydebank, Scotland.

1934
Lindbergh kidnapping: Bruno Hauptmann is arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's 20-month-old son. He was found guilty and executed.

1873
Panic of 1873: The New York Stock Exchange is forced to close for the first time in its history. It reopened 10 days later.

1859
Electric range: George B. Simpson of Washington D.C. receives a patent for the first electric range. Heat was created by passing electric current through coils of wire.

1565
Pedro Menéndes de Avilés massacres the French settlers at Fort Caroline, not because they were French, but because they were Lutherans.

1519
First circumnavigation of the globe: Magellan sets sail from Spain. The trip was completed in September of 1522, although Magellan was killed in a battle with the natives of the Philippines in 1521.

1934
Sophia Loren (Sophia Scicoloni), Italian Oscar-winning actress. Film: The Millionairess (1960) and Two Women (1960, Oscar).

1929
Anne Meara, American actress. TV: Archie Bunker's Place (Veronica) and Alf (Dorothy).

1924
James Galanos, American fashion designer. Famous for his chiffons, he is considered one today's greatest American fashion designers.

1917 d. 1994
Fernando Rey (Fernando Casado Arambillet, Spanish actor. He was one of Spain's best-known actors. Film: The French Connection (1971, the French drug king) and Elisa, Vida mia (1977, Cannes Best Actor).

1917
Arnold "Red" Auerbach, American basketball coach, manager. His 938 wins with the Boston Celtics makes him the NBA all-time win leader.

1885 d. 1941
Jelly Roll Morton (Ferdinand Joseph Morton), American jazz musician, the first great composer in jazz.

1878 d. 1968
Upton Sinclair, American author. Writings: The Jungle (1906).

1842 d. 1923
Sir James Dewar, British chemist, physicist, inventor of the Dewar flask (the vacuum thermos bottle).

1994 b. 1905
Jule Styne, American Tony-Oscar-winning composer. Broadway: Gypsy (1959) and Funny Girl (1964). Film: Three Coins in a Fountain (1954, Oscar).

1973 b. 1943
Jim Croce, American singer. Music: You Don't Mess Around With Jim (1972) Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (1973, #1), and Time In A Bottle (1973, #1). He died in a plane crash.

1863 b. 1785
Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm, German author. He and his brother wrote Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812-15).

September 20

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