Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

September 21

1991
Dead Sea Scrolls: Photographs of the scrolls are made public by the Huntington Library in California.

1989
Woman wins custody of her frozen embryos: Her husband had filed for divorce saying he no longer wanted to be a father.

1982
Pro Football's first mid-season strike: The 57-day strike begins, the longest strike in professional sports.

1976
Baa Baa Black Sheep debuts on NBC.

1970
First game of N.F.L. Monday Night Football: The Cleveland Browns beat the New York Jets (31-21).

1969
First 98-yard punt: Steve O'Neal of the New York Jets boots one against the Denver Broncos.

1968
Adam 12 debuts on NBC.

1965
First American to swim the English Channel round trip: 37-year-old Ted Erikson makes the swim in 30 hours and three minutes.

1897
Is There a Santa Claus? Francis Pharcellus Church's famous New York Sun response to 8-year-old Virginia O' Hanlon letter, is published.

1823
Mormons: Joseph Smith has a vision telling him the hiding place of the plates of gold on which the Book of Mormon was written. He would receive the plates from an angel four years later.

1784
First successful U.S. daily newspaper: The Pennsylvania Packet & General Advertiser begins publication. The U.S. Constitution was first published in this paper.

1776
American Revolution: Nathan Hale is captured by the British and accused of spying. As he was being hanged the next day he proclaimed: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

1962
Rob Morrow, American actor. TV: Northern Exposure.

1950
Bill Murray, American Emmy-winning comedian. TV: Saturday Night Live.

1947
Stephen Edwin King, American horror writer. Writings: Carrie (1974) and The Shining (1976).

1935
Henry Gibson, American comedian. TV: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (known for his verse).

1934
Birger Pellas, Swedish man. He grew the world's longest mustache: 10 ft. as measured in 1991. (source: Guinness Book of World Records)

1931
Larry Hagman, American actor. TV: I Dream of Jeanie (Master) and Dallas (J.R. Ewing).

1918     d. 2003
Rand Brooks, American actor. TV: The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (Corporal Boone). Film: Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick Lucky Jenkins in 12 movies.

1902     d. 1970
Sir Allen Lane, British publisher. He founded Penguin Books (1935), which introduced low-priced paperbacks to the world.

1874     d. 1934
Gustav Holst, English composer. Music: The Planets (1919) and The Perfect Fool (1923).

1866     d. 1946
H.G. Wells (Herbert George Wells), English novelist, The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898).

1863     d. 1915
John Bunny, American actor, comedian, the first comic star of the American screen (1910). This 300-pound actor made over 200 comic shorts during his brief five-year film career.

1853     d. 1956
Heike Onnes, Dutch Nobel-winning physicist, first to liquefy helium (1908), and coined the term "super-conductivity" after discovering the drop in electrical resistance exhibited by solids at extremely low temperatures.

1756     d. 1836
John Loudon McAdam, Scottish engineer, creator of asphalt.

1998     b. 1959
Florence Griffith Joyner (Flo Jo), American athlete, "World's Fastest Woman." She was the first U.S. female athlete to win four medals at a single Olympics (1988, three gold and a silver), and was the co-chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness.

1974     b. 1894
Walter Brennan, American Oscar-winning actor. TV: The Real McCoys (Amos McCoy). He was the first actor to win three Oscars (1936, 38, 40).

1974     b. 1921
Jacqueline Susann, American actress, author, wrote Valley of the Dolls (1966), selling 17,000,000 copies and becoming the all-time best-selling novel.

1965     b. 1892
John A. Larson, American criminologist. He developed the modern lie detector (1921).

1836     b. 1750
John Stafford Smith, English composer, To Anacreon in Heaven, which is the melody to The Star-Spangled Banner.

1832     b. 1771
Sir Walter Scott, Scottish poet, novelist. Writings: Waverley (1814) and Ivanhoe (1819).

1820     b. 1795
Joseph Rodman Drake, American poet. Writings: The Culprit Fay (1816) and The American Flag (1819).

1798     b. 1733
George Read, American lawyer, politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

1558     b. 1500
Charles V, King of Spain (1516-56) and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (1519-56). He declared Martin Luther an outlaw and a heretic. (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1327     b. 1284
Edward II, King of England (1307-1327). He decreed that an inch was equal to three average barleycorns laid end to end (1324).

687     b. ????
Conon, religious leader, 83rd Pope (686-687).

19 B.C.     b. 70 B.C.
Virgil, Roman epic poet, teacher. He is considered the greatest poet of Rome's Golden Age. Writings: Aeneid.

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