On This Day September 26

2002
Iraq War: When asked, "Are there linkages between al Qaeda and Iraq, and where are they?" Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld replied, "The deputy director of Central Intelligence briefed on that subject. I have no desire to go beyond saying the answer is yes."

1993
First person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel twice: John David Munday makes the 176-foot drop for the second time; he had also done it in 1985.

1990
Dan Quayle: "I support efforts to limit the terms of members of Congress, especially members of the House and members of the Senate."

1990
A new rating NC-17 (No Children), to apply to adult films, is announced by the Motion Picture Association of America.

1990
Cop Rock debuts on ABC, featuring not only singing cops, but singing murderers, crack dealers, and juries.

1983
First non-U.S. yacht to win the America's Cup: The Australia II defeats the U.S. yacht Liberty four races to three.

1962
The Beverly Hillbillies debuts on CBS. Hated by the critics, it quickly became #1 breaking many records.

1960
First televised U.S. presidential candidate debate: 75 million viewers tuned in to watch Kennedy and Nixon square off. Kennedy's style helped him win the election.

1933
The Pierpont Bunch: The group, soon to be John Dillinger's gang, breaks out of prison. Dillinger had bribed authorities and smuggled guns in for them.

1580
Sir Francis Drake - Circumnavigation of the globe: The English navigator arrives in England after completing his voyage. He had begun in December of 1577.

1985
Shamu, first killer whale born in captivity to survive. Born at Sea World Orlando, Florida.

1962
Melissa Sue Anderson, American Emmy-winning actress. TV: Little House on the Prairie (Mary Ingalls).

1956
Linda Hamilton, American actress, Catherine of Beauty and the Beast, and co-star of the Terminator films.

1948
Olivia Newton-John, British singer, actress. Music: Let Me Be There (1973) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975). Film: Grease (1978) and Xanadu (1980).

1947
Lynn Anderson, American Grammy-winning country singer. Music: I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1971).

1926
Julie London (Julie Peck), American singer, actress. TV: Emergency (nurse Dixie McCall).

1919 d. 1980
Barbara Britton, American actress. TV: Mr. and Mrs. North (Pamela North).

1914
Jack La Lanne (Francois Henri LaLanne), American fitness expert. He invented the jumping jack, designed the first leg extension machines, and pulley machines using cables. TV: The Jack LaLanne Show (1951-85, the first television exercise program).

1898 d. 1937
George Gershwin (Jacob Gershvin), American Pulitzer-winning composer. Music: Rhapsody in Blue (1923) and Of Thee I Sing (1931).

1897 d. 1978
Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini), 262nd Pope (1963-78). He was the first pope to fly in an airplane, the first to visit Jesus' birthplace, and the first to visit the U.S.

1888 d. 1965
T.S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot), American Nobel-winning poet, playwright.

1875 d. 1959
Edmund Gwenn, English Oscar-winning actor. Film: Miracle on 34th Street (1947, Oscar as Kris Kringle) and The Trouble with Harry (1955).

1774 d. 1847
Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman), American folk hero who devoted his life to planting apple seeds. It is said that his usual dress consisted of bare feet, a burlap sack for a shirt, and a tin pan hat.

2006 b. 1912
Byron Nelson (John Byron Nelson, Jr.), American golfer. He won a record 11 consecutive tournaments tournaments in 1945. This feat is chronicled in the book Byron Nelson: The Most Remarkable Year in the History of Golf.

2003 b. 1949
Robert Palmer, British singer. Music: Addicted To Love (1986).

1972 b. 1890
Charles J. Correll, American comedian. Radio: Amos 'n' Andy (Andy).

1966 b. 1903
Helen Kane (Helen Schroeder), American actress, singer. Broadway: Good Boy (1929, giving her famous squeaky-voiced "Boop-boop-a-doop" rendition of I Wanna Be Loved by You).

1961 b. 1890
Charles Erwin Wilson, American engineer, president of General Motors (1941-53), designed the motor for the first electric automobile starter, and as U.S. Secretary of Defense (1953-57) stated, "¼what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa."

1952 b. 1863
George Santayana, Spanish-American poet. Writings: The Realms of Being (1928-40). It was he who said "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

1947 b. 1886
Hugh John Lofting, English-born American children's author, illustrator. Writings: The Story of Dr. Dolittle (1920) and its 10 sequels.

1937 b. 1894
Bessie Smith, American blues singer, the most successful blues singer of the 1920s and '30s. After her death from a car accident, it was rumored that she died because white hospitals wouldn't admit her. However, later interviews with the ambulance driver and attending physician dispelled these rumors. The rumors were started by a record executive, probably to increase sales of her records. (Source biography: Bessie)

1763 b. 1692
John Byrom, English poet. Writings: Three Black Crows and Fig and Sutton. He invented and published (1767) a system of shorthand titled The Universal English Shorthand.

September 26

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