1783 The first hot-air balloon is sent aloft in Versailles, France with animal passengers including a sheep, a rooster, and a duck.
1788 Charles de Barentin becomes lord chancellor of France.
1841 The first railway to span a frontier is completed between Strasbourg and Basel, in Europe.
1863 In Georgia, the two-day Battle of Chickamauga begins as Union troops under George Thomas clash with Confederates under Nathan Bedford Forrest.
1893 New Zealand becomes the first nation to grant women the right to vote.
1900 President Emile Loubet of France pardons Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus, twice court-martialed and wrongly convicted of spying for Germany.
1918 American troops of the Allied North Russia Expeditionary Force receive their baptism of fire near the town of Seltso against Soviet forces.
1948 Moscow announces it will withdraw soldiers from Korea by the end of the year.
1955 Argentina’s President Juan Peron is overthrown by rebels.
1957 The first underground nuclear test takes place in Nevada.
1970 The first Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (originally called the Pilton Festival) is held near Pilton, Somerset, England.
1973 Carl XVI Gustaf is invested as King of Sweden, following the death of his grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf.
1982 The first documented emoticons, 🙂 and :-(, are posted on the Carnegie Mellon University Bulletin Board System by Scott Fahlman.
1985 An earthquake kills thousands in Mexico City.
1985 The Parents Music Resource Center which was formed by Tipper Gore (wife of then-Senator Al Gore) and other political wives lobbies for Parental Advisory stickers on music packaging.
1991 German hikers near the Austria-Italy border discover the naturally preserved mummy of a man from about 3,300 BC; Europe’s oldest natural human mummy, he is dubbed Otzi the Iceman because his lower half was encased in ice.
2006 A military coup in Bangkok revokes Thailand’s constitution and establishes martial law.
Born on September 19
1894 Rachel Field, novelist and playwright who wrote All This and Heaven Too and And Now Tomorrow.
1904 Bergen Evans, educator and author who wrote the Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage.
1911 William Golding, novelist best known for Lord of the Flies.
1915 Elizabeth Stern, Canadian pathologist who first published a case report linking a specific virus to a specific cancer.
1926 Masatoshi Koshiba, Japanese physicist who jointly won the Nobel Prize in Physics (2002); his work focused on subatomic particles known as neutrinos.
1927 Helen Carter, singer, member of the pioneering all-female country group Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters.
1928 Adam West, actor (Batman in campy Batman TV series).
1930 Bettye Lane, photographer noted for documenting major events of the feminist, civil rights and gay rights movements in the US.
1932 Mike Royko, journalist, syndicated columnist; won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary (1972).
1933 David McCallum, actor, musician (The Man from U.N.C.L.E, NCIS TV series).
1934 Brian Epstein, music entrepreneur, manager of the The Beatles.
1940 Paul Williams, composer, singer, songwriter, director, actor (“Evergreen,” “Rainy Days and Mondays”).
1947 Tanith Lee, author, screenwriter; the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award best novel award (Death’s Master, 1980).
1948 Jeremy Irons, actor; won a Tony Award for Best Actor (The Real Thing, 1984) and an Academy Award for Best Actor (Reversal of Fortune, 1990).
1949 Twiggy, model known for her thin build and androgynous look .
1949 Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project which is dedicated to using DNA testing to exonerate wrongly convicted people.
1950 Joan Lunden, journalist, author, co-host of ABC’s Good Morning America for 17 years (1980–1997).
1964 Trisha Yearwood, Grammy and Country Music Association award-winning singer-songwriter (“How Do I Live”), actress (JAG TV series recurring role).
1974 Jimmy Fallon, actor, comedian, musician, TV host (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon; current host of The Tonight Show).