26th September, on this day

46 BC Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to his mythical ancestor Venus Genetrix in accordance with a vow he made at the battle of Pharsalus
715 Ragenfrid defeats Theudoald at the Battle of Compiègne
1212 Golden Bull of Sicily certified hereditary royal title in Bohemia for Premyslid dynasty
1580 Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe.
1687 The Parthenon in Athens is severely damaged when a mortar bomb, fired by the Venetian Army besieging the Turks holding the Acropolis, sets off the Turkish supplies of gunpowder
1687 The city council of Amsterdam votes to support William of Orange's invasion of England, which became the Glorious Revolution.
1777 British troops occupy Philadelphia during the American Revolution
1789 Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first United States Secretary of State, John Jay is appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States, Samuel Osgood is appointed the first United States Postmaster General, and Edmund Randolph is appointed the first United States Attorney General.
1792 Marc-David Lasource begins accusing Maximilien Robespierre of wanting a dictatorship for France.
1810 A new Act of Succession is adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte becomes heir to the Swedish throne.
1824 Kapiolani defies Pele (Hawaiian volcano goddess) and lives
1861 The first British Open Golf Championship begins at Prestwick, Ayrshire
1872 The first Shriners Temple (called Mecca) was established in New York City.
1879 The world's first railway dining car is introduced in Britain on the line between London and Leeds
1887 Emile Berliner, a German immigrant living in Washington DC, patents his invention of the world's first gramaphone
1907 A Royal Proclamation changes the status of New Zealand from a British colony to the Dominion of New Zealand also Newfoundland becomes a Dominion
1918 Meuse-Argonne offensive against Germany began during WW I
1925 Italian sub "Sebastiano Veniero" lost off Sicily with 54 dead
1925 British seaside resort of Blackpool first switches on its now famous illuminations
1934 Ocean liner RMS Queen Mary is launched
1938 Concerned about the prospect of war with Germany (which turns out to be a year away) British civilians are issued with gas masks
1944 Operation Market Garden fails.
1944 On the central front of the Gothic Line Brazilian troops controlled the Serchio valley region after ten days of fighting
1950 A forest fire in British Columbia causes a blue moon in England
1950 UN troops in Korean War recaptured South Korean capital of Seoul
1954 Japanese rail ferry Toya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, Japan killing 1,172.
1955 NY Stock Exchange worst price decline since 1929
1955 Frozen Bird's Eye fish fingers first go on sale in Britain
1957 Dag Hammarskjöld re-elected secretary-general of the UN
1957 First production of 'West Side Story' - Leonard Bernstein's musical based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet - goes on stage at the Winter Garden in New York
1960 In Chicago, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
1960 Longest speech in UN history (4 hrs, 29 mins, by Fidel Castro). Castro also announces Cuba's support for the U.S.S.R.
1961 American folk singer Bob Dylan makes his professional debut at Gerdie's Folk City in Greenwich Village, New York
1962 TV comedy series "The Beverly Hillbillies" premiers on CBS
1962 Yemen Arab Republic proclaimed
1968 Hawaii Five-O debuts as an hourly program on CBS
1969 Beatles release "Abbey Road" album
1970 The Laguna Fire starts in San Diego County, California, burning 175,425 acres (710 km²).
1973 Concorde flies from Washington DC to Paris in 3h33m
1977 Sir Freddie Laker begins cut-rate "Skytrain" service, London to NY
1979 1984 summer LA Olympic coverage sold to ABC for $225 million
1980 Cuban government closes Mariel Harbor ending "freedom flotilla"
1980 Soyuz 38 returns to Earth
1983 21 IRA men escape from the Maze Prison in Ulster
1983 Cosmonauts Titov and Strekalov are saved from exploding Soyuz T-10
1983 Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war.
1983 Racing yacht 'Australia II' , owned by Alan Bond, beats the American boat 'Liberty' in the deciding race off Newport, Rhode Island, to deprive the United States of the America's Cup, - a trophy the Americans never lost in the 132 year history of the event
1984 Britain and China initial agreement return Hong Kong to China in 1997
1984 President Reagan vetoes sanctions against South Africa
1986 Bobby (Patrick Duffy) returns to Dallas, his death is attributed to his wife Pam's bad dream (erases all of last season)
1988 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson flies home in disgrace from the Seoul Olympics in South Korea -stripped of his 100 metres gold medal after failing a drugs test
1988 Polish communist party picks propaganda chief Rakowski as new PM
1991 2 year experimental Biosphere 2 in Oracle Arizona begins
1997 Queen Elizabeth II and the British Government announce that the Royal Yacht 'Britannia' will neither be refitted or replaced because of the high cost
1997 A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A-300 crashes near Medan, Indonesia, airport, killing 234.
1997 An earthquake strikes the Italian regions of Umbria and the Marche, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis at Assisi to collapse.
2000 Anti-globalization protests in Prague (some 20,000 protesters) turned violent during the IMF and World Bank summits.
2000 M/S Express Samina sinks off Paros in the Agean sea killing 80 passengers.
2002 The overcrowded Senegalese ferry MV Joola capsizes off the coast of Gambia killing more than 1,000.
2007 Shinzo Abe formally ends his term as Prime Minister of Japan.

26th September 2005

IRA scraps 'all arms' - monitors

27 years for al Qaeda 'cell leader'

Gunmen kill Iraq school teachers

26th September 2006

EU to approve Balkan candidates

Afghan suicide bomber 'kills 18'

Kurdish mayors on trial in Turkey

26th September 2007

Burma protesters defy crackdown

Afghan clashes kill '160 Taleban'

First cholera death hits Baghdad

26th September 2008

Wall Street rescue deal stalemate

Terror suspects held on KLM plane

Somalia's pirates seize 33 tanks

26th September 2009

Dozens dead in Philippine floods

Blasts rock north-west Pakistan

Korean families in rare reunion

26th September 2010

Birthdates which occurred on 26th September:

1729 Moses Mendelssohn philosopher/critic/Bible translator
1774 John Chapman [Johnny Appleseed], frontier nurseryman
1820 Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar father of Bengali prose (Exile of Sita)
1876 Edith Abbott dean U of Chic Social Sciences
1888 T.S. Eliot St Louis poet/dramatist/critic (Waste Land-Nobel 1948)
1889 Martin Heidegger Germany, Existentialist (Being & Time)
1891 Charles Munch Strasbourg Alsatian conductor (French Legion D'Honeur)
1895 Fay Holden Birmingham England, actress (Mother-Andy Hardy films)
1897 Pope Paul VI 262nd Roman Catholic pope (1963-78)
1898 George Gershwin [Jacob Gershvin] Bkln NY, composer (Rhapsody in Blue)
19-- Lorraine Lewis rocker (Femme Fatale)
19-- Rachel Jacobs Ririe Idaho, actress (It's Not Easy)
19-- Richard Herd Brighton Mass, actor (TJ Hooker, V)
19-- Todd Chase rocker (Tuff-What Comes Around Goes Around)
1901 Donald Cook Portland Ore, actor (Too Young To Go Steady)
1902 Albert Anastasia head of Murder Inc
1907 Ralph Michael London England, actor (Quest, Doctor in the House)
1914 Jack LaLanne exercise mogul
1919 Barbara Britton Long Beach, Calif, actress (Young & Willing)
1925 Bobby Shantz baseball player (1952 AL MVP)
1925 Marty Robbins Glendale Az, singer (Devil Woman, I Walk Alone)
1926 Julie London Santa Rosa Calif, actress (Nurse McCall-Emergency)
1927 Patrick O'Neal Ocala Fla, actor (Kaz, Alvarez Kelly, King Rat)
1930 Fritz Wunderlich Kusel Germany, tenor (Stuttgart 1955-58)
1930 Philip Bosco Jersey City, actor (Trading Places)
1932 Clifton C Williams Jr Mobile Alabama, Major USMC/astronaut
1932 Joyce Jameson Chicago Ill, comedienne (Spike Jones Show)
1933 Donna Douglas [Dot Smith], Pride La, actress (Beverly Hillbillies)
1942 Kent McCord LA Calif, actor (Officer Jim Reed-Adam 12)
1945 Brian Ferry England, rocker (Roxy Music-Let's Stick Together)
1946 Mary Beth Hurt Iowa, actress (Garp, Change of Seasons)
1947 Graham Faulkner London, actor (Brother Sun Sister Moon)
1947 Lynn Anderson ND, country singer (I Never Promised you a Rose Garden)
1947 Richard Roth US, 400m swim medley (Olympic-gold-1964)
1948 Olivia Newton-John Cambridge England, singer (I Honestly Love You, Physical)
1948 Vladimir Remek 1st Czechoslovakian space traveler (in Soyuz 28)
1952 James Keane Buffalo NY, actor (Willis Bell-Paper Chase)
1956 Linda Hamilton Salisbury Md, actress (Catherine-Beauty & the Beast)
1962 Melissa Sue Anderson Cal, actress (Little House on the Prairie)
1962 Tracey Thorn rocker (Everything But the Girls)
1963 Lysette Anthony London, actress (Angelique-Dark Shadows, Switch)
1964 Ty Miller Granada Hills Calif, actor (The Kid-The Young Riders)
1967 Martha Nix Orange County Calif, actress (Serena-Waltons)
1972 Shann Stockman [Slim], Phila Pa, rapper (Boyz II Men)

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Deaths which occurred on September 26th:
1820 Daniel Boone frontiersman, dies in Missouri at 85
1904 Lafcadio Hearn multinational author, dies
1937 Bessie Smith singer, dies of injuries sustained in car crash
1959 PM Solomon Bandaranaike of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) assassinated
1964 Calvin Thomas actor (Judge Hunter-One Man's Family), dies at 79
1972 Charles Correll actor (Calvin and the Colonel), dies at 82
1973 Anna Magnani actress, dies at 64
1990 Alberto Moravia Italian writer (Woman in Red), dies at 82