It happened one 26 September

1580 : Drake ended his world tour


On September 26, 1580, the English navigator Francis Drake completed his world tour in Plymouth, on board his ship the Golden Hind. He had left on December 13th, 1577 with five ships. He had left two of them in South America before crossing the Strait of Magellan, where a ship was destroyed and where another had to return to England. He went up the west coast of the Americas to the current state of Washington. During the trip, he captured a Spanish ship full of treasures. He crossed the Pacific, Cape Horn in South Africa before returning to England with his treasure and valuable information on the world's oceans.

1918 : Beginning of the Meuse-Argonne offensive


On September 26, 1918, 37 French and American divisions, comprising more than one million men, began the Meuse-Argonne offensive led by General Pershing. The advance was slow due to stiff resistance by the Germans. After a pause in the attack between September 30 and October 3, the offensive continued on October 4. The Germans resisted another month before final retreat and Armistice.

1957 : West Side Story opens at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway


On September 26, 1957, was the Premiere of the West Side Story musical on a Broadway stage. Leonard Bernstein's play is the story of Romeo and Juliet transposed to the West Side of New York and tells the story of an impossible love between an American of Polish origin and a young Puerto Rican. The play was adapted to film in 1961 starring Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood in a movie that won 10 Academy Awards.

2002 : A Senegalese ferry capsizes off the Gambian coast


September 26, 2002, a Senegalese ferry carrying 1,035 passengers, the Joola, was caught in a storm and capsized off the coast of Gambia. Only 64 people could be saved. The ship had a capacity of only 800 people but was recently manufactured and had been revised shortly before.

Quote of the day : 26 September

Leonard Bernstein
To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.

Birthdays : 26 September

Théodore Géricault, French painter (1791)
Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1849)
Alfred Cortot, Swiss pianist (1877)
Archibald Hill, English physiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1886)
T. S. Eliot, English poet, Nobel Prize in Literature (1888)
George Gershwin, American composer (1898)
George Raft, American actor (1901)
Achille Compagnoni, Italian mountaineer (1914)
Julie London, American actress and singer (1926)
Manmohan Singh, Indian politician (1932)
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, South African politician (1936)
Jerry Weintraub, American producer (1937)
Bryan Ferry, English musician (Roxy Music) (1945)
Philippe Lavil, French singer (1947)
Olivia Newton-John, English actress and singer (1948)
Linda Hamilton, American actress (1956)
Melissa Sue Anderson, American actress (1962)
Nicki French, English singer (1964)
Anthony Kavanagh, Canadian comedian (1969)
Gary Hall, Jr., American swimmer (1974)
Serena Williams, American tennis player (1981)
M. Pokora, French singerCa (1985)
Kiira Korpi, Finnish figure skater (1988)

They left us one 26 September

Taichang, Emperor of China (1620)
Daniel Boone, American explorer (1820)
August Möbius, German mathematician (1868)
Levi Strauss, German immigrant to the United States, founder of Levi Strauss & Co (1902)
Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (1945)
Anna Magnani, Italian actress (1973)
Leopold Ružička, Croatian chemist, Nobel Laureate (1976)
Manne Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel prize laureate (1978)
Tino Rossi, French singer (1983)
Alberto Moravia, Italian writer (1990)
Robert Palmer, English singer (2003)
Paul Newman, American actor and director (2008)
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