On This Day in History – September 28

Major Events

• 1066 – William the Conqueror invades England, landing at Pevensey Bay.
• 1542 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo becomes the first European to set foot in present-day California.
• 1781 – American and French forces begin the siege of Yorktown during the American Revolutionary War.
• 1924 – The first round-the-world flight is completed by U.S. Army Air Service pilots.
• 1928 – Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin, revolutionizing medicine.
• 1958 – France adopts a new constitution, establishing the Fifth Republic under Charles de Gaulle.
• 1963 – The Beatles’ single “She Loves You” reaches number one in the UK charts.
• 1978 – Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days in office.
• 1995 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign the Oslo II Accord in Washington, D.C.
• 2008 – SpaceX’s Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed rocket to successfully reach orbit.
• 2014 – Pro-democracy protests begin in Hong Kong, later known as the Umbrella Movement.

Famous Birthdays

• 551 BC – Confucius, Chinese philosopher (d. 479 BC)
• 1705 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, British politician (d. 1774)
• 1873 – W. S. Van Dyke, American film director (d. 1943)
• 1891 – Ed Sullivan, American television host (d. 1974)
• 1901 – Ed Sullivan, American television host (d. 1974)
• 1934 – Brigitte Bardot, French actress and model
• 1938 – Ben E. King, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
• 1946 – Jeffrey Jones, American actor
• 1968 – Naomi Watts, British-Australian actress
• 1972 – Dita Von Teese, American burlesque dancer and model
• 1982 – Hilary Duff, American actress and singer
• 1986 – Andrés Guardado, Mexican footballer

Notable Deaths

• 1895 – Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist (b. 1822)
• 1898 – Charles Pelham Villiers, British politician (b. 1802)
• 1929 – William Wrigley Jr., American chewing gum industrialist (b. 1861)
• 1970 – Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian president (b. 1918)
• 1978 – Pope John Paul I (b. 1912)
• 1991 – Miles Davis, American jazz musician (b. 1926)
• 2003 – Althea Gibson, American tennis player (b. 1927)
• 2016 – Shimon Peres, Israeli politician and Nobel laureate (b. 1923)
• 2021 – Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistani nuclear scientist (b. 1936)

Holidays

• Teachers’ Day in Taiwan
• Czech Statehood Day (Czech Republic)
• World Rabies Day (International)

Fun Facts

1. Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928 marked the beginning of modern antibiotics.
2. Pope John Paul I’s papacy was one of the shortest in history, lasting only 33 days.
3. The Beatles’ “She Loves You” became one of the best-selling singles in the UK.
4. William the Conqueror’s landing in England set the stage for the Norman conquest.