In the waning days of a pennant race already long decided, Ted Williams stepped into baseball immortality. On that afternoon, the 23-year-old left fielder for the Boston Red Sox recorded six hits in a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics, finishing the season with a…
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The assassination of Pompey, one of the most prominent figures of ancient Rome, marked a pivotal moment in the political turmoil that engulfed the late Roman Republic. It occurred on September 28, 48 BC, on the orders of King Ptolemy XIII of Egypt upon…
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On September 28, 1781, the world began to turn upside down. On the battle-scarred fields of Yorktown, Virginia, the forces of destiny collided. General George Washington, leading the battle-hardened Continental Army, joined forces with French General Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, to…
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On September 27, 1822, Jean-François Champollion, the brilliant and tireless French philologist, stood before the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and announced what scholars had dreamed of for centuries: the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic script had at last been deciphered. His declaration, brief and…
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On September 27, 1777, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for one day, served as the capital of the United States after Congress fled Philadelphia due to the advancing British army. The British had set their sights on Philadelphia, then the largest city in the colonies and home…
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On September 27, 1066, William the Conqueror set sail on a trip that would change the course of world history, leaving Normandy and sailing toward Britain. He would soon face the most important battle in British history before World War II and be seated…
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On this day in 1933, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, one of America’s most notorious gangsters, surrendered to federal agents in Memphis and gave the FBI its enduring nickname. Surrounded and with no way out, Kelly raised his hands and cried: “Don’t shoot, G-Men!” The…
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On September 26, 1687, the Parthenon, a symbol of ancient Greek civilization and architectural brilliance, suffered catastrophic damage during the Siege of the Acropolis in Athens. At the time, Athens was under Ottoman rule, and the Parthenon, originally a temple dedicated to the goddess…
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On September 26, 1905, Albert Einstein published the third and final portion of what’s been called the Annus Mirabilis papers, a collection of groundbreaking scientific papers that revolutionized the world of science and had a profound impact on our understanding of the universe. These…
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On September 25, 2018, Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to ten years in a Pennsylvania state prison for aggravated sexual assault—a stunning reversal for a once-revered entertainer who built his persona as America’s avuncular moralist. The punishment closed a protracted legal saga arising…
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