GMT

Today in History: September 18

1793 George Washington lays the foundation stone for the U.S. Capitol.

1830 Tom Thumb, the first locomotive built in the United States, loses a nine-mile race in Maryland to a horse.

1862 After waiting all day for a Union attack which never came at Antietam, Confederate General Robert E. Lee begins a retreat out of Maryland and back to Virginia.

1863 Union cavalry troops clash with a group of Confederates at Chickamauga Creek.

1874 The Nebraska Relief and Aid Society is formed to help farmers whose crops were destroyed by grasshoppers swarming throughout the American West.

1975 Patty Hearst, granddaughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped by violent radical group SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army); she will later take part in some of the group's militant activities and will be captured by FBI agents.

1998 ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is formed to coordinate unique identifying addresses for Websites worldwide.

2009 The US television soap opera The Guiding Light broadcasts its final episode, ending a 72-year run that began on radio.


Born on September 18

1905 Greta Garbo, actress nominated for Oscars for her roles in Anna Christie and Ninotcha.

1961 James Gandolfini, actor; won three Emmys, two Golden Globes and three Screen Actors Guild Awards (crime boss Tony Soprano in The Sopranos).

1971 Lance Armstrong (Lance Gunderson), cyclist; won record 7 Tour De France titles but was stripped of them and banned from competitive cycling for life after it was determined he had used performance-enhancing drugs.

Joke of the day

The government offered to buy my guns from me

But after a thorough background check of the buyer, I am not comfortable with selling weapons to organized crime.