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Today in History: September 9

1087 William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England, dies in Rouen while conducting a war which began when the French king made fun of him for being fat.

1786 George Washington calls for the abolition of slavery.

1850 California, in the midst of a gold rush, enters the Union as the 31st state.

1863 The Union Army of the Cumberland passes through Chattanooga as they chase after the retreating Confederates. The Union troops will soon be repulsed at the Battle of Chickamauga.

1942 A Japanese float plane, launched from a submarine, makes its first bombing run on a U.S. forest near Brookings, Oregon.

1948 Kim Il-sung declares the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

1956 Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show; cameras focus on his upper torso and legs to avoid showing his pelvis gyrations, which many Americans—including Ed Sullivan—thought unfit for a family show.

1965 Hurricane Betsy, the first hurricane to exceed $1 billion in damages (unadjusted), makes its second landfall, near New Orleans.


Born on September 9

1941 Otis Redding, singer, songwriter, record producer, known as the "King of Soul"; "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," "Respect."

1988 Jo Woodcock, actress (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Torn TV miniseries).


Joke of the Day
An American, an Englishman and an Irishman Walk into a Bar..

Barman: What are you guys having?
American: I'll have a Budweiser
Englishman: I'll have a Carling
Irishman: I'll have a water, seeing as none of us are drinking...