175 Fun Facts About September

September's name comes from the Latin word for which number?

Seven: September was the seventh month of the earliest Roman calendar; with January and February added, it became the ninth but kept its name.

How many days does September have?

September has 30 days; in the Roman republican calendar it had only 29, until the calendar reform of 46 BC gave it one more.

What is September's birthstone?

Sapphire: the name goes back to the Greek sappheiros, a word that probably meant not this gem but lapis lazuli, a different blue stone altogether.

Which of these is one of September's birth flowers?

Aster shares September with the morning glory; its name is the Greek word for star, given for the shape of its flower head.

Someone born on September 25 falls under which zodiac sign?

Libra takes over from Virgo around September 23; its brightest stars still bear Arabic names meaning the northern and southern claw, from the days when they were drawn as part of the Scorpion.

Autumn counted from September 1, rather than from the equinox, is known as which kind of autumn?

Meteorological: forecasters split the year into four blocks of three whole months so that seasonal statistics can be compared from one year to the next; astronomical autumn waits for the equinox, about three weeks later.

On the day of the September equinox, the Sun stands directly overhead at noon on which line?

The Equator: the Sun crosses it heading south at the September equinox, which can fall anywhere from the 21st to the 24th because the calendar year and the tropical year don't quite match.

The Harvest Moon is defined as the full moon that occurs when?

Nearest the autumnal equinox: the Harvest Moon can come up to two weeks either side of it, so some years it falls in October; its bright early evenings once let farm crews keep harvesting after sunset.

Britain dropped eleven days from September 1752 when it switched to which calendar?

The Gregorian calendar: Wednesday 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday 14 September, and the same Act moved the start of the legal year from 25 March to 1 January.

US births peak in mid-September, yet which holiday is the rarest US birthday apart from leap day?

Christmas Day: count back nine months from the September peak and you land in the holiday season, yet few babies arrive on the holidays themselves, while Valentine's Day runs above average.

Usenet's 'Eternal September' of 1993 was named after the yearly September arrival of which newcomers?

College freshmen: each September new students got their first accounts and swamped Usenet until they learned its manners; from 1993 home internet services kept newcomers arriving all year, so that September never ended.

In the United States, Labor Day falls on which day of September?

The first Monday: the first Labor Day parade, in New York City in 1882, was held on a Tuesday, and some 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to join it.

In the US, National Grandparents Day falls in September on which day?

The first Sunday after Labor Day: the holiday grew out of a grassroots campaign begun in 1970 by Marian McQuade of West Virginia, and President Jimmy Carter proclaimed it nationally.

US Constitution Day falls on September 17 to mark which event of 1787?

Delegates signed the document in Philadelphia, 39 of the 42 present putting their names to it; Rhode Island had refused to send anyone to the convention at all.

The Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American military history, was fought in which state?

Maryland: Lee's first invasion of the North was stopped beside Antietam Creek at Sharpsburg with about 23,000 casualties, and the result gave Lincoln the confidence to announce emancipation.

Which Baltimore fort's bombardment by the British in 1814 inspired the US national anthem?

Fort McHenry withstood 25 hours of shelling on September 13-14, 1814; its commander had ordered a flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance.

Which president signed the law that made September 11 Patriot Day in the United States?

George W. Bush had first proclaimed a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Friday, September 14, 2001; Congress then fixed the 11th, and he approved its resolution that December.

Who gave the Grito de Dolores of 1810, marked by Mexico's Independence Day on September 16?

Miguel Hidalgo, a parish priest, launched Mexico's war of independence with the cry; each year the president repeats it from the National Palace balcony, ringing the bell Hidalgo used.

Which South American country celebrates its independence day on September 7?

Brazil: Dom Pedro, the Portuguese king's own son, declared independence beside the Ipiranga stream on 7 September 1822 and was crowned the new country's first emperor.

Which African country, whose calendar has thirteen months, celebrates its New Year, Enkutatash, each September?

Ethiopia: Enkutatash means 'gift of jewels'; tradition says the Queen of Sheba came home from visiting King Solomon on that day and her chiefs welcomed her with jewels.

What instrument is sounded during Rosh Hashanah?

A shofar, made from a ram's horn, is blown as a wake-up call to reflect and repent; apples dipped in honey are eaten to wish for a sweet year.

What did Munich's first Oktoberfest, held in 1810, celebrate?

A royal wedding: Crown Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on 12 October 1810, and the festival meadow was named Theresienwiese, known to locals as the Wiesn.

What did a founder of Talk Like a Pirate Day yell in pain during a 1995 racquetball game?

Aaarrr!: the founders, John Baur and Mark Summers, built a holiday on the yelp and set it for September 19, Summers's ex-wife's birthday, because that date was stuck in his head.

Hobbit Day, September 22, marks the shared birthday of which two characters?

Bilbo and Frodo Baggins share the day: The Lord of the Rings opens with their joint party, where Bilbo, turning 111, bids his guests good-bye and vanishes with the help of his ring.

Why does Earth, Wind & Fire's 'September' name the 21st night, by its co-writer's account?

It simply sang best: the writers tried every date from the first onwards, Allee Willis said, and the 21st just sang better than any of the others.

The Peace Bell rung at UN headquarters each September 21, the International Day of Peace, was a gift from which country?

Japan: the bell was presented in 1954 and cast from coins donated by people from some 60 countries; the Secretary-General rings it each year to mark the day.

Michaelmas, September 29, joins Lady Day and Midsummer Day among England's traditional what?

Quarter days: on these four dates, three months apart, rents fell due, servants were hired and leases began; Oxford and Cambridge named their autumn term Michaelmas after it.

Which group does Japan honour with a national holiday on the third Monday of September?

The elderly: Respect for the Aged Day, Keiro no Hi, kept a fixed mid-September date until 2003, when the Happy Monday System moved it to a Monday to give people a long weekend.

On Prinsjesdag, the third Tuesday of September, the Dutch monarch does what?

Gives the Speech from the Throne: the monarch sets out the government's plans to both houses of parliament, on a date fixed by the constitution, and the finance minister then presents the budget.

Australians wear a sprig of which plant on September 1, the first day of their spring?

Wattle: the golden wattle is Australia's floral emblem, and a wattle club began pressing for a September 'Wattle Day' in 1899 to make the flower a symbol of patriotism; the date became national in 1992.

San Gennaro, honoured by Little Italy's September festival, is the patron saint of which Italian city?

Naples: a vial of the martyred bishop's dried blood, kept in the city's cathedral, is said to liquefy on his feast day, September 19, while crowds pray for the miracle to happen.

Vendémiaire, the first month of the French Republican calendar, was named after what?

The grape harvest: Vendémiaire comes from Latin vindemia, the vintage, and began in late September; the revolutionaries named every month after weather or farm work, and Brumaire, the month of mist, followed.

The Ludi Romani, Rome's chief September games, honoured which god?

Jupiter: the games were Rome's chief festival, held in honour of Jupiter, and it was at them that Greek-style drama first reached the Roman stage.

World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded which country?

The Soviet Union attacked from the east on September 17, and Poland's defence collapsed by early October.

Japan's WWII surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 aboard which US battleship?

USS Missouri: President Truman chose the battleship, named for his home state and christened by his daughter Margaret; General MacArthur opened the ceremony on her deck in Tokyo Bay.

Battle of Britain Day, September 15, marks the Luftwaffe's largest 1940 attack on which city?

London: around 1,500 aircraft fought over southern England that day, and two days after the raids failed Hitler postponed Operation Sea Lion, his invasion plan, indefinitely.

The Great Fire of 1666 began on September 2 in a bakery on which street of the English capital?

Pudding Lane: the fire started in Thomas Farriner's bakery in the early hours of September 2, 1666; Samuel Pepys climbed the Tower that morning and watched an east wind drive it through the City.

Who crushed a Norwegian invasion at Stamford Bridge in September 1066, then died at Hastings nineteen days later?

Harold Godwinson surprised and killed both Harald Hardrada and his own brother Tostig at Stamford Bridge on 25 September, then had to hurry his tired army south to face William.

The 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham was fought outside the walls of which settlement?

Quebec: Wolfe's troops scrambled up a cliff by night and beat Montcalm on the plain outside the city walls on September 13, 1759; both commanders died of wounds from the battle.

Napoleon's costly victory at Borodino on September 7, 1812, opened the road to which city?

Moscow: about a quarter of a million men fought at Borodino; a week later Napoleon entered a deserted city, fires broke out that night, and by mid-October he had begun his retreat.

Which Home Secretary founded the Metropolitan Police, whose first constables hit the streets in 1829?

Robert Peel, as Home Secretary, carried the Metropolitan Police Act of 1829; the first constables went on the beat on September 29 that year, and 'bobbies' and 'peelers' are both nicknames taken from him.

Which planet was first knowingly observed by Johann Galle in 1846, within a degree of its predicted position?

Neptune: Urbain Le Verrier had calculated its position from wobbles in the orbit of Uranus, and Galle found it from Berlin on September 23, 1846, the same evening he received Le Verrier's letter.

On September 1, 1878, Emma Nutt of Boston became the world's first what?

Female telephone operator: the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company hired Emma Nutt on September 1, 1878, after its teenage boy operators proved rude and prank-prone, and women soon took over the switchboards.

Whose record of 2,130 consecutive games did Cal Ripken Jr. break on September 6, 1995?

Lou Gehrig's mark had stood for 56 years; Ripken ran his own streak to 2,632 games before he took himself out of the line-up in September 1998 to end it.

Which television series first aired on NBC on September 8, 1966?

Star Trek: NBC had rejected the first pilot, 'The Cage', before commissioning a second with William Shatner as Kirk; the first episode broadcast, 'The Man Trap', aired on September 8, 1966.

Which tech company, incorporated in September 1998, set up its first office in a garage in Menlo Park?

Google: an August 1998 cheque for $100,000 from Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim, written before the company legally existed, pushed Larry Page and Sergey Brin to incorporate.

Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8 of which year?

2022: she had reigned since February 1952 and was monarch of 15 realms at her death.

Which children's author, a former RAF fighter pilot, is honoured with a day each September 13, his birthday?

Roald Dahl crash-landed his fighter in the Libyan desert in September 1940 and wrote about it in his first published work; Roald Dahl Day now marks his birthday.

Which bestselling horror writer was born in Portland, Maine, on September 21, 1947?

Stephen King threw away the first pages of Carrie, his breakthrough novel; his wife Tabitha fished them out of the trash and talked him into finishing it.

Which of these singers, all born in 1981, was born in Houston on September 4?

Beyoncé: her Houston girl group, Girl's Tyme, lost on the TV talent show Star Search in 1993, then regrouped and went on to fame as Destiny's Child.

Johnny Appleseed, born on September 26, 1774, planted sour seedling apples that settlers mostly turned into what?

Hard cider: apples grown from seed, as John Chapman planted them, are mostly too sour for eating but fine for the press, and cider was a staple of the frontier table.

The Battle of Marathon, traditionally dated to September 490 BC, ended in victory for the citizens of which city?

Athens: the legend of a messenger running from the battlefield to the city with news of the win gave the marathon its name; Herodotus tells instead of a run to Sparta to ask for help.

Which month in the Southern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of September in the Northern Hemisphere?

March: the hemispheres' seasons run six months apart, so the September equinox that opens autumn in the north opens spring in the south, and March's does the reverse.

September opens the ecclesiastical year for which branch of Christianity?

Eastern Orthodoxy: the Orthodox church year begins on September 1, the Indiction, a date inherited from the Byzantine civil calendar; the Western churches begin theirs with Advent in late November or December.

Whose deification added an extra day to the Ludi Romani on 4 September?

Julius Caesar: after his assassination in 44 BC a day was added on September 4 in his honour, stretching games that had once run only from September 12 to 14 towards their later span of the 4th to 19th.

Which state, nicknamed the Beaver State, first made Labor Day a legal holiday, in 1887?

Oregon made Labor Day a legal holiday in February 1887, ahead of New York, where unions had held the first Labor Day parade in 1882.

Which president signed the bill making Labor Day a federal holiday in 1894?

Grover Cleveland signed the act on June 28, 1894, while the Pullman railway strike was crippling traffic across the country; federal troops were sent to Chicago to break it.

Which other country celebrates Labour Day on the same day as the United States?

Canada made its Labour Day a national holiday in 1894; the tradition grew out of an 1872 Toronto demonstration in support of striking printers.

Chuseok, a three-day autumn harvest holiday when families honour their ancestors, is celebrated in which country?

South Korea: Chuseok falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, a full moon, and the days either side are holidays too, so crowds leave the big cities for their home towns.

Which rice cakes are a traditional Chuseok food?

Songpyeon: half-moon rice cakes steamed over pine needles, the 'song' of the name; a saying holds that whoever shapes them prettily will meet a good spouse or have a beautiful baby.

Which Moon goddess, namesake of China's lunar probes, is honoured at the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Chang'e: in the legend she swallowed an elixir of immortality and floated up to the Moon, where she is honoured at the festival; mooncakes filled with sweet-bean or lotus-seed paste are eaten.

Yom Kippur falls on the 10th day of which Hebrew month?

Tishrei: it opens the Jewish civil year yet counts as the seventh month of the religious year, so the Bible places both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in 'the seventh month'.

Gunmen from Black September broke into Munich's Olympic Village on September 5, 1972, to seize athletes from which country?

Israel: two team members were killed in the raid and nine taken hostage, all of whom died that night in a failed rescue; competition was suspended for 34 hours, then the Games went on.

Which American swimmer won his seventh gold medal of the Munich Olympics on September 4, 1972?

Mark Spitz set a world record in every one of his seven events and then retired at just 22; nobody won more golds at a single Games until Michael Phelps in 2008.

Which two leaders signed the Camp David Accords on 17 September 1978?

Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin signed the accords at the White House after nearly two weeks of talks hosted by Jimmy Carter at Camp David, and shared that year's Nobel Peace Prize.

In which city did crowds storm the prisons and kill over a thousand inmates in the September Massacres of 1792?

Paris: with Prussian armies marching on the capital, crowds feared the prisoners would break out and join the enemy, and within days they had killed about half the city's inmates.

Which French ruler was captured at the Battle of Sedan on 2 September 1870?

Napoleon III surrendered with his whole army at Sedan, and two days later a bloodless revolution in the capital swept away his empire and brought in the Third Republic.

Which anarchist assassinated William McKinley?

Leon Czolgosz shot McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo on September 6, 1901; he had lost his job in the Panic of 1893 and turned to anarchism, and was executed that October.

Which Arkansas governor blocked the Little Rock Nine from Central High in 1957?

Orval Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to bar the nine Black students on September 4, 1957; President Eisenhower federalised the Guard and sent the 101st Airborne to escort them in on the 25th.

From which English port did the Mayflower finally sail for America on 16 September 1620?

Plymouth: the Mayflower had already turned back twice because its companion ship, the Speedwell, kept leaking, so it finally left alone with 102 passengers crowded aboard.

Which US oceanographer co-led the team that found the Titanic wreck on 1 September 1985?

Robert Ballard and France's Jean-Louis Michel found the wreck with the camera sled Argo; the US Navy had backed the sled so he could first inspect two sunken nuclear submarines, leaving twelve days for the Titanic.

Which Wall Street bank filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008?

Lehman Brothers filed after the US Treasury refused it a bailout, months after the Federal Reserve had helped rescue Bear Stearns; Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America that same weekend.

On 13 September 1959, Luna 2 became the first spacecraft to do what?

Hit the Moon: Luna 2 carried Soviet pennants to the surface, and days later Khrushchev, visiting the United States, handed President Eisenhower a replica of one.

Which French cave of Stone Age paintings did the teenager Marcel Ravidat find on 12 September 1940?

Lascaux: Ravidat came back with three friends and climbed down into the painted cave; it opened to the public in 1948 but was closed in 1963 because the crowds of visitors were damaging the art.

Freddie Mercury, born on 5 September 1946, was born on which island?

His family fled the Zanzibar Revolution to England in 1964.

Agatha Christie, born 15 September 1890, was born in which English town?

Torquay: Christie was born at Ashfield, her family's villa in the Devon resort; working in the town's Red Cross hospital dispensary during the First World War taught her the poisons that fill her plots.

Green Day's Wake Me Up When September Ends is about whose death in September 1982?

Billie Joe Armstrong's father died of cancer in September 1982, when Billie was ten; the boy is said to have run home from the funeral, locked his door and told his mother the words that became the title.

September's birthstone and ruby are varieties of which mineral?

Corundum: chromium turns the mineral ruby red, while traces of iron and titanium turn it blue.

Which national dance, with waved handkerchiefs, do Chileans perform during their 18 September Fiestas Patrias?

Cueca: it was declared Chile's national dance in 1979, by which time women whose relatives the dictatorship had 'disappeared' were dancing it alone, without a partner, in protest.

Which Indian state made Onam, the harvest festival of flower carpets and snake-boat races, its official festival in 1961?

Kerala: the state government declared Onam its official festival in 1961; it celebrates the annual homecoming of the mythical King Mahabali and falls in the Malayalam month of Chingam, usually August or September.

Ganesh Chaturthi, held in August or September, honours a Hindu god with the head of which animal?

Elephant: the festival honours the elephant-headed Ganesha, and from 1893 Bal Gangadhar Tilak championed it as a public celebration to rally Indians under British rule.

The US Open tennis championship began in 1881 in which resort town, now home to the International Tennis Hall of Fame?

Newport, Rhode Island: the championship was played on the Newport Casino's grass until 1915, when players petitioned to move it to Forest Hills, closer to New York's clubs and crowds.

Which team golf contest, first held in 1927, is named after an English seed merchant?

The Ryder Cup: Samuel Ryder, who grew rich selling penny packets of seeds by post, took up golf at 50 for his health and gave the gold trophy; the US won the first match at Worcester, Massachusetts.

Which war ended with the peace treaty of September 3, 1783?

American Revolution: Britain recognised US independence in the treaty, yet its envoys would not sit for Benjamin West's painting of the peacemakers, which was left unfinished.

Which country's National Day, 23 September, marks the day in 1932 when the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd was renamed?

Saudi Arabia: Abdulaziz ibn Saud had conquered Hejaz, home of Mecca and Medina, by 1925, and his decree of 23 September 1932 renamed the united kingdom after his own family.

In which capital did Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky in the 1972 chess 'Match of the Century', which ended that September?

Reykjavík: Spassky resigned the 21st game by telephone on 1 September 1972, making Fischer world champion and ending 24 years of Soviet hold on the title.

Near which Pennsylvania town did the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 crash on September 11?

Shanksville: the Boeing 757 came down in a field just outside the village at 10:03 a.m., after passengers who had learned of the earlier attacks by phone fought to retake the cockpit.

What did Flight 77 hit on September 11?

The Pentagon: Flight 77 hit its west side at 9:37 a.m., killing 184 people; that section had just been rebuilt with steel reinforcement and blast-resistant windows, and was still partly empty.

Where was Diana, Princess of Wales, buried after her 6 September 1997 funeral?

Althorp: Diana lies on an island in a lake at the Spencer family estate; her brother chose it over the family vault in the village church, fearing crowds of visitors would overwhelm the village.

Mother Teresa, who died on 5 September 1997, was born in which city?

Skopje: born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu to an Albanian family in what is now North Macedonia's capital, she left home at 18 to join an Irish order of nuns, who sent her to India within months.

Which Hanna-Barbera cartoon dog made his television debut on CBS on September 13, 1969?

Scooby-Doo: CBS wanted a gentler show after protests over violent superhero cartoons, and executive Fred Silverman is said to have named the dog after Frank Sinatra's scat in Strangers in the Night.

Which band backs Bruce Springsteen, born September 23, 1949?

The E Street Band took its name from the street in Belmar, New Jersey, where keyboardist David Sancious's mother let them rehearse in her garage; Springsteen himself was born in Long Branch.

Which Italian star, born 20 September 1934, won the first acting Oscar for a non-English-language role, in Two Women?

Sophia Loren won Best Actress for playing a mother in wartime Italy; afraid she would faint at the ceremony, she stayed home in Rome and heard the news when Cary Grant telephoned.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, born September 24, 1896, was named after a cousin who wrote what?

The Star-Spangled Banner: Fitzgerald was christened Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald after the distant cousin whose 1814 verses were sung to the tune of a British gentlemen's club song.

Michael Faraday, born 22 September 1791, apprenticed at 14 in what trade?

Bookbinding: at 14 Faraday was apprenticed to the bookbinder George Riebau in London and read the scientific books that passed through the shop; he was born in Newington Butts, now part of Southwark.

Leo Tolstoy, born 9 September 1828, was born on which family estate?

Yasnaya Polyana, near Tula, is where Tolstoy wrote War and Peace and lies buried; the house he was born in is gone, sold in 1854 to pay his gambling debts and carted away by the buyer.

Which album did Nirvana's Nevermind, released September 24, 1991, first replace at No. 1?

Michael Jackson's Dangerous: Nevermind displaced it on the chart dated January 11, 1992, lost the top spot to Garth Brooks a week later, and took it back for one more week on the chart dated February 1.

Which sprinter won the 100 m at the September 1988 Seoul Olympics only to be disqualified?

Ben Johnson clocked 9.79 seconds on September 24, 1988, then tested positive for the steroid stanozolol; the gold passed to Carl Lewis.

Who lit the cauldron to open the Sydney Olympics on 15 September 2000?

Cathy Freeman had barely lit it when a glitch left the cauldron stuck in mid-air for almost four minutes on its way to the top of the stadium; ten days later she won the 400 metres.

Who captained Magellan's last ship home in September 1522?

Juan Sebastián Elcano brought the Victoria back to Spain with only 18 of the crew; early in the voyage he had taken part in a mutiny against Magellan.

At which battle on 9 September 1513 was King James IV of Scotland killed fighting the English?

Flodden: James IV had invaded England to honour his alliance with France while Henry VIII was campaigning there; no monarch has been killed in battle in Britain since.

The Nativity of Mary is celebrated on 8 September, nine months after which feast?

The Immaculate Conception, kept on 8 December, marks Mary's own conception rather than that of Jesus, which is why her birthday follows nine months later.

The 14 September feast of the Holy Cross recalls a find credited to Saint Helena, mother of which Roman emperor?

Constantine: tradition says his mother found the cross of the Crucifixion on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem around 326; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre rose on the site, and the feast marks its dedication.

Which treaty to protect the ozone layer was agreed on 16 September 1987?

The Montreal Protocol phased out ozone-eating chemicals such as CFCs and was later ratified by every country; the UN made 16 September its day for preserving the ozone layer.

International Translation Day, 30 September, is the feast day of which saint?

Jerome, the Bible translator, is the patron saint of translators.

Operation Market Garden in September 1944 failed to take the bridge in which Dutch city?

Arnhem: John Frost's paratroopers held the north end of the bridge for four days, but the tanks of XXX Corps never reached them, the 'bridge too far' of the later book and film.

Ford's Model T, which first rolled out on September 27, 1908, famously came in any colour so long as it was what?

Black: yet the first Model Ts, built at Detroit's Piquette Avenue Plant, came in red, green and grey, not black; Ford's black-only rule began in 1914.

Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation of September 22 set which holiday as the rebels' deadline?

New Year's Day: no rebel state came back in the hundred days allowed, so on January 1, 1863, the final proclamation declared their slaves free and opened the Union army to African American soldiers.

Which war began with a full-scale invasion on 22 September 1980?

The Iran–Iraq War: Saddam Hussein's forces crossed the border on 22 September 1980 after a dispute over the Shatt al-Arab waterway; the war lasted until August 1988.

James Dean died on September 30, 1955, driving which car?

A Porsche 550 Spyder, nicknamed Little Bastard: Dean collided with a Ford at a junction near Cholame, California, on his way to a race in Salinas.

Which Chinese leader died on 9 September 1976?

Mao Zedong died in Beijing on 9 September 1976, aged 82; within a month his widow Jiang Qing and the rest of the Gang of Four were arrested, bringing the Cultural Revolution to an end.

Whose single-season home run record did Mark McGwire break with his 62nd on September 8, 1998?

Roger Maris had hit 61 in 1961; McGwire's 62nd, off the Cubs' Steve Trachsel, was his shortest home run of the year, and Maris's family were in the stands to see it.

Which CBS series premiered on September 17, 1972, and ran eleven seasons?

M*A*S*H outlasted the three-year war it was set in more than three times over, and about 106 million people watched its last episode.

Who played FBI agent Dana Scully when The X-Files premiered on Fox on September 10, 1993?

Gillian Anderson was 24 when she auditioned and little known; Fox wanted a more glamorous star with more television experience, but creator Chris Carter stood by her.

Which coffee house features in Friends, which premiered on September 22, 1994?

Central Perk: the show was first pitched to NBC as Insomnia Cafe, then became Friends Like Us and Six of One before the title was cut to Friends.

Which Vietnamese leader died on 2 September 1969?

Ho Chi Minh died in Hanoi on 2 September 1969, the anniversary of his 1945 declaration of independence; so the Politburo announced the date as 3 September, and admitted the true one only in 1989.

Which Egyptian president died on 28 September 1970?

Gamal Abdel Nasser died of a heart attack in Cairo on 28 September 1970, hours after closing an Arab League summit; he had led Egypt since ousting Naguib in 1954.

Which Yankees slugger hit his 60th home run of the season on September 30, 1927?

Babe Ruth hit it off Tom Zachary of the Washington Senators to break a 2–2 tie in the eighth inning; the record he beat was his own, 59 home runs in 1921.

Who faced John Kennedy in the first televised US presidential debate on September 26, 1960?

Richard Nixon, just out of hospital after a knee infection, refused make-up and looked pale and sweaty on screen beside a relaxed Kennedy.

Which empire's army was beaten at Marathon in September 490 BC?

Persian Empire: Darius I sent his fleet to punish the Greek cities that had aided a revolt in Ionia; under the general Miltiades the Greek wings broke through and closed in on the Persian centre.

Which general led the coup that overthrew Chile's Salvador Allende on 11 September 1973?

Augusto Pinochet, army commander-in-chief for less than three weeks, led the junta that bombed La Moneda palace on 11 September 1973; Allende died inside, and Pinochet ruled until 1990.

On 26 September 1983, Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov judged what to be a false alarm?

A US missile strike: Soviet satellites reported five incoming missiles, but Petrov reasoned that a real first strike would bring hundreds; the 'launches' proved to be sunlight glinting off clouds.

The Munich Agreement of 30 September 1938 let Germany annex which region of Czechoslovakia?

The Sudetenland: Germany, Britain, France and Italy signed without Czechoslovakia at the table, ceding the borderlands where some three million ethnic Germans lived; Chamberlain flew home promising 'peace for our time'.

Which railway, the world's first public line to use steam locomotives, opened on 27 September 1825?

The Stockton and Darlington: Locomotion No. 1 hauled the opening train on 27 September 1825; coal was steam-hauled from the start, but passengers rode in horse-drawn coaches until 1833.

Which capital was hit by deadly earthquakes on 19 September in both 1985 and 2017?

Mexico City: the 1985 quake began off the Pacific coast hundreds of kilometres away and killed thousands; the 2017 one struck about two hours after the yearly drill held to remember it.

Which month always starts on the same day of the week as September, exactly 13 weeks later?

December always opens on the same weekday as September because their first days sit exactly 91 days apart. No other month ever ends on the same weekday as September does.

An old American fashion rule bans wearing which color after Labor Day in early September?

White was once considered unacceptable after Labor Day, as was seersucker. The holiday is nicknamed the unofficial end of summer, and some people now approve of wearing white all year round.

The 2009 documentary The September Issue follows editor Anna Wintour at which fashion magazine?

Vogue's September edition is the one being assembled on screen, traditionally the biggest issue of its year. Creative director Grace Coddington emerges as the one person who dares to stand up to Wintour.

In the Harry Potter books, which real station does the Hogwarts Express leave every 1 September?

King's Cross is where students board at Platform 9¾, though J. K. Rowling later found she had confused the station's layout with that of Euston.

Which pastries with a salted egg yolk inside mark the Mid-Autumn Festival in September or October?

Mooncakes carry the yolk at their centre to symbolise the full moon, wrapped in a sweet, dense filling. More elaborate versions hold four yolks, one for each phase of the moon.

Which fruit is dipped in honey at Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year usually held in September?

Apple slices dipped in honey were a medieval addition to the holiday's customs, symbolising a sweet start to the year. Ashkenazi families often serve honey cake, called lekach, for the same reason.

Which Italian city's film festival, the world's oldest, runs from late August into early September?

Venice has staged the festival since 1932 on the Lido, an island in its lagoon. Its top prize, for the best film in competition, is the Golden Lion.

Which American sports league opens its regular season on the weekend after Labor Day in September?

The NFL has opened with a nationally televised Kickoff Game on the Thursday night after the holiday since the 2002 season. From 2004 the reigning Super Bowl champion has usually hosted it.

Which zodiac sign, home to the bright star Spica, covers birthdays from late August to September 22?

Virgo is usually depicted as a maiden associated with wheat, and Spica marks the grain: the star's name comes from the Latin for the virgin's ear of wheat.

Which blue bloom is the official flower of National Grandparents Day, held in the US each September?

The forget-me-not is the day's official flower, and President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation creating the holiday in 1978. Marian McQuade, a West Virginia housewife, is recognised as its founder.

Which singer's September of My Years, released as he neared fifty, won the Album of the Year Grammy?

Frank Sinatra filled the 1965 album with songs about ageing and nostalgia. Its track It Was a Very Good Year also won him the Grammy for best male vocal performance.

World Rabies Day falls on 28 September, the anniversary of which French scientist's death?

Louis Pasteur and his colleagues developed the first effective rabies vaccine, given in 1885 to a nine-year-old boy mauled by a rabid dog. Pasteur died near Paris on 28 September 1895.

Which bird, eaten at Michaelmas on 29 September, was said to keep money worries away for a year?

Goose served at Michaelmas was known as a stubble-goose, fattened on the leftover grain of the harvested fields. One legend ties the custom to an Irish king's son who choked on a goose bone.

What does the United States federal government close out every 30 September?

Its fiscal year has ended on 30 September only since the federal government switched in 1976. Before that the books closed on 30 June, a date most states kept.

At the September equinox, the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading in which direction?

South is the Sun's heading at this crossing, which is why astronomers also call it the southward equinox. For the next three months the Sun rises and sets farther south each day.

Which English-born poet wrote 'September 1, 1939' in the first days of the Second World War?

W. H. Auden wrote it while visiting New Jersey and first published it in The New Republic that October. He turned against it, later telling a critic that he loathed the poem.

Which refugee from Nazi Germany composed 'September Song' for the musical Knickerbocker Holiday?

Kurt Weill and lyricist Maxwell Anderson wrote it in a couple of hours, tailoring it to the gruff voice and limited range of actor Walter Huston, who had asked for one solo number.

Which British astronomer is the September 1859 solar storm that crippled telegraphs named after?

Richard Carrington was documenting sunspots when he saw the flare, one of the first two people ever to record one. The storm that followed made telegraph pylons spark and gave some operators electric shocks.

Which Roman emperor tried in vain to have September renamed Germanicus after his father?

Caligula never made the new name stick. Domitian later tried the same title for the month, this time to mark his own triumph over a Germanic tribe, and September outlasted them both.

Roman farmers' almanacs placed September under the protection of which god, the husband of Venus?

Vulcan was the month's guardian in the menologia rustica, and calendar mosaics from Roman Spain and Trier show him standing in for September as an old man holding tongs.

Which Nintendo game, launched in Japan on September 13, 1985, helped revive a crashed industry?

Super Mario Bros. is credited, alongside the NES console, with reviving the industry after the crash of 1983. More than 40 million copies of the original version were sold.

Which rapper died on September 13, 1996, six days after being shot following a Mike Tyson fight?

Tupac Shakur was 25, and the case stayed open for decades. Las Vegas police made their first arrest in his murder only in September 2023.

Which chocolate maker, born September 13, 1857, built a Pennsylvania town around his factory?

Milton Hershey sold his caramel company to bet on mass-produced milk chocolate, until then a luxury. His birthday is one of several dates celebrated as International Chocolate Day.

Michelangelo began carving which marble statue in Florence on the morning of 13 September 1501?

David occupied Michelangelo, who won the commission at 26, until 1504. The finished statue was unveiled in the square outside Florence's seat of government.

Which Israeli prime minister shook Yasser Arafat's hand in Washington on 13 September 1993?

Yitzhak Rabin's handshake sealed the public signing of the Oslo Accords, which had been negotiated in secret in Norway. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize the following year.

Which NBC drama, each episode split between police and prosecutors, premiered on September 13, 1990?

Law & Order gives its first half hour to the detectives and its second to the district attorney's office. Its original run lasted 20 seasons, ending in 2010.

Which series about the monster-hunting Winchester brothers began on The WB on September 13, 2005?

Supernatural ran for 15 seasons, moving to The CW along the way. It ended in 2020 as the longest-running fantasy series in American television history.

Which former Simpsons writer took over NBC's Late Night on September 13, 1993?

Conan O'Brien was unknown to viewers when Lorne Michaels auditioned him for the job. He hosted until 2009, with Andy Richter as his sidekick until 2000.

Which One Direction member was born in Mullingar, Ireland, on 13 September 1993?

Niall Horan was 16 when he auditioned for The X Factor in Dublin in 2010, the competition on which the band was formed.

Legend names which American symbol after a Troy, New York, meatpacker born on September 13, 1766?

Uncle Sam, in the popular legend, comes from Samuel Wilson, whose barrels of army rations in the War of 1812 were stamped with the initials of the United States. Congress saluted him as the symbol's progenitor in 1961.

Which Beatles ballad for voice, guitar and string quartet became a US single on September 13, 1965?

Yesterday topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks. It is one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded music.

Which filmmaker, born September 13, 1969, created and plays the tough elderly matriarch Madea?

Tyler Perry first played Madea on stage in Chicago, in his 1999 play I Can Do Bad All by Myself. He also portrays her brother Joe.

Which railroad foreman survived an iron rod being blasted through his skull on September 13, 1848?

Phineas Gage lived another 12 years after the accident in Vermont, and the reported changes in his personality fuelled debate about how the brain works.

Which New York prison did state police storm on September 13, 1971, ending an inmate uprising?

Attica's retaking brought the highest death toll of any US prison uprising. Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who ordered the assault, had refused to visit the prison or meet the inmates.

On September 13, 1862, Union soldiers found which general's marching orders wrapped around cigars?

Robert E. Lee's Special Order 191 was found in the grass of a Maryland campground by Corporal Barton Mitchell of the 27th Indiana. It showed that the Confederate army had been divided.

Which British general died in the hour of victory on the Plains of Abraham on 13 September 1759?

James Wolfe was hit by three musket balls after his army had scaled the cliffs early that morning. His French opponent, Montcalm, died of his own wounds the next day.

The first New York City Marathon, on September 13, 1970, sent its 127 starters on laps of where?

Central Park held the whole race, and only about 100 spectators watched Gary Muhrcke win it. The course has taken in all of the city's boroughs since 1976.

Which African country logged 57.8 °C on 13 September 1922, long listed as Earth's record high?

Libya's reading from Aziziya held the world record for about 90 years until it was decertified in 2012 as inaccurate. That handed the title back to a 1913 reading from Death Valley.

Which Roman emperor, who completed the Colosseum, died of a fever on 13 September AD 81?

Titus had ruled for barely two years, a reign that was only months old when Vesuvius erupted. He reportedly died in the same farmhouse as his father.

Which Chinese marshal died when his fleeing plane crashed in Mongolia on 13 September 1971?

Lin Biao had been designated the party chairman's sole successor. The official account says he was fleeing to the Soviet Union after a failed plot.

Which US president granted Richard Nixon a full and unconditional pardon on September 8, 1974?

Gerald Ford announced the pardon in a televised broadcast a month after Nixon resigned. His own press secretary and close friend, Jerald terHorst, quit in protest.

Which daredevil's rocket-powered leap over Idaho's Snake River Canyon failed on September 8, 1974?

Evel Knievel's Skycycle X-2 was designed by a former Navy rocket engineer, but its parachute opened as it left the launch rail. He came down in the canyon with only minor injuries.

At which Scottish castle, her regular summer residence, did Queen Elizabeth II die on September 8?

Balmoral made her the first monarch to die in Scotland since 1542. Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, had bought the estate in 1852.

Which pageant grew from an Atlantic City contest that drew 100,000 people on September 8, 1921?

Miss America grew out of a festival meant to keep summer visitors in the resort after the season. Its first winner, 16-year-old Margaret Gorman, took home $100 and the Golden Mermaid trophy.

Which text credited to Francis Bellamy first appeared in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892?

The Pledge of Allegiance was printed for a nationwide school celebration of Columbus Day that the magazine was promoting. Congress formally adopted it 50 years later, in 1942.

Which Florida city was founded by a Spanish admiral on September 8, 1565, decades before Jamestown?

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited European-founded settlement in the contiguous United States. Its founder first sighted Florida on 28 August, the saint's feast day.

The last land route to which Soviet city was cut on 8 September 1941, starting an 872-day siege?

Leningrad was never captured, kept alive in part by the Road of Life, a supply highway laid across the ice of frozen Lake Ladoga.

Which Texas city was struck on September 8, 1900, by the deadliest natural disaster in US history?

Galveston answered the hurricane by building a seawall, since extended to 10 miles, and raising parts of the city by as much as 17 feet. More than 2,100 buildings were jacked up so sand could be pumped beneath them.

Which Louisiana senator, nicknamed the Kingfish, was shot in the State Capitol on September 8, 1935?

Huey Long died two days later, cut down while poised for a 1936 presidential bid built on his Share Our Wealth plan. His nickname came from a character in Amos 'n' Andy.

The 1951 peace treaty between Japan and the Allies was signed on September 8 in which American city?

San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House hosted the signing. The Soviet Union attended the conference but was one of three countries that refused to sign.