According to Scalzi, there’s a new meme going around based on the historical things that occurred on one’s birthday. The idea is that you run over to Wikipedia, enter your birth date (but not the year), and then select some interesting tidbits from the resulting list of information about that date. You’re supposed to choose at least three historical events, two births, and one death that all happened on the day you were born. I, of course, find this sort of meaningless trivia fascinating, so I selected a few more items than what was called for…

On my birthday, September 15th, the following stuff happened:

Events

• 1835 – The HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galapagos Islands.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
• 1916 – World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.
• 1928 – Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.
• 1935 – Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag with the swastika.
• 1940 – World War II: The Battle of Britain ends with a Royal Air Force victory over the Luftwaffe.
• 1942 – World War II: The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Wasp is torpedoed at Guadalcanal.
• 1949 – The television series The Lone Ranger premieres on the ABC.
• 1950 – Korean War: United States forces land at Incheon, Korea.
• 1959 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.
• 1962 – The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• 1963 – The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing kills four children at an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.
• 1964 – The Beatles play at a public auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.
• 1965 – The television series Lost in Space premieres.
• 1966 – The spaceship Gemini XI, with astronauts Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon aboard, returns to earth.
• 1967 – Former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to the United States Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation.
• 1968 – The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
• 1975 – Pink Floyd releases the album Wish You Were Here in the U.S. and U.K.
• 1978 – Muhammad Ali beats Leon Spinks for the world heavyweight boxing title.
• 1981 – The United States Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O’Connor to the United States Supreme Court.
• 1982 – The first issue of USA Today is published by Gannett.
• 1985 – Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid concert begins.
• 2005 – Kenny Chesney and Renee Zellweger file for divorce after four months of marriage. (Oh yeah, that’s an important one…)

Births

• 1254 – Marco Polo, Italian explorer (d. 1324)
• 1789 – James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist (d. 1851)
• 1881 – Ettore Bugatti, Italian automobile engineer and designer (d. 1947)
• 1889 – Robert Benchley, American author (d. 1945)
• 1890 – Agatha Christie, English writer (d. 1976)
• 1894 – Jean Renoir, French film director (d. 1979)
• 1903 – Roy Acuff, American musician (d. 1992)
• 1907 – Fay Wray, Canadian-born actress (d. 2004)
• 1908 – Penny Singleton, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1922 – Jackie Cooper, American actor and director
• 1946 – Tommy Lee Jones, American actor
• 1946 – Oliver Stone, American film director
• 1984 – Prince Harry of Wales

Deaths

• 1750 – Charles Theodore Pachelbel, German composer (b. 1690)
• 1864 – John Hanning Speke, British explorer (b. 1827)
• 1885 – Jumbo, P. T. Barnum’s circus elephant
• 1978 – Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer and manufacturer (b. 1898)
• 2004 – Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (The Ramones) (b. 1948)