24 SEPTEMBER

1180 Manuel I Komnenos, last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration dies. The Byzantine Empire slips into terminal decline.

1564 The birth, in Gillingham, of William Adams, the English navigator who travelled to Japan and is believed to be the first Englishman ever to reach the country. Adams was the inspiration for the character of John Blackthorne in James Clavell's best selling novel Shōgun.

1645 The Battle of Rowton Heath took place some 2 miles to the south-east of Chester. The Parliamentarian victory over a Royalist army, commanded in person by King Charles, prevented Charles from relieving the Siege of Chester. It is alleged that King Charles stood on Phoenix Tower in Chester and saw his army defeated in battle.

1776 The oldest of the British classic horse races, the St Leger, was run for the first time at Doncaster Racecourse.

1789 US Federal Judiciary Act is passed & creates a six-person Supreme Court

1842 Bramwell Bronte, brother of the Bronte sisters, died of drugs and drink. He was the model for the drunkard Hindley Earnshaw in Wuthering Weights.

1853 Liverpools' Northern Daily Times became England's first provincial daily newspaper.

1869 Black Friday; Wall St panic after Gould & Fisk attempt to corner gold

1877 Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion

1916 A local policeman rounded up and took into custody the crew of the German Zeppelin LZ-76 that had been forced down near Colchester.

1931 The birth of Anthony Newley, actor, singer and songwriter. He won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for 'What Kind of Fool Am I?' He also wrote songs that others made hits including the title song for the James Bond film 'Goldfinger'.

1942 The birth of Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers. In 1963 he reached the UK No.1 with his record 'You'll Never Walk Alone', now the anthem of Liverpool Football Club. We saw him perform at Great Yarmouth in 2009. Ah ..... nostalgia!

1950 "Operation Magic Carpet" sees all Jews from Yemen move to Israel

1957 President Eisenhower orders US troops to desegregate Little Rock schools

1957 BBC Television for schools began.

1967 The two 'Queens' of the Cunard Line, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth, passed each other in the Atlantic for the last time.

1971 Over 100 Russian diplomats were expelled from Britain for spying, following revelations made by a Soviet defector.

1975 The world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, was successfully scaled for the first time via its southwest face by British climbers Dougal Haston and Doug Scott.

1976 The Rhodesian Government agreed to introduce black majority rule to the country within two years. Prime Minister Ian Smith was not happy with the conditions.

1991 In Beirut, the British hostage Jackie Mann was freed by the Shi'ite Muslim Revolutionary Justice Organisation after spending more than two years in captivity. He had been kidnapped in May 1989.

1992 David Mellor resigned as heritage minister, blaming his departure on a constant barrage of hostile stories in the tabloid press.

2009 The UK's largest haul of Anglo-Saxon treasure was discovered buried in a field in Staffordshire. Terry Herbert, who found it on farmland using a metal detector, said that it was a metal detectorist's dream. Experts said that the collection of 1,500 gold and silver pieces, which may date to the 7th Century, was unparalleled in size and worth "a seven-figure sum".

2014 Radical preacher Abu Qatada, the subject of a near decade-long battle by the UK government to be deported to the Middle East to face terrorism charges, was acquitted in a Jordanian court.

Famous Birthday's

F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott Fitzgerald
(1896 - 1940)

Ayatollah Khomeini
(1902 - 1989)

Phil Hartman
(1948 - 1998)

Famous Deaths

Paracelsus
(1493 - 1541)

Dr. Seuss
(1904 - 1991)

Famous Weddings

1487 Founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak marries Mata Sulakkhani in Batala

1948 American Major League Baseball outfielder Ty Cobb (61) weds Frances Cass (40)

1953 Singer Dick Haymes (35) weds Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth (34) at The Sands hotel-casino in Las Vegas

1964 Actress Jayne Mansfield (31) weds film producer and director Matt Cimber in Mulege, Baja California Sur, Mexico

1993 Beverly Hills 90210 star Shannen Doherty (Brenda) weds Ashley Hamilton