DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Friday, Sept. 3, the 246th day of 2021. There are 119 days left in the year.
On this date:
1609: English explorer Henry Hudson and his crew aboard the Half Moon entered present-day New York Harbor and began sailing up the river that now bears his name. (They reached presentday Albany before turning back.)
1783: Representatives of the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Revolutionary War.
1939: Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany, two days after the Nazi invasion of Poland; in a radio address, Britain’s King George VI said, “With God’s help, we shall prevail.” The same day, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the British liner SS Athenia some 250 miles off the
Irish coast, killing more than 100 out of the 1,400 or so people on board.
1943: Allied forces invaded Italy during World War II, the same day Italian officials signed a secret armistice with the Allies.
1976: America’s Viking 2 lander touched down on Mars to take the first close-up, color photographs of the red planet’s surface.
1978: Pope John Paul I was installed as the 264th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
1995: The online auction site ebay was founded in San Jose, California, by Pierre Omidyar under the name “Auctionweb.”
1999: A French judge closed a twoyear inquiry into the car crash that killed Princess Diana, dismissing all charges against nine photographers and a press motorcyclist, and concluding the accident was caused by an inebriated driver.
2003: Paul Hill, a former minister who said he murdered an abortion doctor and his escort to save the lives of unborn babies, was executed in Florida by injection, becoming the first person put to death in the United States for antiabortion violence.
2005: President George W. Bush ordered more than 7,000 active duty forces to the Gulf Coast as his administration intensified efforts to rescue Katrina survivors and send aid to the hurricane-ravaged region in the face of criticism it did not act quickly enough.
2009: A private funeral service was held in Glendale, California, for pop superstar Michael Jackson, whose body was entombed in a mausoleum more than two months after his death.
Actor Pauline Collins is 81. Singerguitarist Al Jardine of The Beach Boys is 79. Actor Valerie Perrine is 78. Drummer Donald Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad is 73. Guitarist Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols is 66. Actor
Steve Schirripa (“The Sopranos”) is 64. Actor
Holt Mccallany (“Lights Out,” “CSI: Miami”) is 57. Guitarist Todd Lewis of The Toadies is 56. Actor
Costas Mandylor (“Picket Fences”) is 56. Actor Charlie Sheen is 56. Singer Jennifer Paige is 48. Musician Redfoo of LMFAO is 46. Actor Ashley Jones (“True Blood”) is 45. Actor Nichole Hiltz (“In Plain Sight”) is 43. Actor Joel Johnstone (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) is 43. Actor Nick Wechsler (“Revenge,” “Roswell”) is 43.