SEPTEMBER 24

622: Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) completes his hijra from Makkah to Madina1957: The largest stadium in Europe Camp Nou is opened in Barcelona1960: The first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier The Enterprise is launched1979: Compu Serve launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service1996: US President Bill Clinton signs the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations2007: The Indian cricket team wins the Twenty20 World Cup in the final against Pakistan

SEPTEMBER 25

1913: English actor Charlie Chaplin signs his first movie contract with Keystone at $175 a week1944: American actor and producer Michael Douglas is born1946: Indian spinner Bishen Singh Bedi is born1952: American actor Christopher Reeve is born1969: South African cricketer Hansie Cronje is born1969: Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is born1973: American actress Bridgette Wilson is born2008: China launches the spacecraft Shenzhou 7

SEPTEMBER 26

1580: Sir Francis Drake finishes his circumnavigation of the Earth1888: British writer and poet T. S. Eliot is born1902: American designer Levi Strauss dies1923: Indian actor Dev Anand is born1932: Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is born1943: Australian cricketer Ian Chappell is born1948: American actress Olivia Newton-John is born1950: United Nations troops recapture Seoul from the North Koreans1973: Concorde makes its first crossing of the Atlantic in record-breaking time1984: The United Kingdom agrees to the handover of Hong Kong to China2008: American actor Paul Newman dies2008: Swiss pilot and inventor Yves Rossy becomes first person to fly a jet engine-powered wing across the English Channel

SEPTEMBER 27

1821: Mexico gains its independence from Spain1907: Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh is born1928: The Republic of China (Taiwan) is recognised by the United States1939: Warsaw, Poland surrenders to the Nazis after weeks of resistance2008: Astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7

SEPTEMBER 28

1542: Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo arrives at present-day San Diego1946: Pakistan batsman Majid Khan is born1947: Bangladeshi politician Sheikh Hasina is born1960: West Indian batsman Gus Logie is born1968: Australian actress Naomi Watts is born1975: Australian cricketer Stuart Clark is born1982: Indian actor Ranbir Kapoor is born1987: American actress-singer Hilary Duff is born

SEPTEMBER 29

1399: King Richard II becomes the first English monarch to abdicate his throne1932: Indian actor Mehmood is born1978: John Paul I dies one month after becoming Pope1980: American actor Zachary Levi is born1988: The space shuttle Discovery is launched, the first American staffed space flight since the Challenger disaster2010: American actor Tony Curtis dies

SEPTEMBER 30

1207: Persian mystic and poet Jalal Uddin Muhammad Rumi is born1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner1938: Britain and France surrender to Germany’s demands concerning the Sudetenland, and sign the Munich Pact1938: The League of Nations unanimously outlaws “intentional bombings of civilian populations”1947: Pakistan and Yemen join the United Nations1949: The Berlin Airlift ends1955: Hollywood actor James Dean is killed in a car crash1962: Mexican-American labour leader Cesar Chavez founds the United Farm Workers1980: Ethernet specifications are published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation2004: The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat are taken 600 miles south of Tokyo— OA