21 September 1435: In the French kingdom, the Treaty of Arras was signed, ending the long quarrel between Duke Philip of Burgundy and King Charles VII.
21 September 1840: While experimenting with gallic acid, a chemical he was informed would increase the sensitivity of his prepared paper, William Henry Fox Talbot discovered that the acid can be used to develop a latent image on paper, leading to a revolution in photography.
21 September 1867: Henry L. Stimson, an American statesman who exercised a strong influence on U.S. foreign policy in the 1930s and ’40s and served in the administrations of five presidents between 1911 and 1945, was born.
21 September 1897: The New York Sun published its famous editorial, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”
21 September 1931: The Bank of England dropped the gold standard, and the pound sterling promptly lost 28 percent of its value, undermining the solvency of countries in eastern Europe and South America.
21 September 1937: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein was first published.
21 September 1949: The People’s Republic of China was proclaimed.
21 September 2001: In stock market trading in the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average posted its largest weekly loss (14.3 percent) since the Great Depression.
Sex appeal is 50% what you’ve got and 50% what people think you’ve got.
- Sophia Loren
You cannot make a man by standing a sheep on its hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position you can make a crowd of men.
- Max Beerbohm
20 September 1969: John Lennon Leaves the Beatles (not made public until April 1970)
