Daily Almanac: September 21, 2023

Sunrise/Sunset:

RISE: 7:32 a.m.
SET: 7:48 p.m.

High/Low Temperatures:

HIGH: 84 °F
LOW: 60 °F

Today is…:

• International Day of Peace
• Free Queso Day
• World Alzheimer’s Day

What Happened On This Day:

• 1964 Malta gains its independence from the UK. The southern European island country came under British control in 1814 as part of the Treaty of Paris. The country initially retained the Queen of England as its head of state but declared itself a republic on December 13, 1974.
• 1942 Boeing B-29 Superfortress flies for the first time. The bomber was used extensively by the US in World War II and the Korean War. The two planes – Enola Gay and Bockscar – that dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were from the silverplate series of Boeing B-29s.
• 1937 JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit is published for the first time. The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a young adult fantasy novel that follows the adventures of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins as he traverses through Middle Earth to find treasure guarded by a dragon named Smaug.

Births On This Day:

• 1947 Stephen King

American author
• 1866 H. G. Wells

English author

Deaths On This Day:

• 1860 Arthur Schopenhauer

German philosopher
• 1832 Walter Scott

Scottish novelist, poet