Today is Friday, September twentieth, the 264th day of the yr 2024. There are 102 days left within the yr.

Today in history:

On September 20, 1973, tennis star Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs within the so-called “Battle of the Sexes” on the Houston Astrodome in two sets, 6:4, 6:3 and 6:3.

Also on this date:

In 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set out from Spain on five ships to search out a western passage to the Spice Islands. (Magellan died en route, but one in every of his ships accomplished the primary circumnavigation of the globe three years later.)

In 1962, black student James Meredith was denied enrollment on the University of Mississippi by Democratic Governor Ross R. Barnett.

In 1964, the Beatles ended their first real US tour with a profit concert on the Paramount Theater in New York.

In 1967, the Cunard ship Queen Elizabeth 2 was christened by the British Queen Elizabeth II in Clydebank, Scotland.

In 2011, the US military's 18-year-old “Don't ask, don't tell” compromise was repealed and got here into effect, allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly.

In 2017, Hurricane Maria, the strongest storm in over 80 years, hit the island of Puerto Rico, knocking out as much as 75 percent of power lines and causing a blackout across the whole island.

In 2019, Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, the positioning of the country's worst business nuclear accident in 1979, was shut down by its owner after producing electricity for 45 years.

Today's birthdays:

• Actress Sophia Loren is 90.
• The writer George RR Martin is 76.
• Actor Gary Cole is 68.
• Television news correspondent Deborah Roberts is 64.
• Actress Maggie Cheung is 60.
• Actress Kristen Johnston is 57.
• Rock singers Gunnar and Matthew Nelson are 57.
• Racing driver Juan Pablo Montoya is 49.
• Actor Jon Bernthal is 48.
• Actor Aldis Hodge is 38.
• Mixed martial arts fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov is 36.
• Singer-songwriter Phillip Phillips is 34.