This Day in History

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by Gravdigr

1977 – Elvis Presley, "The King of Rock and Roll", was officially pronounced dead at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, after he was found unresponsive on the floor of his Graceland bathroom.

In His honor

[Gravdigr]

August 17

1771 – Edinburgh botanist James Robertson makes the first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis in Scotland.

1807 – Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.

1862 – American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.

1896 – Bridget Driscoll is run over by a Benz car in the grounds of The Crystal Palace, London, the UK's first pedestrian motoring fatality.

1907 – Pike Place Market, a popular tourist destination and registered historic district in Seattle, opens.

1915 – Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Marietta, Georgia, United States.

1953 – Narcotics Anonymous meets for the first time, in Southern California.

1959 – Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.

Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, is released.

1962 – Peter Fechter is shot and bleeds to death while trying to cross the new Berlin Wall.

1969 – Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage.

The final day of the 3 day Woodstock Festival took place at Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York.

1977 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.

1978 – Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.

1980 – Azaria Chamberlain disappears, at Ayers Rock, Northern Territory, probably taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicized trial in Australian history.

1982 – The first compact discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.

1998 – Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about the relationship.

1999 – A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.

2005 – Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh.

2009 – An accident at the Sayano–Shushenskaya Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power station, leading to widespread power failure in the local area.

Births

1786 – Davy Daaaaaavy Crockett (king of the wild frontier); 1888 – Monty Woolley; 1893 – Mae West; 1896 – Leslie Groves***; 1907 – Gustav Schwarzenegger (Arnold's papa); 1913 – Mark Felt (Asst Director FBI, Woodward & Bernstein's 'Deep Throat'); 1920 – Maureen O'Hara; 1929 – Francis Gary Powers (U2 pilot); 1933 – Glenn Corbett ('Pat Garrett' in Chisum); 1936 – Floyd Red Crow Westerman ('Chief Ten Bears' in Dances with Wolves); 1943 – Robert De Niro; 1944 – Larry Ellison (co-founded Oracle Corp); 1952 – Nelson Piquet; 1954 – Eric Johnson♪ ♫; 1957 – Robin Cousins; 1958 – Belinda Carlisle♪ ♫(The Go-Gos); 1959 – David Koresh (leader Branch Davidians cult); 1960 – Sean Penn; 1961 – Larry B. Scott (Revenge of the Nerds); 1962 – Gilby Clarke(Guns N' Roses); 1967 – David Conrad(Ghost Whisperer); 1968 – Andrew Koenig ('Boner' on Growing Pains); 1969 – Donnie Wahlberg; 1970 – Jim Courier; 1974 – Giuliana Rancic

Deaths

1785 – Jonathan Trumbull; 1880 – Ole Bull; 1973 – Paul Williams♪ ♫(The Temptations); 1976 – William Redfield (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest); 1979 – Vivian Vance ('Ethel Mertz' on I Love Lucy); 1983 – Ira Gershwin♪ ♫; 1987 – Rudolf Hess; 1990 – Pearl Bailey♪ ♫

[glatt]

[Gravdigr]

August 18

Today is Long Tan Day in Australia, commemorating Australian losses at the Battle of Long Tan.

1587 – Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.

1590 – John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returns from a supply trip to England, and finds his settlement deserted.

1612 – The trial of the Pendle witches, one of England's most famous witch trials, begins at Lancaster Assizes.

1783 – A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast.

1903 – German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.

1917 – A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.

1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.

1940 – World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain. At that point, the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides.

1958 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.

1963 – American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black student to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

1966 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province.

1976 – In the Korean Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjom, the Axe murder incident results in the death of two US soldiers.<---Interesting read.

2005 – A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people, one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history.

Births

1774 – Meriwether Lewis (Lewis and Clark Expedition); 1834 – Marshall Field (founded Marshall Field's, duh.); 1904 – Max Factor, Jr. (Max Factor Cosmetics); 1917 – Caspar Weinberger (former United States Secretary of Defense); 1920 – Shelley Winters; 1927 – Rosalynn Carter (former FLOTUS); 1933 – Roman Polanski; 1934 – Vincent Bugliosi (prosecutor in the Tate-LaBianca murder case in 1969); 1934 – Roberto Clemente; 1935 – Gail Fisher (secretary 'Peggy Fair' on Mannix); 1936 – Robert Redford; 1939 – Johnny Preston♪ ♫; 1943 – Martin Mull; 1950 – Dennis Elliott(Foreigner); 1952 – Elayne Boosler, Patrick Swayze; 1957 – Denis Leary, Ron Strykert(Men At Work); 1958 – Madeleine Stowe; 1961 – Bob Woodruff; 1962 – Felipe Calderón; 1969 – Everlast♪ ♫, Edward Norton, Christian Slater; 1970 – Malcolm-Jamal Warner; 1971 – Aphex Twin♪ ♫(dj); 1978 – Andy Samberg

Deaths

1227 – Genghis Khan; 1707 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire; 1850 – Honoré de Balzacsnicker; 1886 – Eli Whitney Blake (invented the Mortise lock); 1919 – Joseph E. Seagram (yeah, that Seagram); 1940 – Walter Chrysler (yeah, that Chrysler); 1981 – Anita Loos; 2004 – Elmer Bernstein♪ ♫; 2009 – Robert Novak; 2014 – Don Pardo

[Gravdigr]

August 19

1612 – The "Samlesbury witches", three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury, England, are put on trial, accused of practicing witchcraft, one of the most famous witch trials in British history.

1692 – Salem witch trials: In Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay, five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft. Historically, a bad day for witches, I guess.

1782 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Blue Licks: The last major engagement of the war, fought near the Licking River in what is now Robertson County, Kentucky, almost ten months after the surrender of the British commander Charles Cornwallis following the Siege of Yorktown.

1839 – The French government announces that Louis Daguerre's photographic process is a gift "free to the world".

1848 – California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).

1854 – The First Sioux War begins when United States Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear and in return are massacred.

1895 – American frontier murderer and outlaw John Wesley Hardin is killed by an off-duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas.

1909 – The first automobile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

1934 – The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.

1940 – First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.

1942 – World War II: Operation Jubilee: The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an amphibious assault by allied forces on Dieppe, France and fails, many Canadians are killed or captured. The operation was intended to develop and try new amphibious landing tactics for the coming full invasion in Normandy.

1953 – The intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom and the United States orchestrated a coup d'état of Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh, and restored the absolute monarchy of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

1960 – Cold War: In Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, downed American U-2 (the plane, not the band) pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.

1960 – Sputnik program: Korabl-Sputnik 2: The Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants.

1981 – Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.

1987 – Hungerford massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a semi-automatic rifle and then commits suicide.

1988 - 'Crazy' by Patsy Cline and Elvis Presley's 'Hound Dog' were announced as the most played jukebox songs of the first hundred years. The jukebox had been around since 1906, but earlier models had been first seen in 1889.

1989 – Radio Caroline, the offshore pirate station in the North Sea, is raided by British and Dutch governments.

Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events that began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Ukraine.

Crown Heights riot: Black groups target Hasidic Jews on the streets of Crown Heights in New York City for three days, after two black children were hit by a car driven by a Hasidic man.

2002 – Khankala Mi-26 crash: A Russian Mil Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside Grozny, killing 118 soldiers. The world's deadliest single helicopter crash.

2005 - A life-size bronze statue of Phil Lynott, designed by Paul Daly, was unveiled on Harry Street in Dublin. The ceremony was attended by his former Thin Lizzy band members Gary Moore, Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham.

Births

1871 – Orville Wright (Wright Bros); 1883 – Coco Chanel; 1902 – Ogden Nash; 1906 – Philo Farnsworth; 1915 – Ring Lardner, Jr.; 1919 – Malcolm Forbes; 1921 – Gene Roddenberry; 1926 – Angus Scrimm ('The Tall Man' in Phantasm); 1930 – Frank McCourt (author Angela's Ashes); 1931 – Bill 'Willie' Shoemaker (jockey); 1933 – Debra Paget; 1938 – Diana Muldaur; 1939 – Ginger Baker(Cream); 1940 – Johnny Nash♪ ♫; 1940 – Jill St. John; 1942 – Fred Thompson; 1944 – Eddy Raven♪ ♫; 1945 – Ian Gillan♪ ♫; 1946 – Charles Bolden (Administrator of NASA), Bill ' Slick Willie' Clinton (42nd POTUS); 1948 – Gerald McRaney (Simon & Simon, Major Dad); 1951 – John Deacon(Queen); 1952 – Jonathan Frakes('Riker' on Star Trek: TNG); 1955 – Peter Gallagher; 1956 – Adam Arkin; 1957 – Martin Donovan; 1961 – Tony Longo; 1963 – John Stamos; 1965 – Kevin Dillon, Kyra Sedgwick; 1966 – Lee Ann Womack♪ ♫; 1967 – Satya Nadella (CEO Microsoft); 1969 – Nate Dogg♪ ♫, Matthew Perry, Clay Walker♪ ♫

Deaths

1662 – Blaise Pascal; 1895 – John Wesley Hardin; 1936 – Federico García Lorca; 1959 – Blind Willie McTell♪ ♫; 1975 – Mark Donohue; 1977 – Groucho Marx; 1980 – Otto Frank (Anne's papa); 2008 – LeRoi Moore♪ ♫(DMB); 2009 – Don Hewitt (created 60 Minutes)

[Gravdigr]

August 20

1000 – The foundation of the Hungarian state by Saint Stephen, celebrated as a National Day in Hungary.

1775 – The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.

1794 – Battle of Fallen Timbers: American troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat.

1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory.

1866 – President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.

1882 – Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow, Russia.

1920 – The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit.

1938 – Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam, a record that stood for 75 years until it was broken by Alex Rodriguez.

1940 – In Mexico City, Mexico exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day.

World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line "Never was so much owed by so many to so few".

1962 – The NS Savannah(<--Interesting read), the world's first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarks on its maiden voyage.

1986 - Rick Allen, drummer with Def Leppard made his first live appearance with the band after losing an arm in a car accident, when they appeared at the Monsters Of Rock Festival, Castle Donington, England.

1988 – "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park.

1992 - A US Doctor filed a $35m lawsuit against the Southwest Bell phone company. He alleged that his wife died because he could not reach 911 due to all lines being jammed by demand of Garth Brooks concert tickets.

Births

1833 – Benjamin Harrison (23rd POTUS); 1873 – Eliel Saarinen; 1890 – H. P. Lovecraft; 1910 – Eero Saarinen; 1923 – Jim Reeves♪ ♫; 1931 – Don King; 1935 – Ron Paul; 1942 – Isaac Hayes♪ ♫; 1946 – Connie Chung; 1947 – James Pankow♪ ♫(Chicago), Ray Wise; 1948 – Robert Plant♪ ♫(Led Zeppelin); 1949 – Phil Lynott(Thin Lizzy); 1951 – Mohamed Morsi; 1952 – Doug Fieger:shred(The Knack); 1952 – John Hiatt♪ ♫; 1954 – Al Roker; 1956 – Joan Allen; 1965 – KRS-One♪ ♫; 1966 – Dimebag Darrell(Pantera); 1969 – Billy Gardell (Mike & Molly); 1970 – Fred Durst♪ ♫(Limp Bizkit); 1992 – Demi Lovato♪ ♫

Deaths

1384 – Geert Groote (He was Groote.); 1974 – Buford Pusser; 2006 – Joe Rosenthal (took the Raising The Flag At Iwo Jima photo); 2007 – Leona Helmsley, The Queen of Mean; 2012 – Phyllis Diller; 2013 – Elmore Leonard

[Gravdigr]

August 21

1680 – Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.

1770 – James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.

1831 – Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, which will claim the lives of 55-65 whites.

1863 – Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by Confederate guerrillas Quantrill's Raiders in the Lawrence Massacre.

1883 – An F5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota, leading to the creation of the Mayo Clinic.

1897 – Oldsmobile, a brand of American automobiles, is founded.

1911 – The Mona Lisa is stolen by a Louvre employee.

1945 – Physicist Harry Daghlian is fatally irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1959 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii's admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day.

1961 – Motown releases what would be its first #1 hit, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes.

Patsy Cline recorded the classic Willie Nelson song, ‘Crazy’. Cline was still on crutches after going through a car windshield in a head-on collision two months earlier and had difficulty reaching the high notes of the song at first due to her broken ribs.

1983 - Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone had a four-hour brain surgery operation, after being found unconscious in a New York Street where he had been involved in a fight.

1986 – Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a range of 20-kilometers.

1991 – Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.

1993 – NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.

Births

1904 – Count Basie; 1906 – Friz Freleng (introduced and/or developed Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam and Speedy Gonzales); 1920 – Christopher Robin Milne (A.A. Milne's son, and the basis for 'Christopher Robin' in Winnie The Pooh); 1924 – Jack Buck, Jack Weston; 1932 – Melvin Van Peebles; 1936 – Wilt The Stilt Chamberlain; 1938 – Kenny Rogers♪ ♫; 1939 – Harold Reid♪ ♫(The Statler Bros); 1939 – Clarence Williams III ('Linc' on The Mod Squad); 1944 – Jackie DeShannon♪ ♫, Peter Weir; 1945 – Basil Poledouris♪ ♫; 1949 – Loretta Devine (Grey's Anatomy); 1950 – Arthur Bremer (shot George Wallace); 1951 – Harry Smith; 1952 – Glenn Hughes♪ ♫; 1952 – Joe Strummer(The Clash); 1954 – Steve 'Machine Gun' Smith(Journey); 1956 – Kim Cattrall; 1957 - Kim Sledge♪ ♫(Sister Sledge); 1959 – Jim McMahon (da Bears); 1961 – Stephen Hillenburg (created SpongeBob Squarepants); 1962 – Jeff Stryker (porn actor); 1963 – Richmond Arquette (of the acting Arquettes); 1967 – Carrie-Anne Moss (Matrix Trilogy), Serj Tankian♪ ♫(System of a Down); 1973 – Sergey Brin (cofounded the Google); 1979 – Kelis (her Milkshake brings all the boys to the yard); 1980 – Paul Menard; 1981 – Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss; 1986 – Usain Bolt, Kacey Musgraves♪ ♫; 1989 – Hayden Panettiere; 1990 – Bo Burnham

Deaths

1614 – Elizabeth Báthory; 1940 – Leon Trotsky; 1947 – Ettore Bugatti (yes, that one); 1974 – Buford Pusser(corrected); 1978 – Charles Eames (co-designed the Eames House); 1983 – Benigno Aquino, Jr.; 1988 – Ray Eames (co-designed the Eames House); 2005 – Robert Moog♪ ♫

[Gravdigr]

August 22

565 – Columba reports seeing a monster in Loch Ness, Scotland.

1485 – The Battle of Bosworth Field, the death of Richard III and the end of the House of Plantagenet.

1642 – Charles I raises his standard in Nottingham, which marks the beginning of the English Civil War.

1711 – Britain's Quebec Expedition loses eight ships and almost nine hundred soldiers, sailors and women to rocks at Pointe-aux-Anglais.

1777 – American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold used a ruse to convince the British that a much larger force was arriving, causing them to abandon the Siege of Fort Stanwix.

1849 – The first air raid in history. Austria launches pilotless balloons against the city of Venice.

1851 – The first America's Cup is won by the yacht America.

1864 – Twelve nations sign the first Geneva Convention.

1902 – Cadillac Motor Company is founded.

Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to ride in an automobile.

1941 – World War II: German troops begins the Siege of Leningrad.

1950 – Althea Gibson becomes the first black competitor in international tennis.

1952 – The penal colony on Devil's Island is permanently closed.

1962 - The first TV appearance of The Beatles was recorded by Manchester based Granada TV, who filmed a lunchtime session at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, (the performance was shown on 17th October 1962).

1963 – X-15 Flight 91 reaches the highest altitude of the X-15 program (107.96 km (67.08 mi) (354,200 feet)).

1968 - Ringo Starr quit The Beatles during The White Album sessions when the constant bickering and tension became too much for him. The news of Ringo's departure was kept secret, and he rejoined the sessions on September 3rd. After Ringo walked out, the remaining Beatles recorded 'Back In the USSR', with Paul on drums and John playing bass.

1979 - In Through the Out Door was released in the US, Led Zeppelin's last album while all four members were alive.

1989 – Nolan Ryan strikes out Rickey Henderson to become the first Major League Baseball pitcher to record 5,000 strikeouts.

1992 – FBI HRT sniper Lon Horiuchi shoots and kills Vicki Weaver during an 11-day siege at her home at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

2004 – Versions of The Scream and Madonna, two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway.

Al Dvorin, the announcer who popularised the phrase "Elvis has left the building", died in a car crash, on his way home from an Elvis Presley convention in California. In the early 1970s, Colonel Parker asked Dvorin to inform fans at a gig that Presley would not be appearing for an encore. He took the stage and announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building. Thank you and goodnight."

2007 – The Texas Rangers defeat the Baltimore Orioles 30–3, the most runs scored by a team in modern Major League Baseball history. The combined run total is also Major League record.

The Storm botnet, a botnet created by the Storm Worm, sends out a record 57 million e-mails in one day.

2015 – Eleven people are killed in England when a vintage Hawker Hunter jet crashes on the A27 in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex.

Births

1862 – Claude Debussy; 1893 – Dorothy Parker; 1898 – Alexander Calder; 1902 – Leni Riefenstahl; 1904 – Deng Xiaoping; 1908 – Henri Cartier-Bresson; 1917 – John Lee Hooker; 1920 – Ray Bradbury; 1924 – James Kirkwood, Jr. (playwright A Chorus Line); 1925 – Honor Blackman ('Pussy Galore' in Goldfinger); 1934 – Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.; 1936 – Chuck Brown♪ ♫(The Godfather of Go-Go), Dale Hawkins♪ ♫; 1939 – Valerie Harper, Carl Yastrzemski; 1941 – Bill Parcells; 1945 – David Chase; 1947 – Donna Jean Godchaux♪ ♫, Cindy Williams; 1950 – Scooter Libby; 1958 – Colm Feore, Vernon Reid(Living Colur); 1959 – Juan Croucier(Ratt); 1961 – Debbi Peterson(The Bangles); 1963 – Tori Amos; 1967 – Ty Burrell (Modern Family); 1967 – Layne Staley♪ ♫(Alice In Chains); 1970 – Giada De Laurentiis; 1972 – Paul Doucette(Matchbox Twenty); 1973 – Kristen Wiig; 1987 – Karlie Simon (porn actress)

Deaths

1922 – Michael Collins; 1977 – Sebastian Cabot; 1980 – James Smith McDonnell (of McDonnell-Douglas); 1991 – Colleen Dewhurst; 2004 - Al Dvorin; 2006 – Bruce Gary(The Knack); 2011 – Nick Ashford♪ ♫(Ashford & Simpson), Jerry Leiber♪ ♫; 2012 – Jeffrey Stone (was the model and inspiration for 'Prince Charming' in Cinderella)

[Gravdigr]

August 23

30 BC – After the successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian executes Marcus Antonius Antyllus, eldest son of Mark Antony, and Caesarion, the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and only child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.

79 – Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. The next day turns out to be a complete, and total bummer.

1305 – Sir William Wallace is executed for high treason at Smithfield in London.

1382 – Siege of Moscow: The Golden Horde led by khan Tokhtamysh lays siege to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.

1541 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.

1775 – American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion.

1784 – Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years.

1858 – The Round Oak rail accident occurs in Brierley Hill in the Black Country, England. It is 'Arguably the worst disaster ever to occur on British railways'.

1901 – Six hundred American school teachers, Thomasites, arrived in Manila on the USAT Thomas.

1904 – The automobile tire chain is patented.

1921 – British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber estuary. Of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive.

1923 – Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours.

1927 – Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after a lengthy, controversial trial.

1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.

1944 – World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies.

1954 – First flight of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.

1967 - (speaking of the Moon...) Enjoying a wild birthday party, Keith Moon, drummer with The Who, drove his Lincoln car into a Holiday Inn swimming pool. As the party had become out of control, the police were called to put an end to the festivities. Moon, ever keen to avoid the boys in blue, sneaked outside and got into a Lincoln Continental Limousine and attempted to make a getaway. Unfortunately, in his inebriated state he released the handbrake, and began rolling towards the pool. Moon simply sat back and waited, as the car crashed through the fence around the pool, and into the water.

1970 - Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground performed together for the last time at the New York Club 'Max's Kansas City'. Reed worked as a typist for his father for the next two years, at $40 per week.

1973 – A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathize with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome".

1977 – The Gossamer Condor wins the Kremer prize for human powered flight.

1989 – Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands (Baltic Way).

1,645 Australian domestic airline pilots resign after the airlines threaten to fire them and sue them over a dispute.

1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War.

1990 – West Germany and East Germany announce that they will reunite on October 3.

2006 – Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor, after eight years of captivity.

2007 – The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia.

2011 – A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at $200 million–$300 million USD.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War.

Births

1754 – Louis XVI of France; 1785 – Oliver Hazard Perry; 1912 – Gene Kelly; 1917 – Tex Williams; 1929 – Vera Miles; 1931 – Barbara Eden; 1932 – Mark Russell; 1946 – Keith Moon(The Who); 1947 – Rex Allen, Jr.♪ ♫; 1949 – Shelley Long, Rick Springfield♪ ♫; 1951 – Jimi Jamison♪ ♫(Survivor); 1951 – Queen Noor of Jordan; 1960 – Gary Hoey; 1961 – Dean DeLeo(Stone Temple Pilots); 1963 – Kenny Wallace; 1969 – Jeremy Schaap (son of sportscaster Dick Schapp); 1970 – Jay Mohr, River Phoenix; 1976 – Scott Caan (Hawaii Five-O, son of James Caan); 1978 – Kobe Bryant; 1988 – Jeremy Lin

Deaths

30 BC– Caesarion, Marcus Antonius Antyllus; 1305 – William Wallace; 1723 – Increase Mather; 1819 – Oliver Hazard Perry; 1926 – Rudolph Valentino (fullname (take a deep breath) Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella, whew); 1927 – Nicola Sacco, Bartolomeo Vanzetti; 1960 – Oscar Hammerstein II♪ ♫; 1962 – Hoot Gibson; 2002 – Hoyt Wilhelm; 2005 – Brock Peters (To Kill A Mockingbird); 2013 – Richard J. Corman (R.J. Corman Railroad)

[elSicomoro]

You're missing a birthday there...one lumberjim...

[Gravdigr]

August 24

79 – Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash (note: this traditional date has been challenged, and many scholars believe that the event occurred on October 24).

410 – The Visigoths under king Alaric I begin to pillage Rome.

455 – The Vandals, led by king Genseric, begin to plunder Rome. Pope Leo I requests Genseric not destroy the ancient city or murder its citizens. He agrees and the gates of Rome are opened. However, the Vandals loot a great amount of treasure.

1349 – Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague.

1456 – The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.

1682 – William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.

1814 – British troops invade Washington, D.C. and during the Burning of Washington, the White House, the Capitol and many other buildings are set ablaze.

1875 – Captain Matthew Webb became first person to swim the English Channel.

1909 – Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.

1932 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).

1949 – The treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) goes into effect.

1963 - Stevie Wonder became the first artist ever to score a US No.1 album and single in the same week. Wonder was at No.1 on the album chart with 'Little Stevie Wonder / The 12 Year Old Genius' and had the No.1 single 'Fingertips part 2'. This was also the first ever live recording to make No.1.

1967 – Led by Abbie Hoffman, the Youth International Party (yippies) temporarily disrupts trading at the New York Stock Exchange by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing trading to cease as brokers scramble to grab them.

1975 - Queen started recording 'Bohemian Rhapsody' at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales, (the song was recorded over three weeks). Freddie Mercury had mentally prepared the song beforehand and directed the band throughout the sessions. May, Mercury, and Taylor sang their vocal parts continually for ten to twelve hours a day, resulting in 180 separate overdubs.

1977 - Singer, songwriter Waylon Jennings was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine. Jennings had recently been named an honorary police chief.

1981 – Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.

1983, The fifth wife of Jerry Lee Lewis, Shawn Michelle Stevens was found dead at their Mississippi home of a methadone overdose. They had been married less than three months.

1989 – Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose is banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.

1990 - Judas Priest successfully defended themselves against a lawsuit, after two fans attempted suicide while listening to the Stained Class album. Both fans eventually died, one immediately from a shotgun blast, and the other on a second attempt three years later by a methadone overdose. The prosecution claimed that there were subliminal messages in the group’s music that caused the two seventeen year-olds to carry out the suicide pact in 1985.

1995 – Microsoft Windows 95 was released to the public in North America.

1998 – First radio-frequency identification (RFID) human implantation tested in the United Kingdom.

2001 – Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean (en route to Lisbon from Toronto) and makes an emergency landing in the Azores.

2006 – The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet.

2009 - The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide caused by a mix of drugs meant to treat insomnia. On February 8, 2010, Dr. Conrad Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter by prosecutors in Los Angeles. Dr. Murray pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $75,000 bail, but would be found guilty in November, 2011 and was sentenced to four years in a Los Angeles County jail.

Births

1787 – James Weddell (namesake of the Weddell Sea); 1845 – James Calhoun (Custer's bro-in-law, died at The Little Bighorn); 1884 – Earl Derr Biggers (created 'Charlie Chan'); 1902 – Carlo Gambino (mob boss); 1905 – Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup♪ ♫(That's All Right); 1929 – Yasser Arafat; 1934 – Kenny Baker ('R2D2'); 1943 – John Cipollina(Quicksilver Messenger Service); 1945 – Ken Hensley(Uriah Heep); 1945 – Vince McMahon; 1947 – Anne Archer, Jim Fox(James Gang); 1948 – Jean Michel Jarre; 1949 – Joe Regalbuto (Murphy Brown); 1951 – Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game); 1952 – Bob Corker; 1955 – Mike Huckabee; 1956 – Gerry Cooney; 1957 – Stephen Fry; 1958 – Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy); 1960 – Cal Ripken, Jr.; 1962 – Craig Kilborn; 1963 – John Bush♪ ♫(Anthrax); 1964 – Oteil Burbridge(Allman Bros); 1965 – Marlee Matlin; 1968 – James Toney; 1973 – Dave Chappelle; 1988 – Rupert Grint (Harry Potter movies)

Deaths

1967 – Henry J. Kaiser; 1978 – Louis Prima♪ ♫; 1991 – Bernard Castro (invented the convertible couch); 1998 – E. G. Marshall; 2001 – Jane Greer; 2014 – Richard Attenborough

[glatt]

1349 – Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague.

Man, what is it with Germans and the Jews?

[lumberjim]

Cool. Orson Scott Card. I hear he's a dick, but he's one of my favorite authors.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

Cool. Orson Scott Card. I hear he's a dick, but he's one of my favorite authors.

I never heard it put in those words, but yes. I think he is. So I googled the phrase. In quotes.

[Gravdigr]

Is Orson Scott Card a dick?

Result #2:



You can click away when he says goodbye, it's 3 more minutes of black screen and silence.