July 27th
 

1844 ~ Death of John Dalton, English Chemist.

1882 ~ Birthday of Geoffrey de Havilland, British Aircraft Designer.

1904 ~ Birthday of Isaac Bashevis Singer, Writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1921 ~ Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announced the discovery of the hormone insulin.

1946 ~ Death of Gertrude Stein, American Writer & Cult Figure.

1949 ~ Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.

1953 ~ The Korean War ended. The United States, People's Republic of China, North Korea, and South Korea signed an armistice agreement.

1974 ~ The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted to recommend the first article of impeachment against President Nixon: Obstruction of Justice.

1990 ~ Belarus declared independence from the Soviet Union.

2003 ~ Death of Bob Hope, English-born Entertainer.

July 28th
 

1540 ~ Thomas Cromwell was executed on order of Henry VIII on charges of treason. Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.

1741 ~ Death of Antonio Vivaldi, Italian Composer.

1750 ~ Death of Johann Sebastian Bach, German Composer.

1794 ~ Maximilien Robespierre was guillotined in front of a cheering crowd.

1866 ~ Birthday of Beatrix Potter, English Author. (The Tale of Peter Rabbit)

1904 ~ Birthday of Pavel Cherenkov, Russian Physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.

1945 ~ A US Army bomber accidentally crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 injuring 26.

1973 ~ Watkins Glen, NY concert attended by 600,000 to see The Band, The Allman Brothers Band, and the Grateful Dead.

1996 ~ The remains of a prehistoric man, Kennewick Man, was discovered near Kennewick, Washington.

2004 ~ Death of Professor Francis Harry Compton Crick, OM FRS, Nobel Prize laureate.

On July 28, 1755, the British announced that my ancestors, the Acadians, were to be deported from Nova Scotia. Maudits Anglais... ;)

Vive l'Acadie! J'sont r'venus!

July 29th
 

1588 ~ The Spanish Armada was defeated by the English navy off the coast of Gravelines, France.

1856 ~ Death of Robert Schumann, Composer.

1890 ~ Death of Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter.

1905 ~ Birthday of Dag Hammarskjöld, UN Secretary-General.

1907 ~ Sir Robert Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scouts movement with the first scout camp at Brownsea Island.

1958 ~ The U.S. Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

1974 ~ Death of Mama Cass Elliot, Musician.

1975 ~ Death of James Blish, Science Fiction Writer.

1993 ~ The Israeli Supreme Court acquitted accused Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges.

1996 ~ The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act was struck down as too broad in U.S. federal court.

July 30th
 

1718 ~ Birthday of William Penn, English founder of the Province of Pennsylvania.

1729 ~ Baltimore, Maryland was founded.

1818 ~ Birthday of Birthday of Emily Brontë, English Novelist.

1898 ~ Birthday of Henry Moore, Sculptor.

1930 ~ In Montevideo, Uruguay won the first Football World Cup.

1941 ~ Birthday of Paul Anka, Singer and Composer.

1966 ~ At Wembley Stadium, host England won the first televised Football World Cup, beating Germany 4 to 2.

1974 ~ Cyprus Crisis: Greek, Turkish and U.K. foreign ministers signed a peace agreement for Cyprus.

1974 ~ Watergate Scandal: US President Richard Nixon released subpoenaed tape recordings after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court.

2003 ~ The last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle manufactured in Mexico.

July 31st
 

1099 ~ Death of El Cid , Spanish warrior.

1498 ~ Discovery of Trinidad by Christopher Columbus.

1556 ~ Death of Ignatius Loyola, Spanish priest, founder of the Jesuits.

1856 ~ Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.

1886 ~ Death of Franz Liszt, Hungarian Composer.

1912 ~ Birthday of Milton Friedman, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in economics.

1917 ~ The Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) started in Flanders. With casualties from both sides exceeding 550,000, the name Passcheddaele has come to be used as a synonym for pointless slaughter.

"...I died in Hell
(they called it Passchendaele) my wound was slight
and I was hobbling back; and then a shell
burst slick upon the duckboards; so I fell
into the bottomless mud, and lost the light"

Siegfried Sassoon


1941 ~ Hermann Göring ordered SS general Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question."

1964 ~ Ranger program: Ranger 7 sent back the first close-up photographs of the moon.

1999 ~ NASA intentionally crashed the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.

August 1st
 

10 B.C. ~ Birthday of Claudius, Roman Emperor.

1774 ~ The element oxygen was discovered by Joseph Priestley.

1779 ~ Birthday of Birthday of Francis Scott Key, Composer of The Star-Spangled Banner

1819 ~ Birthday of Herman Melville, Writer.

1834 ~ Slavery was abolished in the British Empire.

1894 ~ The First Sino-Japanese War began between Japan and China over Korea.

1932 ~ Birthday of Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League.

1944 ~ Anne Frank made the last entry in her diary.

1957 ~ The United States and Canada formed the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

1977 ~ Death of Gary Powers, American Spy Plane Pilot.

August 2nd
 

216 B.C. ~ In the Battle of Cannae , Hannibal destroyed the Roman army of Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Publius Terentius Varro in a masterpiece of tactical warfare.

1776 ~ Delegates to the Continental Congress began to sign the Declaration of Independence.

1876 ~ Death of James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, Gunfighter.

1921 ~ Death of Enrico Caruso, Italian Tenor.

1922 ~ Death of Alexander Graham Bell, Inventor.

1932 ~ Birthday of Peter O'Toole, Actor. (Lawrence of Arabia, The Lion in Winter).

1934 ~ Adolf Hitler became Führer of Germany.

1943 ~ PT-109 , commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy rammed and sunk.

1976 ~ Death of Fritz Lang, Film Director.( Metropolis, M, Frau im Mond)

1990 ~ Iraq invaded Kuwait, leading to the Gulf War.

August 3rd

1492 ~ Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.

1900 ~ Birthday of John T. Scopes, defendant in the Monkey Trial .

1904 ~ Birthday of Clifford D. Simak, Science Fiction Author.

1914 ~ First World War: Germany declared war against France.

1924 ~ Death of Joseph Conrad, Polish-born Writer. (Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim)

1924 ~ Birthday of Leon Uris, American Writer. (Exodus, QB VII)

1958 ~ Nuclear submarine USS Nautilus traveled beneath the Arctic ice cap.

1972 ~ U.S. Senate ratified the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

1977 ~ Death of Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus.

1983 ~ New York Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield accidentally killed a seagull during a baseball game and was charged by police for his "act of cruelty to animals".

August 4th
 

1704 ~ An Anglo-Dutch force seized the rock of Gibraltar.

1753 ~ A young Virginia planter named George Washington became a Master Mason, the highest basic rank in the secret fraternity of Freemasonry .

1789 ~ The feudal system was abolished in France.

1792 ~ Birthday of Percy Shelley, Poet.

1840 ~ Birthday of Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Sexologist.

1875 ~ Death of Hans Christian Andersen, Writer.

1901 ~ Birthday of Louis Armstrong, Jazz Musician.

1902 ~ The Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opened.

1944 ~ Anne Frank & her family betrayed to the Gestapo.

1984 ~ The African republic Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso .

also the birthday of the us coast guard. started in 1790, the coast guard is one of the oldest organizations of the federal government and was the nation's only armed force on the sea until the navy department was established in 1798.

(hope you don't mind, jseal, that i occasionally add a tidbit to this thread)

wyndhy,

Not at all. Doing so makes for a more interesting thread. :thumb:

cool. :)

August 5th
 

1305 ~ William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance to England, was captured near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution.

1583 ~ Sir Humphrey Gilbert established the first English colony in North America, at what is now St John's, Newfoundland.

1884 ~ The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid.

1895 ~ Death of Friedrich Engels, Socialist Philosopher.

1930 ~ Birthday of Neil Armstrong, Astronaut.

1962 ~ Death of Marilyn Monroe, Actress.

1963 ~ The U.S., U.K., and U.S.S.R. signed a nuclear test ban treaty.

1981 ~ Ronald Reagan fired striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order to return to work.

1984 ~ Death of Sir Richard Burton, Actor.

2000 ~ Death of Sir Alec Guinness, Actor.

August 6th
 

1637 ~ Death of Ben Jonson, English Writer.

1809 ~ Birthday of Alfred Lord Tennyson, Poet.

1881 ~ Birthday of Alexander Fleming, scientist.

1911 ~ Birthday of Lucille Ball, Actress, Comedienne.

1943 ~ Birthday of Jon Postel, creator of DNS.

1945 ~ World War II: A nuclear bomb codenamed Little Boy was dropped on the city of Hiroshima in Japan at 8:15 a.m., killing 80,000.

1962 ~ Jamaica became independent.

1990 ~ Gulf War: The UN Security Council ordered a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

1991 ~ Tim Berners-Lee released his idea for the "World Wide Web".

1991 ~ Death of Harry Reasoner, Reporter

August 7th
 

1560 ~ Birthday of Elizabeth Bathory, serial killer.

1876 ~ Birthday of Mata Hari (Margaretha Zelle), spy.

1927 ~ Peace Bridge opened between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York.

1942 ~ Birthday of Garrison Keillor, radio host.

1945 ~ President Harry Truman announced the successful nuclear bombing of Hiroshima while returning from the Potsdam Conference.

1947 ~ Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft the Kon-Tiki, arrived at the Tuamotu Islands after a 101 day 4,300 mile journey across the Pacific Ocean, proving that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.

1957 ~ Death of Oliver Hardy, Comedian, & Actor.

1960 ~ Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent.

1998 ~ Bombing of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya that killed 224 people and injured over 4,500.

2004 ~ Death of Red Adair, American oil well firefighter.

August 8th
 

1579 ~ The cornerstone was laid for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory.

1879 ~ Birthday of Emiliano Zapata, Mexican Revolutionary.

1902 ~ Birthday of P.A.M. Dirac, Physicist, Father of Quantum Mechanics, Nobel Prize 1933.

1918 ~ World War I: Battle of Amiens - Canadian troops, backed by Australians, began a string of victories with a push through the German front lines.

1937 ~ Birthday of Dustin Hoffman, Actor (The Graduate, Tootsie, Kramer vs. Kramer).

1945 ~ The United Nations Charter is ratified by the United States.

1963 ~ Great Train Robbery: In England, a gang of 15 train robbers stole 2.6 million pounds.

1966 ~ The Beatles' released Revolver

1974 ~ U.S. President Richard Nixon announced his resignation effective August 9.

1996 ~ Death of Frank A Whittle, inventor of the Jet engine.

August 9th
 

48 BC ~ Roman Civil War: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar defeated Pompey decisively at Pharsalus. Pompey fled to Egypt.

1173 ~ Construction of the (Leaning) Tower of Pisa began. It took two centuries to complete.

1483 ~ Opening of the Sistine Chapel.

1842 ~ Webster-Ashburton Treaty was signed, establishing the United States-Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.

1896 ~ Birthday of Jean Piaget, Child Psychologist.

1945 ~ World War II: An atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" was detonated over the city of Nagasaki, Japan, killing about 75,000.

1969 ~ Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murdered five people including Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring and, Abigail Folger.

1975 ~ Death of Dmitri Shostakovich, Composer.

1986 ~ The Headington Shark is erected in Oxford.

1995 ~ Death of Jerry Garcia, guitarist: Grateful Dead.

August 10th
 

1519 ~ Ferdinand Magellan's 5 ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe.

1675 ~ Foundation stone set of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich

1792 ~ French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace. Louis XVI was arrested and taken into custody.

1809 ~ Ecuador declared independence from Spain.

1846 ~ The Smithsonian Institution was chartered following a $500,000 donation by scientist Joseph Smithson.

1896 ~ Death of Otto Lilienthal, Aviation Pioneer.

1945 ~ Death of Robert Goddard, Rocket Scientist.

1985 ~ Michael Jackson purchased ATV Music (all the Beatle songs) for $47 million.

1990 ~ The Magellan space probe arrived at Venus.

2003 ~ The highest temperature ever recorded in England , 38.5°C, recorded in Kent.

August 11th
 

3114 BC ~ beginning of our current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar.

480 BC ~ Persians under Xerxes defeated Spartans under King Leonidas in the Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans fight to the last man.

The Battle of Thermopylae has served as an example to officers and soldiers alike of what courage and self-sacrifice could achieve. It is still remembered, almost 2,500 years later, as a classic example of virtue.

1253 ~ Death of Saint Clare of Assisi, Patron Saint of television.

1905 ~ Birthday of Erwin Chargaff, biochemist.

1919 ~ Andrew Carnegie, Industrialist & Philanthropist.

1929 ~ Babe Ruth became the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs.

1943 ~ Birthday of Pervez Musharraf, General & President.

1950 ~ Birthday of Steve Wozniak, Computer Pioneer.

1966 ~ John Lennon held a press conference excusing himself from the Jesus affair.

2003 ~ NATO took over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe.

August 12th
 

1851 ~ Isaac Singer was granted a patent for his sewing machine.

1859 ~ Birthday of Katherine Lee Bates, Poet (America the Beautiful ).

1887 ~ Birthday of Erwin Schrödinger, Physicist, Nobel Laureate.

1927 ~ Birthday of Mstislav Rostropovich, Cellist.

1928 ~ Death of Leos Janacek, Czech Composer.

1953 ~ The Soviet Union detonated its first hydrogen bomb.

1960 ~ The first communications satellite, “Echo I”, launched.

1964 ~ Death of Ian Fleming, Novelist.

1981 ~ The IBM PC was introduced.

2002 ~ Russian submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea.

August 13th
 

1521 ~ Tenochtitlán (present day Mexico City) fell to conquistador Hernán Cortés.

1860 ~ Birthday of Annie Oakley, Sharpshooter.

1899 ~ Birthday of Alfred Hitchcock, Director.

1940 ~ World War II: Battle of Britain began (German sources) - The Luftwaffe launched a series of attacks on British fighter bases and radar installations.

1942 ~ Walt Disney's animated cartoon Bambi premiered.

1946 ~ Death of H. G. Wells, Writer.

1948 ~ Birthday of Kathleen Battle, Opera Singer.

1961 ~ The Berlin Wall began to be built.

1997 ~ The popular, controversial animated series South Park debuted.

2004 ~ Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm, struck the Fort Myers area in Florida.

August 14th
 

1842 ~ Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida to Oklahoma

1862 ~ Birthday of Ernest Thayer, Poet (Casey at the Bat).

1880 ~ After 632 years, Cologne Cathedral completed.

1945 ~ World War II: Japan surrenders, ending the war.

1947 ~ Pakistan & India gained independence from Britain at midnight, Pakistan commemorating the event on August 14 and India on August 15.

1951 ~ Death of William Randolph Hearst, newspaper magnate.

1971 ~ Rod Stewart released Maggie May.

1980 ~ Lech Walesa lead strikes at Gdansk, Poland shipyards.

1988 ~ Death of Enzo Ferrari, Automobile Designer.

1994 ~ Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, the terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal, was captured.

August 15th
 

778 ~ The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, in which Roland was killed.

1057 ~ King MacBeth of Scotland WAs killed during the Battle of Lumphanan by the forces of King Malcolm III.

1309 ~ The city of Rhodes surrendered to the forces of the Knights of St. John, completing their conquest of Rhodes. The knights established their headquarters on the island, and renamed themselves as the Knights of Rhodes.

1769 ~ Birthday of Napoleon Bonaparte, general and politician.

1877 ~ Thomas Edison made the first-ever recording - "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

1890 ~ Birthday of Jacques Ibert, French Composer.

1948 ~ Republic of Korea established south of 38th Parallel.

1951 ~ Death of Artur Schnabel, Pianist.

1967 ~ Death of René Magritte, Surrealist painter.

1969 ~ First day of Woodstock Music and Art Festival .

I was able to talk my cousin out of going to this. :hippy: She had called me a month or so earlier and said she could get a couple of tickets if we wanted to go. It was inconvenient to get to, and when I said so, she agreed, and so….

August16th

1858 ~ U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurated the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria.

1888 ~ Birthday of Lawrence of Arabia.

1896 ~ Gold discovered in the Klondike.

1899 ~ Death of Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, chemist.

1930 ~ First color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, was made by Ub Iwerks.

1948 ~ Death of Babe Ruth, baseball player.

1960 ~ Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1962 ~ The Beatles fired Pete Best and replaced him with Ringo Starr .

1977 ~ Death of Elvis Presley, Singer, Actor.

2003 ~ Death of Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator.

August 17th
 

1601 ~ Birthday of Pierre de Fermat, Mathematician.

1786 ~ Birthday of Davy Crockett, Frontiersman, Soldier.

1807 ~ Robert Fulton's steamboat left New York City for Albany, New York, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.

1863 ~ American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.

1882 ~ Birthday of Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer.

1911 ~ Birthday of Mikhail Botvinnik, World Chess Champion.

1962 ~ East German border guards killed 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin. Mr. Fecher was the first and the most famous of the victims of the Berlin Wall.

1970 ~ Venera program: Venera 7 was launched. It became the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet, Venus.

1980 ~ Azaria Chamberlain disappeared, likely taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history and the most famous wrongful conviction when her parents were found guilty of murder.

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

August 18th
 

1227 ~ Death of Genghis Khan, Mongol leader.

1587 ~ Birthday of Virginia Dare; the first English child born in the Americas.

1750 ~ Birthday of Antonio Salieri, Composer.

1774 ~ Birthday of Meriwether Lewis, Explorer.

1877 ~ Asaph Hall discovered Phobos, the moon of Pluto.

1920 ~ 19th Amendment to US constitution was passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage.

1925 ~ Birthday of Brian Aldiss, Writer.

1958 ~ Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita was published in the U.S.

1969 ~ Jimi Hendrix played the unofficial last day of Woodstock.

1991 ~ Downfall of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was put under house arrest while he was vacationing in the Crimea.

August 19th
 

1819 ~ Death of James Watt, Scottish inventor

1871 ~ Birthday of Orville Wright, Aviator.

1902 ~ Birthday of Ogden Nash, Poet.

1921 ~ Birthday of Gene Roddenberry, Producer.

1947 ~ Birthday of William Jefferson Clinton, U.S. President.

1960 ~ Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.

1977 ~ Death of Groucho Marx, Comedian & Actor.

1981 ~ Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi sent two Sukoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept two U.S. F-14 Tomcats over the Gulf of Sidra. The American jets shot down the Libyan fighters.

1990 ~ Leonard Bernstein conducted his final concert, ending with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony # 7.

1994 ~ Death of Linus Pauling, Chemist.

He was a physical chemist, among the most influential chemists of the twentieth century, and one of the most important scientists of all time. He was one of the first quantum chemists, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 for his work describing the nature of chemical bonds. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 for his campaign against above-ground nuclear testing, becoming one of only two people to receive the Nobel Prize in more than one field, the other being Marie Curie.

August 20th
 

1882 ~ Piotr Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuted in Moscow.

1890 ~ Birthday of H. P. Lovecraft , Horror Writer.

1923 ~ Birthday of Jim Reeves, country and western singer.

1940 ~ Exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was fatally wounded in Mexico City and died the next day.

1941 ~ Birthday of Slobodan Milosevic, former president of Serbia and Yugoslavia.

1991 ~ Downfall of the Soviet Union: Estonia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

1993 ~ The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles (DOP), were finalized in Oslo, Norway.

1998 ~ The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Quebec could not legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.

1998 ~ The U.S. launched cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

2001 ~ Death of Sir Fred Hoyle , Astronomer, Science Fiction Writer.

August 21st
 

1872 ~ Birthday of Aubrey Beardsley, Illustrator.

1904 ~ Birthday of Count Basie, Bandleader.

1923 ~ Birthday of Shimon Peres, Prime Minister of Israel.

1936 ~ Birthday of Wilt Chamberlain, Basketball Hall of Famer.

1940 ~ Death of Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary.

1944 ~ Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations.

1959 ~ Hawaii was admitted as the 50th U.S. state.

1968 ~ 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invaded Czechoslovakia to end the Prague Spring of political liberalization.

1983 ~ Assassination of Benigno S. Aquino Jr., Philippine opposition leader.

1986 ~ Toxic gas erupted from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing more than 1,700.

August 22nd
 

1485 ~ The Battle of Bosworth Field ends the Wars of the Roses.

1770 ~ James Cook 's expedition arrived on the east coast of Australia.

1775 ~ King George III declared the American colonies to be in open rebellion.

1862 ~ Birthday of Claude Debussy, Composer.

1893 ~ Birthday of Dorothy Parker, Writer & Wit .

1910 ~ Japan annexed Korea.

1920 ~ Birthday of Ray Bradbury, science fiction author and fantasy author (Fahrenheit 451).

1962 ~ The Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered ship, completed its maiden voyage.

1978 ~ Death of Kenya's founding father, Jomo Kenyatta.

2001 ~ For the Geeks among us, a sad day. The Trojan room coffee pot is switched off for the last time.

August 23rd
 

1305 ~ Execution of William Wallace.

1540 ~ French explorer Jacques Cartier landed near Quebec in his third voyage to Canada.

1754 ~ Birthday of King Louis XVI of France.

1829 ~ Birthday of Moritz Cantor, Mathematician.

1912 ~ Birthday of Gene Kelly, Dancer & Actor.

1940 ~ The Luftwaffe began bombing London.

1951 ~ Birthday of Queen Noor of Jordan.

1962 ~ First live television connection between the United States and Europe, via the Telstar satellite.

1990 ~ Saddam Hussein appeared on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests”.

1990 ~ West Germany and East Germany announced that they would unite.

August 24th
 

79 ~ Mount Vesuvius erupted. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae were buried in volcanic ash.

1456 ~ The printing of the Gutenberg Bible was completed.

1814 ~ British troops invaded Washington, D.C. and burnt down the White House and several other buildings.

1880 ~ Birthday of Joshua Lionel Cowen, inventor of the toy electric train.

1929 ~ Birthday of Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader.

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

1951 ~ Birthday of Orson Scott Card, novelist.

1960 ~ Birthday of Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball player.

1989 ~ Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose was banned from baseball for gambling.

1992 ~ Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida.

August 25th
 

1609 ~ Galileo demonstrated his first telescope to the Venetian Senate.

1835 ~ The New York Sun printed The Great Moon Hoax.

1867 ~ Death of Michael Faraday, Scientist.

1875 ~ Matthew Webb became the first man to swim the English Channel.

1894 ~ Shibasaburo Kitasato discovered the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and published his findings in The Lancet.

1900 ~ Birthday of Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, Scientist. Nobel Prize in Medicine 1953.

1900 ~ Death of Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher.

1918 ~ Birthday of Leonard Bernstein, Conductor & Composer.

1944 ~ World War II: Paris was liberated by the Allies.

1989 ~ Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Neptune.

August 26th
 

55 BC ~ Julius Caesar invaded Britain.

1071 ~ The Seljuk Turks defeated the Byzantine Empire at Manzikert.

1429 ~ Joan of Arc entered Paris.

1498 ~ Michelangelo commissioned to carve the Pieta.

1743 ~ Birthday of Antoine Lavoisier, Chemist.

1839 ~ The ship Amistad was captured off Long Island.

1920 ~ The 19th amendment to U.S. Constitution extended suffrage to women.

1944 ~ Charles de Gaulle entered Paris.

1968 ~ The Beatles' Hey Jude was released as a single in the U.S.

1975 ~ Death of Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia.

August 27th
 

410 ~ The Visigoth sack of Rome ended after three days.

1776 ~ Battle of Long Island: British forces under General William Howe defeated the Americans under General George Washington.

1813 ~ Napoleon defeated the Austrians, Russians and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.

1828 ~ The Russians defeat the Turks at Akhaltzikke.

1861 ~ Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

1896 ~ Anglo-Zanzibar War. With a duration of only 45 minutes, it holds the record of being the shortest war in recorded history.

1900 ~ British defeat Boer commandos at Bergendal.

1928 ~ Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war, signed by sixty nations.

1939 ~ First jet aircraft flight; a Heinkel He 178, piloted by Erich Warsitz.

1979 ~ An IRA bomb killed Lord Mountbatten and 3 others on holiday.

August 28th
 

430 ~ Death of Augustine of Hippo, Philosopher, Theologian.

1749 ~ Birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Philosopher, Scientist.

1828 ~ Birthday of Leo Tolstoy, Author. His “The Law of Love and the Law of Violence” influenced Martin Luther King, Jr.

1845 ~ First issue of Scientific American magazine published.

1850 ~ Richard Wagner's opera “Lohengrin” premiered, from which comes the Bridal Chorus, traditionally played at Western weddings, and commonly known as "Here Comes the Bride".

1897 ~ Birthday of Charles Boyer, Actor.

1963 ~ During a civil rights rally in at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. Do yourself a favor; take a quarter of an hour out of your busy day and listen to it.

1972 ~ During the Olympic Games of Munich, Mark Spitz won his first of seven gold medals in swimming events.

1990 ~ Iraq declared Kuwait to be a province of Iraq.

1996 ~ Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales were divorced.

August 29th
 

1261 ~ Urban IV became Pope, the last man to do so without first being a Cardinal.

1632 ~ Birthday of John Locke, Philosopher.

1885 ~ Gottlieb Daimler patented the world's first motorcycle.

1896 ~ Chop suey was invented in New York City.

1907 ~ The Quebec Bridge collapsed during construction, killing 75 workers.

1949 ~ The Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.

1952 ~ Premiere of John Cage's 4'33" in Woodstock, New York.

1966 ~ Last Beatles concert, in San Francisco.

1982 ~ The element Meitnerium, atomic number 109, was first synthesized in Darmstadt, Germany.

1991 ~ The Downfall of the Soviet Union: Supreme Soviet suspended all activities of the Soviet Communist Party.

August 30th
 

1797 ~ Birthday of Mary Shelley, Author (Frankenstein).

1850 ~ Honolulu, Hawaii became a city.

1871 ~ Birthday of Ernest Rutherford, Physicist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1908.

1935 ~ Birthday of John Phillips, American singer (The Mamas and the Papas).

1940 ~ Death of J.J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics 1906. Prof. Thomson identified the electron as a subatomic particle, the first one to be discovered. In one of the greatest ironies of modern physics his son, G.P. Thomson later received the prize for proving that the electron was also, in fact, a wave.

1941 ~ Siege of Leningrad began.

1963 ~ Hotline between U.S. and Soviet leaders went into operation.

1987 ~ Thurgood Marshall confirmed as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1999 ~ East Timorese voted for independence in a referendum.

2003 ~ Death of Charles Bronson, Actor.

August 31st
 

1834 ~ Birthday of Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer (La Gioconda - It contains "The Dance of the Hours").

1879 ~ Birthday of Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel. This woman knew how to live!

1888 ~ Mary Ann Nichols murdered. She was perhaps the first of Jack the Ripper's victims.

1918 ~ Birthday of Alan Jay Lerner, American composer ( Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady).

1935 ~ Birthday of Frank Robinson, Baseball Player, Manager.

1945 ~ Birthday of Itzhak Perlman, Violinist.

1945 ~ Birthday of Van Morrison, Irish musician (“Brown-Eyed Girl", "Moondance" and "Domino").

1962 ~ Trinidad and Tobago became independent.

1980 ~ Solidarity labor union formed in Poland.

1997 ~ Death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash in Paris.