On this day thread

[TheLoneRanger]

17th August
1786 Davy Crockett, American frontiersman, adventurer and politician, born in Greene County, Tennessee (d. 1836).
1836 Under the Registration Act, the compulsory registration of births, deaths and marriages was introduced in Britain.
1882 Samuel Goldwyn [Shmuel Gelbfisz], Jewish Polish American movie producer (MGM), born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1974).
1891 1st public bathhouse with showers opens in NYC (People's Bath).
1896 Mrs. Bridget Driscoll of Croydon, Surrey, became the first pedestrian in Britain to die after being hit by a car. It is said she froze in panic at the sight of the oncoming car, which was travelling at just four miles per hour.
1897 W B Purvis patents electric railway switch (aka points).
1908 Projection in Paris of the very first animated cartoon, Fantasmagorie realized by Émile Cohl.
1913 Mark Felt, American FBI official and Watergate secret informant known as "Deep Throat", born in Twin Falls, Idaho (d. 2008).
1926 George Melly, English jazz and blues singer, born in Liverpool, England (d. 2007).
1940 Adolf Hitler orders a total blockade of Great Britain.
1943 Robert De Niro, American actor (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), born in NYC, New York.
1943 498 British bombers attack Peenemunde (development base for the V weapons).
1945 Korea is divided into North and South Korea along the 38th parallel.
1946 George Orwell publishes "Animal Farm" in the United Kingdom.
1957 Robin Cousins, British figure skater (Olympic gold 1980), born in Bristol, England.
1957 Baseball player Richie Ashburn fouls and hits fan Alice Roth twice in the same game at bat playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, 1st hit breaks her nose, 2nd one hits her while she is on the stretcher. ️
1958 American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis released Kind of Blue which is regarded by many critics as jazz's greatest record, Davis's masterpiece, and one of the best albums of all time. Its influence on music, including jazz, rock, and classical genres, has led writers to also deem it one of the most influential albums ever recorded.
1960 Sean Penn, American actor (Mystic River, Milk), born in Santa Monica, California.
1964 Geoff Boycott scores his 1st Test Cricket century, 113 v Aust at the Oval.
1968 Helen McCrory, English actress (The Queen, Peaky Blinders), born in London (d. 2021).
1969 Woodstock Festival closes with Jimi Hendrix / Band of Gypsys as final act.
1976 Big win for WI at The Oval Michael Holding 14-149 for match.
1977 Thierry Henry, French footballer and manager (Arsenal), born in Les Ulis, France.
1979 "Monty Python's Life of Brian" directed by Terry Jones, starring Graham Chapman, Mickael Palin, & John Cleese, premieres in US theatres.
1982 First Compact Discs (CDs) released to the public in Germany.
1983 Ira Gershwin, American lyricist ('S Wonderful, I Got Rhythm), dies in Beverly Hills at 86.
1989 Electronic tagging was used for the first time in Britain, on Richard Hart, accused of theft.
1990 Phyllis Polander sues Mike Tyson for sexual harassment.
1992 It was announced that 9 pigs were to take part in Britain's first pig race in Bellingham. The favourites in the race were Lester Piglet and Miss Piggy.
1998 Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony he had an "improper physical relationship" with the intern and on the same day admits before the nation he "misled people" about the relationship.
2017 Terror attack on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain as van rams into crowds killing 16, injuring 120.

69 years ago today, 17th August 1952 - one of the best players ever to wear a Swans shirt was born in Jardol village near Vitez, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Happy Birthday ANTE RAJKOVIC, YJB

 

[Muteswan]

18th August
1227 Genghis Khan [Temüjin Borjigin], Mongolian warlord who founded the Mongol Empire, dies at around 65.
1587 An expedition led by Sir Walter Raleigh landed at what is now Roanoke Island, North Carolina. Seven days later, Virginia Dare, granddaughter of governor John White, became the first child of English parentage to be born in America.
1612 Pendle Witch trial begins with 10 people accused of witchcraft in Lancaster, England, key witness 9 year-old boy.
1737 First public admittance to the Salon de Paris art exhibition at the Louvre in Paris.
1917 The Queen's Hospital opens to provide pioneering plastic surgery for WWI soldiers, led by Harold Gillies in Sidcup, England.
1920 1st class cricket debut of Walter Hammond.
1926 Weather map televised for 1st time.
1934 Don Bradman (244) and Bill Ponsford (205 no) put on 451 in world record partnership for Australia on Day 1 of 5th cricket Test win against England at the Oval.
1936 Robert Redford, American actor (Sting, Candidate, Natural, Great Gatsby), born in Santa Monica, California.
1940 Battle of Britain: The air battle known as "The Hardest Day" occurs; Luftwaffe lose approximately 69 aircraft and the RAF lose 68 in one of the largest ever air battles.
1941 Britain's National Fire Service was established.
1951 Cricket 1st-class debut of Raymond Illingworth.
1958 United Kingdom issues regional stamps (N Ireland, Scotland & Wales).
1960 The Beatles give their 1st public performance at the Indra Club in Hamburg.
1962 Ringo Starr joined The Beatles - Lennon, McCartney and Harrison - as drummer, and made his debut with them at the horticultural society dance in Birkenhead.
1964 South Africa banned from Olympic Games because of apartheid policies.
1969 Mick Jagger accidentally shot in the hand whilst filming "Ned Kelly" in Australia.
1977 The Police made their live debut as a three-piece band when they played at Rebecca's Birmingham, England.
1977 South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko is arrested at a roadblock (dies of police beating 12 September).
1961 Born on this day in Blaengarw and brought up in Llangennech, near Llanelli, Huw Edwards - BAFTA award winning journalist, presenter and newsreader.After graduating from the University of Cardiff, Edwards began his career at the radio station Swansea Sound, from where he joined the BBC in 1984 as a news trainee.
2016 Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins the gold medal in the men's 200m for the 3rd successive Summer Olympics, recording a time of 19.78 in Rio de Janeiro.
2016 Great Britain's Alistair Brownlee records time of 1:45.01 to retain his Olympic men's triathlon title at the Rio de Janeiro Games; 0:06 in front of second-place finisher, brother Jonathan Brownlee.
2017 Bruce Forsyth, British entertainer and presenter (The Generation Game), dies at 89.
2020 Joe Biden is formally nominated as the Democratic party's presidential candidate during the second night of their 1st ever virtual convention.

 

[Muteswan]

19th August
43 BC Octavian, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
14 AD Augustus Caesar [Gaius Octavius], First Roman Emperor (27 BC-14 AD), dies at 75.
1274 The coronation of Edward I, known as 'Longshanks', as he was 6 feet 2 inches tall.
1561 Mary Queen of Scots arrives in Leith, Scotland to assume the throne after spending 13 years in France.
1580 Pierre Vernier, French mathematician, inventor of the vernier caliper used for taking accurate measurements, born in Ornans, France (d. 1637).
1692 Five more people hanged for witchcraft (19 in all) in Salem, Massachusetts.
1839 Details of Louis Daguerre's 1st practical photographic process are released in Paris.
1871 Orville Wright, American aviator (Wright Brothers), born in Dayton, Ohio (d. 1912).
1879 The laying of the foundation stone for the Eddystone Lighthouse.
1883 Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, French fashion designer (Chanel), born in Saumur, France (d. 1971).
1909 Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of automobile race Indianapolis 500, opens in Speedway, Indiana.
1919 Afghanistan gained full independence from Britain.
1921 Gene Roddenberry, American executive producer (Star Trek), born in El Paso, Texas.
1939 [Peter] Ginger Baker, English drummer (Cream), born in London, England (d. 2019).
1943 Billy J Kramer, singer, (1964 UK No.1 & US No.7 single 'Little Children') born today.
1944 Henry Wood, British conductor associated with London's promenade "Proms" concerts (Gentle Art of Singing, My Life of Music), dies following an illness at 75.
1945 Ian Gillan, English heavy metal and rock singer (Deep Purple - "Smoke On The Water"; Jesus Christ Superstar), born in London
1946 Bill Clinton [William Jefferson], 42nd US President (Democrat, 1993-2001), born in Hope, Arkansas.
1951 John Deacon, British rock bassist (Queen - "Another One Bites The Dust"), born in Leicester, England.
1952 Jonathan Frakes, American actor (Commander William T Riker-Star Trek Next Gen), born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
1953 The England cricket team, under captain Len Hutton, won The Ashes against Australia for the first time since the tour of 1932-1933.
1960 Penguin Books received a summons in response to their plans to publish Lady Chatterley's Lover.
1960 Soviet Sputnik 5 carries 2 dogs, 2 rats, 40 mice, 1 rabbit and fruit flies into space, 1st animals to return alive from orbit.
1964 The Beatles kicked off a North American tour at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California, to a crowd of 17,130.
1968 After 58 episodes, the final Monkees TV show airs on NBC.
1969 Matthew Perry, Canadian-American actor (Chandler Bing on Friends), born in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
1975 Campaigners calling for the release of robber George Davis from prison vandalised the pitch at Headingley cricket ground in Leeds.
1977 Groucho Marx [Julius], American comedian (Marx Bros, You Bet Your Life), dies at 86.
1978 The Commodores started a five-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Three Times A Lady'.
1980 Willy Russell's play "Educating Rita" premieres in London starring Julie Walters.
1987 27 year old gunman Michael Ryan shot dead 16 people during a rampage through Hungerford, Berkshire. 14 people were wounded, and one of the dead was Ryan’s own mother. He proceeded to set fire to his mother’s house, and the worst civil massacre in modern British history ended when he shot himself.
1988 Iran and Iraq begin a cease-fire in their 8-year-old war.
1989 The offshore, North Sea pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, was raided and silenced by the British and Dutch governments.
2005 Mo Mowlam, British Labour Party politician (Member of Parliament for Redcar), dies at 55.
2018 Weinstein accuser Asia Argento is alleged to have sexually assaulted a 17-year old in article by "The New York Times".
2020 Apple becomes the 1st US company to be valued at $2 trillion, just 2 years after it reached $1 trillion valuation.
2021 Glamorgan win the One Day Cup Final against Durham. Great display and win.
2335 William T. Riker, character on Star Trek Next Generation, born in Valdez, Alaska.

 

[Muteswan]

20th August
2 Venus and Jupiter in conjunction - possible astrological explanation for Star of Bethlehem.
1191 Crusader King Richard I kills 3,000 muslim prisoners in Akko.
1612 9 Pendle witches hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster, England.
1619 1st known African Americans in English North America (approx. 20) land at Point Comfort (Fort Monroe), Virginia. They are then sold or traded into servitude.
1861 The first National Eisteddfod of Wales in its current format was held at the Market Hall, Aberdare 20th-22nd August 1861. The event's venue, which alternates annually between north and south Wales, is considered to be Wales' most important cultural event. It is Europe's largest music and poetry festival and attracts around 160,000 people each year.
1866 President Andrew Johnson formally declares US Civil War over.
1882 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuts in Moscow.
1896 Dial telephone patented.
1900 Japan's primary school law is amended to provide for four years of mandatory schooling.
1912 William Booth, English preacher and founder of the Salvation Army, dies at 83.
1923 Jim Reeves, American country singer and actor (Gun Fury, Kimberley Jim), born in Panola County, Texas (d. 1964).
1930 A week before his 22nd birthday Australian cricket's batting genius Don Bradman scores 232 in 5th Test win over England at The Oval in London.
1940 British PM Churchill says of Royal Air Force, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".
1948 Robert Plant, English rock vocalist (Led Zeppelin), born in West Bromwich, England.
1949 Phil Lynott, Irish rock singer and bass player (Thin Lizzy - "The Boys Are Back In Town"), born in West Bromwich, England. (d. 1986).
1956 Calder Hall, Britain's first nuclear power station, began operating.
1961 East Germany begins erecting 5' high wall along the border with the west to replace the barbed wire put up Aug 13.
1965 Rolling Stones release their single "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (their 1st #1 US hit) in the UK.
1977 NASA launches Voyager 2 towards Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
1980 Born this day in Swansea, Enzo Maccarinelli, professional boxer, who is a former World Boxing Organisation (WBO) and European cruiserweight champion.
1989 In London, the pleasure cruiser Marchioness was hit by a dredger, the Bowbelle, on the River Thames - 51 people attending a party on the boat were killed.
1991 Estonia formally declares its independence from the USSR.
1992 England score 363-7 in 55 overs vs Pakistan, then world ODI record.
1993 Colin Jackson runs world record 110m hurdles (12.91).
2015 30 students at West Point Military Academy are injured in a mass pillow fight.
2016 Brian Rix [Lord Rix], British actor and activist (Mencap), dies at 92.
2016 Star British runner Mo Farah wins the men's 5,000m in 13:03.30 at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; wraps up 5k/10k double which he also completed in London 2012.
2018 Pope Francis releases letter to all Catholics condemning sexual abuse atrocities and clerical cover-ups "We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them".
2020 Kamala Harris accepts her nomination for vice-president, becoming the 1st US woman of colour on a major-party ticket saying "there is no vaccine for racism".
2020 Hashem Abedi, aged 23 and the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber, was jailed for at least 55 years for the murders of 22 people.

 

[Muteswan]

21st August
1264 Kublai Khan accepts the surrender of his younger brother Ariq Böke at Xanadu, at the end of the Mongol civil war.
1770 James Cook formally claimed eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
1841 John Hampton patents venetian blinds.
1878 Surrey wicket-keeper Ted Pooley completes a then-1st class cricket record 8 stumpings in a County match against Kent at The Oval.
1904 [William] Count Basie, jazz musician and band leader ("One O'Clock Jump"), born in Red Bank, New Jersey (d. 1984).
1911 "Mona Lisa" stolen from the Louvre by Vincenzo Perugia; recovered in 1913.
1914 Private John Parr became the first British man to be shot and killed during World War 1. Official registers showed that he was 20 years old but, like many young soldiers, he had lied about his age and he was just 16.
1918 World War I: The beginning of the Second Battle of the Somme. The battle formed the central part of the Allies' advance to the Armistice of 11th November, which went into effect at 11 a.m. 1918. It marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany.
1936 The BBC made its first television broadcast from Alexandra Palace.
1938 Italy bars all Jewish teachers in Public & High School.
1940 Leon Trotsky, Russian Marxist revolutionary, political theorist and founder of the Red Army, assassinated at 62 by an ice-pick wielding Ramón Mercader.
1942 Walt Disney's animated movie "Bambi", based on the book by Felix Salten, is released.
1968 Warsaw Pact forces complete their invasion of Czechoslovakia by arresting the Czech leader Alexander Dubček and forcing him to sign the Moscow Protocols.
1976 Mary Langdon became Britain's first female firefighter when she joined the East Sussex Brigade.
1986 Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter (Olympic gold 100m/200m 2008, 12, 16), born in Sherwood Content, Jamaica.
1986 Ian Botham takes world-record (at the time) 356th Test Cricket wkt (v NZ, The Oval).
1987 "Dirty Dancing" film directed by Emile Ardolino, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey opens in the US.
1988 More flexible licensing laws allowed public houses to stay open 12 hours in the day, except on Sunday.
1989 Voyager 2 begins a flyby of planet Neptune.
2005 Robert Moog, inventor of the synthesiser died aged 71, four months after being diagnosed with brain cancer.
2007 Hurricane Dean makes its first landfall in Costa Maya, Mexico with winds at 165 mph. Dean is the first storm since Hurricane Andrew to make landfall as a Category 5.
2015 After 108 years a "message in a bottle" put in the sea by UK Marine Biological Association is announced found on a beach in Amrum, Germany.
2017 London's parliament clock Big Ben chimes for the last time before a four-year restoration process for its tower starts.
2018 Michael Cohen, President Trump's personal lawyer, pleads guilty to charges including illegal payment at direction of Trump to women Trump had affairs with.
2019 German Chancellor challenges British PM Boris Johnson to find a solution to a no-deal Brexit in 30 days at their meeting in Berlin.

 

[Muteswan]

22nd August
565 St. Columba reported seeing a monster in Loch Ness. It was the first reported sighting of the monster. The loch is Scotland's second largest loch by surface area after Loch Lomond, but, due to its great depth, it is the largest by volume.
1485 Battle of Bosworth Field: Henry Tudor's forces defeat English King Richard III during last battle in the Wars of the Roses. Richard is killed, the last English monarch to die in battle.
1639 Madras (now Chennai), India, founded by the British East India Company on sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers.
1642 English Civil War begins between Royalists and Parliament.
1862 Claude Debussy, French composer (La Mer; Clair de lune), born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France (d. 1918).
1864 First Geneva Convention adopted in Geneva "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field" signed by 12 nations.
1895 In the Sussex v Yorkshire cricket match at Hove, Prince Ranjitsingh (playing for Sussex) scored two first class hundreds in the day, thus becoming the only batsman ever to score two separate first class centuries in one day of cricket.
1901 Cadillac Motor Company is founded.
1921 J. Edgar Hoover becomes Assistant Director of the FBI.
1922 Irish republican Michael Collins, the founder of Sinn Fein, was assassinated by extremist republicans in County Cork.
1925 Honor Blackman, English actress (Goldfinger, The Avengers), born in Plaistow, London (d. 2020).
1932 BBC begins experimental regular TV broadcasts.
1934 Australian cricket spin bowler Clarrie Grimmett takes 5-64 as England dismissed for 145 in 5th Test at The Oval; Australia wins by 562 runs to regain Ashes, 2-1.
1944 Adolf Hitler orders Paris to be destroyed.
1956 Elvis Presley begins filming "Love Me Tender" (The Reno Brothers).
1957 Steve Davis, English professional snooker player, born in Plumstead, London.
1962 Iolo Williams, television presenter and wildlife enthusiast, was born in Builth Wells today. Williams is one of Wales' most renowned nature and wildlife presenters who has fronted countless television programmes.
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.
1972 Rhodesia is expelled by the International Olympic Committee for its racist policies.
1972 IRA bomb explodes prematurely at a customs post at Newry, County Down - 9 people, including three members of the IRA and five Catholic civilians, are killed in the explosion.
1978 James Corden, British actor, comedian and television host (The Late Late Show with James Corden), born in Hillingdon, London.
1979 In Through the Out Door was released in the US, Led Zeppelin's last album while all four members were alive.
1989 British Telecom launched the world's first mobile phones.They had a very limited operating range that restricted their use to 100 yards from a public base station.
1994 DNA testing links O.J. Simpson to murder of Nicole Simpson & Ron Goldman.
1985 Following an aborted take-off, a Boeing 737 burst into flames on the runway at Manchester Airport, killing 55 people.
2004 "The Scream" (1910 painted version) and "Madonna", two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway.
2008 Paedophile and former pop singer Gary Glitter was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register after arriving back in the UK. He had spent 27 months in a Vietnam jail for abusing two girls.
2011 Songwriter and producer Jerry Leiber (Leiberman and Stoller) died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 78 from cardio-pulmonary failure.
2014 John Lennon's killer, 59-year-old Mark David Chapman, was denied parole by New York State officials for the eighth time.
2015 A vintage Hawker Hunter plane crashes onto the A27 dual carriageway road during the Shoreham airshow in Britain killing at least 11.
2016 It was reported that pills seized from the home of Prince contained the dangerously powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl but were mislabelled. Officials investigating the artist's death said the pills were labelled as hydrocodone, a weaker type of opioid. Autopsy results released in June revealed Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose.

 

[Muteswan]

23rd August
79 Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on feast day of Vulcan, Roman god of fire (goes on to destroy Pompeii).
1305 Scottish patriot William Wallace was hanged, beheaded, and quartered in London, and his body parts were later displayed in different cities.
1617 1st one-way streets open (London).
1793 French Revolution: The National Convention adopts the levée en masse, conscripting all able-bodied men between 18 and 25 for military service during the French Revolutionary Wars.
1799 Napoleon leaves Egypt for France en route to seize power.
1839 Britain captured Hong Kong as a base as it prepared for war with China. The ensuing 3 year conflict was later to be known as the First Opium War.
1912 Gene Kelly, American actor (An American in Paris; On The Town) and dancer (Singin' in the Rain), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1996).
1914 World War I: The Battle of Mons - the first major battle of World War I.
1926 Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor and silent movie idol (The Sheik, Eagle), dies of a relapse of pleuritis in NY at 31.
1933 First televised boxing match — 6-round exhibition at Broadcasting House in London between middleweights Archie Sexton and Lauri Raiteri; aired by BBC-TV.
1938 England's Test cricketer Len Hutton scored what was then a new world record test score of 364 against Australia at the Oval.
1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact and secretly divide Poland between themselves, setting the stage for World War II.
1940 German Luftwaffe begins night bombing on London.
1942 World War II: last cavalry charge in history takes place at Isbushenskij, Russia; the Italian Savoia Cavalleria charges Soviet infantry.
1944 US B-24 crashes into school in Freckelton England, 76 killed.
1946 Keith Moon, British rock drummer (The Who - "Bell Boy"), born in London, England (d. 1978).
1954 First flight of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.
1961 Police launched a murder hunt after a man was found shot dead and his companion seriously wounded in a lay-by in Bedfordshire. Valerie Storie, who survived the shooting, identified James Hanratty as her attacker. Hanratty was convicted of the murder in 1962 and sentenced to death, becoming one of the last people to be hanged in Britain before capital punishment was abolished.
1962 Born today, English musician and singer-songwriter Shaun Ryder, best known as the lead singer of the Happy Mondays.
1966 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the double a sided 'Yellow Submarine - Eleanor Rigby'.
1967 Enjoying a wild birthday party Keith Moon drummer with The Who drove his Lincoln car into a Holiday Inn swimming pool.
1969 Ibex, featuring vocalist Freddie Bulsara (later known as Freddie Mercury) played a gig at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, Lancashire, UK.
1969 The Rolling Stones started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Honky Tonk Women' the group's fifth US No.1.
1974 John Lennon reports seeing a UFO in NYC.
1977 New, smaller pound notes, were introduced into the UK.
1980 David Bowie was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Ashes To Ashes' his second UK No.1.
1984 Born on this day in Wolverhampton, Ashley Williams, former Swansea City and Wales football international, who qualified for Wales through his Welsh grandfather from Gelli in the Rhondda Fawr valley. Williams was the captain of the Welsh team during their memorable Euro 16 campaign, in which they lost in the semi-final to the eventual winners, Portugal.
1987 15-year old boy hijacks KLM B737, demands $1 billion.
1990 East & West Germany announced that they would unite on Oct 3.
1990 Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein appeared on state television with western hostages, provoking a storm of outrage.
1996 Osama bin Laden issues message entitled "A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places".
2004 British athlete Kelly Holmes wins 1st leg of her 800/1,500m double at the Athens Olympics taking the gold medal in 1:56.38.
2005 Hurricane Katrina forms over the Bahamas, later becoming a category 5 hurricane.
2007 Hashtag invented and first used in a tweet by US product designer Chris Messina.
2011 Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the 2011 Libyan Civil War.
2015 12 year old boy trips and rips 17th-century painting "Flowers" by Paolo Porpora worth $1.5m at exhibition in Taiwan.
2020 US Republican party convention begins by formally renominating Donald Trump for a second presidential term.

 

[Muteswan]

24th August
79 Believed until 2018 to be the date of the massive eruption of Mt. Vesuvius which buried the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae, killing untold thousands. Latest evidence suggests the eruption occurred after 17 October.
410 Rome overrun by Visigoths under Alaric I for the first time in nearly 800 years, seen as the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
1215 Pope Innocent III declares the Magna Carta invalid.
1349 6,000 Jews, blamed for the Plague, are killed in Mainz.
1814 British forces captured Washington DC and set the White House on fire.
1853 1st potato chips (crisps) prepared by chef George Crum at Moon's Lake House, near Saratoga Springs, New York (popular legend says he invented though earlier recipes exist).
1875 Matthew Webb (Captain Webb) started his attempt from Dover England to become the first person to swim the English Channel. He reached Calais, France at 10.40 am the following morning, having been in the water for 22 hours.
1891 Thomas Edison patents motion picture camera.
1932 1st transcontinental non-stop flight by a woman, Amelia Earhart.
1933 Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, 1st President of the Palestinian National Authority (1994-2004) and 1994 Nobel peace prize winner, born in Cairo, Egypt (d. 2004).
1938 England beat Australia by an innings & 579 runs at The Oval.
1943 Born today in Brynaman, Carmarthenshire, Dafydd Iwan, singer, songwriter and politician, who was the president of Plaid Cymru (2003-2010) and whose paternal Grandfather, Fred Jones, was one of the founding members of Plaid Cymru.
1945 Molly Duncan, Scottish saxophonist (Average White Band), born in Montrose, Scotland. He died on 8 October 2019 aged 74.
1957 English player Jimmy Greaves' (17) 1st game for Chelsea.
1957 Stephen Fry, English comedian, writer and actor (Blackadder, QI), born in London.
1968 France becomes the world's fifth thermonuclear power with a detonation on Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific.
1975 Queen started recording 'Bohemian Rhapsody' at Rockfield studio's in Monmouth, Wales.
1981 American Mark Chapman was given a 20 year sentence for shooting John Lennon, the former member of the British group, The Beatles - in New York. Chapman has applied for parole every two years since 2000. All the applications have been rejected.
The 25 year old had shot Lennon five times at close range in front of The Dakota apartment building in New York City.
1995 Microsoft debuts Windows 95.
2006 The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is considered a Dwarf Planet.
2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing becomes the most watched event on TV ever - nearly 5 billion, 70% of world's population.
2011 Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple Inc., and is succeeded by Tim Cook, as a result of his illness.
2014 Richard Attenborough, English actor and director (Gandhi, Young Winston), dies at 90.
2015 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces that for the 1st time 1 billion people logged into Facebook.
sends cease-and-desist letter to President Trump demanding he stop using the band's songs at rallies.
2019 Britain's Prince Andrew denies knowing his friend Jeffrey Epstein was involved in sexual trafficking of underage girls after public accusations made against him.
2020 First documented case of a person being re-infected with COVID-19 a second time, a Hong Kong man four months after first infection.
2021 Charlie Watts, British rock and jazz drummer (Rolling Stones), dies at 80.

 

[Muteswan]

25th August
1537 The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.
1609 Galileo demonstrates his 1st telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
1688 Henry Morgan, Welsh pirate and privateer who raided Spanish settlements and shipping, dies at 53.
1819 James Watt, Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer and chemist (steam engine), dies at 83.
1867 Michael Faraday, English scientist discovered electromagnetic induction, invented 1st electric motor, dies at 75.
1875 Captain Matthew Webb makes the 1st observed and unassisted swim across the English Channel in 21 hours and 45 minutes.
1918 Leonard Bernstein, American conductor and composer (West Side Story), born in Lawrence, Massachusetts (d. 1990).
1919 The world's first international daily air service began between London and Paris.
1930 Sir Sean Connery, Scottish actor and producer (James Bond films, Indiana Jones), born in Edinburgh, Scotland. (d. 2020).
1933 Wayne Shorter, American jazz saxophonist and composer (Weather Report), born in Newark, New Jersey.
1945 Today the children who had been evacuated from English cities to the comparative safety of Wales, returned home.
Evacuation began in September 1939, with an operation nicknamed 'Pied Piper' when approximately 110,000 children were sent to Wales. The evacuees were all given a gas mask and food for the journey and had a label stating the child’s name, home address, school and destination, pinned to their clothing.
1948 Bradman scores 150 in 212 minutes in his last innings at Lord's.
1949 Martin Amis, English novelist (London Fields), born in Swansea, Wales.
1949 Gene Simmons [Chaim Witz], Israeli-American rock guitarist (KISS, Rock and Roll All Nite), born in Tirat Carmel, Israel.
1952 Geoff Downes, English keyboardist (Buggles, Yes, Asia), born in Stockport, Cheshire, England.
1960 The Shadows were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Apache'.
1967 The Beatles go to Wales to study transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
1968 Arthur Ashe becomes 1st African American to win the US singles championship.
1975 Bruce Springsteen's landmark third album "Born To Run" released.
1988 The first GCSE results were published.
1989 After 12-year, 4-billion-mile journey, Voyager 2 flies over cloudtops of Neptune & its moon Triton, sending back photographs of swamps.
1995 Andrew Symonds scores 254 Gloucs v Glam, world record 16 sixes.
2012 Neil Armstrong, American astronaut, dies from heart surgery complications at 82.
2012 Voyager 1 spacecraft, becomes the 1st spacecraft to enter interstellar space (launched in 1977).
2019 Ben Stokes with an unbeaten 135 leads England to a record run chase of 362-9 and victory over Australia in the 3rd cricket Test at Headingley, Leeds; keeps Ashes Series alive at 1-1.
2020 England's James Anderson becomes first fast bowler to reach 600 wickets in Test cricket; Pakistan batsman Azhar Ali caught at first slip on 5th day of 3rd Test at Southampton. Took his total to 629 today 2021.

 

[Muteswan]

26th August
55BC Julius Caesar crossed the English Channel for his invasion of Britain.
1346 Battle of Crécy, south of Calais in northern France; Edward III's English longbows defeat Philip VI's army, cannons used for first time in battle.
1676 Robert Walpole, English politician, 1st British Prime Minister (Whig: 1721-42), born in Houghton, Norfolk, England (d. 1745).
1682 English astronomer Edmond Halley first observes the comet named after him.
1819 Prince Albert, (Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) and consort to Queen Victoria, was born in Bavaria.
1910 Mother Teresa [Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu], Albanian-born Indian nun and founder of Missionaries of Charity (Nobel Peace Prize, 1979), born in Skopje, Ottoman Empire (d. 1997).
1930 Leonidas "Lon" Chaney, American actor nicknamed "the man of a 1000 faces" (The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera), dies after long illness at 47.
1942 World War II: The beginning of the Holocaust in western Ukraine. At 2.30 am the German security police evicted Jews from their houses, divided them into groups of 120, packed them in freight cars and deported 2000 to Belzec death camp. 500 of the sick, along with children, were murdered on the spot.
1959 British Motor Corporation introduces the Morris Mini-Minor, designed by Alec Issigonis, it was only 10 ft long but seated 4 passengers.
1963 Cilla Black made her first major concert appearance at The Odeon Cinema, Southport, on a bill with the Beatles.
1965 Sonny & Cher were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'I Got You Babe', the duo's only UK No.1.
1968 "Hey Jude" single released by the Beatles in US.
1974 Charles Lindbergh, American aviator who was 1st to fly solo across the Atlantic, dies of lymphoma at 72.
1975 Glen Campbell was at No.1 on the US Country singles chart with 'Rhinestone Cowboy'.
1980 Pete Comita replaces Tom Peterson as bassist of Cheap Trick.
1981 Steve Ovett recaptured the mile-run record which had been taken from him just a week earlier by Sebastian Coe. Ovett's new world record time was 3:48.40.
1985 French government denies knowledge of attack on the Greenpeace flagship the Rainbow Warrior.
1994 A man was given the world's first battery-operated heart in a pioneering operation in Britain.
2011 The 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's all-new composite airliner, receives certification from the EASA and the FAA.
2014 A report, commissioned by Rotherham Borough Council, showed that at least 1,400 children were subjected to appalling sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Children as young as 11 were raped by multiple perpetrators, abducted, trafficked to other cities in England, beaten and intimidated.
2015 WDBJ TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward are fatally shot live on TV by an ex-colleague in Moneta, Virginia.
2016 San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick kneels in protest during the US national anthem at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium while playing against the San Diego Chargers, objecting to racial injustice and police brutality in the US.
2020 Joe Ruby, American animator (co-creator of Scooby-Doo), dies at 87.

 

[Muteswan]

27th August
1869 1st international boat race (River Thames, Oxford beats Harvard).
1877 Charles Stewart Rolls, British auto manufacturer (Rolls-Royce Ltd), born in Berkeley Square, London (d. 1910).
1879 Rowland Hill, English inventor who introduced 1st adhesive postage stamp (1840), dies at 84.
1883 Krakatoa volcano, west of Java in Indonesia, erupts with a force of 1,300 megatons and kills approximately 40,000 people.
1896 Britain defeats Zanzibar in a 38-minute war (9:02 AM-9:40 AM). Shortest recorded war in history.
1896 Leon Theremin, Russian-Soviet electronic musical instruments inventor, born in St. Petersburg, Russia (d. 1993).
1900 Britain's first long distance bus service began between London and Leeds. The journey took 2 days!
1908 Sir Donald Bradman AC, Australian Cricket Batsman and captain (52 Tests; 6,996 runs @ WR 99.94 average; HS 334; 29 x 100s), born in Cootamundra, Australia (d. 2001).
1932 200,000 English textile workers strike.
1950 1st transmission of a TV programme from continental Europe shown on BBC.
1955 "Guinness Book of World Records" 1st published.
1957 Bernhard Langer, German golfer (US Masters 1985, 93; 42 European Tour titles), born in Anhausen, Germany
1964 Walt Disney's "Mary Poppins" directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke premieres in Los Angeles.
1965 The Beatles spend an evening with Elvis Presley, at his Los Angeles, California home.
1966 The Beach Boys 'God Only Knows' peaked at No.2 on the UK singles chart.
1967 Brian Epstein, English music entrepreneur and manager (Beatles), dies of an accidental barbiturate overdose at 32.
1979 Warrenpoint ambush: 18 British Army soldiers killed when Provisional IRA explode two roadside bombs as a British convoy passes Narrow Water Castle.
1979 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and last Viceroy of India, is killed along with three companions, two of them children by the IRA when his boat is blown up near Sligo, Ireland.
1990 Stevie Ray Vaughan, American blues guitarist (Texas Flood; "Pride And Joy"; David Bowie - "Let's Dance"), dies in a helicopter crash at 35.
1990 Market prices plunge as OPEC nears informal agreement to increase output to cover shortfall due to invasion; cash market trading experiences abrupt decline.
1995 The Rugby Union authorities announced that the amateur game was turning professional.
2003 Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
2008 Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be nominated by a major political party for President of the United States.
2015 "The Shepherd's Crown" by Terry Pratchett published by Doubleday, 5 months after the author's death, last book in the Discworld series.
2018 Former Spice Girl Mel B announces she is entering rehab for alcohol and sex addiction following her acrimonious divorce.
2019 The death of 19 year old Harry Dunn, following a motocycle collision with a car, close to RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire. The car was driven by Anne Sacoolas, former CIA operative and the wife of Jonathon Sacoolas, a CIA operative working at the United States Air Force listening station. Sacoolas admitted that she had been driving the car on the wrong side of the road. The collision became the subject of a diplomatic dispute when Sacoolas left the country shortly after the incident and the US embassy claimed that she had diplomatic immunity as the wife of a US agent working in the UK.
2020 David Mercer, Welsh television sports presenter (BBC tennis; Eurosports) and tennis umpire (Wimbledon men's final 1984), dies at 70. David was born in Swansea and went to Dynevor School.

 

[Muteswan]

28th August
1609 English explorer Henry Hudson, discovers and explores Delaware Bay.
1833 The House of Commons approved the Abolition Act, introduced earlier by Thomas Buxton, abolishing slavery throughout most of the British Empire.
1837 Pharmacists John Lea & William Perrins manufacture Worcestershire Sauce.
1850 Richard Wagner's opera "Lohengrin" premieres at Weimar, Germany.
1859 A geomagnetic storm causes the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and even as far afield as Japan.
1884 First known photograph of a tornado is made near Howard, South Dakota.
1898 Caleb Bradham renames his carbonated soft drink "Pepsi-Cola".
1922 1st Walker Cup: US beats England 8-4.
1930 Windsor Davies, British actor (It Ain't Half Hot Mum), born in London, England (d. 2019).
1933 For the first time, a BBC-broadcasted appeal was used by the police in tracking down a wanted man (murder suspect Stanley Hobday).
1939 Gen Bernard Montgomery ("Monty") becomes commander of 3rd "Iron" Infantry division.
1956 Australia clings on for a draw in 5th Test at The Oval, London; England retain cricket Ashes with Jim Laker's 46 wickets a record series haul.
1963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I have a dream" speech addressing the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom civil rights march at Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.
1965 1st Subway sandwich shop opens in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
1965 The Beach Boys 'California Girls' was at No.3 on the US singles chart.
1967 Asif Iqbal & Intikhab Alam make 190 stand for 9th wkt v Eng.
1968 The Beach Boys were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Do It Again'.
1969 Jack Black, American actor (High Fidelity, Kung Fu Panda), comedian and singer (Tenacious D), born in Santa Monica, California.
1972 Alice Cooper was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'School's Out'.
1973 "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple goes gold.
1973 "Let's Get It On" 13th studio album by Marvin Gaye is released.
1980 First use of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine to scan the human body at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Scotland.
1981 For the third time in 10 days, a world record in the mile run was set. Sebastian Coe, who broke Steve Ovett's record on August 19th and lost it to Ovett on August 26th , broke it again - by a full second - in Brussels, Belgium. Coe's new record time was 3:47.33.
1992 Test cricket debut of Muttiah Muralitharan, vs Australia at Colombo.
1994 Thousands of shops throughout England and Wales opened legally for the first time on a Sunday, following a change in the Sunday trading laws.
1996 The divorce of Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Princess Diana was finalized in a decree absolute issued in London's High Court.
2003 An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.
2004 British athlete Kelly Holmes secured a place in Olympic history by winning the 1500m gold in Athens. The runner won the 800m earlier and thus became the first Olympic Briton in 84 years to achieve the middle-distance double.
2004 A huge upset at the Athens Olympic Stadium in the men's 4×100m relay; Great Britain 38.07 edges the United States 38.08 to take the gold medal.
2016 The last remaining 22 branches of BHS closed, (see ©BB picture) bringing an end to 88 years of British retail history.
2017 North Korea launches missile that flies over Japan, the country's J-Alert warning system warns people to take cover.
2019 Climate change activist Greta Thunberg arrives in New York after sailing across the Atlantic in an emissions-free voyage.
2019 British PM Boris Johnson prorogues parliament, suspending it for 5 weeks to limit opposition to a no deal Brexit, prompting a furious backlash.
2020 Chadwick Boseman, American actor (Black Panther), dies of colon cancer at 42.

 

[Muteswan]

29th Aug
29 John the Baptist, beheaded.
708 Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time.
1640 English King Charles I signs a peace treaty with Scotland.
1831 Michael Faraday demonstrates 1st electric transformer at the Royal Institute, London.
1833 Britain’s 1st Factory Act becomes law "to regulate the Labour of Children and young Persons in the Mills and Factories of the United Kingdom".
1842 The Treaty of Nanking was signed between the British and the Chinese, ending the Opium War, and leasing the Hong Kong territories to Britain.
1882 The England cricket team lost to Australia, in England, for the first time. An 'obituary' printed in the Sporting Times, talked of 'the Ashes' of English Cricket being taken back to Australia. Test Series between the two countries are now played for 'The Ashes'.
1883 Seismic sea waves created by Krakatoa eruption create a rise in English Channel 32 hrs after explosion.
1885 Gottlieb Daimler receives German patent for a motorcycle.
1895 At the George Hotel, Huddersfield, twenty-one rugby clubs met to form the Northern Union. In 1922 the Union was renamed the Rugby League.
1898 The Goodyear tyre company founded.
1915 Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (Casablanca, Cactus Flower), born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1982).
1920 Charlie "Bird" Parker, American jazz saxophonist ("Ornithology"), born in Kansas City, Kansas (d. 1955).
1923 Richard Attenborough, English actor and director (Gandhi, Jurassic Park, Young Winston), born in Cambridge, England (d. 2014).
1929 German airship Graf Zeppelin ends a round-the-world flight.
1930 The last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda are voluntarily evacuated to other parts of Scotland.
1958 Michael Jackson, American recording artist, dancer, and King of Pop ("Thriller"; Billie Jean"; "Bad"), born in Gary, Indiana (d. 2009).
1958 Cliff Richard and the Drifters release single "Move It", Richards debut single. Credited as 1st British Rock n Roll song.
1964 Roy Orbison's 'Oh, Pretty Woman' was released in the US.
1966 British group The Beatles gave their last live concert performance to a crowd of around 25,000 at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, USA.
1967 Final TV episode of "The Fugitive" starring David Janssen watched by 78 million people. Who was the one armed man?
1982 Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress (Casablanca, Gaslight), dies on her 67th birthday.
1987 Rick Astley's debut hit 'Never Gonna Give You Up', started a five-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart.
1994 British band Oasis release their debut album "Definitely Maybe", becomes fastest-selling album ever in UK.
1997 Netflix is founded by Marc Randolph and Reed Hasting in Scotts Valley, California as an online DVD rental business.
2005 Hurricane Katrina makes 2nd and 3rd landfall as a category 3 hurricane, devastating much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida Panhandle. Kills more than 1,836, causes over $115 billion in damage.
2011 Private security firm G4S sacked two members of staff who tagged the false leg of 29 year old Rochdale offender Christopher Lowcock, allowing him to remove it and flout a court-imposed curfew for driving and drug offences, as well as possession of an offensive weapon.
2012 Banana Spider venom is found to be effective in relieving erectile dysfunction.
2012 The USADA claims to have stripped Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles.
2016 Gene Wilder [Jerome Silberman], American actor (Blazing Saddles, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), dies at 83.
2018 Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond resigns from the Scottish National Party amid sexual abuse allegations.
2019 Scientists announce there is no single 'gay' gene with genetics accounting for at most 25% of same-sex behavior, in study published in "Science".

 

[Muteswan]

30th August
1146 A conference of European leaders outlawed the crossbow. It was hoped that by banning the weapon, wars would eventually end.
1682 William Penn sailed from England. He later established the colony of Pennsylvania.
1720 Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and Member of Parliament, born in Cardington, Bedfordshire (d. 1796).
1791 The British Ordnance Survey (mapping agency) was founded.
1797 Mary Shelley, English author (Frankenstein), born in London, England (d. 1851).
1835 Melbourne, Australia is founded.
1860 The first British tramway, operated by the Birkenhead Street Railway, was inaugurated by an American, George Francis Train.
1871 Ernest Rutherford [1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson], New Zealand physicist and father of nuclear physics (Nobel 1908), who was the first to split an atom,born in Brightwater, New Zealand (d. 1937).
1895 Belgium begins compulsory Roman Catholic education.
1915 Born on this day in Swansea, Lillian May Davies, former fashion model who became a Swedish Princess.
1901 English engineer Hubert Cecil Booth patents the powered vacuum cleaner.
1930 Warren Buffett, American business magnate (world's wealthiest person in 2008), born in Omaha, Nebraska.
1930 Ernie Ball, American entrepreneur and musician who pioneered the development of guitar-related products, born in Santa Monica, California (d. 2004).
1939 John Peel, English DJ and Broadcaster (BBC Radio 1), born in Heswell, Merseyside (d. 2004).
1940 J. J. Thomson, English physicist who discovered the electron (Nobel 1906), dies at 83.
1941 Winston Churchill approves a nuclear programme (Tube Alloys), first national leader to do so.
1963 Hotline communication link between the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the Kremlin in Moscow installed. Often known as the "red telephone" no phones were ever used, relying instead on Teletype equipment, fax machines and most recently secure email.
1968 1st record released on Apple label in UK is The Beatles single "Hey Jude".
1969 One Hit Wonders Zager and Evans started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'In The Year 2525.
1979 1st recorded occurrence of a comet hitting the sun, releases energy equal to one million hydrogen bombs.
1979 Cricketer Ian Botham passes 1000 runs and 100 wickets in Tests in his 21st match for England.
1985 Richard Duffy, Welsh footballer, born in Swansea, Wales.
1989 Billy Joel fired his manager and former brother in law Frank Weber, after an audit revealed discrepancies. Joel took Weber to court and sued for $90 million.
1993 150,000,000th visitor to Eiffel Tower.
2003 Charles Bronson, American actor (The Dirty Dozen, Death Wish), dies at 81.
2008 "Slumdog Millionaire" based on the novel "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup, directed by Danny Boyle and starring Dev Patel premieres at the Telluride Film Festival.
2015 English author Frederick Forsyth (The Day of the Jackal) reveals that he worked for MI6 for more than 20 years.
2017 Late author Terry Pratchett' unfinished works destroyed by steamroller as per his instructions.
2019 Outlook for the Great Barrier Reef downgraded to very poor according to official Australian report.
2020 Global cases of COVID-19 pass 25 million with death toll at 843,000.

 

[Neath_Jack]

On this day 1968, Gary Sobers made cricketing history by hitting six sixes off one over from Malcolm Nash, in a match between Nottinghamshire and Glamorgan in Swansea. Sobers hit the final six out of the ground "all the way to Swansea" as Wilf Wooller put it in his television commentary.