Tag: August

August 31st History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 31st History Highlights 1888 – Mary Ann Nichols was murdered; the first of Jack the Ripper’s confirmed victims. 1962 – Trinidad and Tobago became independent, within the British Commonwealth. 1980 – The Solidarity Movement began in Poland against the Soviet Union. It was led by Lech Walesa.… Read More

August 30th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 30th History Highlights 70 – Titus ended the siege of Jerusalem after destroying The Second Temple. 1967 – Thurgood Marshall was confirmed as the first African American Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 1984 – The Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-41-D) takes off on its… Read More

August 29th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 29th History Highlights 29 – The martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist at the order of King Herod. 1839 – The ship Amistad was seized by abducted African slaves. After capture and imprisonment, they were declared free by the United States Supreme Court on March 9, 1841.… Read More

August 28th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 28th History Highlights 1922 – The first radio ad took place on WEAF in NYC. It was a real estate commercial paid for by the Queensbosr Realty Corporation. 1955 – 14-year-old Emmett Till was beaten and killed for a reputed flirtatious comment to a white girl, in… Read More

August 27th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 27th History Highlights 1776 – In what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeated Americans under General George Washington in The Revolutionary War’s Battle of Long Island.. 1859 – Petroleum was discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world’s first commercially successful… Read More

August 26th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 26th History Highlights 1789 – The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was approved by the National Constituent Assembly of France. 1883 – Krakatoa erupted in Indonesia. It created tidal waves that killed thousands of people and was heard 3,000 miles away. It… Read More

August 24th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 24th History Highlights 1682 – William Penn received the area that is now the state of Delaware, and added it to his colony of Pennsylvania. 1932 – Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop, from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey.… Read More

August 22nd History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 22nd History Highlights 1851 – The first America’s Cup was won by the yacht ‘America’. America’s Cup is the oldest international sporting trophy. 1864 – Twelve nations signed the First Geneva Convention, establishing the rules of protection of the victims of armed conflicts. 1945 – The Vietnam… Read More

August 21st History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 21st History Highlights 1911 – The Mona Lisa was stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee. It was returned to the Louvre on January 4, 1914. Peruggia served six months in prison for the crime. 1939 – 5 young African-Americans were denied library cards at the Alexandria,… Read More

August 20th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 20th History Highlights 1920 – The first(?) commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), began operating in Detroit. 1920 – The National Football League was organized as the American Professional Football Conference in Canton, Ohio. 1986 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill shot and killed14… Read More

August 19th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 19th History Highlights 1812 – American frigate USS Constitution defeated the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, earning the nickname “Old Ironsides”. 1893 – Frank Wisner invented the Root Beer Float. 1934 – The first All-American Soap Box Derby was held in Dayton,… Read More

August 18th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 18th History Highlights 1872 – The first mail-order catalogs were published by Montgomery Ward. In 2000, the retail outlet was closed. 1920 – The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution granted women the right to vote. 1960 “The Pill” – birth control went on sale. If you… Read More

August 16th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 16th History Highlights 1896 – Gold was found in Rabbit Creek, leading to the Great Klondike Gold Rush in Canada. 1930 – The first color sound cartoon, Fiddlesticks, was released by Ub Iwerks. 1962 – Pete Best was discharged from The Beatles, to be replaced two days… Read More

August 14th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 14th History Highlights 1592 – The Falkland Islands were discovered by John Davis. 1935 – Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, creating a government pension system for the retired. 1975 – The Gager’s Diner softball team played the Bend’n Elbow Tavern team for 365 innings,… Read More

August 13th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 13th History Highlights 1997 – South Park, created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, debuted on Comedy Central. August 13, 2455 (fiction) Jason Vorhees was unfrozen in Space in Jason X, Film If you were born on August 13th, You were likely conceived the week of… November… Read More

August 11th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 11th History Highlights 1965 – Race riots (the Watts Riots) began in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California. On August 11, 1973, at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, NYC, hip hop was created by a guy named DJ Kool Herc. August 11, 1981 -Birthday (fictional) Ginny Weasley,… Read More

August 10th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 10th History Highlights 1846 – The Smithsonian Institution was founded. 1945 – Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers, effectively ending World War II. 1948 – Candid Camera, considered by many to be the first reality tv show, debuted on ABC. August 10, 1967 Birthday (fictional) Chris Gaines,… Read More

August 9th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 9th History Highlights 1790 – Robert Gray, sailing The Columbia, became the first person to circumnavigate the Earth, from and to Boston, MA. 1945 – The second atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. “Fat Boy” was dropped over Nagasaki, due to the city of Kokura blocked by… Read More

August 8th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 8th History Highlights August 8, 1953 Birthday (fictional) Samuel Beckett, Quantum Leap, TV 1962 – Sabado Gigante premiered on Chilean television. It concluded in 2015. 1963 – England’s Great Train Robbery, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England, £2.6 million was stolen. 1978 – featured the first appearance of… Read More

August 7th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 7th History Highlights 1782 – General George Washington ordered the creation of the badge that would become America’s Purple Heart. 1882 – The famous Hatfield & McCoy Feud began at the Kentucky/West Virginia border. 1959 – US satellite Explorer 6 took the first photograph of Earth from… Read More

August 6th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 6th History Highlights 1890 – The first electrocution as the death penalty was carried out in Auburn, NY. William Kemmler was executed for murdering his common-law wife, Matilde Ziegler. August 6, 1921 Birthday (fictional) Lucy Ricardo, I Love Lucy, TV 1926 – Gertrude Ederle became the first… Read More

August 5th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 5th History Highlights 1305 – William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance against England, was captured, tried, and executed by the English near Glasgow. 1583 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert established the first English colony in the New World, in (now) Newfoundland’s St. John’s harbor. August 5, 1924… Read More

August 4th History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 4th History Highlights 1693 – This date is traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon’s invention of champagne. 1821 – The Saturday Evening Post is published for the first time as a weekly newspaper. It is now published periodically throughout the year. 1892 – Andrew Jackson Bordon, along with… Read More

August 3rd History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 3rd History Highlights 1492 – Christopher Columbus sailed from Palos de la Frontera, Spain, with the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. 1852 – In the first American intercollegiate athletic event, Harvard University won the first Boat Race between Yale University and Harvard. 1946 – Santa Claus Land,… Read More

August 2nd History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 2nd History Highlights August 2, 1776 – The official signing of The Declaration of Independence took place in Philadelphia. 1943 – A Japanese destroyer sank the US torpedo boat PT 109, Future president John F. Kennedy and 10 other crewmen survived. 1990 – Iraq invaded Kuwait, instigating… Read More

August 1st History, Trivia and Fun Facts August 1st History Highlights 1834 – Slavery was abolished in Jamaica 1944 – The last entry for Anne Frank’s diary 1969 – The Zodiac Killer’s letters arrived at several San Fransisco newspapers. The killer was never caught. 1990 – Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau created the prototype HTML… Read More