Tag: August

August 31st Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 31st History Highlights1888 – 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.1997 – Princess Diana was… Read More

August 30th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 30th History Highlights70 – 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 maiden voyage.If you were… Read More

August 29th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 29th History Highlights29 – 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, 1841.1967 – The Fugitive… Read More

August 28th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 28th History Highlights1922 – 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 Money, Mississippi.1963 –… Read More

August 27th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 27th History Highlights1776 – 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 oil well.2003 –… Read More

August 26th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 26th History Highlights1789 – 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 affected the atmosphere… Read More

August 25th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 25th History Highlights1835 – The first Great Moon Hoax article was published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilization on the Moon.1939 – The Wizard of Oz was released in theaters.1944- Paris was liberated from Nazi forces.2012 – Richard III’s remains were found… Read More

August 24th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 24th History Highlights1682 – 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.August 24, 1960 Birthday… Read More

August 23rd Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 23rd History Highlights79 – Mount Vesuvious the volcano erupted and buried the ancient Roman city of Pompeii under a thick carpet of volcanic ash.1991 – The World Wide Web was available to the public.2006 – Pluto was demoted from full planet status to “dwarf planet”.If you were born… Read More

August 22nd Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 22nd History Highlights1851 – 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 Conflict began.1989 – 1989… Read More

August 21st Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 21st History Highlights1911 – 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, VA Library and… Read More

August 20th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 20th History Highlights1920 – 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 of his co-workers, injured… Read More

August 19th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 19th History Highlights1812 – 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, Ohio.If you were born… Read More

August 18th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 18th History Highlights1872 – 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 were born on August 18th,You… Read More

August 17th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 17th History Highlights1807 – Robert Fulton’s steamboat begin its first trip between Albany and New York City.1978 – Maxie Anderson, Larry Newman, and Ben Abruzzo became the first people to make a transatlantic trip across the ocean, landing in Miserey, France after a 137 hour trip from Maine.1998… Read More

August 16th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 16th History Highlights1896 – 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 later by Ringo Starr.August… Read More

August 15th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 15th History Highlights1515 – Panama City, Panama was founded.1870 – The Transcontinental Railway was completed at Promontory Point, UT, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific ports via rail lines.1914 – The Panama Canal opened, although the first ship to pass through, The SS Ancon, went through the 50-mile waterway… Read More

August 14th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 14th History Highlights1592 – 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, to raise money for… Read More

August 13th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 13th History Highlights1997 – 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, FilmIf you were born on August 13th,You were likely conceived the week of… November 20th (prior year)The Berlin WallThe… Read More

 August 12th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 12th History Highlights1492 – Christopher Columbus arrived in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World.1865 – Joseph Lister, British surgeon, and scientist, performed the first antiseptic surgery.1952 – Thirteen Jewish writers associated with the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC) were executed under orders from Joseph… Read More

  August 11th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 11th History Highlights1965 – 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, Harry PotterIf you were… Read More

August 10th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 10th History Highlights1846 – 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, Garth Brooks’ alter egoIf you… Read More

August 9th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 9th History Highlights1790 – 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 clouds.1974 – US… Read More

August 8th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 8th History HighlightsAugust 8, 1953 Birthday (fictional) Samuel Beckett, Quantum Leap, TV1962 – 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 “Odie” in the Garfield comic… Read More

August 7th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 7th History Highlights1782 – 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 space.1978 – Love Canal,… Read More

August 6th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 6th History Highlights1890 – 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, TV1926 – Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across… Read More

August 5th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 5th History Highlights1305 – 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 – Little Orphan Annie,… Read More

August 4th Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 4th History Highlights1693 – 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 his wife Abby, were… Read More

August 3rd Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 3rd History Highlights1492 – 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, the world’s first themed… Read More

August 2nd Fun Facts, Trivia and HistoryAugust 2nd History HighlightsAugust 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 the Gulf War.If you… Read More