Today in History

On This Day In History, August 15th

2015 North Korea Introduces Pyongyang Time
The East Asian country introduced the time change to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Japanese occupation of Korea. Before the change, North Korea was UTC+09:00. Since this day, the time in the country is UTC+08:30.

1973 US involvement in Vietnam ends
The Case–Church Amendment passed by the US Congress set August 15 as the deadline for the end of the US military involvement in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Because of this, the US ended all military offensives in Vietnam on this day.
 

Cont...

1969 The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens its doors to participants and spectators
The iconic music festival, popularly known as Woodstock was held in Bethel, New York at the 600-acre farm of farmer Max B. Yasgur. Over 400,000 people attended the festival, which is often thought to be a key moment in the anti-establishment movement that was gaining popularity in the United States.
 
1960 Congo gains its Independence
The Central African country came under French control in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, the French consolidated their territories in Central Africa to create the French Equatorial Africa, with Brazzaville as its capital. During the Second World War, when the Nazis occupied France, Brazzaville acted as the temporary capital of Free France. After violent protests and riots, the country became independent with Fulbert Youlou as its first President.
 

Deaths On This Day, August 15th 🪦

2011 Rick Rypien
Canadian ice hockey player

1975 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Bangladeshi politician, 1st President of Bangladesh

1935 Will Rogers
American actor

1907 Joseph Joachim
Austrian violinist

1118 Alexios I Komnenos
Byzantine Emperor
 
On This Day In History, August 16th

1987 First Day of Harmonic Convergence
The largest worldwide meditation event lasted for 2 days and was organized by new-age author José Argüelles. The dates for the event were chosen because of their astrological significance – on these days the Sun, the Moon, and 6 of the planets were aligned in a triangular position as seen from the Earth.

1960 Cyprus Attains Freedom From the British
The Mediterranean island country first came under British control in the early 20th century as a strategic British outpost. In 1925, it was formally added to the British Empire. the London and Zurich Agreements signed in February 1959 gave independence to Cyprus and set up a system of governance based on ethnicity.
 
Cont...
1954 First Issue of Sports Illustrated Hits the Newsstands
The sports magazine which is famous for its annual swimsuit issue was not profitable for the first few years of its existence. The boost in spectator sports eventually helped it become successful.

1898 Patent for Loop-the-Loop Roller Coaster is Awarded
The United States patent office awarded the patent for the loop-the-loop roller coaster to American inventor Edwin Prescott. First installed in Coney Island, New York, the roller coaster was able to carry only 4 people at a time.
 
Cont...
1858 The First Transatlantic Telegraph Message is sent
The message sent by Britain’s Queen Victoria to American President James Buchanan, read ‘Europe and America are united by telegraphic communication. Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill to men.’ The cable, which cut down the time of communication between the two continents was successful only for a few months. Technical difficulties led to the cable being closed in October of 1858.
 
Births On This Day, August 16th 🎂

1991 G.E.M.
Hong Kong singer-songwriter, actress

1958 Madonna
American singer-songwriter, actress, producer, director

1954 James Cameron
Canadian film director, screenwriter, producer

1913 Menachem Begin
Israeli politician, 6th Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Prize laureate

1815 John Bosco
Italian priest, educator
 
Deaths On This Day, August 16th 🪦

2003 Idi Amin
Ugandan dictator

2002 Abu Nidal
Palestinian militant leader

1977 Elvis Presley
American singer, guitarist, actor

1959 William Halsey, Jr.
American Admiral

1938 Robert Johnson
American singer-songwriter, guitarist
 
On This Day In History, August 17th

2008 Michael Phelps Earns his 8th Gold Medal in the 2008 Olympics
The American champion swimmer won the medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay race in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. With this medal, he broke the record for the most gold medals won by a person in a single Olympic game, a record previously held by American swimmer Mark Spitz.

1978 Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman become the first people to complete the world's First Transatlantic Balloon Flight
The feat was accomplished in a balloon called the Double Eagle II. It took Abruzzo, Anderson, and Newman 6 days to fly from Presque Isle, Maine to a barley field near Paris.
 
Cont...
1970 Venera 7 launched by the Soviet Union
Launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to land on another planet, Venus, and send data back to Earth. It entered Venus’ atmosphere in December 1970.

1960 Gabon gains independence from the French
France had occupied Gabon since the latter part of the 1800s. In 1910, the Equatorial country was added to French Equatorial Africa, a federation of France's Central African colonies. From 1934 to 1958, French Equatorial Africa was considered by France as a unified colony.
 
Deaths On This Day, August 17th 🪦

1988 Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
Pakistani politician, 6th President of Pakistan

1935 Charlotte Perkins Gilman
American sociologist, novelist

1880 Ole Bull
Norwegian violinist, composer

1850 José de San Martín
Argentinian general, politician, 1st President of Peru

1786 Frederick the Great
Prussian king
 
On This Day In History, August 18th

2005 Indonesia suffers a Massive Power Outage
Thought to be one of the biggest power outages in recent history, the Java-Bali outage affected about 100 million people. Electricity was restored to most areas within 6 hours.

1958 Lolita is First Published in the US
The highly controversial novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabakov detailed an adult man’s obsession over 12-year-old Dolores Haze, who he secretly calls Lolita.


1920 The State of Tennessee Passes the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution
This action by the Tennessee legislature brought the number of states passing the 19th Amendment to 36 and provided the necessary majority to ratify the amendment, which extended universal suffrage to women.
 
Cont...
1877 Martian Moon Phobos is Discovered
One of the two natural satellites of Mars, Phobos, was discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall. Hall also discovered Deimos, the other Martian Moon. Named after the Greek God of fear, Phobos orbits only 3700 miles from the surface of Mars, making it the Moon to orbit closest to its planet in the Solar System. Because of this, Phobos completes an orbit around Mars in 7 hours and 39 minutes.

1612 The Pendle witch trials begin
11 people - 9 women and 2 men - are tried for practicing witchcraft in one of the UK's most well-documented and followed witch trials. The trial lasts for two days and 10 of the accused are found guilty and executed on August 20.
 
Births On This Day, August 18th 🎂

1983 Cameron White
Australian cricketer

1962 Felipe Calderón
Mexican politician, 56th President of Mexico

1933 Roman Polanski
French/Polish director, producer, writer, actor

1910 Herman Berlinski
Polish/American composer

1750 Antonio Salieri
Italian composer

Deaths On This Day, August 18th 🪦

2009 Kim Dae-Jung
South Korean politician, 8th President of South Korea Nobel laureate

1990 B. F. Skinner
American psychologist, author

1945 Subhas Chandra Bose
Indian politician, activist

1850 Honoré de Balzac
French author, playwright

1227 Genghis Khan
Emperor
 
On This Day In History, August 19th

1991 Race riots break out in the Crown Heights area of New York city
The violent race riots broke out between African-American and Orthodox Jewish residents of Crown Heights after 2 children were accidentally run down by the motorcade of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, a leader of the Orthodox Jews. This resulted in a 3-day long riot that ended in the death of 2 men and several injuries.

1960 Sputnik 5 is launched by USSR
The Soviet spacecraft carried two dogs, Strelka and Belka, who became the first living beings to survive in space.
 
Cont...

1978 A fire at the Rex Cinema in Abadan, Iran, kills over 400 people
The incident which is considered to be a run-up to the Iranian Revolution occurred during the screening of The Deers, a film by Iranian director Masoud Kimiai. It is thought that 4 extremists locked the gates of the theater and set it on fire. Many people at the time believed that the fire was started by SAVAK, the Iranian intelligence agency.

1964 World’s First Geostationary Satellite is Launched
Syncom 3, a communications satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. A geostationary satellite is a manmade object that follows the Earth’s rotation around its axis. Because of this, it looks like it is not moving in the sky for observers on Earth. Like all geostationary satellites, Syncom 3 was placed in orbit about 22,00 miles from Earth, above the Equator and near the International Date Line. The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were broadcast to the United States with the help of this satellite.
 
Cont...
1919 Afghanistan Gains Independence From the United Kingdom
The Central Asian country came under British control in 1859, The country was considered to be a buffer for the British trade in opium and as a frontier to protect their interests in India. Despite trying several times to consolidate their rule over Afghanistan, the Afghan people remained hostile to British control and in 1919, King Amanullah declared Afghanistan to be independent from Britain’s protection. The declaration launched a war called the Third Anglo-Afghan War, which ended with the signing of the Rawalpindi Treaty on this day. The treaty granted Afghanistan independence from the British.
 
Births On This Day, August 19th 🎂

1946 Bill Clinton
American politician, 42nd President of the United States

1942 Fred Thompson
American politician, actor

1919 Malcolm Forbes
American publisher

1883 Coco Chanel
French fashion designer founded the Chanel Company

1871 Orville Wright
American aviation pioneer
 
Deaths On This Day, August 19th🪦

1994 Linus Pauling
American chemist, activist, Nobel Prize laureate

1977 Groucho Marx
American comedian, actor

1936 Federico García Lorca
Spanish poet, playwright, director

1895 John Wesley Hardin
American outlaw, gunfighter

14 Augustus
Roman Emperor
 
20th August 1960
Connie Francis begins working on her acting debut as filming for MGM's Here the Boys are starts in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
The movie would prove to be a box office success, but a planned sequel called Where The Girls Are was never produced.
 
20 August 1988
In the worst day of fires in Yellowstone National Park firestorms destroy over 150,000 acres of the park. This was the worst day of fire destruction in the park which saw a summer where over 1/3 of the park was destroyed with the fire gaining between 5 to 10 miles a day.

The Thames pleasure cruiser Marchioness packed with young party goers collides with the Bowbelle dredger on the River Thames.
The dredger Bowbelle ran into the Marchioness and due to the difference in sizes of the boats Bowbelle (2000 tons), Marchioness (90 tons) the pleasure cruiser was forced under the water by the larger boat and sank within a few seconds.
The death toll of the disaster is put at more than 50.
 

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