Today in History

On This Day In History, August 17th

2008 Michael Phelps earned his 8th Gold Medal in the 2008 Olympics

The American champion swimmer won a 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 Games, a record previously held by American swimmer Mark Spitz.

1978 by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman became 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 Preque Isle, Maine to a barley field near Paris.

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 gained independence from the French
France had occupied Gabon since the latter part of the 1800's. 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 an unified colony.
 

Births On This Day, August 17th 🎂

1960 Sean Penn
American actor, director

1949 Norm Coleman
American politician

1943 Robert De Niro
American actor

1911 Mikhail Botvinnik
Russian chess player

1786 Davy Crockett
American soldier, politician

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.

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 witch craft in one of 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
 
August 18th1783 A huge fireball meteor was seen across Britain. Analysis of observations indicated that the meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere over the North Sea, before passing over the east coast of Scotland and England and the English Channel. It finally broke up, after a passage within the atmosphere of around a thousand miles over south-western France or northern Italy.
 
1909
Yukio Ozaki, mayor of Japan presents Washington,DC 2,00 cherry trees to Pres Taft. He deices they should be planted by the Potomac River
1930
Eastern Airlines begins passenger service,ceases operation in 1991 due to financial problems
1956
Elvis Presley's double A side single' Hound Dog'& 'Don't Be Cruel' hit #1 on the music charts, stays there for 11 weeks
1983
12 yr old, Samantha Druce becomes the youngest woman to swim the English Channel, took her 15 hrs 22 min
2019
Iceland holds a formal ceremony for the 1st glacier lost to climate change at the site of Okjokull Glacier
In 1901 it was 15 kilometers{ 6 square miles} in 2019 less than 1 square kilometer
 
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.

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.

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.

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
 
19th August

1274 The coronation of Edward I, known as 'Longshanks', as he was 6 feet 2 inches tall.

1960 Moscow jails American U-2 spy pilot. The United States pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Soviet military court.

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.

1989 The offshore, North Sea pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, was raided and silenced by the British and Dutch governments. However broadcasts resumed on 1st October of that year and continued on low/moderate power until fuel for the generator ran out on 6th November 1990. Radio Caroline currently broadcasts 24 hours a day via the Eutelsat satellite and Internet radio.

1991 A group of hardline members of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union attempted a coup against Mikhail Gorbachev. The coup was ultimately unsuccessful, but it significantly weakened Gorbachev's position and accelerated the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
 
19th August

1274 The coronation of Edward I, known as 'Longshanks', as he was 6 feet 2 inches tall.

1960 Moscow jails American U-2 spy pilot. The United States pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Soviet military court.

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.

1989 The offshore, North Sea pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, was raided and silenced by the British and Dutch governments. However broadcasts resumed on 1st October of that year and continued on low/moderate power until fuel for the generator ran out on 6th November 1990. Radio Caroline currently broadcasts 24 hours a day via the Eutelsat satellite and Internet radio.

1991 A group of hardline members of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union attempted a coup against Mikhail Gorbachev. The coup was ultimately unsuccessful, but it significantly weakened Gorbachev's position and accelerated the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Radio Caroline currently broadcasts online,on DAB,on Old fashioned medium wave in south east England and from the boat one weekend a month.
Has three stations and is now fully licensed.
 
August 19th

1897 The London Electric Cab Company began operating the electric-powered taxi cabs in London's West End and the City. They had a range of up to 30 miles, and a top speed of 9 miles an hour. The cabs prove uneconomical and were withdrawn in 1900.
 
August 20th

1924 Although considered the likely winner, British sprinter Eric Liddel refused to run in the 100m heats at the Paris Olympics because it took place on a Sunday. He went on to set a new record when he won the 400 metres on a weekday
 


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