Today in History


Birthdays 🎂

1815 John McDouall Stuart, Australian explorer, born in Dysart, Fife, Scotland

1876 C. J. Dennis, Australian poet (The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke), born in Auburn, South Australia

1894 Vic Richardson, Australian cricket batsman and captain (19 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 138; South Australia) and SANFL player (Magarey Medal 1920 Sturt FC), born in Adelaide, Australia

1914 Graeme Bell, Australian jazz pianist, band leader, and composer, born in Richmond, Victoria, Australia

1917 John Cornforth, Australian-British chemist (Nobel Prize 1975), born in Sydney, Australia

1960 Andrew Voss, Australian television personality (Fox League), born in Sydney, Australia

1980 Sara Carrigan, Australian cyclist (Olympic gold, road race 2004), born in Gunnedah, New South Wales

2000 Ariarne Titmus, Australian swimmer (Olympic gold 200/400m 2021, 400m & 4x200m
2024; World C'ship gold 400m, 4x200m 2019), born in Launceston, Australia

Deaths

1984 Don Tallon, Australian cricket wicket-keeper (21 Tests, 58 dismissals, 2 x 50s; Queensland CA), dies of heart disease at 68
 

September 7th
1695: Henry Every Raids The Mughal Ship Ganj-i-SawaiEnglish pirate Henry Every raids the Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai in the Indian Ocean. Referred to as the most profitable raid in piracy history, the attack earned Every the equivalent of £115 million today.

1665 The death of George Viccars, the first plague victim to die in the village of Eyam in Derbyshire. The plague raged for 14 months. Out of a population of 350 people, only 80 survived. 1735 The birth of Thomas Coutts, son of a wealthy Scottish merchant. He and his brother James founded a banking house in London.



1838 Grace Darling and her father rescued the crew of the Forfarshire, a steamer wrecked off the Northumberland coast, close to the Longstone Lighthouse .. She became a national heroine.
 
7th September

1571 Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, was arrested for his role in the Ridolfi plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots.

1940 The German air force unleashed a wave of heavy bombing raids on London, killing hundreds of civilians and injuring many more.

1907 The Lusitania set sail from Liverpool for New York on her maiden voyage.

1978 While walking across Waterloo Bridge in London, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was assassinated by a Bulgarian secret police agent using a ricin pellet fired from a specially-designed umbrella.

2013 New Yorker Marin Alsop become the first woman to lead the Last Night of the Proms in its 118-year history.
 

1880
George Ligowsky patents a device to throw clay pigeons for trapshooters
1915
Johnny Gruelle patents his 'Raggedly Ann' doll
1923
Interpol is formed in Vienna, the world's largest international police organization with 196 countries,HQ's in Lyon, France. The org focuses on 3 major areas are transnation crime, terrorism, cybercrime& organized crime
1963
NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame officially opens in Canton,Ohio
1979
ESPN{Entertainment & Sports Programming} launches hosted by Lee Leonard&George Grande. The 1st event covered was a slo- pitch softball game between Milwaukee Schlitzes vs. Kentucky Bourbons
2021
El Salvador becomes the 1st country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender
 
On This Day In History, August 8th

1988 – 8888 Uprising in Myanmar Begins
The pro-democracy uprising began as a student protest in Burma’s capital city, Yangon. Hundreds and thousands of protesters came out on the streets to protest against the one-party rule by General Ne Win. The protests lasted for over a month and were violently put down by the government. They ended after the State Peace and Development Council, a group of senior military officers, took over the government in a coup and installed a military junta. The uprisings get their name from the date the protests began - August 8, 1988.

1974 – Nixon Announces His Resignation
The 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon’s resignation came as response to the Watergate Scandal. The scandal erupted after it was revealed that the Nixon government was involved in the cover-up of a break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Complex. The revelations prompted Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against Nixon. His resignation made him the first president in American history to resign while in office.

1969 – Photographer Iain Macmillan Takes an Iconic Photograph of the Beatles
One of the most recognisable images of the 20th century, the photograph was taken in the middle of Abbey Road in London and showed all the members of the popular rock band, The Beatles, crossing the road on a zebra crossing. The photograph was used as a cover for their 11th album, Abbey Road.

1967 – ASEAN is Founded
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is an economic and political organisation which was formed after the heads of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand signed the Bangkok Declaration. The purpose of the organisation is to promote regional peace and stability and encourage economic development in the region. Today, ASEAN has 10 member states.

1908 – Wright Brothers Publicly Show Off Their Flying Machine For the First Time
The human air flight pioneers displayed their flying machine and its capabilities at a racecourse at Le Mans, France, 5 years after they made their first successful flight in 1903. The flight piloted by Wilbur lasted only 1 minute and 45 seconds, captured the imagination of their audiences, and silenced their critics and doubters.
 
Births on August 8 🎂

1981 – Roger Federer
Swiss tennis player

1981 – Harel Skaat
Israeli singer-songwriter

1969 – Faye Wong
Chinese singer-songwriter, actress

1953 – Nigel Mansell
English race car driver

1937 – Dustin Hoffman
American actor

Deaths on August 8 🪦

1985 – Louise Brooks
American actress, dancer

1973 – Dean Corll
American serial killer

1944 – Michael Wittmann
German SS officer

1909 – Mary MacKillop
Australian saint, co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart

1827 – George Canning
English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
 
September 8th1664 – The Dutch Surrender New Amsterdam



On September 8, 1664, the Dutch formally surrendered New Amsterdam to the English, marking a significant shift in control of the region. The surrender followed a relatively bloodless confrontation, as the English fleet, dispatched by King Charles II and commanded by Colonel Richard Nicolls, easily overpowered the Dutch defenses. The English renamed the city New York in honor of the Duke of York, who later became King James II.





1727 A barn fire during a puppet show in the village of Burwell, Cambridgeshire, killed 78 people (51 of them children). The doors had been nailed shut to prevent further people getting in, a simple act which was key to the tragedy which resulted. On 8th September 2005, a plaque was unveiled at the site of the barn in memorial of the fire.

1968 The Beatles perform ‘Hey Jude’ on the David Frost Show before a specially invited Audience.
 
1930
U, S. inventor, Richard Gurley Drew invents Scotch tape
1956
Harry Belafonte's album' Calypso' hits #1 on album charts, stays there for 31 weeks. The hit single 'Day -O' The Banana Boat' song hits #5 on singles chart. In the 1988 movie 'Beetle Juice' there is a funny scene in the dining room as the actors dance to it
1974
motorcycle daredevil, Evel Kneivel attempts to jump across Snake River Canyon in Idaho but fails, he only suffered minor injuries
1990
Ellis Island Historical site opens on Ellis Island in NYC
2022
Queen Elizabeth II, United Kingdom's longest serving monarch at 70 yrs, dies at Balmoral Castle. Her eldest son, Charles inherits the throne as King Charles
 
On This Day In History, August 9th

1965 – Singapore Leaves Malaysia
The Southeast Asian Island country had joined a Malaysian Federation in 1963 as part of the Malaysia Agreement. In 1965, due to disagreements between leaders of the other members of the federation and Singaporean leaders and race tensions, the Malaysian parliament decided to expel Singapore from the Federation. The country reluctantly became independent on August 9 under the leadership of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

1945 – An Atomic Bomb is dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki
3 days after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the city of Nagasaki was destroyed by a 21 kiloton atomic bomb nicknamed Fat Boy. About 40 to 80 thousand people were estimated killed during this American-led attack towards the end of the Second World War. A few days later on August 15, Japan surrendered to the Allies, effectively bringing the War to a close by September, 1945.


1942 – Quit India Movement Begins in India
The civil disobedience movement against the British colonists was spearheaded by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhi had called for peaceful protests in a speech a day earlier at the Gowalia Tank Maidan, Mumbai. In the speech, he made a call of “do or die” and asked his followers to adopt nonviolence when interacting with the British. The movement began with the British imprisoning the Congress Party leadership, including Gandhi. The British ruled India from 1858, when the British Crown took over control of the country from the British East India Company. India gained its independence on August 15, 1947.

1930 – Betty Boop Makes Her Debut

1854 – Henry David Thoreau Publishes Walden
 
Births on August 9th 🎂

1981 – Li Jiawei
Singaporean table tennis player

1963 – Whitney Houston
American singer, actress, producer, and model

1947 – Roy Hodgson
English football manager

1922 – Philip Larkin
English poet

1896 – Jean Piaget
Swiss psychologist

Deaths on August 9th 🪦

2012 – David Rakoff
Canadian/American author, actor

1996 – Frank Whittle
English engineer, inventor developed the jet engine

1995 – Jerry Garcia
American singer-songwriter, guitarist

1975 – Dmitri Shostakovich
Russian composer

1962 – Hermann Hesse
German writer, Nobel Prize laureate
 

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