1st AUGUST
Claudius (b. BC 10)
Richard Wilson (b. 1714)
Francis Scott Key (b. 1779)
Herman Melville (b. 1819)
Dame Rose Macauley (b. 1881)
Florence de Jong (b. 1896)
Lionel Bart (b. 1930)
Yves St-Laurent (b. 1936)
Jerry Garcia (b. 1942)
Denny Cordell (b. 1943)
Duncan I, King of Scotland (d. 1040)
Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (d. 1402)
Anne, Queen of Gt Britain & Ireland (d. 1714)
Richard Savage (d. 1743)
Charles Turner (d. 1857)
Calamity Jane (d. 1903)
Theodore Roethke (d. 1963)
Johnny Burnette (d. 1964)
Tooter Boatman (d. 1964)
Bud Powell (d. 1966)
Frances Farmer (d. 1970)
Paddy Chayefsky (d. 1981)
Pola Negri (d. 1987)
Joe Liggins (d. 1987)
John Ogdon (d. 1989)
Max Jones (d. 1993)
Sviatoslav Richter (d. 1997)
Nirad C Chaudhuri (d. 1999)
Macbeth becomes King of Scotland, 1040
Everlasting League, basis of Swiss Confederation, formed, 1291
Presbyterian Church of Scotland founded under John Knox, 1560
Columbus reaches America on 3rd voyage, naming it Isla Santa, Venezuela, 1498
George I proclaimed King of Great Britain, 1714
Doggett's Coat & Badge race 1st rowed, Thames, 1716
Foundation stone of Bank of England laid, 1732
Rule Britannia sung for 1st time, UK, 1740
Wearing of tartan prohibited, Scotland, 1747
Battle of Minsden, 1759
Joseph Priestley announces discovery of oxygen, Calne, 1774
1st savings bank opened, Hamburg, 1778
1st revolving illuminated lighthouse starts up, Marstrand, Sweden, 1781
1st US census completed, showing a population of nearly 4 million people, 1790
Kilogram introduced as 1st metric weight, France, 1793
Whisky Rebellion takes place, US, 1794
Battle of the Nile, Aboukir Bay, 1798
New London Bridge opened, 1831
Parliament frees all slaves on UK territory, 1833
Slavery abolished throughout British Empire, 1834
Rotherhithe Thames tunnel opened, 1842
Zion Methodist Church, 1st black church, established, San Francisco CA, 1852
Colorado, the Centennial State, becomes 38th state of the Union, 1876
Post Office begins inland parcel post service, UK, 1883
Kermadec Islands annexed to UK, 1886
Henry Perky and William Ford invent shredded wheat, Watertown NY, 1893
German Central Powers declare war on Russia, 1914
1st Mars Bars, made in Slough, go on sale, 1932
Glen Miller and Band record In The Mood, US, 1939
Musicians begin 2 year recording strike, US, 1942
Uprising against Germans, Warsaw, 1944
Post codes 1st introduced, Germany, 1944
1st aluminum-faced building, Alcoa Building, completed, Pittsburgh PA, 1953
1st solar-heated commercial building opened, Albuquerque NM, 1957
Dahomey becomes independent, 1960
Chubby Checker's The Twist released, US, 1960
Jim Clark wins world drivers' championship for 2nd time, German Grand Prix, 1965
Military coup takes place in Nigeria, 1966
University of Dundee constituted as separate university, 1967
LWT begins broadcasting, 1968
US Mariner 7 transmits 1st close-up TV pictures of Mars, 1969
½d ceases to be legal currency, 1969
Beatles Monthly 1st published, 1969
Concert For Bangla Desh takes place, Madison Square, New York NY, 1971
Bruce Springsteen records Born To Run, 914 Sound Studio, Blauvelt NY, 1974
Elizabeth, the Queen Mother becomes Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, 1979
MTV premiered, US, 1981
Eve Jackson completes 1st Bristol-Australia microlight aeroplane flight, 1987
Dave Stewart and Siobhan Fahey marry, 1987
1 dies in IRA bomb attack at Ingliss Barracks, Mill Hill, North London, 1988
Copyright, Designs & Patents Act comes into effect, 1989
1st Cruise missiles removed, Greenham Common, 1989
Ban on the export to Europe of British beef lifted, 1999
2nd AUGUST
John Tyndall (b. 1820)
Henry Olcott (b. 1832)
Elisha Gray (b. 1835)
Florence Pash (b. 1862)
Ernest Dowson (b. 1867)
Alexander, King of Serbia (b. OS 1876)
Jack L Warner (b. 1882)
Sir Arthur Bliss (b. 1891)
Myrna Loy (b. 1905)
Alec Clifton-Taylor (b. 1907)
Lord (Lionel) Murray of Epping Forest (b. 1922)
James Baldwin (b. 1924)
William II (William Rufus) (d. 1100)
Thomas Gainsborough (d. 1788)
Jacques Montgolfier (d. 1799)
Wild Bill Hickok (d. 1876)
Enrico Caruso (d. 1921)
Alexander Graham Bell (d. 1922)
Warren Harding (d. 1923)
Paul von Hindenberg (d. 1934)
Louis Blériot (d. 1936)
Alfred Witte (d. 1941)
Wallace Stevens (d. 1955)
Muir Mathieson (d. 1975)
Fritz Lang (d. 1976)
James Jamerson (d. 1983)
Raymond Carver (d. 1988)
William Burroughs (d. 1997)
Fela Kuti (d. 1997)
Shari Lewis (d. 1998)
Henri Cartier-Bresson (d. 2004)
Edward I returns to England, 1272
Great Cause lawsuit begins, to decide Scottish succession, Berwick, 1291
Quadruple Alliance against Spain conceived, London, 1718
1st purpose-built Royal Mail coach runs, Bristol-London, 1784
Napoleon declared Consul for Life, France, 1802
False teeth 1st patented, 1849
Government of India transferred to the Crown, 1858
British Colombia becomes a Crown Colony, 1858
Tower Subway, 1st tube railway, opened, London, 1860
Transatlantic cable snaps and is lost while being laid by Great Eastern, 1865
Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, published, 1865
1st trial run of San Francisco cable car, 1873
Greenwich Mean Time becomes legal time by Royal Assent, UK, 1880
Death duties 1st introduced, UK, 1894
Comin' Thro' The Rye, 1st commercially recorded vocal disc, released, UK, 1898
Potsdam Conference ends, 1945
Ready, Steady, Go! 1st broadcast, UK, 1963
Mods and Rockers clash, Hastings, 1964
Rubber bullets 1st used, Belfast, 1970
1st inter-racial wedding takes place, Mississippi, 1970
1st tracked Hovercraft delivered for testing track, 1971
Whirlwind devastates Gotham, nr Nottingham, 1984
Work begins on new Dartford bridge, 1988
Iraq invades and overthrows Kuwait, 1990
Maastricht Treaty ratified and Exchange Rate Mechanism suspended, UK, 1993
3rd AUGUST
James Wyatt (b. 1746)
Sir Joseph Paxton (b. 1801)
Elisha Graves Otis (b. 1811)
Lord (Stanley) Baldwin of Bewdley (b. 1867)
Rupert Brooke (b. 1887)
Dolores Del Rio (b. 1905)
Leon Uris (b. 1924)
Robert Buck (b. 1958)
Lucky Dube (b. 1964)
James II, King of Scotland (d. 1460)
Grinling Gibbons (d. 1721)
Sir Richard Arkwright (d. 1792)
William George Fargo (d. 1881)
Joseph Conrad (d. 1924)
Emile Berliner (d. 1929)
Colette (d. 1954)
Dr Stephen Ward (d. 1963)
Lenny Bruce (d. 1966)
Archbishop Makarios III (d. 1977)
Carolyn Jones (d. 1983)
Beryl Markham (d. 1986)
Ida Lupino (d. 1995)
Lord (Francis) Longford (d. 2001)
Arthur Lee (d. 2006)
Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (d. 2006)
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (d. 2008)
Hannibal defies Romans, Cannae, BC 216
Columbus sets sail in Santa Maria on 1st trip to America, Palos de la Frontera,
1492
1st recorded use of sealing wax, letter from Gerard Hermann to Germany, London,
1554
Hudson's Bay discovered by Henry Hudson, 1610
La Scala Opera House opened, Milan, 1778
Cornet 1st used in an orchestra, for 1st presentation of William Tell, Paris,
1829
July Revolution ends, Paris, 1830
Speke discovers source of Nile to be Lake Victoria, 1858
UK troops enter forbidden city of Lhasa, Tibet, 1904
Germany declares war on France, beginning 1st World War, 1914
1st aerial crop-dusting operation carried out, Troy OH, 1921
Calvin Coolidge sworn in as 30th president of United States, 1923
1st UK traffic lights installed, Piccadilly Circus, 1926
Hitler becomes Der Führer, Germany, 1934
Latvia joins Soviet Union, 1940
Council of Europe inaugurated, 1949
1st VTOL, The Flying Bedstead, flown, UK, 1954
Bedloe's Island, site of Statue of Liberty, renamed Liberty Island, 1956
John Charles 1st UK footballer to be transferred abroad, to Juventos, 1957
Nautilus completes 1st undersea crossing of North Pole, 1958
Niger becomes independent, 1960
Beatles make their last appearance at the Cavern, Liverpool, 1963
Michael Darbellay is 1st to climb north wall of Eiger, 1963
Mrs Miriam Harvey passes driving test at 40th attempt, Wakefield, 1970
1st UK sighting of Tristram's storm-petrel, near Land's End, 1988
Curtis Mayfield paralysed by lighting rig collapse at outdoor gig, Brooklyn NY,
1990
Alison Streeter becomes 1st woman to swim Channel 3-ways non-stop, Calais, 1990
Apple's Newton Message Pad launched, US, 1993
Messenger launched on journey to Mercury, Cape Canaveral FL, 2004
4th AUGUST
Mary, Mother of Jesus (b. NS BC 24)
John Tradescant the Younger (b. OS 1608)
Percy Bysshe Shelley (b. 1792)
Walter Pater (b. 1839)
WH Hudson (b. 1841)
Knut Hamsun (b. 1859)
Sir Harry Lauder (b. 1870)
Elizabeth, The Queen Mother (b. 1900)
Louis Armstrong (b. 1901)
Sir Osbert Lancaster (b. 1908)
Mikhail Botvinnik (b. OS 1911)
Timi Yuro (b. 1940)
Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester (d. OS 1265)
John Bacon (d. 1799)
Hans Christian Andersen (d. 1875)
Carl Auer (d. 1929)
Pearl White (d. 1938)
Lord (Roy) Thomson of Fleet (d. 1976)
Ernst Bloch (d. 1977)
Melvyn Douglas (d. 1981)
Kenny Drew (d. 1993)
Geoff Hamilton (d. 1996)
John Chibadura (d. 1999)
Victor Mature (d. 1999)
Little Milton (d. 2005)
Lee Hazlewood (d. 2007)
Battle of Evesham, 1265
Mozart marries Constanze Weber, Vienna, 1782
Feudal system abolished, France, 1789
Plans for the city of Chicago are laid out, US, 1830
Newspaper advertisment duty abolished, UK, 1853
Red Cross Society founded, UK, 1870
Lizzie Borden's stepmother and father are murdered with axe, Fall River MA, 1892
1st annual illuminations switched on, Blackpool, 1894
UK declares war on Germany after it invades Belgium, 1914
President Wilson proclaims neutrality of US, 1914
United States purchase the Danish Virgin Islands for $25 million, 1916
2nd Battle of Marne ends, 1918
Hitler invades Kenya, the Sudan, British Somaliland, 1940
Nazis raid secret annex and arrest 8, including Anne Frank, Amsterdam, 1944
U-2 makes maiden flight, Nevada, 1957
Amin expels 40,000 Asians from Uganda, 1972
Zola Budd trips Mary Decker in 3,000m Olympic Games, Los Angeles CA, 1984
Phoenix Mars probe launched, Cape Canaveral FL, 2007
5th AUGUST
Edmund of Woodstock (b. 1301)
Guy de Maupassant (b. 1850)
Louis Wain (b. 1860)
John Merrick (b. 1862)
Conrad Aiken (b. 1889)
John Huston (b. 1906)
Joan Hickson (b. 1906)
Jacquetta Hawkes (b. 1910)
Robert Taylor (b. 1911)
Lord (Edward) Herbert (d. 1648)
James Gibbs (d. 1754)
Lord (Frederick) North (d. 1792)
Karl Mangold (d. 1889)
Friedrich Engels (d. 1895)
Victoria, Princess Royal (d. 1901)
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (d. 1929)
Herbert Asquith (d. 1947)
Carmen Miranda (d. 1955)
Marilyn Monroe (d. 1962)
Richard Burton (d. 1984)
Jeff Porcaro (d. 1992)
Nat Gonella (d. 1998)
Sir Alec Guinness (d. 2000)
Henry I crowned king of England, Westminster Abbey, 1100
Sir William Wallace, Scots leader, taken by English, 1305
Henry Percy (Hotspur) captured, Battle of Otterburn ends, 1388
Gilbert founds 1st English colony in N America, St John's, Newfoundland, 1583
Pilgrim Fathers 1st attempt to set sail in Mayflower & Speedwell,
Southampton, 1620
Re-erection of Crystal Palace begins, Sydenham, 1852
1st transatlantic cable completed and opened, 1858
Income Tax 1st levied in US (3% of income over $800), 1861
Battle of Mobile Bay, 1864
Spectrum of comet 1st observed, by Giovanni Donati, 1864
Cornerstone for Statue of Liberty laid, Bedloe's Island, New York NY, 1884
1st American Express travellers cheque cashed, 1891
1st cinema in UK opened, Mohawk's Hall, Islington, 1901
1st electric traffic signals installed, Cleveland OH, 1914
German forces enter Moscow, 1915
American chewing gum 1st goes on sale, France, 1916
Polygamy abolished, Turkey, 1924
Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray makes debut, US, 1924
Houdini survives for 1½hrs in a bronze coffin in a hotel swimming pool, 1926
French Southern and Antarctic Territories created, 1955
European Monetary Agreement signed, 1955
American Bandstand, hosted by Dick Clark, makes network debut, ABC-TV, US, 1957
Burkina Fas O (Upper Volta) becomes independent, 1960
Nelson Mandela arrested, 1962
Nuclear test ban treaty signed by UK, US and USSR, 1963
Penalty kicks 1st used as tie-breaker in football, UK, 1970
Princess Anne wins 1st horse-race, Redcar, 1986
Annie Holland plays last gig as member of Elastica, T In The Park, Edinburgh,
1995
6th AUGUST
Matthew (Nosey) Parker (b. 1504)
Nicolas Malebranche (b. 1638)
Lord (Alfred) Tennyson (b. 1809)
Sir Alexander Fleming (b. 1881)
John Middleton Murry (b. 1889)
Dutch Schultz (b. 1902)
Ballard Berkeley (b. 1904)
Charles Crichton (b. 1910)
Lucille Ball (b. 1911)
Robert Mitchum (b. 1917)
Ella Raines (b. 1921)
Sir Freddie Laker (b. 1922)
Mark Speight (b. 1965)
St Dominic (d. 1221)
Anne Hathaway (d. 1623)
Ben Jonson (d. 1637)
Diego Velázquez (d. 1660)
John Haigh (d. 1949)
Preston Sturges (d. 1959)
Sir Cedric Hardwicke (d. 1971)
Memphis Minnie (d. 1973)
Fulgencio Batista (d. 1973)
Pope Paul VI (d. 1978)
Marino Marini (d. 1980)
Ossie Clark (d. 1996)
Sir Robin Day (d. 2000)
Dame Dorothy Tutin (d. 2001)
Rick James (d. 2004)
Robin Cook (d. 2005)
Ibrahim Ferrer (d. 2005)
Edmund of Langley created Duke of York, 1385
Thomas of Woodstock created Duke of Gloucester, 1385
Dissolution of Holy Roman Empire, 1806
Lyceum stage is 1st to be lit by gas, Strand, London, 1817
Bolivia declared an independent Republic, 1825
1st press telegram, announcing birth of Prince Alfred, sent, to the Times, 1844
Beecham's Powders carry 1st advertising slogan, "Worth a guinea a
box", 1859
Savoy Hotel opened, London, 1889
Walter Kemmler is 1st to be executed by electric chair, Auburn Prison NY, 1890
Corinth Canal opened, S Greece, 1893
Allies land, Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, 1915
Gertrude Ederle becomes 1st woman to swim English Channel, Cape Gris Nez-Deal,
1926
1st feature sound film, Don Juan, shown publically, US, 1926
1st film festival inaugurated, Hotel Excelsior, Venice, 1932
Enola Gay drops Little Boy, 1st atomic bomb, 0815 hr, Hiroshima, 1945
Kevin Murphy 1st Briton to swim Channel both ways non-stop, 1960
Gherman S Titov becomes 2nd Russian in space, Vostok II, 1961
Jamaica becomes independent, 1962
Chay Blyth completes 292-day non-stop round-world voyage in reverse direction,
1971
Procol Harum record live album with Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton, 1971
Everest 1st climbed by North East Ridge Route, 1988
Benazir Bhutto dismissed as prime minister by President, Pakistan, 1990
1st public internet website goes online, 1991
NASA announce evidence of life on Mars from meteorite fossils found in
Antarctic, 1996
Tony Blair shakes hands with Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, 1997
7th AUGUST
Alan Leo (b. 1860)
Emil Nolde (b. 1867)
Mata Hari (b. 1876)
Dornford Yates (b. 1885)
Nicholas Ray (b. 1911)
Lady (Nancy) Seear of Paddington (b. 1913)
Felice Bryant (b. 1925)
Carlos Monzon (b. 1942)
Queen Caroline of Brunswick (d. 1821)
Samuel Cody (d. 1913)
Alexander Blok (d. 1921)
Bix Beiderbecke (d. 1931)
Konstantin Stanislavsky (d. 1938)
Sir Rabindranath Tagore (d. 1941)
Oliver Hardy (d. 1957)
Esther Phillips (d. 1984)
Brigid Brophy (d. 1995)
Larry Adler (d. 2001)
Bernard Levin (d. 2004)
Red Adair (d. 2004)
Council of Pisa dissolved, 1409
Henry Tudor (Henry VII) makes bid for crown, Milford Haven, 1485
1st recorded UFO sighting, Basle, Switzerland, 1556
1st race meeting held, instituted by Anne, Ascot, 1711
US War Department established by Congress, US, 1789
Washington signs peace treaty with Muskogian Indians, 1790
Claremont, 1st serviceable steamboat, embarks on 1st voyage, 1807
Louis Philippe proclaimed Citizen King, France, 1830
Employment of climbing boys as chimney sweeps banned, UK, 1840
Ottawa becomes capital of Canada, 1858
Finsbury Park opened, on the land of Hornsey Wood, 1869
Revolving door patented by Theophilus van Kannel, Philadelphia PA, 1888
Telephoto lens patented by A Dubosq, 1891
£1 & 10/- notes issued, UK, 1914
British Summer Time permanently established, UK, 1925
1st UK motor racing Grand Prix held, Brooklands, 1926
UK transatlantic air mail service begins, 1939
US Pacific counter-offensive begins, Guadalcanal, 1942
1,200 die when 7 trucks of dynamite explode, Colombia, 1956
Litter Act comes into force, UK, 1958
Explorer 6, 1st satellite to send images to Earth, launched, Cape Canaveral FL,
1959
Ivory Coast becomes independent, 1960
Beach Party, the original beach movie, premiered, US, 1963
Apollo 15 returns to Earth, Pacific Ocean, 1971
Philippe Petit walks tightrope between World Trade Center towers, New York NY,
1974
Iran-Iraq war cease-fire begins, 1988
Buckingham Palace 1st opened to the public, 1993
8th AUGUST
Sir Godfrey Kneller (b. 1646)
Frank Richards (b. 1876)
Emiliano Zapata (b. 1879)
Paul Dirac (b. 1902)
Benny Carter (b. 1907)
Webb Pierce (b. 1921)
Jimmy Witherspoon (b. 1923)
Terry Nation (b. 1930)
Joe Tex (b. 1933)
Thomas à Kempis (d. 1471)
George Canning (d. 1827)
Madame Vestris (d. 1856)
Eugène Boudin (d. 1898)
James Tissot (d. 1902)
Frank W Woolworth (d. 1919)
Cannonball Adderley (d. 1975)
Nicholas Monsarrat (d. 1979)
Louise Brooks (d. 1985)
Fay Wray (d. 2004)
Barbara Bel Geddes (d. 2005)
Treaty of Mersen signed, 870
Battle of Otterburn ends, 1388
Elizabeth I reviews troops, Tilbury, 1588
Paccard and Balmal reach summit of Mont Blanc, 1786
Workhouses for poor introduced, English Poor Law Act, 1834
1st America's Cup yacht race takes place, 1870
Thomas Edison receives patent for his mimeograph, US, 1876
Only underground BR line, Waterloo-Bank, opened, 1898
1st Davis Cup tennis tournament begins, Brookline MA, 1900
British Academy granted Royal Charter, London, 1902
1st UK troops land in France, 1914
Battle of Amiens begins, 1918
Treaty of Rawalpindi signed, 1919
US airship Akron launched, 1931
Main phase of Battle of Britain begins, 1940
Russia declares war against Japan, 1945
Microwave oven patented to Percy Spencer, Massachusetts, 1945
Cliff Richard signs to Columbia, EMI, 1958
Great Train Robbery of Glasgow-Euston mail train, Sears Crossing, Linslade, 1963
Manson sect killings take place, Beverly Hills CA, 1969
Iain Macmillan photographs Beatles crossing Abbey Road, 1969
Richard Nixon becomes 1st president to resign, US, 1974
Pioneer Venus 2 launched to carry probes to study atmosphere of Venus, US, 1876
MTV broadcasts 1st live concert in stereo, REO Speedwagon in Denver CO, 1981
Hipparcos, star-mapping satellite, launched, 1989
John McCarthy released from hostage, Beirut, 1991
Morrissey hit by orange juice carton at Madstock, Finsbury Park, 1992
Later... With Jools Holland 1st broadcast, BBC2, London, 1992
Dave Lee Travis resigns in protest on air and is sacked 2 days later, Radio 1,
1993
Israel and Jordan open 1st road link between both countries, 1994
9th AUGUST
Izaak Walton (b. 1593)
John Dryden (b. 1631)
Thomas Telford (b. 1757)
Vyvyan Deacon (b. 1895)
Jean Piaget (b. 1896)
Solomon (b. 1902)
Joe Mercer (b. 1914)
Peter Wright (b. 1916)
Robert Aldrich (b. 1918)
Philip Larkin (b. 1922)
Robert Shaw (b. 1927)
Reg Bosinquet (b. 1932)
Trajan (d. 117)
Frederick Marryatt (d. 1848)
Herman Hesse (d. 1962)
Joe Orton (d. 1967)
Kenneth Halliwell (d. 1967)
Anton Walbrook (d. 1967)
Sharon Tate (d. 1969)
Lillian Roxon (d. 1973)
Dmitri Shostakovich (d. 1975)
Joe Mercer (d. 1990)
Jerry Garcia (d. 1995)
Sir Frank Whittle (d. 1996)
James van Allen (d. 2006)
Battle of Adrianople, 378
Seige of Limerick begins, 1690
Prisoners pardoned if they agree to innoculation, Newgate, 1721
Paris Commune established by revolutionaries, 1792
Canada-USA frontier defined, Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842
Elementary Education Act passed, 1870
Heligoland transferred to Germany, 1890
Coronation of Edward VII, Westminster Abbey, 1902
6000 die in earthquake, Constantinople, 1912
Betty Boop 1st appears, 1930
1st creaseproof fabric announced, Tootal, Glossop, 1932
Douglas Bader shot and seized by German troops, St Omer, 1941
Fat Man, 2nd atomic bomb, dropped, Nagasaki, 1945
Arts Council of Gt Britain incorporated, 1946
Singapore becomes independent, 1965
Work begins on wildlife park, Longleat, 1965
Mothers club opened for business, Erdington, 1968
Detention without trial introduced, Northern Ireland, 1971
Gerald Ford sworn in as 38th President, US, 1974
1st UK nudist beach established, Brighton, 1979
Glass-fibre shark appears diving into terraced house roof, Headington, Oxford,
1986
Yeltsin inaugurated as 1st democratically-elected President of Russia, Moscow,
1996
10th AUGUST
Madeleine of France (b. 1520)
Samuel Arnold (b. 1740)
Laurence Binyon (b. 1869)
Herbert Hoover (b. 1874)
Norma Shearer (b. 1900)
Leo Fender (b. 1909)
Bobby Hatfield (b. 1940)
Michael Haydn (d. 1806)
Robert Hutchings Goddard (d. 1945)
Tony Wilson (d. 2007)
Isaac Hayes (d. 2008)
Battle of St Quentin, 1557
Greenwich Observatory foundation stone laid by Charles II, 1675
Mozart completes Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 1787
Mozart completes Jupiter Symphony, 1788
French Royal family imprisoned, 1792
Ecuador becomes independent, 1809
Napoleon banished to St Helena, 1815
Missouri, the Show Me State, becomes 24th State, 1821
UK Mines Act forbids women & children from underground work, 1842
Smithstonian Institute established, Washington DC, 1846
James Haworth appointed Duke of Abercorn, 1st dukedom created by Victoria, 1868
Marine Aquarium opened, Brighton, 1872
21st US street-railway opened, Baltimore MD, 1885
Screw bottletop patented by Dan Rylands of Barnsley, 1889
1st London Promenade Concert takes place, Queen's Hall, 1895
RAC founded (as Automobile Club of Gt Britain & Ireland), 1897
Battle of the Yellow Sea, Port Arthur, 1904
Airmail service 1st organised, UK, 1910
MPs vote to receive salaries for 1st time, UK, 1911
House of Lords relinquish supremacy over Commons, Parliament Bill, 1911
France declares war on Austria-Hungary, 1914
ABC network TV begins broadcasts, 1900 hr, WJZ, New York NY, 1948
John Haigh, acid bath murderer, executed, Wandsworth, 1949
European Coal and Steel Community inaugurated, Luxembourg, 1952
St Lawrence Seaway project officially launched, 1954
UK 1st applies for EEC membership, 1961
4,900 yr old bristlecone pine tree felled, US, 1964
Queen cancels Kim Philby's OBE, 1965
1st US moon satellite Orbiter I launched, 1966
Elizabeth II visits Northern Ireland, 1977
Beatles' Northern Songs catalogue sold to Michael Jackson for $47.5m, 1985
Ulster Defence Army outlawed by Northern Ireland Office, 1992
Asteroid misses earth by 6 hours, 1999
38_5°C, highest UK temperature, recorded, Brogdale, Faversham, 2003
Last updated: August 19, 2008