Today in History
Significant Events
- 1192 Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: July 12, 1192)
- 1703 The Edirne Event: Turkish army removes Sultan Mustafa II, lessening the power of the sultans
- 1772 King Gustav III of Sweden completes coup d'etat by adopting a new Constitution and installing himself as an enlightened despot - ends 50 years of parliamentary rule
- 1888 American inventor William Seward Burroughs patents the adding machine
- 1911 "Mona Lisa" stolen from the Louvre by Vincenzo Perugia (Recovered in 1913)
- 1959 Hawaii becomes the 50th US state
- 1991 Conservative coup in the Soviet Union is crushed by popular resistance led by Boris Yeltsin in three days
Today in Film & TV
- 1942 Walt Disney's animated movie "Bambi", based on the book by Felix Salten, is released
Today in Music
- 2001 "How You Remind Me" single released by Nickelback (Billboard Song of the Year 2002)
Today in Sport
- 1986 Ian Botham takes world-record 356th Test Cricket wkt (v NZ, The Oval)
Did You Know?
1st British unmanned drone hit on a UK citizen outside a conflict - ISIS fighter Reyaad Khan in Raqqa, Syria
On this day in 2015
Famous Birthdays
Bugs Moran
(1891 - 1957)
Wilt Chamberlain
(1936 - 1999)
Usain Bolt
32nd Birthday
Tomorrow's Famous Birthdays
Claude Debussy
(1862 - 1918)
Deng Xiaoping
(1904 - 1997)
Carl Yastrzemski
Turns 78
Would You Believe?
After 108 years a "message in a bottle" put in the sea by UK Marine Biological Association is announced found on a beach in Amrum, Germany
On this day in 2015
Famous Weddings
- 1745 Future Russian Tsar Peter III marries Ekaterina Alexeievna later Catherine II (Catherine the Great)
- 1929 Painter Diego Rivera (42) weds fellow artist Frida Kahlo (22)
- 1956 Boxing champ Archie Moore (42) weds model Joan Hardy in Ensenada, Mexico
- 1976 Magazine publisher Larry Flynt (33) weds Althea Leasure (23)
- 1982 U2 lead singer Bono (22) weds activist and businesswoman Ali Hewson (21)
Elizabeth Báthory
Leon Trotsky
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
Michael Collins
Jomo KenyattaThis Month in History
America's Last Public Hanging
The last man to be publicly hanged in the United States met his fate on this day in history. It was a squalid affair watched by about 10,000 people.
August 14, 1936
First Faltering Steps of Jane Eyre
With hope, pride – and some subterfuge – Charlotte Brontë sent her hefty manuscript of Jane Eyre to publishers in London on this day, then crossed her fingers.
August 15, 1847
A Kiss For Adolf Hitler
A woman spectator leaned over and kissed Adolf Hitler at the Berlin Olympic Games on this day. Hitler pretended to be amused, but his guards were to suffer.
August 15, 1936
The 17 Year-Old Witness to the Eruption of Vesuvius
17 year-old Pliny the Younger's account of the eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii made the event famous long after Pompeii was buried and forgotten.
August 24, 79 AD
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