Today in History - August 12
Events
0003 - Venus-Jupiter
in conjunction-possibly the Star of Bethlehem
1071 - Alp
Arslan defeates Byzantines
at Manzikert,
Armenia,
captures Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes
1099 - Battle at Ascalon: Godfried
of Bouillon defeats Egyptians in the last battle of the first
crusade
1332 - Battle
of Dupplin Moor; Scottish dynastic battle
1336 - English King
Edward III ends wool exports to Flanders
1492 - Christopher
Columbus discovers Canary
Islands
1508 - Juan
Ponce de Leon arrives in Puerto
Rico
1530 - Florence
surrenders to Emperor
Karel I, (Charles V, Charles I)
1549 - French troops occupy Ambleteuse
to invade England
1553 - Pope
Julius III orders confiscation & burning of Jewish Talmud
1588 - Medemblik,
Netherlands
surrenders to Spanish
army
1658 - First US
police force established in New
Amsterdam
1665 - English naval fleet defeats Dutch fleet
1676 - First war
between American colonists & Indians ends in New England
1687 - Charles
IV, Duke of Lorraine (Lotharingen) defeats Turkish
1687 - Ottoman
invaders of Hungary
routed at the Second Battle of Mohacs
1759 - Battle
of Kunersdorf, Poland
- Russian/Austrian army overpowers Prussians
1812 - Dr.
Joseph Lister is first surgeon to use disinfectant during surgery
1812 - Duke
of Wellington's troops enter Madrid
1831 - Dutch troops conquer Leuven
1831 - Netherlands & Belgium sign peace treaty
1851 - First America's
Cup: US schooner America
defeates British yacht Aurora
1851 - Isaac
Singer patents sewing machine
1856 - Anthony Fass patents accordion
1861 - Skirmish in Texas,
rebels are attacked by Apache
Indians
1862 - General
John Hunt Morgan & his raiders capture Gallatin,
Texas
1863 - First cargo of lumber leaves Burrard
Inlet near Vancouver,
British Columbia
1867 - President
Andrew Johnson defies Congress
suspending Secretary
of War Edwin
M. Stanton
1876 - Fourth America's
Cup: US Madeline
beats Canada's Countess
Dufferin
1877 - Thomas
Alva Edison invents Edisonphone, a sound recording device
1879 - 1st National
Archery Association tournament, Chicago
1888 - Bertha, wife of inventor Karl
Benz, makes first motor car tour
1896 - Gold discovered along the Klondike River at Dawson
Creek
1898 - Hawaii
formally annexed by US
1898 - Peace protocol signed, ending Spanish-American
War
1901 - Boer
general Kritzinger driven out of Cape
Colony
1905 - King
Leopold II opens Central
Station Antwerp
1914 - Cavalery battle at Halen, Belgium
- Battle
of Zilveren Helmen
1914 - German
16.5"/12" guns fires on forts round Luik
(Liege) , Belgium
1914 - Great Britain declares war on Austria,
Hungary
1914 - Russian
troops take East-Prussia
& occupy Marggrabowa
1915 - Of Human Bondage, by William
Somerset Maugham, published
1916 - Picasso,
Jacob,
Kisling, Ortiz, & Paquerette photographed in Paris
1922 - Dedication of Frederick
Douglas' home in Washington,
DC as national shrine
1923 - Enrico
Tiraboschi swims English Channel westward, first to do so
1925 - KMA-AM
in Shenandoah, Indiana,
begins radio transmissions
1927 - Wings,
the only silent film to win an Oscar
for best picture premiers
1928 - 9th
Olympic Games close in Amsterdam
1931 - Yangtze
River floods after heavy rain crumbles dikes in China
1933 - Cuban
dictator Machado
y Morales flees after military coup
1935 - Babe
Ruth's final game at Fenway
Park, 41,766 attend
1936 - Record high state temperature, Seymour,
Texas, 120oF/49oC
1936 - Baseball
played as a demonstration sport at 1936
Olympics in Berlin,
world beats US, 6-5
1936 - Diver Marjorie
Gestring at 13 years, 268 days, is youngest Olympic
gold medalist
1940 - Luftwaffe
loses 21 planes bombing British radar stations in the Battle
of Britain
1940 - Netherlands
begins rationing textiles
1941 - French
Marshal
Henri Petain gives full support to Nazi
Germany
1942 - British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill arrives in Moscow
to meet with Joseph
Stalin
1942 - German
first commander captures Elista,
Kalmukkensteppe, Russia
1944 - Winston
Churchill meets with Josip
Broz Tito of Yugoslavia
in Naples
1944 - Fuel supply pipeline, code named Pluto
under the English
Channel begins operation
1948 - International
Court of Justice in Den
Hague sentences General Fr Christiansen to 12 years
1950 - Pope
Pius XII publishes encyclical Humani
Generis
1952 - Hussain
ibn Talal crowned King of Jordan
1953 - Ann Davidson, first woman to sail solo across Atlantic, arrives
in Miami,
Florida
1953 - Powerful earthquake strikes Isotope Islands, 435 die
1953 - Soviet
Union conducts secret test of its first hydrogen
bomb
1955 - President
Dwight D. Eisenhower raises minimum wage from 75 cents to $1
an hour
1955 - WPBT TV
PBS Channel 2 in Miami,
FL, begins
broadcasting
1956 - KOTI
TV NBC/CBS Channel 2 in Klamath
Falls, OR,
begins broadcasting
1959 - USNS
Observation Island, first ship to fire a Polaris
missile,
1959 - Progressive Party under John Steytler forms in South
Africa
1960 - Echo
1, first communications satellite, launched
1960 - USAF Major
Robert M. White takes X-15
to 41,600 m
1962 - Russia
launches Vostok
4, Pavel
Popovich, lands safely August 15
1963 - Portuguese
dictator Antonio
Salazar firm on remaining in control of African colonies
1964 - Race riot in Elizabeth,
NJ
1965 - Elizabeth Lane is first female justice appointed to the British
High Court of Justice
1965 - Race riot in West Side of Chicago
1971 - President Hafez
al-Assad of Syria
cuts diplomatic relations with Jordan
1972 - Oh!
Calcutta!
closes at Belasco
Theater, NYC
after 1316 performances
1972 - Last American combat ground troops leave Vietnam
1976 - Space
Shuttle Enterprise completes first ALT (Approach and Landing
Tests)
1976 - Christian militia attack Palestinian
Tell al-Za'tar refugee camp , 2000 die
1977 - High
Energy Astronomy Observatory 1 launched into Earth orbit
1977 - Space
Shuttle Enterprise makes first atmospheric flight
1978 - Arron Marshall ends shower of 336 hours to set Guiness
World Record
1978 - China
& Japan
sign peace treaty
1978 - ICE,
International Comet Explorer, launched
1979 - Iranian
press censors begin massive book burnings
1981 - IBM
introduces PC & PC-DOS version 1.0
1981 - Jon Erikson, US, becomes first to swim triple crossing of
the English
Channel, 38h:27m
1982 - Heavy Israeli
bombardement of Beirut,
Lebanon
1983 - General
Manuel A. Noriega becomes commander of Panamanian
army
1985 - Japan
Airlines Boeing
747SR crashes into Mount Osutaka, Japan,
520 die, worst in-flight toll
1987 - Charles Cole makes 870' Tyrolean
Traverse from top of Elephant Rock
1988 - Last
Temptation of Christ, premiers
1988 - Nelson
Mandela is treated for tuberculosis
1988 - Richard
Thornburgh appointed US Attorney
General
1990 - Macy's
Department Store stages 12th annual Tap-o-Mania
1990 - Iraq
President Saddam
Hussein will resolve Gulf Crisis if Israel
withdraws from occupied territories
1991 - Creditors vote to support Greyhound
Bus Lines reorganization plan
1993 - Pope
John Paul II begins visit of US
1994 - Panic in church of Brazzaville,
Republic
of Congo, 142 die
1994 - Stephen
G. Breyer, sworn in as US
Supreme Court Justice
1996 - Breakfast on Fox premieres
Births
1503 - Christian
III, King of Denmark,
Norway,
1534-59
1566 - Infanta
Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain,
governess of the Netherlands
1592 - Willem Earl of Nassau, Siegen, Netherlands,
governor of Fort Emmerik, Heusden
1626 - Giovanni
Legrenzi, Clusone, Italy,
composer, operas: Il Giustino
1644 - Georg Christoph Leuttner, composer
1644 - Heinrich
Ignaz Franz von Biber, Wartenberg, Czech
Republic, composer
1696 - Maurice
Greene, London,
England,
composer
1720 - Martin
Gerbert, aka von Hornau, Prince, Abbot/music historian
1751 - Johann Baptist Lasser, composer
1753 - Thomas
Bewick, England,
artist; British Birds, Aesop's Fables
1757 - ALF,
alien life form
1762 - George
IV, King of England,
1820-30
1774 - Robert
Southey, England,
poet laureate, biographer of Lord
Horatio Nelson
1778 - Francis
Horner, England,
economist/politician
1781 - Robert
Mills, US, architect, Washington
Monument
1819 - Daniel
Davidson Bidwell, Brigadier General, Union volunteers
1820 - Sir
Oliver Mowat, a father of Canadian
Confederation, Premier of Ontario,
Canada
1825 - Frederick
Arthur Gore Ouseley, composer
1829 - John
Horace Forney, Major General, Confederate Army
1832 - Hely
Hutchinson Almond, politician/doctor
1833 - William
Price Sanders, Brigadier General, Union Volunteers
1838 - Joseph
Barnby, conductor/academic principal; Royal
Academy of Music
1848 - Macellus Emants, Netherlands,
writer/poet; Along the Nile
1849 - Abbott
Handerson Thayer, painter/naturalist
1853 - Jean Louis Nicode, composer
1854 - Alfred
Gilbert, sculptor/goldsmith
1854 - Johannes P. Kelly, aka Kellijn, Netherlands,
actor/operetta writer
1859 - Katharine
Lee Bates, US, author; America the Beautiful
1866 - Jacinto
Benavente y Marti¡nez, Spain,
playwright; Nobel 1922
1867 - Edith
Hamilton, US, writer; Mythology
1868 - Frederick
JNT Lord Chelmsford, viceroy of British-India, 1916-21
1875 - Ettore Panizza, composer
1875 - Mezio Agostini, opera composer
1876 - Mary
Roberts Rinehart, mystery writer; Miss Pinkerton
1880 - Marguerite
John Radclyffe-Hall, author
1881 - Cecil
B deMille, MA, director; 10 Commandments, Cleopatra
1881 - Vaclav
Vackar, composer
1883 - Jan Schouten, Netherlands,
co-founder; Daily Trouw, chairman, ARP
1884 - Frank
Arthur Swinnerton, England,
novelist; Summer Storm, Sanctuary
1885 - Alexander Albrecht, Hungary,
composer
1887 - Erwin
Schrodinger, Austria,
physicist; Nobel
1933
1888 - Marion
Lorne, Philadelphia,
actress; Strangers on a Train, Girl Rush
1888 - Willem Vogt, Netherlands,
radio pioneer/founder; AVRO
1890 - Al
Goodman, Nikopol,
Ukraine,
orchestra leader; NBC Comedy Hour
1893 - Howard
Smith, Attleboro, MA,
actor; Harvey Griffin-Hazel
1897 - Manuel
Blancafort, composer
1897 - Otto
von Struve, Germany,
US,
astronomer; Yerkes
/ MacDonald
Observatory
1897 - Ramon Gonzalez Barron, composer
1898 - Oscar
Homolka, Vienna,
Austria,
actor; The Tamarind Seed
1899 - Alfred Kantorowicz, Germany,
historian; Spanish Diary
1900 - Jose Ignacio Prieto Arrizubieta, composer
1900 - Wilhelm
Steinitz, Prague,
Czech
Republic, 1st World Chess Champion, 1866-94
1904 - Aleksei N. Romanov, son of Tsar
Nicolas II
1904 - Kay
Campbell, aka Catherine Hibben, actress; All My Children,
The Edge of Night
1905 - Joan
Remmelts aka J. Jacobus, Netherlands,
actor; Jantjes, Twee Vorstinnen
1907 - James Herbert Lloyd Morrell, bishop
1908 - Lord
David Renton, QC, British government minister, member of the
House
of Lords
1909 - Sir
Maurice Lionel Heath, England,
air marshal
1910 - Baroness Phillips, President, General Secretary, National
Association of Women
1910 - Heinrich Sutermeister, Switzerland,
composer; Romeo & Juliet
1911 - Cantinflas,
aka Mario Moreno, Mexico,
actor; Around World in 80 Days
1912 - Jane
Wyatt, Campgaw, NJ,
actor: Father Knows Best, Star Trek
1912 - Samuel
Fuller, Worcester,
Massachusetts,
actor; Return to Salem's Lot
1913 - Kurt
Kaszner, Vienna,
Austria,
actor; Commander Fitzhugh-Land of the Giants
1914 - Hendrik Jan Bakker, Netherlands,
resistance fighter/journalist; Parool
1919 - Michael
Kidd, aka Milton Greenwald, choreographer; 7 Brides for 7
Brothers
1919 - Peter Ambrose Cyprian Luke, playwright
1920 - Percy
Mayfield, blues singer, songwriter; Please Send Me Someone
to Love
1921 - Marjorie
Reynolds, nee Goodspeed, Buhl, Indiana,
actress; Peggy-Life of Riley
1921 - Patrick Howard-Dobson, president; Royal
British Legion
1922 - Andre Kloos, Netherlands,
trade union leader (NVV/VARA)
1922 - Lord Colnbrook, England,
government minister
1925 - Dale
L. Bumpers, Democrat Senator,
Arkansas,
1975-?
1925 - Earl
Coleman, jazz singer
1925 - Norris
McWhirter, co-founder; Guinness
Book of World Records
1925 - Robin Nicholson, metallurgist
1926 - John
Derek, Los
Angeles, actor, director; 10, Annapolis Story
1927 - Mstislav
Leopoldovich Rostropovich, cellist, conductor
1929 - Buck
Owens, aka Alvis Edgar, Sherman,
Texas,
country singer; Hee Haw
1929 - Joji
Yuasa, composer
1930 - Ronald
James Herron, architect
1931 - William
Golding, author; Lord of the Flies, Nobel
1983
1932 - Porter
Wagoner, country singer
1932 - Queen Ferekit, of Thailand
1932 - Sergey
Mikhaylovich Slonimsky, composer
1934 - Kenneth Eaton, Controller; Royal
Navy
1935 - Karl Mickel, Denmark,
writer
1936 - Geoff Hamilton, gardner, journalist; Barnsdale
Gardens, Rutland, England
1936 - Gerard Masson, composer
1936 - Hans
Haacke, Cologne
(Koln), Germany,
artist; Right to Life, Dripper Boxes
1936 - John
Poindexter, US
Chief of Staff
1938 - Sir
Anthony Jolliffe, Lord
Mayor of London
1939 - George
Hamilton, Memphis,
Tennessee,
actor; Love at First Bite, Where the Boys Are
1940 - Alexander Yossifov, composer
1940 - Michael
Brunson, TV reporter, newscaster, actor; Never Say Die
1941 - Deborah
Walley, Bridgeport,
Connecticut,
actor; Mothers-in-Law, Beach Blanket Bingo
1941 - Jennifer
Warren, NYC,
actor; Slap Shot, Fatal Beauty, Night Shadows
1941 - Sam
Andrew, guitarist, singer; Big
Brother & The Holding Company
1943 - William Mac Lance Tiny McCloud, musician, songwriter
1948 - Cliff Fish, musician; Paper
Lace - Billy, Don't be a Hero
1948 - Graham Zellick, principal; Queen
Mary & Westfield College, London
1948 - Ron
Mael, aka J Ronald Day, Culver
City, California,
keyboardist; Sparks
-Wonder Girl
1949 - Anthony
Akerman, South
Africa, director
1949 - Fernando
Collor de Mello, President, Brazil,
1990-92
1949 - Mark
Knopfler, guitarist, vocals; Dire
Straits -Sultans of Swing
1950 - Kid
Creole aka August Darnell Browder, Montreal,
Canada,
singer; Kid
Creole & the Cocoanuts
1951 - Charles
E. Brady Jr, Pinehurst,
North
Carolina, Commander, USN,
astronaut, STS
78
1954 - Pat
Methany, jazz guitarist
1954 - Sam
J. Jones, Chicago,
Illinois,
actor; Chris-Code Red, The Highway Man
1955 - Heintje,
aka Hendrik Simons, Netherlands,
singer
1956 - Bruce
Greenwood, actor; Spy, Another Chance, Malibu Bikini Shop
1959 - Suzanne
Vega, NYC,
singer, songwriter; My Name is Luka, Tom's Diner
1960 - Morty Black, heavy metal musician TNT
- 7 Seas
1961 - Pete
De Freitas, drummer; Echo
& The Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
1961 - Roy
Hay, guitarist; Culture
Club - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
1967 - Tom
Holkenborg, drummer, mixer; Junkie
XL
1969 - Kitty
G, Beat, aka Katia Geiger, Leningrad,
Russia,
cable tv actress
1972 - Del
the Funkee Homosapian, rapper
1972 - Rebecca
Gayheart, actress; Scream 2
Deaths
0875 - Luigi
II, King of Italy,
Holy Roman Emperor of France,
at 50
1158 - Anselmus van Havelberg, Brandenburg Bishop of Havelberg, 1129-55
1484 - Sixtus
IV, aka Francesco della Rovere, Pope, 1471-84
1546 - Francisco
de Vitoria, Spain,
theologist, lawyer
1588 - Alfonso
Ferrabosco, Italy,
composer, at 45
1612 - Giovanni
Gabrieli, Italy,
composer; Madrigali, at 60
1633 - Jacopo
Peri, Itay,
opera composer, at 71
1638 - Johannes
Althusius, aka Althaut, Germany,
lawyer, at 81
1654 - Cornelis Haga, Ambassador to Constantinople,
1611-39, at 76
1660 - Gilbertus van Zinnik, Flemish
architect, at 33
1674 - Philippe
de Champaigne, painter
1675 - Karl Rabenhaupt, Germany,
Netherlands,
Baron of Sucha, army leader, at 73
1676 - King
Philip, leader of the Wampanoag
Indians, shot
1689 - Innocent
XI, aka Benedetto Odescalchi, Pope, 1676-89, at 78
1715 - Nahum
Tate, England, poet laureate, playwright
1728 - Henricus Zwaardecroon, Governor General of Netherlands
West Indies, at 61
1750 - Rachel
Ruysch, royal painter of Soverign Johan von de Pfalz
1797 - Ignaz Franz Xaver Kurzinger, composer, at 73
1811 - Sir
John Francis Edward Acton, Prime Minister of Naples,
at 77
1812 - Jean Joseph Rodolphe, composer, at 81
1822 - Robert
Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry,
Ireland,
aka Lord Castlereagh, suicide
1827 - William
Blake, England,
poet, painter, at 69
1830 - Franz de Paula Roser, composer, at 50
1848 - George
Stephenson, locomotive engineer
1849 - Abraham
Alfonse Albert Gallatin, Secretary
of the Treasury, 1801-14, at 88
1857 - William
Daniel Conybeare, geologist
1865 - William
Jackson Hooker, botanist
1877 - James Drummond, historical painter
1883 - Last Quagga,
an extinct bread of zebra fewer slashes
1885 - Georg
Curtius, Germany,
classical linguist, philologist, at 65
1891 - James
Russell Lowell, poet, critic, diplomat
1900 - James
E. Keeler, astronomer, rings of Saturn,
at 42
1901 - Nils
Adolf Erik, aka Baron Nordenskjold, geologist, explorer
1911 - Jozef
Israels, painter
1911 - Petrus H. Hugenholtz, Levenslicht, Netherlands,
reformist vicar, at 79
1914 - John
Philip Holland, submarine designer
1922 - Arthur
Griffith, Irish nationalist, President, Sinn
Fein
1928 - Leos
Janacek, Czechoslovakia,
composer, conductor, at 74
1934 - Hendrik
P Berlage, architect; Amsterdam
Stock Exchange, at 78
1938 - Ludwig
Borchardt, Germany,
Egyptologist, at 74
1943 - Georges Martin Witkowski, composer, at 76
1944 - Francois Ambrosiny, France,
dancer, choreographer, at 66
1955 - Thomas
Mann, Germany,
writer; Dr Faustus, Nobel
1929, at 80
1964 - Ian
L Fleming, England,
journalist, writer, spy;
James Bond, at 56
1968 - Pieter J. Auld, Mayor of Rotterdam,1945-52,
at 81
1969 - Dick
Ryan, actor; For Heaven's Sake, at 72
1976 - Thomas Edward Driberg, 1st Baron Bradwell, journalist
1982 - Helvi Lemmikke Leiviska, composer, at 80
1982 - Henry
Fonda, actor; The Grapes of Wrath, On Golden Pond, heart
disease at 77
1985 - Marcel Mihalovici, composer, at 86
1988 - Jean-Michel
Basquiat, musician, graffiti painter
1990 - Dorothy
Mackaill, actor; Love Affair, kidney failure at 87
1990 - Sara
Seegar, aka Sara Stone, actor; Mystery of Room 13, at 76
1991 - Irene
Campbell, England,
actress/dancer; Wicker Man, St Justice
1991 - William
Gordon, screenwriter; Back to Bataan
1992 - Beverley
Brooks, actor; Reach for the Sky, stroke at 63
1992 - John
Cage, avante-garde composer, stroke at 79
1993 - Jerome
Thor, actor; House of the Black Death, cardiac arrest at
69
1994 - Gene Cherico, jazz bassist, at 59
1994 - Manfred Salzgeber, Germany,
film distributor, publicist, at 51
1995 - Frank
Cvitanovich, film maker; Dear Sarah, at 68
1996 - Anthony Derrick Parsons, diplomat, at 73
1996 - Victor
Ambartsumian, astrophysicist, at 87
1997 - Luther
Allison, blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, cancer at 57 Holidays & Observances
Cuba:
People's Victory Against Machado Tyranny
Massachusetts,
Oklahoma:
Indian Day
Texas: Pioneer Day
Thailand:
Queen's Birthday
World: Ponce de Leon Day, 1508
Chart Toppers
1947
Peg o’ My Heart - The
Harmonicats
I Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder - Eddy
Howard
Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba - Perry
Como
Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) - Tex
Williams
1955
Rock Around the Clock - Bill
Haley & His Comets
Ain’t that a Shame - Fats
Domino
Learnin’ the Blues - Frank
Sinatra
I Don’t Care - Webb
Pierce
1963
Fingertips - Pt 2 - Little
Stevie Wonder
Wipe Out - The
Surfaris
(You’re the) Devil in Disguise - Elvis
Presley
Ring of Fire - Johnny
Cash
1971
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart - The
Bee Gees
Take Me Home, Country Roads - John
Denver
Beginnings/Colour My World - Chicago
I’m Just Me - Charley
Pride
1979
Bad Girls - Donna
Summer
Good Times - Chic
The Main Event/Fight - Barbra
Streisand
Suspicions - Eddie
Rabbitt
1987
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - U2
I Want Your Sex - George
Michael
Heart and Soul - T’Pau
One Promise Too Late - Reba
McEntire
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