August 12th

 

Birthdays

Thomas Bewick 1753
Abbott Thayer 1849
Christy Mathewson 1880
Cecil B. DeMille 1881
Cantinflas 1911
Mario Moreno 1911
Jane Wyatt 1912
Michael Kidd 1919
Majorie Reynolds 1921
Joe Jones 1926
John Derek 1926
Porter Wagoner 1927
Mstislav Rostropovich 1927
Buck Owens 1929
William Goldman 1931
Parnelli Jones 1933
Larry Ziegler 1939
George Hamilton 1939
Jennifer Warren 1941
Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) 1949
Kid Creole 1950
Pat Metheny 1954
Sam J. Jones 1954
Danny Shirley (Confederate Railroad) 1956
Suzanne Vega 1959
Roy Hay (Culture Club) 1961
Sir Mix-A-Lot 1963
Peter Krause 1965
Pete Sampras 1971
Casey Affleck 1975
Bill Uechi (Save Ferris) 1975
Dominique Swain 1980
 

Misc. History


1656 - "King Phillip's War" came to an end with the killing of Indian chief King Phillip. The war between the Indians and the Europeans lasted for two years.

1851 - Isaac Singer was issued a patent on the double-headed sewing machine.

1865 - Disinfectant was used for the first time during surgery by Joseph Lister.

1867 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him when he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

1877 - Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and made the first sound recording.

1879 - The first National Archery Association tournament took place in Chicago, IL.

1898 - Hawaii was annexed by the U.S. Hawaii was later given territorial status and was given Statehood in 1959.

1898 - The Spanish-American War was ended with the signing of the peace protocol. The U.S. acquired Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Hawaii was also annexed.

1915 - "Of Human Bondage", by William Somerset Maugham, was first published.

1918 - Regular airmail service began between Washington, DC, and New York City.

1937 - Red Skelton appeared on network radio for the first time on the "Rudy Vallee Show" on NBC.

1944 - In France, Pierre Laval released Edouard Herriot.

1944 - Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. was killed with his co-pilot when their Navy plane exploded over England. Joseph Kennedy was the oldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.

1953 - The Soviet Union secretly tested its first hydrogen bomb.

1960 - The balloon satellite Echo One was launched by the U.S. from Cape Canaveral, FL. It was the first communications satellite.

1962 - The Soviet Union launched Pavel Popovich into orbit. Popovich and Andrian Nikolayev, who was launch a day before, both landed on August 15.

1964 - Mickey Mantle set a major league baseball record when he hit home runs from both the left and ride sides of the plate in the same game.

1969 - The Boston Celtics were sold for $6 million. At the time it was the highest price paid for a pro basketball team.

1973 - Jack Nicklaus won his 14th major golf title. The win broke the record that had been held by Bobby Jones for 50 years.

1977 - The space shuttle Enterprise passed its first solo flight test.

1981 - IBM unveiled its first PC.

1985 - A Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 crashed into a mountain killing 520 people.

1986 - It was announced by NASA that they had selected a new rocket design for the space shuttle. The move was made in an effort at correcting the flaws that were believed to have been responsible for the Challenger disaster.

1986 - Rod Carew became the first player in the history of the California Angels franchise to have his uniform (#29) retired.

1988 - "The Last Temptation of Christ" opened.

1990 - The first U.S. casualty occurred during the Persian Gulf crisis when Air Force Staff Sergeant John Campisi died after being hit by a military truck.

1992 - The U.S., Canada, and Mexico announced that the North American Free Trade Agreement had been created after 14 months of negotiations.

1993 - U.S. President Clinton signed a relief package for the flooded areas of the Midwest United States.

1993 - U.S. President Clinton lifted the ban on rehiring air traffic controllers that had been fired for going on strike in 1981.

1994 - Major league baseball players went on strike rather than allow team owners to limit their salaries. The strike lasted for 232 days. As a result, the World Series was wiped out for the first time in 90 years.

1998 - Swiss banks agreed to pay $1.25 billion as restitution to World War II Holocaust victims.

1999 - Hang Thu Thi Ngyuen shot an arrow from a bow with her feet on "Guinness World Records: Primetime" and hit a target that was 16 feet and 5 inches away.