1691 – Charles Perrault’s poem “The Marquise of Salusses or the Patience of Griselidis” is read aloud at the French Academy and later attached to his “Tales of Mother Goose” (1697)
1937 – General Franco’s Nationalist troops conquer Santander during the Spanish Civil War
1956 – Yankees announce the purchase of outfielder Enos Slaughter from Kansas City
1967 – Dutch Second Chamber demands US stop bombing North Vietnam
1977 – Ian Dury releases the single “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll”
2004 – An American 1-2-3 in the 200 m medals at the Athens Olympics; Shawn Crawford wins gold in 19.79 ahead of Bernard Williams and Justin Gatlin
2011 – The 787 Dreamliner, Boeing’s all-new composite airliner, receives certification from the EASA and the FAA
2015 – WDBJ TV reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward are fatally shot live on TV by an ex-colleague in Moneta, Virginia
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 25th August 2026
1425 – Countess Jacoba of Bavaria escapes from jail
1814 – British forces destroy the Library of Congress, which contains 3,000 books (War of 1812)
1835 – The New York Sun publishes the Great Moon Hoax story about John Herschel, who claimed he had discovered life, landscapes, and fantastical creatures on the Moon through a powerful telescope
1936 – Three Braves hit twice in an inning, each getting two hits
1950 – “Rashomon,” a Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune and Machiko Kyō, is released (Honorary Academy Award 1952)
1960 – AFL begins placing players’ names on the backs of their jerseys
1980 – MLB Texas Rangers pitcher Ferguson Jenkins is arrested for possession of drugs
2003 – Tłı̨chǫ land claims agreement is signed between the Tłı̨chǫ First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchokǫ̀)
Historical Events for 24th August 2026
1908 – Canadian champion Tommy Burns KOs Bill Squires in the 13th round at Sydney Stadium, Australia, to retain the world heavyweight boxing title; Burns’ third KO of Squires
1914 – German troops occupy Namur, Belgium
1940 – WWII: German Luftwaffe bombs London
1971 – India beats England by 4 wickets in their first win against the English
1979 – UN’s Vienna office begins issuing postage stamps
2004 – Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia vaults 4.91 m to break her own pole vault world record and wins the gold medal from teammate Svetlana Feofanova at the Athens Olympics
2012 – Yangmingtan Bridge collapses in China, killing three people
2018 – Scott Morrison becomes Prime Minister of Australia after defeating Peter Dutton in a leadership spill, replacing Malcolm Turnbull
Historical Events for 23rd August 2026
1708 – Meidingnu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur
1862 – Skirmish at Big Hill, Kentucky (two Federal regiments)
1940 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands dismisses Dutch Prime Minister Dirk Jan de Geer
1968 – Ringo temporarily quits The Beatles over a disagreement and rejoins the group after a holiday in Sardinia
1969 – 30th Venice Film Festival opens
1979 – Iranian army opens offensive against Kurds
1982 – Seattle Mariners pitcher Gaylord Perry is ejected for throwing a spitter
1992 – Wilhelm Verwoerd, grandson of former South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the main architect of apartheid, joins the African National Congress
Historical Events for 22nd August 2026
1851 – Goldfields discovered in Australia
1901 – Cadillac Motor Company is founded
1909 – First international flying event, the French air show Grande Semaine d’Aviation de la Champagne, is held near Reims in France, sponsored by Moët et Chandon, Mumm, and other makers of champagne
1926 – Greek dictator Theódoros Pángalos is overthrown
1939 – Dutch border guards take positions for German invasion
1950 – First patent for controlling vehicle speed (cruise control) is granted to American inventor Ralph Teetor
1984 – The last Volkswagen Rabbit is produced
2021 – British Open Women’s Golf, Carnoustie CC: Anna Nordqvist of Sweden finishes one stroke clear of Madelene Sagström, Lizette Salas, and Georgia Hall to win her third major title
Historical Events for 21st August 2026
1968 – After five years, the Soviet Union once again jams Voice of America radio
1975 – Three-truck pile-up kills 10 and injures 26 on French highway
1977 – American water skier Donna Patterson Brice sets women’s high speed record 111.11 mph at Long Beach, California
1986 – Red Sox Spike Owen scores 6 runs in a 24-5 rout of the Cleveland Indians
1994 – Royal Air Maroc ATR-42 crashes at Agadir, killing 44
2008 – American pair Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh dominate China’s Tian Jia and Wang Jie 21-18, 21-18 in the beach volleyball final to repeat their gold medal from Athens; they don’t lose a set in the competition
2019 – 74,155 fires caused by land clearing are burning in the Amazon rainforest, the most ever recorded, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research
2023 – Saudi border guards are accused of killing hundreds of migrants, shooting them as they try to cross into the country from Yemen in a report by Human Rights Watch
Historical Events for 20th August 2026
1945 – Soviet troops occupy Harbin and Mukden
1964 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Economic Opportunity Act, an anti-poverty measure totaling nearly $1 billion
1979 – The East Coast Main Line rail route between England and Scotland is restored with the opening of the Penmanshiel Diversion
1989 – American Janet Evans swims the women’s 800 m freestyle world record of 8:16.22 at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, Japan
2006 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Medinah CC: Tiger Woods wins his 3rd PGA C’ship by 5 strokes from Shaun Micheel
2008 – Spanair Flight 5022 from Madrid to Gran Canaria skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport, killing 146 people in the crash and 8 more afterward. Only 18 people survive
2016 – Star British runner Mo Farah wins the men’s 5000 m in 13:03.30 at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and wraps up the 5k/10k double, which he also completed in London 2012
2016 – N. K. Jemisin is the first African American author to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel with her work “The Fifth Season”
Historical Events for 19th August 2026
1768 – Empress Catherine II commissions a new version of Saint Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia
1911 – MLB New York Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson loses against the Cincinnati Reds after 22 consecutive wins against the team
1939 – 37.6 cm of rainfall in Tuckerton, NJ (state record)
1969 – Film adaptation of Arlo Guthrie’s song “Alice’s Restaurant,” directed by Arthur Penn and starring Guthrie, premieres
1979 – Soviet Cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Ryumin return to Earth aboard Soyuz 34 after a record 175 days in space
2001 – German Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher wins the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring to clinch his fourth F1 World Drivers’ Championship and equal Alain Prost’s record of 51 Grand Prix victories
2013 – 37 pilgrims are killed in a train accident in India
2020 – Golfing dinner termed #GolfGate, appearing to flout COVID-19 restrictions and attended by Irish political figures, prompts two politicians to later resign
Historical Events for 18th August 2026
440 – St Sixtus III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1612 – Pendle Witch Trial begins with 10 people accused of witchcraft in Lancaster, England; the key witness is a nine-year-old boy
1958 – Verne Gagne defeats Edouard Carpentier in Omaha to become NWA champion
1960 – The first photograph bounces off a satellite between Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Richardson, Texas
1976 – Korean axe murder incident: two US soldiers tasked with cutting down a poplar tree blocking the view of UN observers are killed by North Koreans, claiming it was planted by Kim Il-Sung in the Korean Demilitarized Zone
1986 – WYSP 94.1 FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, begins simulcasting the Howard Stern Radio Show from New York City’s WXRK
1996 – Record 6,654 tap dancers in a single routine at Macy’s Tap-O-mania in New York City
1996 – British Open Women’s Golf, Woburn, Duke’s Course: Emilee Klein wins by 7 strokes ahead of fellow Americans Amy Alcott and Penny Hammel
Historical Events for 17th August 2026
1908 – Projection in Paris of the first animated cartoon, “Fantasmagorie,” created by Émile Cohl
1918 – Turkish troops overthrow Caucasus
1933 – MLB player Lou Gehrig plays his record 1,308th consecutive game
1944 – German field marshal Walter Model replaces Günther von Kluge in Normandy
1951 – Hurricane winds drive six ships ashore in Kingston, Jamaica
1959 – Columbia Records releases “Kind of Blue,” a studio album by American jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis, leading a sextet featuring saxophonist John Coltrane and pianist Bill Evans; the work is widely considered a masterpiece and is one of the most influential and best-selling albums of Davis’ long career
1978 – First successful crossing of the Atlantic by balloon is completed by Americans Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman aboard Double Eagle II
1986 – Rioting occurs at a DMC concert at the Long Beach Convention Center in California; 40 people are injured