1248 – Construction of the new Cologne Cathedral in the Gothic style begins with the laying of the foundation stone by Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden (completed 1880)
1891 – San Sebastian Church in Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed
1950 – Sukarno proclaims the unitary Republic of Indonesia and becomes its 1st President
1971 – Despite crashing out on lap 36, Scotsman Jackie Stewart clinches his second Formula 1 World Drivers Championship at the Austrian Grand Prix at Österreichring; Swiss driver Jo Siffert of the BRM team wins the race
1973 – David Storey’s play “Cromwell” premieres in London
1988 – NYC begins $70 million program to rebuild 900 Bronx apartments
1990 – Phils Terry Mulholland no-hits Giants 6-0 (8th no hitter of 1990)
1992 – Colombo ’92 closes in Genoa, Italy
1994 – South African President Nelson Mandela receives Anne Frank Penning
2019 – Whistleblower releases damaging report on General Electric titled “General Electric, a Bigger Fraud Than Enron” claiming $38 billion accountancy fraud
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 14th August 2023
1040 – King Duncan I of Scotland killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth (not murdered in his sleep as in Shakespeare’s play). The latter does succeed him as King.
1820 – 1st US eye hospital, the NY Eye Infirmary, opens in NYC
1848 – Oregon Territory created
1885 – British Criminal Law Amendment Act raises age of consent from 13 to 16, protects against child prostitution
1971 – British begin internment without trial in Northern Ireland
1971 – Cards Bob Gibson, 35, no-hits Pirates, 11-0
1975 – Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow
1995 – Shannon Faulkner becomes 1st woman to attend the Citadel
2020 – Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda breaks Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele’s 16-year-old 5,000m world record with a run of 12:35.36 at the Diamond League meet in Monaco
2021 – Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Tyler Gilbert throws a no-hitter in his MLB debut, defeating San Diego Padres, 7-0 in Phoenix; record equalling 8th no-hitter of the season
Historical Events for 13th August 2023
1704 – Battle of Blenheim (Second Battle of Höchstädt): A combined British, German and Dutch army led by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, decisively beats the French and Bavarians
1918 – Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) established as a public company in Germany
1920 – Flag designed by Marcus Garvey consisting of three horizontal stripes of red, black and green is adopted as the pan-African flag
1931 – Cincinnati Reds second baseman Tony Cuccinello goes 6 for 6 in 17-3 rout of Boston at Braves Field
1952 – Blues singer Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton records “Hound Dog” song, written a day earlier especially for her by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, at Radio Recorders Studio in Los Angeles, California
1967 – WQLN TV channel 54 in Erie, Pennsylvania (PBS) begins broadcasting
1972 – Dutch KRO-TV transmits 440th and last episode of American western series “Bonanza”
2008 – Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice wraps up the medley double at the Beijing Olympics when she swims world record 2:08.45 to win the 200m I/M gold medal
2011 – Farm Aid (25th Anniversary) held in Kansas City, Kansas; performers include Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz, Jamey Johnson, Jakob Dylan, and Billy Joe Shaver
2016 – American swimmer Michael Phelps ends his career at the Rio Olympics as part of the winning 4×100 medley relay, his record 23rd gold medal
Historical Events for 12th August 2023
1121 – Battle of Didgori: the Georgian army under King David the Builder wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi
1499 – First engagement of the Battle of Zonchio between Venetian and Ottoman fleets
1876 – Madeline (US) beats Countess Dufferin (Canada) in 4th America’s Cup
1884 – Bill Murdoch scores 1st Test Cricket double-century, 211 at The Oval
1966 – Last Beatle concert tour of North America begins with two shows at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois
1973 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Canterbury GC: Jack Nicklaus wins 3rd of 5 PGA C’ships by 4 from Bruce Crampton of Australia
1978 – China and Japan sign peace treaty
2016 – Joseph Schooling of Singapore sets Olympic record 50.39 to win men’s 100m butterfly gold at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; rare 3-way tie for silver at 51.14, Michael Phelps (USA), Chad le Clos (South Africa) and László Cseh (Hungary)
2018 – More than 200 Afghan soldiers reported killed after 3 days of attacks by taliban insurgents over multiple fronts including Ghazni city
2019 – Hong Kong International Airport cancels all departures as thousands of anti-government protesters occupy the terminals
Historical Events for 11th August 2023
1909 – SOS 1st used by an American ship, Arapahoe, off Cape Hatteras, NC
1950 – In a 4 for 38 slump, New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio is benched for first time; replacement Cliff Mapes hits a HR in 7-6 win over Philadelphia Athletics
1963 – Four ANC political detainees escape from Pretoria Central prison in South Africa
1971 – Construction begins on Louisiana Superdome
1971 – 4 people are shot dead in separate incidents in Belfast; three of them by the British Army, as violence continues following the introduction of Internment and Operation Demetrius
1976 – Race riot in Cape Town, South Africa; 17 die
1992 – Oakland A’s rip Jose Canseco for leaving stadium before end of game
2008 – Abhinav Bindra wins men’s 10m air rifle at the Beijing Olympics, the first ever individual Olympic gold medal for India, and India’s first gold medal in any Olympic event since 1980
2015 – Japan’s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant restarts the first nuclear reactor since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
2020 – President Vladimir Putin in a propaganda stunt announces Russia has become the 1st country to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine, called “Sputnik V”, despite no scientific data being published or phase 3 trials having even begun
Historical Events for 10th August 2023
70 – Second Temple in Jerusalem set on fire by Roman army under Titus during the capture of the city (approx)
610 – In Islam, the traditional date of the Laylat al-Qadr, when Muhammad began to receive the Qur’an
1793 – Louvre palace officially opens in Paris as The Museum Central des Arts
1904 – NY Highlanders pitcher Jack Chesbro ends string of 30 consecutive complete games in a 5-1 loss to Chicago White Sox at South Side Park, Chicago
1919 – Ukrainian National Army massacres 25 Jews in Podolia Ukraine
1926 – Italian-Spanish peace treaty signed
1943 – Adolf Hitler watches lynching of allied pilots
2016 – 18 year old Australian Kyle Chalmers creates huge upset when he swims a junior world record 47.58 to win the blue ribband men’s 100m freestyle gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics
2020 – Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab announces his government is resigning, less than a week after massive industrial explosions devastated Beirut
2021 – Forest fires kill 65 people, including 25 soldiers, in Algeria in the Kabylie region during heatwave conditions
Historical Events for 9th August 2023
378 – Battle of Adrianople: Goth army defeats Roman forces under Emperor Valens, who is killed
1778 – Captain James Cook reaches Cape Prince of Wales, Bering Straits
1859 – Otis Tufts patents the first passenger elevator in the US
1864 – Siege of Fort Morgan, Alabama, by Union forces begins (Confederates surrender 23 August)
1910 – Chicago resident Alva Fisher receives US patent for an electric washing machine
1937 – Ranger (US) easily beats Endeavour II (England) in race 4 to wrap up the 17th America’s Cup yachting series, 4-0; it’s the final competition for 21 years
1944 – WWII: Port Chicago Mutiny – mass work stoppage by munition loaders at Port Chicago Naval facility concerned with conditions after recent explosion in Port Chicago, California; 50 men were tried for mutiny, found guilty and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor
1971 – Operation Demetrius (or Internment) is introduced in Northern Ireland allowing suspected terrorists to be indefinitely detained without trial; the security forces arrested 342 people suspected of supporting paramilitaries
1988 – Just 1 day after 8/8/88 NY’s daily number is 888
2001 – US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.
Historical Events for 8th August 2023
1322 – Emperor Godaigo makes Sojiji the chief monastery of Soto Sect
1570 – Peace of Saint-Germain-and-Laye, more freedom for Huguenots
1911 – The millionth patent is filed in the United States Patent Office by Francis Holton for a tubeless vehicle tire.
1969 – The Beatles are photographed by Iain MacMillan crossing the street as they walk away from EMI Recording Studios, for the cover of their “Abbey Road” album
1982 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Southern Hills CC: Ray Floyd wins his second PGA C’ship by 3 shots from fellow American Lanny Wadkins
1992 – Lou Whitaker hits his 200th career HR
2000 – Confederate submarine CSS H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor, off the coast of South Carolina
2013 – Retired Washington Post journalist and editor Ben Bradlee is named as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama
2018 – Malaysia charges former prime minister Najib Razak with three counts of money laundering
2022 – FBI conduct a search of former US President Donald Trump’s Florida home, Mar-a-Largo, over his handling of classified government documents
Historical Events for 7th August 2023
1606 – Possible first performance of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, performed in the Great Hall at Hampton Court Palace for King James I
1914 – French government awards King Albert of Belgium the Great Cross
1930 – A large mob estimated at 2,000, lynch two young black men Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana
1938 – Nazis close theologic department of Innsbruck university
1948 – Swedish race walker John Mikaelsson wins the gold medal in the 10k event by 30.6 seconds from teammate Ingemar Johansson at the London Olympics
1970 – Shootout at Marin Courthouse in San Rafael, California, kills 4, including the presiding judge
1983 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Riviera CC: Hal Sutton wins his only major title by 1 stroke from Jack Nicklaus
1988 – Angola, Cuba and South Africa allegedly signed a cease fire treaty
2016 – Miami Marlins veteran Japanese outfielder Ichiro Suzuki becomes the 30th member of the 3,000 hit club in a 10 – 7 win v Rockies
2018 – China bans release of Winnie the Pooh movie “Christopher Robin”, after character used to mock Chinese President Xi Jinping
Historical Events for 6th August 2023
1699 – HMS Roebuck, captained by William Dampier, lands at Shark Bay, Western Australia on the first British scientific expedition to Australia
1896 – France annexes Madagascar
1914 – Denis Patrick Dowd Jr. enlists in the French Foreign Legion, becoming the first American to fight in World War I
1921 – Clason Point, Bronx to College Point, Queens muni ferry system begins
1936 – Japanese athletes quinella the triple jump at the Berlin Olympics; Naoto Tajima wins gold and Masao Harada silver
1937 – MLB overturns New York Yankees’ 7-6 win over Cleveland Indians because of umpire error
1945 – Atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the US B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay”
1983 – First NFL exhibition game in Europe; Minnesota Vikings beat St Louis Cardinals 28-10 at London’s Wembley Stadium
1995 – Revival of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ musical comedy ‘”Damn Yankees”, starring Jerry Lewis and Bebe Neuwirth, closes at Marquis Theater, NYC, after 519 performances
2018 – Boston appoints its first African American Police Commissioner William G. Gross