On This Day:

On This Day:
Tuesday August 13, 2013

This is the 225th day of the year, with 140 days remaining in 2013.

Fact of the Day: golf Grand Slam

Only Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods have won all four tournaments composing the modern Grand Slam of golf during their careers. No one has won the Grand Slam in a calendar year; Tiger Woods became the first golfer to hold all four PGA Tour major-tournament titles simultaneously, but not in the same calendar year.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Simplician of Milan, St. Radegund, St. Wigbert, St. Pontian, pope, St. Benildus, St. Hippolytus of Rome, St. Narses Klaietus, St. Cassian of Imola, and St. Maximus the Confessor.
Central African Republic: Independence Day.
Tunisia: Women's Day.

Events

1521 - Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured present-day Mexico City from the Aztec Indians.
1521 - After a three-month siege, Spanish forces under Hernán Cortés captured Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec empire.
1889 - The first coin-operated telephone was patented by William Gray.
1961 - Berlin was divided with barbed wire as East Germany sealed off the border between the city's eastern and western sectors in order to halt the flight of refugees.
2004 - Hurricane Charley came in on the heels of tropical storm Bonnie and Florida experiences its worst hurricane since 1992's Andrew.

Births

1818 - Lucy Stone, women's rights activist, who founded American Suffrage Association.
1860 - Annie Oakley (Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee), American sharpshooter, performer.
1888 - John Baird, Scottish television pioneer.
1899 - Alfred Hitchcock, British filmmaker, director.
1912 - Ben Hogan, American golf champion.
1926 - Fidel Castro (Ruz), Cuban revolutionary, leader.

Deaths

1995 - Mickey Mantle, Hall of Fame baseball player for the New York Yankees.
2004 - Julia Child, Emmy Award-winning chef and television personality.

On This Day:
Wednesday August 14, 2013

This is the 226th day of the year, with 139 days remaining in 2013.

Fact of the Day: Great Lakes

Lying between Canada and the U.S., the five Great Lakes cover a total of 95,096 square miles and contain one-fifth of the world's fresh water. Lake Superior is the world's largest freshwater lake. These lakes are linked to the Atlantic Ocean by the St. Lawrence Seaway, which enables ocean-going ships to use inland ports.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Marcellus of Apamea, St. Fachanan, St. Athanasia of Aegina, St. Eusebius of Rome, and St. Maximilian Kolbe.
Pakistan: Independence Day.

Events

1457 - The first book ever printed was published by a German astrologer named Faust.
1784 - On Kodiak Island, Grigory Shelikhov, a Russian fur trader, founded Three Saints Bay, the first permanent Russian settlement inAlaska.
1848 - The Oregon Territory was established.
1873 - The first issue of "Field and Stream" magazine was published.
1880 - The largest Gothic church in northern Europe, the Cologne Cathedral in Germany, was completed after 632 years of rebuilding.
1893 - France became the first country to introduce vehicle registration plates.
1900 - International forces, including U.S. Marines, entered Beijing to put down the Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at purging China of foreign influence.
1941 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter.
1945 - Japan announced its unconditional surrender in World War II. President Harry Truman announced that World War II was over.
1947 - Pakistan became independent of British rule.
1973 - The United States ended the "secret" bombing of Cambodia.
1997 - An unrepentant Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.
2003 - A huge blackout hit the northeastern United States and part of Canada; 50 million people lost power; the power grid crash covered eight U.S. states from Michigan to Massachusetts and part of southeastern Canada, becoming the worst infrastructure collapse that the U.S. has ever suffered.

Births

1777 - Hans Christian Oersted, Danish scientist, who discovered electromagnetism.
1886 - Arthur J. Dempster, Canadian-American physicist.
1915 - Max Klein, American painter; invented "paint by numbers."
1941 - David Crosby (David Van Cortland), American musician, songwriter.
1945 - Steve Martin, American Emmy Award-winning comedy writer, comedian, actor, author.

Deaths

1951 - William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper publisher.

On This Day:
Thursday August 15, 2013

This is the 227th day of the year, with 138 days remaining in 2013.

Fact of the Day: restaurants

The public dining room that ultimately became known as the restaurant originated in France. The first restaurant proprietor was A. Boulanger, a soup vendor, who opened his business in Paris in 1765. The sign above his door advertised restoratives or restaurants, referring to the soups and broths available within. The institution took its name from that sign, and restaurant now denotes a public eating place in English, French, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Romanian, and many other languages. The specialty restaurant (serving one or two kinds of food, such as seafood or steak), the cafeteria, and fast food establishments are types of restaurants originating in the U.S.

Holidays

Feast day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, St. Tarsicius, and St. Arnulf of Soissons.
Congo: National Day.
India: Independence Day.
Liechtenstein: National Day.
South Korea: Liberation Day.
Vatican City: Assumption Day.
Equatorial Guinea: Constitution Day.
Panama: Panama City Foundation Day.

Events

1057 - King Macbeth of Scotland was slain by Malcolm Canmore, whose father, King Duncan I, was murdered by Macbeth 17 years earlier.
1790 - Reverend John Carroll became the first Catholic bishop in the United States.
1865 - Sir Joseph Lister discovered the antiseptic process.
1911 - Procter & Gamble Company of Cincinnati, Ohio introduced Crisco hydrogenated shortening.
1914 - The American-built Panama Canal was inaugurated with the passage of the U.S. vessel Ancon, a cargo and passenger ship.
1944 - Allied forces landed in southern France during World War II.
1945 - Japan surrendered to the Allies, and this date is declared V-J Day.
1947 - India and Pakistan became independent after some 200 years of British rule.
1948 - The Republic of Korea was proclaimed.
1948 - The republic of South Korea was proclaimed.
1969 - The Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York; over 400,000 attended.
1994 - Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal," was jailed in France after being captured in Sudan.
2000 - Two hundred members of families separated by the Korean War were permitted to meet each other for the first time since then, half in South Korea and half in North Korea.
2001 - Astronomers announced the discovery of the first solar system outside our own - two planets orbiting a star in the Big Dipper.
2003 - A car bomb exploded, destroying the lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel, a top hotel in the Jakarta, Indonesia; 14 people were killed and 150 were wounded.

Births

1769 - Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France.
1771 - Sir Walter Scott, Scottish novelist.
1879 - Ethel Barrymore (Ethel Mae Blythe), often called the "First Lady of the American Theatre."
1888 - T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), English archaeologist, soldier, and writer.
1912 - Julia Child (McWilliams), American chef, author.
1925 - Rose Marie (Curley), American comedienne, actress.

Deaths

1935 - Will Rogers, American entertainer.
1935 - Wiley Post, American aviator.

On This Day:
Friday August 16, 2013

This is the 228th day of the year, with 137 days remaining in 2013.

Fact of the Day: baseball pitcher

The pitcher is vital to the game of baseball. Until a batter hits the ball, the game is a duel between the pitcher (and catcher) and the batter, which is repeated with each at bat. Until about 1870, the pitcher was merely a player assigned to put the ball in play by pitching it to the batter to hit. Now, of the 25 players on a major league club's normal active roster, eleven or twelve are pitchers, five of these being starting pitchers and the remainder constituting the bullpen or relief pitchers. Pitching demands more exact coordination of mental and muscular faculties and more continuous physical exertion than any other position in the game. On each pitch the pitcher is aiming at the strike zone, or a small part of it, 60 feet 6 inches away from the rubber on which his foot pivots in the act of pitching the ball. Pitchers use changes of speed, control (the ability to pitch to specific points in the strike zone), and different grips that affect the flight of the pitch in ord er to confound batters.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Stephen of Hungary, St. Armel, and St. Arsacius.
Dominican Republic: Restoration of the Republic (1863).

Events

1777 - American forces won the Revolutionary War's Battle of Bennington (Vermont).
1777 - France declared bankruptcy.
1812 - Detroit fell to British and Indian forces in the War of 1812.
1858 - U.S. President James Buchanan and Britain's Queen Victoria exchanged messages inaugurating the first transatlantic telegraph line.
1896 - Gold was discovered in the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
1906 - Earthquakes erupted in San Francisco, California, and Valparaiso, Chile.
1954 - "Sports Illustrated" was first published by Time Incorporated.
1960 - Britain granted independence to the crown colony of Cyprus.
1962 - Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles, handed drummer Pete Best his walking papers.
1965 - The Watts riots ended in south-central Los Angeles after six days.
1984 - The U.S. Jaycees voted to admit women to full membership in the organization.

Births

1862 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, American basketball and football Hall-of-Famer, coach.
1894 - George Meany, American, first president of the AFL-CIO.
1913 - Menachem Begin, Israeli Prime Minister.
1958 - Madonna (Louise Veronica Ciccone), American entertainer, singer.

Deaths

1948 - George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Hall of Fame and popular professional baseball player.
1977 - Elvis Presley, popular American singer died at Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.
2003 - Idi Amin, former dictator of Uganda.

On This Day:
Saturday August 17, 2013

This is the 229th day of the year, with 136 days remaining in 2013.

Fact of the Day: steamboat

On August 17, 1807, the first American steamboat trip took place on the Hudson River in New York. With about 40 people on board, Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston launched the "North River Steamboat" from New York City up the Hudson River to Albany, New York. The boat covered 150 miles in 32 hours (with an overnight stop) at an average speed of five miles per hour. Nicknamed "Fulton's Folly," it was in fact a total success.

Holidays

Feast day of St. Joan Delanoue, St. Mamas, St. Liberatus of Capua, St. Rock or Roch, St. Clare of Montefalco, St. Hyacinth, and St. Eusebius, pope.
Gabon Republic: National Day (independence from France, 1960).
Indonesia: Independence Day.
Argentina: Anniversary of San Martin's death.

Events

1590 - John White, the leader of 117 colonists sent in 1587 to Roanoke Island (North Carolina) to establish a colony, returned from a trip to England to find the settlement deserted. No trace of the settlers was ever found.
1903 - The first Pulitzer Prize was awarded, as Joseph Pulitzer made a million-dollar donation to Columbia University.
1915 - Charles F. Kettering of Detroit, Michigan patented an electric self-starter for automobiles.
1945 - Indonesian nationalists declared their independence from the Netherlands.
1954 - The Newport Jazz Festival opened at the Newport Casino in Rhode Island.
1978 - The Double Eagle II completed the first transatlantic balloon flight when it landed in a barley field near Paris, 137 hours after lifting off from Presque Isle, Maine.
1999 - An earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale struck northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 people.

Births

1601 - Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician, lawyer, government official.
1786 - Davy Crockett, American frontiersman, soldier.
1882 - Samuel Goldwyn (Goldfish), American movie pioneer.
1893 - Mae West, American playwright, actress.
1921 - Maureen O'Hara (Fitzsimmons), American actress.

Deaths

1983 - Ira Gershwin, American lyricist.