August 14th is

Creamsicle Day

Rosé (wine) Day

Social Security Day *

World Lizard Day

National V-J Day *

National Navajo Code Talkers Day *

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MORE! John Galsworthy, Lina Wertmüller and David Crosby, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Bangladesh, India and Nepal–
Sri Krishna Jaynati/Janamashtami
(birth of Lord Krishna)

Morocco &  Western Sahara –
Oued Ed-Dahab Day
(recovery of Oued Ed-Dahab province)

Pakistan – Independence Day

Saint Helena – Tristan da Cunha:
Anniversary Day

Samoa & Tokelau– Fathers’ Day

Zimbabwe – Heroes’ Day

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On This Day in HISTORY

1040 – Scottish King Duncan I killed in battle by his first cousin Macbeth, who becomes his successor as King of Scotland

1183 – Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape from the Minamoto clan

1248 – Rebuilding of Cologne Cathedral begins after it is destroyed by fire. It is not completed until August 14, 1880

1552 – Paolo Scarpi born, Italian historian, prelate, scientist and statesman on behalf of the Venice Republic; many of his writings are highly critical of the Catholic Church’s scholastic tradition

1642 – Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, longest-reigning duke in Tuscan history, marked by ultra-reactionary edicts again prostitution and May celebrations, and economic depression; his wife left him and went into the Convent of Montmatre, after bearing three children

1738 – Leopold Hofmann born, Austrian composer; Kapellmeister at Peterskirche (St. Peter’s Church) and St. Stephan’s Cathedral  in Vienna, where he asked for Mozart to be appointed as his assistant-Kapellmeister

1802 – Letitia E. Landon born, British author and poet, known by her initials L.E.L., popular in the 19th century; Romance and Reality, The Improvisatrice

1820 – Dr. Edward Delafield opens first US infirmary exclusively for treating eye diseases in NYC

1848 – Oregon becomes a U.S. territory

1863 – Ernest Thayer born, American writer; “Casey at the Bat”

1867 – John Galsworthy born, English novelist and playwright; 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature; The Forsyte Saga

1880 – Construction of Cologne Cathedral  is completed in Germany after 632 years

1882 – Gisela Richter born, British archaeologist, historian and professor, curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Achievement Award from the American Association of University Women; author of many popular books on art

1888 – Thomas Edison’s phonograph plays a recording of Arthur Sullivan’s “The Lost Chord” as a demonstration for the British press in London

1886 –  Arthur J. Dempster born, American physicist, built the first device for measuring charged particles

1893 – Alfred Alessandrescu born, Romanian composer, conductor and pianist

1896 – Gold discovered in Canada’s Yukon Territory

1900 – A military force from eight nations lefts the siege of Peking, ending the Boxer Rebellion, which tried to purge foreigners from China.

1901 – Alice Rivaz born, Swiss author and feminist, wrote about women in art and the family including Nuages dans la main (Clouds in your Hands) and Jette ton pain (Cast your Bread)

1903 – Eduardo Mallea born, Argentine novelist, essayist and short-story writer

1909 – Winifred Stanley born, American lawyer and politician; as a member of the United States House of Representatives in the 1940s, she was the first to propose equal pay for equal work in HR 5056

1910 – Pierre Schaeffer born, French composer, acoustician and electronics engineer

1915 – Max Klein born, American painter; creator of “paint by numbers”

1917 – China declares war on Germany and Austria during WWI

1926 – Lina Wertmüller born, Italian writer and director, first woman ever nominated for an Academy Award for Directing for her film Seven Beauties

1935 – Social Security Day *- Franklin Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act

1941 – US Congress appropriated $83 million to build the Pentagon

The Pentagon in the 1940s – SHORPY photo

1941 – President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issue the Atlantic Charter, a statement of principles renouncing aggression

1941 – David Crosby born, singer-songwriter – The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

1945 – National V-J Day *- U.S. President Truman announces Japan surrenders

1947 – Pakistan becomes independent from British rule

1953 – The whiffle ball is invented by David N. Mullany 

1969 – British troops arrive in Northern Ireland to stop sectarian violence between Protestants and Roman Catholics

1973 – U.S. bombing of Cambodia is halted

1980 – Workers go on strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland; this job action leads to the Solidarity labor movement

1982 – National Navajo Code Talkers Day * is proclaimed by President Reagan

1989 – Bon Jovi’s New Jersey album becomes the first U.S. album to be released legally in the USSR; Russian label Melodiya paid the group with a truckload of firewood since it was illegal for rubles to leave Russia

1992 – Emergency airlifts of food to Somalia begin to ease drought and warfare crisis

2003 – A widespread power blackout affects northeastern U.S and Canada

2006 – Israel ends its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas as a U.N.-imposed cease-fire goes into effect after a month of warfare that kills over 900 people

Hezbollah stronghold, Dahiyeh, a neighborhood of Beirut, after Israeli bombing

2015 – U.S. Embassy in Havana re-opens 54 years after diplomatic relations with Cuba were cut off

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