August 3
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Events on This Day
1492 - Christopher Columbus set sail on the Santa Maria. He was accompanied by a crew of 90 and two more ships, the Nina and the Pinta. They left Spain half an hour before sunrise to begin the search for a water passage to Cathay. Instead, Columbus and company landed on October 12 at Guanahani, San Salvador Island in the Bahamas ... not India but the New World of the Americas.1750 - This is the day that Christopher Dock completed the first book of teaching methods. He called it A Simple and Thoroughly Prepared School Management. Sounds like fun reading...
1858 - Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile River, was discovered by English explorer John Hanning Speke.
1880 - The American Canoe Association was formed on the shores of Lake George, New York.
1922 - WGY radio in Schenectady, NY presented the first full-length melodrama on radio. It was The Wolf, written by Eugene Walter.
1933 - With Lefty Grove pitching, the Philadelphia Athletics whipped the New York Yankees, 7-0. The Yankees had gone 308 games without being shutout.
1933 - The world-famous Mickey Mouse Watch was introduced. The timepiece sold for $2.75. A Mickey Mouse Clock sold for $1.50. New models now sell for $25 or more and the original watches and clocks are worth hundreds of dollars.
1943 - Gomorrah was the code name for the bombing of Hamburg during the ten days of July 24 to August 3. The bombing produced a fire-storm, the first in history, in which the flames reached a height of three miles above the city. The firestorm killed more than 30,000 people.
1949 - The National Basketball Association was formed. It was a combination of the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League.
1954 - A record divorce settlement (for the time) was awarded to Mrs. Barbara Bobo Rockefeller. Winthrop Rockefeller was ordered to pay a sum of $5,500,000 to his ex-wife.
1956 - U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower renamed Bedloe’s Island (site of the Statue of Liberty) Liberty Island.
1963 - The college football all-stars downed the Green Bay Packers by a 20-17 score. It was a big upset since the college upstarts had been heavy (50-1) underdogs.
1963 - The Beatles made their final appearance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England. The group was about to leave its hometown behind for unprecedented world-wide fame and fortune.
1963 - The Beach Boys’ Surfer Girl, entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart [at #85]. It became one of their biggest hits. Surfer Girl made it to number seven on the hit music chart Sep 14, 1963.
1963 - Comedian Allan Sherman’s summer camp parody, Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter from Camp) was released on Warner Brothers Records. It went to number two on the pop charts (8/24/63).
1965 - CBS-TV war correspondent Morley Safer sent out a Vietnam report showing American troops using their Zippo lighters to set fire to thatched huts in a Vietnamese village. The filmed report aired in the U.S. on August 5th.
1966 - Comedian Lenny Bruce died of a morphine overdose this day.
1971 - Paul McCartney formed a band called Wings. Joining McCartney in the group were Denny Laine, formerly of The Moody Blues, Denny Seilwell and McCartney’s wife, Linda.
1975 - An Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines chartered Boeing 707, returning Moroccan workers home after vacation in France, plunged into a mountainside near Immouzer, Morocco. All 188 aboard were killed.
1977 - Tandy Corporation’s TRS-80 was unveiled at New York’s Warwick Hotel. Sold through Radio Shack stores, the $599.95 system featured a black-and-white-monitor, cassette tape storage, 4Kb of RAM (expandable to 48Kb) and a 1.78MHz processor.
1981 - Despite a warning from President Ronald Reagan that they would be fired, air traffic controllers went on strike anyway, causing suspension of half the nearly 15,000 daily flights in the U.S. Two days later, Reagan dismissed all those who had defied his order.
1983 - Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn resigned after 14 years on the job. Originally, he had been asked to take the job for six months or so.
1984 - Wall Street ended its best week (to that time) with a jump in the Dow Jones blue-chip average of 87.46. A one-day volume record was also set as 236.57 million shares changed hands, keeping brokers on the trading floor very busy. 72.9 million shares were traded in the first hour alone.
1987 - Joe Niekro was suspended for 10 days for throwing scuffed baseballs. He first denied the charge made by the home plate umpire, but an emery board fell right out of his pocket during an inspection!
1987 - A new 22-cent stamp honoring noted author William Faulkner went on sale in Oxford, MS. Faulkner had been fired as postmaster of that same post office in 1924.
1989 - The ABC news magazine Primetime Live debuted, with Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer reporting/starring. Just one of many creations of ABC News president Roone Arledge, the show ran through Sep 9, 1998, when it was merged with ABC’s 20/20.
1993 - Boston Ventures sold Motown Records to the Dutch recording and entertainment company, Polygram, for $325 million. Boston Ventures and MCA Records had picked up Motown from founder Berry Gordy for a mere $61 million in 1988.
1993 - James Jordan, father of basketball star Michael Jordan, was found dead in a South Carolina creek; his remains were not identified until Aug 13. (James had pulled into a highway rest stop to take a nap. He was robbed and killed by two men, who were later sentenced to life in prison for the murder.)
1994 - Stephen G. Breyer was sworn in as Supreme Court justice in a private ceremony at Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist’s Vermont summer home.
1995 - Palestinian Eyad Ismoil Najim, having been extradited from Jordan, was arraigned in the Southern District of New York. He was charged with driven a bomb-laden van into New York’s World Trade Center. The 1993 explosion killed six people and injured more than 1,000. Najim was convicted 1997 along with Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and sentenced to life in prison.
1996 - “Give your body happiness, Macarena...” Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix), by Los Del Rio, hit #1 on Billboard. It stayed and stayed at the top -- for 14 smash weeks -- as dancers swayed and swayed. “Ehhhhhh, Macarena!”
1997 - Moderate Muslim cleric Mohammad Khatami took office as president of Iran. In a reference to the United States, he said his country opposed the “high-handedness of certain big countries.”
1999 - A federal arbitration panel ruled that the U.S. government owed the heirs of Dallas dressmaker Abraham Zapruder $16 million for his movie film that captured the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Zapruder was one of three people to film the scene at Dealy Plaza in Dallas, but the images captured by his Bell and Howell silent camera are considered the most complete.
2000 - George W. Bush (II) accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Philadelphia. He presented himself as an outsider who would return “civility and respect” to Washington politics.
2001 - These films opened in the U.S.: Ghost World, starring Thora Birch, Scarlett Johanssen, Brad Renfro, Illeana Douglas, Steve Buscemi, Bob Balaban and Teri Garr; Original Sin, with Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie, The Princess Diaries, starring Julie Andrews, Anne Hathaway, Heather Matarazzo and Hector Elizondo; and Rush Hour 2, with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.
2002 - Turkey’s parliament approved a reform package aimed at boosting its chances of joining the European Union by abolishing the death penalty and granting greater rights to the nation’s Kurds.
2003 - Dr. Peter Safar, regarded as the father of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), died in Pittsburgh, PA. He was 79 years old.
2004 - A Delta II rocket lifted the spacecraft Messenger from Cape Canaveral, FL on a 6-year-plus journey to Mercury.
2005 - The U.S. FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and Dept. of Justice gave their approval to the merger of communications companies Sprint and Nextel.
2005 - German sporting goods company Adidas-Salomon AG announced its intention to buy rival Reebok International Ltd. for $3.8 billion.
2007 - U.S. authorities confirmed at least 25 deaths in nine states from a heat wave that started July 30. Temperatures soared to triple digits, meeting or breaking records from Las Vegas, NV to Great Falls, MT.
2007 - New movies in U.S. theatres: The Bourne Ultimatum, starring Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez and Trevor St. John; Bratz, with Yasmin, Jade, Sasha, Cloe, Chelsea Staub, Anneliese van der Pol, Malese Jow, Stephan Lunsford and Jon Voight; El Cantant, starring Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Federico Castelluccio, Romi Dias and Vincent Laresca; Hot Rod, with Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, Mark Acheson, Bill Hader, Danny R. McBride and Sissy Spacek; and Underdog, starring Jim Belushi, Peter Dinklage, John Slattery, Patrick Warburton, Brad Garrett, with Amy Adams, and Jason Lee as the voice of Underdog.
2007 - American Home Mortgage released all but 750 of its 7,000 employees as it ran out of money, a victim of the subprime mortgage implosion.
2008 - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said 24 Russian Sukhoi fighter jets had been delivered to his country. And he announced that he was ready to defend his country from “imperialist aggressions.”
2010 - U.S. authorities in San Francisco announced the seizure of some 200,000 counterfeit retail items at Fisherman’s Wharf. The items had a retail value of $100 million. 11 people were charged with conspiracy and smuggling. The targeted network was accused of importing goods from China that imitated 70 national and international brands.
2011 - British officials reported the seizure of about £300 million ($492 million) worth of cocaine in a record-setting drug bust on a pleasure boat. 1.2 tons of cocaine had been hidden in a specially-designed compartment on the "Louise", docked in southern England. It took six days of searching the yacht to find the stash.
2012 - It was debut day for these movies in the U.S.: The Bourne Legacy, starring Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton, Rachel Weisz, Donna Murphy, Albert Finney, Oscar Isaac and Joan Allen; Diary of a Whimpy Kid: Dog Days, with Steve Zahn, Peyton List, Zachary Gordon, Devon Bostick, Rachael Harris and Karan Brar; Total Recall, starring Kate Beckinsale, Bryan Cranston, Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, Bill Nighy and Ethan Hawke; 360, with Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Ben Foster, Mark Ivanir and Moritz Bleibtreu; The Babymakers, starring Olivia Munn, Aisha Tyler, Paul Schneider, Jay Chandrasekhar, Noureen DeWulf, Desi Lydic and Helena Mattsson; Celeste and Jesse Forever, with Emma Roberts, Elijah Wood, Andy Samberg, Rashida Jones, Eric Christian Olsen and Janel Parrish.
2012 - Michael Phelps won a record 17th lifetime Olympic gold medal as two teammates led in a big night for the U.S. in the swimming competition at the London Games.
2013 - Social Web site Twitter announced new rules to control abusive language on its site. The move followed a barrage of nasty, harassing, and threatening messages directed at high-profile female users.
2015 - Iran banned a weekly newspaper owned by a critic of its nuclear deal (with the U.S. Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany) and issued a formal warning to the country’s leading conservative daily for breaches of reporting guidelines. “If anyone was to make comments against our national interests on a subject that is tied with our national security, it should definitely be stopped,” said Hussain Noushabadi, a culture ministry spokesperson. The nuclear agreement is “an important matter that was achieved under the supervision of the supreme leader... and cannot be easily criticised with unjust comments,” he added.
2015 - Oklahoma regulators imposed new restrictions on energy companies injecting wastewater underground. The move was part of a continuing effort to stem a sharp increase in earthquakes in the state.
2016 - Thousands of hackers and other cybersecurity professionals met in Las Vegas for the annual Black Hat conference. One of the highlights: When you drop nearly 300 USB drives on a college campus, people not only pick them up, but they plug them into their computers and open the files on them.
2017 - 62-year-old Peter Zuccarelli of Plano, Texas pleaded guilty to federal charges that he smuggled integrated circuits for use in Russian and Chinese space programs.
2017 - Maryland state attorneys are dismissing dozens of cases in Baltimore after seeing a video that shows a police officer planting evidence at a crime scene -- as two other officers look on.
2017 - New movies in U.S. theatres included: The Darkest Minds, starring Bradley Whitford, Mandy Moore and Amandla Stenberg; Searching, with John Cho, Debra Messing and Joseph Lee; The Spy Who Dumped Me, starring Mila Kunis, Sam Heughan, Kate McKinnon; Like Father, starring Kristen Bell, Seth Rogen Kelsey Grammer; The Miseducation of Cameron Post, with Chloë Grace Moretz, Jennifer Ehle and Marin Ireland; Never Goin’ Back, starring Maia Mitchell, Camila Morrone and Kyle Mooney; and Night Comes On, with Dominique Fishback, Tatum Marilyn Hall and Nastashia Fuller.
2018 - Two former Florida police officers pleaded guilty to framing a black 16-year-old for burglaries he did not commit -- part of a scheme to frame the teenager so that the police chief could claim a perfect rate of solving burglaries in Biscayne Park. In October the dirty cops were sentenced to a year in federal prison.
2018 - The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a California requirement that new models of semi-automatic handguns must stamp identifying information on bullet casings as they are fired.
2019 - A gunman opened fire at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, killing 20 people and injuring another two dozen. 21-year-old suspect Patrick Crusius had posted a four-page statement on an online message board calling the attack “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
2019 - Europe’s biggest annual Gay Pride parade kicked off on the canals of Amsterdam, with over 500,000 visitors from around the world. Some 80 boats represented a wide variety of organizations from the LGBTI+ community.
2020 - Authorities in the Netherlands and Spain killed more than 1 million minks at breeding farms following outbreaks of coronavirus in the animals.
2020 - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called for a U.S. company to purchase Chinese-owned video app TikTok. This, in order to protect users’ data from prying Chinese government eyes. Schumer said, “a safe way must be found for TikTok to continue.”
2021 - Florida again broke its record for COVID-19 hospitalizations. This, while Governor Ron DeSantis insisted that the spike would soon abate and that he would not impose any business restrictions or mask mandates.
2021 - Detroit’s Big Three automakers and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union said they were reinstating requirements to wear masks at all U.S. plants, offices and warehouses.
2021 - New York state Attorney General Letitia James said a five-month investigation had confirmed that Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and violated federal and state laws while creating a “climate of fear” in the workplace.
2022 - Conspiracy monger Alex Jones testified that he understood it was irresponsible of him to declare the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax and that he believed it was “100 percent real.” His comments came a day after parents of the victims testified that they had faced harassment and death threats because of Jones’ false claims -- on Infowars and other platforms -- that the attack, which killed 20 students and six educators, was a hoax.
2022 - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Taiwan in 25 years, prompting a furious China to announce missile tests and military drills encircling the democratic island.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day August 3
1900 - Ernie Pyle
journalist: Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter [1944]: reports of 1940 London bombings and war reports from Africa, Italy and France; managing editor: Washington Daily News; killed by sniper’s bullet on Ie Shima, small island off Okinawa, April 18, 1945
1900 - John T. Scopes
high school teacher: subject of famous 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial: convicted of teaching evolution in Tennessee school; died Oct 21, 19701902 - Ray Bloch
orchestra leader: TV shows: Blind Date, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Gay Nineties Revue, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Larry Storch Show, Songs for Sale; died Mar 29, 19821904 - Dolores del Rio (Lolita Dolores Martinez Asunsolo y Lopez Negrete)
actress: Flying Down to Rio, Journey into Fear, Flaming Star, Children of Sanchez, Accused; died Apr 11, 19831905 - Margaret Kuhn
rights advocate, National Women’s Hall of Famer: forced into retirement at age 65, she formed the Gray Panthers to fight age discrimination; her advice: “Speak your mind. Even if your voice shakes, well-aimed slingshots can topple giants.”; died Apr 22, 19951908 - Frances Morris
actress: Portrait of a Mobster, Wild Is the Wind, Crime Against Joe, Miss Sadie Thompson, The Captive City, Edge of Doom; died Dec 2, 20031917 - Charlie Shavers
musician: trumpet: group: John Kirby Sextet; composer: Pastel Blue, Undecided; died July 8, 19711918 - Les Elgart
musician: lead trumpet, bandleader: w/brother Larry; died July 29, 19951921 - Richard Adler
composer, lyricist [w/Jerry Ross]: scores: Pajama Game, Damn Yankees; solo: scores: Kwamina, A Mother’s Kisses; died Jun 21, 20121921 - Marilyn (Marvel) Maxwell
actress: Arizona Bushwackers, Champion, The Lemon Drop Kid, Summer Holiday, Lost in a Harem; died Mar 20, 19721924 - Gordon Stoker
singer: group: The Jordanaires: Amazing Grace, Crying in the Chapel, How Great Thou Art, Just a Closer Walk With Thee, Peace in the Valley, God Bless the USA; died Mar 27, 20131924 - Leon Uris
author: Exodus, Battle Cry, Mila 18, The Angry Hills, Armageddon; screenplay: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral; died June 21, 20031925 - Marv Levy
Pro Football Hall of Fame coach: Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Montreal Alouettes [CFL]1926 - Tony Bennett (Benedetto)
Grammy Award-winning singer: I Left My Heart in San Francisco [1962], MTV Unplugged [1994]; I Wanna Be Around, Who Can I Turn To, The Shadow of Your Smile, Because of You, Rags to Riches, Stranger in Paradise, In the Middle of an Island, The Good Life; appeared in film: The Oscar; died Jul 21, 20231926 - Gordon Scott (Werschkul)
actor: Gladiator of Rome, Tarzan and the Trappers, Sampson and the 7 Miracles of the World; died Apr 30, 20071937 - Steven Berkoff
actor: Intruders, The Krays, Rambo: First Blood, Part 2, Beverly Hills Cop, A Clockwork Orange, War & Remembrance1940 - Lance (Bambi) Alworth
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Dallas Cowboys wide receiver: Super Bowl VI; San Diego Chargers1940 - Martin Sheen (Ramon Estevez)
actor: The West Wing, Apocalypse Now, J.F.K., Wall Street, Badlands, Ghandi, Gettysburg, The Final Countdown; father of actors Charlie Sheen & Emilio Estevez1941 - Beverly Lee
singer: group: The Shirelles: I Met Him on a Sunday, Dedicated to the One I Love, Tonight’s the Night, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Mama Said, Soldier Boy1941 - Martha Stewart
cooking, craft, decorating, planting advisor; Martha Stewart’s Living [TV show and magazine]1949 - B.B. (Morris) Dickerson
musician: bass, singer: group: War; died Apr 2, 20211950 - John Landis
director: Thriller video, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Beverly Hills Cop 3, The Blues Brothers, Coming to America, National Lampoon’s Animal House, Oscar, Three Amigos, Trading Places1951 - Marcel Dionne
Hockey Hall of Famer: Detroit Red Wings: Lady Byng Trophy [1975]; LA Kings: Lady Byng Trophy [1977], Art Ross Trophy [1980]; NY Rangers1951 - Johnny Graham
musician: guitar: group: Earth, Wind & Fire: Shining Star, Sing a Song, Got to Get You into My Life, After the Love Has Gone, Best of My Love1951 - Jay North (Hopper)
actor: Dennis the Menace, Maya, Zebra in the Kitchen, The Teacher, Scout’s Honor1955 - Corey Burton
character voice: Spider-Man, Critters, James Bond Jr., Bonkers, Snow Monkeys, Mighty Ducks, Pocahontas, Hercules, 101 Dalmatians, Toy Story 2, Atlantis: The Lost Empire1959 - John C. McGinley
actor: The Rock, On Deadly Ground, Born on the Fourth of July, Hear No Evil, Point Break, Fat Man and Little Boy, Talk Radio, Wall Street, Platoon, The Pentagon Wars1961 - Lee Rocker
musician: bass: group: Stray Cats: Stray Cat Strut, Rock This Town, Rumble in Brighton, Built for Speed, [She’s] Sexy and 17, I Won’t Stand in Your Way1963 - James Hetfield
musician: rhythm guitar; songwriter, lead vocalist, co-founder of heavy metal band Metallica: No Leaf Clover, I Disappear, The Day That Never Comes, Cyanide, All Nightmare Long, Enter Sandman, Until It Sleeps1963 - Isaiah Washington
actor: Grey’s Anatomy, Hurricane Season, The Moguls, Hollywood Homicide, Romeo Must Die, Love Jones, Clockers, The Color of Love1964 - Kevin Elster
baseball: NY Mets, NY Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates, LA Dodgers1968 - Rod Beck
baseball [pitcher]: SF Giants, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, SD Padres; died June 23, 20071969 - Doug Overton
basketball: Washington Wizards, Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, NJ Nets, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, LA Clippers1972 - Racquel Lace
actress [1995-2004]: X-rated films: Addicted to Lust, Dirty Minds, GutterMouths, Planet X, Yin Yang Oriental Love Bang1972 - Melissa Ponzio
actress: The Walking Dead, Army Wives, Teen Wolf1973 - Michael Ealy
actor: Almost Human, Barbershop, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Seven Pounds, 2 Fast 2 Furious, For Colored Girls, Underworld: Awakening1976 - Troy Glaus
baseball [1st, 3rd base]: Anaheim Angels [1998–2004]: 2002 World Series MVP; Arizona Diamondbacks [2005]; Toronto Blue Jays [2006–2007]; St. Louis Cardinals [2008–2009]; Atlanta Braves [2010]1977 - Tom Brady
football [quarterback]: Univ of Michigan; NFL: New England Patriots [2000-2019]:: Super Bowls XXXVI [MVP], XXXVIII [MVP], XXXIX [MVP], XLII, XLVI, XLIX, LI [MVP], LIII; Tampa Bay Buccaneers [2020- ]: 2021 Super Bowl LV champs1978 - Shanelle Workman
actress: One Life to Live, Even Money, The Biggest Fan, The Skateboard Kid, Howie and Rose, The Bold and the Beautiful; Voice of Wendy of fast food chain fame1979 - Evangeline Lilly
actress: Lost, Judgement Day, The Long Weekend, Kingdom Hospital, Stealing Sinatra1980 - Carmen Hayes
actress [2002-2012]: X-rated films: Orgasmic Oralists, C Is for Carmen, Don’t Bite It Baby!, Big Black Racks, Womenopoly, Sista Hoodz1982 - Robert Stadlober
actor: Crazy, Kronprinz Rudolf, Felix Ende, Sophiiiie!, Brombeerchen, Enemy at the Gates, Bella Block - Abschied im Licht1984 - Ryan Lochte
swimming champ: 12-time Olympic medalist [six gold, three silver, three bronze]; as part of the U,S. teams, he holds the world record in the 4×200-meter freestyle [long course] and 4x100-meter freestyle [mixed] relay; individually, he holds the world record in the 200-meter individual medley [long and short course] and 400-meter individual medley [short course]; Lochtegate: at 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Lochte generated international controversy when he falsely claimed that he and three other American swimmers had been pulled over and robbed by armed men with police badges1985 - Georgina Haig
actress: The Elephant Princess, Fringe, Once Upon a Time, The Sapphires, Nerve, The Mule1994 - Todd Gurley
football [quarterback]: St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams [2015–2019]: 2019 Super Bowl LIII; Atlanta Falcons [2020]
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day August 3
1951Too Young (facts) - Nat King Cole
Mister and Mississippi (facts) - Patti Page
1960
1969
1978
1987
1996
2005
2014
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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