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What happened in history on this day: August 12?
On August 12 in ...
- 1332 - Battle of Dupplin Moor; Scottish dynastic battle.
- 1439 - French forces recapture town of Meaux from English.
- 1508 - Ponce de León arrives in Puerto Rico.
- 1553 - Pope Julius III orders confiscation and burning of the Talmud.
- 1644 - Birth of Heinrich Biber in Wartenberg, Bohemia, Austrian Empire; composer and violinist, court musician for the Archbishop of Salzburg.
- 1676 - King Philip's War (vs Wampanoag Indians) ends in New England.
- 1745 - An Act of English Parliament offers 30,000 pounds for the capture of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
- 1746 - Wearing of Highland clothes made illegal in Scotland.
- 1753 - Birth of Thomas Bewick England, artist (British Birds, Aesop's Fables).
- 1762 - Birth of George Augustus Frederick to King George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; Prince Regent (1811-1820), King George IV (1820-1830).
- 1774 - Birth of Robert Southey English poet laureate, biographer of Nelson.
- 1781 - Birth of Robert Mills; US architect (Washington Monument).
- 1820 - Birth of Oliver Mowat; a founder of the Canadian Confederation.
- 1851 - Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.
- 1859 - Birth of Katharine Lee Bates; US author (America the Beautiful).
- 1862 - CSA General John Hunt Morgan and his raiders capture Gallatin, Texas.
- 1862 - John Gault receives a patent on encasing postage stamps under a mica window and in a circular brass backing, for use as currency.
- 1863 - First cargo of lumber leaves Burrard Inlet (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada area).
- 1866 - Birth of Jacinto Benavente y Martínez; Spanish dramatist (Nobel Prize 1922).
- 1867 - Birth of Edith Hamilton; US writer (Mythology).
- 1867 - President Andrew Johnson defies US Congress, suspending Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.
- 1876 - Birth of Mary Roberts Rinehart; mystery writer (Miss Pinkerton).
- 1876 - Madeline (US) beats Countess Dufferin (Canada) in fourth America's Cup.
- 1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Deimos, the smaller of Mars' two moons.
- 1877 - Thomas Edison invents the Edisonphone, a sound recording device.
- 1879 - First National Archery Association tournament (Chicago, Illinois).
- 1880 - Birth of Christy Mathewson; Hall Of Fame baseball pitcher (won 37 games in 1908).
- 1881 - Birth of Cecil B deMille in Massachusetts, USA; film director (The Ten Commandments) (dies 1959).
- 1883 - The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.
- 1884 - Birth of Frank Swinnerton in England; novelist (Summer Storm, Sanctuary).
- 1887 - Birth of Erwin Schrödinger in Austria; physicist (had a cat).
- 1890 - Birth of Al Goodman in Nikopol, Russia; orchestra leader (NBC Comedy Hour).
- 1893 - Birth of Howard Smith in Attleboro, Massachusetts, USA; actor (Harvey Griffin - Hazel).
- 1896 - Gold is discovered at Dawson on the Klondike River in Alaska.
- 1898 - Peace protocol is signed by US President McKinley and Spanish Ambassador, ending hostilities in the Spanish-American War.
- 1900 - Birth of Wilhelm Steinitz in Prague; chess champion (1866-1894).
- 1903 - Colombia rejects the Hay-Herrán Treaty with the USA for $10 million for canal concession, wanting $15 million.
- 1904 - Birth of Frank Ervin; harness racer (Hambletonian 1959, 1966).
- 1908 - The first Model T Ford is built.
- 1911 - Birth of Cantinflas (Mario Moreno) in Mexico; actor (Around the World in 80 Days).
- 1912 - Birth of Jane Wyatt in Campgaw, New Jersey, USA; actress (Father Knows Best, Star Trek).
- 1913 - Birth of Kurt Kaszner in Vienna, Austria; actor (Commander Fitzhugh - Land of the Giants).
- 1915 - Birth of Milton Greenwald AKA Michael Kidd; choreographer (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers).
- 1915 - Birth of Alex Wojciechowicz; NFL center (Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles).
- 1915 - Haitian National Assembly elects Sudre Dartiguenave as President of Haiti.
- 1919 - French forces in Bánát, Hungary turn over control to Romania.
- 1921 - Birth of Marjorie Reynolds in Buhl, Idaho, USA; actress (Peggy - Life of Riley).
- 1923 - Enrico Tiraboschi is first to swim English Channel westward.
- 1925 - Birth of Dale Bumpers; American politician (Senator-Democrat-Arkansas).
- 1925 - Birth of Norris McWhirter; author (Guinness Book of World Records).
- 1925 - Birth of Ross McWhirter; author (Guinness Book of World Records).
- 1926 - Birth of John Derek in Los Angeles, California, USA; actor/director (10, Annapolis Story) (dies 1998).
- 1927 - Birth of Porter Wagoner in rural Missouri, USA; country music producer, singer ("A Satisfied Mind" (1955), "Misery Loves Company" (1962), The Porter Wagoner Show TV show (1960-1981)).
- 1927 - Birth of Ralph Waite in White Plains, New York, USA; actor (John - The Waltons, Roots).
- 1928 - Games of the IX Olympiad close in Amsterdam.
- 1929 - Birth of Buck Owens AKA Alvis Edgar Owens Junior in Sherman, Texas, USA; country music star ("I've Got a Tiger by the Tail", "Act Naturally", "Waiting in Your Welfare Line"), host (Hee Haw TV show).
- 1931 - Birth of William Goldman; American author (Lord of the Flies, Nobel Prize 1983).
- 1936 - 120 degrees F (49 degrees C), Seymour, Texas (state record hot).
- 1936 - Birth of Hans Haacke in Cologne, Germany; artist (Right to Life, Dripper Boxes).
- 1936 - Birth of John Poindexter; US Chief of Staff.
- 1936 - Diver Marjorie Gestring is youngest Olympic gold medalist (13 years 268 days).
- 1939 - Birth of George Hamilton in Memphis, Tennessee, USA; actor (Love at first Bite, Where the Boys Are, Dynasty TV show).
- 1941 - Birth of Deborah Walley in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA; actress (Mothers-in-Law).
- 1941 - Birth of Jennifer Warren in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Slap Shot, Fatal Beauty, Mutant, Paper Dolls).
- 1941 - French Marshal Henri Petain gives full support to Germany.
- 1949 - Birth of Mark Knopfler; guitar/vocals (Dire Straits - "Sultans of Swing").
- 1950 - New York Giants (NFL) beat Ottawa Roughriders (Canadian Football League) 20-6 in Ottawa, Canada.
- 1951 - Birth of Charles E Brady Junior in Pinehurst, North Carolina, USA; US Navy Commander/astronaut.
- 1951 - Birth of Hector Rodriguez in Cuba; lightweight judo (Olympic-gold-1976).
- 1953 - Ann Davidson arrives at Miami, Florida, USA, after sailing solo across Atlantic.
- 1953 - The Soviet atomic bomb project proceeds with the detonation of Joe 4, the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon.
- 1954 - Birth of Pat Metheny; jazz guitarist ("As Wichita Falls").
- 1954 - Birth of Sam J Jones in Chicago, Illinois, USA; actor (Chris - Code Red, The Highway Man, Hollywood Safari).
- 1955 - US President Dwight Eisenhower raises minimum wage from US$0.75 to $1 an hour.
- 1956 - Birth of Danny Shirley; country singer (Confederate Railroad).
- 1956 - Birth of Bruce Greenwood in Quebec, Canada; actor (Knots Landing TV show, St. Elsewhere TV show).
- 1959 - First ship-firing of a Polaris missile, Observation Island.
- 1960 - Birth of Morty Black; heavy metal rocker (TNT - "Seven Seas").
- 1960 - Echo I, first communications satellite, is launched.
- 1960 - Ralph Boston of the US sets long jump record at 26 feet 11.25 inches.
- 1960 - US Air Force Major Robert M White takes X-15 to 41,600m.
- 1961 - Birth of Pete De Freitas; rocker (Echo and the Bunnymen - "Heaven Up Here").
- 1961 - Birth of Roy Hay; guitarist (Culture Club - "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me").
- 1962 - Russia launches Vostok 4 with Pavel Popovich, who lands safely August 15.
- 1964 - 10th time Mickey Mantle switch-hits home run in a game, one goes 502 feet.
- 1964 - Race riot in Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA.
- 1965 - Birth of Peter Krause; actor (Six Feet Under TV show, Sports Night, Dirty Sexy Money).
- 1965 - Race riot in West Side of Chicago, Illinois.
- 1965 - Disneyland (Ahaneim, California) welcomes its 50-millionth guest, Mary Adams.
- 1967 - New Orleans Saints' first pre-season victory, beat Saint Louis Cardinals 23-14.
- 1969 - Boston Celtics team sold for an NBA record $6 million.
- 1970 - The West German government signs a non-aggression treaty with the Soviet Union.
- 1970 - US President Richard Nixon signs H.R. 17070 Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, creating the US Postal Service, effective July 1, 1971.
- 1971 - Birth of Rebecca Gayheart; actress (Vanished, Vanishing Son).
- 1971 - Birth of Michael Ian Black; actor (Ed, Reno 911).
- 1972 - Last American combat ground troops leave Vietnam.
- 1974 - Nolan Ryan strikes-out 19 Boston Red Sox players.
- 1974 - New York Yankees' Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford become first teammates elected to Baseball Hall of Fame on the same day.
- 1975 - Birth of Casey Affleck; actor (The Kennedys of Massacheusetts).
- 1976 - First approach and lands test (ALT) of NASA space shuttle orbiter Enterprise.
- 1977 - High Energy Astronomy Observatory 1 launched into Earth orbit.
- 1977 - Space shuttle Enterprise makes first atmospheric flight.
- 1979 - Death of Ernst Boris Chain, German-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (born 1906).
- 1980 - Birth of Maggie Lawson; actress (Psych, Nancy Drew).
- 1981 - At the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, and in Boca Raton, Florida, IBM announces the IBM Personal Computer, model 5150. The PC features a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 CPU, 16 kB RAM (expandable to 256 kB), 40 kB ROM, one 5.25-inch floppy drive (160 kB capacity), for US$1565. A fully loaded version with color graphics costs US$6000.
- 1981 - Jon Erikson (US) becomes first to triple cross English Channel (38:27).
- 1982 - Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis that quickly spreads throughout Latin America.
- 1982 - Henry Fonda, American actor (On Golden Pond), dies at age 77 from heart disease (born 1905).
- 1984 - Don Drysdale, Harmon Killebrew, Rick Ferrell, Luis Aparicio and Pee Wee Reese are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
- 1985 - Japan Airlines Flight 123 Boeing 747-SR crashes on Mount Osutaka in Japan, killing 520 people. This is the worst single-aircraft disaster in history.
- 1985 - Death of Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer ("Sukiyaki"), killed in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 (born 1941).
- 1985 - Death of Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver (born 1951).
- 1986 - Don Baylor gets hits by a pitch for a record 25th time in a season.
- 1986 - Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Lollar gets a pinch-hit single.
- 1987 - Charles Cole climbs 870-foot Tyrolean Traverse from top of Elephant Rock.
- 1988 - Boston Red Sox set American League consecutive home victories at 23.
- 1988 - Richard Thornburgh becomes US Attorney General.
- 1988 - Death of Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Gosvami Maharaja, religious Guru from India (born 1895).
- 1989 - Death of William Shockley, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1910).
- 1990 - Iraq President Saddam Hussein says he is ready to resolve the Gulf crisis if Israel withdraws from occupied territories.
- 1990 - The most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex ("Sue") is discovered near Faith, South Dakota.
- 1991 - Creditors vote to support Greyhound Bus reorganization plan.
- 1993 - Birth of Imani Hakim; actress (Everybody Hates Chris).
- 1994 - Woodstock 1994 begins in Saugerties, New York. It is the 25-year anniversary of Woodstock in 1969.
- 1994 - Major League Baseball players go on strike, eventually causing the cancellation of the World Series and delaying opening of the 1995 season.
- 1995 - Death of Marty Paich at age 70 of colon cancer; arranger, pianist, composer (Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé).
- 2000 - The Russian submarine K-141 Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.
- 2000 - Death of Loretta Young AKA Gretchen Michaela Young of ovarian cancer at age 87; actress (Letter to Loretta, The New Loretta Young Show).
- 2002 - In Arlington, Virginia, US Airways declares bankruptcy.
- 2004 - Singapore's prime minister Goh Chok Tong hands over his position to Lee Hsien Loong.
- 2004 - New Jersey Governor James McGreevey announces that he is "a gay American" and will resign effective November 15, 2004.
- 2004 - Death of Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1919).
- 2005 - The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched.
- 2005 - Death of Lakshman Kadirgamar, foreign minister of Sri Lanka (assassinated) (born 1932).
- 2005 - Death of Frère Roger, Swiss founder of the Taizé Community (born 1915).
- 2007 - Tiger Woods wins PGA Championship, his 13th career major.
- 2007 - Death of Merv Griffin at age 82 of prostate cancer; singer (Freddy Martin's Orchestra, "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts"), TV host (Tonight Show, Merv Griffin Show), TV show creator (Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune).
- 2008 - Michael Phelps wins Olympic gold in 200-metre freestyle swimming, becoming only the fifth person to win nine career Olympic gold medals. His win also set a new world record time of 1.42.96.
- 2008 - Togo wins its first ever Olympic medal, bronze in the men's single kayak slalom won by Benjamin Boukpeti.
- 2008 - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev orders a cease fire in Georgia.
- 2009 - Death of Les Paul at age 94 from complications of pneumonia in New York, USA; guitarist ("Mockin' Bird Hill", "How High the Moon", "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise"). guitar designer (marketed by the Gibson company), built the first eight-track tape recorder, invented "sound-on-sound" recording or overdubbing, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (1978) and the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame (1988).
- 2010 - Death of Guido de Marco, 6th President of Malta (born 1931).
- 2013 - Death of Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau (born 1968).
- 2018 - NASA launches the unmanned Parker Solar Probe to study the Sun at close range and the solar wind.
- 2018 - The five littoral states - Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan - sign the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, ending the 20-year long dispute over the Caspian Sea's legal status.
- 2019 - Hong Kong International Airport is closed due to protests.
- 2019 - South Korea announces the removal of Japan from its list of most trusted trading partners, effective on September 18.
- 2022 - Death of Teddy Ray at age 32 from drowning in Rancho Mirage, California, USA; actor (Pause With Sam Jay TV show).
- 2022 - Death of Wolfgang Petersen at age 81; German film-maker (Das Boot, Outbreak).
- 2022 - Death of Anne Heche at age 53 following a car crash; American actor (Another World TV show (1987-1991), Donnie Brasco movie (1997), Six Days, Seven Nights movie (1998), Men in Trees TV show (2006-2008), Girl in Room 13 movie (2022)).
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