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What happened in history on this day: August 14?
On August 14 in ...
- 410 - Alaric sacks Rome.
- 582 - Death of Tiberius II Constantine, emperor of Byzantine.
- 1248 - Construction is begun on the gothic cathedral in Cologne.
- 1385 - Portuguese defeat Castilians at Aljubarrota, retain independence.
- 1457 - Oldest known exactly dated printed book (about three years after Gutenberg).
- 1462 - First printed Bible to contain date and place of its publishing, and names of printers, by Johann Fust and Peter Schneffer of Mainz.
- 1592 - Captain John Davis on the Desire ship discovers what are later named the Falkland Islands.
- 1756 - French capture Fort Oswego, New York.
- 1765 - Mass colonists challenge British rule by an Elm (Liberty Tree).
- 1774 - Birth of Meriwether Lewis Charlottsville Virginia, captain of Lewis and Clark Expedition.
- 1777 - Birth of Hans Christian Ørsted in Denmark; physicist/chemist (View of Chemical Law).
- 1790 - Sweden and Russian come to peace at Värälä. Neither side gains any territory. Russia agrees to not interfere with Sweden's constitution.
- 1813 - British warship Pelican attacks and captures US war brigantine Argus.
- 1842 - Seminole War ends in the USA; Indians removed from Florida to Oklahoma.
- 1846 - The Cape Girardeau meteorite, a 2.3kg chondrite-type meteorite, strikes near the town of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA.
- 1848 - Oregon Territory is created.
- 1860 - Birth of Ernest T Seton; naturalist/painter/author (Buffalo Wind - 1938).
- 1867 - Birth of John Galsworthy in England; author (Forsyte Saga - Nobel Prize 1932).
- 1867 - In New York, horse Dexter runs the mile in harness in 2:17.75, a record.
- 1869 - Birth of Armas Järnefelt in Vyborg, Finland; composer (Berceuse).
- 1874 - Horse Gloster trots the mile in harness in 2:17 minutes, a record.
- 1876 - Prairie View State University forms.
- 1880 - Construction of Cologne Cathedral is completed.
- 1885 - Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
- 1891 - Death of Sarah Childress Polk in Nashville, Tennessee, USA; spouse of US President James Polk.
- 1893 - Paris Police Ordinance (France) issues first driving licenses, includes required test.
- 1900 - International forces including US Marines enter Beijing, China to put down Boxer Rebellion, which was aimed at ridding China of foreigners.
- 1901 - Gustave Whitehead claims to have achieved the first powered flight, in his Number 21 plane.
- 1903 - In Great Britain, the Motor Car Act introduces driving licenses. Minimum age is 17 for cars, 14 for motorcycles.
- 1908 - Race riot in Springfield, Illinois.
- 1910 - 6th International Congress of Esperantists held in Washington, DC.
- 1912 - 2,500 US marines invade Nicaragua; US remains until 1925.
- 1917 - China declares war on Germany and Austria.
- 1919 - New York Yankees' Muddy Ruel hits into a triple-play.
- 1920 - Birth of Nehemiah Persoff; actor (Al Capone, Yentl).
- 1924 - Birth of Georges Prêtre in Waziers, France; conductor (New York Metropolitan).
- 1925 - Birth of Oscar Peterson in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; jazz pianist (recorded over 90 albums, won Canada's Juno Award in 1987, Grammy in 1975, 1979, 1980, two in 1991).
- 1925 - The original Hetch Hetchy Moccasin Powerhouse (California) is completed and goes on line.
- 1925 - Birth of Russell Baker; columnist/humorist (New York Times).
- 1926 - Birth of Alice Ghostly in Montana, USA; actress (Bewitched, With Six You Get Egg Roll).
- 1926 - Birth of Buddy Greco in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; singer ("Away We Go", Broadway Open House).
- 1930 - Birth of Earl Weaver in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA; manager (Baltimore Orioles 1968-82, 1985-86).
- 1932 - Games of the X Olympiad at Los Angeles closes.
- 1935 - Social Security Act becomes law.
- 1936 - First Olympic basketball game (Berlin).
- 1936 - Rainey Bethea is hung, last US public execution.
- 1937 - Detroit Tigers score 36 runs in double header versus Saint Louis Browns.
- 1938 - Czechoslovak government declares martial law in Sudeten districts.
- 1938 - The ship Queen Mary crosses the Atlantic eastbound in record time, 3 days, 20 hours, 42 minutes.
- 1939 - First night games at Comiskey Park (Chicago White Sox 5, Saint Louis Browns 2).
- 1940 - Birth of Dash Crofts in Cisco, Texas, USA; singer (Seals and Crofts - "Summer Breeze").
- 1941 - US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill create the Atlantic Charter, the basis for their wartime alliance. They pledge that they seek to gain no territory, they desire no territory changes outside of the choices of people, they respect the right of people to choose their own form of government, and that sovereign rights are to be restored and self-government given to those forcibly deprived of it.
- 1941 - Birth of Connie Smith in Elkhart, Indiana, USA; singer ("Dream Painter", "New Horizons").
- 1941 - Birth of David Crosby; rocker (Crosby, Stills and Nash - "Southern Cross").
- 1942 - Birth of Sandy Gilmour in Montclair, New Jersey, USA; newscaster (Prime Time Sunday).
- 1943 - Birth of Jon A McBride in Charleston, West Virginia, USA; Captain US Navy/astronaut (STS 41G).
- 1945 - Birth of Steve Martin in Waco, Texas, USA; comedian-actor (The Jerk, The Man With Two Brains).
- 1945 - (evening) US President Harry Truman announces the end of the Second World War.
- 1946 - Birth of Antonio Fargas in the Bronx, New York, USA; actor (Huggy Bear - Starsky and Hutch, Everybody Hates Chris).
- 1946 - Birth of Larry Graham; rocker (Sly and the Family Stone, "One in a Million, You").
- 1946 - Birth of Susan Saint James in Los Angeles, California, USA; actress (MacMillan and Wife, Kate and Allie, Name of the Game).
- 1947 - Mildred Babe Didrikson Zaharias gives up amateur status for $300,000.
- 1948 - CBS-TV inaugurates first nightly televised news broadcast, with anchorman Douglas Edwards.
- 1948 - Games of the XIV Olympiad in London closes.
- 1950 - Birth of Terry Adams; keyboardist (NRBQ).
- 1951 - Death of William Randolph Hearst in Beverly Hills, California, USA; newspaper publisher.
- 1951 - Birth of Carl Lumbly; actor (Alias, Cagney and Lacey).
- 1952 - Birth of Debbie Meyer; American 200m/400m/800m freestyle swimmer (Olympics-gold-1968).
- 1952 - Birth of Mark C Lee in Viroqua, Wisconsin, USA; Major US Air Force/astronaut (STS-30, sk:47).
- 1953 - Birth of James Horner; film composer (Titanic).
- 1956 - Birth of Sharon Bryant; vocalist (Atlantic Starr - "Touch a Four Leaf Clover").
- 1956 - Birth of Jackee Harry; actress (Sister Sister, 227).
- 1957 - Birth of Jackee (Harry) Winston-Salem in North Carolina, USA; actress (Sandra - 227).
- 1958 - Canadian Football League plays first game (Winnipeg Blue Bombers 29, Edmonton Eskimos 21).
- 1958 - Cleveland Indians' Vic Power steals home twice in one game.
- 1958 - KLM Superconstellation crashes west of Ireland, killing 99.
- 1959 - Birth of Earvin (Magic) Johnson; NBA star (Los Angeles Lakers).
- 1959 - Birth of Marcia Gay Harden; actress (Damages, Education of Max Bickford).
- 1959 - American Football League (AFL) is organized with New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Denver, and Houston.
- 1961 - Birth of Susan Olson; actress (Cindy - The Brady Bunch).
- 1962 - French and Italian workers break through at Mount Blanc Vehicular Tunnel.
- 1962 - US mail truck in Plymouth, Massachusetts robbed of more than US$1.5 million.
- 1964 - Death of Johnny Burnette at age 30 in a fishing accident; rockabilly pioneer ("Dreamin'", "You're 16", The Rock and Roll Trio).
- 1965 - Birth of Emmanuelle Béart in Saint Tropez, France; actress (Manon of the Spring).
- 1965 - Birth of Lynette Falls in Ridgewood, New Jersey, USA; Miss New Jersey-America-1991.
- 1965 - Continental Football League plays first games.
- 1965 - The Beatles play before a capacity crowd of 55,000 at Shea Stadium in New York, setting a record for the largest concert audience to date.
- 1966 - Birth of Halle Berry; actress (Knots Landings, Living Dolls).
- 1966 - First US lunar orbiter begins orbiting the Moon.
- 1967 - Pirate radio stations Radio 270, Radio London, Radio Ireland, Radio Scotland and Radio Swinging Holland go off the air.
- 1968 - Birth of Catherine Bell; actress (JAG).
- 1968 - In Northern Celebes, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurs. In the Manimbaja Bay area, slipping of the fault results in subsidence of 2 to 3 metres on part of the coast, and the raising of Togian Island. Tsunami waves, reaching up to 300 metres inland, take some 200 lives and destroy 700 houses. Wave heights are estimated at 8 to 10 metres.
- 1969 - British troops intervene militarily in Northern Ireland.
- 1969 - New York Mets fall 9.5 games back (later to win the pennant).
- 1969 - The Woodstock Music and Art Fair opens in New York State (Max Yasgur's Dairy Farm). An estimated 400,000 people turn out over three days to hear more than thirty acts, including the Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix.
- 1970 - City University of New York inaugurates open admissions.
- 1970 - Birth of Kevin Cadogan; guitarist (Third Eye Blind).
- 1971 - France explodes a 1-megaton nuclear bomb over Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific.
- 1971 - Bahrain proclaims independence after 110 years of British rule.
- 1971 - British begin internment without trial in Northern Ireland.
- 1971 - Saint Louis Cardinals' Bob Gibson no-hits Pittsburgh Pirates, 11-0.
- 1972 - East German Aeroflot Illyushin 62 crashes near Moscow, Russia, killing 156.
- 1972 - Oscar Levant, actor (American in Paris, Dance of Life), dies at age 65.
- 1973 - Johnny Unitas files US$725,000 suit against Baltimore Colts.
- 1973 - US bombs Cambodia.
- 1974 - US President Gerald Ford signs legislation giving him the authority to legalize private ownership of gold.
- 1974 - Birth of Christopher Gorham; actor (Ugly Betty).
- 1977 - 77,691 see New York Cosmos beat Fort Lauderdale Strikers 8-3 at Giant Stadium.
- 1978 - French TV announces a rating of "0" for a program about an Armenian's woman's 40th birthday.
- 1979 - Rainbow seen in Northern Wales for a three-hour duration.
- 1979 - A freak storm during the Fastnet Race results in the death of 15 sailors.
- 1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter defeats Senator Edward Kennedy to win renomination, at the Democratic National Convention in New York City.
- 1980 - Vancouver-born actress and Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten is shot-gunned to death by her husband Paul Snider in a West Los Angeles apartment. Snider then shoots himself.
- 1981 - George Foster hits his 8th home run into the red seats at Riverfront.
- 1982 - With his 12,365th career at-bat, Philadelphia Phillies' Pete Rose passes Hank Aaron to become the all-time leader of plate appearances.
- 1983 - Birth of Mila Kunis; Ukrainian-American actress (That '70s Show).
- 1983 - Birth of Spencer Pratt; TV personality (The Hills).
- 1984 - IBM releases the IBM PC/AT, with 6 MHz 80286 processor, MS-DOS 3.0, 256 kB RAM, and 1.2 MB floppy drive, for prices starting at US$4000.
- 1984 - IBM releases MS-DOS version 3.0.
- 1985 - Michael Jackson pays US$47.5 million (outbidding Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney) to secure the ATV Music Publishing catalogue, gaining the rights to more than 250 songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
- 1986 - Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates play a six-game series in four days.
- 1988 - Enzo Ferrari, Italian sportscar manufacturer (Ferrari), dies at age 90 in Italy (born 1898).
- 1989 - The Sega Genesis video game system is released in North America.
- 1990 - California Angels' Louis Palonia is 74th to hit an inside the park grandslam.
- 1990 - Denver votes for a 1 percent sales tax to pay for a baseball franchise.
- 1991 - In New York City's Central Park, 750,000 attend Paul Simon's free music concert.
- 1991 - Death of Richard A. Snelling, Governor of Vermont (born 1927).
- 1991 - Death of Douglas Kiker of a heart attack at age 61; news correspondent (NBC Magazine, Peabody award 1970).
- 1992 - Nigel Mansell wins the 1992 Formula One World Drivers Championship.
- 1992 - In Mbale, Uganda, forty-eight meteorite stones fall, 108kg total weight, damaging roofs, striking a boy on the head.
- 1995 - An avalanche buries Alison Hargreaves, climbing Mount Everest without oxygen tank; she is reported dead.
- 1995 - Michael Ovitz is appointed president of the Walt Disney Company. His contract is for five years, with base salary US$1 million per year, and options to purchase 5 million shares of the Disney company.
- 1998 - Gary C. Evans, infamous in New York's Capital Region for killing five people, escapes police custody and kills himself by jumping off a bridge.
- 2000 - Czar Nicholas II and his family are canonized by the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
- 2000 - (to August 17) The Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles nominates U.S. Vice President Al Gore for President and Senator Joe Lieberman for Vice President.
- 2002 - Death of Dave Williams, American singer ("Drowning Pool") (born 1972).
- 2003 - A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada.
- 2003 - A 6.4 Richter scale earthquake occurs near the Greek Ionian island of Lefkada; 24 are injured.
- 2003 - US intelligence officer Captain William Ponce contacts fellow officers in Iraq, informing them that a colonel has indicated prisoners need to be "broken", to gather information to prevent further attacks on American soldiers.
- 2004 - Death of Czeslaw Milosz, Polish-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911).
- 2005 - Helios Airways Flight 522 crashes into a mountain in Greece, killing 121.
- 2006 - A United Nations cease fire takes effect in the 2006 Lebanon War.
- 2007 - At least 22 people are killed, and at least 39 missing, as a bridge collapses in the southeastern province of Hunan, China.
- 2007 - In western Uganda, a 29-year-old miner dies of Marburg disease, likely contracted from bats in the Kitaka gold mine.
- 2007 - Pakistan marks the 60th anniversary of their independence from the British Empire.
- 2007 - Multiple suicide bombings kill 572 people in Yazidi community in Qahtaniya, northwest Iraq.
- 2007 - American toy-maker Mattel announces a recall of 436,000 toy cars painted lead-based paint and 18 million toys containing small magnets that could be swallowed by children. All were made in China.
- 2007 - In China, Zhang Shuhong, owner of a toy manufacturing company, commits suicide. His company made the flswed toys for Mattel.
- 2010 - An estimated 20 million people are left homeless in Pakistan following unusually heavy monsoon rains that began in late July, leading to devastating floods. At least 1,500 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands of homes have been swept away by the water. More than 700,000 hectares of farmland have been wiped out.
- 2011 - Death of Shamsher Raj Kapoor AKA Shammi Kapoor at age 79; Indian film actor and director (Tumsa Nahin Dekha (Never Seen Anyone Like You) 1957, Junglee (Wild) 1961, Dil Deke Dekho, An Evening in Paris, Kasmir Ki Kah).
- 2018 - Part of the Morandi Bridge collapses after a violent storm in Genoa, Italy, causing 43 fatalities. Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio and transport minister Danilo Toninelli blame private company Autostrade per l'Italia.
- 2019 - The Dow Jones plunges more than 500 points, due to concerns over the yield curve inversion.
- 2021 - A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes Haiti, killing more than 2,100 people.
- 2021 - Death of Carlos Correia, 5th Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau (born 1933).
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