On This Day:
Wednesday August 31, 2011
This is the 243rd day of the year, with 122 days
remaining in 2011.
Fact of the Day: White House baby
In 1893, Mrs. Grover Cleveland, Frances Folsom Cleveland,
became the first presidential wife to give birth at the
White House (girl, Esther). The first child born in the
White House, though, was the granddaughter of Thomas
Jefferson in 1806: Jefferson's daughter, Patsy (Mrs. Thomas
Mann Randolph, Jr.) gave birth to a son named for James
Madison.
Holidays
Kyrgyzstan:
Independence Day.
Malaysia:
Hari Kebangsaan / Freedom Day.
Trinidad
and Tobago: Independence Day.
Kazakhstan:
Constitution Day.
Moldova:
National Language Day.
Feast Day of St. Paulinus of Trier, St. Aidan of
Lindisfarne, St. Raymond Nonnatus, and The Servite Martyrs
of Prague.
Events
1521
- Cortes
captured the city of Tenochtitlan,
Mexico,
and set it on fire.
1887
- Thomas
Edison patented the Kinetoscope,
the forerunner of the motion picture camera.
1888
- The body of Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, the first victim of
Jack
the Ripper, was found mutilated in Buck's Row, London.
1903
- A Packard auto completed the first transcontinental road
trip.
1939
- Nazi leader Adolf
Hitler signed an order to attack Poland,
and German forces moved to the frontier.
1961
- A concrete wall replaced the barbed wire fence that
separated East
Germany and West
Germany -- the Berlin
Wall.
1962
- The Caribbean nation of Trinidad
and Tobago became independent within the British
Commonwealth.
1980
- The Polish trade union Solidarity
was formed in Gdansk.
1990
- East
Germany and West
Germany signed a reunification treaty.
1991
- Kyrgyzstan
declares its independence from the Soviet
Union.
1998
- North
Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyongsong,
its first satellite.
1999
- A LAPA
Boeing
737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge
Newbury Airport in Buenos
Aires, killing 65, including 2 on the ground.
2006
- Stolen on August 22, 2004, Edvard
Munch's famous painting The
Scream was recovered in a raid by Norwegian
police.
Births
1880
- Wilhelmina,
Dutch queen (1890-1948).
1897
- Fredric
March (Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel), American Academy
Award-winning actor.
1908
- William
Saroyan, American Pulitzer
Prize-winning playwright.
1918
- Alan
Jay Lerner, American songwriter, lyricist.
1924
- Buddy
Hackett (born Leonard Hackett), American actor and
comedian.
1935
- Eldridge
Cleaver, American black activist.
1945
- Itzhak
Perlman, Israeli violinist.
1945
- Van
Morrison (born George Ivan Morrison), Irish musician.
1949
- Richard
Gere, American actor.
Deaths
1969
- Rocky
Marciano, American world heavyweight boxing champion.
1973
- John
Ford (Sean Aloysius O'feeney), American film director.
1974
- Norman
Kirk, New
Zealand prime minister.
1997
- Diana,
princess of Wales, from injuries in a car accident,
along with her companion Dodi
Fayed and driver Henri Paul.
2002
- Lionel
Hampton, American jazz musician and bandleader.
2006
- Tom
Delaney, British race car driver.
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