On This Day:
Wednesday August 24, 2011
This is the 236th day of the year, with 129 days
remaining in 2011.
Fact of the Day: Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939, a classic motion
picture directed by Victor Fleming. It was a musical
adaptation of the L. Frank Baum children's book and it had
both black-and-white and color sequences. It starred Judy
Garland as Dorothy, Frank Morgan as the Wizard, Roy Bolger
as Scarecrow, Bert Lahr as Lion, Jack Haley as Tin Man, and
Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch. It was nominated for
six Academy Awards and won for best original music score and
best song, "Over the Rainbow."
Holidays
Feast day of St. Bartholomew, the Martyrs of Utica, and St
Audenoeus or Ouen.
Liberia:
Flag Day.
Ukraine:
Independence Day.
Events
79 - Mount
Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii
and Herculaneum
in volcanic ash and killing an estimated 20,000.
410 -
The Visigoths (German barbarians), led by Alaric,
sacked Rome.
1542
- In South
America, Gonzalo
Pizarro returned to the mouth of the Amazon
River after having sailed as far as the Andes
Mountains.
1682
- The Duke of York awarded Englishman William
Penn the three "lower counties" in the American
colonies which later became the state of Delaware.
1814
- British forces invaded Washington,
D.C., setting fire to the Capitol
and the White
House.
1821
- Eleven years after the outbreak of the Mexican
War of Independence, Spanish Viceroy Juan
de O'Donojú signed the Treaty
of Córdoba, which made Mexico
an independent constitutional monarchy.
1857
- The catalyst for the Panic of 1857 was this day's failure
of the New
York branch of the Ohio
Life Insurance and Trust Company.
1891
- Thomas
Edison filed a patent for the motion picture camera.
1932
- Amelia
Earhart became the first woman to fly non-stop across
the United
States, traveling from Los
Angeles to Newark,
New
Jersey, in just over 19 hours.
1949
- The North
Atlantic Treaty went into effect.
1981
- Mark
David Chapman was sentenced in New
York to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of
rock musician John
Lennon.
1989
- Baseball Commissioner A.
Bartlett Giamatti banned Cincinnati
Reds manager Pete
Rose from the game for gambling.
1991
- Mikhail
Gorbachev resigned as First Secretary of the USSR
Communist Party.
1995
- The Windows
95 operating
system by Microsoft
is released with much fanfare.
2006
- The International
Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines
the term "planet" such that Pluto
is no longer considered a planet.
Births
1899
- Jorge
Luis Borges, Argentinian writer of poems, essays,
short stories.
1912
- Durward
Kirby, American TV announcer.
1929
- Yasser
Arafat, Palestinian
leader.
1936
- A.
S. Byatt (born Antonia Susan Drabble), English
novelist.
1945
- Vince
McMahon, American professional wrestling promoter.
1973
- Dave
Chappelle, American comedian.
Deaths
1680
- Thomas
Blood, Irish adventurer.
1954
- Getúlio
Vargas, President of Brazil.
1967
- Henry
J. Kaiser, American industrialist.
1995
- Alfred
Eisenstaedt, German-born photographer
and photojournalist.
1998
- E.G.
Marshall (born Everett Eugene Grunz), American actor.
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