EVENTS
- 1620 – The Mayflower departs England for the new world.
- 1877 – Thomas Edison makes the first-ever recording. He records “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.
Thomas Edison - 1914 – The Panama Canal first opens to traffic.
- 1947 – India gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1960 – Congo gains its Independence. The Central African country came under French control in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, the French consolidated their territories in Central Africa to create the French Equatorial Africa, with Brazzaville as its capital. During the Second World War, when the Nazis occupied France, Brazzaville acted as the temporary capital of Free France. After violent protests and riots, the country became independent with Fulbert Youlou as its first President.
- 1969 – Woodstock began in a field near Yasgur’s Farm at Bethel, New York. The three-day concert featured 24 rock bands and drew a crowd of more than 300,000 young people. The event came to symbolize the counter-culture movement of the 1960’s.
- 1973 – US involvement in Vietnam ends. The Case–Church Amendment passed by the US Congress set August 15 as the deadline for the end of the US military involvement in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Because of this, the US ended all military offensives in Vietnam on this day.
- 2015 – North Korea Introduces Pyongyang Time. The East Asian country introduced the time change to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Japanese occupation of Korea. Before the change, North Korea was UTC+09:00. Since this day, the time in the country is UTC+08:30.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1769 – Napoleon Bonaparte (French Emperor)
- 1771 – Sir Walter Scott (Poet)
- 1872 – Sri Aurobindo (Indian philosopher)
- 1912 – Julia Child (Chef)
- 1944 – Linda Ellerbee (Journalist)
- 1954 – Stieg Larsson (Swedish writer)
Stieg Larsson - 1968 – Debra Messing (Actress)
- 1972 – Ben Affleck (Actor)
- 1978 – Kerri Walsh (Volleyball player)
- 1989 – Joe Jonas (Singer and Actor)
- 1990 – Jennifer Lawrence (Actress playing Katniss in The Hunger Games)
DEATHS
- 1118 – Alexios I Komnenos (Byzantine Emperor)
Alexios I Komnenos - 1907 – Joseph Joachim (Austrian violinist)
- 1935 – Will Rogers (American actor)
- 1975 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Bangladeshi politician, 1st President of Bangladesh)
- 2011 – Rick Rypien (Canadian ice hockey player)
