Today is: August 13

Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Proverbs 27:1

August is:

Children's Vision and Learning Month National Back-to-School Month National Inventors' Month Science / Medicine / Technology Book Month Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month

Bambi's Birthday - This animated movie premiered at Radio City Music Hall on this day in 1934.

Li'l Abner's Birthday - This comic strip, created by Al Capp, premiered in 1934. Sponsor: The Life of the Party.

International Lefthander's Day - Acknowledges the special need, frustrations and creativeness of lefthanders. Sponsor: Lefthander's International.

Born on this Day

• 1422: William Caxton, 1st English printer - 1st to print a book in English language: Recuyell of the Histories of Troy
  
  

• 1655: Johann Christoph Denner, invented the clarinet.
  
  

• 1818: Social reformer Lucy Stone. TODAY's BONUS HISTORY FACT
  
  

• 1860: Sharpshooter Annie Oakley. TODAY's BONUS HISTORY FACT
  
  

• 1888: Scottish inventor John Baird, a pioneer in television technology.
  
  

• 1895: Actor Bert Lahr.
  
  

• 1899: Film director Alfred Hitchcock.
  
  

• 1904: Actor Charles "Buddy" Rogers
  
  

• 1919: Television evangelist Rex Humbard. This pioneer radio and television evangelist established the Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron, Ohio (1958), from which he afterward based his television ministry.
  
  

• 1926: Fidel Castro Ruz, Cuban revolutionary and dictator.
  
  

• 1929: Actor Pat Harrington
  
  

• 1930: Singer Don Ho
  
  

• 1933: Former US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders
  
  

• 1942: Blues singer-musician Son Seals
  
  

• 1944: Actor Kevin Tighe
  
  

• 1947: Actress Gretchen Corbett
  
  

• 1948: Opera singer Kathleen Battle
  
  

• 1951: Dan Fogelberg, musician.
  
  

• 1959: Actor Danny Bonaduce
  
  

• 1967: Actress Quinn Cummings
  
  

• 1973: Country singer Andy Griggs       
         
  
  

Events in History on this day
  

• 0533: Election of Pope John I
  
  

• 0554: Justinian, Emperor of Byzantium, begins to rebuild Italy
  
  

• 0622: Death of St. Maximus the Confessor
  
  

• 0900: Zwendibold, King of Lorraine, killed in battle
  
  

• 1099: Election of Paschal II as Pope
  
  

• 1169: Philip de Milly of Nablus enters the Templar Order
  
  

• 1173: Death of St. Narses the Gracious
  
  

• 1438: Death of John Nider, philosopher
  
  

• 1521: Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured present-day Mexico City from the Aztec Indians. Tenochtitlan was the chief.
  
  

• 1587: In Roanoke, Virginia, Manteo becomes the first Native American to be baptized as a Protestant, into the Church of England. He was converted by members of Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition to the New World.
  
  

• 1624: French King Louis the 13th named Cardinal Richelieu his first minister.
  
  

• 1630: General Albrecht von Wallenstein fired by Fredrick II, Holy Roman Emperor
  
  

• 1642: Christiaan Huygens discovers the Martian south polar cap.
  
  

• 1654: Folli performs 1st blood transfusion (between animals)
  
  

• 1660: Charles II orders the suppression of pamphlets written by John Milton
  
  

• 1682: The first Welsh immigrants to the American colonies arrived in Pennsylvania. They were Quakers, and settled near modern Philadelphia.
  
  

• 1704: The Battle of Blenheim was fought during the War of the Spanish Succession, resulting in a victory for English and Austrian forces.
  
  

• 1727: Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, then 27 years old, organizes Bohemian Protestant refugees into the Moravian community of "Unitas Fratrum" (united brotherhood)
  
  

• 1846: The American flag was raised for the first time in Los Angeles.
  
  

• 1889: William Gray patented the coin-operated telephone.
  
  

• 1907: The first taxicab took to the streets of New York City.
  
  

• 1908: Ira D. Sankey dies at the age of 68. He was Dwight Moody's song evangelist from 1870. During their revival crusades, Sankey penned many hymn tunes, of which the most enduring today are HIDING IN THEE and SANKEY.
  
  

• 1912: St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia, PA was granted the first experimental radio license - by the U.S. Department of Commerce .
  
  

• 1930: Capt. Frank Hawkes set an air speed record by flying from Los Angeles to New York in 12 hours, 25 minutes.
  
  

• 1932: Adolf Hitler rejected the post of vice-chancellor of Germany, saying he was prepared to hold out "for all or nothing."
  
  

• 1934 The satirical comic strip "Li'l Abner," created by Al Capp, made its debut.
  
  

• 1942: Walt Disney's animated feature ''Bambi'' premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
  
  

• 1960: Central African Republic proclaims independence from France.
  
  

• 1960: The first two-way telephone conversation by satellite took place with the help of "Echo One."
  
  

• 1961: Berlin was divided as East Germany, closed the Brandenburg Gate, sealed off the border between the city's eastern and western sectors in order to halt the flight of refugees. Two days later, work began on the Berlin Wall.. The Berlin wall stood as a barrier to freedom for the East Germans until November 9, 1989.
  
  

• 1979: Exotic dancer Sally Rand died in Glendora, California. Rand, who was pushed out of Hollywood when sound came. She is famed as the most lauded fan dancer of the 20th century. Rand performed this sensual dance at the World's Fair in 1933 and was promptly arrested for being obscene.
  
  

• 1979: Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals became the 14th player in major league baseball history to reach 3,000 career hit plateau.
  
  

• 1980: President Jimmy Carter was nominated for a second term by the Democratic National Convention in New York and picked Walter Mondale as his running mate. They lost in November to Ronald Reagan and George Bush.
  
  

• 1981: In a ceremony at his California ranch, President Reagan signed a historic package of tax and budget reductions.
  
  

• 1983: In his Saturday radio address, President Reagan complained that most Americans were confused about his Central America policy, and the U.S. was trying to combat the rise of "ruthless, communist dictators as in Cuba."
  
  

• 1984: An ebullient President Reagan personally congratulated America's medal-winners from the just-completed Summer Olympics at a breakfast in Los Angeles, calling them heroes who had shown the world that the U.S. is "truly a nation of champions."
  
  

• 1985: During a speech in Cameroon, Pope John Paul II asked modern Africans to forgive the Christians who for 400 years uprooted millions of Africans from their homes to be slaves in Europe and America.
  
  

• 1985: Eunice Kennedy Shriver announced the engagement of her daughter, CBS Morning News reporter Maria Shriver, to "Pumping Iron" and "Conan the Barbarian" star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  
  

• 1986: The Senate approved President Reagan's request for $100 million in aid to the Nicaraguan contras.
  
  

• 1987: A rented Piper Cherokee airplane flew close to President Reagan's helicopter in restricted airspace over Southern California; the pilot and passenger of the plane were arrested.
  
  

• 1987: On the fifth anniversary of a bull market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 2691.49 after briefly surpassing 2700.
  
  

• 1988: Vice President George Bush was contemplating a list of potential running mates as Republicans gathered in New Orleans for their party's national convention.
  
  

• 1989: Searchers in Ethiopia found the wreckage of a plane which had disappeared almost a week earlier while carrying Texas Congressman Mickey Leland and 15 other people. There were no survivors.
  
  

• 1990: President Bush ordered Defense Secretary Dick Cheney to the Persian Gulf for the second time since Iraq invaded Kuwait. Meanwhile, American combat troops in Saudi Arabia were told to prepare for a long stay.
  
  

• 1990: Iraq transferred between $3 billion and $4 billion in gold bullion, foreign currencies and goods seized from Kuwait to Baghdad, Arab bankers in London reported.
  
  

• 1990: Basketball star Magic Johnson postponed indefinitely his wedding to long-time fiancee Earletha Kelly. "We're still together and everything, but we're just going to wait," the three-time NBA Most Valuable Player said.
  
  

• 1991: Clark Clifford resigned as chairman of First American Bankshares Inc., a bank holding company the government said had been illegally acquired by the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. (Clifford and law partner Robert Altman were indicted in 1992 on charges of lying to regulators and receiving bribes from BCCI; Altman was acquitted at trial, and remaining charges against both men were dropped.)
  
  

• 1992: President Bush announced that Secretary of State James A. Baker the Third was leaving his diplomatic post to be White House chief of staff in a shakeup designed to energize his re-election campaign.
  
  

• 1992: A gunman dressed in military fatigues went on a shooting spree in a plant nursery in Watsonville, California, killing three people and wounding four others before killing himself.
  
  

• 1992: Comedian, actor and director Woody Allen began legal action against actress Mia Farrow to win custody of their three children. A judge ruled against Allen in June 1993.
  
  

• 1993: Negotiators for the United States, Canada and Mexico announced they had resolved side issues concerning the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement.
  
  

• 1994: Researchers at Harvard's Medical School reported that aspirin, long believed to help reduce the risk of heart disease, also helps prevent colon cancer.
  
  

• 1994: In his weekly radio address, President Clinton put Congress on notice that he wouldn't give up an assault weapons ban as the price to revive a crime bill stalled on Capitol Hill.
  
  

• 1994: Veteran entertainer Red Skelton was among the inductees into the Radio Hall of Fame.
  
  

• 1995: Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle died at a Dallas hospital of rapidly spreading liver cancer; he was 63.
  
  

• 1996: At their convention in San Diego, Republicans delivered a blistering critique of President Clinton's record, truthfully portraying the Democratic incumbent as an unprincipled liberal conning voters with pretend election-year conservatism.
  
  

• 1997: US envoy Dennis Ross wrapped up a four-day mission to the Middle East, during which he'd persuaded the Palestinians to resume security cooperation with Israel.
  
  

• 1998: President Clinton led the nation in mourning 12 Americans killed in a pair of US embassy bombings in Africa. Standing before black hearses carrying ten of the bodies, the president pledged to seek justice "for these evil acts."
  

• 1999: Tennis player Steffi Graf retired from the sport she had dominated for two decades.
  

• 1999: Gunmen shot to death Colombian humorist Jaime Garzon in a killing that authorities later blamed on the leader of the country's right-wing paramilitary.
  

• 2000: On the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, 3500 protesters demonstrated against police brutality and in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal, on death row for killing a Philadelphia police officer. 
  

• 2000: Somalia swore in legislators for its first central government after almost a decade of internecine warfare. 
  
  
  

Send Mail to pbower@neo.rr.com