23rd
August, on this day
79
Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the
Roman god of fire.
1305 Scottish leader William
Wallace, captured by the English, is hanged,drawn and quartered
in London
1328 Battle
of Cassel : French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers.
1541 French explorer Jacques
Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada.
1555 Calvinists
are granted rights in the Netherlands.
1595 Michael
the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle
of Calugareni.
1617 1st one-way streets established (London)
1708 Meidingnu
Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.
1775 King
George III declares that the American colonies exist in a state
of open and avowed rebellion.
1784 Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself
an independent state under the name of Franklin;
it wasn’t accepted into the United States, and only lasted for
four years.
1793 France introduces national
conscription, calling all unmarried men aged 18-25 to join the
country's armed forces
1799 Napoleon
leaves Egypt for France en route to seize power.
1813 Battle
of Grossbeeren : the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the
French army.
1821 Treaty of Aquala declares Mexico independent of Spain
1833 Britain abolishes slavery in colonies; 700,000 slaves freed
1839 British forces capture the south-east Asia port of Hong Kong
1864 Fall of Fort
Morgan at Mobile
1866 Treaty
of Prague ends Austro-Prussian
war
1869 In US, 1st carload of freight (boots and shoes) arrives in SF,
from Boston
1889 1st ship-to-shore wireless message received in US (SF)
1896 First Cry of the Philippine
Revolution is made in Pugad Lawin (Quezon City), in the province
of Manila.
1904 Automobile tire
chain patented
1914 World War I: The
Battle of Mons - the first major battle of World War I.
1914 Japan declares war on Germany in World War I
1917 Race riot in Houston Texas (2 blacks and 11 whites killed)
1919 "Gasoline
Alley" cartoon strip premiers in Chicago Tribune
1923 Capt. Lowell
Smith and Lt. John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling
on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours.
1924 Mars' closest approach to Earth since the 10th century
1929 Hebron
Massacre: Arab attack of the Jewish community in the British Mandate
of Palestine resulted in 133 Jews killed, 67 in Hebron.
1938 England Test cricketer
Len Hutton scores what is then a new world record test score of
364 against Australia at the Oval
1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop
Pact.: Germany and Russia sign a non-aggression pact leaving the
Russians to invade Finland and Adolf Hitler free to occupy Poland
1940 Start of the
Blitz - the night-time bombing of English towns and cities by
German bombers
1942 Battle
of Stalingrad : A massive German air bombardment on caused a firestorm,
killing thousands and turning Stalingrad into a vast landscape of
rubble and burnt ruins
1942 The last cavalry charge in history takes place at Izbushensky.
1943 Kharkov liberated.
1944 Marseille liberated.
1944 Romania liberated from Nazi occupation (National Day 1944-1990)
1944 Freckleton
Air Disaster - A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator
bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people.
1946 Ordinance
No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German
Land (state) of Schleswig-Holstein.
1948 World
Council of Churches formed by 147 churches from 44 countries
1950 West Germany and Japan readmitted to International Amateur Athletic
Federation
1958 Chinese
Civil War: The Second
Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's
bombardment of Quemoy.
1958 Marie Ashton completes playing piano a female record 133 hours
1960 World's largest frog (3.3 kg) caught (Equatorial Guinea)
1961 US lunar probe Ranger 1 reaches 190 km from Earth, falls back
1962 First live television connection between the United States and
Europe, via the Telstar satellite.
1962 John Lennon, founder-member of The Beatles, marries his childhood
sweetheart Cynthia Powell
1963 Beatles release "She
Loves You" in the UK
1963 Ringo admits he wrote a song "Don't Pass Me By"
1966 Lunar
Orbiter 1 takes 1st photograph of Earth from Moon
1968 Ringo quits the Beatles over a disagreement, temporarily
1971 East germany imposes new restrictions on travel between West
and East Berlin. Western powers retaliate by placing tanks and 1,000
troops along the length of the newly-built Berlin Wall
1975 Successful Communist coup in Laos.
1977 1st man-powered flight of a mile (Bryan Allen in Gossamer
Condor) wins the Kremer
prize for human powered flight
1979 Bolshoi
Ballet dancer Alexander
Godunov defects in NYC
1982 Bachir
Gemayel is elected Lebanese President amidst the raging civil
war
1982 Turkish military
diplomat Colonel Atilla
Altikat is shot and killed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital.
Justice Commandos Against Armenian Genocide claim responsibility,
saying they were avenging the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in
the 1915 Armenian
Genocide
1985 Hans
Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany.
1988 Mike Tyson and Mitch Green brawl at 4 A.M. in Harlem
1989 Singing
Revolution: two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
stand on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands (Baltic Way).
1989 All of Australia's 1,645 domestic airline pilots resign after
the airlines threaten to fire them and sue them over a dispute.
1990 Saddam
Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western
"guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf
War.
1990 Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1990 West Germany and East Germany announce that they will unite on
October 3.
1996 Osama
bin Laden issues message entitled 'A declaration of war against
the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.'
1999 German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder begins work in Berlin - the first time Germany has been
governed from its traditional capital since the end of World War II
2000 A Gulf Air Airbus A320 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama,
Bahrain, killing 143.
2005
TANS Peru Flight 204 crashes near Pucallpa, Peru, killing 41.
2006 Natascha
Kampusch, who was abducted at the age of 10, managed to escape
from her captor Wolfgang
Priklopil, after 8 years of captivity.
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Birthdates which
occurred on 23rd August :
1754 Louis XVI
Versailles, king of France (1774-92); guillotined
1785 Oliver Hazard Perry naval hero
1869 James (Sunny Jim) Rolph SF mayor (1912-31), MUNI backer
19-- Cathy St George Norfolk Va, playmate (Aug, 1982)
19-- Jennifer Holmes Fall River Mass, actress (Leslie-Newhart)
19-- Jimmy Ward Ct, rocker (Steelheart-She's Gone)
19-- Michael Davis SF Calif, comedian/juggler (The News is the News)
1900 Ernst Krenek Vienna Austria, composer (Johnny Spielt Auf)
1901 John Sherman Cooper (Sen-Ky)
1903 William Primrose Glasgow Scot, violist (Method for Violin &
Viola)
1905 Constant Lambert London England, composer (King Pest)
1908 Arthur Adamov Kislovodsk Russia, dramatist (Paolo Paoli)
1911 Birger Ruud Norway, 90m ski jumper (Olympic-gold-1932, 36)
1911 Elizabeth Robinson US, 100m dash (Olympic-gold-1928)
1912 Gene Kelly Pitts, dancer/actor (An American in Paris, Going My
Way)
1913 Bob Crosby Spokane Wa, Bing's brother, orch leader (Bob Crosby
Show)
1923 Wolfgang Sawallisch Munich Ger, conductor (Vienna Symph 1960-70)
1930 Michel Rocard Courbevoie France, Prime Minister of France
1930 Vera Miles actress (Psycho)
1932 Mark Russell Buffalo NY, political satirist/pianist (Real People)
1933 Pete Wilson (Sen-R-Calif)
1934 Barbara Eden Tucson Az, actress (Dream of Jeannie, Amazing Dobermans)
1934 Christian "Sonny" Jurgensen NFL QB (Eagles, Redskins)
1940 Richard Sanders Harrisburg Pa, actpr (Les-WKRP, Spencer, Berrengers)
1940 Tony Bill SD Cal, (Sam-What Really Happened to the Class of '65)
1942 Nancy Richey Gunther San Ant Tx, tennis player (US Doubles 1965,
66)
1942 Patricia McBride ballerina (NYC Ballet Co)
1943 Bobby Diamond LA Calif, actor (Duncan Gillis-Dobie Gillis)
1944 Antonia Novello US Surgeon General
1947 Keith Moon rocker (True Story of 200 Motels)
1947 Rex Allen Jr Chicago, country singer (Nashville on the Road)
1948 Ron Blomberg NY Yank, 1st designated hitter
1949 Rick Springfield Australia, (General Hospital, Jessie's Girl)
1949 Shelley Long Fort Wayne Indiana, actress (Diane-Cheers, Money
Pit)
1951 Mark Hudson Portland Ore, comedians (Bonkers, Hudson Brothers
Show)
1951 Queen Noor of Jordan
1953 Bobby Gubby rocker (Bucks Fizz-My Camera Never Lies)
1956 Gerry Cooney heavyweight boxer
1966 Laura Richmond Fort Dix NJ, playmate (Sep, 1988)
1967 Nancy Jane Cox Campbellsville Kentucky, Miss Kentucky-America-1991
1970 River Phoenix Madras Ore, actor (Little Nikta, Stand By Me)
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Deaths which occurred on August 23rd:
1819 Oliver Hazard Perry naval hero, dies on 34th birthday
1926 Rodolpho Alfonzo Rafaello Pietro Filiberto Guglieimi Di Valentina
D'Antonguolla (Rudolph Valentino), silent movie idol, dies in NY at
31
1927 Nicola Sacco & Bartolomeo Vanzetti executed in Mass
1960 Oscar Hammerstein II Broadway librettist, dies at 65
1962 Hoot Gibson silent screen cowboy actor, dies at 70
1975 Hank Patterson actor (Fred Ziffel-Green Acres), dies at 87
1989 Yusef Hawkins shot by 30 whites in Bensonhurst because he's black
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