|  
            9th August, on this day 480 BC 
            King Leonidas of Sparta and a force of 1,000 Greeks are defeated 
            by the Persians at the Battle 
            of Thermopylae48 BC Caesar's 
            civil war: Battle 
            of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus 
            and Pompey flees to Egypt.
 378 Battle 
            of Adrianople, Visigoth Calvary defeats Roman Army
 681 Bulgaria is founded as a Khanate 
            on the south bank of the Danube, after defeating the Byzantine armies 
            of Emperor Constantine IV south of the Danube delta.
 1048 
            Pope Damasus II dies in Rome, after reigning for only 23 days.
 1173 Construction of the Tower 
            of Pisa begins, and it takes two centuries to complete.
 1329 Quilon 
            the first Indian Diocese was erected by Pope John XXII and Jordanus 
            was appointed the first Bishop
 1483 Opening of the Sistine 
            Chapel
 1638 Jonas 
            Bronck of Holland becomes 1st European settler in the Bronx
 1666 Rear Admiral Robert 
            Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, 
            destroying 150 merchant ships in the Vlie estuary, and pillaging the 
            town of West-Terschelling, an act later knkown as "Holmes's 
            Bonfire".
 1673 Dutch recapture NY from English; regained by English in 1674
 1721 In Britain, prisoners at Newgate Jail are used a guinea pigs 
            for to test vaccinations against disease
 1757 French forces commanded by General Montclam, capture Fort William 
            Henry from the British during the Seven Years War
 1778 Capt 
            Cook passes through Bering Strait
 1790 Columbia becomes 1st US flagged ship to voyage around the world
 1803 1st horses arrive in Hawaii
 1810 Napoleon annexes Westphalia 
            as part of the First 
            French Empire.
 1828 The Russians 
            defeat the Turks at the Battle 
            of Akhalzic.
 1829 In US, "Stourbridge 
            Lion" locomotive goes into service
 1831 1st US steam engine train run (Albany to Schenectady, NY)
 1842 The Webster-Ashburton 
            Treaty, signed between America and Britain, agrees the frontier 
            between the United States and Canada
 1848 Barnburners 
            (anti-slavery) party merges with the Free Soil Party nominating Martin 
            Van Buren for president
 1849 Hungarian Republic crushed by Austria and Russia
 1854 Henry 
            David Thoreau publishes "Walden"
 1855 Battle of Acapulco during Mexican Liberal uprising
 1862 Prelude to 2nd Manassas, Jackson is victorious at Battle 
            of Cedar Mt, however Gen Charles S Winder is killed
 1870 Britain passes the Elementary 
            Education Act, giving compulsory free education to every child 
            in England and Wales aged between 5-13
 1877 Indian 
            Wars: Battle 
            of Big Hole - A small band of Nez 
            Percé Indians clash with the United States Army.
 1892 Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
 1902 Edward 
            VII of England crowned after death of his mother Victoria
 1914 World War I: HMS 
            Birmingham sinks a German submarine, the first to be sunk by the 
            Royal Navy
 1930 Betty 
            Boop debutes in Max Fleischer's animated cartoon Dizzy Dishes
 1936 Jesse 
            Owens wins 4th gold medal of Berlin Olympics
 1941 World War II: RAF fighter pilot Douglas 
            Bader is shot down and captured by German troops
 1942 In India, Mahatma 
            Gandhi and 50 other senior figures are arrested after the All-India 
            Congress initiates a quit 
            India campaign against British rule
 1942 Battle 
            of Savo Island - Allied naval forces protecting their amphibious 
            forces during the initial stages of the Battle 
            of Guadalcanal are surprised and defeated by an Imperial Japanese 
            Navy cruiser force.
 1944 The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising 
            Council release posters featuring Smokey 
            Bear for the first time.
 1945 The second atomic bomb is dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, 
            an estimated 70,000 are killed
 1956 1st state-wide, state-supported educational TV network, Alabama
 1956 South African women demonstrate against pass laws
 1960 Race riot in Jacksonville, Florida
 1963 In Britain, ITV transmits the first edition of the pop music 
            programme Ready 
            Steady Go to rival the BBC's Top 
            of the Pops. The presenter is Cathy McGowan
 1965 Singapore gains its independence, becoming an independent republic 
            within the British Commonwealth after seceding from Malaysia
 1969 The bodies of US actress Sharon 
            Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski, and four others are 
            found at a house in Beverly Hills, California. Members of a commune 
            known as The Family, led by Charles 
            Manson are later arrested, tried and jailed
 1970 Peruvian Airlines jet carrying 45 US exchange students explodes
 1972 Rockwell receives NASA contract to construct the Space Shuttle
 1973 Henry 
            McCullough and Denny 
            Seiwell quit Wings
 1973 USSR launches Mars 7
 1974 US Vice-President Gerald 
            Ford is sworn in as US President following the resignation of 
            Richard Nixon over the Watergate Affair
 1976 USSR launches Luna 24, last Lunar flight to date from Earth
 1977 The military-controlled Government of Uruguay announces that 
            it will return the nation to civilian rule through general elections 
            in 1981 for a President and Congress.
 1979 Britain establishes its first nudist beach, in Brighton
 1981 6 English lifeguards set relay swim record the English Channel 
            (7:17)
 1984 Daley 
            Thompson of Britain sets the decathalon record (8,847) in LA Cal
 1988 Just 1 day after 8/8/88 NY's daily number is 888
 1990 12 Arab leaders agree to send pan-Arab forces to protect Saudi 
            Arabia
 1992 25th Olympic Summer games close in Barcelona, Spain
 1993 The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan loses a 38-year hold on 
            national leadership.
 1996 West Midlands woman Mandy 
            Allwood announces she is expecting octuplets
 1999 Russian President Boris 
            Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the 
            fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
 1999 The Diet 
            of Japan enacts a law establishing the Hinomaru 
            and Kimi 
            Ga Yo as the official national flag and national anthem.
 2001 US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal 
            funding of limited research on embryonic stem 
            cells.
 | 
      
        | Birthdates which 
            occurred on 9th August : 1593 Izaak Walton 
            England, biographer/fisherman/writer (Compleat Angler) 1686 Benedetto Marcello Venice Italy, composer (Lettera Famigliare)
 1776 Amedeo Avogadro Tuin Italy, 6.022 x 10 ^ 23 (Avogadro's Law)
 1819 William Thomas Green Morton dentist, used ether (HOF 1920)
 1825 Elisha Ferry (Gov-R-Wash, 1872-80, 1889-93)
 1875 Albert William KetŠlbey Aston England, composer (Wonder 
            Worker)
 1883 George Hoyt NBA hall of fame referee (elected 1961)
 1896 Jean Piaget Switz, pioneer developmental psychologist/zoologist
 1896 Leonide Massine choreographer (Diaghilev Ballet Russe 1914-20)
 1897 Ralph Wyckoff American pioneer in x-ray crystallography
 19-- Clint Ritchie ND, actor (Clint Buchanon-One Life to Live)
 19-- Dennis Belanger Canada, rock vocalist (Voivod-Angel Rat)
 19-- Michael Storm Chicago, actor (Dr Larry Wolek-One Life to Live)
 1901 Charles Farrell Cape Cod Mass, actor (Vern-My Little Margie)
 1902 Zino Francescatti Marseilles France, violinist (NY Phil-1939)
 1905 Leo Genn actor (Affair in Monte Carlo)
 1909 John Baur museum director/author (American Paintings in 19th 
            Century)
 1911 Robert McCormick Danville Ky, NBC newscaster (Current Opinion)
 1911 William A Fowler US, astrophysicist (Nobel 1983)
 1913 Harry Mills singer (Mills Brothers-Paper Doll)
 1913 Herman Talmadge (Sen-D-Ga, Watergate Committee)
 1919 Ralph Houk baseball manager (Yankees, Tigers)
 1921 J James Exon (Sen-D-Neb)
 1922 Philip Larkin Coventry England, writer (North Ship, Jill)
 1927 Marvin Minsky Artifical intelligence computer scientist (MIT)
 1927 Robert Shaw England, actor (Deep, Jaws, Sting, Black Sunday)
 1928 Bob Cousy NBA star, Boston Celtics (1957 MVP)
 1930 Betty Boop animation
 1938 Dick Anthony Williams Chicago Ill, actor (Our Family Honor)
 1938 Rod Laver Australia, tennis ace (1962, 1969 Grand Slam)
 1939 Claude Osteen baseball pitcher (Cin Reds)
 1940 Beverlee McKinsey Okla, actress (Another World, Guiding Light)
 1942 David Steinberg Winnipeg Canada, comedian/director (End)
 1944 Sam Elliot Calif, actor (Big Chill, Fatal Beauty)
 1945 Ken Norton Heavyweight Boxing Champ/TV panelist (Gong Show)
 1955 Doug Williams Louisana, NFL QB (Tampa Bay Bucaneers, Wash Redskins)
 1957 Melanie Griffith NYC, actress (Something Wild, Working Girl)
 1958 Amanda Bearse actress (Marcy Rhoodes-Married With Children)
 1958 Greg Chaisson heavy metal rocker (Badlands-Dreams in the Dark)
 1959 Kurtis Blow NYC, rapper (Krushgroove-The Breaks)
 1963 Lonnie Quinn Cheshire Conn, actor (Will Cooley-All My Children)
 1963 Whitney Houston Newark NJ, singer (One Moment in Time)
 1965 Kyle Kyle Kensington Pa, rock bassist (Bang Tango-Dancin' on 
            Coals)
 1966 Pat Petersen LA Calif, actor (Michael-Knots Landing)
 1971 Mary Joe Fernandez Dom Rep, tennis player (US National 16s)
 1972 Elizabeth Vassey Raleigh NC, actress (Emily Martin-All My Children)
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deaths which occurred 
            on August 9th:
 1896 Otto Lilenthal killed during a glider test
 1969 George P Marshall president of Washington Redskins, dies at 72
 1969 Sharon Tate actress, killed by Charles Manson's gang
 1972 Bill Berns commentator (Television Screen Magazine), dies at 
            53
 1973 Dean Corll shot; he raped & killed 26 boys
 1979 Allan Frank actor (Charade Quiz), dies at 64
 1988 Alan Napier (Alfred the Butler on Batman), dies at 85
 
 
 |