As this is a trivia (along with travel) oriented forum, I've been wanting to get a pure ongoing trivia thread started for a while now. A beautiful Sunday morning seems like as good a time as any to do this, so....

There is not one day on the calendar that does not mark the anniversary of many significant and not so significant events in history. With this in mind it seems only natural that a thread devoted to these topics of varying notability belongs here.

To start things off I will go to what is perhaps the most well known event to ever take place on August 8th. (A-bombs aside) Feel free to post relevant links as I have.

August 8, 1588

In an epic naval battle the English fleet, commanded by Sir Francis Drake, defeated the Spanish Armada. Thus ending Spain's plans for the invasion of the British Isles.

More recently, on August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon announced that he would step down as President of the United States, the first president ever to step down from office.

August 8, 1876

- Thomas A. Edison of Menlo Park, New Jersey, patented the mimeograph machine. It was a method of preparing autographic stencils for printing. Mimeograph machines used to be cranked by hand and later models were electric. The mimeograph worked by first creating a spirit master which was placed on a large rotating drum. A strong smelling, purple ink would then print out on paper.

Mimeograph machine


Awesome thread Ron!

August 8,1815

Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile.

August 8, 1963: The Great Train Robbery, in which 2.5 million pounds are stolen

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/The_Great_Train_Robbery_of_1963

August 8, 1942

"Monty" appointed commandant of British 8th Army at Alamein

August 9, 1969

35 years ago today unemployed transient Wojciech (Voyteck) Frykowski, student Steve Parent, Hollywood hair stylist Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and eight month pregnant actress Sharon Tate were found brutally murdered at Tate's and husband Roman Polanski's Los Angeles area home.

August 9,1945: The second atomic bomb of the war was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

On this date in 1854 - Henry David Thoreau published "Walden".

August 9,1831 - The first US steam locomotive train began its inaugural run, between Albany and Schenectady, in New York.

August 9, 1936 - Jesse Owens became the first American to win four medals in one Olympic Games. Owens ran one leg of the winning 400-metre relay team in Berlin. His three other gold medals were won in the 100-metre, 200-metre and the long jump events.

August 9, 1974

Gerald Ford is sworn in as the 38th president of the United States after the resignation of Richard Nixon becomes effective

August 9, 1846, the Smithsonian Institution was founded.

August 10, 1948 - Allen Funt's Candid Camera made its television debut. The television program was an offshoot of an Armed Forces Radio program, also created by Funt, designed to entertain US soldiers troops with candid broadcasts of soldiers' gripes and grumbles.

For MoMule!

1821 - On this date, Missouri entered the Union as the 24th state, and the first located entirely west of the Mississippi River.

Named for one of the Native American groups that once lived in the territory, Missouri became a US possession as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. In 1817, Missouri Territory applied for statehood, but the question of whether it would be slave or free delayed approval by Congress. In 1820, the Missouri Compromise was reached, admitting Missouri as a slave state but excluding slavery from the other Louisiana Purchase lands north of Missouri's southern border. Missouri's August 1821 entrance into the Union as a slave state was met with disapproval by many of its citizens.

In 1861, when other slave states succeeded from the Union, Missouri chose to remain; although a provincial government was established in the next year by Confederate sympathizers. During the war, Missourians were split in their allegiances, supplying both Union and Confederate forces with troops. Lawlessness persisted during this period, and Missouri-born Confederate guerrillas such as Jesse James continued this lawlessness after the South's defeat. With the ratification of Missouri's new constitution by the citizens of the state in 1875, the old divisions were finally put to rest.

(from World trivia and news events)

August 10 1977
David Berkowitz, the infamous "SON OF SAM" was arrested after terrorizing NY City and killing 6 people. After his arrest, Berkowitz claimed that demons and a black Labrador retriever owned by a neighbor named Sam had ordered him to commit the killings.

Ya just gotta watch out for those black Labs!!!
~Colly

August 10, 1874

President Herbert Clark Hoover was born.

Who could have possibly guessed at the time that he would one day be hailed worldwide as the inventor of the vacuum cleaner?

A little melange......


1787 - Mozart completes his "Eine small Nachtmusik"

1792 - Mobs in Paris attack palace of Louis XVI

1821 - Missouri admitted as 24th US state


1866 - Transatlantic cable laid-Pres Buchanan spoke to Queen Victoria

1948 - WABC TV channel 7 in New York, NY (ABC) begins broadcasting

1970 - Jim Morrison is tried in Miami on "lewd and lascivious behavior"

August 10,1846
Congress chartered the Smithsonian Institution, named after English scientist James Smithson, whose bequest of $500,000 made it possible.