August 3rd  1904

British journalist Francis Younghusband visits forbidden city of Lhasa

August 4th 2009

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has 4,000 prisoners death sentences commuted to life imprisonment

August 5th 1975

Stevie Wonder signs $13M contract with Motown

August 6th 1979

Marcus Hooper, 12, is youngest person to swim English Channel

August 7th 1974

Philippe Petit walks tightrope strung between twin towers

August 8th 1949

Bhutan, land of the Dragon, becomes an independent monarchy

August 9th 1859

Elevator patented

August 10th 1985

Uno Lindstron of Sweden, juggles a soccer ball 13.11 miles

August 11th 1941

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill sign Atlantic Charter

August 12th 1877

Thomas Edison invents Edisonphone, a sound recording device

August 13th 1950

President Truman gives military aid to Vietnamese regime Bao-Dai

August 14th 1986

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrested

August 15th 1994

Terrorist, Carlos the Jackal, captured in Khartoum, Sudan

August 16th 1884

On Coney Island, the 1st roller coaster begins operating

August 17th 1994

O.J. Simpson doesn’t turn himself in on murder charges, Los Angeles police chase his Ford Bronco for 1 hours, eventually gives up

August 18th 1986

Heike Friedrich swims female world record 200m freestyle (1:57.55)

August 19th 1991

Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar surrenders to police

August 20th 1968

Jim Hines becomes 1st person to run 100 meters in under 10 seconds

August 21st 1982

John Hinckley found not guilty of 1981 attempted assassination of President Reagan by reason of insanity

August 22nd 1874

Game of lawn tennis introduced by Walter Clapton Wingfield

August 23rd 1757

Robert Clive defeats Indians at Plassey, wins control of Bengal

August 24th 1961

Iraq demands dominion over Kuwait

August 25th 1977

Roy C. Sullivan of Virginia is struck by lightning for 7th time

August 26th 1843

Hong Kong proclaimed a British Crown Colony

August 27th 1979

Muhammad Ali retires as boxing champ

August 28th 1946

Enrico de Nicola becomes 1st President of Italy

August 29th 1961

Launch of Transit 4a, with 1st nuclear power supply (SNAP-3)

August 30th 1963

Cardinal Montini elected Pope Paul VI, 262nd head of RC Church

August 31st 2010

In Sudan, the People’s Liberation Army announces it will demobilize its child soldiers by the end of the year