August 12
In the United Kingdom today is
The Glorious Twelfth, marking the traditional start of grouse shooting season.
1099 –
First Crusade:
Battle of Ascalon: Crusaders under the command of
Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces led by
Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade.
1676 –
Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills
Metacomet, the
Wampanoag war chief, ending
King Philip's War.
1851 –
Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his
sewing machine.
1883 – The last
quagga dies at the
Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
1898 – The
Hawaiian flag is lowered from
ʻIolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the
flag of the United States to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawaii to the United States.
1944 – Nazi German troops end the week-long
Wola massacre, during which time at least
40,000 people were killed indiscriminately or in mass executions.
1953 – The first testing of a
real thermonuclear weapon (not test devices): The Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of
"RDS-6s" (Joe 4), the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb.
1958 –
Art Kane photographs 57 notable jazz musicians in the black and white group portrait
"A Great Day in Harlem" in front of a Brownstone in New York City.
1964 – Charlie Wilson, one of the
Great Train Robbers, escapes from
Winson Green Prison in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom.
1968 - Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham played together for the first time when they rehearsed at a studio in Gerrard Street in London's West End. The first song they played was a version of '
The Train Kept A-Rollin.' They also played '
Smokestack Lightning' and a version of 'I'm Confused' (soon to become 'Dazed And Confused'). The first live dates they played were as
The Yardbirds, and it was not until the following month when they started to use the name
Led Zeppelin.
1977 – The first
free flight of the
Space Shuttle Enterprise.
1981 – The
IBM Personal Computer is released.
1985 –
Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, to become the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history.
1989 - The two day
Moscow Music Peace Festival was held at Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Russia. Western Acts who appeared included Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, Bon Jovi, Skid Row and The Scorpions. This was the first time that an audience had been allowed to stand up and dance at a stadium rock concert in the Soviet Union. Previous to this, all concerts had to be seated.
1990 –
Sue, the largest and most complete
Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton found to date, is discovered by
Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota.
1992 – Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
1994 –
Major League Baseball players go on strike. This will force the cancellation of the
1994 World Series.
2000 – The Oscar-class submarine
Kursk of the Russian Navy
explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise.
During an outdoor gig in Mancos, California, as
38 Special were mid-set, the wind took hold of an overhead canopy and brought down ten tons of equipment onto the stage. The drum kit was completely crushed, but no one was seriously injured.
2015 – At least two massive
explosions kill 145 people and injure nearly 800 in Tianjin, China.
Births
1773 – Karl Faber; 1856 – Diamond Jim Brady; 1860 – Klara Hitler (Adolf's mammy); 1881 – Cecil B. DeMille; 1907 – Joe Besser ('Joe' of
The Three Stooges); 1910 – Jane Wyatt; 1925 – Norris & Ross McWhirter (co-founded the Guinness World Records); 1926 – John Derek, Joe Jones♪ ♫; 1927 – Porter Wagoner♪ ♫; 1929 – Buck Owens♪ ♫; 1930 – George $oro$; 1933 – Parnelli Jones

; 1935 – John Cazale; 1939 – George Hamilton; 1949 – Mark Knopfler

; 1954 – Pat Metheny

; 1956 – Bruce Greenwood; 1961 – Roy Hay


; 1963 – Sir Mix-a-Lot

; 1971 – Rebecca Gayheart, Pete Sampras; 1975 – Casey Affleck; 1980 – Dominique Swain; 1988 – Tyson Fury

; 1992 – Cara Delevingne
Deaths
30 BC– Cleopatra; 1827 – William Blake

; 1861 – Eliphalet Remington (Remington Arms Co.); 1891 – James Russell Lowell; 1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.; 1964 – Ian Fleming; 1982 – Henry Fonda; 1990 – B. Kliban; 1992 – John Cage♪ ♫; 2000 – Loretta Young; 2002 – Enos Slaughter; 2007 – Merv Griffin; 2009 – Les Paul

; 2010 – Richie Hayward

; 2014 – Lauren Bacall