Death of Cary Grant, British-born American film actor (‘Bringing Up Baby’, ‘Gunga Din’, ‘His Girl Friday’, ‘The Philadelphia Story’, ‘To Catch A Thief’, ‘North by Northwest’, and more) Share this:

Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, an agreement to collaborate against the threat of Soviet Communism Share this:

Death of Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar-born British rock singer and songwriter (Queen) Share this:

Death of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician, founder of the Spanish fascist party, the Falange. (Executed) Share this:

Birth of John Bright, British politician and political reformer, co-founder of the Anti-Corn Law League, and a campaigner for free trade Share this:

Death of Vyacheslav Molotov, Russian statesman and diplomat Share this:

American Civil War: Battle of Belmont, Missouri. A minor battle with an inconclusive outcome, but notable as it was Ulysses S. Grant’s first experience of battlefield command. (He would later become commander of the Union Army, and U.S. President) Share this:

Alex Ferguson was appointed manager of Manchester United FC Share this:

The first aerial bombing raid. In the Italo-Turkish War, Italian pilot Giulio Gavotti dropped 4 small bombs on Turkish troops in Libya Share this:

William Shakespeare’s play ‘The Tempest’ was first performed, at Whitehall Palace, London, UK Share this:

De-Stalinisation: former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s body was removed from Lenin’s mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow and reburied within the Kremlin walls, out of public view. Share this:

Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop. Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency, corruption, pomposity or self-importance and it has become…

Death of Gene Roddenberry, American screenwriter and producer, creator of ‘Star Trek’ Share this:

Apple Computer released the first iPod digital music player Share this:

Algerian War – Paris massacre: French police attacked Algerian protesters who were staging a peaceful demonstration in Paris. (The exact number of Algerians killed is unknown – at least 40, but possibly more than 200) Share this:

NASA’s Galileo spacecraft flew within 112 miles (181 km) of Jupiter’s moon Io, sending back images and data Share this:

The Reykjavik summit in Iceland, aimed at reducing the nuclear arsenals of the USA and USSR, ended in failure. U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev failed to reach agreement on the USA’s Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) – also known as ‘Star Wars’ Share this:

Death of Theodor Geisel, ‘Dr. Seuss’, popular American children’s writer, illustrator and film-maker (‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’, ‘The Cat in the Hat’, ‘Green Eggs and Ham’, and many more) Share this:

The American rock band Nirvana released the album ‘Nevermind’. Share this:

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Ötzi the Iceman, a 5,300-year-old mummified body, was discovered by a tourist in the Tirolean Alps on the Italian-Austrian border. Share this:

Greenpeace, the international environmental group, was founded in Vancouver, Canada Share this:

Vikings to return to Stamford Bridge

War hits home on Downton Abbey

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The USA returned Pablo Picasso’s painting ‘Guernica’ to Spain. Picasso had refused to allow it to return until democracy had been restored. It was put on display in Spain on 25th Oct – the centenary of Picasso’s birth. Share this:

Is This the Face of Jack The Ripper?

David Starkey is a master of the past, not the present

Medieval artefacts hidden in church’s secret room

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25 years ago today – 31 Aug 1986 Death of Henry Moore, British sculptor Share this:

30 years ago today – 25 Aug 1981 The U.S. space probe Voyager 2 reached Saturn and sent back images and data from the planet. (It travelled on to Uranus (1986) and Neptune (1989) before leaving the solar system) Share this:

30 years ago today – 24 Aug 1981 Mark Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of British rock musician John Lennon Share this:

20 years ago today – 24 Aug 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Share this:

150 years ago today – 22 Aug 1861 Birth of Mary Elizabeth Wood, American librarian and missionary who established a network of libraries and a training programme for librarians in China Share this:

Firefighters attacked by thousands of fleas at abandoned house are tested for bubonic plague

100 years ago today – 21 Aug 1911 Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in Paris by an employee. (Recovered in 1913) Share this:

BBC defends Newsnight after David Starkey said 'white chavs have become black'

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David Starkey's down with the kids take on culture

Horrible Histories author: 'I don't like historians'

20 years ago today – 19 Aug 1991 Attempted coup in the Soviet Union. Hard-line members of the Communist Party tried to seize control from President Mikhail Gorbachev. The coup failed after just 3 days, and eventually led to the collapse of communism and the disintegration of the USSR Share this:

75 years ago today – 19 Aug 1936 Death of Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet and playwright Share this:

50 years ago today – 13 Aug 1961 East Germany sealed off the border between East and West Berlin to prevent the exodus of refugees to the West. Initially barbed wire fences were erected; construction of the Berlin Wall began on 15th August Share this:

300 years ago today – 11 Aug 1711 The first horse race meeting at Ascot took place, initiated by Queen Anne Share this:

100 years ago today – 10 Aug 1911 British Members of Parliament voted to receive salaries for the first time. Share this:

Captain Morgan's Pirate Ship Found

100 years ago (31 Jul 1910) American physician Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen was arrested aboard the SS Montrose as it docked in Quebec. He had fled England after murdering his wife, and was the first criminal to be caught using wireless telegraph [more]. Share this:

75 years ago today – 1 Aug 1936 The XI Olympic Games opened in Berlin, Germany. It was the last Olympics for 12 years due to World War II 75 years ago today – 1 Aug 1936 Birth of Yves Saint-Laurent, Algerian-born French fashion designer 75 years ago today – 2 Aug 1936 Death of…

Blitz Britain: Amazing colour pictures of London under siege from Nazi bombers during World War II

Nazi Rudolf Hess exhumed from 'pilgrimage' grave

he 1980 Moscow Olympics are perhaps most famous for the US-led boycott that saw only 80 out of 147 nations compete, the lowest number since the 1956 Melbourne Games. The boycott was made in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the year before, one of the many conflicts that took place as the Americans…

Arrogant, rebellious and a murderer, Caravaggio’s short and tempestuous life matched the drama of his works. Characterised by their dramatic, almost theatrical lighting, Caravaggio’s paintings were controversial, popular, and hugely influential on succeeding generations of painters all over Europe [more]. Share this:

This new tool allows teachers to create “Treasure Hunt” challenges based on QR codes. You can create your own QR Treasure Hunt by simply providing a list of questions and answers. You can even go back and edit it later if you like. This program will then dynamically create QR codes for each question which…

Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the “global jukebox”, the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom (attended by 72,000 people)…

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The Dreyfus affair (French: l’affaire Dreyfus, pronounced: [a.f?? d??.fys]) was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent. Sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly having communicated French military…

100 years ago (12 Jul 1910) Death of Charles Stewart Rolls, British driver, aviator and car manufacturer, co-founder of Rolls-Royce, first person to fly cross the Channel and back non-stop, first British pilot to die in a plane crash [more] Share this:

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful, winning the Pulitzer Prize, and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author’s observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near…

The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Opération Satanique, was an operation by the “action” branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), carried out on July 10, 1985. It aimed to sink the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, the Rainbow Warrior in the port of Auckland, New…

The Battle of Britain (German: Luftschlacht um England or Luftschlacht um Großbritannien, literally “Air battle for England” or “Air battle for Great Britain”) is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940. The objective of…