Julia Ward Howe’s poem ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ was first published in ‘The Atlantic Monthly’. Set to the music of ‘John Brown’s Body’, it became a popular Union song during the American Civil War Share this:

I have created an auto-updating gallery of ‘Fakebook’ examples created by students and teachers around the world in a wide variety of subjects. Why not try Fakebook out with your own classes as a way of getting thinking about timelines of events / biographical summaries and relationships between historical figures? Share this:

Death of George Harrison, British rock guitarist, singer and songwriter (The Beatles) Share this:

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: