Saturday, August 22, 2009

22 August: Dog Days, Doggier Nights; Today's Deaths: Richard III, Michael Collins, Jomo Kenyatta, Huey P. Newton; "The Scream" Stolen

Today is Saturday, Aug. 22nd, the 234th day of 2009. There are 131 days left in the year. AP's A/V.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Aug. 22, 1485, England's King Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, effectively ending the War of the Roses. Henry Tudor succeeded Richard to become King Henry VII.

On this date:

In 1787, inventor John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. In 1846, the United States annexed New Mexico. In 1851, the schooner America outraced more than a dozen British vessels off the English coast to win a trophy that came to be known as the America's Cup. In 1893, author, poet, critic and wit Dorothy Parker was born in West Bend, N.J.In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. chief executive to ride in an automobile, in Hartford, Conn. In 1904, Chinese communist leader Deng Xiaoping was born in Sichuan province. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, which remained under Japanese colonial rule until 1945.In 1922, Irish revolutionary Michael Collins was shot to death, apparently by Irish Republican Army members who were opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty that Collins had co-signed. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon were nominated for second terms in office by the Republican national convention in San Francisco.Fifty years ago, in 1959, the New York Philharmonic orchestra, led by conductor Leonard Bernstein, opened a concert tour of the Soviet Union with a program in Moscow featuring works by Samuel Barber, Mozart and Shostakovich. In 1968, Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogota, Colombia, for the start of the first papal visit to South America. In 1978, President Jomo Kenyatta, a leading figure in Kenya's struggle for independence, died; Vice President Daniel arap Moi was sworn in as acting president. In 1985, 55 people died when fire broke out aboard a British Airtours charter jet on a runway at Manchester Airport in England. In 1986, Kerr-McGee Corp. agreed to pay the estate of Karen Silkwood $1.38 million, settling a 10-year-old nuclear contamination lawsuit. Twenty years ago, in 1989, Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton was shot to death in Oakland, Calif. (Gunman Tyrone Robinson was later sentenced to 32 years to life in prison.)Ten years ago: Hurricane Bret rumbled ashore on the Texas Gulf Coast with winds of over 100 miles-an-hour. A China Airlines jet landing in stormy weather at Hong Kong's new airport flipped over and burst into flames, killing three people and injuring more than 200. In 2003, Alabama's chief justice, Roy Moore, was suspended for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of his courthouse. Five years ago: As shocked spectators watched, armed thieves stole one of four versions of the Edvard Munch masterpiece "The Scream" and a second Munch painting, "Madonna," from the Munch museum in Oslo, Norway. (The paintings, visibly damaged, were recovered in Aug. 2006; three men were convicted in connection with the theft and sentenced to prison.) One year ago: The US carried out airstrikes in western Herat province in Afghanistan; according to a later U.S. estimate, the raid resulted in the deaths of 33 civilians and 22 militants (the Afghan government and U.N. investigators said that 90 civilians had died). Usain Bolt helped Jamaica win the 400-meter relay final in 37.10 seconds for his third gold medal and third world record of the Beijing Olympics. Bryan Clay won the decathlon. Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers beat Brazil in the men's beach volleyball championship game.

Today's Birthdays August 22

Author Ray Bradbury is 89. Heart surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley is 89. Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf is 75. Broadcast journalist Morton Dean is 74. Author Annie Proulx is 74. Rockabilly singer Dale Hawkins is 73. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Carl Yastrzemski is 70. Actress Valerie Harper is 69. Football coach Bill Parcells is 68. CBS newsman Steve Kroft is 64. Actress Cindy Williams is 62. Musician David Marks is 61. International Swimming Hall of Famer Diana Nyad is 60. Baseball Hall of Famer Paul Molitor is 53. Rock musician Vernon Reid is 51. Actress Regina Taylor is 49. Rock singer Roland Orzabal (Tears For Fears) is 48. Rock musician Debbi Peterson (The Bangles) is 48. Rock musician Gary Lee Conner (Screaming Trees) is 47. Singer Tori Amos is 46. Rhythm-and-blues musician James DeBarge is 46. International Tennis Hall of Famer Mats Wilander is 45. Actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is 42. Actor Ty Burrell is 42. Actor Rick Yune is 38. Rock musician Paul Doucette (Matchbox Twenty) is 37. Rap-reggae singer Beenie Man is 36. Comedian-actress Kristen Wiig is 36.Actress Jenna Leigh Green is 35. Rock musician Dean Back (Theory of a Deadman) is 34. Rock musician Jeff Stinco (Simple Plan) is 31. Actress Aya Sumika (TV: "Numb3rs") is 29. [Editor's note: "Country singers" we've never heard of & Backstreet Boys (36?) have been mercilessly excised from today's list.]

Today In Entertainment History August 22

[Judging from the paucity of "entertainment" events here, the dog days are fully upon us. — Ed.] On Aug. 22, 1956, the Five Satins made their debut on the R&B charts with "In the Still of the Night." In 1966, Jerry Lee Lewis was signed to play Iago in "Catch My Soul," a rock version of Shakespeare's "Othello." In 1968, John Lennon's wife Cynthia filed for divorce, one day shy of their sixth anniversary. By this time, John was seeing Yoko Ono, whom he married in 1969.In 1970, Elvis Presley announced his first tour since 1958. It lasted six dates.

No comments: