August 8th in History
1786: Mt Blanc, the tallest mountain in Europe, climbed for the first time
1940: Battle of Britain
1960: Militray coup  in Laos
1963: The Great Train Robbery, in which 2.5 million pounds are stolen
1974: Richard Nixon resigns as US President, the first to do so
1981: US announce plans to produce the neutron bomb
1983: Militray coup in Guatemala


August 8th birthdays
1901: Ernest Lawrence, US physicist
1937: Dustin Hoffman, American actor

August 9th in History
1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
1965: Singapore independence
1974: Gerald Ford becomes the 39th president of the United States


August 9th birthdays
1922: Philip Larkin, English poet

August 10th in History
1846: Smithsonian Institution founded in the United States


August 10th birthdays
1782: Charles James Napier, British general
1874: Herbert Hoover, Former (31st) President of the US
1928: James Dean, American film actor

August 11th in History
1941: British PM Winston Churchill and US President Franklin Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter
1960: Chad gains independence from France
1966: Indonesian Malaysian peace agreement signed in Djakarta


August 11th birthdays
1772: Jean Victor Moreau, French general
1892: Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet
1897: Enid Blyton, English author

August 12th in History
1887: Thomas Edison makes the first sound recording
1969: Echo, the worlds first communications satellite, launched by the US
1969: A three day street battle started in Londonderry, Northern Ireland


August 12th birthdays
1881: Cecil B. De Mille, Hollywood producer/director
1939: George Hamilton, American film actor
1997: Erwin Schrodinger, Physicist

August 13th in History
1705: Battle of Blenheim, in southern Germany
1961: Border between east and west Berlin sealed off by East Germans
1974: The last United States troops leave Vietnam


August 13th birthdays
1756: Queen Adelaide, Consort of William IV
1899: Alfred Hitchcock, English born film director
1927: Fidel Castro, Cuban leader

August 14th in History
1893: First vehicle registration plates introduced, in France
1945: Japan surrenders unconditionally to the allies
1947: Pakistan created by the British
1974: Peace talks in Cyprus break down, and fresh fighting breaks out
1983: French troops deployed in Chad


August 14th birthdays
1867: John Galsworthy, English playwright and novelist
1946: Susan St. James, American film actress

August 15th in History
1543: Jesuit order founded in Paris
1901: The Cadillac motor company founded in Detroit
1944: Allied forces land in the south of France,  Marseilles recaptured.
1947: India gains independence from Britain
1948: Korea proclaims itself a republic
1965: US National Guard called out to deal with race riots in Los Angeles
1969: Woodstock music festival


August 15th birthdays
1769: Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor
1771: Sir Walter Scott, Scottish novelist
1888: T.E Lawrence, 'Lawrence of Arabia'; soldier and author

August 16th in History
1960: Cyprus independence


August 16th birthdays
1913: Menachem Begin, Israeli statesman

August 17th in History
1896: Gold discovered in the Yukon Territory, Canada
1943: Allied forces take control of the island of Sicily


August 17th birthdays
1786: Davy Crockett, US frontiersman killed at the Alamo
1892: Mae West, American actress
1943: Robert De Niro, American actor