This Day In History: August 20, 1948 “I can’t moan about any of it. I had a great time in the goldfish bowl.” – Robert Plant With his unmistakable vocal style and golden Adonis charisma, Robert Plant was the quintessential ‘70s front man. Part medieval troubadour and part decadent rock god, Plant – along with the rest of Led Zeppelin […]

This Day In History: August 19, 1504 One of the most blood-soaked battles in Irish medieval history took place on August 19, 1504, at Knockdoe, a hillock in County Galway. It would prove to be one of the last old-school medieval infantry battles in the region. At the same time, a couple of battle-field game-changers were implemented during this fight […]

This Day In History: August 18, 1227 On August 18, 1227, Genghis Khan, the legendary Mongol leader who ruled an empire of a scope seldom matched by anyone else in history, died in camp during a military campaign. The exact cause is unknown, but the 65-year-old was in failing health and it has been claimed (perhaps dubiously) that he may […]

This Day In History: August 17, 1893 “I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.” – Mae West The original blonde bombshell, Mae West, was born on August 17, 1893. Mae grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her father was “Battlin’ Jack” West, a prizefighter and street brawler for hire. Her mother, Tillie, raised Mae and her […]

This Day In History: August 14, 1980 Everything happened so fast for the twenty-year-old beauty. She went from working at Dairy Queen at 17 to being Playmate of the Year shortly thereafter, then launching a promising acting career. At the same time, she was divorcing her abusive control freak husband in favor of getting engaged to an A-list Hollywood director. […]

This Day In History: August 13, 1913 On August 13, 1913, circus acrobat Otto Witte got one heck of a job promotion when he was crowned the King of Albania. At least, that’s the story. Born in 1872, Otto Witte had been a circus performer most of his life, starting as a lion-tamer at the age of eight. Aside from […]

This Day In History: August 12, 1827 “Shall I call him artist or genius – or mystic – or madman? Probably he is all” – Henry Crabb Robinson One of the most influential figures to emerge during the Romantic Age, or any age, was William Blake. Poet, Printmaker, Painter, Mystic and Maverick, Blake has been a muse for countless artists, […]

This Day In History: August 11, 1965 On Wednesday, August 11, 1965, a routine traffic stop resulted in a drunk-driving arrest sparking six days of rioting in the Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles. When it was all over, 34 people were dead, more than 1,000 had been injured, and nearly 4000 arrested. It all started when Los Angeles Highway Patrolman […]

This Day In History: August 10, 991 On August 10, 991, one of the best known battles between the Saxons and the Vikings took place in Essex, England near the small town of Maldon by the River Blackwater. It heralded the era of the Danegeld – the practice of paying off the Vikings to avoid future attacks. Aside from government-sanctioned […]

This Day In History: August 6, 1911 Lucille Ball, one of the greatest comedic forces in entertainment history and the embodiment of a classic rags-to-riches tale, was born on August 6, 1911, in Jamestown, New York. Her father died of typhoid when she was three, so her mother DeDe found factory work and a new husband, but this didn’t improve […]

This Day In History: August 4, 1693 Legend has it that Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon stated, “I am drinking the stars!” after tasting the result of a botched batch of wine on August 4, 1693, thus “inventing” champagne. Of course, the story is certainly false, with the first documented mention of that line appearing in an advertisement in the late 19th […]

This Day In History August 3, 1529 Back in 1525, the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles V’s forces had defeated France at Pavia in Italy. King Francis I of France was taken prisoner and was forced to sign the Treaty of Madrid. He ceded lands in Italy, Flanders, Artois, and Tournai, as well as parts of France, to the Emperor. […]

This Day In History: July 30, 1976 The road to Bruce Jenner’s record-breaking gold medal in 1976 began at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, where he placed tenth in the decathlon. After the event, he reportedly approached the champion Nikolay Avilov of the Soviet Union, looked him straight in the eye and told him, “Next time, I’m going to […]

This Day In History: July 29, 1862 Confederate spy Marie Isabella “Belle” Boyd, often called the “Cleopatra of the Secession”, was arrested by Union troops on July 29, 1862, and incarcerated in Old Capital Prison in Washington D.C. It was the first of three arrests for this teenage espionage agent from Martinsburg, Virginia. Belle’s town was one of the first […]

This Day In History: July 28, 1750 Regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, Johann Sebastian Bach was from a family of seven generations of musicians. Beethoven considered Bach the “original father of harmony.” His influence was so encompassing that his death on July 28, 1750 marks the end of the Baroque period in music. Born in […]