1590 – Governor of Roanoke Island colony, John White, returns from England to find no trace of the colonists he had left there 3 years earlier [or Aug 18, 1591]
1903 – Joe Pulitzer donates $1 million to Columbia University & begins the Pulitzer Prizes in America
1945 – Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declare Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) independent from the Netherlands
1945 – Korea is divided into North and South Korea along the 38th parallel
1947 – The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed
1998 – Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony he had an “improper physical relationship” with the intern and on the same day admits before the nation he “misled people” about the relationship
2013 – 18 people are killed in conflict between Boko Harem and Nigerian military
2016 – Flood waters recede in Louisiana leaving 13 dead and damaging 4,000 homes
2017 – Terror attack on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain as van rams into crowds killing 16, injuring 120
2019 – Huge wildfires begin on Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands prompting evacuation of 9,000 people
Film & TV:
1979 – “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” directed by Terry Jones, starring Graham Chapman, Mickael Palin, & John Cleese, premieres in US theaters
Music:
1876 – Richard Wagner’s opera “Götterdämmerung” premieres in Bayreuth
Sport:
1933 – MLB player Lou Gehrig plays record 1,308th consecutive game
