1121 – Battle of Didgori: the Georgian army under King David the Builder wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi
1480 – Battle of Otranto – Ottoman troops behead 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam
1492 – Christopher Columbus arrives in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World
1851 – American inventor Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine
1898 – Peace protocol ends Spanish-American War, signed
1908 – Henry Ford’s company builds the first Model T car
1981 - IBM introduces its first Personal Computer (PC & PC-DOS version 1.0)
1877 – American inventor Thomas Alva Edison made perhaps his most original discovery, the phonograph, and his early recordings were indentations embossed into a sheet of tinfoil by a vibrating stylus.
1961 – East Germany began construction of the Berlin Wall, which served as a symbol of the Cold War, separating East Berlin from West Berlin until 1989.
1966 – During a press conference, John Lennon of the Beatles apologized for saying that his band was “more popular than Jesus now”; the comment had sparked protests and album burnings.
1988 – Nelson Mandela is treated for tuberculosis at hospital
1990 – Iraqi President Saddam Hussein says he is ready to resolve Gulf crisis if Israel withdraws from occupied territories
Births & Deaths:
2014 – American actress Lauren Bacall—who was known for her portrayals of provocative women who hid their soft core underneath a layer of hard-edged pragmatism—died in New York.
Film & TV:
1881 – American filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille—who was a cinema legend known for using spectacle in such movies as The Ten Commandments (1956)—was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts.
1927 – “Wings”, one of only two silent films – the other being The Artist in 2011 – to win an Oscar for best picture, opens starring Clara Bow (Outstanding Picture 1929)
Music:
1991 – Heavy metal band Metallica release their 5th album “Metallica”, debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 chart
Sport:
1851 – 1st America’s Cup – US schooner America beats British yacht Aurora after race around the Isle of Wight
2008 – American super-swimmer Michael Phelps wins his 3rd of 8 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics when he takes the 200m freestyle in world record 1:42.96
2017 – Usain Bolt injures himself in his very last race – mens 4x100m relay, Jamaica misses gold at world championships
Via Britannica / On This Day
