1346 – Battle of Crécy, south of Calais in northern France; Edward III’s English longbows defeat Philip VI’s army, cannons used for first time in battle
1429 – In preparation for an attack on Paris, part of Charles VII’s campaign to drive the English from French soil, Joan of Arc and her soldiers reached the city’s outskirts, but the assault ultimately failed.
1629 – English Puritan stockholders of the Massachusetts Bay Company pledged to emigrate to New England under the terms of the Cambridge Agreement.
1873 – First free kindergarten in the U.S. started by Susan Blow in Carondelet, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri
1924 – The Catastrophe of Smyrna: known as the Asia Minor Catastrophe to Greeks. The Ottoman army expels Greeks and other non-Turks from Asia Minor. (August 13 OS)
1936 – The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty established Egypt as a sovereign state after 50 years of British occupation.
1959 – British Motor Corporation introduces the Morris Mini-Minor, designed by Alec Issigonis, it was only 10 ft long but seated 4 passengers
1978 – Albino Cardinal Luciani was elected pope as John Paul I, but he died of a heart attack 33 days later.
1996 – US President Bill Clinton signs welfare reform into law, representing major shift in welfare policy
Births& Deaths: 2015 – American civil rights activist Amelia Boynton Robinson—an organizer of the Selma March (1965), which was a landmark event in the civil rights movement that led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act—died at age 104.
Sport: 1971 – Bobby Orr signs a five-year contract with the Boston Bruins worth one million dollars, the first million dollar contract in NHL history
Music: 1968 – “Hey Jude” single released by the Beatles (Billboard Song of the Year 1968, Billboard 10th biggest song of all time 2013)
TV & Film: 1951 – “An American in Paris” with music by George Gershwin, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron premieres in London (Academy Awards Best Picture 1952)
