TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, AUG. 15, the 228th day of 2020. There are 138 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1947, India became independent after some 200 years of British rule.
In 1483, the Sistine Chapel was consecrated by Pope Sixtus IV.
In 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was born on the island of Corsica.
In 1935, humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post were killed when their airplane crashed near Point Barrow in the Alaska Territory.
In 1939, the MGM musical “The Wizard of Oz” opened at the Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces landed in southern France in Operation Dragoon.
In 1945, in a pre-recorded radio address, Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced that his country had accepted terms of surrender for ending World War II.
In 1965, the Beatles played to a crowd of more than 55,000 at New York’s Shea Stadium.
In 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon announced a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents.
In 1998, 29 people were killed by a car bomb that tore apart the center of Omagh, Northern Ireland; a splinter group calling itself the Real IRA claimed responsibility.
In 2004, in Athens, the U.S. men’s basketball team lost 92-73 to Puerto Rico, only the third Olympic defeat ever for the Americans and the first since adding pros.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Abby Dalton is 88. Actor Lori Nelson is 87. Civil rights activist Vernon Jordan and actor Jim Dale are 85. Actor Pat Priest is 84. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., are 82. Musician Pete York (Spencer Davis Group) is 78. Author-journalist Linda Ellerbee is 76. Songwriter Jimmy Webb is 74. Rock singer-musician Tom Johnston (The Doobie Brothers) is 72. Actor Phyllis Smith is 71. Britain’s Princess Anne and actor Tess Harper are 70. Actor Larry Mathews is 65. Actor Zeljko Ivanek is 63. Actor-comedian Rondell Sheridan is 62. Rock singer-musician Matt Johnson (The The) is 59. Movie director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is 57. Philanthropist Melinda Gates is 56. Country singer Angela Rae (Wild Horses) is 54. Actor Peter Hermann is 53. Actor Debra Messing is 52. Actor Anthony Anderson is 50. Actor Ben Affleck and singer Mikey Graham (Boyzone) are 48. Actor Natasha Henstridge is 46. Actor Nicole Paggi is 43. Christian rock musician Tim Foreman (Switchfoot) is 42. Actor Emily Kinney and figure skater Jennifer Kirk are 36. Latin pop singer Belinda, actor Courtney Hope, rock singer Joe Jonas (The Jonas Brothers) and actor-singer Carlos PenaVega are 31. Actor Jennifer Lawrence and rap DJ Smoove da General (Cali Swag District) are 30.