Today In History

Today is Friday, Aug. 31, the 243rd day of 2018. There are 122 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1972: At the Munich Summer Olympics, American swimmer Mark Spitz won his fourth and fifth gold medals in the 100-meter butterfly and 800-meter freestyle relay; Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut won gold medals in floor exercise and the balance beam.

ON THIS DATE

› 1886: An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.3 devastated Charleston, South Carolina, killing at least 60 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

› 1939: The first issue of Marvel Comics, featuring the Human Torch, was published by Timely Publications in New York.

› 1980: Poland’s Solidarity labor movement was born with an agreement signed in Gdansk that ended a 17-day-old strike.

› 1987: The Michael Jackson album “Bad” was released by Epic Records.

› 1991: Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan declared their independence, raising to 10 the number of republics seeking to secede from the Soviet Union.

› 1994: The Irish Republican Army declared a cease-fire. Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics after half a century.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Japanese monster movie actor Katsumi Tezuka (“Godzilla”) is 106. Baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson is 83. Actor Warren Berlinger is 81. Rock musician Jerry Allison (Buddy Holly and the Crickets) is 79. Actor Jack Thompson is 78. Violinist Itzhak Perlman is 73. Singer Van Morrison is 73. Rock musician Rudolf Schenker (The Scorpions) is 70. Actor Richard Gere is 69. Actor Stephen Henderson is 69. Olympic gold medal track and field athlete Edwin Moses is

63. Rock singer Glenn Tilbrook (Squeeze) is

61. Rock musician Gina Schock (The Go-Go’s) is

61. Singer Tony DeFranco (The DeFranco Family) is 59. Rhythm-and-blues musician Larry Waddell (Mint Condition) is 55. Rock musician Jeff Russo (Tonic) is 49. Singer-composer Deborah Gibson is

48. Rock musician Greg Richling (Wallflowers) is 48. Actor Zack Ward is

48. Golfer Padraig Harrington is 47. Actor Chris Tucker is 46. Actress Sara Ramirez is 43. Rhythmand-blues singer Tamara (Trina & Tamara) is 41.