Today In History

Today is Thursday, Aug. 15, the 227th day of 2019. There are 138 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1971: President Richard Nixon announced a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents.

ON THIS DATE

› 1483: The Sistine Chapel was consecrated by Pope Sixtus IV.

› 1888: T.E. Lawrence, the British soldier who gained fame as “Lawrence of Arabia,” was born in Tremadoc, Wales.

› 1935: Humorist Will Rogers and aviator Wiley Post were killed when their airplane crashed near Point Barrow in the Alaska Territory.

› 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.

› 1947: India became independent after some 200 years of British rule.

› 1961: As workers began constructing a Berlin Wall made of concrete, East German soldier Conrad Schumann leapt to freedom over a tangle of barbed wire in a scene captured in a famous photograph.

› 1965: The Beatles played to a crowd of more than 55,000 at New York’s Shea Stadium.

› 1969: The Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened in upstate New York.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actress Abby Dalton is 87. Civil rights activist Vernon Jordan is 84. U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is 81. Musician Pete York (Spencer Davis Group) is 77. Author-journalist Linda Ellerbee is 75. Songwriter Jimmy Webb is 73. Rock singer-musician Tom Johnston (The Doobie Brothers) is 71. Actress Phyllis Smith is 70. Actor-comedian Rondell Sheridan is 61. Rock singer-musician Matt Johnson (The The) is 58. Movie director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is 56. Philanthropist Melinda Gates is 55. Country singer Angela Rae (Wild Horses) is 53. Actor Peter Hermann is

52. Actress Debra Messing is 51. Actress Nicole Paggi is 42. Christian rock musician Tim Foreman (Switchfoot) is 41. Actress Emily Kinney is

35. Figure skater Jennifer Kirk is 35. Latin pop singer Belinda is 30. Actress Courtney Hope is 30. Rock singer Joe Jonas (The Jonas Brothers) is

30. Actor-singer Carlos PenaVega is 30. Actress Jennifer Lawrence is 29. Rap DJ Smoove da General (Cali Swag District) is 29.