TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS FRIDAY, AUG. 31, the 243rd day of 2018. There are 122 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

On this date in 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 in floor exercise and the balance beam.

In 1886, an estimated magnitude-7.3 earthquake devastated Charleston, S.C., killing at least 60 people.

In 1939, the first issue of Marvel Comics, featuring the Human Torch, was published by Timely Publications in New York. In 1954, Hurricane Carol hit the northeastern Atlantic states, resulting in some 70 deaths. In 1969, boxer Rocky Marciano died in a light airplane crash in Iowa, a day before his 46th birthday. In 1986, 82 people were killed when an Aeromexico jetliner and a small private plane collided over Cerritos, Calif. The Soviet passenger ship Admiral Nakhimov collided with a merchant vessel in the Black Sea, causing both to sink; up to 448 people reportedly died.

In 1987, the Michael Jackson album “Bad” was released by Epic Records.

In 1991, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan declared their independence from the Soviet Union.

In 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.

In 1997, Prince Charles escorted the body of his former wife to a shocked, grief-stricken and angry Britain after her death in a Paris traffic accident.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Japanese monster movie actor Katsumi Tezuka (“Godzilla”) is 106. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Frank Robinson is 83. Rock musician Jerry Allison (Buddy Holly and the Crickets) is 79. Violinist Itzhak Perlman and singer Van Morrison are 73. Actor Richard Gere is 69. Former baseball pitcher Hideo Nomo is 50. Golfer Padraig Harrington is 47. Actor Chris Tucker is 46. Actress Sara Ramirez is 43.