1400s / 15th century history on the 12th of August
1492 : Christopher Columbus arrived in the Canary Islands, during his first voyage to the New World.
1800s / 19th century history on the 12th of August
1851 : Isaac Singer was granted a patent for his sewing machine.
1881 : Cecil B. DeMille, the American director and producer, was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, USA (died in 1959 aged 77).
1885 : Sir Keith Murdoch, the Australian journalist and businessman, was born in Melbourne, Australia (died in 1952, in Langwarrin, aged 67). He was married to the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch (died in 2012 aged 103) and is the father of Rupert Murdoch (executive chairman of News Corporation, and Fox Corporation).
1877 : Deimos, the Mars moon, was discovered by Asaph Hall.
1883 : The last quagga died at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The quagga was a subspecies of the plains zebra.
1900s / 20th century history on the 12th of August
1939 : George Hamilton, the American actor, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
1949 : Mark Knopfler (OBE) the Scottish-English singer-songwriter and guitarist, was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He is best known as the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of Dire Straits. official websites : MarkKnopfler.com | DireStraits.com
1953 : Joe 4 the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon was detonated.
1956 : Lee Freedman, the Australian horse trainer, was born in Sydney, Australia
1958 : Art Kane photographed A Great Day in Harlem, an iconic black and white group portrait photograph, featuring 57 notable jazz musicians at Brownstone in New York City. The 57 jazz musicians in the iconic photo : Red Allen, Buster Bailey, Count Basie, Emmett Berry, Art Blakey, Lawrence Brown, Scoville Browne, Buck Clayton, Bill Crump, Vic Dickenson, Roy Eldridge, Art Farmer, Bud Freeman, Dizzy Gillespie, Tyree Glenn, Benny Golson, Sonny Greer, Johnny Griffin, Gigi Gryce, Coleman Hawkins, J.C. Heard, Jay C. Higginbotham, Milt Hinton, Chubby Jackson, Hilton Jefferson, Osie Johnson, Hank Jones, Jo Jones, Jimmy Jones, Taft Jordan, Max Kaminsky, Gene Krupa, Eddie Locke, Marian McPartland, Charles Mingus, Miff Mole, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Oscar Pettiford, Rudy Powell, Luckey Roberts, Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Rushing, Pee Wee Russell, Sahib Shihab, Horace Silver, Zutty Singleton, Stuff Smith, Rex Stewart, Maxine Sullivan, Joe Thomas, Wilbur Ware, Dickie Wells, George Wettling, Ernie Wilkins, Mary Lou Williams, Lester Young.
1960 : Echo 1A, NASA’s 1st successful communications satellite was launched.
1971 : Pete Sampras, the American world No.1 tennis player, was born in Lake Sherwood, California, USA.
1977 : The Space Shuttle Enterprise conducted its first flight. It was the first orbiter of the Space Shuttle system.
1981 : The iBM Personal Computer was released. It was also known as iMB PC and Model 5150, and was the first microcomputer released in the iBM PC model line. It became the basis for the iBM PC compatible de facto standard in the 1980s. official website : IBM.com | iBM.com/ibm/history/exhibits…
1982 : Henry Fonda, the American actor died from heart disease, aged 77 (born in 1905).
1982 : Mexico’s debt crisis began, when they announced its enormous external debt was unable to be paid, which marked the beginning of a much larger debt crisis that spread to all of Latin America and the Third World.
1985 : Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520 people, becoming the worst single-plane air disaster.
1990 : Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, the largest and most complete skeleton ever found, was discovered by Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota.
1991 : Jesinta Campbell (now Jesinta Franklin) the Australian model, was born in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. She is best known as the winner of Miss Universe Australia 2010 and 2nd place winner of Miss Universe 2010.
1992 : Cara Delevingne, the English model and actress was born in Hammersmith, London, England.
1993 : Pope John Paul II started his 8th annual World Youth Day in Denver’s Mile High Stadium.
2000s / 21st century history on the 12th of August
2004 : Mr. Lee Hsien Loong was sworn in as Singapore’s 3rd Prime Minister.
2007 : Merv Griffin, the American television host and media mogul, died from prostate cancer, aged 82 (born in 1925). He is best known for his talk show The Merv Griffin Show (1965 to 1986), and the creator of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
2012 : The London Olympic games closing ceremony was held at the Olympic Stadium in London, England.
2014 : Lauren Bacall, the American actress died from a massive stroke, aged 89 (born in 1924).
2022 : Anne Heche, the American actress, died aged 53 (born 1969) due to a car crash one week earlier, on the 5th August. She is best known from the soap opera Another World.
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This page was last updated on the 12th August 2022
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