This Date in History - August 15

It's Rose Marie's first birthday in Heaven.   I got to see her in person several weeks before she died.  Sniff, sniff.

293 BC:  THE OLDEST KNOWN ROMAN TEMPLE TO VENUS IS DEDICATED.

And Frankie Avalon had a big hit dedicated to Venus in 1959.  Totally unrelated but my creative meter is currently on "E."

927:  THE SARACENS CONQUER AND DESTORY TARANTO.

And Michael Sarrazin was in "Reincarnation of Peter Proud."  Yep, still on empty.

982:  HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR OTTO II IS DEFEATED BY THE SARACENS IN THE BATTLE OF CAPO COLONNA.

And Jerry Colonna had a big moustache.   I tell you, some Wednesdays are really tough to get going.

1040:  KING DUNCAN I IS KILLED IN BATTLE AGAINST HIS FIRST COUSIN AND RIVAL MACBETH. 

Wait!  Shakespeare didn't write fiction??

1057:  KING MACBETH IS KILLED AT THE BATTLE OF LUMPHANAN.

What goes around....

1281:  THE MONGOLIAN FLEET OF KUBLAI KHAN IS DESTROYED BY A "DIVINE WIND."

That divine wind was probably gas.

1248:  THE FOUNDATION OF COLOGNE CATHEDRAL, BUILT TO HOUSE THE RELICS OF THE THREE WISE MEN, IS LAID.

Amongst their relics were sales receipts.  Just in case Mary and Joseph wanted to exchange the baby gifts.

1430:  FRANCESCO SFORZA, LORD OF MILAN, CONQUERS LUCCA.

Good lucca with that.

1483:  POPE SIXTUS IV CONSECRATES THE SISTINE CHAPEL.

What Pope is next?  Pope Seventus?

1519:  PANAMA CITY, PANAMA IS FOUNDED.

And what came first?  The city or the hat?

1537:  ASUNCION, PARAGUAY, IS FOUNDED.

As if it was lost....

1540:  AREQUIPA, PERU, IS FOUNDED.

Boy, is that founding department busy or what?

1549:  JESUIT PRIEST SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER COMES ASHORE AT KAGOSHIMA, JAPAN.

Since he was aiming for America, I guess you can say he overshot his target.\

1599:  DURING THE NINE YEARS WAR, IRISH FORCES LED BY HUGH ROE O'DONNELL SUCCESSFULLY AMBUSH ENGLISH FORCES.

Hugh Roe O'Donnell??  Nah, too easy.

1769:  NAPOLEON BONAPARTE IS BORN.

So what came first?  Him or the pastry??

1843:  TIVOLI GARDENS, ONE OF THE OLDEST AMUSEMENT PARKS IN THE WORLD, OPENS IN DENMARK.

This was so long ago that it was still owned by Three Flags.

1859:  BASEBALL OWNER CHARLES COMISKEY IS BORN.

Or as that great baseball fan Barack Obama called him...."Cominskey."

1885:  NOVELIST EDNA FERBER IS BORN.

Thanks in part to her, we have the concept of "doing a book report."

1912:  CHEF JULIA CHILD IS BORN.

She comes out of the oven.

1914:  A MALE SERVANT OF ARCHITECT FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT SETS FIRE TO THE LIVING QUARTERS OF THE ARCHITECT'S HOME, KILLING SEVEN PEOPLE.

That's an odd reaction to not getting Tuesdays off.

1919:  ACTOR HUNTZ HALL IS BORN.

Now Leo Gorcey has somebody to pick on.

1923:  ACTRESS ROSE MARIE IS BORN.

You know she got buried with that bow in her hair.

1925:  ACTOR MIKE CONNORS IS BORN.

Mannix was so cool!

1933:  TV GAME SHOW HOST JIM LANGE IS BORN.

A big birthday kiss!!!!!!

1935:  WILL ROGERS AND WILEY POST ARE KILLED IN AN ALASKAN PLANE CRASH.

He never met a man he didn't like.  Except for that damn pilot.

1941:  CORPORAL JOSEF JAKOBS IS EXECUTED BY FIRING SQUAD AT THE TOWER OF LONDON AT 7:12 AM, MAKING HIM THE LAST PERSON TO BE EXECUTED AT THE TOWER FOR TREASON.

At 7:18 AM, they do the people convicted of larceny.  At 7:23 AM, they do all the arsonists.  Quite a precise system.

1944: DURING WORLD WAR II, ALLIED FORCES LAND IN SOUTHERN FRANCE. 

And this likely included my own uncle.

1944:  JOURNALIST LINDA ELLERBEE IS BORN.

And so she goes.

1945:  JAPAN SURRENDERS TO END WORLD WAR II.

Bonsai!

1945:  NEW YORK MET DUFFY DYER IS BORN.

The third catcher on the World Champion 1969 team.

1948:  THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA IS ESTABLISHED SOUTH OF THE 38TH PARALLEL NORTH.

Which starts a war.  And, oh, yeah, a long running television show.

1965:  THE BEATLES PLAY TO NEARLY 60,000 FANS AT SHEA STADIUM IN NEW YORK CITY.

I remember hearing the screams in the distance as my family drove past after visiting relatives in Long Island.

1969:  THE WOODSTOCK MUSIC AND ART FESTIVAL OPENS.

Weather forecast: 80% chance of mud.

1973:  THE UNITED STATES BOMBING OF CAMBODIA ENDS.

So, I guess all that peace and love at Woodstock wasn't for nothing.

1994:  TV PERSONALITY/JOURNALIST JOHN CAMERON SWAYZE DIES.

And he just keeps on ticking.  Oh, no, wait.....

1995:  IN SOUTH CAROLINA, SHANNON FAULKNER BECOMES THE FIRST FEMALE CADET MATRICULATED AT THE CITADEL.  SHE DROPS OUT A WEEK LATER.

Way to stick to the program, Shannon.

2007:  AN 8.0 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE OFF THE PACIFIC COAST DEVASTATES ICA AND PARTS OF PERU.

Peru, I've heard of.  Ica???  Anybody???

Dinner last night:  Leftover chicken tenders and vegetables,