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Today is

The blessed virgin Mary's feast, hath here his place and time
Wherein departing from the earth, she did the heavens climb:
Great bundles then of herbs to Church, the people fast do bear,
The which against all hurtful things, the Priest doth hallow there.
Thus kindle they and nourish still, the peoples' wickedness
And vainly make them to believe, whatever they express:
For sundry witchcrafts, by these herbs are wrought and diverse charms.
And cast into the fire, are thought to drive away all harms,
And ever painful grief from man, or beast for to expel
Far otherwise than nature, or the word of God does tell.
Barnabe Googe (1540 - '94), Foure Bookes of Husbandrie, collected by M. Conradus Heresbachius, Counseller of Cleue; Contayning the whole arte and trade of husbandry, with the ambiguitie, and commendation thereof; quoted in William Hone, The Every-Day Book, or a Guide to the Year, William Tegg and Co., London, 1878; 1825-26 edition online. Googe was a Protestant sceptic who wrote many scathing poems about 'Popish' rituals. More on Googe

On Lady Day the latter,
The cold comes on the water.
English traditional proverb

I went sunways around my dwelling
In the name of Mother Mary
Who promised to preserve me
Who did protect me
Who will preserve me
In peace, in flocks, in righteousness of heart.
Carmina Gadelica (see Mary's Bannock recipe below)

On St Mary's Day
The great wind and earthquake marvellous,
That greatly gan the people all affraye,
So dreadful was it then, and perilous.
John Harding, in his chronicle for 1361, of the English earthquake of August 15 that year

Highly recommended:
Folklore of World Holidays
by Margaret Read MacDonald

The White Goddess

Pattern Recognition
By William Gibson

Reading Lolita in Tehran

Internet Sacred Text Archive CD-ROM

The New Book of Goddesses & Heroines

The Spiral Dance
By Starhawk
20th Anniversary Edition

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Other Writings

Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations

Seven Pillars of Wisdom
By TE Lawrence

Life in a Medieval Village

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Songs in the Key of W

Pagan Christianity

In Praise of Slowness

The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set
By CS Lewis

Hello Laziness!
By Corrine Maier

For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire
By James Yee

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A Man for All Seasons

Women's Activism and Globalization

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Astro pic of the day

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Daily Everything

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Live with Passion!
Anthony Robbins


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Poor Richard's Almanack
By Benjamin Franklin

Photo of the day

Mother Earth Spirituality

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The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

The Survival of the Pagan Gods

Woodstock

Woodstock: Three Days of Peace & Music [25th Anniversary]

The Making of a Counter Culture

The Movement and the Sixties

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The Times Were a Changin'

Imagine Nation

"Takin' It to the Streets"

Acid Dreams

Your Brain Is God

The Psychedelic Experience

The Good Life
Helen Nearing

Tutbury hunters' procession, 

Middle Ages (Aug 15 - 16)

In old England, on the Feast of the Assumption, the wood-master and rangers of Needwood forest started the festivities by meeting at Berkley Lodge, in the forest, to arrange for the dinner that was given to them on this day at Tutbury Castle. The buck they were allowed for the feast was killed, as another that was their annual present to the prior of Tutbury.

They would ride into town in procession, each carrying a green bough, and one bearing the buck's head, with a piece of fat fastened to each antler. The town's minstrels accompanied them. When they reached the centre of town the hunters blew their horns, then all went to the church and each paid a penny offering. Mass was celebrated, then a grand dinner prepared for them in the castle. The prior gave them 30 shillings towards the feast, and the following day (qv) there were further festivities ...

Read more at the Tutbury Fair page in the Scriptorium

Modern morris dancers at Tutbury Castle

Maras, ancient Latvia

Held in honour of Mara, today marked the beginning of August.

In modern Latvian mythology, Mara is the highest-ranking goddess, a feminine Dievs. She may be thought as an alternative side of God. Other goddesses, sometimes all other goddesses, are considered her alternative aspects. Mara may have been the same goddess as Lopu mate as well.

She is the patroness of all the feminine duties (children, cattle), patroness of all the economic activities ("God made table, Mara – bread"), even money and markets. Being the alternative side of God, she takes away with her the body after person's death while God (Dievs) taking the soul. She is the goddess of land, it is called The Mara land.

In western Latvia, and to a lesser degree in the rest of Latvia, she was strongly associated with Laima, and may have been considered the same deity.

Alternative names: Marsava (Western Latvia), Moschel, Marha

Source: Wikipedia

Greater Panathenaea, ancient Athens, in honour of goddess Athena (c. Aug 8 - 17)
Eighth day: the pyrriche.

Heraclia in Kynosarges, ancient Greece (Aug 12 - 19)

Festivals in ancient Greece

Festival of Candles or Torches for the goddess Diana, Roman Empire

Celebration of Dea Syria or Atargatis
Source: The Phoenix and Arabeth 1992 Calendar

Egyptian day (dies egypticus, dies ægypticus or dies mala), unlucky day in Medieval Europe. ("But, notwithstanding, I will trust the Lord" was the associated saying.)

Feast day of St Alipius, bishop and confessor

Feast day of St Altfrid

Feast day of St Arduinus

Feast day of St Arnulf (Arnoul; Arnulphus), Bishop of Soissons

Feast day of St Athanasia of Aegina

Feast day of St Claudio Granzotto

Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, the commemoration of the death of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Eastern Orthodoxy

Feast day of St Isidore Bakanja

Feast day of St Limbania

Feast day of St Mac-Cartin (Aid; Aed), Bishop of Clogher

Feast day of St Napoleon (Neopolus) of Alexandria
Died c. 300. St Napoleon was so horribly maimed during his torture that he died while being carried back to his dungeon at Alexandria, Egypt, during the reign of Diocletian.

Feast of Our Lady of Azambuja, Brusque Brazil

Feast day of Our Lady of the Good Death, Cachoeira, Brazil (Aug 13 - 15)

Feast day of St Tarcisius

Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints

Victory over Japan Day (Liberation Day), South Korea

Eve of Agios Gerassimos's Day

Festival of the Outre-Meuse at Liege, Belgium

Independence Day, India

Tetsuya Odori Festival, Gujo-Hachiman, Gifu Prefecture (Aug 13 - 16)

Wafaa El-Nil (Flooding of the Nile Day), Egypt
Today is celebrated in the Coptic Church by ceremonially throwing a martyr's relic into the river. Hence the name Esba` al-shahīd (the martyr's finger).

Ferragosto, Italy
Remembrance of an ancient Roman holiday (Feriae Augusti) in honour of Augustus Caesar.

National Constitution Day, Papua New Guinea

Dozynki, harvest holiday, Poland
A dome-shaped wreath called a wieniec (harvest wreath), made of either wheat or rye, or a mixture of both, was worn like a crown as a sign of honour by one of the harvesters, usually a girl. A musical procession made its way to the manor house.

Sunday on or after August 12, Rushbearing, Forest Chapel, near Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK
"Held on the Sunday on or after August 12, this marks the renewal of rushes, strewn on the pews and floor of the church to make it dry and warm. This custom died out here in the 17th century when rushes were thought to harbour infection, and was not revived until the 19th century. Rushes from local streams are collected and plaited in a particular way (a skill which is passed down locally) and interwoven with marigolds. The evensong service starts at 3pm and usually moves outside to accommodate the large congregation who sit on the grass banks, while the preacher stands on a gravestone. People often bring a picnic lunch to precede the service. The term rushbearing is thought, here, to come from the custom of parishioners attending the service bearing armfuls of rushes."   Source

Bon Festival (Obon; O-Bon; Bon Odori), East Japan (Jul 13 - 15, or Aug 13 - 15 according to the lunar calendar)

Folklore Holidays, Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria (Aug 15 - 17)
"Since 1965 annually in Koprivshtitsa takes part the Folklore August Holidays of Koprivshtisa that get together groups and individual artists from the whole country performing traditional Bulgarian folklore. For the serial time on the occasion of the holiday of `Uspenie Bogorodichno` church on 15^th, 16^th, and 17^th of August the many years tradition was continued by Folklore Holidays Koprivshtitsa 2003.

National Day, Acadie

Toro Nagashi (Floating Lantern Ceremony), Hawaii
Commemorates the end of WWII.

Krishna Janmaashtami, Hindu
Also on August 16.

Polish Armed Forces Day, Poland

Tuva Republic Day, Tuva
Held on the fields of Tos-Bulak, with horse races and khuresh competitions.

Naadam, Mongolia and Inner Mongolia region of China (Jul 11 -13)
National festival of Mongolia, also called 'Eriin Gurvan Naadam', meaning 'men's three variety of games'. The games are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery. Originally it was a religious festival but now it formally commemorates the 1921 revolution when Mongolia declared itself a free country.

On which day of the week were you born? Find out here

1195 St Anthony of Padua (d. 1231), priest, doctor, patron of lost articles, mail delivery, the poor, sailors, animals, born at Lisbon

Feast Day: June 13
Feast of the Finding of the Tongue: February 15

1769 Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1821), Corsican-born Emperor of France from 1804 - 15

"He instituted several lasting reforms in the educational, judicial, financial and administrational system. His set of civil laws, the Napoleonic Code or Civil Code, has importance to this day in many countries.

"He was also a dictator and military adventurer who would cost France and her allies the lives of millions of men. In the end, all the Napoleonic Empire Wars did not gain any territory for France."   Source: Wikipedia

He was born on the Feast Day of St Napoleon (Neopolus) of Alexandria (see above).

1785 Thomas De Quincey (d. 1859), English author (Confessions of an English Opium-Eater)

"At the invitation of the editors of London Magazine, he wrote two articles that later appeared as a book, 'The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'. This account of his addiction was rewritten in an 1856 edition. He continued to take opium for the rest of his life, but in the 1856 version his interest in the drug centered on its medical value and on its power 'over the grander and more shadowy world of dreams'."   Source

1856 James Keir Hardie (d. September 26, 1915), Scottish socialist and labour leader, a founder of the British Labour Party, the first Labour MP to be elected to the UK Parliament. 

Keir Hardie steered the Labour movement away from what he regarded as the damaging influence of Marxism, and towards a moderate, low church and trade unionist version of socialism that was practical, flexible and with time, helped create a socialist party that has been more electorally and politically successful than most socialist parties outside Scandinavia.

Hardie has de facto sainthood inside the Labour Party and is highly respected outside it.

Biography of Hardie with quotes    Early progressives in the Book of Days

1858 E Nesbit (Edith Nesbit; d. 1924), author

1872 Sri Aurobindo (d. 1950), Indian/Hindu nationalist, scholar, poet, mystic, evolutionary philosopher, yogi and guru; spiritual partner of The Mother

1879 Ethel Barrymore (d. 1959), American actress (Oscar: None but the Lonely Heart)

Barrymore family of American actors

1887 Edna Ferber (d. 1968), novelist

1883 Ivan Meštrović (d. 1962), Croatian sculptor

1888 (Thomas Edward) TE Lawrence, 'Lawrence of Arabia', English soldier and writer (Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a Triumph)

"Thomas Edward (T.E.) Lawrence was born on August 16 [sic], 1888 in Wales. Popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, Lawrence became famous for his exploits as British Military liason to the Arab Revolt during the First World War.

"Lawrence had been fascinated by archaeology since childhood. After graduating with honors from Oxford in 1910, he served as an assistant at a British Museum excavation in Iraq (then known as Mesopotamia). When war broke out with Germany in 1914, Lawrence spent a brief period in the Geographical Section of the General Staff in London, and was then posted to the Military Intelligence Department in Cairo. In 1916 the Arabs rebelled against the Turkish empire. Lawrence was sent to Mecca on a fact-finding mission, ultimately becoming the British liaison officer to the Arabs. His account of the revolt is chronicled in in his classic books, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, A Triumph and Revolt in the Desert."   Source

1893 Leslie Comrie (d. 1950), astronomer and computing pioneer

1896 Leon Theremin, inventor of the theremin, one of the earliest fully electronic musical instruments

1900 Jan Brzechwa (d. 1966), Polish poet

1912 Julia Child, American cookery expert and TV identity

1912 Dame Wendy Hiller, actress

1916 Derek Freeman (d. July 6, 2001), New Zealand anthropologist best known for his controversial work in attempting to refute the claims of Margaret Mead in her study of Samoan society, as described in her 1928 ethnography, Coming of Age in Samoa

1919 Huntz Hall (d. 1999), actor

1923 Rose Marie, actress

1924 Robert Bolt (d. 1995), English playwright (A Man for all Seasons)

1925 Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist

1925 Mike Connors, American actor (TV series: Mannix)

1928 Nicolas Roeg, director

1933 Stanley Milgram (d. December 20, 1984), American social psychologist famed for his work in two very influential fields of study of human behaviour. While at Harvard, he conducted the small-world experiment (the source of the six degrees of separation concept). Perhaps more famously, while at Yale, he conducted the Milgram experiment on obedience to authority. He also introduced the concept of familiar strangers, a popular concept in research about social networks.

"Controversy surrounded Stanley Milgram for much of his professional life as a result of a series of experiments on obedience to authority which he conducted at Yale University in 1961-1962. He found, surprisingly, that 65% of his subjects, ordinary residents of New Haven, were willing to give apparently harmful electric shocks-up to 450 volts-to a pitifully protesting victim, simply because a scientific authority commanded them to, and in spite of the fact that the victim did not do anything to deserve such punishment."   Source

"Milgram crafted his research paradigm to find out what strategies can seduce ordinary citizens to engage in apparently harmful behavior. Many of these methods have parallels to compliance strategies used by 'influence professionals' in real-world settings, such as salespeople, cult and military recruiters, media advertisers, and others."
Source: Jonestown (The Situation of Evil) Revisited

Dr. Thomas Blass Presents: Stanley Milgram.com    Obituary    More

1935 Vernon Jordan Jr, Presidential advisor

1938 Janusz A Zajdel, Polish science-fiction writer

1944 Linda Ellerbee, journalist

1946 Jimmy Webb, musician, composer

1949 Richard Deacon, sculptor

1950 Princess Anne of England, only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II of the UK

1968 Debra Messing, actress

1972 Ben Affleck, actor

Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section

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Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards Sit Back And Relax Day [ Aug 15 ] Birthdays Poetry Independence Day (India) [ Aug 15 ]

Varies Full Moon Day
Varies Friday the 13^th
Varies Hindu holidays
Varies Graduation
Varies Raksha Bandhan
Early August Friendship Day
Varies Janmashtami
Varies Ganesh Chaturthi

August

11 Alcatraz Day
12 Thank You Day
12 Aloha Day
13 Left-Handers Day
14 Independence Day (Pakistan)
15 Sit Back And Relax Day
15 Independence Day (India)
16 True Love Forever Day
16 Joke Day
16 Roller Coaster Day
17 #2 Pencil Day
19 Daffodil Day
19 Soft Ice Cream Day
19 Spicy Food Day
20 Lemonade Day
20 Zoroastrian New Year
22 Be An Angel Day
23 Hug Your Sweetheart Day
23 Ride The Wind Day
25 Kiss And Make Up Day
26 Women's Equality Day
26 Cherry Popsicle Day
26 Toilet Paper Day
27 Just Because Day
27 Banana Lovers Day
29 Lemon Juice Day
29 Chop Suey Day
30 Toasted Marshmallow Day
31 Eat Outside Day

  ... More Events

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605 BCE Death of King Nabopolassar, first king of the Chaldean Empire, better known as Babylon, and father of Nebuchadnezzar.

29 BCE Roman Emperor Octavian (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus; (September 23, 63 BCE - August 19, 14 CE) celebrated the third of his triple triumphs.

778 Roncevalles: Charlemagne's rear guard, returning from Spain, was attacked by Basques. Death of Roland, Frankish commander.

1057 King Macbeth I of Scotland, the last Celtic king of Scotland, was killed by Malcolm, the son of Duncan whom Macbeth had killed in 1040.

'The Scottish Play'

"It is considered bad luck to refer to refer to Shakespeare's tragedy by name unless the play is actually being produced.  While The Scottish Play is the most common euphemism, That Play and The Unmentionable are also recognised alternatives. 

"Any actor using the 'M' word in a dressing room 'should immediately leave the room, turn around three times, break wind or spit, knock on the door and ask permission to re-enter. Alternatively, (and less cumbersomely) the line "Angels and ministers of grace defend us," (Hamlet 1.iv) can be quoted.'  (Cassell's Companion To Theatre, 1997)"   Source

 

Shakespeare's smoke and mirrors tricks

"The longstanding mystery of a floating dagger in Shakespeare's Macbeth may now have been solved thanks to the detective work of an Australian National University researcher.

"Professor Iain Wright, from the ANU Faculty of Arts, has uncovered a potential source of inspiration for the famous scene. The source is a description contained in a book edited by one of the fathers of modern science, John Dee, who was fascinated with how the eye could be deceived by tricks of the light.

"'Macbeth is a great enigma,' Professor Wright said. 'It's a bigger mystery than Hamlet. We don't have any record of its first production.'

"Professor Wright estimates that Macbeth was written and first performed in 1606, soon after Scottish monarch James I assumed the throne of England. He made Shakespeare's players the official royal company, meaning the bard would have been under pressure to please his royal patron.

"The new king and his family had a great appetite for theatre, especially masques, which combined music, performers and special effects to create an elaborate and illusion-rich amusement for the aristocracy.

"Professor Wright argues that although Shakespeare kept his distance from the emerging masque hype, the bard acknowledged the trend by incorporating references into his later works, and tailoring his plays for performances in the closed, exclusive space favoured by the king.

"'You notice at once that Macbeth is full of optical illusions – there are floating daggers, the ghost of Banquo, ghostly kings, and ghostly cauldrons. I thought, surely if that's the case, Shakespeare is probably saying to himself, "What sort of special effects are available to make these more spectacular?".'

"This train of thought took Professor Wright to the library at the University of Cambridge where he picked up a copy of Euclid's Geometry edited by John Dee. A contemporary of Shakespeare, Dee is now regarded as one of the fathers of the modern age because of his talent for what was then called natural magic – science. He was especially interested in how specially modified mirrors could create tricks of the light, making things appear as if by magic."
Source

John Dee, William Shakespeare in the Book of Days

Shakespeare's Macbeth   More

The Holinshed Chronicles page that inspired Shakespeare's plot

 

1361 England experienced an earthquake.  

England's earthquakes, pre-19th Century

1515 (Or August 14) According to legend, a 'forger of coins' was executed in the Iron Maiden of Nuremberg, a tomb-sized medieval torture device. with folding doors. Crying in vain, the forger lived two days.

Brewer's (Ivor H Evans, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) tells us: An instrument of torture for 'heretics', traitors, parricides, this device was a box big enough to admit a man, with folding-doors, the whole studded with sharp iron spikes. When the doors were pressed-to these spikes were forced into the body of the victim, who was left there to die in horrible torture. (German, Eiserne Jungfrau.) One of these diabolical machines was exhibited in 1892 in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, and in London.

Iron Maiden spoons    More

1517 The first European connection with China – seven Portuguese armed vessels led by Fernao Pires de Andrade met Chinese officials at Pearl River estuary.

1519 Panama City, Panama was founded.

1534 In an underground chapel, at Montmartre, former Spanish knight Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier, Diego Lainez and several others, took solemn vows of poverty, celibacy and devotion of their lives to the care of Christians and the conversion of 'infidels'. Such was the foundation of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).

1534 Pope Paul III granted artist and goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini a pardon for the murder of Cellini's rival Pompeo outside a chemist's shop on the corner of the Chiavica in Rome.

1535 Asuncion, Paraguay was founded.

1620 The Mayflower set sail from Southampton, England.

1623 Male impersonator Catalina de Erauzo was convicted of murder in Spain. She led a life of adventure and earned a reputation for gambling, duelling and purse-snatching. She fought and won innumerable duels, killing at least seven people; in one fight, she stabbed three men to death. She avoided execution by revealing her sex and was set free and given permission to wear men's clothing. The Pope absolved her of her sins.

Source: The Daily Bleed

1663 In the Robozero district of Russia, a huge fireball about 45 metres wide appeared, then disappeared, and reappeared about an hour later.

1812 Britain's first steam-driven passenger ship, the Comet, began service on the Clyde River, between Glasgow and Greenock, Scotland.

1843 The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii was dedicated. It is today the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.

1843 The Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen opened, featuring restaurants, amusements and theatres.

1889 USA: Emma Goldman arrived in New York City and soon met Alexander Berkman at Sachs Restaurant.

Emma met Johann Most, editor of Die Freiheit, and Alexander Berkman; she gained employment doing piece work for a silk waist factory. Goldman's political activities included support work at the office of Die Freiheit, and help with the organization of the second anniversary commemoration of the hanging of the Haymarket anarchist martyrs.

Goldman and Berkman became lovers. She shared an apartment with him, his cousin Modest Stein, and their mutual friend Helen Minkin. Berkman and she contemplated returning to Russia when they heard about political repression there, but lacked the necessary financial resources.

Source: The Daily Bleed    Early progressives in the Book of Days

Emma Goldman in the Book of Days    More anarchists

 

1890 Mid-August: Truth, a journal published in Sydney, Australia, first hit the news stands. A former actor-turned-journalist, William Nicholas Willis, founded it, and Adolphus George Taylor and William Patrick Crick were its other leading lights from the beginning. John Napoleon Norton (pictured), who had a gossip column in the first edition, was Associate Editor by the following month and went on quickly to become its most famous editor, amassing considerable wealth, influence and notoriety on the way. Norton's career included blackmail, the probable murder of his flatmate, a sedition trial, and many years in Parliament.

One of Truth's earliest contributors was Australian poet Henry Lawson. The first issue preceded the Maritime Strike of 1890 by a fortnight and the earliest issues commented on the labor unrest.

There had been a preceding paper of the same name in Sydney, founded in 1879, a little more than two years after Henry Labouchere began his Truth journal in Britain. However, it was short lived, but it was a progenitor in name and the fact that it, too, was a guttersheet.

In its early days, Willis's Truth, like Smith's Weekly and The Bulletin a republican paper with a larrikin spirit, was published out of Waters Lane, off King St, between George and Pitt. The office was strongly fortified, mostly with copious amounts of spiritous liquor. On one occasion, due to defamation suit with an Englishman named Seymour Allen, the Truth office was besieged by sheriffs and Taylor wrote in the paper, " ... the first private detective, or detective's bravo, that puts unlawful hands on our castle, will sleep with his fathers ..." He added a PS: "The staff will meet for revolver Duties after Church Parade to-morrow. By Order."

For many years, Truth carried a stock headline for court reports: POLICE VERSUS THE PEOPLE. Norton's standing head for minor divorce news was:

Doings in Divorce
The Garden of Life
Sigh-Press, Orange Blossom,
Prickly Pairs, Buds, Blooms and Bloomers

 

"The Truth was tabloid, slanderous, racist, muck-raking, gossipy, and popular. Under Norton's editorship, the Truth referred to Queen Victoria as 'flabby, fat and flatulent', and her son the Prince of Wales as 'a turf swindling, card sharping, wife debauching rascal'.Eight weeks before he graced the floor of the Bathurst Convention, Norton penned his most notorious editorial 'God Save The Queen'. Norton's Sex Pistols' anthem was written in haste, 'at midnight with a wet towel around my head'. 

"From the colourful turn of phrase in the editorial, it seems more likely that the wet towel was several bottles of cheap plonk. Norton described the Queen as a 'semisenile old woman'. Other members of the Royal family were 'podgy faced lecherous bastards, bigamists and wife beating boozers'. Ironically, these words were not dissimilar to those which would later be used to describe Norton towards the end of his life as he entered his decline into alcoholism. 

"The editorial was vulgar farce. For his trouble, Norton was charged with 'wickedly vilifying and scandalising Queen Victoria' and 'holding her up to ridicule and contempt'. Norton conducted his own defence, declaring in court that he was a loyal Australian and republican, quoting impressively from Cobden, Bright, Spencer and Macaulay. After the jury was unable to reach a decision, the crown dropped the case ...

"Shortly before his death in 1916, Norton wrote in a letter, which he marked 'confidential', that 'the great deeds of history were not done by caucuses, Parliaments or meetings, but by single individuals.' John Norton, the great democrat and republican, 'the people's champion', had carried dreams of Napoleonic grandeur for most of his life. When the auction of Norton's estate was held at his Maroubra home, 'St. Helena' in 1916, among the list of valuable items for sale were many portraits of Cromwell, Caesar and Napoleon. One of them was the painting of Napoleon (or was it Norton?) in full coronation dress. It greeted Norton, for many years, as he entered the 'grand gallery' at 'St. Helena'. And that was not all. There were also 36 statues and busts of Napoleon in bronze and 43 in marble. It seemed Norton's contemporaries knew him well. They referred to him as John Norton the Nortonian."   Source

Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson

 

1911 Large white birds were seen near Salisbury (a small cathedral city in Wiltshire, England) on the same day as the death of the local bishop.

Since 1414 (when Miss Moberley, the bishop's daughter, saw the white birds fly up out of the palace gardens as her father lay dying) the White Birds of Salisbury Plain, large albatross-like birds, dazzlingly white, have appeared when a Bishop of Salisbury died.

Salisbury holds a market on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and an annual funfair (the Sloe Fair) in October. Stonehenge is about 13km (8mi) north-west of Salisbury on the Salisbury Plain, which is on an English leyline. Or, so it is said.

1918 The Sinking of the Lusitania, the first feature length cartoon, was released. Winsor McCay recreated the sinking of the ocean liner Lusitania by a German u-boat in a propaganda piece designed to stir up anti-German sentiment during World War I.

On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat sank the Lusitania, a British passenger liner, with the loss of 1,198 lives. The incident played a significant role in the decision of the USA to enter into World War I. The USA called the sinking a monstrous act, claiming the Lusitania carried an innocent cargo. However, it was actually carrying ammunition and the manifests were falsified.

"Actually, the Lusitania was heavily armed: it carried 1,248 cases of 3-inch shells, 4,927 boxes of cartridges (1,000 rounds in each box), and 2,000 more cases of small-arms ammunition. Her manifests were falsified to hide this fact, and the British and American governments lied about the cargo."
Howard Zinn

1934 A dive of 3,000 feet in a bathysphere was made in the Bahamas.

1942 Death of Mahadev Desai, personal secretary to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), Indian leader and proponent of civil disobedience, from heart failure, in Aga Khan Palace.

1944 Allied forces landed in southern France (Operation Dragoon).

1945 VJ Day: Korea was liberated, more or less, after Japan accepted the Allied terms of surrender in World War II.

1945 Sydney, Australia: At the end of World War II, a reporter took note of a man's joyful expression and dance and asked him to repeat it. The anonymous man, who has sine become known as the Dancing Man, consented and was caught on motion picture film. The film and stills taken from it have become well known in Australia, and symbolize victory in the war.

1947 India gained independence from Britain.

1947 Gandhi fasted and prayed to combat riots in Calcutta as India was partitioned and granted independence.

1948 The Republic of Korea was established south of 38^th Parallel.

1952 (Till August 16) A storm of tropical intensity broke over south-west England, depositing 229 mm of rain within 24 hours on an already waterlogged Exmoor. Debris-laden floodwaters cascaded down the northern escarpment of the moor.

Overnight, over 100 buildings in the village of Lynmouth were destroyed or seriously damaged along with 29 bridges, and 38 cars were washed out to sea. In total, 34 people died, with a further 420 made homeless.

Similar events had previously been recorded at Lynmouth in 1607 and 1796.

Source: Wikipedia    See also Great Storm of 1987    List of natural disasters in the UK

 

1955 Twelve Indian protesters demanding the return to India of the Portuguese city of Goa were killed by Portuguese troops.

1960 Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) declared its independence from France.

1961 Construction began on the Berlin Wall.

1965 The race riots in the Watts district of Los Angeles continued after several days and the US Federal Government ordered in 20,000 National Guardsmen to help restore order.

1965 A new outdoor audience record was set when 56,000 fans saw the Beatles at Shea Stadium, New York.  

Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list

1966 China's Cultural Revolution: "In the middle of August 1966, the students of Beijing Sixth Middle School (which is one kilometer from the Tiananmen Gate and across the street from Zhongnanhai, where the "Center of the Party" is located) made the former music classroom into a jail, with a watchtower and a spotlight on the roof. They wrote "Long Live the Red Terror" on the wall and later dipped brushes into the blood of victims to repaint the characters of the slogan. This jail existed for three months until November 19, 1966. Nine teachers were jailed there during the entire time span. Some teachers, students and "class enemies" from outside the school were also imprisoned there for various periods. A vice dean of the school who had been imprisoned there for three months died less than a month after being released. Three men, a custodian, Xu Peitian, a student, Wang Guanghua, and a man who owned houses for rent near the school, He Hancheng, were beaten to death in the jail."   

Source: Student Attacks Against Teachers: The Revolution of 1966    Mao holocaust

1967 UK: The Marine Broadcasting Offences Bill, in a bid to stop the pirate radio stations off the coast of Britain, made it illegal for British firms to advertise offshore or to supply the stations. All except Radio Caroline complied.

1968 Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman arrived in Chicago in preparation for the 1968 Democratic Party Convention demo.

 

1969 The Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened. It was held at Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, USA until August 17. Performers included The Band, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Ravi Shankar, Janis Joplin, The Who, and Jefferson Airplane. Four hundred thousand fans attended.

 

Other artists at Woodstock

Jeff Beck Group Blood, Sweat & Tears Paul Butterfield Blues Band Canned Heat Joe Cocker Country Joe and the Fish Creedence ClearwaterRevival Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Grateful Dead   Wavy Gravy Arlo Guthrie Tim Hardin Keef Hartley Richie Havens Incredible String Band Melanie Mountain

Quill Santana John Sebastian Sha-Na-Na Sly and the Family Stone Sweetwater Ten Years After Johnny Winter

Shop Woodstock    Woodstockipedia    Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list

How Woodstock came to be

 

1971 USA: President Richard Nixon ended convertibility of the US dollar into gold.

1973 The United States bombing of Cambodia ended.

1974 Yook Young-soo, first lady of the South Korea, was killed in an apparent assassination attempt upon the President of the South Korea, Park Chung-hee by a North Korean spy, during the anniversary ceremony of Liberation day.

1975 Military coup in Bangladesh.

1987 Except in independent schools, corporal punishment was banned in the British education system.

1989 Giant mutant trees were found growing around Chernobyl. Or, so it is said.

1990 Violence in the black townships of Johannesburg, South Africa, claims the lives of 150 people.

1991 USA: Paul Simon played a free concert at New York's Central Park in front of an estimated 750,000 people.

1994 Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as 'Carlos', was captured.

1998 Omagh bomb in Northern Ireland, becoming the worst terrorist incident of The Troubles.

1998 In the morning, Bill Clinton woke his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton and told her that he had lied to her, America, and everybody else about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Clinton's appalling presidential record

 

Tomorrow: The strange case of William Harrison

 

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