August 8 - The Master Builder

The Master Builder

This Day In History

1503

King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.

1576

The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on Hven.

1709

Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates the lifting power of hot air in an audience before the King of Portugal in Lisbon

1876

Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.

1908

Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. It is the Wright Brothers' first public flight.

1929

The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.

1963

Great Train Robbery: in England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal 2.6 million pounds in bank notes.

2000

Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence and 5 years after being filmed by a dive team funded by novelist Clive Cussler.

Famous Birthdays

1605

Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, British colonial Governor of Maryland (d. 1675)

1646

Godfrey Kneller, German-born painter (d. 1723)

1673

John Ker, Scottish spy (d. 1726)

1884

Sara Teasdale, American poet (d. 1933)

1902

Paul Dirac, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)

1921

Esther Williams, American actress and swimmer

1930

Terry Nation, Welsh novelist and screenwriter (d. 1997)

1935

Donald P. Bellisario, American television producer

1937

Dustin Hoffman, American actor

1949

Keith Carradine, American actor

1981

Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player

1986

Pierre Garçon, American football player