August 5 in History

1305 – William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance against England, was captured by the English near Glasgow. Mel Gibson starred in a dramatization of the story in Braveheart.

1620 – The Mayflower departed from Southampton, England, headed towards North America.

1861 – To help pay for the war effort, the United States government levied the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% over $800)

1882 – The Standard Oil of New Jersey was established. Standard+Oil=SO=Esso, now Exxon.

1888 – Germany’s Bertha Benz drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long-distance automobile trip

1914 – Cleveland, Ohio, installed the first electric traffic light.

1921 – KDKA of Pittsburgh broadcast the first baseball game over radio, the Pittsburgh Pirates beating the Philadelphia Phillies (8-5).

1926 – Harry Houdini performed one of his greatest stunts, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.

1933 – The comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray debuted

1957 – American Bandstand debuted on the ABC television network with host Dick Clark. The show began locally on Philadelphia television station WFIL-TV Channel 6 (now WPVI-TV) in 1952.

1978 – #1 Hit August 5, 1978 – August 11, 1978: The Rolling Stones – Miss You

1981 – US President Ronald Reagan fired 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.

#1 Hit August 5, 1989 – August 11, 1989: Prince – Batdance

2001 – Cable network Odyssey was renamed to Hallmark Channel.

2011 – Standard & Poor’s lowered the United States’ AAA credit rating by one notch, to AA-plus.

2017 – Sharknado 5: Global Swarming aired on SyFy. #MakeAmericaBaitAgain