August 2 in Pop Culture History
1610 – Henry Hudson sailed into what is now known as Hudson Bay (he thought he had made it through the Northwest Passage, and reached the Pacific Ocean).
1776 – The signing of the Declaration of Independence didn’t occur on July 4. After the Continental Congress voted to declare independence on July 2, the final language of the document was approved on July 4, and it was printed and …
1962 – The Year of Chubby Checker and The Twist
Chubby Checker’s version of The Twist came out August 1, 1960 and he followed it up with non-stop touring, The Hucklebuck, Pony Time, Let’s Twist Again, and repeated The Twist with a second release on November 13, 1961.
The Twist
The Twist was first shown to the public via American Bandstand, which originated as simply Bandstand, a local show in Philadelphia in …
August 1 in Pop Culture History
1774 – British scientist Joseph Priestley re-discovered oxygen (the gas), verifying the discovery of it by German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
1790 – The first U.S. Census, there were 3,929,326 people living here.
1794 – The Whiskey Rebellion Western. Pennsylvania farmers revolted, protesting the excise duty (tax) on stills and spirits distilled in the U.S.
1834 – Slavery was abolished in the British Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act.…
July 31 in Pop Culture History
781 – The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan.
1492 – Jews were expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree took effect.
1790 – The first US patent (X000001) as issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
1930 – The radio mystery program The Shadow aired for the first time.
1931 – New York television station W2XAB (now known as WCBS) began broadcasting.
1948 – …
July 30 in Pop Culture History
762 – Baghdad was founded by caliph Al-Mansur.
1619 – In Jamestown, Virginia, the first representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time.
1729 – Founding of Baltimore, Maryland.
1733 – The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States was constituted in Massachusetts.
1866 – New Orleans, Louisiana’s Democratic government ordered police to raid an integrated Republican Party meeting, killing 40 …
July 29 in Pop Culture History
1148 – The Siege of Damascus ended with a crusader defeat and lead end of the Second Crusade.
1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile (Arch of Triumph of the Star) in Paris, France.
1914 – The 7 mile long Cape Cod Canal opened in Massachusetts.
1916 – Matheson Fire, Ontario
1921 – Adolf Hitler became the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
1948 …
July 28 in Pop Culture History
1854 – The USS Constellation, the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy, was commissioned.
1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.
1896 – The city of Miami, Florida was incorporated.
1945 – A US Army B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building, killing 14 and injuring …
July 27 in Pop Culture History
1694 – A Royal charter was granted to the Bank of England.
1789 – The first US federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, was established (later renamed the Department of State).
1866 – The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable was successfully completed, stretching from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.
1890 – Vincent van Gogh (probably) shot himself, and died from the chest wound on July …
July 26 in Pop Culture History
1745 – “The greatest cricket match that was played in this part of England was on Friday, the 26th of last month, on Gosden Common, near Guildford, between eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambledon, all dressed in white. The Bramley maids had blue ribbons and the Hambledon maids red ribbons on their heads. The Bramley girls got 119 notches and the Hambledon girls 127. There was …
July 25 in Pop Culture History
306 – Constantine I (Constantine The Great) was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops.
1593 – Henry IV of France converted from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.
1668 (Earthquake) China
1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed his Symphony No. 40 in G minor.
1861 – The United States Congress passed the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution, stating that the war was being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.
1925 …
July 24 in Pop Culture History
REMINDER: If you have promised your significant other that you will love them 7/24, TODAY is 7/24.
1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate and replaced by her 1-year-old son James VI, after the sudden death of one husband and the quick marriage to another.
1823 – Slavery was abolished in Chile.
1847 – Brigham Young brought 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, establishing Salt …
July 23 in Pop Culture History
1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patented (#5581X) the typographer, an early typewriter.
1926 – Fox Film bought the patents of the Movietone sound system, for recording sound onto film.
1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front was founded in Nicaragua.
1962 – Telstar relayed the first publicly transmitted, live, trans-Atlantic television program, featuring CBS’s Walter Cronkite and NBC’s Chet Huntley in New York, and the …
