Today's Puzzle
What do you say to someone who wants to sew up their own wounds?
What Happened On
Al-Qaeda training camp at Zhawar Kili, Afghanistan before it was bombed
Al-Qaeda training camp at Zhawar Kili, Afghanistan before it was bombed
Operation Infinite Reach - U.S. Attack on Al-Qaeda
August 20, 1998
The U.S. fires 66 missiles at six of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and 13 missiles at a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan, killing about 30 people, but no important al-Qaeda figures are killed. The attack was in retaliation for the August 7th U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people (including 12 Americans) and injured over 4,000 others. Current intelligence suggests that the pharmaceutical factory had no connection to the previous bombing attacks.
Strelka, one of the two dogs aboard
Strelka, one of the two dogs aboard
First Living Organisms to Return from Orbit
August 20, 1960
Soviet Sputnik 5 - which had been launched the previous day - is recovered. Its payload included two dogs, 40 mice, 2 rats, and various insects and plants.
One of the dogs, Strelka, went on to have six puppies and one of the puppies named Pushinka ("Fluffy") was given to President John F. Kennedy by Nikita Khrushchev in 1961.
NFL Formed
August 20, 1920
A meeting is held by representatives of the football teams the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, Rock Island Independents, and Dayton Triangles in Canton, Ohio. This resulted in the formation of the American Professional Football Conference (APFC) which was renamed the National Football League (NFL) the following year.
Prime Minister Eaten by Mob
August 20, 1672
Johan de Witt, former Grand Pensionary (Prime Minister) of Holland and his brother are lynched by an angry mob who ate their body parts, including their roasted livers. As Prime Minister of Holland, he had neglected the Dutch army causing the Dutch Republic to be easily invaded by an alliance of countries that included England and France. He and his brother were blamed for the defeats and were lynched in The Hague, where their bodies were cannibalized by the mob.
Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques-Louis David, 1814
Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques-Louis David, 1814
Sparta 300 - Battle of Thermopylae
August 20, 480 B.C.
The famous battle that the movie 300 was based on. King Leonidas of Sparta leads Greek armies numbering about 7,000 against the Persian invasion by Xerxes with an estimated force of between 70,000 and 300,000. The vastly outnumbered Greek forces blocked the only road by which the massive Persian army could pass. During the first two days of battle, the Greeks killed roughly 10,000 of the enemy troops. After the second day, a traitor named Ephialtes showed the Persians a path that led behind the Greek lines. Upon realizing he was being outflanked and doomed, Leonidas ordered the bulk of his army to retreat. He protected their retreat by remaining with a small contingent of his 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans who continued to block the path, fighting to the death allowing the others to escape. All of the Greek forces were killed including Leonidas, except for the 400 Thebans who surrendered to Xerxes without a fight.
The Greeks would eventually defeat the Persian army.
Menendez Murders
August 20, 1989
Erik and Lyle Menendez murder their wealthy parents with a shotgun. The were both convicted and sentenced to life in prison in highly-publicized trials.
Uranus as seen by Voyager II in 1986
Uranus as seen by Voyager II in 1986
Voyager II
August 20, 1977
Voyager II is launched. In 1986, it would fly within 50,600 miles (81,500 kilometers) of Uranus, discovering 11 previously unknown moons and two previously unknown rings.
Viking I
August 20, 1975
Viking I is launched towards Mars. The following year, it sent back the first pictures from the surface of Mars. It also took the famous "Face on Mars" photo.
Viking I was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars, and was part of a two-part mission to search for signs of life on Mars. It performed the first Martian soil sample using its robotic arm and a special biological laboratory.
First Commercial Radio Station
August 20, 1920
WWJ of Detroit begins operating. Its initial broadcasting was mostly between 7 and 8 pm, and consisted of phonograph records interspersed with news announcements and sports results.
First U.S. President Not to Run for a Second Term
August 20, 1844
President John Tyler withdraws from the presidential race.
Birthdays
Benjamin Harrison
Born August 20, 1833 d. 1901
American politician. 23rd U.S. President (1889-93). His support of spending programs during his term earned Congress the name "The Billion Dollar Congress." He was the first sitting U.S. President to attend a major league baseball game (June 6, 1892 Cincinnati beat Washington 7-4).
The oldest existing recording of a U.S. president's voice is of Harrison circa 1889 regarding the first Pan-American Congress of 1889.
The first known recording of a U.S. president's voice was that of Rutherford B. Hayes, but that recording has been lost.
Jay Acovone
Born August 20, 1955
American actor. TV: Beauty and the Beast (D.A. Joe Maxwell).
Theresa Saldana
Born August 20, 1954 d. 2016
American actress. She founded Victims for Victims after surviving a nearly fatal knife attack by a deranged admirer. Film: Raging Bull (1980). TV: Commish (1991-96, Rachel the wife of Police Commissioner Tony Scali).
Robert Plant
Born August 20, 1948
British rock musician, lead singer and harmonica player for Led Zeppelin. Music: Stairway to Heaven (wrote the lyrics). Video The Song Remains the Same.
Connie Chung (Constance Yu-Hwa)
Born August 20, 1946
American anchorwoman for CBS.
Graig Nettles
Born August 20, 1944
American baseball player. During a 1974 game the tip of his bat came off exposing an illegal cork center.
Isaac Hayes
Born August 20, 1942 d. 2008
American Oscar-Grammy-winning singer, composer, actor. Film: Shaft (1971, won Oscar and Grammy for the Score). TV: South Park (1997-2006, voice of Chef).
Scored the First Touchdown of Monday Night Football
Gary James Collins
Born August 20, 1940
American football wide receiver and punter (1962-71, Cleveland Browns). He scored the first touchdown of Monday Night Football (1970).
Jim Reeves
Born August 20, 1923 d. 1964
American Country Music Hall of Famer (1967). Music: Mexican Joe (1953, #1). He had 17 top 10 hits after his death.
Valley of the Dolls
Jacqueline Susann
Born August 20, 1918 d. 1974
American actress, author. Writings: Valley of the Dolls (1966), selling 17,000,000 copies and becoming the all-time best-selling novel.
Alan Reed (Teddy Bergman)
Born August 20, 1907 d. 1977
American actor. TV: The Flintstones (voice of Fred).
Deaths
Jerry Lewis (Joseph Levitch)
Died August 20, 2017 b. 1926
American comedian, telethon host. Partner of Dean Martin. Martin and Lewis made their television debut on the first episode of The Toast of the Town (1948, later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show).
He hosted the live broadcast of The MDA Labor Day Telethon for 44 years from 1966-2010.
Joe Rosenthal
Died August 20, 2006 b. 1911
American photographer. Joe Rosenthal took the Pulitzer-winning photo of the U.S. Marines raising the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima (1945). There were two American flag raisings on Mount Suribachi. Joe Rosenthal's famous photo was of the second flag-raising in which a larger replacement flag was raised by Marines who did not raise the first flag.
In 1996, Rosenthal was named an honorary Marine by the Commandant of the Marine Corps.
Sir Fred Hoyle
Died August 20, 2001 b. 1915
British astronomer, mathematician, a proponent of the "steady-state" theory, in which the universe has no definite beginning. In 1950 he coined the term "big bang" as a derogatory description of the alternate theory in which the universe was created 10 to 20 billion years ago when a single point expanded.
Prime Minister Eaten by Mob
Johan de Witt
Died August 20, 1672 b. 1625
Grand Pensionary (Prime Minister) of Holland (1653-72). He and his brother were lynched by an angry mob who ate their body parts, including their roasted livers. He had neglected the Dutch army causing the Dutch Republic to be easily invaded by an alliance of countries that included England and France. He and his brother were blamed for the defeats and were lynched in The Hague, where their bodies were cannibalized by the mob.
Tom T. Hall
Died August 20, 2021 b. 1936
American country singer, songwriter. Music: wrote Harper Valley PTA (1968).
Photo Credit: Allan Warren
Photo Credit: Allan Warren
Phyllis Diller (Phyllis Driver)
Died August 20, 2012 b. 1917
American comedienne, actress. She got her start when, as a 40-year-old mother of five, began doing stand-up. She became a regular on TV variety shows and the Dean Martin roasts.
Quote: "Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight."
Photo Credit: Granville Davies
Photo Credit: Granville Davies
George Adamson
Died August 20, 1989 b. 1906
British environmentalist. In 1956, Adamson shot and killed a lion in self-defense. He found that she had attacked to protect her three cubs. He then rescued the cubs, giving two to a zoo and keeping one that he and his wife Joy Adamson named Elsa. Joy wrote the book Born Free (1960) describing their raising of the cub and setting her free. The Adamson's were featured in the 1966 movie of the same title.
He was killed by poachers while trying to protect his assistant and a tourist from the poachers.
Mickey Daniels (Richard Daniels, Jr.)
Died August 20, 1970 b. 1914
American actor, appeared in 49 of the Our Gang films.
Percy Williams Bridgman
Died August 20, 1961 b. 1882
American Nobel prize-winning physicist. He was the first Harvard physicist to win the Nobel Prize for Physics (1946 for his work in high pressure). He was able to reach pressures of 400,000 atmospheres.
Paul Ehrlich
Died August 20, 1915 b. 1854
German Nobel-winning bacteriologist, immunologist. He discovered the first cure for syphilis (1910).
Saint Pius X
Died August 20, 1914 b. 1835
Italian religious leader, 257th Pope (1903-14), canonized in 1954. He is said to have healed a crippled child, cured a child of meningitis, and cured a Cardinal of turbuculosis.
Salvation Army logos past and present and founders William and Catherine Booth
Salvation Army logos past and present and founders William and Catherine Booth
Co-founder of the Salvation Army
William Booth
Died August 20, 1912 b. 1829
English preacher. He and his wife Catherine Booth founded the Salvation Army (1865).
Pius VII (Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti)
Died August 20, 1823 b. 1742
Italian religious leader, 251st Pope (1800-23).
John XIV
Died August 20, 984 b. ????
religious leader, 136th Pope (983-984).