1108 - Louis VI, "the Fat One," King of France, crowned.

August 4
 

1914 - Britain declared war on Germany in World War I. The U.S. proclaimed its neutrality.

1944 - Nazi police raided a house in Amsterdam and arrested eight people. Anne Frank, a teenager at the time, was one of the people arrested. Her diary would be published after her death.

1181 - Supernova seen in Cassiopia

910 - The last major Viking army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward and Earl Aethelred.

258 - St Sixtus II ends his reign as Catholic Pope

768 - Stephen III [IV] begins his reign as Catholic Pope

70 - Tower of Antonia destroyed by Romans

August 9
 

1678 - American Indians sold the Bronx to Jonas Bronck for 400 beads.

1930 - Betty Boop had her beginning in "Dizzy Dishes" created by Max Fleischer.

1936 - Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics. He was the first American to win four medals in one Olympics.

1984 - Daley Thompson, of Britain, won his second successive Olympic decathlon.

1173 - Construction of the Tower of Pisa begins, and it takes two centuries to complete.

Jerry Garcia died. No real big surprise at the time.

http://cdn.buzznet.com/assets/users1...6536497878.jpg

I also remember where I was and what I was doing on this date forty years ago. That's depressing.

654 - Pope Eugene I elected to succeed Martinus I

1492 - Rodrigo de Borja becomes Pope Alexander VI

1786: Captain Francis Light acquires the island of Penang from the Sultan of Kedah on behalf of the British East India Company, renaming it Prince of Wales Island in honour of the heir to the British throne, the first colony of the British Empire in Southeast Asia.

1099 - Battle at Ascalon: Godfried of Broth leading the Crusaders beats Egyptians Fatimid army.

523 - St John I begins his reign as Catholic Pope