On This Day for August 1 - Henry III of France stabbed by assassin, Maria Mitchell is featured, and more

Created: 2020-08-01 10:03 Updated: 2020-08-01 10:03 Notebook: On this Day in History

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August 01

FEATURED BIOGRAPHY

Maria Mitchell

FEATURED EVENT

1589

Henry III of France stabbed by assassin

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MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY

2005: Fahd, who became king of Saudi Arabia in 1982, died; he was succeeded by his half brother ʿAbd Allah. [ Test your knowledge of kings and emperors.]

1996: American author George R.R. Martin published A Game of Thrones, the first installment in his hugely popular fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. [ Take our quiz about fantasy lands.]

1987: American boxer Mike Tyson defeated Tony Tucker and was unanimously recognized as heavyweight champion by all three sanctioning organizations (World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association, and International Boxing Federation). [Take our sports quiz.]

1981: The cable television network MTV debuted, with the broadcast of the music video for Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles. [Sort fact from fiction in our pop culture quiz.]

1944: The Warsaw Uprising began as the Polish underground tried to oust the German army and seize control of the city before it was occupied by the advancing Soviet army; after running out of supplies, the Poles were forced to surrender in October. [Sort fact from fiction in our World War II quiz.]

1936: The Summer Olympics opened in Berlin, and the efforts by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party to demonstrate the superiority of the “Aryan race” were undermined by the success of African American athletes, notably Jesse Owens. [Take our Olympic history quiz.]

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ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY

1965

Sam Mendes
English director

1819

Herman Melville
American author

-10

Claudius
Roman emperor

1936

Yves Saint Laurent
French designer

1932

Meir Kahane
Israeli political extremist and rabbi