Singer Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, in Winchester, Virginia. When she was 13, she was hospitalized for a throat infection and rheumatic fever, which she said gave her a “booming voice like Kate Smith.”
Poet Edgar Lee Masters was born on August 23, 1868, in Garnett, Kansas
The Games of the XXIX Olympiad opened in Beijing, China, on August 8, 2008.
On August 1, 1894, a tax was imposed on playing cards as part of the Wilson Bill.
arc during WWII.
On July 29, 1836, the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile (Triumphal Arch of the Star) officially opened to the public. Before the plans were made for the Arc de Triomphe, there was a proposal for a different structure in that location. Architect Charles Ribart wanted to build a three-level elephant-shaped building with a spiral staircase and furniture that folded into the walls. However, the French government denied his request.
On July 25, 1909, Louis Blériot became the first person to fly across the English Channel. Born in Cambrai, France, on July 1, 1872, Blériot was the first of five children. At the age of 10, he attended the Institute of Notre Dame in Cambrai, where he often won prizes for his engineering drawings.
Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss died on July 23, 1930, in Buffalo, New York. Glenn Hammond Curtiss was born on May 21, 1878, in Hammondsport, New York. He became interested in bicycles as a young man and was a champion racer, riding bikes he had designed and built.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in Mvezo, Cape Province, South Africa. The son of a local chief, Mandela spent much of his childhood herding cattle and was enrolled in a local Methodist school at the age of seven. He went on to attend a Methodist high school and college, where he enjoyed playing sports, particularly long-distance running and boxing.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was born on July 15, 1606, in Leiden, the Dutch Republic (present-day Netherlands).