Harriet Quimby (Photo: George Grantham Bain, LoC digital ID cph.3a17322)

Today in History

• Octavian takes control of Alexandria, Egypt (30 BCE)
• Justinian I becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire (527)
• The Elector of Hanover becomes King George I of Great Britain (1714)
• Joseph Priestly discovers oxygen gas (1774)
• The Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland become the United Kingdom (1980)
• Slavery is abolished in the British Empire (1834)
• Shredded wheat is patented (1893)
• The international Scouting movement begins with the establishment of the Brownsea Island Scout Camp by Baden-Powell (1907)
• Harriet Quimby becomes the first US woman to earn a pilot’s license (1911)
• The Berlin Olympics open with a ceremony led by Adolf Hitler (1936)
• The US and Canada form NORAD (1957)
• Charles Whitman kills 16 people at the University of Texas (1966)
• The Concert for Bangladesh, organized by George Harrison, begins (1971)
• The “Green Line” divides the island of Cyprus into two zones (1974)
• Icelander Vigdis Finnbogasdottir becomes the world’s first democratically elected female head of state (1980)
• MTV begins broadcasting (1981)

Birthdays

• Claudius, Roman emperor (10 BCE)
• Francis Scott Key, wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner (1779)
• Herman Melville, author (1819)
• Robert Todd Lincoln, US Secretary of War, son of Abraham Lincoln (1943)
• Abdullah, Saudi Arabian monarch (1924)
• Dom DeLuise, comedian and actor (1933)
• Yves Saint Laurent, fashion designer (1936)
• Jerry Garcia, vocalist and lead guitarist for the Grateful Dead (1942)
• Avi Arad, founded Marvel Studios (1948)
• David Gemmell, fantasy author (1948)
• Chuck D, rapper (1960)
• Coolio, rapper (1936)

Deaths

• Marc Antony, Roman general and politician (30 BCE)
• Cosimo de’ Medici, Florentine ruler (1464)
• Anne, Queen of Great Britain (1714)
• Calamity Jane, frontierswoman (1903)
• Theodore Rothke, poet (1963)
• Frances Farmer, actress (1970)
• Francis Gary Powers, U-2 pilot (1977)
• Strother Martin, actor (1980)
• Paddy Chayefsky, playwright and screenwriter (1981)
• Fahd, Saudi Arabian monarch (2005)
• Tommy Makem, Irish singer-songwriter (2007)
• Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines (2009)

Holidays and Celebrations

• Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Liberation Army (China)
• Armed Forces Day (Lebanon)
• Azerbaijani Language and Alphabet Day (Azerbaijan)
• Emancipation Day (Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago)
• Lammas (England, Scotland)
• Lughnasadh (Northern Hemisphere)/Imbolc (Southern Hemisphere) (Neopagan Wheel of the Year)
• Minden Day (UK)
• National Day (Benin)
• National Day (Switzerland)
• Pachamama Raymi (Quechuan people, Ecuador and Peru)
• Parents’ Day (Democratic Republic of the C0ngo)
• Statehood Day (Colorado)
• Victory Day (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam)
• World Scout Scarf Day (Scouting)
• Yorkshire Day (Yorkshire, England)

August 1 is the 213rd day of the year (214th in leap years). There are 152 days remaining until the end of the year.