Once Upon A Time – August 27 – 1896 – Britain Defeats Zanzibar In A 38-minute War, The Shortest Recorded In History

479 BC Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Plataea, Persian forces led by Mardonius routed by Greek army under Pausanias; together with Greek success at Battle of Mycale halts Persian invasion of Greece

479 BC Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Mycale won by Greek forces over Persian naval troops on Ionian coast, double victory with that at Plataea ends Persian invasion

663 Battle of Baekgang: Tang Chinese and Silla Korean forces defeat Korean Baekje forces and their Yamato Japanese allies on the Geum River in Korea. Last Japanese invasion of Korea for 900 years.

1789 French National Assembly issues the “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen”

1883 Krakatoa volcano, west of Java in Indonesia, erupts with a force of 1,300 megatons and kills approximately 40,000 people

1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact, 60 nations agree to condemn ‘recourse to war for the solution of international controversies’.

1979 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and last Viceroy of India, is killed along with three companions, two of them children by the IRA when his boat is blown up near Sligo, Ireland

Historical Events Today
Today in Film & TV
1950 1st transmission of a TV programme from continental Europe shown on BBC

1964 Walt Disney’s musical film “Mary Poppins” directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, with songs by Richard and Robert Sherman, premieres at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California; wins 5 Academy Awards

Today in Music
1965 The Beatles spend an evening with Elvis Presley, at his Los Angeles, California home

Today in Sport
2004 German kayaker Birgit Fischer wins gold in K-4 500m & silver in K-2 500m in Athens; first woman in any sport to win gold medals at 6 different Olympics, gold 24 years apart, and 1st person to win 2 or more medals in 5 different Games

MORE FACTS…
2008 Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be nominated by a major political party for President of the United States

1896 Britain defeats Zanzibar in a 38-minute war (9:02 AM-9:40 AM). Shortest recorded war in history.

Famous Weddings
1930 Journalist H. L. Mencken (49) weds author Sara Haardt (32) at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

1956 Socialite Gloria Vanderbilt (32) weds “12 Angry Men” director Sidney Lumet (32)

1966 American sportscaster Al Michaels (21) weds Linda Stamaton