Today In History – August 16 – Usain Bolt Sets New World Record Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics

1896 Gold first discovered in Klondike, found at Bonanza Creek in the Yukon, Canada by George Carmack

1930 I British Empire Games open in Hamilton, Canada

1945 Puyi, the last Chinese Emperor and ruler of Manchukuo is captured by Soviet troops

1946 Direct Action Day: Widespread riots erupt in Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus over whether Pakistan should be a separate state, killing over 4,000 and leaving 100,000 homeless

2012 Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange is granted political asylum by Ecuador

Today in Film & TV

1930 The first color sound cartoon “Fiddlesticks” by Ub Iwerks (ex Walt Disney studio) is released

Today in Music

1974 Ramones concert debut (NYC’s CBGBs)

Today in Sport

1743 Champion of England titleholder Jack Broughton publishes ‘Rules of the Ring’ – earliest boxing code

2008 Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt sets new world record of 9.69 seconds to win the coveted 100m gold medal at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics

Do you know this fact about today? Did You Know?

A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto’s stock market.