Browsing: August 18

A Brief History On August 18, 2014, Dominick George “Don” Pardo, Jr. died at the age of 96. His voice was so excellent for announcing, deep and mellow, that he was the Saturday Night Live announcer from its start in 1975 right up until he died. Digging Deeper He had worked for NBC for an incredible 70 years, starting as a radio announcer in 1944.  Pardo started a long run as a television game show announcer in 1952 on Winner Take All and soon took over the microphone for The Price is Right and then for Jeopardy! His stint at…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on August 18th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On August 18, 1587, Virginia Dare was born in the Roanoke Colony in what is now North Carolina. On August 18, 1612, the trials of the “Pendle Witches” began in England. On August 18, 1920, the United States ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. On August 18, 1940, an air battle was fought between the British RAF and the German Luftwaffe,…

A Brief History On August 18, 1940, an air battle was fought between the British RAF and the German Luftwaffe, the largest air battle in history to that point as part of the Battle of Britain, July 10 through October 31, 1940. Digging Deeper German planners knew they had to defeat British air defenses in order to defeat Britain, and the best way to make that happen was to destroy the RAF Fighter Command.  Despite September 15, 1940, being known as “Battle of Britain Day,” the purported climax of the Battle of Britain, it was “The Hardest Day” that saw…

A Brief History On August 18, 2019, about 100 environmentally concerned citizens, including government officials and activists, held a funeral for the Okjökull glacier in Iceland. Digging Deeper The glacier, a large landbound ice formation, once covered about 6 square miles, but had completely melted away, presumably due to global climate change.  Located northeast of Reykjavík, the end of the glacier often called “the Ok glacier” actually came in 2014, so the 2019 funeral was perhaps a bit late. The gone but not forgotten glacier is memorialized on a metal plaque placed in its honor that bears the inscription (in…

A Brief History On August 18, 2003, a tremendously sad and unusual murder took place when a Newfoundland mother who had been given custody of her 1 year old son murdered the little boy despite the mom being on bail for the murder of her husband!  Wow, does that seem like a poor choice on the part of the court?  The infamous case resulted in Canada amending its laws about awarding child custody. Digging Deeper Shirley Jane Turner of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, was facing extradition to the United States for the murder of the father of her…