All in the month of : AUGUST

It was....

400 years ago: - on 2nd August 1610 that English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into what is now called Hudson Bay, Canada. (He mistakenly thought he had found the north-west passage, and had arrived in the Pacific.)

200 years ago: - on 10th August 1810 that Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, was born. This Italian statesman unified Italy and served as its first Prime Minister.

175 years ago: - on 25 August 1835 that the ‘New York Sun’ newspaper published the ‘Great Moon Hoax’ – a series of articles that told of fantastic creatures living on the moon. The sales of the newspaper soared.

150 years ago: - on 30 August 1860 that the first tramway in Europe opened – in Birkenhead, England.

125 years ago: - on 29 August 1885 that the German engineer Gottlieb Daimler patented the world’s first motorcycle.

100 years ago: - on 26 August 1910 that Mother Teresa was born. This Macedonian-born Indian missionary won the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, and was beatified on 19 October 2003.

90 years ago: - on 26 August 1920 that the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution came into effect, and for the first time ever American women were given the right to vote.

80 years ago: - on 21 August 1930 that Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, was born. She died on 9th February 2002.

75 years ago: - on 14th August 1935 that the USA first introduced Social Security. The US President Franklin D Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, creating unemployment insurance and pension plans.

70 years ago: - on 13th August 1940 that the main phase in the Battle of Britain began. The German Luftwaffe launched raids on RAF airfields and radar installations.

Also 70 years ago: - on 20th August 1940 that the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill paid tribute to the Royal Air Force in a famous House of Commons speech, saying, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

60 years ago: - on 15th August 1950 that Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, was born.

Also 60 years ago: - on 27th August 1950 that the BBC transmitted the first ever live TV pictures across the Channel.

50 years ago: - in August 1960 that the following countries achieved independence: Dahomey (Benin), Niger, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), The Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), Cyprus, Gabon, and Senegal.

40 years ago: - on 17th August 1970 that the Soviet Union launched Venera 7 to Venus. It would become the first spacecraft to transmit data from the surface of another planet.

30 years ago: - on 14th August 1980 that Lech Walesa led a strike by shipyard workers in Gdansk, Poland. It led to the formation of the Solidarity movement.

25 years ago: - on 22nd August 1985 that a British Airtours 737 burst into flames at Manchester Airport after an engine caught fire and a fuel tank ruptured. 55 people were killed.

20 years ago: - on 2nd August 1990 that the Gulf War began when Iraq invaded Kuwait. On 7th August Operation Desert Shield was put in place when US President Bush sent American forces to Saudi Arabia to prevent an Iraqi invasion.

15 years ago: - on 27th August 1995 that Carl Giles, well loved British cartoonist, died.

10 years ago: - on 4th August 2000 that the Queen Mother celebrated her 100th birthday.

Also 10 years ago: - on 12th August 2000 that the Russian nuclear submarine ‘Kursk’ sank in the Barents Sea when its hull was damaged by a series of explosions. All 118 crew members died.