14th August, on this day

410 Alaric sacks Rome
1248 Construction of Cologne Cathedral begun
1385 Battle of Aljubarrota : Portuguese defeat Castilians at Aljubarrota, retain independence
1457 Oldest known exactly dated printed book (c 3 years after Gutenberg)
1598 Nine Years War: Battle of the Yellow Ford - Irish forces under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, defeat an English expeditionary force under Henry Bagenal.
1756 French capture Fort Oswego, NY
1765 Mass colonists challenge British rule by an Elm (Liberty Tree)
1813 British warship Pelican attacks and captures US war brigantine Argus
1842 Seminole War ends; Indians removed from Florida to Oklahoma
1846 Henry David Thoreau jailed for tax resistance
1848 Oregon Territory created
1862 Lincoln receives 1st group of blacks to confer with US president
1880 Cologne Cathedral, the most famous landmark in Cologne, Germany, completed -- the work having been started in 1248
1885 Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
1893 France issues 1st driving licenses, included required test
1897 The town of Anosimena is captured by French troops from Menabe defenders in Madagascar.
1900 End of the two-month Boxer Rebellion against European involvement in China when an international force, including British, American, Italian and Japanese troops, relieves the foreign legations which had been under siege in Beijing
1901 The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.
1908 Race riot in Springfield, Illinois
1908 Staging of Britain's first international beauty contest - at the Pier Hippodrome in Folkestone
1911 United States Senate leaders agree to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the Senate among leading candidates to fill the vacancy left by William P. Frye's death
1912 2,500 US marines invade Nicaragua; US remains until 1925
1917 China declares war on Germany and Austria at start of WW I
1921 Tannu Tuva, later Tuvinian People's Republic is established as a completely independent country (which is supported by Russia).
1928 The world's first scheduled television programmes are broadcast by WRNY in New York
1932 10th Olympic Games at Los Angeles closes
1933 Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn. It is extinguished on September 5, after destroying 240,000 acres (970 km²).
1935 United States Social Security Act passes, creating a government pension system for the retired.
1936 Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States.
1936 1st Olympic basketball game (Berlin)
1937 The beginning of air-to-air combat of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II in general, when 6 Imperial Japanese Mitsubishi G3M bombers were shot down by the Nationalist Chinese Air Force while raiding Chinese air bases, hence, 14 August has thus become acknowledged and celebrated as Chinese Air Force Day.
1941 Atlantic Charter signed by FDR and Churchill
1945 Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender in World War II and the Emperor records the Imperial Rescript on Surrender (August 15 in Japan standard time).
1947 India granted independence within British Commonwealth
1947 Mildred Babe Didrikson Zaharias gives up amateur status for $300,000
1947 Pakistan gains independence from Britain and joins the British Commonwealth.
1948 14th Olympic games in London closes
1948 Australian cricketer Don Bradman plays his last Test match innings at the Oval Cricket Ground in London. After receiving a standing ovation, he is bowled out for nought - blinded, its claimed, by the tears in his eyes
1958 KLM Superconstellation crashes west of Ireland, killing 99
1962 French and Italian workers break through at Mount Blanc Vehicular Tunnel
1962 US mail truck in Plymouth, Mass robbed of more than $1.5 million
1965 Beatles tape an appearance for the Ed Sullivan Show
1966 1st US lunar orbiter begins orbiting the Moon
1967 UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act declares participation in offshore pirate radio illegal.
1969 British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland - to help quell sectarian riots in Londonderry
1969 Keith Castle becomes the first British patient to receive a heart transplant
1971 Bahrain proclaims independence after 110 years of British rule
1971 British begin internment without trial in Northern Ireland
1972 East German Aeroflot Illyushin 62 crashes near Moscow, killing 156
1973 US bombs Cambodia
1973 The constitution of 1973 comes into effect in Pakistan
1974 Congress authorises US citizens to own gold
1978 French TV announced a rating of "0" for a program about an Armenian's woman's 40th birthday, (comp: Napoleonic drama-67%, Knockout-33%)
1979 Rainbow seen in Northern Wales for a 3 hour duration
1979 Former MP John Stonehouse is released from prison after being jailed for trying to fake his own death
1979 15 yachtsmen are killed by a Force 10 gale during the Fastnet Yacht Race
1980 Lech Walesa leads strikes at Gdansk, Poland shipyards.
1984 IBM releases MS-DOS version 3.0
1986 Pakistan politician Benazir Bhutto, eldest daughter of former president Ali Bhutto who had been executed for murder and corruption in 1979, is arrested and detained in prison under the orders of President Zia
1991 Comedian Jackie Mason marries his manager Jyll Rosenfeld (37)
1994 Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, the terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal", is captured.
2003 Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada
2005 Helios Airways Flight 522 crashesinto a mountain north of Marathon and Varnavas, Greece with 121 fatalities
2007 The 2007 Kahtaniya bombings kills at least 400 people.

14th August 2006

Mid-East ceasefire begins

Chinese typhoon toll passes 250

Experts meet to decide Pluto fate

14th August 2007

'Hundreds dead' in N Korea floods

Iraq suicide bomb hits key bridge

Chinese bridge collapse kills 29

14th August 2008

US warns Russia of lasting impact

US and Poland 'agree' shield deal

BA seals alliance with American

14th August 2009

Mosque gun battle rages in Gaza

Mexico prison riot leaves 19 dead

Gang kills seven in Russian sauna

14th August 2010

US missile strike kills 12 in Pakistan

8 Spectators killed at US car race

4 shot dead at restaurant in US

Birthdates which occurred on 14th August :

1774 Meriwether Lewis Charlottsville VA, capt of Lewis & Clark Expedition
1777 Hans Christian Oersted Den, physicist/chemist (View of Chemical Law)
1802 Letitia Elizabeth Landon England, poet/novelist/socialite
1860 Ernest T Seton naturalist/painter/author (Buffalo Wind-1938)
1867 John Galsworthy England, author (Forsyte Saga-Nobel 1932)
1869 Armas J„rnefelt Vyborg Finland, composer (Berceuse)
19-- David Hallyday actor (He's My Girl)
19-- Lila Murillo Maricibo, spanish singer
1901 Sir James Pitman England, educator/publisher/phonetic speller
1903 John Ringling North circus director
1920 Nehemiah Persoff actor (Al Capone, Yentl)
1924 Georges Prˆtre Waziers France, conductor (NY Met)
1925 Russell Baker columnist/humorist (NY Times)
1926 Alice Ghostly Montana, actress (Bewitched, With 6 You Get Egg Roll)
1926 Buddy Greco Phila Pa, singer (Away We Go, Broadway Open House)
1930 Earl Weaver St Louis Mo, manager (Balt Orioles 1968-82, 85-86)
1940 Dash Crofts Cisco Tx, singer (Seals & Crofts-Summer Breeze)
1941 Connie Smith Elkhart, Indiana, singer (Dream Painter, New Horizons)
1941 David Crosby rocker (Crosby, Stills & Nash-Southern Cross)
1942 Sandy Gilmour Montclair NJ, newscaster (Prime Time Sunday)
1943 Jon A McBride Charleston WV, Capt USN/astronaut (STS 41G)
1944 Robyn Smith Astaire jockey/wife of Fred Astaire
1945 Steve Martin Waco Tx, comedian (The Jerk, Man With 2 Brains)
1946 Antonio Fargas Bronx NY, actor (Huggy Bear-Starsky & Hutch)
1946 Larry Graham rocker (One in a million, you)
1946 Susan St James LA Cal, (MacMillan & Wife, Kate & Allie, Name of Game)
1952 Debbie Meyer US, 200m/400m/800m freestyle swimmer (Oly-gold-1968)
1952 Mark C Lee Viroqua Wisconsin, Major USAF/astronaut (STS-30, sk:47)
1956 Sharon Bryant vocalist (Atlantic Starr - Touch a 4 Leaf Clover)
1957 Jackee (Harry) Winston-Salem NC, actress (Sandra-227)
1958 Earvin (Magic) Johnson NBA star (LA Lakers)
1961 Susan Olson actress (Cindy-Brady Bunch)
1965 Emmanuelle B‚art St Tropez France, actress (Manon of the Spring)
1965 Lynette Falls Ridgewood NJ, Miss NJ-America-1991

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Deaths which occurred on August 14th:
1936 Rainey Bethea hung, last US public execution
1951 William Randolph Hearst newspaper publisher, dies in Beverly Hills
1958 Gladys L Presley mom of Elvis, dies at 46
1958 Mary Ritter Beard American historian, dies at 82
1972 Jules Romains French novelist, dies at 86
1972 Oscar Levant actor (American in Paris, Dance of Life), dies at 65
1982 Patrick Magee Irish actor, dies at 58
1985 Gale Sondergaard actress, dies at cerebral vascular thrombosis
1988 Enzo Ferrari Italy, sportscar manufacturer (Ferrari), dies at 90
1991 Douglas Kiker newscaster (NBC-TV), dies of a heart attack at 61