On this date in the year 1314, the city of Oslo became the capital of Norway. Here are some things you may not have known about the city. Oslo traces its history to about 1000 AD with the building of St. Clement’s Church. King Hakkon the Fifth moved the capital of Norway from Bergen on the western coast to Oslo, […]
Read moreOn this date in 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of the most iconic speeches of the last century on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Here are some things you may not have known about the “I Have a Dream” speech: The full name of the event King was speaking at was […]
Read moreOn this date in 1859, the first large-scale oil well began operating in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Here are some things you may not have known about the early days of oil. Oil naturally seeps from the ground in large parts of western Pennsylvania. Native Americans had used the oil for centuries as an insect repellant, and for medicinal and religious purposes. […]
Read moreToday marks the 132nd anniversary of the beginning of the eruption of Krakatoa in what is now Indonesia. Here are some things you may not have known about the eruption: The island of Krakatoa is located in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra. Krakatoa is located at the subduction zone of the Eurasian Plate and the […]
Read moreToday is the 85th birthday of actor Sean Connery. Here are some things you may not have known about him: Connery was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was a truck driver and his mother was a cleaning woman. He began bodybuilding at the age of 18 and according to his official website he finished third in the 1950 Mister […]
Read moreAugust 24 is the anniversary of two historic crossings. In 1875, Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel, while in 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly non-stop across the United States. Here are a few facts about both that you might not have known. At the age of 27, Webb set off […]
Read moreToday is the 54th anniversary of the first No. 1 hit for Motown Records, “Please Mr. Postman” by the Marvelettes. Here are some things you may not have known about Motown and the Marvelettes. Motown was founded by Barry Gordy in 1959 in Detroit and was originally known as Tamla Records. The first release was a song called “Come to […]
Read moreToday is the 105th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Fire of 1910, the largest forest fire in American history. Here are some things you may not have known about “The Big Burn.” The fire burned three million acres in northeast Washington, northern Idaho and northwestern Montana. It took the fire just two days to burn an area the […]
Read moreOn this date in 1839, the French government presented the patent rights to the early photography process of daguerreotype as a gift to the world. Here are a few things you may not know about Louis Daguerre and his process. First, Daguerre was born near Paris in 1787 and was a noted theater designer and later invented the diorama. In […]
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