It happened today – this day in history – August 15

1248: Construction of Cologne Cathedral begins.

1519: Panama City is founded by Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias Dávila.

1548: Mary, Queen of Scotland arrives in France, aged 6.

1620: The Mayflower sets sail from Southampton with 102 pilgrims.

1741: French troops attack the Rhine.

1769: Birth of Napoleon Bonaparte on Corsica.

1824: Freed American slaves establish Liberia on the West African coast.

1892: The fourth and final government of William Gladstone forms.

1901: Britain issues a proclamation calling on the Boers to surrender by 15 September or face banishment and confiscation of their property.

1903: New Zealand’s All Blacks play their first Rugby Test Match against Australia’s Wallabies at the Sydney Cricket Ground, winning 22-3.

1906: Edward VII visits his cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II to discuss the escalating rivalry between their nations’ naval forces.

1914: Dinant, Belgium, is destroyed by German bombs. Lt Charles de Gaulle, aged 24, is injured. On the same day, the Panama Canal opens. Also, a servant of architect Frank Lloyd Wright sets fire to the living quarters of the architect’s Wisconsin home, Taliesin, murders seven people and burns the living quarters to the ground.

1920: Polish troops commanded by Jozef Pilsudski defeat the Soviets at the Battle of Warsaw.

1923: Eamon de Valera is arrested in Irish Free State.

1925: Norway annexes Spitsbergen.

1935: Aviator Wiley Post dies when his plane crashes in Alaska aged 36. The crash also kills his friend, actor Will Rogers, 55.

1939: The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, premieres at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood.

1944: Allies land on French Mediterranean sea coast and in Provence while the US 12^th Army corps enters Le Mans through Orleans.

1945: V J Day as the Allied countries celebrate Japan’s signing of the surrender.

1947: India gains independence from Britain.

1950: The Queen gives birth to her second child, Princess Anne, at Clarence House. On the same day, Ezzard Charles TKOs Freddie Beshore in Round 14 to retain the heavyweight boxing title. Also, Sukarno proclaims the unitary Republic of Indonesia and becomes its first president.

1954: Alfredo Stroessner names himself president of Paraguay.

1955: Elvis Presley attends a meeting in Memphis with his manager Bob Neal, Colonel Tom Parker and his father Vernon Presley, at which a new contract is signed that names Colonel Parker as “special advisor” with control of virtually every aspect of Elvis’ career. Parker was not really a colonel at all, but a Dutch immigrant carnival promoter named Andreas Cornelius van Kujik.

1958: Rock n roll star Buddy Holly marries receptionist Maria Santiago.

Singles chart:

1. All I Have To Do Is Dream – The Everly Brothers
2. When – The Kalin Twins
3. Return To Me – Dean Martin
4. Hard Headed Woman – Elvis Presley
5. Tulips From Amsterdam – Max Bygraves
6. Endless Sleep – Marty Wilde
7. Big Man – The Four Preps
8. Rave On – Buddy Holly
9. Twilight Time – The Platters
10. Patrician – Perez Prez Prado

1962: John Lennon and Paul McCartney drive from Liverpool to Skegness where Rory Storm & The Hurricanes have a Butlin’s residency, to ask drummer Ringo Starr to join The Beatles.

1964: Fred Trueman takes his 300th Test wicket against Australia at The Oval.

1965: 28 people die and hundreds are injured after a weekend of rioting in LA. On the same day, The Beatles set a new world record for the largest attendance at a pop concert when they play in front of 55,600 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City. The band were paid $160,000 for the show.

Album chart:

1. Help! – The Beatles
2. The Sound Of Music – Original Soundtrack
3. Mary Poppins – Original Soundtrack
4. Bringing It All Back Home – Bob Dylan
5. Joan Baez No5 – Joan Baez
6. Sound Of The Shadows – The Shadows
7. Almost There – Andy Williams
8. Catch Us If You Can – The Dave Clark Five
9. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan
10. Animal Tracks – The Animals

1966: Members of the Ku Klux Klan, led by the Imperial Wizard of Maryland, picket The Beatles’ concert at the DC Stadium in Washington in response to the controversy over John Lennon’s statement about Jesus in a newspaper interview.

TV on this day (Monday):

1968: Pirate Radio Free London begins transmitting.

1969: The three-day Woodstock Festival began on Max Yasgur’s 600 acre farm in Bethel outside New York. Attended by over 400,000 people, the event featured, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Santana, Joe Cocker, Ten Years After, Sly and the Family Stone, The Who, Sha Na Na, Ravi Shankar, Melanie, Credence Clearwater Revival, Crosby,Stills, Nash and Young, Country Joe McDonald and Canned Heat to name but a few.

1971: Showjumper Harvey Smith is stripped of his £2,000 winnings and a major show jumping title for making a two-fingured gesture after completing a clear round. On the same day, the Social Democratic and Labour Party announce a campaign of civil disobedience in response to the introduction of Internment in Northern Ireland.

1974: South Korean President Park Chung-Hee survives an assassination attempt that kills his wife.

1975: Founding father of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujiber Rahman is assassinated in a military coup.

1977: Herbert Kappler, head of Nazi police and security services (SS) in Rome during WWII, escapes from prison hospital.

1981: Ian Botham scores a century in 86 balls v Australia at Old Trafford.

1983: Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone undergoes brain surgery after being badly beaten in a fight.

1985: The speedboat Virgin Atlantic Challenger capsizes off the south-west of England scuppering Richard Branson’s attempt at the fastest-ever Atlantic crossing.

1989: F W de Klerk becomes President of South Africa.

1990: At least 150 people die in clashes between the African National Congress and Inkatha Freedom Party in South Africa.

1991: Paul Simon played a free concert in New York’s Central Park before an audience of 750,000 people.

1992: Striker Brian Deane scores the first goal in the Premier League as Sheffield United defeat Manchester United 2-1 at Bramhall Lane.

1995: The Dublin hotel owned by U2, ‘The Clarence’ was damaged by a fire which took over three hours to control. On the same day, the daughter of Motley Crue singer Vince Neal, Skylar, died aged 4 from cancer.

1998: At least 27 people are feared dead after a massive car bomb in Omagh, Northern Ireland.

2000: David Bowie and his wife Iman celebrated the birth of their first child, a baby girl named Alexandria Zahra Jones.

2002: A memorial to John Lennon was unveiled in the remote Scottish village of Durness where Lennon had spent his holidays from age seven to 15.

2004: Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts was being treated for throat cancer.

2006: Der Spiegel publishes documents confirming German writer Gunter Grass was a member of the Waffen-SS in the Second World War.

2007: An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru.

2008: Record producer Jerry Wexler, who influenced the careers of singers including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan, died at his home in Sarasota, Florida aged 91. On the same day, Lee Berger and his nine-year-old son discover the two-million-year-old fossils of a new species of human ancestor (Australopithecus sediba) at Malapa Cave, South Africa.

2009: The Athletics World Championships open in Berlin.

2015: North Korea creates its own time zone by moving its clocks back half an hour to GMT+8.5.

2016: Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas dives at the line to win the women’s 400m gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

2017: Speaking on Twitter, Barack Obama says: “No one is born hating another person because of the color (sic) of his skin or his background or his religion…” in response to Charlottesville violence. It becomes the most liked tweet ever.

2018: The first ever US execution by fentanyl of Carey Dean Moore at Nebraska State Penitentiary.

BIRTHDAYS: Jim Dale, actor/songwriter, 85; Pete York, drummer (Spencer Davis Group) 78; Jimmy Webb, singer-songwriter, 74; Sir Tony Robinson, actor, 74; Tom Johnson, guitarist/singer-songwriter (The Doobie Brothers) 72; Matt Johnson, singer-songwriter (The The) 59; Jack Russell, wicketkeeper, 57; Debra Messing, actress, 52; Mikey Graham, vocals, (Boyzone) 48; Ben Affleck, actor/director/writer, 48; Natasha Henstridge, actress, 46; Ted Dwane, bassist (Mumford & Sons) 36; Joe Jonas, singer, 31 Jennifer Lawrence, actress, 30.