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Today in History: August 10
0955
Otto organizes his nobles and defeats the invading Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld in Germany.

1539
King Francis of France declares that all official documents are to be written in French, not Latin.

1557
French troops are defeated by Emmanuel Philibert's Spanish army at St. Quentin, France.

1582
Russia ends its 25-year war with Poland.

1628
The Swedish warship Vasa capsizes and sinks in Stockholm harbor on her maiden voyage.

1779
Louis XVI of France frees the last remaining serfs on royal land.

1831
William Driver of Salem, Massachusetts, is the first to use the term "Old Glory" in connection with the American flag, when he gives that name to a large flag aboard his ship, the Charles Daggett.

1846
The Smithsonian Institution is established in Washington through the bequest of James Smithson.

1864
Confederate Commander John Bell Hood sends his cavalry north of Atlanta to cut off Union General William Sherman's supply lines.

1911
The House of Lords in Great Britain gives up its veto power, making the House of Commons the more powerful House.

1913
The Treaty of Bucharest ends the Second Balkan War.

1941
Great Britain and the Soviet Union promise aid to Turkey if it is attacked by the Axis Powers.

1949
National Military Establishment renamed Department of Defense.

1950
President Harry S. Truman calls the National Guard to active duty to fight in the Korean War.

1954
The groundbreaking ceremony for the St. Lawrence Seaway is held at Massena, New York.

1954
English jockey Sir Gordon Richards retires with a world-record total of 4,870 victories, later broken by Johnny Longden of the United States. Richards was the first jockey ever to be knighted.

1960
NASA launches Discoverer 13 satellite; it would become the first object ever recovered from orbit.

1970
Rocker Jim Morrison tried in Miami on "lewd & lascivious behavior." Although convicted and sentenced to jail, he was free on bond while his case was being appealed when he dies in Paris, July 3, 1971.

1975
David Frost purchases the exclusive rights to interview Richard Nixon.

1977
US and Panama sign Panama Canal Zone accord, guaranteeing Panama would have control of the canal after 1999.


1997
The last British troops leave Hong Kong. After 156 years of British rule, the island is returned to China.

2003
For the first time ever, temperatures exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit when thermometers hit 101.3 F (38.5 Celsius) at Kent.

2006
All toiletries are banned from commercial airplanes after Scotland Yard disrupts a a major terrorist plot involving liquid explosives. After a few weeks, the toiletries ban was modified.

Today in History: Born on August 10
1753
Edmund Jennings Randolph, governor of Virginia and first U.S. attorney general.

1810
Camillo di Cavour, helped bring about the unification of Italy under the House of Saxony.

1874
Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States (1929-1933).

1909
Leo Fender, inventor of the first mass-produced electric guitar.

1909
George W. Crockett, first African-American lawyer with the U.S. Department of Labor.


1928
Jimmy Dean, singer, actor, TV host and businessman.

1928
Eddie Fisher, American singer.

1933
Keith Duckworth, English mechanical engineer whose Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) engine revolutionized Formula One racing.

1945
Harriet Miers, White House counsel.

1948
Patti Austin, Grammy Award-winning singer and actress ("Real Me").

1952
Daniel Hugh Kelly, film and TV actor (The Good Son).

JOTD
Three guys are working on an oil rig ...

Three roughnecks - John, Lonnie, and Donnie - were working on a rig in the oilfield... While they were working one day, John falls off the rig tower and is killed instantly. As the ambulance picks up his dead body and drives away, Lonnie says, "Somebody needs to go and tell his wife." Donnie replied, "I'll do it. I'm good with this sensitive stuff."
Two hours later Donnie returns with a case of beer. Lonnie asked him, "Where'd you get the beer?" Donnie told him John's wife gave it to him. Lonnie replies, flabbergasted, "Unbelievable! You told the lady her husband was dead and she gave you beer?"
Donnie said, "Not exactly, Lonnie. When she answered the door, I asked her 'Are you John's widow'. She says, 'You must be mistaken, I'm not a widow.'"
"And then I said, 'I'll bet you a case of beer you are.'"