On this day

Births:

1929 – Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 2004)
1945 – Vince McMahon, American professional wrestling promoter
1957 – Stephen Fry, English comedian and actor
1958 – Steve Guttenberg, American actor
1962 – David Koechner, American actor
1967 – Michael Thomas, English footballer
1970 – Dan Henderson, American mixed martial artist
1973 – Dave Chappelle, American actor and Comedian
1975 – Mark de Vries, Surinamese-Dutch footballer
1976 – Alex O'Loughlin, Australian actor
1977 – Denílson, Brazilian footballer
1977 – Robert Enke, German footballer (d. 2009)
1981 – Chad Michael Murray, American actor
1982 – Kim Kallstrom, Swedish footballer
1983 – Christopher Parker, British actor
1988 – Rupert Grint, English actor

79 - Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash and killing an estimated 20,000. (The date has been challenged, many believe it was Oct 24th)

1680 - Colonel Blood, an Irish adventurer who stole the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London in 1671, died. He had been captured after the theft, but insisted on seeing King Charles II, who pardoned him.

1814 - British forces captured Washington DC and set the White House on fire.

1891 – Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.

1932 - Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly non-stop across the United States, traveling from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in just over 19 hours.

1949 – The treaty creating NATO goes into effect.

1968 – France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.

1981 - Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for the murder of musician John Lennon.

1991 – Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.

2006 - The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is no longer considered a planet.

1989: Voyager spacecraft reaches Neptune
The unmanned Voyager 2 spacecraft has sent back the first close-up pictures of Neptune and its satellite planets.
Neptune is over two billion miles from Earth - the most distant planet in our solar system.

Scientists at Mission Control in Florida have called it the "culmination of the greatest journey of exploration this century".

Voyager 2 has already sent back pictures and information from Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus.

But its trip to Neptune has provided the most spectacular so far.

Neptune's blue hue is clearly visible - it comes from the planet's mainly methane atmosphere.

Scientists have been astounded by the discovery of a storm the size of Earth hovering over Neptune.

Six new moons have also been identified.

Voyager 2 blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida in August 1977.

It is a twin to Voyager 1 which was launched the following month.

Originally their trip was only designed to take in Jupiter and Saturn but scientists later decided to extend their journey and reprogrammed them by remote control.

Voyager 2 is due to leave our solar system soon and begin a journey of exploration of the stars - it is the last we will hear of it for many years.

Voyager 1 is already on its way to conduct studies of interplanetary space.

Both spacecraft carry an disk of recorded sounds and images from Earth.

Included are greetings from many languages, images of life on our planet and human achievements.


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Voyager is carrying recorded greetings from Earth


Stunning images sent back from Neptune






In Context
Between them, Voyager 1 and 2 explored all the giant outer planets of our solar system.
Although originally designed to last just five years, both Voyagers are still in communication with the Earth and will remain so until at least 2020.

Voyager 1 is now the most distant human-made object in the universe with Voyager 2 not far behind.

Their eventual goal is to become the first spacecraft to escape the Sun's influence.

Both spacecraft are heading towards the heliopause, the boundary between the Sun's influence and interstellar space.

That will probably be their final mission but long after they stop communicating with Earth, the two Voyagers will keep speeding away from our solar system.


Stories From 25 Aug
1944: Paris is liberated as Germans surrender
2003: Bombay rocked by twin car bombs
1997: East German leader guilty of Berlin Wall deaths
1989: Voyager spacecraft reaches Neptune
1967: 'American Hitler' shot dead
1974: Human cannonball misses target

1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.

1875 - Navy Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel (in 21 hours, 45 minutes).

1917 - The Order of the British Empire (OBE), and the Companion of Honour (CH), were awarded for the first time.

1940 - The RAF made it's first air raid on Berlin.

1944 - World War II - The Allies liberated Paris after four years of Nazi occupation.

1981 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn.

1991 – Belarus declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Births:

1980 – Macaulay Culkin, American actor
1980 – Chris Pine, American actor
1981 – Tino Best, Barbadian West Indies cricketer
1981 – Petey Williams, Canadian professional wrestler
1986 – Colin Kazim-Richards, Turkish footballer
1987 – Riley Steele, Pornographic actress
1988 – Tori Black, American pornographic actress
1990 – Lil' Chris, English singer-songwriter and TV personality

1962: Abortion mother returns home
An American mother-of-four is on her way home amid a storm of controversy after being given a legal abortion in Sweden.
Sherri Finkbine, a TV presenter from Phoenix in Arizona, was denied an abortion in her home state following intense negative publicity surrounding her case.

The 30-year-old mother decided to terminate her fifth pregnancy after discovering that tranquilizers she had taken in the first few weeks of her pregnancy contained the drug Thalidomide.

In recent months there has been increasing evidence suggesting Thalidomide causes severe foetal deformities including missing limbs, deafness and blindness.

Public condemnation

Mrs Finkbine, host of children's television programme "Romper Room", told her story to the local newspaper, believing it would alert other mothers in the same situation to the dangers of the drug.

But she became the focus of an intense anti-abortion campaign and worldwide public condemnation.

The negative publicity led her local hospital in Phoenix to withdraw a tentative offer of a legal abortion for fear they may be held criminally liable - the current law in Arizona states that abortion can only be carried out to save the mother's life.

Mrs Finkbine and her husband, Robert, a school teacher, took the case to the Arizona State Supreme Court but were unsuccessful.

Despite vilification from anti-abortionists across the United States and the world she flew to Sweden where the operation was carried out.

After the operation it was confirmed that the foetus had no legs and only one arm .


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Mr and Mrs Finkbine arrive in London en route to Phoenix, Arizona



In Context
When she returned to Phoenix Mrs Finkbine's local doctor asked her to register with another physician.
She was dismissed from her job, and her husband was suspended from his high school teaching post.

Their children were hounded, anonymous death threats poured in by post and telephone and the press swarmed around their home.

She and her husband went on to have two more children but divorced in 1973.

In 1991 she married a gynaecologist, becoming Sherrie Chessen.

Worldwide, some 8,000 women who took thalidomide as a sedative and to alleviate morning sickness, gave birth to babies with deformities.

Thalidomide was available in the UK from 1958 and taken off the market in late 1961 after tests revealed it disrupted foetal development.

In 1973 after a barrage of press and public pressure, The Distillers Company (Biochemicals) Ltd, who produced and marketed the drug in Britain, eventually agreed to provide a trust fund and lump sum payouts to all children affected.


Stories From 26 Aug
1959: US to 'stand by' West Germans
1975: Rhodesia peace talks fail
1985: Budd smashes 5,000m record
1994: Man gets 'bionic' heart
1962: Abortion mother returns home

55BC - Julius Caesar crossed the English Channel for his invasion of Britain.

1346 - The English, led by Edward III and his son Edward the Black Prince, won the Battle of Crécy against Philip VI of France. It was at this battle that the English first used the gesture of holding up two fingers as an insult, as this was how they held their new, and far superior weapon, the longbow.

1883 - The volcano Krakatoa erupted in the largest recorded explosion.

1936 - Over 7,000 people queued to see the first high definition television pictures on sets at the Olympia Radio Show, west London. The pictures were transmitted by the BBC from Alexandra Palace, introduced by Leslie Mitchell, their first announcer.

1957 – The USSR announces the successful test of an ICBM.

1971 – The United States Congress declares August 26th as an annual Women's Equality Day.

1978 - Pope John Paul I is elected to the Papacy.

2008 – Russia unilaterally recognizes the independence of the former Georgian breakaway republics Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

1950: Television crosses the Channel
The BBC has transmitted the first ever live television pictures across the Channel.
A two-hour programme was broadcast live from Calais in northern France to mark the centenary of the first message sent by submarine telegraph cable from England to France.


In spite of formidable difficulties, this pioneer venture was successful, though the picture quality was far from perfect

Edward Pawley
BBC Engineer

British viewers were able to watch the town of Calais "en fete", with a torchlight procession, dancing and a firework display all taking place in the Place de l'Hotel de Ville.

Presenters Richard Dimbleby and Alan Adair gave commentaries on the festivities and interviewed local personalities in front of the cameras.

Technical difficulties

The historic transmission, which has taken more than two months to plan, was made possible largely because of recent developments in portable television radio links.

In the past the working range for outside broadcast units was just 25 miles (40 km).

Five portable radio-link stations, designed to receive and send microwave signals, were set up temporarily along the 95-mile (153 km) route from Calais to London.

The first was installed at the top of the Hotel de Ville in Calais.

The microwave links work on wave-lengths of a few centimetres and concentrate the radio energy into sharp beams.

The idea is to direct as much energy as possible towards the next receiving station, which in this case was situated high above Dover at the Air Ministry Radar Station at Swingate.

There were initial teething problems when it was found that the strength of the signal fluctuated greatly according to the weather, the tide and shipping in the Channel.

Technical adjustments were required and the broadcast signals were eventually received by equipment situated at the top of London University's 200-ft (61m) Senate House, having passed through the towns of Lenham and Harvel in Kent.

From there the pictures were transmitted via cable to Alexandra Palace and onto Sutton Coldfield by the GPO radio-link from where they were beamed to the nation.


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The programme was transmitted from the Hotel de Ville in Calais


Television's first cross-channel broadcast




In Context - key events in broadcasting history
Radio
14 November 1922 - first broadcast by British Broadcasting Company.
26 March 1923 - daily weather forecast first broadcast.
1 October 1939 - first wartime speech by Winston Churchill.
18 March 1947 - first Party Political Broadcast.
28 October 1957 - first broadcast of Today.
23 April 1968 - Radio coverage of the House of Commons begins.
9 June 1975 - first live broadcast from House of Commons.
Television

5 January 1948 - first transmission of Newsreel, the first regular TV news programme.
27 August 1950 - first cross-channel transmission.
June 2 1953 - Broadcast of Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey.
11 November 1953 - first transmission of Panorama.
5 July 1954 - first transmission of News & Newsreel, Britain's first daily TV news programme.
4 September 1955 - newsreaders appear "in vision" for the first time.
1955 - Launch of ITV
1960 - Television Centre in Shepherds Bush opened.
1964 - Launch of BBC2
23 Sept 1974 - first regular transmission of CEEFAX
21 November 1989 - House of Commons televised for the first time
4 November 1997 - launch of BBC News Online
9 November 1997 - Launch of News 24


Stories From 27 Aug
1979: IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten
1979: Soldiers die in Warrenpoint massacre
1990: 'Guinness Four' guilty
1967: Beatles' manager Epstein dies
1950: Television crosses the Channel
1987: Maclennan replaces Owen in SDP

1784 - The first balloon ascent was made in Britain, by James Tytler at Edinburgh.

1859 – Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well.

1900 - Britain's first long distance bus service began between London and Leeds. The journey took 2 days!

1910 - Thomas Edison demonstrated the first talking pictures in his New Jersey laboratory.

1962 – The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA.

1985 – The Nigerian government is peacefully overthrown by Army Chief of Staff Major General Ibrahim Babangida.

1993 - The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's Shibaura Wharf and the island of Odaiba, is completed.

2003 - Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing approximately 34,646,416 miles (55,758,002 kilometers) from Earth.

2007 – The skeletal remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Anastasia are found near Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Births:

1948 – Sgt. Slaughter, American professional wrestler
1969 – Mark Ealham, England cricketer
1970 – Andy Bichel, Australian cricketer
1970 – Peter Ebdon, English snooker player
1972 – Jimmy Pop, American musician (The Bloodhound Gang)
1972 – Denise Lewis, English heptathlete
1972 – The Great Khali, Indian professional wrestler
1973 – Dietmar Hamann, German footballer
1974 – Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistani cricketer
1976 – Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress
1976 – Mark Webber, Australian racing driver
1977 – Deco, Portuguese footballer
1984 – David Bentley, English footballer
1984 – Sulley Muntari, Ghanaian footballer
1986 – Mario, American R&B singer
1986 – Nabil El Zhar, Moroccan footballer
1988 – Alexa Vega, American actress

Deaths:

2010 – Luna Vachon, Professional Wrestler (b. 1962)