Today is Sunday, Aug. 27, the 239th day of 2017. There are 126 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight: On August 27, 1967, Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, was found dead in his London flat from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills; he was 32.
On this date:
In 1776, the Battle of Long Island began during the Revolutionary War as British troops attacked American forces who ended up being forced to retreat two days later.
In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.
In 1908, Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, was born near Stonewall, Texas.
In 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris, outlawing war and providing for the peaceful settlement of disputes.
In 1939, the first turbojet-powered aircraft, the Heinkel He 178, went on its first full-fledged test flight over Germany.
In 1949, a violent white mob prevented an outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robeson from taking place near Peekskill, New York. (The concert was held eight days later.)
In 1957, the USS Swordfish, the second Skate Class nuclear submarine, was launched from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.
In 1962, the United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus in December 1962.
In 1989, the first U.S. commercial satellite rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida — a Delta booster carrying a British communications satellite, the Marcopolo 1.
In 2008, Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Today’s birthdays: Actress Tuesday Weld is 74. Actor G.W. Bailey is 73. Actor Paul Reubens is 65. Actor Peter Stormare is 64. Actress Diana Scarwid is 62. Rock musician Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols) is 61. Movie director Tom Ford (Film: “Nocturnal Animals”) is 56. Actress Sarah Chalke is 41. Actor RonReaco Lee is 41. Rapper Mase is 40. Actress-singer Demetria McKinney is 39. Actor Aaron Paul is 38. Rock musician Jon Siebels (Eve 6) is 38. Actor Shaun Weiss is 38. Actor Kyle Lowder is 37. Actor Patrick J. Adams is 36. Actress Karla Mosley is 36. Actress Alexa PenaVega is 29.
Thought for today: “In order to have wisdom we must have ignorance.” — Theodore Dreiser, American author (born this date in 1871, died 1945).
Associated Press
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