August 10

258 Saint Lawrence was was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome, under Pope St Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman Emperor Valerian ordered in 258. He was executed on August 10, 258 by being burned alive on a giant gridiron. After being burned for some time, Saint Lawrence said "I'm well done on this side. Turn me over!" He is the patron saint of cooks, chefs and comedians. 

The Martyrdom of St Lawrence by Orazio Borgianni

1270 In Ethiopia, a local ruler, Yekuno Amlak, deposed King Za-Ilmaknun, and seized the imperial throne on August 10, 1270. This began the reign of the Solomonic dynasty, which would last for more than 700 years. The Solomonid dynasty claimed that they were related to the kings of Axum. They called themselves Neguse Negest ("King of Kings," or Emperor), basing their claims on their direct relation to Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

1680 The Pueblo Revolt of August 10–21, 1680  was an uprising of most of the indigenous Pueblo people against the Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, present day New Mexico. United by leader Popé, the Puebloans expelled their Spanish oppressors by force for the next 12 years, enabling the natives to preserve their rich culture which still exists today. The Pueblo Revolt is considered the most successful indigenous rebellion in American history.

1792 Following the storming of the Bastille, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and the French royal family moved to the Tuileries Palace in Paris, where they lived under a form of house arrest.  On August 10, 1792 insurrectionists in Paris stormed the Tuileries Palace. King Louis XVI was arrested and taken into custody as his Swiss Guards were massacred by the Parisian mob. After Louis XVI's arrest he was put on trial for treason by the National Convention and quickly proclaimed guilty. He was later executed.

The storming of the Tuileries Palace

1793 The Louvre became a royal palace in the fourteenth century under Charles V and was used from time to time by the kings of France as their main Paris residence. In 1682 Louis XIV abandoned the Louvre, and moved his court to Versailles. The Louvre was converted into an Art Museum during the French Revolution opening on August 10, 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings and 187 art objects. Most of its exhibits at the time consisted of treasures confiscated from the royal family or the Church.

1821 Missouri earned the nickname Gateway to the West because it served as a major departure point for expeditions and settlers heading to the West during the 19th century. Missouri officially became a US state on August 10, 1821. With increasing migration, from the 1830s to the 1860s Missouri's population almost doubled with every decade. Most of the newcomers were American-born, but many Irish and German immigrants arrived in the late 1840s and 1850s.

Fur Traders Descending the Missouri by Missouri painter George Caleb Bingham

1832 James Cook was the last person to be gibbeted in England on August 10, 1832. Cook was a bookbinder convicted of the murder of his creditor Paas, a manufacturer of brass instruments. He was executed in front of Leicester prison and his body was left in a specially made metal cage in a public place as a warning to others. Thousands gathered in Leicester to see the gruesome spectacle.

1850 Hawaii was historically the largest pineapple producer. The first pineapples were exported from Hawaii on August 10, 1850. Twelve-thousand pineapples were shipped from Lahaina, Maui, to California. Hawaiian production started to decline from the 1970s because of competition and the shift to refrigerated sea transport. Despite this decline, the pineapple is sometimes used as a symbol of Hawaii.

1874 31st President of the United States Herbert Hoover was born on August 10, 1874, in West Branch, Iowa.  His father, Jesse Hoover, was a blacksmith and farm implement store owner, of German and Swiss ancestry. Hoover's mother, Hulda Randall Minthorn, was of English and Irish ancestry. Both of his parents were Quakers. As a child, young Bertie was often called by his father "my little stick in the mud", since he repeatedly was trapped in the mud while crossing an unpaved street.

Herbert Hoover in 1877

1889 Dan Rylands of Hope Glass Works in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, patented the screw bottle top on August 10, 1889. This innovation was significant in the development of bottle closures, making bottles easier to open and reseal. Rylands' patent contributed to the widespread use of screw tops in various other industries.

1897 Hippocrates was the first to realize the healing power of bark of the willow tree. Eventually it was discovered that it was the compound salicylic acid, which occurs naturally in willow bark that caused the pain relief. Unfortunately it is bitter tasting and can cause vomiting. By mixing acetylating salicylic acid with acetic acid, German Bayer AG chemist Felix Hoffman concocted a less acidic formula to ease his father’s arthritis on August 10, 1897. The new drug, was named Aspirin by Bayer AG.

1907 In 1907 a 9,317 mile automobile race from Peking (now Beijing) to Paris was held after a French newspaper asked if anyone could prove their claim that if a man has a car, he can go anywhere. It was held despite the race committee cancelling the event. Two months after the race started from the French embassy in Peking the winner Prince Scipione Borghese arrived in Paris on August 10, 1907, winning a bottle of champagne.

Map of the route of the 1907 Peking to Paris race

1921 On August 10, 1921, the 39-year-old Franklin D. Roosevelt went for a swim in the cold Bay of Fundy. Returning home he sat down in his wet swimming suit to read his mail and retired to bed with what he thought was a bad cold only to find polio gripping him. Soon his legs were paralyzed and from then on he couldn't stand up without the help of leg braces or walk more than a few steps. As the US President, Roosevelt managed to conceal his disability so successfully many people did not realize the extent of it. 

1932 Rin Tin Tin was a male German Shepherd who was rescued from a World War I battlefield by Lee Duncan. An aerial gunner of the U.S. Army Air Service, Duncan nicknamed him "Rinty". Duncan trained Rin Tin Tin and obtained silent film work for his pet. He was an immediate box-office success and went on to appear in 27 Hollywood films, gaining worldwide fame. After the death of Rin Tin Tin on August 10, 1932, the name was given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured on film, radio, and television.

1962 Comic book hero Spider-Man made his debut in issue 15 of Marvel Comics’ Amazing Fantasy on August 10, 1962. Stan Lee had the original idea for Spider Man but Steve Ditko came up with his 'spider-sense' of danger and created villains including the Green Goblin and Sandman.

1962 Tahitian actress Tarita Teriipaia, who played Marlon Brando's love interest in Mutiny on the Bounty, became his third wife on August 10, 1962. She was 20 years old, 18 years younger than Brando. Because Teriipaia was a native French speaker, Brando became fluent in the language and gave numerous interviews in French.

1979 In December 1978 Michael Jackson started making his first solo album on Epic Records with Quincy Jones. Off the Wall was released on August 10, 1979. The album earned Jackson a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

2003 On August 10, 2003, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko made history by becoming the first person to marry in space. He married Ekaterina Dmitrieva, who was in Texas at the time, while he was aboard the International Space Station (ISS), approximately 240 miles over New Zealand. The ceremony was conducted through a video link between the ISS and the wedding venue on Earth.

2018 The current Guinness World Record for the most torches extinguished by fire eating in one minute is 101. This record was achieved by Brant Matthews from Canada at the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis, Wisconsin, USA on August 10, 2018. 

2021 After spending over 20 years at Barcelona FC, Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi joined French club Paris Saint-Germain on August 10, 2021. Messi chose the number 30 jersey, the same number he wore as a teenager when he made his senior debut for Barcelona. Messi had a mixed first two seasons at PSG. He has won Ligue 1 in both seasons, but he has struggled to replicate his goalscoring form from Barcelona. Messi joined Inter Miami in July 2023 on a three-year contract.