August 7

1420 The best-known site of Florence is the domed cathedral of the city, Santa Maria del Fiore (see below), known as The Duomo, whose dome was built by Filippo Brunelleschi. Construction on Il Duomo started in 1296 but the building of the dome didn't begin until August 7, 1420. It was the first 'octagonal' dome in history to be built without a temporary wooden supporting frame. Containing four million bricks and weighing 37,000 tonnes, the dome is a spectacular feat of renaissance engineering.

1560 Hungarian noblewoman Countess Elizabeth Báthory was born on August 7, 1560. Báthory was the most prolific female serial killer of all time. She tortured and killed over 650 people, believing the blood of young girls would maintain her youth. For a long time, she was protected by her high social status.

1606 The first documented performance of William Shakespeare's Macbeth was performed at the Great Hall at Hampton Court on August 7, 1606. King James I of England was notorious for his fascination for witches. The three 'weird sisters' in Macbeth were in part Shakespeare's attempt to please the monarch. King James I liked the play as it forecast that Banquo would be the first of many kings in his line and James counted Banquo as an ancestor.

Folger Library Digital Image Collection Wikipedia Commons

1711 Queen Anne instituted the first Royal Ascot race meeting on August 7, 1711. Queen Anne first gave horse racing at Ascot "Royal" status when she founded the course in 1711. She deemed the heath surrounding the village, then known as East Cote, the ideal place for "horses to gallop at full stretch."

The first prize was for Her Majesty’s Plate, with a purse of 100 guineas. The racecourse is famous in particular for its summer meeting, held for four days in June.

1782 On August 7, 1782, George Washington ordered the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It was intended to be awarded to soldiers who had displayed "singularly meritorious action" in battle, regardless of their rank. The medal was later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart.

Purple Heart

1794  In Western Pennsylvania farmers who distilled whiskey from the grain they grew were incensed at the high duty being placed on their liquor sales and some refused to pay it. By 1794 the whiskey rebellion was gathering momentum and the home of the regional tax inspector's home had been set on fire. On August 7, 1794 President George Washington issued a presidential proclamation announcing, with "the deepest regret", that the militia would be called out to suppress the rebellion.

1876 Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida (Grietje) Zelle who was born on August 7, 1876. A Dutch-Frisian exotic dancer, she had relationships with both German and French officers during World War I and was the archetype of the seductive female spy. She  was arrested in February 1919, put on trial and found guilty of spying for Germany, and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. Mata Hari was executed by a firing squad of the French Army in October 1917.

Mata Hari In Amsterdam, 1915

1888 The world’s first revolving door was the Van Kannel Revolving Storm Door, patented on August 7, 1888 by Theophilus van Kannel of Philadelphia. Van Kannel came up with idea for revolving doors because he hated opening doors for women. 

1909 Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends were the first women to complete a car trip from the US east coast to its west coast. Ramsey began her 3,800-mile journey at Hell's Gate in Manhattan, New York in a green Maxwell 30. She was accompanied by two older sisters-in-law and another female friend, none of whom could drive a car. They took 59 days to travel from New York City to San Francisco arriving on August 7, 1909.

1938 Russian actor and theater director Konstantin Stanislavsky died on August 7, 1938. His Stanislavsky system would inspire numerous acting teachers in America. Stanislavsky's "emotional memory" technique became a dominant force in film acting, especially in the period after World War II. Stanislavsky's motto was "Think of your own experiences and use them truthfully."

1944 The Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I) was the first program-controlled calculator. It was developed and built by IBM at their Endicott plant and shipped to Harvard in February 1944.  The ASCC began computations for the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships in May and was officially presented to the university on August 7, 1944.

The right end of Harvard Mark 1. Wikipedia

1949 Randy Gardner was born August 7, 1949. He set the record for the longest period anyone has stayed awake when he was a 17-year-old high school student in San Diego, California, going without sleep for 11 days, or 264 hours. He was raising money for charity.

1953 In 1803 Ohio was admitted as the 17th U.S. State. While the state of Ohio is listed as the 17th state in the USA, that's really not true: technically, it is actually number 47. Congress "forgot" to vote on admitting Ohio into the Union until August 7, 1953.

1954 Johnny Cash married his first wife Italian-American Vivian Liberto on August 7, 1954 at St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church in San Antonio. The ceremony was performed by her uncle, Vincent Liberto. They had four daughters: Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy, and Tara. Liberto filed for divorce in 1966 because of Cash's severe drug abuse and alcoholism, as well as constant touring, and his close relationship with June Carter.

1955 Hurricane Diane formed on August 7, 1955, between the Lesser Antilles and Cape Verde and swept through North Carolina, the Mid-Atlantic states and New England. With peak winds of 140 mph, the hurricane inflicted an estimated $1.1 billion in damages, equivalent to $10.3 billion in 2023 dollars. This made Diane the first Atlantic hurricane to surpass the billion-dollar damage threshold.

1957 As a team, Laurel and Hardy appeared in 107 films, with the pair starring in 32 silent shorts, 40 sound shorts and 23 full-length features. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's final on-screen appearance together was in the 1951 French/Italian movie Atoll K. Oliver Hardy died aged 65 of a stroke on August 7, 1957. Stan Laurel was too ill to attend his funeral and said, "Babe would understand".

1960 By the end of the 1880s, France had established what came through for control over the coastal regions of Ivory Coast, amid the European scramble for Africa. From 1904 to 1958, Ivory Coast was a constituent unit of the Federation of French West Africa, which was a colony and an overseas territory under the Third Republic.  Ivory Coast achieved independence from France on August 7, 1960 and ever since .then August 7th has been celebrated as Republic Day by the people of Ivory Coast.

1964 The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed by the United States Congress on August 7, 1964. It was a pivotal moment in the Vietnam War, as it authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to use military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war.

1970 On August 7, 1970 a Burmese/Siamese cat called Tarawood belonging to V. Gane from Church Westcote, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom gave birth to 19 kittens, breaking the record for the largest litter of domestic cats. 15 of them survived. 

1974 On August 7, 1974 Philippe Petit performed a high wire act between the twin towers of the World Trade Center 1,368 feet (417 m) in the air. Philippe Petit's famous high-wire performance between the Twin Towers is known as "the artistic crime of the century". After completing his stunt, Petit was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct. These charges were dropped on the condition that the tightrope performer put on a free high-wire performance for children in Central Park.

1987 American long-distance open-water swimmer Lynne Cox made history became on August 7, 1987 the first person to swim the 2.5 miles between the United States and the Soviet Union. She successfully swam from Little Diomede (Alaska, USA) to Big Diomede (Soviet Union, now Russia) via the Bering Strait. 

1993 The UK monarch's London residence Buckingham Palace opened to the public for the first time on August 7, 1993. 4,314 people paid the £8 entrance fee on its opening day. Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms, including 19 state rooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms. There are 1,514 doors and 760 windows in the palace. The postcode for the Palace is SW1A 1AA.

1997 Garth Brooks attracted the largest crowd ever at New York's Central Park on August 7, 1997. About 980,000 attended his free concert with surprise guests Billy Joel and Don McLean, surpassing the previous record of 600,000 held by Paul Simon. The concert was  dubbed "Garthstock" (paying homage to Woodstock).

2011 The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, the longest guided busway in the world, opened in England on August 7, 2011. The first guided bus left St Ives at 09:00 after the busway had been opened by Andrew Lansley MP. It connects Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives in the English county of Cambridgeshire.

2016 On August 7, 2016, American golfer Jim Furyk shot a 12-under-par 58 in the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC at River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, becoming the first player to shoot 58 in a PGA Tour event. His round contained ten birdies and an eagle.