Major Events
- 1737 First public admittance to the Salon de Paris art exhibition at the Louvre in Paris
- 1838 United States Exploring Expedition headed by Charles Wilkes departs for the Pacific Ocean and Antarctica
- 1914 US President Woodrow Wilson issues his “Proclamation of Neutrality” to keep the United States out of World War I
Aug 18 in Film & TV
- 1926 First televised weather map, broadcast for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington, DC
Aug 18 in Music
- 1956 Elvis Presley‘s “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel” reach #1 in the charts, staying for 11 weeks (a record for a single release) [1]
Aug 18 in Sport
- 2008 Belarusian weightlifter Andrei Aramnau breaks three world records in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total on his way to winning the men’s 105 kg gold medal at the Beijing Olympics
Did You Know?
French Astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium in solar spectrum during eclipse
Fun Fact About August 18
60-70 ft sea serpent sightings reported offshore in Gloucester, Massachusetts
Famous Weddings
- 1572 Henry of Navarre (later Henry IV of France) marries Margaret of Valois in Notre Dame cathedral, Paris, in attempt to make truce between Catholics and Protestants but prompts St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre days later
- 1782 Romantic Age poet and artist William Blake (24) marries Catherine Boucher (19) in St. Mary’s Church, Battersea, London
- 1867 Cosima Liszt marries Hans von Bülow, a pupil of her father, at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, Berlin
Famous Divorces
- 1954 Oscar-winning actress Susan Hayward (37) divorces actor Jess Barker (42) after nine years of marriage