On This Day August 31

1993
Russia ends its occupation of Lithuania: For the first time ever, Russian forces pulled out completely from one of the Soviet republics that had split from Moscow in the 1990s. They had been in Lithuania since 1940.

1993
Barney's Favorites Volume 1: The album, featuring 27 songs by the purple dinosaur, is released.

1985
AIDS: U.S. Department of Defense announces it will not accept recruits carrying the AIDS virus.

1919
The American Communist Labor Party is formed, in Chicago. Their motto: "Workers of the world unite!"

1903
First automobile to cross the U.S. under its own power: A Packard arrives in New York City, after departing from San Francisco July 10.

1895
First professional football game: Latrobe, Pennsylvania YMCA beats the Jeannette Athletic Club 12-0.

1957
Gina Schock, American drummer, with the Go-Go's. Music: We Got the Beat (1981) and Vacation (1982).

1954
Caroline Cossey (Barry Kenneth Cossey), British transsexual model, underwent a sex-change to become a woman (1974) and became a successful model under the name "Tula." She's one of the world's most famous transsexuals and the first to pose for Playboy magazine (September 1991). Film: For Your Eyes Only (1981, a girl by the pool). Music videos: Rio by Duran Duran (1983, star/model), Some Like It Hot by Power Station (1986, featured as the model).

1949
Richard Tiffany Gere, American actor. Film: American Gigolo (1979), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), and Pretty Woman (1990, he also composed and performed the featured piano solo). He was the first man ever to appear on the cover of Vogue magazine

1945
Van Morrison (George Ivan Morrison), Irish singer, songwriter, Brown Eyed Girl (1967) and Moondance (1970).

1935
Frank Robinson, American baseball Hall of Famer, first to win the Most Valuable Player award in both major leagues (1961 National, 1966 American) and the first black major-league manager (1974, Cleveland Indians).

1914 d. 1984
Richard Basehart, American actor. TV: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Admiral Harriman Nelson).

1903 d. 1983
Arthur Godfrey, American radio and TV personality, dominated the air waves in the 1950s.

1870 d. 1952
Maria Montessori, Italian educator. She created the world-famous Montessori system of teaching children. She was also the first woman in Italy to obtain a medical degree (1894).

1973 b. 1895
John Ford (Sean Aloysius O'Feeney), American Oscar-winning film director of over 130 films including: The Grapes of Wrath (1940), My Darling Clementine (1946), and The Quiet Man (1952).

1969 b. 1923
Rocky Marciano (Rocco Francis Marchegiano), American boxer, undefeated (49-0) world heavyweight champion (1952-56).

1963 b. 1882
Georges Braque, French painter, in 1907 he and Picasso founded the cubist movement and in 1962 he became the first living artist to exhibit in the Louvre.

1818 b. 1736
Arthur St. Clair, 15th president of the Continental Congress (1787-88).

1688 b. 1628
Paul Bunyan, English preacher, author of Pilgrim's Progress (1678). This religious work was the most widely read book, except for the Bible, for over 200 years. He was imprisoned from 1660-72 for preaching without a license. (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1057 b. ????
Leofric, Earl of Mercia, promised his wife, Lady Godiva, he would relieve Coventry of its heavy taxes if she rode through the marketplace naked.

August 31

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