1305: Scottish patriot William Wallace was hanged, beheaded, and quartered in London, and his body parts were later displayed in different cities. His barbaric murder came as a result of Wallace’s efforts to free Scotland from the occupying English forces. The 1995 movie Braveheart was based on Wallace’s life. The National Wallace Monument is on the outskirts of Stirling.
1966: First Photograph of the Earth Taken from the Orbit of the Moon
NASA’s Lunar Orbiter 1 was the first American unmanned spacecraft to orbit the Moon. Taking black and white pictures of the Earth was not the Orbiter’s main task. Its primary task was to scope out landing sites on the Moon for future spacecrafts.
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1990: Armenia Declares Independence from the Soviet Union
The Western Asian country had been part of the USSR since 1922. Until 1936, the country was part of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (TSFSR), along with Azerbaijan and Georgia. In 1936, the TSFSR was broken up and Armenia was renamed the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. The country declared itself independent of the USSR on the 23rd of August, 1990, and finally achieved independence a year later on September 21, 1991.
1990: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein appeared on state television with western hostages, provoking a storm of outrage.
2010: Nigeria got the prestigious United States Federal Aviation Authority, FAA Category One certification which enabled unrestricted direct flights by Nigerian domestic airlines to the United States of America.
2011: After rebel forces captured his compound in Tripoli, Muammar al-Qaddafi‘s four-decade rule of Libya ended; although his whereabouts were initially unknown, he was discovered two months later in the Libyan city of Surt and killed.
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: August 23
Kobe Bryant (23 August 1978 – 26 January 2020)
Kobe Bean Bryant was an American professional basketball player born on 23 August 1978. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association. He was 41.
