1883
The island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions. The resulting tidal waves in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.
1939
The first turbojet-powered aircraft, the Heinkel He 178, went on its first full-fledged test flight over Germany.
1967
Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, was found dead in his London flat from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills at age 32.
1979
British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three other people, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas, were killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion claimed by the Irish Republican Army.
2005
Coastal residents jammed freeways and gas stations as they rushed to get out of the way of Hurricane Katrina, which was headed toward New Orleans.
2020
Speaking on the White House South Lawn, President Donald Trump accepted his party’s renomination, blasting Joe Biden as a career politician who would endanger Americans’ safety.
Birthday’s
Author Lady Antonia Fraser is 91. Actor Tommy Sands is 86. Musician Alex Lifeson is 70. Country singer Colt Ford is 54. Rapper Mase is 48.