August 31
1887
Thomas Edison received a patent for his “Kinetoscope,” and moving pictures were born.
1888
Mary Ann Nicholls, considered to be Jack the Ripper’s first victim, was found murdered in London.
1962
Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from Great Britain.
1980
Poland’s Solidarity labor movement had its beginnings when an agreement ending a 17-day strike was signed in Gdansk.
1994
Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltic states.
1997
Princess Diana and her companion Dodi al-Fayed were killed in a car accident in Paris.
2012
Armenia severed diplomatic relations with Hungary, after the pardoning of Ramil Safarov. In 2004, Safarov was convicted of killing an Armenian soldier.
Birthdays
Maria Montessori
1870–1952, Italian educator and physician.
Georg Jensen
silversmith (1866)
Wilhelmina
queen (1880)
Alan Jay Lerner
lyricist and librettist (1918)
Van Morrison
singer, songwriter (1945)
Richard Gere
actor (1949)