What Happened On This Day – August 13
1997 South Park Makes its Debut on Comedy Central
The popular American animated series is created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and it follows the lives and adventures of 4 boys – Eric Cartman, Kenny McCormick, Kyle Broflovski, and Stan Marsh – in a fictional town called South Park, Colorado. While being popular, the show has attracted widespread criticism for profane language and for addressing controversial subjects.
1961 Construction of Berlin Wall starts
The construction on the Berlin Wall, a wall that divided West Berlin from East Berlin started. It was built by the German Democratic Republic or East Germany.
1960 First Two-Way Telephonic Conversation With a Satellite
The conversation was made possible due to NASA’s Echo 1, a balloon satellite. It was launched into space on August 12. The satellite worked as reflector – signals sent to it were reflected back to the Earth.
1960 Central African Republic Gains its Independence From France.
The landlocked African Country came under French rule in the late 19th century. On this day, Barthélemy Boganda, a nationalist politician declared the creation of an independent Central African Republic and became the first Prime Minister of the country.
1918 First Woman enlists in the United States Marines
After joining the Marine corps, Opha May Johnson, was assigned desk duty at the Marine Corps headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
Births On This Day – August 13
1983 Sebastian Stan
Romanian/American actor
1970 Alan Shearer
English footballer
1926 Fidel Castro
Cuban lawyer, politician, 15th President of Cuba
1899 Alfred Hitchcock
English director, producer
1818 Lucy Stone
American activist
Deaths On This Day – August 13
2009 Les Paul
American guitarist, songwriter, co-designed the Gibson Guitar
2004 Julia Child
American chef, author
1995 Mickey Mantle
American baseball player
1946 H. G. Wells
English author
1910 Florence Nightingale
Italian/English nurse