August 18 in History

1227 – RIP – Genghis Khan (c. 1162 – August 18, 1227) is said to have fathered between 1,000-2,000 children, making him the man with the most children in human history. He is also the male-line ancestor of ~0.5% of the world’s population.

1587 – Virginia Dare, the granddaughter of Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, became the first English child born in the Americas to Ananias and Eleanor Dare. She and the rest of the colonists at Roanoke disappeared at some point before August 18, 1590. The only clue was the word “Croatoan” carved into a post.

1868 – French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovered helium.

1783 – The 1783 Great Meteor was observed from the British Isles.

1877 – Asaph Hall discovered the Martian moon Phobos.

1903 – German engineer Karl Jatho may have flown his own airplane four months before the Wright brothers’ first flight.

1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, guaranteeing women’s suffrage.

#1 Hit August 18, 1956 – November 2, 1956: Elvis Presley – Don’t Be Cruel / Hound Dog

1958 – Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita was published in the United States.

#1 Hit August 18, 1958 – August 24, 1958: Domenico Modugno – Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)

1962 – Ringo Starr joined the Beatles, replacing Pete Best

1969 – Playing on the unscheduled 4th day, Jimi Hendrix’s version of The Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock was considered by some to be controversial and disrespectful.

#1 Hit August 18, 1973 – August 24, 1973: Diana Ross – Touch Me in the Morning

1977 – Steve Biko was arrested at a police roadblock under the ‘Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967’ in King William’s Town, South Africa. He died from injuries that occurred during his arrest. Peter Gabriel released a tribute to him, Biko, which became a hit in 1980.

#1 Hit August 18, 1979 – August 24, 1979: Chic – Good Times

#1 Hit August 18, 2001 – September 7, 2001: Alicia Keys – Fallin’

2005 – A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people, the one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history, and lasted just over six hours.