The History Channel
• On Aug. 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden are found hacked to death in their home in Fall River, Mass. Daughter Lizzie Borden was arrested and charged with the double homicide, but was later acquitted, as local authorities didn’t trust fingerprint technology.
• On Aug. 6, 1911, Lucille Ball, destined to become one of America’s most beloved comic actresses, is born near Jamestown, N.Y. Her long career began in 1933 when she was hired as the Chesterfield cigarette girl and was featured in all the company’s advertisements.
• On Aug. 10, 1948, TV classic “Candid Camera,” produced and hosted by Alan Funt, debuts. The show featured unsuspecting people captured in their natural, bemused responses to comic setups. “Candid Camera” ran on network television from 1948 to 1950, again in 1953, and again from 1960 to 1967.
• On Aug. 7, 1959, the U.S. unmanned spacecraft Explorer 6 is launched into orbit around the Earth. The spacecraft transmitted a crude picture of the Earth’s surface from a distance of 17,000 miles. The photo took 40 minutes to transmit.
STRANGE BUT TRUE
By Samantha Weaver
• Yes, Barbie has a last name. It’s Roberts.
• Next time you feel a yawn coming on, you might want to be careful: Those who study such things say that if your yawn is too wide, you could break your jaw. Also, if you stretch while you yawn, you could dislocate your shoulder.
• A 15th-century man named Lodovico Cortusio evidently hated any and all expressions of grief. In fact, he forbade anyone to mourn at his funeral after his death on July 17, 1418. In his last will and testament, he specified that the person who laughed the most at his funeral would inherit the most, while anyone who cried would be disinherited.
• Most people realize that the original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, were born in Siam (now Thailand). Many would be surprised to learn, though, that after being exhibited as a curiosity on P.T. Barnum’s world tour, they became naturalized citizens of the United States, putting down roots in North Carolina in 1839, and adopting “Bunker” as their last name.
(c) 2008 King Features Synd. Inc.
