This Day in History

In 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.

In 1892, fire seriously damaged New York’s original Metropolitan Opera House.

In 1949, a violent white mob prevented an outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robeson from taking place near Peekskill, New York. (The concert was held eight days later.)

In 1962, the United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus in December 1962.

In 1964, the Walt Disney movie musical fantasy “Mary Poppins,” starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

In 1967, Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, was found dead in his London flat from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills; he was 32.

In 1975, Haile Selassie (HY’-lee sehl-AH’-see), the last emperor of Ethiopia’s 3,000-year-old monarchy, died in Addis Ababa at age 83 almost a year after being overthrown.

In 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.

In 1989, the first U.S. commercial satellite rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida — a Delta booster carrying a British communications satellite, the Marcopolo 1.

In 2006, a Comair CRJ-100 crashed after trying to take off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Ky., killing 49 people and leaving the co-pilot the sole survivor.

Ten years ago: Barack Obama was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Denver. A federal judge in Boise, Idaho, sentenced longtime sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III to death for the 2005 kidnapping, torture and murder of 9-year-old Dylan Groene (GROH’-nee).

Five years ago: Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who’d fatally shot 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, rested his case without presenting any evidence during his trial’s penalty phase. (Hasan ended up being sentenced to death.)

One year ago: Hurricane Harvey sent devastating floods into Houston, with rising water chasing thousands of people to rooftops or higher ground; streets became rivers navigable only by boat. A rally in Berkeley, California, was disrupted when scores of anarchists wearing black clothing and masks stormed the demonstration and attacked several supporters of President Donald Trump.

Today’s Birthdays: Author Lady Antonia Fraser is 86. Actor Tommy Sands is 81. Bluegrass singer-musician J.D. Crowe is 81. Musician Daryl Dragon is 76. Actress Tuesday Weld is 75. Actor G.W. Bailey is 74. Rock singer-musician Tim Bogert is 74. Actress Marianne Sagebrecht is 73. Country musician Jeff Cook is 69. Actor Paul Reubens is 66. Rock musician Alex Lifeson (Rush) is 65. Actor Peter Stormare is 65. Actress Diana Scarwid is 63. Rock musician Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols) is 62. Golfer Bernhard Langer is 61. Country singer Jeffrey Steele is 57. Gospel singer Yolanda Adams is 57. Movie director Tom Ford (Film: “Nocturnal Animals”) is 57. Country musician Matthew Basford (Yankee Grey) is 56. Writer-producer Dean Devlin is 56. Rock musician Mike Johnson is 53. Rap musician Bobo (Cypress Hill) is 51. Country singer Colt Ford is 49. Actress Chandra Wilson is 49. Rock musician Tony Kanal (No Doubt) is 48. Actress Sarah Chalke is 42. Actor RonReaco (correct) Lee is 42. Rapper Mase is 41. Actress-singer Demetria McKinney is 40. Actor Aaron Paul is 39. Rock musician Jon Siebels (Eve 6) is 39. Actor Shaun Weiss is 39. Contemporary Christian musician Megan Garrett (Casting Crowns) is 38. Actor Kyle Lowder is 38. Actor Patrick J. Adams is 37. Actress Karla Mosley is 37. Actress Amanda Fuller is 34. Singer Mario is 32. Actress Alexa PenaVega is 30. Actor Ellar Coltrane is 24. Actress Savannah Paige Rae is 15.