Calendar for August 18th, 2012

2001: Discovery Day (Yukon Territory)

Died 1227: Genghis Kahn (Mongol leader)

1587: Virginia Dare, daughter of Ananias and Eleanor Dare, was born in Roanoke, becoming the first child to be born in America of English parents

1590: John White, the governor of the Colony of Roanoke, returned from a trip to England for supplies and found his settlement deserted

Born 1774: Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark expedition)

1838: Charles Wilkes began expedition to South Pole

1873: Begole, Johnson, and Lucas summited Mt. Whitney, Sierra Nevada, California

Born 1927: Rosalynn Smith Carter (U.S. First Lady)

Born 1934: Roberto Clemente (baseball player)

Born 1937: Robert Redford (actor)

Born 1943: Martin Mull (actor)

1949: Plant patent #1 granted for climbing rose

Born 1952: Patrick Swayze (actor)

Born 1957: Denis Leary (actor)

1962: Ringo Starr joined The Beatles

Born 1969: Edward Norton (actor)

1969: Woodstock Festival ended

Born 1970: Malcolm-Jamal Warner (actor)

1983: 12-year old Samantha Druce swam the English Channel

1992: Boston Celtics player Larry Bird announced his retirement

Died 2004: Elmer Bernstein (composer)

2010: Lucy, a 4-year old dog from Peterborough, New Hampshire, became the first paralyzed dog to walk the entire 7.6-mile Auto Road up Mount Washington. (She was also the first handicapped canine to attempt the trek.) It took her six hours and two minutes.