Moments in Time – August 2, 2023

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• On Aug. 14, 1040, Scotland’s King Duncan I was killed, not in his sleep, as Shakespeare would later portray the event in his famous play, but in a battle against his cousin and rival, Macbeth, who went on to succeed Duncan as king.
• On Aug. 15, 1914, architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s handyman, Julian Carlton, murdered Wright’s mistress, Martha Borthwick, along with her two children and four other adults, at Wright’s home and studio in Wisconsin before burning the home to the ground. Two men managed to escape, and Carlton died in prison several weeks later.
• On Aug. 16, 1962, Ringo Starr replaced Pete Best as drummer for The Beatles after the group’s manager, Brian Epstein, fired Best at the request of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Best sued the rockers for defamation of character and won an out-of-court settlement.
• On Aug. 17, 1992, 57-year-old Woody Allen confessed to his affair with Soon-Yi Previn, who was notably not just 35 years his junior but the adopted daughter of his longtime partner, actress Mia Farrow. Allen and Previn married and adopted two daughters of their own.
• On Aug. 18, 1992, Boston Celtics forward Larry Bird, widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players in history, announced his retirement from the game and took a front-office position with the team. The following year, his No. 33 jersey was retired in a sold-out ceremony at Boston’s TD Garden.
• On Aug. 19, 1791, Benjamin Banneker, a largely self-educated freeman, wrote a letter to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson in which he criticized Jefferson’s support of slavery and requested justice for African Americans, using language from the Declaration of Independence.
• On Aug. 20, 1858, German pathologist and statesman Rudolf Virchow’s groundbreaking medical text “Cellular Pathology” was published in Berlin, establishing the basis for modern medical science. Virchow was dubbed the “Pope of Medicine” by his colleagues and is today considered the “Father of Modern Pathology” and the founder of social medicine.

© 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.