More important than any of that on August 7th, 1919 my dad was born. He would have been 100 today. I miss him.
On this day in 1974, amidst the Watergate scandal and looming impeachment, Richard M. Nixon resigns from the presidency. On this day in 1963, The Great Train Robbery occurs in England. Sixteen culprits are involved in stopping the Royal Main train in the middle of the night, and getting away with 2.6 million pounds (about 53 million in today's value). It is an unarmed robbery, and while most of those involved were eventually caught and convicted, little of the money was ever found. British lore says some of the robbers played Monopoly with the real money while hiding out in the days that followed.
All of the robbers were eventually caught except for gang leader Ronald Biggs. Biggs moved to Brazil and knocked up a Brazilian woman. Under Brazilian law the father or future father of a Brazilian citizen can't be extradited. Some years later a ship of the British Royal Navy was in port un Rio de Janeiro. A big stink was caused among Royal Naval circles when the sailors hosted Briggs and partied with him aboard ship. To my knowledge Biggs continues to live openly as himself in Rio. It's been reported that he had most of the stolen money.
On this day in 1945, we dropped the second big one on Nagasaki. On this day in 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four other people were found brutally murdered in her Los Angeles home. The murders were eventually traced back to Charles Manson and members of his cult "family."
On this day Aug 10, 1846 Congress created the Smithsonian museum. It is an interesting story. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
