On This Day - 1st August

1779 - Francis Scott Key born. A Minor player in the 1812 U.S Anglo war he was responsible for writing the U.S. national anthem.
For further information see: http://www.usflag.org/history/francisscottkey.html
1819 - Herman Melville born
1834 - Slavery is abolished in all British Colonies
1873 - San Francisco's cable cars go into operation for the first time
1876 - Colorado becomes the 38th US State
1933 - Dom DeLuise born
1936 - Yves Saint Laurent born
1937 - Buchenwald Concentration camp opened
1942 - Jerry Garcia born
1944 - The Polish Underground Army begins battle to liberate Warsaw, the first European city to fall to the Germans.
1956 - Tom Leykis born
1963 - Coolio born
1971 - Apollo 15 astronauts uncovered a rock which dated back to the origin of the Moon. The so-called Genesis rock was found by lunar module pilots David Scott and James Irwin when they dug into the slope of Spur crater, on the flank of the Apennine Mountains on their second day on the surface.
1976 - F1 racing driver Niki Lauda was in a critical condition in hospital after crashing at the German Grand Prix.
1994 - Thousands of historic documents and more than 100,000 books are destroyed in a blaze which ripped through Norwich Central Library early today.
2003 - The Hutton inquiry begins and the judge investigating the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly says his first task is to flesh out "a fuller picture of the facts".