Video: McCartney/Wings (Aug. 20, 1972)
(Sunday, August 20, 1972) — Paul McCartney and his group Wings performed a piano improvisation today on a Dutch radio program “popsmuk” in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, during their 25-city Wings Over Europe Tour, McCartney’s first of Continental Europe since The Beatles made a three-city swing through Germany in June 1966.
Video: 'The Talk of the Town' (clip)
(Thursday, August 20, 1942) — The Talk of the Town, a film about an escaped prisoner and a stuffy law professor who vie for the hand of a spirited schoolteacher, opened today in the U.S.
Directed by George Stevens, the film stars Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman and Rex Ingram.
Video: 'Tchaikovsky's famous 1812 Overture'
(Sunday, August 20, 1882) — Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, written in 1880 to commemorate Russia’s defense of their fatherland against Napoleon’s invading Grande Armée in 1812, premiered today in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.
The overture is best known for its climactic volley of cannon fire, ringing chimes, and brass fanfare finale.
Video: Aug 20, 1862 (at 38:41)
(Wednesday, August 20, 1862, during the American Civil War) — Republican editor Horace Greeley of the highly influential New York Tribune published a famous editorial today entitled “The Prayer of Twenty Millions,” demanding a more aggressive attack on the Confederacy and faster emancipation of the slaves by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Continue reading Editor Horace Greeley publicly urges immediate emancipation of southern slaves 150 years ago today (1862)
