Today in History: August 14

1040: Mac Bethad mac Findláech, known to history as “Macbeth,” becomes King of Scotland when he slays Duncan I in battle near Elgin in Moray.

1771: Sir Walter Scott, the lawyer who led the successful battle to allow the Bank of Scotland to continue to issue banknotes, is born at Edinburgh.  Oh, he also wrote novels and poetry.

1880: Cologne Cathedral is finally completed, 600 years behind schedule.  The original contract did not contain liquidated damages clauses for delay.

1933: A metal cable rubbing against the dry bark of a pine tree ignites the Tillamook Burn, a forest fire that will burn 375 square miles of timber worth about $450 million (in 1933 dollars).

1951: William Randolph Hearst, who was expelled from Harvard for putting faculty pictures on the bottom of chamber pots, dies at Beverly Hills, California.

1968: The British Parliament passes the Marine Offenses Act to outlaw independent offshore radio stations and protect the BBC monopoly.

1980: Lech Walesa leads a dockworkers’ strike at Gdansk, Poland.  This will lead to the formation of the Solidarity union.