August 21: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

The “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon” premiered on HBO.

"House of the Dragon" is set nearly 200 years before the events of "Game of Thrones."

A 108-year-old message in a bottle washed up on a beach in Amrum, Germany.

The bottle was one of around 1,000 released in the UK as part of an experiment run by the Marine Biological Association of the UK.

Bioshock, the first-person dystopian horror shooter game, was released for Xbox 360 and PC.

The last few months of Bioshock's development were rough. The playtesters had no idea of the setting or what was happening. To give players more clarity, the development team added cutscenes at the beginning of the game that showed the player's aircraft crashing into the sea. This tactic was inspired by the first episode of Lost.

Tiger Woods won the 82nd PGA Championship, making it his second win in a row.

NASA lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.

Donald and Doris Fisher opened the first Gap store in San Francisco, California.

Men's Levi's jeans and record tapes were the only items for sale.

The first female students were enrolled at a University in Japan.

Tohoku University accepted Chika Kuroda, Ume Tange, and Raku Makita, the first female students in a Japanese educational facility, which paved the way for women's education in Japan. Kuroda and Tange studied chemistry, and Makita studied mathematics.

Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Mona Lisa painting was stolen from the Louvre, Paris, by Vincenzo Perugia.

The painting was retrieved in November 1913, and Perugia pleaded guilty, spending eight months behind bars.

American baseball player Joe McGinnity was suspended after a brawl in which he punched and spat at umpire Tom Connolly.

John Hampton patented the Venetian blind.

Within the patent, Hampton noted three benefits of the blinds; greater durability, easier operation, and more economical.

British ship Eliza Frances discovered the island of Jarvis in the South Pacific Ocean.

The church “Our Lady of Candlemas of Mayagüez” was founded.

It was also known as "Puerto Rico," where the city of Puerto Rico later got its name.

The naval battle of Texel took place in the North Sea.

The battle was between the Dutch Republic and the combined Engish and French fleets. The winner was unclear, but the fight claimed 3,000 lives.

A solar eclipse occurred, which started Tycho Brahe’s interest in the world of astronomy.

The Khagan emperor, Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire, accepted the surrender of his younger brother Ariq Böke, which ended the Toluid Civil War.