Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" MacLeod (Zelle)
(August 7, 1876 – October 15, 1917)

(Fox News) – Extremely rare letters from infamous World War I spy Mata
Hari to her lover have been sold for $15,000 at a Los Angeles auction.

Born Margaretha Zelle in the Netherlands in 1876, the courtesan and
exotic dancer was better known by her stage name of Mata Hari. She
was recruited by France to spy on Germany during World War I, and
was later accused of being a German double agent. 

Arrested in Paris on Feb. 13, 1917, she was put on trial on July 24 of
that year, charged with spying for Germany and causing the deaths
of at least 50,000 soldiers. Convicted, she was executed by a French
firing squad on Oct. 15, 1917. Some historians, however, think that
she was a scapegoat and her execution was used as a distraction
from the devastating losses France suffered during the war.

Richard Tiffany Gere

On this day in 1949, Richard Gere, the star of such hit films as An Officer
and a Gentleman (1982), Pretty Woman (1990) and Chicago (2002), is born
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Gere was raised in the Syracuse, New York area and attended the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst on a gymnastics scholarship. He left college
before graduating to pursue a career in theater. On the big screen, Gere’s
early credits included roles in 1977’s Looking for Mr. Goodbar, with Diane
Keaton, and 1978’s Days of Heaven, with Sam Shepard and Brooke Adams.

2009

On this day in 1955, William G. Cobb of the General Motors Corp
demonstrates his 15-inch-long “Sunmobile,” the world’s first solar-powered automobile, at the General Motors Powerama auto show
held in Chicago, Illinois.

Today, more than a half-century after Cobb debuted the Sunmobile,
a mass-produced solar car has yet to hit the market anywhere in the world.

William G. Cobb

CAMILLE BOHANNON

It was on this day in 1997.

Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Frances Spencer)  
(July 1, 1961 – August 31, 1997)

On this day in 1980, Poland’s Solidarity labor movement was born
with an agreement signed in Gdansk that ended a 17-day strike.

Lech Walesa, anti-communist leader of Solidarity in Poland.

Jack the Ripper’s first victim, Mary Ann Nichols was found dead
in London on this day in 1888.

Mary Ann Nichols throat had been slit and her body
horribly mutilated. At the time of her death the East
London Observer guessed her age at 30-35.

It was on this day in 1969.

Undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano and two
other men died when their light plane apparently lost power and crashed
in a cow pasture near Newton, Iowa.

Sir George Ivan Morrison is 83 years old today and was born in
Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Irish musician Van Morrison is best known to American audiences for his
hits "Brown-Eyed Girl" and "Moondance." He released his 36th studio
album, Keep Me Singing, in 2016. His father’s impressive record collection
inspired him to pursue music.