Today is Saturday, August 4, the 217th day of 2012. There are 149 days left in the year.

1693 ― Dom Perignon invents champagne

1753 ― George Washington becomes a master mason

1777 ― Retired British cavalry officer Philip Astley establishes first circus

1914 ― Germany declares war on Belgium; Britain declares war on Germany

1944 ― Anne Frank, 15, (Diary of Anne Frank) is arrested by Nazis

1948 ― Five-day southern filibuster succeeds in maintaining poll tax

1964 ― Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney found buried inside an earthen dam in Mississippi

1971 ― U.S. launches first satellite into lunar orbit from manned spacecraft

1984 ― Prince's ``Purple Rain," album goes to No. 1 and stays No.1 for 24 weeks

1988 ― Congress votes $20,000 to each Japanese-American interned in WW II