1100 – William II [William Rufus], King of England (1087-1100), killed by an arrow shot by Sir Walter Tyrell while hunting in the New Forest at 44
1222 – Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse (1194-1222), dies at 65
1849 – Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Albanian-born Pasha and viceroy of Egypt (founder of modern Egypt), dies at 80
1978 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican conductor and composer (Sinfonía India), dies at 79
1978 – Totie Fields [Sophie Feldman], American comedienne, dies at 48
2004 – Don Tosti, American musician (“Pachuco Boogie”), dies at 81
2008 – Fujio Akatsuka, Japanese cartoonist, dies of pneumonia at 72
2017 – Ara Parseghian, American College Football HOF coach (Northwestern; NCAA C’ship 1966, 73 Notre Dame), dies at 94
2020 – Bob Ryland, American tennis player (first African-American to play professionally) and coach (Harold Solomon, Arthur Ashe, Venus and Serena Williams), dies of aspiration pneumonia at 100
2025 – Kelley Mack (née Klebenow), American actress (Addy in “The Walking Dead”), dies of cancer at 33
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 2nd August 2026
1819 – First parachute jump in US by Frenchman Louis-Charles Guille over Jersey City
1870 – Tower Subway, the world’s first underground tube railway, opens in London
1920 – Marcus Garvey presents his “Back to Africa” program in NYC
1941 – Thousands of Jews are expelled from Subcarpathian Ruthenia
1967 – US Lunar Orbiter 5 is launched and enters lunar orbit on August 5
1975 – 104°F (40°C) in Providence, Rhode Island (state record)
2013 – 40 people are killed after an ammunition depot explodes in Homs, Syria
2015 – British Open Women’s Golf, Turnberry: Inbee Park of South Korea shoots final found 65 (−7) to win her 7th major title, 3 strokes ahead of compatriot Ko Jin-young
Today in History for 2nd August 2026
Historical Events
1057 – Frederick of Lorraine elected as the first Belgian Pope Stephen IX [X]
1914 – German and Ottoman empires sign a secret treaty of alliance after the outbreak of WWI
1948 – Italians Adolfo Consolini and Giuseppe Tosi go 1-2 in the men’s discus final at the London Olympics
1990 – 23rd San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Holiday Inn
2015 – British Open Women’s Golf, Turnberry: Inbee Park of South Korea shoots final found 65 (−7) to win her 7th major title, 3 strokes ahead of compatriot Ko Jin-young
Famous Birthdays
1945 – John T. Ward Jr., American racehorse trainer (Kentucky Derby 2001 Monarchos; Breeders’ Cup Distaff 1999 Beautiful Pleasure), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 2021)
1955 – Tim Dunigan, American actor (Captain Jonathan Power in “Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future”), born in St. Louis, Missouri
1955 – Anne Lacaton, French architect (Lacaton and Vassal; Pritzker Prize, 2021), born in Saint-Pardoux-la-Rivière, France
1957 – Jacky Rosen, American politician (Senator-D-Nevada 2019-), born in Chicago, Illinois
1958 – Arshad Ayub, Indian cricketer (Indian off-spinner of the late 1980’s), born in Hyderabad, India
Famous Deaths
1849 – Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Albanian-born Pasha and viceroy of Egypt (founder of modern Egypt), dies at 80
1859 – Horace Mann, American educator, author, abolitionist and politician who pioneered public schools, dies at 63
1979 – Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician and author (founder of Peruvian Aprista Party), dies at 84
2022 – Buddy Arrington, American auto racer (NASCAR Winston Cup Series 103 x top 10 finishes), dies at 84
2025 – Gregory C. O’Connell, American police detective and property developer known for revitalizing the Red Hook area, dies of cancer at 83
Famous Deaths for 1st August 2026
1580 – Albrecht Giese, German politician and diplomat, dies at 55
1589 – Jacques Clément, French assassin of Henry III of France (b. 1567)
1812 – Yakov Kulnev, Russian general (killed in battle) (b. 1763)
1884 – Heinrich Laube, writer, dies
1911 – Edward Austin Abbey, American painter (Quest of the Holy Grail mural at Boston Public Library), dies at 59
1963 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (Praise to the end!), dies at 55
1971 – John McDermott, American golfer (US Open, 1911-12), dies of heart failure at 79
1994 – Gerard van de Groenekan, furniture maker/designer, dies at 90
1997 – Svyatoslav Richter, Russian pianist, dies of a heart attack at 82
2016 – Franciszek Macharski, Polish Cardinal, Archbishop of Kraków (1978-2005), dies at 87
Historical Events for 1st August 2026
1883 – A papyrus is offered to the British Museum for £10,000, later revealed to be a forgery
1941 – Luftwaffe bombs German 23rd Infantry Division
1944 – Polish resistance fighters of the Home Army launch the Warsaw Uprising, the largest military effort undertaken by a resistance movement in occupied Europe
1957 – Gil Hodges hits his 13th MLB career grand slam, a National League record and the last by a Brooklyn Dodgers player
2014 – USA and UN announce a 72-hour ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, though it quickly breaks down
2014 – Indiana Pacers NBA superstar Paul George suffers a gruesome compound fracture of his lower right leg during a Team USA scrimmage
2018 – Australian Rugby League’s “Immortals” tally increases to 13 as pre-war stars Dally Messenger, Frank Burge, and Dave Brown, along with latter-day giants Norm Provan and Mal Meninga, are added
2024 – Tunisian human rights activist Sihem Bensedrine is arrested and imprisoned for “conspiracy against state security”
Today in History for 1st August 2026
Historical Events
1498 – Christopher Columbus lands for the first time in South America near the mouth of the Orinoco River in modern-day Venezuela
1883 – Amsterdam’s Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky integrates modern electric lighting
1987 – Music video channel MTV Europe launches with Elton John throwing the switch; “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits is the first video presented
1992 – NBC’s “Saturday Today” premieres, extending the Today franchise to broadcasting seven days a week
2020 – Egypt tells Elon Musk its pyramids were not built by aliens after Musk tweets in support of a conspiracy theory that they were
Famous Birthdays
1909 – Nigel Henderson, British Royal Navy officer, 1927-71 (Admiral, 1964-71; Chairman of NATO Military Committee ,1968-71), born in the UK (d. 1993)
1932 – Ron Friedman, American screenwriter (The Transformers: The Movie; Fantasy Island), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 2025)
1957 – (Brad) “Taylor” Negron, American actor and writer (Fast Times at Ridgemont High; Easy Money; Punchline), born in Glendale, California (d. 2015)
1982 – Caroline Shaw, American violinist, singer, and Pulitzer Prize winning composer (Partita for 8 Voices), born in Greenville, North Carolina
1986 – Anton Strålman, Swedish ice hockey player, born in Tibro, Sweden
Famous Deaths
1190 – Floris III, Count of Holland, dies at about 49 [born c. 1141]
1743 – Richard Savage, English poet and playwright, dies at about 46
1918 – John Riley Banister, American law officer and cowboy, dies at 64
1993 – Ewing Kaufman, founder/owner (KC Royals), dies of lung cancer at 76
2012 – Joan Bernard, British army officer in the Auxiliary Territorial Service and founding principal of Trevelyan College (1966-78), dies due to ill-health at 94
Famous Deaths for 31st July 2026
1638 – Sybilla Schwarz, German baroque poet, dies at 17
1784 – Denis Diderot, French enlightenment philosopher (Encyclopédie), dies at 70
1917 – Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (b. 1881)
1981 – mar Torrijos, Panamanian military officer, coup d-etat leader, and dictator (Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution, 1968-81), dies in plane crash at 52
1990 – Albert Leduc, Canadian ice hockey defenseman (Stanley Cup 1930, 31 Montreal Canadiens), dies at 87
1997 – Edith Fore, American pitchwoman (ad for LifeCall alarm – I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!), dies at 81
2013 – Michael Ansara, American actor (Broken Arrow, Centennial), dies at 91
2022 – Mo Ostin [Ostrofsky], American record company executive (Verve; Reprise; Warner Bros; Dreamworks), dies at 95
2023 – Melaku Worede, Ethiopian plant geneticist and agronomist (helped Ethiopia recover from 1984 famine), dies at 87
2023 – Angus Cloud, American actor (Euphoria), dies of an accidental drug overdose at 25
Historical Events for 31st July 2026
1658 – Aurangzeb appoints himself the sixth Mughal emperor; the Mughal Empire reaches its greatest extent under him
1969 – KWIH TV channel 44 in Winona, Minnesota (IND) begins broadcasting
1983 – Dutch July average temperature is 20.1°C (68.18°F), making it the warmest July since 1854
1991 – US Senate votes to allow women to fly combat aircraft
1997 – First baseman Mark McGwire becomes MLB’s top home run hitter to be traded in the middle of a season when he moves from Oakland to the St. Louis Cardinals with 34 home runs and 81 RBIs
2016 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Baltusrol GC: American Jimmy Walker wins his first major by one shot from defending champion Jason Day of Australia
2019 – Russian President Vladimir Putin orders the Russian army to help put out huge wildfires in Siberia covering 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) after 700,000 people sign a petition
2019 – US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by 0.25%, the first cut since 2008
Today in History for 31st July 2026
Historical Events
1932 – German election (NSDAP gets 37.3%)
1967 – Rolling Stones’ singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards are released from jail in England after serving 1 month on drug charges
1970 – Black Tot Day: the last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy, which started in 1740
1980 – Crew of Soyuz 37 returns to Earth aboard Soyuz 36
2022 – Women’s Euro 2022: England defeats Germany 2-1 in extra time in front of the biggest-ever Euro crowd of 87,192 at Wembley, London
Famous Birthdays
1929 – José Santamaría, Uruguayan soccer defender (Uruguay 20, Spain 16 caps; Nacional, Real Madrid) and manager (Español, Spain), born in Montevideo, Uruguay (d. 2026)
1932 – John Searle, American philosopher (Chinese Room Argument), born in Denver, Colorado (d. 2025)
1951 – Gerald Anthony, American actor (Marco Dane in “One Life to Live” and “General Hospital”), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 2004)
1981 – M. Shadows [Matthew Sanders], American singer (Avenged Sevenfold), born in Huntington Beach, California
1988 – A. J. Green [Adriel Jeremiah Green], American NFL player (Cincinnati Bengals), born in Summerville, South Carolina
Famous Deaths
1972 – Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian politician (Prime Minister of Belgium, Secretary-General of NATO, 1957-61), dies at 73
1988 – André Navarra, French concert cellist (Jolivet’s Cello Concerto), and educator (Paris Conservatoire, 1947-88), dies at 76
1997 – Edith Fore, American pitchwoman (ad for LifeCall alarm – I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!), dies at 81
2015 – Howard W. Jones Jr., American physician who oversaw the birth of the first American ‘test tube’ baby and helped open the first sex-change clinic in a US hospital, dies at 104
2022 – Mo Ostin [Ostrofsky], American record company executive (Verve; Reprise; Warner Bros; Dreamworks), dies at 95
Famous Deaths for 30th July 2026
578 – Jacob Baradaeus, Bishop of Edessa and saint, established Syriac Orthodox Church, dies of an illness at 77 or 78
1652 – John Cloppenburg, Dutch Calvinist theologian, dies at 68
1683 – Maria Theresa of Spain, queen of Louis XIV of France, dies at 44
1947 – George Challenor, West Indian cricketer (played in 1st WI Test side 1928), dies at 59
1948 – Sophonisba Breckenridge, American professor, teacher and social activist (1st woman to graduate from Chicago Uni Law School), dies at 82
1977 – Jorgen Ponto, West German banker, murdered
1982 – Roberta Pedon, American glamour model, dies at 28
1983 – Vasantrao Deshpande, Indian Hindustani vocalist, dies at 63
2006 – Anthony Galla-Rini, American concert accordionist, and arranger, dies at 102
2025 – Michael Lydon, American music journalist and a founding editor of Rolling Stone, dies of complications of Parkinson’s disease at 82