1769 – Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician, dies at 80
1869 – Alexandrine Tinne, Dutch explorer and photographer, murdered trying to cross the Sahara at 33
1876 – “Wild Bill” Hickok [James Butler Hickok], American cowboy and scout, shot dead from behind at 39 by Jack McCall while playing poker (he held a pair of Aces and a pair of 8’s)
1903 – Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian (Louis Pasteur Institute), dies at 53
1978 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican conductor and composer (Sinfonía India), dies at 79
1982 – Rudolf Maros, Hungarian composer (Sirato/Lament; Euphonies), and pedagogue, dies at 65
1995 – Brian Smith, Canadian sportscaster and NHL player, dies at 54 after being shot the previous day
2003 – Charles Kerruish, Manx politician and President of Tyndwald Isle of Man, dies at 86
2015 – Forrest Bird, American aviator and inventor (1st respirators and ventilators), dies at 94
2022 – Ray Majors, British rock guitarist (Mott the Hoople, 1975-76; British Lions, 1977-78), dies at 73
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 2nd August 2024
1858 – 1st mailboxes installed in Boston and NYC streets
1934 – 1st airplane train, plane tows 3 mail gliders behind it
1941 – Jews are expelled from Hungarian Ruthenia
1961 – The Beatles 1st gig as house band of Liverpool’s Cavern Club
1964 – Race riot in Jersey City, New Jersey
1966 – Radio Vila (New Hebrides) begins transmitting
1990 – 23rd San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Holiday Inn
1990 – Yankees rookie 1st baseman Kevin Maas hits his 10th MLB homer in 6-5 loss v Detroit, fastest to reach that mark, just 77 at bats
2012 – American swimmer Rebecca Soni becomes first woman to win the 200m breaststroke twice with a world record 2:19.59 at the London Olympics
2019 – Seven-year-old boy operated on after 526 teeth found inside his mouth in Chennai, India
Today in History for 2nd August 2024
Historical Events
1581 – Leiden University names Rudolph Snellius as math professor
1959 – Milwaukee Braves outfielder Bill Bruton hits 3 triples in 11-5 win v St. Louis Cardinals; 2 of them bases loaded, first time in 20th Century
1987 – Michael Andretti runs fastest Indy car race in history (171.49mph) in winning the Marlboro 500 at the Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan
1991 – Pan Am games open in Havana
2017 – New crypto-currency Bitcoin Cash is created via a hard-fork of Bitcoin’s blockchain technology and brand
2018 – Pope Frances declares the death penalty unacceptable in all cases, reversing church teachings and adding to Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church
Famous Birthdays
1788 – Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (Gmelin’s test), born in Göttingen, Germany (d. 1853)
1886 – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy, Canadian aviator, born in Baddeck, Nova Scotia (d. 1961)
1910 – Roger MacDougall, Scottish playwright and screenwriter (The Man in the White Suit), born in Glasgow (d. 1993)
1923 – Shimon Peres [Szymon Perski], Polish-Israeli Labor Party politician (President. 2007-14; Prime Minister, 1984-86 and 1995-96; Foreign Minister, 1986-88, 1992-95, and 2001-02), and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (1994), born in Wiszniewo, Poland (now Vishnyeva, Belarus) (d. 2016)
1944 – Juvenal “Naná’ Vasconcelos, Brazilian jazz and world music percussionist, and berimbau player (Pat Metheny; Björk; Milton Nascimento), born in Recife, Brazil (d. 2016)
1970 – Elijah Alexander, American NFL linebacker (Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos), born in Fort Worth, Texas (d. 2010)
Famous Deaths
1075 – John VIII Xiphilinus, theologian and patriarch of Constantinople, dies
1100 – William II [Rufus], king of England, shot hunting in the New Forest at 44
1788 – Thomas Gainsborough, English leading portrait painter (Blue Boy), dies at 61
1994 – Bhagwatpersad Ausan, commandant Suriname military police, dies at 38
2007 – Kay Dotrice [Katherine Newman], British actress (Cheech and Chong’s The Corsican Brothers), dies of a heart attack at 78
2022 – Hans Bangerter, Swiss football administrator (General Secretary UEFA 1960-89), dies at 98
Famous Deaths for 1st August 2024
371 – St Eusebius of Vercelli, Italian bishop (b. c. 283)
1589 – Jacques Clément, French assassin of Henry III of France (b. 1567)
1857 – Charles Turner, engraver, dies
1911 – Konrad Duden, German linguist (the Duden dictionary), dies at 82
1911 – Edward Austin Abbey, American painter (Quest of the Holy Grail mural at Boston Public Library), dies at 59
1917 – Frank Little, American labor organizer (lynched) (b. 1879)
1922 – Vaclav Juda Novotny, Czech music writer, composer, and libretti translator, dies at 72
1973 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer, pedagogue (Venice Liceo Musicale, 1932-52), and musicologist (Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi). s at 91
1993 – Alfred Manessier, French painter (glass-in-lead), dies in car crash at 81
1995 – Loudi Nijhoff, Dutch actress (Alicia, Van Geluk Gesproken), dies
Historical Events for 1st August 2024
1485 – Henry Tudor’s army sails to England (future Henry VII)
1639 – French Ursuline nun Marie de l’Incarnation arrives in Quebec on board the Saint-Joseph – goes on to open first school for girls and play a large part in establishing Catholicism in New France
1842 – Rotherhithe Tunnel under the Thames opens
1890 – Cecil Rhodes’ colonists reach Lundi
1900 – The 1st Michelin Guide is published by the brothers Édouard and André Michelin as a hotel and restaurant reference guide to encourage more road travel and thus boost tire sales (exact date beyond Aug 1900 unknown)
1917 – Frank Little, IWW organizer, lynched in Butte, Montana
1961 – German DR limits traffic to West Berlin
1987 – Nurse Mary R Stout chosen chairperson of Vietnam Veterans of America
1992 – USA/USSR Around World Air Race begins at Santa Monica
2002 – In signing star linebacker Ray Lewis to a 5-year contract extension the Baltimore Ravens give him a $19m signing bonus, then the largest in NFL history
Today in History for 1st August 2024
Historical Events
1914 – British Grand Fleet reaches Scapa Flow
1958 – US 1st class postage up to 4 cents (had been 3 cents for 26 years)
1985 – Emmy 12th Daytime Award presentation – Susan Lucci loses for 6th time
1988 – Deep Rover 1-man research submarine unveiled at Crater Lake, Oregon
2010 – British Open Women’s Golf, Royal Birkdale GC: 21-year-old Yani Tseng of Taiwan becomes youngest-ever winner of 3 major championships, 1 stroke ahead of Katherine Hull of Australia
2021 – Australian swimmer Emma McKeon claims gold in 50m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay for total 7 medals at Tokyo Olympics; equals record set by Russian gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya in 1952
Famous Birthdays
1847 – Guido Papini, Italian violinist and composer, born in Camaiore, Grand Duchy of Tuscany (now Italy) (d. 1912)
1906 – Nathan Perelman, Soviet Russian pianist and pedagogue, born in Zhitomir, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) (d. 2002)
1940 – Mervyn Kitchen, English cricketer and umpire, born in Nailsea, Somerset
1957 – Glen Gorbous, Canadian MLB outfielder (record for longest throw of a regulation baseball [445′ 10″]), born in Drumheller, Alberta (d. 1990)
1962 – Joetta Clark, American 800m runner (Olympic-1992), born in East Orange, New Jersey
2001 – Scottie Barnes, American basketball forward (NBA Rookie of the Year 2022; Toronto Raptors), born in West Palm Beach, Florida
Famous Deaths
1630 – Federico Cesi, Italian naturalist and founder of the first modern scientific society, the Accademia dei Lincei, dies at 45
1743 – Richard Savage, English poet and playwright, dies at about 46
1996 – Mohamed Farrah Aidid, President (ANS-CUS)/Somalia, dies
2001 – Korey Stringer, American NFL football tackle, 1995-2000 (Minnesota Vikings), dies of complications from heat stroke at 27
2010 – Robert F. Boyle, American production designer and art director, dies at 100
2020 – Vitold Kreyer, Russian athlete (Olympic bronze, triple jump 1956, 60) and coach (Soviet athletics team 1967–80; head Russian team 2000 Olympics), dies at 87
Famous Deaths for 31st July 2024
1396 – William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1342)
1693 – Willem Kalf, Dutch ‘Golden Age’ painter (Still life with nautilus beaker and porcelain lidded bowl), dies at 73 or 74 [exact birthday in 1619, unknown]
1750 – John V, King of Portugal (1706-50), dies at 60
1784 – Denis Diderot, French enlightenment philosopher (Encyclopédie), dies at 70
1864 – Louis Christophe François Hachette, French publisher (Librairie Hachette), dies at 64
1871 – Phoebe Cary, American poet (Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary), dies at 46
1952 – N B F “Tufty” Mann, cricketer (South African slow lefty 1947-51), dies
1967 – Richard Kuhn, Austrian-German biochemist (Nobel 1938-work on carotenoids and vitamins), dies at 66
1978 – Carleton Percy Hobbs, actor (I Claudius, Dark Places), dies at 80
2022 – Fidel V. Ramos, Filipino general and 12th President of the Philippines (1992-98), dies at 94
Historical Events for 31st July 2024
432 – St Sixtus III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1910 – Pioneering Dutch aviator Clement van Maasdijk gives a flying demonstration
1925 – Unemployment Insurance Act passed in Britain
1943 – Transport #58 departs with French Jews to Nazi Germany
1981 – Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Mieczyslaw Jagielski is fired
1983 – Brooks Robinson, Juan Marichal, George Kell and Walter Alston are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York
1987 – Battle between Iranian pilgrims and Saudi-Arabian troops, 402 killed
1991 – US Senate votes to allow women to fly combat aircraft
1992 – Thai Airways International Flight 311 crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, killing all 113 passengers and crew members on board the Airbus A310
2020 – Eurozone economic activity falls 11.9% for April-June with Spain the worst at -18.5%, its deepest in modern times
Today in History for 31st July 2024
Historical Events
1741 – Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and Bohemia.
1809 – First practical US railroad track is laid in Philadelphia. It is made of wood and designed for horse-drawn cars.
1852 – Hottest July in Netherlands since at least 1783 (68.4°F (20.2°C) avg)
1978 – Gunman shoots his way into Iraqi Embassy in Paris
1988 – Oakland DH Jose Canseco smacks 2 home runs off Scott Bankhead in A’s 6-2 win over Seattle Mariners; becomes first MLB player to hit 30 HRs in first 3 years
1992 – Three world record swims on final night session at the Barcelona Olympics; Australian Kieren Perkins 1,500m (14:43.4); Tamás Darnyi of Hungary 200m backstroke (1:59.36); China’s Yang Wenyi women’s 50m freestyle (24.79)
Famous Birthdays
1916 – Billy Hitchcock, American baseball infielder, manager, official (Detroit Tigers; president Double-A Southern League 1971–80), born in Inverness, Alabama (d. 2006)
1919 – Hemu Adhikari, Indian cricket batsman (21 Tests; HS 114 1st Test v WI 1948), born in Pune, Maharashtra (d. 2003)
1922 – Lucy Killea, American Californian politician who supported pro-choice, born in San Antonio, Texas (d. 2017)
1944 – Sherry Lansing, American actress (China Syndrome, Black Rain), born in Chicago, Illinois
1967 – Tony Massenburg, American NBA forward who played for 12 different teams, born in Sussex, Virginia
1976 – Marty Booker, American NFL wide receiver (Pro Bowl 2002, Chicago Bears), born in Jonesboro, Louisiana
Famous Deaths
1508 – Na’od, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1494)
1566 – Bartholome de Casas, Spanish historian/bishop of Chiapa, dies at 92
1940 – Whitey Krakow [or Krakower], American gangster and hitman (Murder Inc), murdered by “Bugsy” Siegel
1994 – G de Ru, chairman of Dutch Reformed Synode, dies
1998 – Barbara Giuranna, Italian pianist and composer, dies at 98
2003 – John Aston Sr., English soccer striker (17 caps; Manchester United 253 games), dies at 81
Famous Deaths for 30th July 2024
1540 – Thomas Abel, English priest (martyred)
1652 – Charles Amédée de Savoie, 6th Duc de Nemours, French soldier (b. 1624)
1683 – Maria Theresa of Spain, queen of Louis XIV of France, dies at 44
1889 – Charles Absolom, English cricketer (Test for England), dies in a port accident at 43
1980 – Charles McGraw [Butters], American actor (Spartacus, The Birds, The Killers, Smith Family), dies after falling through a glass shower door at 66
1995 – Biggie Tembo [Rodwell Marasha], Zimbabwean musician (Bhundu Boys), takes his own life at 36
1998 – Buffalo Bob Smith [Robert Emil Schmidt], American TV host (Howdy Doody), dies of cancer at 80
2007 – Bill Walsh, American Pro Football HOF coach (Super Bowl 1981, 84, 88; NFL Coach of the Year 1981; SF 49ers; Stanford University 1977–78), dies of leukemia at 75
2010 – Otto Joachim, German-Canadian composer, dies at 99
2022 – [Grace] Nichelle Nichols, American actress (Star Trek – “Lt. Uhura”) and singer (Down To Earth; “Fly Me To The Moon”), dies at 89