1606 – Possible first performance of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, performed in the Great Hall at Hampton Court Palace for King James I
1914 – French government awards King Albert of Belgium the Great Cross
1930 – A large mob estimated at 2,000, lynch two young black men Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana
1938 – Nazis close theologic department of Innsbruck university
1948 – Swedish race walker John Mikaelsson wins the gold medal in the 10k event by 30.6 seconds from teammate Ingemar Johansson at the London Olympics
1970 – Shootout at Marin Courthouse in San Rafael, California, kills 4, including the presiding judge
1983 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Riviera CC: Hal Sutton wins his only major title by 1 stroke from Jack Nicklaus
1988 – Angola, Cuba and South Africa allegedly signed a cease fire treaty
2016 – Miami Marlins veteran Japanese outfielder Ichiro Suzuki becomes the 30th member of the 3,000 hit club in a 10 – 7 win v Rockies
2018 – China bans release of Winnie the Pooh movie “Christopher Robin”, after character used to mock Chinese President Xi Jinping
Author: gil7
Today in History for 7th August 2023
Historical Events
1954 – “Golden Apple” closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 125 performances
1954 – Charles Mahoney becomes 1st US black to serve as a full UN delegate
1984 – Harmonica Frank [Floyd], American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player dies of lung cancer and diabetes complications at 75
1984 – David Rabe’s “Hurlyburly” premieres in NYC
1992 – The Orlando Magic signs NBA No. 1 draft pick Shaquille O’Neal
2009 – “Tik Tok” single released by Kesha (Billboard Song of the Year 2010)
Famous Birthdays
1884 – (Mary) “Billie” Burke, American radio, stage, silent and sound film actress (Zieigfield Follies; The Wizard of Oz; Merrily We Live), born in Washington, D.C. (d. 1970)
1932 – Edward Hardwicke, British actor (Sherlock Holmes), born in London, England (d. 2011)
1943 – Alain Corneau, French director (Choice of Arms), born in Meung-sur-Loire, France (d. 2010)
1947 – Mosibudi Mangena, South African black leader (On Your Own), born in Tzaneen, South Africa
1951 – Gary Hall, American swimmer (Olympic silver 400m medley 1968, 200m butterfly 1972, bronze 100m butterfly 1976; 5 x WR), born in Cincinnati, Ohio
1964 – John Birmingham, Australian author, born in Liverpool, United Kingdom
Famous Deaths
1821 – Caroline of Brunswick, Queen Consort of King George IV (1820-21), dies at 53
1848 – Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist, dies at 68
1912 – François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss hydrologist (b. 1841)
1943 – Gustav Schmidt, German army general, commits suicide to avoid capture by the Russian army at 49
2004 – Red Adair, American oil field firefighter, dies at 89
2020 – Lê Khả Phiêu, Vietnamese leader, General Secretary (1997-2001), dies at 88
Famous Deaths for 6th August 2023
1623 – Anne Hathaway, wife of English playwright William Shakespeare, dies aged 66 or 67
1946 – Tony Lazzeri, American Baseball HOF second baseman (World Series x 5; only player to complete natural cycle with grand slam; NY Yankees), dies from a fall caused by a heart attack at 42
1963 – Tom Keene, American actor (Our Daily Bread), dies of cancer at 68
1965 – Everett Sloane, American actor (Patsy, Citizen Kane, Enforcer), dies of apparent suicide with barbiturates at 55
1974 – Gene Ammons, American jazz saxophonist (“The Happy Blues”), dies of bone cancer at 49
1988 – J. Skelly Wright, American judge (anti-segregationist), dies at 77
1990 – Mário Pinto de Andrade, Angolan poet and politician who founded the Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), dies at 62
2007 – Zsolt Daczi, Hungarian rock guitarist (Bikini; Omen; Carpathia Project Tirana Rockers; solo), dies at 38
2009 – Bahadır Akkuzu, Turkish rock guitarist and singer (Kurtalan Ekspres), dies of a heart attack at 54
2016 – Helen Delich Bentley, American politician (Rep-R-MD, 1985-950), dies at 92
Historical Events for 6th August 2023
1699 – HMS Roebuck, captained by William Dampier, lands at Shark Bay, Western Australia on the first British scientific expedition to Australia
1896 – France annexes Madagascar
1914 – Denis Patrick Dowd Jr. enlists in the French Foreign Legion, becoming the first American to fight in World War I
1921 – Clason Point, Bronx to College Point, Queens muni ferry system begins
1936 – Japanese athletes quinella the triple jump at the Berlin Olympics; Naoto Tajima wins gold and Masao Harada silver
1937 – MLB overturns New York Yankees’ 7-6 win over Cleveland Indians because of umpire error
1945 – Atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the US B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay”
1983 – First NFL exhibition game in Europe; Minnesota Vikings beat St Louis Cardinals 28-10 at London’s Wembley Stadium
1995 – Revival of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ musical comedy ‘”Damn Yankees”, starring Jerry Lewis and Bebe Neuwirth, closes at Marquis Theater, NYC, after 519 performances
2018 – Boston appoints its first African American Police Commissioner William G. Gross
Today in History for 6th August 2023
Historical Events
1890 – At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the 1st person to be executed by electric chair
1919 – 1st air flight over a major body of water in Australia (Harry Butler)
1940 – Estonia is annexed into Soviet empire
1967 – Minnesota Twins pitcher Dean Chance throws a perfect no-hitter vs Boston Red Sox, 2-0 in 5 innings before game is called because of weather
1983 – Supertanker Castillo de Bellvar catches fire and sinks northwest of Capetown, South Africa
1984 – 203.05 million shares traded in NY Stock Exchange
Famous Birthdays
1819 – Samuel Powhatan Carter, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Elizabethton, Tennessee (d. 1891)
1826 – Thomas Alexander Browne, Australian writer (Robbery Under Arms), born in London (d. 1915)
1874 – Charles Fort, American writer and researcher (specialized in anomalous phenomena), born in Albany, New York (d. 1932)
1915 – Jim Ameche [James Amici], American voice actor (Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy), born in Kenosha, Wisconsin (d. 1983)
1925 – Leland Smith, American composer, bassoonist and computer coder who led music publishing into the digital age (SCORE), born in Oakland, California (d. 2013)
1945 – John Kongos, South African singer and songwriter (“He’s Gonna Step On You Again”), born in Johannesburg
Famous Deaths
1866 – John Mason Neale, English divine, scholar and hymnwriter (b. 1818)
1945 – Hiram Johnson, American progressive politician, US Senator, Governor of California (1911-17), dies at 78
1945 – Prince Wu of Korea (b. 1912)
1956 – Johan Frans van Bemmelen, Dutch zoologist, dies at 96
2009 – John Hughes, American film director (Breakfast Club; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), dies of a heart attack at 59
2011 – Mark Hatfield, American politician (29th Governor of Oregon), dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 5th August 2023
1610 – Alonso García de Ramón, Spanish soldier and twice Royal Governor of Chile (b. c. 1552)
1644 – J. Henry Alting, German theologist (Statenvertaling), dies at 61
1863 – Adolf Friedrich Hesse, German composer, dies at 53
1910 – Wojciech Gawronski, Polish composer, dies at 42
1929 – Millicent Fawcett, English suffragist, dies at 82
1943 – Adam Kuckhoff, German writer and resistance fighter, is executed during WWII at 55
1992 – Jeff Porcaro, American drummer (Toto – “Rosanna”; “Africa”), dies of cardiac arrest at 38
2000 – Alec Guinness, British actor (The Ladykillers, The Bridge on the River Kwai), dies of liver cancer at 86
2001 – Otema Allimadi, Prime Minister of Uganda (b. 1929)
2014 – Chapman Pincher, British journalist and author (about secret service), dies at 100
Historical Events for 5th August 2023
1399 – Battle at Worskla: Tataren beat Russians and Litouwers
1949 – 6.4 Earthquake strikes Tungurahua Province, Ecuador, killing 5,000 people
1959 – 42.4 cm rainfall in Decatur Co, Iowa (state record)
1966 – West Indies cricket captain Garfield Sobers scores 174 including a century between lunch and tea to set up a 4th Test win v England at Headingley
1969 – Mariner 7 flies past Mars
1986 – It’s revealed Andrew Wyeth of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, had secretly created 240 drawings and paintings of his neighbor Helga Testorf
1988 – American politician Mario Biaggi (Rep-D-NY) convicted of racketeering resigns his seat
1989 – General elections are held in Nicaragua with the Sandinista Front winning a majority.
1995 – 5th Athletics World Championships open at Gothenburg, Sweden
2021 – New Zealand canoeist Lisa Carrington wins her third Olympic gold medal of the Tokyo Games by winning K-1 500m; 5th career gold for Carrington
Today in History for 5th August 2023
Historical Events
1962 – 1st quasar located by radio
1973 – Arab terrorists open fire at Athens airport, kill 3 injure 55
1975 – Stevie Wonder signs a 7-year, 7 album, with $13 million advance contract with Motown Records
1978 – New Orleans Saints beat Philadelphia Eagles 14-7 in an NFL exhibition at Mexico City’s Olympic Stadium
2005 – NBA announces Las Vegas will host the 2007 All Star game; first time event will be held in a city without an NBA team
2022 – Actress Anne Heche crashes her car into a house in Mar Vista, Los Angeles, igniting a fire that puts her in a coma and destroys much of the house
Famous Birthdays
1872 – Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian physician and epidemiologist, born in São Luis do Paraitinga, Brazil (d. 1917)
1890 – Naum Gabo [Pevsner], Russian-American sculptor (Stillife Flower), born in Bryans, Russian Empire (d. 1977)
1902 – Irene Rice Pereira, American abstract artist, born in Chelsea, Massachusetts (d. 1971)
1910 – Nan Gindele, US javelin thrower (World Record 1932-38), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1992)
1988 – Federica Pellegrini, Italian swimmer (world record 200 meters, Olympic Gold 2008), born in Mirano, Italy
1989 – Shanshan Feng, Chinese golfer (Women’s PGA C’ship 2012), born in Guangzhou, China
Famous Deaths
1644 – J. Henry Alting, German theologist (Statenvertaling), dies at 61
1944 – Maurice Turnbull, Welsh cricketer (England) rugby player (Wales), dies fighting in WWII at 38
1950 – Emil Abderhalden, Swiss physiologist and biochemist, dies at 73
1993 – Randy Hobbs, American rock musician (Johnny Winter Band; McCoys), dies of heart failure at 45
2014 – Chapman Pincher, British journalist and author (about secret service), dies at 100
2015 – George Cole, English actor (Minder), dies at 90
Famous Deaths for 4th August 2023
1265 – Simon de Montfort the younger, English Earl of Leicester, dies in battle
1718 – René Lepage de Ste-Claire, lord-founder of the town of Rimouski, in New France, dies at 62
1727 – Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie, French general (b. 1647)
1930 – Siegfried Wagner, German opera composer and conductor, dies at 61
1938 – L. H. Perquin, Dutch religious radio broadcaster, dies at 73
1981 – Melvyn Douglas [Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg], American actor (Hud, Being There, Ghost Story), dies at 80
1984 – Mary Miles Minter, actress (Drums of Fate), die at 82 of heart failure
1999 – Victor Mature, American actor (I Wake Up Screaming, Samson and Delilah), dies from leukemia at 86
2011 – Naoki Matsuda, Japanese Soccer player (b. 1977)
2022 – Sam Gooden, American soul vocalist (The Impressions – “People Get Ready”; “It’s All Right”), dies at 87
Historical Events for 4th August 2023
1666 – St James’ Day naval battle is an English victory against the Dutch during Second Anglo-Dutch War off the Kent coast
1855 – John Bartlett publishes “Familiar Quotations”
1948 – Hungary’s Olga Gyarmati wins the first ever Olympic women’s long jump competition at the London Games
1954 – Boscombe Down 1st flight of supersonic P-1 Lightning
1974 – Crawford-Butler Act allows Puerto Ricans to elect own governor
1976 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1983 – Danielle Steel’s romance novel “Thurston House” is published
1993 – Rwandian Hutus and Tutsis sign peace treaty in Arusha, Tanzania
2019 – British Open Women’s Golf, Woburn GC: Hinako Shibuno of Japan wins her maiden major title in her first LPGA event; beats American Lizette Salas by 1 stroke
2021 – Largest wildfire in California so far in 2021, the Dixie Fire at 320,000 acres, destroys the gold rush town of Greenville