440 – St Sixtus III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1612 – Pendle Witch Trial begins with 10 people accused of witchcraft in Lancaster, England; the key witness is a nine-year-old boy
1958 – Verne Gagne defeats Edouard Carpentier in Omaha to become NWA champion
1960 – The first photograph bounces off a satellite between Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Richardson, Texas
1976 – Korean axe murder incident: two US soldiers tasked with cutting down a poplar tree blocking the view of UN observers are killed by North Koreans, claiming it was planted by Kim Il-Sung in the Korean Demilitarized Zone
1986 – WYSP 94.1 FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, begins simulcasting the Howard Stern Radio Show from New York City’s WXRK
1996 – Record 6,654 tap dancers in a single routine at Macy’s Tap-O-mania in New York City
1996 – British Open Women’s Golf, Woburn, Duke’s Course: Emilee Klein wins by 7 strokes ahead of fellow Americans Amy Alcott and Penny Hammel
Author: gil7
Today in History for 18th August 2026
Historical Events
1926 – England regains Ashes with fifth Test cricket win to take series 1-0
1954 – James E. Wilkins is the first Black person to attend a US cabinet meeting
1958 – Fidel Castro delivers a speech on Radio Rebelde, the clandestine station founded by Che Guevara to broadcast news and revolutionary messages from the Sierra Maestra mountains
2013 – Six people are killed by a bomb blast on a bus in West Bengal, India
2025 – Leaders from across Europe join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a hastily arranged summit meeting with US President Trump at the White House
Famous Birthdays
1938 – Orestes Quércia, Brazilian politician (Governor of São Paulo, 1987-91), born in Pedregulho, Brazil (d. 2010)
1939 – Molly Bee, American actress (Pinky Lee Show), born in Oklahoma City (d. 2009)
1966 – Gustavo Charif, Argentine artist, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina
1968 – Mark Robinson, American politician, 2024 North Carolina nominee for Governor, born in Greensboro, North Carolina
1973 – Clarence Benford, American football tight end (Seattle Seahawks), born in Windsor Forest, Georgia
Famous Deaths
1797 – Josiah Spode, English potter and founder of Spode pottery works, dies at 64
1901 – Richard Kleinmichel, composer, dies at 54
1943 – Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general, dies at 78
1952 – Ralph Byrd, American actor (Dick Tracy TV Show, SOS Coast Guard), dies from a heart attack at 43
2014 – Don Pardo, American television announcer (Jeopardy, Saturday Night Live), dies at 96
Famous Deaths for 17th August 2026
1777 – Giuseppe Scarlatti, Italian composer, dies at 54
1786 – Frederick the Great, King of Prussia (1740-86), dies at 74
1834 – Husein Gradaščević, Bosniak general, dies at 31
1914 – James Grierson, British general, dies of an aneurism at 55
1935 – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American feminist, writer and lecturer for social reform, dies at 75
1961 – Carlos Salzedo, French-American piano prodigy, harpist, composer, educator (Curtis Institue; Juilliard), and new music advocate (co-founder of International Composers’ Guild), dies at 76
1979 – Vivian Vance [Jones], American stage and screen actress (I Love Lucy – “Ethel Mertz”; The Lucy Show – “Viv”), dies of cancer at 70
1987 – Charles Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet (Claro Enigma), dies at 84
2025 – Sheila R. Canby, American historian and curator of Islamic art (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009-19), dies of complications of cancer at 76
2025 – Joe Hickerson, American folk music singer and archivist (Director of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center, 1963-98), dies at 89
Historical Events for 17th August 2026
1908 – Projection in Paris of the first animated cartoon, “Fantasmagorie,” created by Émile Cohl
1918 – Turkish troops overthrow Caucasus
1933 – MLB player Lou Gehrig plays his record 1,308th consecutive game
1944 – German field marshal Walter Model replaces Günther von Kluge in Normandy
1951 – Hurricane winds drive six ships ashore in Kingston, Jamaica
1959 – Columbia Records releases “Kind of Blue,” a studio album by American jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis, leading a sextet featuring saxophonist John Coltrane and pianist Bill Evans; the work is widely considered a masterpiece and is one of the most influential and best-selling albums of Davis’ long career
1978 – First successful crossing of the Atlantic by balloon is completed by Americans Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman aboard Double Eagle II
1986 – Rioting occurs at a DMC concert at the Long Beach Convention Center in California; 40 people are injured
Today in History for 17th August 2026
Historical Events
1891 – People’s Bath, the first public bathhouse with showers, opens in New York City
1948 – Alger Hiss denies ever being a Communist agent
1964 – Boycott scores his first Test cricket century: 113 against Australia at The Oval
1989 – Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken plays in his 1,208th consecutive game and moves to 3rd place all-time behind NY Yankees’ Lou Gehrig and Boston Red Sox/NY Yankees’ Everett Scott
2008 – China wins its 33rd gold medal of the Beijing Olympics by defeating Singapore in the table tennis women’s team event, achieving its most successful Olympiad ever by winning all 10 singles and all 5 doubles matches
Famous Birthdays
1904 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (International Bruckner Society; Mozart’s Requiem), and educator (Vienna University, 1932-73), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1991)
1929 – Francis Gary Powers, American spy captured by the USSR after his U-2 spy was shot plane in 1959, born in Jenkins, Kentucky (d. 1977)
1955 – Kevin Welch, American country songwriter (“True Love Never Dies”), born in Long Beach, California
1960 – Johnny Bumphus, American boxer (WBA super lightweight title 1984), born in Tacoma, Washington (d. 2020)
1993 – Ederson [de Moraes], Brazilian football goalkeeper (Manchester City, Brazil), born in Osasco, Brazil
Famous Deaths
1785 – Jonathan Trumbull, American politician and statesman during the American Revolutionary wars, Governor of Connecticut (1769-84), dies at 74
1887 – Franz Commer, German composer, dies at 74
1914 – James Grierson, British general, dies of an aneurism at 55
1987 – Rudolf Hess, German Nazi official (Deputy Fuhrer who dramatically escaped to Britain in 1941, sentenced to life in Spandau Prison), commits suicide at 93
2014 – Caterina De Nave, New Zealand television producer (Shortland Street), dies of leukaemia at 67
Famous Deaths for 16th August 2026
1864 – Victor Girardey, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in battle at 27
1895 – Samuel Bell Maxey, American Brigadier General in the Confederate Army and Senator from Texas (Democratic: 1875-87), dies at 70
1905 – Jamie Anderson, Scottish golfer (British Open 1877-79), dies at 63
1983 – Earl Averill, American Baseball HOF outfielder (6 × MLB All-Star 1933–1938; Cleveland Indians), dies at 81
1997 – Gerard McLarnon, British-Irish actor and writer (The Wrestler’s Honeymoon), dies at 82
2004 – Carl Mydans, American photojournalist (Life Magazine, 1936-72), dies at 97
2020 – Chetan Chauhan, Indian cricket batsman (40 Tests @ 31.57, 16 x 50; Maharashtra, Delhi), dies of COVID-19 at 73
2022 – Aydın Yelken, Turkish soccer forward (9 caps; Karagümrük, Fenerbahçe, Altay, İzmirspor), dies at 83
2023 – Renata Scotto, Italian soprano (Metropolitan Opera, 1965-87; La Traviata – “Violetta”) and opera director, dies at 89
2024 – Countess of Airlie [Virginia Ogilvy], British-American Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II, dies at 91
Historical Events for 16th August 2026
1905 – Mbunga Rebellion occupies German post Ifakara, East Africa
1915 – Kansas City Packers’ Alex Main no-hits Buffalo Blues (Federal League), 5-0
1920 – Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman is hit in the head by NY Yankees pitcher Carl Mays and dies the next day in the only MLB game-related fatality
1928 – Belgian cyclist Georges Ronsse wins men’s road race at UCI Road World Championships in Budapest, Hungary
1971 – Over 8,000 workers go on strike in Derry, Northern Ireland, in protest against the introduction of internment, which allows suspected terrorists to be indefinitely detained without trial
1987 – Astrological Harmonic Convergence – Dawn of a New Age
1997 – The South African soccer team, Bafana Bafana wins against the national team of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at First National Bank stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa
2008 – British sailor Ben Ainslie convincingly wins the Finn class at the Beijing Olympics, earning his third gold medal in as many Games
Today in History for 16th August 2026
Historical Events
1915 – Kansas City Packers’ Alex Main no-hits Buffalo Blues (Federal League), 5-0
1966 – The Beatles perform in concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for their second and final show in the city
1972 – USSR performs a nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeastern Kazakhstan
1997 – The South African soccer team, Bafana Bafana wins against the national team of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at First National Bank stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa
2021 – Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his cabinet resign after losing their majority amid political turmoil
Famous Birthdays
1868 – Bernarr McFadden, American physical culture advocate, credited with beginning the culture of health and fitness in the United States, born in Mill Spring, Missouri (d. 1955)
1935 – Andreas Stamatiadis, Greek soccer forward (8 caps; AEK Athens 316 games), born in Athens, Greece (d. 2025)
1954 – George Galloway, British politician, broadcaster, and writer, born in Dundee, Scotland
1958 – Anne L’Huillier, French-Swedish physicist (2023 Nobel Prize for Physics for attosecond pulses of light), born in Paris, France
1985 – Taylor Goldsmith, American folk-rock singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Dawes), born in Los Angeles, California
Famous Deaths
1419 – Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, King of Bohemia (1378-1419) and Germany (1376-1400), dies at 58
1929 – Frank Valentine der Stucken, American-Belgian composer, dies at 70
1956 – Bela Lugosi [Blaskó], Austrian actor (Dracula, Plan 9 From Outer Space), dies of a heart attack at 73
1986 – Jaime Saenz, Bolivian poet, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1921)
2024 – Countess of Airlie [Virginia Ogilvy], British-American Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II, dies at 91
Famous Deaths for 15th August 2026
1196 – Conrad II, Duke of Swabia (b. 1173)
1935 – Will Rogers, American humorist and actor (Judge Priest), dies in a plane crash in Alaska at 55
1972 – Jeff Pfeffer, American baseball pitcher (no-hitter Boston Doves v Cincinnati Reds 1907), dies at 84
1978 – Harrison Kerr, American composer, dies at 80
1988 – Barry Bingham Sr, American newspaper publisher (The Courier-Journal, The Louisville Times), dies at 82
2004 – Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist, (1982 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for identification of prostaglandins), dies at 88
2006 – Te Atairangikaahu, New Zealand Māori Queen for 40 years, dies at 75
2006 – Rick Bourke, Australian rugby league player (Cronulla), dies of cancer at 52
2010 – James J. Kilpatrick, American newspaper journalist and columnist (60 Minutes), dies at 89
2013 – Jacques Vergès, French lawyer known as “The Devil’s Advocate” (defended Klaus Barbie and Carlos the Jackal), dies of a heart attack at 88
Historical Events for 15th August 2026
1658 – France, Sweden, Bavaria, Brunswick, Münster, and Hesse-Kassel form the Confederation of the Rhine
1748 – United Lutheran Church in the American colonies is organized
1914 – Japan joins the Allies
1936 – Annibale Frossi scores twice as Italy beats Austria 2-1 in extra time in the football final at the Berlin Olympics
1944 – Operation Dragoon: Allied troops land in Provence
1950 – Rotterdam dock strike begins
1965 – PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Laurel Valley GC: Dave Marr wins his only major title, beating Billy Casper and Jack Nicklaus by 2 strokes
2016 – Anita Włodarczyk of Poland sets a world record of 82.29 m to win the women’s hammer throw gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; Zhang Wenxiu (China) wins silver, and Sophie Hitchon (Great Britain) wins bronze