1566 – Girolamo della Robbia, Italian sculptor (Majolica relief), dies
1633 – George Abbott, English theologist and the Archbishop of Canterbury (1611-1633), dies at 60
1904 – Arnold Krug, German composer, dies at 54
1922 – Enver Pasha, Turkish general and politician, dies in battle at 40
1938 – Rudolf Georg Binding, German songwriter and writer (Legenden Der Zeit), dies at 70
1938 – L H Perquin, Dutch radio announcer, dies at 73
1978 – Frank Fontaine, American comedian (Crazy Guggenheim), dies at 58
1987 – Kenny Price, American country singer (Walking on New Grass, Happy Tracks), dies of a heart attack at 56
1994 – Sol Adler, economist Sinophile, dies at 85
1994 – Giovanni Spadolini, Italian historian and politician, dies at 69
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 4th August 2021
1735 – Jury acquits John Zenger (NY Weekly Journal) charged with seditious libel by royal governor of NY (victory for Freedom of press)
1914 – WWI: Germany declares war on Belgium; Britain declares war on Germany
1943 – USAAF bombs Germans in Troina
1943 – Soviet units reach suburbs of Orel
1945 – American golfer Byron Nelson wins Canadian Open at Uplands and Thornhill CC for a record 11th consecutive PGA victory, on way to record season tally of 18
1960 – Rocket propelled USAF research aircraft sets record at 2,150 MPH
1980 – -11] Hurricane Aline, kills 272 in Texas and Caribbean
2002 – Soham murders: 10 year old school girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells go missing from the town of Soham, Cambridgeshire.
2012 – 45 people are killed by a suicide bombing in Abyan, Yemen
2019 – Australian cricket batsman Steve Smith hits brilliant 142 following his 1st innings 144 in 1st Test v England at Edgbaston; only 4th batsman all-time to score more than 140 in each innings of a Test match
Today in History for 4th August 2021
Historical Events
1897 – Henry A Rucker appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for Georgia
1948 – Hungary’s Olga Gyarmati wins the first ever Olympic women’s long jump competition at the London Games
1983 – Danielle Steel’s romance novel “Thurston House” is published
1984 – Americans Al Joyner and Mike Conley take the gold and silver medals in the men’s triple jump at the Los Angeles Olympics
1985 – Tom Seaver of Chicago White Sox becomes 17th pitcher to win 300 MLB career games, beating New York, 4-1; 54,032 at Yankee Stadium
2002 – Soham murders: 10 year old school girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells go missing from the town of Soham, Cambridgeshire.
Famous Birthdays
1825 – Arthur Haygarth, English cricket batsman (Middlesex and Surrey, cricket historian), born in Hastings, Sussex, England (d. 1903)
1921 – Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Canadian NHL star (Montreal Canadiens, MVP-1947), born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 2000)
1960 – Tim Winton, Australian author
1960 – Bernard Rose, English director
1992 – Cole Sprouse, American actor (Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Riverdale), born in Arezzo, Italy
1992 – Dylan Sprouse, American actor (Suite Life of Zack and Cody), born in Arezzo, Italy
Famous Deaths
1666 – Johan Evertsen, ltalian admiral of Zeeland, lynched in Brielle
1741 – Andrew Hamilton, American lawyer
1927 – John Dillon, Irish nationalist and British Lower house leader, dies at 75
1991 – Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet (Hodyne), dies at 80
1999 – Victor Mature, American actor (I Wake Up Screaming, Samson and Delilah), dies from leukaemia at 86
2015 – Gerd Natschinski, German composer, dies at 86
Famous Deaths for 3rd August 2021
1530 – Philibert Chalon, prince of Orange/viceroy of Naples, dies
1721 – Grinling Gibbons, Dutch-born British sculptor and woodcarver, dies at 73
1823 – Jacob Abraham de Mist, Dutch statesman, dies at 74
1886 – Per August Olander, composer, dies at 62
1977 – Makarios III [Michail Mouskos], Greek Cypriot clergyman and politician, dies at 63
1977 – Alfred Lunt, American actor (The Guardsman, Sally of the Sawdust), dies at 83
1981 – Roberto Peci, Italian brother of Red Brigade leader, murdered at 25
1995 – Jose B M Barreto y Casanova, pianist vocalist bandleader, dies at 88
1995 – Carl Donnell “Kansas” Fields, American jazz drummer, dies at 79
2001 – Christopher Hewett, British actor (b. 1922)
Historical Events for 3rd August 2021
1708 – Battle at Trencsén: Austria beats Hungarian rebellion army
1881 – Boers signs Convention of Pretoria: Transvaal semi-autonomous
1914 – German battle cruiser Goeben leaves Messina
1918 – The first allied troops land at Archangel, the Russian port on the White Seas
1973 – Flash fire kills 51 at amusement park (Isle of Man, UK)
1989 – 22nd San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Omni Hotel
1990 – “Little Night Music” opens at New York State Theater NYC for 11 performances
2001 – Olympic champion Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia becomes first athlete to achieve Olympics-World Championships marathon double; runs 2:12:42 to beat Kenya’s Simon Biwott by just 0.1s in Edmonton World Championships
2017 – Rapper Kidd Creole arrested and charged for stabbing to death a homeless man in New York City
2020 – Number of Iranian COVID-19 deaths triple that of government tally, showing 42,000 have died instead of 14,405, according to BBC Persian Service investigation
Today in History for 3rd August 2021
Historical Events
1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail on his first voyage with three ships, Santa María, Pinta and Niña from Palos de la Frontera, Spain for the “Indies”
1957 – British offensive against imam Galeb Ben Ali of Oman
1970 – Christopher Hampton’s “Philanthropist” premieres in London
1991 – Giant Victory driven by Jack Moiseyev wins Hambletonian, 2nd $1m purse in 22 days for Moiseyev after winning Meadowlands Pace
1997 – Canadian Open Women’s Golf (du Maurier Classic), Glen Abbey GC: Colleen Walker wins by 2 shots from Liselotte Neumann of Sweden
2020 – Number of Iranian COVID-19 deaths triple that of government tally, showing 42,000 have died instead of 14,405, according to BBC Persian Service investigation
Famous Birthdays
1894 – Johan van Maarseveen, Dutch Minister of Justice and Internal minister, born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1951)
1926 – Tony Bennett [Benedetto], American singer (I Left My Heart in San Francisco), born in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York
1933 – Pat Crawford, Australian cricketer (Australian pace bowler 1956), born in Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia (d. 2009)
1953 – Ian Bairnson, Scottish musician (Alan Parsons Project; Kate Bush), born in Lerwick, Shetland Isles
1966 – Eric Esch, American boxer, born in Atlanta, Georgia
1972 – Travis Hall, NFL defensive tackle (Atlanta Falcons), born in Sodoltna, Alaska
Famous Deaths
1527 – Scaramuccia Trivulzio, Italian cardinal
1797 – Jeffrey Amherst, English gov-gen of America, dies at 80
1833 – Stoffel Muller, Dutch sect leader, dies
1942 – Richard Willstätter, German chemist (Nobel 1915), dies at 69
1948 – Tommy Ryan, American boxer (World Welterweight, Middleweight champion), dies at 78
2015 – Robert Conquest, English historian and poet (The Great Terror), dies at 98
Famous Deaths for 2nd August 2021
1589 – Henry III, King of Poland and France (1573-89), assassinated at 37
1600 – Arent van Dorp, Dutch governor of East-Zealand, dies at about 70
1849 – Governor Muhammad Ali of Egypt (b. 1769)
1876 – Wild Bill” Hickok [James Butler], American cowboy and scout, shot dead from behind by Jack McCall while playing poker (he held a pair of Aces and a pair of 8’s), dies at 39
1956 – Albert Woolson, last veteran US Union army, dies at 109
1964 – José María Castro, Argentine composer, dies at 71
1972 – Helen Hoyt, American poet, dies at 85
1990 – Norman Mclean, American writer (b. 1902)
1992 – Julio C Fernandez, Cuban/American journalist (founder Alma Mater), dies
2003 – Peter Safar, Austrian physician (pioneered cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR), dies at 79
Historical Events for 2nd August 2021
1701 – Great Peace of Montreal signed between New France and North American Indian nations at urging of Huron chief Kondiaronk
1934 – 1st airplane train, plane tows 3 mail gliders behind it
1948 – Danish swimmer Greta Anderson (1:06.3) touches out American Ann Curtis by 0.2 in the women’s 100m freestyle at the London Olympics
1964 – Race riot in Jersey City, New Jersey
1985 – 5 die in a train crash in Westminster Colo
1989 – NASA confirmed Voyager 2’s discovery of 3 more moons of Neptune designated temporarily 1989 N2, 1989 N3 and 1989 N24
1996 – The star-studded United States men’s basketball team, Dream Team III, beat Yugoslavia 95-69 to win the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics
1999 – “The Sixth Sense”, starring Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, and Haley Joel Osment, premieres
2013 – Carl Icahn sues computer giant Dell in an attempt to derail a buyout bid by the CEO, Michael Dell
2017 – Great Britain’s Prince Philip aged 96 makes his final solo public appearance before retiring from public engagements
Today in History for 2nd August 2021
Historical Events
1057 – Frederik van Lotharingen elected as 1st Belgium Pope Stephen IX [X]
1798 – Battle of the Nile: British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson further decimates the French fleet
1907 – Legendary pitcher Walter Johnson at 19 begins his 21 year Baseball Hall of Fame playing career with Washington with 3-2 loss v Detroit
1940 – KL-House of saxon and commandos focus on Gross Rosen, Silesia
1952 – 17 year-old future world champion Floyd Patterson wins the gold medal in the middleweight division at the Helsinki Olympic Games with a 1st round KO of Romanian Vasile Tita
2014 – Super Rugby Final, ANZ Stadium, Sydney: NSW Waratahs win their first SR title in a nail-biting 33-32 home effort against New Zealand’s Canterbury Crusaders
Famous Birthdays
1818 – Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, born in Soestdijk, Netherlands (d. 1848)
1929 – John Gale, British theatrical producer (Chichester Festival), born in Chigwell, Essex, England
1936 – Christopher Hogg, British industrialist and CEO (Courtaulds and Reuters)
1942 – Isabel Allende, Chilean-American author (The House of the Spirits, City of the Beasts), born in Lima, Peru
1951 – Andrew Gold, American rocker (Lonely Boy), born in Burbank, California (d. 2011)
1969 – Erik Meijer, Dutch soccer player (PSV, Uerdingen), born in Curaçao
Famous Deaths
1895 – Joseph Thomson, Scottish geologist and early African explorer (Thomson’s Gazelle), dies of pneumonia at 37
1972 – Paul Goodman, US social critic/writer, dies at 60
1976 – Fritz Lang, Austrian-German-American director (M, Metropolis, Fury, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse), dies from a stroke at 85
1979 – Thurman Munson, American baseball catcher (MLB All-Star 1971, 73–78; World Series 1977, 78; AL MVP 1976; NY Yankees), dies in a plane crash at 32
1986 – Roy Marcus Cohn, American lawyer (Joseph McCarthy), dies of AIDS at 59
2011 – Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan-American immunologist (Nobel 1980 – discovery of genes that regulate immune responses and of the role that some of these genes play in autoimmune diseases), dies at 90
Famous Deaths for 1st August 2021
1580 – Albrecht Giese, German politician and diplomat (b. 1524)
1743 – Richard Savage, English poet and playwright, dies at about 46
1798 – François-Paul Brueys D’Aigalliers, French admiral (killed in battle) (b. 1753)
1821 – Elizabeth Inchbald [Simpson], English actress and author (Lovers’ Vows, Lady Abbess), dies at 68
1926 – Israel Zangwill, Jewish author (Children of The Ghetto) and Zionist leader, dies at 62
1973 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, composer, dies at 91
1993 – Anatoli Koretski, Russian major general, murdered
1998 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian-born actress (Crimson Pirate), dies at 72
2019 – [Donn Alan] DA Pennebaker, American documentary filmmaker (Don’t Look Back), dies at 94
2020 – Rickey Dixon, American College Football Hall of Fame cornerback (Jim Thorpe Award 1987; Oklahoma Sooners; Cincinnati Bengals, LA Raiders), dies from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at 53