1604 – Bernardino de Mendoza, Spanish military commander
1761 – Johann Matthias Gesner, German classical scholar, dies at 70
1792 – Richard Arkwright, English industrialist and inventor (created the spinning frame), dies at 59
1811 – Sebastiaan C Nederburgh, Dutch dir-gen of East Indies Co, dies at 49
1917 – Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician (Frobenius–Stickelberger formulae), dies at 67
1944 – Felix Nussbaum, German painter (Widerstandskunst), dies in Auschwitz
1948 – Albert F Pollard, British historian (Evolution of parliament), dies at 78
1957 – John Vernou “Black Jack” Bouvier, father of Jacqueline Kennedy, dies of cancer
1979 – Renato Fasano, Italian composer, dies at 76
1995 – Edward Whittemore, American writer (b. 1933)
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 3rd August 2020
1108 – Louis VI, “the Fat One,” King of France, crowned
1914 – British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey famously remarks “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our time.”
1943 – Nazi occupiers attack city of Orel, leave it on fire
1948 – An American clean sweep of the medals in the men’s 3m springboard diving at the London Olympics with Bruce Harlan winning gold, Miller Anderson silver and Sammy Lee bronze
1948 – The US 4 x 200m freestyle relay team of Wally Ris, Jimmy McLane, Wally Wolf and Bill Smith swim a world record 8:46.0 to win gold at the London Olympics
1960 – Niger gains independence from France
1962 – NY Met Frank Thomas hits his 6th HR in 3 games
1971 – Paul McCartney announces formation of his group Wings
2013 – 9 children are killed by a suicide bombing in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
2015 – Chilean-born author Isabel Allende receives the US Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama
Today in History for 3rd August 2020
Historical Events
1908 – French brothers Amadee and Jean Bouyssonie discover the fossil remains of a nearly complete 60,000 year-old Neanderthal man ‘Old man of La Chappelle’ at La Chappelle-aux-Saints, France
1914 – Belgium rejects demand to allow free crossing for German Army leading to their invasion hours later
1957 – British offensive against imam Galeb Ben Ali of Oman
1966 – South African government bans Beatle records
1970 – Hurricane “Celia” becomes most expensive Gulf storm in history
1974 – “Little Night Music” closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 601 performances
Famous Birthdays
1855 – Joe Hunter, English cricket wicket-keeper (5 Tests, 11 dismissals; Yorkshire CCC), born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England (d. 1891)
1887 – Rupert Brooke, British WW I poet (Lithuania, The Soldier), born in Rugby, England (d. 1915)
1902 – Regina Jonas, German first woman rabbi, born in Berlin, German Empire (d. 1944)
1929 – Bethel Leslie, American entertainer (Capt Newman MD, Rabbit Trap), born in NYC, New York (d. 1999)
1940 – Lance Alworth, American NFL hall of famer (Charger, Cowboys), born in Houston, Texas
1984 – Sunil Chetri, Indian footballer (Bengaluru FC), born in Secunderabad, India
Famous Deaths
1604 – Bernardino de Mendoza, Spanish military commander
1823 – Jacob Abraham de Mist, Dutch statesman, dies at 74
1973 – Richard Marshall, U.S. Army general (b. 1895)
1990 – Florida Edwards, dies of pneumonia at 79
2006 – Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Austro-British soprano (Der Rosenkavalier), dies at 90
2017 – Theodore “Ted” Stanley, American anesthesiologist and medical entrepreneur (created the fentanyl lollipop), dies at 77
Famous Deaths for 2nd August 2020
1100 – William II, [Rufus], king of England, shot in New Forest at 44
1827 – James Hewitt, American composer and conductor, dies at 57
1872 – Judocus Smits, Dutch RC newspaper publisher (De Tijd), dies at 59
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
1891 – George Washington Williams, American historian (History of the Negro Race in America), dies from tuberculosis and pleurisy at 41
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
1988 – Raymond Carver, American poet and short story writer (Furious Season), dies at 50
1988 – Roger Vuataz, composer, dies at 90
1995 – Brian Smith, British sportscaster, dies
1997 – Fela Kuti, Nigerian Afrobeat musician and composer, dies of an illness at 58
Historical Events for 2nd August 2020
257 – St Stephen I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1578 – Battle of Rijmenam: Spanish Habsberg forces defeated by Dutch troops (Eighty Years’ War)
1914 – German press falsely reports that French bombed Nuremberg
1932 – Carl David Anderson discovers and photographs a positron, the first known antiparticle
1934 – William Franks twirls an indian club overhead 17,280 times in 1 hour
1943 – Lt John F. Kennedy’s PT-boat 109 sinks at Solomon islands
1964 – Dutch government gives Indonesia export guarantees
1983 – STS-8 vehicle moves to launch pad
1986 – Saddam Hussein offers peace in open letter to Iran
2013 – Carl Icahn sues computer giant Dell in an attempt to derail a buyout bid by the CEO, Michael Dell
Today in History for 2nd August 2020
Historical Events
1914 – Belgian government receives German ultimatum
1921 – Chicago jury brings in not guilty verdict against the Black Sox
1967 – New Orleans Saints play 1st ever pre-season game, lose to LA Rams 16-7 at Anaheim Stadium
1999 – “The Sixth Sense”, starring Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, and Haley Joel Osment, premieres
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
2013 – Carl Icahn sues computer giant Dell in an attempt to derail a buyout bid by the CEO, Michael Dell
Famous Birthdays
1931 – Viliam Schrojf, Slovak footballer, born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (d. 2007)
1941 – Homer Banks, American singer and songwriter (Be What You Are), born in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 2003)
1945 – Joanna Cassidy [Joanna Virginia Caskey], American actress (Blade Runner, Under Fire), born in Haddonfield, New Jersey
1970 – Tony Amonte, American NHL right wing (Chicago Blackhawks, USA), born in Hingham, Massachusetts
1972 – Justyna Steczkowska, Polish singer, born in Rzeszow, Poland
1972 – Jimmy Pop, American musician (The Bloodhound Gang), born in Trappe, Pennsylvania
Famous Deaths
1075 – John VIII Xiphilinus, theologian/patriarch of Constantinople, dies
1511 – Andrew Barton, Scottish naval leader
1611 – Kato Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord and samurai (b. 1562)
1936 – Louis Blériot, French aviator who made the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier than air aircraft, dies of a heart attack at 64
1963 – Oliver [Hazard Perry] La Farge, American anthropologist and novelist, dies at 61
1995 – Brian Smith, British sportscaster, dies
Famous Deaths for 1st August 2020
1743 – Richard Savage, English poet and playwright, dies at about 46
1813 – Carl Stenborg, Swedish composer, dies at 60
1922 – Vaclav Juda Novotny, composer, dies at 72
1965 – Kiyoshi Nobutoki, Japanese cellist and composer, dies at 77
1980 – Patrick Depailler, French Formula 1 driver (b. 1944)
1996 – Mohamed Farrah Aidid, President (ANS-CUS)/Somalia, dies
2005 – Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia (1982-2005), dies at 84
2006 – Jason Rhoades, American installation artist (b. 1965)
2007 – Tommy Makem, Irish folk singer (b. 1932)
2008 – Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Indian politician (b. 1916)
Historical Events for 1st August 2020
527 – Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire
1021 – Synod of Pavia: emperor Henry II convicts married priest
1690 – Battle at Staffarda: French army beats Victor Amadeus of Savoy
1836 – As part of their homeward journey on the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin returns to Bahia in Brazil
1914 – Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany declares war on his nephew Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in WWI
1943 – Japan declares Burma Independence under U Ba Maw
1966 – Yakubu Gowon becomes Nigerian Head of State after a military coup d’état
1968 – The coronation is held of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei.
1987 – In New Zealand, the Maori Language Act comes into force, making te reo Māori an official language of New Zealand; it can now be used in some legal proceedings
2010 – 200m x 250m photo mosaic commemorating the life of Filipino President Corazon Aquino is unveiled near Quirino Grandstand at the Luneta Park, Manila
Today in History for 1st August 2020
Historical Events
1834 – Slavery abolished throughout the British Empire – Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into effect
1838 – Apprenticeship system abolished in most of the British Empire. Former slaves no longer indentured to former owners.
1869 – 1st voyage down Colorado River
1955 – 1st microgravity research begins
1981 – Poland premier Jagielski resigns
2014 – Indiana Pacers NBA super-star Paul George suffers a gruesome compound fracture of his lower right leg in a Team USA scrimmage
Famous Birthdays
1555 – Edward Kelley, British spirit medium and Renaissance occultist, born in Worcester, England (d. 1597)
1659 – Antoine Mouque, Flemish composer and organist and singer, born in Ostend (d. 1723)
1889 – Walther Gerlach, German physicist who, with Otto Stern, co-discovered spin quantization in a magnetic field (Stern–Gerlach effect), born in Biebrich, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany (d. 1979)
1924 – Georges Charpak, Polish-French physicist who invented and developed subatomic particle detectors (Nobel 1992), born in Paris, France (d. 2010)
1963 – Amber Rudd, British politician, Home Secretary (2016-18), born in London, England
1973 – Les Hill, Australian actor (Underbelly), born in Randwick, Australia
Famous Deaths
1813 – Carl Stenborg, Swedish composer, dies at 60
1895 – Heinrich von Sybel, German historian (Geschichte des ersten Kreuzzugs), dies at 77
1980 – Patrick Depailler, French Formula 1 driver (b. 1944)
1992 – Chico Alvarez, trumpeteer (Stan Kenton Orchestra), dies of cancer at 72
1996 – Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish/Swiss chemist (Nobel 1950), dies at 99
1999 – Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Indian-born writer (b. 1897)
Famous Deaths for 31st July 2020
855 – Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Muslim Jurisprudent (b. 780)
1693 – Willem Calf, Rotterdams still life painter, dies at 73
1944 – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French writer, poet and pioneering aviator (The Little Prince), dies during a reconnaissance mission at 44
1966 – Alex von Falkenhausen, German general (China, WW II), dies at 87
1977 – Stacy Moskowitz, shot to death by Son of Sam, at 20
1985 – Eugene Carson Blake, US Secretary-General of World Council of Churches (1966-72), dies at 78
1992 – G Harold Carswell, supreme court justice candidate 1970, dies at 72
2000 – Hendrik Christoffel Van de Hulst, Dutch astronomer (correctly predicted the existence of the 21 cm hyper-fine line of neutral atomic hydrogen in interstellar space), dies at 81
2012 – Gore Vidal, American author (Myra Breckinridge, Lincoln), dies from pneumonia at 86
2013 – Michael Ansara, American actor (Broken Arrow, Centennial), dies at 91