258 – Pope St Sixtus II beheaded in Rome under persecutions by Roman Emperor Valerian
1600 – Henry IV of France invades Savoy after negotiations break down over Saluzzo, controlled by Savoy since 1588
1864 – Confederate forces evacuate Fort Powell in Mobile Bay, Alabama
1919 – Romanian forces bring down Hungarian Soviet Republic in Budapest
1945 – Australian Test cricket all-rounder Keith Miller scores 110 not out for Australian Services on Day 1 of drawn 4th Victory Test against England at Lord’s
1966 – US citizens demonstrate against war in Vietnam
1981 – NASA launches Fltsatcom-5, it failed
1984 – 203.05 million shares traded in NY Stock Exchange
2012 – Mount Tongariro, New Zealand, erupts for the first time in a century
2019 – Lawyer representing 800 boy scouts identify 350 sex abusers within Boy Scouts of America saying “It’s the largest paedophile ring on earth”
Author: gil7
Today in History for 6th August 2020
Historical Events
1940 – Estonia is annexed into Soviet empire
1948 – 17 year old American Bob Mathias scores 7,139 points to edge out Ignace Heinrich of France by just 165 in the decathlon at the London Olympics
1995 – Thousands gather in Hiroshima for the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city
2012 – “Cruise” single released by Florida Georgia Line (Billboard Song of the Year 2013)
2012 – Mount Tongariro, New Zealand, erupts for the first time in a century
2016 – Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszú sets world record 4:26.36 to win the gold medal in the women’s 400m individual medley at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics
Famous Birthdays
1619 – Barbara Strozzi, Italian singer and composer, baptised in Venice (d. 1677)
1916 – Dom Mintoff, Maltese Prime Minister (1955-58, 1971-84), born in Bormla, Malta (d. 2012)
1925 – Stig-Göran Myntti, Finnish soccer midfielder (61 caps; Vasa IFK), born in Maalahti, Finland (d. 2020)
1925 – Barbara Bates, American actress (All About Eve, It’s a Great Life), born in Denver, Colorado (d. 1969)
1937 – Barbara Windsor, actress (Study in Terror)
1973 – Max Kellerman, American sportscaster
Famous Deaths
1848 – Nicola Vaccai, Italian composer, dies at 58
1893 – Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1811)
1946 – Benny Lynch, Scottish boxer (World flyweight title 1937-38), dies of malnutrition-induced respiratory failure at 33
1991 – Harry Reasoner, American newscaster (60 Minutes, ABC, CBS), dies at 68
1995 – André Fleury, French organist and composer, dies at 92
1996 – Leonard John Coldwell, cricketer, dies at 63
Famous Deaths for 5th August 2020
1778 – Charles Clémencet, French historian (b. 1703)
1863 – Adolf Friedrich Hesse, German composer, dies at 53
1929 – Millicent Fawcett, English suffragist, dies at 82
1959 – Edgar Albert Guest, American poet and newspaperman, dies at 77
1964 – Moa Martinson, Swedish writer (My Mother Gets Married), dies at 73
1966 – Austin Diamond, Australian cricketer (Australian capt to America 1913), dies at 92
1972 – Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the British House of Commons (b. 1905)
1991 – Paul Brown, NFL hall of fame coach (Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals), dies of pneumonia at 82
2000 – Dudley Randall, African-American poet who founded the pioneering publishing house “Broadside Press”, dies at 84
2002 – Josh Ryan Evans, American actor (b. 1982)
Historical Events for 5th August 2020
1861 – Naval Engagement at Fernandina, Florida, the USS Vincennes ends rebel blockade
1914 – Montenegro declares war against Austria-Hungary in World War I
1953 – Operation “Big Switch”; Korean War prisoner exchanged at Panmunjom
1966 – Beatles release single “Yellow Submarine” with “Eleanor Rigby” in UK
1967 – First exhibition after AFL/NFL merger, Denver Broncos (AFL) surprise Detroit Lions (NFL), 13-7 at University of Denver
1973 – 15 year old Australian swimmer Stephen Holland smashes Mike Burton’s 1,500m world record by a massive 14.78 seconds (15:37.8) in Brisbane
1982 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1998 – The American spin-off “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”, starring Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and Wayne Brady, debuts on ABC
2011 – NASA launches its Juno space probe from Cape Canaveral to orbit and study Jupiter
2018 – Vintage Junkers Ju-52 plane crashes near Flims, Switzerland, killing all 20 on board
Today in History for 5th August 2020
Historical Events
1914 – 1st electric traffic light installed in the USA on the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio
1925 – Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language, which is in danger of dying out
1951 – Armed uprising in Ambonezen Camp Middelburg
1980 – Montreal Expos Dick Williams wins his 1,000th career game as a manager in 11-5 win v Mets, for whom Doug Flynn hits MLB record tying 3 triples
1985 – Establishment of a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is announced
2019 – Australian woman Kerry Robertson confirmed as the first person to use a new assisted dying law to end her life a month earlier in Victoria
Famous Birthdays
1301 – Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician (d. 1330)
1540 – Joseph Justice Scaliger, proposed Julian dating
1828 – Giovanni Rossi, Italian composer, born in Borgo San Donnino, Parma (d. 1886)
1950 – Holly Palance, actress (Thorn Birds, Ripley’s Believe It), born in Los Angeles, California
1978 – Kim Gevaert, Belgian sprinter
2000 – Maya Bond, American singer and musician
Famous Deaths
1880 – Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra, Austrian physician (b. 1816)
1964 – Art Ross, Canadian hockey player and executive (b. 1886)
1972 – Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the British House of Commons (b. 1905)
1994 – Audrey Langford, sInging teacher, dies at 82
1996 – Frank Marcus, German playwright and critic, dies at 68
2007 – Florian Pittiş, Romanian artist (b. 1943)
Famous Deaths for 4th August 2020
1578 – Sebastiaan, King of Portugal (1557-78), dies in battle at about 24
1821 – William Floyd, American soldier who signed the US Declaration of Independence, dies at 86
1873 – Viktor Hartmann, Russian architect and painter, dies at 39
1942 – Alberto Franchetti, Italian composer, dies at 81
1981 – Melvyn Douglas [Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg], American actor (Hud, Being There, Ghost Story), dies at 80
1984 – Walter Burke, American actor (Jack the Giant Killer), dies at 75 of emphysema
1991 – Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet (Hodyne), dies at 80
1995 – J. Howard Marshall [James Howard Marshall II], American businessman and husband of Anna Nicole Smith, dies at 90
2003 – Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist and Nobel Prize laureate 1954, dies at 86
2011 – Naoki Matsuda, Japanese Soccer player (b. 1977)
Historical Events for 4th August 2020
1636 – Johan Mauritius appointed governor of Dutch Brazil
1772 – English poet and artist William Blake aged 14 is first apprenticed to engraver James Basire in London
1854 – The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships
1914 – US declares neutrality on the outbreak of WWI
1934 – II British Empire Games open at London’s White City Stadium
1943 – USAAF bombs Germans in Troina
1946 – An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. 100 are killed and 20,000 are left homeless.
1947 – American boxer Ike Williams knocks out Bob Montgomery in 6 rounds in Philadelphia to unify the world lightweight title
1983 – 16th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Hotel San Diego
1986 – Reports of probable OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) agreement on output quotas sends oil prices higher
Today in History for 4th August 2020
Historical Events
1578 – Battle of Alcazarquivir, Moroccans defeat Portuguese, 10,000 killed
1789 – French Revolution: The National Constituent Assembly meets and issues the first decrees that abolish centuries of feudalism in France
1907 – Tour de France: Lucien Petit-Breton of France beats countryman Gustave Garrigou to win first of 2 Tour victories
1942 – Colonel general Jeremenko arrives in Stalingrad and welcomed by Nikita Khrushchev
1944 – British 8th Army reaches suburbs of Florence, Italy
1968 – WXTV TV channel 41 in New York-Paterson, NY (UNI) begins broadcasting
Famous Birthdays
1873 – Damaso Berenguer, Spanish soldier and politician (122nd Prime Minister of Spain), born in San Juan de los Remedios, Cuba (d. 1953)
1884 – Henri Cornet, French cyclist who won the second Tour de France, born in Desvres, France (d. 1941)
1958 – Phil Scott, American politician, Governor of Vermont (2017-), born in Barre, Vermont
1960 – Bernard Rose, English director
1974 – Keenan Milton, Professional Skater
1985 – Mark Milligan, Australian footballer
Famous Deaths
1265 – Simon de Montfort the younger, English Earl of Leicester, dies in battle
1639 – Juan R Alarcon y Mendoza, Mexican/Spanish playwright, dies at 58
1718 – René Lepage de Ste-Claire, lord-founder of the town of Rimouski, in New France, dies at 62
1984 – Edmond Ryan, actor (Human Monster), dies at 79 of a heart attack
1993 – Bernard Barrow, American actor (Ryan’s Hope, Louie Slavinsky-Loving), dies at 65
2009 – Blake Snyder, American screenwriter (b. 1957)
Famous Deaths for 3rd August 2020
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)
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