Today in History for August 2003

Months in 2003: January February March April May June July September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 15 of 15

5th - A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.
10th - The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK - 38.5°C (101.3°F) in Kent . It is the first time the UK has recorded a temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
11th - Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
11th - A heat wave in Paris results in temperatures rising to 112°F (44° C), leaving about 144 people dead.
11th - NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
14th - Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.
16th - U.S. Representative from South Dakota Bill Janklow hits and kills a motorcyclist with his car at a rural intersection near Trent, South Dakota; he will eventually be convicted of manslaughter and will resign from Congress.
19th - A Hamas planned suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem kills 23 Israelis, 7 of them children in the Jerusalem bus 2 massacre.
19th - A car-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees.
22nd - Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building.
25th - The Tli Cho land claims agreement is signed between the Dogrib First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchoko).
26th - The Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
27th - Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
28th - An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.
29th - Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, is assassinated in a terrorist bombing, along with nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf.

Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 2 of 2

20th - Prince Gabriel of Belgium
24th - Alexandre Coste, son of Albert II, Prince of Monaco

Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 5 of 5

9th - Former "New Kids on the Block" singer Joey McIntyre (30) weds real estate agent Barrett Williams (25) in New York City's Plaza Hotel
10th - Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko becomes the first person to marry in space, marrying Ekaterina Dmitriev (on earth)
10th - Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera (60) weds former Rivera Live producer Erica Levy (28) at Manhattan's Central Synagogue
23rd - "The Hours" actress Julianne Moore (42) weds "The Myth of Fingerprints" director Bart Freundlich (33) in New York
30th - Daughter of Paul McCartney and fashion designer Stella McCartney (31) weds British publisher Alasdhair Willis on the 300-acre Gothic Estate in Scotland's Isle of Bute

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 39 of 39

1st - Guy Thys, Belgian football coach (b. 1922)
1st - Marie Trintignant, French actress (b. 1962)
2nd - Don Estelle, British actor (b. 1933)
2nd - Mike Levey, American television personality (b. 1948)
2nd - Peter Safar, Austrian physician (b. 1924)
3rd - Roger Voudouris, American singer and songwriter (b. 1954)
4th - Frederick Chapman Robbins, American Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1916)
7th - Mickey McDermott, baseball player (b. 1929)
9th - Ray Harford, English footballer and manager (b. 1945)
9th - Gregory Hines, American actor and dancer (b. 1946)
9th - Jacques Deray, French film director (b. 1929)
9th - Chester Ludgin, American baritone (b. 1925)
10th - Carmita Jiménez, Puerto Rican singer
11th - Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b. 1923)
11th - Herb Brooks, American ice hockey coach (b. 1937)
13th - Ed Townsend, American songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
14th - Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
15th - Gösta Sundqvist, Finnish songwriter and singer (heart attack) (b. 1957)
16th - Idi Amin, Ugandan dictator (b. 1928)
18th - Tony Jackson, English musician (The Searchers) (b. 1938)
19th - Carlos Roberto Reina, President of Honduras (b. 1926)
19th - Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (b. 1948)
21st - Kathy Wilkes, English philosopher and aid worker (b. 1946)
21st - Wesley Willis, American musician (b. 1963)
22nd - Arnold Gerschwiler, Swiss figure skating trainer (b. 1914)
22nd - Generosa Ammon, American widow of Ted Ammon (b. 1956)
22nd - Imperio Argentina, Argentinian singer and actress (b. 1906)
23rd - Jack Dyer, Australian rules footballer (b. 1913)
23rd - John Geoghan, American Catholic priest (b. 1935)
23rd - Bobby Bonds, American baseball player and manager (b. 1946)
24th - Sir Wilfred Thesiger, British explorer (b. 1910)
26th - Jim Wacker, American football coach (b. 1937)
27th - Pierre Poujade, French politician (b. 1920)
28th - Brian Douglas Wells, American criminal (failed) (b. 1956)
29th - Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, Iraqi political leader (b.1939)
29th - Patrick Procktor, English artist (b. 1936)
29th - Michel Constantin, French film actor (b. 1924)
Actor Charles Bronson (30th) 30th - Charles Bronson, American actor, dies at 81
30th - Donald Davidson, American philosopher (b. 1917)