This Day in History for 18th August

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All Events Birthdays
Weddings Deaths

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 184

293 BC - The oldest known Roman temple to Venus is founded, starting the institution of Vinalia Rustica.
410 - King Alarik I's Visigoten occupies & plunders Rome
1201 - The city of Riga is founded.
1289 - Pope Nicolaus IV publishes degree "Supra montem"
1541 - A Portuguese ship drifts ashore in the ancient Japanese province of Higo (modern day Kumamoto Prefecture). (Traditional Japanese date: July 27, 1541)
1564 - Spanish king Philip II joins Council of Trente
1587 - Saul Wahl is elected King of Poland, according to legend.
1591 - Governor of Roanoke Island colony returns from England & found everyone in the colony had disappeared [or Aug 17, 1590]
1605 - Spanish army under of general Spinola conquerors Lingen
1634 - Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, is burned alive in Loudun, France.
1636 - The Covenant of the Town of Dedham, Massachusetts is first signed.
1674 - Jean Racine's "Iphigénie," premieres in Versailles
1686 - Cassini reports seeing a satellite orbiting Venus
1698 - Russian czar Peter the Great arrives in Zaandam
1700 - Swedish, English & Dutch army lands on Seeland, Denmark
1735 - Evening Post begins publishing (Boston Mass)
1759 - -19] 2nd sea battle of Lagos: England vs France
1769 - Gunpowder in Brescia Italy church explodes, killing 3,000
1795 - Curacao governor De Veer sends miltia to stop rebellious slaves
Russian Tsar Peter the Great 1817 - Gloucester, Mass, newspapers tells of wild sea serpent seen offshore
1834 - Mt Vesuvius erupts
1835 - Last Pottawatomie Indians leave Chicago
1838 - 1st US marine expedition
1840 - Organization of American Society of Dental Surgeons founded (NY)
1846 - Gen Stephen W Kearney's US forces captures Santa Fe NM
1848 - Camila O'Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez are executed on the orders of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.
1858 - Netherlands & Japan sign trade agreement
1862 - General Lee's adjutant major Stuart captured
1862 - Sioux Indians begin uprising in Minnesota (it is later crushed)
1864 - 6th day of battle at Deep Bottom Run, Virginia: Confederate assault
1864 - Petersburg Campaign-Battle of Weldon Railroad day 1 of 3 days
1868 - Pierre Janssan discovers helium in solar spectrum during eclipse
1870 - Battle at Gravelotte Privat: Prussia beat France, 32,000 casualties
1872 - 1st mail-order catalog issued by A M Ward
1873 - 1st ascent of Mount Whitney, California (14,494')
1886 - Carr Baker Neel & Samuel Neel win US Lawn Tennis Association doubles
1891 - Hurricane hits Martinique, about 700 die
1894 - Congress creates Bureau of Immigration
1896 - Adolph Ochs (39) buys NY Times
1904 - Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by George Reid.
1909 - Mayor of Tokyo Yukio Ozaki presents Washington, D.C. with 2,000 cherry trees, which President Taft decides to plant near the Potomac River.
1914 - Oscar Egg sets new cycling hour record (44,247 km)
1914 - -20] Belgian army withdraws to Antwerp
1914 - French troops under general Dubail occupy Sarrebourg
1914 - Pres Wilson issues "Proclamation of Neutrality"
1915 - Braves Field opens in Boston to see Braves beat Cards 3-1
1917 - Dutch Naval Air Force forms (MLD)
1917 - A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
1919 - Anti-Cigarette League of America forms in Chicago Illinois
1920 - 1st class debut of Walter Hammond
1920 - 19th Amendment on women's suffrage ratified
1923 - 37th US Womens Tennis: Helen Wills Moody beats Molla B Mallory (62 61)
1924 - France begins retracting troops out of Ruhrgebied
1924 - France begins withdrawing troops from the Ruhr
1925 - Belgian & US sign treaty about war debts
1925 - Cardinal Mercier warns Belgians against socialism/liberalism
1926 - England regain Ashes with 5th Test Cricket win, to take series 1-0
1926 - Weather map televised for 1st time
1930 - Eastern Airlines begins passenger service
1931 - Lou Gehrig hitless in Detroit, his 1,000th consecutively played game
1932 - Auguste Piccard/Max Cosijns reach 16,201m in a balloon
1932 - Englishman James Mollisson is 1st to fly east to west over Atlantic
1934 - 48th US Womens Tennis: Helen Jacobs beats Sarah H Cooke (61 64)
1934 - Bradman scores 244 in 5th Test Cricket, 316 mins, 32 fours 1 six
1934 - Ponsford & Bradman make 451 partnership in 316 minutes v Eng
1936 - 106.5°F-Hottest afternoon ever in Iowa
1937 - 1st FM radio construction permit issued (W1X0J (WGTR) in Boston MA)
1938 - FDR dedicates Thousand Islands Bridge connecting US & Canada
1940 - 71 German aircrafts shot down above England
1941 - German concentration camp Amersfoort opens
1941 - Phillies commit 8 errors in a game
1942 - Carlson's Raiders land on Makin, Gilbert islands, kill 350 Japs
1943 - Carl Hubbell wins his 253rd & final game, all with Giants
1943 - Final convoy of Jews from Salonika Greece arrive at Auschwitz
1943 - Otto Skorzeny's Heinkel-111 shot down at Sardinia
1944 - Paris railroad workers strike against nazi occupiers
1944 - US 15th Army corp reaches Mantes-Gassicourt near Paris
1944 - US 20th Army corp conquers Chartres
1945 - Scheduled demonstrations at Polo Grounds & Ebbets Field to end segregation in organized baseball are called off
1946 - Golf Writers Associaton of America forms
1947 - Naval torpedo & mine factory explodes at Cadiz, Spain killing 300
1949 - Hungary adopts constitution
1949 - Ralph Flanagan & his orchestra records "You're Breaking My Heart"
1950 - Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium is assassinated by far-right elements.
1951 - Cricket 1st-class debut of Raymond Illingworth
1954 - James E Wilkins is 1st black to attend a US cabinet meeting
1955 - -19] Hurricane Diane, kills 400 in US
1955 - 46.1 cm rainfall at Westfield, Massachusetts (state record)
1955 - Sjukri al-Quwatli re-elected president of Syria
1956 - Cin Reds (8) & Cubs (2) combine to hit 10 HRs in a 9 inning game
Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis Presley 1956 - Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel" reaches #1
1957 - Amelia Wershoven sets record of female throwing a baseball (252'4½")
1957 - Betty Dodd wins LPGA Colonial Golf Open
1957 - Juan-Manuel Fangio, wins his last auto World Championship at 46
1957 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1958 - "Lolita," by Vladimir Nabokov, published
1958 - Betsy Palmer joins Today Show panel
1958 - Fidel Castro makes a speech on Cuban pirate radio Rebelde
1958 - Floyd Patterson TKOs Roy Harris in 13 for heavyweight boxing title
1958 - Great Britain issues regional stamps (N Ireland, Scotland & Wales)

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 236

472 - Flavius Ricimer, general of the Western Roman Empire, kingmaker
1414 - Jami, Persian poet (d. 1492)
1450 - Marko Marulic/Marulus/Splichanin/Pechinich, Croatian poet
1579 - Charlotte Flandrina van Nassau, daughter of Willem I of Orange
1587 - 1st English child born in New World (Virginia Dare)
1596 - Jean Bolland, Flemish Jesuit writer (d. 1665)
1605 - Henry Hammond, English churchman (d. 1660)
1606 - Maria Anna of Spain, Holy Roman Empire Empress and Queen of Hungary (d. 1646)
1611 - Ludwika Maria Gonzaga, queen of Poland (d. 1650)
1657 - Ferdinando Galli Bibiena, Italian architect/designer (d. 1743)
1685 - Brook Taylor, England, mathematician, discoverer of Taylor's Theorem
1692 - Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France (d. 1740)
1720 - Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, English murderer (d. 1760)
1745 - Vaclav Josef Bartolomej Praupner, composer
1750 - Antonio Salieri, Italy, composer (Tatare)
1754 - François, marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, French general (d. 1833)
1769 - Alexandre Stievenard, composer
1774 - Meriwether Lewis, Charlottsville VA, solider and public administrator (Lewis & Clark Expedition), (d. 1809)
1778 - Fabian Gottlieb von Bellinghausen, 1st to circumnavigate Antarctica
Soldier/Public Administrator Meriwether Lewis (1774) 1792 - John, 1st Earl Russell, British Whig PM (1846-52, 1865-66)
1803 - Nathan Clifford, American statesman, diplomat, and Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1881)
1805 - Josef Danhauser, Austrian painter (Mutterliebe)
1807 - Charles Francis Adams, (Union), died in 1886
1813 - Benjamin Alvord, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1884
1818 - William Farquhar Barry, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1879
1819 - Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna, Duchess of Leuchtenberg (d. 1876)
1823 - Willem J F Nuyens, Dutch physician/RC historian
1830 - Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria (d. 1916)
1834 - Marshall Field, Conway Massachusetts, owner (Field Dept Store)
1849 - Benjamin Louis Paul Godard, composer
1855 - Alfred Wallis, English artist and mariner (d. 1942)
1856 - Charles Hutchison Gabriel, composer
1856 - Jan Karol Gali, composer
1857 - Libert H. Boeynaems, Belgian Catholic prelate (d. 1926)
1870 - Hugh Bromley-Davenport, England cricketer (d. 1954)
1871 - Johan J Arch, graphic artist (wood cutter)
1873 - Leo Slezak, Austria tenor/actor (Othello)
1873 - Otto Harbach, songwriter (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes)
1875 - Johan E Elias, historian (Amsterdam)
1878 - Fritz Brun, composer
1879 - Aleksandr Rodzyanko, Russian general (d. 1970)
1881 - Hermann Karl Josef Zilcher, composer
1882 - Eugeen Calleen, Flemish sculptor
1882 - Marcel Louis Auguste Samuel-Rousseau, composer
1883 - Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, French fashion designer (Chanel)
1885 - Nettie Palmer, Australian poet and essayist (d. 1964)
1887 - Nico J Polak, Dutch economist
1890 - Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (d. 1960)
1893 - Ernest MacMillan, composer
1893 - Burleigh Grimes, American baseball player (d. 1985)
1896 - Alan Mowbray, London England, actor (Dante, Colonel Flack)
1896 - Jack Pickford, Canadian-born actor (d. 1933)
1900 - Walter O'Keefe, Hartford Ct, songwriter/TV host (Mayor of Hollywood)
1900 - Glenn Albert Black, American archaeologist (d. 1964)
1902 - Julius Kalas, composer
1902 - Adamson-Eric, Estonian painter (d. 1968)
1903 - Ake Olof Sebastian Udden, composer
1903 - Lucienne Boyer, French singer (d. 1983)
1904 - Max Factor Jr, CEO (Max Factor Cosmetics)
1904 - Sterling W Cole, (Rep-R-NY)
1904 - [Francis] Max Factor, cosmetics manufacturer (Max Factor)
1905 - Peter Paul Kreuder, composer
1906 - Andre Van Gyseghem, England, actor (Search for the Nile)
1907 - Cecilia Grace Hunt Reeves Gillie, Executive (BBC)
1907 - Enoch Light, Canton Ohio, orchestra leader (Gulf Road Show with Bob Smith)
1907 - Howard Swanson, composer
1907 - Otto Mortensen, composer
1908 - Armijn Pane, Indonesian writer (Belenggu)
1908 - Bill Merritt, cricketer (early NZ Test leg-spinner, also Northants)
1908 - Edgar Faure, thriller writer/PM of France (1952, 52-56)
1908 - Milan Ristic, composer
1909 - Miliza Korjus, Warsaw Poland, actress (Great Waltz)
1910 - Charles Wegg-Prosser, solicitor
1910 - Herman Berlinski, composer
1915 - Max Lanier, baseball player
1916 - Elsa Morante, Italy, writer (L'isola di Arturo)
1916 - Moura Lympany, Saltash England, pianist (OBE-1979)
1917 - Casper Weinberger, US Secretary of Defense (1981-87)
1918 - Elsa Morante, writer
1919 - Walter J Hickel, (Gov-R-Alaska)/US Secretary of Interior (1969-71)
1920 - Bob Kennedy, baseball player
1920 - [Thomas] Godfrey Evans, English cricket keeper (1950's)
Actress Shelley Winters (1920) 1920 - Shelley Winters, St Louis Missouri, actress (A Place in the Sun, A Patch of Blue & Poseidon Adventure), (d. 2006)
1921 - Zdzisław Żygulski, Jr., Polish art historian
1922 - Alain Robbe-Grillet, France, novelist (Voyeur)
1922 - Eric William Hunter Christie, barrister
1923 - Jahangir Khan Irani, cricket wicketkeeper for India (1947-8 Aust tour)
1923 - Sadu Shinde, cricketer (Indian leg-spinner late 1940's/early 1950's)
1923 - Jenni Irani, Indian cricketer (d. 1982)
1924 - Mohammad Zia Ul-Haq, pres of Pakistan (1977-88)[or Aug 12]
1925 - Brian W[ilson] Aldiss, UK, sci-fi author (Helliconia Trilogy)
1925 - Tonny Til, rocker
1925 - Pierre Grondin, French Canadian cardiac surgeon (d. 2006)
1927 - Rosalynn Smith Carter, Georgia, 1st lady (1977-1981), Jimmy's lust
1928 - Marge Schott, CEO (Cincinnati Reds)
1929 - Hugues Aufray, French singer
1930 - Carl Barger, Lewistown Pa, baseball pres (Pittsburgh Pirates, Fla Marlins)
1930 - Grant Williams, NYC, actor (Hawaiian Eye, Incredible Shrinking Man)
1930 - Johnny Preston, Port Arthur, Tx, rocker (Feel So Fine)
1930 - Liviu Librescu, Israeli professor, killed in the Virginia Tech massacre

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Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 10 of 10

1572 - King Navarra Henri de Bourbon marries Margaretha van Valois
1782 - Romantic Age poet and artist William Blake (24) marries Catherine Boucher, 5 years his junior, in St. Mary's Church, Battersea, London.
1918 - Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (45) weds socialite Dorothy Benjamin (25)
1979 - Nick Lowe marries singer Carlene Carter
1984 - Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes (22) weds Des Moines department store heiress Julie Anne Friedman (25) at London registrar's office
2000 - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (57) weds former congressional aide Calista Bisek (34) in Alexandria, Virginia
2005 - Model and former Playboy Playmate Kylie Bax (30) weds photographer Spiros Poros in Delos, Greece
2011 - American Idol's first-ever blind finalist Scott MacIntyre (26) weds Christina Teich in Scottsdale, Arizona
2012 - "Melrose Place" actor Grant Show (50) weds "The Campaign" actress and former ballet dancer Katherine LaNasa (45) at The Oak Grove at Ribbit Tree & Plant Nursery in Topanga, California
2012 - Former "Martin and Everybody Hates Chris" actress Tichina Arnold (43) weds Rico Hines in Honolulu, Hawaii

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 100 of 100

353 - Decentius, Roman usurper
849 - Walafrid Strabo, German monk and theologian
1227 - Genghis Khan, Mongol conqueror, dies
1236 - Theodorus Van Celles, monastery founder (Kruisheren), dies
1258 - Theodore II Lascaris, Emperor of the Empire of Nicaea
1276 - Adrian V, [Ottobono Fieschi], Italian Pope (7/11-8/18/1276), dies
1318 - Clare of Montefalco, Italian Abbess and religious leader (born c. 1268)
1430 - Thomas de Ros, 9th Baron de Ros, English soldier and politician (drowned) (b. 1406)
1503 - Alexander VI, [Rodrigo de Borja], Spanish Pope (1492-1503), dies
1559 - Paul IV, [Giampietro Caraffa], Pope (1555-59), dies at 83
1563 - Étienne de La Boétie, French judge and writer (b. 1530)
1613 - Giovanni Artusi, Italian composer
1620 - Wanli, Emperor of China (b. 1563)
1634 - Urbain Grandier, French priest (b. 1590)
1642 - Guido Reni, Italian painter (b. 1575)
1645 - Eudoxia Streshneva, Tsarina of Mikhail I of Russia (b. 1608)
1652 - Benjamin G Cuyp, historical painter, dies at about 40
1683 - Charles Hart, English actor (b. 1625)
1707 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and statesman (b. 1640)
1712 - Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers, English soldier
1765 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (1745-65) dies at 56
1803 - James Beattie, Scottish poet/philosopher (Essay on Truth), dies at 67
1809 - Matthew Boulton, English manufacturer and engineer (b. 1728)
1811 - Johann Heinrich Zang, composer, dies at 78
1815 - Chauncey Goodrich, American politician (b. 1759)
1840 - Antony CW Staring, Dutch patriot/poet (Jaromir), dies at 73
1842 - Louis de Freycinet, French explorer (b. 1779)
1850 - H de Balzac, writer, dies at 51
1853 - Peter Lichtenthal, composer, dies at 73
1863 - Thomas Welsh, US Union brig-general (Antietam), dies at 39
1870 - Felix Salm-Salm, Prussian/US prince/brig-general, dies in battle
1894 - William Charles Levey, composer, dies at 57
1896 - Frederick Nichols Crouch, composer, dies at 88
1901 - Richard Kleinmichel, composer, dies at 54
1907 - John Kerr, physicist (magneto-optic Kerr-effect), dies at 82
1916 - Edward D Pain, English journalist (NY World), dies in battle at 36
1919 - Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian distillery founder (b. 1841)
1934 - Delilah L Beasley, US author/columnist (Oakland Tribune), dies at 61
1940 - Walter P. Chrysler, American automobile executive (b. 1875)
1942 - Erwin Schulhoff, Czech/Russian composer/pianist, dies at 48
1943 - Hans Jeschonnek, German air force general/chief-staff, commits suicide
1943 - Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general (b. 1865)
1944 - Cecile Chaminade, composer, dies at 87
1944 - Ernst "Teddy" Thalmann, leader of German KPD, dies
1949 - Paul J Mares, US jazz trumpetist/composer (Tin Roof Blues), dies at 49
1950 - Julien Lahaut, chairman Belgian Communist Party, murdered
1952 - Ralph Byrd, actor (Dick Tracy TV Show), dies at 43
1952 - Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga, Chilean Jesuit saint (b. 1901)
1957 - Wawrzyniec Jerzy Zulawski, composer, dies at 41
1961 - Learned Hand, Chief judge of US court of Appeals, dies at 89
1961 - Leonhard Frank, writer, dies at 78
1962 - Cleo Ridgely, silent screen actress (I Remember Mama), dies at 68
1966 - Isaac Keesing, Dutch founder (System Keesing), dies at 80
1966 - Watze Cuperus, Frisian author (Struggle & Blessing), dies at 75
1968 - Cy Walter, pianist (3's Company), dies at 52
1969 - Laci Boldemann, composer, dies at 48
1969 - Mildred Davis, actress (Haunted Spooks), dies of coronary at 68
1969 - Otto Stern, German/US physicist (Nobel 1943), dies at 81
1980 - Norman Cazden, composer, dies at 65
1981 - Anita Loos, US (stage)author (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), dies at 88
1982 - Beverly Bayne, actress (Romeo & Juliet, Passionate Youth), dies at 87
1983 - Nikolaus Pevsner, German-born art historian (b. 1902)
1988 - Alexandr V Shchukin, Russian cosmonaut, dies in SU-26 crash at 42
Choreographer Frederick Ashton (1988) 1988 - Frederick Ashton, British choreographer (Cinderella), dies at 83
1989 - Bert Oosterbosch, cyclist, dies
1989 - Luis Carlos Galan, Colombian presidential candidate, murdered
1990 - B F Skinner, psychologist (Skinner Box), dies of Leukemia at 86
1990 - Raf Reymen, Flemish actor, dies
1990 - Grethe Ingmann, Danish singer (b. 1938)
1991 - Vaughn Shoemaker, US cartoonist (John Q Public, Pulitzer), dies
1992 - Gerard Sonder, Dutch radio host (AVRO), dies
1992 - John Stuges, director (Gunfight at OK Corral), dies of emphysema at 82
1992 - Christopher McCandless, subject of the book Into the Wild (b. 1968)
1993 - Alf Bold, German festival programmer, dies of AIDS at 47
1994 - Gottlob Frick, singer, dies at 88
1994 - John Beavan, newspaper Editor, dies at 84
1994 - Judy Ann Scott-Fox, agent, dies at 56
1994 - Richard Lawrence Millington Synge, chromatographer, dies at 79
1995 - James Ackley Maxwell, actor/director (Traitors, Otley), dies at 66
1995 - Sylvester Louis Adams, murderer, dies at 39
1996 - Geoffrey Dearmer, poet, dies at 103
1996 - Hugo Gabriel Gryn, rabbi, dies at 66
1996 - Thoams Eric Evans, dean of St Paul's, dies at 68
1998 - Persis Khambatta, Indian actress (b. 1950)
2001 - David Peakall, British scientist (b. 1931)
2002 - Dean Riesner, American film and television writer (b. 1918)
2003 - Tony Jackson, English musician (The Searchers) (b. 1938)
2004 - Elmer Bernstein, American composer (b. 1922)
2004 - Hiram Fong, former U.S. Senator from Hawaii (b. 1906)
2005 - Christopher Bauman, American wrestler (b. 1982)
2005 - Gao Xiumin, Chinese comedy actress (b. 1959)
2006 - Fernand Gignac, Canadian singer and actor (b. 1934)
2006 - Jamie Astaphan, Caribbean-born physician (b. 1946)
2007 - Michael Deaver, Reagan Administration Deputy White House Chief of Staff (b. 1938)
2009 - Kim Dae-jung,15th President of South Korea (b. 1925)
2009 - Robert Novak, American journalist and commentator (b. 1931)
2010 - Hal Connolly, American Athlete and hammer thrower (b.1931)
2010 - Scott Davis, American Announcer of Track and Field (b.1943)
2010 - Benjamin Kaplan, copyright scholar
2012 - Scott McKenzie, American singer, dies at 73