August 5

August 5 in recent years

2023 (Saturday)

2022 (Friday)

2021 (Thursday)

2020 (Wednesday)

2019 (Monday)

2018 (Sunday)

2017 (Saturday)

2016 (Friday)

2015 (Wednesday)

2014 (Tuesday)

August 5 is the 217th day of the year (218th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 148 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 642 – Battle of Maserfield – Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Northumbria.
• 910 – The last major Danish army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward the Elder and Earl Aethelred of Mercia.
• 1071 – Byzantine–Norman wars: Italo-Normans begin a nearly-three-year siege of Bari.
• 1100 – Henry I is crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
• 1305 – William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance against England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London where he is put on trial and executed.
• 1388 – The Battle of Otterburn, a border skirmish between the Scottish and the English in Northern England, is fought near Otterburn.
• 1583 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St John's, Newfoundland.
• 1600 – The Gowrie Conspiracy against King James VI of Scotland (later to become King James I of England) takes place.
• 1620 – The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America.
• 1689 – 1,500 Iroquois attack the village of Lachine in New France.
• 1716 – The Battle of Petrovaradin takes place.
• 1735 – Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.
• 1763 – Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run – British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.
• 1772 – The First Partition of Poland begins.
• 1781 – The Battle of Dogger Bank takes place.
• 1824 – Greek War of Independence: Constantine Kanaris leads a Greek fleet to victory against Ottoman and Egyptian ships in the Battle of Samos.
• 1858 – Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It will operate for less than a month.
• 1860 – Charles XV of Sweden of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway in Trondheim.
• 1861 – American Civil War: in order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).
• 1861 – The United States Army abolishes flogging.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge – along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city.
• 1864 – American Civil War: the Battle of Mobile Bay begins – at Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
• 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: the Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.
• 1874 – Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in the United Kingdom.
• 1882 – The Standard Oil of New Jersey is established.
• 1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.
• 1888 – Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008.
• 1901 – Peter O'Connor sets the first IAAF recognised long jump world record of 24 ft 11.75 in (7.6137 m) The record will stand for 20 years.
• 1906 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, King of Iran, agrees to convert the government to a constitutional monarchy.
• 1914 – World War I: the German minelayer Königin Luise lays a minefield about 40 miles (64 km) of the Thames Estuary (Lowestoft). She is intercepted and sunk by the British light-cruiser HMS Amphion.
• 1914 – In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
• 1916 – World War I: Battle of Romani – Allied forces, under the command of Archibald Murray, defeat an attacking Ottoman army under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, securing the Suez Canal and beginning the Ottoman retreat from the Sinai Peninsula.
• 1925 – Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language that is at the time in danger of dying out.
• 1940 – World War II: the Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia.
• 1944 – World War II: possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POWs attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
• 1944 – World War II: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
• 1944 – World War II: The Nazis begin a three-day massacre of anywhere between 40,000 and 100,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.
• 1949 – In Ecuador, an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6,000.
• 1949 – The Mann Gulch fire kills 13 firefighters in Montana.
• 1957 – American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
• 1960 – Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, becomes independent from France.
• 1962 – Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
• 1963 – The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
• 1964 – Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow – American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
• 1965 – The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins as Pakistani soldiers cross the Line of Control dressed as locals.
• 1969 – Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers).
• 1971 – The first Pacific Islands Forum (then known as the "South Pacific Forum") is held in Wellington, New Zealand, with the aim of enhancing cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean.
• 1974 – Vietnam War: the U.S. Congress places a $1 billion dollar limit on military aid to South Vietnam.
• 1979 – In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising.
• 1981 – Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
• 1989 – General elections are held in Nicaragua with the Sandinista Front winning a majority.
• 1995 – The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated in Croatia as Victory Day.
• 2003 – A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.
• 2010 – 2010 Copiapó mining accident occurs, trapping 33 Chilean miners approximately 2,300 ft (700 m) below the ground.
• 2016 – 2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony will be held at Maracanã Sstadium, Rio de Janeiro

Births

• 1301 – Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician (d. 1330)
• 1461 – King Alexander Jagiellon of Poland (d. 1506)
• 1623 – Antonio Cesti, Italian composer (d. 1669)
• 1641 – John Hathorne, American magistrate (d. 1717)
• 1662 – James Anderson, Scottish historian (d. 1728)
• 1694 – Leonardo Leo, Italian composer (d. 1744)
• 1802 – Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1829)
• 1811 – Ambroise Thomas, French opera composer (d. 1896)
• 1813 – Ivar Aasen, Norwegian poet and linguist (d. 1896)
• 1815 – Edward John Eyre, English explorer (d. 1901)
• 1827 – Deodoro da Fonseca, Brazilian statesman (d. 1892)
• 1828 – Queen Louise of the Netherlands, Dutch consort of Charles XV of Sweden (d. 1871)
• 1833 – Queen Carola of Vasa, Austrian consort of Albert of Saxony (d. 1907)
• 1850 – Guy de Maupassant, French writer (d. 1893)
• 1862 – Joseph Merrick, English sideshow performer (d. 1890)
• 1866 – Carl Harries, German chemist (d. 1923)
• 1866 – Harry Trott, Australian cricketer (d. 1917)
• 1872 – Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian physician (d. 1917)
• 1877 – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (d. 1917)
• 1887 – Reginald Owen, English actor (d. 1972)
• 1888 – Victor Francen, Belgian-born French actor (d. 1977)
• 1889 – Conrad Aiken, American writer (d. 1973)
• 1890 – Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 1956)
• 1890 – Naum Gabo, Russian sculptor (d. 1977)
• 1897 – Aksel Larsen, Danish politician (d. 1972)
• 1901 – Claude Autant-Lara, French film director (d. 2000)
• 1906 – John Huston, American director (d. 1987)
• 1906 – Wassily Leontief, Russian economist, Nobel laureate (d. 1999)
• 1906 – Joan Hickson, English actress (d. 1998)
• 1908 – Harold Holt, 17th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
• 1910 – Bruno Coquatrix, French songwriter and music impresario (d. 1979)
• 1911 – Robert Taylor, American actor (d. 1969)
• 1912 – Abbé Pierre, French Catholic priest (d. 2007)
• 1914 – David Brian, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1914 – Stjepan Šulek, Croatian composer and conductor(d. 1986)
• 1918 – Tom Drake, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1918 – Betty Oliphant, Canadian ballerina (d. 2004)
• 1922 – L. Tom Perry, American religious figure
• 1923 – Devan Nair, Singaporean statesman (d. 2005)
• 1926 – Betsy Jolas, French composer
• 1927 – Gunnar Bucht, Swedish composer and musicologist
• 1930 – Neil Armstrong, American astronaut
• 1930 – Michal Kováč, Slovakian politician
• 1932 – Tera de Marez Oyens, Dutch composer (d. 1996)
• 1934 – Wendell Berry, American poet, writer and farmer
• 1934 – Vern Gosdin, American country music singer (d. 2009)
• 1934 – Karl Johan Åström, Control engineer and theorist
• 1934 – Gay Byrne, Irish broadcaster
• 1935 – John Saxon, American actor
• 1937 – Herb Brooks, American ice hockey coach (d. 2003)
• 1937 – Brian G. Marsden, British astronomer (d. 2010)
• 1939 – Princess Irene of the Netherlands
• 1941 – Bob Clark, American film director (d. 2007)
• 1941 – Airto Moreira, Brazilian percussionist
• 1943 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1943 – Sammi Smith, American country singer and songwriter (d. 2005)
• 1946 – Loni Anderson, American actress
• 1946 – Bruce Coslet, American football player and coach
• 1946 – Ron Silliman, American poet
• 1946 – Erika Slezak, American actress
• 1946 – Rick van der Linden, Dutch composer and keyboardist
• 1947 – Angry Anderson, Australian entertainer (Rose Tattoo)
• 1947 – Bernie Carbo, American baseball player
• 1947 – Rick Derringer, American guitarist and vocalist
• 1948 – Carole Laure, French-Canadian actress
• 1948 – Ray Clemence, English footballer
• 1951 – John Jarratt, Australian actor
• 1952 – Louis Walsh, Irish music manager
• 1953 – Rick Mahler, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1953 – Samantha Sang, Australian singer
• 1955 – Eddie Ojeda, guitarist for Twisted Sister
• 1956 – Jerry Ciccoritti, Canadian film director
• 1956 – Maureen McCormick, American actress
• 1957 – Faith Prince, American actress
• 1957 – Clayton Rohner, American actor
• 1957 – David Gill, chief executive of Manchester United
• 1959 – Pete Burns, English singer (Dead or Alive)
• 1959 – Pat Smear, American guitarist (Nirvana, Foo Fighters)
• 1960 – Seth Swirsky, American songwriter
• 1961 – Tawny Kitaen, American actress
• 1961 – Mark O'Connor, American violinist
• 1961 – Athula Samarasekera, Sri Lankan cricketer
• 1962 – Patrick Ewing, Jamacian-born American basketball player
• 1962 – Richard de Groen, New Zealand cricketer
• 1962 – Otis Thorpe, American basketball player
• 1964 – Adam Yauch, American rapper (Beastie Boys)
• 1965 – Motoi Sakuraba, Japanese composer
• 1965 – Jeff Coffin, American jazz and alternative rock musician
• 1965 – Scott William Winters, American actor
• 1966 – Jennifer Finch, American photographer and musician
• 1966 – Jonathan Silverman, American actor
• 1967 – Matthew Caws, American singer (Nada Surf)
• 1967 – Thomas Lang, Austrian drummer
• 1968 – Terri Clark, Canadian country singer
• 1968 – Funkmaster Flex, American hip hop DJ
• 1968 – Tokimitsu Ishizawa, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1968 – Marine Le Pen, French politician
• 1968 – Oleg Luzhny, Ukrainian footballer
• 1968 – Colin McRae, Scottish rally driver (d. 2007)
• 1968 – John Olerud, American baseball player
• 1969 – Vasbert Drakes, Barbadian cricketer
• 1969 – Venkatesh Prasad, Indian cricketer
• 1969 – Leslie Lou Stevenson, Texan awesome
• 1969 – Paola Volpato, Chilean actress
• 1970 – James Gunn, American filmmaker
• 1971 – "Evil" Jared Hasselhoff, American bassist (The Bloodhound Gang)
• 1972 – Christian Olde Wolbers, Belgian guitarist and bassist (Fear Factory)
• 1972 – Aaqib Javed, Pakistani cricketer
• 1972 – Ikuto Hidaka, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1972 – Theodore Whitmore, Jamaican footballer
• 1973 – Sean Sherk, American mixed martial artist
• 1973 – Sanwar Hossain, Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1974 – Alvin Ceccoli, Australian soccer player
• 1974 – Olle Kullinger, Swedish footballer
• 1974 – Antoine Sibierski, French footballer
• 1975 – Antony Cotton, English actor
• 1975 – Ami Foster, American actress
• 1975 – Haim Goldenberg, Israeli/Canadian mentalist (GoldMind)
• 1975 – Iddo Goldberg, Israeli/British actor
• 1975 – Kajol Mukherjee, Indian actress
• 1975 – Eicca Toppinen, Finnish cellist (Apocalyptica)
• 1975 – Dan Hipgrave, British musician, freelance journalist, and businessman
• 1976 – Jeff Friesen, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1976 – Kwon Sang-woo, South Korean actor
• 1976 – Marian Pahars, Latvian footballer
• 1977 – Eric Hinske, American baseball player
• 1977 – Michael Walsh, English footballer
• 1977 – Mark Mulder, American baseball player
• 1977 – Courtney McLean, American actress, writer and comedian
• 1978 – Kim Gevaert, Belgian sprinter
• 1978 – Nektaria Karantzi, Greek singer
• 1979 – David Healy, Northern Irish footballer
• 1980 – Wayne Bridge, English footballer
• 1980 – Salvador Cabañas, Paraguayan footballer
• 1980 – Jason Čulina, Australian footballer
• 1980 – Kaylani Lei, Singaporean/American pornographic actress
• 1980 – Vatsal Seth, Indian actor
• 1980 – Ali Umar, Maldivian footballer
• 1980 – Sophie Winkleman, English actress
• 1981 – David Clarke, British ice hockey player
• 1981 – Carl Crawford, American baseball player
• 1981 – Genelia D'Souza, Indian actress
• 1981 – Erik Guay, Canadian alpine skier
• 1981 – Alester Maregwede, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1981 – Rachel Scott, American murder victim (d. 1999)
• 1981 – Kō Shibasaki, Japanese singer
• 1981 – Zion, Puerto Rican singer
• 1981 – Cory Williams, American internet celebrity
• 1982 – Jamie Houston, English/German rugby player
• 1982 – LoLo Jones, American track and field athlete
• 1982 – Michele Pazienza, Italian footballer
• 1982 – Tobias Regner, German singer
• 1982 – Pete Sell, American mixed martial artist
• 1982 – Ryu Seung Min, Korean table tennis player
• 1983 – Korey Hall, American football player
• 1983 – Dawn Richard, American singer (Danity Kane, Dirty Money)
• 1985 – Laurent Ciman, Belgian footballer
• 1985 – Megan Joy Corkrey, American singer
• 1985 – Salomon Kalou, Ivorian footballer
• 1986 – Paula Creamer, American golfer
• 1986 – Cassie Davis, Australian singer
• 1987 – Lexi Belle, American pornographic actress
• 1988 – Federica Pellegrini, Italian swimmer
• 1993 – Suzuka Ohgo, Japanese actress
• 2000 – Maya Bond, Japanese/American singer-songwriter and drummer

Deaths

• 882 – King Louis III of France (b. 863)
• 1063 – Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, King of Gwynedd (b. 1007)
• 1364 – Emperor Kōgon of Japan (b. 1313)
• 1572 – Isaac Luria, Palestinian Kabbalist (b. 1534)
• 1579 – Stanislaus Hosius, Polish Catholic cardinal (b. 1504)
• 1610 – Alonso García de Ramón, Spanish soldier and twice Royal Governor of Chile (b. 1552)
• 1633 – George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1562)
• 1678 – Juan García de Zéspedes, Mexican viol player, tenor and composer (b. 1619)
• 1743 – John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, English statesman and writer (b. 1696)
• 1778 – Charles Clémencet, French historian (b. 1703)
• 1792 – Frederick North, Lord North, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1732)
• 1799 – Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, Royal Navy admiral of the fleet (b. 1726)
• 1868 – Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes, French archaeologist (b. 1788)
• 1877 – Gustavus, Crown Prince of Sweden (b. 1799)
• 1880 – Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra, Austrian physician (b. 1816)
• 1895 – Friedrich Engels, German philosopher (b. 1820)
• 1901 – Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain and German Empress (b. 1840)
• 1911 – Bob Caruthers, American baseball player (b. 1864)
• 1921 – Dimitrios Rallis, Greek politician, five times Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1844)
• 1923 – Vatroslav Jagić, Croatian Slavist (b. 1835)
• 1925 – Jennie Lee, American actress (b. 1848)
• 1929 – Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist (b. 1847)
• 1944 – Maurice Turnbull, English cricketer (b. 1906)
• 1946 – Wilhelm Marx, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1863)
• 1952 – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (b. 1917)
• 1955 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese actress and singer (b. 1909)
• 1957 – Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist, Nobel Laureate (b. 1877)
• 1959 – Edgar Guest, English poet (b. 1881)
• 1960 – Arthur Meighen, 9th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1874)
• 1962 – Marilyn Monroe, American actress (b. 1926)
• 1963 – Salvador Bacarisse, Spanish composer (b. 1898)
• 1964 – Art Ross, Canadian hockey player and executive (b. 1886)
• 1968 – Luther Perkins American guitarist (b. 1928)
• 1972 – Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the British House of Commons (b. 1905)
• 1978 – Jesse Haines, American baseball player (b. 1893)
• 1980 – Harold L. Runnels, American politician (b. 1924)
• 1983 – Judy Canova, American actress (b. 1913)
• 1984 – Richard Burton, Welsh actor (b. 1925)
• 1987 – Georg Gaßmann, German politician (b. 1910)
• 1991 – Paul Brown, American football coach (b. 1908)
• 1991 – Soichiro Honda, Japanese automotive executive (b. 1906)
• 1992 – Jeff Porcaro, American drummer (Toto) (b. 1954)
• 1994 – Menachem Avidom, Israeli composer (b. 1908)
• 1994 – Alain de Changy, Belgian racing driver (b. 1922)
• 1998 – Otto Kretschmer, German U-boat commander (b. 1912)
• 1998 – Todor Zhivkov, Bulgarian dictator (b. 1911)
• 2000 – Otto Buchsbaum, Austrian-born Brazilian writer and ecological activist (b. 1920)
• 2000 – Tullio Crali, Italian artist associated with Futurism (b. 1910)
• 2000 – Alec Guinness, British actor (b. 1914)
• 2001 – Otema Allimadi, Prime Minister of Uganda (b. 1929)
• 2001 – Christopher Skase, Australian fugitive businessman (b. 1948)
• 2002 – Josh Ryan Evans, American actor (b. 1982)
• 2002 – Chick Hearn, American basketball announcer (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Franco Lucentini, Italian writer (b. 1920)
• 2002 – Matt Robinson, American actor (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Polina Astakhova, Russian gymnast (b. 1936)
• 2005 – Jim O'Hora, American football coach (b. 1915)
• 2005 – Raul Roco, Philippine senator (b. 1941)
• 2006 – Susan Butcher, American sled dog champion (b. 1954)
• 2007 – Jean-Marie Lustiger, French Catholic Cardinal (b. 1926)
• 2007 – Florian Pittiş, Romanian actor, singer and producer (b. 1943)
• 2008 – Neil Bartlett, English chemist, produced xenon hexafluoroplatinate (b. 1932)
• 2008 – Reg Lindsay, Australian country and western singer-songwriter (b. 1929)
• 2009 – Budd Schulberg, American screenwriter and novelist (b. 1914)

Holidays and observances

• Barsi Bhagat Puran Singh (Sikhism)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abel of Reims
  • Addai
  • Afra
  • Cassian of Autun
  • Dedication of Saint Mary Major (Roman Catholic Church)
  • Emygdius
  • Memnius
  • Oswald of Northumbria
  • August 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Burkina Faso from France in 1960.
• International Beer Day
• The beginning of Bogotá's Carnival (Bogotá)
• Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian defenders (Croatia)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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