August 4
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August 4 is the 216th day of the year (217th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 149 days remain until the end of the year.
Events
- 70 - The destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.
- 1265 - Second Barons' War: Battle of Evesham - The army of Prince Edward (future Edward I of England) defeated the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester; killing de Montfort and many of his allies. (This is sometimes considered the end of the age of chivalry in England.)
- 1578 - Battle of Al Kasr al Kebir - Moroccans defeat Portuguese. King Sebastian of Portugal is defeated and killed in North Africa, leaving his elderly uncle, Cardinal Henry, as his heir. This initiates a succession crisis in Portugal.
- 1693 - Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of Champagne.
- 1704 - War of the Spanish Succession: Gibraltar captured by English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles.
- 1789 - In France members of the National Constituent Assembly take an oath to end feudalism and abandon their privileges.
- 1790 - A newly passed tariff act creates the Revenue Cutter Service (the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard).
- 1821 - Atkinson & Alexander publish the Saturday Evening Post for the first time as a weekly newspaper.
- 1824 - Battle of Kos fought between Turks and Greeks.
- 1854 - The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.
- 1873 - Indian Wars: While protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, clash for the first time with the Sioux (near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed).
- 1892 - The family of Lizzie Borden is found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.
- 1902 - Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens.
- 1906 - Central Railway Station, Sydney opens.
- 1914 - World War I: Germany invades Belgium; in response, the United Kingdom declares war on Germany. The United States proclaims neutrality.
- 1916 - World War I: Liberia declares war on Germany.
- 1936 - Greek General Ioannis Metaxas, leader of the 4th of August Regime, suspends parliament and the Constitution and declares himself dictator.
- 1944 - Holocaust: A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse where they find Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family.
- 1947 - The Supreme Court of Japan is established.
- 1954 - Government of Pakistan approves the National Anthem, written by Hafeez Jullundhry and composed by Ahmed G. Chagla.
- 1964 - American civil rights movement: Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney are found dead in Mississippi after disappearing on June 21.
- 1964 - Vietnam War: United States destroyers USS Maddox and USS C. Turner Joy report coming attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. The destroyers open fire at what they believed were Vietnam People's Army torpedo boats, although subsequent work has raised doubts the targets were real. This engagement became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.
- 1969 - Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, US representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.
- 1971 - The US launches first satellite into lunar orbit from a manned spacecraft
- 1975 - The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages included the U.S. consul and the Swedish charge d'affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya.
- 1977 - US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
- 1984 - The African republic Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.
- 1987 - The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to "fairly" present controversial issues.
- 1991 - The Greek cruise ship Oceanos sinks off the Wild Coast of South Africa.
- 1991 - The world's largest hamburger, weighing over 4 tons (about 3750 kg), is made at a county fair in Seymour, Wisconsin.
- 1993 - A federal judge sentences LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King's civil rights.
- 1995 - Operation Storm begins in Croatia.
- 1997 - 185,000 Teamsters union United Parcel Service drivers walk off the job.
- 2002 - Soham murders: 10 year old school girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells go missing from the town of Soham, Cambridgeshire.
- 2005 - Prime Minister Paul Martin announces that Michaëlle Jean will be Canada's 27th — and first black — Governor General.
- 2006 - Dame Silvia Cartwright steps down as the Governor-General of New Zealand and was replaced by The Honourable Anand Satyanand, who was sworn in on 23 August.
Births
- 1222 - Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, English soldier (d. 1262)
- 1290 - Duke Leopold I of Austria (d. 1326)
- 1521 - Pope Urban VII (d. 1590)
- 1604 - François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac, French writer (d. 1676)
- 1701 - Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar (d. 1757)
- 1719 - Johann Gottlob Lehmann, German minerologist and geologist (d. 1767)
- 1721 - Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (d. 1803)
- 1755 - Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French painter, inventor of the modern pencil (d. 1805)
- 1792 - Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (d. 1822)
- 1805 - William Rowan Hamilton, Irish mathematician (d. 1865)
- 1821 - James White, cofunder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (d. 1881)
- 1821 - Louis Vuitton, founder of Louis Vuitton (d. 1892)
- 1834 - John Venn, English mathematician (d. 1923)
- 1848 - Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general (d. 1926)
- 1859 - Knut Hamsun, Norwegian writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1952)
- 1867 - Jake Beckley, baseball player (d. 1918)
- 1870 - Sir Harry Lauder, Scottish entertainer (d. 1950)
- 1884 - Henri Cornet, French cyclist (d. 1941)
- 1888 - Syedna Taher Saifuddin, Bohra Spiritual Leader (d. 1965)
- 1890 - Dolf Luque, baseball player (d. 1957)
- 1899 - Ezra Taft Benson, 13th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS or Mormon Church) (d. 1994)
- 1900 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, (Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother), Queen consort of George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
- 1901 - Louis Armstrong, American musician (d. 1971)
- 1902 - Wild Bill Hallahan, baseball player (d. 1981)
- 1904 - Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist (d. 1969)
- 1906 - Eugen Schuhmacher, German zoologist (d. 1973)
- 1906 - Marie-José of Belgium, queen of Italy (d. 2001)
- 1908 - Kurt Eichhorn, German conductor (d. 1994)
- 1909 - Glenn Cunningham, runner (d. 1988)
- 1910 - William Schuman, American composer (d. 1992)
- 1912 - Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, Russian mathematician, physicist, philosopher, and mountaineer (d. 1999)
- 1912 - Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat
- 1913 - Robert Hayden, American poet (d. 1980)
- 1915 - Warren Avis, founder of Avis car rentals (d. 2007)
- 1918 - Iceberg Slim, popular African-American author also known as Robert Beck (d. 1992)
- 1920 - Helen Thomas, American journalist
- 1921 - Maurice Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2000)
- 1923 - Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi, Pakistani satirical and humor writer
- 1923 - Reg Grundy, Australian media and television mogul
- 1927 - Jess Thomas, American tenor (d. 1993)
- 1928 - Christian Goethals, Belgian racing driver (d. 2003)
- 1929 - Kishore Kumar, Indian singer and actor (d. 1987)
- 1930 - Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, one of the most senior shia clerics of the 21st century.
- 1936 - Assia Djebar, Algerian writer and filmmaker
- 1937 - David Bedford, English musician
- 1938 - Ellen Schrecker, American college professor
- 1940 - Abdurrahman Wahid, 4th President of Indonesia
- 1940 - Timi Yuro, American singer (d. 2004)
- 1941 - Martin Jarvis, English actor
- 1942 - Don S. Davis, American actor
- 1942 - Cleon Jones, American baseball player
- 1942 - David Lange, New Zealand politician (d. 2005)
- 1943 - Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper
- 1944 - Richard Belzer, American actor and comedian
- 1944 - Doudou Ndoye, Senegalese lawyer and politician
- 1946 - Maureen Starkey, ex-wife of Ringo Starr (d. 1994)
- 1947 - Klaus Schulze, German composer
- 1948 - Johnny Grubb, American baseball player
- 1952 - Moya Brennan, Irish singer
- 1952 - Gábor Demszky, Hungarian politician
- 1955 - Billy Bob Thornton, American actor and writer
- 1955 - Alberto Gonzales, American U.S. Attorney General
- 1956 - Gerry Cooney, American boxer
- 1957 - John Wark, Scottish footballer
- 1957 - Brooks D. Simpson, American historian
- 1958 - Mary Decker, American athlete
- 1958 - Kym Karath, American actress
- 1959 - Robbin Crosby, American musician (Ratt) (d. 2002)
- 1959 - John Gormley, Irish politician
- 1960 - Dean Malenko, American professional wrestler
- 1960 - José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spanish politician
- 1961 - Barack Obama, American politician, U.S. Senator (D-IL), 2008 Presidential Candidate
- 1961 - Lauren Tom, American actress
- 1962 - Roger Clemens, American baseball player
- 1962 - Paul Reynolds, British musician
- 1963 - Gary King, British DJ
- 1965 - Fredrik Reinfeldt, Swedish politician
- 1965 - Dennis Lehane, American crime writer
- 1966 - Kensuke Sasaki, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1967 - Timothy Adams, American actor
- 1967 - Mike Marsh, American athlete
- 1968 - Daniel Dae Kim, American actor
- 1968 - Marcus Schenkenberg, Swedish model
- 1969 - Troy O'Leary, American baseball player
- 1969 - Michael DeLuise, American actor
- 1970 - John August, American screenwriter
- 1971 - Jeff Gordon, American race car driver
- 1972 - Stefan Brogren, Canadian actor
- 1973 - Xavier Marchand, French swimmer
- 1973 - Eva Amaral, Spanish singer and songwriter
- 1974 - Cristian González, Argentine footballer
- 1974 - Keenan Milton, Professional Skater
- 1975 - Daniella van Graas, Dutch model and actress
- 1975 - Andy Hallett, American actor
- 1977 - Luís Boa Morte, Portuguese footballer
- 1977 - Frankie Kazarian, American professional wrestler
- 1978 - Kurt Busch, American race car driver
- 1981 - Frédérick Bousquet, French swimmer
- 1981 - Abigail Spencer, American actress
- 1985 - Ha Seung-Jin, Korean basketball player
- 1985 - Luis Antonio Valencia, Ecuadorean footballer
- 1985 - Mark Milligan, Australian footballer
- 1989 - Jessica Mauboy, Australian Idol contestant
- 1992 - Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Italian-born American child actors
- 1992 - Tiffany Evans, American singer
Deaths
- 1060 - Henry I of France (b. 1008)
- 1113 - Gertrude of Saxony (b. 1030)
- 1265 - Killed in the Battle of Evesham:
- 1306 - Wenceslaus III of Bohemia (b. 1289)
- 1338 - Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, son of Edward I of England (b. 1300)
- 1526 - Juan Sebastián Elcano, Spanish explorer (b. 1476)
- 1578 - Sebastian of Portugal (b. 1554)
- 1578 - Thomas Stucley, English adventurer
- 1598 - William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English statesman (b. 1520)
- 1612 - Hugh Broughton, English scholar (b. 1549)
- 1639 - Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Mexican dramatist
- 1718 - René Lepage de Ste-Claire, lord-founder of the town of Rimouski, in New France (b. 1656)
- 1727 - Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie, French general (b. 1647)
- 1741 - Andrew Hamilton, American lawyer
- 1784 - Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian musician (b. 1706)
- 1792 - John Burgoyne, British general (b. 1723)
- 1795 - Timothy Ruggles, American-born Tory politician (b. 1711)
- 1844 - Jakob Aall, Norwegian journalist and statesman (b. 1773)
- 1873 - Viktor Hartmann, Russian painter (b. 1834)
- 1875 - Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer (b. 1805)
- 1900 - Isaac Levitan, Russian painter (b. 1860)
- 1938 - Pearl White, American actress (b. 1889)
- 1957 - Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, President of Brazil (b. 1869)
- 1958 - Ethel Anderson, Australian poet (b. 1883)
- 1967 - Peter Smith, English cricketer (b. 1908)
- 1976 - Roy Herbert Thomson, Canadian publisher (b. 1894)
- 1976 - Enrique Angelelli, Argentine bishop
- 1981 - Melvyn Douglas, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1982 - Bruce Goff, American Architect (b. 1904)
- 1996 - Geoff Hamilton, British gardener and broadcaster (b. 1936)
- 1997 - Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian; world's oldest ever-human (b. 1875)
- 1998 - Yuri Artyukhin, cosmonaut (b. 1930)
- 1999 - Victor Mature, American actor (b. 1915)
- 2000 - Leslie Glass, American adult film actress (b. 1963)
- 2001 - Lorenzo Music, American actor (b. 1937)
- 2002 - Holly Wells & Jessica Chapman, Soham murder victims (b. 1991, 1991)
- 2003 - Frederick Chapman Robbins, American Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1916)
- 2005 - Anatoly Larkin, Russian-American physicist (b. 1932)
- 2007 - Lee Hazlewood, American country singer, songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
Holidays and observances
- Burkina Faso - Anniversary of the Revolution.
- Cook Islands - Constitution Day (celebrations begin on the last Friday in July and last up to 2 weeks.)
- El Salvador - Transfiguration Bank Holiday
- Ancient Egypt - Jubilation of the Heart of Re.
- Fiji - Celebration of Life (Begins on the 21st of April and ends on 12 of September.)
- Saint Sithney, patron saint of mad dogs
- Saint Baumer, confessor [Tulle]
- Saint Dominic, confessor
- Saints Epiphanius and Isidore, martyrs [Besançon]
- Saint Euphronius, bishop of Tours [Tours]
- Saint Ionius [Paris]
- Saint Irenaeus and companions, martyrs at Lyon [Langres]
- Saint John Vianney=Jean-Marie Vianney, parish priest, patron saint of priests
- Saint Justus, bishop of Lyon, confessor [Trier, Lyon]
- Saint Justinus, priest, martyr (sometimes confessor)
- Saint Luanus/Lugid, abbot [Quimper]
- Translation of saint Martin [Paris]
- Saint Nicomedes, bishop, martyr [Bruges]
- Saint Peregrinus and companions, martyrs [LeMans]
- Saint Tertullinus, priest, martyr [France]
- Translation of Saint Valentine of Passau, bishop of Passau, confessor [Passau]
- Saint Sigrada, widow [Soissons]
- Advent of Saint Walburga, virgin [Münster]