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AUGUST 26
August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). There are 127 days remaining.
Events
- 55 BC - Julius Caesar invades Britain.
- 1071 - Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Empire at Manzikert.
- 1278 - Ladislaus IV of Hungary and Rudolph I of Germany defeat Premysl Ottokar II of Bohemia in the Battle of Marchfield near Dürnkrut in Moravia.
- 1303 - Ala ud din Khilji won Chittor.
- 1346 - Hundred Years' War: The military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armoured knights is established at the Battle of Crécy.
- 1498 - Michelangelo commissioned to carve the Pietà.
- 1778 - The first ascent of Triglav, the highest mountain of Slovenia.
- 1789 - Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen approved by Constituent Assembly at Palace of Versailles.
- 1818 - The first Illinois Constitution was signed in Kaskaskia.
- 1839 - The ship Amistad is captured off Long Island.
- 1858 - First news dispatch by telegraph.
- 1862 - American Civil War: The Second Battle of Bull Run begins.
- 1883 - Eruption of Mount Krakatoa.
- 1914 - World War I: Germans defeat Russians in Battle of Tannenberg, a decisive engagement which resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian 2nd Army.
- 1914 - World War I: The British Expeditionary Force briefly checks the German advance at Le Cateau.
- 1914 - World War I: The German colony of Togoland is invaded by French and British forces, who take it after 5 days.
- 1920 - 19th amendment to U.S. Constitution gives women the right to vote.
- 1928 - May Donoghue drinks a bottle of ginger beer at a cafe in Paisley, Scotland and finds the remains of a snail in the bottle. She launches a civil action against the drink manufacturer which becomes one of the famous cases in English Common Law; that of Donoghue v. Stevenson.
- 1939 - The first Major League Baseball game is telecast, a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, in Brooklyn, New York.
- 1940 - Chad is the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor.
- 1944 - World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris.
- 1957 - The USSR announces the successful test of an ICBM - a "super long distance intercontinental multistage ballistic rocket ... a few days ago," according to the Soviet news agency, TASS.
- 1968 - The Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1968 - The Beatles' "Hey Jude" is released (in a shortened version) as a single in the United States under the Apple Records label, to spend nine weeks as number one, a record for any Beatles single,.
- 1970 - The third annual Isle of Wight rock festival, which would feature the last UK performance from Jimi Hendrix, opens in Great Britain.
- 1972 - Games of the XX Olympiad open in Munich, Germany.
- 1976 - Raymond Barre becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1977 - Charter of the French Language is adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec
- 1978 - Papal conclave, 1978 (August): Pope John Paul I is elevated to the Papacy.
- 1978 - Sigmund Jähn becomes first German cosmonaut on board of the Soyuz 31 spacecraft.
- 1980 - John Birges plants a bomb at Harvey's Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada.
- 1987 - President Ronald Wilson Reagan proclaims September 11, 1987 as 9-1-1 Emergency Number Day.
- 1988 - Merhan Karimi Nasseri arrives at Charles de Gaulle International Airport.
- 1995 - The International Rugby Board lifts all restrictions on payments relating to the game of Rugby Union, thus bringing the game's amateur age to an end.
- 1997 - Beni-Ali massacre in Algeria; 60-100 people killed.
- 2002 - Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Éric Gagné converts his first of a record 84 consecutive successful save opportunities.
- 2002 - Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa.
- 2003 - Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
- 2005 - Fiji's High Court rules that the island's sodomy law is unconstitutional.
- 2006 - Basshunter's Boten Anna is the first Swedish-speaking number 1-hit in the Dutch Top 40
Births
- 1469 - Ferdinand II of Naples (d. 1496)
- 1540 - King Magnus of Livonia (d. 1583)
- 1676 - Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1745)
- 1694 - Elisha Williams, American rector of Yale College (d. 1755)
- 1736 - Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle, French chemist (d. 1790)
- 1743 - Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (d. 1794)
- 1775 - William Joseph Behr, German writer (d. 1851)
- 1789 - Abbas Mirza, Prince of Persia (d. 1833)
- 1792 - Manuel Oribe, Uruguayan political figure (d. 1857)
- 1845 - Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, widely believed to be the first victim of Jack the Ripper (d. 1888)
- 1850 - Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
- 1862 - Herbert Booth, the third son of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1926)
- 1873 - Lee DeForest, American inventor (d. 1961)
- 1874 - Zona Gale, American novelist (d. 1938)
- 1875 - John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Scottish novelist, Governor General of Canada (d. 1940)
- 1880 - Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet and art critic (d. 1918)
- 1882 - James Franck, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
- 1894 - Sparky Adams, Baseball player (d. 1989)
- 1896 - Ivan Mihailov, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1990)
- 1897 - Yoon Boseon, President of South Korea (d. 1990)
- 1898 - Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (d. 1979)
- 1900 - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (d. 1980)
- 1901 - Maxwell Taylor, American general (d. 1987)
- 1901 - Chen Yi, Chinese communist military commander and politician (d. 1972)
- 1904 - Christopher Isherwood, English-born writer (d. 1986)
- 1906 - Albert Sabin, American polio researcher (d. 1993)
- 1908 - Aubrey Schenck, film producer (d. 1999)
- 1909 - Jim Davis, American actor (d. 1981)
- 1909 - Gene Moore, baseball player (d. 1978)
- 1910 - Mother Teresa, Humanitarian Activist and Worker (d. 1997)
- 1914 - Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (d. 1984)
- 1921 - Benjamin Bradlee, American journalist
- 1922 - Irving R. Levine, American journalist
- 1923 - Wolfgang Sawallisch, German conductor and pianist
- 1924 - Alex Kellner, baseball player (d. 1996)
- 1928 - Peter Appleyard, Canadian jazz vibraphonist
- 1934 - Tom Heinsohn, American basketball player and commentator
- 1935 - Geraldine Ferraro, U.S. Vice Presidential candidate
- 1936 - Yvette Vickers, American actress
- 1940 - Don LaFontaine, American voice actor
- 1941 - Barbet Schroeder, Swiss film director
- 1941 - Akiko Wakabayashi, Japanese actress
- 1941 - Chris Curtis, English singer and drummer (The searchers) (d.2005)
- 1942 - Vic Dana, American singer
- 1942 - Dennis Turner, British politician
- 1944 - Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
- 1944 - Maureen Tucker, American musician (The Velvet Underground)
- 1945 - Tom Ridge, first United States Secretary of Homeland Security
- 1946 - Valerie Simpson, American singer
- 1946 - Mark Snow, American composer
- 1946 - Zhou Ji, Education Minister of the People's Republic of China
- 1952 - Will Shortz, New York Times crossword editor
- 1953 - Pat Sharkey, Irish footballer
- 1954 - Efren Reyes, World Pool Player
- 1957 - Dr. Alban, Nigerian singer
- 1957 - Rick Hansen, Canadian paraplegic athlete
- 1960 - Branford Marsalis, American saxophonist and bandleader
- 1965 - Chris Burke, American actor
- 1965 - Bobby Duncum, Jr., wrestler (d. 2000)
- 1966 - Jacques Brinkman, Dutch field hockey player
- 1966 - Shirley Manson, Scottish singer
- 1977 - Saeko Chiba, Japanese seiyuu
- 1979 - Jamal Lewis, American football player
- 1979 - Cristian Mora, Ecuadorian footballer
- 1982 - Petey Williams, Canadian professional wrestler
Deaths
- 1278 - King Otakar II of Bohemia
- 1346 - Killed in the Battle of Crécy:
- 1349 - Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1551 - Margareta Leijonhufvud, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1516)
- 1595 - Antonio, Prior of Crato, claimant to the throne of Portugal (b. 1531)
- 1666 - Frans Hals, Dutch painter
- 1714 - Edward Fowler, English Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1632)
- 1723 - Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch scientist (b. 1632)
- 1785 - George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, British soldier and politician (b. 1716)
- 1850 - Louis-Philippe of France (b. 1773)
- 1865 - Johann Franz Encke, German astronomer (b. 1791)
- 1915 - John Bunny American comedian (b. 1863)
- 1930 - Lon Chaney, Sr., American actor (b. 1883)
- 1944 - Adam von Trott zu Solz, German anti-Nazi diplomat (executed)
- 1945 - Franz Werfel, Austrian writer (b. 1890)
- 1958 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (b. 1872)
- 1968 - Kay Francis, American actress (b. 1899)
- 1974 - Charles Lindbergh, American aviator (b. 1902)
- 1976 - Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (b. 1888)
- 1978 - Charles Boyer, French actor (b. 1899)
- 1978 - José Manuel Moreno, Argentine footballer (b. 1916)
- 1979 - Mika Waltari, Finnish author (b. 1908)
- 1980 - Rosa Albach-Retty, German actress (b. 1874)
- 1980 - Tex Avery, American cartoonist (b. 1908)
- 1981 - Roger Nash Baldwin, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (b. 1884)
- 1986 - Ted Knight, American actor (b. 1923)
- 1987 - Georg Wittig, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
- 1988 - Carlos Paião, Portuguese singer (b. 1957)
- 1989 - Irving Stone, American author (b. 1903)
- 1990 - Minoru Honda, Japanese astronomer (b. 1913)
- 1998 - Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- 2003 - Jim Wacker, American football coach (b. 1937)
- 2004 - Laura Branigan, American singer (b. 1957)
- 2005 - Denis D'Amour, Canadian guitarist (Voivod) (b. 1960)
- 2005 - Robert Denning, American interior designer (b. 1927)
- 2006 - Rainer Barzel, former President of the German Bundestag (b. 1924)
- 2006 - Clyde Walcott, West Indian cricketer (b. 1926)
Holidays and observances
External links
August 25 - August 27 - July 26 - September 26 -- listing of all days
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