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AUGUST 4
August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining.
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.
- 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 published was true.
- 1753 - George Washington, then a young Virginia planter, becomes a Master Mason, the highest basic rank in the fraternity of Freemasonry.
- 1782 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is married to Constanze Weber.
- 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 invaded Belgium; in response, the United Kingdom declares war on Germany. The United States proclaims neutrality.
- 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 are allegedly attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Air support from the carrier USS Ticonderoga sinks two, possibly three North Vietnamese gunboats. Years later, the claim of NVA attack was revealed to be false.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1983 - Thomas Sankara becomes president of Upper Volta.
- 1983 - New York Yankee outfielder Dave Winfield accidentally kills a gull during warmups in the outfield prior to a baseball game in Toronto at Exhibition Stadium and is charged by local police for his "act of cruelty to animals". His manager Billy Martin quipped, "It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man."
- 1984 - The African republic Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.
- 1985 - In a day of milestones, Tom Seaver of the Chicago White Sox becomes the 17th pitcher to win 300th career games and Rod Carew of the California Angels becomes the 16th player ever to collect 3000 career hits. Seaver pitches the White Sox to a 4–1 six-hit victory on Phil Rizzuto Day at Yankee Stadium as 54,032 New Yorkers cheer him on, while Carew bloops a single to left off Frank Viola in the 3rd inning of the Angels 6–5 win over the Twins. It marks the only day in which two men reach these two milestones on the same day.
- 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.
- 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.
- 2005 - Prime Minister Paul Martin announces that Michaëlle Jean will be Canada's 27th — and first black — Governor General.
- 2006 - Dame Silvia Cartwright will step down as the Governor-General of New Zealand and will be replaced by The Honourable Anand Satyanand, who will be 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)
- 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)
- 1890 - Dolf Luque, baseball player (d. 1957)
- 1899 - Ezra Taft Benson, 13th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (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)
- 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)
- 1921 - Maurice Richard, Canadian 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)
- 1929 - Kishore Kumar, Indian singer and actor (d. 1987)
- 1936 - Assia Djebar, Algerian writer and filmmaker
- 1937 - David Bedford, English musician
- 1940 - Timi Yuro, American singer (d. 2004)
- 1940 - Abdurrahman Wahid, 4th President of Indonesia
- 1942 - David Lange, 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2005)
- 1942 - Cleon Jones, American baseball player
- 1943 - Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper
- 1944 - Richard Belzer, American actor and comedian
- 1946 - Maureen Starkey, one-time wife of Beatle, Ringo Starr (d. 1994)
- 1947 - Klaus Schulze, German composer
- 1948 - Johnny Grubb, US baseball player
- 1952 - Moya Brennan, Irish singer
- 1952 - Gábor Demszky, Hungarian politician
- 1955 - Alberto Gonzales, American politician, 80th United States Attorney General
- 1955 - Billy Bob Thornton, American actor and writer
- 1957 - John Wark, Scottish footballer
- 1958 - Mary Decker, American athlete
- 1959 - Robbin Crosby, American musician (Ratt) (d. 2002)
- 1960 - Dean Malenko, American professional wrestler
- 1960 - José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, 5th Prime Minister of Spain
- 1961 - Barack Obama, American politician, United States Senator from Illinois
- 1962 - Roger Clemens, American baseball player
- 1967 - Mike Marsh, American athlete
- 1968 - Marcus Schenkenberg, Swedish model
- 1968 - Daniel Dae Kim, American actor
- 1969 - Troy O'Leary, American baseball player
- 1970 - Michael DeLuise, American actor
- 1971 - Jeff Gordon, American race car driver
- 1972 - Stefan Brogren, Canadian actor
- 1974 - Cristian González, Argentine footballer
- 1975 - Daniella van Graas, Dutch model and actress
- 1977 - Luís Boa Morte, Portuguese footballer
- 1978 - Kurt Busch, American race car driver
- 1985 - Ha Seung-Jin, Korean basketball player
- 1985 - Luis Antonio Valencia, Ecuadorean footballer
- 1985 - Mark Milligan, Australian footballer
- 1992 - Cole and Dylan Sprouse, Italian-born American child actors
Deaths
- 1060 - Henry I of France (b. 1008)
- 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
- 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)
- 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)
- 1967 - Peter Smith, English cricketer (b. 1908)
- 1976 - Roy Herbert Thomson, Canadian publisher (b. 1894)
- 1981 - Melvyn Douglas, American actor (b. 1901)
- 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)
- 2003 - Frederick Chapman Robbins, American Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1916)
Holidays and observances
External links
August 3 - August 5 - July 4 - September 4 -- listing of all days
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