August 17th
Holidays and Festivals
Independence Day (Indonesia) * (see below)
Independence Day (Gabon) * (see below)
The birth of Marcus Garvey * (see below)
Prekmurje Union Day (Slovenia)
National Thriftshop Day
Meaning of -Is- Day
Christian Feast Day of Clare of the Cross
Christian Feast Day of Saint Hyacinth of Poland
Mammes of Caesarea (Roman Catholic Church)
* Edinburgh Festival Edinburgh, Scotland - August - (3-21)
* Gäuboden Volksfest Straubing, Germany - August - (2-10)
Independence Day (Indonesia), celebrate the announcement of Indonesia's independence from Japan in 1945.
Independence Day (Gabon), celebrate the independence of Gabon from France in 1960.
The birth of Marcus Garvey, considered a prophet. (Rastafari movement)
Fête de la Moulin Translation: Mill Day (French Republican) The 30th day of the Month of Thermidor in the French Republican Calendar
Toast of The Day
"Here's a toast to all who are here,
no matter where you're from.
May the best day you have seen,
be worse than your worse to come."
- Traditional Irish
- Alternative -
"Pro"
- Bahasa / In Celebration of Indonesia Independence Day August 17th
Drink of The Day
Perfect Rob Roy
2 Part Scotch
1 Part Sweet Vermouth
1 Part Dry Vermouth
Twist of Lemon
Combine ingredients together n a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
Wine of The Day
Royal Oporto Vintage Porto
Oporto
$75
Beer of The Day
Sidewinder Bock
Brewer - Great American Restaurants Centreville, VA
Style - Traditional German-Style Bock
Joke of The Day
After a long night of making love, the young guy rolled over, was looking around when he noticed a framed picture of another man on a desk in the distance.
Naturally, the guy began to worry.
"Is this your husband?" he inquired nervously.
"No, silly," she replied, snuggling up to him.
"Your boyfriend then?" he asked.
"No, not at all," she said, nibbling away at his ear.
"Well, who is he then?" demanded the bewildered guy.
Calmly, Rachael replied, "That's me before the surgery."
Quote of The Day
"Let's get out of these wet clothes and into a dry Martini..."
- Mae West (August 17th 1893 to November 22nd 1980), an American actress.
Whiskey Of The Day
Price: $70
August Observances
Admit You're Happy Month
American Adventures Month
American Artists Appreciation Month
American History Essay Contest (8/1 - 12/15)
American Indian Heritage Month (Also November)
Beach Month
Black Business Month
Cataract Awareness Month
Celery, Fennel and Cactus Month
Children's Eye Health and Safety Month
Children’s Vision and Learning Month
Family Fun Month
Get Ready for Kindergarten Month
Golf Month
Happiness Happens Month
Learn Japanese Month
Motor Sports Awareness Month
National Catfish Month
National Eye Exam Month
National Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Month
National Goat Cheese Month
National Golf Month
National Immunization Awareness Month
National Inventors Month
National Minority Donor Awareness Month
National Panini Month
National Parks Month
National Picnic Month
National Runaway Prevention Month
National Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month
National Truancy Prevention Month
National Water Quality Month
National Win With Civility Month
National Women's Month
Neurosurgery Outreach Month
Orange and Papaya Month
Peach Month
Psoriasis Awareness Month
Romance Awareness Month
Water Quality Month
What Will Be Your Legacy Month
Observances this Week
Thanks For All The Gifts Week, Third Week in AugustFriendship Week, Third Week in August
Minority Enterprise Development Week, Third Full Week in August
National Aviation Week, Week of Orville Wright's Birthday on 19th
Historical on August 17th
682 St Leo II begins his reign as Catholic Pope
986 A Byzantine army is destroyed in the pass of Trajan's Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron. The Byzantine emperor Basil II narrowly escaped.
1180 Yoritomo Minamoto leads uprising against Kiyomori Taira who installed his grandson, Emperor Antoku, to the throne
1498 Cardinal Borgia renounced his vows & office to marry a French princess
1544 Imperial/English armies occupy Saint-Dizier France
1563 King Charles IX of France (13) declared an adult
1577 Peace of Bergerac: Political rights for Huguenots
1579 Francois van Anjou visits English queen Elizabeth I
1585 Antwerp surrenders after 8 months siege by duke of Parma
1590 John White returns to Roanoke, Virginia to find no trace of colonist's he had left there 3 yrs earlier [or Aug 18, 1591]
1648 Battle at Preston, Lancashire: Henry Ireton beats Scottish
1717 France, Russia & Prussia sign agreement
1743 Sweden & Russia sign peace treaty
1787 Jews are granted permission in Budapest Hungary to pray in groups
1788 Losantville, OH (now Cincinnati) founded
1795 Slave revolt at Knip plantation, Curacao
1796 English beat Bataafs navy in Saldanha Bay
1807 Robert Fulton's first American steamboat (Clermont) leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
1808 Napoleon asks King Louis for Holland brigade towards Spain
1827 Dutch King Willem I/Pope Leo XII sign concord
1834 Charles Darwins reaches top of Campana Chile
1835 Solymon Merrick patents wrench
1836 British parliament accept registration of birth/marriage/death
1836 HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin leave South-America for last time
1846 US fleet officer Robert F Stockton annexes California
1858 1st bank in Hawaii opens
1859 1st air mail (in a balloon) took off from Lafayette Ind
1862 Major General JEB Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War.
1862 Confederate troops under Kirby Smith enter Kentucky
1862 The Lakota (Sioux) Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
1863 In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter in the American Civil War.
1863 Skirmish at Calfkiller Creek (Sparta), Tennessee
1864 Battle of Gainesville Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida in the American Civil War.
1866 Bathe & Prussia signs peace treaty
1869 1st international boat race (Thames River, Oxford beats Harvard)
1870 1st ascent of Mt Rainier, Washington
1870 Mrs Esther Morris becomes 1st woman magistrate (South Pass, Wyoming)
1876 Opera "Götterdämmerung" premieres in Bayreuth
1877 Asaph Hall discovers Mars' moon Phobos
1879 Ferdinand de Lesseps forms French Panama Canal Company
1883 The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional.
1891 1st public bathhouse with showers opens in NYC (People's Bath)
1891 Electric self-starter for automobile patented
1892 Russian/French generals Obruchev/Boisdeffre signs Duple Alliance
1894 Phils get 36 hits, Sam Thompson hits for cycle beating Louisville 29-4
1896 George Washington Carmack discoveres gold in Klondike region of Yukon
1897 W B Purvis patents electric railway switch
1903 Joe Pulitzer donated $1 million to Columbia U & begins Pulitzer Prizes
1904 Boston's Jesse Tannehell no-hits Chic White Sox, 6-0
1905 Dutch government of De Master begins
1907 Bishop forbids Christian membership in Dutch Textile Union
1907 Pike Place Market, the longest continuously-running public farmers market in the US, opened in Seattle.
1908 B Tarkington & HL Wilson's "Man from Home," premieres in NYC
1908 Bank of Italy opens new HQ at Clay & Montgomery
1908 Projection in Paris of the very first animated cartoon, Fantasmagorie is realized by Émile Cohl.
1914 French troops under gen de Castelnau occupy Chateau Salins
1914 Lithuiana surrenders to Germans
1914 Battle of Stalluponen of the World War I, The German army of General Hermann von François defeats the Russian force commanded by Pavel Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia.
1915 German troops over run Kovno Lithuiana
1915 Hurricane strikes Galveston, TX (275 killed)
1915 Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life.
1916 Bulgarian offensive in Macedonia
1917 Italy declares war on Germany & Turkey
1918 Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
1918 British troops attack Baku Azerbaijan
1918 Samuel Riddle buys Man o'War for $5,000
1918 Turkish troops overthrow Caukasus
1920 In memory of Ray Chapman (died Aug 16), Yanks cancel game with Indians
1924 French-German trade agreement signed
1926 Greek-Serbian,Croatian,Slavs peace treaty signed
1933 Lou Gehrig breaks record by playing in his 1,308th consecutive game
1933 Soviet Union test GIRD-R1 rocket ("Object 09")
1938 1st aircraft owned by Forest Service in service (Oakland)
1938 Henry Armstrong won his 3rd concurrent boxing championship
1939 "Wizard of Oz" opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in NY
1940 FDR & Canadian PM William M King agree to joint defense commission
1940 Greece mobilizes
1940 Hitler orders total blockade of Great-Britain
1941 German raider attacks Dutch SS Kota Nopan
1942 1st European bombing run undertaken by US forces
1942 1st US/8th Air Force bombs Europe
1942 Task Force 17 leaves Pearl Harbor under adm George Murray on Hornet
1942 Transport nr 20 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
1942 U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin (Butaritari).
1942 The U.S. Eighth Air Force begins regular combat operations in Europe during World War II with an attack on the marshalling yards at Rouen-Sotteville, France.
1943 498 British bombers attack Peenemunde
1943 Gen Patton enters Messina, completing conquest of Sicily by Allies
1943 The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 B-17O bombers on the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission.
1943 First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins during World War II.
1943 The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
1944 4th Canadian Armour division occupiers Trun Normandy
1944 Canadian 2nd division conquerors Falaise Normandy
1944 German fieldmarshal Model replaces von Kluge in Normandy
1944 Russian troops arrive at Austria-Prussia border
1944 US 12th Army corp occupies Orleans
1944 US 320th regiment infantry occupies Châteaudun
1944 Yanks Johnny Lindell ties record with 4 consecutive doubles in a game
1945 Indonesian Declaration of Independence. Indonesia (Dutch E Indies) declares independence from Netherlands.
1945 Koreas divided on 38th parallel with US occupying the southern area
1946 Arthur Honegger's 3rd Symphony "Liturgique," premieres
1947 The Radcliffe Line, the border between Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
1948 Alger Hiss denies ever being a Communist agent
1948 Phillies commit 8 errors in a game
1948 Tom Henrich hits his then record tying 4th grand slam of season
1950 Indonesia gains independence from Netherlands
1950 Pee Wee Reese (Dodgers) & Sam Calderone (Giants) hit inside park HRs
1951 18th NFL Chicago All-Star Game, Cleveland 33, All-Stars 0 (92,180)
1951 Hurricane winds drive 6 ships ashore, Kingston, Jamaica
1952 "Fallout" 1st used (NY Times)
1952 Betty Jameson wins LPGA World Golf Championship
1953 First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.
1955 Hurricane Diane, following hurricane Connie floods Connecticut River killing 190 & doing $1.8 billion damage
1956 Bundesverfassungsgericht bans KPD in West Germany
1957 Richie Ashburn, fouls hit fan Alice Roth twice in same at bat 1st one breaks her nose, 2nd one hits her while she is on the stretcher
1958 Bonnie Hoffman wins LPGA Kansas City Golf Open
1958 World's 1st Moon probe, US's Thor-Able, explodes at T +77 sec
1959 7.1 quake strikes Yellowstone National Park
1959 Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much acclaimed and highly influential best selling jazz recording of all time, is released.
1959 Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
1959 USSR & Iraq signs contract for building Iraqi nuclear reactor
1960 Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow
1960 Gabon gains independence from France (National Day)
1960 Indonesia drops diplomatic relations with Netherlands
1961 Kennedy administration establishes Alliance for Progress
1962 Beatles replaces Pete Best with Ringo Starr
1962 East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall.
1963 Jim Hickman becomes 1st NY Met to hit for cycle
1963 Oriole's Dick Hall retires his 28th consecutive player in relief
1964 Boycott scores his 1st Test Cricket century, 113 v Aust at the Oval
1966 Pioneer 7 launched into solar orbit
1966 Willie Mays takes 2nd place on all-time HR list
1968 Dick Beyers (Dr X) beats Verne Gagne, to become NWA champ
1969 Hurricane Camille, kills 256 in Miss & Louisiana
1969 51st PGA Championship, Ray Floyd shoots a 276 at NCR GC Dayton Ohio
1969 Carol Mann wins LPGA Southgate Ladies' Golf Open
1969 Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage.
1969 NY Jets beat NY Giants 37-14 in their 1st meeting (pre season)
1970 Venera 7 (US) launched. It will later become the first softlanding on Venus and first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
1972 Phillies Steve Carlton wins his 15th straight game
1973 Lee Trevino's 1st hole-in-one
1973 Willie Mays hits 660th & last HR (off Don Gullett of Cincinnati)
1975 Jo Ann Washam wins LPGA Patty Berg Golf Classic
1976 An earthquake & tidal wave in the Philippines kills up to 8,000
1976 Big win for WI at The Oval Michael Holding 14-149 for match
1977 Russian nuclear sub "Artika" is 1st to North Pole
1977 Thomas Wessinghage/Harald Hudak/Michael Lederer/Karl Fleschen walk world record 4x1500m (14:38.8)
1977 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1978 First successful crossing of the Atlantic by balloon (3 Americans)
1978 Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
1979 2 Russian passenger planes collide above Ukraine, 173 killed
1979 Monty Python's "Life of Brian" premieres
1979 Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156
1980 "Blackstone" closes at Majestic Theater NYC after 104 performances
1980 Azaria Chamberlain disappears, probably taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.
1980 Beth Daniel wins LPGA Patty Berg Golf Classic
1980 George Brett goes 4-for-4, raising his batting average to .401
1982 LA Dodgers beat Chicago Cubs, 6-5, in 21 innings (game completed 8/18)
1982 South Bend, Ind jury acquits self-avowed racist Joseph Paul Franklin
1982 The first Compact Discs (CDs) were released to the public in Germany.
1983 Hurricane Alicia, kills 17 in Texas
1984 Pete Rose returns to Cin Reds as player-manager (gets 2 hits)
1985 1,400 meatpackers walk off the job at a Geo A Hormel & Co plant
1985 Rajiv Gandhi announces Punjab state elections in India
1985 Sara Trollinger forms House of Hope in Orlando
1986 Bronze pig statue unveiled at Seattle's Pike Place Market
1986 Cindy Mackey wins LPGA MasterCard International Golf Pro-Am
1986 Pat Bradley wins LPGA Nestle World Golf Championship
1986 Red Sox trade shortstop Rey Quinones & pitcher Mike Trujillo to Mariners for shortstop Spike Owen & outfielder Dave Henderson
1986 Rioting at DMC concert, 40 injured
1987 Bunt single gives Paul Molitor longest hit streak of 1980s at 32 games
1987 Dow Jones Industrial Avg closes above 2,700 for 1st time (2,700.57)
1987 Mohammad Ali elected to "Ring" magazine's Boxing Hall of Fame
1988 Butch Reynolds runs world record 400m (43.29)
1988 LIRR says Penn station will get air conditioning in 1991
1988 NYC 1st case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (9 year old Bronx boy)
1988 Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
1988 Republicans nominate George Bush for president
1988 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1989 32nd Walker Cup, Britain-Ireland, 12½-11½
1989 Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken moves into 3rd place (1,208th cons game)
1990 "Exorcist 3" premieres
1990 Carlton Fisk hits White Sox record 187th HR
1990 Phyllis Polander sues Mike Tyson for sexual harassment
1991 Royals Warren Cromartie's 1st major league HR since 1983
1992 Kevin Gross of Dodgers tosses only 9-inning no-hitter of season, a 2-0
1994 Lesotho king Letsie II fires premier Ntsu Mokhehle
1994 NY Central park reservior officially named after Jackie Kennedy Onasis
1995 China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1996 Soyuz TM-24, launched into orbit
1997 79th PGA Championship, Davis Love III shoots a 269 at Winged Foot GC
1997 First of America Senior Golf Classic
1997 Macy's Tap-o-mania
1997 Weetabix Women's British LPGA Open
1998 Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.
1999 A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Izmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.
2004 MD5 collision found by Chinese researchers.
2004 The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Boze Pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.
2005 Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh
2005 The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts.
2008 By winning the Men's 4x100m medley relay, Michael Phelps becomes the first Olympian to win eight gold medals in the same Olympics.
2012 Gay pride events are banned for a century in Moscow
2012 Three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot are jailed for two years
2013 14th World Championships in Athletics: Usain Bolt wins 200m
2013 15 civilians are killed by a Syrian warplane attack in Aleppo
2013 18 people are killed in conflict between Boko Harem and Nigerian military
2015 2012 Olympic 1500m champion from Turkey Asli Cakir Alptekin is stripped of her gold medal for doping by the IAAF
2015 Bomb blast in Bangkok at Erawan Shrine kills at least 19, injures over 100
2015 World's first flower could be underwater plant Montsechia Vidalii claim US botanists (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
2015 Discovery of 7000 year old mass grave in Schöneck-Kilianstädten, Central Germany, published in PNAS Journal. 26 bodies bear evidence of violent conflict
Born on August 17th
1473 Richard, Duke of York (d. 1483?)
1562 Hans Leo Hassler (baptized), German composer (d. 1612)
1578 Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)
1586 Johann V Andreae, German vicar/writer (Christenburg)
1601 Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (Fermat's Last Theorem) (d. 1665)
1629 King John III of Poland (d. 1696)
1686 Nicola Antonio Porpora, Italian composer (d. 1768)
1720 Charles D J Eisen, French engraver/painter (Contes de La Fontaine)
1753 Josef Dobrovský, Czech linguist (d. 1828)
1768 Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French general (d. 1800)
1775 Philippe Libon, composer
1779 Franz de Paula Roser, composer
1786 Davy Crockett, American frontiersman, soldier, and politician (Alamo) (d. 1836)
1786 Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria (d. 1861)
1794 Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, German priest (d. 1849)
1811 Johannes H Scholten, Dutch theologist (Free Will)
1817 Joseph baron Kervyn de Lettenhove, Belgian Internal minister (1870-71)
1819 James Henry Van Alen, Brigadier General (Union volunteers) (d. 1886)
1828 George William Warren, composer
1828 Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897)
1834 Peter Benoit, Flemish composer/conductor (Leie/Rubens Cantata)
1839 Hubert Platt Main, composer
1839 Thijs (Matthijs) Maris, Dutch painter/etcher
1840 Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, England, writer (Irish Land League)
1841 Luis NF Varela, Brazilian romantic poet
1844 Menelik II, King of Ethiopia (1896-1913) (d. 1913)
1851 Henry Drummond, Scottish geologist/evangelist
1856 Violet Paget (Vernon Lee), British author (Satan the master)
1863 Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and naturalist (d. 1924)
1866 Julia Marlowe, English actress (d. 1950)
1866 Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)
1870 Frederick Russell, developed 1st successful typhoid fever vaccine
1873 John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (d. 1946)
1876 Eric Drummond, 1st Secretary-General of League of Nations (1919-33)
1876 Henri G Winkelman, Dutch general/supreme commander/navy 1940
1878 Reg(gie) Duff, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)
1880 Leo Ascher, composer
1880 Percy Sherwell, South African cricketer (d. 1948)
1882 Samuel Goldwyn (Goldfish), movie producer (MGM)
1885 Clara (G Meijer-)Wichmann, German anarchist and feminist (Wife & society)
1885 Kurt Hiller, writer
1887 Charles I, last emperor of Austria-Hungary (1916-18) (d. 1922)
1887 Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born Black rights activist (back-to-Africa movement) (d. 1940)
1888 Monty Woolley, American actor (Pied Piper, Man Who Came to Dinner) (d. 1963)
1890 Harry L Hopkins, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (Loan & Lease law) (d. 1946)
1890 Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (d. 1920)
1893 Mae West, American actress (She Dine him Wrong) (d. 1980)
1894 Erik A Blomberg, Swedish art historian/poet/author (Jorden)
1894 Johan Polet, Dutch sculptor
1896 Henry P de Vries, Dutch painter/poet (Laws of the Americas)
1896 Leslie Groves, American military engineer (d. 1970)
1898 Gerard Schmook, Flemish librarian/historian/custodian
1900 Quincy Howe, Boston Mass, newscaster (CBS Weekend News)
1903 Abram Chasins, composer
1904 Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)
1904 Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician (d. 1984)
1905 John Hay Whitney, publisher (NY Herald Trib 1961-67)
1906 Hazel Bishop, chemist/cosmetics manufacturer
1906 Marcello J das Neves Alves Caetano, premier of Portugal (1968-74)
1907 Marian Viktorovich Koval, composer
1908 Kurt Hessenberg, composer
1909 Larry Clinton, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1985)
1910 Eric Aaltonen, composer
1910 J A Manusama, Moluccan politician
1910 R Peyrefitte, writer
1911 Frederik de Merode, Belgian prince
1911 Jan Lode Cantens, Flemish dramatist (God's Murderer)
1911 Martin Sandberger, German military officer (d. 2010)
1911 Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player (d. 1995)
1912 Edgar Fernhout, Dutch painter/son of Charley Toorop
1913 Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine racing driver (d. 1989)
1913 Rudy York, American baseball player (d. 1970)
1913 W. Mark Felt, American Watergate informant (d. 2008)
1913 Óscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine racing driver (d. 1989)
1914 Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., (Rep-D-NY, 1949-55) son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (d. 1988)
1916 Eleanor Steber, opera singer
1916 John de Young, resistance fighter
1917 P Roger Peyrefitte, French writer (Singular Love)
1917 Safa Khulusi, writer
1918 Mort Marshall, NYC, actor (Cully-Dumplings)
1919 Georgia Gibbs, American singer (Ballin the Jack, Kiss of Fire) (d. 2006)
1920 Maureen O'Hara, Irish actress
1921 Geoffrey Rudolph Elton, British historian (d. 1994)
1921 Maureen O'Hara (Fitzsimmons), Dublin, actress (Miracle on 34th St)
1922 Paul Wiens, writer
1922 Ralph Roberts, Salisbury NC, actor (Tradition, Gone are the Days)
1922 Roy Tattersall, England cricketer
1923 Anton Kersjes, violinist/conductor (Amsterdam Philharmonic Orch)
1923 Chaleo Yoovidhya, Phichit, Thailand, co-creator of Red Bull, (d. 2012)
1923 Larry Rivers (Grossberg), NYC, painter (Wash crossing Delaware-1953)
1924 Evan S Connell, US writer
1924 Helen Wallis, cartographer/librarian
1924 John A Emmens, art historian/poet (Kunst & Vliegwerk)
1924 Laurence Richard Deniz, jazz guitarist
1925 John Hawkes, US writer (2nd Skin)
1925 John Howard Purnell, scientist
1926 George Melly, British singer (d. 2007)
1926 Haakon Barfod, Norway, yachting (Olympic-gold-1948, 52)
1926 Jean Poiret, French actor, director and screenwriter (Le Dernier Metro) (d. 1992)
1926 Jiang Zemin, Chinese politician
1927 Bernard "Bernie" Cornfeld, Romanian/US financier (Fund of Funds)
1927 Robert Moore, Detroit Mich, actor (Marshall-Diana)
1928 Jean R Adams, entomologist
1928 Thomas Jefferson Anderson, composer
1928 Willem Duys, Dutch radio/TV host
1929 Francis Gary Powers, American U-2 pilot (USSR captures him in 1959 U-2 incident) (d. 1977)
1930 Glenn Corbett, American actor (d. 1993)
1930 James Gulliver, businessman
1930 Ted Hughes, English poet laureate (d. 1998)
1931 Alain Mimoun O'Kacha, Fran, marathoner (Olympic-gold-1956)
1932 Chet Allen, Chickasha Oklahoma, actor (Jerry-Bonino, Slats-Troubleshooter)
1932 V(idiadhar) S Naipaul, Trinidad novelist (Nobel Laureate) (Middle Passage)
1933 Eugene F. Kranz, American NASA executive
1933 Mark Dinning, American singer (d. 1986)
1934 Maureen Connally, champion tennis player (Wimbledon)
1935 Oleg Tabakov, Russian actor
1936 Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Native American musician and actor (d. 2007)
1936 Ivan Parik, composer
1937 Yevgeni Aleksandrovich Illyin, Russia, cosmonaut
1938 Abu Bakar Bashir, Indonesian Muslim cleric
1938 Theodoros Pangalos, Greek politician
1939 Anthony Valentine, British actor
1939 Luther Allison, American musician, guitarist (Bad News is Coming) (d. 1997)
1940 David E Price, (Rep-D-North Carolina)
1940 Eduardo Mignogna, Argentinian film director (d. 2006)
1940 Thomas Williams, US, ice hockey play (Olympic-gold-1960)
1941 Boog Powell, American baseball player (AL MVP 1970)
1941 Ibrahim Babangida, president of Nigeria (1985)
1941 Jean Pierre Lefebvre, French Canadian film director
1943 Dave "Snaker" Ray, American musician (d. 2002)
1943 Edward Cowie, composer
1943 Koos Postema, editor-in-chief (Vrije Volk)/Dutch TV host
1943 Robert De Niro, American actor (Bang the Drum Slowly, Taxi Driver)
1943 Yukio Kasaya, Japan, 70m ski jumper (Olympic-gold-1972)
1944 Lawrence Joseph Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, Billionaire
1945 Katri Helena, Finnish singer
1946 Hans Vandenburg, Dutch singer/guitarist (Gruppo Sportivo)
1946 Martha Coolidge, American film director
1946 Patrick Manning, 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago
1947 Gary Talley, American musician, guitarist (Box Tops)
1947 Sylvia Nasar, German-born American economist and author
1948 Bo Rucker, Tampa FL, actor (Superman, Soup for One, Lock Up)
1948 Rod MacDonald, American musician
1949 Norm Coleman, American politician
1949 Sib Hashian, American musician, drummer (Boston)
1951 Alan Minter, British boxer, light-middleweight (Olympic-bronze-1972)
1951 Robert Joy, Canadian actor (Big Shots, Suicide Club)
1952 Dr. Mario Theissen, German F1 team principal (BMW Sauber)
1952 Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player (US Open-1977)
1952 Kathryn C Thornton, Montgomery Ala, PhD/astronaut (STS 33, 49, 61, 73)
1952 Nelson Piquet, Brazilian race car driver, 3-time Formula One champ (1981, '83, '87)
1952 Thomas J Hennen, Albany GA, astronaut (STS 44)
1953 Judith Regan, American book publisher
1953 Kevin Rowland, English vocalist (Dexys Midnight Runners)
1953 Michael Malthouse, Premiership winning Australian football coach
1953 Robert Brent Thirsk, BC Canada, astronaut (STS 78)
1954 Eric Johnson, American guitarist
1955 Colin Moulding, English pop guitarist (XTC)
1955 Janet Quist Austin TX, playmate (Dec, 1978)
1955 Kevin Welch, California, country songwriter/actor (Thing Called Love)
1955 Richard Hilton, American heir
1956 Gail Berman, American film executive
1956 Álvaro Pino, Spanish cyclist
1957 Robin Cousins, British figure skater
1958 Belinda Carlisle, American singer (GoGos lead singer, Heaven on Earth)
1958 Fred Goodwin British banker
1958 Kirk Stevens, Canadian snooker player
1959 Chika Sakamoto, Japanese voice actress and singer
1959 David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993)
1959 Eric Schlosser, American author
1959 Jonathan Franzen, American author
1960 Bruce Penhall, Balboa CA, actor (Savage Beach)
1960 Sean Penn, American actor and director (Fast Times at Ridgemont High)
1960 Stephan Eicher, Swiss singer
1961 Jamie Macoun, Newmarket, NHL defenseman (Toronto Maple Leafs)
1962 Buddy Landel, American professional wrestler
1962 Gilby Clarke, American musician, guitarist (Guns N' Roses)
1963 Carmen Berg, Bismark ND, playmate (July, 1987)
1963 Jon Gruden, American football coach
1963 S. Shankar, Indian film director
1964 Colin James, Canadian musician
1964 Maria McKee, American singer
1964 Pete McCutcheon, Boston Mass, Canadian Tour golfer (1993 Quebec Open)
1965 Dottie Mochrie Pepper, Saratoga Springs NY, golfer (1992 Dinah Shore)
1965 Fred Grim, soccer player (Cambuur L, Ajax)
1965 Glen Goldsmith, rocker (What You See is What You Get)
1965 Robert Manry, Cleve newspaper editor/sailed the Atlantic (in craft)
1965 Steve Gorman, Hopkinsville Ky, rock drummer (Black Crowes)
1966 Cedric Figaro, WLAF linebacker (Amsterdam Admirals)
1966 Don Sweeney, Canadian ice hockey player
1966 Maysa Leak, American Jazz Singer
1966 Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder
1966 Zefross Moss, NFL tackle (Detroit Lions, NE Patriots)
1967 James Jenkins, NFL tight end (Washington Redskins)
1967 Kenny Davidson, NFL defensive end (Houston Oilers)
1967 Kevin Max, American singer (dc talk)
1967 Nelson Emerson, Hamilton, NHL right wing (Hartford Whalers)
1968 Ed McCaffrey, American football player, NFL wide reciever (Denver Broncos-Superbowl 32)
1968 Helen McCrory, English actress
1968 Vince Marrow, WLAF TE (Frankfurt Galaxy)
1969 Christian Laettner, American basketball player, NBA forward and center (Atlanta Hawks, Oly-gold-92)
1969 Donnie (E) Wahlberg (Jr.), American actor and singer (New Kids On The Block)
1969 Ed Cunningham, NFL center (Arizona Cardinals)
1969 Kelvin Mercer, American rapper (De La Soul)
1969 Maria Strandlund, Akersberga Sweden, tennis star (1987 Futures NOR)
1970 Bernard Wilson, NFL defensive tackle (Arizona Cardinals)
1970 Brad Bretz, WLAF quarterback (Frankfurt Galaxy)
1970 Jim Courier, American tennis player (1990, 91 French)
1970 Rupert Degas, English actor and voice artist
1970 Øyvind Leonhardsen, Norwegian footballer
1971 Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican baseball player, Catcher (NY Yankees)
1971 Shaun Rehn, Australian Rules footballer
1971 Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress
1972 Ernie Conwell, tight end (St Louis Rams)
1972 Habibul Bashar, Bangladeshi cricketer
1972 Ken Ryker, American pornographic actor
1973 A J Wood, Pittsburgh, soccer forward (Olympics-gold-96)
1973 Kerry Mock, WLAF linebacker (Frankfurt Galaxy)
1973 Paul Wiggins, offensive linebacker (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1973 Tim Forsyth, Australian high jumper (Olympics-bronze-92, 96)
1974 Nicola Kraus, American novelist
1974 Tony Hajjar, Lebanese musician (At the Drive-In, Sparta)
1975 Giuliana DePandi, Italian-born American television personality
1975 İlhan Mansız, Turkish footballer
1976 Geertjan Lassche, Dutch reporter
1976 Scott Halberstadt, American actor
1977 Jake Patellis, actor (Paul Bowman-Good Life)
1977 Nathan Deakes, Australian race walker
1977 Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer
1977 Thierry Henry, French footballer
1977 William Gallas, French footballer
1978 Karena Lam, Hong Kong actress
1978 Vibeke Stene, Norwegian singer (Tristania)
1979 Antwaan Randle El, American football player
1979 Marcus Patric, British actor
1980 Jan Kromkamp, Dutch footballer
1980 Keith Dabengwa, Zimbabwean cricketer
1980 Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer
1980 Shannon Lucio, American actress
1981 Kristin Holt, American television personality
1982 Cheerleader Melissa, American professional wrestler
1982 Mark Salling, American actor
1982 Melissa Anderson, American professional wrestler
1982 Phil Jagielka, English footballer
1983 Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player
1984 Dee Brown, American basketball player
1984 Garrett Wolfe, American football player
1985 Yu Aoi, Japanese actress
1986 Bryton McClure, American actor & singer (Richie-Family Matters)
1986 Rudy Gay, American basketball player
1986 Tyrus Thomas, American basketball player
1988 Brady Corbet, American actor
1988 Erika Toda, Japanese actress
1988 Nichole Cordova, Performer (Girlicious)
1990 Colin Bates, American actor
1990 Rachel Hurd-Wood, British actress
1993 Sarah Sjöström, Swedish swimmer
1996 Ella Cruz, Filipina actress
Died on August 17th
754 Karloman, abbot of Monte cassino
1153 Eustace IV of Boulogne, son of Stephen of England (b. 1130)
1304 Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)
1464 Nikolaus von Cusa, German theologist/mathematician/philosopher
1510 Edmund Dudley, English treasurer, beheaded (b. 1462)
1510 Richard Empson, English treasurer, beheaded
1536 Pietersz, book publisher (Kersten Knight on Index)
1553 Charles III, Duke of Savoy
1635 Francisco de Moncada, Spanish earl of Osuna
1657 Robert Blake, British admiral (b. 1599)
1673 Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641)
1676 Grimmelshausen, writer
1676 Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, German novelist (b. 1621)
1681 Nikon (Nikita Minin), patriarch of Rus-orthodox church
1720 Anne Lefèvre, French scholar (b. 1654)
1723 Joseph Bingham, English scholar (b. 1668)
1730 Mauritius Vogt, composer
1731 Johann Augustin Kobelius, composer
1768 Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b. 1703)
1777 Giuseppe Scarlotti, composer
1785 Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut (b. 1710)
1786 Frederik II, king of Prussia (1740-86), composer (b. 1712)
1792 Jan Jachym Kopriva, composer
1804 Barbara Hec, organized 1st methodist church in US
1834 Husein Gradašcevic, Bosnian rebel leader (b. 1802)
1838 Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian librettist (b. 1749)
1850 Don José de San Martín, Argentine general (b. 1778)
1850 Jose Francisco de San Martin, South American revolutionary hero
1861 Alcée Louis la Branche, American Politician (b. 1806)
1865 Johann Nepomuk Poissl, composer
1865 Mosby Munroe Parsons, US Confederate gen-maj, dies in battle
1870 Pedro Figueredo, Cuban poet, musician, and freedom fighter of the 19th century (b. 1818)
1875 Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (b. 1827)
1878 Richard Upjohn, US architect
1880 Ole Bull, Norwegian composer, violinist (b. 1810)
1887 Franz Commer, composer
1888 James Jameson, British nature investigator (Congo)
1889 Ernst Franck, German composer/conductor
1893 Aleksei N Apuchtin, Russian poet (Stichotvorenia)
1896 Bridget Driscoll, First Brit to die in an auto-accident
1898 Carl Johann Adam Zeller, composer
1901 Edmond Audran, French composer (b. 1842)
1903 Hans Gude, Norwegian landscape painter (b. 1825)
1909 Richard Hoffman, composer
1914 James Grierson, British general
1915 Leo Frank, lynched for raping 12 year old in Georgia
1918 Moisei Uritsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1873)
1920 Ray Chapman, American baseball player, hit in the head by Yanks' Carl Mays pitch (b. 1891)
1924 Pavel S "Paul" Urysohn, Russian mathematician
1924 Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer (b. 1851)
1925 Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer of Romanian origin (b. 1848)
1927 Horace Alderman, US, murderer, hanged
1935 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American feminist and writer (b. 1860)
1936 Pierre-Octave Ferroud, French composer (Surgery & Foules)
1940 Billy Fiske, American aviator (b. 1911)
1944 John Trumble, cricketer (brother of Hugh 7 Tests 1885-86)
1945 Gino Marinuzzi, composer
1945 Pater Bleijs (Louis), resistance fighter, dies in car accident
1948 Nico J Polak, Dutch economist
1949 Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino jurist and politician (b. 1891)
1953 Johannes B Tielrooy, literature (French Living Lesson)
1954 Billy Murray, American singer (Denver Nightengale) (b. 1877)
1958 Florent Schmitt, French composer/critic (Jardin Secret)
1961 Carlos Leon Salzedo, composer
1962 Peter Fechter, East German defector, trying to cross the Berlin Wall (b. 1944)
1963 Richard Barthelmess, actor (Heroes for Sales)
1966 Archibald Palm, cricketer (Test South Africa v England 1927-28)
1966 Michael Garrison, producer (Crowded Sky)
1969 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, architect (November Group)
1969 Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1888)
1969 Philip Blaiberg, after 19 days with artificial heart
1970 Rattana Pestonji, Thai filmmaker (b. 1908)
1971 Horace McMahon, actor (Martin Kane Private Eye)
1971 Wilhelm List, German field marshal (b. 1880)
1972 Raymond Brulez, Flemish author (Schoone slaapster)
1972 Wampilow, writer, dies
1973 Conrad Aiken, American author, poet (Pulitzer) (b. 1889)
1973 Jean Barraqué, French composer (b. 1928)
1973 Paul Williams, American singer (The Temptations), commits suicide (b. 1939)
1974 Aldo Palazzeschi (Giurlani), Italian writer
1974 Edgar Dearing, actor (Free & Easy, Abraham Lincoln)
1975 Sig Arno, Hamburg Germany, actor (My Friend Irma)
1975 Vladimir Kutz, Russian distance runner (Olympic-gold-56)
1976 Murvyn Vye, actor (Road to Bali, Escape to Burma)
1976 William Redfield, American actor (Jimmy Hughes Rookie Cop) (b. 1927)
1979 John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (b. 1907)
1979 Vivian Vance, American actress (Ethel Mertz-I Love Lucy) (b. 1909)
1981 Robert Russell Bennett, US composer/arranger (Oklahoma!)
1982 Barney Phillips, actor (Dragnet, Felony Squad)
1982 Ruth Voorst, South African (A World Apart), killed by letter bomb
1983 Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (b. 1896)
1984 Holly Roffey, youngest heart transplant, 4 weeks old.
1987 Charles Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet
1987 Gary Chester, Italian studio drummer (b. 1924)
1987 Rudolf Hess, Nazi deputy (46 years in Spandau Prison), commits suicide (b. 1894)
1987 Shaike Ophir, Israeli actor (b. 1929)
1988 Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., (Rep-D-NY, 1949-55) son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (b. 1914)
1988 Mohammad Zia Ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (1978-88) (b. 1924)
1988 Victoria Shaw, Australian-born American actress (Alvarez Kelly, Westworld) (b. 1935)
1990 Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (Landlord) (b. 1918)
1990 Roderick Cook, actor (Rockabye)
1991 Don Dubbins, actor (Enchanted Island, DI)
1991 Leo Geerts (Marcel van der Linden), Belgian writer and critic
1991 Mervyn Nelson, director (Some of My Best Friends Are...)
1992 Al Parker, American adult film actor (b. 1952)
1992 Andre de Villiers, South African, murdered
1992 Barbara Morgan, photographer (Martha Graham)
1992 Tommy Nutter, fashion designer (bell bottom pants)
1993 Feng Kang, Chinese mathematician (b. 1920)
1993 Max de Metz, Dutch publisher, translator, interpreter
1993 Robert C Maynard, CEO (Oakland Tribune)
1994 Elias Canetti, buried next to James Joyce
1994 Jack Sharkey, American boxer (b. 1902)
1994 Joseph Paul Jack Sharkey Zukauskas, boxer
1994 Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American race car driver and team owner (b. 1901)
1995 David Warrilow, actor (Simon, Radio Days, Barton Fink)
1995 Howard Koch, American screenwriter (b. 1902)
1995 Marjorie Sykes, peace campaigner
1995 Ted Whitten, Australian rules footballer (b. 1933)
1995 William Strethan "Wild Bill" Davis, musician
1996 Edward Digby Baltzell, Ivy League sociologist
1998 Tadeusz Slusarski, Polish track and field athlete (b. 1950)
1998 Wladyslaw Komar, Polish track and field athlete (b. 1940)
2001 David Locke, DFW Famous Musician (b. 1953)
2004 Gérard Souzay, French baritone (b. 1918)
2004 Thea Astley, Australian writer (b. 1925)
2005 John Bahcall, American astrophysicist (b. 1934)
2007 Bill Deedes, British journalist and politician (b. 1913)
2007 Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982)
2008 Franco Sensi, Italian oil tycoon and football (soccer) team owner (A.S. Roma) (b. 1926)
2010 Francesco Cossiga, Italian politician and eighth President of the Italian Republic (b. 1928)
2015 Yvonne Craig, American actress (Batgirl)
2016 Arthur Hiller, Canadian director (Love Story)
