August 5
is the 217th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (218th in
leap years), with 148 days remaining.
*
642 -
Battle of Maserfeld -
Penda of Mercia defeats and kills
Oswald of Bernicia.
*
1100 -
Henry I crowned King of
England in
Westminster Abbey.
*
1305 -
William Wallace, who led
Scottish resistance to
England, is captured by the
English near
Glasgow and transported to
London for trial and execution.
*
1583 -
Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes first
English colony in
North America, at what is now
St John's, Newfoundland.
*
1689 - 1,500
Iroquois attack village of
Lachine, in
New France.
*
1763 -
Pontiac's War:
Battle of Bushy Run -
British forces led by
Henry Bouquet defeat
Chief Pontiac's
Indians at
Bushy Run.
*
1772 -
First Partition of Poland begins.
*
1812 -
War of 1812:
Tecumseh's
Indian force ambushes
Thomas Van Horne's 200
Americans at
Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
*
1858 -
Cyrus West Field and others complete the first
transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It operated for less than a month.
*
1860 -
Carl IV 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 issues 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Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in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 abolished
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:
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.
*
1874 -
Japan launches its
postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in
England.
*
1882 -
Standard Oil of New Jersey is established.
*1882 -
Martial law is enacted in
Japan.
*
1884 - The cornerstone for the
Statue of Liberty is laid on
Bedloe's Island in
New York Harbor.
*
1888 -
Bertha Benz drives from
Mannheim to
Pforzheim in the first long distance automobile trip.
*
1901 -
Peter O'Connor sets the first
IAAF recognised
long jump world record of 24ft 11¾ins. The record will stand for 20 years.
*
1912 -
Japan's first
taxicab service begins in
Ginza,
Tokyo.
*
1914 - In
Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric
traffic light is installed.
*
1944 -
World War II: Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545
Japanese POWs
attempt to escape outside the town of
Cowra, NSW,
Australia. Most are killed but many escape and later commit suicide. Five
Australian guards also die.
*1944 -
Holocaust:
Polish insurgents liberate a
German labor camp in
Warsaw, freeing 348
Jewish prisoners.
*
1949 - In
Ecuador an
earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6000.
*
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 -
United States,
United Kingdom, and
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 attacked
US destroyers in the
Gulf of Tonkin.
*
1969 -
Mariner program:
Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of
Mars (3,524 kilometers).
*
1974 -
Vietnam War: The
U.S. Congress places a $1 billion dollar limit on military aid to
South Vietnam.
*
1981 -
Ronald Reagan fires 11,359
striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
*
1993 - Popular trading card game
Magic: The Gathering is released. First trading card game to date.
*
1995 - The city of
Knin, a significant
Serb stronghold, is captured by
Croatian forces during
Operation Storm. The date is celebrated as the day of victory ("
Homeland Thanksgiving Day") in
Croatia.
*
1999 -
Mark McGwire becomes the 16th member of the
500 home run club with a
home run at
Busch Stadium in
St. Louis, Missouri.
*
2001 - The
Cleveland Indians defeat the
Seattle Mariners 15-14 in a record-setting game known as the
Impossible Return.
*
2003 - A
car bomb explodes in the
Indonesian capital of
Jakarta.
*
1301 -
Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician (d.
1330)
*
1397? -
Guillaume Dufay, Franco-Flemish composer and theorist (d.
1474)
*
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)
*
1813 -
Ivar Aasen, Norwegian poet and language reformer (d.
1896)
*
1815 -
Edward John Eyre, English explorer (d.
1901)
*
1850 -
Guy de Maupassant, French author (d.
1893)
*
1862 -
Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man (d.
1890)
*
1866 -
Carl Harries, German chemist (d.
1923)
*
1872 -
Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian physician (d.
1917)
*
1877 -
Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (d.
1917)
*
1889 -
Conrad Aiken, American writer (d.
1973)
*
1890 -
Erich Kleiber, Austrian-born conductor (d.
1956)
* 1890 -
Naum Gabo (born Naum Pevsner), 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 Prize Laureate (d.
1999)
* 1906 -
Joan Hickson, British actress (d.
1998)
*
1908 -
Harold Holt, 17th
Prime Minister of Australia (d.
1967)
*
1911 -
Robert Taylor, American actor (d.
1969)
*
1912 -
Abbé Pierre, French catholic priest
*
1914 -
David Brian, American actor (d.
1993)
*
1918 -
Betty Oliphant, Canadian ballerina (d.
2004)
* 1918 -
Tom Drake, American actor (d.
1982)
*
1923 -
Devan Nair,
President of Singapore*
1930 -
Neil Armstrong, astronaut
*
1934 -
Wendell Berry, writer, farmer
*
1935 -
John Saxon, American actor
*
1937 -
Herb Brooks, American hockey coach (d.
2003)
*
1939 -
Princess Irene of the Netherlands*
1943 -
Nelson Briles, baseball player (d.
2005)
*
1946 -
Loni Anderson, American actress
*
1946 -
Ron Silliman, American poet
*
1947 -
Rick Derringer, American musician
* 1947 -
Angry Anderson, Australian entertainer
* 1947 -
Bernie Carbo, baseball player
*
1951 -
John Jarratt, Australian actor
*
1953 -
Rick Mahler, baseball player (d.
2005)
* 1953 -
Samantha Sang, Australian singer
*
1956 -
Maureen McCormick, American actress
*
1959 -
Pete Burns, British singer
*
1961 -
Tawny Kitaen, American acresss
* 1961 -
Clayton Rohner, American actor
* 1961 -
Mark O'Connor, American violinist
*
1962 -
Patrick Ewing, American basketball player
*
1964 -
Adam Yauch, American musician
*
1966 -
Jonathan Silverman, American actor
*
1968 -
John Olerud, American baseball player
* 1968 -
Oleg Luzhny, Ukrainian footballer
*
1972 -
Christian Olde Wolbers, Belgian bassist (
Fear Factory)
*
1974 -
Antoine Sibierski, French footballer
*
1975 -
Kajol Mukherjee, Indian actress
*
1975 -
Ami Foster, American actress
*
1976 -
Jeff Friesen, Canadian ice hockey player
*
1977 -
Mark Mulder, baseball player
*
1979 -
David Healy, Northern Irish footballer
*
1980 -
Wayne Bridge, English footballer
*
1981 -
Carl Crawford, baseball player
* 1981 -
Kō Shibasaki, Japanese singer
*
1982 -
Ryu Seung Min, Korean table tennis player
* 1982 -
Jason Culina, Australian footballer
* 1982 -
Tobias Regner, German singer
*
1985 -
Salomon Kalou, Ivory Coast footballer
*
882 - King
Louis III of France (b.
863)
*
1063 -
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn,
King of Gwynedd*
1364 -
Emperor Kogon of Japan (b.
1313)
*
1572 -
Isaac Luria, Palestinian-born Kabbalist (b.
1534)
*
1579 -
Stanislaus Hosius, Polish Catholic cardinal (b.
1504)
*
1633 -
Archbishop George Abbot,
Archbishop of Canterbury (b.
1562)
*
1678 -
Juan García de Zéspedes, Mexican musician and composer (b.
1619)
*
1743 -
John Hervey, Lord Hervey, English statesman and writer (b.
1696)
*
1778 -
Charles Clémencet, French historian (b.
1703)
*
1799 -
Richard Howe, British admiral (b.
1726)
*
1868 -
Jacques Boucher de Crèvec"ur de Perthes, French archaeologist (b.
1788)
*
1880 -
Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra, Austrian physician (b.
1816)
*
1895 -
Friedrich Engels, German philosopher (b.
1820)
*
1911 -
Bob Caruthers, baseball player (b.
1864)
*
1923 -
Vatroslav Jagic, Croatian slavist (b.
1835)
*
1929 -
Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (b.
1847)
*
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 Prize 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)
*
1964 -
Art Ross, professional ice hockey player and executive (b.
1886) (
Art Ross Trophy)
*
1978 -
Jesse Haines, baseball player (b.
1893)
*
1984 -
Richard Burton, British actor (b.
1925)
*
1991 -
Paul Brown, American football coach (b.
1908)
*
1992 -
Jeff Porcaro, American drummer (b.
1954)
* 1992 -
Soichiro Honda, founder of the
Honda Motor Company (b.
1906)
*
1998 -
Todor Zhivkov, Bulgarian Communist dictator from 1956 to 1989 (b.
1911)
*
2000 - Sir
Alec Guinness, British actor (b.
1914)
*
2002 -
Josh Ryan Evans, actor (b.
1982)
* 2002 -
Chick Hearn, American basketball announcer (b.
1916)
*
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
Iditarod champion (b.
1954)
*
Roman Catholicism - the feasts of at least 5 saints:
**St.
Oswald**St.
Afra and her companions
**St.
Memmius*
Burkina Faso -
Independence Day.
*
Croatia -
Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day.
*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This DayAugust 4 -
August 6 -
July 5 -
September 5 --
listing of all days
