August 4 - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
August 4 is the 216th day of the year (217th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 149 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
[change | change source]Up to 1940
[change | change source]- 70 - Destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem by the Romans.
- 1265 - Second Barons' War: Battle of Evesham - an army led by Prince Edward, the future King Edward I of England, defeats the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, killing de Montfort and many of his allies.
- 1327 - First War of Scottish Independence: James Douglas, Lord of Douglas leads a raid into Weardale and almost killed Edward III of England.
- 1532 - The Duchy of Brittany is annexed to the Kingdom of France.
- 1578 - Battle of Al-Kasr al Kebir: The Moroccans defeat the Portuguese.
- 1627 - The Siege of La Rochelle under King Louis XIII of France begins.
- 1704 - War of Spanish Succession: Gibraltar is captured by an English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke, and allied with Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1783 - Mount Asama erupts in Japan, killing about 1,400 people, and resulting in a famine that kills a further 20,000. There was a similarly destructive eruption in Iceland just two months earlier.
- 1789 - In France, members of the National Constituent Assembly take an oath to end feudalism and end their privileges.
- 1791 - The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars.
- 1796 - French Revolutionary Wars: Napoleon Bonaparte leads the French Army of Italy to victory in the Battle of Lonato.
- 1824 - The Battle of Kos is fought between Turkish and Greek forces.
- 1845 - The British emigrant ship Catargui runs aground off King Island, near Tasmania, killing 399 people. 9 survive.
- 1851 - David Livingstone reaches the upper course of the Zambezi River in Africa.
- 1854 – The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown on Japanese ships.
- 1863 - Matika slovenska, Slovakia's public-law cultural and scientific institution, focusing on topics around the Slovak nation, is founded.
- 1873 - American Indian Wars: US 7th Cavalry, under George Armstrong Custer, clashes with the Sioux for the first time, near the Tongue River, Montana. One on each side is killed.
- 1892 – The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden are found dead in their home in Massachusetts, leading to one of the most well-known murder cases. It is still unknown whether Borden committed the murders.
- 1902 - The Greenwich Foot Tunnel under the River Thames opens.
- 1903 - Giuseppe Melchiore Sarto is elected Pope. He becomes Pope Pius X.
- 1906 - Central Railway Station in Sydney, Australia opens.
- 1906 - Italian passenger steamboat Siriohits a reef at Cabo de Palos, southern Spain. 442 people drown.
- 1914 – World War I: Germany invades Belgium, and the UK declares war on Germany.
- 1915 - The German 12th Army occupies in Warsaw.
- 1917 - The Tigra Reservoir in India breaks, causing a flood, killing around 1,000 people.
- 1924 - Diplomatic relations between Mexico and the Soviet Union are established.
- 1936 - Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas suspends Parliament and the Constitution, establishing the 4th August regime.
From 1941
[change | change source]- 1944 – Anne Frank and her family are arrested by the Gestapo, after a secret informant had given information about the secret annex.
- 1946 - A magnitude 8 earthquake hits the Dominican Republic, killing 100 people and leaving 20,000 people homeless.
- 1947 - The Supreme Court of Japan is established.
- 1958 - The Billboard Hot 100 is first published.
- 1961 – US President Barack Obama is born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
- 1964 - American Civil rights activists Michael Schwerner, Andrew Gooding and James Chaney are found dead after disappearing on June 21.
- 1964 - Gulf of Tonkin incident: US destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy report coming under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin.
- 1965 - The Cook Islands achieve self-determination in 'Free Association' with New Zealand.
- 1974 - A bomb explodes in the Italicus Express train at San Benedetto Val di Sambro, Italy, killing 12 people.
- 1975 - The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several Embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- 1977 - Jimmy Carter signs the legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.
- 1979 - The Cook Islands introduce a new flag.
- 1983 – Thomas Sankara takes control in Upper Volta, through a military coup.
- 1984 – Exactly a year after coming to power, Thomas Sankara changes Upper Volta's name to Burkina Faso.
- 1991 - Greek cruise ship MTS Oceanus sinks off the Wild Coast of South Africa.
- 1995 - Operation Storm begins in Croatia.
- 1996 - The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, US, come to an end.
- 1997 – The oldest human on record, Jeanne Calment of France, dies aged 122 years, 164 days.
- 2005 - Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin announces that Michaelle Jean would become the 27th Governor-General of Canada.
- 2006 - A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger charity.
- 2007 - Slovenia bans smoking in public places.
- 2007 - NASA's Phoenix spacecraft is launched.
- 2009 – Former US President Bill Clinton travels to North Korea to secure the release of two journalists.
- 2013 - The United States closes several embassies in North Africa and the Middle East for up to a week. The UK, France and Germany also do so with their Embassy in Yemen.
- 2014 - Commemorations take place around the world to mark 100 years since the start of World War I.
- 2019 - 2019 Dayton shooting: A gunman kills 9 people, including his sister, in Dayton, Ohio, before killing himself. It occurs less than 24 hours after another mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
- 2019 - 20 people are killed in an explosion in Cairo.
Births
[change | change source]Up to 1900
[change | change source]- 1222 - Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester, English soldier (d. 1262)
- 1290 – Duke Leopold I of Austria (d. 1326)
- 1502 - Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Flemish painter (d. 1550)
- 1521 – Pope Urban VII, (d. 1590)
- 1647 - Giovanni II Cornaro, ruler of Venice (d. 1722)
- 1701 - Thomas Blackwell, Scottish classical scholar (d. 1757)
- 1704 - Louis d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans (d. 1752)
- 1719 - Johanna Gottlob Lehmann, German mineralogist and geologist (d. 1767)
- 1721 - Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (d. 1803)
- 1755 - Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French chemist, painter and inventor (d. 1805)
- 1792 - Edward Irving, Scottish clergyman (d. 1834)
- 1792 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (d. 1822)
- 1800 - Ramon Maria Narvaez, 1st Duke of Valencia, Spanish military and politician (d. 1868)
- 1804 - Karl Friedrich Hermann, German historian and classical scholar (d. 1855)
- 1805 - William Rowan Hamilton, Irish mathematician (d. 1865)
- 1813 - Alexander von Mensdorff-Pouilly, Prince Dietrich von Nicolsburg, Austrian statesman (d. 1871)
- 1816 - Richard Leach Maddox, English physician (d. 1902)
- 1817 - Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, United States Secretary of State (d. 1885)
- 1821 - Louis Vuitton, French designer (d. 1892)
- 1821 - James Springer White, American religious leader, founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (d. 1881)
- 1823 - Oliver P. Morton, 44th Governor of Indiana (d. 1877)
- 1824 - Domingo Santa María, President of Chile (d. 1889)
- 1834 – John Venn, British mathematician (d. 1923)
- 1848 - Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general (d. 1926)
- 1853 - John Henry Twachtman, American painter (d. 1902)
- 1859 – Knut Hamsun, Norwegian writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1920 (d. 1952)
- 1861 - Daniel Edward Howard, President of Liberia (d. 1935)
- 1870 - Harry Lauder, Scottish comedian and singer (d. 1950)
- 1876 - Giovanni Giuriati, Italian politician (d. 1970)
- 1883 - René Schickele, German-French writer (d. 1940)
- 1884 – Henri Cornet, French cyclist (d. 1941)
- 1887 - Albert M. Greenfield, American businessman (d. 1967)
- 1888 - Taher Saifuddin, Indian religious leader (d. 1965)
- 1890 - Dolf Luque, Cuban baseball player (d. 1957)
- 1895 – José Paulino Gomes, Brazilian supercentenarian (d. 2023)
- 1899 – Ezra Taft Benson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1994)
- 1900 - Nabi Tajima, Japanese supercentenarian (d. 2018)
- 1900 – Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (d. 2002)
- 1900 - Arturo Umberto Illia, President of Argentina (d. 1983)
1901 – 1950
[change | change source]- 1901 – Louis Armstrong, American jazz musician (d. 1971)
- 1904 – Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist (d. 1969)
- 1906 – Marie-José of Belgium, last Queen of Italy (d. 2001)
- 1906 – Eugen Schuhmacher, German zoologist (d. 1973)
- 1908 – Kurt Eichhorn, German conductor (d. 1994)
- 1909 – Glenn Cunningham, American athlete (d. 1988)
- 1909 - Saunders Mac Lane, American mathematician (d. 2005)
- 1909 - Roberto Burle Marx, Brazilian landscape architect, plant collector and painter (d. 1994)
- 1910 – Anita Page, American actress (d. 2008)
- 1910 – William Schuman, composer (d. 1992)
- 1912 – Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, mathematician, physicist, philosopher and a mountaineer (d. 1999)
- 1912 – Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat (d. 1947 presumed)
- 1913 – Robert Hayden, American poet, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (d. 1980)
- 1915 - Warren Avis, American businessman (d. 2007)
- 1915 - Loni Nest, German actress (d. 1990)
- 1917 - John Fitch, American racing driver (d. 2012)
- 1918 - Iceberg Slim, American writer (d. 1992)
- 1919 - Michel Déon, French writer (d. 2016)
- 1920 – Helen Thomas, American journalist (d. 2013)
- 1921 - Herb Ellis, American jazz guitarist (d. 2010)
- 1921 – Maurice Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2000)
- 1921 - Geoffrey Wellum, British fighter pilot (d. 2018)
- 1923 - Reg Grundy, Australian entrepreneur (d. 2016)
- 1926 - George Irving Bell, American physicist, biologist and mountaineer (d. 2000)
- 1926 - Perry Moss, American football coach (d. 2014)
- 1926 - Martha Vaughan, American biochemist and physiologist (d. 2018)
- 1927 – Jess Thomas, American tenor (d. 1993)
- 1927 - John Wilcock, British journalist (d. 2018)
- 1928 - Christian Goethals, Belgian racing driver (d. 2003)
- 1928 - Flóra Kádár, Hungarian actress (d. 2003)
- 1929 - Victor Krasin, Ukrainian-born Russian human rights activist and economist (d. 2017)
- 1929 – Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (possibly born on August 24) (d. 2004)
- 1929 – Kishore Kumar, Indian singer and actor (d. 1987)
- 1930 – Götz Friedrich, opera director (d. 2000)
- 1932 – Hans Jürgen Fröhlich, writer
- 1932 – Guillermo Mordillo, graphic artist and cartoonist
- 1932 - Francis E. Allen, American computer scientist
- 1934 - Dallas Green, American baseball player and manager
- 1936 – Assia Djebar, member of the Académie française (d. 2015)
- 1937 – David Bedford, English musician and composer (d. 2011)
- 1939 - Frankie Ford, American singer (d. 2015)
- 1940 - Robin Harper, Scottish academic and politician
- 1941 – Ted Strickland, American politician, 68th Governor of Ohio
- 1942 – David Lange, 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2005)
- 1942 - Don S. Davis, American actor (d. 2008)
- 1943 – Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper
- 1943 - Vicente Alvarez Areces, Spanish politician
- 1944 – Richard Belzer, American actor and comedian
- 1944 - Orhan Gencebay, Turkish musician, composer, singer, producer, director and actor
- 1946 - Maureen Starkey Tigrett, wife of Ringo Starr (d. 1994)
- 1947 – Hubert Ingraham, former Prime Minister of the Bahamas
- 1947 – Klaus Schulze, German composer and performer
- 1950 - Caldwell Jones, American basketball player (d. 2014)
- 1950 - N. Rangasamy, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Puducherry
1951 – 1975
[change | change source]- 1952 - Gábor Demszky, Hungarian politician
- 1952 - Daniel Bautista, Mexican race walker
- 1953 - Antonio Tajani, Italian politician
- 1953 - Hiroyuki Usui, Japanese footballer
- 1954 - Anatoliy Kinakh, 11th Prime Minister of Ukraine
- 1955 - Dariusz Lipinski, Polish politician
- 1955 - Andrew M. Allen, American astronaut
- 1955 – Alberto Gonzales, former United States Attorney General
- 1955 – Billy Bob Thornton, American actor and writer
- 1955 - Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, Icelandic politician
- 1956 - Meg Whitman, American businesswoman
- 1957 - Valdis Valters, Latvian basketball player
- 1957 - John Wark, Scottish footballer
- 1958 - Liao Yiwu, Chinese writer, poet and musician
- 1958 – Mary Decker Slaney, American middle-distance runner
- 1958 - Pita, Brazilian footballer
- 1958 - Phillip Scott, American politician, 82nd Governor of Vermont
- 1958 - Siwan Shalom, Israeli politician
- 1959 - Kim Reynolds, American politician, 43rd Governor of Iowa
- 1960 – Dean Malenko, American professional wrestler
- 1960 – José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, former Prime Minister of Spain
- 1961 – Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States
- 1961 – Lauren Tom, American actress
- 1962 – Roger Clemens, American baseball player
- 1962 - Lori Lightfoot, American lawyer and politician, 56th Mayor of Chicago
- 1964 - Andrew Bartlett, Australian politician and activist
- 1964 - Sebastian Roché, French actor
- 1965 - Adam Afriyie, British politician
- 1965 - Terri Lyne Carrington, American musician and singer-songwriter
- 1965 – Fredrik Reinfeldt, former Prime Minister of Sweden
- 1965 - Michael Skibbe, German footballer and coach
- 1966 - Dennis Lehane, American author
- 1967 – Mike Marsh, American athlete
- 1968 – Daniel Dae Kim, American actor
- 1968 – Marcus Schenkenberg, model
- 1968 - Lee Mack, English comedian
- 1969 - Max Cavalera, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1969 - Jojo Moyes, English author
- 1970 – Michael DeLuise, American actor
- 1970 - Kate Silverton, English journalist
- 1971 – Jeff Gordon, race car driver
- 1973 - Xavier Marchand, French swimmer
- 1975 - Nikos Liberopoulos, Greek footballer
- 1975 - Jutta Urpilainen, Finnish politician
- 1975 - Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah, Saudi militant (d. 2015)
From 1976
[change | change source]- 1977 - Luís Boa Morte, Portuguese footballer
- 1977 - Marek Heinz, Czech footballer
- 1978 – Kurt Busch, race car driver
- 1981 - Benjamin Boukpeti, Togolese slalom canoeist
- 1981 - Simone Del Nero, Italian footballer
- 1981 - Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
- 1981 - Abigail Spencer, American actress
- 1983 - Greta Gerwig, American actress, writer and director
- 1984 - Mardy Collins, American basketball player
- 1985 - Ha Seung-Jin, South Korean basketball player
- 1985 - Mark Milligan, Australian footballer
- 1985 – Luis Antonio Valencia, Ecuadorean footballer
- 1987 - Jang Keun-suk, South Korean actor and singer
- 1987 - Phil Younghusband, English-Filipino footballer
- 1987 - Marreese Speights, American basketball player
- 1988 - Tom Parker, British singer (The Wanted)
- 1989 - Wang Hao, Chinese chess player
- 1989 - Jessica Mauboy, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
- 1991 - Graeme Shinnie, Scottish footballer
- 1992 – Tiffany Evans, American singer
- 1992 – Dylan & Cole Sprouse, American actors
- 1992 - Yvonne Neuwirth, Austrian tennis player
- 1993 - Saido Berahino, Burundian-English footballer
- 1994 - Mayuko Fukuda, Japanese actress
- 1995 - Jessica Sanchez, American singer
- 1997 - Ekaterina Ryabova, Russian singer
- 2016 - Charlie Gard, British infant in life support and parental rights case (d. 2017)
Deaths
[change | change source]Up to 1800
[change | change source]- 966 - Berengar II of Italy (b. 900)
- 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)
- 1430 - Philip I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1404)
- 1526 – Juan Sebastián Elcano, Spanish explorer (b. 1476)
- 1578 – Sebastian of Portugal (b. 1554)
- 1578 – Thomas Stucley, English adventurer (b. 1520)
- 1598 – William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English statesman (b. 1520)
- 1612 – Hugh Broughton, English scholar (b. 1549)
- 1639 – Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Mexican dramatist (b. 1581)
- 1699 - Maria Sofia of Neuburg, Queen of Portugal (b. 1666)
- 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 (b. 1676)
- 1778 - Pierre de Rigaud, French colonial governor in North America (b. 1698)
- 1784 – Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian musician (b. 1706)
- 1792 – John Burgoyne, British general (b. 1723)
- 1795 – Timothy Ruggles, American-born Tory politician (b. 1711)
1801 – 1900
[change | change source]- 1821 - William Floyd, American politician (b. 1734)
- 1822 - Kristjan Jaak Peterson, Estonian poet (b. 1801)
- 1834 - Dimitrios Panourgias, Greek military commander (b. 1754)
- 1844 – Jacob Aall, Norwegian journalist and statesman (b. 1773)
- 1849 - Anita Garibaldi, Brazilian wife of Giuseppe Garibaldi (b. 1821)
- 1859 - Jean Vianney, French priest (b. 1786)
- 1873 – Viktor Hartmann, Russian painter (b. 1834)
- 1875 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer (b. 1805)
- 1877 - Gustav, Prince of Vasa, Prince of Sweden (b. 1799)
- 1886 – Samuel J. Tilden, United States Presidential candidate and Governor of New York (b. 1814)
- 1900 – Isaac Levitan, Russian painter (b. 1860)
- 1900 - Jacob Dolson Cox, American politician, Governor of Ohio (b. 1828)
1901 - 2000
[change | change source]- 1914 - Jules Lemaitre, French critic and dramatist (b. 1863)
- 1922 - Enver Pasha, Turkish politician (b. 1891)
- 1938 – Pearl White, American actress (b. 1889)
- 1942 - Alberto Franchetti, Italian composer (b. 1860)
- 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)
- 1973 - Eddie Condon, American jazz guitarist (b. 1905)
- 1976 – Roy Herbert Thomson, Canadian publisher (b. 1894)
- 1977 - Ernst Bloch, German philosopher (b. 1885)
- 1977 - Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian, English physiologist (b. 1889)
- 1981 – Melvyn Douglas, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1982 – Bruce Goff, American architect (b. 1904)
- 1993 - Chinmayananda, Indian spiritual leader and teacher (b. 1916)
- 1994 - Giovanni Spadolini, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1925)
- 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 movie actress (b. 1963)
From 2001
[change | change source]- 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 singer (b. 1929)
- 2008 - Craig Jones, English motorcycle racer (b. 1985)
- 2011 – Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (b. 1977)
- 2013 - Yitzhak Berman, Ukrainian-born Israeli politician (b. 1913)
- 2013 - Renato Ruggiero, Italian politician, former foreign minister (b. 1930)
- 2013 - Art Donovan, American football player (b. 1924)
- 2013 - Sandy Woodward, British admiral (b. 1932)
- 2014 - James Brady, American Press Secretary (b. 1940)
- 2014 - Walter Massey, Canadian actor (b. 1928)
- 2014 - George Hilton, American historian (b. 1925)
- 2015 - Les Munro, New Zealand pilot (b. 1919)
- 2015 - Theo van Els, Dutch linguist (b. 1936)
- 2015 - Achim Hill, German rower (b. 1935)
- 2016 - Patrice Munsel, American coloratura soprano (b. 1925)
- 2017 - Luiz Melodia, Brazilian actor and singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
- 2017 - Heinz F. Dressel, German theologian and writer (b. 1929)
- 2017 - Waldemar Schreckenberger, German lawyer, jurist and politician (b. 1929)
- 2017 - Laurie Brokenshire, English Royal Navy officer and magician (b. 1952)
- 2018 - Lorrie Collins, American singer and guitarist (b. 1942)
- 2018 - Masahiko Tsugawa, Japanese actor (b. 1940)
- 2018 - Arsène Tchakarian, Armenian-French resistance fighter (b. 1916)
- 2019 - Ernie Bowman, American baseball player (b. 1935)
- 2019 - Nuon Chea, Cambodian politician (b. 1926)
- 2019 - André Goosse, Belgian grammarian (b. 1926)
- 2019 - Willi Tokarev, Russian-American singer-songwriter (b. 1934)
- 2019 - Bob Wilber, American jazz musician (b. 1928)
Observances
[change | change source]- Revolution Day (Burkina Faso)
- Constitution Day (Cook Islands)