History of Today 01 August: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 01 August. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 01 August. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 01 August 2026, 01:01 AM

Important Events on 01 August in History

• 01 Aug 2023: Former US President Donald Trump is indicted for his role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, his third indictment in 2023. Read more
• 01 Aug 2017: A suicide attack on a mosque in Herat, Afghanistan kills 20 people. Read more
• 01 Aug 2008: The Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway begins operation as the fastest commuter rail system in the world. Read more
• 01 Aug 2008: Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth, in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering. Read more
• 01 Aug 2007: The I-35W Mississippi River bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring 145. Read more
• 01 Aug 2004: A supermarket fire kills 424 people and injures 360 others in Asunción, Paraguay. Read more
• 01 Aug 1998: Puntland, an autonomous state in northeastern Somalia, was officially established following a constitutional conference in Garowe, Issims and tribal chiefs agreed to create a self-declared government until Somalia recovered. Read more
• 01 Aug 1993: The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 comes to a peak. Read more
• 01 Aug 1990: A plane crash in the Karabakh Range kills 46 people. Read more
• 01 Aug 1988: A British soldier was killed in the Inglis Barracks bombing in London, England. Read more
• 01 Aug 1984: Commercial peat-cutters discover the preserved bog body of a man, called Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss, Cheshire, England. Read more
• 01 Aug 1981: MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. Read more
• 01 Aug 1980: Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President of Iceland and becomes the world's first democratically elected female head of state. Read more
• 01 Aug 1980: A train crash kills 18 people and injures over 170 more in County Cork, Ireland. Read more
• 01 Aug 1976: Niki Lauda has a severe accident that almost claims his life at the German Grand Prix at Nürburgring. Read more
• 01 Aug 1975: The final act of the CSCE meeting is signed in Helsinki, Finland. Read more
• 01 Aug 1974: Cyprus dispute: The United Nations Security Council authorizes the UNFICYP to create the "Green Line", dividing Cyprus into two zones. Read more
• 01 Aug 1971: The Concert for Bangladesh, organized by former Beatle George Harrison, is held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Read more
• 01 Aug 1968: The coronation of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei, is held. Read more
• 01 Aug 1966: Charles Whitman kills 15 people at the University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police. Read more
• 01 Aug 1966: Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. Read more
• 01 Aug 1965: Frank Herbert's novel, Dune was published for the first time. It was named as the world's best-selling science fiction novel in 2003. Read more
• 01 Aug 1964: The former Belgian Congo is renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Read more
• 01 Aug 1961: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara orders the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the nation's first centralized military espionage organization. Read more
• 01 Aug 1960: Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France. Read more
• 01 Aug 1960: Islamabad is declared the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan. Read more
• 01 Aug 1957: The United States and Canada form the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Read more
• 01 Aug 1950: Guam is organized as an unincorporated territory of the United States as the President Harry S. Truman signs the Guam Organic Act. Read more
• 01 Aug 1946: Leaders of the Russian Liberation Army, a force of Russian prisoners of war that collaborated with Nazi Germany, are executed in Moscow, Soviet Union for treason. Read more
• 01 Aug 1944: World War II: The Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi German occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland. Read more
• 01 Aug 1943: World War II: Operation Tidal Wave, also known as "Black Sunday", was a failed American attempt to destroy Romanian oil fields. Read more
• 01 Aug 1937: Josip Broz Tito reads the resolution "Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH" to the constitutive congress of KPH (Croatian Communist Party) in woods near Samobor. Read more
• 01 Aug 1936: The Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler. Read more
• 01 Aug 1933: Anti-Fascist activists Bruno Tesch, Walter Möller, Karl Wolff and August Lütgens are executed by the Nazi regime in Altona. Read more
• 01 Aug 1927: The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party. This day is commemorated as the anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army. Read more
• 01 Aug 1915: Patrick Pearse gives his famous speech "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace" at O'Donovan Rossa's funeral in Dublin. Read more
• 01 Aug 1914: World War I: The German Empire declares war on the Russian Empire. Read more
• 01 Aug 1914: World War I: The Swiss Army mobilizes because of World War I. Read more
• 01 Aug 1911: Harriet Quimby takes her pilot's test and becomes the first U.S. woman to earn an Aero Club of America aviator's certificate. Read more
• 01 Aug 1907: The start of the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island, the origin of the worldwide Scouting movement. Read more
• 01 Aug 1894: The Empire of Japan and Qing China declare war on each other after a week of fighting over Korea, formally inaugurating the First Sino-Japanese War. Read more
• 01 Aug 1893: Henry Perky patents shredded wheat. Read more
• 01 Aug 1876: Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state. Read more
• 01 Aug 1863: At the suggestion of Senator J. V. Snellman and the order of Emperor Alexander II, full rights are promised to the Finnish language by a language regulation in the Grand Duchy of Finland. Read more
• 01 Aug 1855: The first ascent of Monte Rosa, the second highest summit in the Alps. Read more
• 01 Aug 1849: Joven Daniel wrecks at the coast of Araucanía, Chile, leading to allegations that local Mapuche tribes murdered survivors and kidnapped Elisa Bravo. Read more
• 01 Aug 1842: The Lombard Street riot erupts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Read more
• 01 Aug 1834: Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force, although it remains legal in the possessions of the East India Company until the passage of the Indian Slavery Act, 1843. Read more
• 01 Aug 1834: Construction begins on the Wilberforce Monument in Kingston Upon Hull. Read more
• 01 Aug 1801: First Barbary War: The American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya. Read more
• 01 Aug 1800: The Acts of Union 1800 are passed which merge the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Read more

Famous Births on 01 August

• 01 Aug 2003: Joseph Sua'ali'i, Australian-Samoan rugby league player Joseph-Aukuso Sua'ali'i is an Australian rugby union footballer who plays for the New South Wales Waratahs in the Super Rugby and the Australia national rugby team. He previously played rugby league as a winger or centre for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL), for New South Wales and for Samoa at international level. Read more
• 01 Aug 2002: Alejandro Francés, Spanish footballer Alejandro Francés Torrijo is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Segunda División club Girona. Read more
• 01 Aug 2001: Scottie Barnes, American basketball player Scott Wayne Barnes Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the best defenders in the league, he is known for his versatility, shot-blocking, and playmaking. Read more
• 01 Aug 2001: Park Si-eun, South Korean actress Park Si-eun is a South Korean singer and actress. After debuting as a child actress in 2014, she starred in several television series and films, winning the award for Best Young Actress at the 2018 SBS Drama Awards for her role as young Woo Seo-ri in Still 17. She was both an actor and idol trainee in JYP Entertainment, but left the company in 2019 after JYP Actors became defunct. After signing with High Up Entertainment in December 2019, she debuted as a member of the girl group STAYC in November 2020. Read more
• 01 Aug 2001: Ben Trbojevic, Australian rugby league player Ben Trbojevic, also nicknamed "Burbo", is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a centre or second-row forward for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League (NRL). Read more
• 01 Aug 2000: Kim Chaewon, South Korean singer Kim Chaewon is a South Korean singer. She is the leader of South Korean girl group Le Sserafim and a former member of the girl group Iz*One, having finished tenth in the reality competition series Produce 48 in 2018. Read more
• 01 Aug 1996: Katie Boulter, British tennis player Katie Charlotte Boulter is a British professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking by the WTA of 23, achieved on 4 November 2024, and a best doubles ranking of No. 225, reached on 8 June 2026. Boulter has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour. She has also won one WTA 125 singles title, as well as seven singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. She is a former British women’s No. 1. Read more
• 01 Aug 1995: Madison Cawthorn, American politician David Madison Cawthorn is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 11th congressional district from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Cawthorn describes himself as a constitutional conservative. Read more
• 01 Aug 1994: Sergeal Petersen, South African rugby player Sergeal Phillipe Petersen is a South African rugby union player for the Stormers in Super Rugby and Western Province in the Currie Cup. His regular position is winger. Read more
• 01 Aug 1994: Ayaka Wada, Japanese singer Ayaka Wada is a Japanese singer signed to Yu-M Entertainment. She was a first generation member and the leader of Angerme, as well as the leader of Hello! Project. Read more
• 01 Aug 1993: Álex Abrines, Spanish basketball player Alejandro "Álex" Abrines Redondo is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He spent most of his career playing for FC Barcelona of the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, acting as team captain for several seasons. Standing at 6 ft 6 in, he mainly played the shooting guard and small forward positions. Abrines has won three Spanish League championships with FC Barcelona in 2014, 2021 and 2023. He was selected for the EuroLeague Rising Star Award in 2016. Read more
• 01 Aug 1993: Leon Thomas III, American actor and singer Leon George Thomas III is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and actor. He began his career as a child actor on Broadway, appearing in the musicals The Lion King, Caroline, or Change and The Color Purple across the 2000s. He gained wide recognition for starring as Andre Harris in the Nickelodeon teen sitcom Victorious (2010–2013). Read more
• 01 Aug 1993: Saleh Gomaa, Egyptian footballer Saleh Gomaa is an Egyptian professional footballer who formerly played for Al Ahly and currently plays for Ismailia based club, Ismaily SC, and the Egyptian national team. He competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2013 African U-20 Championship. As a 19-year-old, he played at the 2013 African U-20 championship in Algeria and won "The Player of the Tournament" award, when the Egyptians won their trophy. He is the elder brother of the Egyptian footballer Abdallah Gomaa. Read more
• 01 Aug 1992: Austin Rivers, American basketball player Austin James Rivers is an American former professional basketball player who is currently a sports analyst for ESPN and NBC Sports. The son of basketball coach and former player Doc Rivers, he played for 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the 2012 NBA draft, Rivers was selected with the 10th overall pick by the New Orleans Hornets, playing three seasons there before being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. After three years with the Clippers, he was traded to the Washington Wizards in June 2018. In December of the same year, he joined the Houston Rockets. He also played in the NBA for the New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets, and Minnesota Timberwolves. Read more
• 01 Aug 1992: Mrunal Thakur, Indian actress Mrunal Thakur is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Hindi and Telugu films. Thakur is a recipient of several accolades including a Filmfare Award South, a Filmfare OTT Award, three SIIMA Awards and an ITA Award. Read more
• 01 Aug 1991: Piotr Malarczyk, Polish footballer Piotr Kamil Malarczyk is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Read more
• 01 Aug 1991: Marco Puntoriere, Italian footballer Marco Puntoriere is an Italian footballer who plays as a forward for Serie D club USD Palmese. Read more
• 01 Aug 1990: Aledmys Díaz, Cuban baseball player Aledmys Díaz Serrano is a Cuban professional baseball utility player who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, and Oakland Athletics. He played for the Naranjas de Villa Clara in the Cuban National Series from 2007 through 2012, before defecting to the United States. Díaz signed with the Cardinals in 2014, and made his MLB debut with them in 2016. Read more
• 01 Aug 1990: Elton Jantjies, South African rugby player Elton Thomas Jantjies is a South African professional rugby union player who plays as fly-half. Read more
• 01 Aug 1989: Madison Bumgarner, American baseball player Madison Kyle Bumgarner, nicknamed "MadBum", is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants (2009–19) and Arizona Diamondbacks (2020–23). Bumgarner won three World Series championships and two Silver Slugger Awards. He was also selected to four National League (NL) All-Star teams and has the most strikeouts in franchise history by a Giants left-handed pitcher. Read more
• 01 Aug 1989: Tiffany Young, Korean American singer, songwriter, and actress Stephanie Young Hwang, known professionally as Tiffany or Tiffany Young, is an American singer-songwriter and actress of Korean descent. Born and raised in California, she was discovered by South Korean entertainment agency SM Entertainment at the age of fifteen and subsequently moved to South Korea. After two years of training, Young debuted as a member of girl group Girls' Generation in August 2007, which went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea and one of South Korea's most widely known girl groups worldwide. Read more
• 01 Aug 1988: Mustafa Abdellaoue, Norwegian footballer Mustafa "Mos" Abdellaoue is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is the younger brother of former Norway international Mohammed Abdellaoue. Read more
• 01 Aug 1988: Travis Boak, Australian footballer Travis Alexander Boak is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Boak captained the club from 2013 to 2018, and is a three-time All-Australian, dual John Cahill Medallist and three-time Showdown Medallist. He is Port Adelaide's games record holder with 387 games, as well as the holder of the record for most VFL/AFL games played without winning a premiership. Read more
• 01 Aug 1988: Patryk Małecki, Polish footballer Patryk Adrian Małecki is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a winger for III liga club Wisła Kraków II. Read more
• 01 Aug 1988: Nemanja Matić, Serbian footballer Nemanja Matić is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Serie A club Sassuolo. Read more
• 01 Aug 1988: Bodene Thompson, New Zealand rugby league player Bodene Thompson is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who last played as a second-row forward for Bradford Bulls in the RFL Championship. Read more
• 01 Aug 1987: Iago Aspas, Spanish footballer Iago Aspas Juncal is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for and captains La Liga club Celta de Vigo. Read more
• 01 Aug 1987: Karen Carney, English women's footballer Karen Julia Carney is an English sports journalist and former professional footballer who played as a winger and midfielder. Carney has been a regular broadcaster for live football on TNT Sports, Sky Sports, ITV and Amazon Prime, including Women's Super League and men's Premier League matches since 2019. She is also a sports columnist for BBC Sport and The Guardian, and a pundit for BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Television. Read more
• 01 Aug 1987: Taapsee Pannu, Indian actress Tapasee Pannu, professionally known as Taapsee Pannu, is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films. She has received two Filmfare Awards and a Filmfare OTT Award. Read more
• 01 Aug 1987: Sébastien Pocognoli, Belgian footballer Sébastien Jean Pocognoli is a Belgian football coach and former player who was most recently the head coach of Ligue 1 club Monaco. Read more
• 01 Aug 1987: Lee Wallace, Scottish footballer Lee Wallace is a Scottish former professional footballer. He represented the Scotland national team with 10 caps. Read more
• 01 Aug 1986: Damien Allen, English footballer Damien Samuel Allen is an English former footballer who is academy manager at Stockport County. Read more
• 01 Aug 1986: Marissa Paternoster, American artist, singer and guitarist Marissa Paternoster is an American artist, singer and guitarist active in New Jersey's New Brunswick music scene. She is the former lead singer and guitarist of the band Screaming Females, and continues to perform in the solo project Noun. Read more
• 01 Aug 1986: Anton Strålman, Swedish ice hockey player Anton Strålman is a former Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman. Strålman last played for HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League. He also played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the organization that drafted him in the seventh round, 216th overall, in 2005, as well as the Columbus Blue Jackets, the New York Rangers, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Florida Panthers, the Arizona Coyotes, and the Boston Bruins. Read more
• 01 Aug 1986: Andrew Taylor, English footballer Andrew Derek Taylor is an English former professional footballer who last played for Bolton Wanderers. He has previously played for Cardiff City, Middlesbrough, Bradford City, Watford and Wigan Athletic. Read more
• 01 Aug 1986: Elena Vesnina, Russian tennis player Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina is a Russian former professional tennis player who was world No. 1 in doubles.
  Vesnina is a four-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2013 French Open, 2014 US Open, and 2017 Wimbledon Championships in women's doubles with compatriot Ekaterina Makarova, and the 2016 Australian Open in mixed doubles, partnering Bruno Soares.
  She reached also eight further finals in women's doubles, and four in mixed doubles. Read more
• 01 Aug 1986: Mike Wallace, American football player Burnell Michael Wallace III is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Ole Miss Rebels, and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2009 NFL draft with the 84th overall pick. He also played for the Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Baltimore Ravens, and Philadelphia Eagles. Throughout his career, Wallace was known for his speed after finishing with a time of 4.33-seconds in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. He has run the 40 in as fast as 4.21 seconds. Read more
• 01 Aug 1985: Stuart Holden, Scottish-American soccer player Stuart Alistair Holden is a former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder, and is currently the lead TV game analyst for Fox Sports. Holden is part of the ownership group for Spanish La Liga football club RCD Mallorca. Read more
• 01 Aug 1985: Adam Jones, American baseball player Adam LaMarque Jones is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played parts of 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles, and Arizona Diamondbacks and two seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Orix Buffaloes. Internationally, Jones played for the United States, helping the U.S. win the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Read more
• 01 Aug 1985: Cole Kimball, American baseball player Cole A. Kimball is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Nationals. Read more
• 01 Aug 1985: Tendai Mtawarira, South African rugby player Tendai Mtawarira is a Zimbabwean-South African retired professional rugby union player who last played for Old Glory DC in Major League Rugby and previously for the South Africa national team and the Sharks in Super Rugby. He was born in Zimbabwe and qualified for South Africa on residency grounds, before later acquiring South African citizenship. Mtawarira, a prop, is known by the nickname Beast. Read more
• 01 Aug 1985: Kris Stadsgaard, Danish footballer Kris Stadsgaard is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a central defender. He made one senior appearance in 2003 for Farum before the club changed its name to Nordsjælland. He signed with Italian club Reggina in August 2007 and left the club in March 2008 for Rosenborg in Norway, winning two Norwegian Premier League championships in three seasons there. After 1.5 years with Spanish club Málaga he returned to Denmark with Copenhagen in January 2012. He made three appearances for the Denmark national team. Read more
• 01 Aug 1985: Dušan Švento, Slovak footballer Dušan Švento is a Slovak former professional football midfielder who played as a left winger or left-back. He spent most of his career with Slavia Prague and Red Bull Salzburg while representing Slovakia. Read more
• 01 Aug 1984: Steve Feak, American game designer Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete on a structured battlefield, each controlling a single character with distinctive abilities that grow stronger as the match progresses. The objective is to destroy the enemy team's main structure while defending one's own. In some MOBA games, the objective can be defeating every player on the enemy team. Matches emphasize team coordination, tactical choices, and real-time combat. Players are assisted by computer-controlled units that periodically spawn in groups and march along set paths toward their enemy's base, which is heavily guarded by defensive structures. Players can influence these units by eliminating enemy waves or supporting their own, affecting lane control and map pressure. This type of multiplayer online video games originated as a subgenre of real-time strategy (RTS); however, most of the traditional RTS elements, such as building construction and unit production, were removed in favor of a more focused player-versus-player experience. The genre blends elements of real-time strategy, role-playing, and action games, combining strategic depth with individual character progression and fast-paced combat. Read more
• 01 Aug 1984: Francesco Gavazzi, Italian cyclist Francesco Gavazzi is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional from 2007 to 2023. Read more
• 01 Aug 1984: Brandon Kintzler, American baseball player Brandon Lee Kintzler is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs, Miami Marlins, and Philadelphia Phillies. Read more
• 01 Aug 1984: Bastian Schweinsteiger, German footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Earlier in his career, he primarily played as a wide midfielder before later switching to a central midfield role. Former Germany national team manager Joachim Löw has referred to Schweinsteiger as one of the greatest players the country has ever produced. Read more
• 01 Aug 1983: Bobby Carpenter, American football player Robert Joseph Carpenter III is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, and was selected by the Cowboys in the first round of the 2006 NFL draft. He also played in the NFL for the Miami Dolphins, the Detroit Lions and the New England Patriots. Read more
• 01 Aug 1983: Craig Clarke, New Zealand rugby player Craig Brian James Clarke is a retired rugby union player from New Zealand. He played as a lock during his career, winning two Super Rugby titles with the Chiefs where he served as captain. He also captained Taranaki in the ITM Cup. Before his retirement he was playing for the Irish provincial team Connacht in the Pro12, and served as the team captain.
  Clarke's ability to anticipate play and adaptability to the referee's rulings are two of his key attributes. Read more
• 01 Aug 1983: Julien Faubert, French footballer Julien Alex Thomas Faubert is a French former professional footballer who played as a right back. Born in France, he played in one match for the France national team, in which he scored, before switching allegiance to the Martinique national team in 2014. Read more
• 01 Aug 1983: David Gervasi, Swiss decathlete David Alvarez Gervasi is a decathlete from Switzerland. He set his personal best score in the men's decathlon on 1 June 2008 at the 2008 Hypo-Meeting in Götzis. Gervasi is a two-time national champion in the men's decathlon: 2005 and 2006. Read more
• 01 Aug 1982: Basem Fathi, Jordanian footballer Basem Fat'hi Omar Othman is a retired Jordanian footballer. Read more
• 01 Aug 1982: Montserrat Lombard, English actress, director, and screenwriter Montserrat Lombard is a British actress known for playing Sharon 'Shaz' Granger in the BBC drama series Ashes to Ashes. Read more
• 01 Aug 1981: Dean Cox, Australian footballer Dean Michael Cox is a retired Australian rules footballer and the current senior coach of the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). After winning the Simpson Medal with East Perth in the 2000 WAFL premiership, Cox debuted in the AFL with the West Coast Eagles in 2001. A ruckman, Cox was named in the All-Australian team six times, including four seasons consecutively from 2005 to 2008. In 2006, he played in West Coast's premiership side and in 2008 he won West Coast's best and fairest award. Cox retired at the end of the 2014 season, finishing his career with 290 games, a club record, and 169 goals. Read more
• 01 Aug 1981: Pia Haraldsen, Norwegian journalist and author Pia Renate Haraldsen is a Norwegian TV personality, comedian, and author, most known for her interviews on the Norwegian TV show Rikets Røst. Read more
• 01 Aug 1981: Christofer Heimeroth, German footballer Christofer Heimeroth is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
• 01 Aug 1981: Stephen Hunt, Irish footballer Stephen Patrick Hunt is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a winger for Crystal Palace, Brentford, Reading, Hull City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Ipswich Town and Coventry City. At international level, he made 39 appearances scoring once for the Republic of Ireland national team. His younger brother, Noel, was also a footballer. Read more
• 01 Aug 1981: Jamie Jones-Buchanan, English rugby player Jamie Daniel Peter Jones-Buchanan is a British rugby league coach, former professional player, and the Chief Executive of the Leeds Rhinos. He was briefly the interim head coach for Leeds in the Super League XXVII season. Read more
• 01 Aug 1980: Mancini, Brazilian footballer Alessandro Faiolhe Amantino, more commonly known as Mancini, is a Brazilian football coach and former player. Read more
• 01 Aug 1980: Romain Barras, French decathlete Romain Barras is a French decathlete. At the Universiade he finished fifth in 2001 and first in 2003, the latter in a personal-best score of 8,196 points. He represented France at the 2004 Summer Olympics and came in thirteenth place overall in the decathlon. He became the regional champion at the 2005 Mediterranean Games. Read more
• 01 Aug 1980: Esteban Paredes, Chilean footballer Esteban Efraín Paredes Quintanilla is a Chilean football manager and former footballer who played as a forward. He is currently in charge of Santiago Morning. Read more
• 01 Aug 1979: Junior Agogo, Ghanaian footballer (died 2019) Manuel "Junior" Agogo was a Ghanaian professional footballer who played as a striker. He was born in Ghana but spent most of his childhood in the UK. He then moved back to Ghana during his years in secondary school. He began his youth career at Sheffield Wednesday in 1995, moving up to the senior squad in 1997. He played for fifteen different clubs over the next fifteen years, before retiring from professional football in 2012. He spent most of his playing career in England, with additional spells in the US, Egypt, Cyprus and Scotland. His longest spell was at Bristol Rovers (2003–2006), where he made 140 appearances and scored over 40 goals before moving to Nottingham Forest. Read more
• 01 Aug 1979: Nathan Fien, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player Nathan Fien, also known by the nickname of "Fieny", is a professional rugby league assistant coach with the Dolphins since their inaugural 2023 season in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. Read more
• 01 Aug 1979: Jason Momoa, American actor, director, and producer Joseph Jason Namakaeha Momoa is an American actor and film producer. He made his acting debut as Jason Ioane on the syndicated action drama series Baywatch: Hawaii (1999–2001), which was followed by portrayals of Ronon Dex on the Syfy science fiction series Stargate Atlantis (2005–2009), and Khal Drogo in the first two seasons of the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones (2011–2012). He went on to play the lead roles in the Discovery Channel historical drama series Frontier (2016–2018), and the Apple TV shows See (2019–2022) and Chief of War (2025). Read more
• 01 Aug 1979: Grant Wooden, Australian rugby league player Grant Wooden is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s. He played for Manly Warringah and the Northern Eagles in the NRL competition. Read more
• 01 Aug 1978: Andy Blignaut, Zimbabwean cricketer Arnoldus Mauritius Blignaut is a Zimbabwean former cricketer, who played all formats of the game. He was a right-arm fast-medium bowler, also known as a hard-hitting batsman in ODIs, where he frequently scored a fast rate; though he was seldom able to sustain this form and keeping his wicket intact through many overs. He more often played ODIs, where many runs in a short time are desired, than Tests. Read more
• 01 Aug 1978: Björn Ferry, Swedish biathlete Björn Ferry is a Swedish former biathlete and Olympic champion. He began competing internationally in World Cup competitions in 2001, but did not win his first international race until the 2007–2008 season. In 2007, he won gold in the mixed relay event at the Biathlon World Championships. In 2010, at his third Winter Olympics appearance, he won the gold medal in the pursuit event. He started the event in 8th place as determined by the previous sprint event, but managed to overtake the race leader on the final lap. Read more
• 01 Aug 1978: Dhani Harrison, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Dhani Harrison is an English and American musician, composer and singer-songwriter. He is the son of George Harrison, lead guitarist of the Beatles, and Olivia Harrison. Dhani debuted as a professional musician assisting in recording his father's final album, Brainwashed, and completing it with the assistance of Jeff Lynne after his father's death in November 2001. Read more
• 01 Aug 1978: Chris Iwelumo, Scottish footballer Christopher Robert Iwelumo is a Scottish former professional football coach and player, who played as a striker. Read more
• 01 Aug 1978: Edgerrin James, American football player Edgerrin Tyree James is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Indianapolis Colts. He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes, receiving first-team All-Big East honors in 1998 and becoming the first player in school history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons. James was selected by fourth overall by the Colts in the 1999 NFL draft. Read more
• 01 Aug 1977: Marc Denis, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster Joseph Marc Denis is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender, who last played with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). For the 2009–10 season, he was hired as the goaltenders' coach of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) team. He is currently working as a colour analyst for the Canadiens on the Francophone Canadian sports network RDS, working alongside Pierre Houde. He is the all time leader in save percentage in the shootout among goaltenders who have faced at least 40 shootout attempts. Read more
• 01 Aug 1977: Haspop, French-Moroccan dancer, choreographer, and actor Hassan El Hajjami, also known as Haspop, is a French stage director, choreographer and dancer. Read more
• 01 Aug 1977: Darnerien McCants, American-Canadian football player Darnerien Richard McCants is an American former professional football wide receiver. He was selected by the Washington Redskins in the fifth round of the 2001 NFL draft. He played college football at Delaware State. Read more
• 01 Aug 1977: Damien Saez, French singer-songwriter and guitarist Damien Saez or just Saez, is a French singer-songwriter and musician. Read more
• 01 Aug 1977: Yoshi Tatsu, Japanese wrestler and boxer Naofumi Yamamoto is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Yoshi Tatsu. Read more
• 01 Aug 1976: Don Hertzfeldt, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor Don Hertzfeldt is an American animator, writer, and independent filmmaker. He is a two-time Academy Award nominee who is best known for the animated films It's Such a Beautiful Day, the World of Tomorrow series, Paper Trail, and Rejected. In 2014, his work appeared on The Simpsons. Nine of his short films have competed at the Sundance Film Festival, a festival record. He is also the only filmmaker to have won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for Short Film twice. Read more
• 01 Aug 1976: Søren Jochumsen, Danish footballer Søren Jochumsen is a Danish retired professional football (soccer) player, who played as a goalkeeper. Despite his lack of height, he is known as one of the most reliable goalkeepers of the league. Read more
• 01 Aug 1976: Nwankwo Kanu, Nigerian footballer Nwankwo Christian Kanu is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. A member of the Arsenal 'Invincibles', he was named by the club as one of its greatest ever players. Kanu is widely considered one of the greatest African footballers of all time. Read more
• 01 Aug 1976: David Nemirovsky, Canadian ice hockey player David Semenovich Nemirovsky is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. Read more
• 01 Aug 1976: Hasan Şaş, Turkish footballer and manager Hasan Gökhan Şaş is a Turkish football coach and former player, who played as a winger. Read more
• 01 Aug 1976: Cristian Stoica, Romanian-Italian rugby player Cristian Alexandru Stoica, also known as Alessandro Stoica is a Romanian-Italian retired rugby union footballer, who played as a centre. Read more
• 01 Aug 1975: Vhrsti, Czech author and illustrator Vhrsti is a Czech illustrator, writer, children's book author, comics artist and scenarist, member of the unofficial new wave of Czech and Slovak comics Generation Zero and the Czech Cartoonists' Union. He lives in Plzeň in the Czech Republic. Read more
• 01 Aug 1974: Cher Calvin, American journalist Cher Calvin is the lead news anchor for KTLA, the flagship station for The CW and Nexstar in Los Angeles. Read more
• 01 Aug 1974: Marek Galiński, Polish cyclist (died 2014) Marek Galiński was a Polish professional mountain biker and road racing cyclist. During his sporting career, he won nine Polish national championship titles and a silver medal in men's cross-country racing at the 2003 UCI World Cup series in Sankt Wendel, Germany. Galinski also represented his nation Poland in four editions of the Olympic Games, where he competed in men's mountain biking from the time that it officially became an Olympic sport in 1996. Galinski raced professionally for more than five seasons on the JBG2 Professional MTB Team. After his retirement from the sport in 2011, Galinski worked as an assistant coach of both Polish and Russian mountain bike national teams. Upon his return from a training camp in Cyprus on 17 March 2014, Galinski was suddenly killed in a car accident near Jędrzejów. Read more
• 01 Aug 1974: Tyron Henderson, South African cricketer Tyron Henderson is a former South African professional cricketer who played in one international match for the South African national team. He was born in Durban in Natal Province. Read more
• 01 Aug 1974: Dennis Lawrence, Trinidadian footballer and coach Dennis William Lawrence is a Trinidadian professional football coach and former player who is currently assistant head coach of EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion. Read more
• 01 Aug 1974: Beckie Scott, Canadian skier Rebecca Scott is a Canadian retired cross-country skier. She is an Olympic gold and silver medallist, and the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing. She is the founder of a national organization dedicated to improving health, wellness and education outcomes for Indigenous youth through sport and play. Scott was Chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Athlete Committee, and gained notoriety for her position during the Russian (2014–2019) doping scandal. She served as an International Olympic Committee member by virtue of being elected to the IOC Athlete's Commission along with Saku Koivu between 2006 and 2014. She is married to the American former cross-country skier Justin Wadsworth. They have two children. Read more
• 01 Aug 1973: Gregg Berhalter, American soccer player and coach Gregg Matthew Berhalter is an American soccer coach and former player. He is the current head coach and director of football for Major League Soccer club Chicago Fire, a role he assumed following the end of the 2024 season. From 2018 to 2022 and 2023–24, he was the head coach of the United States men's national soccer team. He is the first person in U.S. history to participate in the FIFA World Cup as both a player and head coach. His tenure as coach has been noted for the recruitment of a younger player roster. Read more
• 01 Aug 1973: Tempestt Bledsoe, American actress Tempestt Bledsoe is an American actress. She is best known for her childhood role as Vanessa Huxtable, the fourth child of Cliff and Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–92). In December 2010, it was announced that Bledsoe would be the host of Clean House on the Style Network, replacing Niecy Nash. From September 2012 to February 2013, she was one of the stars of the NBC TV sitcom Guys with Kids, portraying Marny. Read more
• 01 Aug 1973: Veerle Dejaeghere, Belgian runner Veerle Dejaeghere is a Belgian runner, who has specialized in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She represented her country at the Summer Olympics in 2000 and 2008. Read more
• 01 Aug 1973: Edurne Pasaban, Spanish mountaineer Edurne Pasaban Lizarribar is a Basque Spanish mountaineer. On May 17, 2010, she became the first woman to climb all 14 of the eight-thousanders – and the 21st person to do so. Her first 8,000 peak had been achieved 9 years earlier, on May 23, 2001, when she reached the summit of Mount Everest. She has also completed the seven summits. Read more
• 01 Aug 1972: Nicke Andersson, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist Anders Niklas Andersson, also known as Nicke Andersson, is a Swedish musician best known as the singer and guitarist for the rock band The Hellacopters and drummer for the death metal band Entombed. Besides his work with the Hellacopters and Entombed, Andersson currently plays and writes songs for the soul band The Solution, the death metal band Death Breath, the hard rock band Lucifer, and rock band Imperial State Electric. Read more
• 01 Aug 1972: Christer Basma, Norwegian footballer and coach Christer Basma is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a defender. He played 16 consecutive seasons Tippeligaen, for Kongsvinger, Stabæk and Rosenborg. With 350 top division appearances, Basma has made the eighth-highest number of appearances in Eliteserien. Basma was capped 40 times for Norway. He has later worked as assistant coach of Ranheim. Read more
• 01 Aug 1972: Todd Bouman, American football player and coach Todd Matthew Bouman is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 1997 after playing college football for the St. Cloud State Huskies. Bouman was also a member of the New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, Jacksonville Jaguars, St. Louis Rams, and Baltimore Ravens. Read more
• 01 Aug 1972: Thomas Woods, American historian, economist, and academic Thomas Ernest Woods Jr. is an American author, podcast host, and libertarian commentator who is currently a senior fellow at the Mises Institute. A proponent of the Austrian School of economics, Woods hosts a podcast, The Tom Woods Show, and formerly co-hosted the weekly podcast Contra Krugman. Read more
• 01 Aug 1970: Quentin Coryatt, American football player Quentin John Coryatt is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Texas A&M University. He is distinguished as being the first Crucian to play in the NFL. Read more
• 01 Aug 1970: David James, English footballer and manager David Benjamin James is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His most recent position was manager at Kerala Blasters FC in the Indian Super League in 2018. He is also a pundit on Sky Sports football coverage. Read more
• 01 Aug 1970: Eugenie van Leeuwen, Dutch cricketer Eugenie van Leeuwen is a former Dutch cricketer who represented the Netherlands women's national cricket team. Read more
• 01 Aug 1969: Andrei Borissov, Estonian footballer and manager Andrei Borissov is an Estonian football coach and former professional footballer. He played the position of midfielder and is 1.77 m tall and weighs 76 kg. Borissov is the former member of the Estonia national football team, with 14 caps to his name. Read more
• 01 Aug 1969: Kevin Jarvis, American baseball player and scout Kevin Thomas Jarvis is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played professionally for many teams including the Cincinnati Reds, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, Oakland Athletics, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Boston Red Sox. As of 2015, he is a scout for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Read more
• 01 Aug 1969: Graham Thorpe, English cricketer and journalist (died 2024) Graham Paul Thorpe was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Surrey and represented England in 100 Test matches. He also played 82 One Day Internationals (ODIs) including appearances at the 1996 and 1999 World Cups and deputised as captain on three occasions. Read more
• 01 Aug 1968: Stacey Augmon, American basketball player and coach Stacey Orlando Augmon is an American basketball coach and former player. He serves as the player development coach of the Sacramento Kings. He played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He gained the nickname "Plastic Man" due to his athletic ability to contort his body. Augmon played college basketball for the UNLV Runnin' Rebels. He was also an assistant coach at his alma mater, UNLV, under coach Dave Rice. He was previously the head coach of Jeonju KCC Egis of the Korean Basketball League. Currently. he serves as the Director for Community Engagement of the UNLV Runnin' Rebels. Read more
• 01 Aug 1968: Dan Donegan, American heavy metal guitarist and songwriter Daniel Joseph Donegan is an American musician who is the guitarist and one of the founding members of heavy metal band Disturbed. Read more
• 01 Aug 1968: Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Japanese baseball player and sportscaster Shigetoshi Hasegawa is a retired relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. He achieved the most recognition when he played for the Seattle Mariners from 2002 through 2005. Previously, Hasegawa played with the Anaheim Angels (1997–2001), and before that spent six years with the Orix BlueWave. He bats and throws right-handed. Read more
• 01 Aug 1967: Gregg Jefferies, American baseball player and coach Gregory Scott Jefferies is an American former infielder and outfielder in Major League Baseball who had a 14-year career from 1987 to 2000. He played for six MLB teams, primarily the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. He was a highly touted prospect who became the first two-time winner of the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year Award. In 2017, Baseball America called him their most highly regarded prospect until Andruw Jones. He went on to become a two-time All-Star. Read more
• 01 Aug 1967: José Padilha, Brazilian director, producer and screenwriter José Bastos Padilha Neto is a Brazilian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the Brazilian critical and financial successes Elite Squad and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within and the 2014 remake of RoboCop. He has won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for Elite Squad in 2008. He is also the producer of the Netflix original series Narcos, starring frequent collaborator Wagner Moura, and directed the first two episodes in the series. Read more
• 01 Aug 1966: James St. James, American club promoter and author James St. James is a television and internet personality, author, celebutante, frequent collaborator with Mathu Andersen, and former "Club Kid", a member of the New York City club scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Read more
• 01 Aug 1965: Brandt Jobe, American golfer Brandt William Jobe is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Champions Tour. He has also played on the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour and the Japan Golf Tour. Read more
• 01 Aug 1965: Sam Mendes, English director and producer Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes is a British filmmaker and stage director. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was knighted in the 2020 New Years Honours List. In 2000, Mendes was awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Foundation in Hamburg, Germany. In 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 15 in their list of the "100 most powerful people in British culture". Read more
• 01 Aug 1964: Adam Duritz, American singer-songwriter and producer Adam Fredric Duritz is an American singer, best known as the frontman for the rock band Counting Crows, for which he serves as a founding member and main composer. Since its founding in 1991, Counting Crows has sold over 20 million records, released seven studio albums that have been certified gold or platinum, and been nominated for two Grammy Awards and an Academy Award. Read more
• 01 Aug 1964: Fiona Hyslop, Scottish businesswoman and politician Fiona Jane Hyslop is a Scottish politician. Hyslop served in various offices under first ministers Salmond, Sturgeon, Yousaf and Swinney; as education secretary, culture secretary, transport secretary, and economy secretary as well as in junior ministerial roles. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she served as member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Linlithgow constituency from 2011 to 2026, having represented the Lothians region from 1999 to 2011. Read more
• 01 Aug 1963: Demián Bichir, Mexican-American actor and producer Demián Bichir Nájera is a Mexican actor. After starring in telenovelas, he began to appear in Hollywood films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in A Better Life. Read more
• 01 Aug 1963: Coolio, American rapper, producer, and actor (died 2022) Artis Leon Ivey Jr., known by his stage name Coolio, was an American rapper, songwriter and record producer. He was best known for his single "Gangsta's Paradise" (1995), which won a Grammy Award, and was credited for changing the course of hip-hop by bringing it to a wider audience. Other singles included "Fantastic Voyage" (1994), "1, 2, 3, 4 " (1996), and "C U When U Get There" (1997). He released nine albums, the first three of which achieved mainstream success: It Takes a Thief (1994), Gangsta's Paradise (1995), and My Soul (1997). Coolio first achieved recognition as a member of the gangsta rap group WC and the Maad Circle. Coolio sold 4.8 million albums in the U.S. Read more
• 01 Aug 1963: John Carroll Lynch, American actor John Carroll Lynch is an American character actor and film director. He first gained notice for his role as Norm Gunderson in Fargo (1996). He is also known for his television work on the ABC sitcom The Drew Carey Show (1997–2004) as the title character's cross-dressing brother, Steve Carey, as well as on four seasons of American Horror Story (2014–2019), most notably as breakout character Twisty the Clown. His films include Face/Off (1997), Mercury Rising (1998) Gothika (2003), Zodiac (2007), Gran Torino (2008), Shutter Island (2010), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), Ted 2 (2015), The Invitation (2015), The Founder (2016), and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). He made his directorial debut with the 2017 film Lucky. Read more
• 01 Aug 1963: Koichi Wakata, Japanese astronaut and engineer Koichi Wakata is a Japanese engineer and an astronaut working for Axiom Space. Wakata retired from JAXA in 2024 after a career in spaceflight spanning nearly two decades. He logged over 500 days in space across five missions: three aboard the Space Shuttle, one on the Soyuz, and one on the Crew Dragon. His missions included three long-duration stays on the International Space Station (ISS) and two short-duration flights—one to the ISS and one aboard the Space Shuttle. Notably, during Expedition 39, he became the first Japanese commander of the ISS. Read more
• 01 Aug 1963: Dean Wareham, New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist Dean Wareham is an American musician and actor who co-founded the band Galaxie 500 in 1987. He departed from Galaxie 500 in April 1991 and went on to establish the band Luna. Following Luna's dissolution in 2005, Wareham has collaborated on albums with fellow Luna band member Britta Phillips, forming the duo known as Dean & Britta. They have also ventured into film composition, notably contributing to the soundtracks of Noah Baumbach's films The Squid and the Whale (2005) and Mistress America. In 2014, Wareham released a self-titled album and in 2015, he reformed Luna. Read more
• 01 Aug 1962: Jacob Matlala, South African boxer (died 2013) Jacob "Baby Jake" Matlala was a South African professional boxer and four-time world champion who competed from 1980 to 2002. Standing about 4 ft 10 in (147 cm), he is the shortest boxer in history to win a world title. He was a world champion in two weight classes: having held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) flyweight title from 1993 to 1995 and the WBO light-flyweight from 1995 to 1997. He scored high-profile wins against international opponents during the 1990s. He was a hugely popular national figure in South Africa — admired for his fighting spirit and charitable work — and was publicly counted among Nelson Mandela’s favourite sportspeople. In 2004, Matlala was voted #72 in the "100 Greatest South Africans" poll organized by SABC. Read more
• 01 Aug 1960: Chuck D, American rapper and songwriter Carlton Douglas "Chuck" Ridenhour, known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip-hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D is also a member of the rock supergroup Prophets of Rage. He has released several solo albums, most notably Autobiography of Mistachuck (1996). Read more
• 01 Aug 1960: Suzi Gardner, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Suzanne Gardner is an American musician and creative director best known for being a guitarist, vocalist, and co-founder of the rock band L7. Read more
• 01 Aug 1959: Joe Elliott, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Joseph Thomas Elliott is an English musician, best known as the lead singer and one of the founding members of the hard rock band Def Leppard. He has also been the lead singer of the David Bowie tribute band the Cybernauts and the Mott the Hoople cover band Down 'n' Outz. Elliott is known for his distinctive and wide-ranging raspy vocals. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Def Leppard on 29 March 2019. He is considered by some journalists to be among the greatest glam metal singers of all time. Read more
• 01 Aug 1958: Rob Buck, American guitarist and songwriter (died 2000) Robert Norman Buck was an American guitarist and founding member of the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs. Buck co-wrote some of the most successful songs recorded by 10,000 Maniacs, including "What's the Matter Here", "Hey Jack Kerouac", and "These Are Days". Read more
• 01 Aug 1958: Michael Penn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Michael Daniel Penn is an American musician, singer, and composer. His 1989 single "No Myth" was a top 20 hit in the U.S. and successful in several other countries. Read more
• 01 Aug 1958: Kiki Vandeweghe, American basketball player and coach Ernest Maurice "Kiki" VanDeWeghe III is an American former professional basketball player, coach and executive who is an advisor for the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a player, he was a two-time NBA All-Star. Read more
• 01 Aug 1957: Anne-Marie Hutchinson, British lawyer (died 2020) Anne-Marie Hutchinson OBE QC (Hon) was an Irish lawyer known for her work in the UK concerning children's rights, particularly forced marriage and international child abduction. Read more
• 01 Aug 1957: Taylor Negron, American actor and screenwriter (died 2015) Brad Stephen "Taylor" Negron was an American actor, comedian, writer and artist. He is known for his roles as Albert in Punchline (1988); Milo in the 1991 action comedy The Last Boy Scout; and David in Angels in the Outfield (1994). Read more
• 01 Aug 1954: Trevor Berbick, Jamaican-Canadian boxer (died 2006) Trevor Berbick was a Jamaican professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 2000. He won the WBC heavyweight title in 1986 by defeating Pinklon Thomas, then lost it in his first defense in the same year to Mike Tyson. Berbick was the last boxer to fight Muhammad Ali, defeating him in 1981 by unanimous decision. Read more
• 01 Aug 1954: James Gleick, American journalist and author James Gleick is an American author and historian of science whose work has chronicled the cultural impact of modern technology. Recognized for his writing about complex subjects through the techniques of narrative nonfiction, he has been called "one of the great science writers of all time". He is part of the inspiration for Jurassic Park character Ian Malcolm. Read more
• 01 Aug 1954: Benno Möhlmann, German footballer and manager Benno Hans Möhlmann is a German retired football player and manager. He played for Preußen Münster, Werder Bremen, and Hamburger SV. Read more
• 01 Aug 1953: Robert Cray, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Robert William Cray is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Read more
• 01 Aug 1953: Howard Kurtz, American journalist and author Howard Alan Kurtz is an American journalist and author and host of Media Buzz on Fox News. He is the former media writer for The Washington Post and the former Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast. He has written five books about the media. Kurtz left CNN and joined Fox News in 2013. Read more
• 01 Aug 1952: Zoran Đinđić, Serbian philosopher and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Serbia (died 2003) Zoran Đinđić was a Serbian politician and philosopher who served as the prime minister of Serbia from 2001 until his assassination in 2003. He was the mayor of Belgrade in 1997, becoming the first non-communist and first democratically elected official to hold both key positions after World War II. Đinđić was a long-time opposition politician and held a doctorate in philosophy. Read more
• 01 Aug 1951: Tim Bachman, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2023) Timothy Gregg Bachman was a Canadian guitarist and vocalist best known for his work with rock bands Brave Belt and Bachman–Turner Overdrive (BTO). Bachman was one of the four founding members of BTO together with his brothers Randy (guitar/vocals) and Robbie (drums), and Fred Turner (bass/vocals). BTO has sold nearly 30 million albums worldwide. Read more
• 01 Aug 1951: Tommy Bolin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1976) Thomas Richard Bolin was an American rock and jazz-rock fusion guitarist and songwriter who played with Zephyr, the James Gang and Deep Purple, in addition to maintaining a career as a solo artist and session musician, notably for Billy Cobham on his 1973 album Spectrum. Read more
• 01 Aug 1951: Pete Mackanin, American baseball player, coach, and manager Peter Mackanin, Jr., is an American former professional baseball utility player, coach, scout, and manager, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos, Philadelphia Phillies, and Minnesota Twins, from 1973 to 1981. Read more
• 01 Aug 1950: Roy Williams, American basketball player and coach Roy Allen Williams is an American retired college basketball coach who served as the men's head coach for the North Carolina Tar Heels for 18 seasons and the Kansas Jayhawks for 15 seasons. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. Read more
• 01 Aug 1949: Bettina Arndt, Australian writer and commentator Bettina Mary Arndt is an Australian writer and commentator who specialises in sex and gender issues. Starting as a sex therapist, she established her career in the 1970s publishing and broadcasting as well as writing several books. In the last two decades she has abandoned feminism and attracted controversy with her social commentary and her views on sexual abuse, domestic violence and men's rights advocacy. Read more
• 01 Aug 1949: Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Kyrgyzstani politician, 2nd President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Sali uulu Bakiyev is a Kyrgyzstani politician who served as the second president of Kyrgyzstan from 2005 until his removal from office as a result of the Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010, forcing Bakiyev to flee the country. Read more
• 01 Aug 1949: Jim Carroll, American poet, author, and musician (died 2009) James Dennis Carroll was an American author, poet, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work The Basketball Diaries, which inspired a 1995 film of the same title that starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll, and his 1980 song "People Who Died" with the Jim Carroll Band. Read more
• 01 Aug 1949: Ray Nettles, American football player (died 2009) Ray Nettles was a football linebacker at the University of Tennessee who played professional Canadian football from 1972 to 1980. He was a five-time Canadian Football League (FL) All-Star and Hall of Famer. Read more
• 01 Aug 1948: Avi Arad, Israeli-American screenwriter and producer, founded Marvel Studios Avi Arad is an Israeli-American studio executive and producer of film, television and animation. He became the CEO of Toy Biz in the 1990s, was the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment and is the founder, former chairman and former CEO of the latter's successor, Marvel Studios. He has produced and sometimes written a wide array of live-action, animated, and television comic book adaptations. Read more
• 01 Aug 1948: Cliff Branch, American football player (died 2019) Clifford Branch Jr. was an American professional football wide receiver who played for the Oakland / Los Angeles Raiders during his entire 14-year National Football League (NFL) career. He won three NFL championships with the Raiders in Super Bowl XI, XV, and XVIII. He was selected by the Raiders in the fourth round of the 1972 NFL draft after playing college football for the Colorado Buffaloes. He was posthumously elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2022. Read more
• 01 Aug 1948: David Gemmell, English journalist and author (died 2006) David Andrew Gemmell was a British author of heroic fantasy, best known for his debut novel, Legend. A former journalist and newspaper editor, Gemmell had his first work of fiction published in 1984. He went on to write over thirty novels. Gemmell's works display violence, yet also explore themes of honour, loyalty and redemption. There is always a strong heroic theme but nearly always the heroes are flawed in some way. With over one million copies sold, his work continues to sell worldwide. Read more
• 01 Aug 1947: Lorna Goodison, Jamaican poet and author Lorna Gaye Goodison is a Jamaican poet, essayist and memoirist, a West Indian writer, whose career spans four decades. She is now professor emerita, English Language and Literature/Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan, previously serving as the Lemuel A. Johnson Professor of English and African and Afroamerican Studies. She was appointed Poet Laureate of Jamaica in 2017, serving in the role until 2020. Read more
• 01 Aug 1947: Chantal Montellier, French comics creator and artist Chantal Montellier, born on August 1, 1947, in Bouthéon near Saint-Étienne in the Loire Department, is a French comics creator and artist, editorial cartoonist, novelist, and painter. As the first female editorial cartoonist in France, she is noted for pioneering women's involvement in comic books. Read more
• 01 Aug 1946: Boz Burrell, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and guitarist (died 2006) Raymond "Boz" Burrell was an English musician. Originally a vocalist and guitarist, Burrell is best known for being the vocalist and bassist of King Crimson from 1971 to 1972 and the original bassist of Bad Company from 1973 to their first disbandment in 1982 and once more from 1998 to 1999. He died of a heart attack in Spain in 2006, aged 60. Read more
• 01 Aug 1946: Rick Coonce, American drummer (died 2011) Eric Michael Coonce was the drummer for American rock band The Grass Roots from 1966 to 1972. Read more
• 01 Aug 1946: Richard O. Covey, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut Richard Oswalt Covey is a retired United States Air Force officer, former NASA astronaut, and a member of the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. Read more
• 01 Aug 1946: Fiona Stanley, Australian epidemiologist and academic Fiona Juliet Stanley is an Australian epidemiologist noted for her public health work, her research into child and maternal health as well as birth disorders such as cerebral palsy. Stanley is the patron of the Telethon Kids Institute and a distinguished professorial fellow in the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia. From 1990 to December 2011 she was the founding director of Telethon Kids. Read more
• 01 Aug 1945: Douglas Osheroff, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Douglas Dean Osheroff is an American physicist known for his work in experimental condensed matter physics, in particular for his co-discovery of superfluidity in Helium-3. For his contributions he shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics along with David Lee and Robert C. Richardson. Osheroff is currently the J. G. Jackson and C. J. Wood Professor of Physics, emeritus, at Stanford University. Read more
• 01 Aug 1944: Dmitry Nikolayevich Filippov, Russian banker and politician (died 1998) Dmitry Filippov was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. An influential member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Lensovet before 1991, Filippov established Saint Petersburg's tax service in the early 1990s and was one of the city's most prominent businessmen during the 1990s, with significant investments in the Russian petrochemical industry. He was killed in a 1998 bombing; Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly member Yury Shutov was found guilty of his assassination by the Saint Petersburg city court in 2006 after a seven-year trial. Read more
• 01 Aug 1942: Jerry Garcia, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1995) Jerome John Garcia was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s. Although he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader of the band. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of the Grateful Dead. Read more
• 01 Aug 1942: Giancarlo Giannini, Italian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Giancarlo Giannini is an Italian actor. He won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in Love and Anarchy (1973) and received an Academy Award nomination for Seven Beauties (1975). He is also a four-time recipient of the David di Donatello Award for Best Actor. Read more
• 01 Aug 1941: Ron Brown, American politician, 30th United States Secretary of Commerce (died 1996) Ronald Harmon Brown was an American politician and lobbyist who served as the 30th United States secretary of commerce during the first term of President Bill Clinton. Before this, he was chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). He was the first African American to hold these positions. He was killed, along with 34 others, in a 1996 plane crash in Croatia. Read more
• 01 Aug 1941: Étienne Roda-Gil, French songwriter and screenwriter (died 2004) Étienne Roda-Gil was a songwriter and screenwriter. He was an anarchist and an anarcho-syndicalist. Read more
• 01 Aug 1940: Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, Iranian writer and actor Mahmoud Dowlatabadi is an Iranian writer and actor, known for his promotion of social and artistic freedom in contemporary Iran and his realist depictions of rural life, drawn from personal experience.
  In 2020, he wrote and recited a work called Soldier for the Art of Peace global project, composed and arranged by Mehran Alirezaei. He has collaborated with this project. Read more
• 01 Aug 1940: Mervyn Kitchen, English cricketer and umpire Mervyn John Kitchen, is a former English first-class cricketer and international umpire. In his playing days he was a left-handed batsman for Somerset County Cricket Club, making 15,230 runs in his 354 first-class games between 1960 and 1979. He topped the Somerset averages in 1966 and 1968. After retiring as a player, he went on to become a first-class cricket umpire. He umpired in 20 Test matches and 28 One-Day Internationals before retiring from that at the age of 65 in 2005. Read more
• 01 Aug 1940: Henry Silverman, American businessman, founded Cendant Henry R. Silverman is an American entrepreneur and private equity investor. Silverman is best known for his role in building Cendant Corporation into a multibillion-dollar business services company that provided car rentals, travel reservation services as well as real estate brokerage services and was also the largest franchisor of hotels globally. Read more
• 01 Aug 1939: Bob Frankford, English-Canadian physician and politician (died 2015) Robert Timothy Stansfield "Bob" Frankford was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995 who represented the Toronto riding of Scarborough East. Read more
• 01 Aug 1939: Terry Kiser, American actor Terry Kiser is an American actor. While he has more than 140 acting credits to his name, with a career spanning more than 50 years, he is best known for portraying the deceased title character Bernie Lomax in the comedy Weekend at Bernie's and its sequel, Weekend at Bernie's II. Read more
• 01 Aug 1939: Stephen Sykes, English bishop and theologian (died 2014) Stephen Whitefield Sykes was a Church of England bishop and academic specialising in divinity. He was Van Mildert Professor of Divinity at Durham University from 1974 to 1985, and Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University from 1985 to 1990. Between 1990 and 1999, he served as the Bishop of Ely, the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Ely. He was the Principal of St John's College, Durham from 1999 to 2006. He served as an Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Durham during his time as head of St John's College and in retirement. Read more
• 01 Aug 1939: Robert James Waller, American author and photographer (died 2017) Robert James Waller was an American author best known for The Bridges of Madison County. He was also a professor, photographer, and musician. Read more
• 01 Aug 1937: Al D'Amato, American lawyer and politician Alfonse Marcello D'Amato is an American attorney, lobbyist, and Republican politician who represented the state of New York in the United States Senate from 1981 to 1999. From 1995 to 1999, he chaired the Senate Banking Committee. As of 2026, he is the most recent Republican to serve New York in the U.S. Senate. Read more
• 01 Aug 1936: W. D. Hamilton, British biologist, psychologist, and academic (died 2000) William Donald Hamilton was a British evolutionary biologist, recognised as one of the most significant evolutionary theorists of the 20th century. Hamilton became known for his theoretical work expounding a rigorous genetic basis for the existence of altruism, an insight that was a key part of the development of the gene-centered view of evolution. He is considered one of the forerunners of sociobiology. Hamilton published important work on sex ratios and the evolution of sex. From 1984 to his death in 2000, he was a Royal Society Research Professor at Oxford University. Read more
• 01 Aug 1936: Yves Saint Laurent, Algerian-French fashion designer, co-founded Yves Saint Laurent (died 2008) Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, better known as Yves Saint Laurent or YSL, was a French fashion designer who founded his eponymous fashion label in 1962. He is widely regarded as one of the foremost designers of the 20th century. Read more
• 01 Aug 1936: Laurie Taylor, English sociologist, radio host, and academic Laurence John Taylor is an English sociologist and radio presenter, originally from Liverpool. Read more
• 01 Aug 1935: Geoff Pullar, English cricketer (died 2014) Geoffrey Pullar was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and Gloucestershire and in 28 Tests for England. Read more
• 01 Aug 1934: John Beck, New Zealand cricketer (died 2000) John Edward Francis Beck was a New Zealand cricketer who played in eight Test matches between 1953 and 1956. He played Plunket Shield cricket for Wellington from 1954–55 to 1961–62. Read more
• 01 Aug 1934: Derek Birdsall, English graphic designer (died 2024) Derek Birdsall, was a British graphic designer. Read more
• 01 Aug 1933: Dom DeLuise, American actor, singer, director, and producer (died 2009) Dominick DeLuise was an American actor, comedian, director, musician, chef, and author. Known primarily for comedic roles, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows. He is widely recognized for his performances in the films of Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, as well as a series of collaborations and a double act with Burt Reynolds. Beginning in the 1980s, his popularity expanded to younger audiences from voicing characters in several major animated productions, particularly those of Don Bluth. Read more
• 01 Aug 1933: Masaichi Kaneda, Japanese baseball player and manager (died 2019) Masaichi Kaneda was a Japanese professional baseball pitcher of Zainichi Korean origin, one of the best-known pitchers in Japanese baseball history, and is the only Japanese pitcher to have won 400 games. He was inducted in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. Read more
• 01 Aug 1933: Meena Kumari, Indian actress (died 1972) Meena Kumari was an Indian actress and poet, who worked in Hindi films. Known as "The Tragedy Queen", she is regarded among the finest and greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema. In a career spanning 33 years, from child actress to adult, Kumari starred in over 90 films. Read more
• 01 Aug 1933: Teri Shields, American actress, producer, and agent (died 2012) Theresia Anna Lilian Maria Shields was an American actress, who was the mother and manager of actress Brooke Shields. Read more
• 01 Aug 1933: Dušan Třeštík, Czech historian and author (died 2007) Dušan Třeštík was a Czech historian. He specialized in medieval history of the Czech lands and theory of history. Read more
• 01 Aug 1932: Meir Kahane, American-Israeli rabbi and activist, founded the Jewish Defense League (died 1990) Meir David HaKohen Kahane was an Israeli Orthodox ordained rabbi, convicted terrorist, writer and ultra-nationalist politician. He was the founder of the Israeli political party Kach, whose ideology continues to influence militant and far-right political groups active today in Israel. Kahane was convicted of multiple acts of terrorism in the United States and in Israel. Read more
• 01 Aug 1931: Ramblin' Jack Elliott, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer, songwriter, and storyteller. Read more
• 01 Aug 1931: Trevor Goddard, South African cricketer (died 2016) Trevor Leslie Goddard was a South African cricketer. A left-handed all-rounder, he played 41 Test matches for South Africa from 1955 to 1970. He captained the young South African team on its five-month tour of Australia and New Zealand in the 1963–64 season, levelling the series with Australia, and was also captain in 1964–65 against England in South Africa. Read more
• 01 Aug 1930: Lionel Bart, English composer (died 1999) Lionel Bart was an English writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's "Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical Oliver! (1960). With Oliver! and his work alongside theatre director Joan Littlewood at Theatre Royal, Stratford East, he played an instrumental role in the 1960s birth of the British musical theatre scene after an era when American musicals had dominated the West End. Read more
• 01 Aug 1930: Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher (died 2002) Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist and public intellectual. Bourdieu's contributions to the sociology of education, the theory of sociology, and sociology of aesthetics have achieved wide influence in several related academic fields. During his academic career he was primarily associated with the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris and the Collège de France. Read more
• 01 Aug 1930: Julie Bovasso, American actress and writer (died 1991) Julia Anne Bovasso was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. Read more
• 01 Aug 1930: Lawrence Eagleburger, American lieutenant and politician, 62nd United States Secretary of State (died 2011) Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger was an American statesman and career diplomat who served briefly as the secretary of state under President George H. W. Bush from December 1992 to January 1993, one of the shortest terms in modern history. Previously, he had served in lesser capacities under Presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, and as deputy secretary of state to James Baker under George H. W. Bush. Eagleburger is the only career Foreign Service Officer to have served as secretary of state. He was also Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense from January to May 1973. As a career member of the United States Senior Foreign Service, he attained the rank of Career Ambassador on April 12, 1984. Read more
• 01 Aug 1930: Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician, 51st Prime Minister of Hungary (died 1996) Károly Grósz was a Hungarian communist politician, who served as the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party from 1988 to 1989. Read more
• 01 Aug 1930: Geoffrey Holder, Trinidadian-American actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer (died 2014) Geoffrey Lamont Holder was a Trinidadian-American actor, dancer, musician, director, choreographer, and artist. He was a principal dancer for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, before his film career began in 1957 with an appearance in Carib Gold. For his theatre work, Holder won two Tony Awards, Best Direction of a Musical and Best Costume Design in a Musical for the original Broadway production of The Wiz. Read more
• 01 Aug 1929: Leila Abashidze, Georgian actress (died 2018) Leila Abashidze was a Georgian actress, director and writer. She was awarded the titles Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR, People's Artist of the Georgian SSR, a recipient of Order of the Red Banner of Labour, as well as of awards of European and Asian film festivals, and has her own honorary star in front of Rustaveli cinema on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi, Georgia. During her career she was widely considered as the "Mary Pickford of the USSR". She is one of the most popular Georgian and Soviet actresses. Read more
• 01 Aug 1929: Hafizullah Amin, Afghan educator and politician, Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1979) Hafizullah Amin was an Afghan revolutionary and communist head of state, who served in that position for a little over three months, from September 1979 until his assassination. He organized the Saur Revolution of 1978 and co-founded the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA), ruling Afghanistan as General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party. Read more
• 01 Aug 1929: Ann Calvello, American roller derby racer (died 2006) Ann Theresa Calvello was an American athlete and notable personality in the sport of roller derby. Read more
• 01 Aug 1928: Jack Shea, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2013) Jack Shea was an American television and film director. He was the president of the Directors Guild of America from 1997 to 2002. Read more
• 01 Aug 1927: María Teresa López Boegeholz, Chilean oceanographer (died 2006) María Teresa López Boegeholz was a Chilean oceanographer and academic. She was considered a pioneer in the field of marine sciences. Read more
• 01 Aug 1927: Anthony G. Bosco, American bishop (died 2013) Anthony Gerard Bosco was an American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the third bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg in Pennsylvania from 1987 to 2004. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania from 1970 to 1987. Read more
• 01 Aug 1926: George Habash, Palestinian politician, founder of the PFLP (died 2008) George Habash was a Palestinian politician and physician who was the founder and first general-secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) from 1967 to 2000. Read more
• 01 Aug 1926: George Hauptfuhrer, American basketball player and lawyer (died 2013) George Jost Hauptfuhrer Jr. was an American basketball player who, despite being taken third overall in the 1948 BAA Draft after a collegiate career at Louisville and Harvard, decided to pursue a career in law. Read more
• 01 Aug 1926: Hannah Hauxwell, English TV personality (died 2018) Hannah Bayles Tallentire Hauxwell was an English farmer who was the subject of several television documentaries. She first came to public attention after being covered in an ITV documentary, Too Long a Winter, made by Yorkshire Television and produced by Barry Cockcroft, which chronicled the almost unendurable conditions of farmers in the High Pennines in winter. Read more
• 01 Aug 1925: Ernst Jandl, Austrian poet and author (died 2000) Ernst Jandl was an Austrian writer, poet, and translator. He became known for his experimental lyric, mainly sound poems (Sprechgedichte) in the tradition of concrete and visual poetic forms. Read more
• 01 Aug 1924: Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (died 2015) Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 1 August 2005 until his death in 2015. Prior to his accession, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 13 June 1982. He was the tenth son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia. Read more
• 01 Aug 1924: Frank Havens, American canoeist (died 2018) Frank Benjamin Havens was an American sprint canoeist who competed from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. He was born in Arlington, Virginia. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won two medals: in the C-1 10000 m event with a silver in 1948, and a gold in 1952. In Havens' first shot in the 1948 Olympic games, he finished second to Capek by 35.4 seconds in a canoe he borrowed from the Czechs. In 1952, his world record was set in a canoe he and his brother, Bill, imported from Sweden for about $160. He was the only American Olympic gold medal winner in a singles canoeing event until the 2021 Tokyo Olympics where Nevin Harrison won the C-1 Womens 200 m race. He was a member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and an American Canoe Association Legend of Paddling. He died in July 2018 at the age of 93. Read more
• 01 Aug 1924: Marcia Mae Jones, American actress and singer (died 2007) Marcia Mae Jones was an American film and television actress whose prolific career spanned 57 years. Read more
• 01 Aug 1924: Frank Worrell, Barbadian cricketer (died 1967) Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell, sometimes referred to by his nickname of "Tae", was a Barbadian West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator. A stylish right-handed batsman and useful left-arm seam bowler, he became famous in the 1950s as the first black captain of the West Indies cricket team. Along with Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott, he formed what was known as "The Three Ws" of the West Indian cricket. He was the first batter to have been involved in two 500-run partnerships and remained the only one until Ravindra Jadeja emulated him in the 2010s. Read more
• 01 Aug 1922: Arthur Hill, Canadian-American actor (died 2006) Arthur Edward Spence Hill was a Canadian actor of film, stage, and television. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as George in the original Broadway production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962). He was also known for playing the title role on the television legal drama Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (1971–74). Read more
• 01 Aug 1921: Jack Kramer, American tennis player, sailor, and sportscaster (died 2009) John Albert Kramer was an American tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, and a pioneer promoter who helped drive the sport towards professionalism at the elite level. Kramer also ushered in the serve-and-volley era in tennis, a playing style with which he won three Grand Slam tournaments. He also led the U.S. Davis Cup tennis team to victory in the 1946 and 1947 Davis Cup finals. Read more
• 01 Aug 1921: Pat McDonald, Australian actress (died 1990) Patricia Ethel McDonald known professionally as Miss Patricia McDonald, and subsequently as Pat McDonald was an Australian Gold Logie winning actress of radio, stage and screen, primarily in small screen, her performance career spanned some 60 years in the industry. Read more
• 01 Aug 1920: Raul Renter, Estonian economist and chess player (died 1992) Raul Renter was an Estonian economist and chess player, who twice won the Estonian Chess Championship. Read more
• 01 Aug 1920: James Mourilyan Tanner, British paediatric endocrinologist (died 2010) James Mourilyan Tanner was a British paediatric endocrinologist who was best known for his development of the Tanner scale, which measures the stages of sexual development during puberty. He was a professor emeritus of the Institute of Child Health at the University of London. Read more
• 01 Aug 1919: Stanley Middleton, English author (died 2009) Stanley Middleton FRSL was a British novelist. Read more
• 01 Aug 1918: T. J. Jemison, American minister and activist (died 2013) Theodore Judson Jemison, better known as T. J. Jemison, was minister of Mount Zion First Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in June 1953 when he led a bus boycott to protest the city's segregated public transit. It was the first boycott of its kind in the modern civil rights movement. He quickly organized a free-ride system to offer car transportation to the city's black residents while the boycott was in effect. This system was studied by Martin Luther King Jr. and served as a model two years later during the Montgomery bus boycott. Read more
• 01 Aug 1916: Fiorenzo Angelini, Italian cardinal (died 2014) Fiorenzo Angelini was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers in the Roman Curia, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1991. When Cardinal Ersilio Tonini died on 28 July 2013, Cardinal Angelini became the oldest living cardinal until the next consistory where Pope Francis appointed 98-year-old Archbishop Loris Francesco Capovilla as a cardinal. Read more
• 01 Aug 1916: Anne Hébert, Canadian author and poet (died 2000) Anne Hébert, was a Canadian author and poet. She won Canada's top literary honor, the Governor General's Award, three times, twice for fiction and once for poetry. Read more
• 01 Aug 1914: Jack Delano, American photographer and composer (died 1997) Jack Delano was a Russian Empire-born Ukrainian photographer, filmmaker, and composer, who spent much of his life in Puerto Rico. In the United States, he worked for the Works Progress Administration, United Fund, and most notably, the Farm Security Administration (FSA). He wore many hats as he also was a composer known for his use of Puerto Rican folk material, started a television production company, and was a cartoonist, poet, professor, and architectural designer. Read more
• 01 Aug 1914: Alan Moore, Australian painter and educator (died 2015) Alan Moore was an Australian war artist during World War II. He is best known for his images of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and the Australian War Memorial holds many of his works. Read more
• 01 Aug 1914: J. Lee Thompson, English-Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2002) John Lee Thompson was an English film director, screenwriter and producer. Initially an exponent of social realism, he became known as a versatile and prolific director of thrillers, action, and adventure films. Read more
• 01 Aug 1912: David Brand, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Western Australia (died 1979) Sir David Brand KCMG was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving premier of Western Australia, in office from 1959 to 1971, and was state leader of the Liberal Party from 1957 to 1972. Read more
• 01 Aug 1912: Gego, German-Venezuelan sculptor and academic (died 1994) Gertrud Louise Goldschmidt, known as Gego, was a modern German-Venezuelan visual artist. Gego is perhaps best known for her geometric and kinetic sculptures made in the 1960s and 1970s, which she described as "drawings without paper". Read more
• 01 Aug 1912: Henry Jones, American actor (died 1999) Henry Burk Jones was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Read more
• 01 Aug 1911: Jackie Ormes, American journalist and cartoonist (died 1985) Jackie Ormes was an American cartoonist. She is known as the first African-American woman cartoonist and creator of the Torchy Brown comic strip and the Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger panel. Read more
• 01 Aug 1910: James Henry Govier, English painter and illustrator (died 1974) James Henry Govier was a British painter and etcher, who worked in Swansea and East Anglia. Read more
• 01 Aug 1910: Raymond A. Palmer, American author and magazine editor (died 1977) Raymond Alfred Palmer was an American author and magazine editor. Influential in the first wave of science fiction fandom, his first fiction stories were published in 1935. Read more
• 01 Aug 1910: Walter Scharf, American pianist and composer (died 2003) Walter Scharf was an American musician, best known as a film, television and concert composer and arranger/conductor. Read more
• 01 Aug 1910: Gerda Taro, German war photographer (died 1937) Gerta Pohorylle, known professionally as Gerda Taro, was a German war photographer active during the Spanish Civil War. She is regarded as the first female photojournalist to have died while covering the frontline in a war. Read more
• 01 Aug 1907: Eric Shipton, Sri Lankan-English mountaineer and explorer (died 1977) Eric Earle Shipton, CBE, was an English Himalayan mountaineer. Read more
• 01 Aug 1905: Helen Sawyer Hogg, American-Canadian astronomer and academic (died 1993) Helen Battles Sawyer Hogg was an American-Canadian astronomer who pioneered research into globular clusters and variable stars. She was the first female president of several astronomical organizations and a scientist when many universities would not award scientific degrees to women. Her dedication to sharing astronomy with the wider public led to scientific advocacy and journalism, including columns in the Toronto Star and the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. She was considered a "great scientist and a gracious person" over a career of sixty years. Read more
• 01 Aug 1903: Paul Horgan, American historian, author, and academic (died 1995) Paul George Vincent O'Shaughnessy Horgan was an American writer of historical fiction and non-fiction who mainly wrote about the Southwestern United States. He was the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes for History. Read more
• 01 Aug 1901: Francisco Guilledo, Filipino boxer (died 1925) Francisco Villaruel Guilledo, commonly known as Pancho Villa, was a Filipino professional boxer. Villa, who stood only 5 feet and 1 inch (154 cm) tall and never weighed more than 114 pounds (51 kg), despite the racial discrimination of that time, rose from obscurity to become the first Asian to win the World Flyweight Championship in 1923, earning the reputation in some quarters as one of the greatest Flyweight boxers in history. Villa is widely regarded as one of the greatest Filipino boxers of all time alongside Manny Pacquiao and Gabriel Elorde. He was never knocked out in his entire boxing career, which ended with his sudden death at only twenty-three from complications following a tooth extraction. Read more
• 01 Aug 1900: Otto Nothling, Australian cricketer and rugby player (died 1965) Otto Ernest Nothling was a rugby union player who represented Australia, as well as an Australian cricketer who played in one Test in 1928. He is one of only two Australian rugby and cricket dual internationals, the other being Johnny Taylor. He became a dermatologist. Read more
• 01 Aug 1899: Raymond Mays, English race car driver and businessman (died 1980) Thomas Raymond Mays was an auto racing driver and entrepreneur from Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. Read more
• 01 Aug 1898: Morris Stoloff, American composer and musical director (died 1980) Morris W. Stoloff was an American composer. He worked with Sammy Davis Jr., Dinah Shore, Al Jolson and Frank Sinatra. Read more
• 01 Aug 1894: Ottavio Bottecchia, Italian cyclist (died 1927) Ottavio Bottecchia was an Italian cyclist and the first Italian winner of the Tour de France. Read more
• 01 Aug 1893: Alexander of Greece (died 1920) Alexander was King of Greece from 11 June 1917 until his death on 25 October 1920. Read more
• 01 Aug 1891: Karl Kobelt, Swiss lawyer and politician, 52nd President of the Swiss Confederation (died 1968) Karl Kobelt was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council. Read more
• 01 Aug 1889: Walter Gerlach, German physicist and academic (died 1979) Walther Gerlach was a German physicist who co-discovered, through laboratory experiment, spin quantization in a magnetic field, the Stern–Gerlach effect. The experiment was conceived by Otto Stern in 1921 and successfully conducted first by Gerlach in early 1922.
  He was Nazi Germany's plenipotentiary of nuclear physics from December 1943 until his capture by US Army in May 1945. Read more
• 01 Aug 1885: George de Hevesy, Hungarian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1966) George Charles de Hevesy was a Hungarian radiochemist and Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate, recognized in 1943 for his key role in the development of radioactive tracers to study chemical processes such as in the metabolism of animals. He also co-discovered the element hafnium. Read more
• 01 Aug 1881: Otto Toeplitz, German mathematician and academic (died 1940) Otto Toeplitz was a German mathematician working in functional analysis. In addition to his mathematical research, Toeplitz is well known for the popular mathematics book The Enjoyment of Mathematics, co-authored with Hans Rademacher. Read more
• 01 Aug 1878: Konstantinos Logothetopoulos, Greek physician and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (died 1961) Konstantinos Logothetopoulos was a Greek medical doctor who became Prime Minister of Greece, directing the Greek collaborationist government during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II. Read more
• 01 Aug 1877: George Hackenschmidt, Estonian-English wrestler and strongman (died 1968) Georg Karl Julius Hackenschmidt, known in English-language publications as George Hackenschmidt, was an Estonian strongman, amateur and professional wrestler, writer, and sports philosopher. He is recognized as professional wrestling's first world heavyweight champion. Read more
• 01 Aug 1871: John Lester, American cricketer and soccer player (died 1969) John Ashby Lester was an American cricketer, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and a teacher. Lester was one of the Philadelphian cricketers who played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I. His obituary in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, described him as "one of the great figures in American cricket." During his career, he played in 53 matches for the Philadelphians, 47 of which are considered first class. From 1897 until his retirement in 1908, Lester led the batting averages in Philadelphia and captained all the international home matches. Read more
• 01 Aug 1865: Isobel Lilian Gloag, English painter (died 1917) Isobel Lilian Gloag (1865–1917) was an English Victorian painter, known for her oil and watercolour portraits, as well as posters and stained-glass designs. Read more
• 01 Aug 1861: Sammy Jones, Australian cricketer (died 1951) Samuel Percy Jones was an Australian cricketer who played 12 Test matches between 1882 and 1888. Read more
• 01 Aug 1860: Bazil Assan, Romanian engineer and explorer (died 1918) Bazil George Assan was a Romanian engineer, explorer and economist. Belonging to a wealthy family in Bucharest, Assan was an important figure in the industrialization of the Kingdom of Romania. He studied engineering, commerce and economics, which impulsed him to discover the globe. In 1896, he became the first Romanian to travel to the Arctic, and between 1897 and 1898, he became the first Romanian to travel around the world. His travels were later presented to King Carol I of Romania. Assan died on 16 June 1918 in Montreux, Switzerland. Read more
• 01 Aug 1858: Gaston Doumergue, French lawyer and politician, 13th President of France (died 1937) Pierre Paul Henri Gaston Doumergue was a French politician who served as President of France from 1924 to 1931. Read more
• 01 Aug 1858: Hans Rott, Austrian organist and composer (died 1884) Johann Nepomuk Karl Maria Rott was an Austrian composer and organist. His music is little-known today, though he received high praise in his time from Gustav Mahler and Anton Bruckner. He left a symphony and Lieder, among other works. Read more
• 01 Aug 1856: George Coulthard, Australian footballer and cricketer (died 1883) George Coulthard was an Australian cricketer, umpire and Australian rules footballer. Read more
• 01 Aug 1843: Robert Todd Lincoln, American lawyer and politician, 35th United States Secretary of War (died 1926) Robert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer and businessman. He was the eldest son of President Abraham Lincoln and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln and the only one of their four children to live past age 18. Robert Lincoln became a business lawyer and company president, serving as both United States Secretary of War (1881–1885) and the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain (1889–1893). Read more
• 01 Aug 1831: Antonio Cotogni, Italian opera singer and educator (died 1918) Antonio "Toto" Cotogni was an Italian baritone of the first magnitude. Regarded internationally as being one of the greatest male opera singers of the 19th century, he was particularly admired by the composer Giuseppe Verdi. Cotogni forged an important second career as a singing teacher after his retirement from the stage in 1894. Read more
• 01 Aug 1819: Herman Melville, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (died 1891) Herman Melville was an American writer of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851), Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia, and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was not well known to the public, but 1919, the centennial of his birth, was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick would eventually be considered one of the Great American Novels. Read more
• 01 Aug 1818: Maria Mitchell, American astronomer and academic (died 1889) Maria Mitchell was an American astronomer, librarian, naturalist, and educator. In 1847, she discovered a comet named 1847 VI that was later known as "Miss Mitchell's Comet" in her honor. She won a gold medal prize for her discovery, which was presented to her by King Christian VIII of Denmark in 1848. Mitchell was the first internationally known woman to work as both a professional astronomer and a professor of astronomy after accepting a position at Vassar College in 1865. She was also the first woman elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Read more
• 01 Aug 1815: Richard Henry Dana Jr., American lawyer and politician (died 1882) Richard Henry Dana Jr. was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts, a descendant of a colonial family, who gained renown as the author of the classic American memoir Two Years Before the Mast and as an attorney who successfully represented the U.S. government before the U.S. Supreme Court during the Civil War in the Prize Cases. Both as a writer and as a lawyer, he was a champion of the downtrodden, from seamen to fugitive slaves and freedmen. Read more
• 01 Aug 1809: William B. Travis, American colonel and lawyer (died 1836) William Barret "Buck" Travis was a Texian Army officer and lawyer. He is known for helping set the Texas Revolution in motion during the Anahuac disturbances and defending the Alamo Mission during the battle of the Alamo. Read more

Notable Deaths on 01 August

• 01 Aug 2024: Joyce Brabner, American writer and artist (born 1952) Joyce Brabner was an American writer of political comics and wife of Harvey Pekar; with whom she co-wrote the nonfiction graphic novel Our Cancer Year. Read more
• 01 Aug 2021: Abdalqadir as-Sufi, Scottish Islamic scholar and writer (born 1930) Abdalqadir as-Sufi was a Scottish Muslim leader and author. He was Shaykh of Instruction, leader of the Darqawi-Shadhili-Qadiri Tariqa, founder of the Murabitun World Movement and author of numerous books on Islam, Sufism and political theory. Born in Scotland, he was a playwright and actor before he converted to Islam in 1967 with the Imam of the Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fez, Morocco. Read more
• 01 Aug 2021: Jerry Ziesmer, American assistant director, production manager and occasional actor (born 1939) Jerry Ziesmer was an American assistant director, production manager and occasional actor. He is best known for his role as Jerry in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now in which he delivers the infamous line "terminate with extreme prejudice". His character is suspected to be a part of CORDS or DOD Command Staff. Read more
• 01 Aug 2020: Wilford Brimley, American actor and singer (born 1934) Anthony Wilford Brimley was an American actor. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and working odd jobs in the 1950s, Brimley started working as an extra and stuntman in Western films in the late 1960s. He became an established character actor in the 1970s and 1980s in films such as The China Syndrome (1979), The Thing (1982), Tender Mercies (1983), The Natural (1984), Cocoon (1985), and Cocoon: The Return (1988). Brimley was known for playing characters at times much older than his age. He was the long-term face of American television advertisements for the Quaker Oats Company. He also promoted diabetes education and appeared in related television commercials for Liberty Medical, a role for which he became an Internet meme. Read more
• 01 Aug 2020: Rickey Dixon, American professional football player (born 1966) Rickey Dixon was an American professional football safety who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners, where he won the Jim Thorpe Award in 1987. Dixon was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the 1988 NFL draft with the fifth overall pick. He played five seasons with the Bengals and one for the Los Angeles Raiders. Read more
• 01 Aug 2020: Rodney H. Pardey, American poker player (born 1945) Rodney Herm "Rod" Pardey was an American poker player. Pardey was the father of singer/songwriter and former tour manager of The Killers, Ryan Pardey, as well as professional poker player and singer/songwriter Rodney E. Pardey. Read more
• 01 Aug 2016: Queen Anne of Romania (born 1923) Anne was the wife of King Michael I of Romania. She married Michael in 1948, the year after he had abdicated the throne. Nonetheless, she was known after the marriage as Queen Anne. Read more
• 01 Aug 2015: Stephan Beckenbauer, German footballer and manager (born 1968) Stephan Beckenbauer was a German footballer who played as a centre-back. Read more
• 01 Aug 2015: Cilla Black, English singer and actress (born 1943) Priscilla Maria Veronica Willis, known professionally as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter. Read more
• 01 Aug 2015: Bernard d'Espagnat, French physicist, philosopher, and author (born 1921) Bernard d'Espagnat was a French theoretical physicist, philosopher of science, and author, best known for his work on the nature of reality. The Wigner–d'Espagnat inequality is partially named after him. Read more
• 01 Aug 2015: Bob Frankford, English-Canadian physician and politician (born 1939) Robert Timothy Stansfield "Bob" Frankford was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995 who represented the Toronto riding of Scarborough East. Read more
• 01 Aug 2015: Hong Yuanshuo, Chinese footballer and manager (born 1948) Hong Yuanshuo was a Chinese football manager and a former player. Throughout his playing career he spent all of it with Beijing where he won the 1973 league title with them. Since retiring he would move into scouting before moving into management with third-tier club Beijing Kuanli in 1997. By 2009 he would return to his former club as a manager to aid them in their successful push for the 2009 Chinese Super League title. Read more
• 01 Aug 2014: Valyantsin Byalkevich, Belarusian footballer and manager (born 1973) Valyantsin Byalkevich, also referred to as Valiantsin Bialkevich, was a Belarusian professional footballer who played as a midfielder for the Belarus national team. He spent the majority of his career with Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv, where he was predominantly used as a playmaker, and was part of the team that reached the semi-finals of 1998–99 UEFA Champions League. Read more
• 01 Aug 2014: Jan Roar Leikvoll, Norwegian author (born 1974) Jan Roar Leikvoll was a Norwegian novelist. Read more
• 01 Aug 2014: Charles T. Payne, American soldier (born 1925) Charles Thomas Payne was an American librarian and soldier. A member of the Obama family, he was the brother of Madelyn Payne Dunham and granduncle of former U.S. president Barack Obama. Read more
• 01 Aug 2014: Mike Smith, English radio and television host (born 1955) Michael George Smith, also known by the on-air nickname of Smitty, was an English television and radio presenter, racing driver and businessman. During the 1980s, he was known for his appearances on BBC1 as a co-host of Breakfast Time and the music show Top of the Pops. Read more
• 01 Aug 2013: John Amis, English journalist and critic (born 1922) John Preston Amis was a British broadcaster, classical music critic, music administrator, and writer. He was a frequent contributor for The Guardian and to BBC radio and television music programming. Read more
• 01 Aug 2013: Gail Kobe, American actress and producer (born 1932) Gail Kobe was an American actress and television producer. Read more
• 01 Aug 2013: Babe Martin, American baseball player (born 1920) Boris Michael Martin was an American Major League Baseball outfielder for the St. Louis Browns and a catcher for the Boston Red Sox (1948–49). He was nicknamed 'Babe'. Read more
• 01 Aug 2013: Toby Saks, American cellist and educator (born 1942) Toby Saks was an American cellist, the founder of the Seattle Chamber Music Society and a member of the New York Philharmonic. Read more
• 01 Aug 2013: Wilford White, American football player (born 1928) Wilford Parley "Whizzer" White was an American professional football player who was a halfback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He also was a member of the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was selected by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 1951 NFL draft. He played college football for the Arizona State Sun Devils and became the school's first College Football All-American. Read more
• 01 Aug 2012: Aldo Maldera, Italian footballer and agent (born 1953) Aldo Maldera was an Italian footballer who played as a full-back or as a wide midfielder on the left flank. Read more
• 01 Aug 2012: Douglas Townsend, American composer and musicologist (born 1921) Douglas Townsend was an American composer and musicologist. Born in Manhattan, Townsend became interested in composition while a student at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, in New York City. He taught himself composition, counterpoint and orchestration. In 1941, he began studying composition privately, with Tibor Serly, Stefan Wolpe, Aaron Copland, Otto Luening and Felix Greissle, among others. Read more
• 01 Aug 2012: Barry Trapnell, English cricketer and academic (born 1924) Barry Maurice Waller Trapnell, was an English academic, school headmaster and a gifted amateur sportsman. As a cricket batsman, he was right-handed, and as a bowler, he was right-arm medium pace. Read more
• 01 Aug 2010: Lolita Lebrón, Puerto Rican-American activist (born 1919) Lolita Lebrón was a Puerto Rican nationalist who was convicted of aggravated assault and other crimes after carrying out an armed attack on the United States Capitol in 1954, which resulted in the wounding of five members of the United States Congress. She was released from prison in 1979 after being granted clemency by President Jimmy Carter. Lebrón was born and raised in Lares, Puerto Rico, where she joined the Puerto Rican Liberal Party. In her youth she met Francisco Matos Paoli, a Puerto Rican poet, with whom she had a relationship. In 1941, Lebrón migrated to New York City, where she joined the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, gaining influence within the party's leadership. Read more
• 01 Aug 2010: Eric Tindill, New Zealand rugby player and cricketer (born 1910) Eric William Thomas Tindill was a New Zealand sportsman. Tindill held a number of unique records: he was the oldest ever Test cricketer at the time of his death, the only person to play Tests for New Zealand in both cricket and rugby union, and the only person ever to play Tests in both sports, referee a rugby union Test, and umpire a cricket Test: a unique "double-double". Read more
• 01 Aug 2009: Corazon Aquino, Filipino politician, 11th President of the Philippines (born 1933) María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines, serving from 1986 to 1992. The first female president in Philippine history, Aquino was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People Power Revolution, which ended the two-decade rule of President Ferdinand Marcos and led to the establishment of the current democratic Fifth Philippine Republic. She has been regarded by media outlets as the "Mother of Democracy". Read more
• 01 Aug 2008: Gertan Klauber, Czech-English actor (born 1932) George Gertan Klauber was a Czech-born British actor, known for playing various character parts in films and television programmes, particularly the Carry On comedies. Read more
• 01 Aug 2008: Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Indian lawyer and politician (born 1916) Harkishan Singh Surjeet was an Indian Communist politician from Punjab, who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 1992 to 2005 and was a member of the party's Polit Bureau from 1964 to 2008. Read more
• 01 Aug 2007: Tommy Makem, Irish singer-songwriter and banjo player (born 1932) Thomas Makem was an Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, tin whistle, low whistle, guitar, bodhrán and bagpipes, and sang in a distinctive baritone. He was sometimes known as "The Bard of Armagh" and "The Godfather of Irish Music". Read more
• 01 Aug 2006: Bob Thaves, American illustrator (born 1924) Robert Thaves was the creator of the comic strip Frank and Ernest, which began in 1972. Read more
• 01 Aug 2006: Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and activist (born 1949) Iris Marion Young was an American political theorist and socialist feminist who focused on the nature of justice and social difference. She served as Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and was affiliated with the Center for Gender Studies and the Human Rights program there. Her research covered contemporary political theory, feminist social theory, and normative analysis of public policy. She believed in the importance of political activism and encouraged her students to involve themselves in their communities. Read more
• 01 Aug 2005: Al Aronowitz, American journalist (born 1928) Alfred Gilbert Aronowitz was an American rock journalist best known for introducing Bob Dylan to the Beatles in 1964. Read more
• 01 Aug 2005: Wim Boost, Dutch cartoonist and educator (born 1918) Willem Louis Joseph Boost, was a Dutch cartoonist, using the alias WiBo. Read more
• 01 Aug 2005: Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter and sculptor (born 1920) Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys, better known as Constant, was a Dutch painter, sculptor, graphic artist, author and musician. Read more
• 01 Aug 2005: Fahd of Saudi Arabia (born 1923) Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 13 June 1982 until his death in 2005. Prior to his ascension, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 1975 to 1982. Read more
• 01 Aug 2004: Philip Abelson, American physicist and author (born 1913) Philip Hauge Abelson was an American physicist, scientific editor and science writer. Trained as a nuclear physicist, he co-discovered the element neptunium, worked on isotope separation in the Manhattan Project, and wrote the first study of nuclear marine propulsion for submarines. He later worked on a broad range of scientific topics and related public policy, including organic geochemistry, paleobiology and energy policy. Read more
• 01 Aug 2003: Guy Thys, Belgian footballer, coach, and manager (born 1922) Guy Jean-Leonard Thys was a Belgian football manager, mostly known for being the most successful manager in the history of the Belgium national football team as he managed to lead the national side to their only UEFA European Championship final in 1980 and a fourth–place finish at the 1986 FIFA World Cup. With 114 games between 1976 and 1991, he is the longest-serving national coach in the history of the Red Devils to date. Read more
• 01 Aug 2003: Marie Trintignant, French actress and screenwriter (born 1962) Marie Trintignant was a French film and stage actress. She appeared in over 30 movies during her 36-year career. Her family was deeply involved in France's film industry, as her father was an actor and her mother was a director, producer, and screenwriter. Read more
• 01 Aug 2001: Korey Stringer, American football player (born 1974) Korey Damont Stringer was an American professional football offensive tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes and was recognized as an All-American. He was selected in the first round of the 1995 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings. On August 1, 2001, Stringer died from complications brought on by heat stroke during the Vikings' training camp in Mankato, Minnesota. Read more
• 01 Aug 1998: Eva Bartok, Hungarian-British actress (born 1927) Éva Márta Szőke Ivanovics, known professionally as Eva Bartok, was a Hungarian-British actress. She began acting in films in 1950, and her last credited appearance was in 1966. She acted in more than 40 American, British, German, Hungarian, French, and Israeli films. She is best known for appearances in Blood and Black Lace, The Crimson Pirate, Operation Amsterdam, and Ten Thousand Bedrooms. Read more
• 01 Aug 1996: Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1897) Tadeusz Reichstein, also known as Tadeus Reichstein, was a Polish-Swiss chemist and a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (1950), which was awarded for his work on the isolation of cortisone. Read more
• 01 Aug 1996: Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian physician and surgeon (born 1929) Lucille Teasdale-Corti was a Canadian physician and pediatric surgeon, who worked in Uganda from 1961 until her death in 1996. With her husband she co-founded a university hospital in the north of Uganda. Read more
• 01 Aug 1990: Norbert Elias, German-Dutch sociologist, author, and academic (born 1897) Norbert Elias was a German sociologist who later became a British citizen. He is especially famous for his theory of civilizing/decivilizing processes. Read more
• 01 Aug 1989: John Ogdon, English pianist and composer (born 1937) John Andrew Howard Ogdon was an English pianist and composer. Read more
• 01 Aug 1982: T. Thirunavukarasu, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (born 1933) Thamodarampillai Thirunavukarasu was a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and Member of Parliament. Read more
• 01 Aug 1981: Paddy Chayefsky, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (born 1923) Sidney Aaron "Paddy" Chayefsky was an American playwright and screenwriter. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for writing both Adapted and Original screenplays. Read more
• 01 Aug 1981: Kevin Lynch, Irish Republican, died on hunger strike Kevin Lynch was an Irish republican and member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) from Park, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The Dungiven hurling team was renamed Kevin Lynch's Hurling Club in his honour after his death on hunger strike. Read more
• 01 Aug 1980: Patrick Depailler, French race car driver (born 1944) Patrick André Eugène Joseph Depailler was a French racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1972 to 1980. Depailler won two Formula One Grands Prix across eight seasons. Read more
• 01 Aug 1980: Strother Martin, American actor (born 1919) Strother Douglas Martin Jr. was an American actor, who appeared in over 170 film and television productions between 1950 and 1980, mainly in character roles. He often appeared in support of John Wayne and Paul Newman, and in Westerns directed by John Ford and Sam Peckinpah. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role on the television legal drama Hawkins (1973–74). Read more
• 01 Aug 1977: Francis Gary Powers, American captain and pilot (born 1929) Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot who served as a United States Air Force officer and a CIA employee. Powers is best known for his involvement in the 1960 U-2 incident, when he was shot down while flying a secret CIA spying mission over the Soviet Union. Powers survived, but was captured and sentenced to 10 years in a Soviet prison for espionage. He served 21 months of his sentence before being released in a prisoner swap in 1962. Read more
• 01 Aug 1974: Ildebrando Antoniutti, Italian cardinal (born 1898) Ildebrando Antoniutti was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as prefect of the Congregation for Religious from 1963 to 1973, and was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope John XXIII in 1962. Read more
• 01 Aug 1973: Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer and educator (born 1882) Gian Francesco Malipiero was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor. Read more
• 01 Aug 1973: Walter Ulbricht, German soldier and politician (born 1893) Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht was a German communist politician and revolutionary. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later in the early development and establishment of the German Democratic Republic. As the First Secretary of the Communist Socialist Unity Party from 1950 to 1971, he was the chief decision-maker in East Germany. From President Wilhelm Pieck's death in 1960, he was also the East German head of state until his own death in 1973. As the leader of a significant Communist satellite, Ulbricht had a degree of bargaining power with the Kremlin that he used effectively. For example, he demanded the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 when the Kremlin was reluctant. Read more
• 01 Aug 1970: Frances Farmer, American actress (born 1913) Frances Elena Farmer was an American actress. She appeared in over a dozen feature films and three significant Broadway plays over the course of her career. Farmer gained greater notoriety posthumously for having had a nervous breakdown and undergone a five-year involuntary commitment in a state-run mental institution. She was said to have suffered abusive conditions, which have remained the subject of much controversy and speculation. Read more
• 01 Aug 1970: Doris Fleeson, American journalist (born 1901) Doris Fleeson was an American journalist and columnist and was the first woman in the United States to have a nationally syndicated political column. Read more
• 01 Aug 1970: Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1883) Otto Heinrich Warburg was a German physiologist, medical doctor, and Nobel laureate. He served as an officer in the elite Uhlan during the First World War, and was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery. He was the sole recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1931. In total, he was nominated for the award 47 times over the course of his career. Read more
• 01 Aug 1967: Richard Kuhn, Austrian-German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate (born 1900) Richard Johann Kuhn was an Austrian-German biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1938 "for his work on carotenoids and vitamins". Read more
• 01 Aug 1966: Charles Whitman, American mass murderer (born 1941) Charles Joseph Whitman was an American mass murderer who committed the 1966 University of Texas tower shooting, one of the first mass shootings in modern American history to receive widespread national media coverage.
  A former Marine and architectural engineering student at the University of Texas at Austin, Whitman killed 17 people and wounded 31 others on August 1, 1966, in a series of attacks that began the night before when he stabbed his mother and wife to death in their respective homes.
  Armed with multiple rifles and other weapons, he fatally shot three people inside UT Austin's Main Building, then accessed the 28th-floor observation deck on the building's clock tower.
  There, he fired at random people for 96 minutes, killing an additional eleven people and wounding 31 others before he was shot dead by the Austin Police Department. Read more
• 01 Aug 1963: Theodore Roethke, American poet (born 1908) Theodore Huebner Roethke was an American poet. He is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation, having won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1954 for his book The Waking, and the annual National Book Award for Poetry on two occasions: in 1959 for Words for the Wind, and posthumously in 1965 for The Far Field. His work was characterized by a willingness to engage deeply with a multifaceted introspection, and his style was overtly rhythmic, with a skilful use of natural imagery. Roethke's mastery of both free verse and fixed forms was complemented by an intense lyrical quality that drew "from the natural world in all its mystery and fierce beauty." Read more
• 01 Aug 1959: Jean Behra, French race car driver (born 1921) Jean Marie Behra was a French racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1952 to 1959. Read more
• 01 Aug 1957: Rose Fyleman, English writer and poet (born 1877) Rose Amy Fyleman was an English writer and poet, noted for her works on fairies for children. Her 1917 poem "There are fairies at the bottom of our garden" was set to music by English composer Liza Lehmann. Read more
• 01 Aug 1944: Manuel L. Quezon, Filipino soldier, lawyer, and politician, 2nd President of the Philippines (born 1878) Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier, and politician who served as the second president of the Philippines from 1935 until his death in 1944. He was the first Filipino to head a government of the entire Philippines and is considered the second president of the Philippines after Emilio Aguinaldo (1899–1901), whom Quezon defeated in the 1935 presidential election. Quezon City, a city in Metro Manila and Quezon Province, are named after him. Read more
• 01 Aug 1943: Lydia Litvyak, Soviet lieutenant and pilot (born 1921) Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak, also known as Lilya, was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II. Historians' estimates for her total victories range from thirteen to fourteen solo victories and four to five shared kills in her 66 combat sorties.
  In about two years of operations, she was the first female fighter pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft, the first of two female fighter pilots who have earned the title of fighter ace and the holder of the record for the greatest number of kills by a female fighter pilot. She was shot down near Orel during the Battle of Kursk as she attacked a formation of German aircraft. Read more
• 01 Aug 1938: Edmund C. Tarbell, American painter and academic (born 1862) Edmund Charles Tarbell was an American Impressionist painter. A member of the Ten American Painters, his work hangs in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, DeYoung Museum, National Academy Museum and School, New Britain Museum of American Art, Worcester Art Museum, and numerous other collections. He was a leading member of a group of painters which came to be known as the Boston School. Read more
• 01 Aug 1929: Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer (born 1870) Sydney Edward Gregory, sometimes known as Edward Sydney Gregory, was a cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. At the time of his retirement, he had played a world-record 58 Test matches during a career spanning 1890 to 1912. A right-handed batsman, he was also a renowned fielder, particularly at cover point. Read more
• 01 Aug 1922: Donát Bánki, Hungarian engineer (born 1856) Donát Bánki
  was a Hungarian mechanical engineer and inventor of Jewish heritage. In 1893 he invented the carburetor for the stationary engine, together with János Csonka. The invention is often, incorrectly credited to the German Wilhelm Maybach, who submitted his patent half a year after Bánki and Csonka. Bánki also greatly contributed to the design of compressors for combustion engines. Read more
• 01 Aug 1921: T. J. Ryan, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Queensland (born 1876) Thomas Joseph Ryan was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1915 to 1919, as leader of the state Labor Party. He resigned to enter federal politics, sitting in the House of Representatives for the federal Labor Party from 1919 until his premature death less than two years later. Read more
• 01 Aug 1920: Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian freedom fighter, lawyer and journalist (born 1856) Bal Gangadhar Tilak, was an Indian nationalist and self-rule activist in the Indian independence movement. He was one third of the Lal Bal Pal triumvirate. The honorific "Lokmanya" was applied to him by his supporters. Read more
• 01 Aug 1918: John Riley Banister, American cowboy and police officer (born 1854) John Riley Banister was an American law officer, cowboy and Texas Ranger. Read more
• 01 Aug 1911: Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter and illustrator (born 1852) Edwin Austin Abbey was an American muralist, illustrator, and painter. He flourished at the beginning of what is now referred to as the "golden age" of illustration, and is best known for his drawings and paintings of Shakespearean and Victorian subjects, as well as for his painting of Edward VII's coronation. His most famous set of murals, The Quest and Achievement of the Holy Grail, adorns the Boston Central Library. Read more
• 01 Aug 1911: Samuel Arza Davenport, American lawyer and politician (born 1843) Samuel Arza Davenport was an American politician and lawyer. A Republican, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Read more
• 01 Aug 1905: Henrik Sjöberg, Swedish gymnast and medical student (born 1875) Kristian Henrik Rudolf Sjöberg was a Swedish gymnast, athlete, and medical student. He competed as the only Swedish participant at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Read more
• 01 Aug 1903: Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman and scout (born 1853) Martha Jane Canary, better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, sharpshooter and storyteller. In addition to many exploits, she was known for being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok. Late in her life, she appeared in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. She is said to have exhibited compassion to others, especially to the sick and needy. This facet of her character contrasted with her daredevil ways and helped to make her a celebrated frontier figure. She was also known for her habit of wearing men's attire. Read more
• 01 Aug 1869: Richard Dry, Australian politician, 7th Premier of Tasmania (born 1815) Sir Richard Dry, KCMG was an Australian politician, the son of United Irish convict, who was Premier of Tasmania from 24 November 1866 until 1 August 1869 when he died in office. Dry was the first Tasmanian-born premier, and the first Tasmanian to be knighted. Read more
• 01 Aug 1869: Peter Julian Eymard, French priest and founder of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament (born 1811) Peter Julian Eymard was a French Catholic priest, saint and founder of two religious institutes: the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament for men and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament for women. Read more
• 01 Aug 1866: John Ross, American tribal chief (born 1790) John Ross was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1828 to 1866; he served longer in that position than any other person. Ross led the nation through such tumultuous events as forced removal to Indian Territory and the American Civil War. Ross was of Euro-Indigenous American descent. His father was a European man from Highland, Scotland. His mother was a Euro-Indigenous American woman from the Cherokee Nation. Read more
• 01 Aug 1863: Jind Kaur Majarani (Regent) of the Sikh Empire (born 1817) Maharani Jind Kaur, also known as Rani Jindan Kaur, was regent and, shortly the regnant of the Sikh Empire from 1843 until 29 March 1847. After the Sikh Empire was dissolved on 29 March 1847, she became the Maharani and successor of Maharaja Duleep Singh. However, on the same day the British took full control and refused to accept the claims. Read more
• 01 Aug 1851: William Joseph Behr, German publicist and academic (born 1775) William Joseph Behr, German publicist and writer. Read more
• 01 Aug 1812: Yakov Kulnev, Russian general (born 1763) Yakov Petrovich Kulnev was, along with Pyotr Bagration and Aleksey Yermolov, one of the most popular Russian military leaders at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Count Alexander Suvorov's admirer and participant of 55 battles, he lost his life during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Read more
• 01 Aug 1808: Lady Diana Beauclerk, English painter and illustrator (born 1734) Lady Diana Beauclerk was an English noblewoman and celebrated artist. Read more
• 01 Aug 1807: John Boorman, English cricketer (born c. 1754) John Boorman was an English cricketer whose known career spanned 26 seasons from 1768 to 1793. In Scores & Biographies, Arthur Haygarth recorded that he found a reference to Boorman in an account of a single wicket match in 1772 which called him James, but Haygarth was convinced that the correct name was John, although CricketArchive and CricInfo both prefer to use James. Haygarth discovered that Boorman was "probably" born at Cranbrook in Kent but may have resided for many years at Sevenoaks, though he certainly died at Ashurst in Sussex, where he spent his latter years as a farmer. Boorman's year of birth is an estimate based on evidence found by Haygarth that he was 53 when he died and Haygarth made a comment that Boorman "began playing in great matches very young". Boorman is believed to have been a left-handed batsman; as a fielder, he was generally deployed at point. Read more
• 01 Aug 1807: John Walker, English actor, philologist, and lexicographer (born 1732) John Walker was an English stage actor, philologist and lexicographer. Read more

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