History of Today 06 August: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 06 August. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 06 August. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 06 August 2026, 01:01 AM

Important Events on 06 August in History

06 Aug 2015: A suicide bomb attack kills at least 15 people at a mosque in the Saudi city of Abha. Read more
06 Aug 2012: NASA's Curiosity rover lands on the surface of Mars. Read more
06 Aug 2011: War in Afghanistan: A United States military helicopter is shot down, killing 30 American special forces members and a working dog, seven Afghan soldiers, and one Afghan civilian. It was the deadliest single event for the United States in the War in Afghanistan. Read more
06 Aug 2010: Flash floods across a large part of Jammu and Kashmir, India, damages 71 towns and kills at least 255 people. Read more
06 Aug 2008: A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. Read more
06 Aug 2001: Erwadi fire incident: Twenty-eight mentally ill persons tied to a chain are burnt to death at a faith based institution at Erwadi, Tamil Nadu. Read more
06 Aug 1997: Korean Air Flight 801 crashed at Nimitz Hill, Guam, killing 229 of the 254 people on board. Read more
06 Aug 1996: NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms. Read more
06 Aug 1991: Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW makes its first appearance as a publicly available service on the Internet. Read more
06 Aug 1991: Takako Doi, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives. Read more
06 Aug 1990: Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Read more
06 Aug 1986: A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimeters (13 inches) of rain in a day on Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Read more
06 Aug 1965: US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law. Read more
06 Aug 1962: Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom. Read more
06 Aug 1960: Cuban Revolution: Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation. Read more
06 Aug 1958: Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy, outlawing the Communist Party of Chile and banning 26,650 persons from the electoral lists, is repealed in Chile. Read more
06 Aug 1956: After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena in New York in the Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena series. Read more
06 Aug 1945: World War II: Hiroshima, Japan is devastated when the atomic bomb "Little Boy" is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and some tens of thousands die in subsequent years from burns and radiation poisoning. Read more
06 Aug 1942: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress. Read more
06 Aug 1940: Estonia is annexed by the Soviet Union. Read more
06 Aug 1926: Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Read more
06 Aug 1926: First public screening using the Vitaphone process Read more
06 Aug 1917: World War I: Battle of Mărășești between the Romanian and German armies begins. Read more
06 Aug 1915: World War I: Battle of Sari Bair: The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay. Read more
06 Aug 1914: World War I: U-boat campaign: Two days after the United Kingdom had declared war on Germany over the German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats leave their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea. Read more
06 Aug 1914: World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia. Read more
06 Aug 1901: Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation. Read more
06 Aug 1890: At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair. Read more
06 Aug 1870: Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a German victory. Read more
06 Aug 1870: Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Wörth results in a decisive German victory. Read more
06 Aug 1862: American Civil War: The Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering catastrophic engine failure near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Read more
06 Aug 1861: Britain imposes the Lagos Treaty of Cession to suppress slavery in what is now Nigeria. Read more
06 Aug 1825: The Bolivian Declaration of Independence is proclaimed. Read more
06 Aug 1824: Peruvian War of Independence: Patriot forces led by Simón Bolívar defeat the Spanish Royalist army in the Battle of Junín. Read more
06 Aug 1819: Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States. Read more
06 Aug 1806: Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares the moribund empire to be dissolved, although he retains power in the Austrian Empire. Read more

Famous Births on 06 August

06 Aug 2004: Takhmina Ikromova, Uzbekistani rhythmic gymnast Takhmina Ikromova is an Uzbekistani rhythmic gymnast. She is the 2022 Asian Games all-around and team gold medalist, a four-time Asian all-around champion and the 2025 World University Games all-around silver medalist. Read more
06 Aug 2002: Nessa Barrett, American singer-songwriter Janesa Jaida "Nessa" Barrett is an American singer-songwriter and social media personality. She rose to prominence on TikTok and began uploading song covers as a teenager, which led her to sign a recording contract with Warner Records. She released her debut single, "Pain", in 2020. In 2021, she released her debut EP, Pretty Poison, which combined elements of alternative pop and pop-rock. She then released her debut album, Young Forever, the following year. In 2023, she released another EP, Hell Is a Teenage Girl, and in 2024, she released her second studio album,Aftercare, which incorporated electropop and synthpop. In 2026, Barrett released her EP, Jesus Loves a Primadonna. In July of that same year, she announced her third studio album Tough Love, set for release on September 25, 2026. Read more
06 Aug 1999: Hunter Greene, American baseball player Christian Hunter Greene is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). The Reds selected him second overall in the 2017 MLB draft. Read more
06 Aug 1999: Rebeka Masarova, Spanish-Swiss tennis player Rebeka Masarova is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 62 in singles and No. 125 in doubles, achieved in 2023.
Masarova won the juniors' 2016 French Open. Read more
06 Aug 1995: Rebecca Peterson, Swedish tennis player Rebecca Peterson is a Swedish inactive professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 43 in singles and No. 87 in doubles by the WTA. Read more
06 Aug 1991: Wilmer Flores, Venezuelan baseball player Wilmer Alejandro Flores García, nicknamed "Catire", is a Venezuelan professional baseball infielder for the Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks, and San Francisco Giants. On his 16th birthday in 2007, Flores signed as an international free agent with the Mets, and he made his major-league debut with them in 2013. Read more
06 Aug 1991: Jiao Liuyang, Chinese swimmer Jiao Liuyang is a retired Chinese swimmer who won the 200 m butterfly at the 2012 Olympics, and formerly held the world record in the 4×100 m medley relay. Read more
06 Aug 1987: Leanne Crichton, Scottish footballer Leanne Crichton is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. She currently manages Rangers and works as a media pundit for BBC Scotland. Read more
06 Aug 1986: Raphael Pyrasch, German rugby player Rafael Pyrasch is a German international rugby union player, playing for the Heidelberger RK in the Rugby-Bundesliga and the German national rugby union team. Read more
06 Aug 1985: Mickaël Delage, French cyclist Mickaël Delage is a French former professional road and track cyclist, who last rode for UCI WorldTeam Groupama–FDJ. Read more
06 Aug 1985: Bafétimbi Gomis, French footballer Bafétimbi Gomis is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. He's the third fastest hat-trick scorer in UEFA Champions League history, as of December 2025. Read more
06 Aug 1985: Garrett Weber-Gale, American swimmer Garrett Weber-Gale is an American competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and world record-holder in two events. Read more
06 Aug 1984: Vedad Ibišević, Bosnian footballer Vedad Ibišević is a Bosnian professional football coach and former player who played as a forward. Read more
06 Aug 1984: Maja Ognjenović, Serbian volleyball player Maja Ognjenović is a Serbian professional volleyball player of the Serbia women's national volleyball team and a two-time Olympic medalist. She is a five-time Olympian at the setter position. Ognjenović won gold with the national team at the 2018 World Championship, and the 2011/2019 edition of the European Championship, silver at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Read more
06 Aug 1984: Jesse Ryder, New Zealand cricketer Jesse Daniel Ryder is a former international New Zealand cricketer, who played all forms of the game. He was primarily a middle-order batsman for Tests and an opening batsman in ODIs. Ryder also bowled useful medium-pace. Read more
06 Aug 1983: Robin van Persie, Dutch footballer Robin van Persie is a Dutch football coach and former professional footballer. He last served as the head coach of Eredivisie club Feyenoord. He is regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation and was known for his technique, ball control, and vision. Read more
06 Aug 1981: Leslie Odom Jr., American actor and singer Leslie Lloyd Odom Jr. is an American actor, singer and songwriter. He made his acting debut on Broadway in 1998 and first gained recognition for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in the musical Hamilton, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in the same year. His performance was captured in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role in a Limited Series or Movie nomination. Read more
06 Aug 1981: Diána Póth, Hungarian figure skater Diána Póth is a Hungarian former competitive figure skater. She is a two-time Karl Schäfer Memorial silver medalist and a two-time Hungarian national champion. She also competed briefly for Austria. Read more
06 Aug 1979: Francesco Bellotti, Italian cyclist Francesco Bellotti is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI ProTour team Liquigas–Cannondale. Read more
06 Aug 1979: Jaime Correa, Mexican footballer Jaime Correa Córdova also known as "El Alacran" or "El Motor", is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He made his debut for the Mexico national team in the 2007 Copa América against Brazil. Read more
06 Aug 1979: Travis Reed, American basketball player Travis Wayne Reed is an American former professional basketball player. Reed played college basketball for UCLA and Long Beach State. He played professionally in the Netherlands, Estonia, Romania, Australia and Germany. Read more
06 Aug 1977: Leandro Amaral, Brazilian footballer Leandro Câmara do Amaral, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Read more
06 Aug 1977: Jimmy Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager Jimmy Nielsen is a Danish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
06 Aug 1977: Luciano Zavagno, Argentinian footballer Luciano Germán Zavagno is an Argentine retired footballer. Read more
06 Aug 1976: Soleil Moon Frye, American actress Soleil Moon Frye is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress at the age of two. When she was seven, Frye won the role of Penelope "Punky" Brewster in the NBC sitcom Punky Brewster. The series debuted in September 1984 and earned consistently low ratings, but the Punky character was a hit with young children. After NBC canceled the series, it was picked up for the syndication market where it aired for an additional two seasons before ending in 1988. Frye reprised the role in a 2021 revival of the series, which was canceled after one season. Read more
06 Aug 1976: Melissa George, Australian-American actress Melissa Suzanne George is an Australian-American actress. She began her career playing Angel Parrish on the Australian soap opera Home and Away between 1993–1996. After moving to the United States, George made her feature film debut with a supporting role in the 1998 tech noir Dark City. She made the transition to leading roles when she starred in the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror, gaining further recognition with the thriller Derailed (2005), and the genre films 30 Days of Night (2007) and Triangle (2009). Read more
06 Aug 1975: Jason Crump, English-Australian motorcycle racer Jason Philip Crump is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Australia. He is a three-time Speedway World Champion, and a World Cup winner. Read more
06 Aug 1975: Renate Götschl, Austrian skier Renate Götschl is an Austrian former alpine ski racer. She is a two-time individual World Champion in the combined (1997) and downhill (1999), and has won a total of 9 World Championships medals. She also won two Olympic medals in 2002, the bronze medal in downhill and the silver medal in the combined. Read more
06 Aug 1975: Víctor Zambrano, Venezuelan baseball player Víctor Manuel Zambrano is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He played all or parts of seven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2001 to 2007 for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays, and Baltimore Orioles. Read more
06 Aug 1973: Vera Farmiga, American actress Vera Ann Farmiga is an American actress and singer. She began her professional acting career on stage in the original Broadway production of Taking Sides (1996). After expanding to television and film, her breakthrough came with her starring role as a drug addict in the drama Down to the Bone (2004). She then had roles in the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate (2004), the crime drama The Departed (2006), and the historical drama The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008). She was also established as a scream queen for her performances in the horror films Joshua (2007) and Orphan (2009). Read more
06 Aug 1973: Stuart O'Grady, Australian cyclist Stuart Peter O'Grady is a retired Australian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 1995 and 2013. A former track cyclist, O'Grady and Graeme Brown won a gold medal in the Men's Madison at the 2004 Summer Olympics. O'Grady also won Paris–Roubaix in 2007. O'Grady competed in the Tour de France from 1997 and contended for the points classification in the Tour de France known as the green jersey, finishing second in the 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2005 races. He wore the yellow jersey of general classification leader in 1998 and 2001. Read more
06 Aug 1972: Geri Halliwell, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress Geraldine Estelle Halliwell-Horner is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, author, and actress. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Ginger Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the Spice Girls are the best-selling female group of all time to date. Their slogan "girl power" was most closely associated with Halliwell and her Union Jack dress from the 1997 Brit Awards also became an enduring symbol. Halliwell left the Spice Girls in 1998, citing exhaustion and creative differences, but rejoined when they reunited for a greatest hits album (2007) and two concert tours: the Return of the Spice Girls (2007–2008) and Spice World (2019). Read more
06 Aug 1972: Jason O'Mara, Irish actor Jason O'Mara is an Irish actor. He has starred in American television series Terra Nova (2011), Vegas (2012–13), Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2016–17) and The Man in the High Castle (2018–19). For his performance in The Siege of Jadotville (2016), he won an Irish Film & Television Award for Best Supporting Actor. Read more
06 Aug 1970: M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-American director, producer, and screenwriter Manoj Nelliyattu "M. Night" Shyamalan is an American filmmaker. His films often employ supernatural plots and twist endings. The cumulative gross of his films exceeds $3.3 billion globally. Shyamalan has received various accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards and a Golden Globe. Read more
06 Aug 1969: Simon Doull, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster Simon Blair Doull is a New Zealand radio personality, commentator, and former international cricketer. He was a right-arm medium pacer who was capable of swing bowling. He was plagued by injuries as a result of which his international career was cut short. Playing for the New Zealand national cricket team, he figured in just 32 Tests and 42 ODIs, taking 98 and 36 wickets respectively. Doull's finest hour arrived when he took 7–65 against India in the Boxing Day Wellington Test in 1998. He played his last Test, against Australia, in March 2000, before turning to commentary and broadcasting. Read more
06 Aug 1969: Elliott Smith, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2003) Steven Paul Smith, known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. Raised primarily in Texas, he lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he gained popularity in the 1990s. Smith's primary instrument was the guitar, though he also played piano, clarinet, bass guitar, drums, and harmonica. His work was distinguished by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin" vocal style, his "artful chord changes," and his themes of "addiction, depression, and alienation.". The New Musical Express (NME) described him as a "widely adored singer-songwriter," who "touched countless lives with his compelling musicianship and lyricism." Read more
06 Aug 1968: Jack de Gier, Dutch footballer Jack de Gier is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. Read more
06 Aug 1966: Regina Carter, American jazz and classical violinist, and composer Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of jazz saxophonist James Carter. Read more
06 Aug 1965: Stéphane Peterhansel, French racing driver Stéphane Peterhansel is a rally driver from France. He holds the record for wins at the Dakar Rally, with 14 victories. He currently drives for Land Rover Defender Rally Team. Read more
06 Aug 1965: Yuki Kajiura, Japanese pianist and composer Yuki Kajiura is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer. She has provided the music for several popular anime series, such as Sword Art Online, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero, The Garden of Sinners, Pandora Hearts, and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Read more
06 Aug 1965: David Robinson, American basketball player and lieutenant David Maurice Robinson is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Admiral" for his service in the U.S. Navy, he spent his entire 14-year career with National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise San Antonio Spurs and is now a minority owner of the team. He is widely considered one of the greatest centers in both college basketball and NBA history. Read more
06 Aug 1964: Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo, Nigerian journalist, activist, social media expert, and pharmacist Olukemi "Kemi" Omololu-Olunloyo is a Nigerian blogger, an activist against gun violence and drug abuse, and also a social media personality. Read more
06 Aug 1963: Charles Ingram, English soldier, author, and game show contestant Charles William Ingram is a British convicted fraudster and a former major in the British Army who gained fame for his appearance on the ITV television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Across two episodes recorded in September 2001, Ingram correctly answered 15 questions to win the show's maximum prize of £1 million, becoming the third recorded contestant ever to do so; however, he was denied the winnings due to suspicion of cheating and was subsequently arrested. Read more
06 Aug 1963: Kevin Mitnick, American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker (died 2023) Kevin David Mitnick was an American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker. In 1995, he was arrested for various computer and communications-related crimes, and spent five years in prison after being convicted of fraud and illegally intercepting communications.
Mitnick's pursuit, arrest, trial and sentence were all controversial, as were the associated media coverage, books, and films, with his supporters arguing that his punishment was excessive and that many of the charges against him were fraudulent, and not based on actual losses. After his release from prison, he ran his own security firm, Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC, and was also involved with other computer security businesses. Read more
06 Aug 1962: Michelle Yeoh, Malaysian-Hong Kong actress and producer Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng Todt is a Malaysian actress. In a career spanning over four decades, she has acted in film and television productions covering a wide range of genres and received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, along with nominations for two British Academy Film Awards. Credited as Michelle Khan in her early films, she rose to fame in the 1980s and 1990s after starring in Hong Kong action and martial arts films where she performed her own stunts. These roles included Yes, Madam (1985), Magnificent Warriors (1987), Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992), The Heroic Trio and Tai Chi Master, and Wing Chun (1994). Read more
06 Aug 1961: Mary Ann Sieghart, English journalist and radio host Mary Ann Corinna Howard Sieghart is an English author, journalist, consultant, radio presenter and former assistant editor of The Times, where she wrote columns about politics, social affairs and life in general. She has also written a weekly political column in The Independent. Her best-selling book, The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About It, was published by Transworld/Doubleday in July 2021. She now runs The Authority Gap Consultancy, which helps organisations narrow and close their authority gaps. Read more
06 Aug 1960: Dale Ellis, American basketball player Dale Ellis is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). At various points in his career, Ellis held the record for the most career 3-point field goals made, until Reggie Miller surpassed him. His 1,719 career made three-pointers ranked 2nd in NBA history at the time of his retirement, and ranks 38th in NBA history as of May 2026. He also holds the record for most minutes played in a single game with 69 minutes. Read more
06 Aug 1959: Rajendra Singh, Indian environmentalist Rajendra Singh is an Indian water conservationist and environmentalist from Alwar district, Rajasthan in India. Also known as the "Waterman of India", he won the Magsaysay Award in 2001 and Stockholm Water Prize in 2015. He runs an NGO called 'Tarun Bharat Sangh' (TBS), which was founded in 1975. The NGO based in village hori-Bhikampura in Thanagazi tehsil, near Sariska Tiger Reserve, has been instrumental in fighting the slow bureaucracy, mining lobby and has helped villagers take charge of water management in their semi-arid area as it lies close to Thar Desert, through the use of johad, rainwater storage tanks, check dams and other time-tested as well as path-breaking techniques. Read more
06 Aug 1959: Joyce Sims, American singer (died 2022) Joyce Elizabeth Sims-Sandiford was an American singer and songwriter, whose biggest hit single, "Come into My Life", reached the top 10 in both the US Billboard R&B Chart and the UK Singles Chart in 1987. Read more
06 Aug 1958: Randy DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and bass player William Randall DeBarge is an American R&B/soul singer and bass guitarist, best known for being one of the original members of the popular Motown singing family group DeBarge. Randy is also known for singing co-lead and penning lyrics with brother El on the group's first hit, "I Like It" (1982). Read more
06 Aug 1957: Bob Horner, American baseball player (died 2026) James Robert Horner was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball and the Nippon Professional Baseball league as a third baseman and a first baseman from 1978 to 1988, most prominently as a member of the Atlanta Braves where he was named the 1978 National League (NL) Rookie of the Year and was a member of the 1982 National League All-Star team. Read more
06 Aug 1957: Jim McGreevey, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New Jersey James Edward McGreevey is an American politician who served as the 52nd governor of New Jersey from 2002 until his resignation in 2004 amidst a sex scandal. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first openly gay person to serve as a state governor in the nation's history. Read more
06 Aug 1956: Bill Emmott, English journalist and author William John Emmott is an English journalist, author, and consultant best known as the editor-in-chief of The Economist newspaper from 1993 to 2006. Emmott has written fourteen books and worked on two documentary feature films. He was chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies from 2019-2025 and of the Japan Society of the UK in London from 2019-2024. He is now Senior Adviser, Geopolitics, for Montrose Associates, a strategic intelligence consultancy, a non-executive director of The Irish Times, a trustee of the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, and an Ushioda Fellow at Tokyo College, University of Tokyo. He writes regular columns for La Stampa in Italy, and the Mainichi Shimbun and Nikkei Business in Japan, and republishes the English originals of those articles on his Substack, Global View. Read more
06 Aug 1954: Mark Hughes, English-Australian rugby league player Mark Stephen Hughes is an English-born Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for Canterbury-Bankstown in the 1970s and 1980s. He mostly played lock, but he also spent time playing centre and five-eighth. He is the brother of Garry Hughes and Graeme Hughes, and the uncle of Corey Hughes, Glen Hughes and Steven Hughes. Read more
06 Aug 1952: Pat MacDonald, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Patrick Lee MacDonald is an American musician and songwriter. He was the singer, guitarist, and main songwriter for Timbuk 3, nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1987. He formed the duo with his wife, Barbara K. MacDonald, in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1984 before moving to Austin, Texas, that same year. Their breakup in 1995 spurred a solo career that has steadily produced releases in both Europe and the US. Read more
06 Aug 1952: David McLetchie, Scottish lawyer and politician (died 2013) David William McLetchie CBE was a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 1998 to 2005. He was Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency from 2003 to 2011 and the Lothian region from 1999 to 2003 and 2011 to 2013. Read more
06 Aug 1952: Ton Scherpenzeel, Dutch keyboard player, songwriter, and producer Ton Scherpenzeel is a Dutch keyboardist, composer, lyricist, and founding member of Dutch progressive rock band Kayak. Subsequent to Kayak, Scherpenzeel joined British progressive rock band Camel. He also played for several years with Dutch band Earth and Fire and released several solo albums. After his participation in rock bands, he was associated with Dutch vocal project Opus and was the accompanying keyboardist to Dutch comedian Youp van 't Hek. Read more
06 Aug 1951: Catherine Hicks, American actress Catherine Mary Hicks is an American retired actress. She played the character Annie Camden on the long-running television series 7th Heaven. Other roles included Dr. Faith Coleridge on the soap opera Ryan's Hope (1976–1978), her Emmy Award-nominated performance as Marilyn Monroe in Marilyn: The Untold Story (1980), Dr. Gillian Taylor in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Carol Heath in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), and Karen Barclay in Child's Play (1988). Read more
06 Aug 1951: Daryl Somers, Australian television host and singer Daryl Paul Somers is an Australian television personality and musician, and a triple Gold Logie award winner. He rose to national fame as the host and executive producer of the long-running comedy-variety program Hey Hey It's Saturday and continued his television celebrity and status as host of the live-performance program Dancing with the Stars. Read more
06 Aug 1950: Dorian Harewood, American actor Dorian Harewood is an American actor, best known for playing Jesse Owens in The Jesse Owens Story (1984), Det. Paul Strobber on Strike Force (1981–1982), and Rev. Morgan Hamilton in 7th Heaven (1996–2003). Read more
06 Aug 1949: Dino Bravo, Italian-Canadian wrestler (died 1993) Adolfo Bresciano, better known by the ring name Dino Bravo, was an Italian Canadian professional wrestler and promoter and alleged organized crime figure. Read more
06 Aug 1947: Radhia Cousot, French computer scientist and academic (died 2014) Radhia Cousot, née Rezig was a French computer scientist known for inventing abstract interpretation. Her 1985 doctoral thesis advanced the semantics, proof, and static analysis methods for concurrent and parallel programs. Read more
06 Aug 1946: Allan Holdsworth, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (died 2017) Allan Holdsworth was a British jazz and rock guitarist, violinist and composer. He contributed to numerous bands, including Soft Machine, U.K., The Tony Williams Lifetime, Pierre Moerlen's Gong, Bruford, Level 42, and Planet X, in addition to solo work in multiple genres. Read more
06 Aug 1945: Ron Jones, English director and production manager (died 1993) Ron Jones was a British television director. Read more
06 Aug 1944: Inday Badiday, Filipino journalist and actress (died 2003) Maria Lourdes Jimenez Carvajal, popularly known as Inday Badiday, was a Filipino TV host and journalist who was known as Philippine television's "queen of showbiz talk shows" and "queen of intrigues". Read more
06 Aug 1944: Michael Mingos, English chemist and academic David Michael Patrick Mingos is a British chemist and academic. He was Principal of St Edmund Hall, Oxford from 1999 to 2009, and Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford. Read more
06 Aug 1944: Martin Wharton, English bishop John Martin Wharton, is a British Anglican bishop, a retired Bishop of Newcastle. Read more
06 Aug 1943: Jon Postel, American computer scientist and academic (died 1998) Jonathan Bruce Postel was an American computer scientist who made many significant contributions to the development of the Internet, particularly with respect to standards. He is known principally for being the editor of the Request for Comment (RFC) document series, for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and for administering the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) until his death. Read more
06 Aug 1942: Byard Lancaster, American saxophonist and flute player (died 2012) Byard Lancaster was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and flutist. Read more
06 Aug 1941: Ray Culp, American baseball player Raymond Leonard Culp Jr. is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (1963–1966), Chicago Cubs (1967), and Boston Red Sox (1968–1973). Read more
06 Aug 1940: Mukhu Aliyev, Russian philologist and politician, 2nd President of Dagestan Mukhu Gimbatovich Aliyev is a Russian politician who served as the 2nd Head of the Republic of Dagestan, a federal subject of Russia. He was born in the village of Tanusi, Khunzakhsky District, Dagestan ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. Ethnically, he is Avar. He was the speaker of the Republic's parliament before being accepted as the President by the Dagestan parliament on 20 February 2006, having been nominated by the Russian president Vladimir Putin to replace Dagestan's long-time leader Magomedali Magomedov. Read more
06 Aug 1940: Egil Kapstad, Norwegian pianist and composer (died 2017) Egil Kapstad was a Norwegian jazz pianist, composer and arranger. He wrote the music for more than 50 theatre productions, and composed for film and television drama. Kapstad composed classical works for orchestra, choir, string quartet, and smaller ensembles, and was a chief executive of the association Ny Musikk. He worked as a host in television for NRK. Egil Kapstad's Trio worked as a small orchestra in the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix of 1965. Read more
06 Aug 1940: Louise Sorel, American actress Louise Jacqueline Sorel is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Vivian Alamain in Days of Our Lives from 1992–2000, 2009–2011, 2017–2018, 2020, 2023 and 2025–present; Augusta Lockridge on Santa Barbara from 1984–1991; and Emily Tanner on Beacon Hill since 2014. Read more
06 Aug 1938: Paul Bartel, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2000) Paul Bartel was an American actor, writer and director. He was perhaps most known for his 1982 hit black comedy Eating Raoul, which he co-wrote, starred in and directed. Read more
06 Aug 1938: Peter Bonerz, American actor and director Peter Roman Bonerz is an American actor and director. Read more
06 Aug 1938: Bert Yancey, American golfer (died 1994) Albert Winsborough Yancey was an American professional golfer who won seven times on the PGA Tour and later played on the Senior PGA Tour. Read more
06 Aug 1937: Baden Powell de Aquino, Brazilian guitarist and composer (died 2000) Baden Powell de Aquino, known professionally as Baden Powell, was a Brazilian virtuoso guitarist and composer. He combined classical techniques with popular harmony and swing. He performed in many styles, including bossa nova, samba, Brazilian jazz, Latin jazz and MPB. He performed on stage during most of his lifetime. Powell composed many pieces for guitar, some of them now considered guitar standards, such as Abração em Madrid, Braziliense, Canto de Ossanha, Casa Velha, Consolação, Horizon, Imagem, Lotus, Samba, Samba em Prelúdio, Samba Triste, Simplesmente, Tristeza e Solidão, and Samba da Benção. He released Os Afro-sambas, a watershed album in MPB, with Vinicius de Moraes in 1966. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Brazilian guitar players of all time. Read more
06 Aug 1937: Charlie Haden, American bassist and composer (died 2014) Charles Edward Haden was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than fifty years. Haden helped to revolutionize the harmonic concept of bass playing in jazz, evolving a style that sometimes complemented the soloist, and other times moved independently, liberating bassists from a strictly accompanying role. Read more
06 Aug 1937: Barbara Windsor, English actress (died 2020) Dame Barbara Windsor was an English actress. She was known for her roles in the Carry On films and for playing Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. She joined the cast of EastEnders in 1994 and won the 1999 British Soap Award for Best Actress, before leaving the show in 2016. Read more
06 Aug 1935: Fortunato Baldelli, Italian cardinal (died 2012) Fortunato Baldelli was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was appointed a cardinal in 2010 after a career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1966 to 2009 that included ten years as Apostolic Nuncio to France. He was also the Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary from 2009 to 2012. Read more
06 Aug 1935: Octavio Getino, Spanish-Argentinian director and screenwriter (died 2012) Octavio Getino was an Argentine film director and writer who is best known for co-founding, along with Fernando Solanas, the Grupo Cine Liberación and the school of Third Cinema. Read more
06 Aug 1934: Piers Anthony, English-American soldier and author Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob is an American author in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is best known for his long-running Xanth novel series, set in the fictional realm of Xanth. Read more
06 Aug 1934: Chris Bonington, English mountaineer and author Sir Christian John Storey Bonington, CVO, CBE, DL is a British mountaineer whose career has included nineteen expeditions to the Himalayas, including four to Mount Everest. Read more
06 Aug 1934: Billy Boston, Welsh rugby player and soldier Sir William John Boston is a Welsh former professional rugby league footballer who played as a winger or centre. Born and raised in Cardiff, Wales, Boston started his career as a rugby union player before joining Wigan in 1953. Regarded as one of the sport's greatest ever players, Boston scored 571 tries in his career, making him the second-highest try scorer in rugby league history. Read more
06 Aug 1933: A. G. Kripal Singh, Indian cricketer (died 1987) Amritsar Govindsingh Kripal Singh was an Indian Test cricketer. Read more
06 Aug 1932: Michael Deeley, English screenwriter and producer Michael Deeley is a British film producer. He is known for producing films such as The Italian Job (1969), The Deer Hunter (1978), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Blade Runner (1982). He is also a founding member and Honorary President of the British Screen Forum. Read more
06 Aug 1932: Howard Hodgkin, English painter (died 2017) Sir Gordon Howard Eliot Hodgkin was a British painter and printmaker. His work is most often associated with abstraction. Read more
06 Aug 1932: Charles Wood, English playwright and screenwriter (died 2020) Charles Gerald Wood was an English playwright and scriptwriter for radio, television, and film. Read more
06 Aug 1931: Chalmers Johnson, American scholar and author (died 2010) Chalmers Ashby Johnson was an American political scientist specializing in comparative politics, and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego. He served in the Korean War, was a consultant for the CIA from 1967 to 1973 and chaired the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley from 1967 to 1972. He was also president and co-founder with Steven Clemons of the Japan Policy Research Institute, an organization that promotes public education about Japan and Asia. Read more
06 Aug 1930: Abbey Lincoln, American singer-songwriter and actress (died 2010) Anna Marie Wooldridge, known professionally as Abbey Lincoln, was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. She was a civil rights activist beginning in the 1960s. Lincoln made a career out of delivering deeply felt presentations of standards, as well as writing and singing her own material. Read more
06 Aug 1929: Mike Elliott, Jamaican saxophonist Mike Elliott is a Jamaican-born British saxophonist. He played on ska recordings in the early 1960s and on pop and soul music hits in the late 1960s. He is best known as a co-founding member of the British band The Foundations, and played on their hit singles "Baby, Now That I've Found You" and "Build Me Up Buttercup". Read more
06 Aug 1929: Roch La Salle, Canadian politician, 42nd Canadian Minister of Public Works (died 2007) Roch La Salle was a Canadian politician from the province of Quebec. He represented the riding of Joliette in the House of Commons of Canada for 20 years. He was re-elected six times during his tenure. Read more
06 Aug 1928: Herb Moford, American baseball player (died 2005) Herbert Moford was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals (1955), Detroit Tigers (1958), Boston Red Sox (1959) and New York Mets (1962). He was born in Brooksville, Kentucky, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 175 pounds (79 kg). Read more
06 Aug 1928: Andy Warhol, American painter, photographer and film director (died 1987) Andy Warhol was an American artist and filmmaker. Widely regarded as the most important artist of the second half of the 20th century, Warhol's practice spanned various media, including painting, filmmaking, photography, publishing, and performance art. A leading figure in the Pop art movement, his work explores the relationship between advertising, consumerism, mass media, and celebrity culture. His embrace of mechanical reproduction challenged traditional boundaries between high and low culture. He is also credited with popularizing the expression "15 minutes of fame." Read more
06 Aug 1926: Elisabeth Beresford, English journalist and author (died 2010) Elisabeth Beresford MBE, also known as Liza Beresford, was an English author of children's books. She is best known for creating The Wombles. Born into a literary family, she worked as a journalist, but struggled for success until she created the Wombles in the late 1960s. Their recycling theme was noted especially and the Wombles became popular with children across the world. While Beresford wrote many other works, the Wombles remained her best-known. Read more
06 Aug 1926: Frank Finlay, English actor (died 2016) Francis Finlay was an English actor. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Iago in Othello (1965). His first leading television role came in 1971 in Casanova. This led to appearances on The Morecambe and Wise Show. Finlay starred alongside famous Italian actress Stefania Sandrelli in Tinto Brass' The Key, the most successful Italian film of the 1983–1984 season. He also appeared in the drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire. A four-time BAFTA nominee, Finlay won one for his television performances in 1974. Read more
06 Aug 1926: Clem Labine, American baseball player and manager (died 2007) Clement Walter Labine was an American right-handed relief pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) best known for his years with the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers from 1950 to 1960. Read more
06 Aug 1926: János Rózsás, Hungarian author (died 2012) János Rózsás was a Hungarian writer. Read more
06 Aug 1926: Norman Wexler, American screenwriter (died 1999) Norman Wexler was an American screenwriter. He was a two-time Academy Award nominee, Best Original Screenplay for Joe (1970) and Best Adapted Screenplay for Serpico (1973). Read more
06 Aug 1924: Samuel Bowers, American white supremacist, co-founded the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (died 2006) Samuel Holloway Bowers Jr. was an American white supremacist who co-founded the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and became its first Imperial Wizard. Previously, he was a Grand dragon of the Mississippi Original Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, appointed to his position by Imperial Wizard Roy Davis. Bowers was responsible for instigating and planning the 1964 murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner by members of his Klan chapter near Philadelphia, Mississippi, for which he served six years in federal prison; and the 1966 murder of Vernon Dahmer in Hattiesburg, for which he was sentenced to life in prison, 32 years after the crime. He also was accused of being involved in the 1967–1968 bombings of Jewish targets in the cities of Jackson and Meridian. He died in prison at the age of 82. Read more
06 Aug 1924: Ella Jenkins, American folk singer (died 2024) Ella Louise Jenkins was an American singer-songwriter and centenarian. Called the "First lady of children's music", she was a leading performer of folk and children's music. Her 1995 album Multicultural Children's Songs has long been the most popular Smithsonian Folkways release. She appeared on numerous children's television programs and in 2004, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. According to culture writer Mark Guarino, "across her 67-year career, Jenkins firmly established the genre of children's music as a serious endeavor – not just for artists to pursue but also for the recording industry to embrace and promote." Read more
06 Aug 1923: Jess Collins, American painter (died 2004) Jess Collins, known today simply as Jess, was an American visual artist. Read more
06 Aug 1923: Paul Hellyer, Canadian engineer and politician, 16th Canadian Minister of Defence (died 2021) Paul Theodore Hellyer was a Canadian engineer, politician, writer, and commentator. He was the longest serving member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada at the time of his death. Read more
06 Aug 1922: Freddie Laker, English businessman, founded Laker Airways (died 2006) Sir Frederick Alfred Laker was an English airline entrepreneur, best known for founding Laker Airways in 1966, which went bankrupt in 1982. Known as Freddie Laker, he was one of the first airline owners to adopt the "low cost / no-frills" airline business model that has since proven to be successful worldwide when employed by companies such as Ryanair, Southwest Airlines, easyJet, Norwegian Air, and AirAsia. Read more
06 Aug 1922: Dan Walker, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Illinois (died 2015) Daniel J. Walker was an American lawyer, businessman, and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 36th governor of Illinois, from 1973 until 1977. Read more
06 Aug 1920: John Graves, American author (died 2013) John Alexander Graves III was an American writer known for his book Goodbye to a River. Read more
06 Aug 1920: Ella Raines, American actress (died 1988) Ella Wallace Raines was an American film and television actress active from the early 1940s through the mid-1950s. Described as "sultry" and "mysterious", the green-eyed star appeared frequently in crime pictures and film noir, but also in drama, comedy, Westerns, thrillers, and romance. Read more
06 Aug 1919: Pauline Betz, American tennis player (died 2011) Pauline May Betz Addie was an American professional tennis player. She won five Grand Slam singles titles and was the runner-up on three other occasions. Jack Kramer called her the second best female tennis player he ever saw, behind Helen Wills Moody. Read more
06 Aug 1918: Norman Granz, American-Swiss record producer and manager (died 2001) Norman Granz was an American jazz record producer, concert promoter, and founder. He founded the record labels Clef, Norgran, Down Home, Verve, and Pablo and the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series. Granz was acknowledged as "the most successful impresario in the history of jazz". He was also a champion of racial equality, insisting, for example, on integrating audiences at concerts he promoted. Read more
06 Aug 1917: Barbara Cooney, American author and illustrator (died 2000) Barbara Cooney was an American writer and illustrator of 110 children's books, published for over sixty years. She received two Caldecott Medals for her work on Chanticleer and the Fox (1958) and Ox-Cart Man (1979), and a National Book Award for Miss Rumphius (1982). Her books have been translated into ten languages. Read more
06 Aug 1917: Robert Mitchum, American actor (died 1997) Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American actor and singer. He is known for his antihero roles and film noir appearances. He received nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984 and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1992. Mitchum is rated number 23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema. Read more
06 Aug 1916: Richard Hofstadter, American historian and academic (died 1970) Richard Hofstadter was an American historian and public intellectual. Hofstadter was the DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University. Rejecting his earlier historical materialist approach to history, in the 1950s he came closer to the concept of "consensus history", and was epitomized by some of his admirers as the "iconic historian of postwar liberal consensus." Others see in his work an early critique of the one-dimensional society, since he was equally critical of socialist and capitalist models of society, and bemoaned the "consensus" within the society as "bounded by the horizons of property and entrepreneurship", criticizing the "hegemonic liberal capitalist culture running throughout the course of American history". Read more
06 Aug 1916: Dom Mintoff, Maltese journalist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Malta (died 2012) Dominic Mintoff was a Maltese socialist politician, architect, and civil engineer who was leader of the Labour Party from 1949 to 1984, and was Prime Minister of Malta from 1955 to 1958, when Malta was still a British colony, and again, following independence, from 1971 to 1984. His tenure as Prime Minister saw the creation of a comprehensive welfare state, nationalisation of large corporations, a substantial increase in the general standard of living and the establishment of the Maltese republic, but was later on marred by a stagnant economy, a rise in authoritarianism and outbreaks of political violence. Read more
06 Aug 1914: Gordon Freeth, Australian lawyer and politician, 24th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (died 2001) Sir Gordon Freeth was an Australian politician and diplomat. He served in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1969, including as a minister in the Coalition governments from 1958 to 1969. He later served as Ambassador to Japan from 1970 to 1973 and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1977 to 1980. Read more
06 Aug 1912: Richard C. Miller, American photographer (died 2010) Richard Crump Miller was an American photographer best known for his vintage carbro prints, photos of celebrities, and work documenting the Hollywood Freeway. Read more
06 Aug 1911: Lucille Ball, American actress, television producer and businesswoman (died 1989) Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, actress, producer, and studio executive. She was recognized by Time in 2020 as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for her work in all four of these areas. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She earned many honors, including the Women in Film Crystal Award, an induction into the Television Hall of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the Governors Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Additionally, she posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H. W. Bush in 1989. Read more
06 Aug 1911: Norman Gordon, South African cricketer (died 2014) Norman Gordon was a South African cricketer who played in five Test matches during the 1938–39 South African cricket season. Read more
06 Aug 1911: Constance Heaven, English author and actress (died 1995) Constance Christina Aimee Heaven was a British writer of romance novels, under her maiden name, her married name and under the pseudonym Christina Merlin. In 1973, her novel The House Of Kuragin was the Winner of the Romantic Novel of the Year. Read more
06 Aug 1910: Adoniran Barbosa, Brazilian musician, singer, composer, humorist, and actor (died 1982) Adoniran Barbosa, artistic name of João Rubinato, was a noted Brazilian São Paulo style samba singer and composer. Read more
06 Aug 1910: Charles Crichton, English director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1999) Charles Ainslie Crichton was an English film director and editor. Read more
06 Aug 1909: Diana Keppel, Countess of Albemarle (died 2013) Dame Diana Cicely Keppel, Countess of Albemarle married Walter Egerton George Lucian Keppel, son of Arnold Allen Cecil Keppel, 8th Earl of Albemarle, as his second wife on 24 February 1931 at St Columba's Church, London. She became Countess of Albemarle from 12 April 1942 when her husband became the 9th Earl of Albemarle. Read more
06 Aug 1908: Maria Ludwika Bernhard, Polish classical archaeologist and a member of WWII Polish resistance (died 1998) Maria Ludwika Bernhard was a Polish classical archaeologist and a specialist in Greek Art. During the German Occupation of Poland in World War II, Bernhard was living in Warsaw and was active in the Polish Resistance Movement. After the war, Bernhard was a Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Warsaw. In 1957 she became the chair of the Department of Classical Archaeology at Jagiellonian University. She was also curator of the Ancient Art gallery at the National Museum in Warsaw from 1945 to 1962. Read more
06 Aug 1908: Helen Jacobs, American tennis player and commander (died 1997) Helen Hull Jacobs was an American tennis player who won nine Grand Slam titles. In 1936 she was ranked No. 1 in singles by A. Wallis Myers. Read more
06 Aug 1908: Lajos Vajda, Hungarian painter and illustrator (died 1941) Lajos Vajda was a Hungarian painter and graphic artist. From 1927 to 1930 he was a student of István Csók at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Read more
06 Aug 1906: Vic Dickenson, American trombonist (died 1984) Victor Dickenson was an American jazz trombonist. His career began in the 1920s and continued through musical partnerships with Count Basie (1940–41), Sidney Bechet (1941), and Earl Hines. Read more
06 Aug 1904: Jean Dessès, Greek-Egyptian fashion designer (died 1970) Jean Dessès was an Egyptian fashion designer, who was among the most prominent couturiers in Paris from the 1930s to 1960. Known for his lavishly draped gowns, he was one of the preferred designers among the international aristocracy and was one of the Big Four of 1950s haute couture, the others being Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain and Jacques Fath. Read more
06 Aug 1904: Henry Iba, American basketball player and coach (died 1993) Henry Payne “Hank” Iba was an American basketball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head basketball coach at Northwest Missouri State Teacher's College, now known as Northwest Missouri State University, from 1929 to 1933; the University of Colorado Boulder from 1933 to 1934; and the Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, known as Oklahoma A&M prior to 1957, from 1934 to 1970, compiling a career college basketball coaching record of 751–340. He led Oklahoma A&M to consecutive NCAA basketball tournament titles, in 1945 and 1946. Read more
06 Aug 1903: Virginia Foster Durr, American civil rights activist (died 1999) Virginia Foster Durr was an American civil rights activist and lobbyist. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1903 to Dr. Sterling Foster, an Alabama Presbyterian minister, and Ann Patterson Foster. At 22 she married lawyer Clifford Durr, with whom she had 5 children, one of whom died in infancy. Durr was a close friend of Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt, and was sister-in-law of Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, who sat on many crucial civil rights cases. Her circle of friends extended to Alger Hiss. She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 2006. Read more
06 Aug 1901: Dutch Schultz, American gangster (died 1935) Arthur Simon Flegenheimer, known as Dutch Schultz, was an American mobster based in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. He made his fortune in organized crime-related activities, including bootlegging and the numbers racket. Schultz's rackets were weakened by two tax evasion trials led by United States Attorney Thomas Dewey, and also threatened by fellow mobster Lucky Luciano. Read more
06 Aug 1900: Cecil Howard Green, English-American geophysicist and businessman, co-founded Texas Instruments (died 2003) Cecil Howard Green was a British-born American geophysicist, electrical engineer, and electronics manufacturing executive, who trained at the University of British Columbia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Read more
06 Aug 1895: Frank Nicklin, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Queensland (died 1978) Sir George Francis Reuben Nicklin, was an Australian politician. He was the Premier of Queensland from 1957 to 1968, the first non-Labor Party premier since 1932. Read more
06 Aug 1891: William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, English field marshal and politician, 13th Governor-General of Australia (died 1970) Field Marshal William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, usually known as Bill Slim, was a British military commander and the 13th governor-general of Australia from 1953 to 1960. Read more
06 Aug 1889: George Kenney, Canadian-American general (died 1977) George Churchill Kenney was a United States Army general during World War II. He is best known as the commander of the Allied Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), a position he held between August 1942 and 1945. Read more
06 Aug 1889: John Middleton Murry, English poet and author (died 1957) John Middleton Murry was an English writer. He was a prolific author, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime. A prominent critic, Murry is best remembered for his association with Katherine Mansfield, whom he married in 1918 as her second husband, for his friendship with D. H. Lawrence and T. S. Eliot, and for his friendship with Frieda Lawrence. Following Mansfield's death, Murry edited her work. Read more
06 Aug 1887: Dudley Benjafield, English racing driver (died 1957) Joseph Dudley "Benjy" Benjafield, MD was a British medical doctor and racing driver. Read more
06 Aug 1886: Edward Ballantine, American composer and academic (died 1971) Edward Ballantine, was an American composer and professor of music. Read more
06 Aug 1886: Florence Goodenough, American child psychologist (died 1959) Florence Laura Goodenough was an American psychologist and professor at the University of Minnesota who studied child intelligence and various problems in the field of child development. She was president of the Society for Research in Child Development from 1946 to 1947. She is best known for publishing the book Measurement Of Intelligence By Drawings, where she introduced the Goodenough Draw-A-Man test to assess intelligence in young children through nonverbal measurement. She is noted for developing the Minnesota Preschool Scale. In 1931, she published two books, titled Experimental Child Study and Anger in Young Children, which analyzed the methods used in evaluating children. She wrote the Handbook of Child Psychology in 1933, becoming the first known psychologist to critique ratio IQ. Read more
06 Aug 1883: Constance Georgina Adams, South African botanist (died 1968) Constance Georgina Adams, also known as Constance Georgina Tardrew, was a South African housewife and collector of botanical specimens. Known by the nicknames Connie and Daisy, Adams was born in Cape Town and spent her early childhood on a farm in Tulbagh before moving to Warrenton. She subsequently lived in Kimberley before getting married, settling in Johannesburg where she became active in the Housewives League of South Africa. Inspired by her parents' interest in botany, she became a successful collector for both the Albany Museum in Grahamstown and McGregor Museum in Kimberley. She also cultivated a friendship with the Director of the latter, Maria Wilman. She collected over 240 specimens, which were presented to the Albany Museum, McGregor Museum and the National Herbarium in Pretoria. Read more
06 Aug 1883: Scott Nearing, American economist and educator (died 1983) Scott Nearing was an American radical economist, educator, writer, political activist, pacifist, vegetarian and advocate of simple living. In 1915, he was dismissed from a teaching position at the Wharton School on account of his left-wing politics, becoming a cause célèbre of the American Left. His opposition to American entry into World War I led to his prosecution under the Espionage Act, for which he was found not guilty. After the war, he became a leading leftist intellectual associated with the Socialist Party of America, and later with the Communist Party USA. From the Great Depression until the end of his life, Nearing and his wife Helen lived a self-sufficient homesteading lifestyle. Together, they published Living the Good Life: How to Live Simply and Sanely in a Troubled World in 1954. Read more
06 Aug 1881: Leo Carrillo, American actor (died 1961) Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist.
He was notable for playing Pancho in the television series The Cisco Kid (1950–1956) and in several films. Read more
06 Aug 1881: Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, pharmacologist, and botanist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1955) Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish physician and microbiologist. He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases".
This was the first antibiotic substance discovered. His discovery in 1928 of what was later named benzylpenicillin from the mould Penicillium rubens has been described as the "single greatest victory ever achieved over disease". Read more
06 Aug 1881: Louella Parsons, American journalist (died 1972) Louella Rose Oettinger Parsons, was an American gossip columnist and screenwriter. At her peak, her columns were read by 20 million people in 700 newspapers worldwide. Read more
06 Aug 1880: Hans Moser, Austrian actor and singer (died 1964) Hans Moser was an Austrian actor who, during his long career, from the 1920s up to his death, mainly played in comedy films. He was particularly associated with the genre of the Wiener Film. Moser appeared in over 150 films. Read more
06 Aug 1877: Wallace H. White Jr., American lawyer and politician (died 1952) Wallace Humphrey White Jr. was an American politician and Republican leader in the United States Congress from 1917 until 1949. White was from the U.S. state of Maine and served in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he was Senate Minority Leader and later Majority Leader before his retirement. Read more
06 Aug 1874: Charles Fort, American author (died 1932) Charles Hoy Fort was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. The terms "Fortean" and "Forteana" are sometimes used to characterize various such phenomena. Fort's books sold well and are still in print. His work continues to inspire admirers, who refer to themselves as "Forteans", and has influenced some aspects of science fiction. Read more
06 Aug 1868: Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (died 1955) Paul Claudel was a French poet, dramatist and diplomat, and the younger brother of the sculptor Camille Claudel. He is most famous for his verse dramas, which often convey his devout Catholicism, and for institutionalizing his sister. Read more
06 Aug 1848: Susie Taylor, American writer and first black Army nurse (died 1912) Susie King Taylor was an American nurse, educator, and memoirist. Born into slavery in coastal Georgia, she is known for being the first African-American nurse during the American Civil War. Beyond her aptitude in nursing the wounded of the 1st South Carolina Colored Infantry Regiment, Taylor was the first Black woman to self-publish her memoirs. She was the author of Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S.C. Volunteers (1902). She was also an educator to formerly bonded Black people in the Reconstruction-era South when she opened various Freedmen's schools for them in and near the city of Savannah, Georgia. In her later years as a resident of Boston, Taylor became a main organizer of Corps 67 of the Massachusetts Woman's Relief Corps (1886). Read more
06 Aug 1846: Anna Haining Bates, Canadian-American giant (died 1888) Anna Haining Bates was a Canadian woman notable for her great stature of 7 feet 11 inches (2.41 m). She was one of the tallest women who ever lived. Her parents were of average height and were Scottish immigrants. Read more
06 Aug 1844: Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (died 1900) Alfred was sovereign Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 22 August 1893 until his death in 1900. He was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1866 until he succeeded his paternal uncle Ernest II as the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the German Empire. Read more
06 Aug 1844: James Henry Greathead, South African-English engineer (died 1896) James Henry Greathead was an English mechanical and civil engineer renowned for his work on the London Underground railways, Winchester Cathedral, and Liverpool overhead railway, as well as being one of the earliest proponents of the English Channel, Irish Sea and Bristol Channel tunnels. His invention is also the reason that the London Underground is colloquially named the "Tube". Read more
06 Aug 1835: Hjalmar Kiærskou, Danish botanist (died 1900) Hjalmar Frederik Christian Kiærskou, sometimes also stated as Hjalmar Kiaerskov, was a Danish botanist. Read more
06 Aug 1826: Thomas Alexander Browne, English-Australian author (died 1915) Thomas Alexander Browne was a British-born Australian police magistrate and author. He published many of his works under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood. He is best known for his 1882 bushranging novel Robbery Under Arms. He served as the goldfields commissioner in New South Wales. In his capacity as police magistrate and warden of goldfields, he was entrusted with the administration of justice at Gulgong, Dubbo, Armidale, and Albury. He acted as police magistrate during the period between 1870 and 1895. Read more
06 Aug 1809: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English poet (died 1892) Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson was an English poet. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems, Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Some critics described Tennyson as overly sentimental. However, his poems proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Read more

Notable Deaths on 06 August

06 Aug 2024: Billy Bean, American baseball player (born 1964) William Daro Bean was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers (1987–1989), the Los Angeles Dodgers (1989), and the San Diego Padres (1993–1995). He also played for the Kintetsu Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in 1992. Read more
06 Aug 2024: Connie Chiume, South African actress and filmmaker (born 1952) Connie Temweka Gabisile Chiume was a South African actress and filmmaker. She was known for her film roles in Black Panther, Black Is King and Blessers. On television, she appeared in S'gudi S'nyasi, Yizo Yizo 2, Zone 14, Rhythm City and Gomora. Read more
06 Aug 2024: James Bjorken, American theoretical physicist (born 1934) James Daniel "BJ" Bjorken was an American theoretical physicist. He was a Putnam Fellow in 1954, received a BS in physics from MIT in 1956, and obtained his PhD from Stanford University in 1959. Bjorken was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in the fall of 1962. He was also emeritus professor in the SLAC Theory Group at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and was a member of the Theory Department of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (1979–1989). Read more
06 Aug 2020: Vern Rumsey, American bass guitarist (born 1973) Vernon Emmry Aldo Rumsey was an American musician. He is best known for his work as the bassist of the post-hardcore band Unwound, in which he was a co-founding member. He was also in the bands Long Hind Legs, Oslo, Fitz of Depression, and Witchypoo, and was playing in the band Flora v. Fauna. Read more
06 Aug 2018: Joël Robuchon, French Chef (born 1945) Joël Robuchon was a French chef and restaurateur. He was named "Chef of the Century" by the guide Gault Millau in 1989, and awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France in cuisine in 1976. He published several cookbooks, two of which have been translated into English, chaired the committee for the Larousse Gastronomique, and hosted culinary television shows in France. He operated more than a dozen restaurants across Bangkok, Bordeaux, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, London, Macau, Madrid, Monaco, Montreal, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, and New York City. His restaurants have been acclaimed, and he held 31 Michelin Guide stars among them by the time of his death in 2018, the most any restaurateur has ever held. He is considered to be one of the greatest chefs of all time. Read more
06 Aug 2018: Margaret Heckler, American politician (born 1931) Margaret Mary Heckler was an American politician and diplomat who represented Massachusetts's 10th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1967 until 1983. A member of the Republican Party, she also served as the 15th United States secretary of health and human services from 1983 to 1985, as well as United States ambassador to Ireland from 1986 to 1989. Read more
06 Aug 2018: Anya Krugovoy Silver, American poet (born 1968) Anya Krugovoy Silver was an American poet. She won a Guggenheim fellowship, and a Georgia Author of the Year Award. Read more
06 Aug 2017: Betty Cuthbert, Australian sprinter (born 1938) Elizabeth Alyse Cuthbert, was an Australian athlete and a four-time Olympic champion. She was nicknamed Australia's "Golden Girl". During her career, she set world records for 60 metres, 100 yards, 200 metres, 220 yards and 440 yards. Cuthbert also contributed to Australian relay teams completing a win in the 4 × 100 metres, 4 × 110 yards, 4 × 200 metres and 4 × 220 yards. Cuthbert had a distinctive running style, with a high knee lift and mouth wide open. She was named in 1998 an Australian National Treasure and was inducted as a Legend in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame in 2000. Read more
06 Aug 2017: Darren Daulton, American baseball player (born 1962) Darren Arthur Daulton, nicknamed "Dutch", was an American professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies and Florida Marlins (1997). While with the Phillies, Daulton was a three-time MLB All-Star and won the 1992 Silver Slugger Award. He won the 1997 World Series with the Marlins. Read more
06 Aug 2015: Ray Hill, American football player (born 1975) Raymond Millous Hill was a college and professional American football player. He was a defensive back at Michigan State, and played four seasons in the National Football League (NFL), splitting three seasons between the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills. He was signed by the New England Patriots as a free agent in 2001, and was part of their Super Bowl XXXVI championship season. He suffered a leg injury during the 2001 preseason, and was placed on injured reserve for the entire season. His younger brother Renaldo Hill, also played in the NFL. Read more
06 Aug 2015: Orna Porat, German-Israeli actress (born 1924) Orna Porat was a German-born Israeli theater actress. Read more
06 Aug 2014: Ralph Bryans, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (born 1941) Ralph Bryans was a Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from Northern Ireland. Bryans was Ireland's only Grand Prix world champion, winning the 50 cc title in 1965. Read more
06 Aug 2014: Ananda W.P. Guruge, Sri Lankan scholar and diplomat (born 1928) Ananda Wahihana Palliya Guruge, known as Ananda W. P. Guruge, was a Sri Lankan diplomat, Buddhist scholar and writer. Guruge was the former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Sri Lanka to UNESCO, France, and United States from 1985 to 1994. Guruge was adjunct professor of Religious Studies at Cal State Fullerton and was the dean of academic affairs at University of the West. Read more
06 Aug 2014: John Woodland Hastings, American biochemist and academic (born 1927) John Woodland "Woody" Hastings, was a leader in the field of photobiology, especially bioluminescence, and was one of the founders of the field of circadian biology. He was the Paul C. Mangelsdorf Professor of Natural Sciences and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. He published over 400 papers and co-edited three books. Read more
06 Aug 2013: Stan Lynde, American author and illustrator (born 1931) Myron Stanford Lynde was an American comic strip artist, painter and novelist. Read more
06 Aug 2013: Mava Lee Thomas, American baseball player (born 1929) Mava Lee Thomas [′′Tommie′′] was an infielder and catcher who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). She was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. Read more
06 Aug 2013: Jerry Wolman, American businessman (born 1927) Jerry Wolman was an American developer in Washington, D.C. and owned the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League in the 1960s. Read more
06 Aug 2012: Richard Cragun, American-Brazilian ballet dancer and choreographer (born 1944) Richard Cragun was an American ballet dancer, teacher and ballet director who performed with the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany from 1965 to 1996. Read more
06 Aug 2012: Marvin Hamlisch, American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1944) Marvin Frederick Hamlisch was an American composer and conductor. He is one of a handful of people to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards, a feat dubbed the "EGOT". He and composer Richard Rodgers are the only people to have won those prizes and a Pulitzer Prize ("PEGOT"). Read more
06 Aug 2012: Robert Hughes, Australian-American author and critic (born 1938) Robert Studley Forrest Hughes was an Australian art critic, writer and producer of television documentaries. He was described in 1997 by Robert Boynton of The New York Times as "the most famous art critic in the world". Read more
06 Aug 2012: Bernard Lovell, English physicist and astronomer (born 1913) Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell was an English physicist and radio astronomer. He was the first director of Jodrell Bank Observatory, from 1945 to 1980. Read more
06 Aug 2012: Mark O'Donnell, American playwright (born 1954) Mark O'Donnell was an American writer and humorist. Read more
06 Aug 2012: Ruggiero Ricci, American violinist and educator (born 1918) Ruggiero Ricci was an American violinist known for performances and recordings of the works of Paganini. Read more
06 Aug 2012: Dan Roundfield, American basketball player (born 1953) Danny Thomas Roundfield was an American professional basketball player. The 6'8" power forward/center graduated from Detroit's Chadsey Senior High School in 1971. On the collegiate scene, Roundfield was twice selected to the All-Mid-American Conference Team for Central Michigan University; he was also the 1975 MAC Player of the Year. Read more
06 Aug 2011: Fe del Mundo, Filipino pediatrician and educator (born 1911) Fe Villanueva del Mundo was a Filipino pediatrician. She founded the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines and helped shape the country's modern child healthcare system. Her pioneering work in pediatrics in the Philippines spanned eight decades. Read more
06 Aug 2009: Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer and author (born 1909) Riccardo Cassin was an Italian mountaineer, developer of mountaineering equipment and author, and an important figure in the history of rock climbing, alpine climbing and big wall climbing. Read more
06 Aug 2009: Willy DeVille, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1950) Willy DeVille was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974–1986) and later on his own, DeVille created songs rooted in traditional American musical styles. He worked with collaborators from across the spectrum of contemporary music, including Jack Nitzsche, Doc Pomus, Dr. John, Mark Knopfler, Allen Toussaint, and Eddie Bo. Latin rhythms, blues riffs, doo-wop, Cajun music, strains of French cabaret, and echoes of early-1960s uptown soul can be heard in DeVille's work. Read more
06 Aug 2009: John Hughes, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1950) John Wilden Hughes Jr. was an American filmmaker. He is best known for writing, directing, and producing the films Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), Weird Science (1985), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), and Uncle Buck (1989), in addition to writing the films Pretty in Pink (1986), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), Home Alone (1990), 101 Dalmatians (1996), and Flubber (1997). Read more
06 Aug 2008: Angelos Kitsos, Greek lawyer and author (born 1934) Angelos Kitsos was the president of Rizarios Foundation .He was a Greek from Monodendri, Zagori. He was member of the Councils of the Foundation for the Restoration of Greeks from Albania and the Foundation of Research of the Ionian and Adriatic space. He was a towering figure for Zagori and the rest of Epirus and Western Greece. Kitsos was a lawyer, but he also worked on script-writing for a number of documentaries, and wrote a number of books. Read more
06 Aug 2007: Zsolt Daczi, Hungarian guitarist (born 1969) Zsolt Daczi was a Hungarian guitarist. He was born in Kiskunhalas, Hungary. Read more
06 Aug 2005: Robin Cook, Scottish educator and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (born 1946) Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001, when he was replaced by Jack Straw. He then served as Leader of the House of Commons from 2001 until 2003. Read more
06 Aug 2005: Creme Puff, tabby domestic cat, oldest recorded cat (born 1967) Creme Puff was a mixed tabby domestic cat, owned by Jake Perry of Austin, Texas. She was the oldest cat ever recorded, according to the 2010 edition of Guinness World Records, when she died at the age of 38 years and 3 days. Read more
06 Aug 2004: Rick James, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1948) James Ambrose Johnson Jr., better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Read more
06 Aug 2004: Donald Justice, American poet and academic (born 1925) Donald Rodney Justice was an American poet and teacher of creative writing who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1980. Read more
06 Aug 2003: Julius Baker, American flute player and educator (born 1915) Julius Baker was one of the foremost American orchestral flute players and educators. During the course of five decades he concertized with several of America's premier orchestral ensembles including the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, he was a faculty member at several premier conservatories of music including; The Juilliard School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music and Carnegie Mellon University. Read more
06 Aug 2002: Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch physicist, computer scientist, and academic (born 1930) Edsger Wybe Dijkstra was a Dutch computer scientist, programmer, mathematician, and science essayist. Read more
06 Aug 2001: Jorge Amado, Brazilian novelist and poet (born 1912) Jorge Leal Amado de Faria, known as Jorge Amado, was a Brazilian writer of the modernist school. He remains the best-known of modern Brazilian writers, with his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in film, including Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands in 1976, and having been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature at least seven times. His work reflects the image of a Mestiço Brazil and is marked by religious syncretism. He depicted a cheerful and optimistic country that was beset, at the same time, with deep social and economic differences. Read more
06 Aug 2001: Adhar Kumar Chatterji, Indian Naval officer (born 1914) Admiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji was an Admiral in the Indian Navy. He served as the 5th Chief of the Naval Staff, from 4 March 1966, until 28 February 1970. He was the first Indian officer of the navy to hold the rank of full Admiral. He is credited with the transformation of the Indian Navy. He made sweeping changes and restructured the navy, creating the Western and Eastern Naval Commands and the Western Fleet. Under him, the Indian Navy also entered the submarine age, with the commissioning of INS Kalvari (S23) in 1967. Read more
06 Aug 2001: Wilhelm Mohnke, German general (born 1911) Wilhelm Mohnke was a German brigadier general who was one of the original members of the Schutzstaffel SS-Stabswache Berlin formed in March 1933. Mohnke, who had joined the Nazi Party in September 1931, rose through the ranks to become one of Adolf Hitler's last remaining general officers at the end of World War II in Europe. Read more
06 Aug 2001: Shan Ratnam, Sri Lankan physician and academic (born 1928) Emeritus Professor Sittampalam Shanmugaratnam, also known as Shan Ratnam, was a Singaporean obstetrician and gynaecologist. Read more
06 Aug 2001: Dorothy Tutin, English actress (born 1930) Dame Dorothy Tutin was an English actress of stage, film and television. For her work in the theatre, she won two Olivier Awards and two Evening Standard Awards for Best Actress. She was made a CBE in 1967 and a Dame (DBE) in 2000. Read more
06 Aug 1998: André Weil, French-American mathematician and academic (born 1906) André Weil was a French mathematician, known for his foundational work in number theory and algebraic geometry. He was one of the most influential mathematicians of the twentieth century. His influence is due both to his original contributions to a remarkably broad spectrum of mathematical theories, and to the mark he left on mathematical practice and style, through some of his own works as well as through the Bourbaki group, of which he was one of the principal founders. Read more
06 Aug 1997: Shin Ki-ha, South Korean lawyer and politician (born 1941) Shin Ki-ha, was a South Korean politician. A four-term lawmaker, he was a former parliamentary leader of the South Korean political party National Congress for New Politics. Read more
06 Aug 1994: Domenico Modugno, Italian singer-songwriter and politician (born 1928) Domenico Modugno was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel blu dipinto di blu", for which he received the first Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. He is considered the first Italian cantautore. Read more
06 Aug 1993: Tex Hughson, American baseball player (born 1916) Cecil Carlton Hughson was an American Major League Baseball starting pitcher who played his entire career in the American League with the Boston Red Sox. He batted and threw right-handed. Read more
06 Aug 1992: Leszek Błażyński, Polish boxer (born 1949) Leszek Błażyński was a Polish boxer who twice won the bronze medal in the men's flyweight division at the Summer Olympics. He first did so in 1972, when Munich hosted the Games. Four years later in Montreal, he once again captured the bronze after a loss in the semifinals against eventual winner Leo Randolph of the United States. Read more
06 Aug 1991: Shapour Bakhtiar, Iranian soldier and politician, 74th Prime Minister of Iran (born 1915) Shapour Bakhtiar was an Iranian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Iran under the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1991, he and his secretary were murdered in his home in Suresnes, France, by agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Read more
06 Aug 1991: Roland Michener, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Governor General of Canada (born 1900) Daniel Roland Michener was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as the 20th governor general of Canada from 1967 to 1974. Read more
06 Aug 1991: Harry Reasoner, American journalist, co-created 60 Minutes (born 1923) Harry Reasoner was an American journalist for CBS and ABC News. He is known for his adroit use of language as a television commentator and as one of the original hosts of the news magazine 60 Minutes. Read more
06 Aug 1990: Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist and politician (born 1912) Jacques Soustelle was an important and early figure of the Free French Forces, a politician who served in the French National Assembly and at one time served as Governor General of Algeria, an anthropologist specializing in Pre-Columbian civilizations, and vice-director of the Musée de l'Homme in Paris in 1939. Soustelle and his followers opposed any compromise with anticolonial activists in Algeria in the Algerian War. Read more
06 Aug 1987: Ira C. Eaker, American general (born 1896) Lieutenant general Ira Clarence Eaker was a general of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Eaker, as second-in-command of the prospective Eighth Air Force, was sent to England to form and organize its bomber command. While he struggled to build up airpower in England, the organization of the Army Air Forces evolved and he was named commander of the Eighth Air Force on December 1, 1942. Read more
06 Aug 1986: Emilio Fernández, Mexican actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1904) Emilio Fernández Romo, nicknamed "El Indio", was a Mexican film director, screenwriter, and actor. He was one of the most prolific and acclaimed film directors of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and '50s. His film María Candelaria (1944) won the Palme d'Or at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival, the first Mexican film to receive the honor. As an actor, he worked in numerous film productions in both Mexico and in Hollywood. Read more
06 Aug 1985: Forbes Burnham, Guyanese politician, 2nd President of Guyana (born 1923) Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Premier of British Guiana from 1964 to 1966, Prime Minister of Guyana from 1964 to 1980 and then as the first executive president of Guyana from 1980 to 1985. He is often regarded as a strongman who embraced his own version of socialism. Read more
06 Aug 1983: Klaus Nomi, German singer-songwriter and actor (born 1944) Klaus Sperber, known professionally as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor and baritone noted for his wide vocal range and an unusual, otherworldly stage persona. Read more
06 Aug 1979: Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911) Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen was a German biochemist. In 1964, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Konrad Bloch for their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism while he was director of the Max-Planck Institute for Cellular Chemistry in Munich. Read more
06 Aug 1978: Pope Paul VI (born 1897) Pope Paul VI was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXIII, he continued the Second Vatican Council, which he closed in 1965, implementing its numerous reforms. He fostered improved ecumenical relations with Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches, which resulted in many historic meetings and agreements. Read more
06 Aug 1978: Edward Durell Stone, American architect, designed Radio City Music Hall and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (born 1902) Edward Durell Stone was an American architect known for the formal, highly decorative buildings he designed in the 1950s and 1960s. His works include the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City; the Parliament House of Pakistan in Islamabad; the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Ponce, Puerto Rico; the United States Embassy in New Delhi, India; The Keller Center at the University of Chicago; the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., the EcoTarium, formerly known as the New England Science Center in Worcester, Massachusetts; and the campus of Windham College in Putney, Vermont. Read more
06 Aug 1976: Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian-American cellist and educator (born 1903) Gregor Piatigorsky was a Ukrainian-born Russian and American cellist. Read more
06 Aug 1973: Fulgencio Batista, Cuban colonel and politician, 9th President of Cuba (born 1901) Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was a Cuban military officer, political leader, and dictator who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power in the 1930s until his overthrow in the Cuban Revolution in 1959. He served as president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944, and again from 1952 to his 1959 resignation. Read more
06 Aug 1970: Nikos Tsiforos, Greek director and screenwriter (born 1912) Nikos Tsiforos was a Greek humorist, screenwriter, and film director. He had more than 60 film scripts to his credit between 1948 and 1970. He further directed 17 films between 1948 and 1961. Read more
06 Aug 1969: Theodor W. Adorno, German sociologist and philosopher (born 1903) Theodor W. Adorno was a German philosopher, cultural, and music critic. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has come to be associated with thinkers such as Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Max Horkheimer, Erich Fromm, and Herbert Marcuse, for whom the works of Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and G. W. F. Hegel were essential to a critique of modern society. As a critic of both fascism and what he called the culture industry, he authored numerous works—such as Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947), Minima Moralia (1951), and Negative Dialectics (1966)—that strongly influenced the European New Left. Read more
06 Aug 1968: Ye Gongchuo, Chinese politician, poet, and calligrapher (born 1881) Ye Gongchuo was a Chinese politician, calligrapher, poet, and art patron. Born in Panyu County, Guangdong, to the family of a Qing dynasty official, Ye passed the imperial examination and joined the Ministry of Posts and Communications. He rose through the ministry rapidly, then allied himself with Sun Yat-sen's anti-Qing movement in the 1911 Revolution. During the first decades of the Republic of China, Ye occupied several ministerial positions as a member of the Communications Clique, at times working with the Beiyang government and other times siding with the Kuomintang. Read more
06 Aug 1964: Cedric Hardwicke, English actor and director (born 1893) Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned over 50 years. His theatre work included notable performances in productions of the plays of Shakespeare and Shaw, and his film work included leading roles in several adapted literary classics. Read more
06 Aug 1959: Preston Sturges, American director, screenwriter, and playwright (born 1898) Preston Sturges was an American playwright, inventor, screenwriter, and film director. Read more
06 Aug 1952: Betty Allan, Australian statistician and biometrician (born 1905) Frances Elizabeth Allan was an Australian statistician. She was known as the first statistician at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), as "the effective founder of the CSIRO Division of Mathematics and Statistics", and for her advocacy of biometrics. Read more
06 Aug 1946: Tony Lazzeri, American baseball player and coach (born 1903) Anthony Michael Lazzeri was an American professional baseball second baseman during the 1920s and 1930s, predominantly with the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He was part of the famed "Murderers' Row" Yankee batting lineup of the late 1920s, along with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Bob Meusel. Read more
06 Aug 1945: Richard Bong, American soldier and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1920) Richard Ira "Dick" Bong was a United States Army Air Forces officer and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II. He was one of the most decorated American fighter pilots and the country's top flying ace in the war, credited with shooting down 40 Japanese aircraft, all with the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. He died in California while testing a Lockheed P-80 jet fighter shortly before the war ended. Bong was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1986 and has several commemorative monuments named in his honor around the world, including an airport, two bridges, a theater, a veterans historical center, a recreation area, a neighborhood terrace, and several avenues and streets, including the street leading to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Read more
06 Aug 1945: Hiram Johnson, American lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of California (born 1866) Hiram Warren Johnson was an American attorney and politician who served as the 23rd governor of California from 1911 to 1917 and represented California in the U.S. Senate for five terms from 1917 to 1945. Johnson achieved national prominence in the early 20th century as a leading progressive and ran for vice president on Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive ticket in the 1912 presidential election. As a U.S. senator, Johnson voted for American entry into World War I and was later a critic of the foreign policy of both Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Johnson was the only governor of his state from 1856 until 1943 to serve more than one term. Read more
06 Aug 1931: Bix Beiderbecke, American cornet player, pianist, and composer (born 1903) Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical approach and purity of tone, with such clarity of sound that one contemporary famously described it like "shooting bullets at a bell”. Read more
06 Aug 1925: Surendranath Banerjee, Indian academic and politician (born 1848) Sir Surendranath Banerjee, often known as Rashtraguru, was an Indian nationalist leader during the British Raj. He founded the Indian National Association to bring Hindus and Muslims together for political action. He was also one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress. Unlike Congress, however, Surendranath supported Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, and with many liberal leaders he left Congress and founded a new organisation, Indian National Liberation Federation, in 1919. Read more
06 Aug 1925: Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, Italian mathematician (born 1853) Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro was an Italian mathematician. He is most famous as the discoverer of tensor calculus. Read more
06 Aug 1920: Stefan Bastyr, Polish pilot and author (born 1890) Stefan Bastyr was a Polish aviator and military pilot, one of the pioneers of the Polish aviation. He is credited with the first military flight in the history of the Polish Air Force on 5 November 1918, almost a week before Poland officially regained her independence, at the opening stages of the Polish-Ukrainian War. Read more
06 Aug 1915: Jennie de la Montagnie Lozier, American physician (born 1841) Jeanne de la Montagnie Lozier was an American physician and educator from New York City. She worked as an instructor of languages and literature in Hillsdale College from the age of nineteen, and after earning her medical degree from New York Medical College, became a professor of physiology. She was a delegate to the International Homoeopathic Congress in Paris in 1889 and was president of Sorosis Club from 1891 to 1894. Read more
06 Aug 1906: George Waterhouse, English-New Zealand politician, 7th Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1824) George Marsden Waterhouse was a Premier of South Australia from 8 October 1861 until 3 July 1863 and the seventh premier of New Zealand from 11 October 1872 to 3 March 1873. Read more
06 Aug 1904: Eduard Hanslick, Austrian author and critic (born 1825) Eduard Hanslick was an Austrian music critic, aesthetician and historian. Among the leading critics of his time, he was the chief music critic of the Neue Freie Presse from 1864 until the end of his life. His best known work, the 1854 treatise Vom Musikalisch-Schönen, was a landmark in the aesthetics of music and outlines much of his artistic and philosophical beliefs on music. Read more
06 Aug 1893: Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Swiss lawyer and politician (born 1811) Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1864–1872). Read more
06 Aug 1881: James Springer White, American religious leader, co-founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church (born 1821) James Springer White, also known as Elder White, was a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the husband of Ellen G. White. In 1849, he started the first Sabbatarian Adventist periodical entitled The Present Truth, in 1855 he relocated the fledgling center of the movement to Battle Creek, Michigan, and in 1863 played a pivotal role in the formal organization of the denomination. He later played a major role in the development of the Adventist educational structure beginning in 1874 with the formation of Battle Creek College. Read more
06 Aug 1866: John Mason Neale, English priest, scholar, and hymnwriter (born 1818) John Mason Neale was an English Anglican priest, scholar, and hymnwriter. He worked on and wrote a wide range of holy Christian texts, including obscure medieval hymns, both Western and Eastern. Among his most famous hymns is the 1853 Good King Wenceslas, set on St. Stephen's day, known as Boxing Day in the UK. An Anglo-Catholic, Neale's works have found positive reception in high-church Anglicanism and Western Rite Orthodoxy. Read more
06 Aug 1850: Edward Walsh, Irish poet (born 1805) Edward Walsh was an Irish poet, the son of a sergeant in the Cork militia, and was born in Derry City, where his father's regiment had been sent for training. His parents were natives in the village of Millstreet, County Cork, near which his father at one time possessed a small holding. Read more
06 Aug 1828: Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and diplomat (born 1785) Konstantin von Benckendorff was a Russian general and diplomat of Baltic German descent. Read more
06 Aug 1815: James A. Bayard, American lawyer and politician (born 1767) James Asheton Bayard Sr. was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Delaware. He was a member of the Federalist Party, who served as U.S. Representative from Delaware and U.S. Senator from Delaware. Read more

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