History of Today 08 August: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 08 August. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 08 August. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 08 August 2026, 01:03 AM

Important Events on 08 August in History

08 Aug 2024: Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus takes oath as Chief Adviser to form an interim government in Bangladesh. Read more
08 Aug 2023: Hawaii wildfires: Seventeen thousand acres of land are burned and at least 101 people are killed, with two others missing, when a series of wildfires break out on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Read more
08 Aug 2022: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executes a search warrant at former president Donald Trump's residence in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida. Read more
08 Aug 2019: An explosion at the State Central Navy Testing Range in Nyonoksa, Russia, kills five people. Read more
08 Aug 2016: Terrorists attack a government hospital in Quetta, Pakistan with a suicide blast and shooting, killing between 70 and 94 people, and injuring around 130 others. Read more
08 Aug 2015: Eight people are killed in a shooting in Harris County, Texas. Read more
08 Aug 2013: A suicide bombing at a funeral in the Pakistani city of Quetta kills at least 31 people. Read more
08 Aug 2010: China Floods: A mudslide in Zhugqu County, Gansu, China, kills more than 1,400 people. Read more
08 Aug 2009: A Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil and Piper PA-32R collide over the Hudson River, killing nine people. Read more
08 Aug 2008: A EuroCity express train en route from Kraków, Poland to Prague, Czech Republic strikes a part of a motorway bridge that had fallen onto the railroad track near Studénka railway station in the Czech Republic and derails, killing eight people and injuring 64 others. Read more
08 Aug 2008: The 29th modern summer Olympic Games took place in Beijing, China until August 24. Read more
08 Aug 2007: An EF2 tornado touches down in Kings County and Richmond County, New York, the most powerful tornado in New York to date and the first in Brooklyn since 1889. Read more
08 Aug 2007: Space Shuttle program: STS-118 Mission: Endeavour takes off on a mission to the International Space Station. Read more
08 Aug 2004: A tour bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band dumps approximately 800 pounds of human waste onto a boat full of passengers. Read more
08 Aug 2001: Albanian rebels ambush a convoy of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia near Tetovo, killing 10 soldiers. Read more
08 Aug 2000: Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence. Read more
08 Aug 1998: Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan is raided by Taliban leading to the deaths of ten Iranian diplomats and a journalist. Read more
08 Aug 1993: The 7.8 Mw Guam earthquake shakes the island with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing around $250 million in damage and injuring up to 71 people. Read more
08 Aug 1991: The Warsaw radio mast, then the tallest construction ever built, collapses. Read more
08 Aug 1990: Iraq occupies Kuwait and the state is annexed to Iraq. This would lead to the Gulf War shortly afterward. Read more
08 Aug 1989: Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission. Read more
08 Aug 1988: The 8888 Uprising begins in Rangoon (Yangon), Burma (Myanmar). Led by students, hundreds of thousands join in nationwide protests against the one-party regime. On September 18, the demonstrations end in a military crackdown, killing thousands. Read more
08 Aug 1988: The first night baseball game in the history of Chicago's Wrigley Field (game was rained out in the fourth inning). Read more
08 Aug 1974: President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day. Read more
08 Aug 1973: Kim Dae-jung, a South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is kidnapped. Read more
08 Aug 1969: At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan takes the iconic photo that becomes the cover image of the Beatles' album Abbey Road. Read more
08 Aug 1967: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Read more
08 Aug 1963: Great Train Robbery: In England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal £2.6 million in bank notes. Read more
08 Aug 1963: The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the current ruling party of Zimbabwe, is formed by a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union. Read more
08 Aug 1956: Marcinelle mining disaster in Belgium. 262 coal miners, including a substantial number of Italian migrant workers, were killed in one of the largest mining accidents in Belgian history. Read more
08 Aug 1946: First flight of the nuclear capable Convair B-36, heaviest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft at the time. Read more
08 Aug 1945: The London Charter is signed by France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States, establishing the laws and procedures for the Nuremberg trials. Read more
08 Aug 1945: World War II: The Soviet Union declares war on Japan. Read more
08 Aug 1942: Quit India Movement is launched in India against the British rule in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for swaraj or complete independence. Read more
08 Aug 1940: The "Aufbau Ost" directive for the mobilization of German forces for the invasion of the Soviet Union is signed by Wilhelm Keitel. Read more
08 Aug 1929: The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight. Read more
08 Aug 1919: The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 is signed. It establishes peaceful relations between Afghanistan and the UK, and confirms the Durand line as the mutual border. In return, the UK is no longer obligated to subsidize the Afghan government. Read more
08 Aug 1918: World War I: The Battle of Amiens begins a string of almost continuous Allied victories with a push through the German front lines (Hundred Days Offensive). Read more
08 Aug 1908: Wilbur Wright makes the Wright Brothers' first public flight, at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. Read more
08 Aug 1903: Black Saturday occurs, killing 12 in a stadium collapse in Philadelphia. Read more
08 Aug 1897: Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo assassinates Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo Read more
08 Aug 1876: Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph. Read more
08 Aug 1870: The Republic of Ploiești, a failed Radical-Liberal rising against Domnitor Carol of Romania. Read more
08 Aug 1863: American Civil War: Following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (which is refused upon receipt). Read more
08 Aug 1863: Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson frees his personal slaves in Greeneville, Tennessee despite them being exempt from the Emancipation Proclamation, now commemorated as Emancipation Day in the state. Read more
08 Aug 1844: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed by Brigham Young, is reaffirmed as the leading body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Read more
08 Aug 1831: Four hundred Shawnee people agree to relinquish their lands in Ohio in exchange for land west of the Mississippi River in the Treaty of Wapakoneta. Read more

Famous Births on 08 August

08 Aug 2005: Alysa Liu, American figure skater Alysa Liu is an American figure skater. She is the 2026 Olympic champion in both the women's singles and team events, the 2025 World champion, the 2022 World bronze medalist, the 2025–26 Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time Grand Prix medalist, a four-time Challenger Series champion, and a two-time U.S. national champion. Read more
08 Aug 2000: Félix Auger-Aliassime, Canadian tennis player Félix Auger-Aliassime, sometimes referred to as FAA, is a Canadian professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 4 in singles achieved on 8 June 2026, and has been ranked No. 60 in doubles achieved in November 2021 by the ATP. Auger-Aliassime has won nine ATP Tour titles in singles and one in doubles. He was also part of the victorious Canadian team at the 2022 ATP Cup and the 2022 Davis Cup, and won a bronze medal in mixed doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics with Gabriela Dabrowski. He is the current No. 1 singles player from Canada. Read more
08 Aug 1999: Xiaojun, Chinese singer Xiao Dejun, known mononymously as Xiaojun, is a Chinese singer based in South Korea. He is a member of the South Korean boy group NCT and its sub-unit WayV. Read more
08 Aug 1998: Ryan Garcia, American boxer Ryan Garcia is an American professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight title since 2026. He previously held the WBC interim lightweight title in 2021. Read more
08 Aug 1998: Shawn Mendes, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist Shawn Peter Raul Mendes is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and musician. He gained a following in 2013 when he posted song covers on the video-sharing platform Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gertler and Island Records A&R Ziggy Chareton, which led to his signing a deal with the record label. Mendes's self-titled debut EP was released in 2014, followed by his debut studio album Handwritten in 2015. Handwritten debuted atop the US Billboard 200, making Mendes one of five artists ever to debut at number one before the age of 18. The single "Stitches" reached number one in the UK and the top 10 in the US and Canada. Read more
08 Aug 1997: Karim Walid, Egyptian footballer Karim Walid Sayed Saleh Hassan commonly known as Nedvěd is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Al Ahly and the Egypt U-20. He is a product of Al Ahly youth academy. He got his nickname in the youth team as his position and looks were similar to the Czech legend Pavel Nedvěd. Read more
08 Aug 1997: Panipak Wongpattanakit, Thai taekwondo athlete Panipak Wongpattanakit is a retired Thai taekwondo athlete. A two-time Olympic champion, she is currently the top-ranked athlete in the women's 49 kg. Read more
08 Aug 1996: A'ja Wilson, American basketball player A'ja Riyadh Wilson is an American professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Wilson is regarded by many as the best female basketball player of her generation, and is widely considered one of the greatest WNBA players ever. Read more
08 Aug 1995: S.Coups, South Korean rapper and singer Choi Seung-cheol, known professionally by his stage name S.Coups (에스쿱스), is a South Korean rapper, singer, and songwriter. Managed by Pledis Entertainment, he is the leader of the South Korean boy band Seventeen and its hip hop team, and in 2025 debuted in a sub-unit with Mingyu as CxM. Read more
08 Aug 1994: Cameron Payne, American basketball player Cameron Payne is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Murray State and was selected 14th overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2015 NBA draft. After playing two seasons for the Thunder, he was traded to the Chicago Bulls in 2017, where he played for three seasons before being waived in 2019. Read more
08 Aug 1993: Emilie Mehl, Norwegian politician Emilie Enger Mehl is a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party. She served as minister of justice from 2021 to 2025 and member of parliament for Hedmark from 2017 to 2025. Read more
08 Aug 1992: Josip Drmić, Swiss footballer Josip Drmić is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a striker. Read more
08 Aug 1992: Casey Cott, American actor Casey Morton Cott is an American actor, known for his role as Kevin Keller on The CW series Riverdale. Read more
08 Aug 1991: Yandy Díaz, Cuban baseball player Yandy Díaz Fernández is a Cuban-born professional baseball first baseman, third baseman and designated hitter for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Cleveland Indians. Díaz has won one Silver Slugger Award and is a two-time All-Star. Read more
08 Aug 1991: Nélson Oliveira, Portuguese footballer Nélson Miguel Castro Oliveira is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Primeira Liga club Vitória de Guimarães. Read more
08 Aug 1991: Tyrone Peachey, Australian rugby league player Tyrone Peachey is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. Read more
08 Aug 1991: Joël Matip, Cameroonian footballer Joël André Matip Job is a former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Read more
08 Aug 1990: Vladimír Darida, Czech footballer Vladimír Darida is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Czech First League club Hradec Králové. Read more
08 Aug 1990: Parker Kligerman, American race car driver Parker Lindsley Kligerman is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, color commentator for NASCAR on The CW. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 25 Ram 1500 for Kaulig Racing, the No. 75 Chevrolet Silverado for Henderson Motorsports and the No. 77 Silverado for Spire Motorsports. Kligerman is a former development driver for Team Penske. He has worked for NBC since 2015 as a TV analyst and pit reporter. In 2023, Kligerman co-founded the motorsports media company "The Money Lap" with Landon Cassill. Read more
08 Aug 1990: Aleksandra Szwed, Polish actress and singer Aleksandra Szwed is a Polish television, film, and voice actress. She is also a television presenter, singer, model, fashion designer, and master of ceremonies. Read more
08 Aug 1990: Kane Williamson, New Zealand cricket captain Kane Stuart Williamson is a former international cricketer who captained the New Zealand national cricket team in all formats of this game. A right-handed batsman and an occasional off spin bowler, Williamson is the leading run-scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket and is widely regarded as one of the world's best contemporary batsmen and one of the greatest New Zealand captains and batsmen of all time. He captained New Zealand to victory in the 2021 ICC World Test Championship final and to the finals of the 2019 Cricket World Cup and 2021 T20 World Cup. He was also a part of the New Zealand squad to finish as runners-up at the 2015 Cricket World Cup and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. Williamson retired from international cricket on 12 June 2026. Read more
08 Aug 1989: Ken Baumann, American actor and author Ken Baumann is a former American actor, writer, publisher, and book designer. He is known for playing Ben Boykewich on The Secret Life of the American Teenager. He is the author of numerous novels, nonfiction stories, essays, and poems. He also owns and co-owns Sator Press. He also co-founded the iOS app Sweetspot. In 2014, Baumann enrolled at St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Read more
08 Aug 1989: Anthony Rizzo, American baseball player Anthony Vincent Rizzo is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 14 seasons, primarily for the Chicago Cubs and was pivotal in the team's 2016 World Series victory. Rizzo is a 3-time All-Star, and is the recipient of a Silver Slugger Award, 4 Gold Glove Awards, and a Roberto Clemente Award. A survivor of Hodgkin's lymphoma, Rizzo is also notable for his philanthropic endeavors, having started the Anthony Rizzo Foundation which partners with Lurie Children's Hospital. Rizzo won the Heart & Hustle Award in 2015. Read more
08 Aug 1989: Hannah Miley, English-Scottish swimmer Hannah Louise Miley is a Scottish former competitive swimmer who specialised in the Individual Medley. Miley trained when she was younger at Inverurie Swimming Centre. She has represented Great Britain at three Olympic Games, reaching the final of the 400 metres individual medley on each occasion, finishing sixth in 2008, fifth in 2012 and fourth in 2016. Also in the 400 m individual medley, she is a former World short-course champion (2012), European champion (2010), and two-time European short-course champion representing Great Britain, and a two-time Commonwealth champion representing Scotland. Read more
08 Aug 1989: Prajakta Mali, Indian actress Prajakta Mali is an Indian actress, producer, and poet who primarily works in Marathi films and television. Read more
08 Aug 1988: Princess Beatrice, British royal Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, is a member of the British royal family. She is the elder daughter of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, and a niece of King Charles III. Born fifth in the line of succession to the British throne, she is ninth as of 2026. Read more
08 Aug 1988: Danilo Gallinari, Italian basketball player Danilo Gallinari is an Italian former professional basketball player who played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After spending his first four years as a professional in his native Italy, Gallinari was drafted sixth overall in the 2008 NBA draft by the New York Knicks. He played with the Knicks for two and a half seasons before being traded to the Denver Nuggets in 2011. Read more
08 Aug 1988: Rinku Singh, Indian baseball player and wrestler Rinku Singh Rajput is an Indian former professional wrestler and former professional baseball player. As a professional wrestler, he is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring names Rinku and Veer Mahaan. Read more
08 Aug 1988: Laura Slade Wiggins, American actress and singer Laura Slade Wiggins is an American actress and singer. She had her breakthrough role on the Showtime television series Shameless (2011-2013), where she played Karen Jackson, a self-destructive teenager. While Wiggins was a main cast member in seasons one and two, she continued in a recurring role in the third season. Read more
08 Aug 1988: Agata Sobczyk (born 1988), Polish economist and politician Agata Sobczyk is a Polish economist and politician. Since 2023, she serves as the voivode of Greater Poland Voivodeship in Poland. She is a member of the Poland 2050 political party. Read more
08 Aug 1987: Pierre Boulanger, French actor Pierre Boulanger is a French actor. He is known for the 2003 film Monsieur Ibrahim, where he played a young Jewish boy, Moises "Momo" Schmidt and for 2008 film Nos 18 ans where he played Richard. The young actor was then reported to be concentrating on his studies, and thus was not able to do movies. After two years, he did TV appearances and minor roles in movies. He is best known for his first major English film in 2011, Monte Carlo with Selena Gomez. Read more
08 Aug 1987: Katie Leung, Scottish actress Katie Leung is a Scottish actress. She began her career playing Cho Chang in the Harry Potter film series. On television, she is known for her roles in the BBC series One Child (2014) and Annika (2021–2023), the ITV series Strangers (2018), and the Amazon Prime series The Peripheral (2022). She also voiced Caitlyn Kiramman in the Netflix animated series Arcane (2021–2024). Read more
08 Aug 1987: Tatjana Maria, German tennis player Tatjana Maria is a German professional tennis player. In July 2025, she reached her career-best singles ranking of world No. 36 at 37 years and 11 months old. In June 2016, she peaked at No. 54 in the doubles rankings. Read more
08 Aug 1986: Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Volodymyrivna Volodko is a tennis player from Ukraine. Her career-high rankings are world No. 29 in singles and No. 9 in doubles. She was the doubles champion at the 2008 Australian Open, partnering her sister Alona Bondarenko. Read more
08 Aug 1986: Jackie Cruz, Dominican-American actress and singer Jackie Cruz is a Dominican–American actress, singer and former model. She is known for her role as Marisol "Flaca" Gonzales on the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black. Read more
08 Aug 1986: Pierre Garçon, American football player Pierre Andre Garçon is a Haitian-American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football at Norwich University and Mount Union College, and was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL draft. He also played five seasons with the Washington Redskins and two seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. Read more
08 Aug 1986: Chris Pressley, American football player Chris Pressley is an American former professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL). He went undrafted in the 2009 NFL draft after playing college football for five years with the Wisconsin Badgers. Pressley's maximum back squat weight is 770 pounds (349 kg), and he has been videotaped squatting 605 pounds nine times in a row with no assistive equipment. Read more
08 Aug 1985: Toby Flood, English rugby player Tobias Gerald Albert Lieven Flood is an English rugby union coach and former player. He is currently kicking and skills coach at Newcastle Falcons in Premiership Rugby. During his playing career his position was fly half or inside centre. He played over 300 games in his club career across his three professional clubs, Newcastle Falcons, Toulouse and Leicester Tigers. He played 60 international matches for England between 2006 and 2014. Read more
08 Aug 1985: Ryan Koolwijk, Dutch footballer Ryan Koolwijk is a professional football manager and former player who is the assistant coach of the Suriname national team and the ADO Den Haag under-19 team. Read more
08 Aug 1985: James Morgan, Welsh actor and producer James Morgan is a Welsh actor. Read more
08 Aug 1985: Brett Ratliff, American football player Brett Ratliff is an American former professional football quarterback. He was signed by the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football at Butte College and Utah. He was also a member of the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Read more
08 Aug 1985: Anita Włodarczyk, Polish track and field athlete Anita Włodarczyk is a Polish hammer thrower. She is the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympic champion, and the first woman in history to throw the hammer over 80 m; she currently holds the women's world record of 82.98 m. She is considered the greatest female hammer thrower of all time. Read more
08 Aug 1984: Kirk Broadfoot, Scottish footballer Kirk John Broadfoot is a Scottish footballer who last played as a defender for Scottish League One club Kelty Hearts. Read more
08 Aug 1984: Norbert Michelisz, Hungarian racing driver Norbert Michelisz is a Hungarian auto racing driver. He was the 2019 winner of the World Touring Car Cup and winner of the TCR World Tour in 2023 and 2024. Read more
08 Aug 1984: Martrez Milner, American football player Martrez Milner is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs and was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL draft. Read more
08 Aug 1983: Guy Burnet, English actor and producer Guy Burnet is a British actor who has worked in film, television, and theatre. He had a notable supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Read more
08 Aug 1983: Willie Tonga, Australian rugby league player Villiami Sione "Willie" Tonga, also known by the nickname of ”Willie", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Leigh Centurions in the Super League. An Australia international and Queensland State of Origin representative centre, he previously played for the Parramatta Eels, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, with whom he won the 2004 NRL Premiership, and the North Queensland Cowboys. He joined French club the Catalans Dragons in 2015 and signed a contract with the Centurions for 2016. Read more
08 Aug 1982: David Florence, English canoe racer David Florence is a retired British slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1999 to 2021. He is the 2013 and 2015 world champion in individual single canoe (C1) and 2013 champion in double canoe (C2), the latter with Richard Hounslow. Florence was the first canoeist since Charles Dussuet, sixty years earlier, to achieve the C1, C2 double at the same World Championships. Read more
08 Aug 1982: Ross Ohlendorf, American baseball player Curtis Ross Ohlendorf is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Washington Nationals, Texas Rangers, and Cincinnati Reds, and in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Read more
08 Aug 1981: Vanessa Amorosi, Australian singer-songwriter Vanessa Joy Amorosi is an Australian singer-songwriter and recording artist. She has sold at least two million units in albums or singles worldwide. Read more
08 Aug 1981: Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player Roger Federer is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Federer won 103 singles titles on the ATP Tour, the second most since the start of the Open Era in 1968, including 20 major men's singles titles, 28 Masters and six year-end championships. Read more
08 Aug 1981: Meagan Good, American actress and producer Meagan Monique Good Majors is an Guinean and American actress and model. She first gained critical attention for her role in the film Eve's Bayou (1997) prior to landing the role of Nina in the Nickelodeon sitcom Cousin Skeeter (1998–2001). Good received further prominence after starring in the films Deliver Us from Eva (2003), Roll Bounce (2005) and Stomp the Yard (2007). Read more
08 Aug 1981: Harel Skaat, Israeli singer-songwriter Harel Skaat sometimes known by the mononym Harel is an Israeli singer and songwriter. He represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Milim". Read more
08 Aug 1980: Shayna Baszler, American mixed martial artist and wrestler Shayna Andrea Baszler is an American professional wrestler and a former kickboxer and mixed martial artist. She performs on the independent circuit. She is best known for her tenure in WWE, where she became a two-time and longest combined-reigning NXT Women's Champion and a three-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion. Read more
08 Aug 1980: Craig Breslow, American baseball pitcher and executive Craig Andrew Breslow is an American baseball executive and former professional baseball pitcher. He is currently the Chief Baseball Officer of the Boston Red Sox. Breslow pitched for 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Miami Marlins. He also pitched for Team Israel at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Read more
08 Aug 1980: Jack Cassel, American baseball player Joseph "Jack" Buren Cassel II is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres and Houston Astros. He retired from professional baseball in 2010 after suffering a career-ending shoulder injury. Read more
08 Aug 1980: Denisse Guerrero, Mexican singer-songwriter Denisse Guerrero Flores is a Mexican musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the electropop band Belanova. Read more
08 Aug 1980: Sabine Klaschka, German tennis player Sabine Klaschka is a retired German tennis player. Read more
08 Aug 1980: Diego Markwell, Dutch baseball player Diegomar Raymundo "Diego" Markwell is a Curaçaoan former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Netherlands national team in many tournaments. He played in Minor League Baseball for seven seasons and briefly played in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for the Macoto Cobras in 2007. He also pitched in more than 200 games in the Honkbal Hoofklasse. Read more
08 Aug 1980: Pat Noonan, American soccer player Patrick John Noonan is an American soccer coach and former player. He is the head coach of FC Cincinnati in Major League Soccer. Read more
08 Aug 1980: Michael Urie, American actor, director, and producer Michael Lorenzo Urie is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Marc St. James on the ABC comedy drama television series Ugly Betty and Brian on the Apple TV+ series Shrinking, a role for which he won a Critics Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor and received two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series nominations. He can be heard as Bobby Kerns in As the Curtain Rises, an original podcast soap opera from the Broadway Podcast Network. Read more
08 Aug 1979: Richard Harwood, English cellist Richard Craig Harwood is a British cellist. Read more
08 Aug 1979: Rashard Lewis, American basketball player Rashard Quovon Lewis is an American former professional basketball player, currently serving as player development coach for the San Antonio Spurs. Lewis entered the NBA directly from Alief Elsik High School. He rose to prominence in the NBA as a scorer with the Seattle SuperSonics, and was later a member of the Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards, and Miami Heat. He garnered two NBA All-Star selections, one with Seattle and another with Orlando. Read more
08 Aug 1979: Richard Lyons, Northern Irish racing driver Richard William Lyons is a British motor racing driver that competed in the Japanese Super GT series. In the 2006 Goodwood Festival of Speed Lyons set the fastest shootout time of 49.51 seconds while driving the Nissan 350Z GT500. Read more
08 Aug 1978: Alan Maybury, Irish footballer and coach Alan Paul Maybury is an Irish professional football manager and former player. Read more
08 Aug 1978: Louis Saha, French footballer Louis Laurent Saha is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. Saha was capped 20 times for the France national team and scored four goals. Louis Saha was initially a student of the Clairefontaine football academy, before beginning his professional career at Metz then moving on loan to Newcastle United. Before the start of the 2000–01 season, Saha moved to Fulham where he established himself as first-choice striker, helping them to gain promotion to the Premier League in his first season with them. Read more
08 Aug 1978: Miho Shiraishi, Japanese actress Miho Shiraishi is a Japanese actress from Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Read more
08 Aug 1977: Lindsay Sloane, American actress Lindsay Sloane Leikin-Rollins is an American actress. She is known for playing Valerie Birkhead on Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1997–99) and Emily in The Odd Couple (2015–17). She has also starred in films such as Bring It On (2000), Over Her Dead Body (2008), She's Out of My League (2010), The Other Guys (2010), Horrible Bosses (2011), and its sequel Horrible Bosses 2 (2014). Read more
08 Aug 1977: Darren Manzella, American sergeant (died 2013) Darren Manzella was a United States Army Sergeant, Army medic and gay activist from Portland, New York, who was discharged under the Don't ask, don't tell policy. Manzella served in Iraq and Kuwait, and was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas. Read more
08 Aug 1977: Rocky Thompson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Rocky Lee Thompson is a Canadian former ice hockey right wing. Most recently, he was the head coach of the Bridgeport Islanders of the American Hockey League, and was previously an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL. He was drafted in the third round, 72nd overall, by the Calgary Flames in the 1995 NHL entry draft. This Cree forward/defenseman was born in Calgary, Alberta and raised in Whitecourt, Alberta. During his hockey career, he was known as an enforcer. Along with hockey, he showed promise in boxing as a teenager, winning gold in the 1993 North American Indigenous Games as well as in provincial Golden Gloves tournament championships in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Read more
08 Aug 1977: Nicolas Vogondy, French cyclist Nicolas Vogondy is a French former professional road racing cyclist, who competed as a professional between 1997 and 2013. Read more
08 Aug 1977: Mohammad Wasim, Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Wasim is a Punjabi Pakistani cricket coach and cricketer who played for both the Pakistan and Dutch cricket teams. He played in 18 Test matches and 25 One Day Internationals from 1996 to 2000 for the Pakistan national cricket team. Read more
08 Aug 1976: JC Chasez, American singer and dancer Joshua Scott "JC" Chasez is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He started his career as a singer, actor, and dancer on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club before rising to prominence as a member of the boy band NSYNC in the late 90s and early 2000s. The band has sold over 70 million records, becoming one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. Chasez released his debut single "Blowin' Me Up " in 2002, following NSYNC's decision to go on a hiatus earlier that year. Schizophrenic, his debut solo album, was released in 2004. Chasez has written and produced for a wide variety of music acts such as Liam Payne, Diplo, Backstreet Boys, McFly, The Cheetah Girls, Sugababes, Victoria Duffield, and Matthew Morrison. He also served as a judge on the first seven seasons of America's Best Dance Crew. Read more
08 Aug 1976: Drew Lachey, American singer and actor Andrew John Lachey is an American singer and actor. He is known as a member of 98 Degrees, the winner of the second season of Dancing with the Stars, and the younger brother of Nick Lachey. Read more
08 Aug 1975: Mick Moss, English singer-songwriter Mick Moss is an English singer/songwriter. He is best known for his role in the band Antimatter, as well as being co-vocalist on the Number 1 single 'Broken Smile'. Read more
08 Aug 1974: Manjul Bhargava, Canadian-American mathematician and academic Manjul Bhargava is a Canadian-American mathematician. He is the Robert Gunning-Brandon Fradd, Class of 1983, Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, the Stieltjes Professor of Number Theory at Leiden University, and also holds Adjunct Professorships at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, and the University of Hyderabad. He is known primarily for his contributions to number theory. Read more
08 Aug 1974: Scott D'Amore, Canadian wrestler and manager Scott Francis D'Amore is a Canadian professional wrestling manager, promoter, booker and retired professional wrestler, best known for his time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he served as the president and an on-screen personality. Read more
08 Aug 1974: Brian Harvey, English singer-songwriter Brian Lee Harvey is an English singer from London. He was the lead vocalist of the pop boy band East 17. The later incarnation of the band, E-17, had two top 20 singles on the UK singles chart between 1998 and 1999, with their fourth studio album Resurrection peaking within the top 50 of the UK Albums Chart. After leaving E-17, Harvey signed a recording contract with Edel Records and had two singles released in 2001, "Straight Up " and "Loving You ". Read more
08 Aug 1974: Andy Priaulx, Guernseyan racing driver Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE is a British racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Touring Car Cup, having been a former BMW factory driver. Read more
08 Aug 1973: Shane Lee, Australian cricketer and guitarist Shane Lee is a former Australian first-class cricketer. He was an all-rounder known for his hard batting and medium-pace bowling and is the elder brother of Australian pace bowler Brett Lee. He played for Australia and also captained the NSW team. Lee was a part of the Australian team that won the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Read more
08 Aug 1973: Gert Olesk, Estonian footballer and manager Gert Olesk is an Estonian football coach and former professional player. He played the position of defender. Read more
08 Aug 1973: Scott Stapp, American singer-songwriter and producer Scott Anthony Stapp is an American singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Creed. He has also fronted Art of Anarchy and has released four solo albums. Read more
08 Aug 1973: Mark Wills, American singer-songwriter Mark Wills is an American country music artist. Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label – Mark Wills, Wish You Were Here, Permanently, Loving Every Minute, and And the Crowd Goes Wild – as well as a greatest hits package. In that same timespan, he charted sixteen singles on the Billboard country charts, all of which made the top 40. After leaving Mercury in 2003, he signed to Equity Music Group and charted three more singles. Two of these were later included on his sixth studio album, Familiar Stranger, which was released on the Tenacity label in 2008. Read more
08 Aug 1973: Ilka Agricola, German mathematician Ilka Agricola is a German mathematician specialising in differential geometry and its applications in mathematical physics. She is the dean of mathematics and computer science at Marburg University, where she has also been responsible for making the university's collection of mathematical models public. Read more
08 Aug 1972: Joely Collins, Canadian actress and producer Joely Collins is a Canadian-born film and television producer, writer and actress. She is the daughter of Andrea Bertorelli and English musician Phil Collins. Read more
08 Aug 1972: Andrea de Rossi, Italian rugby player and coach Andrea De Rossi is an Italian former rugby union footballer and a current coach. He played as number eight. Read more
08 Aug 1972: Axel Merckx, Belgian cyclist Axel Eddy Lucien Jonkheer Merckx is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer and the son of five-time Tour de France champion Eddy Merckx. He is team director of UCI Continental team Hagens Berman Jayco. Read more
08 Aug 1972: Steven Tweed, Scottish footballer and manager Steven Tweed is a Scottish former footballer and manager. Read more
08 Aug 1972: Liina Vahtrik, Estonian actress Liina Ertl is an Estonian actress. Read more
08 Aug 1971: Johnny Balentina, Dutch baseball player Randolph Benito "Johnny" Balentina is a Curaçaoan former baseball player. He was a catcher in three consecutive Summer Olympics for the Netherlands, starting in 1996 in Atlanta. Twice, the Dutch team finished in sixth place and once in fifth place (2000). Read more
08 Aug 1970: Trev Alberts, American football player and journalist Trev Kendall Alberts is an American sports administrator and former professional football linebacker who is the athletic director at Texas A&M University. He previously played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. Alberts was also the athletic director at the University of Nebraska Omaha from 2009 to 2021 and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 2021 to 2024. Read more
08 Aug 1970: Ben G. Davis, English chemist and academic Benjamin Guy Davis is a British chemist who is Professor of Chemical biology in the Department of Pharmacology and a member of the Faculty in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. He also holds the role of Science Director for Next Generation Chemistry (2019-) at the Rosalind Franklin Institute. Read more
08 Aug 1970: José Francisco Molina, Spanish footballer and manager José Francisco Molina Jiménez is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently manager of the Honduras national team. Read more
08 Aug 1970: Chester Williams, South African rugby player and coach (died 2019) Chester Mornay Williams was a South African rugby union player. He played as a winger for the South Africa national rugby union team (Springboks) from 1993 to 2000, most notably for the team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was hosted in South Africa. He was the only black player on the team. During the tournament he scored four tries for South Africa in its quarter-final match and also appeared in the semi-final and final. Domestically he played rugby for the Western Province in the Currie Cup. Read more
08 Aug 1969: Monika Tsõganova, Estonian chess player Monika Tsõganova is an Estonian chess Woman International Master (1991). She was the Estonian rapid chess champion six times. Read more
08 Aug 1969: Faye Wong, Chinese singer-songwriter and actress Faye Wong is a Chinese singer-songwriter and actress. Early in her career, she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong (王靖雯). Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong at the age of 18. She debuted as a singer with the Cantonese album Shirley Wong in 1989 and achieved her breakthrough with the Cantopop song "Fragile Woman" in 1992. She established her style by blending alternative music with Chinese pop, and since the late 1990s has recorded primarily in her native Mandarin. Read more
08 Aug 1968: Yvie Burnett, Scottish soprano Yvie Burnett, is a Scottish mezzo-soprano and vocal coach, best known for her work with Simon Cowell on television shows The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent, The Big Reunion, The Voice UK and BBC's Let It Shine. Read more
08 Aug 1968: Aldo Calderón van Dyke, Honduran journalist (died 2013) Aldo Calderón van Dyke was a Honduran journalist that worked for Canal 11, La Prensa, and El Tiempo. He committed suicide and died on 14 August 2013 at around ten at night in a Honduran Social Security Institute hospital. He was buried in San Pedro Sula. Read more
08 Aug 1968: Abey Kuruvilla, Indian cricketer and coach Abey Kuruvilla is an Indian former cricketer and general manager of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He played as a bowler in mid-1990s for Indian cricket team. He was a selector of BCCI. Read more
08 Aug 1968: Huey Morgan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Hugh Thomas Diaz Morgan is an American musician and DJ best known as the former frontman of rock/hip hop band Fun Lovin' Criminals. Morgan performs both vocals and guitar and combines rock, hip hop, jazz, reggae, and funk influences in his music. He presents The Huey Show on Virgin Radio, having previously hosted on BBC Radio 6 Music for 17 years. Read more
08 Aug 1967: Marcelo Balboa, American soccer player, coach, and sportscaster Marcelo Balboa is an American former professional soccer player who played as a defender in the 1990s for the United States national team, becoming its captain. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Read more
08 Aug 1967: Yūki Amami, Japanese theater and film actress Yūki Amami is a Japanese actress and former leading otokoyaku of Takarazuka Revue. Read more
08 Aug 1966: Chris Eubank, English boxer Christopher Livingstone Eubank is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 1998. He held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) middleweight title from 1990 to 1991. He also held the (WBO) super-middleweight title from 1991 to 1995. Read more
08 Aug 1966: John Hudek, American baseball player and coach John Raymond Hudek is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher. He played all or part of six seasons in the majors, from 1994 until 1999, for five different teams. He appeared in a total of 194 major league games, all in relief, making the 1994 NL All-Star team as a rookie. Once, in a game on September 5, 1997, he was tasked to pitch against Brian Johnson with runners on. With two strikes, catcher Tony Pena seemed to call for an intentional walk before Hudek threw a pitch in the middle of the zone for a strike that struck-out Johnson. Read more
08 Aug 1965: Angus Fraser, English cricketer, manager, and journalist Angus Robert Charles Fraser is an English cricket administrator and former player. Fraser played in forty-six Test matches and forty-two One Day Internationals for England, and played for Middlesex in his first-class career between 1984 and 2002, winning the County Championship three times. He was awarded an MBE in the 1999 New Year Honours and was
named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1996. Read more
08 Aug 1965: Kate Langbroek, Australian talk show host Katherine Langbroek is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. Read more
08 Aug 1964: Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) since August 2021. Read more
08 Aug 1964: Scott Sandelin, American ice hockey player and coach Scott Alan Sandelin is an American former professional ice hockey player. He is currently the head coach of the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs men's ice hockey team. In 2011, he became the first coach in Bulldog history to lead them to a national title, in a 3–2 overtime game against the University of Michigan at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In the 2018 NCAAs, he led the Bulldogs to a second national title, over Notre Dame 2–1, also played at the Xcel Energy Center. The following season, in the 2019 NCAAs, he led the Bulldogs to a third national title. Sandelin grew up in Hibbing, Minnesota, where he went on to be drafted in the second round by the Montreal Canadiens and play collegiate hockey for the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Read more
08 Aug 1964: Paul Taylor, English cricketer Jonathan Paul Taylor is an English former cricketer, who played in two Test matches and one One Day International for England in 1993 and 1994. Read more
08 Aug 1963: Hur Jin-ho, South Korean director and screenwriter Hur Jin-ho is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Read more
08 Aug 1963: Ron Karkovice, American baseball player and manager Ronald Joseph Karkovice is an American former professional baseball catcher. Read more
08 Aug 1963: Emi Shinohara, Japanese voice actress and singer (died 2024) Emiko Shinohara , known professionally as Emi Shinohara , was a Japanese voice actress from Fukushima Prefecture. At the time of her death, she was affiliated with 81 Produce. She was best known for voicing Sailor Jupiter in the first anime adaptation of Sailor Moon, Kaho Mizuki in Cardcaptor Sakura and its sequel Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, and Kushina Uzumaki in Naruto: Shippuden. She was married to tokusatsu actor Hiroshi Watari, best known for playing the titular hero in Space Sheriff Sharivan. Read more
08 Aug 1963: Rika Fukami, Japanese voice actress and singer Rika Fukami is a Japanese voice actress and narrator. Born in Kyoto Prefecture and raised in Chichibu, Saitama, she was originally a competitor at the NHK Cup National High School Broadcasting Contest while studying at Saitama Prefectural Chichibu High School, before joining Dojinsha Productions and debuting as a voice actress in Tokimeki Tonight. Since then, she has voiced Minako Aino/Sailor Venus in the Sailor Moon series, as well as Fran in Final Fantasy XII, Carmen la Bailaora in Ashita no Nadja, Schaffe in Ninja Senshi Tobikage and Daiko Hayami in New Cutie Honey. Read more
08 Aug 1963: Jon Turteltaub, American director and producer Jonathan Charles Turteltaub is an American filmmaker. Read more
08 Aug 1963: Stephen Walkom, Canadian ice hockey player, referee, and manager Stephen Walkom currently serves as vice president and director of officiating for the National Hockey League (NHL). This is his second stint in that position, having previously served from 2005 to 2009. From 1990 to 2004, and from 2009 to 2013, he worked as an on-ice referee for the league. Read more
08 Aug 1962: Kool Moe Dee, American musician, singer and actor Mohandas Dewese, better known by his stage name Kool Moe Dee, is an American rapper, songwriter, and actor. Considered one of the forerunners of the New Jack Swing sound in hip hop, he gained fame in the 1980s as a member of one of the pioneering groups in hip hop music, the Treacherous Three, and for his later solo career. During his career he released a total of seven studio albums, with 1994's Interlude being the last to date. Read more
08 Aug 1961: The Edge, British-Irish musician, singer and songwriter David Howell Evans, known by his stage name the Edge or simply Edge, is an Irish and British musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist of the rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 15 studio albums with them as well as one solo record. His understated style of guitar playing, a signature of U2's music, is distinguished by chiming timbres, use of rhythmic delay, drone notes, harmonics, and an extensive use of effects units. Read more
08 Aug 1961: Daniel House, American bass player and producer Daniel House is an American business owner and former musician. He was a co-founder and bass player for Skin Yard, a grunge band that was active from 1985 to 1992, and was president and owner of C/Z Records, a Seattle-based independent record label that released music by many bands, including 7 Year Bitch, Built to Spill, Coffin Break, Engine Kid, The Gits, Hammerbox, Love Battery, The Melvins, The Presidents of the United States of America, Silkworm, and Skin Yard. In 2003, House moved from Seattle to Los Angeles where he oversaw the development and creation of the now-defunct www.DownloadPunk.com as well as the music-centric online dating website RocknRollDating.com. Read more
08 Aug 1961: Ron Klain, American lawyer and politician, White House Chief of Staff Ronald Alan Klain is an American attorney, political consultant, and former lobbyist who served as White House Chief of Staff under President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2023. Read more
08 Aug 1961: Bruce Matthews, American football player and coach Bruce Rankin Matthews is an American former professional football guard, center, offensive tackle, and long snapper who played 19 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He spent his entire career playing for the Houston / Tennessee Oilers / Titans. Highly versatile, Matthews played every position on the offensive line throughout his NFL career, starting in 99 games as a left guard, 87 as a center, 67 as a right guard, 22 as a right tackle, 17 as a left tackle, and was the long snapper on field goals, extra points, and punts. Having never missed a game due to injury, Matthews' 293 NFL games started is the third most of all time, behind quarterbacks Brett Favre and Tom Brady. Read more
08 Aug 1961: Rikki Rockett, American glam rock drummer Richard Allan Ream, known professionally as Rikki Rockett, is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band Poison. The band has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide and 15 million records in the United States alone. Read more
08 Aug 1960: Mustafa Balbay, Turkish journalist and politician Mustafa Ali Balbay is a journalist, writer and former Turkish MP. As the main political correspondent in Ankara for the left-wing Kemalist daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, he wrote a regular column called Gözlem which he took over from the prominent investigative journalist Ugur Mumcu, who was assassinated in 1993. Balbay was arrested on March 5, 2009 as an Ergenekon suspect in the Odatv case, and in August 2009 he was sentenced to 34 years and eight months. Read more
08 Aug 1960: Ulrich Maly, German politician, 16th Mayor of Nuremberg Dr. Ulrich Maly is a German politician, a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany who served as Mayor of Nuremberg from 2002 till 2020. Read more
08 Aug 1959: Caroline Ansink, Dutch flute player, composer, and educator Caroline Ansink is a Dutch musician, music educator and composer. Read more
08 Aug 1958: Deborah Norville, American journalist and game show host Deborah Anne Norville is an American television journalist and businesswoman. Norville is a former anchor of Inside Edition, a syndicated television news magazine, a position she held from March 6, 1995 to May 21, 2025. She markets and sells a line of yarns for knit and crochet enthusiasts, manufactured by Premier Yarns. Previously, she was an anchor and correspondent for CBS News and earlier co-host of Today on NBC. Her book Thank You Power was a New York Times best-seller. Read more
08 Aug 1957: Dennis Drew, American keyboard player Dennis Arnold Drew is the keyboardist for the American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs. He has been with the band since its inception in 1981 and is one of three founding members along with Steve Gustafson and John Lombardo in the current band lineup. Drew also spent 17 years (2004-2021) as the general manager of WRFA-LP, a community radio station in Jamestown, New York. He previously had a stint at WNAE-AM in nearby city Warren, Pennsylvania, before the band's beginning. Read more
08 Aug 1956: Chris Foreman, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Christopher John Foreman, nicknamed Chrissy Boy, is an English musician, songwriter, and composer. In a career spanning more than 45 years, Foreman came to prominence in the late 1970s as the guitarist for the English band Madness. Read more
08 Aug 1956: David Grant, English singer David Beresford Grant is an English singer and vocal coach. Read more
08 Aug 1956: Cecilia Roth, Argentinian actress Cecilia Edith Rotenberg Gutkin, known professionally as Cecilia Roth is an Argentine actress. She is the winner of two Goya Awards and a European Film Award. She is known for being an "Almodóvar girl" and the "muse" of Fito Páez during the 1990s. Read more
08 Aug 1955: Diddú, Icelandic singer-songwriter Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir, better known as Diddú, is an Icelandic soprano and songwriter. Educated at the Reykjavík College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, she began her singing career in the 1970s as a vocalist for the popular folk and pop group Spilverk Þjóðanna. She subsequently turned to classical music, particularly Lieder and operas. Read more
08 Aug 1955: Herbert Prohaska, Austrian footballer and manager Herbert Prohaska is an Austrian former professional footballer. He ranks among Austria's greatest football players of all time. Prohaska works as a football pundit for the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF). His nickname "Schneckerl", Viennese dialect for curly hair, derives from his curly haircut in his younger years. A talented, elegant, and combative midfielder, Prohaska played as a deep-lying playmaker, and was known for his technique, intelligence, and precise passing. Read more
08 Aug 1955: Michael Roe, Irish racing driver Michael Roe is a former racing driver from Naas, Ireland. Read more
08 Aug 1954: Nick Holtam, English bishop Nicholas Roderick Holtam is a retired bishop of the Church of England. He served as Bishop of Salisbury from 2011 until his retirement in 2021. Read more
08 Aug 1953: Nigel Mansell, English racing driver Nigel Ernest James Mansell is a British former racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1980 to 1995. Mansell won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1992 with Williams, and won 31 Grands Prix across 15 seasons. In American open-wheel racing, Mansell won the IndyCar World Series in 1993 with Newman/Haas Racing, and remains the only driver to have simultaneously held both the World Drivers' Championship and the American open-wheel National Championship. Read more
08 Aug 1953: Don Most, American actor and singer Don Most is an American actor. He is known for his role as Ralph Malph on the television series Happy Days. Read more
08 Aug 1952: Anton Fig, South African-American drummer Anton Fig is a South African session drummer perhaps best known as the drummer and second-in-command for Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band. David Letterman, for whom the band served as house band on his late-night talk shows, often called Fig "Anton Zip" or "Buddy Rich Jr." Fig is also known for his work with Kiss, Ace Frehley, and Joe Bonamassa. Read more
08 Aug 1952: Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder is a Norwegian intellectual and author of several novels, short stories, and children's books. Gaarder often writes from the perspective of children, exploring their sense of wonder about the world. He often utilizes metafiction in his works and constructs stories within stories. His best known work is the novel Sophie's World (1991). It has been translated into 60 languages; there are over 40 million copies in print. Read more
08 Aug 1952: Doug Melvin, Canadian baseball player and manager Robert Douglas Melvin is a Canadian front-office executive in Major League Baseball (MLB) who previously served as the general manager of the Texas Rangers (1995–2001) and Milwaukee Brewers (2002–2015). He is currently a senior advisor for the Brewers. Read more
08 Aug 1952: Robin Quivers, American nurse, radio host/personality, and author Robin Ophelia Quivers is an American radio personality best known for being the long-running co-host of The Howard Stern Show. Read more
08 Aug 1952: Sudhakar Rao, Indian cricketer Ramchandra Sudhakar Rao is a former Indian cricketer. He played domestic cricket for Karnataka and played one One Day International for India against New Zealand in 1976. Read more
08 Aug 1951: Martin Brest, American director, producer, and screenwriter Martin Brest is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. After his feature debut, Going in Style (1979), he directed the action comedies Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Midnight Run (1988), which were critical and commercial hits. He then directed Scent of a Woman (1992), starring Al Pacino, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, and earned Brest nominations for Best Director and Best Picture. Read more
08 Aug 1951: Phil Carlson, Australian cricketer (died 2022) Phillip Henry Carlson was an Australian cricketer who played in two Test matches and four One Day Internationals (ODIs) in 1979.
He was an all-rounder who played for Queensland between 1969–70 and 1980–81. He played his two Test matches for Australia v England in the 1978–79 Ashes series and the four One Day Internationals against the same opponents. He was called up by Australia when most of their regular first-choice players were playing in World Series Cricket. Read more
08 Aug 1951: Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian engineer, academic, and politician, 5th President of Egypt (died 2019) Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa Al-Ayyat was an Egyptian politician, engineer, and professor who served as the fifth president of Egypt from 2012 to 2013, when General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi removed him from office in a coup d'état after protests in June. Affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood organization, Morsi led the Freedom and Justice Party from 2011 to 2012. Read more
08 Aug 1951: Mamoru Oshii, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of acclaimed anime films, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984), Angel's Egg (1985), Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993), and Ghost in the Shell (1995). He also holds the distinction of directing the first ever OVA, Dallos (1983). As a writer, Oshii has worked as a screenwriter, and occasionally as a manga writer and novelist. His most notable works as a writer include the manga Kerberos Panzer Cop (1988–2000) and its feature film adaptation Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999). Read more
08 Aug 1951: Randy Shilts, American journalist and author (died 1994) Randy Shilts was an American journalist and author. After studying journalism at the University of Oregon, Shilts began working as a reporter for both The Advocate and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as for San Francisco Bay Area television stations. In the 1980s, he was noted for being the first openly gay reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. Read more
08 Aug 1951: Louis van Gaal, Dutch footballer and manager Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal is a Dutch former football player and manager. At club level, he served as manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, as well as having three spells in charge of the Netherlands national team. Nicknamed the "Iron Tulip", Van Gaal has won 20 major honours in his managerial career at club level. Read more
08 Aug 1950: Willie Hall, American drummer and producer Willie Clarence Hall is an American drummer best known for his work with Isaac Hayes and as a member of the Blues Brothers band. Read more
08 Aug 1950: Ken Kutaragi, Japanese businessman, created PlayStation Ken Kutaragi is a Japanese engineering technologist and businessman, currently president and CEO of Cyber AI Entertainment. Formerly the chairman and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), the video game division of Sony, Kutaragi is known as "The Father of the PlayStation" having overseen the development of the original console and its successors and spinoffs until departing the company in 2007, shortly after the PlayStation 3 was released. Read more
08 Aug 1949: Terry Burnham, American actress (died 2013) Elizabeth Teresa "Terry" Burnham was an American actress. She had most of her career as a child actress in television series. She is best known for her performance in the Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare as a Child", which originally aired in 1960. Read more
08 Aug 1949: Keith Carradine, American actor Keith Ian Carradine is an American actor. In film, he is known for his roles as Tom Frank in Robert Altman's Nashville, E. J. Bellocq in Louis Malle's Pretty Baby, and Mickey in Alan Rudolph's Choose Me. On television, he is known for his roles as Wild Bill Hickok on the HBO series Deadwood, FBI agent Frank Lundy on the Showtime series Dexter, Lou Solverson in the first season of FX's Fargo, Penny's father Wyatt on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, and U.S. President Conrad Dalton on the CBS political drama Madam Secretary. Read more
08 Aug 1949: Ricardo Londoño, Colombian racing driver (died 2009) Ricardo Londoño Bridge was a racing driver from Colombia. He had an unremarkable international career apart from his one attempt at Formula One in the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix with Ensign. Londoño was the first racing driver from Colombia to participate in a Formula One race weekend. Read more
08 Aug 1948: Svetlana Savitskaya, Russian engineer and astronaut Svetlana Yevgenyevna Savitskaya is a Russian former aviator and Soviet cosmonaut who flew aboard Soyuz T-7 in 1982, becoming the second woman in space. On her 1984 Soyuz T-12 mission she became the first woman to fly to space twice, and the first woman to perform a spacewalk. Read more
08 Aug 1948: Margaret Urban Walker, American philosopher Margaret Urban Walker is an American philosopher and the Donald J. Schuenke Chair Emerita in Philosophy at Marquette University. Before her appointment at Marquette, she was the Lincoln Professor of Ethics at Arizona State University, and before that she was at Fordham University. She has also previously held visiting appointments at Washington University in St. Louis, University of South Florida, and Catholic University of Leuven. Read more
08 Aug 1948: Wincey Willis, British broadcaster (died 2024) Wincey Willis was a British television and radio broadcaster who achieved national fame in the 1980s. She was perhaps best known for being part of the line up at TV-am, the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise, in which she was ITV's first female weather presenter, appearing on Good Morning Britain. She was also known for her adjudicator role in the popular television game show Treasure Hunt. Read more
08 Aug 1947: Ken Dryden, Canadian ice hockey player, lawyer, and politician (died 2025) Kenneth Wayne Dryden was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender, politician, lawyer, businessman and author. He played for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1971 to 1979, winning the Stanley Cup six times, the Vezina Trophy as the goaltender on the team allowing the fewest goals five times, and the Conn Smythe Trophy along with the Calder Memorial Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs and rookie of the year respectively over the course of his rookie campaign. He was elected as member of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. Thereafter, Dryden served as a Liberal Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2011 and was appointed Minister of Social Development from 2004 to 2006 for which he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2017, the NHL commemorated him as one of the league's 100 Greatest Players. He received the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2020. Read more
08 Aug 1947: Larry Wilcox, American actor, director, and producer Larry Wilcox is an American actor best known for his role as California Highway Patrol officer Jon Baker in the television series CHiPs, which ran from 1977 to 1983 on NBC. Read more
08 Aug 1946: Joe Bethancourt, American singer-songwriter (died 2014) Wiltz Joseph Bethancourt III was an American folk musician. Read more
08 Aug 1944: John C. Holmes, American film actor (died 1988) John Curtis Holmes, better known as John C. Holmes or Johnny Wadd, was an American pornographic film actor. Holmes ranks among the most famous and prolific adult film performers, with documented credits for at least 573 films. Holmes was known for the exceptional size of his penis, which featured heavily in his marketing. Read more
08 Aug 1944: Michael Johnson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2017) Michael Jay Johnson was an American pop, country, and folk singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best remembered for his 1978 hit song "Bluer Than Blue". He charted four hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and nine more on Hot Country Songs, including two number one country hits in 1986's "Give Me Wings" and "The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder". He also co-wrote "Cain's Blood", the debut single of 1990s country group 4 Runner. Read more
08 Aug 1944: John Renbourn, English-Scottish guitarist and songwriter (died 2015) John Renbourn was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band's existence (1967–1973). Several albums were credited to the John Renbourn Group. He worked later in a duo with Stefan Grossman. Read more
08 Aug 1944: Simon Taylor, English journalist and author Simon Taylor is a motor sports journalist who writes for several publications. Taylor is a writer, historian, radio and TV commentator and a keen loyal supporter of historic racing. He is editor-at-large of Classic & Sports Car magazine. and contributes a monthly column under the title "Full Throttle". He is particularly known for the in-depth interviews of motor sports personalities past and present which he contributed to Motor Sport magazine between 2006 and 2016, under the title "Lunch with…." Read more
08 Aug 1942: James Blanchard, American diplomat and politician, 45th Governor of Michigan James Johnston Blanchard is an American attorney, diplomat, and politician who served as the 45th governor of Michigan from 1983 to 1991. A member of the Democratic Party, Blanchard previously served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1983, and later as the United States Ambassador to Canada from 1993 to 1996. Read more
08 Aug 1942: Dennis Canavan, Scottish educator and politician Dennis Andrew Canavan is a Scottish politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Falkirk West from 1974 to 2000, first as a member of the Labour Party, and then as an independent. He then served as an independent member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Falkirk West from 1999 to 2007. Read more
08 Aug 1942: John Gustafson, English singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2014) John Frederick "Johnny" Gustafson was an English bass guitar player and singer, who had a lengthy recording and live performance career. During his career, he was a member of the bands The Big Three, The Merseybeats, Quatermass, Roxy Music, The Pirates and Ian Gillan Band. Read more
08 Aug 1942: Vardo Rumessen, Estonian pianist and musicologist (died 2015) Vardo Rumessen was an Estonian pianist, musicologist and politician for the Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica. He is best known for his work with Eduard Tubin's music. He was born in Pärnu. In his performances abroad, he played works by Estonian composed that were forbidden under the Soviet regime. Read more
08 Aug 1940: Dilip Sardesai, Indian cricketer (died 2007) Dilip Narayan Sardesai was an Indian international cricketer. He played Tests for the Indian national team as a batsman, the first Goa-born cricketer to play for India, and was often regarded as one of India's best batsmen against spin, although Indian batsmen have been known to play better against spin. Read more
08 Aug 1940: Dennis Tito, American engineer and businessman, founded Wilshire Associates Dennis Anthony Tito is an American engineer and entrepreneur. During mid-2001, he became the first space tourist to fund his own visit to space, when he spent nearly eight days in orbit as a crew member of ISS EP-1, a visiting mission to the International Space Station. This mission was launched by the spacecraft Soyuz TM-32, and was landed by Soyuz TM-31. Read more
08 Aug 1939: Jana Andrsová, Czech actress and ballerina (died 2023) Jana Andrsová was a Czech ballerina and actress. In 1957 she graduated from the Dance Conservatory in Prague and began to work with the Vitus Nejedly Army Art Ensemble. Read more
08 Aug 1939: Viorica Viscopoleanu, Romanian long jumper Viorica Viscopoleanu is a retired Romanian long jumper. She competed at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics and won a gold medal in 1968, setting a new world record. At the European championships she won a silver medal outdoors in 1969 and two medals indoors, in 1970 (gold) and 1971 (bronze). After retiring from competitions she worked as a coach at her club Steaua București. Monica Iagăr was one of her trainees. Read more
08 Aug 1939: Alexander Watson, American diplomat, United States Ambassador to Peru Alexander Fletcher Watson is an American retired ambassador and diplomat. He served as United States Ambassador to Peru from 1986 to 1989. Read more
08 Aug 1938: Jack Baldwin, English chemist and academic (died 2020) Sir Jack Edward Baldwin was a British chemist. He was a Waynflete Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford (1978–2005) and head of the organic chemistry at Oxford. Read more
08 Aug 1938: Jacques Hétu, Canadian composer and educator (died 2010) Jacques Joseph Robert Hétu was a prominent Canadian composer and music educator. Hétu is the most frequently performed of Canadian classical composers, both within Canada and internationally. Read more
08 Aug 1938: Connie Stevens, American actress and businesswoman Connie Stevens is an American actress and traditional pop singer. Born in Brooklyn to musician parents, Stevens was raised there until the age of 12, when she was sent to live with family friends in rural Missouri. In 1953, when she was 15 years old, Stevens relocated with her father to Los Angeles. Read more
08 Aug 1937: Dustin Hoffman, American actor and director Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor. As one of the key leading man actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. Among his numerous accolades are two Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and two Emmy Awards as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. He was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1997, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999, and the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 2012. Read more
08 Aug 1937: Sheila Varian, American horse breeder (died 2016) Sheila Varian was an American breeder of Arabian horses who lived and worked at the Varian Arabians Ranch near Arroyo Grande, California. She grew up with a strong interest in horses, and was mentored in horsemanship by Mary "Sid" Spencer, a local rancher and Morgan horse breeder who also introduced Varian to the vaquero or "Californio" tradition of western riding. She started her horse ranch, Varian Arabians, in 1954 with the assistance of her parents. Raising and training horses was her full-time occupation beginning in 1963. She used vaquero-influenced methods of training horses, although she adapted her technique over the years to fit the character of the Arabian horse, which she viewed as a horse breed requiring a smart yet gentle approach. Read more
08 Aug 1937: Cornelis Vreeswijk, Dutch-Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 1987) Cornelis Vreeswijk was a Dutch singer-songwriter and poet who lived and worked primarily in Sweden. Read more
08 Aug 1936: Frank Howard, American baseball player and manager (died 2023) Frank Oliver Howard, nicknamed "Hondo", "the Washington Monument" and "the Capital Punisher", was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played most of his career for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Senators/Texas Rangers franchises. One of the most physically intimidating players in the sport, Howard was 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall and weighed between 275 and 295 pounds, according to former Senators/Rangers trainer Bill Zeigler. Read more
08 Aug 1936: Jan Pieńkowski, Polish-English author and illustrator (died 2022) Jan Michał Pieńkowski was a Polish-born British author of children's books—as illustrator, as writer, and as designer of movable books. He is best known for illustrating the Meg and Mog picture book series. He also did stage design for the theatre. For his contribution as a children's illustrator he was UK nominee in 1982 and again in 2008 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. Read more
08 Aug 1935: Donald P. Bellisario, American director, producer, and screenwriter Donald Paul Bellisario is an American television producer and screenwriter who created and wrote episodes for the TV series Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988), Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982–1983), Airwolf (1984–1987), Quantum Leap (1989–1993), JAG (1995–2005), and NCIS (2003–present). Read more
08 Aug 1935: John Laws, Papua New Guinean-born Australian singer and radio host (died 2025) Richard John Sinclair Laws was an Australian radio announcer who had a broadcasting career spanning 71 years. His distinctive voice earned him the nickname Golden Tonsils. Read more
08 Aug 1934: Sarat Pujari, Indian actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2014) Sarat Pujari was an Indian actor, director and producer in Odia film industry (Ollywood). He was originally from Jhaduapada, Sambalpur. Read more
08 Aug 1933: Joe Tex, American soul singer-songwriter (died 1982) Yusuf Hazziez, known professionally as Joe Tex, was an American singer and musician who gained success in the 1960s and 1970s with his brand of Southern soul, which mixed the styles of funk, country, gospel, and rhythm and blues. Read more
08 Aug 1932: Mel Tillis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2017) Lonnie Melvin Tillis was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, with a long list of Top 10 hits. Tillis' biggest hits include "I Ain't Never", "Good Woman Blues", and "Coca-Cola Cowboy". His composition "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" became a world-wide hit in 1969 when recorded by Kenny Rogers. Read more
08 Aug 1931: Roger Penrose, English physicist, mathematician, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate Sir Roger Penrose is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, and philosopher of science. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, an emeritus fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, and an honorary fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, and University College London. He shared the 1988 Wolf Prize in Physics with Stephen Hawking for the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems, and the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity". He proposed the Penrose triangle and corresponded with M. C. Escher, influencing his Waterfall and Ascending and Descending. Penrose's eponymous aperiodic tiling presaged the discovery of quasicrystals by Dan Shechtman. Read more
08 Aug 1930: Terry Nation, Welsh-American author and screenwriter (died 1997) Terence Joseph Nation was a Welsh screenwriter and novelist. Especially known for his work in British television science fiction, he created the Daleks and Davros for Doctor Who, as well as the series Survivors and Blake's 7. Read more
08 Aug 1930: Jerry Tarkanian, American basketball player and coach (died 2015) Jerry Tarkanian was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebels, leading them four times to the Final Four of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, winning the national championship in 1990. Tarkanian revolutionized the college game at UNLV, utilizing a pressing defense to fuel its fast-paced offense. Overall, he won over 700 games in his college coaching career, only twice failing to win 20 games, while never having a losing season. Tarkanian was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. Read more
08 Aug 1929: Larisa Bogoraz, Russian linguist and activist (died 2004) Larisa Iosifovna Bogoraz was a dissident in the Soviet Union. Read more
08 Aug 1929: Luis García Meza Tejada, Bolivian general and politician, 68th President of Bolivia (died 2018) Luis Arturo García Meza Tejada was a Bolivian military officer who served as the 57th president of Bolivia from 1980 to 1981. He was a dictator convicted of human rights violations and leader of a violent coup. A native of La Paz, he was a career military officer who rose to the rank of general during the dictatorship of Hugo Banzer (1971–78). Read more
08 Aug 1929: Ronnie Biggs, English criminal (died 2013) Ronald Arthur Biggs was a British criminal who helped plan and carry out the Great Train Robbery of 1963. He subsequently became notorious for his escape from prison in 1965, living as a fugitive for 36 years, and for his various publicity stunts while in exile. In 2001, Biggs returned to the United Kingdom and spent several years in prison, where his health rapidly declined. He was released from prison on compassionate grounds in August 2009 and died in a nursing home in December 2013. Read more
08 Aug 1928: Don Burrows, Australian saxophonist, clarinet player, and flute player (died 2020) Donald Vernon Burrows was an Australian jazz and swing musician who played clarinet, saxophone and flute. Read more
08 Aug 1927: Johnny Temple, American baseball player and coach (died 1994) John Ellis Temple was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a second baseman from 1952 to 1964, most prominently as a member of the Cincinnati Reds, where he was the leadoff hitter and starting second baseman for six seasons. Read more
08 Aug 1927: Maia Wojciechowska, Polish-American author (died 2002) Maia Teresa Wojciechowska was a Polish-American writer best known for children's and young adult fiction. Her first book and two books for adults were published under her married name Maia Rodman. Read more
08 Aug 1926: Richard Anderson, American actor and producer (died 2017) Richard Norman Anderson was an American film and television actor. One of his best-known roles was his portrayal of Oscar Goldman, the boss of Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers in both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman television series between 1974 and 1978 and their subsequent television movies: The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987), Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989) and Bionic Ever After? (1994). Read more
08 Aug 1925: Alija Izetbegović, Bosnian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Bosnia and Herzegovina (died 2003) Alija Izetbegović was a Bosnian politician, Islamic philosopher and author who served as the president of the presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1990 to 1996. He later served as the first chairman of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1996 to 1998, and then briefly in 2000. He was also the founder and first president of the Party of Democratic Action. Read more
08 Aug 1925: Aziz Sattar, Malaysian actor, comedian, singer and director (died 2014) Datuk Abdul Aziz bin Sattar was a Malaysian actor, singer, comedian, and director who is mostly known for his roles in the black and white Malay films of the 1950s and 1960s. Read more
08 Aug 1922: Rory Calhoun, American actor (died 1999) Rory Calhoun was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s and appeared in supporting roles in films such as How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) and Motel Hell (1980). Read more
08 Aug 1922: Rudi Gernreich, Austrian-American fashion designer, created the Monokini (died 1985) Rudolf "Rudi" Gernreich was an Austrian-born American fashion designer whose avant-garde clothing designs are generally regarded as the most innovative and dynamic fashion of the 1960s. He purposefully used fashion design as a social statement to advance sexual freedom, producing clothes that followed the natural form of the female body, freeing them from the constraints of high fashion. Read more
08 Aug 1922: Gertrude Himmelfarb, American historian, author, and academic (died 2019) Gertrude Himmelfarb, also known as Bea Kristol, was an American historian. She was a leader of conservative interpretations of history and historiography. She wrote extensively on intellectual history, with a focus on Great Britain and the Victorian era, as well as on contemporary society and culture. Read more
08 Aug 1922: Károly Reich, Hungarian illustrator (died 1988) Károly Reich was a Hungarian artist best known for his illustrations in children's books and for his distinctive draughtsmanship. His work was widely popular among Hungarian children throughout his 40-year career, during which he illustrated approximately 500 books. Read more
08 Aug 1921: William Asher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2012) William Milton Asher was an American television and film producer, film director, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific early television directors, producing or directing over two dozen series. Read more
08 Aug 1921: Webb Pierce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1991) Michael Webb Pierce was an American country music vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist of the 1950s, one of the most popular of the genre, charting more number-one hits than any other country and western performer during the decade. Read more
08 Aug 1921: Esther Williams, American swimmer and actress (died 2013) Esther Jane Williams was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics because of the outbreak of World War II, she joined Billy Rose's Aquacade, where she took on the role vacated by Eleanor Holm after the show's move from New York City to San Francisco. While in the city, she spent five months swimming alongside Olympic gold medal-winner and Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller. Williams caught the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer scouts at the Aquacade. After appearing in several small roles, then with Mickey Rooney in an Andy Hardy film, and with future five-time co-star Van Johnson in A Guy Named Joe, Williams made a series of films in the 1940s and early 1950s known as "aquamusicals", which featured elaborate performances with synchronised swimming and diving. Read more
08 Aug 1920: Leo Chiosso, Italian songwriter and producer (died 2006) Leo Matteo Chiosso was an Italian lyricist mostly known for his work with Fred Buscaglione. They formed a songwriting duo who produced about forty songs and created Buscaglione's public persona, a humorous tough guy with a penchant for whisky and women. Read more
08 Aug 1920: Jimmy Witherspoon, American jump blues singer (died 1997) James Witherspoon was an American jump blues and jazz singer. Read more
08 Aug 1919: Dino De Laurentiis, Italian actor and producer (died 2010) Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was an Italian and American film producer and businessman. Following a brief acting career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he moved into film production; alongside Carlo Ponti, he brought Italian cinema to the international scene in the post-World War II period. Read more
08 Aug 1919: John David Wilson, English animator and producer (died 2013) John David Wilson was an English artist, animator and producer. He owned his own production studio, Fine Arts Films. Read more
08 Aug 1915: James Elliott, American runner and coach (died 1981) James F. "Jumbo" Elliott was an American track and field coach, often considered to be one of the greatest of all time. His achievements include producing five Olympic gold medal winners between 1956 and 1968. Read more
08 Aug 1911: Rosetta LeNoire, American actress (died 2002) Rosetta LeNoire was an American stage, film, and television actress. She was known to contemporary audiences for her work in television. She had regular roles on such series as Gimme a Break! and Amen ; she is particularly known for her role as Estelle "Mother" Winslow on Family Matters, which aired from 1989 to 1998. In 1999, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Read more
08 Aug 1910: Jimmy Murphy, Welsh-English footballer and manager (died 1989) James Patrick Murphy was a Welsh footballer who made over 200 appearances for West Bromwich Albion and won 15 caps for the Wales national team, which he later managed. Murphy is most famous for being an influential figure at Manchester United from 1946 until the 1970s, as assistant manager, first-team coach, reserve team manager and a full-time scout, although he disliked the limelight and preferred to work quietly behind the scenes. Read more
08 Aug 1910: Sylvia Sidney, American actress (died 1999) Sylvia Sidney was an American stage, screen, and film actress whose career spanned over 70 years. She rose to prominence in dozens of leading roles in the 1930s. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams in 1973. She later gained attention for her role as Juno, a case worker in the afterlife, in Tim Burton's 1988 film Beetlejuice, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. Read more
08 Aug 1909: Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham, English cricketer and politician, 9th Governor-General of New Zealand (died 1977) Charles John Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham was the ninth Governor-General of New Zealand and an English cricketer from the Lyttelton family. Read more
08 Aug 1909: Jack Renshaw, Australian politician, 31st Premier of New South Wales (died 1987) John Brophy Renshaw was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of New South Wales from 30 April 1964 to 13 May 1965. He was the first New South Wales Premier born in the 20th century. Read more
08 Aug 1909: Bill Voce, England cricketer and coach (died 1984) Bill Voce was an English cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire and England. As a fast bowler, he was an instrumental part of England's infamous Bodyline strategy in their tour of Australia in 1932–1933 under Douglas Jardine. He was born at Annesley Woodhouse, near Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire. He died at Lenton, Nottingham. Read more
08 Aug 1908: Arthur Goldberg, American jurist and politician, 6th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (died 1990) Arthur Joseph Goldberg was an American politician and jurist who served as the 9th U.S. secretary of labor, an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the 6th United States ambassador to the United Nations. Read more
08 Aug 1907: Benny Carter, American saxophonist, trumpet player, and composer (died 2003) Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career in the 1920s, he worked as an arranger, including writing charts for Fletcher Henderson's big band that shaped the swing style. He had an unusually long career that lasted into the 1990s. During the 1980s and 1990s, he was nominated for eight Grammy Awards, which included receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award. Read more
08 Aug 1907: Jimmy Steele (Irish republican), lifelong militant and editor (died 1970) Jimmy Steele was an Irish republican militant. He was one of the most prominent Irish Republican Army (IRA) men in Belfast after the Irish Civil War who held practically every senior position in the Northern Command of the IRA. Later in life Steele publicly denounced the leadership of the IRA which was a prelude to the split in the IRA. Steele founded and edited several Irish Republican publications. Steele spent a large portion of his life in jails as a result of his actions against British security forces. Read more
08 Aug 1905: André Jolivet, French composer (died 1974) André Jolivet was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet drew on his interest in acoustics and atonality, as well as both ancient and modern musical influences, particularly on instruments used in ancient times. He composed in a wide variety of forms for many different types of ensembles. Read more
08 Aug 1904: Achille Varzi, Italian racing driver (died 1948) Achille Varzi was an Italian racing driver. He is remembered as the winner of the 1933 Monaco Grand Prix, as well as the winner of the first Formula One Grand Prix at the 1946 Turin Grand Prix, and as the chief rival of Tazio Nuvolari. Read more
08 Aug 1902: Paul Dirac, English-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1984) Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac was an English theoretical physicist who is considered to be one of the founders of quantum mechanics. Dirac laid the foundations for both quantum electrodynamics and quantum field theory, coining the former term. He was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge from 1932 to 1969, and a professor of physics at Florida State University from 1970 to 1984. Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics with Erwin Schrödinger "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory." Read more
08 Aug 1901: Ernest Lawrence, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1958) Ernest Orlando Lawrence was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron. He is known for his work on uranium-isotope separation for the Manhattan Project, as well as for founding the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Read more
08 Aug 1898: Marguerite Bise, French chef (died 1965) Marguerite Valentine Bise was a French chef and restaurateur at her restaurant Auberge du Père Bise in Talloires, Haute-Savoie, France. In 1951, she became the third woman to win three Michelin stars. Read more
08 Aug 1896: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, American author and academic (died 1953) Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was an American writer who lived in rural Florida and wrote novels with rural themes and settings. Her best known work, The Yearling—about a boy who adopts an orphaned fawn—won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1939 and was later made into a movie of the same name. The book was written before the concept of young adult fiction arose but is now commonly included in teen reading lists. Read more
08 Aug 1891: Adolf Busch, German violinist and composer (died 1952) Adolf Georg Wilhelm Busch was a German-Swiss violinist, conductor, and composer. Read more
08 Aug 1889: Hans Egede Budtz, Danish actor (died 1968) Hans Egede Budtz was a Danish stage and film actor. Read more
08 Aug 1889: Jack Ryder, Australian cricketer (died 1977) John Ryder was a cricketer who played for Victoria and Australia. Read more
08 Aug 1884: Sara Teasdale, American poet and educator (died 1933) Sara Trevor Teasdale was an American lyric poet. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and used the name Filsinger after her 1914 marriage. In 1918, she won a Pulitzer Prize for her 1917 poetry collection Love Songs. Read more
08 Aug 1882: Ladislas Starevich, Russian-French animator, screenwriter, and cinematographer (died 1965) Ladislas Starevich was a Polish-Russian stop-motion animator notable as the author of the first puppet-animated film The Beautiful Leukanida (1912). He also used dead insects and other animals as protagonists of his films. Following the Russian Revolution, Starevich settled in France. Read more
08 Aug 1881: Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, German field marshal (died 1954) Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist was a German Generalfeldmarschall of the Wehrmacht during World War II. Born into the Prussian noble family von Kleist, Kleist entered the Prussian Army in 1900 and commanded a cavalry squadron during World War I. Kleist joined the Reichswehr of inter-war Germany before being discharged in 1938. Read more
08 Aug 1880: Earle Page, Australian lawyer, academic, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1961) Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page was an Australian politician and surgeon who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Australia from 7 to 26 April 1939, in a caretaker capacity following the death of Joseph Lyons. He was the leader of the Country Party from 1921 to 1939, and was the most influential figure in its later years. Read more
08 Aug 1879: Bob Smith, American physician and surgeon, co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous (died 1950) Robert Holbrook Smith, also known as Dr. Bob, was an American physician and surgeon who cofounded Alcoholics Anonymous with Bill Wilson. Read more
08 Aug 1879: Emiliano Zapata, Mexican general and politician (died 1919) Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a Mexican revolutionary and guerrilla leader. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the inspiration of the agrarian movement called Zapatismo. Read more
08 Aug 1876: Varghese Payyappilly Palakkappilly, Indian-Syrian priest, founded the Sisters of the Destitute (died 1929) Varghese Payyappilly was an Indian Syro-Malabar priest from Kerala and the founder of the congregation of Sisters of the Destitute. He was declared Venerable by Pope Francis on 14 April 2018. Read more
08 Aug 1875: Artur Bernardes, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 12th President of Brazil (died 1955) Artur da Silva Bernardes was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 12th president of Brazil from 1922 to 1926. Bernades' presidency was marked by the crisis of the First Brazilian Republic and the almost uninterrupted duration of a state of emergency. During his long political career, from 1905 until his death, he was the main leader of the Republican Party of Minas Gerais (PRM) from 1918–1922 until the party's closure in 1937, and founder and leader of the Republican Party (PR). Read more
08 Aug 1874: Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield, English businessman and politician, President of the Board of Trade (died 1948) Albert Henry Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield,, born Albert Henry Knattriess, was a British-American businessman who was managing director, then chairman of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) from 1910 to 1933 and chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) from 1933 to 1947. Read more
08 Aug 1866: Matthew Henson, American explorer (died 1955) Matthew Alexander Henson was an American explorer who accompanied Robert Peary on seven voyages to the Arctic over a period of nearly 23 years. They spent a total of 18 years on expeditions together. He is best known for his participation in the 1908–1909 expedition that claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole on April 6, 1909. Henson later said that he was the first of their party to reach the North Pole. Read more
08 Aug 1863: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, American painter (died 1930) Jean Leon Gerome Ferris was an American painter best known for his series of 78 scenes from American history, entitled The Pageant of a Nation, the largest series of American historical paintings by a single artist. Read more
08 Aug 1857: Cécile Chaminade, French pianist and composer (died 1944) Cécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade was a French composer and pianist. In 1913, she was awarded the Légion d'Honneur, a first for a female composer. Read more
08 Aug 1856: Thomas Anstey Guthrie, English journalist and author (died 1934) Sir Thomas Anstey Guthrie was an English writer, most noted for his comic novel Vice Versa about a boarding-school boy and his father exchanging identities. His reputation was confirmed by The Tinted Venus and many humorous parodies in Punch magazine. Read more
08 Aug 1851: George Turner, Australian politician, 18th Premier of Victoria (died 1916) Sir George Turner was an Australian politician. He served two terms as Premier of Victoria, holding office from 1894 to 1899 and 1900 to 1901 as a liberal. After Federation he was invited by Edmund Barton to join the inaugural federal ministry, becoming the first Treasurer of Australia. He held office until 1904 under Barton and Alfred Deakin, then a few months later resumed office under George Reid. The government fell in 1905 and Turner retired from politics at the 1906 election. Read more
08 Aug 1839: Nelson A. Miles, American general (died 1925) Nelson Appleton Miles was a United States Army officer who served in the American Civil War (1861–1865), the last stages of the American Indian Wars (1840–1890), and the Spanish–American War (1898). From 1895 to 1903, Miles served as the last Commanding General of the United States Army, before the office was transformed into the current Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army in 1903. Read more
08 Aug 1822: George Stoneman, Jr., United States Army cavalry officer (died 1894) George Stoneman Jr. was an American military officer and politician who served as the 15th governor of California from 1883 to 1887. Read more
08 Aug 1814: Esther Hobart Morris, American suffragette and judge (died 1902) Esther Hobart Morris was an American judge who was the first woman justice of the peace in the United States. She began her tenure as justice in South Pass City, Wyoming, on February 14, 1870, serving a term of nearly nine months. The Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners appointed Morris as justice of the peace after the previous justice, R. S. Barr, resigned in protest of Wyoming Territory's passage of the women's suffrage amendment in December 1869. Read more
08 Aug 1807: Emilie Flygare-Carlén, Swedish author (died 1892) Emilie Flygare-Carlén was a Swedish novelist. Read more

Notable Deaths on 08 August

08 Aug 2024: Issa Hayatou, Cameroonian basketball player and football executive (born 1946) Issa Hayatou was a Cameroonian sports executive, athlete, and football administrator best known for serving as the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) between 1988 and 2017. He served as the acting FIFA president until 26 February 2016 as the previous president Sepp Blatter was banned from all football-related activities in 2015 as a part of that year's FIFA corruption investigation. In 2002, he ran for president of FIFA but was defeated by Blatter. He was also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Read more
08 Aug 2024: Mitzi McCall, American actress (born 1930) Mitzi McCall was an American comedian and actress. She was known for her work with her husband, Charlie Brill, and their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, the same episode that featured the first appearance of The Beatles on the show. Read more
08 Aug 2024: Chi-Chi Rodríguez, Puerto Rican professional golfer (born 1935) Juan Antonio "Chi-Chi" Rodríguez was a Puerto Rican professional golfer. The winner of eight PGA Tour events, he was the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Read more
08 Aug 2024: Steve Symms, American politician and lobbyist (born 1938) Steven Douglas Symms was an American politician and lobbyist who served as a four-term congressman (1973–1981) and two-term U.S. senator (1981–1993), representing Idaho. He later became a partner at Parry, Romani, DeConcini & Symms, a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. Read more
08 Aug 2023: Rodriguez, American singer and songwriter (born 1942) Sixto Diaz Rodríguez, mononymously known as Rodríguez, was an American musician from Detroit, Michigan. Read more
08 Aug 2022: Olivia Newton-John, English-Australian singer-songwriter and actress (born 1948) Dame Olivia Newton-John was a British and Australian singer, songwriter and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, as well as the highest-selling female Australian recording artist of all time. Read more
08 Aug 2021: Bill Davis, Canadian politician, 18th premier of Ontario (born 1929) William Grenville Davis was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Behind Oliver Mowat, Davis was the second-longest serving premier of Ontario. Read more
08 Aug 2020: Gabriel Ochoa Uribe, Colombian football player and manager (born 1929) Gabriel Ochoa Uribe was a Colombian football player and manager. He won four league titles and the Copa Colombia with Millonarios as a player and fourteen league titles as a manager, making him the most successful Colombian coach of all time. Read more
08 Aug 2020: Alfredo Lim, former Philippine senator and Mayor of Manila (born 1929) Alfredo "Fred" Siojo Lim was a Filipino politician, police officer and lawyer who served as a Senator of the Philippines from 2004 to 2007, He also served as the 23rd and 25th Mayor of Manila twice: first from 1992 to 1998, and again from 2007 to 2013. Read more
08 Aug 2018: Nicholas Bett, Kenyan track and field athlete (born 1990) Nicholas Kiplagat Bett was a Kenyan track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres hurdles. His personal best for the event is 47.79 seconds. He was a world champion in the event, having won in 2015, and a two-time bronze medallist at the African Championships in Athletics. He died in a road accident in Kenya at the age of 28. Read more
08 Aug 2017: Glen Campbell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (born 1936) Glen Travis Campbell was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television from 1969 until 1972. A revered session guitarist before breaking through as a solo performer, Campbell released 64 albums in a career that spanned five decades, selling over 45 million records worldwide, including twelve gold albums, four platinum albums, and one double-platinum album. Read more
08 Aug 2015: Sean Price, American rapper (born 1972) Sean Duval Price was an American rapper and member of the hip-hop collective Boot Camp Clik. He was one half of the duo Heltah Skeltah, performing under the name Ruck, along with partner Rock. Read more
08 Aug 2015: Gus Mortson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1925) James Angus Gerald "Old Hardrock" Mortson was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Black Hawks, and Detroit Red Wings, winning four Stanley Cups with Toronto. He also played in eight NHL All-Star Games. Read more
08 Aug 2014: Menahem Golan, Israeli director and producer (born 1929) Menahem Golan was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He co-owned The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon specialized in producing low-to-mid-budget American films, primarily genre films, during the 1980s after Golan and Globus had achieved significant filmmaking success in Israel during the 1970s. Read more
08 Aug 2014: Charles Keating, English-American actor (born 1941) Charles Keating was an English actor. Read more
08 Aug 2014: Leonardo Legaspi, Filipino archbishop (born 1935) Leonardo Zamora Legaspi, OP was a Filipino prelate of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines. He was best known for his tenure as the third archbishop of Caceres from 1984 to 2012 and being the first Filipino appointed as Rector Magnificus of the University of Santo Tomas in 1970. Read more
08 Aug 2014: Peter Sculthorpe, Australian composer and conductor (born 1929) Peter Joshua Sculthorpe FAHA was a distinguished Australian composer and music educator. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of countries neighbouring Australia, as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of Aboriginal Australian music with that of the heritage of the West. He was known primarily for his orchestral and chamber music, such as Kakadu (1988) and Earth Cry (1986), which evoke the sounds and feeling of the Australian bushland and outback. He also wrote 18 string quartets, using unusual timbral effects, works for piano, and two operas. He stated that he wanted his music to make people feel better and happier for having listened to it. He typically avoided the dense, atonal techniques of many of his contemporary composers. His work was often characterised by its distinctive use of percussion. As one of the compositional pioneers of a distinctively Australian sound, Sculthorpe and his music have been likened to the role played by Aaron Copland in America's musical coming of age. Read more
08 Aug 2014: Red Wilson, American football and baseball player (born 1929) Robert James "Red" Wilson was an American professional baseball and college baseball and football player. He played 10 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox (1951–1954), Detroit Tigers (1954–1960), and Cleveland Indians (1960), primarily as a catcher. Read more
08 Aug 2013: Karen Black, American actress (born 1939) Karen Blanche Black was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portraying eccentric and offbeat characters, and established herself as a figure of New Hollywood. Her career spanned 50 years and includes nearly 200 credits in both independent and mainstream films. Black received numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Golden Globe Awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Read more
08 Aug 2013: Johannes Bluyssen, Dutch bishop (born 1926) Johannes Willem Maria Bluyssen or Bluijssen was a Dutch Catholic bishop. Read more
08 Aug 2013: Fernando Castro Pacheco, Mexican painter, engraver, and illustrator (born 1918) Fernando Castro Pacheco was a Mexican painter, engraver, illustrator, printmaker and teacher. As well as being known for traditional artistic forms, Castro Pacheco illustrated several children’s books and produced works in sculpture. He is more popularly known for his murals that invoke the spirit and history of the Mexican people. His works evoke a unique use of color and form. Read more
08 Aug 2013: Igor Kurnosov, Russian chess player (born 1985) Igor Kurnosov was a Russian chess grandmaster. Read more
08 Aug 2013: Regina Resnik, American soprano and actress (born 1922) Regina Resnik was an American opera singer who had an active international career that spanned five decades. She began her career as a soprano in 1942 and soon after began a relationship with the Metropolitan Opera that spanned from 1944 until 1983. Under the advice of conductor Clemens Krauss, she began retraining her voice in the mezzo-soprano repertoire in 1953 and by 1956 had completely removed soprano literature from her performance repertoire. Read more
08 Aug 2012: Fay Ajzenberg-Selove, German-American physicist and academic (born 1926) Fay Ajzenberg-Selove was an American nuclear physicist. She was known for her experimental work in nuclear spectroscopy of light elements, and for her annual reviews of the energy levels of light atomic nuclei. She was a recipient of the 2007 National Medal of Science. Read more
08 Aug 2012: Ruth Etchells, English poet and academic (born 1931) Dorothea Ruth Etchells was an English poet and college principal who spent most of her working life in the University of Durham. Read more
08 Aug 2012: Surya Lesmana, Indonesian footballer and manager (born 1944) Liem Soei Liang, also known as Surya Lesmana was an Indonesian association football player and manager. Lesmana played midfielder for Persija Jakarta and the Indonesia national team, He also played for Mackinnons in Hong Kong. Read more
08 Aug 2012: Kurt Maetzig, German director and screenwriter (born 1911) Kurt Maetzig was a German film director who had a significant effect on the film industry in East Germany. He was one of the most respected filmmakers of the GDR. After his retirement he lived in Wildkuhl, Mecklenburg, and had three children. Read more
08 Aug 2010: Patricia Neal, American actress (born 1926) Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She is well known for, among other roles, playing World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), radio journalist Marcia Jeffries in A Face in the Crowd (1957), wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and the worn-out housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud (1963). She also featured as the matriarch in the television film The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971); her role as Olivia Walton was re-cast for the series it inspired, The Waltons. A major star of the 1950s and 1960s, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and two British Academy Film Awards, and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards. Read more
08 Aug 2009: Daniel Jarque, Spanish footballer (born 1983) Daniel Jarque González was a Spanish professional footballer who played as a central defender and spent his entire career with Espanyol. He was named team captain one month before his death from a heart attack at the age of 26. Read more
08 Aug 2008: Orville Moody, American golfer (born 1933) Orville James Moody was an American professional golfer who won numerous tournaments in his career. He won the U.S. Open in 1969, the last champion in the 20th century to win through local and sectional qualifying. Read more
08 Aug 2007: Ma Lik, Chinese journalist and politician (born 1952) Ma Lik, GBS, JP, was a Legislative Councillor, and was the Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), a pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. Read more
08 Aug 2007: Melville Shavelson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1917) Melville Shavelson was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. He was President of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAw) from 1969 to 1971, 1979 to 1981, and 1985 to 1987. Read more
08 Aug 2005: Barbara Bel Geddes, American actress (born 1922) Barbara Bel Geddes was an American stage and screen actress, artist, and children's author whose career spanned almost five decades. She received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards. Bel Geddes was best known for her starring role as Miss Ellie Ewing in the television series Dallas, while her notable films included I Remember Mama (1948) and Vertigo (1958). In theatre, she is best remembered as Maggie in the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. Read more
08 Aug 2005: Ahmed Deedat, South African missionary and author (born 1918) Ahmed Husein Deedat was an Indian-South African Islamic author, intellectual, and orator on comparative religion. He was best known as a Muslim missionary, who held numerous inter-religious public debates with evangelical Christians, as well as video lectures on Islam, Christianity, and the Bible. Read more
08 Aug 2005: John H. Johnson, American publisher, founded the Johnson Publishing Company (born 1918) John Harold Johnson was an American business executive and publisher. He was the founder in 1942 of the Johnson Publishing Company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson's company, with its creation of Ebony (1945) and Jet (1951) magazines, was among the most influential African-American business in media in the second half of the twentieth century, peaking at 9 million subscribers. Read more
08 Aug 2005: Gene Mauch, American baseball player and manager (born 1925) Gene William Mauch was an American professional baseball player and manager who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates (1947), Chicago Cubs (1948–1949), Boston Braves (1950–1951), St. Louis Cardinals (1952) and Boston Red Sox (1956–1957). Read more
08 Aug 2005: Dean Rockwell, American commander, wrestler, and coach (born 1912) Dean Ladrath Rockwell ) was a decorated World War II group commander in the D-Day invasion, an Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling coach, and a college football coach. Read more
08 Aug 2005: Monica Sjöö, Swedish-English painter (born 1938) Monica Sjöö was a Swedish-born British-based painter, writer and radical anarcho/ eco-feminist and peace activist who was an early exponent of the Goddess movement. Her books and paintings were foundational to the development of feminist art in Britain, beginning at the time of the founding of the women's liberation movement around 1970. Read more
08 Aug 2004: Leon Golub, American painter and academic (born 1922) Leon Golub was an American painter. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he also studied, receiving his BA at the University of Chicago in 1942, and his BFA and MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1949 and 1950, respectively. Read more
08 Aug 2004: Fay Wray, Canadian-American actress (born 1907) Vina Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film King Kong. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international recognition as an actress in horror films. She has been dubbed the first "scream queen". Read more
08 Aug 2003: Dirk Hoogendam, Dutch-German SS officer and war criminal (born 1922) Dirk Hoogendam, a.k.a. Dieter Hohendamm, alias The Boxer, was a Dutch war criminal. Read more
08 Aug 2003: Falaba Issa Traoré, Malian director and playwright (born 1930) Falaba Issa Traoré was a Malian writer, comedian, playwright, and theatre and film director. Read more
08 Aug 1998: Mahmoud Saremi, Iranian journalist (born 1968) Mahmoud Saremi was an Iranian reporter, working for IRNA, as the news agency's head of office in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. He was killed by the Taliban when they occupied the Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, together with eight Iranian diplomats. Read more
08 Aug 1996: Nevill Francis Mott, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905) Sir Nevill Francis Mott was a British theoretical physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1977 for his work on the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems, especially amorphous semiconductors. The Prize was shared with Philip W. Anderson and John Van Vleck. The three had conducted loosely related research. Mott and Anderson clarified the reasons why magnetic or amorphous materials can sometimes be metallic and sometimes insulating. Read more
08 Aug 1996: Jüri Randviir, Estonian chess player and journalist (born 1927) Jüri Randviir was an Estonian chess player and journalist, who four times won the Estonian Chess Championship. Read more
08 Aug 1992: Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei, Iranian religious leader and scholar (born 1899) Abu al-Qasim al-Musawi al-Khoei was a major Iranian-Iraqi Shia marja and dean of the Hawza of Najaf. Khoei was widely considered the most influential Twelver Shia Muslim scholar of his time. Read more
08 Aug 1991: James Irwin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut, eighth man to walk on the moon (born 1930) James Benson Irwin was an American astronaut, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and a United States Air Force pilot. He served as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 15, the fourth human lunar landing. He was the 8th person to walk on the Moon. Read more
08 Aug 1988: Félix Leclerc, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1914) Félix Leclerc was a Québécois singer-songwriter, poet, writer, actor and political activist. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada on December 20, 1968. Leclerc was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame for his songs "Moi, mes souliers", "Le P'tit Bonheur" and "Le Tour de l'île" in 2006. Read more
08 Aug 1988: Alan Napier, English actor (born 1903) Alan William Napier-Clavering, better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor. After a decade in West End theatre, he had a long film career in Britain and later in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for portraying Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler in the 1960s live-action Batman television series. Read more
08 Aug 1987: Danilo Blanuša, Croatian mathematician and physicist (born 1903) Danilo Blanuša was a Croatian mathematician, physicist, engineer and a professor at the University of Zagreb. Read more
08 Aug 1985: Louise Brooks, American actress (born 1906) Mary Louise Brooks was an American film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an icon of the flapper culture, in part due to the bob hairstyle that she helped popularize during the prime of her career. Read more
08 Aug 1984: Richard Deacon, American actor (born 1921) Richard Lewis Deacon was an American television and motion picture actor, widely known for playing supporting roles in television shows such as The Dick Van Dyke Show, Leave It to Beaver, and The Jack Benny Program, along with minor roles in films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963). Read more
08 Aug 1984: Ellen Raskin, American author and illustrator (born 1928) Ellen Raskin was an American children's writer and illustrator. She won the 1979 Newbery Medal for The Westing Game, a mystery novel, and another children's mystery, Figgs & Phantoms, was a Newbery Honor Book in 1975. Read more
08 Aug 1982: Eric Brandon, English racing driver and businessman (born 1920) Eric Brandon was a motor racing driver and businessman. He was closely associated with the Cooper Car Company, and was instrumental in the early development of the company. Read more
08 Aug 1981: Thomas McElwee, Provisional Irish Republican Army, died on hunger strike (born 1957) Thomas McElwee was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer who participated in the 1981 hunger strike. From Bellaghy, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, he died at the age of 23 after 62 days on hunger strike. Read more
08 Aug 1980: Paul Triquet, Canadian general, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1910) Brigadier-General Paul Triquet was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for valour in the presence of the enemy that can be awarded to British and other Commonwealth forces. Triquet held the rank of captain at the time of his VC award and went on to achieve the rank of brigadier-general. Read more
08 Aug 1979: Nicholas Monsarrat, English lieutenant and author (born 1910) Lieutenant Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat FRSL RNVR was a British novelist known for his sea stories, particularly The Cruel Sea (1951) and Three Corvettes (1942–1945), but perhaps known best internationally for his novels, The Tribe That Lost Its Head and its sequel, Richer Than All His Tribe. Read more
08 Aug 1975: Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist (born 1928) Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley was an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Read more
08 Aug 1974: Elisabeth Abegg, German anti-Nazi resistance fighter (born 1882) Luise Wilhelmine Elisabeth Abegg was a German educator and resistance fighter against Nazism. She provided shelter to around 80 Jews during the Holocaust and was consequently recognised as Righteous Among the Nations. Read more
08 Aug 1973: Vilhelm Moberg, Swedish historian and author (born 1898) Karl Artur Vilhelm Moberg was a Swedish journalist, author, playwright, historian, and debater. His literary career, spanning more than 45 years, is associated with his four‑volume series The Emigrants. The novels, published between 1949 and 1959, deal with the Swedish emigration to the United States in the 19th century. They have been adapted for a total of three movies, and a musical. Read more
08 Aug 1971: Freddie Spencer Chapman, English lieutenant (born 1907) Frederick Spencer Chapman, was a British Army officer and World War II veteran, most famous for his exploits behind enemy lines in Japanese occupied Malaya. His medals include the Distinguished Service Order and Bar, and the Polar Medal. He also received several unofficial awards: the Gill Memorial Medal, Mungo Park Medal, and the Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal. Read more
08 Aug 1969: Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, German biologist and eugenicist (born 1896) Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer was a German human biologist and geneticist, who was the Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Münster until he retired in 1965. A member of the Verschuer family, his title Freiherr is often translated as baron. Read more
08 Aug 1965: Shirley Jackson, American novelist and short story writer (born 1916) Shirley Hardie Jackson was an American writer known primarily for her works of horror and mystery. Her writing career spanned over two decades, during which she composed six novels, two memoirs, and more than 200 short stories. Read more
08 Aug 1959: Albert Namatjira, Australian painter (born 1902) Albert Namatjira was an Arrernte painter from the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia, widely considered one of the most notable Australian artists. As a pioneer of contemporary Indigenous Australian art, he was arguably one of the most famous Indigenous Australians of his generation. He was the first Aboriginal artist to receive popularity from a wide Australian audience. Read more
08 Aug 1950: Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman, founded Qantas (born 1879) Sir Fergus McMaster was an Australian businessman and aviation pioneer. He was one of the three founders of the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited, the airline company that became commonly known by its acronym, Qantas. Read more
08 Aug 1944: Erwin von Witzleben, German field marshal (born 1881) Job Wilhelm Georg Erwin Erdmann von Witzleben was a German Generalfeldmarschall in the Wehrmacht and Oberbefehlshaber West, during the Second World War. A leading conspirator in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, he was designated to become commander in chief of the Wehrmacht in a post-Nazi regime, had the plot succeeded. After being dishonourably discharged by the Ehrenhof, he was murdered, after a show trial from the Volksgerichtshof. Read more
08 Aug 1944: Michael Wittmann, German commander (born 1914) Michael Wittmann was a German Waffen-SS tank commander during the Second World War. He is known for his ambush of elements of the British 7th Armoured Division during the Battle of Villers-Bocage on 13 June 1944. While in command of a Tiger I tank, Wittmann destroyed up to 14 tanks, 15 personnel carriers and two anti-tank guns within 15 minutes before the loss of his own tank. Read more
08 Aug 1940: Johnny Dodds, American clarinet player and saxophonist (born 1892) Johnny Dodds was an American jazz clarinetist and alto saxophonist based in New Orleans, best known for his recordings under his own name and with bands such as those of Joe "King" Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, Lovie Austin and Louis Armstrong. Dodds was the older brother of drummer Warren "Baby" Dodds, one of the first important jazz drummers. They worked together in the New Orleans Bootblacks in 1926. Dodds is an important figure in jazz history. He was the premier clarinetist of his era and, in recognition of his artistic contributions, he was posthumously inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame. He has been described as "a prime architect in the creation of the Jazz Age." Read more
08 Aug 1937: Jimmie Guthrie, Scottish motorcycle racer (born 1897) James Guthrie was a Scottish motorcycle racer. Read more
08 Aug 1934: Wilbert Robinson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1863) Wilbert Robinson, nicknamed "Uncle Robbie", was an American catcher, coach and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for the Philadelphia Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, and St. Louis Cardinals. As a player, he played 1,371 games, primarily with Baltimore that saw him take part of three consecutive teams that won the National League pennant from 1894 to 1896. Read more
08 Aug 1930: Launceston Elliot, Scottish wrestler and weightlifter (born 1874) Launceston Elliot was a British weightlifter, and the first athlete representing the United Kingdom to become an Olympic champion. Read more
08 Aug 1928: Stjepan Radić, Croatian politician (born 1871) Stjepan Radić was a Croat politician and the co-founder of the Croatian People's Peasant Party (HPSS), active in Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Read more
08 Aug 1921: Juhani Aho, Finnish journalist and author (born 1861) Juhani Aho, originally Johannes Brofeldt, was a Finnish author and journalist. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature sixteen times. Read more
08 Aug 1920: Eduard Birnbaum, Polish-born German cantor (born 1855) Eduard Birnbaum (1855–1920) was a Polish-born German hazzan (cantor) and one of the first explorers of Jewish music. Read more
08 Aug 1911: William P. Frye, American lawyer and politician (born 1830) William Pierce Frye was an American politician from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, Frye spent most of his political career as a legislator, serving in the Maine House of Representatives and then U.S. House of Representatives, before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served for 30 years before dying in office. Frye was a member of the Frye political family, and was the grandfather of Wallace H. White Jr., and the son of John March Frye. He was also a prominent member of the Peucinian Society tradition. To date, Frye is the longest serving Senator in Maine's history. Read more
08 Aug 1909: Mary MacKillop, Australian nun and saint, co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (born 1842) Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ was an Australian religious sister. She was born in Melbourne but is best known for her activities in South Australia. Together with Fr Julian Tenison-Woods, she founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, a congregation of religious sisters that established a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australia and New Zealand, with an emphasis on education for the rural poor. Read more
08 Aug 1902: James Tissot, French painter and illustrator (born 1836) Jacques Joseph Tissot, better known as James Tissot, was a French painter, illustrator, and caricaturist. He was born to a drapery merchant and a milliner and decided to pursue a career in art at a young age, coming to incorporate elements of realism, early Impressionism, and academic art into his work. He is best known for a variety of genre paintings of contemporary European high society produced during the peak of his career, which focused on the people and women's fashion of the Belle Époque and Victorian England, but he would also explore many medieval, biblical, and Japoniste subjects throughout his life. His career included work as a caricaturist for Vanity Fair under the pseudonym of Coïdé. Read more
08 Aug 1902: John Henry Twachtman, American painter and academic (born 1853) John Henry Twachtman was an American painter best known for his impressionist landscapes, though his painting style varied widely through his career. Art historians consider Twachtman's style of American Impressionism to be among the more personal and experimental of his generation. He was a member of "The Ten," a loosely-allied group of American artists dissatisfied with professional art organizations, who banded together in 1898 to exhibit their works as a stylistically unified group. Read more
08 Aug 1898: Eugène Boudin, French painter (born 1824) Eugène Louis Boudin was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, summary and economic, garnered the splendid eulogy of Baudelaire; and Corot called him the "King of the skies". Read more
08 Aug 1897: Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss historian and academic (born 1818) Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt was a Swiss historian of art and culture and an influential figure in the historiography of both fields. His best known work is The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860). He is known as one of the major progenitors of cultural history. Sigfried Giedion described Burckhardt's achievement in the following terms: "The great discoverer of the age of the Renaissance, he first showed how a period should be treated in its entirety, with regard not only for its painting, sculpture and architecture, but for the social institutions of its daily life as well." Read more
08 Aug 1887: Alexander William Doniphan, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (born 1808) Alexander William Doniphan was a 19th-century American attorney, soldier and politician from Missouri who is best known today as the man who prevented the summary execution of Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at the close of the 1838 Mormon War in that state. He also achieved renown as a leader of American troops during the Mexican–American War, as the author of a legal code that still forms the basis of New Mexico's Bill of Rights, and as a successful defense attorney in the Missouri towns of Liberty, Richmond and Independence. Read more
08 Aug 1879: Immanuel Hermann Fichte, German philosopher and academic (born 1797) Immanuel Hermann Fichte was a German philosopher and son of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. In his philosophy, he was a theist and strongly opposed to the Hegelian school. Read more
08 Aug 1863: Angus MacAskill, Scottish-Canadian giant (born 1825) Angus MacAskill was a Scottish man. In its 1981 edition, the Guinness Book of World Records stated he was the strongest man, the tallest non-pathological giant and the largest true giant in recorded history at 7 feet 9 inches (2.36 m), now equal largest after Olivier Rioux matched his height in 2024. He also had the largest chest measurements of any non-obese man at 80 inches (203 cm). He is the second tallest verified man from the United Kingdom. Read more
08 Aug 1858: Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité Bonheur, Haitian Empress (born 1758) Empress Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité Bonheur, Empress of Haiti was the Empress of Haiti (1804–1806) as the wife of Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Read more
08 Aug 1828: Carl Peter Thunberg, Swedish botanist and psychologist (born 1743) Carl Peter Thunberg, also known as Karl Peter von Thunberg, Carl Pehr Thunberg, or Carl Per Thunberg, was a Swedish naturalist and an "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus. After studying under Linnaeus at Uppsala University, he spent seven years travelling in southern Africa and Asia, collecting and describing many plants and animals new to European science, and observing local cultures. He has been called "the father of South African botany", "pioneer of Occidental Medicine in Japan", and the "Japanese Linnaeus". Read more
08 Aug 1827: George Canning, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1770) George Canning was a British statesman and Tory politician. He became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 12 April 1827, but his premiership was cut short by his death 119 days later on 8 August 1827. Canning also figured prominently in the cabinets of Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, and William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, with two terms as Foreign Secretary. Read more

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