History of Today 11 August: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 11 August. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 11 August. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 11 August 2026, 01:04 AM

Important Events on 11 August in History

11 Aug 2023: Luna 25 launches from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. Read more
11 Aug 2017: At least 41 people are killed and another 179 injured after two passenger trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt. Read more
11 Aug 2012: At least 306 people are killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran. Read more
11 Aug 2006: The oil tanker MT Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country's worst oil spill. Read more
11 Aug 2003: NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history. Read more
11 Aug 2003: Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. Read more
11 Aug 2000: An air rage incident occurs on board Southwest Airlines Flight 1763 when 19-year-old Jonathan Burton attempts to storm the cockpit, but he is subdued by other passengers and dies from his injuries. Read more
11 Aug 1995: The Russell Hill subway accident in Toronto kills 3 and injures 30, due to a combination of human error and a safety system design flaw. Read more
11 Aug 1992: The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota opens. At the time the largest shopping mall in the United States. Read more
11 Aug 1991: Nickelodeon's first line of "Nicktoons" (Doug, Rugrats & Ren & Stimpy) premiere on the channel. Read more
11 Aug 1988: A meeting between Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, and leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan culminates in the formation of Al-Qaeda. Read more
11 Aug 1984: "We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio. Read more
11 Aug 1982: A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, killing one passenger and injuring 15 others. Read more
11 Aug 1979: Two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collide over the Ukrainian city of Dniprodzerzhynsk and crash, killing all 178 aboard both airliners. Read more
11 Aug 1975: East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin. Read more
11 Aug 1973: At the 1520 Sedgwick Avenue apartment building in The Bronx, New York, DJ Kool Herc hosts a house party widely considered to mark the birthplace of hip-hop culture and music. DJ Kool Herc demonstrates a new technique of beat juggling and Coke La Rock performs a new style of vocal performance called rapping. Read more
11 Aug 1972: Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam. Read more
11 Aug 1969: The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine following their liftoff from the Moon. Read more
11 Aug 1965: Race riots (the Watts Riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California. Read more
11 Aug 1962: Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity. Read more
11 Aug 1961: The former Portuguese territories in India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged to create the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Read more
11 Aug 1960: Chad declares independence from France. Read more
11 Aug 1959: Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens. Read more
11 Aug 1952: Hussein bin Talal is proclaimed King of Jordan. Read more
11 Aug 1945: Poles in Kraków engage in a pogrom against Jews in the city, killing one and wounding five. Read more
11 Aug 1942: Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi. Read more
11 Aug 1934: The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island. Read more
11 Aug 1929: Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio. Read more
11 Aug 1920: The 1920 Cork hunger strike begins which eventually results in the deaths of three Irish Republicans including the Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney. Read more
11 Aug 1920: The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed, ending the Latvian War of Independence. Read more
11 Aug 1919: Germany's Weimar Constitution is signed into law. Read more
11 Aug 1918: World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends. Read more
11 Aug 1898: Spanish–American War: American troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Read more
11 Aug 1871: An explosion of guncotton occurs in Stowmarket, England, killing 28. Read more
11 Aug 1858: The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren. Read more
11 Aug 1813: In Colombia, Juan del Corral declares the independence of Antioquia. Read more
11 Aug 1812: Peninsular War: French troops engage British-Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda. Read more
11 Aug 1804: Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria. Read more

Famous Births on 11 August

11 Aug 2002: Marvin Harrison Jr., American football player Marvin Darnell Harrison Jr., nicknamed "Maserati Marv", is an American professional football wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, where he was a two-time unanimous All-American, one of only eleven players in Big Ten Conference history, and the Fred Biletnikoff Award winner in 2023. Harrison was selected fourth overall by the Cardinals in the 2024 NFL draft. He is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Marvin Harrison. Read more
11 Aug 2001: Moyuka Uchijima, Japanese tennis player Moyuka Uchijima is a Japanese professional tennis player.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 47, achieved on 5 May 2025, and a best doubles ranking of 86, reached on 21 July 2025. She has won one WTA Tour doubles title and two WTA 125 singles titles along with 13 titles in singles and eleven in doubles on the ITF Circuit. Read more
11 Aug 1999: Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, Indonesian badminton player Gregoria Mariska Tunjung Cahyaningsih is an Indonesian badminton player in women's singles and an Olympic medalist. She started her career at the badminton club PB Mutiara Cardinal in Bandung, West Java, and was called to the national team in 2013. She was the girls' singles champion at the 2017 World Junior Championships. Tunjung also captained the Indonesia women's team at the 2022 Asia Team Championships, where they emerged champions. Tunjung's best achievement is when she won the bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Read more
11 Aug 1999: Changbin, South Korean rapper Seo Chang-bin, known mononymously as Changbin, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is a member of the South Korean boy group Stray Kids, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2017. He is also a member of 3Racha, an in-house production team and sub-unit of Stray Kids. Read more
11 Aug 1997: Sarah Clelland, Scottish footballer Sarah Isabel Clelland is a Scottish football who plays for Spartans in the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) as a full back. She has also played international handball for Scotland and Great Britain. Read more
11 Aug 1995: Brad Binder, South African motorcycle racer Brad Binder is a South African Grand Prix motorcycle racer competing for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. He is the 2016 Moto3 World Champion. Read more
11 Aug 1994: Storm Sanders, Australian tennis player Storm Hunter is an Australian professional tennis player. She reached world No. 1 in doubles on 6 November 2023, becoming the third Australian woman to hold the top spot. She also has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 114 on 1 April 2024. Read more
11 Aug 1994: Anton Cooper, New Zealand cross-country cyclist Anton Cooper is a New Zealand cross-country cyclist who races for the Trek Factory Racing XC Team. He is the 2015 World Under 23 Cross-country Mountain bike champion and the 2012 World Junior Cross-country Mountain bike champion. One of the two contenders for the country's 2016 Summer Olympics quota spot, he developed chronic fatigue earlier in 2016 and the nomination went to Sam Gaze instead. Cooper represented New Zealand at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, finishing sixth in the Men's Cross-country Mountain Bike final. Read more
11 Aug 1994: Joseph Barbato, French footballer Joseph Barbato is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Furiani. Read more
11 Aug 1994: Song I-han, South Korean singer Song Byeong-hwa, known professionally as Song I-han (송이한), is a South Korean singer-songwriter. He competed in the blind audition program Blind Musician in 2018 and won the competition, immediately releasing his debut single "Reason". At the end of 2020, he released a special single entitled "I Will Be Your Shining Star" amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic. The ballad rose in prominence and was nicknamed "wedding song icon" upon the launch of a contest in which three soon-to-be-married couples would be selected for a free performance by Song at their wedding. Song received two award nominations at the 36th Golden Disc Awards. Read more
11 Aug 1993: Alyson Stoner, American actor, singer, and dancer Alyson Rae Stoner is an American actor, singer, and dancer. Their film roles include the Cheaper by the Dozen films (2003–2005) and the Step Up franchise (2006–2014). On television, they have hosted Disney Channel's Mike's Super Short Show (2002–2007), played Max in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005–2007), voiced Isabella Garcia-Shapiro in Phineas and Ferb, and portrayed Caitlyn in Camp Rock (2008) and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010). Read more
11 Aug 1992: Tomi Lahren, American conservative political commentator Tomi Rae Augustus Lahren is an American conservative political commentator and television presenter. She hosted Tomi on TheBlaze, where she gained attention for her short video segments called "Final Thoughts", in which she frequently criticized liberal politics. Many of her videos went viral, with The New York Times describing her as "the Right's rising media star". Lahren was suspended from TheBlaze in March 2017 after saying in an interview on The View that she believed women should have legal access to abortion. Read more
11 Aug 1991: Cristian Tello, Spanish footballer Cristian Tello Herrera is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for UAE Second Division League side Palm City. Read more
11 Aug 1990: Lenka Juríková, Slovak tennis player Lenka Juríková is a Slovak former tennis player. Read more
11 Aug 1989: Junior Heffernan, Irish cyclist and triathlete (died 2013) Junior Heffernan was an Irish triathlete and then cyclist who at the end of his life was competing mostly in Great Britain. He attended Kelly College on the outskirts of Tavistock, Devon, where he competed under coach Rich Brady. Read more
11 Aug 1989: Sebastian Huke, German footballer Sebastian Huke is a German footballer who currently plays for Tennis Borussia Berlin. Read more
11 Aug 1988: Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Filipino basketball player Rabeh Ahmed T. Al-Hussaini is a Filipino professional basketball player who last played for the Basilan Viva Portmasters of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. A power forward/center, he played five seasons for the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines from 2005 to 2009 and led the Eagles to back-to-back basketball championships in his last two seasons with them. He averaged 24.6 point per game, 13 rebounds per game, and 2 assists per game. Read more
11 Aug 1988: Patty Mills, Australian basketball player Patrick Sammie Mills is an Australian professional basketball player for LDLC ASVEL of the French LNB Élite and the EuroLeague. He is the general manager of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors basketball program at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Mills was born and raised in Canberra, and is of Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal Australian descent. In 2007, he became the third Indigenous basketball player to play for the Australian national team. Mills was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 55th overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft after playing two years of college basketball for the Saint Mary's Gaels. Read more
11 Aug 1988: Mustafa Pektemek, Turkish footballer Mustafa Pektemek is a Turkish footballer who plays as a forward for TFF 2. Lig club Güzide Gebzespor. Read more
11 Aug 1987: Dany N'Guessan, French footballer Djombo Dany-Gael N'Guessan is a French former professional footballer who played as a left winger or forward Read more
11 Aug 1987: Drew Storen, American baseball player Drew Patrick Storen is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Nationals, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, and Cincinnati Reds. Read more
11 Aug 1986: Mokhtar Benmoussa, Algerian footballer Mokhtar Benmoussa is an Algerian former professional footballer. He played primarily as a left winger but was also used as a left midfielder and a left-back. Benmoussa is a former Algeria youth international and represented Algeria at the U17 and U23 levels. He also earned eight caps for the Algeria national team. Read more
11 Aug 1986: Hélène Defrance, French sailor Hélène Defrance is a French former sailor, who won a bronze medal in the women's 470 event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She also won the 2010 470 European Championships race, and the 2016 470 World Championships. Defrance is a knight of the Ordre national du Mérite. Read more
11 Aug 1986: Pablo Sandoval, Venezuelan baseball player Pablo Emilio Sandoval Reyes is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball third baseman. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, and Atlanta Braves and most recently for the Staten Island FerryHawks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He stands 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall, and weighs 268 pounds (122 kg). Nicknamed "Kung Fu Panda", Sandoval is a two-time All-Star and has won three World Series championships with the Giants and one with the Braves. He hit three home runs in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series, becoming the fourth player to hit three home runs in a World Series game, leading to his being named that year's World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP). During the offseason, Sandoval plays for the Navegantes del Magallanes of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League (VPBL). Read more
11 Aug 1985: Jacqueline Fernandez, Bahraini–Sri Lankan actress Jacqueline Genevieve Fernandez is a Sri Lankan actress based in India. She has worked in Indian films, predominantly in Hindi, besides appearing in reality shows and music videos. Fernandez was born and raised in Bahrain. After graduating in mass communication from the University of Sydney and working as a television reporter in Sri Lanka, she joined the modelling industry. She was crowned Miss Universe Sri Lanka in 2006, and represented her country at Miss Universe 2006. Read more
11 Aug 1985: Asher Roth, American rapper Asher Paul Roth is an American rapper from Morrisville, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his 2009 debut single "I Love College," which peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and foresaw the birth of frat rap, a college-oriented subgenre of hip-hop. Read more
11 Aug 1984: Mojtaba Abedini, Iranian Olympic fencer Mojtaba Abedini Shourmasti is an Iranian 3-time Olympian sabre fencer. He won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Fencing Championships, becoming the first-ever Iranian fencer to win a medal at the World Fencing Championships. Read more
11 Aug 1984: Melky Cabrera, Dominican baseball player Melky Cabrera Astacio, nicknamed "the Melkman", is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Indians, and Pittsburgh Pirates. While primarily a left fielder throughout his career, Cabrera spent a significant amount of his playing time as a center fielder for the Royals and Yankees. Read more
11 Aug 1984: Lucas di Grassi, Brazilian race car driver Lucas Tucci di Grassi is a Brazilian racing driver, who competes in Formula E for Lola Yamaha ABT. In formula racing, di Grassi competed in Formula One in 2010, and won the 2016–17 Formula E Championship with Abt. In endurance racing, di Grassi was runner-up in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2016 with Audi. Read more
11 Aug 1983: Chris Hemsworth, Australian actor Christopher Hemsworth is an Australian actor and film producer. His films as a leading man have grossed over $12.1 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing film stars of all time. Hemsworth was one of the world's highest-paid actors annually from 2017 to 2019. Read more
11 Aug 1983: Luke Lewis, Australian rugby league player Luke Lewis is an Australian rugby league commentator and former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australia at international level. Read more
11 Aug 1983: Pavel 183, Russian painter (died 2013) Pavel 183, was a Russian street artist, known by some as the "Russian Banksy". Read more
11 Aug 1982: Andy Lee, American football player Andrew Paul Lee is an American former professional football player who was a punter in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers, and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the sixth round of the 2004 NFL draft. Lee also played for the Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers, and Arizona Cardinals. He was selected to the Pro Bowl following the 2007, 2009, and 2011 seasons. Read more
11 Aug 1981: Daniel Poohl, Swedish journalist Daniel Poohl is a Swedish journalist and publicist who served as publisher and CEO of the Expo magazine. Read more
11 Aug 1980: Daniel Lloyd, English cyclist and sportscaster Daniel William Llewellyn Lloyd is an English broadcaster, content creator and retired professional road racing cyclist from Christchurch, Dorset. Read more
11 Aug 1980: Lee Suggs, American football player Lee Ernest Suggs Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Virginia Tech Hokies and was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL draft. He also played for the Miami Dolphins. Read more
11 Aug 1979: Walter Ayoví, Ecuadorian footballer Walter Orlando Ayoví Corozo is an Ecuadorian former professional footballer who played as a left-back or left midfielder. He made 121 appearances for the Ecuador national team, scoring 8 goals. He is the cousin of fellow footballer Jaime Ayoví, who also plays in the Ecuador national team. He also holds Mexican citizenship. Read more
11 Aug 1978: Spyros Gogolos, Greek footballer Spyros Gogolos is a retired Greek footballer, who played as a defender. Read more
11 Aug 1978: Charlotte Leslie, British politician Charlotte Leslie is a British Conservative Party politician who is the current Director of the Conservative Middle East Council. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bristol North West constituency, losing her seat at the 2017 general election. Read more
11 Aug 1978: Lillian Nakate, Ugandan politician Lillian Nakate Segujja commonly Lillian Nakate, is a Ugandan civil engineer and politician who served as the Member of Parliament representing the Luweero District Women' Constituency in the 10th Parliament of Uganda. Read more
11 Aug 1978: Isy Suttie, English comedian, musician, actress, and writer Isobel Jane Suttie is a British musical comedian, actress and writer. She played Dobby in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, and in 2013 won the gold Radio Academy Award for her radio show Pearl and Dave. Read more
11 Aug 1977: Gemma Hayes, Irish singer-songwriter Gemma Hayes is an Irish musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments, including the piano and the harmonica. She is also a member of The Cake Sale, Printer Clips and Trio. Read more
11 Aug 1977: Dênio Martins, Brazilian footballer Dênio Pereira Martins, known as just Dênio, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Cerâmica. Read more
11 Aug 1976: Iván Córdoba, Colombian footballer and manager Iván Ramiro Córdoba Sepúlveda is a Colombian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Read more
11 Aug 1976: Bubba Crosby, American baseball player Richard Stephen "Bubba" Crosby is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees from 2003 to 2006. Read more
11 Aug 1976: Will Friedle, American actor and screenwriter Will Friedle is an American actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Eric Matthews in the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World (1993–2000). Read more
11 Aug 1976: Ben Gibbard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Benjamin Gibbard is an American musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, with whom he has recorded eleven studio albums, and as a member of the indie pop supergroup The Postal Service. Gibbard has also released a solo album, Former Lives (2012), and a collaborative studio album, One Fast Move or I'm Gone (2009), with Jay Farrar. Read more
11 Aug 1976: Ľubomír Višňovský, Slovak ice hockey player Ľubomír Višňovský is a Slovak former professional ice hockey defenceman. He began and finished his professional career with HC Slovan Bratislava. He played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Los Angeles Kings, Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks, and New York Islanders. Read more
11 Aug 1975: Chris Cummings, Canadian singer-songwriter Christopher Allen Thomas Cummings is a Canadian country music artist. In his career, he has released five studio albums, one compilation album, and one extended play. Several of his singles have charted on the Canadian country charts, including the Number One hits "Sure Enough" and "The Kind of Heart That Breaks". Read more
11 Aug 1974: Marie-France Dubreuil, Canadian figure skater Marie-France Dubreuil is a Canadian ice dancing coach and former competitor. With her husband Patrice Lauzon, she is a two-time (2006–2007) World silver medallist. Read more
11 Aug 1974: Hadiqa Kiani, Pakistani singer, songwriter and philanthropist Hadiqa Kiani is a Pakistani singer, songwriter, guitarist, actress, and social worker. Along with Urdu and Punjabi, she has also sung songs in various local and international languages. She has won several national and international awards. Read more
11 Aug 1974: Audrey Mestre, French biologist and diver (died 2002) Audrey Mestre was a French world record-setting freediver. Read more
11 Aug 1974: Carolyn Murphy, American model and actress Carolyn Murphy is an American model. Throughout her career, she has been on the cover of Vogue 73 times, making her one of the most featured models in the magazine's history. Read more
11 Aug 1973: Kristin Armstrong, American cyclist Kristin Armstrong Savola is a former professional road bicycle racer and three-time Olympic gold medalist, the winner of the women's individual time trial in 2008, 2012, and 2016. Before temporarily retiring to start a family in 2009, she rode for Cervélo TestTeam in women's elite professional events on the National Racing Calendar (NRC) and UCI Women's World Cup. She announced a return to competitive cycling beginning in the 2011 season, competing for Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 at the Redlands Classic. Read more
11 Aug 1971: Alejandra Barros, Mexican actress and screenwriter Alejandra Barros is a Mexican actress. She is best known for her role in Televisa's telenovela Mariana de la Noche (2003). Read more
11 Aug 1971: Tommy Mooney, English footballer Thomas John Mooney is an English former professional footballer who played mainly as a striker. He made more than 600 appearances in the Football League and Premier League – with 250 for Watford and more than 100 for Scarborough – and scored in each of the top four divisions of the English football league system. Read more
11 Aug 1970: Andy Bell, British musician and songwriter Andrew Piran Bell is a British musician and songwriter. He is known as the bass guitarist of Oasis and vocalist and guitarist of the shoegaze band Ride. Bell has also been a member of Hurricane #1 and Beady Eye, an offshoot of Oasis which released two studio albums between 2009 and 2014. With Ride, Bell helped pioneer shoegaze, an alternative rock subgenre which reached its peak popularity in the early 1990s. Read more
11 Aug 1970: Dirk Hannemann, German footballer and manager Dirk Hannemann is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He made 11 appearances in the Austrian Bundesliga and 12 appearances in the 2. Bundesliga during his playing career. Read more
11 Aug 1970: Gianluca Pessotto, Italian footballer Gianluca Pessotto is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. A former Italy international, he spent the majority of his club career with Juventus, where he won several domestic and international trophies, and is now head of its youth system. He represented his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and at UEFA Euro 2000, reaching the final of the latter tournament. Read more
11 Aug 1968: Anna Gunn, American actress Anna Kathryn Gunn is an American actress. She portrayed Skyler White on the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad (2008–2013), for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Read more
11 Aug 1968: Sophie Okonedo, British actress Sophie Okonedo is a British actress and narrator. The recipient of a Tony Award, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTA TV Awards, an Emmy Award, two Laurence Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2019 New Year Honours, both for services to drama. Read more
11 Aug 1968: Charlie Sexton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Charles Wayne Sexton is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Though Sexton is best known for his 1985 album Pictures for Pleasure and as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band, he has also become well known as a music producer. Sexton co-founded Arc Angels and created the Charlie Sexton Sextet. He was still a teenager when he gained fame for his 1985 hit, "Beat's So Lonely", from his debut studio album, Pictures for Pleasure. Read more
11 Aug 1967: Massimiliano Allegri, Italian footballer and manager Massimiliano "Max" Allegri is an Italian professional football manager and former professional player who is currently the head coach of Serie A club Napoli. Read more
11 Aug 1967: Enrique Bunbury, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist Enrique Ortiz de Landázuri Izarduy, best known as Enrique Bunbury, is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He has been described as "by far the most international star of Spanish rock" and by Billboard as "one of the greatest figures in the Spanish-speaking world." He was propelled to fame as lead singer of Héroes del Silencio. After the band disbanded in 1996, Bunbury gradually developed a solo career. His "tessitura" singing style would be in the baritone range. The Latin Recording Academy would describe Bunbury as "not only one of the most visionary rock stars ever to emerge from Spain, but also a 21st century master when it comes to crafting transcendent songs in the Spanish language." Read more
11 Aug 1967: Joe Rogan, American actor, comedian, and television host Joseph James Rogan Jr. is an American podcaster, sports commentator, comedian, actor, and former television host. He hosts The Joe Rogan Experience, which is one of the most popular podcasts in the world and has been the most streamed podcast on Spotify since 2020. Read more
11 Aug 1967: Petter Wettre, Norwegian saxophonist and composer Petter Wettre is a Norwegian jazz musician (saxophone) and composer, known from a number of album recordings, accompanied by receiving the Spellemannprisen two times. Read more
11 Aug 1966: Nigel Martyn, English footballer and coach Antony Nigel Martyn is an English former professional footballer player who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
11 Aug 1966: Juan María Solare, Argentinian pianist and composer Juan María Solare is an Argentine composer and pianist. Read more
11 Aug 1965: Marc Bergevin, Canadian ice hockey player and manager Marc Bergevin is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player. He is currently associate general manager of the Buffalo Sabres. Bergevin played as a defenceman in the NHL. Read more
11 Aug 1965: Embeth Davidtz, American actress Embeth Jean Davidtz is an American and South African actress and director. She has appeared in movies such as Schindler's List, Matilda, Bridget Jones's Diary, and The Amazing Spider-Man, and in the television series In Treatment, Californication, and Mad Men. Read more
11 Aug 1965: Viola Davis, American actress Viola Davis is an American actress and film producer. Her accolades include both the Triple Crown of Acting and EGOT. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017. The New York Times ranked her ninth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century (2020). Davis received the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2025. Read more
11 Aug 1964: Jim Lee, South Korean-American author and illustrator Jim Lee is a Korean-born American comic book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. As of 2023, he is the President, Publisher, and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. In recognition of his work, Lee has received a Harvey Award, Inkpot Award and three Wizard Fan Awards. Read more
11 Aug 1964: Grant Waite, New Zealand golfer Grant Osten Waite is a New Zealand professional golfer. Read more
11 Aug 1963: Hiromi Makihara, Japanese baseball player Hiromi Makihara is a Japanese former Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher. He was a six-time Central League All-Star, won Rookie of the Year honors, and pitched a perfect game in a 19-year career with the Yomiuri Giants. Read more
11 Aug 1962: Brian Azzarello, American author Brian Azzarello is an American comic book writer and screenwriter who first came to prominence with the hardboiled crime series 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. Azzarello is best known for his numerous collaborations with artists Eduardo Risso and Lee Bermejo, his contributions to the Watchmen prequel project Before Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns sequel series DK III: The Master Race, as well as for his stints on the long-running Vertigo series Hellblazer and The New 52 relaunch of the Wonder Woman title. Read more
11 Aug 1962: Charles Cecil, English video game designer and co-founded Revolution Software Charles Cecil is a British video game designer and co-founder of Revolution Software. His family lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when he was still very young, but was evacuated two years after Mobutu Sese Seko's coup d'état. He studied at Bedales School in Hampshire, England. In 1980 he began his studies in Engineering Manufacture and Management at the University of Manchester, where he met student Richard Turner who invited him to write text adventures for Artic Computing. After completing his degree in 1985 he decided to continue his career in game development and became director of Artic. The following year he established Paragon Programming, a game development company working with British publisher U.S. Gold. In 1987 he moved into publishing as a software development manager for U.S. Gold. A year later he was approached by Activision and was offered the position of manager of their European development studio. Read more
11 Aug 1962: John Micklethwait, English journalist and author Richard John Micklethwait is an English journalist who is the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, a position he has held since February 2015. He was previously the editor-in-chief of The Economist from 2006 to 2015. Read more
11 Aug 1962: Rob Minkoff, American director and producer Robert Ralph Minkoff is an American director, animator, and producer. He is best known for co-directing The Lion King, and live-action films including Stuart Little (1999), Stuart Little 2 (2002), The Haunted Mansion (2003), and The Forbidden Kingdom (2008). In recent decades, he returned to feature animation with Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) and Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022). His wife, Crystal Kung Minkoff, was a cast member on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Read more
11 Aug 1961: David Brooks, American journalist and author David Brooks is a Canadian-born American book author and political and cultural commentator. Though he describes himself as a "moderate Republican", others have characterised him as centrist, moderate conservative, or conservative, based on his record as contributor to the PBS NewsHour, and as opinion columnist for The New York Times. In addition to his shorter form writing, Brooks has authored seven non-fiction books since 2000, two appearing from Simon and Schuster, and five from Random House, the latter including The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement (2011), and The Road to Character (2015). Read more
11 Aug 1961: Craig Ehlo, American basketball player and coach Joel Craig Ehlo is an American former basketball player. He played fifteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with four teams, amassing career totals of 7,492 points, 2,456 assists and 3,139 rebounds. Read more
11 Aug 1961: Suniel Shetty, Indian actor and film producer Suniel Veerappa Shetty is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, and entrepreneur, primarily known for his work in Hindi cinema. Nicknamed as Anna, Shetty has appeared in over 100 films since the 1990s and is known for his various supporting and leading action and comedy roles. Read more
11 Aug 1959: Gustavo Cerati, Argentinian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2014) Gustavo Adrián Cerati Clark was an Argentine musician and singer-songwriter who gained international recognition for being the leader, vocalist, composer, and guitarist of the rock band, Soda Stereo. He is widely considered by critics and musicians as one of the most important and influential artists of Latin rock. Read more
11 Aug 1959: Yoshiaki Murakami, Japanese businessman Yoshiaki Murakami is a Japanese investor, bull, former bureaucrat of the MITI, co-founder of "Murakami Fund", and founder of the Murakami Family Foundation (村上財団). Read more
11 Aug 1959: Taraki Sivaram, Sri Lankan journalist and author (died 2005) Taraki Sivaram or Dharmeratnam Sivaram was a popular Tamil journalist of Sri Lanka. He was kidnapped by four men in a white van on 28 April 2005, in front of the Bambalapitya police station. His body was found the next day in the district of Himbulala, near the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He had been beaten and shot in the head. Read more
11 Aug 1959: Richard Scudamore, English businessman Richard Craig Scudamore CBE is an English sports executive. Read more
11 Aug 1959: László Szlávics, Jr., Hungarian sculptor László Szlávics is a Hungarian sculptor and medallic artist. He publishes his works under the names László, ifj. Szlávics or Laszlo Szlavics Jr.László Szlávics jr. has set several new norms in Hungarian medallic art. It was presumably not his express aim, but he was merely following the dictates of his innovative mind to do something new not yet found in the trade. He is heading in this direction, with the sure – and literally tangible – conviction that at the extremes, on the limits of the art form there is still a lot to be searched – and found out. Read more
11 Aug 1958: Steven Pokere, New Zealand rugby player Steven Tahurata Pokere is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A second five-eighth and centre, Pokere represented Southland, Auckland and Wellington at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1981 to 1985. He played 39 matches for the All Blacks including 18 internationals. Read more
11 Aug 1958: Jah Wobble, English singer-songwriter and bass player John Joseph Wardle is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; he left the band after two albums. Read more
11 Aug 1957: Ian Stuart Donaldson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1993) Ian Stuart Donaldson, more commonly known as Ian Stuart, was an English neo-Nazi musician. He was best known as the front-man of Skrewdriver, originally a punk band which, from 1983 onwards, he rebranded as a Rock Against Communism white power skinhead band. He raised money through white power concerts with his Blood & Honour network. Read more
11 Aug 1957: Masayoshi Son, Japanese technology entrepreneur and investor Masayoshi Son is a Japanese entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. A Zainichi Korean, he is the founder, chairman and chief executive of SoftBank Group (SBG), a technology-focused investment holding company, as well as chairman of UK-based Arm Holdings and US-based Stargate LLC. Read more
11 Aug 1956: Pierre-Louis Lions, French mathematician and academic Pierre-Louis Lions is a French mathematician. He is known for a number of contributions to the fields of partial differential equations and the calculus of variations. He was a recipient of the 1994 Fields Medal. Read more
11 Aug 1955: Marc Bureau, Canadian politician, 16th Mayor of Gatineau Marc Bureau is a Canadian politician, who was the mayor of the city of Gatineau, Quebec from 2005 to 2013. Read more
11 Aug 1955: Sylvia Hermon, Northern Irish academic and politician Sylvia Eileen, Lady Hermon is a retired Unionist politician from Northern Ireland. She served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of North Down from 2001 to 2019. Read more
11 Aug 1954: Bryan Bassett, American guitarist Bryan Bassett is an American guitarist who has played with several notable bands, but is best known as a member of Wild Cherry in the 1970s who had a hit with "Play That Funky Music". Read more
11 Aug 1954: Vance Heafner, American golfer and coach (died 2012) Clayton Vance Heafner Jr. was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour, the Nationwide Tour and the Champions Tour. Read more
11 Aug 1954: Joe Jackson, English singer-songwriter and musician Joe Jackson is a British musician, singer and songwriter. Having spent years studying music and playing clubs, he found early success with his hit new wave singles "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" and "It's Different for Girls". After he moved to more jazz-inflected pop music, Jackson achieved a worldwide hit with "Steppin' Out". Jackson is associated with the 1980s Second British Invasion of the US. He has also composed classical music. He has recorded 21 studio albums and has received five Grammy Award nominations. Read more
11 Aug 1954: Tarmo Rüütli, Estonian footballer, coach, and manager Tarmo Rüütli is an Estonian football manager and former football player. Read more
11 Aug 1954: Yashpal Sharma, Indian cricketer and umpire (died 2021) Yashpal Sharma was an Indian international cricketer. He was a middle order batsman who played during the 1970s and 80s. He was a member of the Indian team that won the 1983 Cricket World Cup. He represented India in 37 Tests and 42 One Day Internationals (ODIs) between 1978 and 1985. His nephew Chetan Sharma was also a cricketer. He was fondly nicknamed by Sunil Gavaskar as the Crisis Man for India. Read more
11 Aug 1953: Hulk Hogan, American professional wrestler (died 2025) Terry Gene Bollea, better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, was an American professional wrestler and media personality. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most recognized wrestlers of all time, Hogan won multiple championships worldwide, most notably being a six-time WWF/WWE Champion. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Hogan also competed in promotions such as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Read more
11 Aug 1953: Wijda Mazereeuw, Dutch swimmer Wijda Mazereeuw is a retired swimmer from the Netherlands. Individually she competed in the 200 m and 400 m medley event at the 1972 Summer Olympics and in the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke at the 1976 Summer Olympics, but was eliminated in the heats on all occasions; in 1976 she also placed fifth with the Dutch 4 × 100 m medley relay team. At the 1975 World Aquatics Championships in Cali, Colombia, she won silver medals in the 100 m (1:14.29) and 200 m (2:37.50) breaststroke; she was also part of the Dutch 4 × 100 m medley relay team that won the bronze medal with a time of 4:21.45. Read more
11 Aug 1952: Reid Blackburn, American photographer (died 1980) Reid Turner Blackburn was an American photographer killed in the 1980 volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens. A photojournalist covering the eruption for a local newspaper—the Vancouver, Washington, The Columbian—as well as National Geographic magazine and the United States Geological Survey, he was caught at Coldwater Camp in the blast. Read more
11 Aug 1952: Bob Mothersbaugh, American singer, guitarist, and producer Robert Leroy Mothersbaugh Jr., also known by his stage name Bob 1, is an American musician, singer, songwriter and composer. Read more
11 Aug 1950: Erik Brann, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2003) Erik Keith Brann, also known as Erik Braunn, was an American guitarist with the 1960s acid rock band Iron Butterfly. He was featured on the band's greatest hit, the 17-minute "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (1968), recorded when he was 17. Read more
11 Aug 1950: Gennadiy Nikonov, Russian engineer, designed the AN-94 rifle (died 2003) Gennadiy Nikolaevich Nikonov was a Russian firearm engineer. Some of his accomplishments were as the designer of the AN-94 assault rifle, and the "straight-back bolt." Nikonov held 44 Copyright Certificates, and was awarded the titles of "The Best Designer of the Company" and "The Best Designer of the Ministry." In his memory there is a memorial plaque on the building design and weapons center of "Izhmash". Read more
11 Aug 1950: Steve Wozniak, American computer scientist and programmer, co-founded Apple Inc. Stephen Gary Wozniak, also known by his nickname Woz, is an American technology entrepreneur, electrical engineer, computer programmer, and inventor. In 1976, he co-founded Apple Inc. with his early business partner Steve Jobs. Through his work at Apple in the 1970s and 1980s, he is widely recognized as one of the most prominent pioneers of the personal computer revolution. Read more
11 Aug 1949: Eric Carmen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2024) Eric Howard Carmen was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead vocalist of the Raspberries, with whom he recorded the hit "Go All the Way" and four albums. He embarked on a solo career in 1975 and had global success with "All by Myself," "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again," "She Did It," "Hungry Eyes," and "Make Me Lose Control." In later years, he toured with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band before reforming the Raspberries in 2004. Read more
11 Aug 1949: Tim Hutchinson, American lawyer and politician Young Timothy Hutchinson is an American politician, lobbyist, and former United States senator from the U.S. state of Arkansas. A member of the Republican Party, he was the first Republican U.S. senator to represent Arkansas since the Reconstruction era. Read more
11 Aug 1949: Ian Charleson, Scottish-English actor and singer (died 1990) Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and screen actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev. Charlie Andrews in the 1982 Oscar-winning film Gandhi. Read more
11 Aug 1948: Don Boyd, Scottish director, producer, and screenwriter Donald William Robertson Boyd is a Scottish film director, producer, screenwriter and novelist. He was a Governor of the London Film School until 2016 and in 2017 was made an Honorary Professor in the College of Humanities at Exeter University. Read more
11 Aug 1947: Theo de Jong, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager Theodorus Jacob de Jong is a Dutch former professional footballer and former football coach. Read more
11 Aug 1947: Georgios Karatzaferis, Greek journalist and politician Georgios Karatzaferis is a Greek politician, a former member of the Hellenic Parliament and the former president of the Popular Orthodox Rally. Previously, Karatzaferis was a member of parliament of the liberal-conservative New Democracy party. He is a former Member of the European Parliament and former vice-president of the Independence and Democracy group. The Popular Orthodox Rally's views, ideas, and electoral campaigns were often broadcast and promoted by the relatively minor private Greek TV channel TeleAsty and the party's weekly newspaper, A1, both which he founded. In 2023, he praised Kyriakos Mitsotakis and endorsed New Democracy for the 2023 elections, campaigning for the party, without officially rejoining it. Read more
11 Aug 1947: Wilma van den Berg, Dutch sprinter Wilhelmina Catharina Maria Martina "Wilma" van den Berg,, married name van Gool, is a Dutch former sprinter, two-time Olympian, silver medalist in the European Championships and Universiade, Dutch national champion, and 1969 Dutch Female Athlete of the Year. Read more
11 Aug 1946: John Conlee, American singer-songwriter John Wayne Conlee is an American country music singer. Read more
11 Aug 1946: Marilyn vos Savant, American journalist and author Marilyn vos Savant is an American magazine columnist who has the highest recorded intelligence quotient (IQ) in the Guinness Book of Records, a competitive category the publication has since retired. Since 1986, she has written "Ask Marilyn", a Parade magazine Sunday column wherein she solves puzzles and answers questions on various subjects, and which popularized the Monty Hall problem in 1990. Read more
11 Aug 1944: Martin Linton, Swedish-English journalist and politician John Martin Linton is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Battersea from 1997 to 2010. Read more
11 Aug 1944: Frederick W. Smith, American businessman, founded FedEx (died 2025) Frederick Wallace Smith was an American business magnate and investor. He was the founder and chairman of FedEx Corporation, the world's largest express transportation company. Smith stepped down as CEO in June 2022 and was succeeded by Raj Subramaniam. Considered one of the most successful transportation entrepreneurs in the world, Smith had an estimated net worth of $5.3 billion at the time of his death according to Forbes. Read more
11 Aug 1944: Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid is a Scottish actor and director of stage and screen. Making his stage debut in Hamlet in 1972, McDiarmid joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974, and has since starred in a number of William Shakespeare's plays. He has received an Olivier Award for Best Actor for Insignificance (1982) and a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Faith Healer (2006). Read more
11 Aug 1943: Jim Kale, Canadian bass player Michael James Kale is a Canadian retired musician, best known as the original bassist for the rock band The Guess Who. He was also a member of the band Scrubbaloe Caine. In 1987, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame as a member of The Guess Who. Read more
11 Aug 1943: Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and politician, 10th President of Pakistan (died 2023) Pervez Musharraf was a Pakistani politician and military officer who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. He overthrew Nawaz Sharif's government in the 1999 coup d'état and proclaimed himself the chief executive of Pakistan, under martial law. Read more
11 Aug 1943: Denis Payton, English saxophonist (died 2006) The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark was the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964, they had their first UK top-ten single, "Glad All Over", which knocked the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the UK Singles Chart. It peaked at No. 6 in the United States in April 1964. Although this was their only UK No. 1, they topped the US chart in December 1965, with their cover of Bobby Day's "Over and Over". Their other UK top-ten hits include "Bits and Pieces", "Can't You See That She's Mine", "Catch Us If You Can", "Everybody Knows", "The Red Balloon", "Good Old Rock 'n' Roll", and a version of Chet Powers' "Get Together". Read more
11 Aug 1942: Mike Hugg, English drummer and keyboard player Michael John Hugg is a British musician who was a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann, and co-founder of the psychedelic jazz-fusion group, Manfred Mann Chapter Three. He is known for his creativity in his music, and made jingles for advertisements. Read more
11 Aug 1942: Otis Taylor, American football player (died 2023) Otis Taylor Jr. was an American professional football wide receiver who played in the American Football League (AFL). He played college football for the Prairie View A&M Panthers and was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth round of the 1965 AFL draft. He was also selected in the 15th round of the 1965 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, but he chose to play in the AFL for the Chiefs where he would spend his entire career. Read more
11 Aug 1941: John Ellison, American-Canadian musician and songwriter John Ellison is an American/Canadian musician, best known for writing the song "Some Kind of Wonderful." He was born in Montgomery, West Virginia, and was raised in Landgraff, West Virginia, a small, poverty-stricken coal mining village near Welch, West Virginia, and is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, receiving his Canadian citizenship in 2006. Read more
11 Aug 1940: Glenys Page, New Zealand cricketer (died 2012) Glenys Lynne Page was a New Zealand cricketer who played as a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. She appeared in two One Day Internationals for New Zealand, both at the 1973 World Cup. She played domestic cricket for Auckland. Read more
11 Aug 1939: James Mancham, first President of Seychelles (died 2017) Sir James Richard Marie Mancham KBE was a Seychellois politician who founded the Seychelles Democratic Party and was the first President of Seychelles from 1976 to 1977. Read more
11 Aug 1939: Ronnie Dawson, American singer and guitarist (died 2003) Ronald Monroe Dawson was an American rockabilly singer, guitarist and drummer, nicknamed The Blond Bomber. Although he achieved regional success in the 1950s, his popularity peaked internationally with tours in the 1980s and 1990s. Read more
11 Aug 1937: Anna Massey, English actress (died 2011) Anna Raymond Massey was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Best Actress Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner's novel Hotel du Lac, a role that one of her co-stars, Julia McKenzie, has said "could have been written for her". Massey is also well known for her roles in Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) and Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972), each as a woman who becomes involved with a suspected killer. She performed over one hundred character roles in British film and television. On the stage, in 1982, Massey won the Laurence Olivier Award for Actress of the Year in a Supporting Role for The Importance of Being Earnest and was nominated for the Award for Actress of the Year in a New Play for Summer. Read more
11 Aug 1937: Patrick Joseph McGovern, American businessman, founded International Data Group (died 2014) Patrick Joseph McGovern Jr. was an American businessman, and chairman and founder of International Data Group (IDG), a company with subsidiaries in technology publishing, research, event management and venture capital. Read more
11 Aug 1936: Andre Dubus, American short story writer, essayist, and memoirist (died 1999) Andre Jules Dubus II was an American writer of short stories, novels, and essays. Read more
11 Aug 1936: Bill Monbouquette, American baseball player and coach (died 2015) William Charles Monbouquette was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox (1958–65), Detroit Tigers (1966–67), New York Yankees (1967–68), and the San Francisco Giants (1968). A four-time All-Star player, Monbouquette was notable for pitching a no-hitter in 1962 as a member of the Red Sox. He was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2000. Read more
11 Aug 1936: Jonathan Spence, English-American historian and academic (died 2021) Jonathan Dermot Spence was a British-American sinologist and historian who specialised in Chinese history. He was Sterling Professor of History at Yale University from 1993 to 2008. He was best known for his book The Search for Modern China (1990), a survey of the last several hundred years of Chinese history. He published over a dozen books on China. Spence's major interest was modern China, especially the Qing dynasty, and relations between China and the West. Spence frequently used biographies to examine cultural and political history. Read more
11 Aug 1934: Bob Hepple, South African lawyer and academic (died 2015) Sir Bob Alexander Hepple OLG was a South African-born legal academic and leader in the fields of labour law, equality and human rights. Read more
11 Aug 1933: Jerry Falwell, American minister and television host (died 2007) Jerry Laymon Falwell was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and politically conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia. He founded Lynchburg Christian Academy, later renamed Liberty Christian Academy, in 1967, founded Liberty University in 1971, and co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979. Read more
11 Aug 1933: Jerzy Grotowski, Polish director and producer (died 1999) Jerzy Marian Grotowski was a Polish theatre director and dramatic theorist whose innovative approaches to acting, training and theatrical production have significantly influenced theatre today. He is considered one of the most influential theatre practitioners of the 20th century and one of the founders of experimental theatre. Read more
11 Aug 1933: Tamás Vásáry, Hungarian pianist and conductor (died 2026) Tamás Vásáry was a Hungarian concert pianist and conductor who made an international career, living in Switzerland from 1956 and later in London from 1970. He was known for interpreting music of the Romantic era, especially by Chopin, Liszt and Schumann. Read more
11 Aug 1932: Fernando Arrabal, Spanish actor, director, and playwright Fernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist, and poet. He was born in Melilla and settled in France in 1955. Regarding his nationality, Arrabal describes himself as "desterrado", or "half-expatriate, half-exiled". Read more
11 Aug 1932: Izzy Asper, Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician, founded Canwest (died 2003) Israel Harold "Izzy" Asper was a Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate. He was the founder and owner of the now-defunct TV and media company CanWest Global Communications Corp and father to its former CEO and President Leonard Asper, former director and corporate secretary Gail Asper, and former Executive Vice President David Asper. He was also the leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party from 1970 to 1975 and is credited with the idea and vision to establish the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Read more
11 Aug 1932: Geoffrey Cass, English businessman Sir Geoffrey Arthur Cass MA (Oxford), MA (Cambridge), CCMI, HonFInstD. Chairman of the Royal Theatrical Support Trust. Spent twenty years as chief executive of Cambridge University Press and has also been chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Company and president of the Lawn Tennis Association. Read more
11 Aug 1932: Peter Eisenman, American architect, designed the City of Culture of Galicia Peter David Eisenman is an American architect. Considered one of the New York Five, Eisenman is known for his high modernist and deconstructive designs, as well as for his authorship of several architectural books. His work has won him several awards, including the Wolf Prize in Arts. Read more
11 Aug 1932: John Gorrie, English director and screenwriter John Summer Gorrie is an English director and screenwriter. He began his career as an actor, but in early 1963 he completed the BBC's directors' course. His first assignments as a director were for the soap opera Compact and the anthology series Suspense. He directed the Doctor Who serial The Keys of Marinus. Read more
11 Aug 1929: Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, Indian singer (died 1992) Manabendra Mukhopadhyay was an Indian singer and music composer in Bengali films. Coming to limelight in the early 1950s Manabendra was an innovative and stylish singer who had a strong foundation in Indian classical music. With his distinctive voice, Manabendra was an instant hit with the audience. demonstrating great talent also as a composer, using the lyrics and melody of a song with good effect. At that time Bengali modern song world had the presence of some outstanding performers like Dhananjay Bhattacharya, Manna Dey, Satinath Mukherjee, Akhilbandhu Ghosh, Kishore Kumar, Shyamal Mitra, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay to name a few. Read more
11 Aug 1927: Raymond Leppard, English harpsichord player and conductor (died 2019) Raymond John Leppard was a British-American conductor, harpsichordist, composer and editor. In the 1960s, he played a prime role in the rebirth of interest in Baroque music; in particular, he was one of the first major conductors to perform Baroque opera, reviving works by Claudio Monteverdi, Francesco Cavalli and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He conducted operas at major international opera houses and festivals, including the Glyndebourne Festival where he led the world premiere of Nicholas Maw's The Rising of the Moon, the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House. He composed film scores such as Lord of the Flies and Alfred the Great. Read more
11 Aug 1927: Stuart Rosenberg, American director and producer (died 2007) Stuart Rosenberg was an American film and television director. He was most noted for his collaborations with actor Paul Newman, whom he directed in Cool Hand Luke (1967), WUSA (1970), Pocket Money (1972), and The Drowning Pool (1975). He was a five-time Directors Guild of America Award nominee, and a Primetime Emmy Award winner. Read more
11 Aug 1926: Aaron Klug, Lithuanian-English chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) Sir Aaron Klug was a British biophysicist and chemist. He was a winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes. Read more
11 Aug 1925: Floyd Curry, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (died 2006) Floyd James "Busher" Curry was a Canadian ice hockey right winger. Read more
11 Aug 1925: Arlene Dahl, American actress, businesswoman and writer (died 2021) Arlene Carol Dahl was an American actress active in films from the late 1940s. Born in Minnesota to parents of Norwegian descent, Dahl started her acting career in musicals before transitioning to film, where she gained significant roles in MGM productions such as My Wild Irish Rose (1947) and The Bride Goes Wild (1948). She also starred in the adventure films Caribbean Gold (1952) and Desert Legion (1953). Read more
11 Aug 1923: Stan Chambers, American journalist and actor (died 2015) Stanley Holroyd "Stan" Chambers was an American television reporter who worked for KTLA in Los Angeles from 1947 to 2010. Read more
11 Aug 1922: John "Mule" Miles, American baseball player (died 2013) John "Mule" Miles was an American professional baseball player who played with the Chicago American Giants of the Negro leagues from 1946 to 1949. Nicknamed "the Mule" by his manager Candy Jim Taylor after hitting two home runs in one ball game. Taylor commented that Miles "hit like a mule kicks". Miles is legendary for hitting 11 home runs in 11 straight games. John Miles played alongside baseball stars Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and Monte Irvin. He performed at Yankee Stadium, the Polo Grounds, Comiskey Park, and Griffith Stadium among others. Read more
11 Aug 1921: Alex Haley, American historian and author (died 1992) Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and aired it in 1977 to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers. In the United States, the book and miniseries raised the public awareness of black American history and inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history. Haley's first book was The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965, a collaboration through numerous lengthy interviews with Malcolm X. Read more
11 Aug 1920: Mike Douglas, American singer and talk show host (died 2006) Michael Delaney Dowd Jr., known as Mike Douglas, was an American big band singer, entertainer, television talk show host of The Mike Douglas Show, and actor. Read more
11 Aug 1920: Chuck Rayner, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2002) Claude Earl "Chuck" Rayner, nicknamed "Bonnie Prince Charlie", was a Canadian professional hockey goaltender who played nine seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Americans and New York Rangers. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Read more
11 Aug 1919: Luis Olmo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and manager (died 2017) Luis Francisco Rodríguez Olmo was a Puerto Rican Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter. Olmo played in the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves (1950–51). Olmo was both the first Puerto Rican to play and to hit a home run in the World Series. Known as "El Pelotero de América", Olmo also played in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Mexico. Read more
11 Aug 1916: Johnny Claes, English-Belgian race car driver and trumpet player (died 1956) Octave John Claes was a British-born racing driver who competed for Belgium. Before his fame as a racing driver, Claes was also a jazz trumpeter and successful bandleader in Britain. Read more
11 Aug 1915: Morris Weiss, American author and illustrator (died 2014) Morris S. Weiss was an American comic book and comic strip artist and writer. Active from the 1930s through the mid-1970s, he created the teen-comedy character Margie for Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics, and was the final cartoonist on the comic strip Mickey Finn. He also worked as a writer or illustrator on numerous other strips, including Joe Palooka. Read more
11 Aug 1913: Paul Dupuis, Canadian actor (died 1976) Paul Dupuis was a French Canadian film actor who was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and who performed in British films during the late 1940s. The roles he played were mainly as the romantic leading man. He died in Saint-Sauveur in Quebec. Read more
11 Aug 1913: Bob Scheffing, American baseball player and manager (died 1985) Robert Boden Scheffing was an American professional baseball player, coach, manager and front-office executive. Nicknamed "Grumpy", the native of Overland, Missouri, is most often identified with the Chicago Cubs, for whom he played as a catcher, coached (1954–55), and managed (1957–59). Scheffing threw and batted right-handed; he was listed as 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and 180 pounds (82 kg). Read more
11 Aug 1913: Angus Wilson, English author and academic (died 1991) Sir Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson was an English novelist and short story writer. He was one of England's first openly gay authors. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot and later received a knighthood for his services to literature. Read more
11 Aug 1912: Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, German astronomer and academic (died 1954) Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs was a German astronomer. She made key observations of variable stars. Read more
11 Aug 1912: Raphael Blau, American screenwriter and producer (died 1996) Raphael David Blau was an American screenwriter who co-wrote the story for Bedtime for Bonzo (1951), among other film productions. Read more
11 Aug 1911: Thanom Kittikachorn, Thai field marshal and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Thailand (died 2004) Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn was Prime Minister of Thailand from 1963 to 1973. Prior to taking office, he supported and initiated military coups and served as Thailand's defence minister. He was forced to step down after public protests which exploded into violence in 1973. His return from exile in 1976 sparked protests which led to a massacre of demonstrators, followed by a military coup. Read more
11 Aug 1909: Yūji Koseki, Japanese composer (died 1989) Yūji Koseki was a Japanese ryūkōka, gunka, march, fight song and film score composer. His real name was also Yūji Koseki, but its kanji was 古關勇治. For his contributions in music to baseball, he was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2024. Read more
11 Aug 1909: Uku Masing, Estonian philosopher and theologian (died 1985) Uku Masing was an Estonian polymath who contributed to theology, oriental studies, philosophy, poetry, folklore and to the field of ethnology. He was a significant figure in Estonian religious philosophy. Masing also wrote poetry, mostly on religious issues. Masing authored one novel, Rapanui vabastamine ehk Kajakad jumalate kalmistul in the late 1930s, which was published posthumously in 1989. As a folklorist, he was a distinguished researcher of fairy tales, contributing to the international Encyclopedia of the Folktale. He was awarded the Righteous Among The Nations by Yad Vashem and the Israeli Supreme Court for his participation during the Holocaust in helping a Jew in Estonia escape capture from 1941 until the end of the war. His actions exposed him to great danger during this period requiring him to meet with his friend as well as lying to the Gestapo. Read more
11 Aug 1908: Don Freeman, American author and illustrator (died 1978) Don Freeman was an American painter, printmaker, cartoonist, and an illustrator and writer of children's books. He was active from the 1930s to the 1970s and often used Times Square as the backdrop of his memorable works. Read more
11 Aug 1908: Torgny T:son Segerstedt, Swedish sociologist and philosopher (died 1999) Torgny T. Segerstedt was a Swedish philosopher and sociologist. Read more
11 Aug 1907: Ted a'Beckett, Australian cricketer and lawyer (died 1989) Edward Lambert à Beckett was an Australian cricketer who played in four Test matches between 1928 and 1931. He played in 47 first-class matches for Victoria. Read more
11 Aug 1905: Erwin Chargaff, Austrian-American biochemist and academic (died 2002) Erwin Chargaff was an Austro-Hungarian-born American biochemist, writer, and professor of biochemistry at Columbia University medical school. A Bucovinian Jew who immigrated to the United States during the Nazi regime, he penned a well-reviewed autobiography, Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Life Before Nature. Through careful experimentation, Chargaff discovered two rules, called Chargaff's rules, which helped lead to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. Read more
11 Aug 1905: Ernst Jaakson, Estonian diplomat (died 1998) Ernst Rudolf Jaakson was an Estonian diplomat whose contribution was to maintain Estonia's legal continuity with his uninterrupted diplomatic service for 69 years. Read more
11 Aug 1902: Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (died 1986) Alfredo Binda was an Italian road cyclist of the 1920s and 1930s. He was the first to win five editions of the Giro d'Italia, and a three-time world champion. In addition he won Milan–San Remo twice, and the Tour of Lombardy four times. Read more
11 Aug 1902: Lloyd Nolan, American actor (died 1985) Lloyd Benedict Nolan was an American stage, film and television actor who rose from a supporting player and B-movie lead early in his career to featured player status after creating the role of Captain Queeg in Herman Wouk's play The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in the mid-1950s. Nolan won a Best Actor Emmy Award reprising the part in 1955 TV play based on Wouk's tale of military justice. Additionally, he starred in the Mike Shayne detective films, and the groundbreaking sitcom Julia starring Diahann Carroll. Read more
11 Aug 1902: Christian de Castries, French general (died 1991) Christian Marie Ferdinand de la Croix de Castries was a French general and the commander of forces at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Read more
11 Aug 1900: Charley Paddock, American sprinter (died 1943) Charles William Paddock was an American track star who competed for the University of Southern California and was a two-time Olympic champion, specializing in the 100-meter sprint. Read more
11 Aug 1900: Philip Phillips, American archaeologist and scholar (died 1994) Philip Phillips was an influential archaeologist in the United States during the 20th century. Read more
11 Aug 1898: Peter Mohr Dam, Faroese educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (died 1968) Peter Mohr Dam was a Faroe Islands politician who was one of the founders of the Social Democratic Javnaðarflokkurin party in 1926. Read more
11 Aug 1897: Enid Blyton, English author, poet, and educator (died 1968) Enid Mary Blyton was an English children's writer. She is one of the best-selling writers of all time in the realm of children's literature. Blyton's books have been worldwide best-sellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies, and have been translated into ninety languages. As of June 2019, Blyton was the fourth-most translated author. She wrote on a wide range of topics, including education, natural history, fantasy, mystery, and biblical narratives. She is best remembered for her Noddy, The Famous Five, Secret Seven, The Five Find-Outers, and Malory Towers books, although she also wrote many others, including St. Clare's, The Naughtiest Girl, and The Faraway Tree series. Read more
11 Aug 1897: Louise Bogan, American poet and critic (died 1970) Louise Bogan was an American poet. She was appointed the fourth Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1945, a role today known as U.S. Poet Laureate, becoming the first woman to hold this title. Throughout her life she wrote poetry, fiction, and criticism, and became the regular poetry reviewer for The New Yorker. Read more
11 Aug 1892: Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet and linguist (died 1978) Christopher Murray Grieve, best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid, was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish Renaissance and has had a lasting impact on Scottish culture and politics. He was a founding member of the National Party of Scotland in 1928 but left in 1933 due to his Marxist–Leninist views. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain the following year only to be expelled in 1938 for his nationalist sympathies. He subsequently stood as a parliamentary candidate for both the Scottish National Party (1945) and Communist Party of Great Britain (1964). Read more
11 Aug 1892: Eiji Yoshikawa, Japanese author (died 1962) Eiji Yoshikawa was a Japanese historical novelist, best known for his revisions of classics and retelling of historical events through the lens of semi-biographical fiction books. Read more
11 Aug 1891: Stancho Belkovski, Bulgarian architect and educator (died 1962) Stancho Belkovski, was a Bulgarian architect. Read more
11 Aug 1891: Edgar Zilsel, Austrian historian and philosopher of science, linked to the Vienna Circle (died 1944) Edgar Zilsel was an Austrian-American historian and philosopher of science. Read more
11 Aug 1885: Stephen Butterworth, English physicist and engineer (died 1958) Stephen Butterworth (1885–1958) was a British physicist who invented the filter that bears his name, a class of electrical circuits that separates electrical signals of different frequencies. Read more
11 Aug 1884: Hermann Wlach, Austrian-Swiss actor (died 1962) Hermann Wlach was an Austrian stage and film actor. Read more
11 Aug 1881: Aleksander Aberg, Estonian wrestler (died 1920) Aleksander Richard Aberg was an Estonian professional Greco-Roman and free-style wrestling world champion of the early 20th century. He took part in the World Heavyweight Championship and was one of the three most famous Estonian professional wrestlers, along with Georg Lurich and Georg Hackenschmidt. Read more
11 Aug 1878: Oliver W. F. Lodge, English poet and author (died 1955) Oliver William Foster Lodge was an English poet and author; he was the eldest son of Sir Oliver Lodge (1851–1940), the physicist, and his wife Mary, who had studied painting at the Slade. His five brothers all qualified as engineers, so that he was the only one of the boys with literary leanings, although their uncle Sir Richard Lodge and their aunt Eleanor Constance Lodge both became distinguished academic historians. They grew up in Liverpool, close to Sefton Park, and frequented the Rathbone family of Greenbank House. Read more
11 Aug 1877: Adolph M. Christianson, American lawyer and judge (died 1954) Adolph M. Christianson was an attorney and a justice of the North Dakota Supreme Court. Read more
11 Aug 1874: Princess Louise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg (died 1953) Princess Louise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg was a German noblewoman. She was a princess of Saxe-Altenburg by birth and a Princess of Anhalt by marriage. Read more
11 Aug 1870: Tom Richardson, English cricketer (died 1912) Tom Richardson was an English cricketer. A fast bowler, Richardson relied to a great extent on the break-back, a relatively long run-up and high arm which allowed him to gain sharp lift on fast pitches even from the full, straight length he always bowled. He played 358 first-class cricket matches including 14 Tests, taking a total of 2,104 wickets. In the four consecutive seasons from 1894 to 1897 he took 1,005 wickets, a figure surpassed over such a period only by the slow bowler Tich Freeman. He took 290 wickets in 1895, again a figure only exceeded by Freeman (twice). In 1963 Neville Cardus selected him as one of his "Six Giants of the Wisden Century". Read more
11 Aug 1860: Ottó Bláthy, Hungarian engineer and chess player (died 1939) Ottó Titusz Bláthy was a Hungarian electrical engineer. During his career he became the co-inventor of the modern electric transformer, the voltage regulator, the AC watt-hour meter, the turbo generator, the high-efficiency turbo generator and the motor capacitor for the single-phase (AC) electric motor. Read more
11 Aug 1858: Christiaan Eijkman, Dutch physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1930) Christiaan Eijkman was a Dutch physician and professor of physiology whose demonstration that beriberi is caused by poor diet led to the discovery of antineuritic vitamins (thiamine). Together with Sir Frederick Hopkins, he received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1929 for the discovery of vitamins. Read more
11 Aug 1855: John Hodges, Australian cricketer (died 1933) John Robart Hodges was an Australian cricketer who played in the first two Test matches in 1877. Read more
11 Aug 1837: Marie François Sadi Carnot, French engineer and politician, 4th President of the French Republic (died 1894) Marie François Sadi Carnot was a French statesman who served as President of France from 1887 until his assassination in 1894. Read more
11 Aug 1836: Warren Brown, American historian and politician (died 1919) Warren Brown was an American politician, historian, gentleman farmer, businessman, and author from Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. Read more
11 Aug 1833: Robert G. Ingersoll, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (died 1899) Robert Green Ingersoll, nicknamed "the Great Agnostic", was an American lawyer, writer, and orator during the Golden Age of Free Thought, who campaigned in defense of agnosticism. Read more
11 Aug 1833: Kido Takayoshi, Japanese samurai and politician (died 1877) Kido Takayoshi , formerly known as Katsura Kogorō , was a Japanese statesman, samurai and shishi who is considered one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration. Read more
11 Aug 1816: Frederick Innes, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (died 1882) Frederick Maitland Innes was Premier of Tasmania from 4 November 1872 to 4 August 1873. Read more
11 Aug 1808: William W. Chapman, American lawyer and politician (died 1892) William Williams Chapman was an American politician and lawyer in Oregon and Iowa. He was born and raised in Virginia. He served as a United States Attorney in Iowa when it was part of the Michigan and Wisconsin territories, and then represented the Iowa Territory in the United States House of Representatives. He later immigrated to the Oregon Country, where he served in the Oregon Territorial Legislature. Read more
11 Aug 1807: David Rice Atchison, American general, lawyer, and politician (died 1886) David Rice Atchison was a mid-19th-century Democratic United States Senator from Missouri. He served as president pro tempore of the United States Senate for six years. Atchison served as a major general in the Missouri State Militia in 1838 during Missouri's Mormon War and as a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War under Major General Sterling Price in the Missouri Home Guard. Some of Atchison's associates claimed that for 24 hours—Sunday, March 4, 1849, through noon on Monday—he may have been acting president of the United States. This belief, however, is dismissed by most scholars. Read more

Notable Deaths on 11 August

11 Aug 2025: Miguel Uribe Turbay, Colombian precandidate to presidency (born 1986) Miguel Uribe Turbay was a Colombian politician who served as a member of the Senate of Colombia from 2022 until his assassination in 2025. A member of the conservative Democratic Centre party, he had been seeking the party's nomination for the 2026 presidential election. Read more
11 Aug 2025: Danielle Spencer, American actress (born 1965) Danielle Louise Spencer was an American actress best known for her role as Dee Thomas on the ABC sitcom What's Happening!!, which ran from 1976 until 1979. She reprised the role on the series' sequel, What's Happening Now!! After her acting career, Spencer became a veterinarian. Read more
11 Aug 2024: Ángel Salazar, Cuban-American comedian and actor (born 1956) Ángel Salazar was a Cuban-American comedian and actor. He was known for saying "Sheck it out" before, during, and after jokes. As an actor, he was best known for his role as Chi-Chi in the 1983 film Scarface. Read more
11 Aug 2024: Noël Treanor, Irish Roman Catholic prelate (born 1950) Noël Treanor was an Irish Roman Catholic prelate who served as Apostolic Nuncio to the European Union with the personal title of archbishop from 2022 until his death in 2024. He was Secretary-General of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) from 1993 to 2008 and 32nd Bishop of Down and Connor from 2008 to 2022. Read more
11 Aug 2023: Mike Ahern, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of Queensland (born 1942) Michael John Ahern was an Australian National Party politician who was Premier of Queensland from December 1987 to September 1989. After a long career in the government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Ahern became his successor amid the controversy caused by the Fitzgerald Inquiry into official corruption. Ahern's consensus style and political moderation contrasted strongly with Bjelke-Petersen's leadership, but he could not escape the division and strife caused by his predecessor's downfall. Read more
11 Aug 2022: Anne Heche, American actress (born 1969) Anne Celeste Heche was an American actress, known for her roles across a variety of genres in film, television, and theater. She was the recipient of Daytime Emmy, National Board of Review, and GLAAD Media Awards, in addition to nominations for a Tony Award and a Primetime Emmy. Read more
11 Aug 2022: Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer (born 1926) Hanae Mori was a Japanese fashion designer. She was one of only two Japanese women to have presented her collections on the runways of Paris and New York, and the first Asian woman to be admitted as an official haute couture design house by the Fédération française de la couture in France. Her fashion house, opened in Japan in 1951, grew to become a $500 million international business by the 1990s. Read more
11 Aug 2020: Trini Lopez, American singer and guitarist (born 1937) Trinidad López III, known as Trini Lopez, was an American singer and guitarist. His first album included a cover version of Pete Seeger's "If I Had a Hammer", which earned a gold disc for him. His other hits included "Lemon Tree", "I'm Comin' Home, Cindy" and "Sally Was a Good Old Girl". He designed two guitars for the Gibson Guitar Corporation, which are now collector's items. A documentary on his life and career, My Name Is Lopez, was released in April 2022. Read more
11 Aug 2020: Sumner Redstone, American billionaire businessman (born 1923) Sumner Murray Redstone was an American billionaire businessman and media magnate. He was the founder and chairman of the second incarnation of Viacom, chairman of CBS Corporation, and the majority owner and chairman of the National Amusements theater chain. Read more
11 Aug 2019: Sergio Obeso Rivera, Mexican Roman Catholic cardinal (born 1931) Sergio Obeso Rivera was a Mexican prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Xalapa from 1979 to 2007 after serving as Bishop of Papantla from 1971 to 1974 and then as coadjutor in Xalapa from 1974 to 1979. Pope Francis created him a cardinal on 28 June 2018. Read more
11 Aug 2018: V S Naipaul, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1932) Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was a Trinidad and Tobago-born British writer renowned for his works of fiction and nonfiction in English. He is known for his comic early novels set in Trinidad, his bleaker novels of alienation in the wider world, and his vigilant chronicles of life and travels. He wrote in prose that was widely admired, but his views sometimes aroused controversy. He published more than thirty books over fifty years. Read more
11 Aug 2018: Terry A. Davis, American computer programmer, creator of TempleOS (born 1969) Terrence Andrew Davis was an American electrical engineer, computer programmer, and outsider artist best known for creating and designing TempleOS, a public domain operating system, written in a programming language developed by Davis called HolyC. He believed God had commanded him to create TempleOS as the Third Temple prophesied in the Bible. In 1996, Davis began experiencing regular manic episodes, some of which led to hospitalization. Initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he was later declared to have schizophrenia. Eight months before his death, he struggled with periods of homelessness. His fans brought him supplies, but Davis refused their offers of housing. In August 2018, he was struck by a train and died at the age of 48. Read more
11 Aug 2017: Yisrael Kristal, Polish-Israeli supercentenarian; oldest living Holocaust survivor and one of the ten oldest men ever (born 1903) Yisrael Kristal or Israel Kristal; was a Polish-Israeli confectioner, Holocaust survivor, and supercentenarian. In 2014, he was recognized as the oldest known living Holocaust survivor. Following the death of Yasutaro Koide on 18 January 2016, Kristal was recognized as the world's oldest living man. Born in Maleniec, Congress Poland, he survived the Łódź Ghetto and Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust, and emigrated to Israel in 1950. Read more
11 Aug 2017: Segun Bucknor, Nigerian musician and journalist (born 1946) Segun Bucknor was a Nigerian musician and journalist active during the 1960s and 1970s. He was a pianist and guitarist specializing in genres ranging from soul music to pop music and to funk. Through their brief career, Segun Bucknor and the Assembly released a variety of music dealing with Nigerian culture or political influence which was described by the BBC as an "interesting slice of Nigerian pop music history and culture". Read more
11 Aug 2015: Serge Collot, French viola player and educator (born 1923) Serge Collot was a French violist and music educator. Read more
11 Aug 2015: Harald Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager (born 1941) Harald Ingemann Nielsen was a Danish footballer who played as a forward. He played professionally for Italian club Bologna F.C. where he was the league top scorer (capocannoniere) in Bologna's 1964 Serie A championship winning season. Harald Nielsen played 14 games for the Denmark national team in 1959 and 1960, scoring 15 goals, and he was known as Guld-Harald (Gold-Harald). He was a football entrepreneur having continuously worked for the professionalization of both the Demark national team and the national league. Read more
11 Aug 2015: Richard Oriani, Salvadoran-American metallurgist and engineer (born 1920) Richard A. Oriani was an El Salvador-born American chemical engineer and metallurgist who was instrumental in the study of the effects of hydrogen in metal. He also made significant contributions to the field of cold fusion. Read more
11 Aug 2014: Vladimir Beara, Croatian footballer and manager (born 1928) Vladimir Beara was a Yugoslav football goalkeeper and manager. He played the vast majority of his professional club career for Hajduk Split and Red Star Belgrade in the Yugoslav Federal League and for the Yugoslavia national football team. He is considered to have been one of the best goalkeepers of his era. Read more
11 Aug 2014: Raymond Gravel, Canadian priest and politician (born 1952) Raymond Gravel was a Canadian Catholic priest and politician from the province of Quebec. Gravel was formerly the Member of Parliament for the riding of Repentigny, as a member of the Bloc Québécois. He was elected to the House of Commons in a November 27, 2006 by-election following the death of Benoît Sauvageau. Read more
11 Aug 2014: Kika Szaszkiewiczowa, Polish author and blogger (born 1917) Irena "Kika" Szaszkiewiczowa was a Polish artist, writer and blogger. Read more
11 Aug 2014: Robin Williams, American actor and comedian (born 1951) Robin McLaurin Williams was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created spontaneously and portrayed in drama and comedy films, he is regarded as one of the greatest comedians of all time. Williams received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and six Golden Globe Awards, as well as five Grammy Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2005. Read more
11 Aug 2014: Sam Hall, American diver, legislator, and mercenary (born 1937) Samuel "Sam" Wesley Hall was an American Olympic silver medalist diver and politician who served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives. Read more
11 Aug 2013: Raymond Delisle, French cyclist (born 1943) Raymond Delisle was a French professional road bicycle racer. His sporting career began with ACBB Paris. He is the only rider to have won a stage of the Tour de France on 14 July, France's national day, while wearing the jersey of national champion. Read more
11 Aug 2013: Zafar Futehally, Indian ornithologist and author (born 1919) Zafar Rashid Futehally was an Indian naturalist and conservationist best known for his work as the secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society and for founding the Newsletter for Birdwatchers, a periodical that helped birdwatchers around India communicate their observations. Awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in the year 1971, Zafar Futehally was also honoured with Dutch order of merit the Order of the Golden Ark in 1981 and Karnataka Rajyotsava award by the Government of Karnataka in 1983. Read more
11 Aug 2013: David Howard, English ballet dancer and educator (born 1937) David Howard was an English ballet dancer and teacher, who taught internationally at institutions such as the Royal Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and the National Ballet of Canada. Howard opened his popular eponymous dance studio in New York City, the David Howard School of Ballet in 1977, before its closure in 1995. His dance center welcomed all students including children, adult beginners and professionals from the Broadway musicals and ballet. In addition to his teaching, Howard was an expert on the history of the pointe shoe worn by ballet dancers, and a pioneer in their design. Read more
11 Aug 2012: Red Bastien, American wrestler, trainer, and promoter (born 1931) Rolland "Red" Bastien was an American professional wrestler best known for his time in Capital Wrestling Corporation where he was a three-time WWWF United States Tag Team Champion with his kayfabe brother, Lou Bastien. Read more
11 Aug 2012: Michael Dokes, American boxer (born 1958) Michael Marshall Dokes was an American professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 1997, and held the WBA heavyweight title from 1982 to 1983. As an amateur he won a silver medal in the heavyweight division at the 1975 Pan American Games. Read more
11 Aug 2012: Lucy Gallardo, Argentinian-Mexican actress and screenwriter (born 1929) Lucy Gallardo was an Argentine-born Mexican actress and screenwriter. She was best known for her numerous roles in Mexican cinema, as well as Mexico's telenovelas. Gallardo was the widow of Mexican actor Enrique Rambal. Read more
11 Aug 2010: James Mourilyan Tanner, British paediatric endocrinologist (born 1920) James Mourilyan Tanner was a British paediatric endocrinologist who was best known for his development of the Tanner scale, which measures the stages of sexual development during puberty. He was a professor emeritus of the Institute of Child Health at the University of London. Read more
11 Aug 2009: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American activist, founded the Special Olympics (born 1921) Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver was an American philanthropist. Shriver was a member of the Kennedy family by birth, and a member of the Shriver family through her marriage to Sargent Shriver, who was the United States ambassador to France and the final Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1972. She was a sister of U.S. president John F. Kennedy, U.S. senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward Kennedy, and U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith. Read more
11 Aug 2008: George Furth, American actor and playwright (born 1932) George Furth was an American librettist, playwright, and actor. Read more
11 Aug 2008: Dursun Karataş, founding leader of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DHKP-C) in Turkey (born 1952) Dursun Karataş was a Turkish communist of Zaza Kurd descent. He commanded the revolutionary left and DHKP-C, a group considered to be a terrorist organization in Turkey, the European Union and the USA. The revolutionary left was closed in the 90s due to lack of personnel. Read more
11 Aug 2006: Mike Douglas, American singer and talk show host (born 1920) Michael Delaney Dowd Jr., known as Mike Douglas, was an American big band singer, entertainer, television talk show host of The Mike Douglas Show, and actor. Read more
11 Aug 2003: Armand Borel, Swiss-American mathematician and academic (born 1923) Armand Borel was a Swiss mathematician, born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and was a permanent professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, United States from 1957 to 1993. He worked in algebraic topology, in the theory of Lie groups, and was one of the creators of the contemporary theory of linear algebraic groups. Read more
11 Aug 2003: Herb Brooks, American ice hockey player and coach (born 1937) Herbert Paul Brooks was an American ice hockey player and coach. His most notable achievement came in 1980 as head coach of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team at Lake Placid. Brooks' team upset the heavily favored Soviet team in a match that came to be known as the "Miracle on Ice". Read more
11 Aug 2002: Galen Rowell, American photographer and mountaineer (born 1940) Galen Avery Rowell was an American wilderness photographer, adventure photojournalist and mountaineer. Born in Oakland, California, he became a full-time photographer in 1972. Read more
11 Aug 2001: Percy Stallard, English cyclist and coach (born 1909) Percy Thornley Stallard was an English racing cyclist who reintroduced massed-start road racing on British roads in the 1940s. Read more
11 Aug 2000: Jean Papineau-Couture, Canadian composer and academic (born 1916) Jean Papineau-Couture, was a Canadian composer and academic. Read more
11 Aug 1996: Rafael Kubelík, Czech conductor and composer (born 1914) Rafael Jeroným Kubelík, KBE was a Czech conductor and composer. Read more
11 Aug 1996: Ambrosio Padilla, Filipino basketball player and politician (born 1910) Ambrosio "Paddy" Bibby Padilla was a Filipino basketball player, lawyer, and an elected member of the Senate of the Philippines. He was one of the most important figures in Asian basketball development. Read more
11 Aug 1995: Phil Harris, American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1904) Wonga Philip Harris was an American actor, comedian, bandleader, and musician. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with The Jack Benny Program, then in The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show in which he co-starred with his wife, singer-actress Alice Faye, for eight years. Harris is also noted for his voice acting in animated films. As a voice actor, he voiced Baloo in The Jungle Book (1967), Thomas O'Malley in The Aristocats (1970), Little John in Robin Hood (1973), and Patou in Rock-a-Doodle (1991). As a singer, he recorded a number one novelty hit record, "The Thing" (1950). Read more
11 Aug 1994: Peter Cushing, English actor (born 1913) Peter Wilton Cushing was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage and radio roles. He achieved recognition for his leading performances in the Hammer Productions horror films from the 1950s to 1970s and as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977). Read more
11 Aug 1991: J. D. McDuffie, American race car driver (born 1938) John Delphus McDuffie Jr. was an American racing driver. He competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 1963 to 1991, collecting 106 Top 10 finishes during his career, despite never finishing on the lead lap of any race in his career, and holding the record for the most starts in NASCAR's top level without a win with 653. He died in a racing accident during the Budweiser at The Glen at Watkins Glen International in 1991. Read more
11 Aug 1989: John Meillon, Australian actor (born 1934) John Meillon was an Australian character actor known for dramatic as well as comedy roles. He portrayed Walter Reilly in the films Crocodile Dundee and Crocodile Dundee II. He also voiced advertisements for Victoria Bitter beer. He appeared in several Australian New Wave films including Wake in Fright and The Cars That Ate Paris. Read more
11 Aug 1988: Anne Ramsey, American actress (born 1929) Anne Ramsey-Mobley was an American actress. She was best known for her film roles as Mama Fratelli in The Goonies (1985) and as Mrs. Lift in Throw Momma from the Train (1987), the latter of which earned her nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Additionally, Ramsey's respective turns in both aforementioned films earned her two Saturn Awards. Read more
11 Aug 1986: János Drapál, Hungarian motorcycle racer (born 1948) János Drapál was a Hungarian motorcycle road racer. He had little chance to race in the Grand Prix world championships during the Cold War, but still won four Grand Prix races. Drapál had his best year in 1971, when he won the Yugoslavian Grand Prix and finished the year in seventh place in the 350cc world championship, riding a Yamaha. In 1973, he won two Grand Prix races but slipped to ninth place in the 350cc world championship. Drapál was killed in 1985 after a collision with a Czech track marshal during a 250cc race at the Piešťany airfield circuit in Czechoslovakia. Read more
11 Aug 1984: Alfred A. Knopf Sr., American publisher, founded Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (born 1892) Alfred Abraham Knopf Sr. was an American publisher of the 20th century, and co-founder of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. His contemporaries included the likes of Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, and Frank Nelson Doubleday, J. Henry Harper and Henry Holt. Knopf paid special attention to the quality of printing, binding and design in his books, and earned a reputation as a purist in both content and presentation. Read more
11 Aug 1984: Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian–American chemist and chess player (born 1916) Paul Felix Schmidt was an Estonian and German chess player, writer and chemist. Read more
11 Aug 1982: Tom Drake, American actor and singer (born 1918) Tom Drake was an American actor. Drake made films starting in 1940 and continuing until the mid-1970s, and also made TV acting appearances. Read more
11 Aug 1980: Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (born 1910) Paul Charles Jules Robert was a French lexicographer and publisher, best known for his large Dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française (1953), often called simply the Robert, and its abridgement, the Petit Robert ; who founded the dictionary company Dictionnaires Le Robert. Read more
11 Aug 1979: J. G. Farrell, English author (born 1935) James Gordon Farrell was an English-born novelist of Irish descent. He gained prominence for a series of novels known as "the Empire Trilogy", which deal with the political and human consequences of British colonial rule. Read more
11 Aug 1978: Berta Ruck, Indian-born Welsh romance novelist (born 1878) Amy Roberta (Berta) Ruck was a prolific Welsh writer of over 90 romance novels from 1905 to 1972. She also wrote short stories, an autobiography and two books of memoirs. Her married name was Mrs Oliver Onions from 1909 until 1918, when her husband changed his name and she became Amy Oliver. Read more
11 Aug 1977: Frederic Calland Williams, British co-inventor of the Williams-Kilborn tube, used for memory in early computer systems (born 1911) Sir Frederic Calland Williams,, known as F.C. Williams or Freddie Williams, was an English engineer, a pioneer in radar and computer technology. Read more
11 Aug 1974: Vicente Emilio Sojo, Venezuelan conductor and composer (born 1887) Vicente Emilio Sojo was a Venezuelan musicologist, educator and composer, born in Guatire, Miranda. Read more
11 Aug 1972: Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899) Max Theiler was a South African-American virologist and physician. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951 for developing a vaccine against yellow fever in 1937, becoming the first African-born Nobel laureate. Read more
11 Aug 1969: Miriam Licette, English soprano and educator (born 1885) Miriam Licette was an English operatic soprano whose career spanned 35 years, from the mid-1910s to after World War II. She was also a singing teacher, and created the Miriam Licette Scholarship. Read more
11 Aug 1965: Bill Woodfull, Australian cricketer and educator (born 1897) William Maldon Woodfull was an Australian cricketer of the 1920s and 1930s. He captained both Victoria and Australia, and was best known for his dignified and moral conduct during the tumultuous bodyline series in 1932–33. Trained as a schoolteacher, Woodfull was known for his benevolent attitude towards his players, and his patience and defensive technique as an opening batsman. His opening pairing with fellow Victorian Bill Ponsford for both his state and Australia remains one of the most successful in history. While not known for his tactical skills, Woodfull was widely admired by his players and observers for his sportsmanship and ability to mould a successful and loyal team through the strength of his character. Read more
11 Aug 1963: Otto Wahle, Austrian-American swimmer and coach (born 1879) Otto Wahle was an Austrian-American swimmer who took part in two Summer Olympic Games and won a total of three medals. Wahle coached the men's US swim team at the 1912 Olympics, and the men's US water polo team at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics. Read more
11 Aug 1961: Antanas Škėma, Lithuanian-American author, playwright, actor, and director (born 1910) Antanas Škėma was a Lithuanian writer, playwright, stage actor and director. His best known work is the novel Balta drobulė. Read more
11 Aug 1956: Jackson Pollock, American painter (born 1912) Paul Jackson Pollock was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, he was widely noticed for his "drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a horizontal surface, enabling him to view and paint his canvases from all angles. It was called all-over painting and action painting, because Pollock covered the entire canvas and used the force of his whole body to paint, often in a frenetic dancing style. This extreme form of abstraction divided critics: some praised the immediacy of the creation, while others derided the random effects. Read more
11 Aug 1953: Tazio Nuvolari, Italian race car driver and motorcycle racer (born 1892) Tazio Giorgio Nuvolari was an Italian racing driver who first raced motorcycles and then concentrated on sports cars and Grand Prix racing, where he achieved significant success. Originally of Mantua, he was nicknamed il Mantovano Volante and Nuvola ("Cloud"). His victories—72 major races, 150 in all—included 24 Grands Prix, five Coppa Cianos, two Mille Miglias, two Targa Florios, two RAC Tourist Trophies, a Le Mans 24-hour race, and a European Championship in Grand Prix racing. Ferdinand Porsche called him "the greatest driver of the past, the present, and the future". Read more
11 Aug 1945: Stefan Jaracz, Polish actor and theater producer (born 1883) Stefan Jaracz was a Polish actor and theater producer. He served as the artistic director of Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw during the interwar period (1930–32), and within a short period raised its reputation as one of the leading voices for Poland's new intelligentsia, with groundbreaking productions of Danton's Death by Georg Büchner (1931), The Captain of Köpenick by Carl Zuckmayer (1932), as well as popular Ladies and Husars by Aleksander Fredro (1932) and The Open House by Michał Bałucki. Read more
11 Aug 1939: Jean Bugatti, German-Italian engineer (born 1909) Jean Bugatti was a French automotive designer and test engineer for Bugatti. He was the son of Bugatti's founder Ettore Bugatti. Read more
11 Aug 1939: Siegfried Flesch, Austrian fencer (born 1872) Siegfried Friedrich "Fritz" Flesch was an Austrian sabre fencer who competed during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Read more
11 Aug 1937: Edith Wharton, American novelist and short story writer (born 1862) Edith Newbold Wharton was an American writer and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of upper-class New York society to portray, realistically, the lives and morals of the Gilded Age. In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Age of Innocence. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1996. Her other well-known works are The House of Mirth, the novella Ethan Frome, and several notable ghost stories. Read more
11 Aug 1936: Blas Infante, Spanish historian and politician (born 1885) Blas Infante Pérez de Vargas was an Andalusian socialist politician, Georgist, writer, historian and musicologist. He is considered the "father of Andalusia" by Andalusian nationalists. Read more
11 Aug 1921: Mary Sumner, English philanthropist, founded the Mothers' Union (born 1828) Mary Elizabeth Sumner was a British educator and activist, known for founding the Mothers' Union. Sumner is commemorated in a number of provinces of the Anglican Communion on 9 August. Read more
11 Aug 1919: Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Carnegie Steel Company and Carnegie Hall (born 1835) Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late-19th century and became one of the richest Americans in history. Read more
11 Aug 1908: Khudiram Bose, Indian Bengali revolutionary (born 1889) Khudiram Bose was an Indian nationalist from Bengal Presidency who opposed British rule of India. For his role in the Muzaffarpur Conspiracy Case, along with Prafulla Chaki, he was sentenced to death, for the attempted assassination of a British judge, Magistrate Douglas Kingsford, by throwing bombs on the carriage they suspected the man was in. Magistrate Kingsford, however, was seated in a different carriage, and the throwing of bombs resulted in the deaths of two British women. Prafulla fatally shot himself before the arrest. Khudiram was arrested and tried for the murder of the two women, ultimately being sentenced to death. He was one of the first Indian revolutionaries in Bengal to be executed by the British. Read more
11 Aug 1903: Eugenio María de Hostos, Puerto Rican-American sociologist, philosopher, and lawyer (born 1839) Eugenio María de Hostos y de Bonilla, known as El Gran Ciudadano de las Américas, was a Puerto Rican educator, philosopher, intellectual, lawyer, sociologist, novelist, and Puerto Rican independence advocate. Read more
11 Aug 1892: Enrico Betti, Italian mathematician and academic (born 1813) Enrico Betti Glaoui was an Italian mathematician, now remembered mostly for his 1871 paper on topology that led to the later naming after him of the Betti numbers. He worked also on the theory of equations, giving early expositions of Galois theory. He also discovered Betti's theorem, a result in the theory of elasticity. Read more
11 Aug 1890: John Henry Newman, English cardinal and theologian (born 1801) John Henry Newman was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was an important figure in the religious history of England in the 19th century. Read more
11 Aug 1886: Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet and playwright (born 1843) Lydia Emilie Florentine Jannsen, known by her pen name and sobriquet Lydia Koidula, was an Estonian poet. She is also frequently referred to as Koidulaulik. Read more
11 Aug 1868: Halfdan Kjerulf, Norwegian pianist and composer (born 1815) Halfdan Kjerulf was a Norwegian composer. Read more
11 Aug 1854: Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist and academic (born 1798) Macedonio Melloni was an Italian physicist, notable for demonstrating that radiant heat has similar physical properties to those of light. His works earned him the Rumford Medal and the nickname "Newton of heat". Read more
11 Aug 1851: Lorenz Oken, German botanist, biologist, and ornithologist (born 1779) Lorenz Oken was a German naturalist, botanist, biologist, and ornithologist. He became a professor of natural history at the University of Jena and from 1833 at the newly founded University of Zurich. He founded the journal Isis. Read more
11 Aug 1813: Henry James Pye, English poet and politician (born 1745) Henry James Pye was an English poet, and Poet Laureate from 1790 until his death. His appointment as laureate owed nothing to poetic achievement and may have been awarded to him as compensation for the loss of his seat in Parliament. Pye was a competent prose writer who fancied himself as a poet, earning the derisive label of poetaster. Read more

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