History of Today 26 August: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 26 August. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 26 August. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 26 August 2026, 01:00 AM

Important Events on 26 August in History

26 Aug 2023: Exactly 5 years after the 2018 Jacksonville Landing shooting, there is another shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, leaving 3 people dead. Read more
26 Aug 2021: During the 2021 Kabul airlift, a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport kills 13 US military personnel and at least 169 Afghan civilians. Read more
26 Aug 2018: Three people are killed and eleven wounded during a mass shooting at a Madden NFL '19 video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida. Read more
26 Aug 2015: Two U.S. journalists are shot and killed by a disgruntled former coworker while conducting a live report in Moneta, Virginia. Read more
26 Aug 2014: The Jay Report into the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal is published. Read more
26 Aug 2011: The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing's all-new composite airliner, receives certification from the EASA and the FAA. Read more
26 Aug 2009: Kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard is discovered alive in California after being missing for over 18 years. Her captors, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, are apprehended. Read more
26 Aug 2003: A Beechcraft 1900 operating as Colgan Air Flight 9446 crashes after taking off from Barnstable Municipal Airport in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, killing both pilots on board. Read more
26 Aug 1999: Russia begins the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade. Read more
26 Aug 1998: The first flight of the Boeing Delta III ends in disaster 75 seconds after liftoff, resulting in the loss of the Galaxy X communications satellite. Read more
26 Aug 1997: Beni Ali massacre occurs in Algeria, leaving 60 to 100 people dead. Read more
26 Aug 1993: Sakha Avia Flight 301 crashes on approach to Aldan Airport, killing all 24 aboard. Read more
26 Aug 1980: After John Birges plants a bomb at Harvey's Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada, in the United States, the FBI inadvertently detonates the bomb during its disarming. Read more
26 Aug 1978: Papal conclave: Albino Luciani is elected as Pope John Paul I. Read more
26 Aug 1977: The Charter of the French Language is adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec. Read more
26 Aug 1972: The Games of the XX Olympiad open in Munich, West Germany. Read more
26 Aug 1970: The fiftieth anniversary of American women being able to vote is marked by a nationwide Women's Strike for Equality. Read more
26 Aug 1969: Aeroflot Flight 1770 crashes while landing at Vnukovo International Airport, killing 16. Read more
26 Aug 1966: The South African Border War starts with the battle at Omugulugwombashe. Read more
26 Aug 1944: World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris. Read more
26 Aug 1942: The Holocaust in Ukraine: At Chortkiv, the Ukrainian police and German Schutzpolizei deport two thousand Jews to Bełżec extermination camp. Five hundred of the sick and children are murdered on the spot. This continued until the next day. Read more
26 Aug 1940: World War II: Chad becomes the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor. Read more
26 Aug 1936: Spanish Civil War: Santander falls to the Nationalists and the Republican Interprovincial Council is dissolved. Read more
26 Aug 1922: Greco-Turkish War (1919–22): Turkish army launched what has come to be known to the Turks as the Great Offensive (Büyük Taarruz). The major Greek defense positions were overrun. Read more
26 Aug 1920: The 19th amendment to United States Constitution, giving women the right to vote, is certified. Read more
26 Aug 1914: World War I: The German colony of Togoland surrenders to French and British forces after a 20-day campaign. Togoland is the first German colony to fall to Allied hands in World War I. Read more
26 Aug 1914: World War I: During the retreat from Mons, the British II Corps commanded by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien fights a vigorous and successful defensive action at Le Cateau. Read more
26 Aug 1883: The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa begins its final, paroxysmal, stage. Read more
26 Aug 1863: The Swedish-language liberal newspaper Helsingfors Dagblad proposed the current blue-and-white cross flag as the flag of Finland. Read more
26 Aug 1849: President Faustin Soulouque of the First Republic of Haiti has the Senate and Chamber of Deputies proclaim him the Emperor of Haiti, abolishing the Republic and inaugurating the Second Empire of Haiti. Read more
26 Aug 1833: The great 1833 Kathmandu–Bihar earthquake causes major damage in Nepal, northern India and Tibet, a total of 500 people perish. Read more
26 Aug 1814: Chilean War of Independence: Infighting between the rebel forces of José Miguel Carrera and Bernardo O'Higgins erupts in the Battle of Las Tres Acequias. Read more
26 Aug 1813: War of the Sixth Coalition: An impromptu battle takes place when French and Prussian-Russian forces accidentally run into each other near Liegnitz, Prussia (now Legnica, Poland). Read more
26 Aug 1810: The former viceroy Santiago de Liniers of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata is executed after the defeat of his counter-revolution. Read more

Famous Births on 26 August

26 Aug 2002: Lil Tecca, American rapper Tyler-Justin Anthony Sharpe, known professionally as Lil Tecca, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Lil Tecca rose to mainstream prominence with the release of the 2019 single "Ransom", which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The song preceded the release of his debut mixtape We Love You Tecca (2019), which peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and contained the follow-up singles "Love Me" and "Did It Again". Read more
26 Aug 2001: Patrick Williams, American basketball player Patrick Lee Williams is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Florida State Seminoles. He was the fourth pick in the 2020 NBA draft. Read more
26 Aug 2000: Kyren Williams, American football player Kyren Lawrence Williams is an American professional football running back for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and was selected by the Rams in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL draft. Read more
26 Aug 1999: Rosa, former sea otter at Monterey Bay Aquarium Rosa was a sea otter at Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California, United States. She was taken in by the aquarium after being found stranded on a beach at four weeks old. She was released into the wild in April 2000 before being returned to the aquarium in 2002 after she continued to interact with humans, posing a risk to herself and others. She was a surrogate mother for 15 orphaned otter pups at the aquarium and was the aquarium's oldest resident otter. She was also the subject of many charity livestreams in celebration of her birthday, hosted by content creator Douglas Wreden, known online as DougDoug. Read more
26 Aug 1999: Naz Reid, American basketball player Nazreon Hilton Reid is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the LSU Tigers. Reid won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2024. He recently signed a three-year $42 million contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves, before being traded to the Hornets in the summer of 2026. Read more
26 Aug 1999: Kotoshoho Yoshinari, Japanese sumo wrestler Kotoshōhō Yoshinari is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kashiwa, Chiba. He made his debut in November 2017 and reached the top makuuchi division in May 2020. He wrestles for Sadogatake stable. His highest rank has been sekiwake. Read more
26 Aug 1998: Charlie Gillespie, Canadian actor and singer Charles Gillespie is a Canadian actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Luke Patterson in the Netflix series Julie and the Phantoms (2020). Read more
26 Aug 1998: Jeon Soyeon, Korean rapper and record producer Jeon So-yeon, known mononymously as Soyeon, is a South Korean rapper and record producer, under Cube Entertainment. She first gained attention for competing in the television shows Produce 101 and Unpretty Rapstar before debuting as a solo artist on November 5, 2017. On May 2, 2018, she debuted as the leader and rapper of the K-pop girl group (G)I-dle, later changing their name to I-dle, for whom she has written and produced most lead singles. Read more
26 Aug 1997: Cordae, American rapper Cordae Amari West Brooks, known mononymously as Cordae, is an American rapper. He began his career as a member of the hip hop collective YBN. Read more
26 Aug 1995: Anthony Duclair, Canadian ice hockey player Anthony Duclair is a Haitian-Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Duclair was selected by the New York Rangers in the third round, 80th overall, of the 2013 NHL entry draft, the organization with which he began his NHL career. Duclair has also played in the NHL for the Arizona Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators, Florida Panthers, San Jose Sharks and Tampa Bay Lightning. Read more
26 Aug 1995: Ranger Suárez, Venezuelan baseball player Ranger José Suárez Gomez is a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Philadelphia Phillies. Read more
26 Aug 1994: Alex Collins, American football player (died 2023) Alex Collins, was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL draft with the 171st overall pick. He spent two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens in 2017 and 2018 before re-signing by Seattle in 2020. He played one season with the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League (USFL). Read more
26 Aug 1994: Austin Gunn, American professional wrestler Austin Sopp, better known by the ring name Austin Gunn, is an American professional wrestler and reality television personality. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Ring of Honor (ROH) where he is in a tag team with his brother Colten as The Gunns, and is a member of the Bang Bang Gang stable. Gunn is a former one-time AEW World Tag Team Champion and a one-time AEW World Trios Champions and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions. Sopp is a second-generation professional wrestler, as he is the son of professional wrestler Monty Sopp, better known as Billy Gunn. Read more
26 Aug 1993: Keke Palmer, American actress and singer Lauren Keyana "Keke" Palmer is an American actress, singer, and television host. She has received numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards and nominations for an Actor Award and two Daytime Emmy Awards. Time magazine included her on its list of most influential people in the world in 2019. Read more
26 Aug 1991: Jessie Diggins, American cross-country skier Jessica Diggins is an American cross-country skier. She is the most accomplished cross-country skier from the United States in the sport's history having won four World Cup overall titles, four Olympic medals, seven World Championship medals, and numerous other event championships. The New Yorker described Diggins as "the greatest American ever to put on a pair of skinny skis, and arguably the greatest winter endurance athlete this country has ever produced". She announced that she would retire from competitive cross-country skiing after the 2025–26 season. Read more
26 Aug 1991: Dylan O'Brien, American actor Dylan Rhodes O'Brien is an American actor. His first major role was as Stiles Stilinski in the MTV supernatural series Teen Wolf (2011–2017). He achieved further prominence for his lead role in the science fiction Maze Runner trilogy (2014–2018), which led to more film appearances. Read more
26 Aug 1990: Lorenzo Brown, American basketball player Lorenzo D'Ontez Brown Banks is a professional basketball player who last played for Olimpia Milano of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the NC State Wolfpack and spent several seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Born in the United States, he plays for the Spanish national team and helped lead them to a EuroBasket title in 2022. Read more
26 Aug 1990: Irina-Camelia Begu, Romanian tennis player Irina-Camelia Begu is a Romanian tennis player. She reached a career-high WTA singles ranking of world No. 22, in August 2016. Two years later, she reached her highest ranking in doubles, also No. 22. Read more
26 Aug 1988: Elvis Andrus, Venezuelan baseball player Elvis Augusto Andrus Torres is a Venezuelan-American former professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, and Chicago White Sox. He was a two-time All-Star. Read more
26 Aug 1988: Evan Ross, American actor Evan Olav Ross-Næss is an American actor and musician. He made his acting debut in the comedy-drama film ATL (2006), and has since starred in the films Pride (2007), According to Greta (2009), Mooz-lum (2010), 96 Minutes (2011), Supremacy (2014), and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) and Part 2 (2015). Read more
26 Aug 1988: Danielle Savre, American actress Danielle Savre is an American actress. She is known for her television roles, such as her lead performances in the 2007 MTV music drama Kaya, the 2016 TLC drama Too Close to Home, and the ABC Grey's Anatomy spin-off Station 19, and for her roles in the films Wild About Harry and Boogeyman 2. Read more
26 Aug 1988: Wayne Simmonds, Canadian ice hockey player Wayne Simmonds is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. A right winger, he played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres, and Toronto Maple Leafs between 2008 and 2023. During the 2012–13 NHL lockout, Simmonds played in Europe with ETC Crimmitschau and HC Bílí Tygři Liberec. He is known to his teammates and fans by the nickname "Wayne Train". Read more
26 Aug 1988: Lars Stindl, German footballer Lars Edi Stindl is a German former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward. Read more
26 Aug 1986: Vladislav Gussev, Estonian footballer Vladislav Gussev is an Estonian former footballer. Striker and is 1.97 m tall and weighs 86 kg. He has played two games for the Estonia national football team. Read more
26 Aug 1986: Saint Jhn, Guyanese-American rapper, singer, and songwriter Carlos St. John Phillips, known professionally as Saint Jhn, is an American and Guyanese rapper and singer. Read more
26 Aug 1986: Colin Kazim-Richards, Turkish footballer Colin Kazım-Richards, also known as Colin Kâzım, Kâzım or Kâzım Kâzım, is a professional football coach and former player who played as a forward. He is the head coach of EFL League Two club Crawley Town. Born in England, Kazim-Richards represented the Turkey national team. Read more
26 Aug 1986: Cassie Ventura, American singer, dancer, actress and model Casandra Elizabeth Ventura is an American singer, dancer, actress, and model. Born in New London, Connecticut, she began her musical career in 2004 after meeting producer Ryan Leslie, who signed her to his record label, NextSelection Lifestyle Group. She was then discovered by Sean Combs, who signed her to a joint venture with his label, Bad Boy Records, to commercially release her 2006 debut single, "Me & U". The song marked the first of her two entries on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number three. Read more
26 Aug 1985: Oleksiy Kasyanov, Ukrainian decathlete Oleksiy Kasyanov or Oleksii Serhiiovych Kasianov (Ukrainian: Олексій Сергійович Касьянов; born 26 August 1985 in Stakhanov is a Ukrainian decathlete. Read more
26 Aug 1983: Mattia Cassani, Italian footballer Mattia Cassani is an Italian former footballer who played as a defender. Read more
26 Aug 1983: Félix Porteiro, Spanish race car driver Félix Porteiro Pérez is a Spanish former racing driver. He competed in GP2 Series in 2006, his best finish was 6th. Read more
26 Aug 1983: Nicol David, Malaysian squash player Nicol Ann David is a Malaysian retired professional squash player. She was the world number one for a record-breaking 108 consecutive months, ceding the ranking in September 2015 to Raneem El Weleily. She has won the World Open title a record 8 times in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014, as well as the British Open title in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014. In July 2016, she reached her 151st successive month in the top 10, breaking the record in both men's and women's category. She surpassed Peter Nicol's records of 150 months. David is the first squash player to have won the World Junior title twice; in 1999 and 2001 under Richard Glanfield. Read more
26 Aug 1982: Angelo Iorio, Italian footballer Angelo Iorio is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie B club Grosseto. Read more
26 Aug 1982: John Mulaney, American comedian, actor, writer, and producer John Edmund Mulaney is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Mulaney first rose to prominence for his work as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2013, where he contributed to numerous sketches and characters, including Stefon, a recurring character whom he and Bill Hader co-created. Since his departure from SNL, Mulaney has hosted the program six times, and became a member of the SNL Five Timers Club in 2022. Read more
26 Aug 1981: Tino Best, Barbadian cricketer Tino la Bertram Best is a West Indian former cricketer. Since 2002, he has played domestic cricket for his native Barbados, with a season at English club Yorkshire in 2010. Best made his Test debut in May 2003 and played his first One Day International a year later. A back strain incurred in May 2004 prevented Best from playing cricket until March the following year. In 2008 Best signed to play in the Indian Cricket League because he had not played international cricket since 2006. He returned to the side when the West Indies fielded a side weakened by contract disputes between leading players and the West Indies Cricket Board but was dropped shortly after. Read more
26 Aug 1981: Sebastian Bönig, German footballer Sebastian Bönig is a German football coach and former player, who is the currently assistant manager of Bundesliga club Union Berlin. During his playing career, he played for Bayern Munich (A), LR Ahlen, Union Berlin, and BFC Viktoria 1889. Read more
26 Aug 1981: Vangelis Moras, Greek footballer Vangelis Moras is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He is the current manager of Athens Kallithea. Read more
26 Aug 1980: Macaulay Culkin, American actor Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin is an American actor and musician. Considered one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, Culkin has received several accolades including a Golden Globe Award nomination. In 2005, he was ranked second on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". In 2023, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Read more
26 Aug 1980: Manolis Papamakarios, Greek basketball player Emmanouil "Manolis" "Manos" Papamakarios is a retired Greek professional basketball player. He is 1.92 m tall and he mainly played as a shooting guard, but he could also play at the point guard, point forward, and small forward positions. Read more
26 Aug 1980: Chris Pine, American actor Christopher Whitelaw Pine is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as James T. Kirk in the Star Trek reboot film series (2009–2016) and Steve Trevor in the DC Extended Universe films Wonder Woman (2017) and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020). Read more
26 Aug 1977: Therese Alshammar, Swedish swimmer Malin Therese Alshammar is a Swedish swimmer who has won three Olympic medals, 25 World Championship medals, and 43 European Championship medals. She is a specialist in short distances races in freestyle and butterfly. She is coached by former Swedish swimmer Johan Wallberg. She is the first female swimmer and the third overall to participate in six Olympic Games. Read more
26 Aug 1977: Saeko Chiba, Japanese voice actress and singer Saeko Chiba is a Japanese voice actress. She grew up in Tokyo and married in 2007. She is contracted to the Space Craft Produce. Read more
26 Aug 1977: Simone Motta, Italian footballer Simone Motta is an Italian football coach and a former player who is the manager of the Under-19 squad of Pordenone. Read more
26 Aug 1977: Morris Peterson, American basketball player Morris Russell Peterson Jr. is an American former professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans, earning Big Ten Player of the Year honors and leading the team to a national title in 2000. Read more
26 Aug 1976: Mike Colter, American actor Mike Colter is an American actor best known for his role as Luke Cage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2015, including in the series Luke Cage (2016–2018). Read more
26 Aug 1976: Amaia Montero, Spanish singer-songwriter Amaia Montero Saldías is a Spanish singer mainly known as the lead vocalist of the Spanish pop-band La Oreja de Van Gogh from 1996 to 2007, and 2025 onwards. Read more
26 Aug 1975: Morgan Ensberg, American baseball player and coach Morgan Paul Ensberg is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, and New York Yankees. Ensberg bats and throws right-handed. From 2011–12 he was the co-host of MLB Roundtrip on SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio. As of 2025, Ensberg is the manager of the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. Read more
26 Aug 1974: Kelvin Cato, American basketball player and coach Kelvin Tavares Cato is an American former professional basketball player. A 6'11" center from the University of South Alabama and Iowa State University, Cato played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, and New York Knicks. Read more
26 Aug 1974: Meredith Eaton, American actress Meredith Hope Eaton Gordon is an American actress. She is known for portraying the attorney Emily Resnick on the CBS television series Family Law, for her recurring role as Bethany Horowitz on the ABC series Boston Legal, and for her lead role as Matilda "Matty" Webber on the CBS series MacGyver. Read more
26 Aug 1973: Richard Evatt, English boxer (died 2012) Richard Evatt, also called 'tiger', was a British amateur and professional boxer in the super featherweight division who was unsuccessful in his only opportunity to win a world title. He hailed from Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom. Read more
26 Aug 1971: Thalía, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and actress Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda is a Mexican singer and actress. Recognized for her enduring influence on Spanish-language music and television, she has been dubbed the "Queen of Latin Pop" and the "Queen of Telenovelas". Considered a Latin pop icon, Billboard has ranked her among the greatest Latin music artists of all time. Read more
26 Aug 1970: Melissa McCarthy, American actress, comedian, producer, and screenwriter Melissa Ann McCarthy is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. McCarthy was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, and she has been featured multiple times in annual rankings of the highest-paid actresses in the world. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her #22 in its list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century. Read more
26 Aug 1970: Brett Schultz, South African cricketer Brett Schultz is a former South African cricketer who played in nine Test matches and one One Day International between 1992 and 1997. During the course of his career, he also played for Eastern Province, Western Province and Gauteng. Read more
26 Aug 1969: Adrian Young, American drummer and songwriter Adrian Samuel Young is an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock bands No Doubt and Dreamcar. He also serves as a producer in his free time. Read more
26 Aug 1968: Chris Boardman, English cyclist Christopher Miles Boardman, is an English former racing cyclist. A time trial and prologue specialist, Boardman won the inaugural men's World time trial championship in 1994, won the individual pursuit gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics, broke the world hour record three times, and won three prologue stages at the Tour de France. Read more
26 Aug 1967: Michael Gove, Scottish journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Education Michael Andrew Gove, Baron Gove is a British politician and journalist. A member of the House of Lords since 2025, he previously held senior Cabinet positions in Conservative governments between 2010 and 2024. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Surrey Heath from 2005 to 2024, during which he twice returned to the backbenches. He was a prominent figure in the 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union and stood for the Conservative leadership on two occasions. Gove was often described by the media as Boris Johnson's "de facto" Deputy Prime Minister. He has been editor of The Spectator since 2024. Read more
26 Aug 1966: Jacques Brinkman, Dutch field hockey player and coach Jacques Brinkman is a former Dutch field hockey player, who twice won the golden medal with the national squad: at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and four years later, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. There he played his last international tournament for the Dutch, after a career spanning more than thirteen years. Read more
26 Aug 1966: Shirley Manson, Scottish singer-songwriter and actress Shirley Ann Manson is a Scottish singer, songwriter, and musician who is the lead vocalist of the rock band Garbage. Deemed a "Godmother of Rock" by The New York Times, she is noted for her distinctive deep voice, forthright style, and rebellious attitude. As of 2017, Garbage have sold over 17 million records; her accolades with the band include nominations for two Brit Awards and seven Grammy Awards. Read more
26 Aug 1965: Chris Burke, American actor Christopher Joseph Burke is an American actor known for his character Charles "Corky" Thatcher on the television series Life Goes On. Read more
26 Aug 1964: Allegra Huston, English-American author and screenwriter Allegra Huston is a British-American author, editor, and writer based in Taos, New Mexico. Read more
26 Aug 1964: Zadok Malka, Israeli footballer and manager Zadok Malka is a former Israeli footballer. Read more
26 Aug 1964: Torsten Schmitz, German boxer Torsten Schmitz is a retired German boxer in the Light Middleweight class. He represented East Germany at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Read more
26 Aug 1964: Carsten Wolf, German cyclist Carsten Wolf is an East German racing cyclist, who competed for the SC Dynamo Berlin / Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo. He won the silver medal at the Olympic games in Seoul 1988. Read more
26 Aug 1964: Mehriban Aliyeva, 1st Vice President of Azerbaijan, goodwill ambassador of UNESCO and ISESCO Mehriban Arif gizi Aliyeva is an Azerbaijani politician and former physician who is the First Vice President and First Lady of Azerbaijan. Read more
26 Aug 1962: Roger Kingdom, American hurdler Roger Kingdom is an American former sprint hurdler who was twice Olympic champion in the 110 meters. Kingdom set a world record of 12.92 in 1989. He is now an athletics coach and strength and conditioning coach who currently works as a speed and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL. Read more
26 Aug 1961: Daniel Lévi, Algerian-French singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2022) Daniel Lévi was a French singer-songwriter, composer, and pianist. Read more
26 Aug 1960: Branford Marsalis, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque. From 1992 to 1995 he led The Tonight Show Band. Read more
26 Aug 1960: Ola Ray, American model and actress Ola Ray is an American actress and model, best known for her role as the girlfriend of Michael Jackson in the music video for "Thriller". Read more
26 Aug 1959: Oliver Colvile, English lawyer and politician Oliver Newton Colvile was a British politician. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport. Read more
26 Aug 1959: Stan Van Gundy, American basketball player and coach Stanley Alan Van Gundy is an American former basketball coach who is a television commentator for College Basketball on CBS for CBS Sports and NBA on Prime for Sports on Amazon Prime Video. He previously worked as game analyst for NBA on TNT from 2019 to 2020, and again from 2021 to 2025. Prior to TNT, he was most recently the head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA. He also served as the head coach and president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons from 2014 to 2018. From 2003 to 2005, he was the head coach of the Miami Heat but resigned in 2005 mid-season, returning the job over to Pat Riley. Van Gundy then coached the Orlando Magic for five seasons from 2007 to 2012, leading them to the 2009 NBA Finals. He is the older brother of former New York Knicks and Houston Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy. Read more
26 Aug 1958: Jan Nevens, Belgian cyclist Jan Nevens is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. Nevens won the 8th stage of the 1992 Tour de France. He also competed in the individual road race event at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Read more
26 Aug 1957: Dr. Alban, Swedish musician Ogbuagu Alban Uzoma Nwapa, better known by his stage name Dr. Alban, is a Nigerian-Swedish musician and producer with his own record label, Dr. Records. His music can best be described as Eurodance/hip-hop reggae in a dancehall style. He has sold an estimated 16 million records worldwide and is most famous for his worldwide 1992 hit "It's My Life", from the album One Love. Read more
26 Aug 1956: Sally Beamish, English viola player and composer Sarah Frances Beamish is a British composer and violist. Her works include chamber, vocal, choral and orchestral music. She has also worked in theatre, film and television, as well as composing for children and for her local community. Read more
26 Aug 1956: Brett Cullen, American actor Peter Brett Cullen is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Dan Fixx in Falcon Crest (1986–1988), Sam Cain in The Young Riders (1989–1990), Governor Ray Sullivan in The West Wing (2005–2006), Goodwin Stanhope in Lost (2005–2008), Mark Keeler in Make It or Break It (2009–2012), Nathan Ingram in Person of Interest, and Michael Stappord in Devious Maids (2013–2015). Read more
26 Aug 1955: Giuseppe Resnati, Italian chemist and educator Giuseppe Resnati is an Italian chemist with interests in supramolecular chemistry and fluorine chemistry. He has a particular focus on self-assembly processes driven by halogen bonds, chalcogen bonds, and pnictogen bonds. His results on the attractive non-covalent interactions wherein atoms act as electrophiles thanks to the anisotropic distribution of the electron density typical for bonded atoms, prompted a systematic rationalization and categorization of many different weak bonds formed by many elements of the p- and d-blocks of the periodic table. Read more
26 Aug 1954: Howard Clark, English golfer and sportscaster Howard Keith Clark is an English professional golfer who played on the European Tour for many years and had his most successful period in the mid-1980s. Read more
26 Aug 1953: David Hurley, Australian general and politician, 27th Governor General of Australia General David John Hurley is an Australian viceregal officeholder and military officer. A senior officer in the Australian Army, he served as the 27th governor-general of Australia from 2019 to 2024. He was previously the 38th governor of New South Wales from 2014 to 2019. Read more
26 Aug 1953: Andrea Saltelli, Italian statistician and sociologist Andrea Saltelli is an Italian scholar specializing in quantification using statistical and sociological tools. He has extended the theory of sensitivity analysis to sensitivity auditing, focusing on physical chemistry, environmental statistics, impact assessment and science for policy. He is currently Counsellor at the UPF ca:UPF Barcelona School of Management. Read more
26 Aug 1953: Pat Sharkey, Irish footballer Patrick Gerald Walter Sharkey is a former Northern Irish international footballer. Read more
26 Aug 1952: Bryon Baltimore, Canadian ice hockey player Bryon Donald Baltimore is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, who played in the NHL and WHA. Read more
26 Aug 1952: Michael Jeter, American actor (died 2003) Michael Jeter was an American actor. Known for his career on stage and screen, Jeter played diverse characters. He won a Tony Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. He portrayed Herman Stiles on the sitcom Evening Shade from 1990 until 1994. Read more
26 Aug 1952: Will Shortz, American journalist and puzzle creator William F. Shortz is an American cruciverbalist and editor of The New York Times crossword. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in the invented field of enigmatology. After starting his career at Penny Press and Games magazine, he was hired by The New York Times in 1993. Read more
26 Aug 1951: Gerd Bonk, German weightlifter (died 2014) Gerd Bonk was an East German weightlifter who was active from 1969 to 1980 who won silver at the 1976 Summer Olympics, bronze at the 1972 Summer Olympics, and set three world records. He was the first man in history to clean and jerk 250 kg (551 lb). He also achieved numerous other top-three placements at World Championships and European Weightlifting Championships. He was also a master mechanic. Read more
26 Aug 1951: Bill Whitaker, American journalist Bill Whitaker is an American television journalist and a correspondent for the CBS News program 60 Minutes. Read more
26 Aug 1951: Edward Witten, American physicist and academic Edward Witten is an American theoretical physicist known for his contributions to string theory, topological quantum field theory, general relativity and various areas of mathematics. He is a professor emeritus in the school of natural sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Witten is a researcher in string theory, quantum gravity, supersymmetric quantum field theories, and other areas of mathematical physics. Witten's work has also significantly impacted pure mathematics. In 1990, he became the first physicist to be awarded a Fields Medal by the International Mathematical Union, for his mathematical insights in physics, such as his 1981 proof of the positive energy theorem in general relativity, and his interpretation of the Jones invariants of knots as Feynman integrals. He is considered the practical founder of M-theory. Read more
26 Aug 1949: Allahshukur Pashazadeh, Azerbaijani cleric Allahshukur Hummat Pashazade is the Shaykh al-Islam of the Caucasus which includes the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Georgia, and Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Karachay–Cherkessia, and Adygea in the Russian Federation. He is also the chairman of the Religious Council of the Caucasus. Read more
26 Aug 1949: Leon Redbone, Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2019) Leon Redbone was a singer-songwriter and musician specializing in jazz, blues, and Tin Pan Alley classics. Recognized by his hat, dark sunglasses, and black tie, he was born in Cyprus of Armenian ancestry and first appeared on stage in Toronto, Canada, in the early 1970s. He also appeared on film and television in acting and voice-over roles. Read more
26 Aug 1947: Nicolae Dobrin, Romanian footballer and manager (died 2007) Nicolae Dobrin was a Romanian professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and a manager. Read more
26 Aug 1946: Zhou Ji, Chinese engineer and politician, 14th Chinese Minister of Education Zhou Ji is a Chinese mechanical engineer and politician. He served as China's Minister of Education from 2003 to 2009 and President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering from 2010 to 2018. Prior to that, served briefly as Mayor of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province. Read more
26 Aug 1946: Valerie Simpson, American singer-songwriter Ashford & Simpson were an American husband-and-wife songwriting, production and recording duo composed of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Read more
26 Aug 1946: Mark Snow, American composer for film and television (died 2025) Mark Snow was an American composer for film and television. He was perhaps best known for composing the theme for The X-Files, and would compose for the show's initial nine-season run from 1993 to 2001. He would return for the show's revival from 2015 to 2018. Additionally, he composed the score for the two feature films and the short-lived spinoff series The Lone Gunmen. Read more
26 Aug 1946: Alison Steadman, English actress Alison Steadman is an English actress. She received the 1977 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for Abigail's Party, the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film Life Is Sweet and the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Mari in the original production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. In a 2007 Channel 4 poll, the '50 Greatest Actors' voted for by other actors, she was ranked 42. Read more
26 Aug 1945: Tom Ridge, American sergeant and politician, 1st Secretary of Homeland Security Thomas Joseph Ridge is an American politician and author who served in the George W. Bush administration as the assistant to the president for homeland security from 2001 to 2003 and as the United States secretary of homeland security from 2003 to 2005. He was the first person to hold either office. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1995 and as the 43rd governor of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2001. Read more
26 Aug 1944: Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is a member of the British royal family. He is the second son of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, the youngest of the nine grandchildren of George V, nephew of Edward VIII and George VI, and first cousin of Elizabeth II. He is 33rd in the line of succession to the British throne, and the highest person on the list who is not a descendant of George VI. At the time of his birth, he was fifth in line to the throne. Read more
26 Aug 1944: Alan Parker, English guitarist and songwriter Alan Frederick Parker is an English guitarist and composer. Read more
26 Aug 1944: Judith Rees, English geographer and academic Dame Judith Anne Rees is a British geographer who was interim director of London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) from May 2011 until September 2012. Professor Rees also acts as director for its Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy and is vice-chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. Read more
26 Aug 1944: Maureen Tucker, American singer-songwriter and drummer Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is an American retired musician, singer, and songwriter who achieved international fame as the drummer of the rock band the Velvet Underground. Tucker occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, including the songs "After Hours" and "I'm Sticking with You". Read more
26 Aug 1943: Dori Caymmi, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist Dorival "Dori" Tostes Caymmi is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, guitarist, arranger, and producer. Read more
26 Aug 1942: Dennis Turner, Baron Bilston, English lawyer and politician (died 2014) Dennis Turner, Baron Bilston was a British Labour Co-operative politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South East from 1987 to 2005. Read more
26 Aug 1942: Chow Kwai Lam, Malaysian football coach and player (died 2018) Chow Kwai Lam was a Malaysian football player and coach. Read more
26 Aug 1942: Vic Dana, American dancer and singer Samuel Mendola, known professionally as Vic Dana, is an American singer, dancer and actor. Read more
26 Aug 1941: Chris Curtis, English drummer and singer (died 2005) Chris Curtis was an English musician. He was best known for being a member the 1960s beat band The Searchers. He originated the concept behind Deep Purple and formed the band in its original incarnation of 'Roundabout'. Read more
26 Aug 1941: Jane Merrow, English actress, producer, and screenwriter Jane Josephine Meirowsky, known professionally as Jane Merrow, is an English actress who has been active from the 1960s in both Britain and the United States. Read more
26 Aug 1941: Barbet Schroeder, French-Swiss director and producer Barbet Schroeder is an Iranian-born Swiss film director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working with directors of the French New Wave such as Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer. Read more
26 Aug 1940: Michael Cockerell, English journalist Michael Roger Lewis Cockerell is a British broadcaster and journalist. He is the BBC's most established political documentary maker, with a long, Emmy award-winning career of political programmes spanning television and radio. Read more
26 Aug 1940: Don LaFontaine, American voice actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2008) Donald LeRoy LaFontaine was an American voice actor who recorded more than 5,000 film trailers and hundreds of thousands of television advertisements, network promotions, and video game trailers over four decades. Read more
26 Aug 1940: Nik Turner, English musician and songwriter (died 2022) Nicholas Robert Turner was an English musician best known as a member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner played saxophone and flute, as well as being a vocalist and composer. While with Hawkwind, Turner was known for his experimental free jazz stylisations and outrageous stage presence, often donning full makeup and Ancient Egypt-inspired costumes. Read more
26 Aug 1939: Pinchas Goldstein, Israeli businessman and politician (died 2007) Pinchas Goldstein was an Israeli politician, who served as a member of the Knesset for Likud and the New Liberal Party between 1981 and 1992, and as Deputy Minister of Communications and Deputy Minister of Education and Culture during the early 1990s. Read more
26 Aug 1939: Jorge Paulo Lemann, Brazilian banker and financier Jorge Paulo Lemann is a Brazilian billionaire investment banker, businessman, and former tennis player with dual Brazilian and Swiss citizenship. Read more
26 Aug 1939: Bill White, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2017) William Earl White was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. He played in the National Hockey League with the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Black Hawks from 1967 to 1976. He then coached Chicago during the 1976–77 season. White was one of the most notable defensive defencemen of the 1970s. Read more
26 Aug 1938: Jet Black, English drummer (died 2022) Brian John Duffy, known professionally as Jet Black, was an English drummer and founding member of punk rock/new wave band the Stranglers. He last performed with the band in 2015, and officially retired in 2018. Read more
26 Aug 1937: Don Bowman, American singer-songwriter (died 2013) Rubel Don Bowman was an American country music singer, songwriter, comedian, and radio host. He recorded for RCA Victor between 1964 and 1970, charting in the Top 40 with the novelty hit single "Chit Akins, Make Me a Star". Bowman also worked at several radio stations, including KRZK in Branson, Missouri. At this time, he was also opening the show for Moe Bandy doing Seymore Miles. Bowman also worked at KDEO San Diego, KEWB Oakland, KDWB St. Paul, and KBBQ Burbank. He developed a fictional character for his radio shows named Gruesome Goodbody. In 1961 he had a country hit "Coward at the Alamo." Read more
26 Aug 1936: Benedict Anderson, American political scientist and academic (died 2015) Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson was an Anglo-Irish political scientist and historian who lived and taught in the United States. Anderson is best known for his 1983 book Imagined Communities, which explored the origins of nationalism. A polyglot with an interest in Southeast Asia, he was the Aaron L. Binenkorb Professor of International Studies, Government & Asian Studies at Cornell University. His work on the "Cornell Paper" disputed the official story of Indonesia's 30 September Movement and the subsequent anti-Communist purges of 1965–1966 which led to his expulsion from that country. He was the elder brother of historian Perry Anderson. Read more
26 Aug 1935: Geraldine Ferraro, American lawyer and politician (died 2011) Geraldine Anne Ferraro was an American politician, diplomat, and attorney who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985, representing New York's 9th congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the party's vice presidential nominee in the 1984 presidential election, running alongside presidential nominee and former Vice President Walter Mondale; this made her the first female vice-presidential nominee representing a major American political party. Ferraro was also a journalist, author, and businesswoman. Read more
26 Aug 1935: Karen Spärck Jones, English computer scientist and academic (died 2007) Karen Ida Boalth Spärck Jones was a self-taught programmer and a pioneering British computer and information scientist responsible for the concept of inverse document frequency (IDF), a technology that underlies most modern search engines. She was an advocate for women in computer science, her slogan being, "Computing is too important to be left to men." In 2019, The New York Times published her belated obituary in its series Overlooked, calling her "a pioneer of computer science for work combining statistics and linguistics, and an advocate for women in the field." From 2008, to recognise her achievements in the fields of information retrieval (IR) and natural language processing (NLP), the Karen Spärck Jones Award is awarded annually to a recipient for outstanding research in one or both of her fields. Read more
26 Aug 1934: Tom Heinsohn, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (died 2020) Thomas William Heinsohn was an American professional basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. He was associated with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for six decades as a player, coach and broadcaster. He played for the Celtics from 1956 to 1965, and also coached the team from 1969 to 1978. He spent over 30 years as the color commentator for the Celtics' local broadcasts alongside play-by-play commentator Mike Gorman. He is regarded as one of the most iconic Celtics figures in the franchise's history, known during his lifetime for his charisma and loyalty to the team and its traditions. From this, he earned the nickname "Mr. Celtic". Read more
26 Aug 1934: Kevin Ryan, Australian rugby player, coach, lawyer and politician Kevin James Ryan is an Australian former state parliamentarian and local mayor, barrister and advocate. In the 1950s and 1960s he was an Australian dual-code rugby international representative and had previously been a Queensland amateur boxing champion in 1958 and 1959, who trialled for the 1960 Olympics. Read more
26 Aug 1932: Luis Salvadores Salvi, Chilean basketball player (died 2014) Luis Salvadores Salvi was a Chilean basketball player who competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics. One of nine boys and two girls, he and his brothers established the Salvadores Salvi name as part of the basketball legend of Chile. One of his brothers, Alvaro Salvadores, was also well-known in professional basketball. Read more
26 Aug 1931: Kálmán Markovits, Hungarian water polo player (died 2009) Kálmán Markovits was a Hungarian water polo player who competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics, 1956 Summer Olympics, and 1960 Summer Olympics. Read more
26 Aug 1930: Joe Solomon, Guyanese cricketer and coach (died 2023) Joseph Stanislaus Solomon, AA was a Guyanese cricketer who played 27 Test matches for the West Indies from 1958 to 1965, scoring 1,326 runs, mainly from number six and seven in the batting line-up. He also bowled occasional leg-breaks but was best known as a brilliant fieldsman. He was best remembered for his role in the famous Tied Test match between the West Indies and Australia in 1960 at the Gabba, where he was involved in two direct hit runout dismissals. Read more
26 Aug 1929: Reuben Kamanga, Zambian soldier and politician, 1st Vice President of Zambia (died 1996) Reuben Chitandika Kamanga was a Zambian freedom fighter, politician and statesman. He was educated at Munali Secondary School. Read more
26 Aug 1928: Om Prakash Munjal, Indian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Hero Cycles (died 2015) Om Prakash Munjal was an Indian businessman, poet and philanthropist. He was the founder and chairman of Hero Cycles, the world's largest integrated bicycle manufacturing company by volume and Hero Motors, an Indian two-wheeler components manufacturer, and ventured into newer business fields including luxury hotels and four-wheeler components. He is also known for philanthropic activities of running various schools and hospitals. He died on 13 August 2015 at DMC Hero Heart Centre, Ludhiana. Read more
26 Aug 1926: Anahit Tsitsikian, Armenian violinist and educator (died 1999) Anahit Tsitsikian was an Armenian female violinist. She toured around the world through more than 100 cities during the Soviet times; she taught at the State Conservatory for approximately 40 years and wrote more than 300 articles and scenarios for television and radio programs. She was also a scholar who established a new branch of Armenian musicology, history of performing art, and dedicated the last twenty years of her life to research in the field of ancient music history, becoming the founder of a new branch of Armenian musical archaeology. Read more
26 Aug 1926: Robert Vickrey, American painter and author (died 2011) Robert Remsen Vickrey was an American artist and author based in Massachusetts who specialized in the ancient medium of egg tempera. His paintings are surreal dreamlike visions of sunset shadows of bicycles, nuns in front of mural-painted brick walls, and children playing. Read more
26 Aug 1925: Jack Hirshleifer, American economist and academic (died 2005) Jack Hirshleifer was an American economist and long-time professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Read more
26 Aug 1925: Alain Peyrefitte, French scholar and politician, Minister of Justice for France (died 1999) Alain Peyrefitte was a French scholar and politician. He was a confidant of Charles de Gaulle and had a long career in public service, serving as a diplomat in Germany and Poland. Peyrefitte is remembered for his support for partitioning Algeria amid the Algerian War. Read more
26 Aug 1925: Pyotr Todorovsky, Ukrainian-Russian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (died 2013) Pyotr Yefimovich Todorovsky was a Russian film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. Read more
26 Aug 1925: Etelka Keserű, Hungarian economist and politician (died 2018) Etelka Keserű was a Hungarian economist and politician, who served as Minister of Light Industry between 1971 and 1980. Read more
26 Aug 1925: Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt, Chilean composer (died 2010) Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt was a Chilean composer. Read more
26 Aug 1924: Alex Kellner, American baseball player (died 1996) Alexander Raymond Kellner was an American starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Philadelphia / Kansas City Athletics (1948–1958), Cincinnati Reds (1958) and St. Louis Cardinals (1959). Kellner batted right-handed and threw left-handed. He was born in Tucson, Arizona. His younger brother, Walt, also was a major league pitcher. Read more
26 Aug 1923: Wolfgang Sawallisch, German pianist and conductor (died 2013) Wolfgang Sawallisch was a German conductor and pianist. Read more
26 Aug 1922: Irving R. Levine, American journalist and author (died 2009) Irving Raskin Levine was an American journalist and longtime correspondent for NBC News. During his 45-year career, Levine reported from more than two dozen countries. He was the first American television correspondent to be accredited in the Soviet Union. He wrote three non-fiction books on life in the USSR, each of which became a bestseller. Read more
26 Aug 1921: Shimshon Amitsur, Israeli mathematician and scholar (died 1994) Shimshon Avraham Amitsur was an Israeli mathematician. A leading figure in twentieth-century noncommutative algebra, he is best known for his wide-ranging contributions to ring theory, including the theory of rings with polynomial identities (PI-rings), division algebras, the general theory of radicals, and the Amitsur complex in descent theory. His collected works, published in two volumes by the American Mathematical Society in 2001, are organized into four broad areas: general ring theory, structure theory of PI-rings, combinatorial PI-theory, and division algebras. Read more
26 Aug 1921: Benjamin C. Bradlee, American journalist and author (died 2014) Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee was an American journalist who served as managing editor and later as executive editor of The Washington Post, from 1965 to 1991. He became a public figure when the Post joined The New York Times in publishing the Pentagon Papers and gave the go-ahead for the paper's extensive coverage of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s. He was also criticized for editorial lapses when the Post had to return a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 after it discovered that its award-winning story was false. Read more
26 Aug 1920: Brant Parker, American illustrator (died 2007) Brant Julian Parker was an American cartoonist. He co-created and drew The Wizard of Id comic strip until passing the job on to his son, Jeff Parker, in 1997. Cartoonist Johnny Hart, his co-creator, continued writing the strip until his death on April 7, 2007. Parker himself died eight days later, on April 15. Read more
26 Aug 1920: Prem Tinsulanonda, Thai general and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Thailand (died 2019) Prem Tinsulanonda was a Thai military officer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th prime minister of Thailand from 1980 to 1988. Read more
26 Aug 1919: Gerard Campbell, American priest and academic (died 2012) Gerard John Campbell was an American Catholic priest, Jesuit, and historian who became the president of Georgetown University. Born in Pennsylvania, he entered the Society of Jesus at the age of 20 and studied at West Baden College and Fordham University, before earning his doctorate at Princeton University. A promising historian, he then taught at Loyola University Maryland, before becoming the executive vice president of Georgetown University in 1963, where he effectively worked as acting president. Read more
26 Aug 1918: Katherine Johnson, American physicist and mathematician (died 2020) Creola Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician and human computer whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform tasks previously requiring humans. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist". Read more
26 Aug 1915: Humphrey Searle, English composer and conductor (died 1982) Humphrey Searle was an English composer and writer on music. His music combines aspects of late Romanticism and modernist serialism, particularly reminiscent of his primary influences, Franz Liszt, Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, who was briefly his teacher. As a writer on music, Searle published texts on numerous topics; he was an authority on the music of Franz Liszt, and created the initial cataloguing system for his works. Read more
26 Aug 1914: Julio Cortázar, Belgian-Argentinian author and translator (died 1984) Julio Florencio Cortázar was an Argentine and naturalised French novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an entire generation of Spanish-speaking readers and writers in America and Europe. Read more
26 Aug 1914: Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca, Turkish soldier and poet (died 2008) Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca was one of the most prolific Turkish poets of the Turkish Republic with more than 60 collections of his poems published as of 2007. He was a laureate of the Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Award. Read more
26 Aug 1912: John Tinniswood, British supercentenarian (died 2024) John Alfred Tinniswood was a British supercentenarian who was the world's oldest verified living man from the death of 112-year-old Shi Ping of China on 29 June 2024 until his own death on 25 November 2024, at the age of 112 years and 91 days. Read more
26 Aug 1911: Otto Binder, American author and screenwriter (died 1974) Otto Oscar Binder was an American author of science fiction and non-fiction books and stories, and comic books. He is best known as the co-creator of Supergirl and for his many scripts for Captain Marvel Adventures and other stories involving the entire superhero Marvel Family. He was prolific in the comic book field and is credited with writing over 4,400 stories across a variety of publishers under his own name, as well as more than 160 stories under the pen-name Eando Binder. Read more
26 Aug 1910: Mother Teresa, Albanian-Indian nun, missionary, Catholic saint, and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997) Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and a Catholic saint. Read more
26 Aug 1909: Eric Davies, South African cricketer and educator (died 1976) Eric Quail Davies, was a South African cricketer, who played in five Test matches from 1936 to 1939. He was born in King William's Town and died in Port Alfred, both in Cape Province. Read more
26 Aug 1909: Jim Davis, American actor (died 1981) Jim Davis was an American actor, best known for his roles in television Westerns. In his later career, he became famous as Jock Ewing in the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas, a role he continued until he was too ill from multiple myeloma to perform. In 1981, his performance on the series earned him a posthumous nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Read more
26 Aug 1909: Gene Moore, American baseball player (died 1978) Eugene Moore Jr. was an American professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Bees / Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers, Washington Senators, and St. Louis Browns between 1931 and 1945. His father, Gene Sr., was a pitcher for the Pirates and Reds between 1910 and 1912. Read more
26 Aug 1908: Walter Bruno Henning, Prussian-American linguist and scholar (died 1967) Walter Bruno Henning was a German scholar of Middle Iranian languages and literature, especially of the corpus discovered by the Turpan expeditions of the early 20th century. Read more
26 Aug 1908: Aubrey Schenck, American screenwriter and producer (died 1999) Aubrey Schenck was an American film producer from the 1940s through the 1970s. Read more
26 Aug 1906: Bunny Austin, English tennis player (died 2000) Henry Wilfred "Bunny" Austin was an English tennis player. For 74 years he was the last Briton to reach the final of the men's singles at the Wimbledon Championships, until Andy Murray did so in 2012. He was also a finalist at the 1937 French Championships and a championship winner at Queen's Club. Along with Fred Perry, he was a vital part of the British team that won the Davis Cup in three consecutive years (1933–1935). He is also remembered as the first tennis player to wear shorts. Read more
26 Aug 1906: Albert Sabin, Polish-American physician and virologist, developed the polio vaccine (died 1993) Albert Bruce Sabin was a Polish-American medical researcher, best known for developing the oral polio vaccine, which has played a key role in nearly eradicating the disease. In 1969–1972, he served as the president of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Read more
26 Aug 1905: Helen Sharsmith, American biologist and educator (died 1982) Helen Katherine Meyers Sharsmith was an American biologist and educator. She was one of the first women botanists at the University of California and is recognized for her contributions to botanical research there. Read more
26 Aug 1904: Christopher Isherwood, English-American author and academic (died 1986) Christopher Isherwood was an English and American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include Goodbye to Berlin (1939), a semi-autobiographical novel which was the basis for Cabaret (1966); A Single Man (1964), adapted into a film directed by Tom Ford in 2009; and Christopher and His Kind (1976), a memoir which "carried him into the heart of the Gay Liberation movement". Read more
26 Aug 1904: Joe Hulme, English footballer and cricketer (died 1991) Joseph Harold Anthony Hulme was an English footballer and cricketer. Read more
26 Aug 1903: Caroline Pafford Miller, American author (died 1992) Caroline Pafford Miller was an American novelist. She gathered the folktales, stories, and archaic dialects of the rural communities she visited in her home state of Georgia in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and wove them into her first novel, Lamb in His Bosom, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1934, and the French literary award, the Prix Femina Americain in 1935. Her success as the first Georgian winner of the fiction prize inspired Macmillan Publishers to seek out more southern writers, resulting in the discovery of Margaret Mitchell, whose first novel, Gone with the Wind, also won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. Miller's story about the struggles of nineteenth-century south Georgia pioneers found a new readership in 1993 when Lamb in His Bosom was reprinted, one year after her death. In 2007, Miller was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. Read more
26 Aug 1901: Eleanor Dark, Australian author and poet (died 1985) Eleanor Dark AO was an Australian writer whose novels included Prelude to Christopher (1934) and Return to Coolami (1936), both winners of the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal for literature, and her best known work The Timeless Land (1941). Read more
26 Aug 1901: Hans Kammler, German SS officer and engineer (died 1945) Hans Kammler was an SS-Obergruppenführer responsible for Nazi civil engineering projects and its top secret V-weapons program. He oversaw the construction of various Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, before being put in charge of the V-2 rocket and Emergency Fighter Programs towards the end of World War II. Kammler disappeared in May 1945 during the final days of the war, although conjecture about his capture or death remains. Read more
26 Aug 1901: Jimmy Rushing, American singer and bandleader (died 1972) James Andrew Rushing was an American singer and pianist from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., best known as the featured vocalist of the Count Basie Orchestra from 1935 to 1948. Read more
26 Aug 1901: Maxwell D. Taylor, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to South Vietnam (died 1987) Maxwell Davenport Taylor was a senior United States Army officer and diplomat during the Cold War. He served with distinction in World War II, most notably as commander of the 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed "The Screaming Eagles." Read more
26 Aug 1901: Chen Yi, Chinese general and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China (died 1972) Chen Yi was a Chinese Communist military commander and politician. He served as Mayor of Shanghai from 1949 to 1958 and as Foreign Minister of China from 1958 to 1972. He is one of Ten Marshals of the People's Republic of China. Read more
26 Aug 1900: Margaret Utinsky, American nurse, recipient of the Medal of Freedom (died 1970) Margaret Elizabeth Doolin "Peggy" Utinsky was an American nurse who worked with the Filipino resistance movement to provide medicine, food, and other items to aid Allied prisoners of war in the Philippines during World War II. She was recognized in 1946 with the Medal of Freedom for her actions. Read more
26 Aug 1900: Hellmuth Walter, German-American engineer and businessman (died 1980) Hellmuth Walter was a German engineer who pioneered research into rocket engines and gas turbines. His most noteworthy contributions were rocket motors for the Messerschmitt Me 163 and Bachem Ba 349 interceptor aircraft, so-called Starthilfe jettisonable rocket propulsion units used for a variety of Luftwaffe aircraft during World War II, and a revolutionary new propulsion system for submarines known as air-independent propulsion (AIP). Read more
26 Aug 1898: Peggy Guggenheim, American-Italian art collector and philanthropist (died 1979) Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim was an American art collector, bohemian, and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with the Titanic in 1912, and the niece of Solomon R. Guggenheim, who established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Guggenheim collected art in Europe and America between 1938 and 1946. She exhibited this collection as she built it. In 1949, she settled in Venice, where she lived and exhibited her collection for the rest of her life. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a modern art museum on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, and is one of the most visited attractions in the city. Read more
26 Aug 1897: Yun Posun, South Korean activist and politician, 2nd President of South Korea (died 1990) Yun Po-sun was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the second president of South Korea from 1960 to 1962. He was the only president of the short-lived Second Republic of Korea, and served as little more than a figurehead due to its nature as a parliamentary system. Read more
26 Aug 1896: Ivan Mihailov, Bulgarian soldier and politician (died 1990) Ivan Mihaylov Gavrilov, also known as Vancho Mihaylov, was a Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary in interwar Macedonia and the last leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO). Read more
26 Aug 1894: Sparky Adams, American baseball player and farmer (died 1989) Earl John "Sparky" Adams was an American professional Major League Baseball player who played with the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, and Cincinnati Reds. At five feet four and a half inches (1.638 m), Adams was the smallest Major League player during his career. Read more
26 Aug 1891: Acharya Chatursen Shastri, Indian author and playwright (died 1960) Acharya Chatursen Shastri was an Indian writer of Hindi literature. He wrote many historical fictions, including Vaishali ki Nagarvadhu adapted into a feature film (1948), Vayam Rakshamah (1951), Somnath (1954), and Dharamputra which was adapted into the 1961 feature film of the same name. Read more
26 Aug 1888: Gustavo R. Vincenti, Maltese architect and developer (died 1974) Gustavo Romeo Vincenti was a Maltese architect and developer. Born into a wealthy and business-oriented family in Valletta and Floriana, he was able to purchase land and design and build buildings which he would then sell to clients. He was interested in architecture from a young age, and he graduated as an architect from the University of Malta in 1911, at the age of 23. Read more
26 Aug 1885: Jules Romains, French author and poet (died 1972) Jules Romains was a French poet and writer and the founder of the Unanimism literary movement. His works include the play Knock ou le Triomphe de la médecine, and a cycle of works called Les Hommes de bonne volonté . Sinclair Lewis called him one of the six best novelists in the world. Read more
26 Aug 1882: James Franck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1964) James Franck was a German–American physicist who shared the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gustav Hertz "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom." Read more
26 Aug 1882: Sam Hardy, English footballer (died 1966) Sam Hardy was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
26 Aug 1880: Guillaume Apollinaire, Italian-French author, poet, playwright, and critic (died 1918) Guillaume Apollinaire was a Polish-French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist and art critic of Polish, Swiss and Italian descent. Read more
26 Aug 1875: John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Scottish-Canadian historian and politician, 15th Governor General of Canada (died 1940) John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. Read more
26 Aug 1874: Zona Gale, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (died 1938) Zona Gale, also known by her married name, Zona Gale Breese, was an American novelist, short story writer, and playwright. She became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1921. The close relationship she had with her parents influenced both her writing and personal life. Her books, based on her hometown, were noted for their charm and intimate realism, capturing the underlying emotions and motivations of her characters. All of her works were published under her maiden name, Zona Gale. Read more
26 Aug 1873: Lee de Forest, American engineer and academic, invented the Audion tube (died 1961) Lee de Forest was an American inventor, electrical engineer, and early pioneer in electronics of fundamental importance. He invented the first practical electronic amplifier,
the three-element "Audion" triode vacuum tube in 1908. This helped start the Electronic Age, and enabled the development of the electronic oscillator. These made radio broadcasting and long-distance telephone lines possible, and led to the development of talking motion pictures, among countless other applications. Read more
26 Aug 1865: Arthur James Arnot, Scottish-Australian engineer, designed the Spencer Street Power Station (died 1946) Arthur James Arnot was a Scottish electrical engineer and inventor, best known for patenting the world's first electric drill. He later designed the Spencer Street Power Station. Read more
26 Aug 1862: Herbert Booth, Canadian songwriter and bandleader (died 1926) Herbert Henry Howard Booth was a Salvation Army officer, the third son of five children to William and Catherine Booth (Mumford), who later went on to serve as an independent evangelist. He oversaw the Limelight Department's development and he was the writer and director for Soldiers of the Cross. Read more
26 Aug 1856: Clara Schønfeld, Danish actress (died 1939) Clara Schønfeld was a Danish stage and film actress whose career spanned from the late 19th century through the 1920s. Read more
26 Aug 1854: Arnold Fothergill, English cricketer (died 1932) Arnold James Fothergill was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club and the MCC in a career which spanned from 1870 until 1892. A left-arm fast-medium pace bowler, he appeared for England in two Test matches in 1889. Read more
26 Aug 1824: Martha Darley Mutrie, British painter (died 1885) Martha Darley Mutrie was a British painter. Her paintings consisted mostly of fruit and flowers. She grew up in Manchester, England, and studied at the Manchester School of Design. Mutrie's works were shown at the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Manchester Institution and other national and international exhibitions. Her works are among the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum. Read more
26 Aug 1819: Albert, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom (died 1861) Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the husband of Queen Victoria and consort of the British monarch from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his death in 1861. Victoria granted him the title Prince Consort in 1857. Read more

Notable Deaths on 26 August

26 Aug 2024: Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish footballer and manager (born 1948) Sven-Göran Eriksson was a Swedish football player and manager. After a playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 trophies with a variety of league clubs in Sweden, Portugal, and Italy. In European competition, he won the UEFA Cup in 1982, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1999, the last edition of the tournament before its abolition, the UEFA Super Cup in 1999, and reached the European Cup final in 1990. Read more
26 Aug 2024: Sid Eudy, American actor and professional wrestler (born 1960) Sidney Raymond Eudy was an American professional wrestler, best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring names Sid Justice, Sid Vicious, and Sycho Sid. He was a two-time WWF Champion and two-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Read more
26 Aug 2023: Bob Barker, American television game show host (born 1923) Robert William Barker was an American media personality, game show host, and animal rights advocate. He hosted CBS's The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in North American television history, from 1972 to 2007. Barker also hosted Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975. Read more
26 Aug 2020: Joe Ruby, American animator (born 1933) Joseph Clemens Ruby was an American animator, writer, television producer, and music editor. He was best known as a co-creator of the animated Scooby-Doo franchise, together with Ken Spears. In 1977, they co-founded the television animation production company Ruby-Spears Productions. Ruby would work with Spears and would co-create several other shows including Fangface, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, and Jabberjaw among others. Read more
26 Aug 2018: Neil Simon, American playwright and author (born 1927) Marvin Neil Simon was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three Tony Awards and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. He was awarded a Special Tony Award in 1975, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1991, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2006. Read more
26 Aug 2017: Tobe Hooper, American film director (born 1943) Willard Tobe Hooper was an American filmmaker, best known for his work in the horror genre. The British Film Institute cited Hooper as one of the most influential horror filmmakers of all time. Read more
26 Aug 2015: Amelia Boynton Robinson, American activist (born 1905) Amelia Isadora Platts Boynton Robinson was an American activist and supercentenarian who was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement in Selma, Alabama, and a key figure in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches. Read more
26 Aug 2015: Donald Eric Capps, American theologian, author, and academic (born 1939) Donald Eric Capps was an American theologian and William Harte Felmeth Professor of Pastoral Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. He specialized in the psychology of religion. Read more
26 Aug 2015: P. J. Kavanagh, English poet and author (born 1931) P. J. Kavanagh FRSL was an English poet, lecturer, actor, broadcaster and columnist. His father was the ITMA scriptwriter Ted Kavanagh. Read more
26 Aug 2015: Stefanos Manikas, Greek politician (born 1952) Stefanos Manikas was a Greek politician of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) who was Minister of State. He died on 26 August 2015, at the age of 63, from cancer. Read more
26 Aug 2015: Francisco San Diego, Filipino bishop (born 1935) Francisco Capiral San Diego was a Filipino Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Pasig from 2003 to 2010. He previously served as Bishop of San Pablo from 1995 to 2003. Read more
26 Aug 2014: Christian Bourquin, French lawyer and politician (born 1954) Christian Bourquin was a French politician, a member of the Socialist Party. He was the president of the Regional Council of Languedoc-Roussillon from 2010 to his death in August 2014. Read more
26 Aug 2014: Peter Bacon Hales, American historian, photographer, and author (born 1950) Peter Bacon Hales was an American historian, photographer, author and musician specializing in American spaces and landscapes, the history of photography and contemporary art. Read more
26 Aug 2014: Caroline Kellett, English journalist (born 1960) Caroline Kellett, usually known just as Kellett, was a British journalist who was fashion editor of Tatler and held a number of other positions in British fashion journalism. Read more
26 Aug 2014: Chūsei Sone, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1937) Chūsei Sone was a Japanese film director known for his stylish and popular Roman Porno films for Nikkatsu, particularly the first two installments of the Angel Guts series. Despite a somewhat uneven career, many mainstream critics consider Sone the best of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno directors. Read more
26 Aug 2013: Hélie de Saint Marc, French soldier (born 1922) Hélie Denoix de Saint Marc or Hélie de Saint Marc, was a senior member of the French Resistance and a senior active officer of the French Army, having served in the French Foreign Legion, in particular at the heart and corps of the Foreign Airborne Battalions and Regiments, the heirs of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment 2ème REP, a part constituent of the 11th Parachute Brigade. Commandant by interim of the 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment 1er REP, Hélie assumed full responsibility for commanding exclusively his regiment towards the Generals' Putsch in April 1961 and would be charged for such action while also distancing accusations that would compromise the integrity of the men acting under his direct orders of command. He was rehabilitated within his civilian and military rights in 1978 and awarded the high distinction of the Grand-Croix of the Legion of Honor on 28 November 2011. Read more
26 Aug 2013: John J. Gilligan, American soldier and politician, 62nd Governor of Ohio (born 1921) John Joyce "Jack" Gilligan was an American politician who served as the 62nd governor of Ohio from 1971 to 1975. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented Ohio's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1965 to 1967 and later served as the 6th administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. Gilligan was a World War II veteran and the father of Kathleen Sebelius, who served as governor of Kansas and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. Read more
26 Aug 2013: Bill Schmitz, American football player and coach (born 1954) Bill Schmitz was an American football coach. He served as head football coach at the United States Coast Guard Academy from 1993 to 1996 and Austin Peay State University from 1997 to 2002, compiling a career college football record of 39–65. Read more
26 Aug 2013: Jack Sinagra, American lawyer and politician (born 1950) Jack G. Sinagra was an American Republican Party politician who was the mayor of East Brunswick, New Jersey, and served in the New Jersey Senate from 1992 to 2001, where he represented the 18th Legislative District. Read more
26 Aug 2013: Clyde A. Wheeler, American soldier and politician (born 1921) Clyde A. Wheeler was an American congressional relations expert, lobbyist, and member of the White House staff. After leaving the White House staff, he returned to Oklahoma, where he settled in Tulsa and became a lobbyist for Sun Oil Company. He retired from Sun in 1984 and returned to his ranch in his home town of Laverne, Oklahoma. He continued to do part-time work as a consultant for two Washington law firms until 1988. He died in Laverne in 2013. Read more
26 Aug 2012: Russ Alben, American composer and businessman (born 1929) Bernard Russ Alben was an American advertising executive and composer. He served as the Vice President and Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather from the early 1970s until his retirement in December 1981. Alben is credited with writing the Good & Plenty's Choo Choo Charlie jingle and creating the Timex watch advertising slogan, "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking." Read more
26 Aug 2012: Reginald Bartholomew, American academic and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Italy (born 1936) Reginald Bartholomew was an American diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon (1983–1986), Spain (1986–1989), and Italy (1993–1997). He was also a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy and Council on Foreign Relations. Additionally, he was also a member of the United States National Security Council staff (1977–1979). Read more
26 Aug 2012: Jacques Bensimon, Canadian director and producer (born 1943) Jacques Bensimon was a public film and television director, producer and executive in Canada, working primarily with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and TFO, the French-language network of TVOntario. From 2001 until 2006, he was president of the Cinémathèque québécoise in Montreal. Read more
26 Aug 2012: Krzysztof Wilmanski, Polish-German physicist and academic (born 1940) Krzysztof Wilmanski was a Polish-German scientist working in the fields of continuum mechanics and thermodynamics. Read more
26 Aug 2011: George Band, Taiwanese-English mountaineer and author (born 1929) George Christopher Band was an English mountaineer. He was the youngest climber on the 1953 British expedition to Mount Everest on which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to ascend the mountain. In 1955, he and Joe Brown were the first climbers to ascend Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. Read more
26 Aug 2011: Patrick C. Fischer, American computer scientist and academic (born 1935) Patrick Carl Fischer was an American computer scientist, a noted researcher in computational complexity theory and database theory, and a target of the Unabomber. Read more
26 Aug 2011: John McAleese, Scottish sergeant (born 1949) John Thomas "Mac" McAleese, MM was a Scottish soldier who took part in several late 20th century conflicts with the British Army's Royal Engineers and the Special Air Service. During his time in the Special Air Service, he notably had a role in the storming of the Iranian Embassy in London during a hostage-taking siege in May 1980. Read more
26 Aug 2010: Raimon Panikkar, Catalan priest and scholar (born 1918) Raimon Panikkar Alemany, also known as Raimundo Panikkar and Raymond Panikkar, was a Spanish Catholic priest and a proponent of interfaith dialogue. As a scholar, he specialized in comparative religion. Read more
26 Aug 2009: Dominick Dunne, American journalist and novelist (born 1925) Dominick John Dunne was an American writer, investigative journalist, and producer. He began his career in film and television as a producer of the pioneering gay film The Boys in the Band (1970) and as the producer of the drama film The Panic in Needle Park (1971). He turned to writing in the early 1970s. After the 1982 murder of his daughter Dominique, an actress who had her breakthrough role in the film Poltergeist that year, he began to write about the interaction of wealth and high society with the judicial system. Dunne was a frequent contributor to Vanity Fair, and, beginning in the 1980s, often appeared on television discussing crime. Read more
26 Aug 2007: Gaston Thorn, Luxembourger jurist and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (born 1928) Gaston Egmond Thorn was a Luxembourgish politician who served in a number of high-profile positions, both domestically and internationally. He most prominently served as prime minister of Luxembourg (1974–1979), President of the United Nations General Assembly (1975), and president of the European Commission (1981–1985). Read more
26 Aug 2006: Rainer Barzel, Polish-German lawyer and politician, Minister of Intra-German Relations (born 1924) Rainer Candidus Barzel was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the eighth president of the Bundestag from 1983 to 1984. Read more
26 Aug 2006: Clyde Walcott, Barbadian cricketer and coach (born 1926) Sir Clyde Leopold Walcott OBE KA GCM was a West Indian cricketer. Walcott was a member of the "three W's", the other two being Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell: all were very successful batsmen from Barbados, born within a short distance of each other in Bridgetown, Barbados in a period of 18 months from August 1924 to January 1926; all made their Test cricket debut against England in 1948.
In the mid-1950s, Walcott was arguably the best batsman in the world. He was the manager of the West Indian squads which won the 1975 Cricket World Cup and the 1979 Cricket World Cup. In later life, he had an active career as a cricket administrator, and was the first non-English and non-white chairman of the International Cricket Council. Read more
26 Aug 2006: William Garnett, American landscape photographer (born 1916) William A. Garnett was an American landscape photographer who specialized in aerial photography. Read more
26 Aug 2005: Denis D'Amour, Canadian guitarist and songwriter (born 1960) Denis "Piggy" D'Amour was a Canadian guitarist. He was a member of the heavy metal band Voivod from its inception in 1982 until his death in 2005. Read more
26 Aug 2005: Robert Denning, American art collector and interior designer (born 1927) Robert Denning was an American interior designer whose lush interpretations of French Victorian decor became an emblem of corporate raider tastes in the 1980s. Read more
26 Aug 2005: Moondog King, Canadian wrestler and politician (born 1949) Edward John White was a Canadian professional wrestler, best known as Sailor White and as Moondog King of The Moondogs when he joined the World Wrestling Federation in the early-1980s. White won championships in Canada and around the globe. He also wrestled in South Africa as Big John Strongbo. Read more
26 Aug 2004: Laura Branigan, American singer-songwriter and actress (born 1952) Laura Ann Kruteck was an American singer. Her signature song, the platinum-certified 1982 cover of Umberto Tozzi's single "Gloria", stayed on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for 36 weeks, then a record for a female artist, peaking at No. 2. It also reached number one in Australia and Canada. In 1984, she reached number one in Canada and Germany and No. 4 in the U.S. with "Self Control". "Gloria" and "Self Control" were also successful in the United Kingdom, each hitting the top 10 on the UK singles chart. Read more
26 Aug 2003: Jim Wacker, American football player and coach (born 1937) James Herbert Wacker was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Texas Lutheran University (1971–1975), North Dakota State University (1976–1978), Southwest Texas State University—now Texas State University (1979–1982), Texas Christian University (1983–1991), and the University of Minnesota (1992–1996), compiling a career college football record of 159–131–3. Wacker won two NAIA Division II National Championships with Texas Lutheran in 1974 and 1975, and two NCAA Division II Football Championships with Southwest Texas State, in 1981 and 1982. Read more
26 Aug 2001: Louis Muhlstock, Polish-Canadian painter and educator (born 1904) Louis Muhlstock, LL.D. was a Canadian painter best known for his depictions of the Great Depression and for landscapes and urban scenes in and around Montreal. Read more
26 Aug 2001: Marita Petersen, Faroese educator and politician, 8th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (born 1940) Marita Petersen was the first and to date only female prime minister of the Faroe Islands and the first female speaker of the Løgting (Parliament). She was elected to the Løgting in 1988 for Javnaðarflokkurin .
In January 1993, she was elected to the post of prime minister, which she held until September 1994. Later, she became chairman of the parliament from 1994 to 1995. She was Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands in a very difficult time with economic crisis. Marita Petersen died of cancer in 2001. Read more
26 Aug 2000: Akbar Adibi, Iranian engineer and academic (born 1939) Akbar Adibi (1939–2000) was an Iranian electronic engineer, VLSI researcher, and university engineering professor. Read more
26 Aug 2000: Bunny Austin, English tennis player (born 1906) Henry Wilfred "Bunny" Austin was an English tennis player. For 74 years he was the last Briton to reach the final of the men's singles at the Wimbledon Championships, until Andy Murray did so in 2012. He was also a finalist at the 1937 French Championships and a championship winner at Queen's Club. Along with Fred Perry, he was a vital part of the British team that won the Davis Cup in three consecutive years (1933–1935). He is also remembered as the first tennis player to wear shorts. Read more
26 Aug 1998: Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918) Frederick Reines was an American physicist. He was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics for his co-detection of the neutrino with Clyde Cowan in the neutrino experiment. He may be the only scientist in history "so intimately associated with the discovery of an elementary particle and the subsequent thorough investigation of its fundamental properties." Read more
26 Aug 1995: John Brunner, English-Scottish author and poet (born 1934) John Kilian Houston Brunner was a British author of science fiction novels and stories. His 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar, about an overpopulated world, won the 1969 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel and the BSFA Award the same year. The Jagged Orbit won the BSFA Award in 1970. His first novel, Galactic Storm, was written under the pen-name Gill Hunt when he was seventeen. He did not start writing full-time until 1958, some years after his military service. Read more
26 Aug 1993: Reima Pietilä, Finnish architect, co-designed the Kaleva Church (born 1923) Frans Reima Ilmari Pietilä was a Finnish architect and theorist. He did most of his work together with his wife Raili Pietilä; after 1963 all their works were officially attributed to "Raili and Reima Pietilä". Reima Pietilä was a professor of architecture at the University of Oulu from 1973 to 1979. Read more
26 Aug 1992: Bob de Moor, Belgian author and illustrator (born 1925) Robert Frans Marie De Moor, better known under his pen name Bob de Moor, was a Belgian comics creator. Chiefly noted as an artist, he is considered an early master of the Ligne claire style. He wrote and drew several comics series on his own, but also collaborated with Hergé on several volumes of The Adventures of Tintin. He completed the unfinished story Professor Sató's Three Formulae, Volume 2: Mortimer vs. Mortimer of the Blake and Mortimer series, after the death of the author Edgar P. Jacobs. Read more
26 Aug 1991: Mildred Albert, American fashion commentator, TV and radio personality, and fashion show producer (born 1905) Mildred Elizabeth Albert was an American fashion commentator, modeling agency director, fashion show producer, radio and television personality, and society columnist. Known as the "Mighty Atom" and Boston's "First Lady of Fashion", she produced thousands of fashion shows during her career. She founded the Academie Moderne finishing school in 1936 and co-founded the Hart Model Agency in 1944. After selling both concerns in 1981, she remained active on the Boston fashion scene, covering fashion shows and hosting charity benefits, which earned her the title of "official grande dame" of Boston. Read more
26 Aug 1990: Tang Chang, Thai artist (born 1934) Tang Chang was a self-taught artist, poet, writer and philosopher of Sino-Thai heritage. Read more
26 Aug 1989: Irving Stone, American author (born 1903) Irving Stone was an American writer, chiefly known for his biographical novels of noted artists, politicians, and intellectuals. Among the best known are Lust for Life (1934), about the life of Vincent van Gogh, and The Agony and the Ecstasy (1961), about Michelangelo. Read more
26 Aug 1988: Carlos Paião, Portuguese singer-songwriter (born 1957) Carlos Manuel de Marques Paião was a singer and songwriter from Portugal. He represented Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest 1981 with the song "Playback". Carlos Paião was also a doctor, having graduated in medicine in 1983. Read more
26 Aug 1987: John Goddard, Barbadian-English cricketer and manager (born 1919) John Douglas Claude Goddard OBE was a cricketer from Barbados who captained the West Indies in 22 of his 27 Tests between 1948 and 1957. Read more
26 Aug 1987: Georg Wittig, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1897) Georg Wittig was a German chemist who reported a method for synthesis of alkenes from aldehydes and ketones using compounds called phosphonium ylides in the Wittig reaction. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Herbert C. Brown in 1979. Read more
26 Aug 1986: Ted Knight, American actor (born 1923) Ted Knight was an American actor known for playing the comic roles of Ted Baxter in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Henry Rush in Too Close for Comfort, and Judge Elihu Smails in Caddyshack. Read more
26 Aug 1981: Roger Nash Baldwin, American trade union leader, co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union (born 1884) Roger Nash Baldwin was an American author and pacifist who co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He served as executive director of the ACLU until 1950. Read more
26 Aug 1981: Lee Hays, American singer-songwriter (born 1914) Lee Elhardt Hays was an American folk singer and songwriter, best known for singing bass with the Weavers. Throughout his life, he was concerned with overcoming racism, inequality, and violence in society. He wrote or cowrote "Lonesome Traveller", "Wasn't That a Time?", "If I Had a Hammer", and "Kisses Sweeter than Wine", which became hits and Weavers' staples. He also familiarized audiences with songs of the 1930s labor movement, such as "We Shall Not Be Moved". Read more
26 Aug 1980: Rosa Albach-Retty, German-Austrian actress (born 1874) Rosa Albach-Retty was an Austrian film and stage actress. Read more
26 Aug 1980: Tex Avery, American animator, director, and voice actor (born 1908) Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery was an American animator, film director and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His most significant work was for Leon Schlesinger Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's cartoon department, where he was crucial in the creation and evolution of famous animated characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd for Warner Bros. and Droopy, Butch Dog, Screwy Squirrel, The Wolf, Red Hot Riding Hood, and George and Junior for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Read more
26 Aug 1979: Mika Waltari, Finnish author, translator, and academic (born 1908) Mika Toimi Waltari was a Finnish writer, best known for his best-selling novel The Egyptian. He was extremely productive; Besides his novels he also wrote poetry, short stories, crime novels, plays, essays, travel stories, film scripts, and rhymed texts for comic strips by Asmo Alho. Read more
26 Aug 1978: Charles Boyer, French-American actor, singer, and producer (born 1899) Charles Boyer was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American films during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised, in romantic dramas such as The Garden of Allah (1936), Algiers (1938), and Love Affair (1939), as well as the mystery-thriller Gaslight (1944). He received four Oscar nominations for Best Actor. He also appeared as himself on the CBS sitcom I Love Lucy. Read more
26 Aug 1978: José Manuel Moreno, Argentinian footballer and manager (born 1916) José Manuel Moreno Fernández, nicknamed "El Charro", was an Argentine footballer who played as an inside forward for several clubs in Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia; for those who saw him play, he is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, even compared to Alfredo Di Stéfano, Pelé and Diego Maradona, and was the first footballer ever to have won first division league titles in four countries. Read more
26 Aug 1977: H. A. Rey, German-American author and illustrator, created Curious George (born 1898) H. A. Rey was a German-born American illustrator and author, known best for the series of children's picture books that he and his wife Margret Rey created about Curious George. Read more
26 Aug 1976: Lotte Lehmann, German-American soprano (born 1888) Charlotte "Lotte" Pauline Sophie Lehmann was a German-American dramatic soprano noted for her successful performances with international opera houses, on the recital stage and in teaching. She gave memorable appearances in the operas of Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ludwig van Beethoven, Puccini, Mozart, and Massenet. The Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, Sieglinde in Die Walküre and the title-role in Fidelio are considered her greatest roles. During her long career, Lehmann also made almost five hundred recordings in both opera and art song. Read more
26 Aug 1975: Olaf Holtedahl, Norwegian geologist and academic (born 1885) Olaf Holtedahl was a Norwegian geologist. He became a senior lecturer at the University of Oslo in 1914, and was Professor of Geology there from 1920 to 1956. Read more
26 Aug 1974: Charles Lindbergh, American pilot and explorer (born 1902) Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris, a distance of 3,600 miles (5,800 km), flying alone for over 33 hours. His aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis, was built to compete for the $25,000 Orteig Prize for the first flight between the two cities. Although not the first transatlantic flight, it was the first solo crossing of the Atlantic and the longest at the time by nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km), setting a new flight distance world record. The achievement garnered Lindbergh worldwide fame and stands as one of the most consequential flights in history, signalling a new era of air transportation between parts of the globe. Read more
26 Aug 1972: Francis Chichester, English pilot and sailor (born 1901) Sir Francis Charles Chichester KBE was a British businessman, pioneering aviator and solo sailor. Read more
26 Aug 1968: Kay Francis, American actress (born 1905) Kay Francis was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number one female star and highest-paid actress at Warner Bros. studio. She adopted her mother's maiden name (Francis) as her professional surname. Read more
26 Aug 1966: W. W. E. Ross, Canadian geophysicist and poet (born 1894) William Wrighton Eustace Ross [often misspelt William Wrightson Eustace Ross] was a Canadian geophysicist and poet. He was the first published poet in Canada to write Imagist poetry, and later the first to write surrealist verse, both of which have led some to call him "the first modern Canadian poet." Read more
26 Aug 1958: Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer and educator (born 1872) Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century. Read more
26 Aug 1956: Alfred Wagenknecht, German-American activist (born 1881) Alfred Wagenknecht was an American Marxist activist and political functionary. He is best remembered for having played a critical role in the establishment of the Communist Party USA in 1919 as a leader of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party. Wagenknecht served as executive secretary of the Communist Labor Party of America and the United Communist Party of America in 1919 and 1920, respectively. Read more
26 Aug 1946: Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (born 1887) Abbie Jean MacPherson was an American silent actress, writer and director. She is known for her collaborations with directors D. W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille, and was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Read more
26 Aug 1945: Franz Werfel, Austrian author and playwright (born 1890) Franz Viktor Werfel was a Czech novelist, playwright, and poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, a novel based on events that took place during the Armenian genocide of 1915, and The Song of Bernadette (1941), a novel about the life and visions of the French Catholic saint Bernadette Soubirous, which was made into a Hollywood film of the same name. Read more
26 Aug 1944: Adam von Trott zu Solz, German lawyer and diplomat (born 1909) Friedrich Adam von Trott zu Solz was a German lawyer and diplomat who was involved in the conservative resistance to Nazism. A declared opponent of the Nazi regime from the beginning, he actively participated in the Kreisau Circle of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke and Peter Yorck von Wartenburg. Together with Claus von Stauffenberg and Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg, he conspired in the 20 July plot and was supposed to have been appointed Secretary of State in the German Foreign Office and lead negotiator with the Western Allies if the plot had succeeded. Read more
26 Aug 1943: Bîmen Şen, Turkish composer and songwriter (born 1873) Bîmen Şen was a composer and lyricist of Armenian descent. Read more
26 Aug 1930: Lon Chaney, American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1883) Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney was an American actor and makeup artist. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted, characters and for his groundbreaking artistry with makeup. Chaney was known for his starring roles in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). His ability to transform himself using makeup techniques that he developed earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces". Read more
26 Aug 1921: Matthias Erzberger, German publicist and politician (born 1875) Matthias Erzberger was a German Centre Party politician who, from 1919-1920, served as the Minister of Finance and, in 1919, Vice Chancellor of Germany. Read more
26 Aug 1921: Sándor Wekerle, Hungarian jurist and politician, Prime Minister of Hungary (born 1848) Sándor Wekerle was a Hungarian politician who served three times as prime minister. He was the first non-noble to hold the office in Hungary. Read more
26 Aug 1921: Petro Petrenko, Ukrainian anarchist military commander (born 1890) Petro Petrenko was a Ukrainian military commander in the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine. Read more
26 Aug 1910: William James, American psychologist and philosopher (born 1842) William James was an American philosopher and psychologist. The first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, he is considered to be one of the leading thinkers of the late 19th century, one of the most influential philosophers and is often dubbed the "father of American psychology". Read more
26 Aug 1878: Mariam Baouardy, Syrian Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (born 1846) Mariam Baouardy, OCD was a Palestinian Discalced Carmelite nun of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Born to parents from the town of Hurfiesh in the upper Galilee, she later moved to I’billin and was known for her service to the poor. In addition, she was a Christian mystic who suffered the stigmata. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 13 November 1983 and canonized on 17 May 2015 by Pope Francis. Read more
26 Aug 1865: Johann Franz Encke, German astronomer and academic (born 1791) Johann Franz Encke was a German astronomer. Among his activities, he worked on the calculation of the periods of comets and asteroids, measured the distance from the Earth to the Sun, and made observations of the planet Saturn. Read more
26 Aug 1850: Louis Philippe I of France (born 1773) Louis Philippe I, nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, the last French monarch to bear the title "King", and the only French monarch to descend from the Orléans branch of the Bourbon family. He abdicated from his throne during the French Revolution of 1848, which led to the foundation of the French Second Republic. Read more
26 Aug 1813: Theodor Körner, German soldier and author (born 1791) Carl Theodor Körner was a German poet and soldier. After having lived for some time in Vienna, where he wrote some light comedies and other works for the Burgtheater, he became a soldier and joined the Lützow Free Corps in the German uprising against Napoleon. During this time, he displayed personal courage in many fights, and inspired his comrades by fiery patriotic lyrics he composed. One of these was the "Schwertlied", composed during a lull in fighting, only a few hours before his death, and "Lützow's wilde Jagd", each set to music by both Carl Maria von Weber and Franz Schubert. He was often called the "German Tyrtaeus". Read more
26 Aug 1810: Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires, French-Spanish sailor and politician, 10th Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (born 1753) Santiago Antonio María de Liniers y Bremond, 1st Count of Buenos Aires, KOM, OM was a Spanish military officer and a viceroy of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Although born Jacques de Liniers in France, he is more widely known by the Spanish form of his name. Read more

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