History of Today 31 August: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 31 August. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 31 August. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 31 August 2026, 01:02 AM

Important Events on 31 August in History

31 Aug 2025: A landslide in the Darfur region of Sudan kills over 1000 people. Read more
31 Aug 2025: An earthquake in eastern Afghanistan kills over 1400 people. Read more
31 Aug 2024: A helicopter crashes in Kamchatka Krai in the Russian Far East, killing all 22 occupants. Read more
31 Aug 2016: Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is impeached and removed from office. Read more
31 Aug 2006: Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream, stolen on August 22, 2004, is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police. Read more
31 Aug 2005: The 2005 Al-Aaimmah bridge stampede in Baghdad kills 953 people. Read more
31 Aug 2002: Typhoon Rusa, the most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in 43 years, makes landfall, killing at least 236 people. Read more
31 Aug 1999: The first of a series of bombings in Moscow kills one person and wounds 40 others. Read more
31 Aug 1999: A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including two on the ground. Read more
31 Aug 1997: Diana, Princess of Wales, her partner, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris. Read more
31 Aug 1996: Saddam Hussein's troops seize Irbil after the Kurdish Masoud Barzani appealed for help to defeat his Kurdish rival PUK. Read more
31 Aug 1994: Russia completes removing its troops from Estonia. Read more
31 Aug 1993: Russia completes removing its troops from Lithuania. Read more
31 Aug 1991: Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union. Read more
31 Aug 1988: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 crashes during takeoff from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, killing 14. Read more
31 Aug 1988: CAAC Flight 301 overshoots the runway at Kai Tak Airport and crashes into Kowloon Bay, killing seven people. Read more
31 Aug 1987: Thai Airways Flight 365 crashes into the ocean near Ko Phuket, Thailand, killing all 83 aboard. Read more
31 Aug 1986: Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground. Read more
31 Aug 1986: The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423. Read more
31 Aug 1972: Aeroflot Flight 558 crashes in the Abzelilovsky District in Bashkortostan, Russia (then the Soviet Union), killing all 102 people aboard. Read more
31 Aug 1968: Start of the Congress of Carrara, one of the major 20th century anarchist congresses. Read more
31 Aug 1963: Crown Colony of North Borneo (now Sabah) achieves self-governance. Read more
31 Aug 1962: Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent. Read more
31 Aug 1959: A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. Read more
31 Aug 1957: The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom. Read more
31 Aug 1950: TWA Flight 903 crashes near Itay El Barud, Egypt, killing all 55 aboard. Read more
31 Aug 1949: The retreat of the Democratic Army of Greece into Albania after its defeat on Gramos mountain marks the end of the Greek Civil War. Read more
31 Aug 1943: USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned. Read more
31 Aug 1941: World War II: Serbian paramilitary forces defeat Germans in the Battle of Loznica. Read more
31 Aug 1940: Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia. The CAB investigation of the accident is the first investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce act of 1938. Read more
31 Aug 1939: Nazi Germany mounts a false flag attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe. Read more
31 Aug 1936: Radio Prague, now the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic, goes on the air. Read more
31 Aug 1935: In an attempt to stay out of the growing tensions concerning Germany and Japan, the United States passes the first of its Neutrality Acts. Read more
31 Aug 1933: The Integral Nationalist Group wins the 1933 Andorran parliamentary election, the first election in Andorra held with universal male suffrage. Read more
31 Aug 1920: Polish–Soviet War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów. Read more
31 Aug 1918: World War I: Start of the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin, a successful assault by the Australian Corps during the Hundred Days Offensive. Read more
31 Aug 1907: Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Anglo-Russian Convention, by which the UK recognizes Russian preeminence in northern Persia, while Russia recognizes British preeminence in southeastern Persia and Afghanistan. Both powers pledge not to interfere in Tibet. Read more
31 Aug 1895: German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon. Read more
31 Aug 1888: Mary Ann Nichols, the first of Jack the Ripper's confirmed victims, is murdered. Read more
31 Aug 1886: The 7.0 Mw Charleston earthquake strikes southeastern South Carolina with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 60 people and causing damage worth an estimated at $5 to $6 million. Read more
31 Aug 1876: Ottoman Sultan Murad V is deposed and succeeded by his brother, Abdul Hamid II. Read more
31 Aug 1864: American Civil War: The Battle of Jonesborough, the culmination of the Atlanta campaign, begins as Union forces under General William T. Sherman clash with Confederate troops under General William J. Hardee south of Atlanta. Read more
31 Aug 1813: Peninsular War: Spanish troops repel a French attack in the Battle of San Marcial. Read more

Famous Births on 31 August

31 Aug 2004: Jang Won-young, South Korean singer and model Jang Won-young is a South Korean singer. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Ive under Starship Entertainment and former member of project girl group Iz*One, having finished first in Mnet's girl group survival reality television show Produce 48 in 2018. Read more
31 Aug 2001: Amanda Anisimova, American tennis player Amanda Kay Victoria Anisimova is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 3, achieved in January 2026. Anisimova is a two-time Grand Slam finalist, at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships and at the 2025 US Open. She has won four WTA Tour titles, including two WTA 1000 events. Read more
31 Aug 2000: Sauce Gardner, American football player Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner is an American professional football cornerback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Cincinnati Bearcats and was selected fourth overall by the New York Jets in the 2022 NFL draft. Gardner was named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and was the first rookie cornerback since Ronnie Lott in 1981 to be named first-team All-Pro. Read more
31 Aug 1998: BossMan Dlow, American rapper Devante Milan McCreary, known professionally as BossMan Dlow, is an American rapper. He started rapping while serving time in county jail in 2019 and soon became popular in the Florida rap scene. After releasing the mixtape Too Slippery and its Alamo Records re-release 2 Slippery in 2023, his 2024 breakout single "Get in with Me" became popular on TikTok and Instagram and marked his debut on the Billboard Hot 100. He also released his debut studio album, Dlow Curry, in 2024. Read more
31 Aug 1997: Jaylen Barron, American actress Jaylen Barron is an American actress, known for her roles as Dominique Winslow in the Showtime series Shameless and Zoe Phillips in the Netflix drama series Free Rein. In 2021, she began starring in the Starz series Blindspotting. Read more
31 Aug 1996: Jalen Brunson, American basketball player Jalen Marquis Brunson, nicknamed "Captain Clutch", and the "King of New York" is an American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The son of former NBA guard Rick Brunson, he played college basketball for the Villanova Wildcats, earning national player of the year honors as a junior and winning two national championships. Brunson was selected 33rd overall in the 2018 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks and played his first four NBA seasons with them. He signed with the Knicks as a free agent in 2022, subsequently leading the franchise to its first NBA championship in 53 years. Read more
31 Aug 1995: Brittany Mahomes, American soccer player Brittany Lynne Mahomes is an American sports team co-owner and former soccer player who played as a forward. She is a founding co-owner of the Kansas City Current, a team in the American professional top-division National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Read more
31 Aug 1994: Alex Harris, Scottish footballer Alexander David Harris is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Berwick Rangers. Read more
31 Aug 1994: Can Aktav, Turkish football player Can Demir Aktav is a Turkish football player who plays as a defender for Çankaya. Read more
31 Aug 1993: Pablo Marí, Spanish football player Pablo Marí Villar is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back. Read more
31 Aug 1993: Ilnur Alshin, Russian football player Ilnur Tufikovich Alshin is a Russian professional football player who plays as a winger for Fakel Voronezh. Read more
31 Aug 1993: Anna Karnaukh, Russian water polo player Anna Olegovna Karnaukh is a Russian water polo player. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed for the Russia women's national water polo team in the women's event. Read more
31 Aug 1992: Holly Earl, British actress Holly Earl is an English actress. She started her career as a child actor, in the television series Touching Evil (1997–1998), and may be best known for her recurring role in the first three seasons of Cuckoo (2012–2016), or her main cast roles in the series Beowulf (2016) and in the third season of Humans (2018). Read more
31 Aug 1992: Tyler Randell, Australian rugby league player Tyler Randell is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a hooker. Read more
31 Aug 1992: Ragna Sigurðardóttir, Icelandic politician Ragna Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic politician and member of the Althing. A member of the Social Democratic Alliance, she has represented the Reykjavík South constituency since November 2024. Read more
31 Aug 1992: Nicolás Tagliafico, Argentine footballer Nicolás Alejandro Tagliafico is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Ligue 1 club Lyon and the Argentina national team. Read more
31 Aug 1991: António Félix da Costa, Portuguese race car driver António Maria de Mello Breyner Félix da Costa is a Portuguese racing driver who competes in Formula E for Jaguar and in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Alpine. Félix da Costa won the 2019–20 Formula E Championship with Techeetah, and has won 14 ePrix across 12 seasons. In endurance racing, Félix da Costa won the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Drivers in 2022 with Jota. Read more
31 Aug 1991: Cédric Soares, Portuguese footballer Cédric Ricardo Alves Soares, known simply as Cédric, is a professional footballer who plays as a full-back for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club São Paulo. Read more
31 Aug 1990: Tadeja Majerič, Slovenian tennis player Tadeja Majerič is a former tennis player from Slovenia. Read more
31 Aug 1989: Dezmon Briscoe, American football player Dezmon Jerrod Briscoe is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL draft. He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks. Read more
31 Aug 1988: Matt Adams, American baseball player Matthew James Adams is an American former professional baseball first baseman. Nicknamed "Big City" for his imposing size and ability to regularly hit long home runs, the St. Louis Cardinals selected Adams in the 23rd round of the 2009 MLB draft from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, Washington Nationals, and Colorado Rockies. Read more
31 Aug 1988: Trent Hodkinson, Australian rugby league player Trent Hodkinson is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a halfback in the NRL. Read more
31 Aug 1988: David Ospina, Colombian footballer David Ospina Ramírez is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Colombia national team. Read more
31 Aug 1988: Athena, American wrestler Adrienne Palmer is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she performs under the ring name Athena. She primarily appears in AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where she is the leader of the M.I.T stable and the current ROH Women's World Champion in her first reign; at 1359 days, she is the longest-reigning champion in ROH history. She also makes appearances on the independent circuit and is the co-owner of Metroplex Wrestling. Read more
31 Aug 1987: Xavi Annunziata, Spanish footballer Javier 'Xavi' Fernández Annunziata is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left winger. Read more
31 Aug 1987: Petros Kravaritis, Greek footballer Petros Kravaritis is a Greek goalkeeper. He currently plays for Fostiras. Read more
31 Aug 1987: Ondřej Pavelec, Czech ice hockey player Ondřej Pavelec is a Czech former professional ice hockey goaltender. Drafted in the second round, 41st overall, by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2005, he stayed with the team as they became the Winnipeg Jets in 2011, and played his final season with the New York Rangers. During the 2012–13 NHL lockout, Pavelec played for Bílí Tygři Liberec of the Czech Extraliga (ELH) and Pelicans of the Finnish SM-liiga. Read more
31 Aug 1986: Ryan Kelley, American actor Ryan Jonathan Kelley is an American actor. He is known for his roles in Mean Creek, Prayers for Bobby, as Ben Tennyson in Ben 10: Alien Swarm, and as Deputy Jordan Parrish on Teen Wolf. Read more
31 Aug 1986: Johnny Wactor, American actor (died 2024) John William Wactor III was an American actor known for playing Brando Corbin on the series General Hospital and Johnny on the NBC series Siberia. He also had roles in the series Army Wives and the films USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage and Supercell. On May 25, 2024, Wactor was killed when three men tried to steal his automobile's catalytic converter in downtown Los Angeles. He was 37 years old. Read more
31 Aug 1986: Blake Wheeler, American ice hockey player Blake James Wheeler is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins, Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets, and New York Rangers. He was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round, fifth overall, in the 2004 NHL entry draft. After failing to come to terms on a contract with the Coyotes, he signed with the Bruins as a free agent. Read more
31 Aug 1985: Rolando, Portuguese footballer Rolando Jorge Pires da Fonseca, known simply as Rolando, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a central defender. Read more
31 Aug 1985: Andrew Foster, Australian footballer Andrew Foster is an Australian rules footballer, who was rookie listed by the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was taken with Fremantle's second round pick in the 2007 Rookie Draft. Read more
31 Aug 1985: Mabel Matiz, Turkish singer Fatih Karaca, better known by his stage name Mabel Matiz, is a Turkish pop music singer-songwriter. Read more
31 Aug 1985: Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, also known as MbS, is the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, formally serving as Crown Prince and Prime Minister. He is the heir apparent to the Saudi throne, the son of King Salman, and the grandson of the nation's founder, Ibn Saud. Read more
31 Aug 1984: Matti Breschel, Danish cyclist Matti Breschel is a Danish retired professional road racing cyclist, who competed between 2005 and 2019 for the Rabobank, Tinkoff–Saxo, Astana and EF Education First teams. Read more
31 Aug 1984: Ryan Kesler, American ice hockey player Ryan James Kesler is an American former professional ice hockey player. A center, Kesler spent the first 10 years of his National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Vancouver Canucks; in 2014 he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks, with whom he spent the rest of his career. He is best known for being a two-way forward and his agitating style of play, winning the Selke Trophy in 2011 while also being a finalist for the award in 2009, 2010, 2016 and 2017. Read more
31 Aug 1984: Ted Ligety, American skier Theodore Sharp Ligety is a retired American alpine ski racer, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and an entrepreneur, having cofounded Shred Optics. Ligety won the combined event at the 2006 Olympics in Turin and the giant slalom race at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. He is also a five-time World Cup champion in giant slalom. Ligety won the gold medal in the giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships. He successfully defended his world title in giant slalom in 2013 in Schladming, Austria, where he also won an unexpected gold medal in the super-G and a third gold medal in the super combined. Read more
31 Aug 1984: Charl Schwartzel, South African golfer Charl Adriaan Schwartzel is a South African professional golfer who currently plays in the LIV Golf Invitational Series and has previously played on the PGA Tour, European Tour and the Sunshine Tour. He has won one major title, the Masters in 2011. Schwartzel's highest world ranking has been number six, after finishing in a tie for fourth at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in 2012. Read more
31 Aug 1983: Deniz Aydoğdu, German-Turkish footballer Deniz Aydoğdu is a Turkish footballer. Read more
31 Aug 1983: Milan Biševac, Serbian footballer Milan Biševac is a Serbian former footballer who played as centre-back. In international competition, he has played for the Serbia national team. Read more
31 Aug 1983: Larry Fitzgerald, American football player Larry Darnell Fitzgerald Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 17 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers, earning unanimous All-American honors in 2003. Fitzgerald was selected by the Cardinals with the third overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft. He is widely considered by fans, coaches and peers to be one of the greatest receivers in NFL history. Read more
31 Aug 1982: Ian Crocker, American swimmer Ian Lowell Crocker is an American former competition swimmer, five-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. During his career, he set world records in the 50- and 100-meter butterfly and the 100-meter freestyle. He has won a total of twenty-one medals in major international competition, spanning the Olympics, the FINA World Aquatics Championships, and the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. He coached for many years at the Western Hills Athletic Club and has helped coach the Longhorns swim camp in 2019 as well as other years. Since Spring of 2022 when the new facility opened, Crocker coaches at the Western Aquatics and Social Club at the Eanes Independent School District Aquatics center. Read more
31 Aug 1982: Chris Duhon, American basketball player Christopher Nicholas Duhon is an American former professional basketball player. Duhon was a point guard for the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team from 2000 to 2004. He then played for the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, and Los Angeles Lakers. Read more
31 Aug 1982: Lien Huyghebaert, Belgian sprinter Lien Huyghebaert is a Belgian sprinter, who specializes in the 100 metres. Read more
31 Aug 1982: Christopher Katongo, Zambian footballer Christopher Katongo is a Zambian former professional footballer who played as a striker. At international level, he amassed over 100 caps between 2003 and 2016 for the Zambia national team. He is an Africa Cup of Nations winner and won the BBC's African Footballer of the Year award in 2012, winning just over 40% of the public vote. His win is stated to have inspired a number of young players in Zambia. Read more
31 Aug 1982: Josh Kroeger, American baseball player Joshua J. Kroeger is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004. Listed at 6'3" [1.90 m], 220 pounds [104 k], Kroeger batted and threw left-handed. He was born in Davenport, Iowa. Read more
31 Aug 1982: Alexei Mikhnov, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player Oleksiy Pavlovych "Alexei" Mikhnov is a Ukrainian-Russian former professional ice hockey left winger. Read more
31 Aug 1982: Pepe Reina, Spanish footballer José Manuel "Pepe" Reina Páez is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and is the current manager of Villarreal CF's Juvenil A squad. Read more
31 Aug 1982: Michele Rugolo, Italian race car driver Michele Rugolo is an Italian racing driver. Read more
31 Aug 1982: G. Willow Wilson, American journalist and author Gwendolyn Willow Wilson is an American comics writer, prose author, and essayist. Her work is most often categorized as magical realism. Read more
31 Aug 1981: Ahmad Al Harthy, Omani race car driver Ahmad Al Harthy is an Omani racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the LMGT3 Class in the No. 46 BMW M4 GT3 for BMW M Team WRT alongside nine-time MotoGP Champion Valentino Rossi and ADAC GT Masters champion, two time 24 Hours of Nürburgring winner, and DTM vice champion, Kelvin Van Der Linde. He won the 2012 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain Pro-Am 1 Championship and in 2017 became the Blancpain Endurance Cup Pro-Am Champion along with British team-mate Jonny Adam. Read more
31 Aug 1981: Dwayne Peel, Welsh rugby player Dwayne John Peel is a Welsh rugby union coach and former player. He was the most capped scrum-half for the Wales national rugby union team with 76 caps, until his record was surpassed by Mike Phillips on 16 March 2013. Read more
31 Aug 1981: Steve Saviano, American ice hockey player Stephen Saviano is a former American professional ice hockey left winger. He last played for the Lausitzer Füchse in DEL2. Read more
31 Aug 1980: Joe Budden, American broadcaster and former rapper Joseph Anthony Budden II is an American broadcaster and former rapper. He first gained recognition with his 2003 single "Pump It Up", which peaked in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 and preceded the release of his eponymous debut studio album (2003). A critical and commercial success, the album peaked in the top ten of the Billboard 200, although it was his only major label release for Def Jam Recordings. He released seven more independent albums to continued critical praise. While doing so, he performed as a member of the hip-hop supergroup Slaughterhouse, who signed with Eminem's Shady Records in 2012; the group released two studio albums. In 2014, he was made fun of in episode nine, "Tombstone," of Loiter Squad's third season, with his beard divorcing him, played by rapper Earl Sweatshirt. Read more
31 Aug 1979: Clay Hensley, American baseball player Clayton Allen Hensley is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, and San Francisco Giants. Read more
31 Aug 1979: Mark Johnston, Canadian swimmer Mark Johnston is a former freestyle swimmer from Canada, who competed at two consecutive Summer Olympic Games, Sydney, Australia in 2000 and Athens, Greece in 2004. Johnston's consecutive 10-year run on the Canadian national team was longer than any other current swimmer at the time. Born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario, he was named to the national team in 1996 while swimming for Swim Brock Niagara. He went on to win numerous medals on the world stage throughout his career representing Canada at two Commonwealth Games, five World Championships, the Pan-American Games, three Pan-Pacific Aquatic Championships, and several other major international competitions. He is a 14-time national champion, world championship bronze medallist and Olympic finalist in the men's 4 x 200-metre freestyle relay. Mark attended the University of British Columbia and was inducted into the St. Catharines Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. Read more
31 Aug 1979: Yara Martinez, Puerto Rican-American actress Yara Martínez is an American television actress, born in Puerto Rico, who is best known for her roles as Kelly in Hollywood Heights, as Dr. Luisa Alver on The CW series Jane the Virgin, and as Bull's wife Isabella on Bull. Read more
31 Aug 1979: Simon Neil, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Simon Alexander Neil is a Scottish musician, and songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist for rock band Biffy Clyro. Read more
31 Aug 1979: Yuvan Shankar Raja, Indian Tamil singer-songwriter and producer Yuvan Shankar Raja, also known as YSR, is an Indian composer and playback singer. He mainly scores music for Tamil films along with few Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Western music elements and often credited with having introduced hip hop to the Tamil film and music industry and started the "era of remixes" in Tamil Nadu which included mixed EDM and jazz. He is frequently referred to as the "BGM King" of Tamil film music. Yuvan has won two Filmfare Awards South, five Mirchi Music Awards South, three Vijay Awards and two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. Read more
31 Aug 1979: Ramón Santiago, Dominican baseball player Ramón David Santiago Sanchez is a Dominican-American former professional baseball infielder and current manager for the Algodoneros de Unión Laguna of the Mexican League. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers from 2002 to 2003, and 2006 to 2013, the Seattle Mariners from 2004 to 2005, and the Cincinnati Reds in 2014. He spent most of his major league career at shortstop, but also played a significant amount of time at second base, and occasionally third base. Read more
31 Aug 1979: Mickie James, American wrestler Mickie Laree James is an American professional wrestler and country singer. She is signed to WWE, as an ambassador. She is also known for her tenures in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) where she was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2025 and National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Read more
31 Aug 1978: Philippe Christanval, French footballer Philippe Charles Lucien Christanval is a French former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. During his career, he played for Monaco, Barcelona, Marseille and Fulham and earned six full international caps with the France national team, as well as selection to the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Read more
31 Aug 1978: Ido Pariente, Israeli mixed martial artist and trainer Ido Pariente is an Israeli mixed martial arts fighter and trainer. His nickname is "The Hebrew Hammer". He is one of Israel's top fighters. Read more
31 Aug 1978: Jennifer Ramírez Rivero, Venezuelan model Jennifer Ramírez Rivero was a Venezuelan model and owner of the clothing and accessories brands Mac River and Jen River. She was murdered in 2018 in Cúcuta, Colombia. Read more
31 Aug 1978: Craig Stapleton, Australian rugby league player Craig Stapleton is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League. Stapleton formerly played for St. George and St. George Illawarra, Parramatta Eels, Penrith Panthers and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) competition as well as Leigh Centurions and Salford City Reds in Super League, primarily as a prop. A journeyman forward, Stapleton played for eight clubs in twelve years. Read more
31 Aug 1978: Sandis Valters, Latvian basketball player Sandis Valters is a retired professional basketball shooting guard, who last played for BK Ventspils. He is member of Latvia national basketball team. His father is a former Soviet basketball star, Valdis Valters, and his younger brother, Kristaps Valters, also plays professional basketball. Read more
31 Aug 1978: Morten Qvenild, Norwegian pianist and composer Morten Qvenild is a Norwegian jazz pianist, band leader, and producer. Read more
31 Aug 1977: Jeff Hardy, American wrestler and singer Jeffrey Nero Hardy is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a five-time TNA World Tag Team Champion with brother Matt. He is also known for his tenure in WWE and All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Read more
31 Aug 1977: Ian Harte, Irish footballer Ian Patrick Harte is an Irish football agent and former professional footballer who played as a left back. He was best known for his ability to score goals from long range, including being a free kick specialist. Read more
31 Aug 1977: Craig Nicholls, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist Craig Robert Nicholls is an Australian musician, best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the Australian alternative rock band The Vines, of which he is the sole continuous member. Read more
31 Aug 1977: Arzu Yanardağ, Turkish actress and model Arzu Yanardağ is a Turkish actress and model. Read more
31 Aug 1976: Vincent Delerm, French singer-songwriter and pianist Vincent Delerm is a French singer-songwriter, pianist and composer. He is the son of the writer Philippe Delerm and illustrator Martine Delerm. Read more
31 Aug 1976: Shar Jackson, American actress and singer Sharisse Jackson is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Niecy Jackson on the UPN sitcom Moesha (1996–2001). She was crowned the winner of MTV reality show Celebrity Rap Superstar in 2007. Read more
31 Aug 1976: Roque Júnior, Brazilian footballer and manager José Vítor Roque Júnior, more commonly known as Roque Júnior, is a Brazilian football pundit and former player who played as a defender. Read more
31 Aug 1976: Radek Martínek, Czech ice hockey player Radek Martínek is a Czech former professional ice hockey defenceman who last played for the New York Islanders in the National Hockey League (NHL). Read more
31 Aug 1975: Craig Cumming, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster Craig Derek Cumming is a New Zealand former international cricketer. He played 11 Test matches and 13 One Day Internationals for the New Zealand national team. He played domestic cricket with Canterbury and Otago. Read more
31 Aug 1975: John Grahame, American ice hockey player and coach John Gillies Mark Grahame is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes. He won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004. Read more
31 Aug 1975: Sara Ramirez, Mexican-American actor and musician Sara Elena Ramírez Vargas is a Mexican and American actor, singer and activist. Born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Ramírez moved from Mexico to the United States at eight years old, eventually graduating with a fine arts degree from the Juilliard School. Read more
31 Aug 1974: Andriy Medvedev, Ukrainian-Monégasque tennis player Andrei Medvedev is a Ukrainian former professional tennis player. Medvedev reached the final of the 1999 French Open, the French Open semifinals in 1993, and won four Masters titles during his career, achieving a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in May 1994. Read more
31 Aug 1973: Scott Niedermayer, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Scott Niedermayer is a Canadian former ice hockey player and current special assignment coach of the Anaheim Ducks. A defenceman, he played 18 seasons and over 1,000 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks. Niedermayer is a four-time Stanley Cup champion and played in five NHL All-Star Games. He won the James Norris Memorial Trophy in 2003–04 as the NHL's top defenceman and the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2007 as the most valuable player of the playoffs. In 2017, Niedermayer was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history. Read more
31 Aug 1971: Kirstie Allsopp, British TV presenter Kirstie Mary Allsopp is a British television presenter, best known as co-presenter of Channel 4 property shows including Location, Location, Location, Love It or List It UK, Relocation, Relocation and Location Revisited. Read more
31 Aug 1971: Pádraig Harrington, Irish golfer Pádraig Peter Harrington is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Championship, also in 2008. He spent over 300 weeks in the top-10 of the world rankings, and reached a career-high ranking of the third spot in July 2008. Harrington was a member of six consecutive Ryder Cup teams between 1999 and 2010. In 2024, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Read more
31 Aug 1971: Vadim Repin, Belgian-Russian violinist Vadim Viktorovich Repin is a Russian and Belgian violinist who lives in Vienna. Read more
31 Aug 1971: Chris Tucker, American comedian and actor Christopher Tucker is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He made his debut in 1992 as a stand-up performer on the HBO comedy series Def Comedy Jam, where he frequently appeared on the show during the 1990s. He made his feature film debut in House Party 3 in 1994 and gained greater recognition in Friday the following year. In 1997, he co-starred in the films The Fifth Element and Money Talks, and had a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. Tucker gained international fame in the 2000s for playing Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour film series. Read more
31 Aug 1970: Debbie Gibson, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Deborah Ann Gibson is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She released her debut album Out of the Blue (1987) at age 16, writing and largely producing the material. The album spawned several international hits, later being certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. One of those singles, "Foolish Beat", made Gibson the youngest female artist to write, produce, and perform a Billboard Hot 100 number-one single. Her double-platinum second album Electric Youth (1989) gave Gibson another U.S. number-one hit with "Lost in Your Eyes". Gibson is the sole songwriter on all of her singles to reach the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. She was recognized by ASCAP as Songwriter of the Year, along with Bruce Springsteen, in 1989. As of 2025, she has sold over 16 million albums worldwide. Read more
31 Aug 1970: Nikola Gruevski, Macedonian economist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski is a former Macedonian politician who served as Prime Minister of Macedonia from 2006 until his resignation in 2016, in accordance with the internationally mediated Pržino Agreement due to the Macedonian political crisis, and led the party VMRO-DPMNE from 2004 to 2017. He was the longest serving post-independence Macedonian prime minister, serving more than nine years in office. Read more
31 Aug 1970: Greg Mulholland, English politician Gregory Thomas Mulholland is a British Liberal Democrat politician who was the MP for Leeds North West. Read more
31 Aug 1970: Queen Rania of Jordan Rania Al Abdullah is Queen of Jordan as the wife of King Abdullah II. Read more
31 Aug 1970: Arie van Lent, Dutch-German footballer and manager Arie van Lent is a Dutch former professional footballer, who played as a forward. He was most recently the manager of SpVgg Unterhaching. Read more
31 Aug 1970: Zack Ward, Canadian actor and producer Zacharias Ward is a Canadian actor. He made his film debut with a supporting role as Scut Farkus in the comedy film A Christmas Story (1983). Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Ward appeared in multiple television films, and had supporting roles in the films Ed (1996) and Wild America (1997). Read more
31 Aug 1969: Nathalie Bouvier, French skier Nathalie Bouvier is a retired French alpine skier. She won a controversial World Cup victory in 1989, in Giant Slalom. Read more
31 Aug 1969: Jonathan LaPaglia, Australian actor and physician Jonathan LaPaglia is an Australian actor and television personality. He hosted Network 10's revival of Australian Survivor from 2016 to 2025. As an actor, LaPaglia is known for his roles as Frank B. Parker in the television series Seven Days, Kevin Debreno in The District and Detective Tommy McNamara in New York Undercover. Read more
31 Aug 1969: Jeff Russo, American musician Jeff Russo is an American composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and music producer, and one of the two founding members of the rock band Tonic. He is also a founding member of the Americana band Low Stars. Read more
31 Aug 1969: Javagal Srinath, Indian cricketer and referee Javagal Srinath is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers and is the only Indian fast bowler till date to have taken more than 300 wickets in One Day Internationals. With India, Srinath was a member of the Indian team that was the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, a title they shared with Sri Lanka, and was a member of the team that were runners-up in the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Read more
31 Aug 1968: Valdon Dowiyogo, Nauruan politician (died 2016) Valdon Kape Dowiyogo was a political figure and cabinet minister from the Pacific nation of the Republic of Nauru. Read more
31 Aug 1968: Hideo Nomo, Japanese baseball player Hideo Nomo is a Japanese former baseball pitcher who played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). He achieved early success in his native country, where he played with the Kintetsu Buffaloes from 1990 to 1994. He then exploited a loophole to free himself from his contract, and became the first Japanese major leaguer to permanently relocate to MLB in the United States, debuting with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995. Nomo became just the second Japanese player in American professional baseball after Masanori Murakami who played in MLB three decades earlier, and Nomo's star status is often credited with opening the door for Japanese players in MLB. Read more
31 Aug 1968: Jolene Watanabe, American tennis player (died 2019) Jolene Watanabe was an American international tennis player. She competed in the Australian Open 6 times, from 1994 to 2000. Jolene also competed in the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open making the second round in each of these tournaments. She obtained a career high singles ranking of 72 in 1997 and included a win over Jennifer Capriati. Jolene previously coached at the Van Der Meer Tennis Academy and most recently coached at Smith Stearns Tennis Academy serving as the Assistant Director. She coached numerous top players during her coaching career. As a junior Jolene played for the Southern California section. She attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) for her D1 collegiate tennis. She died from cancer of the appendix on June 22, 2019, on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Read more
31 Aug 1967: Gene Hoglan, American drummer Eugene Victor Hoglan II is an American drummer, known for his work with thrash metal bands Dark Angel and Testament. He is acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including use of abstract devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms. Though his playing style is very technically demanding, he retains high accuracy at extreme tempos, earning him the nicknames "The Atomic Clock" and "Human Drum Machine". Read more
31 Aug 1967: Anita Moen, Norwegian skier Anita Moen, sometimes credited as Anita Moen-Guidon, is a Norwegian former cross-country skier who competed from 1987 to 2003. She won five medals at the Winter Olympics with three silvers and two bronzes. Read more
31 Aug 1966: Lyuboslav Penev, Bulgarian footballer and manager Lyuboslav Mladenov Penev is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player. Read more
31 Aug 1965: Zsolt Borkai, Hungarian gymnast and politician Zsolt Borkai is a Hungarian Olympic gymnast champion and politician, who served as the mayor of Győr from 1 October 2006 to 8 November 2019. He was President of the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) between 20 November 2010 and 2 May 2017. Read more
31 Aug 1965: Susan Gritton, English soprano and actress Susan Gritton is an English operatic soprano. She was the 1994 winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and has sung leading roles in a wide-ranging repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Britten, Janáček and Strauss. Read more
31 Aug 1964: Raymond P. Hammond, American poet and critic Raymond P. Hammond is an American poet, critic and editor of the New York Quarterly magazine since assuming control after the death of William Packard in 2002. Read more
31 Aug 1963: Reb Beach, American guitarist Richard Earl "Reb" Beach Jr. is an American hard rock guitarist. He is a member of the bands Winger and Whitesnake. Read more
31 Aug 1963: Rituparno Ghosh, Indian actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2013) Rituparno Ghosh was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for his second feature film Unishe April which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Having won 19 National Awards, along with his contemporaries Aparna Sen and Goutam Ghose, Rituparno heralded contemporary Bengali cinema to greater heights. Ghosh died on 30 May 2013 in Kolkata after a heart attack. Ghosh was one of the openly homosexual personalities in Indian cinema. Read more
31 Aug 1963: Sonny Silooy, Dutch footballer and manager Jan Jacobus "Sonny" Silooy is a Dutch former professional footballer and football manager. He is currently the assistant coach with AFC Ajax. His last managing post was for the under-19 team for United Arab Emirates club Al Shabab. His most successful time as a player was in his period with Ajax. He won seven Eredivisie titles, four KNVB Cups, three Johan Cruyff Shields, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, one UEFA Cup, one UEFA Super Cup and one Intercontinental Cup. Read more
31 Aug 1962: Dee Bradley Baker, American voice actor Dee Bradley Baker is an American voice actor. Much of his work has consisted of vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as Adventure Time, American Dad!, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ben 10, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Fairly OddParents, Gravity Falls, Handy Manny, Higglytown Heroes, Jungle Junction, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Miles from Tomorrowland, Milo Murphy's Law, Muppet Babies, My Friends Tigger & Pooh, Phineas and Ferb, The Powerpuff Girls, SpongeBob SquarePants, Steven Universe, The 7D, and The Legend of Korra. His voice work in live-action series includes Legends of the Hidden Temple and Shop 'til You Drop, as well as films such as Space Jam and The Boxtrolls. Read more
31 Aug 1961: Kieran Crowley, New Zealand rugby player Kieran James Crowley is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, who is the former head coach of Italy. He has also coached the New Zealand Under-19s in the 2007 World Championships as well as coaching provincial side Taranaki. He previously served as head coach of Canada. He also spent five seasons coaching Benetton Rugby. Read more
31 Aug 1961: Magnus Ilmjärv, Estonian historian and author Magnus Ilmjärv is an Estonian historian. Read more
31 Aug 1960: Vali Ionescu, Romanian long jumper Valeria "Valy" Ionescu is a retired long jumper from Romania. She won the European title in 1982 and an Olympic silver medal in 1984. Ionescu spent her entire career with the club Rapid Bucuresti, and later worked there as a coach and official. Read more
31 Aug 1960: Chris Whitley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2005) Christopher Becker Whitley was an American blues/rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. Whitley's sound was drawn from the traditions of blues, jazz and rock and he recorded songs by artists from many genres. During his 25-year career, he released 17 albums. While two songs landed in the top 50 of the Billboard mainstream rock charts and he received two Independent Music Awards, he remained on the fringes of both the blues and alternative-rock worlds. Read more
31 Aug 1960: Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanese politician, 3rd Secretary-General of Hezbollah (died 2024) Hassan Nasrallah was a Lebanese Shia cleric, a militant, and politician who served as the third secretary-general of Hezbollah, a Shia Islamist political party and militia, from 1992 until his assassination in 2024. Read more
31 Aug 1959: Ralph Krueger, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Ralph Krueger is a Canadian-born German professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the former head coach of the Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL), and former chairman of Southampton Football Club. Since April 2019, he has held a Swiss passport. Read more
31 Aug 1959: Jessica Upshaw, American lawyer and politician (died 2013) Jessica Sibley Upshaw was an American politician and lawyer. Read more
31 Aug 1958: Serge Blanco, Venezuelan-French rugby player and businessman Serge Blanco is a former rugby union rugby player who played fullback for Biarritz Olympique and the French national side, gaining 93 caps, 81 of them at fullback. His alternative position was wing. He was generally nicknamed by French rugby fans as the Pelé of Rugby. Read more
31 Aug 1958: Stephen Cottrell, English bishop Stephen Geoffrey Cottrell is a Church of England bishop. Since 9 July 2020, he has been the Archbishop of York and Primate of England; the second-most senior bishop of the church and the most senior in northern England. He previously served as Bishop of Reading, 2004–2010, and as Bishop of Chelmsford, 2010–2020. Read more
31 Aug 1957: Colm O'Rourke, Irish footballer and sportscaster Colm O'Rourke is a Gaelic football manager, former player, retired secondary school principal, sports broadcaster and columnist. His league and championship career at senior level with the Meath county team spanned twenty years from 1975 to 1995. Read more
31 Aug 1957: Gina Schock, American drummer Regina Ann Schock is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer for the rock band the Go-Go's. She joined the group in 1979 and remained a member during its most active years in the early 1980s. Schock has also worked with other musical projects, contributed to songwriting for pop artists, and published a memoir. In 2021, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Go-Go's. Read more
31 Aug 1957: Glenn Tilbrook, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Glenn Martin Tilbrook is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is the lead singer and guitarist of the English new wave band Squeeze, a band formed in the mid-1970s who broke through in the new wave era at the decade's end. He generally writes the music for Squeeze's songs, while his writing partner, Chris Difford, writes the lyrics. In addition to his songwriting skills, Tilbrook is respected both as a singer and an accomplished guitarist. Read more
31 Aug 1956: Mária Balážová, Slovak painter and illustrator Mária Balážová is a contemporary Slovak artist. Her practise as an artist is usually associated with new geometry, post-geometry and postmodern. Read more
31 Aug 1956: Kent Nilsson, Swedish ice hockey player Kent Åke Nilsson is a Swedish former professional ice hockey centre. He played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) for the Winnipeg Jets, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Atlanta and Calgary Flames, Minnesota North Stars and Edmonton Oilers, as well as teams across various European leagues. Read more
31 Aug 1956: Masashi Tashiro, Japanese singer, actor, and director Masashi Tashiro is a Japanese former television performer and a founding member of the band Rats & Star. Tashiro was a tenor singer with the band and, later, a TV entertainer in Japan. He directed a film after the breakup of Rats & Star. Read more
31 Aug 1956: Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwanese politician and the President of the Republic of China Tsai Ing-wen is a Taiwanese politician and legal scholar who served as the 7th president of the Republic of China from 2016 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), she was the first woman to serve in the office. Read more
31 Aug 1955: Aleksander Krupa, Polish-American actor Aleksander Krupa, often credited as Olek Krupa, is a Polish-American film and television actor known for playing villains and criminals, such as in Eraser, Blue Streak, Home Alone 3 and The Italian Job. He portrayed a Bosnian Serb general engaged in genocide against Bosnian Muslims in Behind Enemy Lines and portrayed the President of Russia in the action thriller film Salt. Krupa played minor roles in Hollywood movies including X-Men: First Class, Hidden Figures, and The Fate of the Furious. Read more
31 Aug 1955: Julie Maxton, Scottish lawyer and academic Dame Julie Katharine Maxton is a British-New Zealand barrister, legal scholar, and academic administrator. Since 2011, she has been executive director of the Royal Society. Read more
31 Aug 1955: Edwin Moses, American hurdler Edwin Corley Moses is an American former hurdler who won gold medals in the 400 m hurdles at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics. Between 1977 and 1987, Moses won 107 consecutive finals and set the world record in the event four times. In addition to his running achievements, Moses was also an innovative reformer in the areas of Olympic eligibility and drug testing. In 2000, he was elected the first Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, an international service organization of world-class athletes. Read more
31 Aug 1955: Anthony Thistlethwaite, English saxophonist and bass player Anthony "Anto" Thistlethwaite is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a founding member of the folk rock group, The Waterboys and later as a long-standing member of Irish rock band The Saw Doctors. Read more
31 Aug 1955: Gary Webb, American journalist and author (died 2004) Gary Stephen Webb was an American investigative journalist. Read more
31 Aug 1954: Julie Brown, American actress and screenwriter Julie Ann Brown is an American actress, comedian, singer, writer, and director. Read more
31 Aug 1953: Marcia Clark, American attorney and author Marcia Rachel Clark is an American prosecutor, author, television correspondent, and television producer. She was the lead prosecutor in the O. J. Simpson murder case. Read more
31 Aug 1953: Miguel Ángel Guerra, Argentinian race car driver Miguel Ángel Guerra is a former racing driver from Argentina. He participated in four Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 15 March 1981. He qualified for only one of these, the 1981 San Marino Grand Prix, in which his Osella was hit by the March of Eliseo Salazar on the first lap. Guerra's car hit a wall, and he suffered a broken wrist and ankle. Read more
31 Aug 1953: György Károly, Hungarian poet and author (died 2018) György Károly was a Hungarian poet and writer. Read more
31 Aug 1953: Pavel Vinogradov, Russian astronaut and engineer Pavel Vladimirovich Vinogradov is a former cosmonaut and commander of the International Space Station. He has flown into space three times, aboard Mir and the International Space Station, and was one of the top 10 astronauts in terms of total time in space after his third spaceflight. Vinogradov has also conducted seven spacewalks in his cosmonaut career, and holds the record for the oldest person to perform a spacewalk. Read more
31 Aug 1953: Elisabeth Kværne, Norwegian langeleik player (died 2024) Elisabeth Kværne was a Norwegian musician. She played the langeleik, a string instrument similar to the Appalachian dulcimer. She won the 1985 Spellemannprisen in the category folk music and old dance for På langeleik. Kværne died on 12 September 2024, at the age of 71. Read more
31 Aug 1952: Kim Kashkashian, American viola player and educator Kim Kashkashian is an American violist. She has spent her career in the U.S. and Europe and collaborated with many major contemporary composers. In 2013 she won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. She is recognized as one of the world's top violists. Read more
31 Aug 1952: Herbert Reul, German politician Herbert Reul is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as State Minister for Internal Affairs in the government of successive Ministers-President Armin Laschet (2017–2021) and Hendrik Wüst. He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Read more
31 Aug 1951: Grant Batty, New Zealand rugby player Grant Bernard Batty was a New Zealand rugby union footballer. A diminutive but effective wing for the All Blacks, Batty played domestically for Wellington and Bay of Plenty. A crowd favourite, he was usually the smallest man on the field. Nicknamed "Batts", he was also known as "Twinkle Toes" or "Pocket Rocket" for his small size, explosive acceleration, and fearless combative approach. His rugby career was cut short by a knee injury, leading to his retirement in 1977 at age 25. Read more
31 Aug 1950: Eduardo Nonato Joson, Filipino politician (died 2025) Eduardo Nonato "Edno" Noriel Joson was a Filipino lawyer and politician who served in the Philippine legislature as assemblyman from Nueva Ecija (1984–1986) and representative of the province's first district. Read more
31 Aug 1949: Richard Gere, American actor and producer Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began appearing in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and a starring role in Days of Heaven (1978). Gere came to prominence with his role in the film American Gigolo (1980), which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol. Gere's other films include An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), The Cotton Club (1984), Internal Affairs (1990), Pretty Woman (1990), Sommersby (1993), First Knight (1995), Primal Fear (1996), The Jackal (1997), Red Corner (1997), Runaway Bride (1999), Unfaithful (2002), Shall We Dance? (2004), I'm Not There (2007), Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009), Arbitrage (2012) and Norman (2016). For portraying Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago (2002), he won a Golden Globe Award. Read more
31 Aug 1949: Stephen McKinley Henderson, American actor Stephen McKinley Henderson is an American actor. Henderson trained at Juilliard School for acting and later became a resident member of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis from 1976 to 1981. He came to prominence as a character actor often performing the plays of August Wilson. He has received nominations for two Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2021 Vulture named Henderson as one of "The 32 Greatest Character Actors Working Today". Read more
31 Aug 1949: Hugh David Politzer, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Hugh David Politzer is an American theoretical physicist. He shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics with David Gross and Frank Wilczek "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction". Read more
31 Aug 1949: Rick Roberts, American country-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Richard James Roberts is an American country rock and soft rock singer-songwriter who recorded with many influential artists over several genres. He is best known as a founding member and lead singer of Firefall from 1974 to 1981, as well as for his work with the Flying Burrito Brothers on their 1971 self-titled album. He also recorded two solo albums, Windmills in 1972 and She Is a Song in 1973. Read more
31 Aug 1948: Harald Ertl, Austrian race car driver and journalist (died 1982) Harald Ertl was an Austrian racing driver and motorsport journalist. He was born in Zell am See and attended the same school as Grand Prix drivers Jochen Rindt, Helmut Marko and Niki Lauda. Read more
31 Aug 1948: Lowell Ganz, American screenwriter and producer Lowell Ganz is an American writer and producer. He is the long-time writing partner of Babaloo Mandel and has written for television, film, and theatre. Read more
31 Aug 1948: Ken McMullen, English director, producer, and screenwriter Ken McMullen is a film director, artist and since 2012 Anniversary Professor of Film Studies at Kingston University, London. McMullen's films are grounded in philosophy, history, psychoanalysis and literature. McMullen's exhibition Signatures of the Invisible brought together artists and scientists working at CERN, the European particle physics facility near Geneva. His other work includes filming conversations with physicists at Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre, which he describes as "making a diary of the transition in human culture" because he believes physics is arriving at another shifting point. His latest work Arrows of Time is a radical new form of cinema consisting of 40 interchangeable elements that deal with literature, philosophy, and contemporary physics, premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco in April 2007. Read more
31 Aug 1948: Holger Osieck, German footballer and manager Holger Osieck is a German former football manager who last managed the Australia national team. Prior to the Australian role, he most recently managed J. League club Urawa Red Diamonds, where he won the 2007 AFC Champions League. He served as an assistant coach of the West Germany national football team when they won the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He also led Canada in winning the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Read more
31 Aug 1948: Rudolf Schenker, German guitarist and songwriter Heinrich Rudolf Schenker is a German guitarist and songwriter, best known as the founder and leader of the hard rock band Scorpions. He is the rhythm and lead guitarist, primary songwriter and the sole constant member of the band. He is also the CEO/owner-manager of the Scorpions Musik-Produktions-und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH and owner/founder of the Scorpio-Sound-Studios in Lower Saxony. He is the older brother of Michael Schenker. Read more
31 Aug 1947: Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Italian businessman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo is an Italian businessman and motorsport executive who is best known as the former chairman of Ferrari, Fiat S.p.A., Confindustria and Alitalia. Read more
31 Aug 1947: Yumiko Ōshima, Japanese author and illustrator Yumiko Ōshima is a Japanese manga artist and is associated with the Year 24 group that heavily influenced the development of shōjo manga in the 1970s. Read more
31 Aug 1947: Somchai Wongsawat, Thai lawyer and politician, 26th Prime Minister of Thailand Somchai Wongsawat is a Thai politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Thailand in 2008. He is a former executive member of the People's Power Party (PPP) whose political rights were disenfranchised by the Constitutional Court for five years. Read more
31 Aug 1946: Ann Coffey, Scottish social worker and politician Margaret Ann Coffey is a British former politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Stockport from 1992 to 2019. A former member of the Labour Party, she defected to form Change UK. Read more
31 Aug 1946: Jerome Corsi, American conspiracy theorist and author Jerome Robert Corsi is an American conspiracy theorist and author. His two New York Times best-selling books, Unfit for Command (2004) and The Obama Nation (2008), attacked Democratic presidential candidates and have been criticized for inaccuracies. Read more
31 Aug 1946: Tom Coughlin, American football player and coach Thomas Richard Coughlin is an American former football coach and executive of the National Football League (NFL). He was the head coach for the New York Giants from 2004 to 2015. He led the Giants to victory in Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI, both times against the New England Patriots. Coughlin was also the inaugural head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, serving from 1995 to 2002 and leading the team to two AFC Championship Game appearances. Prior to his head coaching career in the NFL, he was head coach of the Boston College Eagles football team from 1991 to 1993, and served in a variety of coaching positions in the NFL as well as coaching and administrative positions in college football. Read more
31 Aug 1945: Van Morrison, Northern Irish singer-songwriter Sir George Ivan Morrison is a Northern Irish musician, singer, and songwriter whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK Top 40, as well as internationally, including in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands. Read more
31 Aug 1945: Itzhak Perlman, Israeli-American violinist and conductor Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-American violinist. He has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a state dinner for Elizabeth II at the White House in 2007, and at the 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama. He has conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Westchester Philharmonic. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Perlman has won 16 Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and four Emmy Awards. Read more
31 Aug 1945: Bob Welch, American singer and guitarist (died 2012) Robert Lawrence Welch Jr. was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who was a member of Fleetwood Mac from 1971 to 1974. He had a successful solo career in the late 1970s. His singles included "Hot Love, Cold World", "Ebony Eyes", "Precious Love", "Hypnotized", and his signature song, "Sentimental Lady". Read more
31 Aug 1944: Roger Dean, English illustrator and publisher William Roger Dean is an English artist, designer, and publisher, best known for his surreal, fantastical landscapes and distinctive typography that defined the visual identity of progressive rock in the 1970s. Over a career spanning six decades, more than 100 million copies of his designs have circulated globally. His landmark collaborations with bands such as Yes and Asia produced some of the most recognisable album covers, logos, and stage designs during this period. Read more
31 Aug 1944: Liz Forgan, English journalist Dame Elizabeth Anne Lucy Forgan, known as Liz Forgan, is an English journalist, and radio and television executive. Read more
31 Aug 1944: Christine King, English historian and academic Christine Elizabeth King, CBE, FRHistS, DL is a British historian and university administrator. She was Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Staffordshire University from 1995 to 2011. Read more
31 Aug 1944: Clive Lloyd, Guyanese cricketer Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd is a Guyanese-British former cricketer and captain of the West Indies cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest captains of all time, Lloyd captained the West Indies between 1974 and 1985 and oversaw their rise to become among the greatest Test and One Day International teams of the 20th century. During his captaincy, West Indies won the 1975 Cricket World Cup and 1979 Cricket World Cup, while losing the 1983 Cricket World Cup final to India. He is also one of the most successful Test captains of all time: during his captaincy the team had a run of 27 matches without defeat, which included 11 wins in succession. He was the first West Indian player to earn 100 international caps. In 1971, he was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Read more
31 Aug 1943: Leonid Ivashov, Russian general Leonid Grigoryevich Ivashov is a Russian military and public official. He is a former President of the Academy for Geopolitical Problems and a retired colonel general. Read more
31 Aug 1942: Isao Aoki, Japanese golfer Isao Aoki is a Japanese professional golfer. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. Read more
31 Aug 1941: William DeWitt, Jr., American businessman William Orville DeWitt Jr. is an American businessman who is currently the principal owner, managing partner and chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franchise which competes in Major League Baseball (MLB).
The Cardinals have won two World Series — in 2006 and 2011 — during DeWitt's time as owner. In addition to the Cardinals, DeWitt has also owned or invested in the Cincinnati Stingers hockey club, Baltimore Orioles, the Cincinnati Reds and the Texas Rangers. Business interests outside baseball include Reynolds, DeWitt & Co., which owns Arby's franchises and invests in the U.S. Playing Card Company and the petroleum company Spectrum 7. Read more
31 Aug 1941: Emmanuel Nunes, Portuguese-French composer and educator (died 2012) Emmanuel Nunes was a Portuguese composer who lived and worked in Paris from 1964. Read more
31 Aug 1940: Robbie Basho, American guitarist, pianist, and composer (died 1986) Robbie Basho was an American acoustic guitarist, pianist and singer. Read more
31 Aug 1940: Wilton Felder, American saxophonist and bass player (died 2015) Wilton Lewis Felder was an American saxophone and bass player, and is best known as a founding member of the Jazz Crusaders, later known as the Crusaders. Felder played bass on the Jackson 5's hits "I Want You Back", "The Love You Save", and "ABC", and on Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On". Read more
31 Aug 1940: Larry Hankin, American actor, director, and producer Lawrence Alan Hankin is an American character actor. He has had major film roles as Charley Butts in Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Ace in Running Scared (1986), and Carl Alphonse in Billy Madison (1995). He had smaller roles as Doobby in Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Sergeant Larry Balzak in Home Alone (1990), Mr. Heckles in Friends, and Joe in Breaking Bad and El Camino. Read more
31 Aug 1940: Roger Newman, English-American actor and screenwriter (died 2010) Roger Newman was a British born-American soap opera actor and writer. He was born in London, and died in New York City. Read more
31 Aug 1940: Jack Thompson, Australian actor John Hadley Thompson, AM is an Australian actor and a major figure of Australian cinema, particularly Australian New Wave. He is best known for his role as a lead actor in several acclaimed Australian films, including such classics as The Club (1980), Sunday Too Far Away (1975), The Man from Snowy River (1982) and Petersen (1974). He won Cannes and AFI acting awards for the latter film. Read more
31 Aug 1939: Jerry Allison, American drummer and songwriter (died 2022) Jerry Ivan Allison was an American musician. He was best known as the drummer and only constant member of the Crickets and co-writer of their hits "That'll Be the Day" and "Peggy Sue", recorded with Buddy Holly. He had a solo chart entry on the Billboard Hot 100, "Real Wild Child", which was issued in 1958 under the name Ivan. Allison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Read more
31 Aug 1938: Martin Bell, English journalist and politician Martin Bell is a British UNICEF Ambassador, former broadcaster, war reporter and independent politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton from 1997 to 2001. He is known as "the man in the white suit". Read more
31 Aug 1937: Warren Berlinger, American actor (died 2020) Warren Berlinger was an American character actor, with Broadway runs, movie and television credits, and much work in commercials. Read more
31 Aug 1937: Bobby Parker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2013) Robert Lee Parker was an American blues-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for his 1961 song "Watch Your Step", a single for the V-Tone record label which reached the Billboard Hot 100; the song was performed by, and influenced, the Beatles among others. Read more
31 Aug 1936: Vladimir Orlov, Russian journalist and author (died 2014) Vladimir Viktorovich Orlov was a Russian novelist, notable for his fantasy novel Danilov, the Violist. Read more
31 Aug 1935: Eldridge Cleaver, American activist and author (died 1998) Leroy Eldridge Cleaver was an African American writer and political activist. He was an early leader of the Black Panther Party, serving as Minister of Information and, while in exile, head of the International Section of the Panthers. As editor of the official Panthers' newspaper, The Black Panther, Cleaver's influence on the direction of the party was rivaled only by founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Read more
31 Aug 1935: Bryan Organ, English painter Bryan Organ is a British artist considered one of the leading and most innovative English portrait painters of the 20th century. His paintings have included portraits of prominent public figures and of members of the British royal family. Organ is also known for landscape paintings, such as St Pancras Station, and lithographic studies of animals (Tate). London's National Portrait Gallery holds a total of sixteen of his portraits of which six were commissioned by the Gallery's Trustees. Read more
31 Aug 1935: Frank Robinson, American baseball player and manager (died 2019) Frank Robinson, nicknamed "the Judge", was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams over 21 seasons: the Cincinnati Reds (1956–1965), Baltimore Orioles (1966–1971), Los Angeles Dodgers (1972), California Angels (1973–1974), and Cleveland Indians (1974–1976). In 1975, Robinson became the first Black manager in big-league history, as the player-manager of the Indians. Read more
31 Aug 1932: Allan Fotheringham, Canadian journalist (died 2020) Allan Fotheringham was a Canadian newspaper and magazine journalist. He styled himself Dr. Foth and "the Great Gatheringfroth". He was described as "never at a loss for words". Read more
31 Aug 1932: Roy Castle, English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician (died 1994) Roy Castle was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician. An accomplished jazz trumpet player, he could also play many other instruments. In a career as a versatile performer on stage, television and film, he became best known to British television viewers as long-running presenter of the children's series Record Breakers. Read more
31 Aug 1931: Jean Béliveau, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2014) Joseph Arthur Jean Béliveau was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played parts of 20 seasons with the National Hockey League's (NHL) Montreal Canadiens from 1950 to 1971. Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972, "Le Gros Bill" Béliveau is widely regarded as one of the ten greatest NHL players of all time. Born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Béliveau first played professionally in the Quebec Major Hockey League (QMHL). He made his NHL debut with the Canadiens in 1950, but chose to remain in the QMHL full-time until 1953. From 1950 to 1971, he spent his entire NHL career with the Canadiens. Read more
31 Aug 1931: Rolf Just Nilsen, Norwegian singer and actor (died 1981) Rolf Just Nilsen was a Norwegian singer, impressionist and actor. He was particularly known for his imitations of famous comedians at the time. He worked for the theatres Studioteatret, Chat Noir, Edderkoppen Theatre, Oslo Nye Teater and Det Norske Teatret, and for radio and television. Read more
31 Aug 1931: Noble Willingham, American actor (died 2004) Noble Henry Willingham, Jr. was an American actor who appeared in more than thirty films and in many television shows, including a stint opposite Chuck Norris in Walker, Texas Ranger. Read more
31 Aug 1930: Big Tiny Little, American pianist (died 2010) Dudley "Big Tiny" Little, Jr. was an American musician who appeared on The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1959. His primary instrument was the piano. Read more
31 Aug 1928: James Coburn, American actor (died 2002) James Harrison Coburn III was an American actor who featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career. Read more
31 Aug 1928: Jaime Sin, Filipino cardinal (died 2005) Jaime Lachica Sin was a Filipino Catholic prelate who served as the 30th archbishop of Manila from 1974 until his retirement in 2003. He was elevated to the rank of cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1976. Read more
31 Aug 1925: Ted Blakey, American historian, activist, and businessman (died 2004) Theodore Robert Blakey was an American historian, businessman, and activist. He was instrumental in the civil rights movement in South Dakota and was leader of the committee that helped the state ratify the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Blakey was among the first African American leaders of Junior Chamber International, Kiwanis, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was named the state's black historian in 1995 and was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1997. Read more
31 Aug 1925: Moran Campbell, English-Canadian physician and academic, invented the venturi mask (died 2004) Edward James Moran Campbell, was a Canadian physician. He was the founding Chair of the Department of Medicine at McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences from 1968 to 1975. He was also the inventor of the Venturi mask. Read more
31 Aug 1925: Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (died 2003) Maurice Pialat was a French film director, screenwriter and actor known for the rigorous and unsentimental style of his films. His work is often described as "realist", though many film critics acknowledge it does not fit the traditional definition of realism. Read more
31 Aug 1924: John Davidson, American physician and politician (died 2012) John A. Davidson was an American politician and practicing chiroprater. Read more
31 Aug 1924: Buddy Hackett, American actor and singer (died 2003) Buddy Hackett was an American comedian and comic actor. Known for his raunchy material, heavy appearance and thick New York City accent, his notable roles include Marcellus Washburn in The Music Man (1962), Benjy Benjamin in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Tennessee Steinmetz in The Love Bug (1968) and the voice of Scuttle in The Little Mermaid (1989). He was also a frequent guest on TV game shows and variety shows. Read more
31 Aug 1924: Herbert Wise, Austrian-English director and producer (died 2015) Herbert Wise was an Austrian-born film and television producer and director. Read more
31 Aug 1921: Otis G. Pike, American judge and politician (died 2014) Otis Grey Pike was an American lawyer and politician who served nine terms as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York, from 1961 to 1979. Read more
31 Aug 1921: Raymond Williams, Welsh author and academic (died 1988) Raymond Henry Williams was a Welsh socialist writer, academic, novelist and critic influential within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the media and literature contributed to the Marxist critique of culture and the arts. Some 750,000 copies of his books were sold in UK editions alone, and there are many translations available. His work laid foundations for the field of cultural studies and cultural materialism. Read more
31 Aug 1919: Amrita Pritam, Indian poet and author (died 2005) Amrita Pritam was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. A prominent figure in Punjabi literature, she is the recipient of the 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award. Her body of work comprised over 100 books of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk songs and an autobiography that were all translated into several Indian and foreign languages. Read more
31 Aug 1918: Alan Jay Lerner, American songwriter and composer (died 1986) Alan Jay Lerner was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, and later Burton Lane, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre both for the stage and on film. Lerner won three Tony Awards and three Academy Awards, among other honors. Read more
31 Aug 1916: Danny Litwhiler, American baseball player and coach (died 2011) Daniel Webster Litwhiler was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from 1940 to 1951 for the Boston Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, and Cincinnati Reds. He was the first Major League Baseball player to have an error-free season while playing a full-time position on defense. That same season, 1942, he also became the first player to stitch together the fingers of his glove. After his playing career, he continued to work in baseball as a coach in college sports. Read more
31 Aug 1916: Daniel Schorr, American journalist and author (died 2010) Daniel Louis Schorr was an American journalist who covered world news for more than 60 years. He was most recently a Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio (NPR). Schorr won three Emmy Awards for his television journalism. Read more
31 Aug 1916: John S. Wold, American geologist and politician (died 2017) John Schiller Wold was an American business executive, philanthropist, World War II veteran, and Republican politician from Wyoming. He served a single term in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1971. He was the first professional geologist to have served in Congress. Read more
31 Aug 1915: Pete Newell, American basketball player and coach (died 2008) Peter Francis Newell was an American college men's basketball coach and basketball instructional coach. He coached for 15 years at the University of San Francisco, Michigan State University, and the University of California, Berkeley, compiling an overall record of 234 wins and 123 losses. Read more
31 Aug 1914: Richard Basehart, American actor (died 1984) John Richard Basehart was an American actor. Known for his "deep, resonant baritone voice and craggy good looks," he was active in film, theatre and television from 1947 until 1983. He won two National Board of Review Awards, for his performances in Fourteen Hours (1951) and Moby Dick (1956), and was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Time Limit (1957). Read more
31 Aug 1913: Helen Levitt, American photographer and cinematographer (died 2009) Helen Levitt was an American photographer and cinematographer. She was particularly noted for her street photography around New York City. David Levi Strauss described her as "the most celebrated and least known photographer of her time." Read more
31 Aug 1913: Bernard Lovell, English physicist and astronomer (died 2012) Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell was an English physicist and radio astronomer. He was the first director of Jodrell Bank Observatory, from 1945 to 1980. Read more
31 Aug 1911: Edward Brongersma, Dutch journalist and politician (died 1998) Edward Brongersma was a Dutch politician and doctor of law. For a number of years he was a member of the Dutch Senate for the Labour Party, and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was primarily known for pedophilia advocacy and as an advocate of more lax legislation on public morality. Read more
31 Aug 1911: Arsenio Rodríguez, Cuban-American tres player, composer, and bandleader (died 1970) Arsenio Rodríguez was a Cuban musician, composer and bandleader. He played the tres, as well as the tumbadora, and he specialized in son, rumba and other Afro-Cuban music styles. In the 1940s and 1950s Rodríguez established the conjunto format and contributed to the development of the son montuno, the basic template of modern-day salsa. He claimed to be the true creator of the mambo and was an important as well as a prolific composer who wrote nearly two hundred songs. Read more
31 Aug 1909: Ferenc Fejtő, Hungarian-French journalist and political scientist (died 2008) Ferenc Fejtő, also known as François Fejtő, was a Hungarian-born French journalist and political scientist specializing in Eastern Europe. Read more
31 Aug 1908: William Saroyan, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (died 1981) William Saroyan was an American novelist, playwright, and short story writer of Armenian descent. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film The Human Comedy. When the studio rejected his original 240-page treatment, he turned it into a novel, The Human Comedy. Read more
31 Aug 1907: Valter Biiber, Estonian footballer (died 1977) Valter Biiber was an Estonian football player. Read more
31 Aug 1907: Augustus F. Hawkins, American lawyer and politician (died 2007) Augustus Freeman Hawkins was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served in the California State Assembly from 1935 to 1963 and the U.S. House of Representatives from 1963 to 1991. Over the course of his career, Hawkins authored more than 300 state and federal laws, the most famous of which are Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1978 Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act. He was known as the "silent warrior" for his commitment to education and ending unemployment. Read more
31 Aug 1907: Ramon Magsaysay, Filipino captain, engineer, and politician, 7th President of the Philippines (died 1957) Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay Sr. was a Filipino politician and military officer who was the seventh president of the Philippines, serving from 1953 until his death in 1957. An automobile mechanic by profession, Magsaysay was appointed military governor of Zambales after serving as a guerrilla leader during the Pacific War. He then served two terms as Liberal Party congressman for Zambales's at-large district before being appointed Secretary of National Defense by President Elpidio Quirino. He was eventually elected as president under the banner of the Nacionalista Party, the youngest to be elected to the position, and second youngest overall. He was the first Philippine president born in the 20th century and the first to be born after the Spanish colonial era. Magsaysay died in a plane crash on March 17, 1957, in Cebu. His successor, Carlos P. Garcia, assumed the presidency. He is the most recent Philippine president to have died in office. Read more
31 Aug 1907: William Shawn, American journalist (died 1992) William Shawn was an American magazine editor who edited The New Yorker from 1952 until 1987. Read more
31 Aug 1907: Altiero Spinelli, Italian theorist and politician (died 1986) Altiero Spinelli was an Italian politician, political theorist and European federalist, referred to as one of the founding fathers of the European Union. A communist and militant anti-fascist in his youth, Spinelli spent 10 years imprisoned by the Italian fascist regime. Having grown disillusioned with Stalinism, he broke with the Communist Party of Italy in 1937. Interned in Ventotene during World War II, he, along with fellow democratic socialists, drafted the manifesto For a Free and United Europe in 1941, considered a precursor of the European integration process. Read more
31 Aug 1905: Robert Bacher, American physicist and academic (died 2004) Robert Fox Bacher was an American nuclear physicist and one of the leaders of the Manhattan Project. Born in Loudonville, Ohio, Bacher obtained his undergraduate degree and doctorate from the University of Michigan, writing his 1930 doctoral thesis under the supervision of Samuel Goudsmit on the Zeeman effect of the hyperfine structure of atomic levels. After graduate work at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he accepted a job at Columbia University. In 1935 he accepted an offer from Hans Bethe to work with him at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It was there that Bacher collaborated with Bethe on his book Nuclear Physics. A: Stationary States of Nuclei (1936), the first of three books that would become known as the "Bethe Bible". Read more
31 Aug 1905: Sanford Meisner, American actor and educator (died 1997) Sanford Meisner was an American actor and acting teacher who developed an approach to acting instruction known as the Meisner technique. While Meisner was exposed to method acting at the Group Theatre, his approach differed markedly in that he completely abandoned the use of affective memory, a distinct characteristic of method acting. Meisner maintained an emphasis on "the reality of doing", which was the foundation of his approach. Read more
31 Aug 1903: Arthur Godfrey, American radio and television host (died 1983) Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer. At the peak of his success, in the early to mid-1950s, Godfrey was heard on radio and seen on television up to six days a week, at times for as many as nine separate broadcasts for CBS. His programs included Arthur Godfrey Time, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, Arthur Godfrey and His Friends, The Arthur Godfrey Digest and King Arthur Godfrey and His Round Table. Read more
31 Aug 1903: Vladimir Jankélévitch, French musicologist and philosopher (died 1985) Vladimir Jankélévitch was a French philosopher and musicologist. Read more
31 Aug 1902: Géza Révész, Hungarian general and politician, Hungarian Minister of Defence (died 1977) Géza Révész was a Hungarian military officer and politician, who served as Minister of Defence between 1957 and 1960. During the Hungarian Soviet Republic and the Second World War he fought in the Red Army. From 1960 to 1963 he was the Hungarian ambassador to the Soviet Union. Read more
31 Aug 1900: Gino Lucetti, Italian anarchist, attempted assassin of Benito Mussolini (died 1943) Gino Lucetti was an Italian anarchist and anti-fascist who attempted to assassinate the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1926. Read more
31 Aug 1897: Fredric March, American actor (died 1975) Fredric March was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated stars of the 1930s and 1940s. As a performer he was known for his versatility. He received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, two Tony Awards, two Volpi Cups, the Silver Bear, as well as nominations for three BAFTA Awards and three Emmy Awards. Read more
31 Aug 1896: Brian Edmund Baker, English Air Marshal (died 1979) Air Marshal Sir Brian Edmund Baker was an officer of the Royal Air Force who served in both World Wars. He was a flying ace in World War I credited, in conjunction with his gunners, with twelve victories, comprising one enemy aircraft captured, four destroyed, and seven "out of control". Read more
31 Aug 1896: Félix-Antoine Savard, Canadian priest and author (died 1982) Félix-Antoine Savard, was a Canadian priest, academic, poet, novelist and folklorist. Read more
31 Aug 1894: Albert Facey, Australian soldier and author (died 1982) Albert Barnett Facey, publishing as A. B. Facey, was an Australian writer and World War I veteran, whose main work was his autobiography, A Fortunate Life, now considered a classic of Australian literature. As of 2020, it has sold over one million copies and was the subject of a television mini-series. Read more
31 Aug 1893: Lily Laskine, French harp player (died 1988) Lily Laskine was one of the most prominent harpists of the twentieth century who was born and died in Paris. Born Lily Aimée Laskine to Jewish parents in Paris, she studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Alphonse Hasselmans and became a frequent performing partner of several distinguished French flautists, including Marcel Moyse and Jean-Pierre Rampal. Laskine also served as professor of harp at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1948 to 1958. She was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1958. She died in Paris. Read more
31 Aug 1890: August Alle, Estonian poet and author (died 1952) August Alle was an Estonian writer. Read more
31 Aug 1890: Nätti-Jussi, Finnish lumberjack and forest laborer (died 1964) Juho Vihtori Nätti, known as "Nätti-Jussi" was a Finnish forest laborer. The stories told by Nätti made him a legendary figure, particularly in Lapland. Nätti was born to a six-member family in Karstula, Central Finland, in August 1890. His parents were log driver Juho Nätti and hostess Maija Nätti. He had three sisters. Nätti migrated with other members of his family to the Northern logging sites, and worked there for most of his life. He was a well-known lumberjack who was known in Tervola, Pisa, Muurola and Rovaniemi. Read more
31 Aug 1885: DuBose Heyward, American author and playwright (died 1940) Edwin DuBose Heyward was an American author best known for his 1925 novel Porgy. He and his wife Dorothy, a playwright, adapted it as a 1927 play of the same name. The couple worked with composer George Gershwin to adapt the work as the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. It was later adapted as a 1959 film of the same name. Read more
31 Aug 1884: George Sarton, Belgian-American historian of science (died 1956) George Alfred Leon Sarton was a Belgian-American chemist and historian. He is considered the founder of the discipline of the history of science as an independent field of study. His most influential works were the Introduction to the History of Science, which consists of three volumes and 4,296 pages, and the journal Isis. Sarton ultimately aimed to achieve an integrated philosophy of science that provided a connection between the sciences and the humanities, which he referred to as "the new humanism". He was a founder of the History of Science Society and is the namesake of its George Sarton Medal, a prestigious lifetime achievement award for historians of science. Read more
31 Aug 1883: Ramón Fonst, Cuban fencer (died 1959) Ramón Fonst Segundo was a Cuban fencer who competed in the early 20th century. He was one of the greatest world fencers, individual and by team; he was born and died in Havana. He became the first non-European and the only Hispanic American to win an Olympic fencing title. Read more
31 Aug 1880: Wilhelmina, queen of the Netherlands (died 1962) Wilhelmina was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, making her the longest-reigning monarch in Dutch history, as well as the longest-reigning female monarch outside of the United Kingdom. Her reign encompassed World War I, the Dutch economic crisis of 1933, and World War II. Read more
31 Aug 1879: Alma Mahler, Austrian-American composer and author (died 1964) Alma Mahler-Werfel was an Austrian composer, author, editor, and socialite. Musically active from her early years, she became a fixture of Vienna's fin de siècle cultural scene, and struck up friendships and relationships with a number of notable artists and composers. Read more
31 Aug 1879: Taishō, Emperor of Japan (died 1926) Emperor Taishō, personal name (imina) Yoshihito, was Emperor of Japan from 29 July 1912 until his death in 1926. His reign was marked by a domestic political shift toward liberal democracy, called Taishō Democracy. He oversaw Japan's participation in World War I on the side of the Allies, the Spanish flu epidemic, and the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923. His poor health limited his public duties and contributed to his death at age 47. Read more
31 Aug 1878: Frank Jarvis, American sprinter and lawyer (died 1933) Frank Washington Jarvis was an American sprinter, the 1900 Olympic 100 m champion, and a triple jumper. Read more
31 Aug 1875: Rosa Lemberg, Namibian-born Finnish American teacher, singer and choral conductor (died 1959) Rosa Emilia Lemberg was a Namibian-born Finnish American teacher, singer and choral conductor. She was the first African-born person in Finland to officially receive Finnish citizenship. She was also a significant influence in the Finnish-American labor movement of the first half of the 20th century. Read more
31 Aug 1871: James E. Ferguson, American banker and politician, 26th governor of Texas (died 1944) James Edward Ferguson Jr., known as Pa Ferguson, was an American Democratic politician who served as the 26th governor of Texas from 1915 to 1917. He was indicted and impeached during his second term, removed from office, and barred from holding further Texas office. Read more
31 Aug 1870: Maria Montessori, Italian physician and educator (died 1952) Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori was an Italian physician and educator best known for her philosophy of education and her writing on scientific pedagogy. At an early age, Montessori enrolled in classes at an all-boys technical school, with hopes of becoming an engineer. She soon had a change of heart and began medical school at the Sapienza University of Rome, becoming one of the first women to attend medical school in Italy; she graduated with honors in 1896. Her educational method is in use globally in many public and private schools. Read more
31 Aug 1843: Georg von Hertling, German academic and politician, 7th Chancellor of the German Empire (died 1919) Georg Friedrich Karl Freiherr von Hertling, from 1914 Count von Hertling, was a German politician of the Catholic Centre Party. He was foreign minister and minister president of Bavaria, then imperial chancellor of the German Reich and minister president of Prussia from 1 November 1917 to 30 September 1918. He was the first party politician to hold the two offices; all of his predecessors were career civil servants or military men. Read more
31 Aug 1842: Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, American journalist, publisher, and activist (died 1924) Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin was a publisher, journalist, civil rights leader, suffragist, abolitionist, and editor of the Woman's Era, the first national newspaper published by and for African American women. Read more
31 Aug 1834: Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer and educator (died 1886) Amilcare Ponchielli was an Italian opera composer, best known for his opera La Gioconda. He was married to the soprano Teresina Brambilla. Read more
31 Aug 1823: Galusha A. Grow, American lawyer and politician, 28th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (died 1907) Galusha Aaron Grow was the 24th speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1861 to 1863. Elected as a Democrat in the 1850 congressional elections, he switched to the newly organized Republican Party in the mid-1850s when the Democratic Party tried to force the extension of slavery into western territories. Read more
31 Aug 1821: Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician and physicist (died 1894) Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The Helmholtz Association, the largest German association of research institutions, was named in his honour. Helmholtz is remembered for at the time groundbreaking work in natural science linking theory and practical research work. He was given the von in his surname by Emperor William II. Read more
31 Aug 1811: Théophile Gautier, French poet and critic (died 1872) Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. Read more
31 Aug 1802: Husein Gradaščević, Ottoman general (died 1834) Husein Gradaščević (Husein-kapetan), also known as Zmaj od Bosne, was an Ottoman Bosnian military commander who led an uprising against the Tanzimat, a system of political reforms with aim to modernise the Ottoman Empire. Born into a Bosnian noble family, Gradaščević became the captain of Gradačac in the early 1820s, succeeding his relatives in the position. He grew up surrounded by a political climate of turmoil in the western reaches of the Ottoman Empire. With the Russo-Turkish war (1828–29), Gradaščević's importance rose; the Bosnian governor gave him the task of mobilising an army between the Drina and Vrbas. Read more

Notable Deaths on 31 August

31 Aug 2024: Sol Bamba, Ivorian-French footballer (born 1985) Souleymane "Sol" Bamba was a professional football player and manager. As a player, he was a centre-back. Born in France, he played for the Ivory Coast national team. Read more
31 Aug 2021: Mahal, Filipino comedian and actress (born 1974) Noemi Tesorero, known professionally as Mahal, was a Filipino actress, comedian, and vlogger. She had dwarfism and was noted for her childlike roles. She was said to have a very giggly personality. Read more
31 Aug 2021: Francesco Morini, Italian footballer (born 1944) Francesco Morini was an Italian professional footballer who played as a defender. He competed for the Italy national team in the 1974 FIFA World Cup and earned a total of 11 caps. He played for clubs such as Sampdoria and, most notably, Juventus, with which he achieved great success. Read more
31 Aug 2021: Michael Constantine, Greek-American actor (born 1927) Michael Constantine was a Greek-American actor. He is most widely recognized for his portrayal of Kostas "Gus" Portokalos, the stubborn Greek father of Toula Portokalos, in the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). For his performance, Constantine won a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Musical or Comedy. Read more
31 Aug 2021: Geronimo, British alpaca (born 2013) Geronimo was a stud alpaca that resided at Shepherds Close Farm in Wickwar, South Gloucestershire, England. After Geronimo tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB), a highly publicised controversy erupted surrounding his fate and the British government's policy of euthanising any animal that tested positive for bTB. After a number of court battles, Geronimo was euthanised. Read more
31 Aug 2020: Pranab Mukherjee, Former President of India (born 1935) Pranab Mukherjee was an Indian politician who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the office. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indian National Congress and occupied several top ministerial portfolios in the Government of India. Prior to his election as President, Mukherjee was Finance Minister from 2009 to 2012 also in 1982 to 1984. He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2019, by his successor as president, Ram Nath Kovind. Read more
31 Aug 2020: Tom Seaver, American baseball player (born 1944) George Thomas Seaver, nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "the Franchise", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, and Boston Red Sox from 1967 to 1986. Commonly described as the most iconic player in Mets history, Seaver played a significant role in their victory in the 1969 World Series over the Baltimore Orioles. Read more
31 Aug 2019: Anthoine Hubert, French race car driver (born 1996) Anthoine Gérard Pol Hubert was a French professional racing driver. He was the 2018 GP3 Series champion and a member of the Renault Sport Academy. He died following an accident during the feature race of the 2019 Spa-Francorchamps Formula 2 round at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Read more
31 Aug 2019: Alec Holowka, Canadian game developer (born 1983) Alec Holowka was a Canadian indie game developer and co-founder of independent game companies Infinite Ammo, Infinite Fall, and Bit Blot. He was mainly known for the award-winning titles Night in the Woods and Aquaria. Read more
31 Aug 2018: Carole Shelley, British-American actress (born 1939) Carole Augusta Shelley was an English actress who made her career in the United States and United Kingdom. Her many stage roles included originating the roles of Gwendolyn Pigeon in The Odd Couple and Madame Morrible in Wicked. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in The Elephant Man (1979) and received additional nominations for her work on Absurd Person Singular (1975), Stepping Out (1987), and Billy
Elliot (2009). Read more
31 Aug 2015: Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, English politician, founded the National Motor Museum (born 1926) Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, was a British aristocrat and Conservative politician, best known for founding the National Motor Museum, as well as for a pivotal cause célèbre following his 1954 conviction and imprisonment for alleged homosexual activity, a charge he denied. Read more
31 Aug 2015: Tom Scott, American football player (born 1930) Thomas Coster Scott was an American professional football player who was a linebacker and defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers, earning All-American honors as an offensive and defensive end. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979. Scott was also an elite lacrosse player and was Virginia's first two-sport All-American. He was also on the U.Va. baseball and basketball squads. Read more
31 Aug 2014: Bapu, Indian director and screenwriter (born 1933) Sattiraju Lakshminarayana, known professionally as Bapu, was an Indian film director, painter, illustrator, cartoonist, screenwriter, music artist, and designer known for his works in Telugu cinema, and Hindi cinema. In 2013, he was awarded the Padma Shri, for his contribution to Indian art and cinema. He has garnered two National Honors, two National Film Awards, seven state Nandi Awards, two Filmfare Awards South, a Raghupathi Venkaiah Award, and a Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South. Read more
31 Aug 2014: Ștefan Andrei, Romanian politician, 87th Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1931) Ștefan Andrei was a Romanian communist politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania from 1978 to 1985. He was arrested after the 1989 overthrow of the Nicolae Ceaușescu regime. Read more
31 Aug 2014: Stan Goldberg, American illustrator (born 1932) Stan Goldberg was an American comic book artist, best known for his work with Archie Comics and as a Marvel Comics colorist who in the 1960s helped design the original color schemes of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and other major characters. He was inducted into the National Cartoonists Society Hall of Fame in 2011. Read more
31 Aug 2014: Carol Vadnais, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1945) Carol Marcel Vadnais was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1966–67 until 1982–83. Vadnais won the Stanley Cup twice during his career, in 1968 with the Montreal Canadiens and again in 1972 with the Boston Bruins. Read more
31 Aug 2013: Alan Carrington, English chemist and academic (born 1934) Alan Carrington CBE, FRS was a British chemist and one of the leading spectroscopists in Britain in the late twentieth century. Read more
31 Aug 2013: David Frost, English journalist and game show host (born 1939) Sir David Paradine Frost was an English television host, journalist, comedian, and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical television programme That Was the Week That Was in 1962. His success on this show led to work as a host on American television. Read more
31 Aug 2013: Jimmy Greenhalgh, English footballer and manager (born 1923) James Radcliffe Greenhalgh was an English football player and manager. He played as a wing half and made nearly 300 appearances in the Football League for Hull City, Bury and Gillingham. As a manager, he took charge of Darlington from 1966 to 1968 and had a lengthy career in coaching and scouting. Read more
31 Aug 2013: Jan Camiel Willems, Belgian mathematician and theorist (born 1939) Jan Camiel Willems was a Belgian mathematical system theorist who has done most of his scientific work while residing in the Netherlands and the United States. He is most noted for the introduction of the notion of a dissipative system and for the development of the behavioral approach to systems theory. Read more
31 Aug 2012: Max Bygraves, English actor (born 1922) Walter William "Max" Bygraves was an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs. Read more
31 Aug 2012: Joe Lewis, American martial artist and actor (born 1944) Joe Lewis was an American martial artist, professional kickboxer and actor. Originally a practitioner of Shōrin-ryū karate and champion in point sparring competitions, he became one of the fathers of full contact karate and kickboxing in the United States, and is credited with popularizing the combat sport in North America. Read more
31 Aug 2012: Carlo Maria Martini, Italian cardinal (born 1927) Carlo Maria Martini was an Italian Jesuit and Biblical scholar. He served as Archbishop of Milan from 1980 to 2002 and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1983. Read more
31 Aug 2012: Kashiram Rana, Indian lawyer and politician (born 1938) Kashiram Rana was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of India. In 1989, he was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha from Surat constituency in Gujarat. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004 from the same constituency. He served as a union cabinet minister in the department of textiles, twice, in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led NDA govt during 1998–2004. He died on 31 August 2012. Read more
31 Aug 2012: John C. Shabaz, American judge and politician (born 1931) John Cyrus Shabaz was an American lawyer, politician, and judge. He served 30 years as a United States district judge for the Western District of Wisconsin, and was Chief Judge between 1996 and 2001. Earlier in his career, he represented Waukesha County in the Wisconsin State Assembly for 16 years as a Republican, serving as minority leader from 1973 to 1981. Read more
31 Aug 2012: Sergey Sokolov, Russian commander and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for The Soviet Union (born 1911) Sergei Leonidovich Sokolov was a Soviet military commander, Hero of the Soviet Union, and served as Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 22 December 1984 until 29 May 1987. Read more
31 Aug 2011: Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1976) Wade William Belak was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward and defenceman. He was drafted 12th overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1994 NHL entry draft. He played for the Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, and the Nashville Predators in the National Hockey League (NHL). Belak was best known for his role as an enforcer. Read more
31 Aug 2010: Laurent Fignon, French cyclist (born 1960) Laurent Patrick Fignon was a French professional road bicycle racer who won the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984, as well as the Giro d'Italia in 1989. He held the title of FICP World No. 1 in 1989. Fignon came close to winning the Tour de France for a third time in 1989 but was defeated by Greg LeMond by eight seconds, the closest margin ever to decide the Tour. Fignon won many classic races, including consecutive victories in Milan–San Remo in 1988 and 1989. He died from cancer in 2010. Read more
31 Aug 2009: Eraño Manalo, Filipino religious minister and Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo (born 1925) Eraño de Guzmán Manalo, also known as Ka Erdy, was a Filipino minister and preacher who served as the second Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) from April 19, 1963, until August 31, 2009. He took over the administration of the church after the death of his father, Felix Manalo, in 1963. He was instrumental in the propagation and expansion of the church internationally. Read more
31 Aug 2008: Ken Campbell, English actor and screenwriter (born 1941) Kenneth Victor Campbell was an English actor, director and writer. He was known for his work in experimental theatre. He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre". Read more
31 Aug 2008: Ike Pappas, American journalist (born 1933) Icarus Nestor Pappas, better known as Ike Pappas, was an American television journalist who worked as a CBS News correspondent for 25 years. Read more
31 Aug 2008: Victor Yates, New Zealand rugby player (born 1939) Victor Moses Yates was a New Zealand rugby footballer who represented his country in rugby union. His brother, John, represented New Zealand in rugby league while his father, Moses, represented North Auckland in rugby union. Read more
31 Aug 2007: Gay Brewer, American golfer (born 1932) Gay Robert Brewer Jr. was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and won the 1967 Masters Tournament. Read more
31 Aug 2007: Jean Jacques Paradis, Canadian general (born 1928) Lieutenant General Jean Jacques Paradis CMM, CD was the Commander, Mobile Command of the Canadian Forces. Read more
31 Aug 2007: Sulev Vahtre, Estonian historian and academic (born 1926) Sulev Vahtre was an eminent Estonian historian. Read more
31 Aug 2006: Mohamed Abdelwahab, Egyptian footballer (born 1983) Mohamed Mohamed Abdelwahab was an Egyptian footballer. He played in the defensive left back position. He was an important part of the Egyptian squad that went on to win the 2006 African Cup of Nations. He died during training with his club El Ahly on 31 August 2006. Read more
31 Aug 2006: Tom Delaney, English race car driver and businessman (born 1911) Cyril Terence "Tom" Delaney was a British sportsman and industrialist, perhaps best known in his later years for being the oldest licensed racing driver in the world, having competed in the same Lea-Francis car for more than three-quarters of a century from 1930 until just a few months before his death. Read more
31 Aug 2005: Joseph Rotblat, Polish-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1908) Sir Joseph Rotblat was a Polish and British physicist. During World War II he worked on Tube Alloys and the Manhattan Project, but left the Los Alamos Laboratory on grounds of conscience after it became clear to him in 1944 that Germany had ceased development of an atomic bomb. Read more
31 Aug 2002: Lionel Hampton, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (born 1908) Lionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, and Quincy Jones. In 1992, he was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1996. Read more
31 Aug 2002: Farhad Mehrad, Persian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pianist (born 1944) Farhad Mehrad was a popular Iranian singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. He was a versatile musician who released the first English rock and roll album in Iran. Farhad gained fame among the Iranian rock, pop and folk musicians before the Islamic Revolution of 1979. He was prohibited from singing for several years in Iran after the revolution. Farhad's first concert after the Islamic Revolution was held in 1990. He is still recognized as one of the most influential and respected contemporary Iranian singers. Farhad was also the founding member of the popular Iranian band Black Cats. Read more
31 Aug 2002: George Porter, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920) George Porter, Baron Porter of Luddenham, was a British chemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967. Read more
31 Aug 2000: Lucille Fletcher, American screenwriter (born 1912) Violet Lucille Fletcher was an American screenwriter of film, radio and television. Her credits include The Hitch-Hiker, an original radio play written for Orson Welles and adapted for a notable episode of The Twilight Zone television series. Lucille Fletcher also wrote Sorry, Wrong Number, one of the most celebrated plays in the history of American radio, which she adapted and expanded for the 1948 film noir classic of the same name. Married to composer Bernard Herrmann in 1939, she wrote the libretto for his opera Wuthering Heights, which he began in 1943 and completed in 1951, after their divorce. Read more
31 Aug 2000: Dolores Moore, American baseball player and educator (born 1932) Dolores Moore ["Dee"] was an infielder who played from 1953 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), 153 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Read more
31 Aug 1997: Diana, Princess of Wales (born 1961) Diana, Princess of Wales, was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her activism and glamour made her an international icon and earned her enduring popularity. Read more
31 Aug 1997: Dodi Fayed, Egyptian film producer (born 1955) Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em "Dodi" Fayed was an Egyptian film producer and the eldest child of the businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. He was romantically involved with Diana, Princess of Wales, when they both died in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. Read more
31 Aug 1991: Cliff Lumsdon, Canadian swimmer and coach (born 1931) Clifford Douglas "Cliff" Lumsdon Jr., was a Canadian world champion marathon swimmer. Read more
31 Aug 1990: Nathaniel Clifton, American basketball player and coach (born 1922) Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton was an American professional basketball player who was one of the first African Americans to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was also a professional baseball player. Read more
31 Aug 1986: Elizabeth Coatsworth, American author and poet (born 1893) Elizabeth Jane Coatsworth was an American writer of fiction and poetry for children and adults. She won the 1931 Newbery Medal from the American Library Association award recognizing The Cat Who Went to Heaven as the previous year's "most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." In 1968 she was a highly commended runner-up for the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award for children's writers. Read more
31 Aug 1986: Urho Kekkonen, Finnish journalist, lawyer, and politician, 8th President of Finland (born 1900) Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as prime minister, and held various other cabinet positions. He was the third and most recent president from the Agrarian League/Centre Party. Head of state for nearly 26 years, he dominated Finnish politics for 31 years overall. Holding a large amount of power, he won his later elections with little opposition and has often been classified as an autocrat. Read more
31 Aug 1986: Henry Moore, English sculptor and illustrator (born 1898) Henry Spencer Moore was an English visual artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore also produced many drawings, including a series depicting Londoners sheltering from the Blitz during the Second World War, along with other graphic works on paper. Read more
31 Aug 1985: Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899) Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, usually known as Macfarlane or Mac Burnet, was an Australian virologist known for his contributions to immunology. He won a Nobel Prize in 1960 for predicting acquired immune tolerance. He also developed the theory of clonal selection. Read more
31 Aug 1984: Audrey Wagner, American baseball player, obstetrician, and gynecologist (born 1927) Genevieve "Audrey" Wagner was an outfielder who played from 1943 through 1949 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), 145 lb., she batted and threw right-handed. Read more
31 Aug 1979: Sally Rand, American actress and dancer (born 1904) Sally Rand was an American burlesque dancer, stripper, vedette, and actress, famous for her ostrich-feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck. Read more
31 Aug 1979: Tiger Smith, English cricketer and coach (born 1886) Ernest James "Tiger" Smith was an English wicket-keeper who played in 11 Tests from 1911/1912 to 1914. In county cricket, he had a much longer career as the successor to Dick Lilley: he played for Warwickshire on a regular basis until 1930. After that, Tiger Smith took to umpiring and became so good in this new role that he umpired several Test matches between 1933 and 1938. Read more
31 Aug 1978: John Wrathall, Rhodesian accountant and politician, 2nd President of Rhodesia (born 1913) John James Wrathall, was a British-born Rhodesian politician. He was the last white President of Rhodesia. He formerly worked as a chartered accountant. Read more
31 Aug 1974: William Pershing Benedict, American soldier and pilot (born 1918) William Pershing Benedict was an American pilot who was born in Ruth, Nevada and raised in California. He was a highly decorated World War II fighter pilot who served in both the RCAF and the U.S. Army Air Forces. 18 months after joining the U.S. Army Air Forces, at 26 years of age, Benedict achieved the rank of Major and was made Squadron Commander. He is best known for being the first American man to land an aircraft on the North Pole. Read more
31 Aug 1974: Norman Kirk, New Zealand engineer and politician, 29th Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1923) Norman Eric Kirk was a New Zealand politician who served as the 29th prime minister of New Zealand and as well as the minister of Foreign
Affairs from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. He also served as the seventh leader of the Labour Party from 1965 to 1974. Read more
31 Aug 1973: John Ford, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1894) John Martin Feeney, better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and was one of the first American directors to be recognized as an auteur. In a career of more than 50 years, he directed over 130 films between 1917 and 1970, and received a record four Academy Awards for Best Director for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952). Read more
31 Aug 1969: Rocky Marciano, American boxer (born 1923) Rocco Francis Marchegiano, better known as Rocky Marciano, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955. He held the world heavyweight championship from 1952 to 1956, and remains the only heavyweight champion to finish his career undefeated. His six title defenses were against Jersey Joe Walcott, Roland La Starza, Ezzard Charles (twice), Don Cockell and Archie Moore. Read more
31 Aug 1968: John Hartle, English motorcycle racer (born 1933) John Hartle was an English professional road racer who competed in national, international and Grand Prix motorcycle events. Read more
31 Aug 1967: Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian journalist and author (born 1891) Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg was a Soviet writer, poet, revolutionary, journalist, translator, and cultural figure. Read more
31 Aug 1965: E. E. Smith, American engineer and author (born 1890) Edward Elmer Smith was an American food engineer and science-fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series. He is sometimes called the father of space opera. Read more
31 Aug 1963: Georges Braque, French painter and sculptor (born 1882) Georges Braque was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he played in the development of Cubism. Braque's work between 1908 and 1912 is closely associated with that of his colleague Pablo Picasso. Their respective Cubist works were indistinguishable for many years, yet the quiet nature of Braque was partially eclipsed by the fame and notoriety of Picasso. Read more
31 Aug 1954: Elsa Barker, American author and poet (born 1869) Elsa Barker (1869–1954) was an American novelist, short-story writer and poet. She became best known for Letters from a Living Dead Man (1914), War Letters from the Living Dead Man (1915), and Last Letters From the Living Dead Man (1919), books containing what she said were messages from a dead man produced through automatic writing. Read more
31 Aug 1952: Henri Bourassa, Canadian publisher and politician (born 1868) Joseph-Napoléon-Henri Bourassa was a French Canadian political leader and publisher. In 1899, Bourassa was outspoken against the British government's request for Canada to send a militia to fight for Britain in the Second Boer War. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier's compromise was to send a volunteer force, but the seeds were sown for future conscription protests during the World Wars of the next half-century. Bourassa unsuccessfully challenged the proposal to build warships to help protect the empire. He led the opposition to conscription during World War I and argued that Canada's interests were not at stake. He opposed Catholic bishops who defended military support of Britain and its allies. Bourassa was an ideological father of French-Canadian nationalism. Bourassa was also a defining force in forging French Canada's attitude to the Canadian Confederation of 1867. Read more
31 Aug 1951: Paul Demel, Czech actor (born 1903) Paul Demel was a Czech actor. Read more
31 Aug 1948: Andrei Zhdanov, Russian civil servant and politician (born 1896) Andrei Aleksandrovich Zhdanov was a Soviet politician. He was the Soviet Union's "propagandist-in-chief" after the Second World War, and was responsible for developing the Soviet cultural policy, the Zhdanov Doctrine, which remained in effect until the death of Joseph Stalin. Zhdanov was considered Stalin's most likely successor but died before him. Read more
31 Aug 1945: Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician (born 1892) Stefan Banach was a Polish mathematician who is generally considered one of the 20th century's most important and influential mathematicians. He was one of the founders of modern functional analysis, and an original member of the Lwów School of Mathematics. His major work was the 1932 book, Théorie des opérations linéaires, the first monograph on the general theory of functional analysis. Read more
31 Aug 1941: Thomas Bavin, New Zealand-Australian politician, 24th Premier of New South Wales (born 1874) Sir Thomas Rainsford Bavin, was an Australian lawyer and politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1927 to 1930. He was born in New Zealand and arrived in Australia at the age of 15, where he studied law and became a barrister. He served as personal secretary to Australia's first two prime ministers, Edmund Barton and Alfred Deakin. Bavin was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1917. He served two terms as Attorney General of New South Wales before leading the Nationalist Party to victory at the 1927 state election, in a coalition with the Country Party. His predecessor Jack Lang and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) defeated his government after a single term at the 1930 state election. Read more
31 Aug 1941: Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet and author (born 1892) Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva was a Russian poet. Her work is some of the best known in twentieth-century Russian literature. She lived through and wrote about the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent Moscow famine. Read more
31 Aug 1940: Georges Gauthier, Canadian archbishop (born 1871) Georges Gauthier was a French Canadian archbishop of Montreal and the first rector of the Université de Montréal. Read more
31 Aug 1940: DeLancey W. Gill, American painter (born 1859) DeLancey Walker Gill was an American drafter, landscape painter, and photographer. Gill first became noted for his landscape illustrations and watercolors, featuring subjects such as Native American pueblos in addition to his main focus on Washington, D.C. Characterized as detailed and meticulous in his landscapes, Gill captured views of working-class and rural areas of Washington not commonly depicted in art of the period. Despite his other work, he continued to paint throughout his life, and taught art classes at the Corcoran School. Read more
31 Aug 1937: Ruth Baldwin, British socialite (born 1905) Catherine Ruth Baldwin was an American-born English socialite, part of the Bright Young Things crowd. She was the first important lover of American heiress Joe Carstairs. Read more
31 Aug 1927: Andranik, Armenian general (born 1865) Andranik Ozanian, commonly known as General Andranik or simply Andranik, was an Armenian military commander and statesman, widely regarded as the preeminent fedayi and a seminal figure of the Armenian national liberation movement. Read more
31 Aug 1924: Todor Aleksandrov, Bulgarian soldier (born 1881) Todor Aleksandrov Poporushov, anglicised as Todor Alexandrov, was a Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary, Bulgarian army officer, and teacher. He initially favoured the annexation of Macedonia to Bulgaria, but later switched to the idea of an Independent Macedonia as a second Bulgarian state on the Balkans. Aleksandrov was a member of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organisation (IMARO) and later part of the Central Committee of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation (IMRO), as well as its leader. Read more
31 Aug 1920: Wilhelm Wundt, German physician, psychologist, and philosopher (born 1832) Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was a German physiologist, philosopher, professor, and one of the fathers of modern psychology. Wundt, who distinguished psychology as a science from philosophy and biology, was the first person to call himself a psychologist. Read more
31 Aug 1912: Jean, duc Decazes, French sailor (born 1864) Jean Élie Octave Louis Sévère Amanien Decazes de Glücksbierg, 3rd Duc Decazes and 3rd Duke of Glücksbierg, was a French aristocrat and sportsman. Read more
31 Aug 1910: Emīls Dārziņš, Latvian composer, conductor, and music critic (born 1875) Emīls Dārziņš was a Latvian composer, conductor and music critic. Dārziņš' work bears a distinct romantic character, with a strong trend towards national themes. His main musical authorities and influences were Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Jean Sibelius. Dārziņš musical contribution is mainly to vocal music, but he also composed orchestral music, though only one piece, Melanholiskais valsis has survived. His only opera, Rožainās dienas, remained unfinished after his early death at the age of 34. Read more
31 Aug 1908: Leslie Green, English architect (born 1875) Leslie William Green was an English architect. He is best known for his design of iconic stations constructed on the London Underground railway system in central London during the first decade of the 20th century, with distinctive oxblood red faïence blocks including pillars and semi-circular first-floor windows, and patterned tiled interiors done in the Modern Style. Read more
31 Aug 1884: Robert Torrens, Irish-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of South Australia (born 1814) Sir Robert Richard Torrens,, also known as Robert Richard Chute Torrens, was an Irish-born parliamentarian, writer, and land reformer. After a move to London in 1836, he became prominent in the early years of the Colony of South Australia, emigrating after being appointed to a civil service position there in 1840. He was Colonial Treasurer and Registrar-General from 1852 to 1857 and then the third Premier of South Australia for a single month in September 1857. Read more
31 Aug 1869: Mary Ward, Irish astronomer and entomologist (born 1827) Mary Ward was an Irish naturalist, astronomer, microscopist, author, and artist. She was killed when she fell under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her cousins. As the event occurred in 1869, she is the first person known to have been killed by a motor vehicle. Read more
31 Aug 1867: Charles Baudelaire, French poet and critic (born 1821) Charles-Pierre Baudelaire was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics, and are based on observations of real life. Read more
31 Aug 1864: Ferdinand Lassalle, Prussian-German jurist and philosopher (born 1825) Ferdinand Johann Gottlieb Lassalle was a German jurist, philosopher, and socialist activist. Best remembered as an initiator of the social democratic movement in Germany, in 1863 he founded the General German Workers' Association (ADAV), the first independent German workers' party. His political theories, a form of state socialism, are known as Lassalleanism. Read more
31 Aug 1858: Chief Oshkosh, Menominee chief (born 1795) Chief Oshkosh was a chief of the Menominee Native Americans, recognized as the leader of the Menominee people by the United States government from August 7, 1827, until his death. He was involved in treaty negotiations as the United States sought to acquire more of the Menominee tribe's land in Wisconsin and Michigan for both white settlers and relocated Oneida, Stockbridge, Munsee, and Brothertown Indians. The Menominee ceded over 10,000,000 acres (40,000 km2) of land to the United States. However, Oshkosh resisted U.S. government pressure for the tribe to relocate to northern Minnesota and played a key role in securing the 235,524-acre (953.13 km2) Menominee Indian Reservation as a permanent home for his people on their ancestral land. Read more
31 Aug 1818: Robert Calder, Scottish admiral (born 1745) Admiral of the White Sir Robert Calder, 1st Baronet, was a Royal Navy officer who served in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. For much of his career he was regarded as a dependable officer, and spent several years as Captain of the Fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis. However, he is chiefly remembered for his controversial actions following the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805 which resulted in his court-martial. Though he was removed from his sea command, he was retained in the Navy and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the base at Plymouth. Read more
31 Aug 1817: Sir John Duckworth, 1st Baronet, English admiral and politician, 39th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (born 1747) Admiral of the Blue Sir John Thomas Duckworth, 1st Baronet, GCB was a Royal Navy officer, colonial administrator and politician who served in the Seven Years' War, American War of Independence, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812. In addition to serving as the governor of Newfoundland, he was also a member of the British House of Commons during his semi-retirement. Duckworth, a vicar's son, achieved much in a naval career that began at the age of 11. Read more
31 Aug 1814: Arthur Phillip, English admiral and politician, 1st Governor of New South Wales (born 1738) Arthur Phillip was a Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Read more
31 Aug 1811: Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French admiral and explorer (born 1729) Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville was a French military officer and explorer. After having served in the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War, Bougainville later gained fame for his expeditions, including a circumnavigation of the globe in a scientific expedition in 1763, the first recorded settlement on the Falkland Islands, and voyages into the Pacific Ocean. Bougainville Island of Papua New Guinea as well as the flowering plant Bougainvillea are named in his honour. Read more

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