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International

August 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.
  • AD 69 – Batavian rebellion: The Batavians in Germania Inferior (Netherlands) revolt under the leadership of Gaius Julius Civilis.
  • 527 – Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.
  • 607 – Ono no Imoko is dispatched as envoy to the Sui court in China (Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607).
  • 902 – Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabids army, concluding the Muslim conquest of Sicily.
  • 1203 – Isaac II Angelos, restored Eastern Roman Emperor, declares his son Alexios IV Angelos co-emperor after pressure from the forces of the Fourth Crusade.
  • 1291 – The Old Swiss Confederacy is formed with the signature of the Federal Charter.
  • 1469 – Louis XI of France founds the chivalric order called the Order of Saint Michael in Amboise.
  • 1498 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit what is now Venezuela.
  • 1571 – The Ottoman conquest of Cyprus is concluded, by the surrender of Famagusta.
  • 1620 – Speedwell leaves Delfshaven to bring pilgrims to America by way of England.
  • 1664 – Ottoman forces are defeated in the battle of Saint Gotthard by an Austrian army led by Raimondo Montecuccoli, resulting in the Peace of Vasvár.
  • 1714 – George, Elector of Hanover, becomes King George I of Great Britain, marking the beginning of the Georgian era of British history.
  • 1759 – Seven Years’ War: The Battle of Minden, an allied Anglo-German army victory over the French. In Britain this was one of a number of events that constituted the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 and is celebrated as Minden Day by certain British Army regiments.
  • 1774 – British scientist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen gas, corroborating the prior discovery of this element by German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
  • 1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay): Battle begins when a British fleet engages the French Revolutionary Navy fleet in an unusual night action.
  • 1800 – The Acts of Union 1800 are passed which merge the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
  • 1801 – First Barbary War: The American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya.
  • 1834 – Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force, although it remains legal in the possessions of the East India Company until the passage of the Indian Slavery Act, 1843.
  • 1842 – The Lombard Street riot erupts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
  • 1849 – Joven Daniel wrecks at the coast of Araucanía, Chile, leading to allegations that local Mapuche tribes murdered survivors and kidnapped Elisa Bravo.
  • 1855 – The first ascent of Monte Rosa, the second highest summit in the Alps.
  • 1876 – Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.
  • 1893 – Henry Perky patents shredded wheat.
  • 1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War erupts between Japan and China over Korea.
  • 1907 – The start of the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island, the origin of the worldwide Scouting movement.
  • 1911 – Harriet Quimby takes her pilot’s test and becomes the first U.S. woman to earn an Aero Club of America aviator’s certificate.
  • 1914 – The German Empire declares war on the Russian Empire at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilizes because of World War I.
  • 1927 – The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party. This day is commemorated as the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.
  • 1933 – Anti-Fascist activists Bruno Tesch, Walter Möller, Karl Wolff, and August Lütgens are executed by the Nazi regime in Altona.
  • 1936 – The Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.
  • 1937 – Josip Broz Tito reads the resolution “Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH” to the constitutive congress of KPH (Croatian Communist Party) in woods near Samobor.
  • 1943 – World War II: Operation Tidal Wave also known as “Black Sunday”, was a failed American attempt to destroy Romanian oil fields.
  • 1944 – World War II: The Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi German occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.
  • 1946 – Leaders of the Russian Liberation Army, a force of Russian prisoners of war that collaborated with Nazi Germany, are executed in Moscow, Soviet Union for treason.
  • 1950 – Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth as President Harry S. Truman signs the Guam Organic Act.
  • 1957 – The United States and Canada form the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
  • 1960 – Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France.
  • 1960 – Islamabad is declared the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.
  • 1961 – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara orders the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the nation’s first centralized military espionage organization.
  • 1964 – The former Belgian Congo is renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • 1965 – Frank Herbert’s novel, Dune was published for the first time. It was named as the world’s best-selling science fiction novel in 2003.
  • 1966 – Charles Whitman kills 16 people at the University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police.
  • 1966 – Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
  • 1968 – The coronation is held of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei.
  • 1971 – The Concert for Bangladesh, organized by former Beatle George Harrison, is held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
  • 1974 – Cyprus dispute: The United Nations Security Council authorizes the UNFICYP to create the “Green Line”, dividing Cyprus into two zones.
  • 1980 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President of Iceland and becomes the world’s first democratically elected female head of state.
  • 1980 – A train crash kills 18 people in County Cork, Ireland.
  • 1981 – MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles.
  • 1984 – Commercial peat-cutters discover the preserved bog body of a man, called Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss, Cheshire, England.
  • 1988 – A British soldier was killed in the Inglis Barracks bombing in London, England.
  • 1993 – The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 comes to a peak.
  • 1998 – The establishment of Muslim Medics, one of the largest student-led societies in Imperial College London that provides both academic and wellbeing support to medical students of all backgrounds.
  • 2004 – A supermarket fire kills 396 people and injures 500 others in Asunción, Paraguay.
  • 2007 – The I-35W Mississippi River bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring 145.
  • 2008 – The Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway begins operation as the fastest commuter rail system in the world.
  • 2008 – Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering.
  • 2017 – A suicide attack on a mosque in Herat, Afghanistan kills 20 people.

Births on August 1

  • 10 BC – Claudius, Roman emperor (d. 54)
  • 126 – Pertinax, Roman emperor (d. 193)
  • 845 – Sugawara no Michizane, Japanese scholar and politician (d. 903)
  • 992 – Hyeonjong, Korean king (d. 1031)
  • 1068 – Taizu, Chinese emperor (d. 1123)
  • 1313 – Kōgon, Japanese emperor (d. 1364)
  • 1377 – Go-Komatsu, Japanese emperor (d. 1433)
  • 1385 – John FitzAlan, 13th Earl of Arundel (d. 1421)
  • 1410 – Jan IV, count of Nassau-Dillenburg (d. 1475)
  • 1492 – Wolfgang, German prince (d. 1566)
  • 1520 – Sigismund II, Polish king (d. 1572)
  • 1545 – Andrew Melville, Scottish theologian and scholar (d. 1622)
  • 1555 – Edward Kelley, English spirit medium (d. 1597)
  • 1579 – Luis Vélez de Guevara, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1644)
  • 1626 – Sabbatai Zevi, Montenegrin rabbi and theorist (d. 1676)
  • 1630 – Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1673)
  • 1659 – Sebastiano Ricci, Italian painter (d. 1734)
  • 1713 – Charles I, German duke and prince (d. 1780)
  • 1714 – Richard Wilson, Welsh painter and academic (d. 1782)
  • 1738 – Jacques François Dugommier, French general (d. 1794)
  • 1744 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French soldier, biologist, and academic (d. 1829)
  • 1770 – William Clark, American soldier, explorer, and politician, 4th Governor of Missouri Territory (d. 1838)
  • 1778 – Mary Jefferson Eppes, daughter of Thomas Jefferson who died in childbirth (d. 1804)
  • 1779 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer, author, and poet (d. 1843)
  • 1779 – Lorenz Oken, German-Swiss botanist, biologist, and ornithologist (d. 1851)
  • 1809 – William B. Travis, American colonel and lawyer (d. 1836)
  • 1815 – Richard Henry Dana, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1882)
  • 1818 – Maria Mitchell, American astronomer and academic (d. 1889)
  • 1819 – Herman Melville, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1891)
  • 1831 – Antonio Cotogni, Italian opera singer and educator (d. 1918)
  • 1843 – Robert Todd Lincoln, American lawyer and politician, 35th United States Secretary of War (d. 1926)
  • 1856 – George Coulthard, Australian footballer and cricketer (d. 1883)
  • 1858 – Gaston Doumergue, French lawyer and politician, 13th President of France (d. 1937)
  • 1858 – Hans Rott, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1884)
  • 1860 – Bazil Assan, Romanian engineer and explorer (d. 1918)
  • 1861 – Sammy Jones, Australian cricketer (d. 1951)
  • 1865 – Isobel Lilian Gloag, English painter (d. 1917)
  • 1871 – John Lester, American cricketer and soccer player (d. 1969)
  • 1877 – George Hackenschmidt, Estonian-English wrestler and strongman (d. 1968)
  • 1878 – Konstantinos Logothetopoulos, Greek physician and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1961)
  • 1881 – Otto Toeplitz, German mathematician and academic (d. 1940)
  • 1885 – George de Hevesy, Hungarian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
  • 1889 – Walter Gerlach, German physicist and academic (d. 1979)
  • 1891 – Karl Kobelt, Swiss lawyer and politician, 52nd President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1968)
  • 1893 – Alexander of Greece (d. 1920)
  • 1894 – Ottavio Bottecchia, Italian cyclist (d. 1927)
  • 1898 – Morris Stoloff, American composer and musical director (d. 1980)
  • 1899 – Raymond Mays, English race car driver and businessman (d. 1980)
  • 1900 – Otto Nothling, Australian cricketer and rugby player (d. 1965)
  • 1901 – Francisco Guilledo, Filipino boxer (d. 1925)
  • 1903 – Paul Horgan, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1995)
  • 1905 – Helen Sawyer Hogg, American-Canadian astronomer and academic (d. 1993)
  • 1907 – Eric Shipton, Sri Lankan-English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1977)
  • 1910 – James Henry Govier, English painter and illustrator (d. 1974)
  • 1910 – Walter Scharf, American pianist and composer (d. 2003)
  • 1910 – Gerda Taro, German war photographer (d. 1937)
  • 1911 – Jackie Ormes, American journalist and cartoonist (d. 1985)
  • 1912 – David Brand, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1979)
  • 1912 – Gego, German-Venezuelan sculptor and academic (d. 1994)
  • 1912 – Henry Jones, American actor (d. 1999)
  • 1914 – Jack Delano, American photographer and composer (d. 1997)
  • 1914 – Alan Moore, Australian painter and educator (d. 2015)
  • 1914 – J. Lee Thompson, English-Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
  • 1916 – Fiorenzo Angelini, Italian cardinal (d. 2014)
  • 1916 – Anne Hébert, Canadian author and poet (d. 2000)
  • 1918 – T. J. Jemison, American minister and activist (d. 2013)
  • 1919 – Stanley Middleton, English author (d. 2009)
  • 1920 – Raul Renter, Estonian economist and chess player (d. 1992)
  • 1921 – Jack Kramer, American tennis player, sailor, and sportscaster (d. 2009)
  • 1921 – Pat McDonald, Australian actress (d. 1990)
  • 1922 – Arthur Hill, Canadian-American actor (d. 2006)
  • 1923 – Val Bettin, American actor
  • 1924 – Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (d. 2015)
  • 1924 – Frank Havens, American canoeist (d. 2018)
  • 1924 – Marcia Mae Jones, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
  • 1924 – Frank Worrell, Barbadian cricketer (d. 1967)
  • 1925 – Ernst Jandl, Austrian poet and author (d. 2000)
  • 1926 – George Hauptfuhrer, American basketball player and lawyer (d. 2013)
  • 1926 – Hannah Hauxwell, English TV personality (d. 2018)
  • 1927 – María Teresa López Boegeholz, Chilean oceanographer (d. 2006)
  • 1927 – Anthony G. Bosco, American bishop (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Jack Shea, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – Hafizullah Amin, Afghan educator and politician, Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1979)
  • 1929 – Ann Calvello, American roller derby racer (d. 2006)
  • 1929 – Leila Abashidze, Georgian actress (d. 2018)
  • 1930 – Lionel Bart, English composer (d. 1999)
  • 1930 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher (d. 2002)
  • 1930 – Julie Bovasso, American actress and writer (d. 1991)
  • 1930 – Lawrence Eagleburger, American lieutenant and politician, 62nd United States Secretary of State (d. 2011)
  • 1930 – Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician, 51st Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1996)
  • 1930 – Geoffrey Holder, Trinidadian-American actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2014)
  • 1931 – Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1931 – Trevor Goddard, South African cricketer (d. 2016)
  • 1932 – Meir Kahane, American-Israeli rabbi and activist, founded the Jewish Defense League (d. 1990)
  • 1932 – Meena Kumari, Indian actress (d. 1972)
  • 1933 – Dom DeLuise, American actor, singer, director, and producer (d. 2009)
  • 1933 – Masaichi Kaneda, Japanese baseball player and manager (d. 2019)
  • 1933 – Teri Shields, American actress, producer, and agent (d. 2012)
  • 1933 – Dušan Třeštík, Czech historian and author (d. 2007)
  • 1934 – John Beck, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2000)
  • 1934 – Derek Birdsall, English graphic designer
  • 1935 – Geoff Pullar, English cricketer (d. 2014)
  • 1936 – W. D. Hamilton, Egyptian born British biologist, psychologist, and academic (d. 2000)
  • 1936 – Yves Saint Laurent, Algerian-French fashion designer, co-founded Yves Saint Laurent (d. 2008)
  • 1936 – Laurie Taylor, English sociologist, radio host, and academic
  • 1937 – Al D’Amato, American lawyer and politician
  • 1939 – Bob Frankford, English-Canadian physician and politician (d. 2015)
  • 1939 – Terry Kiser, American actor
  • 1939 – Stephen Sykes, English bishop and theologian (d. 2014)
  • 1939 – Robert James Waller, American author and photographer (d. 2017)
  • 1940 – Mervyn Kitchen, English cricketer and umpire
  • 1940 – Henry Silverman, American businessman, founded Cendant
  • 1940 – Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, Iranian writer and actor
  • 1941 – Ron Brown, American captain and politician, 30th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1996)
  • 1941 – Étienne Roda-Gil, French songwriter and screenwriter (d. 2004)
  • 1942 – Jerry Garcia, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1995)
  • 1942 – Giancarlo Giannini, Italian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1944 – Dmitry Nikolayevich Filippov, Russian banker and politician (d. 1998)
  • 1945 – Douglas Osheroff, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1946 – Boz Burrell, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and guitarist (d. 2006)
  • 1946 – Rick Coonce, American drummer (d. 2011)
  • 1946 – Richard O. Covey, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1946 – Fiona Stanley, Australian epidemiologist and academic
  • 1947 – Lorna Goodison, Jamaican poet and author
  • 1947 – Chantal Montellier, French comics creator and artist
  • 1948 – Avi Arad, Israeli-American screenwriter and producer, founded Marvel Studios
  • 1948 – Cliff Branch, American football player
  • 1948 – David Gemmell, English journalist and author (d. 2006)
  • 1949 – Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Kyrgyzstani politician, 2nd President of Kyrgyzstan
  • 1949 – Jim Carroll, American poet, author, and musician (d. 2009)
  • 1949 – Ray Nettles, American football player (d. 2009)
  • 1950 – Roy Williams, American basketball player and coach
  • 1951 – Tim Bachman, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1951 – Tommy Bolin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
  • 1951 – Pete Mackanin, American baseball player, coach, and manager
  • 1952 – Zoran Đinđić, Serbian philosopher and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 2003)
  • 1953 – Robert Cray, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1953 – Howard Kurtz, American journalist and author
  • 1954 – Trevor Berbick, Jamaican-Canadian boxer (d. 2006)
  • 1954 – James Gleick, American journalist and author
  • 1954 – Benno Möhlmann, German footballer and manager
  • 1957 – Taylor Negron, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1958 – Rob Buck, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2000)
  • 1958 – Michael Penn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1958 – Kiki Vandeweghe, American basketball player and coach
  • 1959 – Joe Elliott, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1960 – Chuck D, American rapper and songwriter
  • 1960 – Suzi Gardner, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1962 – Jacob Matlala, South African boxer (d. 2013)
  • 1963 – Demián Bichir, Mexican-American actor and producer
  • 1963 – Coolio, American rapper, producer, and actor
  • 1963 – John Carroll Lynch, American actor
  • 1963 – Koichi Wakata, Japanese astronaut and engineer
  • 1963 – Dean Wareham, New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1964 – Adam Duritz, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1964 – Fiona Hyslop, Scottish businesswoman and politician
  • 1964 – Augusta Read Thomas, American composer, conductor and educator
  • 1965 – Brandt Jobe, American golfer
  • 1965 – Sam Mendes, English director and producer
  • 1966 – James St. James, American club promoter and author
  • 1967 – Gregg Jefferies, American baseball player and coach
  • 1967 – José Padilha, Brazilian director, producer and screenwriter
  • 1968 – Stacey Augmon, American basketball player and coach
  • 1968 – Dan Donegan, American heavy metal guitarist and songwriter
  • 1968 – Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Japanese baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1969 – Andrei Borissov, Estonian footballer and manager
  • 1969 – Kevin Jarvis, American baseball player and scout
  • 1969 – Graham Thorpe, English cricketer and journalist
  • 1970 – Quentin Coryatt, American football player
  • 1970 – David James, English footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Eugenie van Leeuwen, Dutch cricketer
  • 1972 – Nicke Andersson, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1972 – Christer Basma, Norwegian footballer and coach
  • 1972 – Todd Bouman, American football player and coach
  • 1972 – Thomas Woods, American historian, economist, and academic
  • 1973 – Gregg Berhalter, American soccer player and coach
  • 1973 – Veerle Dejaeghere, Belgian runner
  • 1973 – Edurne Pasaban, Spanish mountaineer
  • 1974 – Cher Calvin, American journalist
  • 1974 – Marek Galiński, Polish cyclist (d. 2014)
  • 1974 – Tyron Henderson, South African cricketer
  • 1974 – Dennis Lawrence, Trinidadian footballer and coach
  • 1974 – Beckie Scott, Canadian skier
  • 1975 – Vhrsti, Czech author and illustrator
  • 1976 – Don Hertzfeldt, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor
  • 1976 – Søren Jochumsen, Danish footballer
  • 1976 – Nwankwo Kanu, Nigerian footballer
  • 1976 – David Nemirovsky, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1976 – Hasan Şaş, Turkish footballer and manager
  • 1976 – Cristian Stoica, Romanian-Italian rugby player
  • 1977 – Marc Denis, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
  • 1977 – Haspop, French-Moroccan dancer, choreographer, and actor
  • 1977 – Darnerien McCants, American-Canadian football player
  • 1977 – Damien Saez, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1977 – Yoshi Tatsu, Japanese wrestler and boxer
  • 1978 – Andy Blignaut, Zimbabwean cricketer
  • 1978 – Björn Ferry, Swedish biathlete
  • 1978 – Dhani Harrison, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1978 – Chris Iwelumo, Scottish footballer
  • 1978 – Edgerrin James, American football player
  • 1979 – Junior Agogo, Ghanaian footballer
  • 1979 – Nathan Fien, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1979 – Jason Momoa, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1980 – Mancini, Brazilian footballer
  • 1980 – Romain Barras, French decathlete
  • 1980 – Esteban Paredes, Chilean footballer
  • 1981 – Dean Cox, Australian footballer
  • 1981 – Pia Haraldsen, Norwegian journalist and author
  • 1981 – Christofer Heimeroth, German footballer
  • 1981 – Stephen Hunt, Irish footballer
  • 1981 – Jamie Jones-Buchanan, English rugby player
  • 1982 – Basem Fathi, Jordanian footballer
  • 1982 – Montserrat Lombard, English actress, director, and screenwriter
  • 1983 – Bobby Carpenter, American football player
  • 1983 – Craig Clarke, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1983 – Julien Faubert, French footballer
  • 1983 – David Gervasi, Swiss decathlete
  • 1984 – Steve Feak, American game designer
  • 1984 – Francesco Gavazzi, Italian cyclist
  • 1984 – Brandon Kintzler, American baseball player
  • 1984 – Bastian Schweinsteiger, German footballer
  • 1985 – Stuart Holden, Scottish-American soccer player
  • 1985 – Adam Jones, American baseball player
  • 1985 – Cole Kimball, American baseball player
  • 1985 – Tendai Mtawarira, South African rugby player
  • 1985 – Kris Stadsgaard, Danish footballer
  • 1985 – Dušan Švento, Slovak footballer
  • 1986 – Damien Allen, English footballer
  • 1986 – Anton Strålman, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1986 – Andrew Taylor, English footballer
  • 1986 – Elena Vesnina, Russian tennis player
  • 1986 – Mike Wallace, American football player
  • 1987 – Iago Aspas, Spanish footballer
  • 1987 – Karen Carney, English women’s football winger
  • 1987 – Sébastien Pocognoli, Belgian footballer
  • 1987 – Lee Wallace, Scottish footballer
  • 1988 – Mustafa Abdellaoue, Norwegian footballer
  • 1988 – Patryk Małecki, Polish footballer
  • 1988 – Bodene Thompson, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1989 – Madison Bumgarner, American baseball player
  • 1989 – Tiffany Hwang, Korean American singer, songwriter, and actress
  • 1990 – Aledmys Díaz, Cuban baseball player
  • 1990 – Jean Hugues Gregoire, Mauritian swimmer
  • 1990 – Elton Jantjies, South African rugby player
  • 1991 – Piotr Malarczyk, Polish footballer
  • 1991 – Marco Puntoriere, Italian footballer
  • 1992 – Austin Rivers, American basketball player
  • 1992 – Mrunal Thakur, Indian actress
  • 1993 – Álex Abrines, Spanish basketball player
  • 1993 – Leon Thomas III, American actor and singer
  • 1994 – Sergeal Petersen, South African rugby player
  • 1994 – Ayaka Wada, Japanese singer
  • 1996 – Katie Boulter, English tennis player
  • 2001 – Park Si-eun, South Korean actress

Deaths on August 1

  • 30 BC – Mark Antony, Roman general and politician (b. 83 BC)
  • 371 – Eusebius of Vercelli, Italian bishop and saint (b. 283)
  • 527 – Justin I, Byzantine emperor (b. 450)
  • 873 – Thachulf, duke of Thuringia
  • 946 – Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah, Abbasid vizier (b. 859)
  • 946 – Lady Xu Xinyue, Chinese queen (b. 902)
  • 953 – Yingtian, Chinese Khitan empress (b. 879)
  • 984 – Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester
  • 1098 – Adhemar of Le Puy, French papal legate
  • 1137 – Louis VI, king of France (b. 1081)
  • 1146 – Vsevolod II of Kiev, Russian prince
  • 1227 – Shimazu Tadahisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1179)
  • 1252 – Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, Italian archbishop and explorer (b. 1180)
  • 1299 – Conrad de Lichtenberg, Bishop of Strasbourg (b. 1240)
  • 1402 – Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1341)
  • 1457 – Lorenzo Valla, Italian author and educator (b. 1406)
  • 1464 – Cosimo de’ Medici, Italian ruler (b. 1386)
  • 1494 – Giovanni Santi, artist and father of Raphael (b. c. 1435)
  • 1541 – Simon Grynaeus, German theologian and scholar (b. 1493)
  • 1543 – Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1488)
  • 1546 – Peter Faber, French Jesuit theologian (b. 1506)
  • 1557 – Olaus Magnus, Swedish archbishop, historian, and cartographer (b. 1490)
  • 1580 – Albrecht Giese, Polish-German politician and diplomat (b. 1524)
  • 1589 – Jacques Clément, French assassin of Henry III of France (b. 1567)
  • 1603 – Matthew Browne, English politician (b. 1563)
  • 1714 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain (b. 1665)
  • 1787 – Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori, Italian bishop and saint (b. 1696)
  • 1795 – Clas Bjerkander, Swedish meteorologist, botanist, and entomologist (b. 1735)
  • 1796 – Sir Robert Pigot, 2nd Baronet, English colonel and politician (b. 1720)
  • 1798 – François-Paul Brueys d’Aigalliers, French admiral (b. 1753)
  • 1807 – John Boorman, English cricketer (b. c. 1754)
  • 1807 – John Walker, English actor, philologist, and lexicographer (b. 1732)
  • 1808 – Lady Diana Beauclerk, English painter and illustrator (b. 1734)
  • 1812 – Yakov Kulnev, Russian general (b. 1763)
  • 1851 – William Joseph Behr, German publicist and academic (b. 1775)
  • 1863 – Jind Kaur Majarani (Regent) of the Sikh Empire (b. 1817)
  • 1866 – John Ross, American tribal chief (b. 1790)
  • 1869 – Peter Julian Eymard, French Priest and Founder Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament (b. 1811)
  • 1869 – Richard Dry, Australian politician, 7th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1815)
  • 1903 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman and scout (b. 1853)
  • 1911 – Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter and illustrator (b. 1852)
  • 1911 – Samuel Arza Davenport, American lawyer and politician (b. 1843)
  • 1918 – John Riley Banister, American cowboy and police officer (b. 1854)
  • 1920 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian lawyer and journalist (b. 1856)
  • 1921 – T.J. Ryan, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Queensland (b. 1876)
  • 1922 – Donát Bánki, Hungarian engineer (b. 1856)
  • 1929 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer (b. 1870)
  • 1938 – Edmund C. Tarbell, American painter and academic (b. 1862)
  • 1943 – Lydia Litvyak, Russian lieutenant and pilot (b. 1921)
  • 1944 – Manuel L. Quezon, Filipino soldier, lawyer, and politician, 2nd President of the Philippines (b. 1878)
  • 1959 – Jean Behra, French race car driver (b. 1921)
  • 1963 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (b. 1908)
  • 1966 – Charles Whitman, American murderer (b. 1941)
  • 1967 – Richard Kuhn, Austrian-German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1900)
  • 1970 – Frances Farmer, American actress (b. 1913)
  • 1970 – Doris Fleeson, American journalist (b. 1901)
  • 1970 – Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
  • 1973 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer and educator (b. 1882)
  • 1973 – Walter Ulbricht, German soldier and politician (b. 1893)
  • 1974 – Ildebrando Antoniutti, Italian cardinal (b. 1898)
  • 1977 – Francis Gary Powers, American captain and pilot (b. 1929)
  • 1980 – Patrick Depailler, French race car driver (b. 1944)
  • 1980 – Strother Martin, American actor (b. 1919)
  • 1981 – Paddy Chayefsky, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
  • 1982 – T. Thirunavukarasu, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (b. 1933)
  • 1989 – John Ogdon, English pianist and composer (b. 1937)
  • 1990 – Norbert Elias, German-Dutch sociologist, author, and academic (b. 1897)
  • 1996 – Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
  • 1996 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian physician and surgeon (b. 1929)
  • 1998 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian-British actress (b. 1927)
  • 2001 – Korey Stringer, American football player (b. 1974)
  • 2003 – Guy Thys, Belgian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1922)
  • 2003 – Marie Trintignant, French actress and screenwriter (b. 1962)
  • 2004 – Philip Abelson, American physicist and author (b. 1913)
  • 2005 – Al Aronowitz, American journalist (b. 1928)
  • 2005 – Wim Boost, Dutch cartoonist and educator (b. 1918)
  • 2005 – Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter and sculptor (b. 1920)
  • 2005 – Fahd of Saudi Arabia (b. 1923)
  • 2006 – Bob Thaves, American illustrator (b. 1924)
  • 2006 – Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and activist (b. 1949)
  • 2007 – Tommy Makem, Irish singer-songwriter and banjo player (b. 1932)
  • 2008 – Gertan Klauber, Czech-English actor (b. 1932)
  • 2008 – Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1916)
  • 2009 – Corazon Aquino, Filipino politician, 11th President of the Philippines (b. 1933)
  • 2010 – Lolita Lebrón, Puerto Rican-American activist (b. 1919)
  • 2010 – Eric Tindill, New Zealand rugby player and cricketer (b. 1910)
  • 2012 – Aldo Maldera, Italian footballer and agent (b. 1953)
  • 2012 – Douglas Townsend, American composer and musicologist (b. 1921)
  • 2012 – Barry Trapnell, English cricketer and academic (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – John Amis, English journalist and critic (b. 1922)
  • 2013 – Gail Kobe, American actress and producer (b. 1932)
  • 2013 – Babe Martin, American baseball player (b. 1920)
  • 2013 – Toby Saks, American cellist and educator (b. 1942)
  • 2013 – Wilford White, American football player (b. 1928)
  • 2014 – Valyantsin Byalkevich, Belarusian footballer and manager (b. 1973)
  • 2014 – Jan Roar Leikvoll, Norwegian author (b. 1974)
  • 2014 – Charles T. Payne, American soldier (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – Mike Smith, English radio and television host (b. 1955)
  • 2015 – Stephan Beckenbauer, German footballer and manager (b. 1968)
  • 2015 – Cilla Black, English singer and actress (b. 1943)
  • 2015 – Bernard d’Espagnat, French physicist, philosopher, and author (b. 1921)
  • 2015 – Bob Frankford, English-Canadian physician and politician (b. 1939)
  • 2015 – Hong Yuanshuo, Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1948)
  • 2016 – Queen Anne of Romania (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances on August 1

  • Armed Forces Day (Lebanon)
  • Armed Forces Day (China) or Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Liberation Army (People’s Republic of China)
  • Azerbaijani Language and Alphabet Day (Azerbaijan)
  • Celebration of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 which ended the slavery in the British Empire, generally celebrated as a part of Carnival, as the Caribbean Carnival takes place at this time (British West Indies):
    • Earliest day on which Caribana celebration can fall, celebrated on the first Weekend of August. (Toronto)
    • Earliest day on which Emancipation Day can fall, celebrated on the first Monday of August. (Anguilla, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands)
    • Emancipation Day (Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Abgar V of Edessa (Syrian Church)
    • Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori
    • Æthelwold of Winchester
    • Bernard Võ Văn Duệ (one of Vietnamese Martyrs)
    • Blessed Gerhard Hirschfelder
    • Eusebius of Vercelli
    • Exuperius of Bayeux
    • Felix of Girona
    • Peter Apostle in Chains
    • Procession of the Cross and the beginning of Dormition Fast (Eastern Orthodoxy)
    • The Holy Maccabees
    • August 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which August Bank Holiday (Ireland) can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August.
  • Earliest day on which Civic Holiday can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August. (Canada)
  • Earliest day on which Commerce Day, or Frídagur verslunarmanna, can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August. (Iceland)
  • Earliest day on which Constitution Day (Cook Islands) can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August.
  • Earliest day on which Farmers’ Day can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August. (Zambia)
  • Earliest day on which International Beer Day can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Friday of August.
  • Earliest day on which Friendship Day can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday of August. (United States)
  • Earliest day on which Kadooment Day can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August (Barbados)
  • Earliest day on which Labor Day (Samoa) can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August (Samoa)
  • Minden Day (United Kingdom)
  • National Day, celebrates the independence of Benin from France in 1960.
  • National Day, commemorates Switzerland becoming a single unit in 1291.
  • Official Birthday and Coronation Day of the King of Tonga (Tonga)
  • Parents’ Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
  • Statehood Day (Colorado)
  • Swiss National Day (Switzerland)
  • The beginning of autumn observances in the Northern hemisphere and spring observances in the Southern hemisphere (Neopagan Wheel of the Year):
    • Lughnasadh in the Northern hemisphere, Imbolc in the Southern hemisphere; traditionally begins on the eve of August 1. (Gaels, Ireland, Scotland, Neopagans)
    • Lammas (England, Scotland, Neopagans)
    • Pachamama Raymi (Quechuan in Ecuador and Peru)
  • The first day of Carnaval del Pueblo (Burgess Park, London, England)
  • Victory Day (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam)
  • World Scout Scarf Day
  • Yorkshire Day (Yorkshire, England)

August 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

July 31 – History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 30 BC – Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian’s forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide.
  • 781 – The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: 6th day of the 7th month of the 1st year of the Ten’o (天応) era).
  • 1009 – Pope Sergius IV becomes the 142nd pope, succeeding Pope John XVIII.
  • 1201 – Attempted usurpation by John Komnenos the Fat for the throne of Alexios III Angelos.
  • 1423 – Hundred Years’ War: Battle of Cravant: The French army is defeated by the English at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.
  • 1451 – Jacques Cœur is arrested by order of Charles VII of France.
  • 1492 – The Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect.
  • 1498 – On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.
  • 1588 – The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.
  • 1618 – Maurice, Prince of Orange disbands the waardgelders militia in Utrecht, a pivotal event in the Remonstrant/Counter-Remonstrant tensions.
  • 1655 – Russo-Polish War (1654–67): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for six years.
  • 1658 – Aurangzeb is proclaimed Mughal emperor of India.
  • 1703 – Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
  • 1712 – Action of 31 July 1712 (Great Northern War): Danish and Swedish ships clash in the Baltic Sea; the result is inconclusive.
  • 1715 – Seven days after a Spanish treasure fleet of 12 ships left Havana, Cuba for Spain, 11 of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida. A few centuries later, treasure is salvaged from these wrecks.
  • 1741 – Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and Bohemia.
  • 1763 – Odawa Chief Pontiac’s forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac’s War.
  • 1777 – The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette “be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States.”
  • 1790 – The first U.S. patent is issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
  • 1856 – Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.
  • 1865 – The first narrow-gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Queensland, Australia.
  • 1874 – Dr. Patrick Francis Healy became the first African-American inaugurated as president of a predominantly white university, Georgetown University.
  • 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Hsimucheng: Units of the Imperial Japanese Army defeat units of the Imperial Russian Army in a strategic confrontation.
  • 1913 – The Balkan States sign an armistice in Bucharest.
  • 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Passchendaele begins near Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium.
  • 1919 – German national assembly adopts the Weimar Constitution, which comes into force on August 14.
  • 1932 – The NSDAP (Nazi Party) wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.
  • 1938 – Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact with Greece and other states of Balkan Antanti (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia).
  • 1938 – Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis.
  • 1941 – The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to “submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question.”
  • 1941 – World War II: The Battle of Smolensk concludes with Germany capturing about 300,000 Soviet Red Army prisoners.
  • 1945 – Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.
  • 1948 – At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.
  • 1948 – USS Nevada is sunk by an aerial torpedo after surviving hits from two atomic bombs (as part of post-war tests) and being used for target practice by three other ships.
  • 1964 – Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes.
  • 1970 – Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
  • 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
  • 1972 – The Troubles: In Operation Motorman, the British Army re-takes the urban no-go areas of Northern Ireland. It is the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the biggest in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence. Later that day, nine civilians are killed by car bombs in the village of Claudy.
  • 1973 – A Delta Air Lines jetliner, flight DL 723 crashes while landing in fog at Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89.
  • 1975 – The Troubles: three members of a popular cabaret band and two gunmen are killed during a botched paramilitary attack in Northern Ireland.
  • 1987 – A tornado occurs in Edmonton, Canada.
  • 1988 – Thirty-two people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia.
  • 1991 – The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries’ stockpiles.
  • 1992 – The nation of Georgia joins the United Nations.
  • 1992 – Thai Airways International Flight 311 crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal killing all 113 people on board.
  • 1999 – Discovery Program: Lunar Prospector: NASA intentionally crashes the spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the Moon’s surface.
  • 2006 – Fidel Castro hands over power to his brother, Raúl.
  • 2007 – Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.
  • 2012 – Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina for the most medals won at the Olympics.
  • 2014 – Gas explosions in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung kill at least 20 people and injure more than 270.

Births on July 31

  • 1143 – Emperor Nijō of Japan (d. 1165)
  • 1396 – Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1467)
  • 1526 – Augustus, Elector of Saxony (d. 1586)
  • 1527 – Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1576)
  • 1595 – Philipp Wolfgang, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1641)
  • 1598 – Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor (d. 1654)
  • 1686 – Charles of France, Duke of Berry (d. 1714)
  • 1702 – Jean Denis Attiret, French missionary and painter (d. 1768)
  • 1704 – Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1752)
  • 1718 – John Canton, English physicist and academic (d. 1772)
  • 1724 – Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer and author (d. 1801)
  • 1759 – Ignaz Anton von Indermauer, Austrian nobleman and government official (d. 1796)
  • 1777 – Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentinian priest and politician (d. 1849)
  • 1796 – Jean-Gaspard Deburau, Czech-French actor and mime (d. 1846)
  • 1800 – Friedrich Wöhler, German chemist and academic (d. 1882)
  • 1803 – John Ericsson, Swedish-American engineer, co-designed the USS Princeton and the Novelty Locomotive (d. 1889)
  • 1816 – George Henry Thomas, American general (d. 1870)
  • 1826 – William S. Clark, American colonel and politician (d. 1886)
  • 1835 – Henri Brisson, French lawyer and politician, 50th Prime Minister of France (d. 1912)
  • 1835 – Paul Du Chaillu, French-American anthropologist and explorer (d. 1903)
  • 1836 – Vasily Sleptsov, Russian author and activist (d. 1878)
  • 1837 – William Quantrill, American captain (d. 1865)
  • 1839 – Ignacio Andrade, Venezuelan general and politician, 25th President of Venezuela (d. 1925)
  • 1843 – Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet and author (d. 1918)
  • 1847 – Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (d. 1905)
  • 1854 – José Canalejas, Spanish academic and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1912)
  • 1858 – Richard Dixon Oldham, English seismologist and geologist (d. 1936)
  • 1858 – Marion Talbot, influential American educator (d. 1948)
  • 1860 – Mary Vaux Walcott, American painter and illustrator (d. 1940)
  • 1867 – S. S. Kresge, American businessman, founded Kmart (d. 1966)
  • 1875 – Jacques Villon, French painter (d. 1963)
  • 1877 – Louisa Bolus, South African botanist and taxonomist (d. 1970)
  • 1880 – Premchand, Indian author and playwright (d. 1936)
  • 1883 – Ramón Fonst, Cuban fencer (d. 1959)
  • 1884 – Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, Polish-German economist and politician (d. 1945)
  • 1886 – Salvatore Maranzano, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1931)
  • 1886 – Fred Quimby, American animation producer (d. 1965)
  • 1887 – Hans Freyer, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1969)
  • 1892 – Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist and publisher, founded Worldwide Church of God (d. 1986)
  • 1892 – Joseph Charbonneau, Canadian archbishop (d. 1959)
  • 1894 – Fred Keenor, Welsh footballer (d. 1972)
  • 1901 – Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (d. 1985)
  • 1902 – Gubby Allen, Australian-English cricketer and soldier (d. 1989)
  • 1904 – Brett Halliday, American engineer, surveyor, and author (d. 1977)
  • 1909 – Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Austrian theorist and author (d. 1999)
  • 1911 – George Liberace, American violinist (d. 1983)
  • 1912 – Bill Brown, Australian cricketer (d. 2008)
  • 1912 – Milton Friedman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)
  • 1912 – Irv Kupcinet, American football player and journalist (d. 2003)
  • 1913 – Bryan Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1984)
  • 1914 – Paul J. Christiansen, American conductor and composer (d. 1997)
  • 1914 – Louis de Funès, French actor and screenwriter (d. 1983)
  • 1916 – Sibte Hassan, Pakistani journalist, scholar, and activist (d. 1986)
  • 1916 – Billy Hitchcock, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2006)
  • 1916 – Bill Todman, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1979)
  • 1918 – Paul D. Boyer, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
  • 1918 – Hank Jones, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2010)
  • 1918 – Frank Renouf, New Zealand businessman and financier (d. 1998)
  • 1919 – Hemu Adhikari, Indian cricketer (d. 2003)
  • 1919 – Curt Gowdy, American sportscaster and actor (d. 2006)
  • 1919 – Primo Levi, Italian chemist and author (d. 1987)
  • 1920 – James E. Faust, American religious leader, lawyer, and politician (d. 2007)
  • 1921 – Peter Benenson, English lawyer and activist, founded Amnesty International (d. 2005)
  • 1921 – Donald Malarkey, American sergeant and author (d. 2017)
  • 1921 – Whitney Young, American activist (d. 1971)
  • 1922 – Hank Bauer, American baseball player and manager (d. 2007)
  • 1923 – Ahmet Ertegun, Turkish-American songwriter and producer, founded Atlantic Records (d. 2006)
  • 1923 – Stephanie Kwolek, American chemist and engineer, invented Kevlar (d. 2014)
  • 1924 – Jimmy Evert, American tennis player and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1925 – Carmel Quinn, Irish singer, actress and writer
  • 1925 – John Swainson, Canadian-American jurist and politician, 42nd Governor of Michigan (d. 1994)
  • 1926 – Bernard Nathanson, American physician and activist (d. 2011)
  • 1926 – Hilary Putnam, American mathematician, computer scientist, and philosopher (d. 2016)
  • 1927 – Peter Nichols, English author and playwright (d. 2019)
  • 1928 – Bill Frenzel, American lieutenant and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – Lynne Reid Banks, English author
  • 1929 – Gilles Carle, Canadian director and screenwriter (d. 2009)
  • 1929 – Don Murray, American actor
  • 1929 – José Santamaría, Uruguayan footballer and manager
  • 1931 – Nick Bollettieri, American tennis player and coach
  • 1931 – Kenny Burrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1932 – Ted Cassidy, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1979)
  • 1932 – John Searle, American philosopher and academic
  • 1933 – Cees Nooteboom, Dutch journalist, author, and poet
  • 1935 – Yvon Deschamps, Canadian comedian, actor, and producer
  • 1935 – Geoffrey Lewis, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1939 – Steuart Bedford, English pianist and conductor
  • 1939 – Susan Flannery, American actress
  • 1939 – France Nuyen, Vietnamese-French actress
  • 1941 – Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician, 8th Chief Minister of Gujarat (d. 2004)
  • 1943 – William Bennett, American journalist and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Education
  • 1943 – Lobo, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1944 – Geraldine Chaplin, American actress and screenwriter
  • 1944 – Jonathan Dimbleby, English journalist and author
  • 1944 – Sherry Lansing, American film producer
  • 1944 – Robert C. Merton, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1944 – David Norris, Irish scholar and politician
  • 1945 – William Weld, American lawyer and politician, 68th Governor of Massachusetts
  • 1946 – Gary Lewis, American pop-rock musician
  • 1947 – Karl Green, English bass player and songwriter (Herman’s Hermits)
  • 1947 – Richard Griffiths, English actor (d. 2013)
  • 1947 – Mumtaz, Indian actress
  • 1947 – Hubert Védrine, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1947 – Ian Beck, English children’s illustrator and author
  • 1948 – Russell Morris, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1949 – Mike Jackson, American basketball player
  • 1949 – Alan Meale, English journalist and politician
  • 1950 – Richard Berry, French actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1951 – Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Australian tennis player
  • 1952 – Chris Ahrens, American ice hockey player
  • 1952 – Alan Autry, American football player, actor, and politician, 23rd Mayor of Fresno, California
  • 1952 – Helmuts Balderis, Latvian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1952 – João Barreiros, Portuguese author and critic
  • 1952 – Faye Kellerman, American author
  • 1953 – Ted Baillieu, Australian architect and politician, 46th Premier of Victoria
  • 1953 – Jimmy Cook, South African cricketer and coach
  • 1953 – Hugh McDowell, English cellist
  • 1954 – Derek Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1956 – Michael Biehn, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1956 – Bill Callahan, American football player and coach
  • 1956 – Ron Kuby, American lawyer and radio host
  • 1956 – Deval Patrick, American lawyer and politician, 71st Governor of Massachusetts
  • 1956 – Lynne Rae Perkins, American author and illustrator
  • 1957 – Daniel Ash, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1957 – Mark Thompson, English business executive
  • 1958 – Bill Berry, American drummer and songwriter
  • 1958 – Mark Cuban, American businessman and television personality
  • 1958 – Suzanne Giraud, French music editor and composer
  • 1959 – Stanley Jordan, American guitarist, pianist, and songwriter
  • 1959 – Andrew Marr, Scottish journalist and author
  • 1959 – Kim Newman, English journalist and author
  • 1960 – Dale Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1960 – Malcolm Ross, Scottish guitarist and songwriter
  • 1961 – Frank Gardner, English captain and journalist
  • 1961 – Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Nigerian banker, royal
  • 1962 – John Chiang, American lawyer and politician, 31st California State Controller
  • 1962 – Kevin Greene, American football player and coach
  • 1962 – Wesley Snipes, American actor and producer
  • 1963 – Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim), English DJ and musician
  • 1963 – Fergus Henderson, English chef and author
  • 1963 – Brian Skrudland, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1964 – Jim Corr, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1964 – Urmas Hepner, Estonian footballer and coach
  • 1965 – Scott Brooks, American basketball player and coach
  • 1965 – John Laurinaitis, American wrestler and producer
  • 1965 – Ian Roberts, English-Australian rugby league player and actor
  • 1965 – J. K. Rowling, English author and film producer
  • 1966 – Dean Cain, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1967 – Tony Massenburg, American basketball player
  • 1967 – Tim Wright, Welsh composer
  • 1968 – Saeed-Al-Saffar, Emirati cricketer
  • 1968 – Julian Richards, Welsh director and producer
  • 1969 – Antonio Conte, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1969 – Loren Dean, American actor
  • 1969 – Kenneth D. Schisler, American lawyer and politician
  • 1970 – Ahmad Akbarpour, Iranian author and poet
  • 1970 – Ben Chaplin, English actor
  • 1970 – Andrzej Kobylański, Polish footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Giorgos Sigalas, Greek basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1971 – Gus Frerotte, American football player and coach
  • 1973 – Nathan Brown, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1974 – Emilia Fox, English actress
  • 1974 – Leona Naess, American-English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1974 – Jonathan Ogden, American football player
  • 1975 – Randy Flores, American baseball player and coach
  • 1975 – Andrew Hall, South African cricketer
  • 1975 – Gabe Kapler, American baseball player and manager
  • 1976 – Joshua Cain, American guitarist and producer
  • 1976 – Paulo Wanchope, Costa Rican footballer and manager
  • 1978 – Zac Brown, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1978 – Nick Sorensen, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1978 – Justin Wilson, English race car driver (d. 2015)
  • 1979 – Jaco Erasmus, South African-Italian rugby player
  • 1979 – J.J. Furmaniak, American baseball player
  • 1979 – Per Krøldrup, Danish footballer
  • 1979 – Carlos Marchena, Spanish footballer
  • 1979 – B.J. Novak, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1980 – Mikko Hirvonen, Finnish race car driver
  • 1980 – Mils Muliaina, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1981 – Titus Bramble, English footballer
  • 1981 – Vernon Carey, American football player
  • 1981 – Paul Whatuira, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1981 – M. Shadows, American musician, lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold
  • 1982 – Anabel Medina Garrigues, Spanish tennis player
  • 1982 – DeMarcus Ware, American football player
  • 1985 – Daniel Ciofani, Italian footballer
  • 1985 – Rémy Di Gregorio, French cyclist
  • 1986 – Evgeni Malkin, Russian ice hockey player
  • 1986 – Brian Orakpo, American football player
  • 1987 – Michael Bradley, American soccer player
  • 1988 – Alex Glenn, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1989 – Victoria Azarenka, Belorussian tennis player
  • 1991 – Réka Luca Jani, Hungarian tennis player
  • 1992 – José Fernández, Cuban baseball player (d. 2016)
  • 1992 – Ryan Johansen, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1992 – Kyle Larson, American race car driver
  • 1994 – Lil Uzi Vert, American hip hop artist

Deaths on July 31

  • 54 BC – Aurelia Cotta, Roman mother of Gaius Julius Caesar (b. 120 BC)
  • 450 – Peter Chrysologus, Italian bishop and saint (b. 380)
  • 910 – Feng Xingxi, Chinese warlord
  • 975 – Fu Yanqing, Chinese general (b. 898)
  • 1098 – Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury
  • 1358 – Étienne Marcel, French rebel leader (b. 1302)
  • 1396 – William Courtenay, English archbishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (b. 1342)
  • 1508 – Na’od, Ethiopian emperor
  • 1556 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish priest and theologian, founded the Society of Jesus (b. 1491)
  • 1616 – Roger Wilbraham, Solicitor-General for Ireland (b. 1553)
  • 1638 – Sibylla Schwarz, German poet (b. 1621)
  • 1653 – Thomas Dudley, English soldier and politician, 3rd Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1576)
  • 1693 – Willem Kalf, Dutch still life painter (b. 1619)
  • 1726 – Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and theorist (b. 1695)
  • 1750 – John V, king of Portugal (b. 1689)
  • 1762 – Luis Vicente de Velasco e Isla, Spanish sailor and commander (b. 1711)
  • 1781 – John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley, British parliamentarian (b. 1719)
  • 1784 – Denis Diderot, French philosopher and critic (b. 1713)
  • 1805 – Dheeran Chinnamalai, Indian soldier (b. 1756)
  • 1864 – Louis Christophe François Hachette, French publisher (b. 1800)
  • 1875 – Andrew Johnson, American general and politician, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)
  • 1884 – Kiến Phúc, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1869)
  • 1886 – Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1811)
  • 1891 – Jean-Baptiste Capronnier, Belgian stained glass painter (b. 1814)
  • 1913 – John Milne, British geologist and mining engineer. (b. 1850)
  • 1914 – Jean Jaurès, French journalist and politician (b. 1859)
  • 1917 – Hedd Wyn, Welsh language poet (b. 1887)
  • 1917 – Francis Ledwidge, Irish soldier and poet (b. 1881)
  • 1920 – Ion Dragoumis, Greek philosopher and diplomat (b. 1878)
  • 1940 – Udham Singh, Indian activist (b. 1899)
  • 1943 – Hedley Verity, English cricketer and soldier (b. 1905)
  • 1942 – Francis Younghusband, British Army Officer, explorer and spiritual writer (b.1863)
  • 1944 – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French pilot and poet (b. 1900)
  • 1953 – Robert A. Taft, American soldier and politician (b. 1889)
  • 1954 – Onofre Marimón, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1923)
  • 1958 – Eino Kaila, Finnish philosopher and psychologist, attendant of the Vienna circle (b. 1890)
  • 1964 – Jim Reeves, American singer-songwriter (b. 1923)
  • 1966 – Bud Powell, American pianist (b. 1924)
  • 1968 – Jack Pizzey, Australian politician, 29th Premier of Queensland (b. 1911)
  • 1971 – Walter P. Carter, American soldier and activist (b. 1923)
  • 1972 – Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1899)
  • 1973 – Azumafuji Kin’ichi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 40th Yokozuna (b. 1921)
  • 1979 – Beatrix Lehmann, English actress and director (b. 1903)
  • 1980 – Pascual Jordan, German physicist, author, and academic (b. 1902)
  • 1980 – Mohammed Rafi, Indian playback singer (b. 1924)
  • 1981 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian general and politician, Military Leader of Panama (b. 1929)
  • 1985 – Eugene Carson Blake, American religious leader (b. 1906)
  • 1986 – Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat (b. 1900)
  • 1987 – Joseph E. Levine, American film producer (b, 1905)
  • 1990 – Albert Leduc, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
  • 1992 – Leonard Cheshire, English captain and pilot (b. 1917)
  • 1992 – Md. Abdul Wajed Chowdhury, Bangladeshi politician.
  • 1993 – Baudouin, King of Belgium (b. 1930)
  • 2000 – William Keepers Maxwell Jr., American editor, novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1908)
  • 2001 – Francisco da Costa Gomes, Portuguese general and politician, 15th President of Portugal (b. 1914)
  • 2001 – Friedrich Franz, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (b. 1910)
  • 2003 – Guido Crepax, Italian author and illustrator (b. 1933)
  • 2004 – Virginia Grey, American actress (b. 1917)
  • 2005 – Wim Duisenberg, Dutch economist and politician, 1st President of the European Central Bank (b. 1935)
  • 2009 – Bobby Robson, English footballer and manager (b. 1933)
  • 2009 – Harry Alan Towers, English-Canadian screenwriter and producer (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – Mollie Hunter, Scottish author and playwright (b. 1922)
  • 2012 – Alfredo Ramos, Brazilian footballer and coach (b. 1924)
  • 2012 – Gore Vidal, American novelist, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Tony Sly, American musician, singer-songwriter (b. 1970)
  • 2013 – Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor (b. 1922)
  • 2013 – Michel Donnet, English-Belgian general and pilot (b. 1917)
  • 2013 – John Graves, American captain and author (b. 1920)
  • 2013 – Trevor Storer, English businessman, founded Pukka Pies (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Warren Bennis, American scholar, author, and academic (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – Nabarun Bhattacharya, Indian journalist and author (b. 1948)
  • 2014 – Jeff Bourne, English footballer (b. 1948)
  • 2014 – Wilfred Feinberg, American lawyer and judge (b. 1920)
  • 2015 – Alan Cheuse, American writer and critic (b. 1940)
  • 2015 – Howard W. Jones, American surgeon and academic (b. 1910)
  • 2015 – Billy Pierce, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1927)
  • 2015 – Roddy Piper, Canadian wrestler and actor (b. 1954)
  • 2015 – Richard Schweiker, American soldier and politician, 14th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (b. 1926)
  • 2016 – Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 58th Yokozuna (b. 1955)
  • 2016 – Seymour Papert, South African mathematician (b. 1928)
  • 2017 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress (b. 1928)
  • 2018 – Tony Bullimore, British sailor & businessman (b. 1939)
  • 2019 – Harold Prince, noted Broadway producer and director, who received more Tony awards than anyone else in history (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances on July 31

  • Christian feast day:
    • Abanoub
    • Germanus of Auxerre
    • Ignatius of Loyola
    • Neot
    • July 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which the Feast of Kamál (Perfection) can fall, while August 1 is the latest; observed on the first day of the eighth month of the Bahá’í calendar. (Bahá’í Faith)
  • End of the Trinity term (sitting of the High Court of Justice of England)
  • Ka Hae Hawaiʻi Day (Hawaii, United States), and its related observance:
    • Sovereignty Restoration Day (Hawaiian sovereignty movement)
  • Martyrdom Day of Shahid Udham Singh (Haryana and Punjab, India)
  • Treasury Day (Poland)
  • Warriors’ Day (Malaysia)

July 31 – History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

July 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 762 – Baghdad is founded.
  • 1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council.
  • 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.
  • 1609 – Beaver Wars: At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs on behalf of his native allies.
  • 1619 – In Jamestown, Virginia, the first Colonial European representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time.
  • 1626 – An earthquake in Naples, Italy, kills about 10,000 people.
  • 1635 – Eighty Years’ War: The Siege of Schenkenschans begins; Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, begins the recapture of the strategically important fortress from the Spanish Army.
  • 1656 – Swedish forces under the command of King Charles X Gustav defeat the forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at the Battle of Warsaw.
  • 1676 – Nathaniel Bacon issues the “Declaration of the People of Virginia”, beginning Bacon’s Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.
  • 1729 – Founding of Baltimore, Maryland.
  • 1733 – The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States is constituted in Massachusetts.
  • 1756 – In Saint Petersburg, Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers.
  • 1811 – Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, is executed by the Spanish in Chihuahua City, Mexico.
  • 1825 – Malden Island is discovered by captain George Byron, 7th Baron Byron.
  • 1859 – First ascent of Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps.
  • 1863 – American Indian Wars: Representatives of the United States and tribal leaders including Chief Pocatello (of the Shoshone) sign the Treaty of Box Elder.
  • 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of the Crater: Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.
  • 1865 – The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. at the time.
  • 1866 – Armed Confederate veterans in New Orleans riot against a meeting of Radical Republicans, killing 48 people and injuring another 100.
  • 1871 – The Staten Island Ferry Westfield’s boiler explodes, killing over 85 people.
  • 1912 – Japan’s Emperor Meiji dies and is succeeded by his son Yoshihito, who is now known as the Emperor Taishō.
  • 1930 – In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup.
  • 1932 – Premiere of Walt Disney’s Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short.
  • 1945 – World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen. Most die during the following four days, until an aircraft notices the survivors.
  • 1956 – A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God We Trust as the U.S. national motto.
  • 1962 – The Trans-Canada Highway, the longest national highway in the world, is officially opened.
  • 1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
  • 1966 – England defeats West Germany to win the 1966 FIFA World Cup at Wembley Stadium after extra time.
  • 1969 – Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders.
  • 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 Mission: David Scott and James Irwin on the Apollo Lunar Module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover.
  • 1971 – An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Iwate, Japan killing 162.
  • 1974 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court of the United States.
  • 1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.
  • 1978 – The 730 (transport), Okinawa Prefecture changes its traffic on the right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side.
  • 1980 – Vanuatu gains independence.
  • 1980 – Israel’s Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law.
  • 1981 – As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, took to the streets in Łódź to protest food ration shortages in Communist Poland.
  • 1990 – Ian Gow, Conservative Member of Parliament, is assassinated at his home by IRA terrorists in a car bombing after he assured the group that the British government would never surrender to them.
  • 2003 – In Mexico, the last ‘old style’ Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.
  • 2006 – The world’s longest running music show Top of the Pops is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years.
  • 2011 – Marriage of Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest granddaughter Zara Phillips to former rugby union footballer Mike Tindall.
  • 2012 – A train fire kills 32 passengers and injures 27 on the Tamil Nadu Express in Andhra Pradesh, India.
  • 2012 – A power grid failure in Delhi leaves more than 300 million people without power in northern India.
  • 2014 – One hundred and fifty people are trapped after a landslide in Maharashtra, India; 20 are killed.

Births on July 30

  • 1470 – Hongzhi, emperor of the Ming dynasty (d. 1505)
  • 1511 – Giorgio Vasari, Italian painter, historian, and architect (d. 1574)
  • 1549 – Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1609)
  • 1641 – Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (d. 1673)
  • 1751 – Maria Anna Mozart, Austrian pianist (d. 1829)
  • 1763 – Samuel Rogers, English poet and art collector (d. 1855)
  • 1809 – Charles Chiniquy, Canadian-American priest and theologian (d. 1899)
  • 1818 – Emily Brontë, English novelist and poet (d. 1848)
  • 1818 – Jan Heemskerk, Dutch lawyer and politician, 16th and 19th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1897)
  • 1825 – Chaim Aronson, Lithuanian engineer and author (d. 1893)
  • 1832 – George Lemuel Woods, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 3rd Governor of Oregon (d. 1890)
  • 1855 – Georg Wilhelm von Siemens, German-Swiss businessman (d. 1919)
  • 1857 – Thorstein Veblen, American economist and sociologist (d. 1929)
  • 1859 – Henry Simpson Lunn, English minister and humanitarian, founded Lunn Poly (d. 1939)
  • 1862 – Nikolai Yudenich, Russian general (d. 1933)
  • 1863 – Henry Ford, American engineer and businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (d. 1947)
  • 1872 – Princess Clémentine of Belgium (d. 1955)
  • 1881 – Smedley Butler, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1940)
  • 1890 – Casey Stengel, American baseball player and manager (d. 1975)
  • 1893 – Fatima Jinnah, Pakistani dentist and politician (d. 1967)
  • 1898 – Henry Moore, English sculptor and illustrator (d. 1986)
  • 1899 – Gerald Moore, English pianist (d. 1987)
  • 1901 – Alfred Lépine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1955)
  • 1904 – Salvador Novo, Mexican poet and playwright (d. 1974)
  • 1909 – C. Northcote Parkinson, English historian and author (d. 1993)
  • 1910 – Edgar de Evia, Mexican-American photographer (d. 2003)
  • 1913 – Lou Darvas, American soldier and cartoonist (d. 1987)
  • 1914 – Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, Irish journalist and author, 6th President of the International Olympic Committee (d. 1999)
  • 1920 – Walter Schuck, German lieutenant and pilot (d. 2015)
  • 1921 – Grant Johannesen, American pianist and educator (d. 2005)
  • 1922 – Henry W. Bloch, American banker and businessman, co-founded H&R Block (d. 2019)
  • 1925 – Stan Stennett, Welsh actor and trumpet player (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Alexander Trocchi, Scottish author and poet (d. 1984)
  • 1926 – Betye Saar, African American artist
  • 1927 – Richard Johnson, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1927 – Pete Schoening, American mountaineer (d. 2004)
  • 1927 – Victor Wong, American actor (d. 2001)
  • 1928 – Joe Nuxhall, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2007)
  • 1929 – Sid Krofft, Canadian-American puppeteer and producer
  • 1931 – Dominique Lapierre, French historian and author
  • 1934 – Bud Selig, 9th Major League Baseball Commissioner
  • 1936 – Buddy Guy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1936 – Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz (d. 2020)
  • 1938 – Hervé de Charette, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1938 – Terry O’Neill, English photographer (d. 2019)
  • 1939 – Peter Bogdanovich, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1939 – Eleanor Smeal, American activist, founded the Feminist Majority Foundation
  • 1940 – Patricia Schroeder, American lawyer and politician
  • 1940 – Clive Sinclair, English businessman, founded Sinclair Radionics and Sinclair Research
  • 1941 – Paul Anka, Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1942 – Pollyanna Pickering, English environmentalist and painter (d. 2018)
  • 1943 – Henri-François Gautrin, Canadian physicist and politician
  • 1944 – Gerry Birrell, Scottish race car driver (d. 1973)
  • 1944 – Peter Bottomley, English politician
  • 1944 – Frances de la Tour, English actress
  • 1945 – Patrick Modiano, French novelist and screenwriter, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1945 – David Sanborn, American saxophonist and composer
  • 1946 – Neil Bonnett, American race car driver and sportscaster (d. 1994)
  • 1946 – Jeffrey Hammond, English bass player
  • 1947 – William Atherton, American actor and producer
  • 1947 – Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, French virologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1947 – Jonathan Mann, American physician and author (d. 1998)
  • 1947 – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, 38th Governor of California
  • 1948 – Billy Paultz, American basketball player
  • 1948 – Jean Reno, Moroccan-French actor
  • 1948 – Otis Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1948 – Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian pianist and composer (d. 2010)
  • 1949 – Duck Baker, American guitarist
  • 1949 – Sonia Proudman, English lawyer and judge
  • 1950 – Harriet Harman, English lawyer and politician
  • 1950 – Frank Stallone, American singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1951 – Alan Kourie, South African cricketer
  • 1951 – Gerry Judah, Indian-English painter and sculptor
  • 1952 – Stephen Blackmore, English botanist and author
  • 1954 – Ken Olin, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1955 – Rat Scabies, English drummer and producer
  • 1955 – Christopher Warren-Green, English violinist and conductor
  • 1956 – Delta Burke, American actress
  • 1956 – Réal Cloutier, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1956 – Anita Hill, American lawyer and academic
  • 1956 – Soraida Martinez, American painter and educator
  • 1957 – Antonio Adamo, Italian director and cinematographer
  • 1957 – Bill Cartwright, American basketball player and coach
  • 1957 – Clint Hurdle, American baseball player and manager
  • 1957 – Nery Pumpido, Argentinian footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1958 – Kate Bush, English singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1958 – Liz Kershaw, English radio broadcaster
  • 1958 – Daley Thompson, English decathlete and trainer
  • 1960 – Jennifer Barnes, American-English musicologist and academic
  • 1960 – Richard Linklater, American director and screenwriter
  • 1960 – Brillante Mendoza, Filipino independent film director
  • 1961 – Laurence Fishburne, American actor and producer
  • 1962 – Alton Brown, American chef, author, and producer
  • 1962 – Jay Feaster, American ice hockey player and manager
  • 1962 – Yakub Memon, Indian accountant and terrorist (d. 2015)
  • 1963 – Peter Bowler, English-Australian cricketer
  • 1963 – Lisa Kudrow, American actress and producer
  • 1963 – Antoni Martí, Andorran architect and politician
  • 1963 – Chris Mullin, American basketball player, coach, and executive
  • 1964 – Ron Block, American singer-songwriter and banjo player
  • 1964 – Vivica A. Fox, American actress
  • 1964 – Alek Keshishian, Lebanese-American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1964 – Jürgen Klinsmann, German footballer and manager
  • 1964 – Laine Randjärv, Estonian lawyer and politician, 6th Estonian Minister of Culture
  • 1965 – Tim Munton, English cricketer
  • 1966 – Kerry Fox, New Zealand actress and screenwriter
  • 1966 – Craig Gannon, English guitarist and songwriter
  • 1966 – Allan Langer, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1966 – Louise Wener, English author and singer-songwriter
  • 1968 – Terry Crews, American football player and actor
  • 1968 – Robert Korzeniowski, Polish race walker and coach
  • 1968 – Sean Moore, Welsh drummer and songwriter
  • 1969 – Simon Baker, Australian actor, director, and producer
  • 1969 – Errol Stewart, South African cricketer and lawyer
  • 1970 – Alun Cairns, Welsh businessman and politician
  • 1970 – Dean Edwards, American comedian, actor, and singer
  • 1970 – Christopher Nolan, English-American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1971 – Elvis Crespo, American-Puerto Rican singer
  • 1971 – Tom Green, Canadian comedian and actor
  • 1972 – Jim McIlvaine, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1973 – Kenton Cool, English mountaineer
  • 1973 – Ümit Davala, Turkish footballer and manager
  • 1973 – Anastasios Katsabis, Greek footballer
  • 1973 – Markus Näslund, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
  • 1973 – Sonu Nigam, Indian playback singer and actor
  • 1973 – Clementa C. Pinckney, American minister and politician (d. 2015)
  • 1974 – Radostin Kishishev, Bulgarian footballer and manager
  • 1974 – Jason Robinson, English rugby league footballer, and rugby union footballer and coach
  • 1974 – Hilary Swank, American actress and producer
  • 1975 – Graham Nicholls, English author and activist
  • 1975 – Kate Starbird, American basketball player and computer scientist
  • 1977 – Diana Bolocco, Chilean model and journalist;
  • 1977 – Misty May-Treanor, American volleyball player and coach
  • 1977 – Jaime Pressly, American actress
  • 1977 – Bootsy Thornton, American basketball player
  • 1977 – Ian Watkins, Welsh singer-songwriter and child abuse convict
  • 1979 – Carlos Arroyo, Puerto Rican basketball player and singer
  • 1979 – Chad Keegan, South African cricketer and coach
  • 1979 – Graeme McDowell, Northern Irish golfer
  • 1979 – Maya Nasser, Syrian journalist (d. 2012)
  • 1980 – Seth Avett, American folk-rock singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1980 – Justin Rose, South African-English golfer
  • 1981 – Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (d. 2017)
  • 1981 – Juan Smith, South African rugby union footballer
  • 1981 – Hope Solo, American soccer player
  • 1981 – Indrek Turi, Estonian decathlete
  • 1982 – Jehad Al-Hussain, Syrian footballer
  • 1982 – James Anderson, English cricketer
  • 1982 – Yvonne Strahovski, Australian actress
  • 1983 – Seán Dillon, Irish footballer
  • 1984 – Marko Asmer, Estonian race car driver
  • 1984 – Gabrielle Christian, American actress and singer
  • 1984 – Trudy McIntosh, Australian artistic gymnast
  • 1984 – Kevin Pittsnogle, American basketball player
  • 1985 – Chris Guccione, Australian tennis player
  • 1985 – Daniel Fredheim Holm, Norwegian footballer
  • 1985 – Luca Lanotte, Italian ice dancer
  • 1985 – Matthew Scott, Australian rugby league player
  • 1986 – Tiago Alencar, Brazilian footballer
  • 1986 – William Zillman, Australian rugby league player
  • 1987 – Anton Fink, German footballer
  • 1987 – Sam Saunders, American golfer
  • 1988 – Wen Chean Lim, Malaysian rhythmic gymnast
  • 1989 – Aleix Espargaró, Spanish motorcycle racer
  • 1989 – Wayne Parnell, South African cricketer
  • 1990 – Chris Maxwell, Welsh footballer
  • 1991 – Diana Vickers, English singer-songwriter
  • 1992 – Hannah Cockroft, English wheelchair racer
  • 1993 – Jacob Faria, American baseball player
  • 1993 – André Gomes, Portuguese footballer
  • 1993 – Margarida Moura, Portuguese tennis player
  • 1994 – Nelydia Senrose, Malaysian actress
  • 1996 – Nina Stojanović, Serbian tennis player

Deaths on July 30

  • 578 – Jacob Baradaeus, Greek bishop
  • 579 – Pope Benedict I
  • 734 – Tatwine, English archbishop (b. 670)
  • 829 – Shi Xiancheng, general of the Tang Dynasty
  • 1286 – Bar Hebraeus, Syrian scholar and historian (b. 1226)
  • 1393 – Alberto d’Este, Lord of Ferrara and Modena (b. 1347)
  • 1516 – Johann V of Nassau-Vianden-Dietz (b. 1455)
  • 1540 – Thomas Abel, English priest and martyr (b. 1497)
  • 1540 – Robert Barnes, English martyr and reformer (b. 1495)
  • 1550 – Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, English politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (b. 1505)
  • 1566 – Guillaume Rondelet, French doctor (b. 1507)
  • 1608 – Rory O’Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, last King of Tyrconnell (b. 1575)
  • 1624 – Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox, British nobleman (b. 1579)
  • 1652 – Charles Amadeus, Duke of Nemours (b. 1624)
  • 1680 – Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory, Irish admiral and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1634)
  • 1683 – Maria Theresa of Spain (b. 1638)
  • 1691 – Daniel Georg Morhof, German scholar and academic (b. 1639)
  • 1700 – Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, English royal (b. 1689)
  • 1718 – William Penn, English businessman and philosopher, founded the Province of Pennsylvania (b. 1644)
  • 1771 – Thomas Gray, English poet (b. 1716)
  • 1811 – Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Mexican priest and soldier (b. 1753)
  • 1832 – Lê Văn Duyệt, Vietnamese general, mandarin (b. 1763-4)
  • 1870 – Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian poet and journalist (b. 1818)
  • 1875 – George Pickett, American general (b. 1825)
  • 1889 – Charlie Absolom, England cricketer (b. 1846)
  • 1898 – Otto von Bismarck, German lawyer and politician, 1st Chancellor of Germany (b. 1815)
  • 1900 – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1844)
  • 1912 – Emperor Meiji of Japan (b. 1852)
  • 1918 – Joyce Kilmer, American soldier, journalist, and poet (b. 1886)
  • 1920 – Albert Gustaf Dahlman, Swedish executioner (b. 1848)
  • 1930 – Joan Gamper, Swiss-Spanish footballer and businessman, founded FC Barcelona (b. 1877)
  • 1938 – John Derbyshire, English swimmer and water polo player (b. 1878)
  • 1941 – Hugo Celmiņš, Latvian politician, former Prime Minister of Latvia (b. 1877)
  • 1947 – Joseph Cook, English-Australian miner and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1860)
  • 1965 – Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, Japanese author and playwright (b. 1886)
  • 1970 – Walter Murdoch, Scottish-Australian academic (b. 1874)
  • 1970 – George Szell, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (b. 1897)
  • 1971 – Thomas Hollway, Australian politician, 36th Premier of Victoria (b. 1906)
  • 1975 – James Blish, American author and critic (b. 1921)
  • 1977 – Emory Holloway, American scholar, author, and educator (b. 1885)
  • 1983 – Howard Dietz, American songwriter and publicist (b. 1896)
  • 1983 – Lynn Fontanne, English actress (b. 1887)
  • 1985 – Julia Robinson, American mathematician and theorist (b. 1919)
  • 1989 – Lane Frost, American professional bull rider
  • 1990 – Ian Gow, British Member of Parliament who was assassinated by the IRA (b. 1937)
  • 1992 – Brenda Marshall, Filipino-American actress and singer (b. 1915)
  • 1992 – Joe Shuster, Canadian-American illustrator, co-created Superman (b. 1914)
  • 1996 – Claudette Colbert, French-American actress (b. 1903)
  • 1997 – Bảo Đại, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1913)
  • 1998 – Buffalo Bob Smith, American television host (b. 1917)
  • 2001 – Anton Schwarzkopf, German engineer (b. 1924)
  • 2003 – Steve Hislop, Scottish motorcycle racer (b. 1962)
  • 2003 – Sam Phillips, American record producer, founded Sun Records (b. 1923)
  • 2005 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (b. 1905)
  • 2005 – John Garang, Sudanese colonel and politician, 6th President of South Sudan (b. 1945)
  • 2006 – Duygu Asena, Turkish journalist and author(b. 1946)
  • 2006 – Al Balding, Canadian golfer (b. 1924)
  • 2006 – Murray Bookchin, American philosopher and author (b. 1921)
  • 2006 – Anthony Galla-Rini, American accordion player and composer (b. 1904)
  • 2006 – Akbar Mohammadi, Iranian activist (b. 1972)
  • 2007 – Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
  • 2007 – Teoctist Arăpașu, Romanian patriarch (b. 1915)
  • 2007 – Ingmar Bergman, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1918)
  • 2007 – Bill Walsh, American football player and coach (b. 1931)
  • 2008 – Anne Armstrong, American businesswoman and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (b. 1927)
  • 2009 – Mohammed Yusuf, Nigerian militant leader, founded Boko Haram (b. 1970)
  • 2009 – Peter Zadek, German director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
  • 2011 – Bob Peterson, American basketball player (b. 1932)
  • 2012 – Maeve Binchy, Irish author, playwright, and journalist (b. 1939)
  • 2012 – Bill Doss, American singer and guitarist (b. 1968)
  • 2012 – Stig Ossian Ericson, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
  • 2012 – Les Green, English footballer and manager (b. 1941)
  • 2012 – Jonathan Hardy, New Zealand-Australian actor and screenwriter (b. 1940)
  • 2012 – Bill Kitchen, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1960)
  • 2012 – Mary Louise Rasmuson, American colonel (b. 1911)
  • 2013 – Cecil Alexander, American architect, designed the State of Georgia Building (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – Berthold Beitz, German businessman (b. 1913)
  • 2013 – Robert Neelly Bellah, American sociologist and author (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – Harry F. Byrd Jr., American lieutenant, publisher, and politician (b. 1914)
  • 2013 – Antoni Ramallets, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Ossie Schectman, American basketball player (b. 1919)
  • 2013 – Benjamin Walker, Indian-English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1913)
  • 2014 – Robert Drew, American director and producer (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – Harun Farocki, German director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)
  • 2014 – Julio Grondona, Argentinian businessman (b. 1931)
  • 2014 – Peter Hall, English geographer, author, and academic (b. 1932)
  • 2014 – Dick Smith, American make-up artist (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Dick Wagner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1942)
  • 2015 – Lynn Anderson, American singer (b. 1947)
  • 2015 – Endel Lippmaa, Estonian physicist (b. 1930)
  • 2015 – Francis Paul Prucha, American historian and academic (b. 1921)
  • 2015 – Alena Vrzáňová, Czech figure skater (b. 1931)
  • 2016 – Gloria DeHaven, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1925)
  • 2018 – Michael A. Sheehan, American author, former government official and military officer (b. 1955)

Holidays and observances on July 30

  • Christian feast day:
    • Abdon and Sennen
    • Hatebrand
    • Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda
    • Peter Chrysologus
    • Robert Barnes (Lutheran)
    • Rufinus of Assisi
    • Tatwine
    • Ursus of Auxerre
    • Solanus Casey
    • July 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Feast of the Throne (Morocco)
  • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Vanuatu from the United Kingdom and France in 1980.
  • International Day of Friendship (international), and its related observances:
    • Día del Amigo (Paraguay)
  • Martyrs Day (South Sudan)

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