August 5
Birthdays:
1982 ~ Antoine Hodge (d. Feb. 22, 2021), African-American bass-baritone who performed with 15 professional opera companies, including Opéra Louisiane, for over 20 years. He was born in Albany, Georgia. He died of complications of Covid-19 at age 38 in Orlando, Florida.
1982 ~ Lolo Jones (née Lori Susan Jones), American athlete and hurdler. She specialized in the 60-meter and 100-meter hurdles. She attended the Louisiana State University. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa.
1964 ~ Adam Yauch (né Adam Nathanial Yauch, d. May 4, 2012), American musician and member of the band, The Beastie Boys. He was born and died in New York, New York. He died of cancer at age 47.
1962 ~ Patrick Ewing, Sr. (né Patrick Aloysius Ewing), Jamaican-American professional basketball player. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica
1961 ~ Lizz Winstead, American comedian and television and radio personality. She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
1952 ~ Sharon Salzburg, American author and teacher of Buddhist meditation practices in the West. She was born in New York, New York.
1946 ~ Shirley Ann Jackson, African-American physicist. She was the first African-American women to earn a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the President of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; her tenure began in July 1999. She was born in Washington, D.C.
1945 ~ Loni Anderson (née Loni Kaye Anderson), American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Jennifer Marlowe on the television sit-com WKRP in Cincinnati. Her third husband was actor Burt Reynolds. She was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
1934 ~ Wendell Berry (né Wendell Erdman Berry), American novelist and environmental activist. He was born in Henry County, Kentucky.
1930 ~ Neil Armstrong (né Neil Alden Armstrong; d. Aug. 25, 2012), American astronaut and reluctant hero who first walked on the moon. He was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He died 20 days after his 82nd birthday in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1930 ~ Michal Kováč (d. Oct. 5, 2016), 1st President of Slovakia. He served as President from March 1993 until March 1996. He died at age 86 in Bratislava, Slovakia.
1926 ~ Betsy Jolas (née Elizabeth Jolas), Franco-American composer. She was born in Paris, France
1912 ~ Konrad Danneberg (d. Feb. 16, 2009), German-born V-2 rocketeer who later worked for NASA. He was one of the last of the 118 German engineers who came to the United States with Nazi rocket wizard Werner von Braun under Operation Paperclip. He had been a member of the Nazi party, which he joined in 1932. He was born in Weißenfels, Germany. He died at age 96 in Huntsville, Alabama.
1908 ~ Harold Holt (d. Dec. 17, 1967), Prime Minister of Australia. He served in that that Office from January 1966 until his disappearance in December 1967. He disappeared while swimming and was presumed to have drowned. He was born in Stanmore, New South Wales, Austria. He was 59 years old at the time of his disappearance.
1908 ~ Sid Laverents (né Sidney Nicklas Laverents; d. May 6, 2009), American offbeat filmmaker who was an amateur legend. He didn’t begin making films until he was 50 years old. He was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He died at age 100 in Chula Vista, California.
1906 ~ John Huston (né John Marcellus Huston; d. Aug. 28, 1987), American director and father of actress Angelica Huston. He was born in Nevada, Missouri. He died in Middletown, Rhode Island 23 days after his 81st birthday.
1905 ~ Wassily Leontief (d. Feb. 5, 1999), Soviet-American economist and recipient of the 1973 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He was born in Munich, German Empire. He died at age 93 in New York, New York.
1889 ~ Conrad Aiken (né Conrad Potter Aiken; d. Aug. 17, 1973), American writer. He was born and died in Savannah, Georgia. He died 12 days after his 84th birthday.
1880 ~ Gertrude Rush (née Gertrude Elzora Durden; d. Sept. 5, 1962), American attorney. She was the first African-American female lawyer in Iowa. She was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1918. She was also instrumental in founding the National Bar Association in 1925. She was born in Navasota, Texas. She died a month after her 82nd birthday in Des Moines, Iowa.
1876 ~ Mary Beard (née Mary Ritter; d. Aug. 14, 1958), American historian and social activists. She was involved in the suffrage movement. She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. She died in Phoenix, Arizona 9 days after her 82nd birthday.
1862 ~ John Merrick (né John Carey Merrick, d. Apr. 11, 1890), English man known as The Elephant Man due to the severe deformities he suffered as a result most likely from a combination of neurofibromatosis and Proteus syndrome. He died at age 27.
1850 ~ Guy de Maupassant (né Henri René Albert Guy de Maupasaant; d. July 6, 1893), French novelist and short-story writer. He died a month before his 43rd birthday in Paris, France.
1828 ~ Louise of the Netherlands (d. Mar. 30, 1871), Queen consort of Sweden and Norway and wife of Charles XV, King of Sweden (1826 ~ 1872). They married in 1850. She was of the House of Orange-Nassau. She was the daughter of Prince Frederick of the Netherlands and Princess Louise of Prussia. She was of the Dutch Reform Church. She died of pneumonia at age 42.
1802 ~ Niels Henrik Abel (d. Apr. 6, 1829), Norwegian mathematician. He died of tuberculosis at age 26. The Abel prize in mathematics is named in his honor.
1681 ~ Vitus Bering (né Vitus Jonassen Bering; d. Dec. 19, 1741), Danish explorer. The Bering Sea and the Bering Strait are named in his honor. The exact date of his birth is not known, but he was baptized on August 5, 1681. He died at age 60.
1461 ~ Alexander Jagiellon (d. Aug. 19, 1506), King of Poland. He ruled Poland from December 1501 until his death 5 years later. He was married to Helena of Moscow (1476 ~ 1513). He was of the House of Jagiellon. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Jageillon, King of Poland and Elisabeth of Hungary. He was Roman Catholic. He died 14 days after his 45th birthday.
1301 ~ Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent (d. Mar. 19, 1330), member of the English royal family. He was married to Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell (1297 ~ 1349). He was of the House of Plantagenet. He was the son of Edward I, King of England and his second wife, Princess Margaret of France. He was executed at age 28.
1262 ~ Ladislaus IV, King of Hungary (d. July 10, 1290). He ruled from 1272 until his death in 1290. He was married to Princess Elizabeth of Sicily (1261 ~ 1303). She was of the House of Anjou-Sicily and was the daughter of Charles I, King of Naples and Beatrice of Provence. He was of the House of Árpád. He was the son of Stephen V, King of Hungary and Elizabeth the Cuman. He was assassinated at 26 days before his 28th birthday.
1103 ~ William Adelin (d. Nov. 25, 1120), Duke of Normandy and heir apparent to the English throne. He never married. He was of the House of Normandy. He was the son of Henry I, King of England and Matilda of Scotland (also known as Matilda of Anjou). He died in the White Ship tragedy. His death caused a succession crisis, later known as the Anarchy. He was 17 at the time of his death.
Events that Changed the World:
2016 ~ The 2016 Summer Olympics opened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The games ran through August 21, 2016.
2012 ~ A shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin killed six people. The shooter was shot and killed by police.
2010 ~ A cave-in at the Copiapó San Jose mine in Chile trapped 33 men. They were all rescued alive 69 days later.
1981 ~ United States President Ronald Reagan (1911 ~ 2004) filed over 11,000 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order to return to work.
1974 ~ President Richard Nixon (1913 ~ 1994), under orders from the United States Supreme Court, released the tape that had been recorded in June 1972 that revealed his actions in covering up and interfering in investigations into the Watergate scandal break-in.
1963 ~ The United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain signed a nuclear test ban treaty.
1962 ~ Nelson Mandela (1918 ~ 2013) was jailed. He was not released for until 1990, nearly 28 years later.
1957 ~ American Bandstand, a TV show dedicated to playing songs and showing popular dances, debuted on ABC television network.
1949 ~ An earthquake hit Ecuador destroying 50 towns and killing over 6,000 people.
1944 ~ Polish insurgents liberated a German labor camp in Warsaw and freed over 340 Jewish prisoners.
1926 ~ Harry Houdini (1874 ~ 1926) performed his greatest feat, which was to spend 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.
1914 ~ The first electric traffic light in the United States was installed in Cleveland, Ohio.
1888 ~ Bertha Benz (1849 ~ 1944), wife of automobile pioneer Karl Benz (1844 ~ 1929), became the first person to drive an automobile over a long distance. Without telling her husband, she took her two teenaged sons on a trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim in Germany, a trip of approximately 66 miles. The purpose of the trip helped to market automobiles. Since 2008, this stretch of the road is known as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route.
1884 ~ The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe’s Island, now known as Liberty Island, in New York Harbor.
1882 ~ The Standard Oil of New Jersey was established.
1864 ~ The Battle of Mobile Bay began when Admiral David Farragut (1801 ~ 1870) lead a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses. This act successfully sealed off one of the last major Southern posts.
1862 ~ In the Battle of Baton Rouge during the American Civil War, Union troops prevented the Confederate army from seizing the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1861 ~ The United States Army abolished flogging.
1861 ~ The United States government levied the first income tax in order to help pay for the expenses incurred during the American Civil War. This tax resulted as a part of the Revenue Act of 1861 and was rescinded in 1872.
1860 ~ Charles XV, King of Sweden (1826 ~ 1872) was crowned King of Norway as well.
1583 ~ Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1539 ~ 1583) established the first English colony in North America. The colony was established in what is now St. John’s, Newfoundland.
1503 ~ James IV, King of Scotland (1473 ~ 1513) married Margaret Tutor (1489 ~ 1541). She was the daughter of Henry VII, King of England (1457 ~ 1509) and Elizabeth of York (1466 ~ 1503).
1305 ~ William Wallace (d. 1305), who let the Scottish resistance against England, was captured by the English. He was brought to London where he was brought to trial and executed less than 3 weeks later.
1100 ~ Henry I (1068 ~ 1135) was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
Good-Byes:
2022 ~ Issey Miyake (né Kazunaru Miyake; b. Apr. 22, 1938), Japanese fashion designer and Hiroshima survivor. He favored simple forms and is known for making Steve Jobs’ mock turtleneck shirts as his signature look. He was 7 years old when Hiroshima was hit with an atomic bomb. His mother died soon after of radiation poisoning and he developed a bone disease that left him with a limp. He was born in Hiroshima, Japan. He died of liver cancer at age 84.
2021 ~ Eloise Greenfield (née Eloise Little; b. May 17, 1929), African-American award-winning author who lifted up Black children. She was born in Parmele, North Carolina. She died of a stroke at age 92 in Washington, D.C.
2020 ~ Eric Bentley (né Eric Russell Bentley; b. Sept. 14, 1916), British-American theater critic. He died in New York, New York at age 103.
2019 ~ Toni Morrison (née Chloe Ardelia Wofford; b. Feb. 18, 1931), American writer and recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. She chronicled the black experience. She was born in Lorain, Ohio. She died at age 88 in New York, New York.
2018 ~ Charlotte Rae (née Charlotte Rae Lubotsky; b. Apr. 22, 1926), American actress best known for her portrayal of Edna Garrett in the television sit-com The Facts of Life. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She died at age 92 in Los Angeles, California.
2017 ~ Mark White, Jr. (né Mark Wells White, Jr., d. Mar. 17, 1940), 43rd Governor of Texas. He was governor from 1983 until 1987. He was born in Henderson, Texas. He died of a heart attack at age 77 in Houston, Texas.
2014 ~ Dmitri Anosov (d. Nov. 30, 1936), Russian mathematician. He was born and died in Moscow, Russia. He died at age 77.
2014 ~ Jesse Steinfeld (né Jesse Leonard Steinfeld; d. Jan. 6, 1927), 11th Surgeon of the United States. He served under President Richard M. Nixon from December 1969 until June 1973. He was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. He died of complications of a stroke at age 87 in Pomona, California.
2009 ~ Budd Schulberg (né Seymour Wilson Schulberg; b. Mar. 27, 1914), American author and screenwriter. He was the Oscar-winning writer of On the Waterfront. He was born in New York, New York. He died at age 95 in Quiogue, New York.
2000 ~ Sir Alec Guinness (né Alec Guinness de Cuffe; b. Apr. 2, 1914), English actor. He was born in London, England. He died of cancer at age 86.
1998 ~ Todor Zhivkov (né Todor Hristov Zhivkov; b. Sept. 7, 1911), Prime Minister of Bulgaria. He served in that position from November 1962 until July 1971. He died a month before his 87th birthday.
1995 ~ Menachem Avidom (né Mendel Mlhler-Kalkstein; b. Jan. 6, 1908), Austro-Hungarian-born Israeli composer. He died in Tel Aviv at age 87.
1991 ~ Soichiro Honda (b. Nov. 17, 1906), Japanese engineer and businessman who founded the Honda car company. He died at age 84 in Tokyo, Japan.
1984 ~ Richard Burton (né Richard Walter Jenkins, Jr., b. Nov. 10, 1925), Welsh actor and twice the husband of Elizabeth Taylor. He died at age 58 of a brain hemorrhage in Switzerland.
1959 ~ Edgar Guest (né Edgar Albert Guest; b. Aug. 20, 1881), English poet. He was born in Birmingham, England. He died in Detroit, Michigan two weeks before his age 78th birthday.
1957 ~ Heinrich Wieland (né Heinrich Otto Weiland; b. June 4, 1877), German biochemist and recipient of the 1927 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in bile acids. He died at age 80.
1955 ~ Carmen Miranda (née Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha; b. Feb. 9, 1909), Portuguese-born Brazilian actress and singer. She died of a heart attack at age 46 in Beverly Hills, California.
1929 ~ Dame Millicent Fawcett (née Millicent Garrett; b. June 11, 1847), British social activist and feminist. She is best known for her work to get the vote for women. She died at age 82 in London, England.
1901 ~ Victoria, Princess Royal of England (née Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa; b. Nov. 21, 1840), Empress consort of Germany and wife of Frederick III, German Emperor (1831 ~ 1888). They married in 1858. After his death in 1888, she became known as the Empress Frederick. They had eight children, including Wilhelm II, German Emperor. She was of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She was the eldest daughter of Victoria, Queen of England and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She died of breast cancer at age 60.
1895 ~ Friedrich Engels (b. Nov. 28, 1820), German philosopher. He died at age 74 in London, England.
1877 ~ Gustav, Crown Prince of Sweden (b. Nov. 9, 1799), member of the Swedish royal family. In 1830, he married Princess Louise Amelie of Baden (1811 ~ 1854). They divorced 13 years later. When he was 10 years old, his father was deposed in the Coup of 1809, and the family went into exile. The family never regained the throne, so Gustav never became king. He was of the House of Holstein-Gottorp. He was the son of Gustav IV Adolf, King of Sweden and Princess Frederica of Baden. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He died at age 77.
1792 ~ Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (b. Apr. 13, 1732), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was Prime Minister from January 1770 until March 1782. He served during the reign of King George III. He is primarily remembered as the Prime Minister who lost America. He died at age 60.
882 ~ Louis III, King of West Francia (b. 863). He ruled from 879 until his death in 882. He was of the Carolingian dynasty. He was the son of Louis II, King of West Francia (also known as Louis the Stammerer) and Ansgarde of Burgundy. The date of his birth is not known. He died at about age 18 a fractured skull after hitting his head on the lintel of a low door while riding a horse. He never married and had no children so his brother, Carloman II, succeeded him.
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