Wednesday 7 August 2024 Calendar with holidays, observances and special days

Holidays and observances

• Army Day in Colombia
• Arolsen Market and Cattle Market
• Assyrian Martyrs Day (Assyrian community)
• August Thursday in Anguilla (The Boat Race at Meads Bay Anguilla. Part of the Anguilla Summer Festival Celebrations. There will also be entertainment and food)
• Battle of Boyacá Day in Colombia
• Bolivian Armed Forces Day
• Cranger Kirmes
• Emancipation Day on Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Fiestas de San Cayetano in Madrid and Alicante
• Filseta
• Ghost Festival in Thailand (15th day, 7th Chinese lunar month)
• Ivory Coast Independence Day (since 1960)
• Lighthouse Day (day of workers of means of navigation equipment of the coast of large reservoirs in the form of a capital structure)
• National Flag Day in Colombia
• National IPA Day in USA (celebrates the beer known as India Pale Ale Beer and celebrated the first Thursday of every August)
• National Purple Heart Day in the United States
• Pol'and'Rock Festival
• Professional Speaker’s Day
• Raspberries and Cream Day in USA
• Stall and Cattle Market in Bad Arolsen
• The Hanse Sail in Rostock (Typically begins on Thursday of the first full week of August)
• Youth Day in Kiribati

Events

• 1998 – Bombings at United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill approximately 212 people.
• 1990 – First American soldiers arrive in Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf War.
• 1987 – Lynne Cox becomes first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing the Bering Strait from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union
• 1985 – Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
• 1964 – Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.
• 1962 – Canadian-born American pharmacologist Frances Oldham Kelsey awarded the U.S. President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service for her refusal to authorize thalidomide.
• 1955 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, the precursor to Sony, sells its first transistor radios in Japan.
• 1944 – IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
• 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal begins as the United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
• 1930 – The last confirmed lynching of blacks in the Northern United States occurs in Marion, Indiana; two men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, are killed.
• 1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California.
• 1858 – The first Australian rules football match is played between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College.
• 1791 – American troops destroy the Miami town of Kenapacomaqua near the site of present-day Logansport, Indiana in the Northwest Indian War.
• 1789 – The United States Department of War is established.
• 1714 – The Battle of Gangut: The first important victory of the Russian Navy.
• 1679 – The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the south-eastern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America.

Births

• 1991 – Mike Trout, American baseball player. Michael Nelson Trout (born August 7, 1991) is an American professional baseball center fielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB).
• 1989 – DeMar DeRozan, American basketball player. DeMar Darnell DeRozan (born August 7, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
• 1988 – Beanie Wells, American football player. Christopher Michael Wells (born August 7, 1988), known as Chris Wells or Beanie Wells, is a former American football running back.
• 1988 – Melody Oliveria, American blogger. Melody Oliveria, also known by her handle bowiechick, is a video blog contributor, most popularly to YouTube.
• 1987 – Ryan Lavarnway, American baseball player. Ryan Cole Lavarnway (pronounced la-VARN-way; born August 7, 1987) is an American-Israeli professional baseball catcher in the Miami Marlins organization.
• 1982 – Marquise Hill, American football player (d. 2007), was an American football defensive end for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Patriots in the second round of the 2004 NFL Draft.
• 1981 – David Testo, American soccer player. David Testo (born August 7, 1981, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) is an American retired soccer player who, after his playing career ended in 2011, became the first male American professional player of that sport to come out as gay.
• 1981 – Randy Wayne, American actor and producer. Randy Wayne Frederick (born August 7, 1981) is an American actor.
• 1978 – Jamey Jasta, American singer-songwriter. Jamey Jasta (born James Vincent Shanahan; August 7, 1977) is an American musician from New Haven, Connecticut.
• 1976 – Shane Lechler, American football player, was a punter for 18 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas A&M Aggies, and was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL Draft.
• 1975 – Charlize Theron, South African-American actress and producer. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, and she is one of the world's highest-paid actresses, as of 2019.
• 1975 – Ray Hill, American football player (d. 2015), was a leading figure in the British far right who went on to become a well-known informant. A sometime deputy leader of the British Movement and a founder member of the British National Party, Hill also secretly worked for Searchlight in feeding information about the groups' activities.
• 1975 – Rebecca Kleefisch, American journalist and politician, 44th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin, was the 44th lieutenant governor of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, she was elected to the position on November 2, 2010 as the running mate of Governor Scott Walker, the pair lost re-election in 2018.
• 1974 – Chico Benymon, American actor. Chico Benymon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor, singer, musician, and fashion designer best known for his role as Andre "Spencer" Williams on the UPN comedy Half & Half.
• 1974 – Michael Shannon, American actor. He earned Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for his role in 99 Homes (2014), and a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Long Day's Journey into Night (2016).
• 1973 – Danny Graves, Vietnamese-American baseball player. Graves pitched for most of his career for the Cincinnati Reds, where he was team's saves leader each year from 1999–2004, except for 2003 when he was a starting pitcher.
• 1971 – Rachel York, American actress and singer. She also has many film and television credits, including her portrayal of Lucille Ball in the CBS biographical film Lucy.
• 1970 – Eric Namesnik, American swimmer (d. 2006), was an American competition swimmer and Olympic medalist.
• 1968 – Francesca Gregorini, Italian-American director and screenwriter. Countess Francesca McKnight Donatella Romana Gregorini di Savignano di Romagna, better known as Francesca Gregorini, (born August 7, 1968) is an Italian-American director and writer.
• 1967 – Jason Grimsley, American baseball player. Jason Alan Grimsley (born August 7, 1967) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher.
• 1966 – Jimmy Wales, American businessman, co-founder of Wikipedia. Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales (born August 7, 1966) is an American–British Internet entrepreneur.
• 1966 – Kristin Hersh, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her guitar work and composition style ranges from jaggedly dissonant to traditional folk.
• 1965 – Raul Malo, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. Raúl Francisco Martínez-Malo Jr. (born August 7, 1965 in Miami, Florida), known professionally as Raúl Malo, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer.
• 1963 – Marcus Roberts, American pianist and educator. Marthaniel "Marcus" Roberts (born August 7, 1963) is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and teacher.
• 1963 – Nick Gillespie, American journalist and author, was editor-in-chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008 and editor-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason TV from 2008 to 2017. Gillespie originally joined Reason's staff in 1993 as an assistant editor and ascended to the top slot in 2000.
• 1962 – Alison Brown, American banjo player, songwriter, and producer. In her music, she blends jazz, bluegrass, rock, blues as well as other styles of music.
• 1960 – David Duchovny, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for playing FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series The X-Files and writer Hank Moody on the television series Californication, both of which have earned him Golden Globe awards.
• 1958 – Alberto Salazar, Cuban-American runner and coach. Alberto Salazar (born August 7, 1958) is an American track coach, former world-class long-distance runner and a doping offender.
• 1958 – Russell Baze, Canadian-American jockey. He holds the record for the most race wins in North American horse racing history, and is a member of the United States Racing Hall of Fame and the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame.
• 1955 – Greg Nickels, American lawyer and politician, 51st Mayor of Seattle. Nickels (born August 7, 1955) was the 51st mayor of Seattle, Washington.
• 1955 – Wayne Knight, American actor, comedian and voice actor. He is known for playing Newman in Seinfeld (1992–1998), Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park (1993), Al McWhiggin in Toy Story 2 (1999), and Tantor in Tarzan (1999).
• 1953 – Anne Fadiman, American journalist and author. She has received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest, and the Salon Book Award.
• 1952 – Caroline Aaron, American actress and producer. Caroline Sidney Aaron (née Abady; born August 7, 1952) is an American actress and film producer.
• 1950 – Alan Keyes, American politician and diplomat, 16th Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs. Alan Lee Keyes (born August 7, 1950) is an American conservative political activist, pundit, author and former ambassador.
• 1950 – Rodney Crowell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has also written songs and produced for other artists.
• 1948 – Marty Appel, American businessman and author. Appel (born August 7, 1948), is an American public relations and sports management executive, television executive producer, and author.
• 1945 – Alan Page, American football player and jurist. Alan Cedric Page (born August 7, 1945) is an American retired jurist and former professional football player.
• 1944 – Robert Mueller, American soldier and lawyer, 6th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Robert Swan Mueller III (/ˈmʌlər/; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
• 1942 – B. J. Thomas, American singer. His best-known recordings are the original version of the Mark James song "Hooked on a Feeling" (1968), and Burt Bacharach and Hal David song, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (1969).
• 1942 – Garrison Keillor, American humorist, novelist, short story writer, and radio host. Keillor created the fictional Minnesota town Lake Wobegon, the setting of many of his books, including Lake Wobegon Days and Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories.
• 1935 – Rahsaan Roland Kirk, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1977), was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute, and many other instruments. He was renowned for his onstage vitality, during which virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting, and the ability to play several instruments simultaneously.
• 1933 – Elinor Ostrom, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012), was an American political economist whose work was associated with the New Institutional Economics and the resurgence of political economy. In 2009, she was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for her "analysis of economic governance, especially the commons", which she shared with Oliver E.
• 1933 – Jerry Pournelle, American journalist and author, was an American polymath: scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s and early 1970s he worked in the aerospace industry, but eventually focused on his writing career.
• 1932 – Maurice Rabb, Jr., American ophthalmologist and academic (d. 2005). He is widely known for his pioneering work in cornea and retinal vascular diseases.
• 1931 – Charles E. Rice, American scholar and author (d. 2015), was an American legal scholar, Catholic apologist, and author of several books. He is best known for his career at the Notre Dame Law School at Notre Dame, Indiana.
• 1929 – Don Larsen, American baseball player, was an American professional baseball pitcher. During a 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he pitched from 1953 to 1967 for seven different teams: the St.
• 1928 – Betsy Byars, American author and academic. She has also received a National Book Award for Young People's Literature for The Night Swimmers (1980) and an Edgar Award for Wanted ...
• 1928 – James Randi, Canadian-American magician and author. James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928) is a Canadian-American retired stage magician and a scientific skeptic who has extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.
• 1928 – Owen Luder, English architect, designed Tricorn Centre and Trinity Square. He established his own practice Owen Luder Partnership in 1957, and left in 1987 to form the consultancy Communication In Construction.
• 1927 – Art Houtteman, American baseball player and journalist (d. 2003), was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for 12 seasons in the American League with the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles. In 325 career games, Houtteman pitched 1,555 innings and posted a win-loss record of 87–91, with 78 complete games, 14 shutouts, and a 4.14 earned run average (ERA).
• 1927 – Edwin Edwards, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 50th Governor of Louisiana. Edwin Washington Edwards (born August 7, 1927) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the U.S.
• 1927 – Rocky Bridges, American baseball player and coach (d. 2015), was a middle infielder and third baseman with an 11-year career in American Major League Baseball from 1951 to 1961. Bridges played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs and St.
• 1926 – Stan Freberg, American puppeteer, voice actor, and singer (d. 2015), was an American author, actor, recording artist, voice artist, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer and advertising creative director, whose career began in 1943. He remained active in the industry into his late 80s, more than 70 years after entering it.
• 1925 – Felice Bryant, American songwriter (d. 2003). Felice Bryant (born Matilda Genevieve Scaduto; August 7, 1925 – April 22, 2003) and Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant (/ˈbuːdɛloʊ/; February 13, 1920 – June 25, 1987) were an American husband and wife country music and pop songwriting team.
• 1921 – Karel Husa, Czech-American composer and conductor (d. 2016), was a Czech-born classical composer and conductor, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Music and 1993 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. In 1954, he immigrated to the United States and became an American citizen in 1959.
• 1918 – Gordon Zahn, American sociologist and author (d. 2007), was an American sociologist, pacifist, professor, and author.
• 1916 – Kermit Love, American actor, puppeteer, and costume designer (d. 2008), was an American puppet maker, puppeteer, costume designer, and actor in children's television and on Broadway. He was best known as a designer and builder with the Muppets, in particular those on Sesame Street.
• 1913 – George Van Eps, American guitarist (d. 1998), was an American swing and mainstream jazz guitarist.
• 1911 – Nicholas Ray, American director and screenwriter (d. 1979), was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause.
• 1910 – Freddie Slack, American pianist and bandleader (d. 1965), was an American swing and boogie-woogie pianist and bandleader.
• 1907 – Albert Kotin, Belarusian-American soldier and painter (d. 1980). Albert Kotin (August 7, 1907 – February 6, 1980) belonged to the early generation of New York School Abstract Expressionist artists whose artistic innovation by the 1950s had been recognized across the Atlantic, including in Paris.
• 1904 – Ralph Bunche, American political scientist, academic, and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971), was an American political scientist, academic, and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Israel. He was the first African American to be so honored.
• 1901 – Ann Harding, American actress and singer (d. 1981), was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress. A regular player on Broadway and in regional theater in the 1920s, in the 1930s Harding was one of the first actresses to gain fame in the new medium of "talking pictures", and she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1931 for her work in Holiday.
• 1890 – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, American author and activist (d. 1964), was a labor leader, activist, and feminist who played a leading role in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Flynn was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union and a visible proponent of women's rights, birth control, and women's suffrage.
• 1884 – Billie Burke, American actress and singer (d. 1970), was an American actress who was famous on Broadway, on radio, early silent film, and subsequently in sound film. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie musical The Wizard of Oz (1939).
• 1742 – Nathanael Greene, American general (d. 1786), was a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. He emerged from the war with a reputation as General George Washington's most gifted and dependable officer, and is known for his successful command in the southern theater of the war.
• 1726 – James Bowdoin, American banker and politician, 2nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1790), was an American political and intellectual leader from Boston, Massachusetts, during the American Revolution and the following decade. He initially gained fame and influence as a wealthy merchant.

Deaths

• 2016 – Bryan Clauson, American racing driver (b. 1989)
• 2015 – Louise Suggs, American golfer, co-founded LPGA (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Henry Stone, American record producer (b. 1921)
• 2014 – Perry Moss, American football player and coach (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Margaret Pellegrini, American actress and dancer (b. 1923)
• 2013 – Samuel G. Armistead, American linguist, historian, and academic (b. 1927)
• 2012 – Judith Crist, American critic and academic (b. 1922)
• 2012 – Mayer Zald, American sociologist and academic (b. 1931)
• 2011 – Mark Hatfield, American soldier, academic, and politician, 29th Governor of Oregon (b. 1922)
• 2009 – Louis E. Saavedra, American educator and politician, 48th Mayor of Albuquerque (b. 1933)
• 2009 – Mike Seeger, American singer-songwriter (b. 1933)
• 2008 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent and producer (b. 1931)
• 2007 – Angus Tait, New Zealand businessman, founded Tait Communications (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Mary Anderson Bain, American lawyer and politician (b. 1911)
• 2005 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American journalist and author (b. 1938)
• 2004 – Red Adair, American firefighter (b. 1915)
• 2003 – Mickey McDermott, American baseball player and coach (b. 1929)
• 1989 – Mickey Leland, American lawyer and politician (b. 1944)
• 1985 – Grayson Hall, American actress (b. 1922)
• 1972 – Joi Lansing, American model, actress, and singer (b. 1929)
• 1970 – Harold Haley, American lawyer and judge (b. 1904)
• 1970 – Jonathan P. Jackson, American bodyguard (b. 1953)
• 1958 – Elizabeth Foreman Lewis, American author and educator (b. 1892)
• 1957 – Oliver Hardy, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1892)
• 1953 – Abner Powell, American baseball player and manager (b. 1860)
• 1834 – Joseph Marie Jacquard, French weaver and inventor, invented the Jacquard loom (b. 1752)
• 1616 – Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect, designed Teatro Olimpico (b. 1548)