August 1 is the 213th day of the year (214th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 152 days remaining until the end of the year.
Today in history
30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.
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 Aghlabid army.
1203 – Isaac II Angelus, restored Eastern Roman Emperor, declares his son Alexius IV Angelus co-emperor after pressure from the forces of the Fourth Crusade.
1291 – The Swiss Confederation is formed with the signature of the Federal Charter.
1461 – Edward IV is crowned king of England.
1492 – Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile drive the Jews out of Spain.
1498 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit Venezuela.
1619 – First African slaves arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.
1664 – The Ottoman Empire is defeated in the Battle of Saint Gotthard by an Austrian army led by Raimondo Montecuccoli, resulting in the Peace of Vasvár.
1774 – The element oxygen is discovered for the third (and last) time.
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 Act of Union 1800 is passed in which merges the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1820 – London's Regent's Canal opens.
1828 – Bolton and Leigh Railway opens to freight traffic.
1831 – A new London Bridge opens.
1832 – The Black Hawk War ends.
1834 – Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force.
1838 – Non-labourer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.
1840 – Labourer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.
1842 – Lombard Street Riot erupts
1855 – First ascent of Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa), the second highest summit in the Alps.
1876 – Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.
1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War erupts between Japan and China over Korea.
1902 – The United States buys the rights to the Panama Canal from France.
1907 – First Scout camp opens on Brownsea Island.
1914 – Germany declares war on Russia at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilises because of World War I
1927 – The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Communist Party of China. This day is commemorated as the anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.
1937 – Tito reads the resolution "Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH" to the constitutive congress of KPH (Croatian Communist Party) in woods near Samobor.
1941 – The first Jeep is produced.
1944 – Anne Frank makes the last entry in her diary.
1944 – Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.
1948 – The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.
1957 – The United States and Canada form the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
1960 – Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France.
1960 – Communist Party of Independence and Work is banned in Senegal.
1960 – Islamabad declared as the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.
1964 – The Belgian Congo is renamed the Republic of the Congo.
1966 – Charles Whitman kills 15 people at The University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police.
1966 – Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official People's Republic of China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
1967 – Israel annexes East Jerusalem.
1968 – The coronation is held of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei.
1971 – The Concert for Bangladesh is held.
1975 – CSCE Final Act creates the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
1977 – Former Lockheed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers crashes the news helicopter he is flying in Los Angeles
1980 – Buttevant Rail Disaster kills 18 and injures dozens of train passengers in Ireland.
1981 – MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed The Radio Star" by the Buggles.
1988 – Rush Limbaugh begins his national radio show.
1993 – The Great Flood of 1993 comes to a peak.
1996 – Michael Johnson breaks the 200m world record by 0.30 seconds with a time of 19.32 seconds at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
2001 – An agreement is reached on the position of the minority Albanian language in the Republic of Macedonia.
2001 – Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia join the European Environment Agency.
2001 – Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a Ten Commandments monument installed in the judiciary building, leading to a lawsuit to have it removed and his own removal from office.
2004 – A supermarket fire kills 396 people and injures 500 in Asunción, Paraguay.
2007 – The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour.
2008 – Start of the events leading to the 2008 K2 disaster.
Births
10 BC – Claudius, Roman Emperor (d. 54)
126 – Pertinax, Roman Emperor (d. 193)
1313 – Emperor Kogon of Japan (d. 1364)
1377 – Emperor Go-Komatsu of Japan (d. 1433)
1545 – Andrew Melville, Scottish theologian and religious reformer (d. 1622)
1555 – Edward Kelley, English spirit medium (d. 1597)
1579 – Luís Vélez de Guevara, Spanish writer (d. 1644)
1626 – Sabbatai Zevi, Montenegrin rabbi, kabbalist, and founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement (d. 1676)
1630 – Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, English statesman (d. 1673)
1713 – Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1780)
1714 – Richard Wilson, Welsh painter (d. 1782)
1738 – Jacques François Dugommier, French general (d. 1794)
1744 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French scientist (d. 1829)
1770 – William Clark, American explorer (d. 1838)
1779 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and lyricist (d. 1843)
1779 – Lorenz Oken, German naturalist (d. 1851)
1815 – Richard Henry Dana, Jr., American lawyer, politician, and author (d. 1882)
1818 – Maria Mitchell, American astronomer (d. 1889)
1819 – Herman Melville, American writer (d. 1891)
1837 – Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, American labor organizer (d. 1930)
1843 – Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln; United States Secretary of War (d. 1926)
1856 – George Coulthard, Former Australian rules footballer and cricketer (d. 1883)
1858 – Hans Rott, Austrian composer (d. 1884)
1858 – Gaston Doumergue, French President (d. 1937)
1861 – Sammy Jones, Former Australian cricketer (d. 1951)
1871 – John Lester, American cricketer (d. 1969)
1885 – George de Hevesy, Hungarian chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1966)
1881 – Otto Toeplitz, German mathematician (d. 1940)
1889 – Walter Gerlach, German physicist (d. 1979)
1891 – Karl Kobelt, Swiss politician (d. 1968)
1892 – Kinsan Ginsan, Japanese identical twins who lived to ages 107 and 108, respectively.
1893 – King Alexander I of Greece (d. 1920)
1894 – Ottavio Bottecchia, Italian cyclist (d. 1927)
1900 – Otto Nothling, Former Australian cricketer and rugby union footballer (d. 1965)
1901 – Pancho Villa, Filipino world boxing champion (d. 1925)
1910 – James Henry Govier, British artist (d. 1974)
1910 – Walter Scharf, American composer (d. 2003)
1910 – Mohammad Nissar, Indian cricketer (d. 1963)
1911 – Jackie Ormes, American cartoonist (d. 1985)
1912 – Henry Jones, American actor (d. 1999)
1914 – J. Lee Thompson, British film director (d. 2002)
1916 – Anne Hébert, French Canadian author and poet (d. 2000)
1916 – Fiorenzo Angelini, Italian cardinal
1916 – Val Bettin, English voice actor
1921 – Jack Kramer, American tennis player
1922 – Pat McDonald, Australian actress (d. 1990)
1924 – Georges Charpak, Ukrainian-born physicist, Nobel laureate
1924 – Marcia Mae Jones, American actress (d. 2007)
1924 – Frank Worrell, Former West Indian cricketer (d. 1967)
1925 – Ernst Jandl, Austrian writer (d. 2000)
1926 – Theo Adam, German bass-baritone
1929 – Ann Calvello, Roller Derby Queen (d. 2006)
1930 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (d. 2002)
1930 – Lionel Bart, English song-writer (d. 1999)
1930 – Julie Bovasso, American actor and writer (d. 1991)
1931 – Trevor Goddard, Former South African cricketer
1932 – Meir Kahane, American founder of the Jewish Defense League (d. 1990)
1932 – Meena Kumari, Indian film actress (d. 1972)
1933 – Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian (d. 2009)
1933 – Jesse Corti, Venezuelan-born actor and comedian
1933 – Masaichi Kaneda, Japanese baseball player
1933 – Dušan Třeštík, Czech historian (d. 2007)
1934 – John Beck, Former New Zealand cricketer (d. 2000)
1935 – Geoff Pullar, Former England cricketer
1936 – Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer (d. 2008)
1937 – Al D'Amato, United States Senator from New York
1940 – Mervyn Kitchen, Former Somerset cricketer and cricket international umpire
1941 – Étienne Roda-Gil, French songwriter and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1942 – Jerry Garcia, American musician (The Grateful Dead) (d. 1995)
1942 – André Gagnon, French Canadian pianist and composer
1942 – Giancarlo Giannini, Italian actor
1945 – Douglas D. Osheroff, American physicist, Nobel laureate
1945 – Sandi Griffiths, American singer, The Lawrence Welk Show
1946 – Fiona Stanley, Australian epidemiologist
1946 – Boz Burrell, British musician (King Crimson, Bad Company) (d. 2006)
1947 – Chris L. Barnard, Welsh footballer
1947 – Dennis Zine, Los Angeles City Councilman
1949 – Kurmanbek Bakiyev, President of Kyrgyzstan
1950 – Jim Carroll, American poet and actor
1950 – Bunkhouse Buck, American professional wrestler
1951 – Tommy Bolin, American musician (Deep Purple) (d. 1976)
1951 – Pete Mackanin, American baseball player
1952 – Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 2003)
1952 – Yajurvindra Singh, Former Indian cricketer
1953 – Robert Cray, American singer
1953 – Howard Kurtz, American journalist
1955 – Trevor Berbick, Jamaican boxer (d. 2006)
1955 – Arun Lal, Former Indian cricketer
1956 – Tom Leykis, American radio personality
1957 – Taylor Negron, American actor
1958 – Adrian Dunbar, Northern Irish actor
1958 – Rob Buck, American musician (10,000 Maniacs) (d. 2000)
1958 – Tor Håkon Holte, Norwegian cross country skier
1958 – Kiki Vandeweghe, American basketball player
1958 – Michael Penn, American singer and songwriter
1959 – Joe Elliott, English musician (Def Leppard)
1959 – Otomo Yoshihide, Japanese musician
1960 – Chuck D, American activist and rapper (Public Enemy)
1960 – Richard Roeper, American columnist and film critic
1961 – Mike Watkinson, Former England cricketer
1962 – Robert Clift, British field hockey player
1962 – Jacob Matlala, South African boxer
1962 – Jesse Borrego, American actor
1963 – Coolio, American rapper
1963 – Demián Bichir, Mexican actor
1963 – John Carroll Lynch, American actor
1963 – Koichi Wakata, Japanese astronaut
1963 – Dean Wareham, New Zealand musician (Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean and Britta)
1964 – Adam Duritz, American musician (Counting Crows)
1965 – Sam Mendes, British stage and film director
1966 – James St. James, American author and nightlife personality
1966 – Ganesh Mylvaganam, Former United Arab Emirates cricketer
1967 – Gregg Jefferies, American baseball player
1968 – Dan Donegan, American musician (Disturbed)
1968 – Stacey Augmon, American basketball player
1969 – Kevin Jarvis, American baseball player
1969 – David Wain, American actor
1969 – Graham Thorpe, Former England cricketer
1970 – David James, English footballer
1971 – Stuart Wade, English actor
1972 – Devon Hughes, American professional wrestler
1972 – Nicke Royale, Swedish musician (The Hellacopters)
1972 – Tanya Reid, Canadian actress
1972 – Maqsood Rana, Former Pakistani cricketer
1973 – Gregg Berhalter, American footballer
1973 – Tempestt Bledsoe, American actress
1973 – Veerle Dejaeghere, Belgian athlete
1973 – Eduardo Noriega, Spanish actor
1973 – Les Hill,Australian Actor
1974 – Beckie Scott, Canadian cross-country skiing athlete
1976 – Kevin Joseph, American baseball player
1976 – Nwankwo Kanu, Nigerian footballer
1976 – Hasan Şaş, Turkish footballer
1976 – Søren Jochumsen, Danish footballer
1977 – Marc Denis, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – Damien Saez, French musician, songwriter, and author
1978 – Dhani Harrison, English musician
1978 – Edgerrin James, American football player
1978 – Andy Blignaut, Former Zimbabwean cricketer
1979 – Junior Agogo, Ghanaian footballer
1979 – Jason Momoa, American actor
1979 – Honeysuckle Weeks, English actress
1980 – Mancini, Brazilian footballer
1981 – Stephen Hunt, Irish footballer
1981 – Dean Cox, Australian Rules Football
1981 – Ashley Parker Angel, North American singer and actor
1982 – Ai Tominaga, Japanese model and actress
1984 – Valery Ortiz, Puerto Rican actress
1984 – Bastian Schweinsteiger, German footballer
1986 – Andrew Taylor, English footballer
1986 – Anton Stralman, Swedish ice hockey player
1986 – Elena Vesnina, Russian tennis player
1987 – Sébastien Pocognoli, Belgian footballer
1987 – Rumi Hiiragi, Japanese Actress
1989 – Jack O'Connell, English Actor (Skins)
1998 – Khamani Griffin, American actor
Deaths
371 – St Eusebius of Vercelli, Italian bishop (b. c.283)
527 – Emperor Justin I (b. c.450s|450)
1137 – King Louis VI of France (b. 1081)
1227 – Shimazu Tadahisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1179)
1402 – Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, son of Edward III of England (b. 1341)
1457 – Lorenzo Valla, Italian humanist (b. c.1406)
1464 – Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1386)
1541 – Simon Grynaeus, German theologian (b. 1493)
1546 – Peter Faber, French Jesuit theologian (b. 1506)
1557 – Olaus Magnus, Swedish writer (b. 1490)
1580 – Albrecht Giese, German politician and diplomat (b. 1524)
1589 – Jacques Clément, French assassin of Henry III of France (b. 1567)
1675 – Weetamoo, sachem of Pocasetts, a band of the Wampanoag Indians her death winding up the end of King Philip's War (b. 1635)
1714 – Queen Anne of Great Britain (b. 1665)
1787 – Alphonsus Liguori, Italian founder of the Redemptionist order (b. 1696)
1796 – Robert Pigot, British army officer (b. 1720)
1798 – François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, French admiral (killed in battle) (b. 1753)
1807 – John Walker, English lexicographer (b. 1732)
1812 – Yakov Kulnev, Russian general (killed in battle) (b. 1763)
1851 – William Joseph Behr, German writer (b. 1775)
1866 – John Ross (aka. Kooweskoowe), Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation (b. 1790)
1903 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman (b. 1853)
1911 – Samuel Arza Davenport, American politician (b. 1843)
1917 – Frank Little, American labor organizer (lynched) (b. 1879)
1918 – John Riley Banister, American cowboy and Texas Ranger (b. 1854)
1920 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian nationalist leader (b. 1856)
1929 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer (b. 1870)
1943 – Lydia Litvyak, Soviet female flying ace (b. 1921)
1964 – Johnny Burnette, American singer (b. 1934)
1966 – Charles Whitman, American mass murderer (shot by police) (b. 1941)
1967 – Richard Kuhn, Austrian chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1900)
1970 – Frances Farmer, American actress (b. 1913)
1970 – Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1883)
1973 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer (b. 1882)
1973 – Walter Ulbricht, German communist statesman (b. 1893)
1974 – Ildebrando Antoniutti, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1898)
1977 – Gary Powers, American spy plane pilot (b. 1929)
1980 – Patrick Depailler, French Formula 1 driver (b. 1944)
1980 – Strother Martin, American actor (b. 1919)
1981 – Paddy Chayefsky, American writer (b. 1923)
1989 – John Ogdon, English pianist (b. 1937)
1990 – Norbert Elias, German sociologist (b. 1897)
1990 – Graham Young, British serial killer (b. 1947)
1996 – Frida Boccara, French singer (b. 1940)
1996 – Tadeus Reichstein, Polish chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1897)
1996 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian physician and international aid worker (b. 1929)
1997 – Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist (b. 1915)
1998 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian-born actress (b. 1927)
1999 – Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Indian-born writer (b. 1897)
2001 – Korey Stringer, American football player (b. 1974)
2003 – Guy Thys, Belgian football coach (b. 1922)
2003 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (b. 1962)
2004 – Philip Abelson American physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1913)
2005 – Al Aronowitz, American music journalist (b. 1928)
2005 – King Fahd of Saudi Arabia (b. 1923)
2005 – Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter (b. 1920)
2005 – Wibo, Dutch cartoonist (b. 1918)
2006 – Jason Rhoades, American installation artist (b. 1965)
2006 – Bob Thaves, American cartoonist (b. 1924)
2006 – Iris Marion Young, American feminist and political scientist (b. 1949)
2007 – Tommy Makem, Irish folk singer (b. 1932)
2008 – Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Indian politician (b. 1916)
2009 – Corazon Aquino, Former President of the Philippines (b. 1933)
Holidays and observances
Angola – Armed Forces Day.
Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago – Emancipation Day.
Benin – National Day.
People's Republic of China – Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Liberation Army.
Jamaica – Emancipation Day
Rastafari movement – Celebration of the liberation of Haile Selassie from slavery.
Switzerland – National Day – Commemorates Switzerland becoming a single unit on August 1 1291.
Bahá'í Faith – Feast of Kamál (Perfection) – First day of the eighth month of the Bahá'í calendar.
Lughnasadh – Lá Lúnasa, the traditional first day of Autumn in Ireland.
Lammas – Neopagan festival of Lammas.
Lebanon – Army's Day (Eid al-Jaysh).
Yorkshire, England – Yorkshire Day.
World Scout Day – anniversary of the first day of the Brownsea Island Camp in 1907, where Robert Baden-Powell began scouting.
United States – Colorado statehood day
