August 2

is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining.

Events

216 B.C. - The Romans are defeated at the Battle of Cannae by Hannibal.
1610 - Henry Hudson sails into what it is now known as Hudson Bay, thinking he had made it through the Northwest Passage and reached the Pacific Ocean.
1776 - Delegates to the Continental Congress begin signing the United States Declaration of Independence.
1790 - The first US Census is conducted.
1798 - Second Coalition: The Battle of the Nile between French and British navies ends with a British victory.
1869 - Japan's samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant class system is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese date: June 25, 1869).
1870 - Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens in London.
1903 - Fall of the Ottoman Empire: Unsuccessful uprising of the Bulgarians against Ottoman Turkey, also known as the Ilinden uprising.
1916 - World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.
1918 - Japan announces that it is deploying troops to Siberia in the aftermath of World War I.
1934 - Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.
1943 - PT-109, with future president of the United States Lieutenant John F. Kennedy commanding, sinks.
1945 - World War II: Potsdam Conference, in which the Allied Powers discuss the future of defeated Germany, concludes.
1964 - North Vietnam allegedly fires on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.
1967 - The second Blackwall Tunnel opens in Greenwich, London.
1980 - A bomb explodes at the railway station in Bologna, Italy, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.
1985 - A Delta Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas, killing 137.
1990 - Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.
2004 - Monday demonstrations against social cutbacks began in Germany
2005 - Air France Flight 358 skids off the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport outside Toronto, Canada, destroying the plane but resulting in no loss of life.

Births

1533 - Theodor Zwinger, Swiss scholar (d. 1588)
1672 - Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (d. 1733)
1674 - Philip II, Duke of Orléans, regent of France (d. 1723)
1696 - Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1754)
1703 - Lorenzo Ricci, Italian Jesuit leader (d. 1775)
1754 - Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French-born architect and city planner (d. 1825)
1788 - Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (d. 1853)
1815 - Adolf Friedrich von Schack, German writer (d. 1894)
1834 - Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor (d. 1904)
1835 - Elisha Gray, American inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1901)
1854 - Milan I, King of Serbia (d. 1901)
1865 - Irving Babbitt, American literary critic (d. 1933)
1868 - King Constantine I of Greece (d. 1923)
1871 - John French Sloan, American artist (d. 1951)
1875 - Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian-Lithuanian artist (d. 1957)
1890 - Marin Sais, American actress (d. 1971)
1892 - Jack Warner, Canadian film producer (d. 1978)
1896 - Lorenzo Herrera, venezuelan singer and composer (d. 1960)
1897 - Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1974)
1900 - Helen Morgan, American actress (d. 1941)
1902 - Georgette Heyer, English historical novelist (d. 1974)
1905 - Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (d. 1963)
1905 - Myrna Loy, American actress (d. 1993)
1907 - Mary Hamman, American writer and editor, modern living editor LIFE and eidtor in chief Bride & Home (d. 1984)
1912 - Vladimir Zerjavic, Croatian statistician (d. 2001)
1914 - Beatrice Straight, American actress (d. 2001)
1915 - Gary Merrill, American actor (d. 1990)
1924 - James Baldwin, American author (d. 1987)
1924 - Carroll O'Connor, American actor (d. 2001)
1925 - Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentinian dictator
1925 - Alan Whicker, British journalist and broadcaster (“Whicker’s World”)
1930 - Vali Myers (artist), Australian painter (d. 2003)
1931 - Pierre DuMaine, Catholic bishop
1932 - Peter O'Toole, Irish-born actor
1934 - Valery Bykovsky, cosmonaut
1935 - Hank Cochran, American country music singer and songwriter
1937 - Garth Hudson, Canadian musician (The Band)
1939 - Wes Craven, American film director
1941 - Doris Coley, American singer (Shirelles) (d. 2000)
1942 - Isabel Allende, Chilean author
1945 - Alex Jesaulenko, Australian Rules footballer
1947 - Massiel, Spanish singer and Eurovision Song Contest winner
1948 - Andy Fairweather Low, British guitarist
1948 - Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
1949 - James Fallows, journalist, The Atlantic Monthly.
1950 - Lance Ito, American judge
1951 - Andrew Gold, American singer, musician and songwriter
1953 - Butch Patrick, American actor
1954 - Sammy McIlroy, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
1957 - Mojo Nixon, American musician and actor
1959 - Apollonia Kotero, American singer and actress
1960 - Neal Morse, American singer (ex-Spock's Beard and Transatlantic)
1961 - Linda Fratianne, American figure skater
1964 - Mary-Louise Parker, American actress
1966 - Jeff Healy, Canadian musician
1966 - Tim Wakefield, baseball pitcher
1969 - Fernando Couto, Portuguese footballer
1969 - Richard Hallebeek, Dutch guitarist
1970 - Tony Amonte, American hockey player
1970 - Kevin Smith, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1971 - Michael Hughes, Northern Irish footballer
1972 - Justyna Steczkowska, Polish singer
1974 - Jeremy Castle, American singer and songwriter
1975 - Xu Huaiwen, Chinese-born badminton player
1975 - Mineiro, Brazilian footballer
1977 - Edward Furlong, American actor
1982 - Grady Sizemore, American baseball player
1982 - Hélder Postiga, Portuguese footballer
1986 - Mathieu Razanakolona, first Malagasy Winter Olympic athlete - alpine skiing
1992 - Hallie Kate Eisenberg, American child actress

Deaths

686 - Pope John V
1100 - King William II of England
1222 - Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (b. 1156)
1511 - Andrew Barton, Scottish naval leader
1589 - King Henry III of France (b. 1551)
1611 - Kato Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord and samurai (b. 1562)
1696 - Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, Scottish military commander at the Massacre of Glencoe (b. 1630)
1769 - Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician (b. 1689)
1776 - Louis François I, Prince of Conti, French military leader (b. 1717)
1788 - Thomas Gainsborough, English artist (b. 1727)
1815 - Guillaume Marie Anne Brune, French marshal (murdered) (b. 1763)
1849 - Governor Muhammad Ali of Egypt (b. 1769)
1859 - Horace Mann, American educator and abolitionist (b. 1796)
1876 - James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, American gunfighter (b. 1837)
1890 - Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet (b. 1813)
1903 - Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian (b. 1850)
1921 - Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
1922 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born inventor (b. 1847)
1923 - Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States (b. 1865)
1934 - Paul von Hindenburg, German general and politician (b. 1847)
1936 - Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer (b. 1872)
1939 - Harvey Spencer Lewis, American Rosacrucian mystic (b. 1883)
1945 - Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (b. 1863)
1976 - Fritz Lang, Austrian film director (b. 1890)
1978 - Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (b. 1899)
1979 - Thurman Munson, baseball player (b. 1947)
1986 - Roy Cohn, American politician (b. 1927)
1988 - Raymond Carver, American writer (b. 1938)
1988 - Joe Carcione (also known as "The Green Grocer"), American consumer advocate (b. 1914)
1990 - Norman Mclean, American writer (b. 1902)
1997 - William S. Burroughs, American writer (b. 1914)
1998 - Shari Lewis, American puppeteer (b. 1933)
2003 - Don Estelle, British actor (b. 1933)
2003 - Mike Levey, American television personality (b. 1948)
2003 - Peter Safar, Austrian physician (b. 1924)
2004 - Don Tosti, American musician (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

Costa Rica - Our Lady of the Angels
Bulgaria/Republic of Macedonia - Ilinden (St. Ilya Day), a day of remembrance of the Ilinden Uprising
Feast day of Ilya the Prophet in the Russian Orthodox Church
Roman Catholicism - the feasts of at least 4 saints:
- St. Peter Julian Eymard
- St. Stephen
- St. Alphonsus Mary de Ligouri
- St. Etheldritha/Alfrida
Day of airborne forces in Russia

External links

August 1 - August 3 - July 2 - September 2 -- listing of all days

Gourt Home::Gourt :: August 2

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links