Historical Events
- Aug 2 South African cricket batsman Graeme Smith blazes 259, fast bowler Makhaya Ntini has 5 wickets in each England innings as Proteas win 2nd Test by an innings and 92 at Lord's
Women's British Open
Aug 3 British Open Women's Golf, Royal Lytham & St Annes GC: Annika Sörenstam of Sweden wins by 1 stroke from Se Ri Pak; completes career grand slam for Sörenstam
- Aug 5 A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.
- Aug 10 The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK - 38.5°C (101.3°F) in Kent . It is the first time the UK has recorded a temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Aug 11 A heat wave in Paris results in temperatures rising to 112°F (44° C), leaving about 144 people dead.
- Aug 11 Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
- Aug 11 NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
- Aug 14 Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.
Sports History
Aug 16 Cristiano Ronaldo (18) makes his debut for Manchester United and the Premier League in a 4–0 home victory over Bolton Wanderers
- Aug 16 New Zealand beats Australia, 21-17 at Eden Park, Auckland to win their 5th Tri Nations Rugby Series; All Blacks have undefeated 4-0 record and regain Bledisloe Cup from Wallabies
- Aug 16 U.S. Representative from South Dakota Bill Janklow hits and kills a motorcyclist with his car at a rural intersection near Trent, South Dakota; he will eventually be convicted of manslaughter and will resign from Congress.
- Aug 17 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Oak Hill CC: Shaun Micheel wins his lone major title by 2 strokes from Chad Campbell
- Aug 19 A car-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees.
- Aug 19 A Hamas planned suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem kills 23 Israelis, 7 of them children
- Aug 22 Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building
- Aug 23 9th Athletics World Championships open at Saint-Denis, France
- Aug 25 The Tli Cho land claims agreement is signed between the Dogrib First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchoko).
- Aug 26 The Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
- Aug 27 60th Venice Film Festival: "The Return" directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev wins Golden Lion
- Aug 27 Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
Video Music Awards
Aug 28 20th MTV Video Music Awards: Missy Elliott, Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake win
- Aug 28 An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.
- Aug 29 Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, is assassinated in a terrorist bombing, along with nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf.
Sports History
Aug 31 The Tradition Senior Men's Golf, Reserve Vineyards & GC: Tom Watson wins his third of 6 Champions Tour majors by 1 stroke from Jim Ahern & Tom Kite
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 17 The Kid Laroi [Charlton Howard], Australian singer-songwriter (Without You), born in Waterloo, Australia
- Aug 18 Max Charles, American actor (The Amazing Spider-Man; The Neighbors), born in Dayton, Ohio
- Aug 20 Prince Gabriel of Belgium, second child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, born in Erasmus Hospital, Anderlecht, Brussels, Belgium
- Aug 24 Alexandre Coste, Son of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, born in Paris
- Aug 28 Lexi Underwood, American actress and singer (Cruel Summer), born in Cheverly, Maryland
- Aug 28 Quvenzhané Wallis, American actress (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Annie), born in Houma, Louisiana
Famous Weddings
- Aug 9 Former "New Kids on the Block" singer Joey McIntyre (30) weds real estate agent Barrett Williams (25) in New York City's Plaza Hotel
Geraldo Rivera
Aug 10 American "Fox News" correspondent Geraldo Rivera (60) weds fifth wife, American former "Rivera Live" producer Erica Levy (28) at Manhattan's Central Synagogue
- Aug 10 Russian cosmonaut Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (41) becomes the first person to marry in space, marrying Ekaterina Dmitriev (on earth)
Leni Riefenstahl
Aug 22 Film director Leni Riefenstahl (101) weds cinematographer Horst Kettner (59)
Julianne Moore
Aug 23 "The Hours" actress Julianne Moore (42) weds "The Myth of Fingerprints" director Bart Freundlich (33) in New York
Amy Poehler
Aug 29 Comedian Amy Poehler (31) marries fellow comedian Will Arnett (33)
- Aug 30 Daughter of Paul McCartney and fashion designer Stella McCartney (31) weds British publisher Alasdhair Willis on the 300-acre Gothic Estate in Scotland's Isle of Bute
Famous Deaths
- Aug 1 Guy Thys, Belgian football coach (b. 1922)
- Aug 1 Marie Trintignant, French actress (Le Cousin), dies from injuries after domestic violence assault by her boyfriend at 41
- Aug 2 Charles Kerruish, Manx politician and President of Tyndwald Isle of Man, dies at 86
- Aug 2 Don Estelle [Ronald Edwards], British actor and singer ("It Ain't Half Hot Mum"), dies at 70
- Aug 2 Mike Levey, American TV infomercials host, dies of cancer at 55
- Aug 2 Peter Safar, Austrian physician (pioneered cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR), dies at 79
- Aug 3 (John) Roger Voudouris, American singer and songwriter (Get Used To It), dies of liver disease at 48
- Aug 4 Anthony Bloom, Russian clergyman, broadcaster and writer (Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church for Great Britain and Ireland), dies at 89
- Aug 4 Frederick Chapman Robbins, American pediatrician and virologist and Nobel Prize laureate 1954, dies at 86
- Aug 7 Mickey McDermott, American MLB player, dies at 74
- Aug 8 Jack Noreiga, West Indian cricketer (9-95 WI v India 1971), dies at 67
- Aug 8 Maki Ishii, Japanese composer, dies at 66
- Aug 9 Chester Ludgin, American operatic baritone (New York City Opera, 1957-91; San Francisco Opera, 1962-85), dies of cancer at 78 [1]
- Aug 9 Gregory Hines, American actor and dancer (White Nights; Taps), dies of liver cancer at 57
- Aug 9 Jacques Deray, French film director (b. 1929)
- Aug 9 Ray Harford, English soccer manager (Fulham, Luton Town, Wimbledon, Blackburn Rovers, WBA, QPR), dies from lung cancer at 58
- Aug 10 Bill Perkins, American cool jazz tenor saxophonist (Woody Herman; Stan Kenton; Bud Shank; The Tonight Show Band, 1970-82), and recording engineer, dies of cancer at 79
- Aug 10 Carmita Jiménez, Puerto Rican singer (Tierra Rica"; "La Vida En Rosa"), dies of cancer at 64
- Aug 11 Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (b. 1923)
- Aug 11 Diana Mitford, English biographer, famous beauty, wife of Oswald Mosley and one of the Mitford sisters, dies at 93
Herb Brooks (1937-2003)
Aug 11 American ice hockey coach (Olympic gold Medal 1980), dies in a car accident at 66
- Aug 13 Ed Townsend, American doo-wop singer, songwriter, and producer ("For Your Love"; Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On"), dies at 73
- Aug 14 Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
- Aug 15 Gösta Sundqvist, Finnish songwriter and singer (Leevi and the Leavings), dies of a heart attack at 43
- Aug 16 Andrew Pryce Jackman, British progressive rock keyboardist, arranger and composer, dies of a heart attack at 67
Idi Amin (c. 1925-2003)
Aug 16 Ugandan dictator (1971-79) who killed an estimated 100,000 to 500,000 people, dies of kidney failure aged between 75-80
- Aug 18 Tony Jackson, British bass player (The Searchers, 1962-64 - "Sugar And Spice"), dies from a combination of diabetes, heart disease, and cirrhosis of the liver at 65
- Aug 19 Carlos Roberto Reina, President of Honduras (b. 1926)
- Aug 19 Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (b. 1948)
- Aug 21 Kathy Wilkes, English philosopher and aid worker (underground universities behind the Iron curtain), dies at 57
- Aug 21 Wesley Willis, American underground singer-songwriter, and visual artist, dies of leukemia at 40
- Aug 22 Arnold Gerschwiler, Swiss figure skating trainer (b. 1914)
- Aug 22 Generosa Ammon, American widow of Ted Ammon (b. 1956)
- Aug 22 Imperio Argentina [María Magdalena Nile], Argentinian-Spanish singer and actress, dies at 92
Bobby Bonds (1946-2003)
Aug 23 American MLB baseball outfielder, 1968-81, 3x All-Star, 3x Golden Glove (San Francisco Giants, 1968-74 and 7 other teams), father of Barry Bonds, dies of lung cancer and brain tumor at 57
- Aug 23 Jack Dyer, Australian rules footballer (b. 1913)
- Aug 23 John Geoghan, American Catholic priest, and convicted sex offender, killed in prison at 68
- Aug 24 John Jacob Rhodes, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona), dies at 86
- Aug 24 Wilfred Thesiger, British military officer, explorer and travel writer (Arabian Sands, dies at 93
- Aug 26 Jim Wacker, American football coach (Southwest Texas State), dies of cancer at 66
- Aug 26 Wayne Andre, American jazz and session trombonist, dies at 72
- Aug 26 Wilma Burgess, American country-pop singer (Baby; Misty Blue), dies of a heart attack at 64
- Aug 27 Jinx Falkenburg [Eugenia], American actress and well-known US cover-girl model throughout 1930s-40s, dies at 84
- Aug 27 Pierre Poujade, French politician (b. 1920)
- Aug 28 Brian Douglas Wells, American criminal (failed) (b. 1956)
- Aug 28 Peter Hacks, German playwright (Tie Windloch) and essayist, dies at 75
- Aug 29 Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, Iraqi political leader (b. 1939)
- Aug 29 Michel Constantin, French film actor, dies at 79
- Aug 29 Patrick Procktor, English artist, dies at 67
Charles Bronson (1921-2003)
Aug 30 American actor (Magnificent Seven, Death Wish, The Dirty Dozen), dies at 81 [1]
