Historical Events
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Aug 1 Stieg Larsson's novel "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (first of the Millennium series) is published posthumously in Sweden
- Aug 2 MESSENGER spacecraft performs an Earth flyby
- Aug 2 The largest trade in NBA history is completed as 5 teams combine to swap 13 players; deal brings Antoine Walker & Jason Williams to Miami, leads to Heat's 1st ever championship that season
- Aug 3 President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya of Mauritania is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia
Event of Interest
Aug 4 Prime Minister Paul Martin announces that Michaëlle Jean will be Canada's 27th and first black Governor General
- Aug 5 NBA announces Las Vegas will host the 2007 All Star game; first time event will be held in a city without an NBA team
Baseball Record
Aug 5 St. Louis Cardinals 1st baseman Albert Pujols becomes the first player to connect for 30 home runs in each of his first 5 MLB seasons
- Aug 6 10th Athletics World Championships open at Helsinki, Finland
Sports History
Aug 7 American sprinter Justin Gatlin blitzes field to win 100m in 9.88 at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland
- Aug 7 In one of cricket history's closest Tests, and despite a brave unbeaten 43 from Australian tail-ender Brett Lee, England sneaks a 2-run win in series turning 2nd Test at Edgbaston
- Aug 11 American Justin Gatlin becomes only the 2nd athlete to take sprint double, winning 200m in 20.04 at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland
- Aug 12 An F1 tornado strikes Glen Cove, New York, a rare event on Long Island
- Aug 12 An F2 tornado strikes the coal mining town of Wright, Wyoming, destroying nearly 100 homes and killing two people.
- Aug 12 Civil unrest provoked in the Maldives
- Aug 12 Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, is fatally shot by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam sniper at his home
PGA Championship
Aug 15 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Baltusrol GC: American Phil Mickelson wins by 1 stroke from Australian Steve Elkington and Thomas Bjørn of Denmark
- Aug 16 West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes near Machiques, Venezuela, killing all 160 aboard.
- Aug 17 The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts.
- Aug 18 Dennis Rader is sentenced to 175 years in prison for the BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) serial killings in Sedgwick County, Kansas.
- Aug 18 Massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people.
- Aug 19 A series of strong storms lashes Southern Ontario spawning several tornadoes as well as creating extreme flash flooding within the city of Toronto and its surrounding communities. In Toronto, it is also dubbed as the Toronto Supercell.
- Aug 19 The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins
Hurricane Katrina
Aug 23 Hurricane Katrina forms over the Bahamas, later becoming a category 5 hurricane
- Aug 23 TANS Peru Flight 204 crashes near Pucallpa, Peru, killing 41.
Music History
Aug 26 US Postal Service christens a Los Angeles facility as "The Ray Charles Station"
- Aug 28 The Tradition Senior Men's Golf, Reserve Vineyards & GC: Loren Roberts wins first of 4 Champions Tour majors with bogey on 2nd playoff hole against Dana Quigley
- Aug 29 Hurricane Katrina makes 2nd and 3rd landfall as a category 3 hurricane, devastating much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida Panhandle. Kills more than 1,836, causes over $115 billion in damage.
Venice Film Festival
Aug 31 62nd Venice Film Festival: "Brokeback Mountain" directed by Ang Lee wins Golden Lion
- Aug 31 A stampede on Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad kills 1,199 people.
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 10 Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Indian chess prodigy, born in Chennai, India
Famous Weddings
Robert Evans
Aug 6 Legendary Hollywood film producer Robert Evans (75) weds Lady Victoria White (42) at the One & Only Palmilla resort in Cabo San Lucas
- Aug 18 Model and former Playboy Playmate Kylie Bax (30) weds photographer Spiros Poros in Delos, Greece
- Aug 20 "24" actress Sarah Wynter (32) weds "Details" magazine editor-in-chief Dan Peres in Sydney, Australia
- Aug 20 Award-winning American news anchor Lauren Sanchez (35) weds prominent talent agent Patrick Whitesell at The Bacara Resort and Spa in Santa Barbara, California
- Aug 21 "Strictly Come Dancing" hostess Natasha Kaplinsky (32) weds investment banker Justin Bower at St. Margaret's Church in Somerset, England
- Aug 23 Olympic gold medalist swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband (27) weds fellow Olympic swimmer Minouche Smit at Henkenshage Castle in Sint-Oedenrode, North Brabant, The Netherlands
- Aug 25 Prince Pieter-Christiaan of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven (33) weds Princess Anita van Eijk (25) on a civil ceremony at the Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Robert Downey Jr
Aug 27 American actor Robert Downey Jr (40) weds American film producer Susan Levin (31) at the Windy Dune Estat in Amagansett, New York
- Aug 30 "Squeeze" band founder Jools Holland (47) weds sculptor Christabel McEwen at St. James Church in Cooling, Kent, England
Famous Deaths
- Aug 1 Al Aronowitz, American music journalist (New York Post; Saturday Evening Post), introduced The Beatles to Bob Dylan, dies of cancer at 77
- Aug 1 Constant [Nieuwenhuys], Dutch painter (Uprising of Homo Ludens), and sculptor, dies at 85
- Aug 1 Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia (1982-2005), dies at 84
- Aug 1 WiBo, Dutch cartoonist, dies at 87
- Aug 2 Steven Vincent, American journalist and writer, kidnapped and murdered by religious extremists in Iraq at 49
- Aug 3 Françoise d'Eaubonne, French feminist (b. 1920)
- Aug 4 Anatoly Larkin, Russian American physicist, dies at 72
- Aug 4 Little Milton [James Milton Campbell], American blues singer and guitarist ("Grits Ain't Groceries"), dies at 70
- Aug 4 Nick Perito, American pianist, accordion player, arranger and orchestra leader (Perry Como; Muzak; The Don Knotts Show), dies of pulmonary fibrosis at 81
- Aug 5 (Lyle) "Spud" Murphy [Miko Stefanovic], Serbian-American jazz multi-instrumentalist, arranger (Benny Goodman; Casa Loma Orchestra), bandleader, composer (Columbia Pictures), and educator (Equal Interval System), dies at 96
- Aug 5 Jim O'Hora, American football coach (b. 1915)
- Aug 5 Polina Astakhova, Soviet-Ukrainian gymnast (5 Olympic gold 1956, 60, 64), dies at 68
- Aug 5 Raul Roco, Philippine senator (b. 1941)
- Aug 5 Roy Scott, New Zealand cricket all-rounder (1 Test, 1 wicket; Canterbury), dies at 88
- Aug 6 (William) "Keter" Betts, American jazz double bassist (Dinah Washington; Charlie Byrd; Ella Fitzgerald), dies of a heart attack at 77
- Aug 6 Carlo Little, English rock drummer (Screaming Lord Sutch & the Savages), dies of lung cancer at 66
- Aug 6 Crème Puff, world's oldest recorded cat, dies in Texas aged 38 years and 3 days [1]
- Aug 6 Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban singer (Los Bocucos, 1959-91; Buena Vista Social Club), dies at 78
- Aug 6 James Wilson, English-Irish classical composer (Grinning At The Devil), dies at 82
- Aug 6 Robin Cook, British politician (b. 1946)
Peter Jennings (1938-2005)
Aug 7 Canadian-American news anchor (ABC Evening News), dies of lung cancer at 67
- Aug 8 Ahmed Deedat, Islamic scholar (b. 1918)
- Aug 8 Barbara Bel Geddes, American actress (Vertigo, Dallas, Caught), dies at 82
- Aug 8 Gene Mauch, American baseball player (b. 1925)
- Aug 8 Ilse Werner [Ilse Charlotte Still], Dutch-German actress (Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow), dies at 84
- Aug 8 John H. Johnson, African-American publisher Negro Digest, Ebony, Jet), dies at 87
- Aug 8 Monica Sjöö, Swedish artist (b. 1938)
- Aug 9 Judith Rossner, American novelist ("Looking for Mr. Goodbar"; "August"), dies at 70
- Aug 9 Matthew McGrory, American actor (worlds's tallest actor at 7 ft 6 in), dies at 32
- Aug 11 James Booth [David Geeves], British actor and screenwriter (Zulu, Keeping Mum), dies at 77
- Aug 12 John Loder, co-founder of the anarcho-punk band CRASS (b. 1946)
- Aug 12 Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lankan politician (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka), dies at 73
David Lange (1942-2005)
Aug 13 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (Labour: 1984-89), dies of complications associated with renal failure and diabetes at 63
- Aug 14 Christmas Tinto, South African ANC and UDF leader, dies at 79
- Aug 14 Coo Coo Marlin, American NASCAR race car driver, dies at 73
- Aug 16 Frère Roger, Swiss monk and mystic (b. 1915)
- Aug 16 Joe Ranft, American screenwriter and animator (Toy Story, Cars), dies at 45
- Aug 16 Vassar Clements, American musician (b. 1928)
- Aug 16 Vicky Moscholiou, Greek singer (b. 1943)
- Aug 16 William Corlett, English children's writer(b. 1938)
- Aug 17 John Bahcall, American astrophysicist (b. 1934)
- Aug 18 Christopher Bauman, American wrestler (b. 1982)
- Aug 18 Gao Xiumin, Chinese comedy actress (b. 1959)
- Aug 19 Mo Mowlam, British Labour Party politician (Member of Parliament for Redcar), dies at 55
- Aug 20 Krzysztof Raczkowski, Polish heavy metal drummer, dies of heart failure at 34
- Aug 21 Dahlia Ravikovitch, Israeli poet (b. 1936)
- Aug 21 David Ironside, South African cricketer (South African swing bowler in 3 Tests v NZ 1953-54), dies at 80
- Aug 21 Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1925)
- Aug 21 Martin Dillon, American opera singer, dies of cardiac arrest at 48
- Aug 21 Polly Hill, British economic anthropologist (studied Cocoa-Farmers of Southern Ghana), dies at 91
- Aug 21 Robert Moog, American engineer (Moog synthesizer, Moog Music), dies of a brain tumor at 71
- Aug 22 Juliet Pannett, English portrait painter (Illustrated London News), dies at 94 [1]
- Aug 22 Luc Ferrari, French composer, dies at 76
- Aug 23 Brock Peters [George Fisher], American actor and singer (Carmen Jones; To Kill a Mockingbird), dies at 78
- Aug 23 Harold "Hal" Kalin, American singer (Kalin Twins), dies in a road accident at 71
- Aug 23 Jack Hibbert, British economic statistician (Central Statistical Office, 1960-92, as director, 1985-92), dies at 73
- Aug 23 Ninjalicious, Canadian author and urban explorer (b. 1973)
- Aug 24 Kaleth Morales, Colombian vallenato folk music singer and songwriter ("Vivo en el Limbo" - I Live in the Limbo), dies in a vehicle crash at 22
- Aug 25 Peter Glotz, German politician (b. 1939)
- Aug 25 Terence Morgan, British actor (Sir Francis Drake, Curse of the Mummy's Tomb), dies of a heart attack at 83
- Aug 26 Denis D'Amour, Canadian heavy metal guitarist (Voivod), dies of cancer at 45
- Aug 26 Ed White, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1949)
- Aug 26 Gerry Fitt, Northern Irish politician (Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party), dies at 79
- Aug 26 Robert Denning, American interior designer, dies at 78
- Aug 27 Bert Farber, American orchestra leader (Arthur Godfrey; Vic Damone), dies at 92
- Aug 27 Seán Purcell, Gaelic footballer (b. 1929)
- Aug 28 Esther Szekeres, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1910)
- Aug 28 George Szekeres, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1911)
- Aug 28 Jacques Dufilho, French actor (b. 1914)
- Aug 29 Barry Cowsill, American rock bassist (The Cowsills - "We Can Fly"), drowned during Hurricane Katrina at 50
- Aug 30 Andor Kovach, Romanian composer (Médée), dies at 90
- Aug 30 James H. Scheuer, American politician (Rep-D-NY, 1965-73, 75- 93), dies of heart and kidney failure at 85
- Aug 31 Joseph Rotblat, Polish-British physicist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (for work to end the nuclear arms race), dies at 96
- Aug 31 Michael Sheard, Scottish actor (The Empire Strikes Back), dies at 67
