Historical Events
- Aug 1 Art of the Olympians is awarded 501 (c) (3) status
- Aug 1 The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour
Baseball Record
Aug 4 32-year-old Alex Rodriguez becomes the youngest player in MLB history to hit 500 home runs, connecting on the 1st pitch he sees as NY Yankees beat Kansas City, 16-8
- Aug 4 NASA's Phoenix spaceship is launched
Baseball Record
Aug 4 San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds homers off Clay Hensley in 2nd inning of 3-2 loss to San Diego to tie Hank Aaron’s 33 year-old MLB career home run record of 755
Sports History
Aug 5 Atlanta left-hander Tom Glavine becomes only the 23rd pitcher in MLB history to reach the 300 win milestone as the Braves beat Cubs, 8-3
Women's British Open
Aug 5 British Open Women's Golf, St. Andrews: Lorena Ochoa of Mexico leads wire-to-wire to win the first of her 2 major titles, 4 strokes ahead of Maria Hjorth and Jee Young Lee
Eclipse
Aug 7 "Eclipse" 3rd book in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight Saga" is published by Little Brown - initial print run 1 million copies
- Aug 7 San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds hits his 756th career home run to break Hank Aaron's long-standing MLB record
- Aug 8 An EF2 tornado touches down in Kings County and Richmond County, New York State, the most powerful tornado in New York to date and the first in Brooklyn since 1889.
Event of Interest
Aug 8 Carlos Slim overtakes Bill Gates as world's richest person with estimated net worth of US$59 billion, according to "Fortune"
- Aug 11 Jason Koumas makes his Wigan Athletic debut
- Aug 12 Bulk carrier M/V New Flame collides with oil tanker Torm Gertrud at the southernmost tip of Gibraltar, ending up partially submerged.
PGA Championship
Aug 12 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Southern Hills CC: Defending champion Tiger Woods wins his 4th PGA C'ship by 2 shots from Woody Austin
Film & TV History
Aug 17 Perez Hilton mistakenly announces the death of Cuban leader Fidel Castro
- Aug 19 15.12 inches (38.4 cm) rainfall at Hoakh, Minnesota (state record, breaking previous mark after 35 years)
- Aug 19 Canadian Open Women's Golf, Royal Mayfair GC: Mexican Lorena Ochoa wins by 3 from Paula Creamer
- Aug 19 The Tradition Senior Men's Golf, Crosswater Club: Mark McNulty of Zimbabwe wins lone career major title by 5 strokes from David Edwards
- Aug 21 Hurricane Dean makes its first landfall in Costa Maya, Mexico with winds at 165 mph. Dean is the first storm since Hurricane Andrew to make landfall as a Category 5.
- Aug 22 The Storm botnet, a botnet created by the Storm Worm, sends out a record 57 million e-mails in one day
- Aug 22 The Texas Rangers rout the Baltimore Orioles 30-3, the most runs scored by a team in modern MLB history.
- Aug 23 Hashtag invented and first used in a tweet by US product designer Chris Messina
- Aug 24 11th Athletics World Championships open at Osaka, Japan
- Aug 25 1st Women's Snow Polo World Championship takes place in Bariloche, Argentina
Music Concert
Aug 26 The Rolling Stones close their two-year, 147 concert "A Bigger Bang" tour at O2 Arena in London, England; box office gross of tour exceeds $558M, a record at the time
Venetian Macao Opens
Aug 28 The Venetian Macao, the second-largest casino in the world, opens in Macao, owned by Las Vegas Sands
Venice Film Festival
Aug 29 64th Venice Film Festival: "Lust, Caution" directed by Ang Lee wins Golden Lion
- Aug 29 A United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident takes place at Minot Air Force Base and Barksdale Air Force Base.
Voyager 2 Spacecraft
Aug 30 NASA spacecraft Voyager 2 crosses the termination shock, where solar and interstellar winds met (following Voyager 1 in 2004)
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 27 Ariana Greenblatt, American actress (Barbie), born in New York City
Famous Weddings
- Aug 6 NBA Houston Rockets center Yao Ming (27) weds Chinese women's national basketball team member Ye Li (26) at the Pudong Shangri-La hotel in Shanghai
- Aug 11 U.S. Women's Olympic ice hockey team member Krissy Wendell (25) weds NHL player John Pohl (28) at the Rose Hill Alliance Church in West Roseville, Minnesota
- Aug 25 American NHL Dallas Stars hockey player Mike Modano (37) weds "Dancing with the Stars" season 3 alumna Willa Ford (26) in Athens, Texas; divorce in 2012
- Aug 28 "Diff'rent Strokes" actor Gary Coleman (40) weds Shannon Price (22) at Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada
Famous Divorces
Christina Applegate
Aug 10 Actor Johnathon Schaech (37) divorces actress Christina Applegate (35) due to irreconcilable differences after 4 years of marriage
Famous Deaths
- Aug 1 Tommy Makem, Irish folk singer, dies of lung cancer at 74
- Aug 2 Chauncey Bailey, American journalist and editor, murdered while investigating a crime syndicate at 57
- Aug 2 Holden Roberto, Angolan independence leader, founder of the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), dies at 84
- Aug 2 Kay Dotrice [Katherine Newman], British actress (Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers), dies of a heart attack at 78
- Aug 3 John Gardner, English spy and thriller novelist (Boysie Oakes novels; James Bond continuation novels), dies of suspected heart failure at 80
- Aug 4 Lee Hazlewood, American country singer and songwriter ("Summer Wine"; "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'"), dies of renal cancer at 78
- Aug 5 Florian Pittiş, Romanian artist (b. 1943)
- Aug 5 Jean-Marie Lustiger, Cardinal of France
- Aug 5 Oliver Hill, American civil rights attorney (Presidential Medal of Freedom 1999), dies at 100
- Aug 6 Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician (number theory), dies at 90
- Aug 6 Heinz Barth, German convicted war criminal and former member of the Nazi SS, dies at 86
- Aug 6 Teizo Matsumura, Japanese composer ("Chinmoku / Silence"; "Hymn to Aurora") and haiku poet, dies at 78
- Aug 6 Zsolt Daczi, Hungarian rock guitarist (Bikini; Omen; Carpathia Project Tirana Rockers; solo), dies at 38
- Aug 7 Angus Tait, New Zealand electronics innovator and businessman (b. 1919)
- Aug 7 Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director and producer. (b. 1917)
- Aug 7 Hal Fishman, American Los Angeles based local news anchor. (b. 1931)
- Aug 8 Joybubbles [Josef Carl Engressia Jr.], American notable phone phreak, dies at 58
- Aug 8 Ma Lik, Chinese politician (b. 1952)
- Aug 8 Melville Shavelson, American film director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1917)
- Aug 9 Joe O'Donnell, American documentary photographer and photojournalist, dies at 85
- Aug 9 Tetsuzo Akutsu, Japanese surgeon who built the first artificial heart, dies at 84
- Aug 10 Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler, American member of Tuskegee Airmen and civil rights activist (b. 1925)
- Aug 10 James E. Faust, Second Councilor of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (b. 1920)
- Aug 10 Tony Wilson, British music personality, record label owner and radio broadcaster, dies of a heart attack at 57
- Aug 11 Franz Antel, Austrian filmmaker (Der Bockerer), dies at 94
- Aug 11 Norman Marshall, West Indian cricket spin bowler (1 Test, 2 wickets; Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago), dies at 83
- Aug 12 Ian McGeoch, Scottish Vice-Admiral with Royal Navy (submarine HMS Splendid WWII), dies at 93
- Aug 12 Merv Griffin, American television host and game show creator, dies at 82
- Aug 12 Mike Wieringo, American comic book artist (b. 1963)
- Aug 13 Brian Adams, aka Demolition Crush, American professional wrestler (b. 1964)
- Aug 13 Brooke Astor, American philanthropist and socialite, dies at 105
Phil Rizzuto (1917-2007)
Aug 13 American Baseball HOF shortstop (5 x MLB All-Star; 7 x World Series; AL MVP 1950; NY Yankees) and broadcaster (WCBS radio, WPIX-TV), dies at 89
- Aug 13 Tudor Jarda, Romanian composer, dies at 85
- Aug 13 Yone Minagawa, Japanese supercentenarian, world's oldest person in 2007, dies at 114
- Aug 14 Tikhon Nikolayevich Khrennikov, Soviet composer and leader of the Union of Soviet Composer, dies at 94
- Aug 15 Dave Hassinger, American recording engineer and record producer, dies at 80
- Aug 15 Geoffrey Orbell, New Zealand bush walker (rediscovered Takahe, thought extinct), dies at 98
- Aug 15 John Gofman, American Manhattan Project scientist and advocate (b. 1918)
- Aug 15 Richard Bradshaw, British opera conductor (Canadian Opera Company, 1989-2007), dies of a heart attack at 63
- Aug 15 Sam Pollock, Canadian NHL hockey general manager, 9X Stanley Cups (Montreal Canadiens, 1964-78), dies at 81
- Aug 16 Bahaedin Adab, Iranian MP (b. 1945)
- Aug 16 Clive Exton, British scriptwriter (Poirot; Jeeves and Wooster), and playwright, dies of brain cancer at 77
- Aug 16 Max Roach, American percussionist, drummer, and composer (b. 1924)
- Aug 16 The Missing Link, professional wrestler (b. 1939)
- Aug 17 Bill Deedes, British journalist and politician (b. 1913)
- Aug 18 Lucien Jarraud, Canadian radio host, dies at 84
- Aug 18 Michael Deaver, Reagan Administration Deputy White House Chief of Staff, dies at 69
- Aug 20 Berthold Grünfeld, Czech-Norwegian psychiatrist, sexologist, and educator, dies at 75
- Aug 20 Larry Hartsell, American martial artist, bodyguard, trainer, student of Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto, dies at 65
- Aug 20 Leona Helmsley, American real estate billionaire and convicted of federal income tax evasion, dies at 87
- Aug 21 Caroline Aigle, French first woman fighter pilot in the French Air Force aged 25, dies of cancer at 32
- Aug 21 Elizabeth P. Hoisington, American Brigadier General (one of the first two women to attain the rank of brigadier general), dies at 88
- Aug 21 Siobhan Dowd, British writer (Bog Child), dies of cancer at 47
- Aug 23 Philip Wilkinson, British bank executive (National Westminster Bank), dies at 80
- Aug 23 Robert Symonds, American actor and associate director of the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center, dies at 80
- Aug 23 William E. McAnulty, Jr., American lawyer (1st African American justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court), dies at 59
- Aug 24 Aaron Russo, American political activist, movie producer and director (Trading Places, Wise Guys, The Rose), dies of cancer at 64
- Aug 24 Andrée P. Boucher, Canadian politician, Mayor of Quebec City, dies at 70
- Aug 25 Ray Jones, English footballer, dies when he crashed his car into a bus 3 weeks after getting his driver's license at 18
- Aug 26 Edward Brandt Jr., American physician and public health official, dies at 74
- Aug 26 Gaston Thorn, 20th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (1974–79) and 7th President of the European Commission (1981–85), dies at 78
- Aug 26 Ramon Zamora, Filipino martial arts actor, dies at 72
- Aug 26 Roy McLean, South African cricketer (prolific South African batsman played 40 Tests), dies at 77
- Aug 27 Douglas "Doug" Riley [Dr Music], Canadian musician and musical director (Famous People Players), dies of a heart attack at 62
- Aug 27 Driss Basri, Moroccan politician (Interior Minister 1979-99), dies at 68
- Aug 27 Emma Penella, Spanish actress, dies at 76
- Aug 28 Arthur Jones, American inventor of the Nautilus exercise machines, dies at 80
- Aug 28 Francisco Umbral, Spanish journalist, novelist, biographer and essayist (b. 1935)
- Aug 28 Hilly Kristal, American Founder of CBGB/Punk rock legend (b. 1932)
- Aug 28 Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese-American Academy Award-winning stage and screen singer and actress (Sayonara; Flower Drum Song; Courtship of Eddie's Father - "Mrs. Livingston"), dies of cancer at 78
- Aug 28 Nikola Nobilo, New Zealand winemaker (b. 1913)
- Aug 28 Paul MacCready, American aeronautical engineer and inventor (1st man-powered aircraft), dies at 81
- Aug 29 Alfred Peet, Dutch-American entrepreneur and the founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea (b. 1920)
- Aug 29 Banarsi Das Gupta, Indian 4th Chief Minister of Haryana (1975-77), dies at 89
- Aug 29 Chaswe Nsofwa, Zambian soccer striker (33 caps; Zanaco FC), dies from heart failure at 28
- Aug 29 James Muir Cameron Fletcher, New Zealand industrialist (b. 1914)
- Aug 29 Pierre Messmer, French politician (Prime Minister of France 1972-74 under Georges Pompidou), dies at 91
- Aug 29 Richard Jewell, American security guard (central figure in 1996 Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta bombing), dies from kidney failure at 44
- Aug 30 Augustine Harris, British Bishop of Middlesbrough, dies at 89
- Aug 30 Charles Vanik, American politician (Rep-D-Ohio 1955-81), dies at 94
- Aug 30 Michael Jackson, British beer and whiskey author and expert, dies at 65
- Aug 30 Roef Ragas, Dutch actor (Missing Link, Red Rain, Juju, Mykosch), dies at 42
- Aug 31 Gay Brewer, American golfer (US Masters 1967), dies of lung cancer at 75
- Aug 31 Karloff Lagarde, Mexican professional wrestler, dies at 79
- Aug 31 Willie Cunningham, Irish soccer defender (30 caps Northern Ireland; St Mirren, Leicester City, Dunfermline) and manager (Dunfermline, Falkirk, St Mirren), dies at 77
