August 24

August 24 in recent years

2023 (Thursday)

2022 (Wednesday)

2021 (Tuesday)

2020 (Monday)

2019 (Saturday)

2018 (Friday)

2017 (Thursday)

2016 (Wednesday)

2015 (Monday)

2014 (Sunday)

August 24 is the 236th day of the year (237th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 129 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 49 BC – Julius Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River by the Numidians under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba of Numidia. Curio commits suicide to avoid capture.
• 79 – Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash (note: this traditional date has been challenged, and many scholars believe that the event occurred on October 24).
• 394 – The Graffito of Esmet-Akhom, the latest known inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphs, was written.
• 410 – The Visigoths under king Alaric I begin to pillage Rome.
• 455 – The Vandals, led by king Genseric, begin to plunder Rome. Pope Leo I requests Genseric not destroy the ancient city or murder its citizens. He agrees and the gates of Rome are opened. However, the Vandals loot a great amount of treasure.
• 1185 – Sack of Thessalonica by the Normans.
• 1200 – King John of England, signer of the first Magna Carta, marries Isabella of Angoulême in Bordeaux Cathedral.
• 1215 – Pope Innocent III declares Magna Carta invalid.
• 1349 – Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague.
• 1391 – Jews are massacred in Palma de Mallorca.
• 1456 – The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.
• 1482 – The town and castle of Berwick upon Tweed is captured from Scotland by an English army
• 1516 – The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeats the Mamluk Sultanate and captures present-day Syria at the Battle of Marj Dabiq.
• 1561 – Willem of Orange marries duchess Anna of Saxony.
• 1608 – The first official English representative to India lands in Surat.
• 1662 – The Act of Uniformity requires England to accept the Book of Common Prayer.
• 1682 – William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
• 1690 – Job Charnock of the East India Company establishes a factory in Calcutta, an event formerly considered the founding of the city (in 2003 the Calcutta High Court ruled that the city has no birthday).
• 1781 – American Revolutionary War: A small force of Pennsylvania militia is ambushed and overwhelmed by an American Indian group, which forces George Rogers Clark to abandon his attempt to attack Detroit.
• 1812 – Peninsular War: A coalition of Spanish, British, and Portuguese forces succeed in lifting the two-and-a-half-year-long Siege of Cádiz.
• 1814 – British troops invade Washington, D.C. and during the Burning of Washington the White House, the Capitol and many other buildings are set ablaze.
• 1815 – The modern Constitution of the Netherlands is signed.
• 1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri.
• 1820 – Constitutionalist insurrection at Oporto, Portugal.
• 1821 – The Treaty of Córdoba is signed in Córdoba, now in Veracruz, Mexico, concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.
• 1857 – The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in United States history.
• 1870 – The Wolseley Expedition reaches Manitoba to end the Red River Rebellion.
• 1875 – Captain Matthew Webb became first person to swim the English Channel
• 1891 – Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.
• 1898 – Count Muravyov, Foreign Minister of Russia presents a rescript that convoked the First Hague Peace Conference.
• 1909 – Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
• 1914 – World War I: German troops capture Namur.
• 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Cer ends as the first Allied victory in the war.
• 1929 – Second day of two-day Hebron massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attacks on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, result in the death of 65-68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city.
• 1931 – France and the Soviet Union sign a neutrality/no attack treaty.
• 1931 – Resignation of the United Kingdom's Second Labour Government. Formation of the UK National Government.
• 1932 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).
• 1933 – The Crescent Limited train derails in Washington, D.C., after the bridge it is crossing is washed out by the 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane.
• 1936 – The Australian Antarctic Territory is created.
• 1937 – Spanish Civil War: the Basque Army surrenders to the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie following the Santoña Agreement.
• 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Sovereign Council of Asturias and León is proclaimed in Gijón.
• 1941 – Adolf Hitler orders the cessation of Nazi Germany's systematic T4 euthanasia program of the mentally ill and the handicapped due to protests, although killings continue for the remainder of the war.
• 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō is sunk and US carrier USS Enterprise heavily damaged.
• 1944 – World War II: Allied troops begin the attack on Paris.
• 1949 – The treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization goes into effect.
• 1950 – Edith Sampson becomes the first black U.S. delegate to the United Nations.
• 1954 – The Communist Control Act goes into effect, outlawing the American Communist Party.
• 1954 – Getúlio Dornelles Vargas, president of Brazil, commits suicide and is succeeded by João Café Filho.
• 1963 – Buddhist crisis: As a result of the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids, the US State Department cables the United States Embassy, Saigon to encourage Army of the Republic of Vietnam generals to launch a coup against President Ngo Dinh Diem if he did not remove his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu.
• 1967 – Led by Abbie Hoffman, the Youth International Party temporarily disrupts trading at the New York Stock Exchange by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing trading to cease as brokers scramble to grab them.
• 1981 – Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.
• 1989 – Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
• 1989 – Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose is banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.
• 1989 – Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist Prime Minister in Central and Eastern Europe.
• 1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
• 1991 – Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
• 1992 – Hurricane Andrew makes landfall just south of Miami as a Category 5 hurricane.
• 1994 – Initial accord between Israel and the PLO about partial self-rule of the Palestinians on the West Bank.
• 1998 – First radio-frequency identification (RFID) human implantation tested in the United Kingdom.
• 2001 – Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean (en route to Lisbon from Toronto) and makes an emergency landing in the Azores.
• 2004 – Eighty-nine passengers die after two airliners explode after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow. The explosions are caused by suicide bombers (reportedly female) from the Russian Republic of Chechnya.
• 2006 – The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet.
• 2010 – In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, 72 illegal immigrants are killed by Los Zetas and eventually found dead by Mexican authorities.
• 2014 – A 6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Napa, California, in the northern San Francisco Bay area, It was the largest earthquake to strike northern California since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Births

• 1113 – Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (d. 1151)
• 1198 – Alexander II of Scotland (d. 1249)
• 1358 – John I of Castile (d. 1390)
• 1393 – Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (d. 1458)
• 1498 – John, Hereditary Prince of Saxony (d. 1537)
• 1552 – Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter (d. 1614)
• 1556 – Sophia Brahe, Danish horticulturalist and student of astronomy, chemistry, and medicine (d. 1643)
• 1578 – John Taylor, English poet (d. 1653)
• 1591 – Robert Herrick, English poet and cleric (d. 1674)
• 1635 – Peder Griffenfeld, Danish politician (d. 1699)
• 1707 – Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon (d. 1791)
• 1714 – Alaungpaya, Burmese king (d. 1760)
• 1732 – Peter Ernst Wilde, German physician and journalist (d. 1785)
• 1750 – Letizia Ramolino, French wife of Carlo Buonaparte (d. 1836)
• 1758 – Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1794)
• 1759 – William Wilberforce, English politician and philanthropist (d. 1833)
• 1772 – William I of the Netherlands (d. 1840)
• 1787 – James Weddell, Belgian-English sailor, hunter, and explorer (d. 1834)
• 1824 – Antonio Stoppani, Italian geologist and scholar (d. 1891)
• 1837 – Théodore Dubois, French organist, composer, and educator (d. 1924)
• 1845 – James Calhoun, American lieutenant (d. 1876)
• 1851 – Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer (d. 1924)
• 1860 – David Bowman, Australian politician (d. 1916)
• 1863 – Dragutin Lerman, Croatian explorer (d. 1918)
• 1865 – Ferdinand I of Romania (d. 1927)
• 1872 – Max Beerbohm, English-Italian author and illustrator (d. 1956)
• 1880 – Joshua Lionel Cowen, American businessman, co-founded the Lionel Corporation (d. 1965)
• 1884 – Earl Derr Biggers, American author and playwright (d. 1933)
• 1887 – Harry Hooper, American baseball player and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee (d. 1974)
• 1890 – Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer, actor, and surfer (d. 1968)
• 1890 – Jean Rhys, Dominican-English author (d. 1979)
• 1893 – Haim Ernst Wertheimer, German-Israeli biochemist and academic (d. 1978)
• 1895 – Richard Cushing, American cardinal (d. 1970)
• 1897 – Fred Rose, American pianist, songwriter, and publisher (d. 1954)
• 1898 – Malcolm Cowley, American author, poet, and critic (d. 1989)
• 1899 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian-Swiss author, poet, and critic (d. 1986)
• 1899 – Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
• 1899 – Gaylord DuBois, American author (d. 1993)
• 1901 – Preston Foster, American actor and singer (d. 1970)
• 1902 – Fernand Braudel, French historian and academic (d. 1985)
• 1902 – Carlo Gambino, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1976)
• 1903 – Karl Hanke, Polish-German politician (d. 1945)
• 1904 – Mary Burchell, English activist and author (d. 1986)
• 1904 – Alice White, American actress and singer (d. 1983)
• 1905 – Arthur Crudup, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
• 1905 – Siaka Stevens, Sierra Leonean politician, 1st President of Sierra Leone (d. 1988)
• 1907 – Bruno Giacometti, Swiss architect, designed the Hallenstadion (d. 2012)
• 1908 – Shivaram Rajguru, Indian activist (d. 1931)
• 1909 – Ronnie Grieveson, South African cricketer (d. 1998)
• 1911 – Viktor Barna, Hungarian-English table tennis player (d. 1972)
• 1911 – Lofty England, English engineer and manager (d. 1995)
• 1911 – Durward Kirby, American television host and announcer (d. 2000)
• 1911 – Michel Pablo, Egyptian-Greek Trotskyist leader (d. 1996)
• 1913 – Charles Snead Houston, American physician and mountaineer (d. 2009)
• 1914 – Ivar Iversen, Norwegian canoe racer (d. 2012)
• 1915 – James Tiptree, Jr., American author (d. 1987)
• 1916 – Ruy de Freitas, Brazilian basketball player (d. 2012)
• 1916 – Léo Ferré, Monegasque singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1993)
• 1916 – Hal Smith, American actor and singer (d. 1994)
• 1917 – Dennis James, American game show host and actor (d. 1997)
• 1918 – Sikander Bakht, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (d. 2004)
• 1919 – Enrique Llanes, Mexican wrestler (d. 2004)
• 1919 – Drs. P, Swiss-Dutch singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2015)
• 1920 – Alex Colville, Canadian painter (d. 2013)
• 1921 – Sam Tingle, Zimbabwean race car driver (d. 2008)
• 1921 – Eric Simms, English ornithologist and conservationist (d. 2009)
• 1922 – René Lévesque, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Premier of Quebec (d. 1987)
• 1922 – Howard Zinn, American historian, author, and activist (d. 2010)
• 1923 – Arthur Jensen, American psychologist and academic (d. 2012)
• 1924 – Alyn Ainsworth, English singer and conductor (d. 1990)
• 1924 – Jimmy Gardner, English actor (d. 2010)
• 1926 – Nancy Spero, American artist (d. 2009)
• 1927 – Anjali Devi, Indian actress and producer (d. 2014)
• 1927 – David Ireland, Australian author
• 1927 – Harry Markowitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1929 – Yasser Arafat, Egyptian-Palestinian engineer and politician, 1st President of the Palestinian National Authority (d. 2004)
• 1929 – Betty Dodson, American educator and author
• 1930 – Roger McCluskey, American race car driver (d. 1993)
• 1932 – Robert D. Hales, American captain and religious leader
• 1932 – Richard Meale, Australian composer (d. 2009)
• 1932 – Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, English cardinal
• 1932 – W. Morgan Sheppard, English actor
• 1933 – Prince Rupert Loewenstein, Spanish-born German-Bavarian aristocrat and financial manager of the rock band The Rolling Stones (d. 2014)
• 1934 – Kenny Baker, English actor
• 1936 – A. S. Byatt, English author and poet
• 1936 – Kenny Guinn, American banker and politician, 27th Governor of Nevada (d. 2010)
• 1936 – Arthur B. C. Walker, Jr., American physicist and academic (d. 2001)
• 1937 – Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, Nigerian businessman and politician (d. 1998)
• 1937 – Susan Sheehan, Austrian-American author
• 1938 – Halldór Blöndal, Icelandic politician
• 1938 – David Freiberg, American singer and bass player (Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, and Jefferson Starship)
• 1938 – Mason Williams, American guitarist and composer
• 1940 – Francine Lalonde, Canadian educator and politician (d. 2014)
• 1940 – Madsen Pirie, English author and educator
• 1942 – Max Cleland, American captain and politician
• 1942 – Peter Gummer, Baron Chadlington, English businessman
• 1943 – John Cipollina, American guitarist (Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Dinosaurs, and Man) (d. 1989)
• 1943 – Dafydd Iwan, Welsh singer and politician
• 1943 – Pini Zahavi, Israeli journalist and agent
• 1944 – Henry Braden, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
• 1944 – Bill Goldsworthy, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1996)
• 1944 – Gregory Jarvis, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (d. 1986)
• 1944 – Rocky Johnson, Canadian-American wrestler
• 1945 – Ronee Blakley, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
• 1945 – Molly Duncan, Scottish saxophonist (Average White Band)
• 1945 – Ken Hensley, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Uriah Heep, The Gods, and Toe Fat)
• 1945 – Vince McMahon, American wrestler, promoter, producer, and actor
• 1947 – Anne Archer, American actress and producer
• 1947 – Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author and songwriter
• 1947 – Roger De Vlaeminck, Belgian cyclist
• 1947 – Joe Manchin, American politician, 34th Governor of West Virginia
• 1947 – Vladimir Masorin, Russian admiral
• 1947 – Raven De La Croix, American actress
• 1948 – Jean Michel Jarre, French pianist, composer, and producer
• 1948 – Alexander McCall Smith, Rhodesian-Scottish author and educator
• 1948 – Sauli Niinistö, Finnish captain and politician, 12th President of Finland
• 1948 – Kim Sung-il, South Korean commander and pilot
• 1949 – Pia Degermark, Swedish actress
• 1949 – Stephen Paulus, American composer (d. 2014)
• 1949 – Joe Regalbuto, American actor and director
• 1949 – Charles Rocket, American actor (d. 2005)
• 1950 – John Banaszak, American football player and coach
• 1950 – Tim D. White, American paleoanthropologist and academic
• 1951 – Orson Scott Card, American author and critic
• 1951 – Oscar Hijuelos, American author and academic (d. 2013)
• 1952 – Marion Bloem, Dutch author, director, and painter
• 1952 – Bob Corker, American politician
• 1952 – John Cowan, American singer and bass player (New Grass Revival, The Sky Kings, and The Doobie Brothers)
• 1952 – Carlo Curley, American organist (d. 2012)
• 1952 – Ian Grob, English race car driver
• 1952 – Holly Hallstrom, American model
• 1952 – Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaican-English poet
• 1952 – Mike Shanahan, American football player and coach
• 1952 – Peter Vogel, German footballer
• 1953 – Ron Holloway, American saxophonist
• 1953 – Sam Torrance, Scottish golfer and sportscaster
• 1954 – Philippe Cataldo, Algerian-French singer-songwriter
• 1954 – Alain Daigle, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1954 – Heini Otto, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager
• 1955 – Mike Huckabee, American minister and politician, 44th Governor of Arkansas
• 1956 – John Culberson, American lawyer and politician
• 1956 – Dick Lee, Singaporean singer-songwriter and playwright
• 1956 – Kevin Dunn, American actor
• 1957 – Jeffrey Daniel, American singer-songwriter and dancer (Shalamar)
• 1957 – Stephen Fry, English actor, journalist, producer, and screenwriter
• 1957 – Marcel Vanthilt, Belgian singer and television host
• 1958 – Steve Guttenberg, American actor and producer
• 1958 – Chris Offutt, American author and academic
• 1959 – Adrian Kuiper, South African cricketer
• 1959 – Meg Munn, English politician
• 1960 – Kim Christofte, Danish footballer
• 1960 – Takashi Miike, Japanese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1960 – Cal Ripken, Jr., American baseball player and coach
• 1961 – Ingrid Berghmans, Belgian martial artist
• 1961 – Jared Harris, English actor
• 1962 – Major Garrett, American journalist
• 1962 – Craig Kilborn, American actor and talk show host
• 1962 – David Koechner, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1962 – Emile Roemer, Dutch educator and politician
• 1963 – Francis Pangilinan, Filipino politician
• 1963 – John Bush, American singer-songwriter (Anthrax and Armored Saint)
• 1963 – Hideo Kojima, Japanese director and producer
• 1964 – Éric Bernard, French race car driver
• 1964 – Oteil Burbridge, American bass player (The Allman Brothers Band, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Vida Blue, BK3, and Col. Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit)
• 1964 – Dana Gould, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
• 1964 – Salizhan Sharipov, Kyrgyzstani-Russian lieutenant, pilot, and astronaut
• 1965 – Marlee Matlin, American actress
• 1965 – Reggie Miller, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1965 – Brian Rajadurai, Sri Lankan-Canadian cricketer
• 1966 – Nick Denton, English-American journalist, founded Gawker Media
• 1967 – Michael Thomas, English footballer
• 1968 – Benoît Brunet, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
• 1968 – Shoichi Funaki, Japanese-American wrestler
• 1968 – Andreas Kisser, Brazilian guitarist, songwriter, and producer (Sepultura and Hail!)
• 1968 – Urmas Liivamaa, Estonian footballer
• 1968 – Tim Salmon, American baseball player and sportscaster
• 1968 – James Toney, American boxer
• 1969 – Jans Koerts, Dutch cyclist
• 1970 – David Gregory, American journalist
• 1970 – Dan Henderson, American wrestler and mixed martial artist
• 1970 – Tugay Kerimoğlu, Turkish footballer and manager
• 1971 – Pierfrancesco Favino, Italian actor
• 1972 – Jean-Luc Brassard, Canadian skier
• 1973 – Andrew Brunette, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1973 – Dave Chappelle, American comedian, actor, producer and screenwriter
• 1973 – Inge de Bruijn, Dutch swimmer
• 1973 – Grey DeLisle, American voice actress and singer
• 1973 – Carmine Giovinazzo, American actor and singer
• 1974 – Órla Fallon, Irish singer-songwriter (Celtic Woman and Anúna)
• 1974 – Jennifer Lien, American actress
• 1975 – Roberto Colombo, Italian footballer
• 1975 – Mark de Vries, Surinamese-Dutch footballer
• 1976 – Simon Dennis, English rower
• 1976 – Alex O'Loughlin, Australian actor
• 1976 – Nordin Wooter, Surinamese-Dutch footballer
• 1977 – Denílson de Oliveira Araújo, Brazilian footballer
• 1977 – Robert Enke, German footballer (d. 2009)
• 1977 – Per Gade, Danish footballer
• 1977 – John Green, American author and blogger
• 1977 – Jürgen Macho, Austrian footballer
• 1978 – Derek Morris, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1978 – Beth Riesgraf, American actress
• 1978 – Darren Robinson, American singer and guitarist (Phantom Planet)
• 1979 – Vahur Afanasjev, Estonian author and poet
• 1979 – Orlando Engelaar, Dutch footballer
• 1979 – Elva Hsiao, Taiwanese singer and actress
• 1979 – Kaki King, American guitarist and composer
• 1979 – Michael Redd, American basketball player
• 1979 – Markus Walger, German rugby player
• 1980 – Sonja Bennett, Canadian actress
• 1981 – Chad Michael Murray, American model and actor
• 1981 – Jiro Wang, Taiwanese singer and actor (Fahrenheit and Dong Cheng Wei)
• 1982 – José Bosingwa, Portuguese footballer
• 1982 – Kim Källström, Swedish footballer
• 1982 – Glen Atle Larsen, Norwegian footballer
• 1983 – Brett Gardner, American baseball player
• 1983 – Marcel Goc, German ice hockey player
• 1983 – Christopher Parker, English actor and television host
• 1983 – George Perris, Greek-French singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1983 – Maher Abu Remeleh, Palestinian martial artist
• 1984 – Yesung, South Korean singer and actor (Super Junior and SM the Ballad)
• 1984 – Charlie Villanueva, American basketball player
• 1986 – Nick Adenhart, American baseball player (d. 2009)
• 1986 – Joseph Akpala, Nigerian footballer
• 1986 – Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, Indian actor
• 1986 – Arian Foster, American football player
• 1986 – Fabiano Santacroce, Italian footballer
• 1987 – Anže Kopitar, Slovenian ice hockey player
• 1987 – Daichi Miura, Japanese singer-songwriter, dancer, and choreographer
• 1987 – Jon Scheyer, American basketball player
• 1988 – Rupert Grint, English actor
• 1988 – Helga Krapf, Filipino actress
• 1988 – Maya Yoshida, Japanese footballer
• 1988 – Alice Glass, Canadian singer (Crystal Castles)
• 1989 – Rocío Igarzábal, Argentinian actress and singer (Teen Angels)
• 1990 – Juan Pedro Lanzani, Argentinian actor and singer (Teen Angels)
• 1990 – Anna-Liisa Põld, Estonian-American swimmer
• 1990 – Jeffrey Vinokur, American chemist and dancer
• 1991 – Anett Schutting, Estonian tennis player
• 1994 – Aqib Khan, English actor
• 1994 – King Krule, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1994 – Rafid Topan Sucipto, Indonesian motorcycle racer
• 1996 – Camila Giangreco Campiz, Paraguayan tennis player
• 1998 – Robin, Finnish singer
• 1998 – Sofia Andres, Filipino actress
• 2003 – Alexandre Coste, French son of Albert II, Prince of Monaco

Deaths

• 1042 – Michael V Kalaphates, Byzantine emperor (b. 1015)
• 1103 – Magnus Barefoot, Norwegian king (b. 1073)
• 1217 – Eustace the Monk, French pirate (b. 1170)
• 1540 – Parmigianino, Italian painter (b. 1503)
• 1542 – Gasparo Contarini, Italian cardinal (b. 1483)
• 1572 – Gaspard II de Coligny, French admiral (b. 1519)
• 1572 – Charles de Téligny, French soldier and diplomat (b. 1535)
• 1595 – Thomas Digges, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1546)
• 1647 – Nicholas Stone, English sculptor and architect (b. 1586)
• 1679 – Jean François Paul de Gondi, French cardinal (b. 1614)
• 1680 – Thomas Blood, Irish colonel (b. 1618)
• 1680 – Ferdinand Bol, Dutch painter (b. 1616)
• 1683 – John Owen, English theologian and academic (b. 1616)
• 1759 – Ewald Christian von Kleist, German poet and soldier (b. 1715)
• 1773 – George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1709)
• 1779 – Cosmas of Aetolia, Greek monk and saint (b. 1714)
• 1798 – Thomas Alcock, English clergyman and author (b. 1709)
• 1818 – James Carr, American politician (b. 1777)
• 1832 – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French physicist and engineer (b. 1796)
• 1841 – Theodore Hook, English composer (b. 1788)
• 1841 – John Ordronaux, French-American soldier (b. 1778)
• 1888 – Rudolf Clausius, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1822)
• 1895 – Albert F. Mummery, English mountaineer and author (b. 1855)
• 1923 – Kate Douglas Wiggin, American author (b. 1856)
• 1930 – Tom Norman, English businessman and showman (b. 1860)
• 1932 – Kate M. Gordon, American suffragette (b. 1861)
• 1939 – Frederick Carl Frieseke, German-American painter (b. 1874)
• 1940 – Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, Polish-German technician and inventor, invented the Nipkow disk (b. 1860)
• 1943 – Antonio Alice, Argentinian painter (b. 1886)
• 1943 – Simone Weil, French philosopher and activist (b. 1909)
• 1945 – Midori Naka, Japanese actress (b. 1909)
• 1946 – James Clark McReynolds, American lawyer and judge, 48th United States Attorney General (b. 1862)
• 1954 – Getúlio Vargas, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 14th President of Brazil (b. 1882)
• 1956 – Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese director and screenwriter (b. 1898)
• 1956 – Mitchell Lewis, American actor (b. 1880)
• 1958 – Paul Henry, Irish painter (b. 1876)
• 1961 – Günter Litfin, German person that was shot at the Berlin Wall (b. 1937)
• 1965 – Mart Kuusik, Estonian rower (b. 1877)
• 1967 – Lam Bun, Hong Kong radio host (b. 1930)
• 1967 – Henry J. Kaiser, American businessman, founded Kaiser Shipyards and Kaiser Aluminum (b. 1882)
• 1974 – Alexander P. de Seversky, Russian-American pilot and businessman, co-founded Republic Aviation (b. 1894)
• 1977 – Buddy O'Connor, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1916)
• 1978 – Louis Prima, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and actor (b. 1910)
• 1979 – Hanna Reitsch, German pilot (b. 1912)
• 1979 – Sampson Sievers, Russian monk and mystic (b. 1898)
• 1980 – Yootha Joyce, English actress (b. 1927)
• 1982 – Félix-Antoine Savard, Canadian priest and author (b. 1896)
• 1983 – Kalevi Kotkas, Estonian-Finnish high jumper and discus thrower (b. 1913)
• 1983 – Scott Nearing, American economist, educator, and activist (b. 1883)
• 1985 – Paul Creston, American composer (b. 1906)
• 1987 – Malcolm Kirk, English wrestler (b. 1936)
• 1990 – Sergei Dovlatov, Russian-American journalist and author (b. 1941)
• 1990 – Gely Abdel Rahman, Sudanese-Egyptian poet and academic (b. 1931)
• 1991 – Bernard Castro, Italian-American inventor (b. 1904)
• 1992 – André Donner, Dutch judge (b. 1918)
• 1997 – Werner Abrolat, German actor (b. 1924)
• 1997 – Luigi Villoresi, Italian race car driver (b. 1907)
• 1998 – E. G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1910)
• 1999 – Mary Jane Croft, American actress (b. 1916)
• 1999 – Alexandre Lagoya, Egyptian guitarist (b. 1929)
• 2000 – Andy Hug, Swiss martial artist and kick-boxer (b. 1964)
• 2001 – Jane Greer, American actress and singer (b. 1924)
• 2001 – Roman Matsov, Estonian violinist, pianist, and conductor (b. 1917)
• 2002 – Nikolay Guryanov Russian priest and mystic (b. 1909)
• 2003 – Wilfred Thesiger, Ethiopian-English explorer and author (b. 1910)
• 2004 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-American psychiatrist and academic (b. 1926)
• 2005 – Kaleth Morales, Colombian singer-songwriter (b. 1984)
• 2005 – Hal Kalin, American singer (Kalin Twins) (b. 1934)
• 2006 – Leonard Levy, Canadian-American author and academic (b. 1923)
• 2006 – Cristian Nemescu, Romanian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1979)
• 2006 – Rocco Petrone, American engineer (b. 1926)
• 2006 – Léopold Simoneau, Canadian tenor (b. 1916)
• 2007 – Andrée Boucher, Canadian politician, 39th Mayor of Quebec City (b. 1937)
• 2007 – Aaron Russo, American director and producer (b. 1943)
• 2010 – Satoshi Kon, Japanese director and screenwriter (b. 1963)
• 2011 – Mike Flanagan, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1951)
• 2012 – Dadullah, Pakistani Taliban leader (b. 1965)
• 2012 – Pauli Ellefsen, Faroese politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1936)
• 2012 – Steve Franken, American actor (b. 1932)
• 2012 – Claire Malis, American actress (b. 1943)
• 2012 – Dale Sommers, American radio host (b. 1943)
• 2012 – Maureen Toal, Irish actress (b. 1930)
• 2012 – Félix Miélli Venerando, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1937)
• 2013 – Gerry Baker, American soccer player and manager (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Nílton de Sordi, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1931)
• 2013 – Julie Harris, American actress and singer (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Muriel Siebert, American businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1928)
• 2013 – Mike Winters, English comedian and actor (b. 1926)
• 2014 – Richard Attenborough, English actor, director, producer, and politician (b. 1923)
• 2014 – Antônio Ermírio de Moraes, Brazilian businessman (b. 1928)
• 2014 – Aldo Donati, Italian singer-songwriter (b. 1947)
• 2014 – Leonid Stadnyk, Ukrainian giant (b. 1970)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abban of Ireland
  • Aurea of Ostia
  • Bartholomew (Roman Catholic, Anglican)
  • Ouen
  • August 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Earliest date on which Notting Hill Carnival can fall, while August 31 is the latest; celebrated on the last Monday in August and the day before. (Notting Hill)
• Flag Day (Liberia)
• Independence Day or Den' Nezalezhnosti, celebrates the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union in 1991.
• Nostalgia Night (Uruguay)
• Willka Raymi (Cusco, Peru)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada