today.nukz.net: Almanac August 14

Halle Berry ( born August 14, 1966) is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming the first and, as of 2012, only woman of African American descent to have won the award for Best Actress. She is one of the most highly paid actresses in Hollywood and has been involved in the production side of several of the films in which she performed. Berry is also a Revlon spokesmodel.

Events

1183 – Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take the young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan. (Traditional Japanese date: Twenty-fifth Day of the Seventh Month of the Second Year of Juei).
1385 – Portuguese Crisis of 1383–1385: Battle of Aljubarrota – Portuguese forces commanded by King João I and his general Nuno Álvares Pereira defeat the Castilian army of King Juan I.
1415 – Henry the Navigator leads Portuguese forces to victory over the Marinids at the Battle of Ceuta.
1592 – Imjin War: Battle of Hansando Admiral Yi Sun-sin decisively defeats the Japanese Navy at Hasan Island.
1598 – Nine Years War: Battle of the Yellow Ford – Irish forces under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, defeat an English expeditionary force under Henry Bagenal.
1816 – the United Kingdom formally annexed the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, ruling them from the Cape Colony in South Africa.
1842 – American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida to Oklahoma.
1848 – Oregon Territory is organized by act of Congress.
1880 – Construction of Cologne Cathedral, the most famous landmark in Cologne, Germany, is completed.
1885 – Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
1888 – An audio recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan's "The Lost Chord", one of the first recordings of music ever made, is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London.
1893 – France becomes the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.
1897 – Franco-Hova Wars: The town of Anosimena is captured by French troops from Menabe defenders in Madagascar.
1900 – The Eight-Nation Alliance occupies Beijing, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China.
1901 – The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.
1911 – United States Senate leaders agree to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the Senate among leading candidates to fill the vacancy left by William P. Frye's death.
1912 – United States Marines invade Nicaragua to support the U.S.-backed government installed there after José Santos Zelaya had resigned three years earlier.
1916 – Romania declares war on Austro-Hungary, joining the Entente in World War I
1921 – Tannu Tuva, later Tuvinian People's Republic is established as a completely independent country (which is supported by Soviet Russia).
1933 – Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn. It is extinguished on September 5, after destroying 240,000 acres (970 km²).
1935 – United States Social Security Act passes, creating a government pension system for the retired.
1936 – Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States.
1937 – Chinese Air Force Day: The beginning of air-to-air combat of the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II in general, when 6 Imperial Japanese Mitsubishi G3M bombers are shot down by the Nationalist Chinese Air Force while raiding Chinese air bases.
1941 – World War II – Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims.
1945 – Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender in World War II and the Emperor records the Imperial Rescript on Surrender (August 15 in Japan standard time).
1947 – Pakistan gains Independence from the British Empire and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
1959 – Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.
1967 – UK Marine Broadcasting Offences Act declares participation in offshore pirate radio illegal.
1969 – Operation Banner: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland.
1971 – Bahrain declares independence as the State of Bahrain.
1972 – An East German Ilyushin Il-62 crashes during takeoff from East Berlin, killing 156.
1973 – The Pakistani Constitution of 1973 comes into effect.
1974 – The second Turkish invasion of Cyprus begins; 140,000 to 200,000 Greek Cypriots become refugees. 6,000 massacred, 1,619 missing.
1980 – Lech Walesa leads strikes at the Gdansk, Poland shipyards.
1987 – All the children held at Kia Lama, a rural property on Lake Eildon, Australia, run by the Santiniketan Park Association, are released after a police raid.
1994 – Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, also known as "Carlos the Jackal," is captured.
1996 – Greek Cypriot refugee Solomos Solomou is murdered by Turkish forces while trying to climb a flagpole in order to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus.
2003 – Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.
Helios Airways Flight 522 en route from Larnaca, Cyprus via Athens, Greece to Prague, Czech Republic crashes near Athens, with at least 121 onboard. Observations from Greek fighter aircraft indicate a decompression problem.
2006 – Chencholai bombing in which 61 Tamil girls are killed in Sri Lankan Airforce bombing.
2007 – The 2007 Kahtaniya bombings kills at least 796 people.
2010 – The first-ever Youth Olympic Games are held in Singapore.

Births

1297 – Emperor Hanazono, Emperor of Japan (d. 1348)
1473 – Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury, daughter of George, Duke of Clarence (d. 1541)
1479 – Princess Catherine of York (d. 1527)
1575 – Robert Hayman, English-born poet (d. 1629)
1586 – William Hutchinson, Rhode Island colonist (d. 1642)
1599 – Méric Casaubon, English classical scholar (d. 1671)
1625 – François de Harlay de Champvallon, Archbishop of Paris (d. 1695)
1642 – Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1723)
1653 – Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, English statesman (d. 1688)
1688 – Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (d. 1740)
1714 – Claude Joseph Vernet, French painter (d. 1789)
1727 – Princess Marie Louise Élisabeth of France, daughter of king Louis XV (d. 1759)
1727 – Princess Anne Henriette of France, daughter of king Louis XV (d. 1752)
1738 – Leopold Hofmann, Austrian composer (d. 1793)
1740 – Pope Pius VII (d. 1823)
1758 – Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, French painter (d. 1835)
1777 – Francis I of the Two Sicilies (d. 1830)
1777 – Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist (d. 1851)
1817 – Alexander H. Bailey, American politician (d. 1874)
1840 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German psychologist (d. 1902)
1847 – Robert Comtesse, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1922)
1851 – Yannoulis Chalepas, Greek sculptor (d. 1938)
1851 – Doc Holliday, American gambler and dentist (d. 1887)
1857 – Max Wagenknecht, German composer (d. 1922)
1863 – Ernest Thayer, American poet (d. 1940)
1865 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician (d. 1952)
1866 – Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin, Belgian mathematician (d. 1962)
1867 – John Galsworthy, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1933)
1867 – Cupid Childs, American baseball player (d. 1912)
1871 – Guangxu Emperor, Qing Emperor of China (d. 1908)
1876 – Aleksandar Obrenovic, King of Serbia (d. 1903)
1881 – Francis Ford, American actor (d. 1953)
1882 – Gisela Richter, British-born art historian (d. 1972)
1887 – Marija Leiko, Latvian actress (d. 1937)
1892 – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, English composer and pianist (d. 1988)
1893 – Francis Dvornik, Czech historian (d. 1975)
1895 – Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer (d. 1973)
1901 – Alice Rivaz, Swiss writer (d. 1998)
1908 – Manos Katrakis, Greek actor (d. 1984)
1910 – Pierre Schaeffer, French composer (d. 1995)
1910 – Willy Ronis, French photographer (d. 2009)
1912 – Frank Oppenheimer, American particle physicist (d. 1985)
1913 – Paul Dean, American baseball player (d. 1981)
1915 – B.A. Santamaria, Australian political activist and journalist (d. 1998)
1916 – Fumio Fujimura, Japanese baseball player (d. 1992)
1916 – Wellington Mara, Co-Owner of the New York Giants (d. 2005)
1923 – Diodoros, Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 2000)
1924 – Georges Prêtre, French conductor
1924 – Holger Juul Hansen, Danish actor
1924 – Sverre Fehn, Norwegian architect (d. 2009)
1924 – Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa Lama, Tibetan religious figure (d. 1981)
1925 – Russell Baker, American columnist
1926 – Alice Ghostley, American actress (d. 2007)
1926 – Buddy Greco, American singer and pianist
1926 – René Goscinny, French comic-strip author (d. 1977)
1926 – Lina Wertmüller, Italian film director
1929 – Dick Tiger, Nigerian boxer (d. 1971)
1929 – Dr. Gene Scott, American pastor, teacher and religious broadcaster (d. 2005)
1930 – Earl Weaver, American baseball manager
1932 – Lee Hoffman, American author (d. 2007)
1933 – Richard R. Ernst, Swiss chemist and Nobel Prize Laureate
1935 – John Brodie, American football player
1936 – Trevor Bannister, British actor (d. 2011)
1940 – Dash Crofts, American musician
1940 – Galen Hall, American football coach
1941 – Lynne Cheney, American political figure
1941 – David Crosby, American musician
1941 – Connie Smith, American singer
1942 – Jackie Oliver, British Formula One driver
1942 – Lionel Morton, musician and television presenter
1945 – Steve Martin, American actor and comedian
1945 – Wim Wenders, German-born film director
1946 – Antonio Fargas, American actor
1946 – Susan Saint James, American actress
1946 – Larry Graham, American musician
1947 – Peter Christian, British actor
1947 – Bruce Nash, American television producer
1947 – Maddy Prior, British folk singer
1947 – Danielle Steel, American novelist
1947 – Jiro Taniguchi, Japanese manga artist
1948 – Terry Adams, American musician (NRBQ)
1949 – Bob Backlund, American wrestler
1949 – Morten Olsen, Danish footballer
1950 – Gary Larson, American cartoonist (The Far Side)
1951 – Peter Blegvad, American musician (Slapp Happy)
1951 – Slim Dunlap, American guitarist and singer-songwriter
1951 – Norbert Hofmann, German footballer
1952 – Carl Lumbly, American actor
1952 – Debbie Meyer, American swimmer
1953 – James Horner, American composer
1953 – Cliff Johnson, American computer game author
1954 – Mark Fidrych, American baseball player (d. 2009)
1954 – Stanley McChrystal, American general
1956 – Jackée Harry, American actress
1956 – Andy King, English footballer
1956 – Johnny Lever, Indian actor
1956 – Rusty Wallace, American race car driver
1957 – Peter Costello, Australian politician
1957 – Gino Hernandez, American professional wrestler (d. 1986)
1958 – Bobby Eaton, American professional wrestler
1959 – Marcia Gay Harden, American actress
1959 – Magic Johnson, American basketball player
1959 – Frank Brickowski, American basketball player
1960 – Fred Roberts, Basketball player
1960 – Sarah Brightman, British soprano
1960 – Sharon Bryant, American R&B singer
1960 – Cecilia Gasdia, Italian soprano
1961 – Susan Olsen, American actress
1961 – "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert, American wrestler (d. 1995)
1962 – Mark Gubicza, American baseball player
1962 – Rameez Raja, Pakistani cricketer
1964 – Neal Anderson, American football player
1965 – Emmanuelle Béart, French actress
1965 – Mark Collins, English guitarist
1965 – Brannon Braga, writer and executive producer of 24, Star Trek, and FlashForward
1966 – Halle Berry, American actress
1966 – Karl Petter Løken, Norwegian footballer
1967 – Erik Gandini, Italian-Swedish director
1967 – Dirk Rehbein, German footballer
1968 – Catherine Bell, American actress
1968 – Darren Clarke, Northern Irish golfer
1968 – Adrian Lester, British actor
1968 – Billy Mavreas, Greek-Canadian cartoonist
1968 – Pravin Amre, Indian cricketer
1969 – Tracy Caldwell, American astronaut
1969 – DJ Uncle Al, American hip-hop DJ (d. 2001)
1969 – Stig Tøfting, Danish footballer
1970 – Kevin Cadogan, guitarist and songwriter
1971 – Raoul Bova, Italian actor
1971 – Mark Loretta, American baseball player
1971 – Pramodya Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan cricketer
1972 – Jay Manuel, Canadian make-up artist
1972 – Yu Jae-seok, South Korean entertainer
1972 – Laurent Lamothe, Prime Minister of Haiti
1973 – Jared Borgetti, Mexican footballer
1973 – Daisuke Ishiwatari, Japanese game developer and composer
1973 – Jay-Jay Okocha, Nigerian footballer
1973 – Kieren Perkins, Australian swimmer
1974 – Chucky Atkins, American basketball player
1974 – Martin Bulloch, Scottish musician (Mogwai)
1974 – Christopher Gorham, American actor
1974 – Ana Matronic, American singer (Scissor Sisters)
1975 – Mike Vrabel, American football player
1976 – Alex Albrecht, American actor
1976 – Steve Braun, Canadian actor
1976 – Fabrizio Donato, Italian jumper
1976 – Maya Nasri, Lebanese actress and singer
1977 – Elisavet Mystakidou, Greek martial artist
1977 – Ed Harcourt, English singer-songwriter
1977 – Juan Pierre, American baseball player
1978 – Anastasios Kyriakos, Greek footballer
1978 – Kate Ritchie, Australian actress
1978 – Greg Rawlinson, New Zealand rugby player
1979 – Paul Burgess, Australian athlete
1979 – Yoichiro Morikawa, Japanese film director
1979 – Jérémie Bréchet, French footballer
1980 – Estrella Morente, Spanish flamenco singer
1980 – Roy Williams, American football player
1981 – Earl Barron, American basketball player
1981 – Matthew Etherington, English footballer
1981 – Julius Jones, American football player
1981 – Kofi Kingston, Ghanaian professional wrestler
1983 – Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian/British tennis player
1983 – Mila Kunis, Ukrainian/American actress
1983 – Leo Núñez, Dominican baseball player
1983 – Spencer Pratt, American socialite
1984 – Eva Birnerová, Czech tennis player
1984 – Clay Buchholz, American baseball player
1984 – Giorgio Chiellini, Italian footballer
1984 – Kunzang Choden, Bhutanese target shooter
1984 – Josh Gorges, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Nick Grimshaw, British radio DJ and television presenter
1984 – Robin Söderling, Swedish tennis player
1985 – Christian Gentner, German footballer
1985 – Shea Weber, Canadian hockey player
1985 – Digão, Brazilian footballer
1986 – Terin Humphrey, American gymnast
1986 – Cameron Jerome, English footballer
1987 – James Buckley, English actor
1987 – Tim Tebow, American football player and winner of 2007 Heisman trophy
1987 – Chrystina Sayers, American singer and dancer (Girlicious)
1988 – Shahd Barmada, Syrian singer
1989 – Florian Abel, German footballer
1989 – Kyle Turris, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Jaydee Bixby, Canadian singer

Deaths

582 – Tiberius II Constantine
1040 – Duncan I of Scotland
1167 – Rainald of Dassel, Archbishop of Cologne
1204 – Minamoto no Yoriie, Japanese shogun (b. 1182)
1390 – John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, English soldier (b. 1364)
1430 – Philip I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1404)
1433 – King John I of Portugal (b. 1357)
1464 – Pope Pius II (b. 1405)
1573 – Saito Tatsuoki, Japanese warlord (b. 1548)
1691 – Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel, Irish rebel (b. 1630)
1704 – Roland Laporte, French Protestant leader (b. 1675)
1727 – William Croft, English composer (b. 1678)
1774 – Johann Jakob Reiske, German physician (b. 1716)
1784 – Nathaniel Hone, Irish-born painter (b. 1718)
1856 – Constant Prévost, French geologist (b. 1787)
1860 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist (b. 1774)
1870 – David Farragut, American officer of the United States Navy (b. 1801)
1874 – Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, American politician (b. 1821)
1905 – Simeon Solomon, British artist (b. 1840)
1909 – William Stanley, American inventor and engineer (b. 1829)
1928 – Alfred Henschke, German writer, poet (b. 1890)
1926 – John H. Moffitt, American politician (b. 1843)
1938 – Hugh Trumble, Australian cricketer (b. 1876)
1941 – Paul Sabatier, French chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1854)
1941 – Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Polish martyr (b. 1894)
1943 – Joe Kelley, American baseball player (b. 1871)
1943 – Lore Berger, Swiss writer (b. 1921)
1951 – William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper magnate (b. 1863)
1954 – Hugo Eckener, manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin (b. 1868)
1954 – Nikos Ploumpidis, Greek resistance figure (b. 1901)
1955 – Herbert Putnam, American librarian (b. 1861)
1956 – Bertolt Brecht, German writer (b. 1898)
1958 – Frédéric Joliot, French physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1900)
1958 – Konstantin von Neurath, German diplomat (b. 1873)
1964 – Johnny Burnette, American Rockabilly singer (b. 1934)
1965 – Vello Kaaristo, Estonian cross-country skier (b. 1911)
1966 – Tip Snooke, South African cricketer (b. 1881)
1967 – Bob Anderson, British racing driver (b. 1931)
1972 – Oscar Levant, American actor (b. 1906)
1972 – Jules Romains, French author (b. 1885)
1978 – Nicolas Bentley, British writer (b. 1907)
1980 – Dorothy Stratten, Canadian actress and model (b. 1960)
1981 – Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (b. 1894)
1981 – Dudley Nourse, South African cricketer (b. 1910)
1982 – Patrick Magee, Irish actor (b. 1922)
1984 – Spud Davis, American baseball player (b. 1904)
1984 – J. B. Priestley, British playwright (b. 1894)
1985 – Gale Sondergaard, American actress (b. 1899)
1988 – Roy Buchanan, American guitarist (b. 1939)
1988 – Robert Calvert, South African singer (Hawkwind) (b. 1945)
1988 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian car maker (b. 1898)
1989 – Ricky Berry, American basketball player (b. 1964)
1991 – Alberto Crespo, Argentine racing driver (b. 1920)
1992 – John Sirica, American judge (b. 1904)
1992 – Tony Williams, American singer (The Platters) (b. 1928)
1994 – Elias Canetti, British-born Austrian novelist (b. 1905)
1996 – Tom Mees, American sportscaster (b. 1949)
1996 – Solomos Solomou, Greek Cypriot refugee (murdered) (b. 1970)
1999 – Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player (b. 1918)
2000 – Alain Fournier, French-born computer graphics researcher (b. 1943)
2000 – Cuan McCarthy, South African cricketer (b. 1929)
2001 – Earl Anthony, professional bowler (b. 1938)
2002 – Dave Williams, American singer (Drowning Pool) (b. 1972)
2003 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (b. 1929)
2004 – Czeslaw Milosz, Polish-born writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1911)
2004 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-born British politician (b. 1918)
2005 – Coo Coo Marlin, American race car driver (b. 1932)
2006 – Bruno Kirby, American actor (b. 1949)
2007 – Tikhon Khrennikov, Russian composer (b. 1913)
2007 – Pinchas Goldstein, Israeli politician (b. 1939)
2007 – Kotozakura Masakatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 53rd Yokozuna (b. 1940)
2010 – Rallis Kopsidis, Greek writer (b. 1929)
2010 – Herman Leonard, American photographer (b. 1923)
2010 – Tahar Wattar, Algerian novelist (b. 1936)
2011 – Shammi Kapoor, Indian actor and director (b. 1931)