today.nukz.net: Almanac August 2

Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole (born 2 August 1932) is a retired Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most competitive Academy Award acting nominations without a win. He has won four Golden Globes, a BAFTA, and an Emmy, and was the recipient of an Honorary Academy Award in 2003 for his body of work.

Events

338 BC – A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean.
216 BC – Second Punic War: Battle of Cannae – The Carthaginian army led by Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman army under command of consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro.
461 – Majorian is arrested near Tortona (Northern Italy) and deposed by the Suebian general Ricimer as puppet emperor.
1377 – Russian troops are defeated in the Battle on Pyana River because of drunkenness.
1610 – Henry Hudson sails into what is now known as Hudson Bay thinking he had made it through the Northwest Passage and reached the Pacific Ocean.
1776 – The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place.
1790 – The first US Census is conducted.
1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: the Battle of the Nile concludes in a British victory.
1830 – Charles X of France abdicates the throne in favor of his grandson Henri.
1869 – Japan's samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant class system (Shinokosho) is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese date: June 25, 1869).
1870 – Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens in London.
1873 – The Clay Street Hill Railroad begins operating the first cable car in San Francisco's famous cable car system.
1897 – Anglo-Afghan wars: The Siege of Malakand ends when a relief column is able to reach the British garrison in the Malakand states adjacent to India's North West Frontier Province.
1903 – Fall of the Ottoman Empire: an unsuccessful uprising led by the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization against Ottoman Turkey, also known as the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, takes place.
1916 – World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.
1918 – Japan announces that it is deploying troops to Siberia in the aftermath of World War I.
1918 – The first general strike in Canadian history takes place in Vancouver.
1922 – A typhoon hits Shantou, Republic of China killing more than 50,000 people.
1923 – As vice president, Calvin Coolidge becomes the 30th President of the United States after the death of Warren G. Harding
1932 – The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.
1934 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.
1937 – The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
1939 – Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan project to develop a nuclear weapon.
1943 – Rebellion in the Nazi death camp of Treblinka.
1943 – World War II: the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and sinks. Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. President, saves all but two of his crew.
1944 – ASNOM: birth of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, celebrated as Day of the Republic in the Republic of Macedonia.
1945 – World War II: the Potsdam Conference, at which the Allied Powers discuss the future of defeated
1947 – A British South American Airways Avro Lancastrian airliner crashes into a mountain during a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile. The wreckage would not be found for over 50 years.
1964 – Vietnam War: Gulf of Tonkin incident – North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly fire on the U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy.
1968 – An earthquake hits Casiguran, Aurora, Philippines killing more than 270 people and wounding 261.
1973 – A flash fire kills 51 at the Summerland amusement centre at Douglas, Isle of Man.
1980 – A bomb explodes at the railway station in Bologna, Italy, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.
1985 – Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport killing 137.
1989 – Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restoring democracy for the first time since 1972.
1989 – A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians.
1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.
2005 – Air France Flight 358, lands at Toronto Pearson International Airport, and runs off the runway causing the plane to burst into flames leaving 12 injuries and no fatalities.

Births

1455 – John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1499)
1533 – Theodor Zwinger, Swiss scholar (d. 1588)
1612 – Saskia van Uylenburgh, wife of Rembrandt van Rijn (d. 1642)
1672 – Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (d. 1733)
1674 – Philip II, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France (d. 1723)
1696 – Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1754)
1702 – Dietrich of Anhalt-Dessau, German Prince (d. 1769)
1703 – Lorenzo Ricci, Italian Jesuit leader (d. 1775)
1740 – Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux, French general (d. 1817)
1788 – Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (d. 1853)
1815 – Adolf Friedrich von Schack, German writer (d. 1894)
1820 – John Tyndall, British physicist (d. 1893)
1828 – Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Alburquerque, Spanish general (d. 1895)
1834 – Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, French sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty (d. 1904)
1835 – Elisha Gray, American inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1901)
1858 – Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Queen of the Netherlands (d. 1934)
1865 – Irving Babbitt, American literary critic (d. 1933)
1865 – John Radecki, Australian stained glass artist (d. 1955)
1867 – Ernest Dowson, English poet (d. 1900)
1868 – King Constantine I of Greece (d. 1923)
1871 – John French Sloan, American artist (d. 1951)
1872 – George E. Stewart, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1946)
1875 – Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian painter (d. 1957)
1878 – Aino Kallas, Finnish-born Estonian author (d. 1956)
1882 – Red Ames, American baseball player (d. 1936)
1884 – Rómulo Gallegos, 46th President of Venezuela (d. 1969)
1886 – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy Canadian aviator (d. 1961)
1887 – Tommy Ward, South African cricketer (d. 1936)
1890 – Marin Sais, American actress (d. 1971)
1891 – Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian and linguist (d. 1971)
1891 – Arthur Bliss, British composer and Master of the Queen's Music (d. 1975)
1892 – Jack Warner, Canadian-born American film producer (d. 1978)
1895 – Matt Henderson, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1970)
1896 – Lorenzo Herrera, Venezuelan singer and composer (d. 1960)
1897 – Karl Otto Koch, German SS officer (d. 1945)
1897 – Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1974)
1898 – Erno Nagy, Hungarian fencer (d. 1977)
1899 – Charles Bennett, British screenwriter (d. 1995)
1902 – Helen Morgan, American actress (d. 1941)
1902 – Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria, Pope of the Coptic Christian Church (d. 1971)
1905 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (d. 1963)
1905 – Myrna Loy, American actress (d. 1993)
1907 – Mary Hamman, American writer (d. 1984)
1910 – Roger MacDougall, Scottish writer (d. 1993)
1912 – Palle Huld, Danish actor (d. 2010)
1912 – Ann Dvorak, American actress (d. 1979)
1912 – Vladimir Žerjavic, Croatian statistician (d. 2001)
1914 – Félix Leclerc, Quebec singer, songwriter and writer (d. 1988)
1914 – Beatrice Straight, American actress (d. 2001)
1914 – Big Walter Price, American blues singer, songwriter and pianist (d. 2012)
1915 – Gary Merrill, American actor (d. 1990)
1919 – Nehemiah Persoff, American actor
1920 – Louis Pauwels, French journalist and writer (d. 1997)
1922 – Geoffrey Dutton, Australian author and historian (d. 1998)
1922 – Gábor Agárdy, Hungarian actor (d. 2006)
1923 – Shimon Peres, Israeli politician, Prime Minister of Israel and the ninth President of the State of Israel
1924 – James Baldwin, American writer (d. 1987)
1924 – Joe Harnell, American pianist, composer and arranger (d. 2005)
1924 – Carroll O'Connor, American actor (d. 2001)
1925 – John Dexter, English stage and film director (d. 1990)
1925 – John McCormack, Canadian ice hockey player
1925 – Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentinian dictator, 43rd President of Argentina
1925 – Alan Whicker, British journalist and broadcaster
1926 – Betsy Bloomingdale, American socialite
1928 – Malcolm Hilton, English cricketer (d. 1990)
1930 – Vali Myers, Australian painter (d. 2003)
1931 – Pierre DuMaine, American Catholic bishop
1931 – Viliam Schrojf, Slovak footballer (d. 2007)
1931 – Eddie Fuller, South African cricketer (d. 2008)
1932 – Lamar Hunt, American sports executive (d. 2006)
1932 – Peter O'Toole, Irish actor
1933 – Ioannis Varvitsiotis, Greek politician
1934 – Valery Bykovsky, Soviet cosmonaut
1935 – Hank Cochran, American country music singer and songwriter (d. 2010)
1937 – Billy Cannon, American football player
1937 – Garth Hudson, Canadian organist and keyboardist (The Band)
1938 – Dave Balon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
1938 – Pierre de Bané, French-Canadian politician
1938 – Terry Peck, Falkland Islands-born British soldier (d. 2006)
1939 – Benjamin Barber, American political theorist
1939 – Wes Craven, American film director
1939 – John W. Snow, American 73rd United States Secretary of the Treasury
1940 – Will Tura, Belgian singer
1940 – Beko Ransome-Kuti, Nigerian doctor and activist (d. 2006)
1941 – Doris Coley, American singer (Shirelles) (d. 2000)
1941 – Ede Staal, Dutch singer-songwriter (d. 1986)
1941 – Jules A. Hoffmann, Member of the Académie française
1941 – François Weyergans, Member of the Académie française
1942 – Isabel Allende, Chilean author
1943 – Tom Burgmeier, American baseball player
1943 – Kathy Lennon, one of the original Lennon Sisters
1943 – Max Wright, American actor
1944 – Jim Capaldi, British drummer and songwriter (Traffic) (d. 2005)
1944 – Naná Vasconcelos, Brazilian jazz percussionist and vocalist
1945 – Joanna Cassidy, American actress
1945 – Alex Jesaulenko, Australian rules footballer
1945 – Bunker Roy, Indian Social Activist and Educator
1947 – Massiel, Spanish singer
1947 – Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning American author
1948 – Andy Fairweather Low, Welsh guitarist (Amen Corner)
1948 – Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
1949 – James Fallows, American journalist
1949 – Bertalan Farkas, Hungarian cosmonaut
1950 – Jussi Adler-Olsen, Danish author
1950 – Kathryn Harrold, American actress
1950 – Lance Ito, American judge
1950 – Sue Rodriguez, Canadian assisted suicide advocate (d. 1994)
1951 – Andrew Gold, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
1951 – Joe Lynn Turner, American singer (Deep Purple, Rainbow)
1951 – Freddie Wadling, Swedish singer and musician (The Leather Nun, Fleshquartet)
1951 – Per Westerberg, Swedish politician
1953 – Marjo, Quebec singer
1953 – Donnie Munro, former lead singer with Runrig
1953 – Butch Patrick, American actor
1954 – James Charles Kopp, American anti-abortion militant, murderer of Barnett Slepian
1954 – Sammy McIlroy, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1955 – Caleb Carr, American novelist and military historian
1955 – Tim Dunigan, American actor
1955 – Tony Godden, English footballer
1956 – Fulvio Melia, Italian-born American physicist, astrophysicist and author
1956 – Jim Neidhart, American professional wrestler
1956 – Isabel Pantoja, Spanish singer
1957 – Mojo Nixon, American singer, lyricist and actor
1957 – Butch Vig, American record producer and drummer (Garbage)
1957 – Farhat Basir Khan, Indian Photography and Media Activist Academician, a critically acclaimed Media Professional.
1958 – Arshad Ayub, Indian cricketer
1959 – Victoria Jackson, American comedian
1959 – Apollonia Kotero, American singer and actress
1960 – Neal Morse, American keyboardist and vocalist (Spock's Beard, Transatlantic)
1960 – David Yow, American vocalist (Scratch Acid, The Jesus Lizard)
1960 – Linda Fratianne, American figure skater
1961 – Graham Dye, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Scarlet Party, The Alan Parsons Project)
1961 – Cold 187um, American rapper (Above the Law)
1961 – Pete de Freitas, born in Trinidad, drummer with Echo & the Bunnymen (d. 1989)
1962 – Cynthia Stevenson, Canadian actress
1962 – Lee Mavers, English musician, lead singer with The La's
1963 – Daniel Pelosi, American convicted murderer
1963 – Laura Bennett, American architect and designer
1964 – Frank Biela, German racing driver
1964 – Mary-Louise Parker, American actress
1965 – Hisanobu Watanabe, Japanese baseball player and coach
1966 – Takayuki Iizuka, Japanese professional wrestler
1966 – Tim Wakefield, American baseball player
1966 – M.V. Sridhar, Indian cricketer
1967 – Aaron Krickstein, American tennis player
1967 – Aline Brosh McKenna, American screenwriter
1968 – Stefan Effenberg, German footballer
1968 – John Stanier, American drummer Helmet
1969 – Cedric Ceballos, American basketball player
1969 – Fernando Couto, Portuguese footballer
1969 – Jan Axel Blomberg Norwegian drummer (Dimmu Borgir, Winds, Mayhem)
1969 – Richard Hallebeek, Dutch jazz guitarist
1970 – Tony Amonte, American ice hockey player
1970 – Kevin Smith, American director and screenwriter
1970 – Philo Wallace, Barbadian West Indies cricketer
1971 – Alice Evans, English actress
1971 – Michael Hughes, Irish footballer
1972 – Mohamed Al-Deayea, Saudi Arabian footballer
1972 – Jacinda Barrett, Australian model and actress
1972 – Daniele Nardello, Italian cyclist
1972 – Justyna Steczkowska, Polish singer
1973 – Hiroyuki Goto, Japanese game designer
1973 – Danie Keulder, Namibian cricketer
1973 – Jay Meetze, American conductor and impresario
1973 – Susie O'Neill, Australian swimmer
1973 – Reyn Ouwehand, Dutch C=64 Composer
1974 – Angie Cepeda, Colombian actress
1974 – Phil Williams, Radio 5live Presenter
1975 – Mineiro, Brazilian footballer
1975 – Xu Huaiwen, Chinese-born German badminton player
1975 – Tamás Molnár, Hungarian water polo player
1975 – Ingrid Rubio, Spanish actress
1976 – Reyes Estévez, Spanish mid-distance runner
1976 – Sam Worthington, Australian actor
1976 – Jay Heaps, American footballer
1976 – Michael Weiss, American figure skater
1976 – Mohammad Zahid, Pakistani cricketer
1977 – Edward Furlong, American actor
1978 – Goran Gavrancic, Serbian footballer
1978 – Matt Guerrier, American baseball player
1979 – Marco Bonura, Italian footballer
1979 – Reuben Kosgei, Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner
1979 – Donna Air, English television presenter
1980 – Ivica Banovic, Croatian footballer
1980 – Nadia Bjorlin, American actress
1980 – Dingdong Dantes, Filipino actor
1980 – Ugur Rifat Karlova, Turkish TV and stage entertainer
1981 – Aleksander Emelianenko, Russian MMA fighter, brother of Fedor Emelianenko
1981 – Sara Foster, American actress
1982 – Hélder Postiga, Portuguese footballer
1982 – Kerry Rhodes, American football player
1982 – Grady Sizemore, American baseball player
1983 – Nick Diaz, American MMA fighter
1983 – Michel Bastos, Brazilian footballer
1984 – Giampaolo Pazzini, Italian footballer
1985 – Harry Smith, Canadian professional wrestler
1985 – Britt Nicole, American Christian pop vocalist
1986 – Mathieu Razanakolona, Canadian-born Malagasy skier
1988 – Brittany Hargest, American singer
1988 – Rob Kwiet, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Vanes-Mari Du Toit, South African netballer
1990 – Skylar Diggins, American basketball player
1991 – Skyler Day, American actress
1991 – Evander Kane, Canadian ice hockey player
1992 – Hallie Kate Eisenberg, American actress

Deaths

686 – Pope John V (birth year unknown)
924 – King Ælfweard of Wessex (b. 904)
1100 – King William II of England (b. c. 1056)
1222 – Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (b. 1156)
1316 – Louis of Burgundy, Prince of Achaea (b. 1297)
1445 – Oswald von Wolkenstein, Austrian composer (b. 1376 or 1377)
1511 – Andrew Barton, Scottish naval leader (b. c. 1466)
1589 – King Henry III of France (b. 1551)
1611 – Kato Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord and samurai (b. 1562)
1696 – Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, Scottish military commander (b. 1630)
1769 – Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician (b. 1689)
1776 – Louis François I, Prince of Conti, French military leader (b. 1717)
1788 – Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (b. 1727)
1799 – Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, French inventor (b. 1745)
1815 – Guillaume Marie Anne Brune, French marshal (b. 1763)
1823 – Lazare Carnot, French general, politician and mathematician (b. 1753)
1849 – Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Egyptian military officer and statesman (b. 1769)
1859 – Horace Mann, American educator and abolitionist (b. 1796)
1876 – Wild Bill Hickok, American gunfighter (b. 1837)
1889 – Eduardo Gutiérrez, Argentinian writer (b. 1851)
1890 – Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet (b. 1813)
1903 – Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian (b. 1850)
1913 – Ferenc Pfaff, Hungarian architect (b. 1851)
1920 – Ormer Locklear, American stunt pilot (b. 1891)
1921 – Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
1922 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born Canadian inventor (b. 1847)
1923 – Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States (b. 1865)
1929 – Mae Costello, American actress (b. 1882)
1934 – Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal and 2nd President of Germany (b. 1847)
1936 – Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer (b. 1872)
1939 – Harvey Spencer Lewis, American Rosicrucian mystic (b. 1883)
1945 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (b. 1863)
1951 – John Paine, American shooter (b. 1870)
1955 – Alfred Lépine, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1901)
1967 – Walter Terence Stace, British philosopher (b. 1886)
1972 – Helen Hoyt, American poet (b. 1887)
1972 – Brian Cole, American bass player (The Association) (b. 1942)
1973 – Jean-Pierre Melville, French film director (b. 1917)
1974 – Douglas Hawkes, British racing driver (b. 1893)
1976 – Fritz Lang, Austrian film director (b. 1890)
1976 – László Kalmár, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1905)
1978 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (b. 1899)
1979 – Thurman Munson, American baseball player (b. 1947)
1983 – James Jamerson, American bassist (b. 1936)
1986 – Roy Cohn, American politician (b. 1927)
1988 – Raymond Carver, American writer (b. 1938)
1988 – Joe Carcione, American consumer advocate (b. 1914)
1990 – Norman Maclean, American writer (b. 1902)
1990 – Edwin Richfield, British actor (b. 1921)
1992 – Michel Berger, French singer and songwriter (b. 1947)
1996 – Michel Debré, French politician (b. 1912)
1996 – Mohamed Farrah Aidid, Somalian warlord (b. 1934)
1997 – William S. Burroughs, American writer (b. 1914)
1997 – Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Nigerian musician (b. 1938)
1998 – Shari Lewis, American puppeteer (b. 1933)
2001 – Ron Townson, American singer (The 5th Dimension) (b. 1933)
2003 – Don Estelle, British actor (b. 1933)
2003 – Mike Levey, American television personality (b. 1948)
2003 – Peter Safar, Austrian physician (b. 1924)
2004 – Don Tosti, American violinist, composer and bandleader (b. 1923)
2004 – Ferenc Berényi, Hungarian painter (b. 1929)
2004 – François Craenhals, Belgian comics artist (b. 1926)
2005 – Steven Vincent, American journalist and writer (b. 1955)
2007 – Chauncey Bailey, American journalist and editor (b. 1950)
2007 – Holden Roberto, Angolan politician (b. 1923)
2007 – Kay Dotrice, English repertory actress (b. 1929)
2008 – Fujio Akatsuka, Japanese cartoonist (b. 1935)
2011 – José Sanchis Grau, Spanish comic writer (b. 1932)