August 13

August 13 is the 225th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (226th in leap years), with 140 days remaining.

Events

• 523 – John succeeds Hormisdas as Pope.
• 1099 – Paschal II elected Pope.
• 1315 – Louis X of France marries Clemence d'Anjou.
• 1326 – Aradia de Toscano is initiated into a Dianic witchcraft cult, subsequently founds the tradition of Stregheria later known as the Malandanti.
• 1415 – Henry V of England lands at Chef-en-Caux, France with 8000 men.
• 1516 – Treaty of Noyon between France and Spain signed. In it, Francis recognizes Charles's claim to Naples, and Charles recognizes Francis's claim to Milan.
• 1521 – Tenochtitlán (present day Mexico City) falls to conquistador Hernán Cortés
• 1553 – Michael Servetus arrested by John Calvin in Geneva as a heretic.
• 1704 – War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Blenheim – English and Austrians victorious over French and Bavarians.
• 1905 – Norway holds referendum in favour of dissolving the union with Sweden.
• 1913 – Otto Witte, an acrobat, managed to get himself crowned King of Albania.
• 1913 – Invention of stainless steel by Harry Brearley.
• 1918 – Women enlist in the United States Marine Corps for the first time. Opha Mae Johnson is the first woman to enlist.
• 1920 – Polish-Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw begins, lasts till August 25. The Red Army is defeated.
• 1923 – First major sea-going ship arrives at Gdynia, newly constructed Polish seaport.
• 1940 – World War II: Battle of Britain begins – The Luftwaffe launches a series of attacks on British fighter bases and radar installations.
• 1942 – Walt Disney's fifth animated feature, Bambi, premiers.
• 1960 – The Central African Republic declares independence from France.
• 1961 – The German Democratic Republic closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin, to thwart its inhabitants' attempts to escape to the West.
• 1987 – U.S. President Reagan assumes responsibility for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal.
• 1993 – Pope John Paul II visits the United States.
• 1997 – The popular, controversial animated series South Park debuts on Comedy Central.
• 2004 – The 28th Summer Olympics opens in Athens, Greece (August 29).
• 2004 – Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm, strikes the Fort Myers area in Florida.

Births

• 582 – Arnulf of Metz, patron saint of brewing (d. 640)
• 900 – Zwentibold, king of Lotharingia (b. 870)
• 1311 – Alfonso XI of Castile, king of Castile and Leon (d. 1350)
• 1313 – Aradia de Toscano, insurrectionist, teacher, witch, purported incarnation of the goddess Aradia
• 1422 – William Caxton, printer
• 1625 – Rasmus Bartholin, physician, mathematician and physicist (d. 1698)
• 1666 – William Wotton, Fellow of the Royal Society
• 1792 – Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen – queen consort of King William IV of the United Kingdom
• 1818 – Lucy Stone, pioneering women's rights activist
• 1820 – Sir George Grove, author, Dictionary of Music and Musicians (d. 1900)
• 1823 – Goldwin Smith, historian and journalist (d. 1910)
• 1851 – Felix Adler, educator, founder of the Ethical Movement (d. 1933)
• 1860 – Annie Oakley, sharpshooter (d. 1926)
• 1866 – Giovanni Agnelli, industrialist (d. 1945)
• 1888 – John Logie Baird, television pioneer (d. 1946)
• 1895 – Bert Lahr, actor (d. 1967)
• 1899 – Alfred Hitchcock, director (d. 1980)
• 1902 – Felix Wankel, engineer and inventor (d. 1988)
• 1904 – Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, actor (d. 1999)
• 1907 – Sir Basil Spence, architect (d. 1976)
• 1912 – Salvador Luria, biologist; Nobel Prize, 1969 (d. 1991)
• 1912 – Ben Hogan, golf champion (d. 1997)
• 1913 – Fred Davis, English snooker player (d. 1998)
• 1919 – George Shearing, musician
• 1920 – Neville Brand, actor (d. 1992)
• 1927 – Fidel Castro, revolutionary and politician
• 1930 – Don Ho, musician
• 1933 – Doctor Joycelyn Elders, United States Surgeon General
• 1935 – Jim (Mudcat) Grant, baseball player
• 1941 – Erin Fleming, actress (d. 2003)
• 1948 – Kathleen Battle, soprano
• 1949 – Bobby Clarke, ice hockey star
• 1951 – Dan Fogelberg, singer
• 1952 – Herb Ritts, celebrity photographer (d. 2004)
• 1959 – Danny Bonaduce, actor
• 1962 – Youree Cleomili Harris (or Miss Cleo) television psychic
• 1967 – Amélie Nothomb, Belgian writer
• 1969 – Midori Ito, Japanese figure skater
• 1970 – Alan Shearer, England and Newcastle soccer player
• 1975 – Joe Perry, English snooker player

Deaths

• 586 – Radegund, Queen consort of Clotaire I
• 900 – Zwentibold, last King of Lotharingia
• 1382 – Eleanor of Aragón, queen of John I of Castile (b. 1358)
• 1667 – Jeremy Taylor, Irish author and bishop
• 1686 – Louis Maimbourg, historian
• 1863 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter (b. 1798)
• 1910 – Florence Nightingale, English nurse
• 1912 – Jules Massenet, French composer (b. 1842)
• 1946 – H. G. Wells, English writer (b. 1866)
• 1958 – Otto Witte, acrobat (b. 1868)
• 1964 – Gwynne Owen Evans and Peter Anthony Allen, murderers. The last people to be executed in Great Britain.
• 1965 – Ikeda Hayato, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1899)
• 1984 – Tigran Petrosian, chess player (b. 1929).
• 1989 – Tim Richmond, American race car driver (b. 1955)
• 1994 – Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born writer (b. 1905)
• 1995 – Mickey Mantle, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1931)
• 1995  – Jan Křesadlo, Czech-born writer (b. 1926)
• 1996 – David Tudor, pianist and composer (b. 1926).
• 2003 – Ed Townsend, songwriter and producer
• 2004 – Julia Child, American chef and television personality (b. 1912)

Holidays and observances

• Roman Empire – Vertumnalias in honor of Vertumnus
• International Left-Handers Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day

August 12 – August 14 – July 13 – September 13 — listing of all days