August 26

August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). There are 127 days remaining.

Events

• 55 BC – Julius Caesar invades Britain
• AD 1071 – Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Empire at Manzikert
• 1278 – Ladislaus IV of Hungary and Rudolph I of Germany defeated Premysl Ottokar II of Bohemia in the Battle of Marchfield near Dürnkrut in Moravia.
• 1346 – Hundred Years' War: The military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armoured knights was established at the Battle of Crécy.
• 1429 – Joan of Arc enters Paris.
• 1498 – Michelangelo commissioned to carve the Pieta.
• 1778 – The first ascent of Triglav, the highest mountain of Slovenia.
• 1789 – Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen approved by Constituent Assembly at Palace of Versailles
• 1839 – Amistad captured off Long Island.
• 1858 – First news dispatch by telegraph.
• 1862 – Second Battle of Bull Run begins in the American Civil War.
• 1883 – Eruption of Mount Krakatoa.
• 1914 – Germans defeat Russians in Battle of Tannenberg.
• 1920 – 19th amendment to U.S. Constitution gives women the right to vote.
• 1939 – The first Major League Baseball game is telecast, a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, in Brooklyn, New York.
• 1944 – Charles de Gaulle enters Paris.
• 1957 – Russia tests an ICBM.
• 1968 – Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago
• 1968 – The Beatles' Hey Jude was released as a single in the United States under the Apple Records label.
• 1972 – Games of the XX Olympiad open in Munich, Germany.
• 1976 – Raymond Barre becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1978 – Pope John Paul I elevated to Papacy,
• 1978 – Sigmund Jähn becomes first German cosmonaut on board of the Soyuz 33 spacecraft.
• 1986 – Toxic gas kills 1700 in Cameroon.
• 1987 – President Ronald Wilson Reagan proclaims September 11, 1987 as 9–1–1 Emergency Number Day.
• 1988 – Merhan Karimi Nasseri arrives at Charles de Gaulle International Airport.
• 1997 – Beni-Ali massacre in Algeria; 60–100 people killed.
• 2002 – Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Éric Gagné converts his first of a record 84 consecutive successful save opportunities.
• 2002 – Earth Summit 2002 began in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• 2003 – Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Births

• 1676 – Robert Walpole, British prime minister in 1721-1742 (d. 1745)
• 1740 – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, inventor, worked on first hot air balloon (d. 1810)
• 1743 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (d. 1794)
• 1792 – Manuel Oribe, Uruguayan political figure (d. 1857)
• 1845 – Mary Anne Nicholls, the first confirmed victim of Jack the Ripper (d. 1888)
• 1873 – Lee DeForest, inventor of the vacuum tube (d. 1961)
• 1875 – John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Scottish novelist, Governor General of Canada (d. 1940)
• 1880 – Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet, art critic (d. 1918)
• 1896 – Ivan Mihailov, Bulgarian revolutionary and leader of the IMRO, responsible for the assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (d. 1990)
• 1897 – Yoon Boseon, President of South Korea (d. 1990)
• 1898 – Peggy Guggenheim, art collector (d. 1979)
• 1900 – Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (d. 1980)
• 1901 – Maxwell Taylor, American general (d. 1987)
• 1904 – Christopher Isherwood, Anglo-American writer (d. 1986)
• 1906 – Albert Sabin, American polio researcher (d. 1993)
• 1909 – Jim Davis, actor (d. 1981)
• 1914 – Julio Cortázar, writer (d. 1984)
• 1921 – Benjamin Bradlee, journalist
• 1922 – Irving R. Levine, journalist
• 1923 – Wolfgang Sawallisch, German conductor and pianist
• 1934 – Tom Heinsohn, basketball Hall-of-Famer and commentator
• 1935 – Geraldine Ferraro, U.S. Vice Presidential candidate
• 1941 – Barbet Schroeder, director
• 1942 – Dennis Turner, Labour Party member of Parliament
• 1944 – Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
• 1946 – Valerie Simpson, singer
• 1952 – Michael Jeter, actor (d. 2003)
• 1960 – Branford Marsalis, American saxophonist and bandleader
• 1971 – Thalía, Mexican actress
• 1979 – Jamal Lewis, American football player
• 1980 – Macaulay Culkin, American child actor

Deaths

• 1278 – Premysl Ottokar II (b. c. 1230)
• 1349 – Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1551 – Margareta Leijonhufvud, Queen of Sweden (b. 1516)
• 1850 – Louis-Philippe of France (b. 1773)
• 1915 – John Bunny American silent film comedian (b. 1863)
• 1930 – Lon Chaney, Sr., actor
• 1945 – Franz Werfel, writer
• 1958 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer
• 1968 – Kay Francis, actress, (b. 1899)
• 1974 – Charles Lindbergh, aviator
• 1975 – Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia
• 1976 – Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (b. 1888)
• 1978 – Charles Boyer, actor
• 1979 – Mika Waltari, author
• 1980 – Tex Avery, cartoonist
• 1981 – Roger Nash Baldwin, founder of the ACLU
• 1986 – Ted Knight, actor
• 1989 – Irving Stone, author
• 2001 – Aaliyah, singer
• 2003 – Jim Wacker, American college football coach
• 2004 – Laura Branigan, singer

Holidays and observances

• Namibia Day or Heroes' Day (Namibia)
• Sultan's Birthday (Zanzibar)
• St Zephyrinus Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day

August 25 – August 27 – July 26 – September 26 — listing of all days