August 28th. TODAY IN HISTORY

August 28 is the 240th day of the year (241st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 125 days remaining until the end of the world err year.


475 – The Roman general Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his capital city, Ravenna.

489 – Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths defeats Odoacer at the Battle of Isonzo, forcing his way into Italy.

663 – Silla–Tang armies crush the Baekje restoration attempt and force Yamato Japan to withdraw from Korea in the Battle of Baekgang.

1189 – Third Crusade: the Crusaders begin the Siege of Acre under Guy of Lusignan

1521 – The Ottoman Turks occupy Belgrade.

1524 – The Kaqchikel Maya rebel against their former Spanish allies during the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.

1542 – Turkish-Portuguese War (1538-1557) – Battle of Wofla: the Portuguese are scattered, their leader Christovão da Gama is captured and later executed.

1565 – Pedro Menéndez de Avilés sights land near St. Augustine, Florida and founds the oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the continental United States.

1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Delaware Bay.

1619 – Ferdinand II is elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

1640 – Second Bishop's War: King Charles I's English army loses to a Scottish Covenanter force at the Battle of Newburn.

1709 – Meidingnu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.

1789 – William Herschel discovers a new moon of Saturn: Enceladus.

1810 – Battle of Grand Port – the French accept the surrender of a British Navy fleet.

1830 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's new Tom Thumb steam locomotive races a horse-drawn car, presaging steam's role in US railroading.

1833 – The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 receives Royal Assent, abolishing slavery through most the British Empire. A calculative move in a brilliant plot to bring about division in the United States between the North's textile producers, and the South's cotton producers, ending up a few decades later very successful.

1845 – The first issue of Scientific American magazine is published.

1849 – After a month-long siege, Venice, which had declared itself independent as the Republic of San Marco, surrenders to Austria.

1859 – A "geomagnetic storm" causes the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and even as far away as Japan.

1862 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of Second Manassas.

1867 – The United States takes possession of the, at this point unoccupied, Midway Atoll. (Now, that's planning ahead!)

1879 – Cetshwayo, last king of the Zulus, is captured by the British.

1898 – Caleb Bradham invents the carbonated soft drink that will later be called "Pepsi-Cola".

1901 – Silliman University is founded in the Philippines. The first American private school in the country.

1909 – A group of mid-level Greek Army officers launches the Goudi coup, seeking wide-ranging reforms.

1913 – Queen Wilhelmina opens the Peace Palace in The Hague.

1914 – World War I: the Royal Navy defeats the German fleet in the Battle of Heligoland Bight.

1914 – World War I: German troops conquer Namur.

1916 – World War I: Germany declares war on Romania.

1916 – World War I: Italy declares war on Germany.

1917 – Ten Suffragettes (Members of women's suffrage movement) are arrested while picketing the White House.

1924 – The Georgian opposition stages the August Uprising against the Soviet Union.

1931 – France and Soviet Union sign a treaty of non-aggression.

1937 – Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.

1943 – World War II: in Denmark, a general strike against the Nazi occupation is started. Some say this is where the Illuminati created the saying, "Something is rotten in Denmark".

1944 – World War II: Marseille and Toulon are liberated.

1953 – Nippon Television broadcasts Japan's first television show, including its first TV advertisement Welcoming them to 'programming' in more ways then they ever expected.

1955 – Black teenager Emmett Till is murdered in Mississippi, galvanizing the nascent American Civil Rights Movement.

1957 – U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator.

1963 – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech. Said to be the very speech that sealed his fate. It was then thought he should be martyred, as he was so very controversially by James Earl Ray!

1963 – Emily Hoffert and Janice Wylie are murdered in their Manhattan flat, prompting the events that would lead to the passing of the Miranda Rights. Which have since been disregarded under our current tyrannical leaderships.

1964 – The Philadelphia race riot begins.

1968 – Riots in Chicago, Illinois, during the Democratic National Convention.

1979 – An IRA bomb explodes on the Grand Place in Brussels.

1988 – Ramstein airshow disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. 75 are killed and 346 seriously injured.

1990 – Iraq declares Kuwait to be its newest province.

1990 – The Plainfield Tornado: an F5 tornado hits in Plainfield, Illinois, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 28 people.

1991 – Ukraine declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

1991 – Collapse of the Soviet Union – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

1996 – Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales divorce.

1998 – Pakistan's National Assembly passes a constitutional amendment to make the "Qur'an and Sunnah" the "supreme law" but the bill is defeated in the Senate.

2003 – An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in
south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.

Births

• 1025 – Emperor Go-Reizei of Japan (d. 1068)
• 1582 – Taichang Emperor, of China (d. 1620)
• 1592 – George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (d. 1628)
• 1612 – Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn, Dutch scholar (d. 1653)
• 1667 – Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (d. 1721)
• 1691 – Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (d. 1750)
• 1714 – Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick (d. 1774)
• 1728 – John Stark, American general (d. 1822)
• 1739 – Agostino Accorimboni, Italian composer (d. 1818)
• 1749 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and scientist (d. 1832)
• 1774 – Elizabeth Ann Seton, American nun and saint (d. 1821)
• 1789 – Stéphanie de Beauharnais, French wife of Charles, Grand Duke of Baden (d. 1860)
• 1801 – Antoine Augustin Cournot, French mathematician (d. 1877)
• 1814 – Sheridan Le Fanu, Irish authoer (d. 1873)
• 1827 – Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia (d. 1894)
• 1840 – Alexander Cameron Sim, Scottish pharmacist and businessman, founded Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club (d. 1900)
• 1853 – Vladimir Shukhov, Russian engineer and architect (d. 1939)
• 1859 – Matilda Howell, American archer (d. 1938)
• 1859 – Vittorio Sella, Italian photographer (d. 1943)
• 1867 – Umberto Giordano, Italian composer (d. 1948)
• 1878 – George Whipple, American physician and pathologist,Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976)
• 1884 – Peter Fraser, New Zealand politician, 24th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1950)
• 1885 – Vance Palmer, Australian author (d. 1959)
• 1887 – István Kühár, Prekmurian priest, politician, and writer (d. 1922)
• 1894 – Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (d. 1981)
• 1898 – Charlie Grimm, American baseball player (d. 1983)
• 1899 – Charles Boyer, French actor (d. 1978)
• 1899 – Andrei Platonov, Russian author (d. 1951)
• 1903 – Bruno Bettelheim, American psychologist (d. 1990)
• 1904 – Secondo Campini, Italian engineer (d. 1980)
• 1905 – Cyril Walters, England cricketer (d. 1992)
• 1906 – John Betjeman, English poet (d. 1984)
• 1908 – Roger Tory Peterson, American ornithologist and author (d. 1996)
• 1910 – Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch-American economist Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
• 1911 – Joseph Luns, Dutch politician and diplomat, 5th Secretary General of NATO (d. 2002)
• 1913 – Robertson Davies, Canadian journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1995)
• 1913 – Jack Dreyfus, American businessman, founded the Dreyfus Corporation (d. 2009)
• 1913 – Lindsay Hassett, Australian cricketer (d. 1993)
• 1913 – Robert Irving, English conductor (d. 1991)
• 1913 – Boris Pahor, Italian author
• 1913 – Terence Reese, English bridge player and writer (d. 1996)
• 1913 – Richard Tucker, American tenor (d. 1975)
• 1915 – Max Robertson, English sportscaster (d. 2009)
• 1915 – Tasha Tudor, American author and illustrator (d. 2008)
• 1916 – Hélène Baillargeon, Canadian singer (d. 1997)
• 1916 – C. Wright Mills American sociologist (d. 1962)
• 1916 – Jack Vance, American author
• 1917 – Jack Kirby, American writer and illustrator (d. 1994)
• 1919 – Godfrey Hounsfield, English engineer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
• 1921 – Fernando Fernán Gómez, Spanish actor, director, and playwright (d. 2007)
• 1921 – Nancy Kulp, American actress (d. 1991)
• 1924 – Janet Frame, New Zealand author (d. 2004)
• 1924 – Tony MacGibbon, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2010)
• 1924 – Peggy Ryan, American actress (d. 2004)
• 1925 – Donald O'Connor, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 2003)
• 1925 – Billy Grammer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
• 1928 – F. William Free, American advertising executive (d. 2003)
• 1928 – Vilayat Khan, Indian sitar player and composer (d. 2004)
• 1929 – Ken Gampu, South African actor (d. 2003)
• 1929 – István Kertész, Hungarian conductor (d. 1973)
• 1930 – Windsor Davies, English actor
• 1930 – Ben Gazzara, American actor (d. 2012)
• 1931 – Tito Capobianco, Argentinian director
• 1931 – John Shirley-Quirk, English opera singer
• 1932 – Andy Bathgate, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1935 – Gilles Rocheleau, Canadian politician (d. 1998)
• 1936 – Don Denkinger, American baseball umpire
• 1938 – Maurizio Costanzo, Italian journalist
• 1938 – Paul Martin, Canadian politician
• 1940 – William Cohen, American politician and author
• 1940 – Ken Jenkins, American actor
• 1940 – Roger Pingeon, French cyclist
• 1941 – Sybille de Selys Longchamps, Belgian mother of Delphine Boël
• 1941 – Paul Plishka, American opera singer
• 1942 – Sterling Morrison, American singer and guitarist (The Velvet Underground) (d. 1995)
• 1943 – Surayud Chulanont, Thai politician, 24th Prime Minister of Thailand
• 1943 – Lou Piniella, American baseball player and manager
• 1943 – David Soul, American-English actor and singer
• 1944 – Melvin Dummar, American forger of Howard Hughes estate
• 1944 – Marianne Heemskerk, Dutch swimmer
• 1945 – Robert Greenwald, American director and producer
• 1945 – Bob Segarini, American singer-songwriter and composer (The Wackers)
• 1947 – Liza Wang, Hong Kong actress
• 1948 – Vonda McIntyre, American author
• 1948 – Murray Parker, New Zealand cricketer
• 1948 – Heather Reisman, Canadian businesswoman, founded Indigo Books and Music
• 1948 – Danny Seraphine, American drummer and producer (Chicago)
• 1949 – Hugh Cornwell, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Stranglers)
• 1949 – Svetislav Pešić, Serbian basketball player and coach
• 1950 – Ron Guidry, American baseball player and coach
• 1951 – Wayne Osmond, American singer-songwriter (The Osmonds)
• 1951 – Keiichi Suzuki, Japanese composer
• 1952 – Jacques Chagnon, Canadian politician
• 1952 – Rita Dove, American poet
• 1952 – Guy Nadon, Canadian actor
• 1952 – Wendelin Wiedeking, German businessman
• 1953 – Ditmar Jakobs, German footballer
• 1954 – George Church, American biologist
• 1956 – Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican actor
• 1956 – Mark Lutz, Puerto Rican actor
• 1957 – Ivo Josipović, Croatian politician, 3rd President of Croatia
• 1957 – Rick Rossovich, American actor
• 1957 – Daniel Stern, American actor
• 1958 – Scott Hamilton, American figure skater
• 1958 – Whip Hubley, American actor
• 1959 – Brian Thompson, American actor
• 1960 – Dinah Cancer, American singer-songwriter 45 Grave
• 1960 – Emma Samms, English actress
• 1961 – Kim Appleby, English singer-songwriter and actress (Mel and Kim)
• 1961 – Cliff Benson, American football player
• 1961 – Ian Pont, English cricketer
• 1962 – Paul Allen, English footballer
• 1962 – Craig Anton, American actor
• 1962 – David Fincher, American director
• 1963 – Jennifer Coolidge, American actress
• 1963 – Regina Jacobs, American runner
• 1964 – Kaj Leo Johannesen, Faroese footballer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
• 1965 – Satoshi Tajiri, Japanese video game designer, founded Game Freak
• 1965 – Amanda Tapping, Canadian actress, director, and producer
• 1965 – Shania Twain, Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1966 – Priya Dutt, Indian politician
• 1967 – Dominic Lucero, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1994)
• 1968 – Billy Boyd, Scottish actor
• 1969 – Jack Black, American actor, singer, and guitarist (Tenacious D)
• 1969 – Mary McCartney, English photographer
• 1969 – Jason Priestley, Canadian actor and director
• 1969 – Pierre Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1970 – Sherrié Austin, Australian actress and singer
• 1970 – Rick Recht, American singer-songwriter
• 1971 – Shane Andrews, American baseball player
• 1971 – Todd Eldredge, American figure skater
• 1971 – Janet Evans, American swimmer
• 1971 – Raul Marquez, Mexican-American boxer
• 1972 – Ravindu Shah, Kenyan cricketer
• 1972 – Jay Witasick, American baseball player
• 1973 – Matthew John Armstrong, American actor
• 1973 – DJ Assault, American DJ
• 1973 – Kirby Morrow, Canadian actor
• 1974 – Johan Andersson, Swedish game programmer and designer
• 1974 – Takahito Eguchi, Japanese composer
• 1974 – Carsten Jancker, German footballer
• 1974 – Jen Kirkman, American comedian, writer, and actress
• 1974 – Kaori Mizuhashi, Japanese voice actress
• 1975 – Jamie Cureton, English footballer
• 1975 – Gareth Farrelly, Irish footballer
• 1975 – Vera Jordanova, Finnish actress and model
• 1976 – Federico Magallanes, Uruguayan footballer
• 1978 – Jess Margera, American drummer (CKY, Foreign Objects, Viking Skull, and The Company Band)
• 1979 – Shaila Dúrcal, Spanish singer-songwriter
• 1979 – Robert Hoyzer, German football referee
• 1979 – Kristen Hughes, Australian netball player
• 1979 – Markus Pröll, German footballer
• 1979 – Ruth Riley, American basketball player
• 1980 – Debra Lafave, American teacher and convicted sex offender
• 1980 – Carly Pope, Canadian actress
• 1981 – Matt Alrich, American lacrosse player
• 1981 – Martin Erat, Czech ice hockey player
• 1981 – Daniel Gygax, Swiss footballer
• 1981 – Raphael Matos, Brazilian race car driver
• 1981 – Agata Wróbel, Polish weightlifter
• 1982 – Anderson Silva de França, Brazilian footballer
• 1982 – Kevin McNaughton, Scottish footballer
• 1982 – Thiago Motta, Brazilian-Italian footballer
• 1982 – LeAnn Rimes, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1983 – Ashley Hansen, Australian footballer
• 1983 – Alfonso Herrera, Mexican actor and singer (RBD)
• 1983 – Kimberly Kane, American porn actress and director
• 1983 – Lasith Malinga, Sri Lankan cricketer
• 1983 – Luke McAlister, New Zealand rugby player
• 1983 – Lilli Schwarzkopf, German heptathlete
• 1984 – Sarah Roemer, American actress and model
• 1985 – Ashlyne Huff, American singer-songwriter
• 1986 – Jeff Green, American basketball player
• 1986 – Gilad Shalit, Israeli soldier
• 1986 – Florence Welch, English singer-songwriter (Florence and the Machine)
• 1989 – César Azpilicueta, Spanish footballer
• 1989 – Jo Kwon, South Korean singer, dancer, and actor (2AM)
• 1989 – Cassadee Pope, American singer-songwriter (Hey Monday)
• 1990 – Bojan Krkić, Spanish footballer
• 1991 – Felicio Brown Forbes, German footballer
• 1991 – Kyle Massey, American actor and rapper
• 1991 – Andrej Pejić, Australian model
• 1999 – Prince Nikolai of Denmark

Deaths

• 388 – Magnus Maximus, Roman Emperor (b. 335)
• 430 – Augustine of Hippo, Algerian saint and theologian (b. 354)
• 476 – Orestes, Roman general and politician
• 1341 – Leo V, King of Armenia (b. 1309)
• 1481 – Afonso V of Portugal (b. 1432)
• 1645 – Hugo Grotius, Dutch philosopher and writer (b. 1583)
• 1654 – Axel Oxenstierna, Swedish statesman, Lord High Chancellor of Sweden (b. 1583)
• 1678 – John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, English soldier (b. 1602)
• 1757 – David Hartley, English philosopher (b. 1705)
• 1784 – Junípero Serra, Spanish missionary (b. 1713)
• 1793 – Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine, French general (b. 1740)
• 1805 – Alexander Carlyle, Scottish church leader (b. 1722)
• 1818 – Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, American founder of Chicago (b. 1750)
• 1820 – Andrew Ellicott, American surveyor (b. 1754)
• 1839 – William Smith, English geologist (b. 1769)
• 1900 – Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (b. 1838)
• 1903 – Frederick Law Olmsted, American journalist and landscape designer (b. 1822)
• 1919 – Adolf Schmal, Austrian fencer and cyclist (b. 1872)
• 1928 – Karl Röderer, Swiss target shooter (b. 1868)
• 1933 – Helen Dunbar, American actress (b. 1863)
• 1934 – Tannatt William Edgeworth David, Australian geologist and explorer (b. 1858)
• 1943 – Boris III of Bulgaria (b. 1894)
• 1943 – George Underwood, American runner (b. 1884)
• 1955 – Emmett Till, American murder victim (b. 1941)
• 1959 – Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (b. 1890)
• 1960 – Julius Frey, German swimmer (b. 1881)
• 1960 – Edward Hennig, American gymnast (b. 1879)
• 1965 – Giulio Racah, Israeli physicist (b. 1909)
• 1971 – Reuvein Margolies, Israeli author and scholar (b. 1889)
• 1972 – Prince William of Gloucester (b. 1941)
• 1975 – Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor (b. 1907)
• 1976 – Anissa Jones, American actress (b. 1958)
• 1978 – Robert Shaw, English actor and author (b. 1927)
• 1981 – Béla Guttman, Hungarian footballer (b. 1900)
• 1982 – Geoff Chubb, South African cricketer (b. 1911)
• 1985 – Ruth Gordon, American actress (b. 1896)
• 1987 – John Huston, American director (b. 1906)
• 1988 – Jean Marchand, Canadian politician (b. 1918)
• 1988 – Max Shulman, American comedian and writer (b. 1919)
• 1990 – Willy Vandersteen, Belgian writer and illustrator (b. 1913)
• 1991 – Alekos Sakellarios, Greek writer and director (b. 1913)
• 1993 – William Stafford, American poet (b. 1914)
• 1995 – Earl W. Bascom, American rodeo performer (b. 1906)
• 1995 – Carl Giles, English cartoonist (b. 1916)
• 1997 – Masaru Takumi, Japanese mobster (b. 1936)
• 2003 – Brian Douglas Wells, American pizza delivery man forced bank robber (b. 1956)
• 2005 – Jacques Dufilho, French actor (b. 1914)
• 2005 – Esther Szekeres, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1910)
• 2005 – George Szekeres, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1911)
• 2006 – Benoît Sauvageau, Canadian politician (b. 1963)
• 2006 – Melvin Schwartz, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)
• 2007 – Arthur Jones, American inventor and businessman, founded Nautilus, Inc. and MedX Corporation (b. 1926)
• 2007 – Hilly Kristal, American businessman, founded CBGB (b. 1932)
• 2007 – Paul MacCready, American engineer, founded AeroVironment (b. 1925)
• 2007 – Nikola Nobilo, New Zealand winemaker (b. 1913)
• 2007 – Antonio Puerta, Spanish footballer (b. 1984)
• 2007 – Francisco Umbral, Spanish journalist and novelist (b. 1935)
• 2007 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese-American actress and singer (b. 1929)
• 2008 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (b. 1927)
• 2009 – Adam Goldstein, American drummer, DJ, and producer (Crazy Town and TRV$DJAM) (b. 1973)
• 2009 – Wayne Tippit, American actor (b. 1932)
• 2010 – William P. Foster, American bandleader and educator (b. 1919)
• 2011 – Bernie Gallacher, Scottish-English footballer (b. 1967)