August 26: Encyclopedia - August 26

August 26

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

August 26 - Events

• 55 BC - Julius Caesar invades Britain
• 1071 - Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Empire at Manzikert
• 1278 - Ladislaus IV of Hungary and Rudolph I of Germany defeat 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 is established at the Battle of Crécy.
• 1429 - Joan of Arc enters Paris.
• 1498 - Michelangelo commissioned to carve the Pietà.
• 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 - The ship Amistad is captured off Long Island.
• 1858 - First news dispatch by telegraph.
• 1862 - American Civil War: The Second Battle of Bull Run begins.
• 1883 - Eruption of Mount Krakatoa.
• 1914 - World War I: Germans defeat Russians in Battle of Tannenberg.
• 1914 - World War I: The British Expeditionary Force briefly checks the German advance at Le Cateau.
• 1914 - World War I: The German colony of Togoland is invaded by French and British forces, who take it after 5 days.
• 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.
• 1940 - Chad is the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor.
• 1944 - World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris.
• 1957 - The USSR announces the successful test of an ICBM - a "super longdistance intercontinental multistage ballistic rocket ... a few days ago," according to Tass Soviet News Agency.
• 1968 - Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago, Illinois
• 1968 - The Beatles' "Hey Jude" is 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 - Papal conclave, 1978 (August): Pope John Paul I is elevated to the Papacy.
• 1978 - Sigmund Jähn becomes first German cosmonaut on board of the Soyuz 31 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 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• 2003 - Columbia Accident Investigation Board releases its final reports on Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
• 2005 - Fiji's High Court rules that the island's sodomy law is unconstitutional.

August 26 - Births

• 1469 - Ferdinand II of Naples (d. 1496)
• 1540 - King Magnus of Livonia (d. 1583)
• 1676 - Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1745)
• 1694 - Elisha Williams, American rector of Yale College (d. 1755)
• 1736 - Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle, French chemist (d. 1790)
• 1743 - Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (d. 1794)
• 1775 - William Joseph Behr, German writer (d. 1851)
• 1792 - Manuel Oribe, Uruguayan political figure (d. 1857)
• 1850 - Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
• 1873 - Lee DeForest, American inventor (d. 1961)
• 1874 - Zona Gale, American novelist (d. 1938)
• 1875 - John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Scottish novelist, Governor General of Canada (d. 1940)
• 1880 - Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet and art critic (d. 1918)
• 1882 - James Franck, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
• 1896 - Ivan Mihailov, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1990)
• 1897 - Yoon Boseon, President of South Korea (d. 1990)
• 1898 - Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (d. 1979)
• 1900 - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (d. 1980)
• 1901 - Maxwell Taylor, American general (d. 1987)
• 1901 - Chen Yi, Chinese communist military commander and politician (d. 1972)
• 1904 - Christopher Isherwood, English-born writer (d. 1986)
• 1906 - Albert Sabin, American polio researcher (d. 1993)
• 1909 - Jim Davis, American actor (d. 1981)
• 1914 - Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (d. 1984)
• 1921 - Benjamin Bradlee, American journalist
• 1922 - Irving R. Levine, American journalist
• 1923 - Wolfgang Sawallisch, German conductor and pianist
• 1934 - Tom Heinsohn, American basketball player and commentator
• 1935 - Geraldine Ferraro, U.S. Vice Presidential candidate
• 1936 - Yvette Vickers, American actress
• 1940 - Don LaFontaine, movie trailer announcer
• 1941 - Barbet Schroeder, Swiss film director
• 1941 - Akiko Wakabayashi, Japanese actress
• 1942 - Vic Dana, American singer
• 1942 - Dennis Turner, British politician
• 1944 - Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
• 1946 - Valerie Simpson, American singer
• 1946 - Tom Ridge, first United States Secretary of Homeland Security
• 1952 - Michael Jeter, American actor (d. 2003)
• 1956 - Brett Cullen, American actor
• 1957 - Dr. Alban, Nigerian singer
• 1960 - Branford Marsalis, American saxophonist and bandleader
• 1965 - Chris Burke, American actor
• 1965 - Jon Hensley, American actor
• 1966 - Jacques Brinkman, Dutch field hockey player
• 1966 - Shirley Manson, Scottish singer
• 1971 - Thalía, Mexican actress
• 1979 - Jamal Lewis, American football player
• 1980 - Macaulay Culkin, American actor

August 26 - Deaths

• 1278 - King Otakar II of Bohemia
• 1346 - Killed in the Battle of Crécy:
  • Charles II of Alençon (b. 1297)
  • Louis I of Flanders (b. 1304)
  • John I, Count of Luxemburg (b. 1296)
  • Rudolph, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1320)
• 1349 - Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1551 - Margareta Leijonhufvud, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1516)
• 1595 - Antonio, Prior of Crato, claimant to the throne of Portugal (b. 1531)
• 1666 - Frans Hals, Dutch painter
• 1714 - Edward Fowler, English Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1632)
• 1723 - Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch scientist (b. 1632)
• 1785 - George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, British soldier and politician (b. 1716)
• 1850 - Louis-Philippe of France (b. 1773)
• 1915 - John Bunny American comedian (b. 1863)
• 1930 - Lon Chaney, Sr., American actor (b. 1883)
• 1944 - Adam von Trott zu Solz, German diplomat opposing the Nazi regime (executed)
• 1945 - Franz Werfel, Austrian writer (b. 1890)
• 1958 - Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (b. 1872)
• 1968 - Kay Francis, American actress (b. 1899)
• 1974 - Charles Lindbergh, American aviator (b. 1902)
• 1976 - Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (b. 1888)
• 1978 - Charles Boyer, French actor (b. 1899)
• 1978 - José Manuel Moreno, Argentine footballer (b. 1916)
• 1979 - Mika Waltari, Finnish author (b. 1908)
• 1980 - Rosa Albach-Retty, German actress (b. 1874)
• 1980 - Tex Avery, American cartoonist (b. 1908)
• 1981 - Roger Nash Baldwin, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (b. 1884)
• 1986 - Ted Knight, American actor (b. 1923)
• 1987 - Georg Wittig, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
• 1989 - Irving Stone, American author (b. 1903)
• 1990 - Minoru Honda, Japanese astronomer (b. 1913)
• 1998 - Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• 2003 - Jim Wacker, American football coach (b. 1937)
• 2004 - Laura Branigan, American singer (b. 1957)
• 2005 - Robert Denning, Interior designer (b. 1927)

August 26 - Holidays and observances

• RC saints - St Zephyrinus, Saint Ninian, David Lewis (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
• Namibia - Namibia Day or Heroes' Day
• Zanzibar - Sultan's Birthday

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "August 26", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki