August 18: Encyclopedia - August 18

August 18

August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 135 days remaining.

August 18 - Events

• 1201 - The city of Riga is founded.
• 1541 - A Portuguese ship drifts ashore in the ancient Japanese province of Higo (modern day Kumamoto Prefecture). (Traditional Japanese date: July 27, 1541)
• 1572 - Wedding in Paris of the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre with Marguerite de Valois, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics.
• 1587 - Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov. John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.
• 1590 - John White, the governor of the Colony of Roanoke, returns from a supply-trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Weldon Railroad - Union forces try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Weldon Railroad.
• 1868 - French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen discovers helium.
• 1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Martian moon Phobos.
• 1903 - German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright Brothers.
• 1904 - Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeded by George Reid.
• 1909 - Tokyo mayor Yukio Ozaki presents Washington, D.C. with 2,000 cherry trees, which President Taft decides to plant near the Potomac River.
• 1920 - 19th Amendment to US constitution passes, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
• 1938 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York State, United States with Ontario, Canada over the St. Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1941 - Adolf Hitler orders a temporary halt to Nazi Germany's systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and handicapped due to protests.
• 1950 - Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium is assassinated by far-right elements.
• 1958 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
• 1963 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins - United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.
• 1966 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan occurs, when a patrol of Royal Australian Regiment encounter the Viet Cong.
• 1969 - Jimi Hendrix plays the unofficial last day of Woodstock.
• 1971 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
• 1976 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two US soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the DMZ which had obscured their view.
• 1982 - Japanese election law is amended to allow for proportional representation.
• 1983 - Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 people and causing over USD $1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
• 1989 - Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
• 1991 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is put under house arrest while on holiday in the Crimea.
• 1992 - Wang Laboratories files for bankruptcy.
• 1992 - NBA basketball player Larry Bird announces his retirement after winning an Olympic gold medal as a member of the U.S. Dream Team.
• 2004 - In Dublin, Ireland the Dublin Port Tunnel excavation works are completed.
• 2005

• Dennis Rader is sentenced to 175 years in prison for the BTK serial killings.
• A Massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people.
• Starbucks opens its first outlet in Ireland, in Dundrum Town Centre, south County Dublin.

August 18 - Births

• 1414 - Jami, Persian poet (d. 1492)
• 1450 - Marko Marulić, Croatian poet (d. 1524)
• 1587 - Virginia Dare, first English child born in North America (d. 1588)
• 1596 - Jean Bolland, Flemish Jesuit writer (d. 1665)
• 1605 - Henry Hammond, English churchman (d. 1660)
• 1685 - Brook Taylor, English mathematician (d. 1731)
• 1692 - Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France (d. 1740)
• 1720 - Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, English murderer (d. 1760)
• 1750 - Antonio Salieri, Italian composer (d. 1825)
• 1774 - Meriwether Lewis, American explorer (d. 1809)
• 1822 - Isaac P. Rodman, American Union general (d. 1862)
• 1830 - Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria (d. 1916)
• 1841 - William Halford, American naval officer and Medal of Honor recipient
• 1857 - Libert H. Boeynaems, Belgian Catholic prelate (d. 1926)
• 1890 - Walther Funk, German Nazi politician (d. 1960)
• 1896 - Jack Pickford, Canadian-born actor (d. 1933)
• 1904 - Max Factor, Polish-born cosmetics entrepreneur (d. 1996)
• 1917 - Caspar Weinberger, United States Secretary of Defense
• 1918 - Walter Joseph Hickel, Governor of Alaska and US Secretary of the Interior
• 1920 - Bob Kennedy, baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
• 1922 - Shelley Winters, American actress
• 1922 - Alain Robbe-Grillet, French writer
• 1925 - Brian Aldiss, English writer
• 1927 - Rosalynn Carter, First Lady of the United States
• 1928 - Marge Schott, baseball team owner (d. 2004)
• 1932 - William R. Bennett, Premier of British Columbia
• 1933 - Roman Polanski, French director and actor
• 1933 - Just Fontaine, French footballer
• 1934 - Vincent Bugliosi, American attorney
• 1934 - Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player (d. 1972)
• 1935 - Rafer Johnson, American athlete
• 1935 - Sir Howard Morrison, New Zealand entertainer
• 1937 - Robert Redford, American actor and director
• 1939 - Sir Robert Horton, UK businessman
• 1943 - Martin Mull, American comedian and actor
• 1943 - Carl Wayne, English singer (d. 2004)
• 1945 - Barbara Harris, American singer (Toys)
• 1952 - Patrick Swayze, American actor
• 1953 - Louie Gohmert, American politician
• 1955 - Dr. Taher ElGamal, Egyptian scientist
• 1957 - Carole Bouquet, French actress
• 1957 - Denis Leary, American comedian and actor
• 1958 - Madeleine Stowe, American actress
• 1960 - Fat Lever, American basketball player
• 1965 - Koji Kikkawa, Japanese singer
• 1969 - Masta Killa, American rapper
• 1969 - Edward Norton, American actor
• 1969 - Christian Slater, American actor
• 1970 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner, American actor
• 1971 - Richard D James, Irish-born musician
• 1974 - Shivnarine Chanderpaul, West Indian cricketer
• 1980 - Esteban Cambiasso, Argentinian footballer
• 1984 - Robert Huth, German footballer
• 1992 - Frances Bean Cobain, Daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love

August 18 - Deaths

• 472 - Ricimer, Roman general
• 849 - Walafrid Strabo, German monk and theologian
• 1227 - Genghis Khan, Mongol leader
• 1276 - Pope Adrian V
• 1430 - Thomas de Ros, 9th Baron de Ros, English soldier and politician (drowned) (b. 1406)
• 1503 - Pope Alexander VI (b. 1431)
• 1559 - Pope Paul IV (b. 1476)
• 1563 - Étienne de La Boétie, French judge and writer (b. 1530)
• 1613 - Giovanni Artusi, Italian composer
• 1620 - Wanli, Emperor of China (b. 1563)
• 1642 - Guido Reni, Italian painter (b. 1575)
• 1645 - Eudoxia Streshneva, Tsarina of Mikhail I of Russia (b. 1608)
• 1683 - Charles Hart, English actor (b. 1625)
• 1707 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and statesman (b. 1640)
• 1712 - Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers, English soldier
• 1765 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1708)
• 1809 - Matthew Boulton, English manufacturer and engineer (b. 1728)
• 1815 - Chauncey Goodrich, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (b. 1759)
• 1842 - Louis de Freycinet, French explorer (b. 1779)
• 1850 - Honoré de Balzac, French writer (b. 1799)
• 1940 - Walter P. Chrysler, American automobile executive (b. 1875)
• 1949 - Paul Mares, American musician (b. 1900)
• 1963 - Clifford Odets, American playwright (b. 1906)
• 1981 - Anita Loos, American screenwriter, playwright, and author (b. 1889)
• 1983 - Nikolaus Pevsner, German-born art historian (b. 1902)
• 1990 - Grethe Ingmann, Danish singer (b. 1938)
• 1994 - Richard Laurence Millington Synge, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
• 1998 - Persis Khambatta, Indian actress (b. 1950)
• 2004 - Elmer Bernstein, American composer (b. 1922)

August 18 - Holidays and observances

• RC saints - Saint Helena of Constantinople
• Buhe in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "August 18", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki