Historical Events
Back To Africa
Aug 2 Marcus Garvey presents his "Back To Africa" program in NYC
- Aug 8 Tigers beat Yanks 1-0 in shortest AL game, 73 minutes
- Aug 9 Bulgarian & allied Peace of Neuilly-sur-Seine goes into effect
- Aug 10 Allies recognize Poland, Czechoslovakia & Romania
- Aug 10 Mamie Smith and her Jazz Hounds record “Crazy Blues” for Okeh Records, first significant Blues hit by African American artist
- Aug 10 Treaty of Sèvres (Allies & Turkey)
- Aug 10 Turkish government renounces its claim to Israel, recognizes British mandate
- Aug 11 1st peace of Riga-Soviet Union recognizes Independence of Latvia
- Aug 12 Battle of Warsaw between Poland and Russia begins
- Aug 13 Flag designed by Marcus Garvey consisting of three horizontal stripes of red, black and green is adopted as the pan-African flag
US Golf Open
Aug 13 US Open Men's Golf, Inverness GC: Isle of Jersey native Ted Ray pars the 18th, giving him a 1-stroke win over runners-up Harry Vardon, Jock Hutchison, Leo Diegel & Jack Burke Sr
- Aug 14 Little Entente formed by Czechoslovakia & Yugoslavia
- Aug 14 VII Summer Olympic Games open in Antwerp, Belgium; first time Olympic Oath voiced, doves released to symbolise peace, and Olympic Flag flown
Battle of Warsaw
Aug 15 Polish troops commanded by Józef Piłsudski defeat the Soviets at the Battle of Warsaw (Miracle upon the Vistula)
- Aug 16 Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman is hit in head by NY Yankees pitcher Carl Mays; he dies the next day in only MLB game related fatality
- Aug 17 New York Yankees cancel game with Cleveland Indians in memory of Ray Chapman who dies after being hit by a pitch the previous day
- Aug 18 1st class cricket debut of Walter Hammond
American Women Demand Their Rights
Aug 18 State Representative Harry T. Burn (24) casts deciding vote in Tennessee's and thus America's ratification of the 19th Amendment to the constitution allowing women's suffrage, after reading a letter from his mother
- Aug 20 1st US commercial radio station, 8MK (WWJ), Detroit begins daily broadcasting
- Aug 20 Allen Woodring wins Oympic 200 m dash wearing borrowed shoes
Sports History
Aug 20 American Professional Football Association forms; Jim Thorpe installed as president; later to become the National Football League (NFL)
- Aug 20 Israel publishes its first medical journal "Ha-Refuah"
PGA Championship
Aug 21 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Flossmoor CC: American based Scotsman Jock Hutchison beats J. Douglas Edgar of England, 1-up; first of Hutchinson's 2 majors
- Aug 23 American swimmer Warren Kealoha wins first of 2 consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 100m backstroke, beating teammate Ray Kegeris at the Antwerp Games
- Aug 23 Mary Roberts Rinehart & Avery Roberts play "The Bat" based on Reinhart's novel "The Circular Staircase"premieres on Broadway in New York
- Aug 24 With British approval, Greece is encouraged to take offensive action against Turkish nationalists in Asia Minor
- Aug 25 American swimmer Norman Ross wins his first of 3 gold medals at the Antwerp Olympics in dominating men's 1,500m freestyle; also wins 400m freestyle and 4 x 200m freestyle relay
1st US Female Olympic Champion
Aug 25 Ethelda Bleibtrey leads an American medal sweep of the Antwerp Olympics women's 100m freestyle with a world record 1:13.6; first US female Olympic champion
- Aug 25 Russia suffers a final decisive defeat in the Battle of Warsaw against Poland
- Aug 25 Swedish divers sweep the medals in the men's plain high diving event at the Antwerp Olympics; Arvid Wallman wins gold ahead of teammates Nils Skoglund & John Jansson
- Aug 26 Surrey cricket all-rounder Percy Fender scores 100 in 35 minutes [113no] in a county match vs Northamptonshire at the County Ground, Northampton
- Aug 27 American diver Louis Kuehn leads a US medal sweep in the men's 3m springboard event at the Antwerp Olympics; teammates Clarence Pinkston & Louis Balbach take the minor medals
- Aug 28 American swimmer Norman Ross wins his 2nd of 3 gold medals at the Antwerp Olympics; beats teammate Ludwig Langer in the men's 400m freestyle; also wins 1,500m and 4 x 200m freestyle relay
- Aug 28 Ethelda Bleibtrey leads an American medal sweep of the Antwerp Olympic women's 300m freestyle with a world record swim of 4:34.0
- Aug 29 An American sweep of the medals in the men's 100m freestyle at the Antwerp Olympics; Duke Kahanamoku sets world record 1:00.4 in defending his 1912 gold medal
- Aug 29 An American sweep of the medals in the women's 3m springboard diving event at the Antwerp Olympics; Aileen Riggin wins gold ahead of teammates Helen Wainwright & Thelma Payne
- Aug 29 Ethelda Bleibtrey wins her 3rd gold medal of the Antwerp Olympics; teams with Irene Guest, Frances Schroth & Margaret Woodbridge in American 4 x 100m freestyle relay team; world record 5:11.6
- Aug 29 Swedish swimmer Håkan Malmrot completes the breaststroke double at the Antwerp Olympics beating teammate Thor Henning in the 200m; also beats Henning for gold in the 400m
- Aug 31 Belgium starts paying old age pensions
- Aug 31 Detroit radio station 8MK (now WWJ, 950AM) is 1st to broadcast a news program on the air
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 1 Henrietta Lacks [Loretta Pleasant], African-American tobacco farmer whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, extensively used in medical research since the 1950s (1st immortalised cell line), born in Roanoke, Virginia (d. 1951)
- Aug 1 Jeffrey Segal, British actor and playwright (Dad's Army, Traitors), born in London, England (d. 2015)
- Aug 1 Sammy Lee, American diver (Olympic Gold 10m platform 1948, 52), born in Fresno, California (d. 2016)
- Aug 2 Bill Scott, American voice actor, producer and writer (Mr Peabody, Bullwinkle), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1985)
- Aug 2 Louis Pauwels, French writer and editor, born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1997)
- Aug 2 Theo Marcuse, American character actor (Mara of Wilderness), born in Seattle, Washington (d. 1967)
- Aug 3 Charlie Shavers, American jazz trumpet player, born in New York City (d. 1971)
- Aug 3 Elmar Tampõld, Estonian-Canadian architect, born in Kärdla, Estonia (d. 2013)
- Aug 3 Maria Karnilova, American dancer and actress (Fiddler on the Roof, Ivan the Terrible), born in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 2001)
- Aug 3 P. D. James [Phyllis Dorothy], Baroness James of Holland Park, English crime writer (Cover Her Face), born in Oxford, England (d. 2014)
- Aug 4 Helen Thomas, American reporter and UPI journalist (starts press conferences), born in Winchester, Kentucky (d. 2013)
- Aug 5 Selma Diamond, Canadian-American comedy writer (Your Show Of Shows), and actress (Night Court, 1984-85 - "Selma"), born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1985)
- Aug 5 Sonny Montgomery, American politician (Rep-D-Mississippi, 1967-97), born in Meridian, Mississippi (d. 2006)
- Aug 6 Ella Raines, American actress (Uncle Harry, Runaround, Impact, Brute Force), born in Snoqualmie Falls, Washington (d. 1988)
- Aug 8 Don Cook, American foreign Correspondent (The New York Herald Tribune), born in Bridgeport, Connecticut (d. 1995)
- Aug 8 Jimmy Witherspoon, American jump blues singer ("Ain't Nobody's Business"), born in Gurdon, Arkansas (d. 1997)
- Aug 8 Leo Chiosso, Italian lyricist (d. 2006)
- Aug 9 Allen Hoskins, American child actor (Our Gang), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1980)
- Aug 9 Enzo Biagi, Italian journalist and writer, born in Lizzano in Belvedere, Italy (d. 2007)
- Aug 10 William "Red" Holzman, American Basketball Hall of Fame coach (New York Knicks 14 seasons), born in Brooklyn, NY (d. 1998)
- Aug 11 Chuck Rayner, Canadian Hockey HOF goaltender (Hart Memorial Trophy 1950; NHL All-Star 1949, 50, 51; New York Americans, New York Rangers), born in Sutherland, Saskatchewan (d. 2002)
- Aug 11 Derry Jeffares, Irish Anglo-Irish scholar (Stirling University), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 2005)
Mike Douglas (1920-2006)
Aug 11 American big band singer (Kay Kyser), and TV talk show host (The Mike Douglas Show, 1961-81), born in Chicago, Illinois
- Aug 11 William Masselos, American pianist, born in Niagara Falls, New York (d. 1992)
- Aug 12 Percy Mayfield, American singer (Please Send Me Someone to Love), born in Minden, Louisiana (d. 1984)
- Aug 12 Peter West, British sports broadcaster (BBC; editor Playfair Cricket Annual), born in Cranbrook, England (d. 2003)
- Aug 13 Charlie Galbraith, English jazz trombonist, born in London (d. 1997)
- Aug 13 Neville Brand, American soldier and actor (DOA, Love Me Tender), born in Griswold, Iowa (d. 1992)
- Aug 15 (Henry) "Huntz" Hall, American radio, stage, and screen actor (Dead End Kids: The Bowery Boys; Gas Pump Girls), born in New York City (d. 1999)
- Aug 16 Charles Bukowski, German-born American columnist (Notes of a Dirty Old Man) and writer (Hollywood: A Novel) who was described as a "laureate of American lowlife", born in Andernach, Weimar Republic Germany (d. 1994)
- Aug 17 Georgia Gibbs [Frieda Lipschitz], American jazz and pop singer ("Kiss of Fire"; "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake"), born in Worcester, Massachusetts (d. 2006) [1]
Maureen O'Hara (1920-2015)
Aug 17 Irish-American actress (Miracle on 34th Street; The Quiet Man; Only The Lonely), and singer, born in Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland
- Aug 17 Vern Bickford, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1949; no-hitter 1950; Boston / Milwaukee Braves), born in Hellier, Kentucky (d. 1960)
- Aug 18 Bob Kennedy, American MLB baseball player (Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians), manager (Chicago Cubs, Oakland A's), and executive, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2005)
- Aug 18 Godfrey Evans, English cricket wicket-keeper (91 Tests; 219 dismissals; Kent), born in Finchley, England (d. 1999)
Shelley Winters (1920-2006)
Aug 18 American Oscar and Emmy Award-winning actress (Lolita; A Place in the Sun; A Patch of Blue; The Poseidon Adventure), born in St. Louis, Missouri
- Aug 19 Lucila Engels-Boskaljon, Curacao-Dutch painter, born in Willemstad, Curaçao (d. 1993)
- Aug 19 Paul Kont, Austrian composer, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2000)
- Aug 21 Christopher R. Milne, son of Alan A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh), born in Chelsea, London (d. 1996)
- Aug 21 Gerry Staley, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1952-53, 60; St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox), born in Brush Prairie, Washington (d. 2008)
- Aug 22 Anthony Tuke, chairman of Barclays Bank (1973–81) (d. 2001)
- Aug 22 Denton Cooley, American heart surgeon (1st artificial heart transplant), born in Houston, Texas (d. 2016)
- Aug 22 Pierre A. Lauffer, Antillian poet (Patria), born in Curacao, Venezuela (d. 1981)
- Aug 22 Ray Bradbury, American sci-fi author (Fahrenheit 451), born in Waukegan, Illinois (d. 2012)
- Aug 22 Wolfdietrich Schnurre, German writer, born in Frankfurt (d. 1989)
- Aug 23 Aart Verstegen, Dutch ballet dancer and choreographer (Jolly Joker's Last Joke), born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 1998)
- Aug 24 Alex Colville, Canadian conceptual painter, born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 2013)
- Aug 25 Jef Diederen, Dutch painter, born in Heerlen, Netherlands (d. 2009)
- Aug 25 Leonard Gaskin, American jazz bassist (Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis), born in New York City (d. 2009)
- Aug 26 Brant Parker, American cartoonist (co-creator of "The Wizard of Id"), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2007)
- Aug 27 James Molyneaux [Baron Molyneaux of Killead], MP (Ulster unionist), born in Killead, Ireland (d. 2015)
- Aug 28 Frits Bernard, American clinical psychologist and pedophile activist, born in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 2006)
- Aug 29 Charles White, American actor (Airport 95, Serpico), born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey (d. 2005)
Charlie "Bird" Parker (1920-1955)
Aug 29 American jazz saxophonist (Ornithology) and composer, born in Kansas City, Kansas
- Aug 29 Joseph Lesniewski, American Easy Company, soldier in 101st Airborne, born in Erie, Pennsylvania (d. 2012)
- Aug 30 Ben Cami, Flemish writer and poet (Rose from Mud), born in Durham, England (d. 2004)
- Aug 31 James Lanphier, American actor (Flight of Lost Balloon), born in Hempstead, New York (d. 1969)
Famous Weddings
John Barrymore
Aug 5 Actor John Barrymore (38) marries second wife author and actress Blanche Oelrichs (29) (divorced 1928)
Famous Deaths
- Aug 1 Bal Gangadhar Tilak, early Indian nationalist leader, dies at 64
- Aug 2 Ormer Locklear, American movie stunt pilot (The Great Air Robbery), dies at 28
- Aug 4 Vladimir Rebikov, Russian pianist and composer, dies at 54
- Aug 6 Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator, first flight in independent Poland (b. 1890)
- Aug 10 Ádám Politzer, Hungarian-Austrian physician, dies at 84
- Aug 12 Louisa Lawson, Australian writer, publisher (The Dawn) and suffragist who founded The Dawn Club, dies at 72
- Aug 16 Sir Norman Lockyer, English physicist, co-founder of helium gas, founder and editor of "Nature" magazinem dies at 84
- Aug 17 Ray Chapman, American baseball shortstop (Cleveland Indians), dies after being hit in the head by a pitch from NY Yankees Carl Mays at 29
- Aug 22 Anders Zorn, Swedish painter, etcher and sculptor (Gustavus Vasa), dies at 60
- Aug 31 Wilhelm Wundt, German physiologist, psychologist and philosopher, dies at 88
