Historical Events
Music Recording
Aug 1 Aretha Franklin's 1st recording session for Columbia Records in NYC
- Aug 1 Benin (Dahomey) gains independence from France
- Aug 1 Islamabad declared as the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.
- Aug 2 Baseball's new Continental League formally disbands without ever having played a game after established MLB promise of expansion including New York City achieved the owners' desired effect; on August 2, 1960, the Continental League formally disbanded.
- Aug 3 For the only time in MLB history teams exchange managers as Detroit trades Jimmy Dykes (44-52) for Cleveland's Joe Gordon (49-46)
- Aug 3 Lee Petty and his sons, Richard & Maurice race against each other for the first and only time at Dixie Speedway in Birmingham, Alabama; Richard 2nd, Lee 3rd
- Aug 3 Niger gains independence from France
- Aug 3 Pittsburgh Steelers (NFL) beat Toronto Argonauts (CFL) 43-16 in exhibition game at CNE Stadium in Toronto
- Aug 4 Rocket propelled USAF research aircraft sets record at 2,150 MPH
- Aug 5 Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) declares independence from France
The Twist Dance Craze
Aug 6 Chubby Checker performs his version of Hank Ballard's "The Twist" on "The Dick Clark Show", starting a worldwide dance craze
- Aug 6 The UN Security Council lay down rules which would allow UN forces to enter Congo
Golf Tournament
Aug 7 Arnold Palmer's 20th PGA Tour win; rallies from a 5-stroke deficit to enter a playoff, then beats Jack Fleck and Bill Collins to win the Insurance City Open
- Aug 7 Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) gains independence from France
- Aug 7 Students stage kneel-in demonstrations in Atlanta churches
- Aug 8 "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" hits #1
- Aug 8 Charges against 53 of the 76 Africans detained after the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa are dropped
- Aug 8 South Kasai secedes from the Congo.
- Aug 9 Race riot in Jacksonville, Florida
- Aug 10 Discoverer 13 launched into orbit; returned 1st object from space
Psycho
Aug 10 Los Angeles premiere of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh
Sports History
Aug 12 Ralph Boston of US, sets then long jump record at 8.21m
- Aug 12 USAF Major Robert M White takes X-15 to an altitude of 41,600 m
- Aug 13 Central African Republic & Chad proclaim independence from France
- Aug 13 USSR withdraws advisors from China
- Aug 14 Australian driver Jack Brabham clinches his second consecutive F1 World Drivers Championship by winning the Portuguese Grand Prix at Boavista
- Aug 14 UN peace-keeping troops deployed to the Republic of Congo
- Aug 15 CFL's Calgary Stampeders move into McMahon Stadium
- Aug 15 Chicago Bears beat NY Giants 16-7 in Toronto (NFL expo)
- Aug 15 Congo (formerly Congo/Brazzaville) declares Independence from France
- Aug 15 UFO is sighted by 3 California patrolmen
- Aug 16 Britain grants independence to crown colony of Cyprus
- Aug 16 Joseph Kittinger parachutes from balloon at 31,330 m (84,700')
- Aug 16 Republic of Congo (Zaire, Dem Rep of Congo) forms
Show Trial of Francis Gary Powers
Aug 17 Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow
- Aug 17 Gabon gains independence from France (National Day)
- Aug 17 Indonesia drops diplomatic relations with Netherlands
- Aug 18 1st photograph bounced off a satellite, Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Richardson, Texas
- Aug 18 Milwaukee Braves pitcher Lew Burdette no-hits Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at County Stadium, Milwaukee
- Aug 18 The Beatles give their 1st public performance at the Indra Club in Hamburg, Germany
- Aug 19 American CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers convicted of spying by USSR (U-2 incident); sentence to 3 years in prison plus 7 in a labor camp, he served 17 months before being exchanged for a captured Soviet KGB spy
- Aug 19 Soviet Sputnik 5 carries 2 dogs, 2 rats, 40 mice, 1 rabbit and fruit flies into space, 1st animals to return alive from orbit
- Aug 19 The first commercial atomic energy reactor, owned by the Yankee Atomic Electric Company, achieves a self-sustaining nuclear reaction in Rowe, Deerfield River, Massachusetts
- Aug 20 Senegal breaks from Mali federation, declaring independence
- Aug 20 USSR recovers 2 dogs, 1st living organisms to return from space
Baseball Record
Aug 22 Gil Hodges set NL right handed HR record with #352
- Aug 23 World's largest frog (3.3 kg) caught (Equatorial Guinea)
- Aug 24 -127°F (-88°C), Vostok, Antarctica (world record)
- Aug 24 21st Venice Film Festival: "Tomorrow Is My Turn" directed by Andre Cayatte wins Golden Lion
- Aug 24 60 people die when a bus plunges off bridge into Turvo River, Brazil
- Aug 25 AFL begins placing players names on back of their jerseys
Event of Interest
Aug 25 Demonstrations against Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba
- Aug 25 XVII Summer Olympic Games open in Rome, Italy
- Aug 27 Anita Lonsbrough swims world/olympic record 200m (2:49.5)
- Aug 27 Australian swimmer John Devitt controversially wins the 100m freestyle gold medal at the Rome Olympics; recorded same time 55.2 as silver medallist American Lance Larson
- Aug 27 British swimmer Anita Lonsbrough sets 200m breaststroke world record 2:49.5 to beat German pair Wiltrud Urselmann & Barbara Göbel for the gold medal at the Rome Olympics
- Aug 28 White Sox Ted Kluzewski's 3-run HR is disallowed as umpire called time
Olympic Gold
Aug 29 Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser wins blue ribband 100m freestyle gold medal at the Rome Olympics; retains title won in Melbourne 1956; will win unprecedented 3rd consecutive 100m gold in Tokyo 1964
- Aug 29 Italy wins cycling team pursuit and Sante Gaiardoni takes the sprint gold medal at the Rome Olympics; Italy wins all 4 track events and road team time trial to thoroughly dominate sport
- Aug 29 Jordan premier Hazza-el-Madjali deadly injured at bomb attack
Olympic Gold
Aug 29 Swedish canoeists Gert Fredriksson and Sven-Olov Sjödelius win the K2-1,000m in 3:34.73 at the Rome Olympics; Fredriksson's 6th gold medal in 4 Olympic Games
- Aug 30 Boston 2nd baseman Pete Runnels goes 6-for-7
- Aug 30 East Germany imposes a partial blockade on West Berlin
- Aug 30 US women's 4 x 100m medley relay team swims world record 4:41.1 to beat Australia and win the gold medal at the Rome Olympics; Lynn Burke, Patty Kempner, Carolyn Schuler & Chris von Saltza
- Aug 31 Agricultural Hall of Fame forms
- Aug 31 US sweeps the medals in the shot put at the Rome Olympics; Bill Nieder wins gold with 19.68m, ahead of countrymen Parry O'Brien and Dallas Long
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 1 Chuck D [Ridenhour], American rapper (Public Enemy), born in Queens, New York
- Aug 1 Micheál Martin, Irish politician, Prime Minister of Ireland (2020-), born in Cork, Ireland
- Aug 2 Apollonia [Patricia Kotero], American actress (Purple Rain), born in Santa Monica, California
- Aug 2 David Yow, American musician (Scratch Acid; The Jesus Lizard), born in Las Vegas, Nevada
- Aug 2 Linda Fratianne, American figure skater (Olympic silver 1980), born in Northridge, Los Angeles
- Aug 2 Neal Morse, American musician (Spock's Beard; Transatlantic), born in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California
- Aug 3 Gopal Sharma, Indian cricket off-spin bowler (5 Tests, 10 wickets; 11 ODIs), born in Kanpur, India
- Aug 3 Tim Mayotte, American tennis player (Olympic silver 1988), born in Springfield, Massachusetts
- Aug 4 Bernard Rose, English director
- Aug 4 Dean Malenko, American professional wrestler
- Aug 4 José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spanish politician
- Aug 4 Robbin Crosby, American heavy metal rock guitarist and vocalist (Ratt - "Round & Round"), born in La Jolla, California (d. 2002)
- Aug 4 Tim Winton, Australian author
- Aug 5 Seth Swirsky, American pop songwriter ("Tell It To My Heart"), born in Connecticut
- Aug 6 Aldo Jones [Albert Mansis], American rockabilly bassist and singer (Ben Vaughn Combo), born in Yonkers, New York (d. 2001)
- Aug 6 Dale Ellis, American NBA basketball guard/forward, 1983-2000 (Seattle Supersonics, Denver Nuggets, and 5 other teams), born in Marietta, Georgia
- Aug 7 David Duchovny, American actor (The X-Files, Californication), born in New York City
- Aug 7 Jacquie O'Sullivan, British rock singer and songwriter (Bananarama - "Venus"), born in London, England
- Aug 8 Cheyne Horan, Australian surfer (World C'ship runner-up 1978, 79, 81, 82), born in Sydney, Australia
- Aug 8 Ulrich Maly, German politician
- Aug 9 Roger Marshall, American politician (Senator-R-Kansas 2021-), born in El Dorado, Kansas
- Aug 9 Viorel Turcu, Romanian soccer midfielder (7 caps; FC Argeș Pitești, Steaua București, FC Olt Scornicești), born in Popești, Romania (d. 2020)
Antonio Banderas (63 years old)
Aug 10 Spanish actor (Philadelphia, Evita, Zorro), born in Malaga, Spain
- Aug 10 Kenny Perry, American golfer (4 Champions Tour major titles; US Senior Open 2013, 17; 14 PGA Tour titles), born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky
- Aug 10 Todd David Hess, First USAF Member inducted into Army's Order of Military Medical Merit.
- Aug 10 Vinnie Kilduff, Irish session and touring tin whistler, uilleann piper, mandolin player, and songwriter (The Waterboys; U2: Sinéad O'Connor), born in Knock, County Mayo, Ireland
- Aug 11 Leora "Sam" Jones, American US team handball player (Olympic-92), born in Mt. Olive, North Carolina
- Aug 12 Laurent Fignon, French road cyclist (Tour de France 1983, 84; Giro d'Italia 1989; FICP World #1 1989), born in Paris, France (d. 2010)
- Aug 12 Morty Skaget [Morty Black, Norwegian heavy metal musician (TNT, JORN), born in Trondheim, Norway
- Aug 13 Koji Kondo, Japanese composer and music director for Nintendo, born in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
- Aug 13 Phil Taylor, English darts player (BDO World Champion 1990, 92; PDC World Champion 1995-2002, 04-06, 09-10, 13), born in Stoke-on-Trent, England
- Aug 14 Broderick Thompson, American NFL offensive lineman (Denver Broncos), born in Birmingham, Alabama
- Aug 14 Cecilia Gasdia, Italian soprano, born in Verona, Italy
Sarah Brightman (63 years old)
Aug 14 British stage actress and singer (Phantom of the Opera), born in Berkhamsted, England
- Aug 15 Maureen "Peanut" Louie Harper, tennis player (Denver-1985), born in San Francisco, California
- Aug 15 Ron van de Berg, Dutch soccer player (Sparta), born in Rotterdam
- Aug 16 Flood [Marc Ellis], British record producer and audio engineer, born in London, England
- Aug 16 Timothy Hutton, American actor (Turk 182, Ordinary People), born in Malibu, California
- Aug 17 Bruce Penhall, American actor (Savage Beach), born in Balboa, California
- Aug 17 Johnny Bumphus, American boxer (WBA super lightweight title 1984), born in Tacoma, Washington (d. 2020)
Sean Penn (63 years old)
Aug 17 American actor (Mystic River, Milk), born in Santa Monica, California
- Aug 17 Stephan Eicher, Swiss singer, born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland
- Aug 19 Bobby Hebert, American sportscaster and NFL quarterback (Atlanta Falcons), born in Cut Off, Louisiana
- Aug 19 Morten Andersen, Danish Pro Football HOF placekicker (5 × First-team All-Pro; 7 × Pro Bowl; NO Saints, Atlanta Falcons; NFL record most games played: 382), born in Copenhagen, Denmark
- Aug 19 Ron Darling, American baseball pitcher (NY Mets), born in Honolulu, Hawaii
- Aug 20 Elizabeth Alda, American actress (Beth-Four Seasons) and daughter of Alan Alda, born in New York City
- Aug 20 Mark Langston, American MLB pitcher (California Angels), born in San Diego, California
- Aug 20 Sally Yates, American lawyer and Acting Attorney General (Jan 2017), born in Atlanta, Georgia
- Aug 22 Collin Raye [Floyd Elliot Wray], American country music singer ("Love, Me"; "I Can Still Feel You"), born in De Queen, Arkansas
- Aug 23 Chris Potter, Canadian actor (Kung Fu: The Legend Continues), born in Toronto, Ontario
- Aug 23 Helen Rees, director (Design Museum)
- Aug 23 Rodney Alan Greenblat, American graphic artist, born in San Francisco, California
Cal Ripken Jr (63 years old)
Aug 24 American Baseball HOF shortstop (19 x MLB All Star; MLB record consecutive game streak 2,632; AL MVP 1983, 91; Baltimore Orioles), born in Havre de Grace, Maryland
- Aug 24 Franz Viehböck, Austrian 1st cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-13), born in Vienna, Austria
- Aug 24 Kim Christofte, Danish footballer (Denmark national team 1984-92), born in Copenhagen, Denmark
- Aug 24 Steven Lindsey, U.S. Air Force officer and NASA astronaut (STS 87, sk:95), born in Temple City, California
- Aug 24 Takashi Miike, Japanese filmmaker (Dead or Alive), born in Yao, Osaka, Japan
- Aug 25 Ashley Crow, American actress (Heroes-Sandra Bennet), born in Birmingham, Alabama
- Aug 25 Jonas Gahr Støre, Norwegian politician (Prime Minister of Norway 2021-), born in Oslo, Norway
- Aug 26 Branford Marsalis, American jazz, classical and funk saxophonist (Sting; Tonight Show, 1992-95), born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
- Aug 26 Jim Beard, American session and touring jazz-fusion keyboardist and composer (Pat Metheny, Steely Dan, The Brecker Brothers), born in Ridley Park Pennsylvania (d. 2024) [1]
- Aug 26 Keith Raniere, American sex cult leader (NXIVM) and convicted felon, born in Brooklyn, New York
- Aug 26 Nancy Martinez, French Canadian pop-dance singer (Move Out), born in Montreal, Quebec
- Aug 26 Ola Ray, American model, Playboy playmate (Jun, 1980) and actress (girlfriend in Thriller music video), born in St Louis, Missouri
- Aug 26 Pharez Whitted, American jazz, funk, and soul trumpeter, and educator, born in Indianapolis, Indiana
- Aug 27 Damon Keeve, heavyweight (209+ lbs) judoka (Olympics 1992, 96), born in San Francisco, California
- Aug 28 Cunningham T Ngcukana, South African worker's union leader
- Aug 28 Emma [Elizabeth Wylie Samuelson] Samms, British actress (Colby's, General Hospital), born in London, England
- Aug 28 Leroy Chiao, Taiwanese-American engineer and astronaut (STS 65, 72, sk: 92), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Aug 29 William Susman, American pianist and contemporary classical and documentary film score composer (Pentateuch; Snow Lion of Peace; Native New Yorker), born in Chicago, Illinois
- Aug 30 Chalino Sánchez, Mexican musician, born in Alturas Del Sur Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico (d. 1992)
- Aug 30 Guy A. Lepage, Quebec humorist, television host and producer, born in Montreal, Quebec
- Aug 30 Master Sgt. Gary Gordon, American Medal of Honor recipient, born in Lincoln, Maine (d. 1993)
- Aug 30 Thom Tillis, American politician (Senator-R-North Carolina 2015-), born in Jacksonville, Florida
- Aug 31 Chris Whitley, American blues-rock guitarist, singer and songwriter, born in Houston, Texas (d. 2005)
- Aug 31 Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese terrorist group Hizbollah, born in Bourj Hammoud, Lebanon
- Aug 31 Vali Ionescu, Romanian long jumper, born in Turnu, Romania
Famous Deaths
Arthur Meighen (1874-1960)
Aug 5 9th Prime Minister of Canada (C: 1920-21, 1926), dies at 86
- Aug 7 Salvatore Ferragamo, Italian luxury shoe designer (Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.), dies at 62
- Aug 7 Väinö Hannikainen, Finnish composer and harpist, dies at 60
- Aug 8 Danton Walker, American columnist (Broadway Spotlight), dies at 61
- Aug 9 Bernard Ogilvie Dodge, American botanist and pioneer researcher on heredity in fungi, dies at 88
- Aug 10 Emil Strauss, German writer (Vaterland), dies at 94
Frank Lloyd (1886-1960)
Aug 10 Scottish actor and director (Mutiny on Bounty, Oliver Twist, Blood on the Sun), dies at 74
- Aug 10 Oswald Veblin, mathematician
- Aug 14 Fred Clarke, American Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder and manager (Louisville Colonels, Pittsburgh Pirates; World Series 1909 [PP]), dies at 87
- Aug 16 Errol Holmes, cricketer (batted in 5 Tests for England 1935), dies
- Aug 19 Lewis Bernstein Namier, English historian, dies at 72
- Aug 20 Rudolf Moser, composer, dies at 68
- Aug 21 David Barnard Steinman, American civil engineer and bridge designer (Hudson, Triborough), dies at 74
- Aug 22 Eduard Pütsep, Estonian wrestler (b. 1898)
- Aug 23 Oscar Hammerstein II, American lyricist (Rodgers & Hammerstein - "Oklahoma!"; "South Pacific"; "The King And I"; " The Sound Of Music"), dies at 65
- Aug 26 Mark Hambourg, Russian-British composer, dies at 81
- Aug 28 Anton Lajovic, Slovenian composer, dies at 81
- Aug 29 Alexander Gauge, British actor (The Adventures of Robin Hood), dies at 46
- Aug 29 Hazza el-Majali, Prime Minister of Jordan is assassinated
- Aug 29 Vicki Baum, Austrian writer (Grand Hotel), dies at 72
