Events in History
- Aug 1 Flash flood in Big Thompson Canyon Colo on Route 34, kills 139
- Aug 4 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Aug 6 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lays the foundation stone of Port Qasim, Karachi
- Aug 7 Scientists in Pasadena, California, announce Viking I found strongest indications to date of possible life on Mars
- Aug 7 US Viking 2 goes into Martian orbit after 11-month flight from Earth
- Aug 9 USSR launches Luna 24, last Lunar flight to date from Earth
- Aug 10 Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer shot dead by the British Army as he drove in Belfast; his car out of control and kills 3 children, sparking "peace rallies" throughout the month by the 'Peace People'
- Aug 11 Race riot in Cape Town, South Africa; 17 die
- Aug 12 1st approach & lands test (ALT) of orbiter Enterprise
- Aug 12 Christian militia conquer Palestinian camp Tell al-Za'tar, 2000 killed
- Aug 13 South Africa pledges support for a negotiated settlement in Rhodesia
- Aug 14 10,000 Northern Ireland women demonstrate for peace in Belfast
- Aug 17 An earthquake & tsunami in the Philippines kills up to 8,000
- Aug 17 Big win for WI at The Oval Michael Holding 14-149 for match
Murder of Interest
Aug 18 Korean axe murder incident: 2 US soldiers tasked with cutting down a poplar tree blocking the view of UN observers are killed by North Koreans claiming it was planted by Kim Il-sung in the Korean Demilitarized Zone
- Aug 18 USSR's Luna 24 soft-lands on Moon
Presidential Convention
Aug 19 President Gerald Ford wins Republican presidential nomination at KC convention
- Aug 21 "Operation Paul Bunyan" begins in retaliation for the "Korean axe murder incident" 3 days prior. 110 troops, 27 helicopters, 3 B-52 bombers are deployed to the Korean Demilitarized Zone to cut down a poplar blocking the view of UN observers
- Aug 21 Al Bumbry hits 17th inside-the-park HR in Oriole history
- Aug 21 Battle, East Sussex: Mary Langdon becomes 1st British firewoman
- Aug 23 Heavy earthquake strikes China, 1,000s die
- Aug 24 Soyuz 21 returns to Earth
- Aug 25 Harm Wiersma becomes world checker champion
- Aug 28 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- Aug 30 Turks & Caicos Islands adopts constitution
- Aug 31 Mexican peso devalued
- Aug 31 Trinidad & Tobago adopts constitution
Birthdays in History
- Aug 1 Ivan Duque Márquez, Colombian politician, President of Colombia (2018-), born in Bogotá, Colombia
- Aug 4 Jock Zonfrillo, Scottish chef (Masterchef Australia judge), born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 2023) [1]
- Aug 6 Travis Kalanick, American entrepreneur (Red Swoosh, Uber), born in Los Angeles, California
- Aug 7 Cathy Park Hong, American Korean poet (Dance Dance Revolution), born in Los Angeles, California
- Aug 9 Aled Haydn Jones, Welsh radio producer (head of BBC Radio One), born in Aberystwyth, Wales
- Aug 11 Erick Lindgren, American poker player (WSOP Player of the Year 2008), born in Burney, California
- Aug 14 Jericho Brown, American poet and writer (The Tradition - 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry), born in Shreveport, Louisiana
Abiy Ahmed (47 years old)
Aug 15 Prime Minister of Ethiopia (2018-) and winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, born in Beshasha, Ethiopia
- Aug 15 Robert Macfarlane, English nature writer, born in Halam, England
- Aug 18 Bryan Volpenhein, American rower, born in Cincinnati, Ohio
Weddings in History
Larry Flynt
Aug 21 Magazine publisher Larry Flynt (33) weds Althea Leasure (23) (his fourth time)
Deaths in History
- Aug 2 Fritz Lang, Austrian-German-American director (M, Metropolis, Fury, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse), dies from a stroke at 85
- Aug 4 Enrique Angelelli, Argentine bishop
- Aug 4 Roy Herbert Thomson, Canadian publisher (b. 1894)
- Aug 5 Adrian Roland Holst, Dutch poet (Past the Roads), dies at 88
- Aug 8 John Roselli, hired by CIA to kill Castro, found murdered
- Aug 9 Jose Lezama Lima, Cuban poet and novelist, dies at 65
- Aug 11 Robert L. May, American advertising copy writer and creator of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, dies at 71
- Aug 12 Tom Driberg, English journalist, politician and possible spy, dies at 71
- Aug 15 Jean Haesaert, Flemish lawyer and sociologist, dies at 84
- Aug 22 Juscelino Kubitschek, President of Brazil (1955-60), dies at 73
- Aug 22 Oskar Brusewitz, East German vicar, sets himself on fire in protest of repression of religion at 47
- Aug 25 Eyvind Johnson, Swedish novelist (Return to Ithaca; Nobel Prize for Literature, 1974), dies at 76
- Aug 31 Kornelis Heiko Miskotte, Dutch theologist (If the Gods Keep Silent), dies at 81
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists