Today in History (05 AUGUST 2008)

[istanbul]

Events
642 - Battle of Maserfeld - Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Bernicia.
910 - The last major Viking army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward and Earl Aethelred.
1100 - Henry I crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
1305 - William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance to England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution.
1388 - Battle of Otterburn, border skirmish between the Scottish and the English in Northern England.
1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes first English colony in North America, at what is now St John's, Newfoundland.
1620 - The Mayflower departs Southampton, England on first attempt to reach North America.
1689 - 1,500 Iroquois attack village of Lachine, in New France.
1716 - Battle of Petrovaradin
1735 - Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he published was true.
1763 - Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run - British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.
1772 - The First Partition of Poland begins.
1812 - War of 1812: Tecumseh's Indian force ambushes Thomas Van Horne's 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
1858 - Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It operated for less than a month.
1860 - Carl IV of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim.
1861 - American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government issues the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).
1861 - The United States Army abolished flogging.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge - Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mobile Bay begins - At Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
1870 - Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.
1874 - Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in England.
1882 - Standard Oil of New Jersey is established.
1882 - Martial law is enacted in Japan.
1884 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.
1888 - Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim in the first long distance automobile trip.
1901 - Peter O'Connor sets the first IAAF recognised long jump world record of 24ft 11¾ins. The record will stand for 20 years.
1912 - Japan's first taxicab service begins in Ginza, Tokyo.
1914 - In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
1925 - Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language, which is in danger of dying out.
1940 - World War II : Latvia is annexed by the Soviet Union.
1943 - World War II: During the Battle of Troina, at around 11 A.M, Mount Etna erupted sending much ash and lava miles into the sky.
1944 - World War II: Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POWs attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, NSW, Australia.
1944 - Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
1949 - In Ecuador an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6000.
1957 - American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
1960 - Burkina Faso, then known as "Upper Volta", becomes independent from France.
1962 - Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
1963 - United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
1964 - Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow - American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes attacked U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1969 - Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers).
1974 - Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress places a $1 billion dollar limit on military aid to South Vietnam.
1979 - In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising.
1981 - Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
1989 - General elections are held in Nicaragua, Sandinista Front wins the majority.
1995 - The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated as the day of victory (Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day) in Croatia.
2003 - A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.

Births
1970 - James Gunn, American filmmaker
1971 - Evil Jared Hasselhoff, American musician (The Bloodhound Gang)
1972 - Christian Olde Wolbers, Belgian musician (Fear Factory)
1973 - Sean Sherk, American Mixed martial artist
1974 - Alvin Ceccoli, Australian soccer player
1974 - Antoine Sibierski, French footballer
1975 - Antony Cotton, English actor
1975 - Ami Foster, American actress
1975 - Kajol Mukherjee, Indian actress
1975 - Eicca Toppinen, Finnish cellist (Apocalyptica)
1976 - Jeff Friesen, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 - Kwon Sang-woo, South Korean actor
1976 - Marian Pahars, Latvian footballer
1977 - Eric Hinske, American baseball player
1977 - Michael Walsh, English footballer
1977 - Mark Mulder, American baseball player
1978 - Kim Gevaert, Belgian sprinter
1978 - Nektaria Karantzi, Greek singer
1979 - David Healy, Northern Irish footballer
1980 - Kaylani Lei, Asian-American porn star
1980 - Wayne Bridge, English footballer
1980 - Jason Čulina, Australian soccer player
1980 - Ali Umar, Maldivian footballer
1981 - Carl Crawford, American baseball player
1981 - Rachel Scott, American murder victim (d. 1999)
1981 - Kō Shibasaki, Japanese singer
1981 - Erik Guay, Canadian alpine skier
1981 - Cory Williams, American internet celebrity
1982 - LoLo Jones, American track and field athlete
1982 - Ryu Seung Min, Korean table tennis player
1982 - Tobias Regner, German singer
1983 - Dawn Richard, American singer (Danity Kane)
1985 - Salomon Kalou, Ivorian footballer
1985 - Laurent Ciman, Belgian footballer
1986 - Paula Creamer, American golfer
1987 - Genelia D'Souza, Indian actress
1987 - Xenia Tchoumitcheva, Swiss model
1993 - Corey J. Smith, English television actor
1993 - Suzuka Ōgo, Japanese actress
1995 - Devo Keenan American cellist and son of musician Maynard James Keenan
2000 - Maya Bond, Japanese-born American singer and musician

Deaths
1911 - Bob Caruthers, baseball player (b. 1864)
1923 - Vatroslav Jagić, Croatian slavist (b. 1835)
1925 - Jennie Lee (actor), American actress (b. 1848)
1929 - Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (b. 1847)
1946 - Wilhelm Marx, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1863)
1952 - Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (b. 1917)
1955 - Carmen Miranda, Portuguese actress and singer (b. 1909)
1957 - Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1877)
1959 - Edgar Guest, English poet (b. 1881)
1960 - Arthur Meighen, 9th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1874)
1962 - Marilyn Monroe, American actress (b. 1926)
1963 - Salvador Bacarisse, Spanish composer (b. 1898)
1964 - Art Ross, professional ice hockey player and executive (b. 1886) (Art Ross Trophy)
1972 - Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the British House of Commons (b. 1905)
1978 - Jesse Haines, baseball player (b. 1893)
1980 - Harold Runnels, United States Congressman (b. 1924)
1984 - Richard Burton, Welsh actor (b. 1925)
1991 - Paul Brown, American football coach (b. 1908)
1991 - Soichiro Honda, founder of the Honda Motor Company (b. 1906)
1992 - Jeff Porcaro, American drummer (b. 1954)
1994 - Alain de Changy, Belgian racing driver (b. 1922)
1998 - Otto Kretschmer, German U-boat commander (b. 1912)
1998 - Todor Zhivkov, Bulgarian Communist dictator from 1956 to 1989 (b. 1911)
2000 - Sir Alec Guinness, British actor (b. 1914)
2000 - Otto Buchsbaum, writer and ecological activist (b. 1920)
2001 - Otema Allimadi, Prime Minister of Uganda (b. 1929)
2002 - Josh Ryan Evans, American actor (b. 1982)
2002 - Chick Hearn, American basketball announcer (b. 1916)
2002 - Franco Lucentini, Italian writer (b. 1920)
2005 - Polina Astakhova, Russian gymnast (b. 1936)
2005 - Jim O'Hora, American football coach (b. 1915)
2005 - Raul Roco, Philippine senator (b. 1941)
2006 - Susan Butcher, American Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion (b. 1954)
2007 - Florian Pittiş, Romanian artist (b. 1943)
2007 - Jean-Marie Lustiger, Cardinal of France

Holidays and observances
Burkina Faso - Independence Day.
Croatia - Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day.
Chile - Children's Day
Abel of Reims (died 750)
Addai
Saint Afra, martyr [Augsburg (rare)]
Saint Afra and companions, virgins, martyrs [France]
Saint Dominic, confessor [medieval date, in Paris; nowadays August 4]
Saint Emygdius, martyr, bishop of Ascoli Piceno
Feast of Mary "ad nives"; Dedication of Santa Maria Maggiore bin Rome [common]
Saint Ormisdas, pope, confessor [Bamberg]
Saint Oswald of Northumbria, king, martyr [common; England] (died 642)
Saint Sixtus II, pope [Paris]