This Day in History
August 13

Copyright © 2006-2024 Ken Polsson
internet e-mail: ken@kpolsson.com
URL: http://kpolsson.com/thisday/
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What happened in history on this day: August 13?

On August 13 in ...

  • 523 - Saint John I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
  • 582 - Maurice Tiberius crowned emperor of Byzantine Empire.
  • 1422 - Birth of William Caxton first English printer (Histories of Troy).
  • 1521 - Aztec Emperor Guatemozin orders Mexicans to cease fighting the Spanish for Mexico City, which they do. After 75 days, 150,000 Mexicans, 100 Spanish soldiers and thousands of allies are dead.
  • 1642 - Christiaan Huygens discovers Martian south polar cap.
  • 1645 - At Brömsebro, peace is signed between Sweden and Denmark. Sweden gains the islands of Gotland and Ösel, and Halland (for 30 years) from Denmark. Norway cedes to Sweden the northern provinces of Jämtland and Härjedalen. Denmark regains Scania and keeps Blekinge.
  • 1651 - Litchfield, Connecticut founded.
  • 1655 - Birth of Johann Christoph Denner in Leipzig; musical instrument maker, invented the clarinet.
  • 1704 - English defeat French at Battle of Blenheim in Bavaria. Duke of Marlborough is victorious cutting French line in two by cavalry attack in canter. 20,000 French killed, 14,000 taken prisoner.
  • 1785 - Fire destroys a wing of the Redoute casino in Liège, France. Burning playing cards cause up to fifty thatch-roofed houses in Sauveniere to burn down, killing three people.
  • 1792 - Louis XVI of France is formally arrested and declared an enemy of the people.
  • 1792 - Birth of Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen; future wife of King William IV, city of Adelaide in South Australia will be named after her in 1836.
  • 1802 - Birth of Nikolaus Lenau in Hungary; German poet (Faust, Die Albigenser).
  • 1814 - Birth of Anders Jonas ÅÅngström in Sweden; physicist, founded spectroscopy.
  • 1819 - Birth of George Gabriel Stokes; physicist/mathematician (Spectroscope).
  • 1860 - Birth of Annie Oakley in Drake, Ohio, USA; frontierswoman (Buffalo Bill's Wild West).
  • 1868 - In Arica, Peru, a magnitude 8.5-9.0 earthquake occurs, with catastrophic tsunamis killing 25,000 in South America. Damage extreme (US$300 million).
  • 1876 - Reciprocity Treaty between US and Hawaii is ratified.
  • 1888 - Birth of John Logie Baird in Scotland; inventor (father of TV).
  • 1889 - William Gray patents coin-operated telephone.
  • 1895 - Birth of Robert Burton; actor (Dr Gordon - Kings Row).
  • 1898 - Birth of Jean Borota in France; tennis champion (35 Wimbledon titles between 1922 and 1964).
  • 1898 - US Army forces of General Wesley Merritt capture Manila, Philippines.
  • 1899 - Birth of Alfred Hitchcock in London, England; director (Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window) (dies 1980).
  • 1902 - Birth of Felix Wankel in Germany; inventor (Wankel rotary-piston engine).
  • 1902 - Birth of Regis Toomey in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; actor (Burke's Law, Petticoat Junction).
  • 1904 - Birth of Charles 'Buddy' Rogers; American actor (Wings) (dies 1999).
  • 1905 - Norwegians hold a referendum on independence. An overwhelming majority favor it.
  • 1906 - Black soldiers raid Brownsville, Texas.
  • 1907 - Birth of Alfred Alwin Felix Krupp in Essen, Germany; arms manufacturer.
  • 1908 - Birth of Gene Raymond in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Paris 7000, Fireside Theater).
  • 1909 - Birth of John Beal; actor (Amityville 3D).
  • 1912 - Birth of Ben Hogan in Dublin, Texas, USA; PGA golfer (US Open 1950, 1951, 1953).
  • 1912 - Birth of Rita Johnson in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; actress (All Mine to Give).
  • 1913 - Harry Brearley produces the first stainless steel.
  • 1917 - Philadelphia Phillies steal five bases in an inning against the Boston Braves.
  • 1918 - Birth of Frederick Sanger in England; chemist (Nobel Prize 1958, 1980).
  • 1918 - Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) is established as a public company in Germany.
  • 1919 - Man O' War's only defeat (Upset wins at Saratoga).
  • 1920 - Birth of George Shearing in London, England; blind pianist/composer ("Lullabye of Byrdland").
  • 1921 - Birth of Neville Brand; actor (Cahill, US Marshal).
  • 1923 - Mustapha Kemal elected president of Turkey.
  • 1927 - Birth of Fidel Castro Ruz; Cuban political leader (1959-2008).
  • 1928 - Soviet Union's Spartacan Games begin.
  • 1929 - Birth of Pat Harrington Junior in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Danny Thomas Show, One Day at a Time).
  • 1930 - Birth of Don Ho in Hawaii; ukulele player ("Tiny Bubbles").
  • 1930 - In Brazil, the "Rio Curaca event", a bolide explosion in mid-air, producing fire and "depopulation". Prior to explosion was "an ear-piercing whistling sound", the sun appeared to be "blood-red", and a fall of fine ash which covered the surrounding vegetation with a blanket of white.
  • 1931 - Birth of Norman Read in New Zealand; 50km walker (Olympic-gold-1956).
  • 1932 - New York Yankees' pitcher Red Ruffing homers and wins game 1-0 in 10 tying the feat of Washington Senators' Tom Hughes who also won 1-0 in 10 in 1906.
  • 1934 - Birth of Gary Davidson; founder of ABA, WHA, WFL.
  • 1939 - Birth of Saul Steinberg; artist (The Art of Living).
  • 1939 - Sabotage suspected in crash of the City of San Francisco which fell into the Humboldt River killing 24. (Elko, Nevada).
  • 1939 - New York Yankees set American League shutout margin with 21-0 victory over Philadelphia Athletics.
  • 1940 - Adolf Hitler's "Eagle Day" commences, with 1485 plane sorties against British ports and airfields, attempting to eliminate British air forces as an obstacle to invasion.
  • 1942 - Birth of Robert L Stewart in Washington DC, USA; Brigadier General US Army/astronaut (STS 41B, 51J).
  • 1942 - RKO Radio Pictures premieres the Disney film Bambi in the US at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
  • 1943 - Birth of Gary Ilman; American 100m freestyle (Olympic-4th-1964).
  • 1946 - Britain transfers illegal immigrants bound to Palestine, to Cyprus.
  • 1947 - Birth of Gretchen Corbett in Camp Sherman, Oregon, USA; actress (Beth Davenport - The Rockford Files).
  • 1948 - Birth of Kathleen Battle in Portsmouth, Ohio, USA; soprano (Shephard-Tannhäuser).
  • 1948 - Satchel Paige at age 42 pitches his first major league complete game.
  • 1949 - Birth of Bobby Clarke in Manitoba, Canada; NHL player/coach (Philadelphia Flyers).
  • 1949 - Birth of Sheralee in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA; vocalist (Your Hit Parade).
  • 1951 - Birth of Dan Fogelberg in Peoria, Illinois, USA; rocker ("Same Auld Lang Syne").
  • 1953 - US President Dwight Eisenhower establishes Government Contract Compliance Committee.
  • 1955 - Birth of Betsy King; LPGA golfer (1990 Dinah Shore, 1990 US Women's Open).
  • 1958 - Birth of Feargal Sharkey; rocker (Undertones - "Never Never", "Good Heart").
  • 1959 - Birth of Danny Bonaduce; actor (Danny - The Partridge Family).
  • 1959 - Birth of Mark Nevin; rocker (Fairground Attraction - "Find My Love").
  • 1960 - Central African Republic proclaims independence from France.
  • 1961 - Birth of Dawnn Lewis; actress (Jaleesa - Different World).
  • 1961 - Construction on Berlin Wall begins in German Democratic Republic.
  • 1963 - Birth of Tigg Ketler in Chula Vista, California, USA; drummer (Bang Tango - "Dancin' on Coals").
  • 1963 - Warren Spahn sets left-hander strike out mark at 2,382.
  • 1964 - Birth of Ian Haughland; heavy metal rocker (Europe - "The Final Countdown").
  • 1964 - Last death penalty executions in Great Britain carried out: Peter Anthony and John Robson Walby executed at Stangways Gaol, Manchester.
  • 1966 - Death of Laura Gardin Fraser, US coin designer, medalist, and sculptor.
  • 1967 - Birth of Quinn Cummings in Los Angeles, California, USA; actress (Annie - Family, Goodbye Girl).
  • 1967 - In Pyrenees, southern France, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake occurs, strongly felt in northern Spain.
  • 1969 - Baltimore Orioles' player Jim Palmer no-hits Oakland Athletics, 8-0.
  • 1969 - Temporary baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn is formally appointed.
  • 1972 - George Wiess, New York Yankees' general manager, dies.
  • 1977 - First test glide of the space shuttle.
  • 1978 - New York Yankees score five runs in top of 7th, but rain causes game to be halted and thus score goes back to previous inning, Baltimore Orioles wins 3-0.
  • 1979 - Lou Brock gets his 3,000th career hit.
  • 1980 - Tatyana Kazankina of USSR sets 1.5k woman's record (3:52.47) in USSR.
  • 1982 - In Hong Kong, health warnings on cigarette packets are made statutory.
  • 1982 - Joe E Ross, comedian (Toody - Car 54, Phil Silvers Show), dies at age 77.
  • 1982 - Death of Joe Tex AKA Joseph Arrington Junior at age 49 of a heart attack; soul and disco singer-songwriter (Joe Tex Band - "I Gotcha", "Hold What You've Got", "Skinny Legs and All", "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)".
  • 1984 - Birth of Diamond Blue Smith, American record producer and member of hip-hop and rhythm and blues group Pretty Ricky.
  • 1988 - Boston Red Sox win American League record 24 straight home games.
  • 1988 - Otto E Passman, American politician (Representative-Democrat-Louisiana, 1947-77), dies at age 88.
  • 1988 - Ronald J Dossenbach sets world record for pedaling across Canada from Vancouver, British Columbia to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 13 days, 15 hours, 4 min.
  • 1988 - US beats Jamaica 5-1, in second round of 1990 world soccer cup.
  • 1989 - Tim Richmond, American race car driver (won 13 NASCAR races), dies of AIDS (born 1955).
  • 1989 - US space shuttle STS-28 lands.
  • 1989 - A hot air balloon accident near Alice Springs, Australia kills 13.
  • 1991 - Jack Ryan, inventor (Barbie Doll, Hot Wheels), dies at age 65.
  • 1991 - Death of James Roosevelt, American businessman and politician (born 1907).
  • 1991 - The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is released in the United States.
  • 1992 - Birth of Katharine Close, Scripps National Spelling Bee winner.
  • 1993 - Over 130 die in the collapse of Royal Plaza Hotel at Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand's worst hotel disaster.
  • 1994 - Death of Manfred Wörner in Brussels, Belgium of cancer. Wörner was the first German secretary-general of NATO (1988-94).
  • 1994 - Death of Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905).
  • 1996 - Data sent back by the Galileo space probe indicates there may be water on one of Jupiter's moons.
  • 1997 - In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Cruzeiro wins Sporting Cristal of Peru by 1-0 and are Copa Libertadores de América champions by second time.
  • 1999 - Steffi Graf announces her retirement from tennis after a 17 year career in which she won 107 career titles including 22 Grand Slams.
  • 1999 - Death of Ignatz Bubis in Frankfurt, Germany. Bubis had been the Chairman of the Central Jewish Committee in Germany since 1992. As specified in his will, he was flown to Israel and buried there. The 72-year-old Bubis died of cancer.
  • 2004 - Death of Julia Child, American chef (born 1912).
  • 2004 - Hurricane Charley kills 27 people in Florida after killing four in Cuba and one in Jamaica. Charley made landfall near Cayo Costa, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane. Charley is the most intense hurricane to strike the United States since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
  • 2004 - (to August 29) The Games of the XXVIII Olympiad are held in Athens, Greece.
  • 2005 - Death of David Lange, Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1942).
  • 2007 - Death of Phil Rizzuto, American baseball player and announcer (born 1917).
  • 2007 - Death of Brian Adams, American professional wrestler (born 1964).
  • 2007 - In Canada, investment bank Coventree declares it is seeking CDN$700 million in liquidity funding. Seventeen other funds seek secure bank credit lines.
  • 2008 - At the Beijing Olympics, American swimmer Michael Phelps wins his 10th and 11th career gold medals, in men's 200-metre butterfly and 4x200 freestyle relay in world record 6:58.56). Phelps is now the record holder of most career Olympic gold medals.
  • 2008 - At the Beijing Olympics, Stephanie Rice of Australia wins gold in the women's 200-metre individual medley in world record 2:08.45.
  • 2008 - At the Beijing Olympics, Federica Pellegrini of Italy wins gold in the women's 200-metre freestyle in world record 1:54.82.
  • 2008 - Death of Jack A. Weil, maker of western cowboy clothing, Rockmont Ranch Wear, at age 107.
  • 2009 - Death of Mary Elizabeth Higby in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA at age 94; superintendent of the Denver Mint (1969-1978).
  • 2010 - A 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Guam.
  • 2010 - The MV Sun Sea from Sri Lanka arrives at Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada, with estimated 490 Tamil migrants seeking refugee shelter. The ship spent almost 90 days at sea.
  • 2010 - U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White bans the planting of genetically modified sugar beets engineered by Monsanto, ruling that in 2009 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had approved Monsanto's genetically modified sugar beets without adequate environmental study.
  • 2020 - Israel and the United Arab Emirates agree to normalise relations, marking the third Israel-Arab peace deal.
  • 2022 - Death of Denise Dowse at age 64 in a coma from meningitis; actor (Beverly Hills, 90210 TV show, Insecure TV show).
  • 2023 - Death of Clarence Avant at age 92 at home in Los Angeles, California; music executive (founded Sussex and Tabu Records).

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