Today August 12th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1099 – First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon – Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces under Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade.
1121 – Battle of Didgori: the Georgian army under King David the Builder wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi.
1164 – Battle of Harim: Nur ad-Din defeats the Crusader armies of the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch.
1281 – The fleet of Qubilai Khan is destroyed by a typhoon while approaching Japan.
1323 – Treaty of Nöteborg between Sweden and Novgorod (Russia) regulates the border for the first time.
1332 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Dupplin Moor – Scots under Domhnall II, Earl of Mar are routed by Edward Balliol.
1480 – Battle of Otranto – Ottoman troops behead 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam.
1499 – First engagement of the Battle of Zonchio between Venetian and Ottoman fleets.
1676 – Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills Metacomet the Wampanoag war chief, ending King Philip s War.
1687 – Charles of Lorraine defeats the Ottomans at the Battle of Mohács.
1793 – The Rhône départment is created when the former département of Rhône-et-Loire was split into two: Rhône and Loire (Lêre).
1806 – Santiago de Liniers re-takes the city of Buenos Aires after the first British invasion.
1833 – Chicago is founded.
1851 – Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.
1877 – Asaph Hall discovers Deimos.
1883 – The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.
1898 – Armistice ends the Spanish-American War.
1898 – The Hawaiian flag is lowered from Iolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the American flag to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawai`i to the United States.
1908 – Ford builds the first Model T.
1914 – World War I – Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary; countries of the British Empire are also included.
1943 – Alleged date of the first Philadelphia Experiment test on United States Navy ship USS Eldridge.
1944 – Waffen SS troops massacre 560 people in Sant Anna di Stazzema.
1944 – Alençon is liberated by General Leclerc, the first city in France to be liberated from the Nazis by French forces.
1952 – The Night of the Murdered Poets – thirteen most prominent Jewish intellectuals are murdered in Moscow.
1953 – Nuclear testing: the Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of Joe 4, the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon.
1953 – The islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia in Greece are severely damaged by an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the richter.
1960 – Echo I, the first communications satellite, launched.
1964 – South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games due to the country s racist policies.
1964 – Charlie Wilson, one of the Great Train Robbers escapes from Winson Green Prison in Birmingham, England.
1969 – Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside.
1977 – The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise.
1977 – Start of Sri Lankan riots of 1977, targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamil people this riot started less than a month after the United National Party came to power, over 300 Tamils were killed.
1978 – Japan and the People s Republic of China sign the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People s Republic of China.
1980 – Signature of the Montevideo Treaty establishing the Latin American Integration Association.
1981 – The IBM Personal Computer is released.
1982 – Mexico announces it is unable to pay its enormous external debt, marking the beginning of a debt crisis that spreads to all of Latin America and the Third World.
1985 – Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes into Osutaka ridge in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520, to become the worst single-plane air disaster.
1990 – Sue, the most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex, is discovered near Faith, South Dakota.
1992 – Canada, Mexico, and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
1994 – Major League Baseball players go on strike. The work stoppage forces the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
2000 – The Oscar class submarine K-141 Kursk of the Russian Navy explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise.
2004 – New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey comes out publicly as a gay man.
2005 – Sri Lanka s foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, is fatally shot by an LTTE sniper at his home.
2005 – An F2 tornado strikes the coal mining town of Wright, Wyoming, destroying nearly 100 homes and killing two people.
2005 – Civil unrest provoked in the Maldives
2005 – An F1 tornado strikes Glen Cove, New York, a rare event on Long Island
2007 – Bulk carrier M/V New Flame collides with oil tanker Torm Gertrud at the southernmost tip of Gibraltar, ending up partially submerged.
Births
1503 – Christian III of Denmark and Norway (d. 1559)
1566 – Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (d. 1633)
1604 – Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1651)
1629 – Tsar Alexei I of Russia (d. 1676)
1643 – King Afonso VI of Portugal (d. 1683)
1644 – Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Bohemian composer (d. 1704)
1647 – Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer (d. 1719)
1686 – John Balguy, English philosopher (d. 1748)
1696 – Maurice Greene, English composer (d. 1755)
1720 – Konrad Ekhof, German actor (d. 1778)
1762 – King George IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1830)
1774 – Robert Southey, English poet and biographer (d. 1843)
1831 – H. P. Blavatsky, Russian theosophist (d. 1891)
1856 – Diamond Jim Brady, American financier (d. 1917)
1859 – Katharine Lee Bates, American poet (d. 1929)
1866 – Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1954)
1867 – Edith Hamilton, German classicist (d. 1963)
1872 – Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1956)
1876 – Mary Roberts Rinehart, American author (d. 1958)
1880 – Radclyffe Hall, British author (d. 1943)
1880 – Christy Mathewson, American baseball player (d. 1925)
1881 – Cecil B. DeMille, American film director (d. 1959)
1883 – Pauline Frederick, American actress (d. 1938)
1885 – Jean Cabannes, French physicist (d. 1959)
1885 – Marion Lorne, American actress (d. 1968)
1886 – Sir Keith Murdoch, Australian journalist and newspaper owner (d. 1952)
1887 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1961)
1889 – Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (Dick and Jane) (d. 1981)
1892 – Alfred Lunt, American actor (d. 1977)
1897 – Maurice Fernandes, Guyanese West Indies cricketer (d. 1981)
1899 – Ben Sealey, Trinidadian West Indies cricketer (d. 1963)
1902 – Mohammad Hatta, Vice President of Indonesia 1945-1956 (d. 1980)
1904 – Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia, only son of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
1906 – Harry Hopman, Australian-born tennis player and coach (d. 1985)
1906 – Tedd Pierce, American animator (d. 1972)
1907 – Joe Besser, American actor and comedian (d. 1988)
1909 – Richard Bare, American director
1910 – Jane Wyatt, American actress (d. 2006)
1910 – Yusof bin Ishak, first President of Singapore (d. 1970)
1911 – Cantinflas, Mexican actor (d. 1993)
1912 – Samuel Fuller, American film director (d. 1997)
1914 – Gerd Buchdahl, German philosopher (d. 2001)
1914 – Ruth Lowe, Canadian pianist and composer (I ll Never Smile Again) (d. 1981)
1915 – Michael Kidd, American choreographer (d. 2007)
1918 – Guy Gibson, British aviator, awarded Victoria Cross (d. 1944)
1919 – Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (d. 1971)
1923 – John Holt, Jamaican West Indies cricketer (d. 1997)
1924 – Derek Shackleton, English cricketer (d. 2007)
1924 – Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, leader of Pakistan (d. 1988)
1925 – Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 2004)
1925 – Ross McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 1975)
1925 – George Wetherill, American scientist (d. 2006)
1926 – John Derek, American actor (d. 1998)
1926 – Joe Jones, American R&B singer (d. 2005)
1926 – Wallace Markfield, American writer (d. 2002)
1927 – Porter Wagoner, American singer (d. 2007)
1928 – Charles Blackman, Australian artist
1928 – Bob Buhl, American baseball player (d. 2001)
1928 – Dan Curtis, film and television producer and director
1929 – Buck Owens, American singer (d. 2006)
1930 – George Soros Hungarian-American financier and political activist
1930 – Jacques Tits, Belgian mathematician
1931 – William Goldman, American screenwriter
1932 – Dallin H. Oaks, LDS apostle and former Utah Supreme Court Justice
1932 – Charlie O Donnell, American game show announcer
1932 – Somdet Phra Nang Chao Sirikit Phra Borommarachininat, Queen of Thailand
1933 – Parnelli Jones, American race car driver and team owner
1935 – John Cazale, American actor (d. 1978)
1937 – Walter Dean Myers, American author
1938 – Jean-Paul L Allier, Canadian Mayor of Quebec
1939 – Skip Caray, American TV/radio baseball announcer (Atlanta Braves) (d. 2008)
1939 – George Hamilton, American actor
1939 – Roy Romanow, Canadian politician
1939 – Michael D. Antonovich, American politician
1940 – Eddie Barlow, South African cricketer (d. 2005)
1941 – Réjean Ducharme, Canadian novelist and playwright
1943 – Deborah Walley, American actress (d. 2001)
1944 – Peter Hofmann, German tenor
1946 – Terry Nutkins, British TV Presenter
1947 – Ron Mael, American musician (Sparks)
1947 – Sam Rosen, American sportscaster
1949 – Panagiotis Chinofotis, Greek politician
1949 – Mark Knopfler OBE, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Dire Straits)
1950 – Jim Beaver, American actor and writer
1951 – Willie Horton, American murderer and rapist
1952 – Chen Kaige, Chinese film director
1954 – Sam J. Jones, American actor
1954 – Pat Metheny, American guitarist
1955 – Ann M. Martin, American author
1955 – Terry Taylor, American professional wrestler
1956 – Bruce Greenwood, Canadian actor
1956 – Sidath Wettimuny, Sri Lankan cricketer
1959 – Amanda Redman, English actress
1960 – Laurent Fignon, French cyclist
1960 – Greg Thomas, England cricketer
1961 – Roy Hay, British guitarist and keyboardist (Culture Club)
1961 – Lawrence Hayward, English musician (Felt, Denim, Go Kart Mozart)
1961 – Mark Priest, New Zealand cricketer
1962 – Miss Cleo, American psychic
1963 – Sir Mix-a-Lot, American rapper
1965 – Peter Krause, American actor
1966 – Les Ferdinand, English footballer
1967 – Regilio Tuur, Dutch boxer
1967 – Andrey Plotnikov, Russian race walker
1967 – Andy Hui, Hong Kong actor and singer
1968 – Andras Jones, American actor
1969 – Aga Muhlach, Filipino actor
1969 – Stuart Williams, Nevisian West Indies cricketer
1970 – Anthony Swofford, American novelist
1970 – Jim Schlossnagle, baseball coach
1970 – Charles Mesure, British actor
1971 – Michael Ian Black, American comedian
1971 – Rebecca Gayheart, American actress
1971 – Pete Sampras, American tennis player
1972 – Mark Kinsella, Irish footballer
1972 – Takanohana, Sumo yokozuna
1972 – Gyanendra Pandey, Indian cricketer
1973 – Joseba Beloki, Spanish cyclist
1973 – Jonathan Coachman, American professional wrestler and executive
1973 – Todd Marchant, American ice hockey player
1973 – Richard Reid, British terrorist (the Shoe Bomber)
1973 – Yvette Nicole Brown, American actress
1973 – Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr – son of Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr
1973 – Grey DeLisle, American voice actress
1974 – Matt Clement, American baseball player
1975 – Casey Affleck, American actor
1975 – David Filmore, American actor
1976 – Mikko Viljami Linde Lindström, Finnish guitarist
1976 – Antoine Walker, American basketball player
1976 – Wednesday 13, American musician (Wednesday 13, Murderdolls)
1976 – Brad Lukowich, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Richard McCourt, English children s television presenter
1976 – Henry Tuilagi, Samoan rugby union footballer
1976 – Pedro Collins, Barbadian West Indies cricketer
1977 – Plaxico Burress, American football player
1977 – Jesper Grønkjær, Danish footballer
1977 – Park Yong-ha, South Korean actor and singer
1978 – Hayley Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player
1978 – Chris Chambers, American football player
1979 – D.J. Houlton, American baseball player
1979 – Cindy Klassen, Canadian speed skater
1980 – Maggie Lawson, American actress
1980 – Dominique Swain, American actress
1980 – Matt Thiessen, Canadian/American musician (Relient K)
1980 – Jade Villalon, American singer/songwriter
1981 – Tony Capaldi, Northern Irish footballer
1981 – Djibril Cissé, French footballer
1982 – Alexandros Tzorvas, Greek footballer
1983 – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Dutch footballer
1984 – Marian Rivera, Philippine actress
1990 – Mario Balotelli, Italian footballer
Deaths
30 BC – Cleopatra (b. 69 BC)
875 – Louis II Holy Roman Emperor (b. 825)
1424 – Yongle, Emperor of China (b. 1360)
1484 – George of Trebizond, Greek philosopher (b. 1395)
1484 – Pope Sixtus IV (b. 1414)
1512 – Alessandro Achillini, Italian philosopher (b. 1463)
1577 – Thomas Smith, English diplomat and scholar (b. 1513)
1588 – Alfonso Ferrabosco (I), Italian composer (b. 1543)
1612 – Giovanni Gabrieli, Italian composer
1633 – Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (b. 1561)
1638 – Johannes Althusius, German writer (b. 1557)
1648 – Ibrahim I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1615)
1674 – Philippe de Champaigne, French painter (b. 1602)
1689 – Pope Innocent XI (b. 1611)
1778 – Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, British general and politician (b. 1714)
1809 – Mikhail Kamensky, Russian field marshal (b. 1738)
1810 – Etienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist (b. 1725)
1822 – Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, English politician and statesman (b. 1769)
1827 – William Blake, English poet and artist (b. 1757)
1848 – George Stephenson, British locomotive designer (b. 1781)
1861 – Eliphalet Remington, American inventor, designer of the Remington rifle (b. 1793)
1864 – Sakuma Shozan, Japanese reformer (b. 1811)
1865 – William Jackson Hooker, English botanist (b. 1785)
1891 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and essayist (b. 1819)
1896 – Thomas Chamberlain, officer of the 20th Maine at the Battle of Gettysburg
1900 – Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian chess player (b. 1836)
1901 – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Finnish-Swedish explorer (b. 1832)
1914 – John Philip Holland, Irish submarine designer (b. 1840)
1918 – Anna Held, Polish-born actress and singer (b. 1872)
1922 – Arthur Griffith, President of Ireland (b. 1871)
1928 – Leoš Janácek, Czech composer (b. 1854)
1934 – Hendrik Petrus Berlage, Dutch architect (b. 1856)
1935 – Friedrich Schottky, German mathematician (b. 1851)
1941 – Bobby Peel, English cricketer (b. 1857)
1944 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., brother of President John F. Kennedy (b. 1915)
1948 – Harry Brearley, English inventor (b. 1871)
1952 – David Bergelson, Yiddish language writer (b. 1884)
1955 – Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1875)
1955 – James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1887)
1959 – Mike O Neill, Irish-born American baseball player (b. 1877)
1964 – Ian Fleming, English novelist (James Bond) (b. 1908)
1968 – Esther Forbes, American novelist (b. 1891)
1973 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1881)
1973 – Karl Ziegler, German chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1898)
1979 – Ernst Boris Chain, German-born biochemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1906)
1982 – Henry Fonda, American actor (b. 1905)
1982 – Salvador Sanchez, Mexican boxer (b. 1959)
1982 – Varlam Shalamov, Russian writer (b. 1907)
1985 – Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer (plane crash) (b. 1941)
1985 – Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver (b. 1951)
1988 – Jean-Michel Basquiat, Haitian-American artist (b. 1960)
1989 – William Shockley, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)
1989 – Samuel Okwaraji, Nigerian footballer (b. 1964)
1990 – B. Kliban, American cartoonist (b. 1935)
1990 – Dorothy Mackaill, British-born American actress (b. 1903)
1992 – John Cage, American composer (b. 1912)
1996 – Robert Gravel, French Canadian actor and theatrical director (b. 1945)
1996 – Mark Gruenwald, American comic book writer and editor (b. 1953)
1997 – Luther Allison, American musician (b. 1939)
1999 – Jean Drapeau, Quebec politician, mayor of Montreal (b. 1916)
2000 – Loretta Young, American actress (b. 1913)
2002 – Enos Slaughter, American baseball player (b. 1916)
2004 – Sir Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor, Nobel laureate (b. 1919)
2004 – Peter Woodthorpe, British actor (b. 1931)
2005 – John Loder, co-founder of the anarcho-punk band CRASS (b. 1946)
2007 – Merv Griffin, American television host and game show creator (b. 1925)
2007 – Mike Wieringo, American comic book artist (b. 1963)
2008 – Christie Allen, British-Australian pop singer (b. 1954)
Holidays and observances
United Nations – International Youth Day (since 1999)
Glorious Twelfth at the Yorkshire Dales
Thailand – The Queen s Birthday, Mother s Day
RC Saints
