August 7
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Events on This Day
1782 - U.S. General George Washington wanted to honor several courageous soldiers of the revolutionary war with a Badge of Military Merit. So on this day, he ordered the creation of a purple, cloth heart with a silver, braided edge. The Badge of Military Merit was only awarded to three Revolutionary War soldiers. On the bicentennial of the first U.S. President's birthday, February 22, 1932, the badge was reinstated. This time it was called the Order of the Purple Heart, a purple-enameled, gold-bordered heart with a profile of Washington in the center. The Purple Heart now decorates those members of the United States armed forces who have been wounded in battle (if they die, it is awarded to their next of kin).
1888 - Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia went around and around with the U.S. Patent Office for a time, but, finally, got a patent for the revolving door. To celebrate, we suggest going to your favorite building that has one of the fun doors that makes that whoosh-whoosh noise when you go through it -- and go through it twice!
1900 - ‘Sunny’ Jim Fitzsimmons had his first horse race victory as Agnes D won at Brighton Beach Race Track in New York. By the end of his illustrious 50-year career, Fitzsimmons logged more than 2,000 winners.
1907 - Walter Johnson pitched his first major-league victory by leading the Washington Senators to a 7-2 win over the Cleveland Indians. Johnson won 414 games in his career.
1927 - The Peace Bridge, between the U.S. and Canada, was dedicated during ceremonies attended by the Prince of Wales and Vice President Charles Dawes. The bridge was dedicated to 100 years of friendship between the U.S. and Canada, the longest standing friendship between two countries with a shared border. Others attending the festivities included Prince George, Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Secretary of State Frank Kellogg and New York Governor Al Smith.
1937 - Bunny Berigan and his orchestra recorded I Can’t Get Started for Victor Records. The song became Berigan’s longtime theme song.
1941 - Television station WNBT, Channel 4 in New York City, broadcast the first audience-participation show. Studio guests appeared on the show, called Play the Game, based on charades.
1948 - A new Olympic Games record was set when 83,000 spectators attended the final day of track and field events. The Games, held in London, England, had gate receipts totaling more than $2 million.
1949 - Martin Kane, Private Eye was first heard on Mutual radio. William Gargan starred on the Sunday afternoon program.
1958 - The U.S. submarine Nautilus arrived at Iceland after making the first voyage by a vessel under the polar ice cap. It had passed under the North Pole on Aug 3.
1960 - Ivory Coast declared its independence from France on this day. Ivory Coast is a country of some 18 million people, 25 per cent of whom live in Abidjan, a city about the size of Toronto. The country has long enjoyed a reputation as the most stable and prosperous of African countries.
1963 - Jacqueline Kennedy became the first wife of a president since the days of Grover Cleveland to give birth while he was in the White House. (The infant died two days later.)
1963 - The first movie starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, Beach Party, was released. Other films in the Avalon/Funicello beach series: Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), Pajama Party (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965), Avalon and Funicello were reunited (playing middle-aged parents) 24 years later in Back to the Beach (1987).
1964 - The U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces. Johnson used the resolution as a declaration of war in Vietnam.
1970 - Christine McVie joined Fleetwood Mac as the group’s first female member. McVie was married to bass player John McVie. She quit touring with the group in 1991.
1971 - Henry Haynes, Homer of the country comedy duo Homer and Jethro, died. He was 54 years old. His death ended a 39-year partnership with Kenneth Burns (Jethro). The duo specialized in parodies of popular songs, such as That Hound Dog in the Window (1953), and The Battle of Kookamonga (1959). Homer and Jethro also did a takeoff on the Beatles’ I Want to Hold Your Hand. (Kenneth Burns died Feb 4, 1989.)
1972 - Yogi Berra, Josh Gibson, Lefty Gomez, Will Harridge, Sandy Koufax, Buck Leonard, Early Wynn and Ross Youngs were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this day.
1974 - Musician Peter Wolf married actress Faye Dunaway in Beverly Hills, California.
1974 - French daredevil Philippe Petit tightroped his way between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. The stunt caused a massive traffic jam on the street -- 1,350 feet below. The secret to this trick is to not look down.
1975 - The Rolling Stones received a gold album for Made in the Shade.
1981 - After 128 years of publication, The Washington Star ceased operation. Only one daily newspaper remained to serve the nation’s capital: The Washington Post.
1984 - An urbanologist at the University of Chicago issued a report stating that the richest community in America was Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Per capita income in that neighborhood was $32,000.
1989 - A small plane carrying U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 15 others disappeared during a flight in Ethiopia. The wreckage of the plane, with no survivors, was found six days later.
1992 - The luxury liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 ran aground Near Cuttyhunk Island Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts. Fortunately, it was a minor accident and the ship got underway again in a few hours. What defines “minor accident,” you ask? The 440 International Answers Department reports that repairs to the QE2 ran up to only about $30 million.
1992 - Jennifer Capriati won the gold medal in tennis at the Barcelona Olympics, beating Steffi Graf.
1993 - The rap trio Cypress Hill saw their Black Sunday hit #1 on U.S. LP charts. The group, which brought a Latin flavor to hip-hop, was made up of Sen Dog (real name Senen Reyes), B-Real (real name Louis Freese) and D.J. Muggs (real name Larry Muggerud). A sampling of the cuts: I Wanna Get High, Legalize It, Hits from the Bong, Cock the Hammer, Hand on the Glock and the single smash Insane in the Brain. Said B-Real, “I never dreamed it would be number one.” Surprised us too.
1993 - Tropical storm Bret ravaged Venezuela. Some 200 people were killed.
1996 - A federal appeals court in New York ruled that two former members of Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers waited too long to claim that they were cowriters of the group’s legendary 1955 hit Why Do Fools Fall in Love. A previous court ruling had cleared the way for royalties to go to Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago for writing the song with lead singer Frankie Lymon (he died of a overdose of heroin on Feb 28, 1968).
1997 - Garth Brooks played to a crowd estimated at between 250,000 and 900,000 -- with an HBO audience of more than 15 million. The crowd at the free concert, was the laregest ever for a concert in New York’s Central Park. Said Garth of the preparations required, “We rehearse indoors at a place here in New York. Then we rehearse with no sound for the camera guys, so they will hopefully be in the vicinity of what’s going on. And then the rest of it’s really, man, just fly by the seat of your pants. You know, once the show starts, all the rules are out the window.”
1998 - A pair of major explosions near U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. “Clearly, this is a terrorist attack,” U.S. State Department spokesman Lee McClenny said.
1998 - The action, mystery, thriller Snake Eyes opened in the U.S. Nicolas Cage starred with Gary Sinise, Carla Gugino, John Heard, Stan Shaw, Kevin Dunn, Michael Rispoli, Joel Fabiani, David Anthony Higgins and Chip Zien.
2000 - U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore selected Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman as his running mate; Lieberman was the first Jew on a major party presidential ticket.
2002 - Former ImClone Systems chief executive Samuel Waksal was indicted in New York on charges of obstruction of justice and bank fraud in addition to previous securities fraud and perjury charges. Waksal later pleaded guilty to securities fraud and was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.
2002 - The Good Girl opened in U.S. movie houses. The comedy drama stars Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal, John C. Reilly, Zooey Deschanel, Tim Blake Nelson and Mike White.
2004 - Texas oil field firefighter Paul N. ‘Red’ Adair died in Houston, TX. He was 89 years old.
2005 - Peter Jennings, long-time ABC-TV news anchor, died from lung cancer. He was 67 years old.
2006 - Britain’s BP PLC oil company scrambled to assess the pipeline corrosion damage that threatened to interrupt shipments from the biggest oil field in the U.S.
2007 - Barry Bonds smashed his record-breaking 756th home run. He had tied Hank Aaron’s record on August 4. The ball was later auctioned to fashion designer Marc Ecko for a record $752,467, which included a 20% buyer’s premium.
2008 - A report released by the Japanese Foreign Ministry said the USS Houston submarine was leaking radiation during nine port calls in Japan. It “has been steadily leaking a small amount” of radiation from June 2006 to July 2008 when it entered a drydock for repairs in Hawaii.
2009 - Movies opening in the U.S.: Beeswax, with Kyle Henry; Bliss, with Özgü Namal, Talat Bulut, Murat Han, Mustafa Avkiran, Emin Gursoy, Meral Çetinkaya and Lale Mansur; Cold Souls, starring Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, Emily Watson, Dina Korzun, Lauren Ambrose and Katheryn Winnick; G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, starring Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Ray Park, Rachel Nichols, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Said Taghmaoui, Marlon Wayans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Arnold Vosloo and Christopher Eccleston; I Sell the Dead, with Dominic Monaghan, Larry Fessenden, Ron Perlman, Angus Scrimm, Eileen Colgan, Daniel Manche, John Speredakos, Brenda Cooney, Joel Garland and Aidan Redmond; Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina, Jane Lynch, Dave Annable and Mary Lynn Rajskub; and Paper Heart, with Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera.
2009 - Britain’s Ministry of Justice said Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs (79) had been officially released from his prison sentence because of his extremely ill health. Biggs earned notoriety for his role in the 1963 Great Train Robbery, for which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Escaping, he spent 35 years as a celebrity fugitive, living a party lifestyle in Brazil before returning home.
2010 - Ten members of a medical team, including six Americans, were shot and killed in northern Afghanistan as they were returning from providing eye treatment and other health care in remote villages. The Taliban said they killed the foreigners because they were “spying for the Americans” and “preaching Christianity.”
2012 - The company formerly known as Blackwater agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle federal charges related to arms smuggling and other crimes. The agreement with Academi LLC was filed in United States District Court in New Bern, North Carolina, agreed to pay the fines at trial in North Carolina, because Blackwater was once based in North Carolina.
2012 - Jared Lee Loughner pleaded guilty to 19 of 49 charges for the masacre he orchestrated on Jan 8, 2011 in Tucson, Arizona. Loughner shot and killed six people and wounded 13 others, including U.S. House of Representatives member Gabrielle Giffords. According to federal officials, the government agreed not to seek the death penalty in the plea deal, which called for a sentence of seven consecutive life terms followed by 140 years in prison. And Loughner would never be eligible for parole.
2013 - Movies opening in the U.S.: Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, with Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Sean Bean, Nathan Fillion, Jake Abel, Missi Pyle, Stanley Tucci and Leven Rambin; and We’re the Millers, starring Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts, Molly C. Quinn, Jason Sudeikis, Nick Offerman, Will Poulter, Ed Helms, Thomas Lennon and Kathryn Hahn.
2013 - China fined six companies, including Mead Johnson Nutrition Co, Danone and New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, some $110 million for price fixing and anti-competitive practices by the foreign baby formula makers.
2014 - A New York district judge sentenced Rudy Kurniawan to a decade in prison after his conviction for making bogus fine wines in his southern California kitchen. Kurniawan sold the wine for millions.
2015 - Movies opening in the U.S. included: Fantastic Four, with Miles Teller, Kate Mara and Michael B. Jordan; The Gift, starring Jason Bateman, Joel Edgerton and Rebecca Hall; Ricki and the Flash, with Meryl Streep, Mamie Gummer and Sebastian Stan; The Runner, starring Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen and Sarah Paulson; the animated Shaun the Sheep, featuring the voices of John Sparkes, Justin Fletcher, Richard Webber, Kate Harbour and Jo Allen; Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon, Shea Whigham and Camryn Manheim; The Diary of a Teenage Girl, with Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård and Kristen Wiig; and Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, starring Liam Neeson, Salma Hayek and John Krasinski.
2015 - North Korea announced that it was turning back its standard time by 30 minutes. The move allowed it to have its own time zone -- called Pyongyang Time -- apart from that of Japan and South Korea.
2016 - Katie Ledecky gave the United States its first swimming gold medal of the Rio Olympics with a world record in the women’s 400-meter freestyle. The result was totally expected. After the first 50 meters, no competitor even came close to her side in the race, CBSSports.com reported. When Ledecky saw the time -- 3 minutes, 56.46 seconds -- she let out an uncharacteristic scream and pumped her right fist.
2016 - Michael Phelps produced a vintage performance to claim the 19th Olympic gold medal of his career. The 31-year-old, who quit the sport after the 2012 Games, was back with a bang in Rio as Team USA eased to victory in the 4x100 meters freestyle relay. It was Phelps’ 23rd medal, extending his record as the most decorated Olympian of all time.
2016 - Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren weighed in on the content of e-mails that were leaked from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that seemed to show favorable treatment of nominee Hillary Clinton over her rival in the primaries, Bernie Sanders. Senator Warren called the hack an embarrassment for the party and the country. “What happened over the Democratic national party should not have happened,” Warren said. “I think that the right thing was that Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned. I think that was appropriate. People have been fired. I think that’s appropriate.”
2017 - Two members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot were detained in Russia after participating in a protest outside the prison colony in Siberia’s Yakutia. Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov was being held in that prison. Sentsov, best known for his 2011 film Gamer, was originally arrested in Crimea, the Ukrainian region seized by Russia in 2014, and was later charged with participating in a terrorist conspiracy. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a Russian court. Sentsov’s family described his experience with the Russian legal system as a “Stalin-era show trial,” while his lawyers described the charges against him as “absurd and fictitious.”
2018 - Swiss army helicopters airlifted water to thousands of thirsty cows who were suffering in a drought and heatwave that had hit much of Europe.
2018 - Six people were imprisoned in China for up to four years for their part in a scheme to cheat on the national graduate school exam. Their scheme involved 33 students, and they conducted training, tests and mock exams to prepare the students.
2018 - SpaceX used its newest style booster for a second time at Cape Canaveral, Florida to put a communications satellite into orbit for Indonesia. The first stage booster of the previously flown Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket landed successfully on the drone ship Of Course I Still love You.
2019 - China’s rare earths association said it supported Chinese counter-measures in the escalating trade war with the United States, which it accused of bullying. POTUS Trump had said that he would impose further tariffs on another $300 billion of Chinese goods, although a previous lists avoided rare earths, for which the U.S. relies heavily on China.
2019 - Thailand delivered 4,500 bottles of cannabis oil to treat hospital patients, its first official use of marijuana for medical purposes since a measure legalizing such use took effect earlier in the year.
2019 - Zachary Castaneda (33) was taken into custody after he went on a two-hour stabbing and robbery rampage in southern California. He killed four people and wounded two others. The suspect and all the victims were Hispanic. What set the guy off, you ask? Police did not have a clue...
2020 - Motion pictures scheduled to open in U.S. theatres (many theatres were still closed by the Covid-19 crisis) included: The Empty Man, with Stephen Root, Joel Courtney and Rasneet Kaur; I Used to Go Here, starring Gillian Jacobs, Jemaine Clement and Kate Micucci; Made in Italy, starring Liam Neeson, Valeria Bilello and Micheál Richardson; Out Stealing Horses, with Stellan Skarsgård, Bjørn Floberg and Tobias Santelmann; the animated SamSam, featuring characters voiced by Isaac Lobé-Lebel, Lior Chabbat, Jérémy Prévost and Sébastien Desjours; and Peninsula, starring Dong-Won Gang, Jung-hyun Lee and John D. Michaels.
2020 - A federal judge granted the U.S. government’s request to end the Paramount Decrees, a set of antitrust rules from the late 1940s and early 1950s that had ended Hollywood’s monopoly on producing, distributing and exhibiting movies. The DOJ reasoned that it was “unlikely that the remaining defendants can reinstate their cartel.”
2020 - The Crow Tribe in Montana ordered its members to lock down for two weeks as tribal leaders attempted to reverse a sharp spike in coronavirus cases and deaths on yet another reservation in the country. Native Americans had been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 across the country, with major outbreaks from Arizona to South Dakota triggering similar lockdowns.
2020 - Pfizer Inc announced a multiyear agreement to make COVID-19 treatment remdesivir for developer Gilead Sciences Inc. “From the beginning it was clear that no one company or innovation would be able to bring an end to the COVID-19 crisis. Pfizer’s agreement with Gilead is an excellent example of members of the innovation ecosystem working together to deliver medical solutions,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. “Together, we are more powerful than alone.”
2021 - Gary Maynard (47), a man who taught criminal justice at Sonoma State University, was arrested in northern California and charged with setting fire to public land around the massive Dixie Fire. He was not charged with starting the Dixie Fire, but was investigated for his responsibility in starting five others.
2021 - 70-year-old Maria Licciardi, reputed top Naples, Italy crime syndicate boss, was arrested as she was about to board a flight to Spain. Investigators said Licciardi ran extortion rackets as head of the Licciardi Camorra crime syndicate clan.
2021 - Thousands marched in Paris, France and other cities during a fourth consecutive week of protests against COVID-19 entrance requirements and what opponents see as restrictions on personal freedom.
2021 - Tokyo Olympic news: 1)As part of the winning U.S. 4×400m relay team, Allyson Felix took her total to 11 Olympic medals and became the most decorated female Olympian in track and field history; 2)Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan won the 10,000m gold medal in 29:55.32 to claim the 5/10k double; 3)Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra made history winning his country’s first-ever Olympic track and field gold with 87.58m; 4)Kevin Durant with 29 points lead the U.S. to his third -- and the team’s 4th consecutive -- Olympic men’s basketball gold medal with an 87-82 win over France.
2022 - At the women’s British Open golf tournament in Muirfield GC: South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai won her first major title by edging Gee Chun of South Korea on the 4th hole of sudden death playoff.
2022 - The U.S. Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act, an economic package designed to combat climate change, address health care costs and tax large corporations. Senate Democrats, with a narrow 50-seat majority, passed the legislation, using a special, filibuster-proof process to approve the measure without Republican votes. Final passage came after a marathon series of contentious amendment votes known as a “vote-a-rama” that ran on for nearly 16 hours. The economic package was signed into law by President Biden on August 16, 2022.
2023 - Powerful storms erupted across the eastern U.S., bringing destructive winds, flooding and prolific lightning. More than a million customers were without power across 11 states. Thousands of flights were impacted as ground stops were put into effect at several major airports, including Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson. The federal government (in Washington DC) closed in the middle of the afternoon in anticipation of the big storms.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day August 7
1742 - Nathaniel Greene
General: American Revolutionary War; died June 19, 17861876 - Mata Hari (Gertrud Margarete Zelle)
dancer, courtesan, French/German double agent: Agent H-21; executed by firing squad near Paris Oct 15, 19171884 - Billie (Mary William Ethelbert Appleton) Burke
comedienne, actress: The Wizard of Oz, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Father of the Bride, Topper, The Young Philadelphians; died May 14, 19701886 - Bill (William Boyd) ‘Deacon’ McKechnie
Baseball Hall of Famer: Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Braves, NY Yankees, Indianapolis Hoosiers, Newark Peppers, Cincinnati Reds, NY Giants; manager: Pittsburgh Pirates, SL Cardinals, Boston Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians; 1st manager to win pennants with 3 different teams; died Oct 29, 19651901 - Ann Harding (Dorothy Gatley)
actress: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Promise to Murder, The Magnificent Yankee; died Sep 1, 19811903 - Rudolf Ising
Academy Award-winning cartoonist: Milky Way [1948]; w/Hugh Harmon: Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, first talkie cartoon synchronizing soundtrack dialogue with on-screen action; died July 18, 19921904 - Ralph Bunche
Nobel Peace Prize-winner [1950]: United Nations official; died Dec 9, 19711921 - Warren Covington
bandleader: trombone: played with Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights; died Aug 24, 19991925 - Felice Bryant
songwriter [w/husband Boudleaux]: Bye Bye Love, Wake Up Little Susie, All I Have to Do is Dream, Bird Dog, Devoted to You, Problems, Only the Lonely; died Apr 22, 20031926 - Stan Freberg
comedian: Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, The Old Payola Roll Blues, St. George and the Dragonet, John and Marcia; commercial producer; died Apr 7, 20151927 - Rocky (Everett Lamar) Bridges
baseball: Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs, Washington Senators [all-star: 1958], Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, SL Cardinals, LA Angels; died Jan 27, 20151927 - Carl ‘Alfalfa’ Switzer
actor: Our Gang comedy film series; died Jan 21, 19591929 - Don (James) Larsen
baseball: pitcher: SL Browns, Baltimore Orioles, NY Yankees [World Series: 1955, 1956 (the only perfect game in World Series history: Oct. 8, 1956, Yankees vs Dodgers), 1957, 1958], KC Athletics, Chicago White Sox, SF Giants [World Series: 1962], Houston Colt .45’s, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs; died Jan 1, 20201931 - Herb Reed
singer: bass: group: The Platters: The Great Pretender, My Prayer, Twilight Time, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Only You; died Jun 4, 20121939 - Ron Holden
singer: Love You So; died Jan 22, 19971940 - Marlyn Mason
actress: The Trouble with Girls, Fifteen and Pregnant, Dead By Sunset, Lonely Hearts, My Wicked, Wicked Ways... The Legend of Errol Flynn, Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan1942 - Tobin Bell
actor: Saw horror film series, Mississippi Burning, The Verdict, Tootsie, False Identity, Loose Cannons, Goodfellas, Ruby, The Firm, In the Line of Fire, Malice, The Quick and the Dead; more1942 - Garrison Keillor
humorist, radio host: A Prairie Home Companion; author: Radio Days; actor: A Prairie Home Companion1942 - B.J. (Billy Joe) Thomas
singer: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, Hooked on a Feeling, [Hey Won’t You Play] Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song, I Just Can’t Help Believing, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry; died May 29, 20211943 - Lana Cantrell
entertainer, singer: LPs: Act III, And then there was Lana, Lana!, The now of Then!1944 - John Glover
actor: Julia, Melvin and Howard, Great God Brown, In the Mouth of Madness, Night of the Running Man, Dead on the Money, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Scrooged, A Killing Affair, An Early Frost, The Evil that Men Do, Last Embrace, Annie Hall, Batman-The Animated Series [voice of The Riddler]1944 - David Rasche
actor: Out There, Dead Weekend, The Masters of Menace, An Innocent Man, Native Son, Manhattan, Sledge Hammer!, Nurses1945 - John Gilliam
football: Minnesota Vikings wide receiver: Super Bowl VIII, IX1945 - Alan Page
Pro Football Hall of Famer: Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle: Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX, XI; Supreme Court Justice, Minnesota; 1st black elected to statewide office in Minnesota1949 - Tim Renwick
musician: guitar: played with: Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, Al Stewart, Elton John, David Bowie, Mike Oldfield, Gary Brooker, Roger Waters, Eric Clapton; solo album [1980]: Tim Renwick1950 - Rodney Crowell
singer: I Ain’t Living Long Like This, Stars on the Water, Shame on the Moon, Oh King Richard, I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried1950 - Dave Wottle
track & field: Olympic Gold Medalist: 800-meter [1972]; track coach: Bethany College, WV1951 - Gary Hall
International Swimming Hall of Famer: U.S. Olympic team captain [1972]; opening ceremonies U.S. flag bearer [1976); silver medalist: 400-meter medley [1968], 200-meter butterfly [1972], bronze: 100-meter butterfly; Doctor of Ophthalmology1952 - Caroline Aaron
actress: Crimes and Misdemeanors, Edward Scissorhands, Husbands and Wives, Sleepless in Seattle, Weapons of Mass Distraction, Primary Colors, Running Mates1952 - Andy Fraser
musician: bass: group: Free: All Right Now, My Brother Jake, Little Bit of Love1952 - Alexei Sayle
actor: Stuff, Alexei Sayle’s Stuff, Gorky Park, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Carry On Columbus1954 - Steve (Steven F) Kemp
baseball: Detroit Tigers [all-star: 1979], Chicago White Sox, NY Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers1955 - Wayne Knight
actor: Seinfeld, Dead Again, JFK, Jurassic Park, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Space Jam, For Richer or Poorer, Toy Story 21957 - Alberto Salazar
marathon runner: winner: Boston Marathon [1982]1958 - Bruce Dickinson
singer: group: Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, Running Free1960 - David Duchovny
actor: The X-Files, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, Beethoven, Red Shoe Diaries series, Playing God, Californication, Kalifornia, Evolution, Zoolander1961 - DeLane Matthews
actress: Dave’s World, FM, Eisenhower & Lutz1961 - Maggie Wheeler
actress: Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Ellen, Paine Management, The Breakdown1963 - Harold Perrineau
actor: Lost, The Wedding Band, Blade, The Matrix Reloaded, A Day in Black and White, Lulu on the Bridge, King of New York1966 - David Mann
actor: Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns and Tyler Perry’s Madea film series, Mann & Wife1967 - Jason Grimsley
baseball [pitcher]: Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians, Anaheim Angels, NY Yankees, KC Royals, Baltimore Orioles1967 - Charlotte Lewis
actress: Hey DJ, Henry X, Every Dog Has Its Day, Navajo Blues, Decoy, Embrace of the Vampire, Storyville1971 - Sydney Penny
actress: The Thorn Birds, Santa Barbara, All My Children, Pale Rider, Running Away, Bernadette, St. Elsewhere; more1973 - Danny Graves
baseball [pitcher]: Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, NY Mets1974 - Michael Shannon
actor: Revolutionary Road, Boardwalk Empire, Take Shelter, The Iceman, Man of Steel, Young Ones, They Came Together, 99 Homes1975 - Charlize Theron
Academy Award-winning actress: Monster [2004]; That Thing You Do!, Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering, The Devil’s Advocate, Hollywood Confidential, Mighty Joe Young, The Cider House Rules, Reindeer Games, Mad Max: Fury Road1977 - Tyler Yates
baseball [pitcher]: New York Mets [2004], Atlanta Braves [2006–2007], Pittsburgh Pirates [2008–2009]1979 - Eric Johnson
actor: Flash Gordon, Smallville, Rookie Blue, Alcatraz, Everest ’82, The Knick, Fifty Shades Darker1981 - Randy Wayne
actor: The Surfer King, Scar, Saint Dog, The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning1982 - Abbie Cornish
actress: Somersault, Bright Star, Sucker Punch, The Monkey’s Mask, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Girl, W.E.1987 - Sidney Crosby
hockey: Pittsburgh Penguins [2005- ]: 2009, 2016, 2017 Stanley Cup champs; named to Team Canada for 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver: played the U.S. in gold medal game, scored the game-winning goal in overtime1998 - Jalen Hurts
football [quarterback]: Univ of Alabama: led Crimson Tide to 2017 National Championship game in his freshman year [lost to Clemson]; they became champs in 2018 with a title game win over the Univ of Georgia; NFL: Philadelphia Eagles [2020- ]1999 - Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
hurdler, sprinter: 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion; 2022 World champion; set 400 m hurdles world record time of 50.65 seconds at the U.S. Olympic Trials on June 30, 2024; first track athlete to break four world records in the same event, setting four world records during 13 months; first woman to break the 52-second (June 2021) and 51-second (July 2022) barriers in the 400 m hurdles; won silver at the 2019 World Championships
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day August 7
1946The Gypsy (facts) - The Ink Spots
Doin’ What Comes Naturally (facts) - Dinah Shore
1955
1964
1973
1982
1991
2000
2009
2018
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
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