Born On This Day:

• Ivan the Terrible, first Czar Russia,, 1530
• King Ludwig I Bavaria, 1786
• Allan Pinkerton, 1819
• Bret Harte, 1836
• King Ludwig II Bavaria, 1845
• Bill Nye, 1850
• Ruby Keeler, 1909
• Walt Kelly, 1913
• Van Johnson, 1916
• Mel Ferrer, 1917
• Don DeFore, 1917
• Leonard Bernstein, 1918
• George Wallace, 1919
• Brian Moore, 1921
• Monte Hall, 1923
• Sean Connery, 1930
• Tom Skerrit, 1933
• Regis Philbin, 1934
• Frederick Forsyth, 1938
• Anne Archer, 1947
• Martin Amis, 1949
• Gene Simmons, 1949
• Elvis Costello, 1954
• Claudia Schiffer, 1971

Died On This Day:

• Louis IX (Saint Louis) King of France, 1270
• Queen Margaret of Anjou, 1482
• Sir Henry Morgan, 1688
• James Watt, 1819
• Sir William Herschel, 1822
• Michael Faraday, 1867
• Friedrich Nietzsche, 1900
• Prince George Duke of Kent killed, 1942
• Alfred Kinsey, 1956
• George Lincoln Rockwell killed, 1967
• Paul Muni, 1967
• Stan Kenton, 1979
• Gower Champion, 1980
• Truman Capote, 1984
• William Warfield, 2002
• Edward M. Kennedy, 2009
• Neil Armstrong, 2012
• John McCain, 2018

Today's Events:

• 1609 - Galileo takes a few of Venice's leaders up to the city's tallest bell tower and shows them his telescope.
• 1718 - City of New Orleans founded and named in honor of the Duke of Orleans in France.
• 1768 - Captain James Cook sets sail on first voyage of discovery.
• 1830 - Belgian revolution against Kingdom of Netherlands.
• 1831 - The 'bed spring' patented by Josiah French of Ware, Mass.
• 1835 - Great Moon Hoax launched in New York Sun alleging that British astronomer Sir John Herschel detected four billion people, oceans, beaches and fantastic animals on moon.
• 1837 - Henry William Crawford patents process for producing galvanized iron.
• 1875 - Matthew Webb, 27, British merchant navy captain, lands in Calais having become the first known person to swim the English Channel.
• 1914 - Japan declares war on Austria, WW1.
• 1916 - National Park Service founded in America.
• 1919 - Daily air service between London and Paris inaugurated.
• 1928 - Admiral Byrd's Antarctic Expedition leaves New York City on way to South Pole.
• 1944 - Paris liberated by U.S. and French troops ending 4 years of German occupation; De Gaulle enters city.
• 1966 - Orbiter-1 transmits first photo of Earth as seen from Moon.
• 1986 - 1500 killed by cloud of toxic gas from volcanic lake in Cameroon, western Africa.
• 1991 - Linus Torvalds, a student at University of Helsinki, reveals he is working on Linux Operating System.
• 2017 - Tropical storm Harvey becomes Category 4 hurricane and slams into Rockport, TX and Houston; 60 to die, up to $60 billion in damages.

Feast Day of Saint:

• Genesius of Arles
• Louis of France (died today in 1270)
• Genesius the Actor
• Gregory of Utrecht

Holiday:

• Independence Day Uruguay (1825)

Non-Specific Holiday:

• NAGA PANCHAMI, Hindu Festival of the Serpent God
• RAKHI, Hindu Festival to Pledge Protection
• CHUNG-CH'IU, Mid-autumn festival, Harvest or Moon Festival (fifteenth day of the eighth moon)
• TISH'AH B'AB (Jewish) Anniversary of fall of Jerusalem and destruction of first & 2nd temples Ab 9
• JANAM (OR JANMA) ASHTAMI, Hindu Birthday Festival of Krishna
• ANANT CHATURDASI, Hindu Eternal Anniversary of 14th day of Month Bhaedra
• CH'UNG YANG, Festival of High Places in China (ninth day of the ninth moon)
• Japanese visit graves of ancestors mid August
• GANESHA CHATURTHI, Hindu Festival of the Elephant God end of August
• FRIENDSHIP DAY - first Sunday in August in USA