On this day in History - Aug 18

• 293 BC - Oldest known Roman temple to Venus founded, institution of Vinalia Rustica begins.
• 0353 - Decentius dies. Roman usurper
• 0472 - Ricimer dies. Roman general
• 0849 - Walafrid Strabo dies. German monk and theologian
• 1201 - The city of Riga is founded.
• 1227 - Genghis Khan dies. Mongol leader
• 1258 - Theodore II Lascaris dies. Emperor of the Empire of Nicaea
• 1276 - Pope Adrian V dies.
• 1318 - Clare of Montefalco dies (b. c. 1268). Italian Abbess and religious leader
• 1430 - Thomas de Ros, 9th Baron de Ros dies drowned (b. 1406). English soldier and politician
• 1503 - Pope Alexander VI dies (b. 1431)
• 1541 - A Portugese ship drifts ashore in the ancient Japanese province of Higo (modern day Kumamoto Prefecture). (Traditional Japanese date: July 27, 1541)
• 1559 - Pope Paul IV dies (b. 1476)
• 1563 - Étienne de La Boétie dies (b. 1530). French judge and writer
• 1572 - Wedding in Paris of the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre with Marguerite de Valois, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics.
• 1587 - Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov. John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.
• 1587 - Virginia Dare was born (d. 1588). First English child born in North America.
• 1590 - John White, the governor of the Colony of Roanoke, returns from a supply-trip to England and inds his settlement deserted.
• 1613 - Giovanni Artusi dies. Italian composer
• 1620 - Wanli dies (b. 1563). Emperor of China.
• 1634 - Urbain Grandier, French priest, accused and convicted of sorcery, burned alive in Loudun, France.
• 1642 - Guido Reni dies (b. 1575), Italian painter
• 1645 - Eudoxia Streshneva dies (b. 1608). Tsarina of Mikhail I of Russia
• 1683 - Charles Hart dies. English actor (b. 1625)
• 1685 - Brook Taylor was born (d. 1731). English mathematician.
• 1692 - Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon was born (d. 1740). Prime Minister of France
• 1707 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire dies (b. 1640). English soldier and statesman
• 1712 - Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers dies. English soldier
• 1750 - Antonio Salieri was born (d. 1825). Italian Composer.
• 1765 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor dies (b. 1708).
• 1774 - Meriwether Lewis was born (d. 1809). American explorer.
• 1781 - Mexico: Nace en la ciudad de San Luis Potosí, José Mariano Jiménez (m. 26 Jun 1811) , quien será ingeniero de minas de Guanajuato y habrá de unirse a la lucha libertadora de don Miguel Hidalgo en 1810 y lo acompañará en la ruta de la independencia.
• 1804 - Mexico: Nace en el Mineral de Pinos, Zacatecas, Luis de la Rosa, quien se distinguirá como polifacético personaje liberal: periodista, diputado local, colaborador cercano del gobernador García Salinas. Como militar combatirá a Santa Anna. Miembro de varios gobiernos
• 1809 - Matthew Boulton dies (b. 1728). Pioneering industrialist and member of the Lunar Society
• 1815 - Chauncey Goodrich dies (b. 1759). U.S. Senator from Connecticut.
• 1830 - Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria was born (d. 1916
• 1832 - Nascimento, em Desterro, actual Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, do pintor brasileiro Vítor Meireles de Lima (m. 1903). Em suas obras predominam os temas religiosos e históricos. “A Primeira Missa no Brasil”, “A Batalha de Guararapes”, “Juramento da Princesa Isabel" “Flagelação de Cristo”, “Moema”, “Cabeça de Velho”, “Morta” e “Uma Rua do Rio de Janeiro”.
• 1834 - Mt. Vesuvius erupted.
• 1838 - Criação do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico do Brasil na cidade do Rio de Janeiro.
• 1842 - Louis de Freycinet dies (b. 1779). French explorer.
• 1849 - Buenaventura Báez é nomeado Presidente da República Dominicana.
• 1850 - Honoré de Balzac dies (b. 1799). French writer.
• 1857 - Libert H. Boeynaems was born. Roman Catholic prelate
• 1858 - Intercâmbio das primeiras comunicações submarinas por cabo entre Europa e América.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Weldon Railroad - Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Weldon Railroad forcing the Confederates to use wagons.
• 1866 Assinatura do tratado da Aliança, que funda a Confederação da Alemanha do Norte, sob a liderança da Prússia.
• 1868 - French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen discovered helium while analysing the chromosphere during a total solar eclipse in India. This was the first element detected in space before being found on Earth.
• 1873 - Durante el gobierno del licenciado Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, el Congreso de la Unión declara a don Benito Juárez como "Benemérito de la Patria". Ya el Congreso de Colombia lo había declarado "Benemérito de las Américas", el 1º de mayo de 1865.
• 1875 - Artur da Silva Bernardes was born. President of Btazil.
• 1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Martian moon Phobos.
• 1888 - Franklin Távora dies. Brazilian writer
• 1890 - Walther Funk was born (d. 1960). German Nazi politician.
• 1892 - Em Lisboa, é inaugurada a Praça de Touros do Campo Pequeno.
• 1896 - Jack Pickford was born (d. 1933). Actor.
• 1901 - Nasce, no Porto (R. São Brás, 503), Henrique (de Barros) Medina (m. 30 Nov 1988). Pintor português, paisagista, um dos grandes retratistas do século XX. Foi distinguido a medalha de ouro da cidade do Porto.
• 1903 - German engineer Karl Jatho flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright Brothers.
• 1904 - Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeded by George Reid.
• 1904 - Max Factor was born (d. 1996). Cosmetics entrepreneur.
• 1906 - Ladislao Vajda was born. Hungarian-born Spanish film director.
• 1908 - Trindade Coelho dies (b. 18 Jun 1861). Portuguese writer.
• 1909 - Marcel Carné was born. French film director.
• 1909 - Nasce em Lisboa Adolfo Simões Müller (m. 1989). Jornalista e escritor português célebre pela literatura infantil e juvenil. Em 1990, a Editorial Verbo instituiu um prémio com o seu nome do como homenagem à memória deste mestre da literatura infantil e como estímulo à revelação de novos autores. Recebeu, em 1982, o Grande Prémio de Literatura Infantil da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian pelo conjunto da sua obra. Asas de Ícaro (poesia 1926), Caixinha de Brinquedos (1937, Prémio Nacional de Literatura Infantil), O Feiticeiro da Cabana Azul (1942, galardoado com o mesmo prémio) e A Primeira Volta ao Mundo (1971, Prémio Nacional de Literatura). Recebeu, em 1982, o Grande Prémio de Literatura Infantil da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian pelo conjunto da sua obra.
• 1909 - Tokyo mayor Yukio Ozaki presents Washington D.C. with 2,000 cherry trees, which President Taft decides to plant near the Potomac River.
• 1915 - Grande Otelo was born. Brazilian actor.
• 1917 - Caspar Weinberger was born. United States Secretary of Defense
• 1918 - Walter Joseph Hickel was born. Governor of Alaska and US Secretary of the Interior
• 1920 - Bob Kennedy was born (d. 2005). Baseball player and manager.
• 1920 - 19th Amendment to US constitution is passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
• 1921 - Ignacio Montes de Oca dies. Mexican archbishop.
• 1922 - William Henry Hudson dies (b. 4 Aug 1841). Argentinan-British author, naturalist and ornithologist.
• 1922 - Shelley Winters was born. Academy Award-winning actress: Patch of Blue [1965], The Diary of Anne Frank [1959]; The Poseidon Adventure, A Place in the Sun, The Night of the Hunter, The Pickle
• 1925 - Brian Aldiss was born. Writer
• 1926 - Termina a greve do carvão na Grã-Bretanha, da qual participaram mais de um milhão de mineiros, contra 1.500 proprietários.
• 1927 - Rosalynn Carter was born. First Lady of the United States
• 1928 - Marge Schott was born (d. 2004). Baseball team owner.
• 1928 - Em Lisboa, é inaugurada a Estação de Comboios do Cais do Sodré.
• 1929 - Anatoli V. Kuznetzov was born. Soviet writer.
• 1930 - Agustín Ibarrola eas born. Spanish painter.
• 1932 - Nasce Luc Montagnier, investigador francês, descobridor da Aids junto com o americano Robert Gallo.
• 1932 - William R. Bennett was born. Premier of British Columbia
• 1933 - Roman Polanski was born. Director (Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, MacBeth)
• 1934 - Vincent Bugliosi was born. American attorney
• 1934 - Roberto Clemente was born (d. 1972). Baseball player.
• 1934 - Manuel Guilherme Faria de Almeida was born. Portuguese film director.
• 1935 - Rafer Johnson was born. American athlete
• 1935 - Gail FisherEmmy was born (d. 2 Dec 2000). Award-winning actress: Mannix [1969-1970];
• 1935 - Sir Howard Morrison was born. New Zealand entertainer.
• 1937 - Robert Redford was born. American actor and director ( actor: All the President’s Men, Quiz Show, The Sting, Sneakers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Out of Africa; Academy Award-winning director: Ordinary People [1980]; A River Runs Through It, Quiz Show)
• 1938 - The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York State, United States with Ontario, Canada over the St. Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1940 - Walter P. Chrysler dies (b. 1875). American automobile mogul.
• 1941 - Adolf Hitler orders a temporary halt to Nazi Germany's systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and handicapped due to protests. However, graduates of the T-4 Euthanasia Program were then transferred to the concentration camps, where they continued in their trade.
• 1942 - Lauro António was born. Portuguese film director and critic and essayst.
• 1943 - Martin Mull was born. Comedian and actor.
• 1943 - Carl Wayne was born (d. 2004). Singer.
• 1943 - Ali-Agha Shikhlinski dies (b. 1865). Russian-Azerbaijani general.
• 1945 - Barbara Harris was born. Singer (Toys)
• 1947 - Pelo menos 155 pessoas, entre elas 25 crianças, morrem com a explosão de um depósito de explosivos da Marinha de Cádiz, no sul da Espanha. Cinco mil pessoas ficam feridas na ocasião / España: Estalla un depósito de explosivos de la Marina de Guerra en los astilleros de Cádiz, mueren más de 150 personas y el número de heridos supera los 5000. Gran número de edificios resultan dañados.
• 1949 - Um terramoto causa 437 mortes perto de Erzerum (Anatólia, Turquia).
• 1949 - Paul Mares dies (b. 1900). American jazz musician
• 1949 - Hungary adopts constitution
• 1950 - Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium is assassinated by far-right elements.
• 1952 - Elayne Boosler was born in Brooklin, NY. Comedienne, actress (Meatballs Part II, Mother Goose Rock ’n’ Rhyme)
• 1952 - Patrick Swayze was born. Actor ( Dirty Dancing, Ghost, Father Hood, Red Dawn, Point Break, North and South)
• 1953 - Louie Gohmert was born. American politician
• 1955 - Dr. Taher ElGamal was born. American-Egyptian scientist
• 1957 - Carole Bouquet was born. French actress
• 1957 - Denis Leary was born. Comedian, actor.
• 1957 - Ron Strykert was born. Musician, guitarist group: Men at Work: Who Can It Be Now, Down Under
• 1958 - Madeleine Stowe was born. Actress
• 1958 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
• 1958 - Perez Prado, the ‘Mambo King’, received one of the first gold records awarded by the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA). The single, Patricia, was certified as having sold over one million copies.
• 1960 - É comercializado o primeiro contraceptivo oral pela Searle Drug Company, nos EUA.
• 1960 - Fat Lever was born. Basketball player
• 1963 - American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
• 1963 - Clifford Odets dies (b. 1906). American playwright.
• 1964 - South Africa was banned from Olympic Games (Tokyo) because of apartheid policies.
• 1965 - A nova Constituição de Guatemala declara o comunismo fora da lei.
• 1965 - Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins - 5,500 United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in Quang Ngai Province in the first major American ground battle of the war. The Marines were tipped-off by a Viet Cong deserter who said that there was an attack planned against the US base at Chu Lai.
• 1965 - Koji Kikkawa was born. Japanese singer
• 1966 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan occurs, when a patrol of Royal Australian Regiment encounter the Viet Cong.
• 1966 - Gustavo Charif was born. Argentine artist.
• 1969 - Edward Norton was born. Actor ( Fight Club, American History X, Keeping the Faith, The People vs. Larry Flynt, The Scorer)
• 1969 - Everlast was born. American musician
• 1969 - Christian Slater was born. Actor (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Murder in the First, Untamed Heart, Young Guns, Interview with the Vampire)
• 1969 - Masta Killa was born. Rapper
• 1969 - Jimi Hendrix plays the unofficial last day of Woodstock.
• 1970 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner was born. Actor
• 1970 - O Vietname do Sul envia tropas para o Laos.
• 1970 - Jessica Hsuan was born. Hong Kong actress
• 1970 - Malcolm-Jamal Warner was born. American actor
• 1971 - Richard D James was born. Irish-born musician.
• 1971 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
• 1972 - Keiko Yamada was born. Japanese singer
• 1972 - Leo Ku was born. Hong Kong singer
• 1974 - Shivnarine Chanderpaul was born. West Indian cricketer.
• 1976 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two US soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the DMZ which had obscured their view.
• 1978 - Andy Samberg was born. American comedian.
• 1979 - Selena Silver was born. Australian actress
• 1980 - Esteban Cambiasso was born. Argentine footballer
• 1980 - Morre Domingos Monteiro Pereira Júnior (b. 6 Nov 1903). Jornalista e escritor português (Oração do Crepúsculo (1919), Nau Errante (1921) O Primeiro Crime de Simão Bolandas, Caminho para Lá, Evasão 1953, O Livro de Todos os Tempos, O Homem Contemporâneo, O Mal e o Bem, O Caminho para Lá, Contos do Dia e da Noite, Histórias Castelhanas, O Dia Marcado, A Vinha da Maldição).
• 1981 - Jonathan Schneck was born. American musician (Relient K)
• 1981 - Anita Loos dies (b. 1889). American screenwriter, playwright and author
• 1982 - Carlos Botelho dies. Portuguese painter.
• 1982 - Japanese election law is amended to allow for proportional representation.
• 1983 - Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 people and causing over USD $1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
• 1983 - Nikolaus Pevsner dies (b. 1902). Art historian.
• 1984 - Robert Huth was born. German football player.
• 1985 - O papa João Paulo II encerra o XLIII Congresso Eucarístico no Quênia.
• 1986 - Israel e URSS comemoram em Helsinki seu primeiro contato oficial nos últimos 19 anos.
• 1987 - Um grupo de cientistas soviéticos sintetiza o elemento 110 da tabela periódica de Mendeleiev.
• 1989 - O senador e candidato liberal à presidência da Colômbia, Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento, é assassinado em Bogotá por traficantes.
• 1989 - Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
• 1990 - Grethe Ingmann dies (b. 1938). Danish singer and Eurovision Song Contest winner
• 1991 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is put under house arrest while he was vacationing in the Crimea. The coup was led by eight high-ranking hard-liners (the coup would collapse in less than 72 hours).
• 1992 - Wang Laboratories files for bankruptcy.
• 1992 - NBA basketball player Larry Bird announces his retirement after winning an Olympic gold medal as a member of the Dream Team.
• 1992 - Frances Bean Cobain was born. Daughter of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and singer/actress Courtney Love
• 1992 - John Sturges dies (82). Film director (Magnificent 7, Gunfight at OK Corral) .
• 1994 - O Parlamento do Panamá aprova a abolição do Exército.
• 1994 - Richard Synge dies (b. 28 Oct 1914). British biochemist who shared the 1952 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with A.J.P. Martin for their development of partition chromatography, notably paper chromatography
• 1994 - Yeshayahu Leibowich dies. Israeli philosopher.
• 1995 - Julio Caro Baroja dies. Spanish anthropologist, historian and linguist.
• 1998 - Persis Khambatta dies (b. 1950). Indian actress.
• 1998 - Otto Wichterle dies (b. 1913). Inventor of the modern contact lens
• 1999 - O ex-agente do serviço de inteligência Sellapan Samanatahan, miss conhecido como S.R. Nathan, é nomeado como novo presidente de Singapura, no lugar de Ong Teng Cheong.
• 2000 - Nove pessoas morrem e outras 80 são feridas em um enfrentamento entre duas facções do Partido Revolucionário Institucional (PRI) no município mexicano de Chimalhuacán.
• 2001- In Luanda, Angola, some 10,000 people marched in a government-organized protest against the Aug 11 train ambush.
• 2004 - In Dublin, Ireland the Dublin Port Tunnel excavation works are completed and the final tunnel boring machine breakthrough ceremony takes place.
• 2004 - Elmer Bernstein dies (b. 1922). American film composer.
• 2005 - Dennis Rader is sentenced to 175 years in prison for the BTK serial killings.
• 2005 - Massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people.
• 2005 - Christopher Bauman dies (b. 1982). Professional wrestler better known as Chri$ Ca$h.
• Roman Catholic Saints - Saint Helena of Constantinople, and Saint Alberto Hurtado
• Buhe in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church