August 4

August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining.

Events

• 1578 - Battle of Alcazarquivir[?], Moroccans defeat Portuguese.
• 1693 - Dom Perignon invents champagne. [This is not true, see [1] (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/19/1037682013114)]
• 1735 - John Peter Zenger[?] acquitted of seditious libel, on the basis that what he published was true.
• 1790 - United States Coast Guard founded as Revenue Cutter Service.
• 1873 - Battle of the Little Big Horn.
• 1892 - The family of Lizzie Borden is found murdered.
• 1914 - Great Britain declares war on Germany; United States proclaims neutrality.
• 1944 - Anne Frank is captured.
• 1964 - Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner[?], Andrew Goodman and James Chaney[?] found dead in Mississippi.
• 1964 - United States gunboats Maddox and C. Turner Joy attacked in Gulf of Tonkin.
• 1976 - First outbreak of Legionnaire's disease kills 29 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia.
• 1977 - The United States Department of Energy is established.
• 1997 - 185,000 union United Parcel Service drivers walk off the job.

Births

• 1792 - Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet (+ 1822)
• 1859 - Knut Hamsun, writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature 1920 (+ 1952)
• 1900 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, The Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (+ 2002)
• 1901 - Louis Armstrong, jazz musician (+ 1971)
• 1906 - Marie-José Van Sachsen Coburg-Gotha[?], last Queen of Italy (+ 2001)
• 1906 - Eugen Schuhmacher[?], zoologist (+ 1973)
• 1909 - Glenn Cunnimgham[?], track and field star
• 1909 - Otto Steiger[?], writer
• 1910 - William Schumann[?], composer (+ 1992)
• 1912 - Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat (+ 1947 presumed)
• 1921 - Maurice Richard, professional ice hockey player (+ 2000)
• 1929 - Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
• 1930 - Götz Friedrich[?], opera director (+ 2000)
• 1932 - Hans Jürgen Fröhlich[?], writer
• 1932 - Guillermo Mordillo[?], graphic artist and cartoonist
• 1937 - David Bedford, musician
• 1944 - Richard Belzer[?], actor, comedian
• 1955 - Billy Bob Thornton, actor, writer
• 1958 - Mary Decker[?] Slaney, track star
• 1962 - Roger Clemens, baseball player
• 1971 - Jeff Gordon[?], NASCAR driver

Deaths

• 1060 - King Henry I of France
• 1265 - Simon de Montfort, English baron
• 1526 - Juan Sebastian Cano[?], Spanish explorer
• 1873 - General George Armstrong Custer
• 1875 - Hans Christian Andersen, Writer
• 1938 - PEarl White[?], actress
• 1976 - Roy Herbert Thomson[?], Lord Thomson of Fleet, publisher
• 1981 - Melvyn Douglas, actor
• 1999 - Victor Mature[?], actor
• 2001 - Lorenzo Music, actor, writer, producer

Holidays and observances

• Burkina Faso - Anniversary of the Revolution
• Cook Islands - Constitution Day (celebrations begin on the last Friday in July and last up to 2 weeks.)
• El Salvador - Transfiguration Bank Holiday

August 3 - August 5 - July 4 - September 4 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December