August 13
August 13 is the 225th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (226th in leap years), with 140 days remaining. Template:AugustCalendar
Events
- 1521 - Tenochtitlán (present day Mexico City) falls to conquistador Hernán Cortés
- 1704 - War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Blenheim - English and Austrians victorious over French and Bavarians.
- 1920 - Polish-Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw begins, lasts till August 25. The Red Army is defeated.
- 1923 - First major sea-going ship arrives at Gdynia, newly constructed Polish seaport.
- 1940 - World War II: Battle of Britain begins - The Luftwaffe launches a series of attacks on British fighter bases and radar installations.
- 1942 - Walt Disney Company's animated cartoon Bambi premiers.
- 1960 - Central African Republic declares independence from France
- 1961 - German Democratic Republic closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin, to frustrate its inhabitants' attempts to escape to the West.
- 1987 - US President Reagan assumes responsibility for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal
- 1993 - Pope John Paul II visits the United States
Births
- 1422 - William Caxton, printer
- 1625 - Rasmus Bartholin, physician, mathematician and physicist (d. 1698)
- 1792 - Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen - queen consort of King William IV of the United Kingdom
- 1818 - Lucy Stone, pioneering women's rights activist
- 1820 - Sir George Grove, author, Dictionary of Music and Musicians (d. 1900)
- 1823 - Goldwin Smith, historian and journalist (d. 1910)
- 1851 - Felix Adler, educator, founder of the Ethical Movement (d. 1933)
- 1860 - Annie Oakley, sharpshooter (d. 1926)
- 1866 - Giovanni Agnelli, industrialist (d. 1945)
- 1888 - John Logie Baird, television pioneer (d. 1946)
- 1895 - Bert Lahr, actor (d. 1967)
- 1899 - Alfred Hitchcock, director (d. 1980)
- 1902 - Felix Wankel, engineer and inventor (d. 1988)
- 1904 - Charles (Buddy) Rogers, actor (d. 1999)
- 1907 - Sir Basil Spence, architect (d. 1976)
- 1912 - Salvador Luria, biologist; Nobel Prize, 1969 (d. 1991)
- 1912 - Ben Hogan, golf champion (d. 1997)
- 1913 - Fred Davis, English snooker player (d. 1998)
- 1919 - George Shearing, musician
- 1920 - Neville Brand, actor (d. 1992)
- 1926 - Fidel Castro, revolutionary and politician
- 1930 - Don Ho, musician
- 1933 - Doctor Joycelyn Elders, United States Surgeon General
- 1935 - Jim (Mudcat) Grant, baseball player
- 1948 - Kathleen Battle, opera singer
- 1949 - Bobby Clarke, ice hockey star
- 1951 - Dan Fogelberg, singer
- 1952 - Herb Ritts, celebrity photographer
- 1959 - Danny Bonaduce, actor
- 1969 - Midori Ito, Japanese figure skater
- 1970 - Alan Shearer, England and Newcastle soccer player
- 1975 - Joe Perry, English snooker player
Deaths
- 1863 - Eugene Delacroix, painter
- 1946 - H. G. Wells, writer
- 1964 - Gwynne Owen Evans and Peter Anthony Allen, murderers. The last people to be executed in Great Britain.
- 1995 - Mickey Mantle, Baseball Hall of Fame member (b. 1931)
- 1996 - David Tudor, pianist and composer
Holidays and observances
- Roman Empire - Vertumnalias in honor of Vertumnus
- International Left-Handers Day
August 12 - August 14 - July 13 - September 13 -- listing of all days