August 13

Events

• 1521 - Tenochtitlan (present day Mexico City) falls to conquistador Hernan Fernando Cortes
• 1704 - War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Blenheim - English and Austrians victorious over French and Bavarians.
• 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's animated cartoon "Bambi" premiers.
• 1960 - Central African Republic declares independence from France
• 1960 - Chad 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.

Births

• 1422 - William Caxton, printer
• 1625 - Erasmus Bartholin, physician, mathematician and physicist († 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 († 1900)
• 1823 - Goldwin Smith, historian and journalist († 1910)
• 1851 - Felix Adler, educator, founder of the Ethical Movement († 1933)
• 1860 - Annie Oakley, sharpshooter († 1926)
• 1866 - Giovanni Agnelli, industrialist († 1945)
• 1888 - John Logie Baird, television pioneer († 1946)
• 1895 - Bert Lahr, actor († 1967)
• 1899 - Alfred Hitchcock, director († 1980)
• 1902 - Felix Wankel, engineer and inventor († 1988)
• 1904 - Charles (Buddy) Rogers, actor († 1999)
• 1907 - Sir Basil Spence, architect († 1976)
• 1912 - Salvador Luria, biologist; Nobel Prize, 1969 († 1991)
• 1912 - Ben Hogan, golf champion
• 1919 - George Shearing, musician
• 1920 - Neville Brand, actor († 1992)
• 1926 - Fidel Castro, revolutionary and politician
• 1930 - Don Ho, musician
• 1933 - Doctor Jocelyn 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
• 1970 - Alan Shearer, England and Newcastle soccer 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
• 1996 - David Tudor, pianist and composer

Holidays and observances

• Roman Empire - Vertumnalias in honor of Vertumnus

August 12 - August 14 - July 13 - September 13 -- listing of all days

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

Referenced By