41st year - Nr 227 Saturday, 15 August 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nr 227 Saturday, 15 August 2026

15 August / Today's 36 Events:

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(+) 496 years ago Friday 15th of August 1530 Grand Prince of Moscow and Tsar of Russia Ivan the Terrible, originally Ivan IV Vasilyevich is born in Kolomenskoye, Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia.

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(+) 257 years ago Tuesday 15th of August 1769 War leader Napoléon Bonaparte, originally Napoleone di Buonaparte is born in Casa Buonaparte, Rue Saint-Charles, Ajaccio, Corsica, France.

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(+) 255 years ago Thursday 15th of August 1771 Historical novelist, playwright and poet Walter Scott is born in College Wynd, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.

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(+) 241 years ago Monday 15th of August 1785 Writer Thomas Penson De Quincey is born in 86 Cross Street, Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom.

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(+) 204 years ago Thursday 15th of August 1822 Wife of Edgar Allan Poe Virginia Eliza Clemm is born in Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

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(+) 169 years ago Saturday 15th of August 1857 Jack the Ripper suspect Montague John Druitt is born in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, United Kingdom.

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(x) 149 years ago He Had a Little Needle Wednesday 15th of August 1877 30-year-old Inventor Thomas Alva Edison aka The Wizard of Menlo Park makes the first phonograph recording in Newark, New Jersey, United States. Edison recorded 'Mary had a Little Lamp'.

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(+) 131 years ago Thursday 15th of August 1895 Murderess Virginia Christian is born in Richmond, Virginia, United States.

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(+) 130 years ago Saturday 15th of August 1896 Inventor Léon Theremin, originally Lev Sergeyevich Termen is born in St. Petersburg, Northwestern Federal District, Russia.

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(+) 121 years ago Tuesday 15th of August 1905 Nazi doctor Joachim Mrugowsky is born in Rathenow, Brandenburg, Germany.

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(-) 121 years ago Tuesday 15th of August 1905 Multiple murderer Arthur Devereux is executed by hanging by Henry Pierrepoint at the age of 24 in HM Prison Pentonville, Caledonian Road, Islington, London, Greater London, United Kingdom. Devereux killed his 25-year-old wife Beatrice Ellen Maud and their 2-year-old twins Evelyn and Lawrence.

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(x) 112 years ago He Was Given Notice Saturday 15th of August 1914 31-year-old Julian Carlton, a servant of  47-year-old Architect Frank Lloyd Lincoln Wright sets fire to the studio and kills seven people with an axe as the fire burned in Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin, United States. The dead included Mamah Borthwick Cheney, her two children, John and Martha; gardener David Lindblom; draftsman Emil Brodelle; workman Thomas Brunker; and another workman's son Ernest Weston. Carlton swallowed hydrochloric acid following the attack in an attempt to kill himself. He was nearly lynched on the spot, but was taken to the Dodgeville jail. Carlton died from starvation seven weeks after the attack.

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(+) 109 years ago Wednesday 15th of August 1917 Prelate of the Catholic Church Óscar Romero, originally Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez is born in Ciudad Barrios, San Miguel, .

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(+) 101 years ago Saturday 15th of August 1925 Actor Mike Connors, originally Kreker J. Ohanian known for playing detective Joe Mannix is born in Fresno, California, United States.

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(-) 96 years ago Friday 15th of August 1930 Murderer Robert Lee Wilkins is executed by hanging at the age of 44 in Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla, Washington, United States.

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(-) 91 years ago Thursday 15th of August 1935 Aviation pioneer Wiley Hardeman Post dies in a plane crash at the age of 37 in Point Barrow, Alaska, United States. Along with Wiley also 55-year-old newspaper columnist Will Rogers died in the crash.

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(+) 86 years ago Thursday 15th of August 1940 Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Gudrun Ensslin is born in Bartholomä, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

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(+) 82 years ago Elle Était une Jolie Poupée Tuesday 15th of August 1944 Singer-songwriter and actress Sylvie Vartan, originally Sylvie Georges Vartanian aka La Collégienne du Twist is born in Iskrets, Sofiyska Oblast, Bulgaria.

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(+) 71 years ago Monday 15th of August 1955 Victim of Dean Corll aka The Candyman Donald Wayne Waldrop is born in Alpharetta, Georgia, United States.

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(+) 68 years ago Friday 15th of August 1958 Murderess Laurie Lawrencia Bembenek aka Run, Bambi, Run is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.

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(x) 65 years ago Tuesday 15th of August 1961 19-year-old Soldier Conrad Hans Schumann aka The First Man to Jump the Berlin Wall succesfully makes his escape to the West over the Berlin Wall in Ruppiner Straße and Bernauer Straße, Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

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(-) 63 years ago Thursday 15th of August 1963 Murderer Henry John Burnett known for becoming the last man to be hanged in Scotland is executed by hanging by Harry Allen at the age of 21 in Craiginches, Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom. Burnett was the last man to be hanged in Scotland.

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(-) 61 years ago Sunday 15th of August 1965 Maria Błaszczyk is strangled by serial killer Zdzisław Marchwicki aka The Zagłębie Vampire in Czeladź, Województwo Sląskie, Poland.

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(-) 59 years ago Tuesday 15th of August 1967 Surrealist painter René François Ghislain Magritte dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 69 in Schaerbeek, Brussel, Brabant, Belgium.

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(+) 55 years ago Sunday 15th of August 1971 Double murderer James Scott Porter is born in Lake Dallas, Texas, United States.

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(+) 52 years ago Thursday 15th of August 1974 Double murderer Tommie Tom Andrew Hughes is born in Dallas, Texas, United States.

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(x) 51 years ago Friday 15th of August 1975 Olive Smelt is hit on the head and back with a hammer by serial killer Peter Sutcliffe aka The Yorkshire Ripper in Woodside Road, Halifax, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Smelt survived and required brain surgery.

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(x) 49 years ago He Fitted in a Suitcase Monday 15th of August 1977 70-year-old Sicherheitspolizei commander Herbert Kappler escapes from a prison hopital in Ospedale Militare Celio, Piazza Celimontana 52, Rome, Lazio, Italy. Kappler was diagnosed with terminal cancer. His wife and qualified nurse Anneliese carried him out in a large suitcase (he weighed about 47 kg at the time) and drove him straight to Germany in a red Fiat automobile. Six months after his escape Kappler died at home.

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(x) 46 years ago They Came to Take Him Away Friday 15th of August 1980 21-year-old Performance artist Danny Devos aka DDV performs 'First Aid' in Bilzen, Limburg, Belgium. I wanted to do the performance ‘Ladder-1’ on the roof of a building. Just when I started I was taken down by the security-services.

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(-) 34 years ago Saturday 15th of August 1992 Chief executioner Harry Bernard Allen dies of unknown causes at the age of 81 in Fleetwood, Lancashire, United Kingdom.

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(-) 31 years ago Tuesday 15th of August 1995 Murderer Vernon Lamar Sattiewhite is executed by lethal injection at the age of 40 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

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(+) 30 years ago Thursday 15th of August 1996 Plane crash survivor Bahia Bakari is born in Evry, Île-de-France, France.

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(x) 29 years ago He Was a Pure Coward Friday 15th of August 1997 37-year-old School shooter Frederick Martin Davidson opens fire in a classroom while meeting with a panel of professors to defend his master's thesis, shooting to death 3 of the professors in San Diego State University Engineering Building, San Diego, California, United States. The victims were 32-year-old Assistant Professor Chen Liang, 44-year-old Associate Professor D. Preston Lowery and 36-year-old Associate Professor Constantinos Lyrintzis. Davidson had intended to kill himself after the shootings but could not due to "pure cowardice".

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23 years ago The Eyes had it Friday 15th of August 2003 A night-ride in Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia.

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19 years ago The Eyes had it Wednesday 15th of August 2007 A wooden fisherman's house on the old Schelde river in Weert, Antwerpen, Belgium.

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(-) 13 years ago Thursday 15th of August 2013 Lawyer, writer and political activist Jacques Vergès known from several legal cases for high-profile defendants charged with terrorism or war crimes dies of a heart attack at the age of 89 in 27 Quai Voltaire, VIIe, Paris, Île-de-France, France.

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