18 August
Notable Births
Cassius Stanley
b. 1999
American basketball player (born 1999)
Brian To'o
b. 1998
Samoa international rugby league footballer
Clairo
b. 1998
American singer-songwriter (born 1998)
Nick Fuentes
b. 1998
American far-right political activist (born 1998)
Josephine Langford
b. 1997
Australian actress (born 1997)
Renato Sanches
b. 1997
Portuguese footballer (born 1997)
Alīna Fjodorova
b. 1995
Latvian figure skater
Parker McKenna Posey
b. 1995
American actress
Madelaine Petsch
b. 1994
American actress and YouTuber (born 1994)
Morgan Sanson
b. 1994
French association football player (born 1994)
Seiya Suzuki
b. 1994
Japanese baseball player (born 1994)
Jung Eun-ji
b. 1993
South Korean singer-songwriter and actress (born 1993)
Maia Mitchell
b. 1993
Australian actress (born 1993)
Elizabeth Beisel
b. 1992
American competition swimmer
Bogdan Bogdanović (basketball)
b. 1992
Serbian basketball player (born 1992)
Liz Cambage
b. 1991
Australian basketball player (born 1991)
Richard Harmon
b. 1991
Canadian actor (born 1991)
Anna Akana
b. 1989
American YouTuber and comedian (born 1989)
Yu Mengyu
b. 1989
Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player
Jack Hobbs (footballer)
b. 1988
English footballer (born 1988)
Notable Deaths
Ruth Johnson Colvin
d. 2024
American literacy advocate (1916–2024)
Alain Delon
d. 2024
French actor (1935–2024)
Phil Donahue
d. 2024
American talk show host (1935–2024)
Lolita (orca)
d. 2023
Captive female orca (c. 1966 – 2023)
Al Quie
d. 2023
American politician (1923–2023)
Ben Cross
d. 2020
British actor (1947–2020)
Kofi Annan
d. 2018
UN Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006
Bruce Forsyth
d. 2017
British entertainer and presenter (1928–2017)
Ernst Nolte
d. 2016
German historian (1923–2016)
Khaled al-Asaad
d. 2015
Syrian archaeologist (1932–2015)
Suvra Mukherjee
d. 2015
Indian politician
Louis Stokes
d. 2015
American politician (1925–2015)
Gordon Faber
d. 2014
American mayor (1931–2014)
Jim Jeffords
d. 2014
American politician (1934–2014)
Levente Lengyel
d. 2014
Hungarian chess grandmaster (1933–2014)
Don Pardo
d. 2014
American announcer (1918–2014)
Jean Kahn
d. 2013
French Jewish community leader
Albert Murray (writer)
d. 2013
American writer
Harrison Begay
d. 2012
American painter (1914/17–2012)
Honoré de Balzac
d. 1850
French novelist and playwright (1799–1850)
On This Day in History
All 51 ›
2019
One hundred activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after having once covered six square miles (15.5 km2).
Iceland
2017
The Turku terror attack occurs in Finland when a knifeman kills two and injures eight.
2017 Turku attack
2011
A terrorist attack on Israel's Highway 12 near the Egyptian border kills 16 and injures 40.
2011 southern Israel cross-border attacks
2008
The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, resigns under threat of impeachment.
Pervez Musharraf
2008
War of Afghanistan: The Uzbin Valley ambush occurs.
Uzbin Valley ambush
2005
A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java; affecting almost 100 million people, it is one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history.
2005 Java–Bali blackout
2003
One-year-old Zachary Turner is murdered in Newfoundland by his mother, who was awarded custody despite facing trial for the murder of Zachary's father. The case was documented in the film Dear Zachary and led to reform of Canada's bail laws.
Murders of Andrew Bagby and Zachary Turner
1993
American International Airways Flight 808 crashes at Leeward Point Field at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, injuring the three crew members.
American International Airways Flight 808
1989
Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
Luis Carlos Galán
1983
Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 21 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
Hurricane Alicia
1977
Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest, bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies.
Steve Biko
1976
The Korean axe murder incident in Panmunjom results in the deaths of two US Army officers.
Panmunjom axe murder incident
1976
The Soviet Union's robotic probe Luna 24 successfully lands on the Moon.
Soviet Union
1973
Aeroflot Flight A-13 crashes after takeoff from Baku-Bina International Airport in Azerbaijan, killing 56 people and injuring eight.
Aeroflot Flight A-13
1971
Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
Vietnam
1966
Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province.
Battle of Long Tan
1965
Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.
Vietnam War
1963
Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
Civil rights movement
1958
Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
Vladimir Nabokov
1958
Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so, placing first among the 39 competitors.
Brojen Das