August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (235th in leap years), with 131 days remaining.

Events

1400-1899

• 1485 - The Battle of Bosworth Field decisively ends the Wars of the Roses
• 1559 - Bartholome de Carranza, Spanish archbishop, is arrested for heresy
• 1642 - Charles I calls the English Parliament traitors. Beginning of the English Civil War
• 1654 - Jacob Barsimson arrives in New Amsterdam. He is the first Jewish immigrant to what is later the United States
• 1717 - Spanish troops land on Sardinia
• 1770 - James Cook's expedition lands on the east coast of Australia
• 1775 - King George III declares the American colonies to be in open rebellion
• 1780 - James Cook's ship Resolution returns to England (Cook having been killed on Hawaii during the voyage)
• 1791 - Beginning of the Haitian Slave Revolution
• 1846 - The United States annexes New Mexico
• 1851 - Gold is discovered in Australia
• 1851 - The first America's Cup is won by the yacht America.
• 1864 - Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention. The Red Cross is formed.

1900-1999

• 1901 - Cadillac Motor Company founded
• 1902 - Theodore Roosevelt became the first President of the United States to ride in an automobile
• 1910 - Japan annexes Korea
• 1911 - Theft of the Mona Lisa is discovered
• 1914 - In Belgium, British and German troops meet for the first time in World War I
• 1926 - Gold discovered in South Africa
• 1941 - German troops reach Leningrad, leading to the siege of Leningrad
• 1942 - Brazil declares war on the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan)
• 1944 - Last transport of French Jews to concentration camps in Germany
• 1944 - 32 Spaniards & 4 Frenchmen tackle a German column (1,300 men in 60 lorries, with 6 tanks & 2 self propelled guns), at La Madeiline, France. Three Maquis wounded, 110 Germans killed, 200 wounded.
• 1950 - Althea Gibson becomes the first black competitor in international tennis
• 1953 - The jail on Devil's Island is closed
• 1962 - An attempt to assassinate French president Charles De Gaulle fails
• 1962 - The Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered ship, completes its maiden voyage
• 1968 - Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the first visit of a pope to Latin America
• 1972 - Rhodesia is expelled by the IOC for its racist policies
• 1975 - An attempt to assassinate president Gerald Ford fails
• 1988 - The Australian koala, the first platinum coin, is issued
• 1989 - The first ring of Neptune is discovered
• 1989 - Nolan Ryan strikes out Rickey Henderson to become the first major league baseball pitcher to record 5000 strikeouts.
• 1992 - FBI HRT sniper Lon Horiuchi shot and killed Vicki Weaver during an 11 day siege at her home at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

2000-2099

• 2001 - the Trojan room coffee pot is switched off for the last time.
• 2004 - The Scream by Edvard Munch is stolen at gunpoint from museum in Norway.

Births

1600-1899

• 1647 - Denis Papin, inventor of the piston steam engine
• 1760 - Pope Leo XII
• 1771 - Henry Maudslay, inventor and tool-maker
• 1800 - William S. Harney, US general
• 1802 - Gurdon Saltonstall Hubbard
• 1854 - King Milan I of Serbia
• 1860 - Paul Nipkow, inventor, television pioneer
• 1862 - Claude Debussy, composer (d. 1918)
• 1867 - Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and Muesli inventor (d. 1939)
• 1874 - Max Scheler, philosopher
• 1880 - George Herriman, cartoonist (Krazy Kat)
• 1893 - Dorothy Parker, writer (d. 1967)

1900-1999

• 1900 - Sergei Ozhegov, Russian lexicographer (d. 1964)
• 1902 - Leni Riefenstahl, film director (d. 2003)
• 1904 - Deng Xiaoping, leader of the People's Republic of China (1976-1983) (d. 1997)
• 1908 - Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photojournalist (d. 2004)
• 1915 - Hugh Paddick, British actor (d. 2000)
• 1917 - John Lee Hooker, blues guitarist/singer (d. 2001)
• 1920 - Ray Bradbury, science fiction author and fantasy author (Fahrenheit 451)
• 1920 - Doctor Denton Cooley, heart surgeon
• 1924 - James Kirkwood Jr., novelist (d. 1989)
• 1927 - Honor Blackman, actress
• 1928 - Karlheinz Stockhausen, composer
• 1934 - Norman Schwarzkopf, US general
• 1935 - E. Annie Proulx, Pulitzer Prize winning author
• 1938 - Paul Maguire, American football player
• 1939 - George Reinholt, soap opera actor
• 1939 - Carl Yastrzemski, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1940 - Valerie Harper, actress
• 1941 - Bill Parcells, NFL coach
• 1942 - Kathy Lennon, singer
• 1947 - Cindy Williams, actress
• 1955 - Will Shetterly, fantasy author
• 1956 - Paul Molitor, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1957 - Steve Davis, English snooker player
• 1958 - Colm Feore, actor (Pearl Harbor, Chicago, The Chronicles of Riddick)
• 1958 - Vernon Reid, musician (Living Colour)
• 1960 - Debbi Peterson, drummer (The Bangles)
• 1961 - Roland Orzabal, singer, guitarist (Tears for Fears)
• 1963 - Tori Amos, singer/songwriter, pianist
• 1964 - Mats Wilander, tennis player
• 1988 - Austin Prince, World Famous Bassist

Deaths

400-1899

• 408 - Stilicho, military strongman of the Roman Empire (legal murder)
• 1188 - King Ferdinand II of Leon
• 1241 - Pope Gregory IX
• 1280 - Pope Nicholas III
• 1286 - Erik V Klipping, king of Denmark (murder)
• 1350 - Philip VI of France, king of France
• 1485 - Richard III of England,
• 1553 - John Dudley, English admiral and politician (beheaded)
• 1599 - Luca Marenzio, Italian composer
• 1818 - Warren Hastings, governor-general of India (1773-1784)
• 1891 - Jan Neruda, author

1900-1999

• 1903 - Robert Salisbury, British prime minister
• 1904 - Kate Chopin, author
• 1912 - Pope Gregory IX
• 1922 - Michael Collins, Irish revolutionary (killed in an ambush)
• 1926 - Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University (b. 1834)
• 1977 - Sebastian Cabot, actor
• 1978 - Jomo Kenyatta, first prime minister of Kenya (1963-1978)
• 1989 - Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panthers
• 1991 - Colleen Dewhurst, actress

2000-2099

• 2003 - Arnold Gerschwiler, figure skating trainer

Holidays and observances

August 21 - August 23 - July 22 - September 22 -- listing of all days