August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining.

2000-2099

• 2001 - Dutch prime minister Wim Kok announces that he will not be available for another term as PvdA party leader or prime minister after the 2002 elections.

Births

1700-1899

• 1749 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer, scientist (d. 1832)
• 1774 - Elizabeth Ann Seton, first American-born Catholic saint (d. 1821)
• 1786 - Pavloec, author
• 1814 - Sheridan le Fanu, writer (d. 1873)
• 1828 - Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer (d. 1910)
• 1894 - Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (d. 1981)
• 1897 - Charles Boyer, French actor (d. 1978)

1900-1999

• 1903 - Bruno Bettelheim, psychologist (d. 1990)
• 1904 - Secondo Campini, Italian jet pioneer (d. 1980)
• 1906 - John Betjeman, poet (d. 1984)
• 1908 - Roger Tory Peterson, ornithologist, illustrator
• 1911 - Joseph Luns, Dutch politician (d. 2002)
• 1913 - Robertson Davies, novelist, playwright (d. 1995)
• 1913 - Richard Tucker, American tenor (d. 1975)
• 1917 - Jack Kirby, comic book artist (d. 1994)
• 1924 - Janet Frame, author
• 1925 - Donald O'Connor, singer, dancer, actor
• 1929 - Istvan Kertesz, Hungarian conductor (d. 1973)
• 1930 - Ben Gazzara, actor
• 1931 - John Shirley-Quirk, English bass-baritone
• 1938 - Maurizio Costanzo, Italian television anchorman
• 1943 - Lou Piniella, baseball manager
• 1947 - Liza Wang, actress (to be included)
• 1951 - Benji Durden, Olympic marathon
• 1953 - Gates McFadden, actress
• 1957 - Daniel Stern, actor
• 1958 - Scott Hamilton, Olympic Games gold medal winning figure skater
• 1960 - Emma Samms, actress
• 1961 - Kim Appleby, singer (Mel & Kim)
• 1965 - Shania Twain, singer
• 1968 - Billy Boyd, Scottish actor, played Pippin in the Lord of the Rings
• 1969 - Jason Priestley, actor
• 1971 - Janet Evans, Olympic swimmer
• 1980 - Eric Schomburg, author
• 1981 - Martin Erat, NHL hockey player
• 1982 - LeAnn Rimes, singer

Deaths

400-1899

• 430 - Augustine of Hippo
• 1481 - Afonso V, king of Portugal
• 1818 - Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, founder of Chicago
• 1839 - William Smith, geologist

1900-1999

• 1900 - Henry Sidgwick, philosopher
• 1919 - Louis Botha, Boer leader
• 1943 - King Boris III of Bulgaria
• 1959 - Bohuslav Martinu, composer
• 1965 - Giulio Racah, physicist (b. 1909)
• 1985 - Ruth Gordon, actress
• 1987 - John Huston, movie director
• 1990 - Willy Vandersteen, cartoonist
• 1993 - William Stafford, poet and essayist
• 1995 - Michael Ende, writer

Holidays and observances

• Hong Kong: Liberation Day (1945)
• Many Christian churches: feast day of Saint Augustine of Hippo.
• Software Freedom Day

August 27 - August 29 - July 28 - September 28 -- listing of all days