Today in History for 18th August 2024

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Historical Events

1943 - Otto Skorzeny's Heinkel-111 shot down at Sardinia
1944 - Chartres freed by US 3rd Army forces during WWII led by General George S. Patton
1983 - Hurricane Alicia battered Houston and Galveston, Texas
1989 - Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
2016 - Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins the gold medal in the men's 200m for the 3rd successive Summer Olympics, recording a time of 19.78 in Rio de Janeiro
2020 - Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta resigns amid a military coup condemned by the UN Security Council

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Famous Birthdays

1745 - Vaclav Josef Bartolomej Praupner, Bohemian composer, born in Litoměřice (d. 1807)
1805 - Josef Danhauser, Austrian painter (Mutterliebe), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1845)
1930 - Gene Bartow, American College Basketball Hall of Fame coach (US National Team 1974; Valparaiso, Memphis State, Illinois, UCLA), born in Browning, Missouri (d. 2012)
1958 - Reginald "Reg" E. Cathey, American actor (The Wire, Oz, House of Cards), born in Huntsville, Alabama (d. 2018)
1970 - Robert Higginson, American baseball outfielder (Detroit Tigers), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1981 - Jon Schneck, American rock guitarist (Relient K, 2005-present), born in Eustis, Florida

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Famous Deaths

1276 - Adrian V [Ottobono Fieschi], Italian Pope (7/11-8/18/1276), dies
1994 - Judy Ann Scott-Fox, literary agent, dies at 56
2001 - David Peakall, British scientist (b. 1931)
2018 - Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat and 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997-2006), dies at 80
2018 - Peter Tapsell, British Conservative Party politician (Member of Parliament, 1959-64 and 1966-2015), dies at 88
2020 - Glenn Bassett, American tennis coach (UCLA 1967-93; 7 x NCAA C'ships), dies at 93

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