Film & TV History
Aug 1 Actress Hedy Lamarr, aged 77 is arrested for shoplifting in Florida
Music History
Aug 2 Funk singer Rick James, arrested on sexual torture charges
- Aug 2 Hedy Lamaar is arrested for shoplifting in LA
- Aug 2 Pan Am games open in Havana
- Aug 2 Space shuttle STS 43 (Atlantis 9) launched
- Aug 3 Giant Victory driven by Jack Moiseyev wins Hambletonian, 2nd $1m purse in 22 days for Moiseyev after winning Meadowlands Pace
- Aug 4 The Greek cruise ship Oceanos sinks off the Wild Coast of South Africa
- Aug 5 Sergei Bubka of the Soviet Union breaks his own world pole vault record (6.10m) in Malmö Sweden
- Aug 6 American softball pitcher Debbie Doom strikes out 17 in her 2nd consecutive perfect game at the Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba; beats Nicaragua, 8-0
Historic Communication
Aug 6 Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW debuts as a publicly available service on the Internet.
World Record
Aug 7 American team of Carl Lewis, Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell & Dennis Mitchell set 4 x 100m relay world record of 37.67 seconds in Zürich, Switzerland
Event of Interest
Aug 7 Courts rules Manuel Noriega, may access some secret US documents
- Aug 7 Manhattan Cable final day of amnesty to return illegal cable boxes
Film & TV History
Aug 8 Actor Gary Oldman is arrested for drunk driving
Music History
Aug 8 Rock guitar hero Carlos Santana pleads no contest to marijuana possession charge in Houston, Texas
- Aug 8 Shi'ite Muslims release British hostage John McCarthy
Music History
Aug 8 Singer-keyboardist Billy Preston charged with exhibiting pornography to a minor
- Aug 8 The Warsaw radio mast, at one time the tallest construction ever built, collapses.
- Aug 8 With two months left, White Sox set new home attendance (2,150,951)
- Aug 9 British radio show "On the Hour" debuts on BBC Radio 4 with first appearance of Alan Partridge character
- Aug 10 New York City Opera's limited run production of Stephen Sondhiem's musical "A Little Night Music" closes at New York State Theater, NYC, after 7 performances
- Aug 10 NFL sportscaster Paul Maquire suffers a heart attack at 53
- Aug 11 400,000 demonstrate for democracy in Madagascar, 31 killed
PGA Championship
Aug 11 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Crooked Stick GC: John Daly wins by 3 strokes from fellow American Bruce Lietzke
- Aug 11 Shiite Muslims release US hostage Edward Tracy
- Aug 11 Space shuttle STS 43 (Atlantis 9) lands
- Aug 11 Wilson Alvarez hurls a no-hitter in his 1st big league start
- Aug 12 Creditors vote to support Greyhound Bus reorganization plan
Cricket History
Aug 12 Last day in Test Cricket for Viv Richards, Dujon & Marshall
- Aug 13 American Michael Ray Barrowman swims world record 200m breaststroke (2:10.60) at the World Championships in Fort Lauderale, Florida
- Aug 13 US Vice-President Dan Quayle makes a speech attacking lawyers at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association
Sports History
Aug 14 MLB Minnesota Twins Dave Winfield is 23rd to hit 400 HR
Music Concert
Aug 15 Paul Simon performs a free concert in Central Park, NYC
- Aug 15 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Aug 16 Belgium census is 10,000,963 inhabitants
Event of Interest
Aug 16 John Gutfreund announces his resignation as chief executive of Salomon Brothers amid illegal bidding scandal
Event of Interest
Aug 16 US President George H. W. Bush declares recession is near an end
Coup d'état
Aug 19 Conservative members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union attempt to depose Mikhail Gorbachev in a coup d'état
- Aug 19 Janel Bishop, 17, of New Hampshire, crowned 9th Miss Teen USA
Sports History
Aug 20 Dolphin Dan Marino surpasses Joe Montana as the highest paid NFL player with a 5-year extension for $25 million
- Aug 20 Estonia formally declares its independence from the USSR
- Aug 20 Norbert Rosza swims world record 100m breast stroke (1:01.29)
- Aug 20 The United Democratic Front, one of the most prominent anti-apartheid movements, comprising of over 400 workers', church, civic and student organisations, dissolves
Conservative Coup Fails
Aug 21 Conservative coup in the Soviet Union is crushed by popular resistance led by Boris Yeltsin in three days
- Aug 21 Latvia declares its independence from USSR
- Aug 22 Krizstina Egerszegi swims world record 100m backstroke (1:00.31)
- Aug 23 3rd Athletics World Championships open at Tokyo, Japan
- Aug 24 Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of USSR Communist Party
- Aug 24 Silky Stallone, wins the Cane Pace at Yonkers Raceway
- Aug 24 Taiwan captures its 15th Little League World Series, 11-0
- Aug 24 Ukraine declares independence from USSR
- Aug 25 "Getting Married" closes at Circle in Sq Theater NYC after 70 performances
- Aug 25 43rd Emmy Awards: "LA Law", "Cheers", Kirstie Alley & Patricia Wettig win
- Aug 25 91st US Golf Amateur Championship won by Mitch Voges
- Aug 25 Carl Lewis runs 100m in a world record 9.86 seconds
- Aug 25 Cubs Doug Dascenzo commits his 1st career error after 242 games
- Aug 25 Krizstina Egerszegi swims world record 200m backstroke (2:06.62)
Linux is Born
Aug 25 Linux is born when Linus Torvalds sends off an email announcing his project to create a new computer operating system
Event of Interest
Aug 27 Nigerian President Ibrahim Babangida creates nine states: Abia, Enugu, Delta, Jigawa, Kebbi, Osun, Kogi, Taraba, and Yobe
- Aug 28 Lexington Ave IRT subway train derails at Union Square, 5 die
Baseball Record
Aug 28 Red Tom Browning vs Expo Dennis Martínez both perfect game pitcher
- Aug 29 JFK Jr. wins his 1st battle as an attorney
Event of Interest
Aug 29 Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signs decree to close Semipalatinsk test site (site of 456 Soviet nuclear tests 1949-89) after protests by Nevada-Semipalatinsk anti-nuclear movement [1]
- Aug 29 USSR suspends Communist Party activities
- Aug 30 Dan O'Brien sets US decathlon record with 8,812 points
- Aug 30 Mike Powell of US sets then long jump record at 29' 4½" (8.95m)
- Aug 30 Tamil Tigers capture Sri Lanka poet Selvi
- Aug 31 Houston QB David Klingler sets NCAA record with 6 touchdown passes in the 2nd quarter as the Cougars clobbered Louisiana Tech 73-3
- Aug 31 Richard J. Kerr, ends term as deputy director of CIA
- Aug 31 Rockies bat out of order against Expos in 1st inning
- Aug 31 Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union following the failed coup in Moscow
Event of Interest
Aug 31 William H. Webster ends term as 14th director of CIA
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists