What are the important events that happened on August 4? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

August 4: Facts & Myths About This Day

August 4 is the 217^th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 149 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is July 22, 2024 – a Sunday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 28,712,160 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘dihectadecaheptagon’ day.

Leo is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 178 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,244 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

August 4 Historical Events

• 1265 –
  Second Barons’ War: Battle of Evesham – the army of Prince Edward (the future king Edward I of England) defeats the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, killing de Montfort and many of his allies.
• 1327 –
  First War of Scottish Independence: James Douglas leads a raid into Weardale and almost kills Edward III of England.
• 1854 –
  The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships.
• 1873 –
  Indian Wars: whilst protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer clashes for the first time with the Sioux near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed.
• 1936 –
  Prime Minister of Greece Ioannis Metaxas suspends parliament and the Constitution and establishes the 4th of August Regime.
• 1946 –
  An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 hits northern Dominican Republic. 100 are killed and 20,000 are left homeless.
• 1958 –
  The Billboard Hot 100 is published for the first time.
• 1969 –
  Vietnam War: at the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, American representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. The negotiations will eventually fail.
• 1984 –
  The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.
• 1993 –
  A federal judge sentences LAPD officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell to 30 months in prison for violating motorist Rodney King’s civil rights.

Who were born on August 4?

• 1890 –
  Dolf Luque, Cuban baseball player (d. 1957)
• 1901 –
  Clarence Passailaigue, Jamaican cricketer (d. 1972)
• 1923 –
  Reg Grundy, Australian media and television mogul
• 1930 –
  Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iranian Shi'a cleric
• 1954 –
  Anatoliy Kinakh, Ukrainian politician
• 1959 –
  John Gormley, Irish politician
• 1974 –
  Keenan Milton, American professional skater (d. 2001)
• 1975 –
  Andy Hallett, American actor (d. 2009)
• 1984 –
  Mardy Collins, American basketball player
• 1992 –
  Dylan Sprouse, American actor

Who died on August 4?

• 1265 –
  Killed in the Battle of Evesham: Peter de Montfort (b. c. 1215)
• 1526 –
  Juan Sebastián Elcano, Spanish explorer (b. 1476)
• 1578 –
  King Sebastian of Portugal (b. 1554)
• 1578 –
  Thomas Stukley, English adventurer (b. c. 1520)
• 1778 –
  Pierre de Rigaud, French colonial governor in North America (b. 1698)
• 1834 –
  Dimitrios Panourgias Greek military commander during the Greek War of Independence (b. 1754)
• 1958 –
  Ethel Anderson, Australian poet (b. 1883)
• 1976 –
  Roy Herbert Thomson, Canadian publisher (b. 1894)
• 1991 –
  Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek writer and poet (b. 1912)
• 1998 –
  Yuri Artyukhin, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1930)