What are the important events that happened on August 5? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

August 5: Facts & Myths About This Day

August 5 is the 218^th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 148 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is July 23, 2024 – a Monday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 478,560 hours 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 ‘dihectadecaoctagon’ 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 177 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 4,245 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

August 5 Historical Events

• 642 –
  Battle of Maserfield – Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Northumbria.
• 1824 –
  Greek War of Independence: Constantine Kanaris leads a Greek fleet to victory against Ottoman and Egyptian ships in the Battle of Samos.
• 1858 –
  Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It will operate for less than a month.
• 1860 –
  Charles XV of Sweden of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway in Trondheim.
• 1861 –
  The United States Army abolishes flogging.
• 1901 –
  Peter O'Connor sets the first IAAF recognised long jump world record of 24 ft The record will stand for 20 years.
• 1916 –
  World War I: Battle of Romani – Allied forces, under the command of Archibald Murray, defeat an attacking Ottoman army under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, securing the Suez Canal and beginning the Ottoman retreat from the Sinai Peninsula.
• 1940 –
  World War II: the Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia.
• 1981 –
  Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
• 1989 –
  General elections are held in Nicaragua with the Sandinista Front winning a majority.

Who were born on August 5?

• 1862 –
  Joseph Merrick, English sideshow performer (d. 1890)
• 1868 –
  Oskar Merikanto, Finnish composer (d. 1924)
• 1918 –
  Betty Oliphant, Canadian ballerina (d. 2004)
• 1920 –
  Selma Diamond, Canadian-born American actress (d. 1985)
• 1934 –
  Gay Byrne, Irish broadcaster
• 1948 –
  Ray Clemence, English footballer
• 1956 –
  Maureen McCormick, American actress
• 1967 –
  Thomas Lang, Austrian drummer
• 1980 –
  Ali Umar, Maldivian footballer
• 1982 –
  Jamie Houston, English/German rugby player

Who died on August 5?

• 1364 –
  Emperor Kōgon of Japan (b. 1313)
• 1579 –
  Stanislaus Hosius, Polish Catholic cardinal (b. 1504)
• 1888 –
  Anna Bates, known for giving the heaviest birth ever (b. 1846)
• 1923 –
  Vatroslav Jagić, Croatian Slavist (b. 1835)
• 1944 –
  Maurice Turnbull, English cricketer (b. 1906)
• 1952 –
  Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (b. 1917)
• 1963 –
  Salvador Bacarisse, Spanish composer (b. 1898)
• 1967 –
  György Bródy, Hungarian water polo player (b. 1908)
• 1991 –
  Paul Brown, American football coach (b. 1908)
• 2008 –
  Reg Lindsay, Australian country and western singer-songwriter (b. 1929)