What Happened on August 13

Historical Events

1415 – King Henry V of England lands his army at the mouth of Seine River in France
1942 – The ‘Manhattan Project’ commences, under the direction of US General Leslie Groves: its aim – to deliver an atomic bomb
1988 – Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit opens
2004 – 28th Olympic Games opens at Athens, Greece
2006 – Canadian Open Women’s Golf, London Hunt CC: Christie Kerr wins by 1 shot from Angela Stanford
2017 – Gunmen kill at least 18 at a cafe in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Islamic extremists blamed

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Famous Birthdays

1655 – Johann Christoph Denner, German musician and inventor (clarinet), baptized in Leipzig, Germany (d. 1707)
1662 – Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, English politician, born in Wiltshire, England (d. 1748)
1934 – Gary Davidson, American sports league founder (ABA, WHA, WFL)
1938 – Dave “Baby” Cortez [Clowney], American pop keyboardist (“The Happy Organ”; “Rinky Dink”), born in Detroit, Michigan
1943 – Gary Ilman, American 100m freestyle (Olympic-4th-1964), born in Glendale, California
1954 – Nico Assumpção, Brazilian bass player, born in São Paulo, Brazil (d. 2001)

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Famous Deaths

662 – Maximus Confessor, Greek theologian and court secretary to the Emperor, dies soon after his conviction for heresy when his hand and tongue were cut off (b. c. 580)
1278 – Daikaku, Zen teacher Rinzai line/head of Kenchoji, dies in Japan at 65
1744 – John Cruger, Dutch-born Mayor of New York (b. 1678)
1826 – René Laënnec, French physician who invented the stethoscope, dies of tuberculosis at 46
1965 – Ikeda Hayato, Japanese politician, Prime Minister of Japan (1960-64), dies at 65
1971 – W. O. Bentley, English engineer and motoring pioneer who founded Bentley Motors Limited, dies at 82

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