Died on Friday, 15th August – Famous Deaths

15/08/2024

Peter Marshall, American game show host, performer, and singer (born 1926)

Ralph Pierre LaCock, better known by his stage name Peter Marshall, was an American game show host, television and radio personality, singer, and actor. He was the original host of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 to 1981 and had almost fifty television, movie, and Broadway credits.

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15/08/2021

Gerd Müller, German footballer (born 1945)

Gerd Müller was a German professional footballer. A prolific striker, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalscorers and players in the history of the sport. With success at club and international level, he is one of ten players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d'Or.

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15/08/2020

Robert Trump, American real-estate developer, business executive (born 1948)

Robert Stewart Trump was an American businessman and investor. He was the younger brother of Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th president of the United States, and a loyal supporter of Donald's political career.

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15/08/2017

Gunnar Birkerts, Latvian-American architect (born 1925)

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15/08/2015

Julian Bond, American academic, leader of the civil rights movement, and politician (born 1940)

Horace Julian Bond was an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the early 1960s, he helped establish the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In 1971, he co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, and served as its first president for nearly a decade.

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Hamid Gul, Pakistani general (born 1936)

Hamid Gul was a Pakistani military officer and defence analyst. A three-star general, Gul was notable for serving as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, between 1987 and 1989. During his tenure, Gul played an instrumental role in directing ISI support to the Afghan mujahideen against Soviet forces in return for funds and weapons from the US, during the Soviet–Afghan War, in co-operation with the CIA.

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15/08/2014

Licia Albanese, Italian-American soprano and actress (born 1909)

Licia Albanese was an Italian-born American operatic soprano. Noted especially for her portrayals of the lyric heroines of Verdi and Puccini, Albanese was a leading artist with the Metropolitan Opera from 1940 to 1966. She also made many recordings and was chairwoman of The Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, which is dedicated to assisting young artists and singers.

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15/08/2013

Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (born 1944)

Rosalía Mera Goyenechea was a Spanish businesswoman and fashion designer. At the time of her death, she was the richest woman in Spain and the world's richest self-made woman according to Forbes. In 1975, she co-founded the Zara retail chain with her then-husband Amancio Ortega Gaona. The company grew to become the world's largest fashion retailer.

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Sławomir Mrożek, Polish-French author and playwright (born 1930)

Sławomir Tangolo Mrożek was a Polish playwright.

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Marich Man Singh Shrestha, Nepali politician, 28th Prime Minister of Nepal (born 1942)

Marich Man Singh Shrestha was a Nepali politician and former Prime Minister of Nepal. He was born in 1942 in Khalanga Bazar, Salyan, Nepal. He served as the Prime Minister of Nepal from 15 June 1986 to 6 April 1990, and is remembered as the last Prime Minister of the Panchayat period and the Prime Minister during the 1989 Indian economic blockade on Nepal. Prior to that, he was the speaker of the Rastriya Panchayat from 1981 to 1985. He is one of the only two non-Khas Prime Ministers of Nepal, both the exceptions having been Newar Shresthas. He is the first Newar to have assumed the full title of the Prime Minister of Nepal, second if we count Gehendra Bahadur Rajbhandari who was acknowledged as an Acting Prime Minister.

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August Schellenberg, Canadian actor (born 1936)

August Werner Schellenberg was a Canadian actor. He played Randolph in the first three installments of the Free Willy film series (1993–1997) as well as characters in Black Robe (1991), The New World (2005), and dozens of other films and television shows.

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15/08/2012

Bob Birch, American bass player and saxophonist (born 1956)

Robert Wayne Birch was an American musician, best known as the bass player for Elton John.

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Altamiro Carrilho, Brazilian flute player and composer (born 1924)

Altamiro Carrilho was a Brazilian musician and composer. He is widely regarded as a master flutist and a major representative of the choro genre.

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Harry Harrison, American author and illustrator (born 1925)

Harry Max Harrison was an American science fiction author, known mostly for his character The Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966). The latter was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green (1973). Long resident in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, Harrison was involved in the foundation of the Irish Science Fiction Association, and was, with Brian Aldiss, co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

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15/08/2011

Rick Rypien, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1984)

Richard Joseph Rypien was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who spent parts of six seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Vancouver Canucks from 2005 to 2011. After a major junior career of four years with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League (WHL), he was signed to a professional contract by the minor league Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League (AHL) in 2005. The following season, he signed with the Canucks. He spent six years with the organization, splitting time between the Canucks and Moose, their AHL affiliate. A fourth-line player in the NHL, he was known for his hitting and fighting abilities, though his size was not typical of an enforcer.

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15/08/2009

Mary Catherine Lamb, American textile artist (born 1949)

Mary Catherine Lamb was an American textile artist, whose quilts reframed traditional Roman Catholic iconography. Recycling vintage textiles popular during the mid-20th century, she both honored and affectionately skewered her Catholic upbringing.

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15/08/2008

Vic Toweel, South African-Australian boxer (born 1929)

Victor "Vic" Anthony Toweel was a South African boxer and former Undisputed World Bantamweight Champion. He was the first South African to hold a world title.

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Jerry Wexler, American journalist and producer (born 1917)

Gerald Wexler was a music journalist turned music producer, and was a major influence on American popular music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He coined the term "rhythm and blues", and was integral in signing and/or producing many of the biggest acts of the time, including Ray Charles, the Allman Brothers, Chris Connor, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Wilson Pickett, Dire Straits, Dusty Springfield and Bob Dylan. Wexler was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and in 2017 to the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.

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15/08/2007

Richard Bradshaw, English conductor and director (born 1944)

Richard James Bradshaw was a British opera conductor and the General Director of the Canadian Opera Company (COC) in Toronto.

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John Gofman, American biologist, chemist, and physicist (born 1918)

John William Gofman was an American scientist and advocate. He was professor emeritus of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California at Berkeley.

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Geoffrey Orbell, New Zealand physician (born 1908)

Geoffrey Buckland Orbell was a New Zealand doctor and keen hunter and tramper who was responsible for the rediscovery of the takahē in 1948.

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Sam Pollock, Canadian businessman (born 1925)

Samuel Patterson Smyth Pollock OC CQ was a Canadian sports executive who was general manager of the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens for 14 years during which they won nine Stanley Cups. Pollock also was chairman and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball club.

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15/08/2006

Te Atairangikaahu, New Zealand Māori queen (born 1931)

Dame Te Atairangikaahu reigned as Māori Queen from 1966 until her death in 2006. Her reign was the longest of any Māori monarch.

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Rick Bourke, Australian rugby league player (born 1955)

Richard (Rick) Bourke was an Australian rugby league footballer. He played for Cronulla-Sutherland and South Sydney in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition.

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Faas Wilkes, Dutch footballer and manager (born 1923)

Servaas "Faas" Wilkes was a Dutch football forward, who earned a total of 38 caps for the Netherlands national team, in which he scored 35 goals. However, for a prolonged period of his career, June 1949 through till March 1955, he was banned from the national team since the KNVB did not allow professional players to participate. He also played for the Netherlands at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

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15/08/2005

Bendapudi Venkata Satyanarayana, Indian dermatologist and academic (born 1927)

Dr. Bendapudi Venkata Satyanarayana was an Indian dermatologist who was known as 'the doyen of dermatology' in Andhra Pradesh, India.

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15/08/2004

Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)

Karl Sune Detlof Bergström was a Swedish biochemist. In 1975, he was appointed to the Nobel Foundation Board of Directors in Sweden, and was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University, together with Bengt I. Samuelsson. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Bengt I. Samuelsson and John R. Vane in 1982, for discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related substances.

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Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician, 8th Chief Minister of Gujarat (born 1941)

Amarsinh Bhilabhai Chaudhary was an Indian politician. He became the first adivasi to serve as the Chief Minister of Gujarat when he took office in 1985.

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15/08/2001

Yavuz Çetin, Turkish singer-songwriter (born 1970)

Yavuz Hilmi Çetin was a Turkish musician, singer, and songwriter in the blues and psychedelic music genres. He gained renown in his native country for the skill and sensitivity of his guitar performances. Following his suicide at the age of 30, before the release of his highly praised album, Satılık [For Sale], Çetin achieved a near-iconic posthumous status as a talent lost on the brink of great achievement. Also, he is one of the most known Anatolian blues singers.

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Richard Chelimo, Kenyan runner (born 1972)

Richard Chelimo was a Kenyan long-distance runner, and a world record holder over 10,000 metres. However, he is best known as the silver medallist in the controversial 10,000m at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. He was also a world junior record holder in the 10,000m.

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Kateryna Yushchenko, Ukrainian computer scientist and academic (born 1919)

Kateryna Lohvynivna Yushchenko was a Ukrainian computer and information research scientist, corresponding member of USSR Academy of Sciences (1976), and member of The International Academy of Computer Science. She developed one of the world's first high-level languages with indirect address in programming, called the Address programming language. Over the period of her academic career, Yushchenko supervised 47 Ph.D. students. Further professional achievements include Yushchenko being awarded two USSR State Prizes, The USSR Council of Ministers Prize, The Academician Glushkov Prize, and The Order of Princess Olga. Yushchenko was the first woman in the USSR to become a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in programming.

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15/08/2000

Lancelot Ware, English barrister and biochemist, co-founder of Mensa (born 1915)

Lancelot Lionel Ware OBE was an English barrister and biochemist. He co-founded Mensa, the international society for intellectually gifted people, with the Australian barrister Roland Berrill in 1946. It was originally called the "High IQ Club".

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15/08/1999

Hugh Casson, English architect and interior designer (born 1910)

Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson was a British architect, also active as an interior designer, an artist, and a writer and broadcaster on twentieth-century design. He was the director of architecture for the 1951 Festival of Britain. From 1976 to 1984, he was president of the Royal Academy.

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15/08/1997

Ida Gerhardt, Dutch poet and educator (born 1905)

Ida Gerhardt was a classicist and Dutch poet of a post-symbolist tradition.

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15/08/1995

John Cameron Swayze, American journalist and actor (born 1906)

John Cameron Swayze was an American anchorman, news commentator, and game show panelist during the 1940s and 1950s. He later became best known as a product spokesman.

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15/08/1994

Wout Wagtmans, Dutch cyclist (born 1929)

Wouter "Wout" Wagtmans was a Dutch road bicycle racer.

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15/08/1992

Linda Laubenstein, American physician and academic (born 1947)

Linda Jane Laubenstein was an American physician and early HIV/AIDS researcher. She was among the first doctors in the United States to recognize the AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s; she co-authored the first article linking AIDS with Kaposi's sarcoma.

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15/08/1990

Viktor Tsoi, Russian musician and actor (born 1962)

Viktor Robertovich Tsoi was a Soviet singer-songwriter and actor who co-founded Kino, one of the most popular and influential bands in the history of Russian music.

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15/08/1989

Minoru Genda, Japanese general, pilot, and politician (born 1904)

General Minoru Genda was an Imperial Japanese Navy flight officer, JASDF general and politician. He is best known for helping to plan the attack on Pearl Harbor. After the war he became the third Chief of Staff of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.

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Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, Greek general and diplomat (born 1897)

Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos was a distinguished Hellenic Army Lieutenant General who served in World War I, the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, World War II and the Greek Civil War, rising to become Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff. He also served as Greece's Ambassador to Yugoslavia.

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15/08/1982

Ernie Bushmiller, American cartoonist (born 1905)

Ernest Paul Bushmiller Jr. was an American cartoonist, best known for creating the comic strip character Nancy in 1933, now in print for over 90 years. His work is noted for its simple graphic style. In 1976, he received the Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society for his work on Nancy.

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Jock Taylor, Scottish motorcycle sidecar racer (born 1954)

John Robert "Jock" Taylor was a Scottish World Champion motorcycle sidecar racer.

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Hugo Theorell, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1903)

Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell was a Swedish scientist and Nobel Prize laureate in medicine.

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15/08/1981

Carol Ryrie Brink, American author (born 1895)

Carol Ryrie Brink was an American writer of over thirty juvenile and adult books. Her novel Caddie Woodlawn won the 1936 Newbery Medal and a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958.

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Jørgen Løvset, Norwegian gynaecologist and academic (born 1896)

Jørgen Løvset was a Norwegian professor of medicine, gynecology and obstetrics. He was the son of a farmer Arnt Løvset (1873–1938) and Helle Hove (1870–1911), married Selma Margaret Nilsen (1894–1986) in 1924, divorced 1950, and married again in 1951 with the nurse Aslaug Tordis Gil (1921–1976).

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15/08/1977

Raymond A. Palmer, American author and magazine editor (born 1910)

Raymond Alfred Palmer was an American author and magazine editor. Influential in the first wave of science fiction fandom, his first fiction stories were published in 1935.

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15/08/1975

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladeshi politician, 1st President of Bangladesh (born 1920)

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman, activist and diarist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangladesh, he led the country as its president and prime minister from 1972 until his assassination in a coup d'état in 1975.

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Harun Karadeniz, Turkish political activist and author (born 1942)

Harun Karadeniz was a Turkish political activist and author. He was the student leader of the late 1960s generation in Turkey and the chair of the Student Union of Istanbul Technical University. Together with other prominent student leaders such as Deniz Gezmiş, he was one of the student leaders who organized the famous 1968 protest against the American Navy's Sixth Fleet arriving at the Port of Istanbul, although he was initially against protesting at the docks themselves.

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15/08/1974

Clay Shaw, American businessman (born 1913)

Clay LaVergne Shaw was an American businessman, military officer, and part-time contact of the Domestic Contact Service (DCS) of the CIA. Shaw is best known for being the only person brought to trial for involvement in the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, due to an investigation led by Jim Garrison, the District Attorney of New Orleans. The jury ultimately acquitted Shaw after less than an hour's deliberation in 1969, though some conspiracy theorists continue to speculate on his possible involvement.

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15/08/1971

Paul Lukas, Hungarian-American actor (born 1887)

Paul Lukas was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, for his performance in the film Watch on the Rhine (1943), reprising the role he created on the Broadway stage.

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15/08/1967

René Magritte, Belgian painter (born 1898)

René François Ghislain Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and boundaries of reality and representation. His imagery has influenced pop art, minimalist art, and conceptual art.

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15/08/1962

Lei Feng, Chinese soldier (born 1940)

Lei Feng, born Lei Zhengxing, was a Chinese soldier in the People's Liberation Army who was the object of several major propaganda campaigns in China. The most well-known of these campaigns in 1963 promoted the slogan "Follow the examples of Comrade Lei Feng." Lei was portrayed as a model citizen, and the masses were encouraged to emulate his selflessness, modesty, and devotion to Mao Zedong. In the following years, Lei Feng was portrayed as a symbol and model of party revolution by both the Chinese Communist Party and Government of China. For decades, he promoted the "Learn from Lei Feng as a Model" in the media. Political ideology closely follows the Chinese Communist Party, actively helping others in work and daily life, practicing frugality and thrift, and upholding the socialist spirit of "Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno" which is known as the Lei Feng spirit. After Mao's death, Chinese state media continued to promote Lei Feng as a model of earnestness and service, and his image still appears in popular forms such as on T-shirts and memorabilia.

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15/08/1953

Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist and engineer (born 1875)

Ludwig Prandtl was a German fluid dynamicist, physicist and aerospace scientist. He was a pioneer in the development of rigorous systematic mathematical analyses which he used for underlying the science of aerodynamics, which have come to form the basis of the applied science of aeronautical engineering. In the 1920s, he developed the mathematical basis for the fundamental principles of subsonic aerodynamics in particular; and in general up to and including transonic velocities. His studies identified the boundary layer, thin-airfoils, and lifting-line theories. The Prandtl number was named after him.

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15/08/1951

Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist and composer (born 1882)

Artur Schnabel was an Austrian-born classical pianist, composer and pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th century's most respected and important pianists, his playing displayed marked vitality, profundity and spirituality in the Austro-German classics, particularly the works of Beethoven and Schubert.

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15/08/1945

Korechika Anami, Japanese general and politician, 54th Japanese Minister of the Army (born 1887)

Korechika Anami was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II who was War Minister during the surrender of Japan.

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Fred Hockley, English lieutenant and pilot (born 1923)

Sub-Lieutenant Frederick (Fred) Hockley RNVR (1923–1945) was an English Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm fighter pilot who was shot down over Japan while taking part in the last combat mission flown by British aircraft in the Second World War.

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15/08/1942

Mahadev Desai, Indian activist and author (born 1892)

Mahadev Haribhai Desai was an Indian independence activist, scholar and writer best remembered as Mahatma Gandhi's personal secretary. He has variously been described as "Gandhi's Boswell, a Plato to Gandhi's Socrates, as well as an Ānanda to Gandhi's Buddha".

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15/08/1936

Grazia Deledda, Italian novelist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1871)

Grazia Maria Cosima Damiana Deledda was an Italian writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926 "for her idealistically inspired writings which with plastic clarity picture the life on her native island [i.e. Sardinia] and with depth and sympathy deal with human problems in general". She was the first Italian woman to receive the prize, and only the second woman in general after Selma Lagerlöf was awarded hers in 1909.

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15/08/1935

Wiley Post, American pilot (born 1898)

Wiley Hardeman Post was an American aviator during the interwar period and the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Known for his work in high-altitude flying, he helped develop one of the first pressure suits and discovered the jet stream. On August 15, 1935, he and American humorist Will Rogers were killed when his aircraft crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow in the Territory of Alaska.

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Will Rogers, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (born 1879)

William Penn Adair Rogers was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory, and is known as "Oklahoma's Favorite Son". As an entertainer and humorist, he traveled around the world three times, made 71 films, and wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns. By the mid-1930s, Rogers was hugely popular in the United States for his leading political wit and was one of the higher paid Hollywood film stars. He died in 1935 with aviator Wiley Post when their small airplane crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, in northern Alaska.

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Paul Signac, French painter and author (born 1863)

Paul Victor Jules Signac was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, with Georges Seurat, helped develop the artistic technique Pointillism.

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15/08/1928

Anatole von Hügel, Italian ethnologist and academic, co-founded St Edmund's College, Cambridge (born 1854)

Anatole von Hügel was a son of an Austrian nobleman who lived in England and was curator of the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology, 1883 – 1921.

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15/08/1925

Konrad Mägi, Estonian painter and educator (born 1878)

Konrad Vilhelm Mägi was an Estonian painter, who was one of the first modernist painters in Estonia and the Nordic countries. He only worked for sixteen years, yet the total volume of his oeuvre is estimated to be around 400 paintings.

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15/08/1917

Thomas J. Higgins, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1831)

Thomas J. Higgins was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War who was a recipient of America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Vicksburg.

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15/08/1909

Euclides da Cunha, Brazilian sociologist and journalist (born 1866)

Euclides da Cunha was a Brazilian journalist, sociologist and engineer. His most important work is Os Sertões, a non-fictional account of the military expeditions promoted by the Brazilian government against the rebellious village of Canudos, known as the War of Canudos.

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15/08/1907

Joseph Joachim, Hungarian violinist, composer, and conductor (born 1831)

Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most distinguished violinists of the 19th century.

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15/08/1859

Nathaniel Claiborne, American farmer and politician (born 1777)

Nathaniel Herbert Claiborne was a nineteenth-century Virginia lawyer and planter, as well as an American politician who served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and in the United States House of Representatives (1825-1837).

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15/08/1852

Johan Gadolin, Finnish chemist, physicist, and mineralogist (born 1760)

Johan Gadolin was a Finnish chemist, physicist and mineralogist. Gadolin discovered a "new earth" containing the first rare-earth compound yttrium, which was later determined to be a chemical element. He is also considered the founder of Finnish chemistry research, as the second holder of the Chair of Chemistry at the Royal Academy of Turku. Gadolin was ennobled for his achievements and awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir and the Order of Saint Anna.

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15/08/1844

José María Coppinger, governor of Spanish East Florida (born 1733)

José María Coppinger was a Spanish soldier who served in the infantry of the Royal Spanish Army (Ejército de Tierra) and governed East Florida (1816–1821) and several areas in Cuba including Pinar Del Río, Bayamo, the Cuatro Villas and Trinidad at various times between 1801 and 1834. He was also a member of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Ferdinand and San Hermenegildo.

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15/08/1799

Giuseppe Parini, Italian poet and author (born 1729)

Giuseppe Parini was an Italian satirist and Neoclassical poet.

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15/08/1758

Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (born 1698)

Pierre Bouguer was a French mathematician, geophysicist, geodesist, and astronomer. He is also known as "the father of naval architecture".

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15/08/1728

Marin Marais, French viol player and composer (born 1656)

Marin Marais was a French composer and viol player of the middle Baroque era. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for six months. In 1676 he was hired as a musician to the royal court of Versailles and was successful there, being appointed in 1679 as ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole, a title he kept until 1725.

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15/08/1714

Constantin Brâncoveanu, Romanian prince (born 1654)

Constantin Brâncoveanu was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714.

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15/08/1666

Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German missionary and astronomer (born 1591)

Johann Adam Schall von Bell was a German Jesuit, astronomer and instrument-maker. He spent most of his life as a missionary in China and became an adviser to the Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing dynasty.

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15/08/1621

John Barclay, Scottish poet and author (born 1582)

John Barclay was a Scottish writer, satirist and Neo-Latin poet.

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15/08/1594

Thomas Kyd, English playwright (born 1558)

Thomas Kyd was an English playwright, the author of The Spanish Tragedy, and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama.

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15/08/1552

Hermann of Wied, German archbishop (born 1477)

Hermann of Wied was the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne from 1515 to 1546.

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15/08/1528

Odet of Foix, Viscount of Lautrec, French general (born 1485)

Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec was a French military leader. As Marshal of France, he commanded the campaign to conquer Naples, but died from the bubonic plague in 1528.

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15/08/1507

John V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (born 1439)

John V of Saxe-Lauenburg was the eldest son of Duke Bernard II of Saxe-Lauenburg and Adelheid of Pomerania-Stolp, daughter of Duke Bogislaus VIII of Pomerania-Stolp. He succeeded his father in 1463 as duke of Saxe-Lauenburg.

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15/08/1506

Alexander Agricola, Flemish composer (born c. 1445)

Alexander Agricola was a Netherlandish composer of the Renaissance writing in the Franco-Flemish style. A prominent member of the Grande chapelle, the Habsburg musical establishment, he was a renowned composer in the years around 1500, and his music was widely distributed throughout Europe. He composed music in all of the important sacred and secular styles of the time.

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15/08/1496

Infanta Isabella of Portugal, Queen of Castile and León (born 1428)

Isabella of Portugal was Queen of Castile and León as the second wife of King John II. She was the mother of Queen Isabella I of Castile.

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15/08/1399

Ide Pedersdatter Falk, Danish noblewoman (born 1358)

Ide Pedersdatter Falk, was a powerful Danish noble landholder and the founder of a convent.

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15/08/1388

Adalbertus Ranconis de Ericinio, Bohemian theologian and rector of the University of Paris (born circa 1320)

Adalbertus Ranconis de Ericinio was a Czech theologian and philosopher. In 1355 he was appointed a rector of the University of Paris. He wrote the Tractatus de communione, a treatise on confession and the offering of the eucharist by laymen. He is also known for introducing the ideas of John Wycliff to Bohemia.

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15/08/1369

Philippa of Hainault, Queen consort of Edward III of England (born 1314)

Philippa of Hainault was Queen of England as the wife and political adviser of King Edward III. She acted as regent in 1346, when her husband was away for the Hundred Years' War.

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15/08/1328

Yesün Temür, emperor of the Yuan dynasty (born 1293)

Yesün Temür was a great-grandson of Kublai Khan and an emperor of the Yuan dynasty from 1323 to 1328. Apart from being Emperor of China, he is regarded as the 10th Khagan of the Mongol Empire, although it was only nominal due to the division of the empire. In Chinese historiography, Yesün Temür, who was very fond of the traditional ways of the Mongols, is commonly known as the Taiding Emperor of Yuan based on his first era name. His name means "nine iron" in the Mongolian language.

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15/08/1275

Lorenzo Tiepolo, Doge of Venice

Lorenzo Tiepolo was doge of the Republic of Venice from 1268 until his death.

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15/08/1274

Robert de Sorbon, French theologian and educator, founded the College of Sorbonne (born 1201)

Robert de Sorbon was a French theologian, the chaplain of Louis IX of France, and founder of the Sorbonne college in Paris.

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15/08/1257

Saint Hyacinth of Poland

Hyacinth was a Polish Dominican priest and missionary who worked to reform the women's monasteries in his native Poland. Educated in Paris and Bologna, he was a Doctor of Sacred Studies.

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15/08/1224

Marie of France, Duchess of Brabant (born 1198)

Marie of France was a daughter of Philip II of France and his disputed third wife Agnes of Merania. She was a member of the House of Capet.

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15/08/1196

Conrad II, Duke of Swabia (born 1173)

Conrad II, was Duke of Rothenburg (1188–1191) and Swabia from 1191 until his death. He was the fifth son of Frederick I Barbarossa and Beatrice I, Countess of Burgundy.

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15/08/1118

Alexios I Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (born 1048)

Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurping the throne he was faced with a collapsing empire and constant warfare throughout his reign. Alexios was able to curb the Byzantine decline and begin the military, financial, and territorial recovery known as the Komnenian restoration. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Seljuk Turks were the catalyst that sparked the First Crusade. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power and initiated a hereditary succession to the throne.

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15/08/1057

Macbeth, King of Scotland

Macbethad mac Findláech, nicknamed the Red King, was King of Scotland from 1040 until his death in 1057, during a period when the Scottish kingdom is referred to as the Kingdom of Alba.

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15/08/1038

Stephen I, Hungarian king (born 975)

Stephen I, also known as King Saint Stephen, was the last grand prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the first king of Hungary from 1000 or 1001 until his death in 1038. The year of his birth is uncertain, but many details of his life suggest that he was born in, or after, 975, in Esztergom. He was given the pagan name Vajk at birth, but the date of his baptism is unknown. He was the only son of Grand Prince Géza and his wife, Sarolt, who was descended from a prominent family of gyulas. Although both of his parents were baptized, Stephen was the first member of his family to become a devout Christian. He married Gisela of Bavaria, a scion of the imperial Ottonian dynasty.

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15/08/1022

Nikephoros Phokas Barytrachelos, Byzantine rebel

Nikephoros Phokas, surnamed Barytrachelos, was a Byzantine aristocrat and magnate, the last major member of the Phokas family to try to claim the imperial throne. He was a son of the general Bardas Phokas the Younger and great-nephew of Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, and played an active role in his father's failed rebellion against Basil II in 987–989. After the death of his father, he sought and received Basil's pardon. Nothing further is known of him until 1022 when, along with the general Nikephoros Xiphias, he launched another rebellion. The revolt gathered widespread support, but mistrust between the two leaders led to Phokas' assassination by Xiphias on 15 August 1022. The rebellion collapsed quickly after that.

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15/08/0986

Minnborinus, Irish missionary and abbot

Minnborinus of Cologne was an Irish abbot and saint active in Germany.

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15/08/0978

Li Yu, ruler ('king') of Southern Tang

Li Yu, before 961 known as Li Congjia (李從嘉), also known as Li Houzhu, was the third ruler of the Southern Tang state during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He reigned from 961 until 976, when his state was conquered by the Northern Song dynasty. Taken captive to the Song capital Bianjing, Li Yu was given the title Marquis of Disobedience (違命侯), reflecting Emperor Taizu of Song’s resentment over Li’s delayed surrender. In 978 he was executed by poisoning on the orders of Emperor Taizong of Song.

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15/08/0955

Bulcsú, Hungarian tribal chieftain (harka)

Bulcsú was a chieftain of the Hungarians and military leader in the 10th century. He held the title of harka. Despite not being a member of the ruling Árpád dynasty, he was one of the most important figures of the Hungarian invasions of Europe. He led military campaigns in the direction of the northwest, west, and south during the 930–950s.

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Lehel, Hungarian tribal chieftain

Lehel, a member of the Árpád dynasty, was a Magyar chieftain and, together with Bulcsú, one of the most important figures of the Hungarian invasions of Europe. After the Magyar defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld, he was executed in Regensburg.

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Súr, Hungarian tribal chieftain

Súr or Sur was a Hungarian chieftain and military leader in the 10th century. He was one of the generals, alongside Bulcsú and Lehel, who were executed after the Battle of Lechfeld.

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15/08/0932

Ma Xisheng, Chinese governor and king (born 899)

Ma Xisheng, courtesy name Ruona and titled Prince of Hengyang, was the second ruler of the southern kingdom of Chu during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period of Chinese history, ruling briefly from his father's death in 930 to his own death in 932.

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15/08/0912

Han Jian, Chinese warlord (born 855)

Han Jian (韓建), courtesy name Zuoshi (佐時), was a warlord late in the Chinese Tang dynasty, who eventually became a subject of the succeeding Later Liang state. He is most well known for having had Emperor Zhaozong of Tang under his control at his power base at Hua Prefecture from 896 to 898 and slaughtering the imperial princes while Emperor Zhaozong was there.

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15/08/0874

Altfrid, bishop of Hildesheim

Saint Altfrid was a leading figure in Germany in the ninth century. A Benedictine monk, he became Bishop of Hildesheim, and founded Essen Abbey. He was also a close adviser to the East Frankish King Louis the German.

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15/08/0873

Yi Zong, Chinese emperor (born 833)

Emperor Yizong of Tang, né Li Wen, later changed to Li Cui, was an emperor of the Tang dynasty of China. He reigned from 859 to 873. Emperor Yizong was the eldest son of Emperor Xuanzong. After Emperor Xuanzong's death in 859, Emperor Yizong was placed on the throne by the eunuch Wang Zongshi (王宗實), who killed other eunuchs supporting another son of Emperor Xuanzong, Li Zi the Prince of Kui.

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15/08/0778

Roland, Frankish military leader

Roland was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became an epic hero and one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was military governor of the Breton March, responsible for defending Francia's frontier against the Bretons. His only historical attestation is in Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni, which notes he was part of the Frankish rearguard killed in retribution by the Basques in Iberia at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass.

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15/08/0767

Abu Hanifa, Iraqi scholar and educator (born 699)

Year 767 (DCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 767th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 767th year of the 1st millennium, the 67th year of the 8th century, and the 8th year of the 760s decade. The denomination 767 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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15/08/0698

Theodotus of Amida, Syrian Orthodox holy man

Theodotus of Amida was a Syriac Orthodox monk, bishop and holy man.

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15/08/0465

Libius Severus, Roman emperor (born 420)

Libius Severus, sometimes enumerated as Severus III, was Western Roman emperor from November 19, 461, to his death on November 14, 465. A native of Lucania, Severus was the fourth of the so-called "Shadow Emperors" who followed the deposition of the Valentinianic dynasty in 455. He ruled for just under four years, attaining the throne after his predecessor, Majorian, was overthrown by his magister militum, Ricimer. Severus was the first of a series of emperors who were highly dependent on the general, and it is often presumed that Ricimer held most of the de facto power during Severus's reign.

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15/08/0423

Honorius, Roman emperor (born 384)

Honorius was Roman emperor from 393 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla. After the death of Theodosius in 395, Honorius, under the regency of Stilicho, ruled the western half of the empire while his brother Arcadius ruled the eastern half. His reign over the Western Roman Empire was precarious and chaotic. In 410, Rome was sacked for the first time since the Battle of the Allia almost 800 years prior.

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15/08/0398

Lan Han, official of the Xianbei state Later Yan

Lan Han was an official and a consort kin of the Xianbei-led Chinese Later Yan dynasty, who killed the emperor Murong Bao in 398 and briefly usurped the throne before being killed by Murong Bao's son Murong Sheng.

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