Died on Wednesday, 20th August – Famous Deaths

20/08/2024

Al Attles, American basketball player and coach (born 1936)

Alvin Austin Attles Jr. was an American professional basketball player, coach, and executive who spent his entire career with the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed the "Destroyer", he played the point guard position.

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20/08/2022

Darya Dugina, Russian journalist (born 1992)

Darya Aleksandrovna Dugina, also known under the pen name Daria Platonova, was a Russian journalist, political scientist, and activist. She was the daughter of Aleksandr Dugin, a far-right political philosopher, whose political views and support for Vladimir Putin she shared.

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20/08/2021

Igor Vovkovinskiy, Ukrainian-American law student and actor, American tallest person (born 1982)

Igor Vovkovinskiy was a Ukrainian-American law student, actor and tallest living person in the United States, at 7 feet 8+1⁄3 inches (234.5 cm), briefly taking the record from George Bell.

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20/08/2018

Uri Avnery, Israeli writer, politician and peace activist (born 1923)

Uri Avnery was an Israeli writer, journalist, politician, and activist, who founded the Gush Shalom peace movement. A member of the Irgun as a teenager and a veteran of the 1948 Palestine war, Avnery sat for two terms in the Knesset from 1965 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1981. He was also the owner and editor of the news magazine HaOlam HaZeh from 1950 until its closure in 1993.

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Jennifer Ramírez Rivero, Venezuelan model (born 1978)

Jennifer Ramírez Rivero was a Venezuelan model and owner of the clothing and accessories brands Mac River and Jen River. She was murdered in 2018 in Cúcuta, Colombia.

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20/08/2017

Jerry Lewis, American actor and comedian (born 1926)

Jerry Lewis was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. Across his seven-decade career, he is regarded as one of the greatest comedians of the 20th century, by his nickname—the "King of Comedy".

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20/08/2015

Egon Bahr, German journalist and politician, Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany (born 1922)

Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr was a German SPD politician.

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Paul Kibblewhite, New Zealand chemist and engineer (born 1941)

Robert Paul Kibblewhite was a New Zealand scientist noted for his research into the properties of wood fibre, particularly in relation to the pulp and paper industry.

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Frank Wilkes, Australian soldier and politician (born 1922)

Frank Noel Wilkes was an Australian politician who served as the Leader of the Labor Opposition in Victoria from 1977 to 1981.

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20/08/2014

Anton Buslov, Russian astrophysicist and journalist (born 1983)

Anton Sergeevich Buslov was an astrophysicist, top Russian blogger, columnist at The New Times magazine, and expert on transportation systems. He is also known as a founder of non-governmental organization "Voronezh Citizens for Trams Committee" and both co-chair and co-founder of inter-regional non-governmental organization "City and Transportation". Anton Buslov was highly involved in social activity and acted as a transport expert for urbanist organization "City 4 People".

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Lois Mai Chan, Taiwanese-American librarian, author, and academic (born 1934)

Lois Mai Chan was a Taiwanese-American library scientist, author, and professor at the University of Kentucky School of Library and Information Science until 2011. Her publications on cataloging, library classification, and subject indexing were recognized with various awards.

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Boris Dubin, Russian sociologist and academic (born 1946)

Boris Vladimirovich Dubin was a Russian sociologist, and a translator for English, French, Spanish, Latin American and Polish literature. Dubin was the head of department of sociopolitical researches at the Levada Center and the assistant to Lev Gudkov, editor-in-chief of the sociological journal Russian Public Opinion Herald published by the center. Additionally he was a lecturer of sociology of culture at the Russian State University for the Humanities and the Moscow higher school of social and economic sciences.

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B. K. S. Iyengar, Indian yoga instructor and author, founded Iyengar Yoga (born 1918)

Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is the founder of the style of yoga as exercise called "Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga gurus in the world. He was the author of many books on yoga practice and philosophy including Light on Yoga, Light on Pranayama, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and Light on Life. Iyengar was one of the earliest students of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who is often called "the father of modern yoga". He has been credited with popularizing yoga, first in India and then around the world.

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Buddy MacMaster, Canadian singer-songwriter and fiddler (born 1924)

Hugh Alan "Buddy" MacMaster was a Canadian fiddler. He performed and recorded both locally and internationally, and was regarded as an expert on the tradition and lore of Cape Breton fiddle music.

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Sava Stojkov, Serbian painter and educator (born 1925)

Sava Stojkov was a Serbian naive art painter, known for his environment depictions, as well as for his pre-photorealistic tendencies.

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Edmund Szoka, American cardinal (born 1927)

Edmund Casimir Szoka was an American Catholic prelate who served as president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and as president of the Governorate of Vatican City State from 1997 to 2006. He previously served as bishop of Gaylord in Michigan from 1971 to 1981 and archbishop of Detroit in Michigan from 1981 to 1990. Szoka was elevated to the cardinalate in 1988.

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20/08/2013

Sathima Bea Benjamin, South African singer-songwriter (born 1936)

Beatrice "Sathima Bea" Benjamin was a South African vocalist and composer based in New York City for nearly 45 years.

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Narendra Dabholkar, Indian author and activist (born 1945)

Narendra Achyut Dabholkar was an Indian physician, social activist, rationalist, and author from Maharashtra, India. In 1989, he founded and became president of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti. Triggered by his assassination in 2013, the pending Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance was promulgated in the state of Maharashtra, four days later. In 2014, he was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri for social work.

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Don Hassler, American saxophonist and composer (born 1929)

Don Hassler was an American composer, musician, and A&R representative. He is known for his membership and performances in jazz bands and symphonic orchestras, in which he played the saxophone and bassoon. He also served in military bands for seventeen years, including as the commander of the 63rd Infantry Division Band.

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Elmore Leonard, American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter (born 1925)

Elmore John Leonard Jr. was an American novelist, short story author and screenwriter. He was, according to British journalist Anthony Lane, "hailed as one of the best crime writers in the land". His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were Westerns, but he went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures. Among his best-known works are Hombre, Swag, City Primeval, LaBrava, Glitz, Freaky Deaky, Get Shorty, Rum Punch, Out of Sight and Tishomingo Blues.

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Marian McPartland, English-American pianist and composer (born 1918)

Margaret Marian McPartland OBE, was an English and American jazz pianist, composer, and writer. She was the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio from 1978 to 2011.

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John W. Morris, American general (born 1921)

John Woodland Morris was an American lieutenant general who became Chief of Engineers.

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Ted Post, American director and screenwriter (born 1918)

Theodore Ian Post was an American film, television, and theatre director. He directed numerous episodes of well-known television series during the 1950s and '60s, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy and two Directors Guild of America Awards for his work. His feature film directing credits included the Clint Eastwood vehicles Hang 'Em High (1968) and Magnum Force (1973), the Planet of the Apes film Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), the Vietnam War film Go Tell the Spartans (1978), and the Chuck Norris action picture Good Guys Wear Black.

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20/08/2012

Phyllis Diller, American actress and comedian (born 1917)

Phyllis Ada Diller was an American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician and visual artist, who displayed eccentric stage persona, self-deprecating humor, wild hair and clothes, and exaggerated, cackling laugh.

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Daryl Hine, Canadian-American poet and academic (born 1936)

William Daryl Hine was a Canadian poet and translator. A MacArthur Fellow for the class of 1986, Hine was the editor of Poetry from 1968 to 1978. He graduated from McGill University in 1958 and then studied in Europe, as a Canada Council scholar. He earned a PhD. in comparative literature at the University of Chicago (UChicago) in 1967. During his career, Hine taught at UChicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northwestern University.

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Dom Mintoff, Maltese journalist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Malta (born 1916)

Dominic Mintoff was a Maltese socialist politician, architect, and civil engineer who was leader of the Labour Party from 1949 to 1984, and was 8th Prime Minister of Malta from 1955 to 1958, when Malta was still a British colony, and again, following independence, from 1971 to 1984. His tenure as Prime Minister saw the creation of a comprehensive welfare state, nationalisation of large corporations, a substantial increase in the general standard of living and the establishment of the Maltese republic, but was later on marred by a stagnant economy, a rise in authoritarianism and outbreaks of political violence.

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Len Quested, English footballer and manager (born 1925)

Wilfred Leonard Quested was an English footballer. Quested played one match for England B as well as being selected as a travelling reserve for a Full International for England. In 1957 he moved to Australia where he played for the Sydney clubs Auburn and Hakoah. He also played in an unofficial match for Australia.

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Mika Yamamoto, Japanese journalist (born 1967)

Mika Yamamoto was a Japanese video and photojournalist for the news agency Japan Press. Yamamoto was killed on 20 August 2012 while covering the ongoing Syrian Civil War in Aleppo, Syria. She was the first Japanese and fourth foreign journalist killed in the Syrian Civil War that began in March 2011. She was the fifteenth journalist killed in Syria in 2012. Yamamoto was a recipient of the Vaughn-Uyeda Memorial Prize of the Japanese Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association for her reporting of international affairs in 2004.

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Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian soldier and politician, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (born 1955)

Meles Zenawi Asres, born Legesse Zenawi Asres was an Ethiopian politician and former rebel militant commander who served as president of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995 and as prime minister from 1995 until his death in 2012.

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20/08/2011

Ram Sharan Sharma, Indian historian and academic (born 1919)

Ram Sharan Sharma was a Marxist historian and Indologist who specialised in the history of Ancient and early Medieval India. He taught at Patna University and Delhi University (1973–85) and was visiting faculty at University of Toronto (1965–1966). He also was a senior fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was a University Grants Commission National Fellow (1958–81) and the president of Indian History Congress in 1975. It was during his tenure as the dean of Delhi University's History Department that major expansion of the department took place in the 1970s. The creation of most of the positions in the department were the results of his efforts. He was the founding Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) and a historian of international repute.

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20/08/2010

Đặng Phong, Vietnamese economist and historian (born 1937)

Đặng Phong (1937–2010) was a Vietnamese economic historian.

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20/08/2009

Larry Knechtel, American keyboardist and bass player (born 1940)

Lawrence William Knechtel was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles–based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon & Garfunkel, Duane Eddy, the Beach Boys, the Mamas & the Papas, the Monkees, the Partridge Family, Billy Joel, the Doors, the Byrds, the Grass Roots, Jerry Garcia, and Elvis Presley. He also was a member of the 1970s band Bread.

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Karla Kuskin, American author and illustrator (born 1932)

Karla Kuskin was a prolific American author, poet, illustrator, and reviewer of children's literature. Kuskin was known for her poetic, alliterative style.

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20/08/2008

Ed Freeman, American soldier and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1927)

Ed W. "Too Tall" Freeman was a United States Army helicopter pilot who received the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in the Battle of Ia Drang during the Vietnam War. During the battle, he flew through machine gunfire 14 times, bringing supplies to a trapped American battalion and flying dozens of wounded soldiers to safety. Freeman was a wingman for Major Bruce Crandall, who also received the Medal of Honor for the same missions.

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Hua Guofeng, Chinese politician, 2nd Premier of the People's Republic of China (born 1921)

Hua Guofeng was a Chinese politician who served as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and the 2nd premier of China. As the successor of Mao Zedong, Hua held the top offices of the government, party, and the military after the deaths of Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai, but was gradually forced out of power between December 1978 and June 1981, and subsequently retreated from the political limelight, though still remaining a member of the Central Committee until 2002.

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Stephanie Tubbs Jones, American lawyer and politician (born 1949)

Stephanie Tubbs Jones was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Ohio's 11th congressional district from 1999 until her death in 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, her district encompassed most of Downtown and Eastern Cleveland and many of the eastern suburbs in Cuyahoga County, including Euclid, Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights. She was the first African American woman to be elected to Congress from Ohio.

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Gene Upshaw, American football player (born 1945)

Eugene Thurman Upshaw Jr. was an American professional football guard who played for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL) and later the National Football League (NFL). He later served as the executive director of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). Upshaw was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987 and is also the only player in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl with the same team in three different decades.

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20/08/2007

Leona Helmsley, American businesswoman (born 1920)

Leona Roberts Helmsley was an American businesswoman. After allegations of non-payment were made by contractors hired to improve Helmsley's Connecticut home, she was investigated and convicted of federal income tax evasion and other crimes in 1989. Although having initially received a sentence of 4 years, she was required to serve only 19 months in prison and two months under house arrest. During the trial, a former housekeeper testified that she had heard Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes." This quote was identified with her for the rest of her life. Helmsley's flamboyant personality and reputation for tyrannical behavior, especially towards her employees, earned her the nickname Queen of Mean.

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20/08/2006

Bryan Budd, Northern Ireland-born English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1977)

Bryan James Budd, was a British Army soldier and a Northern Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

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Joe Rosenthal, American photographer and journalist (born 1911)

Joseph John Rosenthal was an American photographer who received the Pulitzer Prize for his iconic World War II photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, taken during the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima. His picture became one of the best-known photographs of the war, and was replicated as the United States Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia.

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S. Sivamaharajah, Sri Lankan Tamil newspaper publisher and politician (born 1938)

Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah was a Sri Lankan Tamil newspaper publisher, politician and Member of Parliament.

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20/08/2005

Thomas Herrion, American football player (born 1981)

Thomas Lovell Herrion was an American football offensive guard in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers. He also was a member of the Hamburg Sea Devils in NFL Europe. He played college football at the University of Utah.

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Krzysztof Raczkowski, Polish drummer and songwriter (born 1970)

Krzysztof Raczkowski, also known as Docent or Doc, was a Polish drummer, best known as a member of Polish death metal bands Vader (1988–2005) and Dies Irae. He also appeared as a guest or temporary musician in Sweet Noise, Hunter, Slashing Death, Unborn, Moon, and Overdub Trio.

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20/08/2001

Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and author (born 1915)

Sir Fred Hoyle (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer. With Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge and William Alfred Fowler, he formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis in the influential B2FH paper.

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Kim Stanley, American actress (born 1925)

Kim Stanley was an American actress who was primarily active in television and theatre but also had occasional film performances.

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20/08/1998

Vũ Văn Mẫu, 10th and final Prime Minister of South Vietnam (born 1914)

Vũ Văn Mẫu was a South Vietnamese diplomat and politician, who was the last Prime Minister of South Vietnam, serving under President Dương Văn Minh's leadership in 1975. He held the position for only two days before the collapse and surrender of South Vietnam on 30 April 1975.

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20/08/1997

Norris Bradbury, American soldier, physicist, and academic (born 1909)

Norris Edwin Bradbury was an American physicist who served as director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 25 years from 1945 to 1970. He succeeded Robert Oppenheimer, who personally chose Bradbury for the position of director after working closely with him on the Manhattan Project during World War II. Bradbury was in charge of the final assembly of "the Gadget", detonated in July 1945 for the Trinity test.

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Léon Dion, Canadian political scientist and academic (born 1922)

Léon Dion was a Canadian political scientist.

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20/08/1996

Rio Reiser, German singer-songwriter (born 1950)

Ralph Christian Möbius, known professionally as Rio Reiser, was a German musician and from 1970 to 1985 the lead singer and main lyric-writer for the rock group Ton Steine Scherben. After that band broke up, he worked as a solo artist. Among his best known songs are Macht kaputt, was euch kaputt macht, Keine Macht für Niemand, and the Rauch-Haus-Song with the Ton Steine Scherben. As a solo artist, his best known songs are König von Deutschland, Alles Lüge, and Junimond. Reiser supported squatting in the early 1970s and later the green political party Die Grünen. After the German reunification, he joined the Party of Democratic Socialism.

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20/08/1995

Hugo Pratt, Italian author and illustrator (born 1927)

Ugo Eugenio Prat, better known as Hugo Pratt, was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as Corto Maltese. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2005, and was awarded the 15th anniversary special Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême at the Angoulême Festival. In 1946 Hugo Pratt became part of the so-called Group of Venice with Fernando Carcupino, Dino Battaglia and Damiano Damiani.

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20/08/1993

Bernard Delfgaauw, Dutch philosopher and academic (born 1912)

Bernardus Maria Ignatius "Bernard" Delfgaauw was a Dutch philosopher. He studied Dutch language and (thomistic) philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. In 1947 he earned his doctoral degree on the French metaphysician Louis Lavelle. In 1961 he became a professor in philosophy at the University of Groningen.

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20/08/1987

Walenty Kłyszejko, Estonian–Polish basketball player and coach (born 1909)

Walenty Kłyszejko was an Estonian–Polish basketball coach and player. He was also a professor of physical education at the Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw.

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20/08/1986

Milton Acorn, Canadian poet and playwright (born 1923)

Milton James Rhode Acorn, nicknamed The People's Poet by his peers, was a Canadian poet, writer, and playwright.

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20/08/1985

Donald O. Hebb, Canadian psychologist and academic (born 1904)

Donald Olding Hebb was a Canadian psychologist who was influential in the area of neuropsychology, where he sought to understand how the function of neurons contributed to psychological processes such as learning. He is best known for his theory of Hebbian learning, which he introduced in his classic 1949 work The Organization of Behavior. He has been described as the father of neuropsychology and neural networks. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Hebb as the 19th most cited psychologist of the 20th century. His views on learning described behavior and thought in terms of brain function, explaining cognitive processes in terms of connections between neuron assemblies.

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Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken, German admiral (born 1897)

Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken was a Vizeadmiral with the Kriegsmarine during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. From July 1944 to May 1945 he served as the final fleet commander of the Kriegsmarine.

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20/08/1982

Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish actress (born 1929)

Ulla Jacobsson was a Swedish actress. She had the lead role in One Summer of Happiness (1951) and played the only female speaking role in the film Zulu (1964).

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20/08/1981

Michael Devine, Irish Republican hunger striker

Michael James Devine was an Irish militant and Republican activist. He was a volunteer in the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), and the last hunger striker to die during the 1981 Irish hunger strike.

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20/08/1980

Joe Dassin, American-French singer-songwriter (born 1938)

Joseph Ira Dassin was an American singer-songwriter. He sang in multiple languages but found his greatest successes in France and the French-speaking world. In total, he sold nearly 25 million records worldwide.

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20/08/1979

Christian Dotremont, Belgian painter and poet (born 1922)

Christian Dotremont,, was a Belgian painter and poet who was born in Tervuren, Belgium. He was a founding member of the Revolutionary Surrealist Group (1946) and he also founded COBRA together with Danish artist Asger Jorn. In this capacity he was responsible for bringing Henri Lefebvre's Critique de la vie quotidienne (1946) to the group's attention. He later became well known for his painted poems, which he called logograms.

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20/08/1976

Vera Lutz, British economist (born 1912)

Vera Constance Lutz,, was a British economist. She was married to the German economist Friedrich Lutz.

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20/08/1971

Rashid Minhas, Pakistani lieutenant and pilot (born 1951)

Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas NH was a Pakistani fighter pilot and the fifth recipient of Pakistan's highest military award, the Nishan-e-Haider. Minhas was the first and only officer from the Pakistan Air Force to receive the Nishan-e-Haider, and was also the youngest person and the shortest-serving officer to have received the award. During a routine training mission in August 1971, Minhas attempted to gain control of his jet trainer when his superior officer Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman BS took control over the plane to join the Bangladesh War of Independence but Minhas resisted his efforts to control the aircraft and crashed it in Sujawal District in Pakistan.

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20/08/1965

Jonathan Daniels, American seminarian and civil rights activist (born 1939)

Jonathan Myrick Daniels was an Episcopal seminarian and civil rights activist. In 1965, he was killed by Tom Coleman, a highway worker and part-time deputy sheriff, in Hayneville, Alabama, while in the act of shielding 17-year-old Ruby Sales from a racist attack. He saved the life of the young Black civil rights activist. They were both working in the nonviolent civil rights movement in Lowndes County to integrate public places and register Black voters after passage of the Voting Rights Act that summer. Daniels' death generated further support for the civil rights movement.

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20/08/1963

Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer (born 1879)

Joan George Erardus Gijsbertus Voûte was a Dutch astronomer.

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20/08/1961

Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1882)

Percy Williams Bridgman was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1946 for his work on the physics of high pressures. He also wrote extensively on the scientific method and on other aspects of the philosophy of science. The Bridgman effect, the Bridgman–Stockbarger technique, and the high-pressure mineral bridgmanite are named after him.

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20/08/1951

İzzettin Çalışlar, Turkish general (born 1882)

İzzettin Çalışlar was an officer of the Ottoman Army and a general of the Turkish Army. He is known for his achievements in the Gallipoli campaign of World War I. He later joined the forces of Mustafa Kemal and fought in the Turkish War of Independence. He also served as a politician and was a prominent member of the Kemalist movement.

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20/08/1949

Ragnhild Kaarbø, Norwegian painter (born 1889)

Ragnhild Kaarbø was a Norwegian painter. Influenced by Fauvism, she painted expressionistic portraits. She was also influenced by Cubism, but as her cubistic paintings were criticized by the press, she eventually focused on impressionistic landscape paintings.

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20/08/1943

William Irvine, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of Victoria (born 1858)

Sir William Hill Irvine was an Australian politician and judge. He served as Premier of Victoria (1902–1904), Attorney-General of Australia (1913–1914), and Chief Justice of Victoria (1918–1935).

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20/08/1942

István Horthy, Hungarian admiral and pilot (born 1904)

István Horthy de Nagybánya was a Hungarian politician and fighter pilot during World War II. He was briefly Vice-Regent of Hungary in 1942, and was the eldest son of Hungarian regent Miklós Horthy.

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20/08/1939

Agnes Giberne, Indian-English astronomer and author (born 1845)

Agnes Giberne was a British novelist and scientific writer. Her fiction was typical of Victorian evangelical fiction with moral or religious themes for children. She also wrote books on science for young people, a handful of historical novels, and one well-regarded biography.

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20/08/1936

Edward Weston, English-American chemist (born 1850)

Edward Henry Weston was an American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his 40-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of subjects, including landscapes, still lifes, nudes, portraits, genre scenes, and even whimsical parodies. It is said that he developed a "quintessentially American, and especially Californian, approach to modern photography" because of his focus on the people and places of the American West. In 1937 Weston was the first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, and over the next two years he produced nearly 1,400 negatives using his 8 × 10 view camera. Some of his most famous photographs were taken of the trees and rocks at Point Lobos, California, near where he lived for many years.

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20/08/1930

Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer and umpire (born 1851)

Charles Bannerman was an English-born Australian cricketer. A right-handed batsman, he represented Australia in three Test matches between 1877 and 1879. At the domestic level, he played for the New South Wales cricket team. Later, he became an umpire.

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20/08/1919

Greg MacGregor, Scottish cricketer and rugby player (born 1869)

Gregor MacGregor was a former Scotland international cricketer and Scotland international rugby union player. He also played for the England international cricket team.

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20/08/1917

Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1835)

Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer was a German chemist who synthesised indigo and developed a nomenclature for cyclic compounds. He was ennobled in the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1885 and was the 1905 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

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20/08/1915

Paul Ehrlich, German physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1854)

Paul Ehrlich was a German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology and antimicrobial chemotherapy. He shared the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Élie Metchnikoff "in recognition of their work on immunity". Among his foremost achievements were finding a cure for syphilis in 1909 and inventing an important modification of the technique for Gram staining bacteria. The methods he developed for staining tissue made it possible to distinguish between different types of blood cells, which led to the ability to diagnose numerous blood diseases.

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20/08/1914

Pope Pius X (born 1835)

Pope Pius X was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 until his death in August 1914.

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20/08/1912

William Booth, English preacher, co-founded The Salvation Army (born 1829)

William Booth was an English Methodist preacher who, along with his wife, Catherine, founded the Salvation Army and became its first General (1878–1912). This Christian movement, founded in 1865, has a quasi-military structure and government and has spread from London to many parts of the world. It is one of the largest distributors of humanitarian aid.

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20/08/1897

Charles Lilley, English-Australian politician, 4th Premier of Queensland (born 1827)

Sir Charles Lilley was a Premier and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland. He had a significant influence on the form and spirit of state education in colonial Queensland which lasted well into the 20th century.

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20/08/1893

Alexander Wassilko von Serecki, Austrian lawyer and politician (born 1827)

Freiherr Alexander Wassilko von Serecki was an Austro-Hungarian ethnic Romanian statesman, Landeshauptmann of the Duchy of Bukovina and member of the Herrenhaus, the Upper House of the Imperial Council of Austria.

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20/08/1887

Jules Laforgue, French poet and author (born 1860)

Jules Laforgue was a Franco-Uruguayan poet, often referred to as a Symbolist poet. Critics and commentators have also pointed to Impressionism as a direct influence and his poetry has been called "part-symbolist, part-impressionist". Laforgue was a model for Pierre-Auguste Renoir, including for Renoir's 1881 painting Luncheon of the Boating Party.

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20/08/1882

James Whyte, Scottish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of Tasmania (born 1820)

James Whyte was a Scottish-born Australian politician who served as the sixth Premier of Tasmania, from 20 January 1863 to 24 November 1866. Before moving to Tasmania, Whyte was a pioneering sheep-farmer in western Victoria. He and his brothers perpetrated the Fighting Hills massacre of 40–80 Aboriginal people in Victoria while recovering stolen sheep.

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20/08/1859

Juan Bautista Ceballos, former president of Mexico (born 1811)

Juan Bautista Loreto Mucio Francisco José de Asís de la Santísima Trinidad Ceballos Gómez Sañudo (1811–1859) was a Mexican politician who served in congress and in the supreme court before being briefly made president after the resignation of President Mariano Arista during a revolution known as the Plan of Jalisco in 1853. He failed to come to any sort of arrangements with the insurgents and resigned after only about a month of serving and went back to his seat on the supreme court. After being removed from the court by the restored Santa Anna, he left the country and died in Paris in 1859.

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20/08/1854

Shiranui Dakuemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 8th Yokozuna (born 1801)

Shiranui Dakuemon was a Japanese sumo wrestler from Uto, Higo Province. He was the sport's 8th yokozuna, and is the only yokozuna in history to have been demoted.

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20/08/1835

Agnes Bulmer, English merchant and poet (born 1775)

Agnes Bulmer was an English poet. Her work Messiah's Kingdom is thought to be the longest epic poem ever written by a woman, and took over nine years to complete.

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20/08/1825

William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, English admiral and politician, Governor of Newfoundland (born 1753)

Admiral of the Red William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, GCB was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Newfoundland.

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20/08/1823

Pope Pius VII (born 1740)

Pope Pius VII was head of the Catholic Church from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. He was the leader of the Papal States from June 1800 to 17 May 1809 and again from 1814 to his death. Chiaramonti was also a monk of the Order of Saint Benedict in addition to being a well-known theologian and bishop.

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20/08/1785

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor (born 1714)

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle was a French sculptor whose work was influenced by both baroque and neo-classical trends.

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20/08/1773

Enrique Flórez, Spanish historian and author (born 1701)

Enrique or Henrique Flórez de Setién y Huidobro was a Spanish historian.

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20/08/1707

Nicolas Gigault, French organist and composer (born 1627)

Nicolas Gigault was a French Baroque organist and composer. Born into poverty, he quickly rose to fame and high reputation among fellow musicians. His surviving works include the earliest examples of noëls and a volume of works representative of the 1650–1675 style of the French organ school.

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20/08/1701

Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet, English playwright and politician (born 1639)

Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet was a British nobleman dramatist, and politician. He is chiefly remembered for his sharp wit and notorious profligacy, which made him a prominent figure in Restoration society. Sedley wrote plays, poetry, and essays, and his flamboyant lifestyle and literary output earned him both admiration and scandal during his lifetime.

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20/08/1680

William Bedloe, English spy (born 1650)

William Bedloe was an English fraudster and Popish Plot informer.

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20/08/1672

Cornelis de Witt, Dutch lawyer and politician (born 1623)

Cornelis de Witt was a Dutch States Navy officer and statesman. During the First Stadtholderless Period, De Witt was an influential member of the Dutch States Party, and was opposed to the House of Orange. In the Rampjaar of 1672, he and his brother Johan de Witt were lynched and their remains eaten by a crowd incited by Orangist partisans.

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Johan de Witt, Dutch mathematician and politician (born 1625)

Johan de Witt was a Dutch statesman and mathematician who was a major political figure during the First Stadtholderless Period, when flourishing global trade in a period of rapid European colonial expansion made the Dutch a leading trading and seafaring power in Europe, commonly referred to as the Dutch Golden Age. De Witt was elected Grand Pensionary of Holland, and together with his uncle Cornelis de Graeff, he controlled the Dutch political system from around 1650 until the Rampjaar of 1672. This progressive cooperation between the two statesmen, and the consequent support of Amsterdam under the rule of De Graeff, was an important political axis that organized the political system within the republic.

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20/08/1651

Jeremi Wiśniowiecki, Polish nobleman (born 1612)

Prince Jeremi Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, nicknamed Hammer on the Cossacks, was a notable member of the aristocracy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prince of Vyshnivets, Lubny and Khorol in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the father of the future King of Poland, Michael I.

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20/08/1648

Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English soldier and diplomat (born 1583)

Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury KB was an English soldier, diplomat, historian, poet and religious philosopher.

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20/08/1639

Martin Opitz, German poet and hymnwriter (born 1597)

Martin Opitz von Boberfeld was a German poet, regarded as the greatest of that nation during his lifetime.

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20/08/1611

Tomás Luis de Victoria, Spanish priest and composer (born 1548)

Tomás Luis de Victoria was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlande de Lassus as among the principal composers of the late Renaissance, and was "admired above all for the intensity of some of his motets and of his Offices for the Dead and for Holy Week". His surviving oeuvre, unlike that of his colleagues, is almost exclusively sacred and polyphonic vocal music, set to Latin texts. As a Catholic priest, as well as an accomplished organist and singer, his career spanned both Spain and Italy. However, he preferred the life of a composer to that of a performer.

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20/08/1580

Jerónimo Osório, Portuguese historian and author (born 1506)

D. Jerónimo Osório da Fonseca was a Portuguese Roman Catholic humanist bishop, historian and polemicist. An extensive notice of his life and thought (Vita) was written by his nephew, a canon of Évora also named Jerónimo Osório, to introduce his edition of his uncle's Complete Works published in 1592.

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20/08/1572

Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish navigator and politician, 1st Governor-General of the Philippines (born 1502)

Don Miguel López de Legazpi, also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo, was a Spanish and Basque conquistador who financed and led an expedition to conquer the Philippine islands in the mid-16th century. He was joined by Guido de Lavezares, relative Martin de Goiti, friar Andrés de Urdaneta, and his grandsons Juan and Felipe de Salcedo, in the expedition. Legazpi established the first Spanish settlement in the East Indies after his expedition crossed the Pacific Ocean, arriving in Cebu in 1565.

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20/08/1528

Georg von Frundsberg, German knight and landowner (born 1473)

Georg von Frundsberg was a German military and Landsknecht leader in the service of the Holy Roman Empire and Imperial House of Habsburg. An early modern proponent of infantry tactics, he established his reputation in active service during the Italian Wars under Emperor Maximilian I and his successor Charles V. Even in his lifetime, he was referred to as "Vater der Landsknechte" and legends about him as the patriarchal figure of the Landsknechte or his incredible physical strength surfaced. He achieved great prestige and fame for his role in the Habsburg victory at Pavia against France and during the war of the League of Cognac.

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20/08/1471

Borso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (born 1413)

Borso d'Este was the first Duke of Ferrara and Modena, ruling from 1450 until his death. A member of the House of Este, he secured his titles from both Emperor Frederick III in 1452 and Pope Paul II in 1471, strengthening the political status of the Este state.

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20/08/1386

Bo Jonsson, royal marshal of Sweden

Bo Jonsson (Grip) (early 1330s – 20 August 1386) was head of the royal council and marshal under the regency of Magnus IV of Sweden. Also in the council was his friend and colleague, Karl Ulfsson av Ulvåsa, eldest son of Saint Birgitta. From 1369, during Albert of Sweden’s reign, he was Officialis Generalis (the king's highest official) and from 1371 Lord High Steward (drots in Swedish).

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20/08/1384

Geert Groote, Dutch preacher, founded the Brethren of the Common Life (born 1340)

Gerard Groote, otherwise Gerrit or Gerhard Groet, in Latin Gerardus Magnus, was a Dutch Catholic deacon, who was a popular preacher and the founder of the Brethren of the Common Life. He was a key figure in the Devotio Moderna movement.

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20/08/1348

Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke (born 1319)

Laurence de Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke was an English nobleman and held the titles 1st Earl of Pembroke, Baron Abergavenny and Baron Hastings under Edward II of England and Edward III of England.

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20/08/1297

William Fraser, bishop and Guardian of Scotland

William Fraser was a late 13th century Bishop of St Andrews and Guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland. Before election to the bishopric, he had been and Royal Chancellor of King Alexander III of Scotland and dean of Glasgow. He was elected to the bishopric on 4 August 1279 and confirmed in the position the following year by Pope Nicholas III.

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20/08/1158

Rögnvald Kali Kolsson (born 1100), Earl of Orkney and Saint

Rögnvald Kali Kolsson, also known as Saint Ronald of Orkney, was a Norwegian earl of Orkney who came to be regarded as a Christian saint. Two of the Orkney Islands are named after Rögnvald, namely North Ronaldsay and South Ronaldsay.

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20/08/1153

Bernard of Clairvaux, French theologian and saint (born 1090)

Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist., venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reform of the Benedictines through the nascent Cistercian Order.

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20/08/0984

Pope John XIV

Pope John XIV, born Peter Canepanova, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from December 983 until his death. Upon the death of Pope Benedict VII in July 983, Emperor Otto II nominated Canepanova to the papal throne after the abbot Maiolus of Cluny refused the office. The decision to install the then bishop of Pavia was made without consultation with the clergy and the Roman people, nor was it confirmed by formal election.

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20/08/0917

Constantine Lips, Byzantine admiral

Constantine Lips was a Byzantine aristocrat and admiral who lived in the later 9th and early 10th centuries. He was killed in 917 at the Battle of Acheloos against Bulgaria. Constantine Lips is most notable for his foundation of the convent bearing his name at Constantinople.

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20/08/0768

Eadberht of Northumbria

Eadberht was king of Northumbria from 737 or 738 to 758. He was the brother of Ecgbert, Archbishop of York. His reign is seen as a return to the imperial ambitions of seventh-century Northumbria and may represent a period of economic prosperity. He faced internal opposition from rival dynasties and at least two actual or potential rivals were killed during his reign. In 758 he abdicated in favour of his son Oswulf and became a monk at York.

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20/08/0651

Oswine of Deira

Oswine, Oswin or Osuine was a King of Deira in northern England.

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20/08/0535

Mochta, Irish missionary and saint

Saint Mochta, was the last surviving disciple of Saint Patrick.

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20/08/0014

Agrippa Postumus, Roman son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (born 12 BC)

AD 14 (XIV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pompeius and Appuleius. The denomination AD 14 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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