What are the important events that happened on August 5? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
August 5: Facts & Myths About This Day
August 5 is the 217th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 148 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is July 23, 2025 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 1,754,352,000 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘dihectadecaheptagon’ day.
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Leo is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 196 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,610 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
Do people and celebrities interest you? Discover all the August 5 famous birthdays who share your special day. Learn some fun facts about your birthday!
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August 5 Historical Events
- 642 –Battle of Maserfield – Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Northumbria.
- 910 –The last major Danish army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward the Elder and Earl Aethelred of Mercia.
- 1583 –Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St John’s, Newfoundland.
- 1882 –The Standard Oil of New Jersey is established.
- 1888 –Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008.
- 1940 –World War II: the Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia.
- 1944 –World War II: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
- 1944 –World War II: The Nazis begin a three-day massacre of anywhere between 40,000 and 100,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.
- 1962 –Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
- 2003 –A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.
Who were born on August 5?
- 1934 –Gay Byrne, Irish broadcaster
- 1934 –Wendell Berry, American poet, writer and farmer
- 1937 –Herb Brooks, American ice hockey coach (d. 2003)
- 1959 –Pat Smear, American guitarist (Nirvana, Foo Fighters)
- 1962 –Otis Thorpe, American basketball player
- 1967 –Matthew Caws, American singer (Nada Surf)
- 1969 –Paola Volpato, Chilean actress
- 1980 –Sophie Winkleman, English actress
- 1982 –Pete Sell, American mixed martial artist
- 1987 –Xenia Tchoumitcheva, Swiss model
Who died on August 5?
- 1579 –Stanislaus Hosius, Polish Catholic cardinal (b. 1504)
- 1778 –Charles Clémencet, French historian (b. 1703)
- 1877 –Gustavus, Crown Prince of Sweden (b. 1799)
- 1901 –Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain and German Empress (b. 1840)
- 1923 –Vatroslav Jagić, Croatian Slavist (b. 1835)
- 1929 –Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist (b. 1847)
- 1946 –Wilhelm Marx, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1863)
- 2000 –Otto Buchsbaum, Austrian-born Brazilian writer and ecological activist (b. 1920)
- 2002 –Chick Hearn, American basketball announcer (b. 1916)
- 2007 –Florian Pittiş, Romanian actor, singer and producer (b. 1943)
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