August 4

1265 In 1264 the future Edward I was captured with his father Henry III at the Battle of Lewes by the rebel leader, Simon de Montfort. The prince later escaped and the Royal forces under Prince Edward defeated baronial forces under Simon de Montfort, at the Battle of Evesham on August 4, 1265. Within two years the rebellion was extinguished.

Simon de Montfort dies in the Battle of Evesham.

1526 Juan Sebastián Elcano who completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth died on August 4 1526. After Magellan was killed in battle, the command went to a merchant ship captain. Juan Sebastián Elcano, who had signed on as a subordinate officer for the voyage in order to gain the king's pardon for previous misdeeds. Magellan's 18 surviving companions having sailed 30,700 miles, reached Seville in September 1522, completing the return voyage under Elcano.

1578 In 1578, the king of Portugal launched a crusade against Morocco. The crusade ended with a single battle, The Battle of Alcácer Quibir, which was fought on August 4, 1578 in northern Morocco, near the town of Ksar-el-Kebir. During the battle, the king of Portugal, the sultan of Morocco, and the previously deposed sultan of Morocco all died.

1693 The blind Benedictine monk Dom Pierre Pérignon was appointed the wine master of the Abbey of Hauteville in Champagne, France in 1668. After years of experimentation, he developed a sparkling wine. On trying this new fizzy white wine he cried excitedly  "Oh, come quickly. I am drinking the stars." The date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of champagne is August 4, 1693.

Dom Pierre Pérignon

1704 An Anglo-Dutch force seized Gibraltar during The War of the Spanish Succession on August 4, 1704. It was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht, signed on April 11, 1713.  Spain unsuccessfully besieged Gibraltar in 1727 and 1779–83; its status is still disputed.

1782 While in Germany in 1778, Mozart fell for 16-year-old soprano Aloysia Weber, only to be rejected. However, on August 4, 1782, he married her vivacious, dark-haired sister Constanze, who was also a singer. He wrote the C Minor Mass K 427 in celebration of their wedding. Mozart wrote to Constanze some of the most poignant love letters of all literature, "dearest little wife of my heart" and remained faithful to her. The pair had six children, of whom only two, Karl and Franz survived infancy.

1782 portrait of Constanze Mozart 

1792 The English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was born on August 4, 1792 at Field Place,  Sussex, England to Sir Timothy Shelley, a rich landowner and MP, and his wife Elizabeth Pilfold.
In 1804, the gentle Shelley entered Eton College, where he was subjected to an almost daily mob torment at around noon by older boys, who tore his books from his hands and pulled and tore his clothes. His tormentors aptly called these incidents "Shelley-baits".

1821 American politician William Floyd died on August 4, 1821. One of the men of the First Continental Congress and signer of the Constitution of the United States of America, William Floyd was born in Brookhaven on Long Island. The William Floyd Parkway is named after him.

1863 Matica slovenská, Slovakia's public-law cultural and scientific institution focusing on topics around the Slovak nation, was established in Martin on August 4, 1863. This all-nation cultural institution was established as a result of the Slovak national efforts to lay the foundations of Slovak science, libraries and museums. The anniversary of the 1863 establishment of Matica slovenská on August 4 is locally known as Deň Matice Slovenskej, a Remembrance Day in Slovakia.

1870 Scottish singer and comedian Sir Harry Lauder was born August 4, 1870. He rose from being a coal miner singing in occasional town concerts to commanding over £12,000 per night and was the highest-paid performer in the world in 1910. Lauder  was the first British artist to sell a million records. Among his most popular songs were "Roamin' in the Gloamin", "The End of the Road" and, a particularly big hit for him, "I Love a Lassie".

1875 Hans Christian Andersen died of liver cancer on August 4, 1875, in a house called Rolighed, near Copenhagen, the home of his close friends, the banker Moritz Melchior and his wife. When planning the music for his funeral, Andersen requested that, "most of the people who will walk after me will be children so make the beat keep time with short steps." He also wanted a spyhole drilled into his coffin so he could watch his own funeral service.

1875 Hans Christian Andersen was a psychiatrist's nightmare and he was particularly neurotic about dying. The Dane suffered from the conviction that he would be buried alive and he used to carry a piece of paper with him that he would prop by his bedside each night, in case he should pass away during the hours of darkness. It read "I only appear to be dead."

1892 In one of the most sensational murder trials in US history, Lizzie Borden was accused of killing her wealthy father and hated step-mother with an axe on August 4, 1892. She claimed to have been outside in the barn at the time of the murder, and despite a wealth of circumstantial evidence Borden was acquitted of the double murder. She lived out her life in Fall River, and was buried alongside her father and step-mother.

Borden in 1889

1901 Jazz great Louis Armstrong was born into a very poor family on August 4, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Raised by his mother in extreme poverty, at the age of 12 Louis served a term for delinquency at the Colored Waifs Home, after celebrating the New Year by running out on the street and firing a pistol. It was at the Colored Waifs Home, where Louis Armstrong learned to play the the bugle and the clarinet. He eventually became the leader of the home's brass band.

1906 In English, the term "U-boat" refers exclusively to the German vessels used during the World Wars. In German, however, "U-Boot" refers to any submarine, including modern and foreign ones.
Germany's first U-boat, U-1, was 139 ft long and was launched on August 4, 1906. But by 1914 and the beginning of World War I, it was deemed obsolete and never saw active service. Retired in 1919, it remains on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

1914 When Germany declared war on Russia in support of Austria-Hungary during the early days of  World War I, France ordered full mobilization in support of Russia. Germany wanted to take a shortcut to France through Belgium. When this was refused, German forces invaded Belgium. Adhering to the terms in the 1839 Treaty of London, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on August 4, 1914, in response to the latter's invasion of Belgium.

1930 The first true supermarket in the United States was opened by entrepreneur Michael J. Cullen, on August 4, 1930. His King Kullen Grocery Company was located inside a 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) former garage in Jamaica, Long Island, New York.  Instead of installing elaborate fittings, or even shelves, Cullen piled his goods high and sold them cheap. About 300 loss-leader goods were sold at cost price to draw in customers, who then served themselves.

1944 Anne Frank began keeping a diary in June 1942. It chronicled her life for a period when the Frank family were forced into hiding in some concealed rooms behind a bookcase in the building where Anne's father worked. A tip from a Dutch informer led the Gestapo to Anne Frank and her family's hiding place on August 4, 1944. Anne was transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration  where she died (probably of typhus).

1958 The Billboard Hot 100 singles chart was published for the first time on August 4, 1958 replacing the magazine's Jockeys and Top 100 charts. The Hot 100 quickly became the industry standard. Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" was the first number-one song.

1961 Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital (now Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children) in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hawaii only became a state in 1959. If it had become a state two years later than it did, Obama could not have become US president. His father was a black exchange student from Kenya named Barack Obama Sr. His mother was a white woman from Kansas named Ann Dunham, who was an anthropologist.

Obama (right) with his father in Hawaii. ca. 1971 Wikipedia

1967 Pink Floyd released their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn on August 4, 1967. All bar one of the 11 tracks were written or co-written by their original lead vocalist Syd Barrett. With its unique blend of psychedelic rock, innovative studio techniques, and poetic lyrics, the album was well-received and established Pink Floyd as a prominent force in the burgeoning psychedelic and progressive rock scene of the late 1960s

1981 Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex was born Rachel Meghan Markle on August 4, 1981, in Los Angeles, California. Meghan's father, Thomas Markle, worked as a lighting director on Married…with Children and General Hospital. Her mother, Doria Loyce Ragland, is a social worker and yoga instructor. She calls her famous daughter "Flower," Meghan's parents divorced when she was six years old.

1995 On August 4, 1995 the Croatian Army initiated Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was the largest European land battle since World War II.

1997 Jeanne Calment died on August 4, 1997. She had the longest confirmed age span in history, living to the age of 122 years, 164 days. Madame Calment lived in Arles, France for her entire life, and outlived both her daughter and grandson. At age 90, Jeanne Calment signed a deal to give her apartment to a buyer after her death in exchange for monthly payments. Calment outlived her buyer, whose heirs kept paying.

2020 On August 4, 2020, two explosions occurred at Beirut's port. The second blast was extremely powerful and caused at least 220 deaths, $15 billion in property damage, and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless. It was heard in Cyprus, over 250 km (160 mi) away. The event was linked to about 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which had been confiscated by the Lebanese government from the abandoned ship MV Rhosus and then stored in the port without proper safety measures for six years.