^B{^#!16!9 August^N! Feast day of St Oswald of Northumbria, Saints Nathy and Felim, St Romanus, and St Emygius.
^B{1842^B} The frontier between Canada and the US was defined by the Webster-Ashburton treaty, signed by the US and Britain. ^B{1870^B} The British Parliament passed The Married Women's Property Act, improving the situation of the nation's wives. ^B{1902^B} Following a six-week delay due to an emergency appendectomy, Edward VII was crowned king in Westminster Abbey. ^B{1912^B} An earthquake struck Turkey, in the area of Istanbul, killing 6,000 people and rendering 40,000 homeless. ^B{1945^B} The second atomic bomb of World War II was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. ^B{1965^B} Singapore gained independence. ^B{1969^B} Sharon Tate, actress wife of film director Roman Polanski, was murdered by Charles Manson and members of his commune 'The Family'. ^B{1974^B} Succeeding Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the US. ^B{1979^B} Britain's first nudist beach was established in Brighton.
^B{^I{^#!14!Born ^N}Izaak Walton, English author, ^B{1593^B}; Thomas Telford, Scottish civil engineer, ^B{1757^B}; Leonid Nikolayevich Andreyev, Russian author, ^B{1871^B}; LΘonide Massine, Russian dancer and choreographer, ^B{1869^B}; Philip Larkin, English poet, ^B{1922^B}; Rod Laver, Australian tennis player, ^B{1938^B}.^B}
^B{^I{^#!14!Died ^N}Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp, Dutch admiral, ^B{1653^B}; Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Italian composer, ^B{1919^B}; Hermann Hesse, German author, ^B{1962^B}; Joe Orton, English playwright, ^B{1967^B}; Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer, ^B{1975^B}.
