5th August, on this day

642 Battle of Maserfeld - Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Bernicia.
910 The last major Viking army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward and Earl Aethelred.
1100 Henry I crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
1264 Anti-Jewish riots break out in Arnstadt, Germany
1305 Scottish leader William Wallace is defeated and captured by the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge and later executed
1388 Battle of Otterburn, border skirmish between the Scottish and the English in Northern England.
1583 English explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert founds the first English colony in North America at St John's in Newfoundland
1620 The Mayflower departs Southampton, England on first attempt to reach North America.
1689 1,500 Iroquois attack village of Lachine, in New France.
1716 Prince Eugene of Savoy, with a force of 40,000 Austrians, defeats the 150,000 strong force of Turkish leader Darnad Ali Pasha at the Battle of Peterwardein
1735 New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he published was true.
1763 Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run - British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.
1772 1st partition of Poland, between Austria, Prussia and Russia
1775 1st Spanish ship, San Carlos, enters SF Bay
1812 War of 1812: Tecumseh's Indian force ambushes Thomas Van Horne's 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
1837 1st ascent of Mt Marcy (5,344') highest in Adirondack, NY
1846 Oregon country divided between US and Britain at 49th parallel
1858 The first transatlantic cable is officially opened with Queen Victoria sending a telegraphic message to US President James Buchanan
1861 US Army abolishes flogging
1861 US levies its 1st Income Tax (3% of incomes over $800) in order to help pay for the war effort
1862 Battle of Baton Rouge - Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city.
1864 Spectrum of a comet observed for 1st time, by Giovanni Donati
1864 Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala; Adm David Farragut orders "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"
1870 Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.
1874 Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in England.
1882 Standard Oil of New Jersey is established.
1882 Martial law is enacted in Japan.
1884 The cornerstone of the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbour
1888 Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim in the first long distance automobile trip.
1901 Britain's first cinema opens in Islington, London
1914 1st traffic light installed (Euclid Ave. and E. 105th St, Cleveland)
1914 US, Nicaragua sign treaty granting canal rights to US
1923 1st American to swim the English Channel (Henry Sullivan)
1924 Comic strip "Little Orphan Annie," by Harold Gray, debuts
1925 Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language, which is in danger of dying out.
1926 Escapologist Harry Houdini survives for several hours in a bronze coffin beneath the surface of a hotel swimming pool in Los Angeles
1936 At Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens wins his 3rd Olympic medal
1940 Latvia is annexed by the Soviet Union.
1943 During the Battle of Troina, at around 11 A.M, Mount Etna erupted sending much ash and lava miles into the sky.
1944 Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POWs attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, NSW, Australia.
1944 Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
1945 Atom Bomb dropped on Hiroshima (Aug 6th in Japan)
1949 In Ecuador an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6000.
1953 Operation "Big Switch" Korean War prisoner exchanged at Panmunjom
1957 American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
1958 USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear submarine, comes to the surface after passing under the North Pole
1960 Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) gains independence from France
1962 American actress Marilyn Monroe dies in her bedroom from acute barbiturate poisoning aged 36
1962 1st quasar located by radio
1962 In South Africa, ANC leader Nelson Mandela is arrested and later jailed for attempting to overthrow the South African Government
1963 Britain, United States and the USSR sign a nuclear test ban treaty - agreeing that any further tests should be carried out underground
1963 Craig Breedlove sets world auto speed record at 407.45 MPH
1964 Actress Anne Bancroft and comedian Mel Brooks wed
1964 Beatles record "Leave My Kitten Alone"
1964 Operation Pierce Arrow - American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes attacked U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1966 Martin Luther King Jr stoned during Chicago march
1966 Beatles release "Revolver" album in US
1966 The Beatles release "Yellow Submarine" and "Eleanor Rigby" in UK
1967 Bobby Gentry releases her only hit "Ode to Billy Joe"
1969 Mariner 7 flies past Mars
1973 USSR launches Mars 6
1974 US President Richard Nixon admits his complicity in the Watergate Affair by withholding important information. He resigns the Presidency three days later
1974 The U.S. Congress places a $1 billion dollar limit on military aid to South Vietnam.
1976 In London, the clock overlooking the Houses of Parliament - Big Ben - stops for the first time in 117 years
1979 In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising.
1981 President Regan fires 11,359 air traffic controllers who struck 2 days ago
1984 Joan Benoit (US) wins 1st Olympic marathon for women (2h24m52s)
1985 Flexible-wing glider altitude record (214,250') set by Larry Tudor
1986 It's revealed Andrew Wyeth had, secretly created 240 drawings and paintings of his neighbour Helga Testorf, in Chadds Ford, Pa
1988 Mario Biaggi (Rep-D-NY) convicted of racketeering resigns seat
1989 General elections are held in Nicaragua, Sandinista Front wins the majority.
1995 The United States of America and Vietnam formerly re-establish diplomatic ties and pledge a new era of cooperation almost 20 years after the end of the Vietnam War
1995 The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated as the day of victory (Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day) in Croatia.
2003 A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.

5th August 2006

Israeli commandos stage Tyre raid

Congo poll count raises concerns

Two held over US serial killings

5th August 2007

US 'kills' key Iraq shrine bomber

South Asia flood toll passes 200

Israel faces Holocaust protests

5th August 2008

France accused in Rwanda genocide

Iranians suspend death by stoning

US cracks 'biggest ID fraud case'

5th August 2009

Freed US reporters welcomed home

Defiant Iran president takes oath

'Drone attack' kills Taliban wife

5th August 2010

More die in Karachi violence

Afghans 'killed in air strike'

6 police die in Afghan suicide attack

Birthdates which occurred on 5th August :

1540 Joseph Justice Scaliger proposed Julian dating
1604 John Eliot "Apostle to Indians," Bible translator
1624 William Jamestown Va, 1st black child born in English America
1749 Thomas Lynch signed Declaration of Independence
1811 Ambroise Thomas Metz France, composer (Mignon)
1850 Guy de Maupassant France, author (Boule de Suif)
1860 Joseph Carey Merrick "Elephant Man"
1876 Mary R Beard Indianapolis, historian (Woman as a Force in History)
1890 Erich Kleiber Vienna Austria, conductor (NBC Symphony 1945-46)
1899 Conrad Aiken US, poet/short story writer/critic (Selected Poems)
19-- Don Matheson Dearborn Mich, actor (Mark-Land of the Giants)
19-- Jimi Kennedy Staten Island NY, rocker (Tyketto-Wings)
1906 John Huston Nevada Mo, director/writer (African Queen, Chinatown)
1908 Harold Holt PM of Australia (1966-67); supported US in Vietnam
1911 Robert Taylor Filley Neb, actor (Death Valley Days)
1914 Anita Colby Wash DC, model/actress (Pepsi Cola Playhouse)
1914 David Brian NYC, actor (Accussed of Murder, Dawn at Sorocco)
1920 Selma Diamond London Ontario, comedienne (Selma-Night Court)
1923 Richard Kleindienst attorney general (1972)
1930 Neil Armstrong Ohio, X-15 pilot, 1st Moonwalker (Gemini 8, Apollo 11)
1933 Joan Weldon SF, actress (So This is Love, Them)
1935 John Saxon Bkln, actor (Bees, Nightmare on Elm St, Electric Horseman)
1936 John Dancy Jackson Tx, newscaster (Prime Time Sunday)
1938 Ja'net Dubois Phila, actress (Willona-Good Times)
194- Jo Collins Ore, Playboy playmate (Dec, 1964)
1941 Leonid D Kizim cosmonaut (Soyuz T-3, T-10, T-15)
1942 Rick Huxley guitarist (Dave Clark 5-Glad All Over)
1943 Rodney Pattisson England, yachtsman (Olympic-gold-1968)
1943 Sammi Smith singer
1944 Loni Anderson St Paul Minn, actress (Jennifer-WKRP in Cincinnati)
1946 Erika Slezak Hollywood, Calif, actress (Viki-One Life to Live)
1947 Rick Derringer rocker (I am the Real American (Hulk Hogan's theme)
1950 Holly Palance LA Calif, actress (Thorn Birds, Ripley's Believe It)
1950 Rose Mittermaier German FR, slalom/downhill (Olympic-gold-1976)
1953 Samantha Sang singer (Emotion)
1954 Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda Bx, (Twisted Sister-We're Not Gonna Take It)
1959 Pete Burns rocker (Dead or Alive-Spin Me Round)
1960 Mike Nocito rocker (Johnny Hates Jazz-Turn Back the Clock)
1961 Tawny Kitaen (Coverdale) actress (Bachelor Party, Witchboard)
1962 Patrick EwingKingston Jamacia, NBA center (NY Knicks), 1992 Summer Olympics
1966 Jonathan Silverman LA Calif, actor (Brighton Beach Memoirs)
1968 John Garrett Olerud Seattle WA, Baseball player, Blue Jays, Mets. American League Batting Crown 1993
1975 Ami Foster actress (Margaux-Punky Brewster)
2184 Christine Lauren Chapel Davenport Heights, Vermont (Star Trek)
2186 Kevin Thomas Riley Tasvennir, Tarsus IV (Star Trek)

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Deaths which occurred on August 5th:
1900 James Augustine Healy black Roman Catholic bishop, dies at 80
1959 Edgar Guest newspaperman, dies at 77
1961 Sir Sidney Holland PM of New Zealand (1949-57), dies at 67
1962 Marilyn Monroe found dead of apparent self-inflicted drug overdose
1972 Frederic Tozere actor (Mr Phillips-Stanley), dies at 71
1978 Queenie Smith actress/dancer (Funny Side), dies at 79
1983 Judy Canova singer/comedienne/actress, dies at 66 of cancer
1984 Howard Culver actor (Howie-Gunsmoke), dies at 66
1984 Richard Burton actor (Cleopatra), dies at 58 of cerebral hemorrhage
1991 Paul Brown NFL founder (Cleveland Browns, Cin Bengals), dies at 82
1991 Soichiro Hondo CEO & founder (Honda), dies of liver cancer at 84