Amazing Fun Facts About August
Get excited about amazing August fun facts and trivia.
Are you excited for August? Are you a fan of learning cool facts about the world around you?
We all love to learn something new, and August is the perfect month to do just that. August is a fun month for trivia enthusiasts and for those who just love discovering interesting information.
In this blog article, we shall take a look at some amazing August fun facts, interesting trivia about Martin Luther King, the ‘Mona Lisa’ painting, and famous August birthdays.
We shall discover all the designated ‘holidays’ and ‘dates of interest’ and finish with inspiring quotes about the month of August!
Amazing Fun Facts About August
The following are some interesting fun facts about August that make it so amazing:
- The word “August” is derived from the Latin word ‘augustus’, meaning ‘augur’.
- The month is named after the Roman emperor Augustus, who was known as “Augustus”.
- August is the seventh month of the year.
- The colorful flowers known as the gladiola and poppies are the two official flowers for August.
- The birthstone for August is the peridot which is created from molten lava.
- There are two astrological signs for August: Leo (July 23- August 22) and Virgo (August 23 — September 22).
- In 1957, on August 1, the United States and Canada formed the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Due to the wrong number on a Sears ad misprint the following December, a child called to check on where Santa was that evening (December 24), and NORAD has been tracking Santa every Christmas Eve since.
- On August 2, 1790, the first United States Census was conducted. There were 3,929,214 people counted that year.
- On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima, Japan was largely destroyed when the atomic bomb “Little Boy” was dropped by the B-29 Enola Gay.
- In 3114 BC, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, began. This was the calendar that caused the Friday, December 21, 2012 fears.
- On August 17, 2008, American swimmer Michael Phelps became the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games.
- In 1883, on August 26, the volcano eruption and tsunami named Krakatoa began. It was one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events in recorded history, with at over 36,000 deaths being attributed to the eruption itself and the tsunamis it created. Small eruptions, mostly of mud, continued into October 1883.
- On August 28, 1963, at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. (For more information, please read below.)
Important August Holidays & Dates
August is an important month in the United States calendar because it is the start of the summer holiday period, and the beginning of the school year in many countries.
Per the Farmers’ Almanac, the following are some celebratory dates of August:
- August 1, traditionally known as Lammas Day, was a festival to mark the annual wheat and corn harvest. Lammas also marked the mid-point between the summer solstice and autumn equinox, and was a cross-quarter day. See more about Lammas Day.
- August 1 is a Civic Holiday in many parts of Canada. Celebrations and names for this holiday vary across the country. For example, in Alberta, it’s celebrated as Heritage Day, while in British Columbia, it’s known as British Columbia Day!
- August 10 is St. Lawrence’s Day. “Fair weather on St. Lawrence’s Day presages a fair autumn.”
- August 11 marks the end of the Dog Days of Summer, which began on July 3.
- August 17 is when the Cat Nights begin, harking back to a rather obscure Irish legend concerning witches; this bit of folklore also led to the idea that a cat has nine lives.
- August 19 brings National Aviation Day, chosen for the birthday of Orville Wright who piloted the first recorded flight of a powered heavier-than-air machine in 1903.
- August 24 is St. Bartholomew Day. “At St. Bartholomew, there comes cold dew.”
- August 26 is Women’s Equality Day, which celebrates the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment and, with it, women’s right to vote in the United States.
Other fun and perhaps a little ‘quirky’ dates for the month of August include:
- Aug. 1–7: International Clown Week
- Aug. 3: National Watermelon Day
- Aug. 8: National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbors’ Porch Day (Or, use up that bounty with our best zucchini recipes.)
- Aug. 10: National S’mores Day
- Aug 12: Vinyl Record Day
- Aug. 13: International Left-Handers Day
- Aug. 20: International Geocaching Day
- Aug. 20: World Honeybee Day
- Aug. 25: Kiss-and-Make-Up Day
Interesting Trivia – Martin Luther King & The ‘Mona Lisa‘
A Day to Remember – August 28, 1963
Although Martin Luther King’s birthday is recognized and is celebrated in January every year, one cannot overlook this historic day in history, August 28, 1963. This was a ‘day to remember!’
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On this day, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in front of the Lincoln Memorial, addressed the crowd of 250,000 gathered and declared to the entire world: “I have a dream…
“I have a dream,” he declared, “my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!” — Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr.
Martin Luther King’s speech at the March on Washington was more than just the centerpiece of the march; it was a testament to the transformative power of one man and the magic of his words.
After fifty years, it’s a speech that can still move people to tears.
Leonardo De Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’
On a quiet Monday morning on August 21, 1911, outside the Louvre in Paris, three men were hurrying out of the museum. Later it was discovered that the famed masterpiece, the ‘Mona Lisa’, painted in 1507, was stolen!
After the Louvre announced the theft, newspapers all over the world ran headlines about the missing masterpiece. The heist had become something of a national scandal.
It was recovered 28 months later, when one of the three thieves tried to sell it to an art dealer in Florence, Italy. Many say it was this event that propelled the actual painting of ‘Mona Lisa’ to the staggering $850 Million value of today.
Famous August Birthdays
August is a very celebratory month of famous birthdays… Hollywood stars, astronauts, singers, presidents, poets, and even legends! When is YOUR special birthday celebrated?
Birthdays from August 1 thru August 15:
August 1, 1770 – William Clark, explorer, teamed with Meriwether Lewis, “Lewis and Clark”
August 1, 1779 – Francis Scott Key, author of the national anthem
August 2, 1924 – Carroll O’Connor, actor, “Archie Bunker” on TV series “All in the Family”
August 2, 1932 – Peter O’Toole, actor
August 3, 1941 – Martha Stewart, Businesswoman, Chef
August 3, 1951 – Jay North, actor, played “Dennis the Menace”
August 3, 1977 – Tom Brady, NFL New England Patriots Quarterback
August 4, 1900 – Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of England
August 4, 1901 – Louis Armstrong, jazz trumpeter
August 4, 1961 – Barack Obama, 44th U.S. President
August 5, 1930 – Neil Armstrong. 1st to walk on the moon. Quote: One small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind.
August 5, 1962 – Patrick Ewing, NBA basketball player
August 6, 1911 – Lucille Ball, actress and comedian, on the popular TV show, “I Love Lucy”
August 6, 1928 – Andy Warhol, artist
August 6, 1965 – David Robinson, NBA basketball player
August 7, 1903 – Rudolf C. Ising, animator, co-creator of “Loony Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies”
August 7, 1960 – David Duchovny, actor of the popular ‘X Files’
August 7, 1975 – Charlize Theron, Oscar-winning actress
August 8, 1981 – Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
August 8, 1998 – Shawn Mendes, Canadian singer and songwriter
August 9, 1945 – Ken Norton, champion boxer
August 9, 1963 – Whitney Houston, singer, actress
August 9, 1967 – Deion Sanders, Dual career as NFL football & MLB baseball player
August 10, 1874 – Herbert Hoover, 31st U.S. President (1929-1933)
August 10, 1928 – Jimmy Dean, singer, “Big Bad John”
August 10, 1942 – Betsy Johnson, fashion designer
August 11, 1921 – Alex Haley, the author who wrote the novel “Roots”
August 11, 1925 – Mike Douglas, TV personality, singer
August 11, 1950 – Stephen Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer
August 12, 1929 – Buck Owens, country singer
August 12, 1939 – George Hamilton, actor
August 13, 1899 – Alfred Hitchcock, director
August 13, 1912 – Ben Hogan, golfer
August 13, 1926 – Fidel Castro, President of Cuba
August 14, 1941 – David Crosby, singer, songwriter, musician of “Crosby, Stills & Nash”
August 14, 1945 – Steve Martin, comedian, actor, writer
August 14, 1947 – Danielle Steel, romance novelist
August 15, 1912 – Julia Child, Chef, cookbook author
August 15, 1972 – Ben Affleck, actor, director
August 15, 1990 – Jennifer Lawerence, American actress
Birthdays from August 16 thru August 31:
August 16, 1888 – T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), soldier, writer
August 16, 1930– Frank Gifford, NFL football player, sportscaster
August 16, 1962 – Steve Carell, American actor and comedian, “The Office”
August 17, 1786 – Davy Crockett, frontiersman, adventurer, and soldier who died at the Alamo
August 17, 1943 – Robert De Niro, actor
August 17, 1960 – Sean Penn, actor
August 18, 1927 – Rosalynn Carter, First Lady of the United States
August 18, 1934 – Roberto Clemente, baseball player
August 18, 1937 – Robert Redford, actor, director
August 18, 1954 – Patrick Swayze, actor, singer, dancer, “Ghost”
August 19, 1871 – Orville Wright, aviator, “first in flight”
August 19, 1921 – Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek
August 19, 1946 – Bill Clinton,42nd U.S. President (1993-2000)
August 20, 1833 – Benjamin Harrison, 23rd U.S. President (1889-1893)
August 20, 1931 – Don King, boxing promoter
August 20, 1954 – Al Roker, NBC TV meteorologist
August 21, 1936 – Wilt Chamberlain, NBA basketball player
August 21, 1938 – Kenny Rogers, singer, actor
August 21, 1958 – Steve Case, AOL executive
August 22, 1920 – Ray Bradbury, science fiction writer
August 22, 1940 – Valerie Harper, actress
August 22, 1941 – Bill Parcells, the “Tuna”, NFL football coach
August 23, 1912 – Gene Kelly, actor, dancer, “Signing in the Rain”
August 23, 1931 – Barbara Eden, actress “I Dream of Jeannie”
August 23, 1949 – Rick Springfield, singer
August 24, 1944 – Gregory Jarvis, astronaut, died in the Challenger Space Shuttle
August 24, 1956 – Gerry Cooney, boxer
August 25, 1918 – Leonard Bernstein, music composer, conductor
August 25, 1930 – Sean Connery, actor , “James Bond”
August 25, 1934 – Regis Philbin Talk Show Host, Game Show Emcee
August 26, 1906 – Albert Sabin, developed oral polio vaccine
August 26, 1935 – Geraldine Ferraro, NY Congresswoman, vice presidential nominee
August 26, 1980 – Macaulay Culkin, actor, starred in “Home Alone” movies
August 27, 1908 – Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th U.S. President (1963-1969)
August 27, 1910 – Mother Teresa, nun, founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity
August 28, 1828 – Leo Tolstoy, author, “War and Peace”
August 28, 1958 – Scott Hamilton, champion Olympic figure skater
August 28, 1965 – Shania Twain, country singer
August 29, 1915 – Ingrid Bergman, actress
August 29, 1936 – John McCain III, Arizona senator, presidential candidate
August 29, 1958 – Michael Jackson, singer, songwriter
August 30, 1918 – Ted Williams, MLB baseball player
August 30, 1930 – Warren Buffett, investor
August 30, 1972 – Cameron Diaz, actress, “My Best Friends’ Wedding”, movie “Charlie’s Angels”
August 31, 1924 – Buddy Hackett, actor, comedian
August 31, 1949 – Richard Gere, actor, “Pretty Woman”, “Chicago”
August 31, 1955 – Edwin Moses, champion Olympic track athlete!
Amazing August Quotes & Sayings
Quotes 1 thru 10:
1) “August is that last flicker of fun and heat before everything fades and dies. The final moments of fun before the freeze. In the winter, everything changes.”
Rasmenia Massoud
2) “August is a gentle reminder for not doing a single thing from your new year resolution for seven months and not doing it for next five.”
Crestless Wave
3) “August is ripening grain in the fields blowing hot and sunny, the scent of tree-ripened peaches, of hot buttered sweet corn on the cob. Vivid dahlias fling huge tousled blossoms through gardens and joe-pye-weed dusts the meadow purple.” –
Jean Hersey
4) “August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.”
Sylvia Plath
5) “The month of August had turned into a griddle where the days just lay there and sizzled.”
Sue Monk Kidd
6) “August creates as she slumbers, replete and satisfied.”
Joseph Wood Krutch
7) “That August time it was delight / To watch the red moons wane to white.”
Algernon Charles Swinburne
8) “That August time it was delight / To watch the red moons wane to white.”
Algernon Charles Swinburne
9) “Breathe the sweetness that hovers in August.”
Denise Levertov
10) “August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.”
Sylvia Plath
Quotes 11 thru 20:
11) “The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning.”
Natalie Babbitt
12) “I love borders. August is the border between summer and autumn; it is the most beautiful month I know. Twilight is the border between day and night, and the shore is the border between sea and land. The border is longing: when both have fallen in love but still haven’t said anything. The border is to be on the way. It is the way that is the most important thing.”
Tove Jansson
13) “In August, the large masses of berries, which, when in flower, had attracted many wild bees, gradually assumed their bright velvety crimson hue, and by their weight again bent down and broke their tender limbs.”
Henry David Thoreau
14) “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
William Shakespeare
15) “Always keep mint on your windowsill in August, to ensure that buzzing flies will stay outside, where they belong. Don’t think the summer is over, even when roses droop and turn brown and the stars shift position in the sky.”
Alice Hoffman
16) “Breathe the sweetness that hovers in August.”
Denise Levertov
17) “Every year, August lashes out in volcanic fury, rising with the din of morning traffic, its great metallic wings smashing against the ground, heating the air with ever-increasing intensity.”
Henry Rollins, August quotes year
18) “This was one of those perfect New England days in late summer where the spirit of autumn takes a first stealing flight, like a spy, through the ripening country-side, and, with feigned sympathy for those who droop with August heat, puts her cool cloak of bracing air about leaf and flower and human shoulders.”
Sarah Orne Jewett
19) “The collision of hail or rain with hard surfaces or the song of cicadas in a summer field. These sonic events are made of thousands of isolated sounds; this multitude of sounds, seen as a totality, is a new sonic event.”
Iannis Xenakis
20) “How sociable the garden was. We ate and talked in the given light. The children put their toys to the grass. Ohh.. the warmth of a wakeful August night.”
Thom Gunn
Closing Words About the Awesome Month of August
August is a month full of events, celebrations and memorable moments of landmark historic dates. Yes indeed, August is a fun month for trivia enthusiasts and fun facts fans.
I hope you enjoyed discovering all these fun facts about this awesome month of August. Please feel free to leave a comment or two about what you like best about August!
For additional reading, be sure to check out these six blog articles for amazing fun facts about February, March, April, May, June and July:
“Eight Reasons Why February is So Special”
“Amazing Fun Facts About March”
“Whimsical Sayings About April”
“Amazing Fun Facts About May You Will Love”
“Discover Fun Facts About June”
“Fascinating and Wacky Fun Facts About July”
