What happened on August 12 ?

1503 - Christian III of Denmark and Norway (d. 1559)

1566 - Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (d. 1633)

1604 - Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1651)

1629 - Tsar Alexei I of Russia (d. 1676)

1643 - King Afonso VI of Portugal (d. 1683)

1644 - Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Bohemian composer (d. 1704)

1647 - Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer (d. 1719)

1686 - John Balguy, English philosopher (d. 1748)

1696 - Maurice Greene, English composer (d. 1755)

1720 - Konrad Ekhof, German actor (d. 1778)

1762 - King George IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1830)

1774 - Robert Southey, English poet and biographer (d. 1843)

1831 - Helena Blavatsky, Ukrainian-born author (d. 1891)

1856 - "Diamond Jim" Brady, American financier (d. 1917)

1859 - Katharine Lee Bates, American poet (d. 1929)

1866 - Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)

1867 - Edith Hamilton, German classicist (d. 1963)

1876 - Mary Roberts Rinehart, American author (d. 1958)

1880 - Radclyffe Hall, British author (d. 1943)

1880 - Christy Mathewson, baseball player (d. 1925)

1881 - Cecil B. DeMille, American director (d. 1959)

1883 - Pauline Frederick, American actress (d. 1938)

1885 - Jean Cabannes, French physicist (d. 1959)

1886 - Sir Keith Murdoch, Australian journalist and newspaper owner (d. 1952)

1887 - Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)

1892 - Alfred Lunt, American actor (d. 1977)

1902 - Mohammad Hatta, Vice President of Indonesia 1945-1956 (d. 1980)

1904 - Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia (d. 1918)

1906 - Harry Hopman, Australian-born tennis player and coach (d. 1985)

1906 - Tedd Pierce, American animator (d. 1972)

1907 - Joe Besser, American actor and comedian (d. 1988)

1911 - Cantinflas, Mexican actor (d. 1993)

1911 - Jane Wyatt, American actress

1919 - Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (d. 1971)

1924 - Derek Shackleton, English cricketer

1924 - Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, leader of Pakistan (d. 1988)

1925 - Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 2004)

1925 - Ross McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 1975)

1926 - John Derek, American actor (d. 1998)

1926 - Joe "Boogaloo" Jones, American R&B singer (d. 2005)

1927 - Porter Wagoner, American singer

1928 - Bob Buhl, baseball player (d. 2001)

1928 - Dan Curtis, film and television producer and director

1928 - Charles Blackman, Australian artist

1929 - Buck Owens, American singer

1930 - George Soros American businessman

1930 - Jacques Tits, French mathematician

1931 - William Goldman, American screenwriter

1932 - Somdej Phra Nangchao Sirikit Phra Boromarajininat HM Queen Sirikit of Thailand

1933 - Parnelli Jones, American race car driver

1939 - George Hamilton, American actor

1943 - Deborah Walley, American actress (d. 2001)

1945 - Ann M. Martin, American author

1949 - Mark Knopfler, British guitarist (Dire Straits)

1951 - Willie Horton, American murderer and rapist

1954 - Pat Metheny, American guitarist

1954 - Sam J. Jones, American actor

1956 - Bruce Greenwood, Canadian actor

1960 - Laurent Fignon, French cyclist

1962 - Miss Cleo, American psychic

1965 - Peter Krause, American actor

1967 - Regilio Tuur, Dutch boxer

1968 - Andras Jones, American actor

1971 - Michael Ian Black, American comedian

1971 - Pete Sampras, American tennis player

1971 - Rebecca Gayheart, American actress

1973 - Richard Reid (shoe bomber)

1974 - Matt Clement, baseball pitcher

1976 - Antoine Walker, American basketball player

1976 - Mikko Viljami "Linde" Lindström, Finnish Guitarist

1977 - Plaxico Burress, American football player

1977 - Jesper Grønkjær, Danish soccer player

1980 - Dominique Swain, American actress

1980 - Matt Thiessen, Canadian-born musician (Relient K)

1981 - Djibril Cisse, French footballer