On this day: 23 August

Selected events and births on 23 August, from Wikipedia’s “On this day”.

Events

• 1873 – The Albert Bridge, spanning the River Thames in London, opened to traffic. Read more: Albert Bridge, London River Thames
• 1954 – The Cruise of the Kings, a royal cruise organised by the Queen Consort of Greece, Frederica of Hanover, departed from Marseille, France. Read more: Cruise of the Kings List of Greek royal consorts Frederica of Hanover
• 1989 – Singing Revolution: Approximately two million people joined hands to form a human chain spanning 675.5 kilometres (419.7 mi) across the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet republics to demonstrate their desire for independence. Read more: Singing Revolution Baltic Way Human chain (politics)
• 1991 – The World Wide Web was opened to the public. Read more: World Wide Web

Born on this day

• 1933 – Pete Wilson, American commander and politician, 36th Governor of California Read more: Pete Wilson Governor of California
• 1944 – Antonia Novello, Puerto Rican-American physician and admiral, 14th Surgeon General of the United States Read more: Antonia Novello Surgeon General of the United States
• 1948 – Andrei Pleșu, Romanian journalist and politician, 95th Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Read more: Andrei Pleșu Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Romania)
• 1954 – Halimah Yacob, Singaporean unionist and politician, 9th Speaker and 8th President of Singapore Read more: Halimah Yacob Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore President of Singapore
• 1956 – Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, Norwegian educator and politician, Norwegian Minister of Culture Read more: Valgerd Svarstad Haugland Minister of Culture and Equality
• 1961 – Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iranian commander and politician, 54th Mayor of Tehran Read more: Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf List of mayors of Tehran
• 1962 – Martin Cauchon, Canadian lawyer and politician, 46th Canadian Minister of Justice Read more: Martin Cauchon Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
• 1967 – Jim Murphy, Scottish lawyer and politician, Minister of State for Europe Read more: Jim Murphy Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Europe, Eastern Europe, International Security and Growth
• 1974 – Konstantin Novoselov, Russian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Read more: Konstantin Novoselov Nobel Prize in Physics
• 1998 – P. J. Washington, American basketball player Read more: P. J. Washington
• 1999 – Saya Sakakibara, Australian cyclist Read more: Saya Sakakibara
• 2000 – Boryana Kaleyn, Bulgarian rhythmic gymnast and Olympic silver medalist Read more: Boryana Kaleyn

Text from Wikipedia: Selected anniversaries / August 23 and the linked articles, via the Wikimedia “On this day” feed, under CC BY-SA 4.0. We leave out entries about wars, violence and disasters to keep this page family-friendly.