August 11

Events

 * 1909 - The liner S.S. Arapahoe was the first ship to use the S.O.S. radio distress call.
 * 1957 - Paul Hindemith' opera "Harmonie der Welt," premieres in Munich
 * 1964 - Beatles' "A Hard Days Night" opens in NYC
 * 1966 - Last Beatle concert tour of US begins
 * 1968 - Beatles launch "Apple Records" label
 * 1976 - Keith Moon, drummer for Who, collapses and is hospitalized in Miami
 * 1984 - During a radio voice test Pres Reagan joked he "signed legislation that would outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in 5 minutes"

Births

 * 1919 - Ginette Neveu, French violinist (d. 1949)
 * 1921 - Tom Kilburn, British electrical engineer who wrote the computer program used to test the first stored-program computer, the Small-Scale Experimental Machine, SSEM, also known as "The Baby." First tested on 21 Jun 1948, the program took 52 minutes to run. The tiny experimental computer had no keyboard or printer, but it successfully tested a memory system developed at Manchester University in England. This system, based on a cathode-ray tube, was the first that could store programs, whereas previous electronic computers had to be rewired to execute each new problem.
 * 1942 - Mike Hugg, British musician (Manfred Mann)
 * 1946 - John Conlee, American country music singer
 * 1949 - Eric Carmen, American musician
 * 1950 - Erik Brann, American musician (Iron Butterfly) (d. 2003)
 * 1952 - Bob Mothersbaugh, AKA Bob 1, American Musician (DEVO)
 * 1954 - Joe Jackson, English singer
 * 1954 - Juan Maria Solare, Argentine composer
 * 1957 - Richie Ramone, American musician (Ramones)
 * 1957 - Ian Stuart Donaldson, British singer (Skrewdriver)
 * 1959 - Gustavo Cerati, Argentinian musician (Soda Stereo)
 * 1967 - Enrique Bunbury, Spanish singer
 * 1968 - Charlie Sexton, American musician
 * 1968 - Veda Hille, Canadian singer
 * 1969 - Jonah Matranga, American singer
 * 1970 - Andy Bell, English musician (Ride, Hurricane #1, Oasis)
 * 1975 - Davey von Bohlen, American musician, (The Promise Ring, Maritime)
 * 1975 - Ronald Clarke, American musician and founder of aliennetwork Records
 * 1976 - Ben Gibbard, American musician (Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service)
 * 1981 - Sandi Thom, Scottish born singer