► Today is Monday, Aug. 8, the 220th day of 2011. There are 145 days left in the year.
► Today’s birthdays: Actress Esther Williams is 90. Actor Richard Anderson is 85. Joan Mondale, wife of former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, is 81. Actress Nita Talbot is 81. Singer Mel Tillis is 79. Actor Dustin Hoffman is 74. Actress Connie Stevens is 73. Country singer Phil Balsley (The Statler Brothers) is 72. Actor Larry Wilcox is 64. Actor Keith Carradine is 62. R&B singer Airrion Love (The Stylistics) is 62. Country singer Jamie O’Hara is 61. Director Martin Brest is 60. Radio personality Robin Quivers is 59. Actor Donny Most is 58. Rock musician Dennis Drew (10,000 Maniacs) is 54. TV personality Deborah Norville is 53. Actor Harry Crosby is 53. Rock musician The Edge (U2) is 50. Rock musician Rikki Rockett (Poison) is 50. Rapper Kool Moe Dee is 49. Rock musician Ralph Rieckermann is 49. Rock singer Scott Stapp is 38. Country singer Mark Wills is 38. Actor Kohl Sudduth is 37. Rock musician Tom Linton (Jimmy Eat World) is 36. Singer JC Chasez (’N Sync) is 35. Actress Tawny Cypress is 35. R&B singer Drew Lachey is 35. R&B singer Marsha Ambrosius is 34. Actress Lindsay Sloane is 34. Actress Countess Vaughn is 33. Actor Michael Urie is 31. Tennis player Roger Federer is 30. Actress Meagan Good is 30. Princess Beatrice of York is 23. Actor Ken Baumann is 22.
► In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile.
► In 1861, biologist William Bateson, founder of the science of genetics, was born in Whitby, Yorkshire, England.
► In 1942, six convicted Nazi saboteurs who had landed in the US were executed in Washington, D.C.; two others were spared.
► In 1963, Britain’s “Great Train Robbery’’ took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.
► In 1974, President Nixon announced his resignation, effective the next day, following damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal.
► In 2010, flooding in Gansu province in China resulted in mudslides that killed more than 1,400 people. Academy Award-winning actress Patricia Neal died in Edgartown, at 84.
