The Brown Tree » Patrick Joseph (Sonny) WEST (1923-1983)

Day of death August 31, 1983

• The temperature on August 31, 1983 was between 10.9 °C and 28.1 °C and averaged 19.7 °C. There was 11.5 hours of sunshine (84%). The average windspeed was 1 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the east-southeast. Source: KNMI
• Koningin Beatrix (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from April 30, 1980 till April 30, 2013 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from Thursday, November 4, 1982 to Monday, July 14, 1986 the cabinet Lubbers I, with Drs. R.F.M. Lubbers (CDA) as prime minister.
• In the year 1983: Source: Wikipedia
  • The Netherlands had about 14.3 million citizens.
  • May 20 » First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier.
  • June 2 » After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane's doors open. Because of this incident, numerous new safety regulations are put in place.
  • July 25 » Black July: Thirty-seven Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners.
  • August 18 » Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 21 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).
  • September 15 » Israeli premier Menachem Begin resigns.
  • September 25 » Thirty-eight IRA prisoners, armed with six handguns, hijack a prison meals lorry and smash their way out of the Maze Prison.

Source: Wikipedia

• 1979 » Sally Rand, American actress and dancer (b. 1904)
• 1984 » Audrey Wagner, American baseball player, obstetrician, and gynecologist (b. 1927)
• 1985 » Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
• 1986 » Elizabeth Coatsworth, American author and poet (b. 1893)
• 1986 » Henry Moore, English sculptor and illustrator (b. 1898)
• 1986 » Urho Kekkonen, Finnish journalist, lawyer, and politician, 8th President of Finland (b. 1900)