From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 357 days remaining (358 in leap years).
[edit] Events
- 871 - Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats a Danish invasion army.
- 1198 - Innocent III becomes Pope.
- 1297 - Monaco gains its independence.
- 1499 - Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany.
- 1734 - Premiere of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
- 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
- 1790 - George Washington delivers the first State of the Union Address address in New York City.
- 1806 - Cape Colony becomes a British colony.
- 1811 - Unsuccessful slave revolt led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
- 1815 - War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans - Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
- 1838 - Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
- 1863 - American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield
- 1863 - Yorkshire County Cricket Club is founded at the Adelphi Hotel in Sheffield, England.
- 1867 - African American men granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.
- 1877 - Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain (Montana Territory).
- 1889 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine.
- 1900 - United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
- 1906 - A landslide in Haverstraw, New York, kills 20 people due to the excavation of clay along the Hudson River.
- 1908 - A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17 people, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.
- 1912 - The African National Congress was founded.
- 1916 - World War I: Allied forces withdraw from Gallipoli.
- 1918 - President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.
- 1920 - The Czechoslovak Hussite Church was founded by Dr. Karel Farský.
- 1922 - The Social Democratic Youth League of Norway is founded.
- 1926 - Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz and renames it Saudi Arabia.
- 1935 - Arthur C. Hardy patents the spectrophotometer.
- 1953 - René Mayer becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1956 - Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
- 1958 - Fourteen-year-old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.
- 1959 - Conquest of Cuba by Fidel Castro is completed with the conquest of Santiago de Cuba.
- 1959 - Michel Debré becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1961 - In France, a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies in Algeria.
- 1962 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.).
- 1962 - Harmelen train disaster kills 93 people in The Netherlands.
- 1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
- 1973 - Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
- 1975 - Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband.
- 1977 - Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
- 1979 - The tanker Betelgeuse explodes in Bantry Bay, Ireland (The Betelgeuse incident).
- 1982 - AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
- 1989 - Kegworth air disaster kills 47 people in Leicestershire, England.
- 1989 - Beginning of Japanese Heisei era.
- 1991 - Jeremy Wade Delle, a 15-year-old sophomore who had recently transferred to Richardson High School, killed himself with a .357 Magnum in front of his second-period English class. Inspired the song "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam
- 1994 - Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He will stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
- 1996 - An Antonov 32 cargo turboprop powered plane crashes into the central market in Kinshasa, Zaire killing more than 350 people.
- 2002 - United States President George W. Bush signs into law the controversial No Child Left Behind Act.
- 2004 - RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, was christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
- 2006 - A magnitude 6.9 earthquake epicentered just off the Greek island of Kythira hits much of the country and is felt throughout the entire eastern Mediterranean Sea.
- 2006 - Exercise Northstar V, a large scale civil defence exercise, is held in Singapore and contains 4 MRT Stations and Toa Payoh Bus Interchange.
[edit] Births
- 1556 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)
- 1583 - Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (d. 1643)
- 1601 - Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Spanish writer (d. 1658)
- 1628 - François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
- 1632 - Samuel Pufendorf, German jurist (d. 1694)
- 1635 - Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish Archbishop of Toledo (d. 1709)
- 1735 - John Carroll, first American Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 1815)
- 1763 - Edmond Charles Genêt, French ambassador to the United States (d. 1834)
- 1786 - Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States (d. 1844)
- 1788 - Pavel Kiselyov, Russian general and politician (d. 1874)
- 1792 - Lowell Mason, American composer (d. 1872)
- 1805 - John Bigler, Governor of California (d. 1871)
- 1805 - Orson Hyde, American religious leader (d. 1878)
- 1817 - Sir Theophilus Shepstone, South African statesman (d. 1893)
- 1821 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general (d. 1904)
- 1821 - W.H.L. Wallace, American Union general (d. 1862)
- 1823 - Alfred Russel Wallace, British naturalist and biologist (d. 1913)
- 1824 - Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet (d. 1861)
- 1824 - Wilkie Collins, British novelist (d. 1889)
- 1830 - Hans von Bülow, German pianist, conductor and composer (d. 1894)
- 1836 - Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch artist (d. 1912)
- 1843 - Frederick Abberline, British police investigator (d. 1929)
- 1852 - James Milton Carroll, was a Baptist pastor, leader, historian, and author (d. 1931)
- 1860 - Emma Booth, the fourth child of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1903)
- 1862 - Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher (d. 1934)
- 1866 - William G. Conley, Governor of West Virginia (d. 1940)
- 1867 - Emily Greene Balch, American writer and pacifist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 1961)
- 1870 - Miguel Primo de Rivera, dictator of Spain (d. 1930)
- 1871 - James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1940)
- 1873 - Iuliu Maniu, Romanian politician (d. 1953)
- 1881 - Henrik Shipstead, U.S. Senator from Minnesota (d. 1960)
- 1883 - Patrick J. Hurley, U.S. Secretary of War (d. 1963)
- 1883 - Pavel Filonov, Russian painter (d. 1941)
- 1885 - John Curtin, fourteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945)
- 1885 - A. J. Muste, Dutch-born civil rights activist and pacifist (d. 1967)
- 1888 - Matthew Moore, Irish-American actor (d. 1960)
- 1891 - Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (d. 1957)
- 1891 - Bronislava Nijinska, Russian choreographer (d. 1972)
- 1896 - Arthur Ford, American psychic spiritual medium (d. 1971)
- 1897 - Dennis Wheatley, British author (d. 1977)
- 1902 - Carl Rogers, American psychologist (d. 1987)
- 1902 - Georgy Malenkov, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party (d. 1988)
- 1903 - Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist (d. 1960)
- 1904 - Karl Brandt, Nazi war ciminal (d. 1948)
- 1905 - Franjo Cardinal Seper, Croatian Catholic cardinal (d. 1981)
- 1905 - Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer (d. 1988)
- 1908 - William Hartnell, British actor (d. 1975)
- 1909 - Willy Millowitsch, German actor (d. 1999)
- 1909 - José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (d. 1992)
- 1909 - Evelyn Wood, American educator (d. 1995)
- 1910 - Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova, Russian ballerina (d. 1988)
- 1911 - Butterfly McQueen, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1915 - Walker Cooper, baseball player (d. 1991)
- 1923 - Larry Storch, American actor
- 1923 - Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)
- 1923 - Joseph Weizenbaum, German-born computer scientist
- 1924 - Ron Moody, English actor
- 1926 - Evelyn Lear, American soprano
- 1926 - Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer
- 1926 - Soupy Sales, American comedian
- 1931 - Bill Graham, German-born American music promoter (d. 1991)
- 1933 - Charles Osgood, American journalist and commentator
- 1933 - Jean-Marie Straub, French film director
- 1934 - Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
- 1934 - Roy Kinnear, English actor (d. 1988)
- 1934 - Alexandra Ripley, American writer (d. 2004)
- 1934 - Gene Freese, baseball player
- 1935 - Elvis Presley, American singer and guitarist (d. 1977)
- 1937 - Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
- 1938 - Bob Eubanks, American game show host
- 1941 - Graham Chapman, British comedian (d. 1989)
- 1941 - Boris Vallejo, Peruvian illustrator
- 1942 - Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author
- 1942 - Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan
- 1942 - Yvette Mimieux, American actress
- 1944 - Terry Brooks, American writer
- 1946 - Robby Krieger, American musician (The Doors)
- 1947 - David Bowie, English musician
- 1947 - Samuel Schmid, Swiss Federal Councilor
- 1951 - Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
- 1951 - John McTiernan, American film director
- 1953 - Bruce Sutter, baseball player
- 1955 - Mike Reno, Canadian musician (Loverboy)
- 1955 - Spiros Livathinos, Greek footballer
- 1958 - Rey Misterio, Sr., Mexican professional wrestler
- 1959 - Paul Hester, Australian drummer (Crowded House) (d. 2005)
- 1961 - Calvin Smith, American athlete
- 1962 - Chris Marion, American musician (Little River Band)
- 1965 - Michelle Forbes, American actress
- 1966 - Igor Vyazmikin, Russian ice hockey player
- 1967 - R. Kelly, American singer
- 1969 - Ami Dolenz, American actress
- 1969 - Jeff Abercrombie, American musician (Fuel)
- 1970 - Dave Eggers, American writer and publisher
- 1970 - Melissa Hill, American porn actress
- 1971 - Jason Giambi, American baseball player
- 1971 - Pascal Zuberbühler, Swiss footballer
- 1973 - Mark Knight, English sound designer
- 1973 - Sean Paul, Jamaican singer
- 1973 - Jason Stevens, Australian rugby league player
- 1975 - DJ Clue, American DJ and producer
- 1976 - Jenny Lewis, American actress and musician (Rilo Kiley)
- 1976 - Carl Pavano, American baseball player
- 1977 - Amber Benson, American actress
- 1977 - Lee Yoo-jin, Korean actress
- 1978 - Marco Fu, Hong Kong snooker player
- 1979 - Adrian Mutu, Romanian soccer player
- 1979 - Sarah Polley, Canadian actress
- 1979 - Seol Ki-Hyeon, South Korean footballer
- 1980 - Rachel Nichols, American actress
- 1981 - Jeff Francis, Canadian baseball player
- 1982 - Gaby Hoffmann, American actress
- 1982 - Emanuele Calaiò, Italian footballer
- 1983 - Chris Mordetsky, American professional wrestler
- 1985 - Rachael Lampa, American singer
- 1986 - Jaclyn Linetsky, Canadian actress (d. 2003)
- 1986 - David Silva, Spanish footballer
- 1991 - Asuka Hinoi, Japanese singer
- 1991 - Kaylee Naumowicz, Disney Cast Member
[edit] Deaths
- 482 - Saint Severinus of Noricum
- 1100 - Antipope Clement III (bc. 1029)
- 1107 - Edgar of Scotland (b. 1074)
- 1198 - Pope Celestine III (bc. 1106)
- 1324 - Marco Polo, Italian explorer (b. 1254)
- 1337 - Giotto di Bondone, Italian artist (b. 1267)
- 1464 - Thomas Ebendorfer, Austrian historian (b. 1385)
- 1557 - Albert the Warlike, Prince of Bayreuth (b. 1522)
- 1570 - Philibert de l'Orme, French architect (bc. 1510)
- 1642 - Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer (b. 1564)
- 1707 - John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair, Scottish politician (b. 1648)
- 1713 - Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer (b. 1653)
- 1775 - John Baskerville, English printer (b. 1706)
- 1789 - Jack Broughton, English boxer (bc. 1703)
- 1794 - Justus Möser, German statesman (b. 1720)
- 1815 - Edward Pakenham, British general (b. 1778)
- 1825 - Eli Whitney, American inventor (b. 1765)
- 1854 - William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (b. 1768)
- 1865 - Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre, French general (b. 1779)
- 1874 - Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French writer and historian (b. 1814)
- 1878 - Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, Russian poet (b. 1821)
- 1880 - Joshua A. Norton, American eccentric (b. 1811)
- 1896 - William Raine Marshall, Governor of Minnesota (b. 1825)
- 1896 - Paul Verlaine, French poet (b. 1844)
- 1901 - John Barry, Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross (b. 1873)
- 1916 - Ada Rehan, Irish-born American actress (b. 1860)
- 1932 - Eurosia Fabris, Italian Catholic (b. 1866)
- 1934 - Andrei Bely, Russian writer (b. 1880)
- 1935 - Jesse Garon Presley, stillborn twin brother of Elvis Presley
- 1941 - Robert Baden-Powell, English founder of scouting (b. 1857)
- 1942 - Joseph Franklin Rutherford, American religious publisher (b. 1869)
- 1944 - William Kissam Vanderbilt II, member of the Vanderbilt family (b. 1878)
- 1948 - Kurt Schwitters, German painter (b. 1887)
- 1948 - Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor (b. 1891)
- 1950 - Joseph Schumpeter, Austrian economist (b. 1883)
- 1956 - Jim Elliot, American Christian missionary (b. 1928)
- 1958 - Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (b. 1883)
- 1963 - Kay Sage, American artist and poet (b. 1898)
- 1967 - Zbigniew Cybulski, Polish actor (b. 1927)
- 1969 - Albert Hill, British athlete (b. 1889)
- 1970 - Georges Guibourg, French performer (b. 1891)
- 1972 - Kenneth Patchen, American poet (b. 1911)
- 1975 - Richard Tucker, American tenor (b. 1913)
- 1976 - Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1898)
- 1976 - Robert Forgan, British fascist (b. 1891)
- 1979 - Sara Carter, American country musician (b. 1898)
- 1980 - John Mauchly, American physicist (b. 1907)
- 1981 - Matthew "Stymie" Beard, American actor (b. 1925)
- 1983 - Tom McCall, Governor of Oregon (b. 1913)
- 1986 - Pierre Fournier, French cellist (b. 1906)
- 1989 - Bruce Chatwin, English novelist (b. 1940)
- 1990 - Terry-Thomas, British actor, comedian (b. 1911)
- 1991 - Steve Clark, English guitarist (Def Leppard) (b. 1960)
- 1993 - Eleanor Hibbert, British author (b. 1906)
- 1994 - Pat Buttram, American actor (b. 1915)
- 1994 - Harvey Haddix, American baseball player (b. 1925)
- 1995 - Carlos Monzon, Argentinian boxer (b. 1942)
- 1996 - François Mitterrand, President of France (b. 1916)
- 1997 - Melvin Calvin, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 1998 - Michael Tippett, English composer (b. 1905)
- 2000 - Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrianist (b. 1918)
- 2002 - Alexander Prochorow, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (b. 1916)
- 2002 - Dave Thomas, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1932)
- 2003 - Ron Goodwin, British composer and conductor (b. 1925)
- 2004 - John A. Gambling, American radio talk-show host (b. 1930)
- 2004 - Aaron Weaver, American soldier (b. 1971)
- 2005 - Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster (b. 1952)
- 2005 - Warren Spears, American choreographer and dancer
- 2005 - Michel Thomas, Polish linguist (b. 1914)
- 2006 - Tony Banks, British politician (b. 1943)
- 2007 - Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-born actress (b. 1922)
- 2007 - David Ervine, Northern Irish politician (b. 1953)
- 2007 - Iwao Takamoto, American animator (b. 1925)
- 2007 - Francis Cockfield, British politician (b. 1916)
[edit] Holidays and observances
[edit] External links
