On this day in History - Jan. 8

• 0482 - Saint Severinus dies.
• 0871 - Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats Danish invasion army.
• 1100 - Antipope Clement III dies (bc. 1029) .
• 1107 - Edgar of Scotland dies (b. 1074)
• 1198 - Pope Celestine III dies (bc. 1106)
• 1198 - Innocentius III becomes Pope.
• 1297 - Monaco gains its independence.
• 1324 - Marco Polo dies (b. 1254). Italian explorer.
• 1337 - Giotto di Bondone dies (b. 1267). Italian artist.
• 1455 - A Bula do Papa Nicolau V, «Romanus Pontifex» concede ao rei de Portugal, aos seus sucessores e ao infante D. Henrique, as terras descobertas e a descobrir pelos navegadores e exploradores ao serviço da Coroa de Portugal.
• 1464 - Thomas Ebendorfer dies (b. 1385). Austrian historian.
• 1499 - Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany
• 1556 - Uesugi Kagekatsu was born (d. 1623). Japanese samurai and warlord.
• 1557 - Albert the Warlike dies (b. 1522). Prince of Bayreuth
• 1570 - Philibert de l'Orme dies (bc. 1510). French architect.
• 1583 - Simon Episcopius was born (d. 1643). Dutch theologian.
• 1598 - Jews are expelled from Genoa Italy.
• 1601 - Baltasar Gracián y Morales was born (d. 1658). Spanish writer.
• 1628 - François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg was born (d. 1695). French general.
• 1632 - Samuel Pufendorf was born (d. 1694). German jurist.
• 1635 - Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero was born (d. 1709). Spanish Archbishop of Toledo.
• 1642 - Galileo Galilei dies in Arcetri, Italy (b. 1564). Astronomer, father of the scientific method.
• 1707 - John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair dies (b. 1648). Scottish politician.
• 1713 - Arcangelo Corelli dies (b. 1653). Italian composer.
• 1734 - Premiere of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
• 1735 - John Carroll was born (d.1815). First American Catholic archbishop.
• 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
• 1763 - Edmond Charles Genêt was born (d. 1834). French ambassador to the United States
• 1766 - Una flotilla inglesa se apodera del puerto de Egmont, en las islas Malvinas.
• 1775 - John Baskerville dies (b. 1706). English printer.
• 1786 - Nicholas Biddle was born (d. 1844). American financier, made 2nd bank of US 1st effective central bank.
• 1788 - Pavel Kiselyov was born (d. 1874). Russian general and politician.
• 1789 - Jack Broughton dies (bc 1703). English boxer.
• 1790 - George Washington delivers the first State of the Union Address address in New York City.
• 1792 - Lowell Mason was born (d. 1872). American composer.
• 1794 - Justus Möser dies (b. 1720). German statesman.
• 1806 - Cape Colony becomes a British colony.
• 1800 - Austrians defeat French in 2nd battle of Novi .
• 1805 - John Bigler was born (d. 1871). Governor of California
• 1805 - Orson Hyde was born (d. 1878). American religious leader.
• 1810 - Robert Schumann Zwickau Germ, composer (Neue Zeitschrift fuer Musik) .
• 1811 - Unsuccessful slave revolt led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
• 1815 - War of 1812: In the Battle of New Orleans Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
• 1815 - Edward Pakenham dies killed in battle (b. 1778). British general
• 1817 - Sir Theophilus Shepstone was born (d. 1893). South African statesman.
• 1821 - James Longstreet was born (d. 1904). American Confederate general.
• 1821 - W.H.L. Wallace was born (d. 1862). American Union general.
• 1823 - Alfred Russel Wallace was born (d. 1913). British naturalist and biologist.
• 1824 - Francisco González Bocanegra was born (d. 1861). Mexican poet.
• 1824 - Wilkie Collins was born (d. 1889). British novelist.
• 1825 - Eli Whitney dies (b. 1765). American inventor.
• 1836 - Lawrence Alma-Tadema was born (d. 1912). Dutch artist.
• 1838 - Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
• 1843 - Frederick Abberline was born (d. 1929). British police investigator.
• 1852 - James Milton Carroll was born (d. 1931). Baptist pastor, leader, historian, and author.
• 1854 - William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (b. 1768)
  1856 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
• 1860 - Emma Booth was born (d. 1903). The fourth child of William and Catherine Booth
• 1863 - Battle of Springfield of the American Civil War is fought.
• 1863 - Yorkshire County Cricket Club is founded at the Adelphi Hotel in Sheffield, England.
• 1865 - Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre, French general (b. 1779)
• 1867 - African American men granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.
• 1867 - Emily Greene Balch was born (d. 1961). American writer and pacifist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
• 1870 - Miguel Primo de Rivera was born (d. 1930). Dictator of Spain.
• 1871 - James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon was born (d. 1940). First Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
• 1873 - Iuliu Maniu was born (d. 1953). Romanian politician.
• 1874 - Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg dies (b. 1814). French writer and historian.
• 1877 - Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry (Montana).
• 1878 - Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov dies (b. 1821). Russian poet.
• 1880 - Joshua A. Norton dies (b. 1811). "Emperor Norton I of the United States"
• 1881 -William Piper was born. Airplane manufacturer.
• 1881 - Henrik Shipstead was born (d. 1960). U.S. Senator from Minnesota
• 1883 - Patrick J. Hurley was born (d. 1963). U.S. Secretary of War.
• 1883 - Pavel Filonov was born (d. 1941). Russian painter.
• 1885 - Tratado de paz y amistad entre España y la República de Ecuador.
• 1885 - John Curtin was born (d. 1945). Fourteenth Prime Minister of Australia
• 1885 - A. J. Muste was born (d. 1967). Dutch-born civil rights activist and pacifist.
• 1888 - Matthew Moore was born (d. 1960). Irish actor.
• 1889 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine.
• 1891 - Walther Bothe was born (d. 1957). German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate
• 1891 - Bronislava Nijinska was born (d. 1972). Russian choreographer.
• 1894 - A fire at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago causes a good deal of damage.
• 1896 - Manuel Rojas was born in Sepulveda. Chilean writer (Men of the South) .
• 1896 - Arthur Ford was born (d. 1971). American psychic spiritual medium.
• 1896 - William Raine Marshall dies (b. 1825). Governor of Minnesota.
• 1896 - Paul Verlaine dies (b. 1844). French poet (Elégies, Bonne Chanson)
• 1897 - Dennis Wheatley was born (d. 1977). British author.
• 1900 - United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
• 1902 - Mouzinho de Albuquerque dies. Portuguese militar.
• 1902 - Carl Rogers was born (d. 1883). American psychologist.
• 1903 - Igor Kurchatov was born (d. 1960). Russian physicist.
• 1904 - Karl Brandt was born (d. 1948). Nazi war ciminal.
• 1905 - Franjo Cardinal Seper was born (d. 1981). Croatian Catholic cardinal.
• 1905 - Giacinto Scelsi was born (d. 1988). Italian composer.
• 1906 - A landslide in Haverstraw, New York kills 20 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, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.
• 1908 - William Hartnell was born (d. 1975). British actor.
• 1909 - El político cubano Juan Miguel Gómez, líder del partido liberal de su país, es elegido presidente de la República.
• 1909 - Willy Millowitsch was born (d. 1999). German actor.
• 1909 - José Ferrer was born (d. 1992). Puerto Rican actor.
• 1909 - Evelyn Wood was born (d. 1995). American educator.
• 1910 - Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova dies (b. 1988). Russian ballerina.
• 1912 - The African National Congress was founded.
• 1912 - Jose Ferrer was born. Puerto Rican actor .
• 1913 - Tomada de posse do 1.º governo Afonso Costa (Portugal) .
• 1915 - Walker Cooper was born (d. 1991). Baseball player.
• 1916 - World War I: Allied forces withdraw from Gallipoli.
• 1916 - Ada Rehan dies (b. 1860). American actress.
• 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.
• 1923 - Larry Storch was born. American actor.
• 1923 - Johnny Wardle was born (d. 1985). English cricketer.
• 1923 - Joseph Weizenbaum was born. German-born computer scientist
• 1924 - Ron Moody was born. English actor
• 1926 - Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz and renames it Saudi Arabia.
• 1926 - Evelyn Lear was born. American soprano
• 1926 - Hanae Mori was born. Japanese fashion designer.
• 1926 - Soupy Sales was born. American comedian
• 1928 - Clube Atletico Bragantino, Bragança Paulista, Brazil, is founded.
• 1929 - Son repatriadas las fuerzas estadounidenses de ocupación en Nicaragua.
• 1931 - Bill Graham was born (d. 1991)., German-born American music promoter.
• 1932 - Eurosia Fabris dies (b. 1866). Italian Catholic.
• 1933 - Charles Osgood was born. American journalist and commentator
• 1934 - Jacques Anquetil was born (d. 1987). French cyclist.
• 1934 - Roy Kinnear was born (d. 1988). English actor.
• 1934 - Alexandra Ripley was born (d. 2004). American writer.
• 1934 - Gene Freese was born. Baseball player
• 1934 - Andrei Bely dies (b. 1880). Russian writer.
• 1935 - Elvis Presley was born (d. 1977). American singer and guitarist.
• 1935 - Jesse Presley born and died the same day. Elvis' stillborn twin
• 1935 - A.C. Hardy patents the spectrophotometer.
• 1935 - Mao-Tse-Toung devient Président du parti Communiste Chinois.
• 1935 - Elvis Presley was born in Yupelo, Mississipi [d. 1977]singer, guitarrist .
• 1937 - Shirley Bassey was born in Cardiff. Welsh singer.
• 1937 - John Hume was born. Irish politician.
• 1938 - Bob Eubanks, American game show host
• 1941 - Lord Robert Baden-Powell of Gilwell dies. British general, founder of the "boy scouts".
• 1941 - Graham Chapman was born (d. 1989). British comedian.
• 1941 - Boris Vallejo was born. Peruvian illustrator.
• 1941 - Robert Baden-Powell dies (b. 1857). English founder of scouting.
• 1942 - Stephen Hawking was born. English physicist and author.
• 1942 - Junichiro Koizumi was born. Prime Minister of Japan.
• 1942 - Yvette Mimieux was born. American actress.
• 1942 - Joseph Franklin Rutherford dies (b. 1869). American religious publisher.
• 1944 - Terry Brooks was born. American writer.
• 1944 - William Kissam Vanderbilt II dies (b. 1878). Member of the Vanderbilt family
• 1946 - Aparece la revista "France Football", por entonces, órgano oficial de la Fédération Française de Football.
• 1946 - Robby Krieger was born. American musician (The Doors)
• 1947 - David Bowie was born. English singer.
• 1947 - Samuel Schmid was born. Swiss Federal Councilor.
• 1948 - Kurt Schwitters dies (b. 1887). German painter.
• 1948 - Richard Tauber dies (b. 1891). Austrian tenor.
• 1950 - Joseph Schumpeter dies at 66. Austrian/US economist/Minister of Finance
• 1951 - Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
• 1952 - Jordan adopts constitution .
• 1953 - René Mayer becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1953 - Bruce Sutter was born. Baseball player
• 1955 - Mike Reno was born. Canadian musician (Loverboy)
• 1956 - Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
• 1956 - Jim Elliot dies (b. 1928). American Christian missionary.
• 1958 - 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.
• 1958 - Rey Misterio, Sr. was born. Mexican professional wrestler
• 1958 - Paul Pilgrim dies (b. 1883). American athlete.
• 1959 - Conquest of Cuba by Fidel Castro is completed with the conquest of Santiago de Cuba.
• 1959 - Charles de Gaulle became the first president of France's Fifth Republic.
• 1959 - Michel Debré becomes Prime Minister of France .
• 1959 - Paul Hester was born (d. 2005). Australian drummer (Crowded House).
• 1961 - Calvin Smith was born. American athlete.
• 1962 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC).
• 1962 - Harmelen train disaster kills 93 in The Netherlands
• 1963 - Kay Sage dies (b. 1898). American artist and poet.
• 1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty.
• 1966 - Georges Pompidou forms his third cabinet as French premier .
• 1967 - Michelle Forbes was born. American actress
• 1967 - R. Kelly was born. American R&B singer .
• 1969 - Universidad de Concepción del Uruguay is created.
• 1969 - Ami Dolenz was born. American actress.
• 1969 - Jeff Abercrombie was born. American musician (Fuel (band))
• 1969 - Albert Hill dies (b. 1889). British athlete.
• 1970 - Dave Eggers was born. American writer and publisher
• 1970 - Georges Guibourg dies (b. 1891). French performer.
• 1971 - Los tupamaros secuestran al embajador británico en Uruguay.
• 1971 - Armando Discépolo dies. Argentine theater author.
• 1971 - Jason Giambi was born. Baseball player.
• 1971 - Pascal Zuberbühler was born. Swiss football (soccer) goalkeeper.
• 1972 - Kenneth Patchen dies (b. 1911). American poet.
• 1973 - Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of placing bugs in Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins. Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of placing bugs in Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
• 1973 - Mark Knight was born. English sound designer.
• 1973 - Jason Stevens was born. Australian rugby league player
• 1975 - Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecicut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband.
• 1975 - DJ Clue was born. American DJ and producer.
• 1975 - Sean Paul was born. Jamaican singer
• 1975 - Richard Tucker dies (b. 1913). American tenor.
• 1976 - Jenny Lewis was born. American actress and musician (Rilo Kiley)
• 1976 - Zhou Enlai dies (b. 1898). Premier of the People's Republic of China
• 1976 - Robert Forgan dies (b. 1891). British fascist.
• 1977 - Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
• 1977 - Pearl Amoah was born. Miss Ghana-Universe (1996).
• 1977 - Amber Benson was born. American actress.
• 1977 - Lee Yoo-jin was born. Korean actress.
• 1978 - Petra Minarova was born. Miss Czech Republic-Universe (1997) .
• 1978 - Marco Fu was born. Hong Kong snooker player
• 1979 - Argentina and Chile sign Beagle Canal accord.
• 1979 - Vietnamese troops overtook Khmer Rouge and occupy Phnom Penh .
• 1979 - The tanker Betelgeuse explodes in Bantry Bay, Ireland (The Betelgeuse incident). 512 die.
• 1979 - Adrian Mutu was born. Romanian soccer player.
• 1979 - Sarah Polley was born. Canadian actress.
• 1979 - Sara Carter dies (b. 1898). American country musician.
• 1980 - Rachel Nichols was born. American actress.
• 1980 - John Mauchly dies (b. 1907). American physicist.
• 1981 - Jeff Francis was born. Canadian baseball player
• 1981 - Matthew "Stymie" Beard dies (b. 1925). American actor.
• 1982 - Oscar Ribas Reig se convierte en el primer presidente del Principado de Andorra.
• 1982 -The AT&T Bell System telephone monopoly agreed to divest itself of 22 Bell System companies and split itself into seven "Baby Bells."
• 1982 - Gaby Hoffmann was born. American actress
• 1983 - Chris Mordetsky was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1983 - Tom McCall dies (b. 1913).Governor of Oregon.
• 1985 - Rachael Lampa was born. American singer
• 1986 - President Reagan freezes Libyan assets in the US.
• 1986 - Jaclyn Linetsky was born (d. 2003). Canadian actress.
• 1986 - Pierre Fournier dies (b. 1906). French cellist.
• 1987 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 8.30 to close at 2,002.25 - The Dow's first close above 2,000.
• 1989 - Kegworth air disaster Boeing 737-400 crashes in Great Britain, 47 die.
• 1989 - Beginning of Japanese Heisei era
• 1989 - Bruce Chatwin dies (b. 1840). English novelist.
• 1990 - Terry-Thomas dies (b. 1911). British actor, comedian.
• 1991 - Asuka Hinoi was born. Japanese singer
• 1991 - Steve Clark dies (b. 1960). English guitarist (Def Leppard)
• 1993 - Eleanor Hibbert dies (b. 1906). British author.
• 1994 - Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He will stay on the space station till March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
• 1994 - Pat Buttram dies (b. 1915). American actor.
• 1994 - Harvey Haddix dies (b. 1925). Baseball player.
• 1995 - Carlos Monzon dies in a car accident (b. 1942). Argentine boxeur.
• 1996 - An Antonov 32 cargo jet crashes into the central market in Kinshasa, Zaire killing more than 350.
• 1996 - François Mitterrand dies (b. 1916). Former President of France.
• 1997 - Melvin Calvin dies (b. 1911). American scientist winner of Nobel Prize for Chemics in 1961.
• 1998 - Walter Diemer dies. Shewing-gum inventor.
• 1998 -The mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef, was sentenced to life in prison.
• 1998 - Michael Tippett dies (b. 1905). English composer.
• 2000 - Fritz Thiedemann dies (b. 1918). German equestrianist.
• 2002 - Alexander Prochorow dies (b. 1916). Nobel Prize in Physics laureate.
• 2002 - Dave Thomas dies (b. 1932). American fast food entrepreneur.
• 2003 - Ron Goodwin dies at age 77. British composer Ron Goodwin was nominated for a Golden Glode for his Score of Alfred Hitchcock’s "Frenzy". He composed the music for several other horror/sci-fi/suspense.
• 2003 - Billy Van dies. Canadian comedian Billy Van died at age 68 after a long battle with cancer. Mr. Van appeared on numerous TV series during the last three decades.
• 2004 - RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, was christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
• 2004 - John A. Gambling dies (b. 1930). American radio talk-show host.
• 2005 - Campbell McComas dies (b. 1952). Australian impersonator and broadcaster.
• 2005 - Warren Spears dies. American choreographer and dancer
• 2005 - Michel Thomas dies (b. 1914). Polish linguist.
• 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.
• 2005 - Campbell McComas dies (b. 1952). Australian impersonator and broadcaster.
• 2005 - Warren Spears dies. American choreographer and dancer
• 2005 - Michel Thomas dies (b. 1914). Polish linguist.
• 2006 - Tony Banks dies (b. 1943). British politician.