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Today January 8th in history click read more below to view detail events, deaths, births, Holidays and observances, and video clips in hisotry. Please comments, last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
871 – Battle of Ashdown – Ethelred of Wessex defeats an invading army of Danes.
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 – Second Jacobite Rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union Address in New York City.
1806 – Cape Colony becomes a British colony.
1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt was 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.
1835 – The United States national debt is 0 for the only time.
1838 – Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield
1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain (Montana Territory).
1900 – President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
1906 – A landslide in Haverstraw, New York, caused by the excavation of clay along the Hudson River, kills 20 people.
1912 – The African National Congress is founded.
1918 – President Woodrow Wilson announces his Fourteen Points for the aftermath of World War I.
1926 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz and renames it Saudi Arabia.
1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
1959 – Fidel Castro s Cuban Revolution is completed with the take over of Santiago de Cuba.
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 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
1962 – The Harmelen train disaster kills 93 people in The Netherlands.
1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a War on Poverty in the United States.
1973 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
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 other than by succeeding her husband.
1979 – The tanker Betelgeuse explodes in Bantry Bay, Ireland (The Betelgeuse incident).
1982 – The break up of AT&T: AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
1989 – The Kegworth air disaster. British Midland flight 92 crashes into the M1 motorway killing 47 people out of 127 on board.
1989 – Beginning of Japanese Heisei era.
1994 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would 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 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, is christened by her namesake s granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco (SSN-711) collides with an undersea mountain at full speed south of Guam. One man is killed, but she surfaces and is repaired.
2006 – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake with its epicenter just off the Greek island of Kythira hits much of the country and is felt throughout the entire eastern Mediterranean Sea.
Births
1556 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)
1583 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (d. 1643)
1587 – Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer (d. 1616)
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 (d. 1709)
1735 – John Carroll, American Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 1815)
1763 – Edmond Charles Genêt, French diplomat (d. 1834)
1786 – Nicholas Biddle, American banking executive (d. 1844)
1788 – Archduke Rudolph of Austria (d. 1831)
1788 – Pavel Kiselyov, Russian general and politician (d. 1874)
1792 – Lowell Mason, American composer (d. 1872)
1805 – John Bigler, American politician (d. 1871)
1805 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader (d. 1878)
1812 – Sigismond Thalberg, French pianist and composer (d. 1871)
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 and composer (d. 1894)
1836 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch artist (d. 1912)
1843 – Frederick Abberline, British police investigator (d. 1929)
1843 – John H. Moffitt, American politician (d. 1926)
1852 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor and author (d. 1931)
1860 – Emma Booth, daughter of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1903)
1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher (d. 1934)
1864 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (d. 1892)
1866 – William G. Conley, American politician (d. 1940)
1867 – Emily Greene Balch, American writer and pacifist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1870 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician (d. 1930)
1871 – James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish politician (d. 1940)
1873 – Iuliu Maniu, Romanian politician (d. 1953)
1873 – Elena of Montenegro, queen of Italy (d. 1956)
1881 – Henrik Shipstead, American politician (d. 1960)
1883 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter (d. 1941)
1883 – Patrick J. Hurley, United States Secretary of War (d. 1963)
1885 – John Curtin, Australian politician (d. 1945)
1885 – A. J. Muste, Dutch pacifist and activist (d. 1967)
1888 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician (d. 1972)
1888 – Matthew Moore, Irish-American actor (d. 1960)
1891 – Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (d. 1957)
1891 – Storm Jameson, English writer (d. 1986)
1891 – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian choreographer (d. 1972)
1894 – St Maximilian Kolbe, Polish martyr (d. 1941)
1896 – Arthur Ford, American psychic (d. 1971)
1896 – Jaromir Weinberger, Czech-American composer (d. 1967)
1897 – Dennis Wheatley, British author (d. 1977)
1899 – Solomon Bandaranaike, Ceylonese Prime Minister (d. 1959)
1900 – Dame Merlyn Myer, Australian philanthropist (d. 1982)
1902 – Georgy Malenkov, Soviet politician (d. 1988)
1902 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist (d. 1987)
1903 – Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist (d. 1960)
1904 – Karl Brandt, Alsacian Nazi war criminal (d. 1948)
1905 – Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer (d. 1988)
1905 – Franjo Cardinal Seper, Croatian Catholic cardinal (d. 1981)
1908 – William Hartnell, British actor (d. 1975)
1909 – Willy Millowitsch, German actor (d. 1999)
1909 – Evelyn Wood, American educator (d. 1995)
1910 – Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova, Russian ballerina (d. 1988)
1911 – Tom Delaney, British racing driver (d. 2006)
1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress and entertainer (d. 1970)
1912 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (d. 1992)
1915 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player (d. 1991)
1921 – Herta Bothe, Nazi concentration camp guard
1922 – Abbey Simon, U.S. pianist
1923 – Larry Storch, American actor
1923 – Giorgio Tozzi, American bass
1923 – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)
1923 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American author and computer scientist (d. 2008)
1924 – Benjamin Lees, American composer
1924 – Ron Moody, English actor
1925 – Helmuth Hubener, German activist (d. 1942)
1926 – Evelyn Lear, American soprano
1926 – Kelucharan Mohapatra, Indian Odissi dancer (d. 2004)
1926 – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer
1926 – Soupy Sales, American comedian
1927 – Charles Tomlinson, British poet and translator
1928 – Gaston Miron, Quebec poet and editor (d. 1996)
1928 – Slade Gorton, American politician
1929 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian actor
1931 – Bill Graham, German-born American music promoter (d. 1991)
1933 – Charles Osgood, American journalist and commentator
1933 – Jean-Marie Straub, French film director
1933 – Ko Un, Korean poet
1934 – Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
1934 – Gene Freese, American baseball player
1934 – Roy Kinnear, English actor (d. 1988)
1934 – Alexandra Ripley, American writer (d. 2004)
1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer (d. 1977)
1936 – Zdenek Mácal, Czech conductor
1936 – Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian-born British scientist
1937 – Dame Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
1938 – Bob Eubanks, American game show host
1939 – Carolina Herrera, Venezuelan fashion designer
1938 – Yevgeny Nesterenko, Russian bass-baritone
1941 – Graham Chapman, British comedian (d. 1989)
1941 – Boris Vallejo, Peruvian illustrator
1942 – Valya Balkanska, Bulgarian folk singer
1942 – Stephen Hawking, English theoretical physicist and author
1942 – Junichiro Koizumi, Japanese politician
1942 – Yvette Mimieux, American actress
1944 – Terry Brooks, American writer
1945 – Jeannie Lewis, Australian actress and singer
1945 – Kojo Nnamdi, Guyanese-born American radio host
1945 – Kathleen Noone, American actress
1946 – Robby Krieger, American musician (The Doors)
1947 – Don Bendell, American author & karate master
1947 – David Bowie, English musician
1947 – Samuel Schmid, Swiss politician
1947 – Terry Sylvester, British singer and musician
1948 – Gillies MacKinnon, Scottish film director
1951 – Kenny Anthony, Saint Lucian politician
1951 – John McTiernan, American film director
1952 – Vladimir Feltsman, Russian-American pianist
1953 – Bruce Sutter, American baseball player
1955 – Spiros Livathinos, Greek footballer
1955 – Mike Reno, Canadian musician
1957 – Nacho Duato, Spanish classical dancer and choreographer
1958 – Rey Misterio, Sr., Mexican wrestler
1959 – Paul Hester, Australian drummer (Crowded House) (d. 2005)
1961 – Calvin Smith, American athlete
1961 – Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese comic book writer and artist
1962 – Chris Marion, American musician
1965 – Michelle Forbes, American actress
1965 – Maria Pitillo, American actress
1966 – Igor Vyazmikin, Russian ice hockey player
1967 – R. Kelly, American singer
1968 – Keith Mullings, American boxer
1969 – Jeff Abercrombie, American musician
1969 – Ami Dolenz, American actress
1970 – Rachel Friend, Australian actress
1971 – Jason Giambi, American baseball player
1971 – Pascal Zuberbühler, Swiss footballer
1972 – Sean McKeever, American writer
1973 – Mark Knight, English sound designer
1973 – Sean Paul, Jamaican singer
1973 – Jason Stevens, Australian rugby league footballer
1975 – DJ Clue, American DJ and producer
1975 – Harris Jayaraj, Indian music composer
1976 – Jenny Lewis, American actress and musician
1976 – Josh Meyers, American actor
1976 – Carl Pavano, American baseball player
1976 – Brad Snyder, Canadian shot putter
1977 – Amber Benson, American actress
1977 – Ron Pederson, Canadian actor
1977 – Lee Yoo-jin, Korean actress
1978 – Boris Avrukh, Israeli chess grandmaster
1978 – Marco Fu, Hong Kong snooker player
1979 – Seol Ki-Hyeon, South Korean footballer
1979 – Adrian Mutu, Romanian footballer
1979 – Sarah Polley, Canadian actress
1979 – Stipe Pletikosa, Croatian footballer
1980 – Rachel Nichols, American actress
1981 – Jeff Francis, Canadian baseball player
1981 – Xie Xingfang, Chinese badminton player
1982 – Emanuele Calaiò, Italian footballer
1982 – wiL Francis, American singer
1982 – Gaby Hoffmann, American actress
1982 – John Utaka, Nigerian footballer
1983 – Chris Mordetzky, American wrestler
1983 – Felipe Colombo, Argentine/Mexican actor and singer
1984 – Jeff Francoeur, American baseball player
1985 – Rachael Lampa, American singer
1985 – Cho Cheng, American fashion designer
1986 – Jaclyn Linetsky, Canadian actress (d. 2003)
1986 – David Silva, Spanish footballer
1988 – Adam T. Siska, American musician (The Academy Is…)
1990 – Maci Wainwright, American singer
1991 – Asuka Hinoi, Japanese singer
Deaths
482 – Saint Severinus of Noricum
1100 – Antipope Clement III (b. c.1029)
1107 – Edgar of Scotland (b. 1074)
1198 – Pope Celestine III (b. c.1106)
1324 – Marco Polo, Italian explorer (b. 1254)
1337 – Giotto di Bondone, Italian artist (b. 1267)
1456 – St Lawrence Justinian, Italian bishop and first Patriarch of Venice (b. 1381)
1464 – Thomas Ebendorfer, Austrian historian (b. 1385)
1557 – Albert the Warlike, Prince of Bayreuth (b. 1522)
1570 – Philibert de l Orme, French architect (b. c.1510)
1598 – John George, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1525)
1642 – Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and scientist (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 (b. c.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 Rainey 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)
1916 – Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (b. 1884)
1918 – Ellis H. Roberts, American politician (b. 1827)
1932 – Eurosia Fabris, Italian Catholic (b. 1866)
1934 – Andrei Bely, Russian writer (b. 1880)
1934 – Serge Stavisky, French financier and embezzler (b. 1886)
1938 – Johnny Gruelle, Creator of Raggedy Ann and Andy (b. 1880)
1941 – Robert Baden-Powell, English founder of scouting (b. 1857)
1942 – Joseph Franklin Rutherford, American religious publisher (b. 1869)
1943 – Richard Hillary, Australian Spitfire pilot and author (b. 1919)
1944 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, member of the Vanderbilt family (b. 1878)
1945 – Karl Krafft, Swiss astrologer who was manipulated by the Nazi regime (b. 1900)
1948 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter (b. 1887)
1948 – Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor (b. 1891)
1950 – Joseph Schumpeter, Austrian economist (b. 1883)
1953 – Admiral Sir Hugh Binney, British naval commander and Governor of Tasmania (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 – John Gregson, English actor (b. 1919)
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)
1982 – Grégoire Aslan, Armenian actor (b. 1908)
1983 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German fighter pilot (b. 1919)
1983 – Ron Frazer, Australian actor (b. 1924)
1983 – Tom McCall, Governor of Oregon (b. 1913)
1986 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist (b. 1906)
1990 – Terry-Thomas, British actor, comedian (b. 1911)
1991 – Steve Clark, English guitarist (Def Leppard) (b. 1960)
1994 – Pat Buttram, American actor (b. 1915)
1994 – Harvey Haddix, American baseball player (b. 1925)
1995 – Carlos Monzon, Argentinian boxer (b. 1942)
1996 – John Hargreaves, Australian actor (b. 1945)
1996 – François Mitterrand, President of France (b. 1916)
1996 – Howard Taubman, American music and theater critic (b. 1907)
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)
2005 – Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster (b. 1952)
2005 – Warren Spears, American choreographer and dancer (b. 1954)
2005 – Michel Thomas, Polish linguist (b. 1914)
2006 – Tony Banks, British politician (b. 1943)
2007 – Jane Bolin, first African American female judge (b. 1908)
2007 – Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-born actress (b. 1922)
2007 – Francis Cockfield, British politician (b. 1916)
2007 – David Ervine, Northern Irish politician (b. 1953)
2007 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator (b. 1925)
2008 – George Moore, Australian champion jockey (b. 1923)
2009 – Richard John Neuhaus, Canadian-American Christian writer and editor (b. 1936)
Holidays and observances
Commonwealth Day is celebrated in the Northern Mariana Islands.
The feast day of Our Lady of Prompt Succor in the Roman Catholic Church.
January 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
St. Abo of Tiflis
St. Apollinaris, Bishop of Hierapolis, 2nd Century.
St. Gudula
St. Lucian of Beauvais
St. Pega
St. Severinus
St. Thorfinn
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