August 8
is the 220th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (221st in
leap years), with 145 days remaining.
*
1509 - The Emperor
Krishnadeva Raya is crowned, marking the beginning of the regeneration of the
Vijayanagara Empire.
*
1576 - The cornerstone for
Tycho Brahe's
Uraniborg observatory is laid on
Hven.
*
1585 -
John Davis enters
Cumberland Sound in quest for the
Northwest Passage.
*
1588 -
Anglo-Spanish War:
Battle of Gravelines - The naval engagement ends, thus ending the
Spanish Armada's attempt to invade England.
*
1605 - The city of
Oulu,
Finland, is founded by
Charles IX of Sweden.
*
1647 - The
Irish Confederate Wars and
Wars of the Three Kingdoms:
Battle of Dungans Hill -
British Parliamentary forces defeat
Irish forces.
*
1786 -
Mont Blanc on the
French-
Italian border is climbed for the first time by
Jacques Balmat and Dr
Michel-Gabriel Paccard.
*
1794 -
Joseph Whidbey and
George Vancouver lead an expedition to search for the
Northwest Passage near
Juneau, Alaska.
*
1810 - Eminent
Urdu poet
Mirza Ghalib married
Maaroof, daughter of Nawab Ilahi Baksh; and moved to
Delhi.
*
1839 -
Beta Theta Pi is founded in
Oxford, Ohio.
*
1844 - The
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed by
Brigham Young, is created as the leading body of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
*
1863 -
American Civil War: Following his defeat in the
Battle of Gettysburg, General
Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to
Confederate President
Jefferson Davis (which is refused upon receipt).
*
1870 - The
Republic of Ploieşti, a failed
Radical-Liberal rising against
Domnitor Carol of
Romania.
*
1876 -
Thomas Edison receives a patent for his
mimeograph.
*
1908 -
Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at
Le Mans, France. It's the Wright Brothers' first public flight and the French public goes wild.
*
1911 -
Public Law 62-5 sets the number of representatives in the
United States House of Representatives at 435. The law would come into effect in
1913.
*
1918 -
World War I:
Battle of Amiens begins a string of almost continuous victories with a push through the
German front lines.
*
1929 - The
German airship
Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.
*
1930 -
Betty Boop premieres in the animated film
Dizzy Dishes.
*
1938 - The building of
Mauthausen concentration camp begins.
*
1942 -
World War II: In
Washington, DC, six
German would-be saboteurs are executed.
* 1942 -
Quit India resolution was passed by the
Bombay session of the AICC, which leads to the start of a civil disobedience movement across
India*
1945 - World War II - The
Soviet Union declares war on
Japan and invades
Manchuria.
* 1945 - The
United Nations Charter is ratified by the
United States, which becomes the third nation to join.
*
1946 - First flight of the
Convair B-36.
*
1947 -
Pakistan's
National Flag is approved.
*
1949 -
Bhutan becomes independent
*
1962 -
Elizabeth Ann Duncan becomes the last woman to be executed in the
United States prior to the reintroduction of
capital punishment in 1977.
*
1963 -
Great Train Robbery: In
England, a gang of 15
train robbers steal 2.6 million pounds in bank notes.
*
1966 - The
Beatles landmark album
Revolver is released in the United States.
*
1967 - The
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded.
*
1968 - Jurō Wada successfully performs
Japan's first
heart transplant.
*
1972 -
Richard Nixon accepts the nomination as candidate for the
presidency.
*
1973 - U.S. Vice President
Spiro Agnew goes on television to denounce accusations he had taken
kickbacks while governor of
Maryland.
* 1973 -
Kim Dae-Jung, a
South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is
kidnapped.
*
1974 -
Watergate scandal: U.S. President
Richard Nixon announces his resignation, effective the next day.
*
1976 -
Boston, by the rock band
Boston is released. It will become the #1 best-selling debut album in history.
*
1988 - General
Ne Win, ruler of
Burma since
1962, suddenly resigns.
*
1989 -
Space Shuttle program:
STS-28 Mission -
Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
*
1991 - Collapse of
Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built
* 1991 -
John McCarthy, British Journalist held hostage in Lebanon for more than five years by
Islamic Jihad, is released.
*
2000 -
Confederate submarine
H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor.
*
1079 -
Emperor Horikawa of Japan (d.
1107)
*
1605 -
Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, colonial Governor of Maryland (d.
1675)
*
1646 -
Godfrey Kneller, German-born painter (d.
1723)
*
1673 -
John Ker, Scottish spy (d.
1726)
*
1693 -
Laurent Belissen, French composer (d.
1762)
*
1694 -
Francis Hutcheson, Irish philosopher (d.
1746)
*
1720 -
Carl Fredrik Pechlin, Swedish politician (d.
1796)
*
1814 -
Esther Morris, suffragist and the first U. S. woman judge (d.
1902)
*
1839 -
Nelson Miles, U.S. general (d.
1925)
*
1866 -
Matthew Henson, Arctic explorer (d.
1955)
*
1875 -
Artur da Silva Bernardes, President of Brazil (d.
1955)
*
1879 -
Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary (d.
1919)
*
1880 -
Earle Page, 11th
Prime Minister of Australia (d.
1961)
*
1881 -
Albert Kesselring,
German field marshal (d.
1960)
*1881 -
Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, German
field marshal (d.
1954)
*
1891 -
Adolf Busch, German violinist (d.
1952)
*
1892 -
Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, Spanish footballer (d.
1922)
*
1896 -
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, American author (d.
1953)
*
1901 -
Ernest O. Lawrence, American physicist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (d.
1958)
*
1902 -
Paul Dirac, English physicist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (d.
1984)
*
1904 -
Achille Varzi, Italian racecar driver (d.
1948)
*
1905 -
André Jolivet, French composer (d.
1974)
*
1907 -
Benny Carter, American musician and arranger (d.
2003)
*
1908 -
Arthur Goldberg,
United States Supreme Court Justice (d.
1980)
*
1910 -
Sylvia Sidney, American actress (d.
1999)
*
1911 -
Rosetta LeNoire, American actress (d.
2002)
*
1915 -
James "Jumbo" Elliott, American track coach (d.
1981)
*
1919 -
Dino De Laurentiis, Italian film producer
*
1920 -
Leo Chiosso, Italian lyricist
*
1921 -
William Asher, American film producer
* 1921 -
John Herbert Chapman, British physicist
* 1921 -
Webb Pierce, American singer (d.
1991)
* 1921 -
Vulimiri Ramalingaswami, Indian medical scientist
* 1921 -
Esther Williams, American actress and swimmer
*
1922 -
Rory Calhoun, American actor (d.
1999)
* 1922 -
Rudi Gernreich, Austrian-born fashion designer (d.
1985)
*
1925 -
Alija Izetbegovic, President of Bosnia-Herzegovina (d.
2003)
*
1927 -
Johnny Temple, baseball player (d.
1994)
*
1928 -
Don Burrows, Australian jazz musician
*
1929 -
Larisa Bogoraz, Soviet dissident (d.
2004)
* 1929 -
Ronald Biggs, British criminal
*
1931 - Sir
Roger Penrose, British physicist
*
1932 -
Mel Tillis, American singer
*
1935 -
Donald P. Bellisario, American television producer
* 1935 -
John Laws, Australia radio personality
*
1936 -
Keith Barron, English actor
* 1936 -
Frank Howard, American baseball player
*
1937 -
Dustin Hoffman, American actor
*
1938 -
Connie Stevens, American singer and actress
*
1939 -
Alexander Watson, American ambassador and diplomat
*
1944 -
Uli Derickson, Czech-born flight attendant (d.
2005)
* 1944 -
Brooke Bundy, American actress
*
1947 -
Ken Dryden, Canadian hockey player and politician
* 1947 -
José Cruz, baseball player
*
1949 -
Keith Carradine, American actor
*
1951 -
Mamoru Oshii, Japanese film director
*
1952 -
Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author
* 1952 -
Robin Quivers, American radio personality
*
1953 -
Don Most, American actor
* 1953 -
Nigel Mansell, English race car driver
*
1955 -
Herbert Prohaska, Austrian footballer
*
1956 -
Branscombe Richmond, American actor
*
1958 -
Deborah Norville, American reporter and television host
*
1960 -
Ulrich Maly, German politician and Mayor of Nuremberg
*
1961 -
The Edge, Irish guitarist (
U2)
* 1961 -
Rikki Rockett, American drummer (
Poison)
*
1966 -
Chris Eubank, English boxer
* 1966 -
John Hudek, baseball player
*
1967 -
Marcelo Balboa, American football (soccer) player
*
1969 -
Faye Wong, Chinese and Hong Kong singer and actress
*
1972 -
Lüpüs Thünder, American musician (
The Bloodhound Gang)
*
1973 -
Scott Stapp, American singer (
Creed)
*
1974 -
Ulises De la Cruz, Ecuadoran footballer
* 1974 -
Scott D'Amore, Professional wrestler and Manager
*
1976 -
J.C. Chasez, American singer (
*NSYNC)
* 1976 -
Drew Lachey, American singer
*
1977 -
Kurt Bernard, Costa Rican footballer
*
1978 -
Louis Saha, French footballer
* 1978 -
Alan Maybury, Irish footballer
*
1979 -
Richard Harwood, British cellist
*
1980 -
Sabine Klaschka, German tennis player
* 1980 -
Pat Noonan, American soccer player
*
1981 -
Vanessa Amorosi, Australian singer and songwriter
* 1981 -
Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
*
1985 -
Brayan Ruiz, Costa Rican soccer player
*
1988 -
Princess Beatrice of York*
1989 -
Sesil Karatantcheva, Bulgarian tennis player
*
869 -
Lothair II of Lotharingia (b.
825)
*
1445 -
Oswald von Wolkenstein, Austrian composer
*
1553 -
Girolamo Fracastoro, Italian physician (b.
1478)
*
1588 -
Alonso Sánchez Coello, Spanish painter
*
1604 -
Horio Tadauji, Japanese warlord (b.
1578)
*
1631 -
Konstantinas Sirvydas, Lithuanian writer and lexicographer (b.
1579)
*
1684 -
George Booth, 1st Baron Delamer (b.
1622)
*
1759 -
Carl Heinrich Graun, German composer
*
1828 -
Carl Peter Thunberg, Swedish naturalist (b.
1743)
*
1879 -
Immanuel Hermann Fichte, German philosopher (b.
1797)
*
1887 -
Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and soldier (b.
1808)
*
1898 -
Eugène Boudin, French painter (b.
1824)
*
1902 -
James Tissot, French artist (b.
1836)
*
1911 -
William P. Frye, American politician (b.
1830)
*
1933 -
Adolf Loos, Austrian architect (b.
1870)
*
1940 -
Johnny Dodds, American musician (b.
1892)
*
1944 -
Chaim Soutine, Russian painter (b.
1894)
* 1944 -
Erwin von Witzleben, German field marshal (b.
1881)
*
1947 -
Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Russian general (b.
1872)
*
1965 -
Shirley Jackson, American author (b.
1916)
*
1972 -
Andrea Feldman, American actor (b.
1948)
*
1975 -
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, American jazz saxophonist (b.
1928)
*
1977 -
Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian, English physiologist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1889)
*
1985 -
Louise Brooks, American actress (b.
1906)
*
1987 -
Danilo Blanuša, Croatian mathematician (b.
1903)
*
1991 -
James Irwin, astronaut (b.
1930)
*
1996 -
Nevill Mott, English physicist,
Nobel Prize Laureate (b.
1905)
*
2004 -
Fay Wray, American actress (b.
1907)
*
2005 -
Barbara Bel Geddes, American actress (b.
1922)
* 2005 -
John H. Johnson, African-American publisher; billionaire (b.
1918)
* 2005 -
Gene Mauch, American athlete and manager (b.
1925)
* 2005 -
Monica Sjöö, Swedish artist (cancer) (b.
1938)
* 2005 -
Ilse Werner, German actress (b.
1921)
*
Sweden - Namesday of Queen
Silvia, an
Official Flag Day.
*
Taiwan:
Father's Day. (In
Mandarin, Ba Ba means father and 8-8, or August 8).
*
Roman Catholicism - the feasts of at least ? saints:
**St.
Dominic de Guzman, priest, (1170-1221).
**St.
Cyriacus**St.
Largus**St.
Smaragdus (and companions)
**St.
Hormisdas*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaAugust 7 -
August 9 -
July 8 -
September 8 --
listing of all days
