This Day in History for 8th May

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All Events Birthdays
Weddings Deaths

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 186

535 - John II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
589 - Reccared summons the Third Council of Toledo
615 - St Boniface IV ends his reign as Catholic Pope
685 - St Benedict II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1360 - Treaty of Brétigny signed by English & French
1429 - French troops under Joan of Arc rescues Orleans
1450 - Jack Cade's Rebellion-Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI
1521 - Parliament of Worms installs edict against Marten Luther
1541 - Hernando de Soto discovers Mississippi River
1624 - Hung king Bethlen Gabor & emperor Ferdinand II sign Treaty of Vienna
1639 - William Coddington founds Newport RI
1660 - English parliament declares Charles Stuart to be King Charles II of England
1721 - Michelangiolo dei Conti replaces Pope Clement XI, as Innocent XIII
1741 - France & Bavaria sign Covenant of Nymphenburg
1784 - Only known deaths by hailstones in US (Winnsborough SC)
1792 - British Capt George Vancouver sights, names Mt Rainier, Wash
1792 - US establishes military draft
1821 - Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks in Gravia.
1823 - "Home Sweet Home" 1st sung (London)
Naturalist Charles Darwin 1834 - Charles Darwin's expedition returns to the Beagle
1834 - Prussia, Austria & Russia sign classified accord about Belgium
1840 - Alexander Wolcott patents Photographic Process
1842 - Versailles to Paris train catches fire; 50 die
1846 - 1st major battle of Mexican War fought at Palo Alto Texas
1847 - Robert Thompson patents rubber tire
1858 - John Brown holds antislavery convention
1861 - Richmond Va, is named the capital of the Confederacy
1862 - Valley Campaign: Federals repulsed at Battle of McDowell Va
1863 - Confederación Granadina becomes Estados Unidos de Colombia
1864 - Actions at Stony Creek/Nottoway bridge Virginia (Drewry's Bluff)
1864 - Atlanta Campaign: Severe fighting near Dalton
1864 - Battle of Spotslyvania Court House begins
1871 - English-US treaty ends Alabama dispute
1877 - 1st Westminster Dog Show held
French National Heroine Joan of Arc 1878 - 1st unassisted triple play in organized baseball, by Paul Hines
1879 - George Selden files for 1st patent for a gasoline-driven automobile
1881 - Henry Morton Stanley signs contract with Congolian monarch
1882 - David Belasco's "La Belle Russe," premieres in NYC
1885 - Sarah Ann Henley survives 76-m jump from Clifton Bridge, Avon, Engl
1886 - Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta sells 1st Coca-Coke (contained cocaine)
1895 - China cedes Taiwan to Japan under Treaty of Shimonoseki
1896 - Yorkshire Cricket all out for 887 against Warwickshire
1897 - 22nd Preakness: T Thorpe aboard Paul Kauvar wins in 1:51¼
1898 - The first games of the Italian Football League are played.
1899 - The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin opens.
1900 - 250 grave robbers shot to death
1900 - John McGraw & Wilbert Robinson sign with Cardinals
1901 - In their long-delayed AL home opener, Boston defeats Phila 12-4
1902 - Mt Pelee erupts, wipes out St Pierre, Martinique, kills 30,000
1906 - Phila A's pitcher Chief Benders plays outfield & hits 2 HRs
1907 - Boston's Big Jeff Pfeffer no-hits Cin Reds, 6-0
1907 - Tommy Burns beats Jack O'Brien in 20 for heavyweight boxing title
1909 - Albert Raines runs world record marathon (2:46:04.6)
1909 - Frederick Barrett runs world record marathon (2:42:31)
1914 - Paramount Pictures is formed.
1915 - 41st Kentucky Derby: Joe Notter aboard Regret wins in 2:05.4
1916 - German munitions bunker in Fort Douaumont explodes
1919 - 1st transatlantic flight take-off by a navy seaplane
1919 - Appingedam soccer team forms
1919 - Edward George Honey first proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, which later results in the creation of Remembrance Day.
1920 - 46th Kentucky Derby: Ted Rice aboard Paul Jones wins in 2:09
1921 - Sweden abolished capital punishment
1923 - Hobbs scores his 100th 100, 116* v Somerset at Bath
1924 - Arthur Honegger's "Pacifica 231," premieres
1924 - Memel territories given to Lithuania
1924 - Workers at Werkspoor in Amsterdam strike against 3rd wage cut
1925 - 51st Preakness: Clarence Kummer aboard Coventry wins in 1:59
1925 - French colonial army beats Rifkabylen in Morocco
1926 - 1st flight over North Pole (Bennett & Byrd)
1926 - A Philip Randolph organizes Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
1926 - Fire breaks out in Fenway Park
1929 - Jan Mayen island, 500 km NNE of Iceland, incorporated into Norway
1929 - NY Giant Carl Hubbell no-hits Pirates, 11-0
1931 - Operette "Land of Smiles," premieres in London
Pacifist and Spiritual Leader Gandhi 1933 - Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against British oppression in India.
1935 - Cin Red Ernie Lombardi doubles in 6th, 7th, 8th & 9th beat Phils 15-4
1936 - Jockey Ralph Neves unexpectedly revived after being declared dead after a fall. His wife fainted when he returned to track
1937 - 63rd Kentucky Derby: Charley Kurtsinger on War Admiral wins 2:03.2
1938 - Stravinsky's "Dumbarton Oaks," premieres in Washington, DC
1941 - German Q-ship Pinguin sinks in Indian Ocean
1942 - Aircraft carrier Lexington sunk by Japanese air attack at Coral Sea
1942 - German summer offensive opens in Crimea
1942 - 1st twilight game in 24 years, the Dodgers top Giants 7-6 raising $60,000 for Navy Relief Fund
1943 - 69th Preakness: Johnny Longden aboard Count Fleet wins in 1:57.4
1943 - Adm Cunningham of Brit fleet: "Sink, burn & destroy; let nothing pass"
1944 - 33 communist resistance fighter sentenced to death
1945 - Canadian troops move into Amsterdam
1945 - Chinese counter attack at Tsjangte, supports by 14th air fleet
1945 - Gen Von Keitel surrenders to Marshal Zhukov
1945 - V-E Day; Germany signs unconditional surrender, WW II ends in Europe
1946 - Red Sox Johnny Pesky scores 6 runs in 1 game
1946 - The Estonian school girls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial that preceded the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn.
1947 - A movement among Card players to protest its 1st meeting with Jackie Robinson & the Dodgers is aborted by a talk from owner Sam Breadon
1948 - Bradman scores 146 Aust v Surrey, 174 mins, 15 fours
1949 - West German constitution approved
1950 - Chiang Kai-shek asks US for weapons
1951 - Dacron men's suits introduced
1951 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1952 - "Of Thee I Sing" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 72 performances
1952 - "Shuffle Along" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 4 performances

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 249

1326 - Joanna I of Auvergne, queen of France (d. 1360)
1460 - Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1536)
1492 - Andreas Alciatus, [Giovanni Andrea-Alciato], Italian lawyer
1521 - Peter Canisius, [Pieter de Hondt/Kanijs], jesuit/saint
1527 - Johann Walter, composer
1587 - Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)
1592 - Francis Quarles, English poet (Argalus & Parthenia, Emblems)
1622 - Claes Rålamb, Swedish statesman (d. 1698)
1629 - Niels Juel, Danish admiral (d. 1697)
1632 - Heino Heinrich Graf von Flemming, German marshal (d. 1706)
1641 - Nicolaas Witsen, etcher/mayor (Amsterdam)
1653 - Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars, Marshall of France (d. 1734)
1668 - Alain R Lesage, French author (Turcaret ou le Financier)
1670 - Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier (d. 1726)
1673 - Johann Valentin Eckelt, composer
1703 - Gottlob Harrer, composer
1735 - Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter (d. 1811)
1737 - Edward Gibbon, England, historian (Decline & Fall of Roman Empire)
1738 - Mikhail Kamensky, Russian general (d. 1809)
1742 - Johann Baptist Krumpholtz, composer
1745 - Carl Philipp Stamitz, composer
1750 - Elias Mann, composer
1753 - Miguel Hidalgo y Castilla, father of Mexican independence
1763 - John Goldberg, Dutch patriot/statesman
1778 - Johann Gansbacher, composer
1786 - Thomas Hancock, founded British rubber industry
1786 - Jean Vianney, French Catholic priest (d. 1859)
1803 - Joseph Napoleon Ney Moskova, composer
1806 - Jan Bedrich Kittl, composer
1810 - James Cooper, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1863
1814 - Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin, anarchist
1815 - Jean Delphin Alard, French violinist/composer
1821 - William Henry Vanderbilt, member of the Vanderbilt family (d. 1885)
1824 - William Walker, filibuster/president of Nicaragua (1856-57)
1825 - George Bruce Malleson, Indian officer (d. 1898)
1828 - Jean Henri Dunant, Switz, writer/founder (Red Cross, YMCA, Nobel 1901)
1828 - Sharbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk (d. 1898)
1829 - Louis Moreau Gottschalk, 1st internationally recognized US pianist
1833 - Frank Wheaton, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1903
1836 - Bryan Morel Thomas, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1905
1839 - Francis W Warre-Cornish, English vice-provost of Eton/writer
1839 - Adolphe-Basile Routhier, French Canadian lyricist (O Canada) (d. 1920)
1842 - Emil C Hansen, Danish physiologist
1844 - Hermann Gradener, composer
1846 - Oscar Hammerstein, Germany, opera/playwright (Kohinoor)
1850 - Ross Barnes, baseball player (d. 1915)
1853 - Charles Lee Williams, composer
1853 - Dan Brouthers, baseball player (d. 1932)
1857 - Frits [Frederik H] Tartaud, Dutch actor/husband of Alida Klein
1858 - John Meade Falkner, novelist (Moonfleet)
1859 - Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician (d. 1925)
1873 - Henry Leveson-Gower, cricketer (England capt 1909-10 later official)
1882 - Philips C Visser, Dutch explorer/diplomat
33rd US President Harry Truman (1884) 1884 - Harry Truman, Lamar Missouri, 33rd US President (D) (1945-1953), (d. 1972)
1886 - Jef van Hoof, composer
1891 - Chet "Red" Hoff, pitcher (NY Yankees 1911-15), lived to 103+
1892 - Ezio Pinza, Rome Italy, bass singer (South Pacific, RCA Victor Show)
1893 - Francis Quimet, Mass shop asst who won golf's US Open (1913)
1893 - Edd Roush, baseball player (d. 1988)
1893 - Teddy Wakelam, English sports broadcaster and rugby union player (d. 1963)
1895 - Edmund Wilson, American critic/writer (Patriotic Gore)
1895 - Fulton J Sheen, El Paso Ill, bishop (Life is Worth Living)
1895 - Jose Gomez, [Joselito el Gallo], bullfighter
1895 - James H. "Dutch" Kindelberger, American aerospace pioneer (d. 1962)
1899 - Jan F van Hall, Dutch sculptor/resistance fighter
1899 - [Friedrich] August von Hayek, Aust/British economist (Road to Serfdom)
1899 - Arthur Q. Bryan, American voice actor (d. 1959)
1901 - Turkey Stearnes, baseball player (d. 1979)
1902 - Andre Michel Lwoff, physiologist
1902 - Milford "Curly" Page, cricketer (NZ bat early 1930's, All Black half)
1903 - Fernandel, [Fernand JD Contandin], French actor (Paris Holiday)
1903 - Joseph Desire Fernandel, Marseilles France, comedian (Grand Chef)
1904 - John Derrick Mordaunt Snagge, bBC news announcer/commentator
1904 - John Snagge, commentator (BBC)
1905 - Inglis Gundry, composer
1905 - Red Nichols, American musician (d. 1965)
1906 - David Van Vactor, Plymouth Indiana, composer (Chaconne)
1906 - Roberto Rossellini, Rome Italy, director (Open City)
1908 - Arturo De Cordova, [Rodriguez], Merida Mexico, actor (Medal for Benny)
1910 - Mary Lou Williams, US jazz pianist/composer (Zodiac Suite)
1910 - Ronald Russell, actor/manager (We are Angels, Little Dorrit)
1911 - Robert Johnson, blues singer (King of Delta Blues Singer)
1911 - Wilhelm F de Gaay Fortman, Dutch lawyer/foreign minister
1912 - George Woodcock, author
1912 - Gertrud Fussenegger, [Dorn], Austrian writer (Mohrenlegende)
1913 - Sidney James, [Cohen], Johannesburg, actor (Carry On)
1914 - Lord Murton, of Lindisfrarne, deputy chairman (Comm House of Lords)
1914 - Romain Gary, Polish writer (d. 1980)
1915 - John Archer, Osceola Nebraska, actor (Destination: Moon)
1916 - Gordon Scarrott, engineer
1916 - João Havelange, Brazilian industrialist
1916 - Swami Chinmayananda, Indian spiritualist (d. 1993)
1919 - Sultan Ismail Hajibeyov, composer
1920 - Maurice Cranston, political scientist
1920 - Sloan Wilson, Norwalk, Conn, novelist (Man in the Gray Flannal
1920 - Tom of Finland, Finnish fetish artist (d. 1991)
1921 - Graham Leonard, bishop of London
1921 - Saul Bass, designer
1922 - Brian Kellett, CEO (Port of London Authority)
1924 - Tristan Jones, sailor

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Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 5 of 5

1967 - "Bye Bye Birdie" actress Ann-Margret (26) weds actor and screenwriter Roger Smith (34)
1978 - Singer Donny Osmond (20) weds Debra Glenn (19) at Salt Lake Temple in Utah
1981 - Author John Grisham (26) weds Renee Jones
1999 - "ER" actor Goran Visnjic (34) weds Croatian artist Ivana Vrdoljak
2009 - Westlife singer Kian Egan (29) weds actress Jodi Albert (25) in Barbados

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 100 of 120

535 - John, [Mercurius], Italian Pope (533-35), dies
685 - Benedict II, Italian Pope (683-85), dies
1192 - Duke Ottokar IV of Styria (b. 1163)
1278 - Emperor Duanzong of China (b. 1268)
1319 - Haakon V, King of Norway (1299-1319), dies
1473 - John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (b. 1420)
1538 - Edward Fox, English bishop
1577 - Viglius ab Aytta Zuichemus, lawyer/President (Raad van State), dies
1672 - Jean-Armand du Peyrer, Comte de Tréville and French Officer (b. 1598)
1684 - Henri Dumont, composer, dies
1725 - John Lovewell, US indian fighter, dies in battle
1766 - Samuel Chandler, English non-conformist minister (b. 1693)
1773 - Ali Bey Al-Kabir, Egyptian Mameluk head, dies (b. 1728)
1781 - Richard Jago, English poet (b. 1715)
1785 - Pietro Longhi, painter, dies
1785 - Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French statesman (b. 1719)
1788 - Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian-born physician and naturalist (b. 1723)
1794 - Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, chemist (identified oxygen), guillotined
1809 - Augustin Pajou, French sculptor (Bachante), dies at 78
1818 - Franz Ignaz Kaa, composer, dies at 78
King of Hawaii Kamehameha I (1819) 1819 - Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (1782-1819)
1829 - Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani, composer, dies at 47
1837 - Alexander Balashov, Russian general and statesman (b. 1770)
1842 - Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (b. 1790)
1844 - Charles XIV Johan, [Jean B Bernadotte], King of Sweden/Norway, dies
1846 - Giacomo Cordella, composer, dies at 59
1853 - Joannes P Roothaan, 1st Dutch lt col-gen of Jesuits, dies at 67
1864 - James Samuel Wadsworth, gen-mjr (Union), dies in battle at 56
1873 - John Stuart Mill, great Empiricist philosopher, dies at 66
1876 - Truganini, last originating Tasmanian, dies
1880 - Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (b. 1821)
1885 - Pavel Krizkovsky, composer, dies at 65
1887 - Alexander Ulyanov, brother of Lenin/hanged for assassination of tsar
1891 - Helena Petrovina Blavatsky, Russian theosophist, dies
1894 - Klara Fey, German orch leaser (Die Kleinen Betrachtungen), dies at 79
1903 - Eugene-Henri-Paul Gauguin, French painter (Tahiti), dies
1904 - Eadweard Muybridge, English photographer (horse trot), dies
1909 - Friedrich von Holstein, German diplomat, dies
1915 - Henry McNeal Turner, 1 US black army chaplain, dies at 82
1924 - Lev N Lunts, Russian writer (Outside the Law), dies at 23
1930 - Lvar Henning Mankell, composer, dies at 61
1932 - Albert Thomas, French socialist politician
1936 - Oswald Spengler, German philosopher (Underworld of Abendlandes), dies
1941 - Heinrich Zollner, composer, dies at 86
1943 - Mordicai Anielewicz, commander of Warsaw ghetto uprising, killed
1945 - Bernhard Rust, Nazi education minister (b. 1883)
1947 - Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-born department store founder (b. 1858)
1948 - Alfred Holy, composer, dies at 81
1948 - U Saw, Burmese politician (b. 1900)
1950 - Franklin Dyall, dies at 76
1950 - Vital Brazil, Brazilian physician (b. 1865)
1952 - William Fox, Austrian-born film producer (b. 1879)
1957 - Johannes C B "Jan" Sluyters, Dutch painter, dies at 75
1958 - Nasni Matni, Lebanese journalist, murdered
1959 - Renato Caccioppoli, Italian mathematician/pianist, suicide at 55
1960 - Hugo Alfven, Swedish composer (Midsommarvaka), dies at 88
1960 - J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904)
1961 - James Fairfax, actor (Gale Storm Show), dies at 63
1965 - H T W Hardinge, cricketer (scored 25 & 5 in only Test for Engld), dies
1967 - Barbara Payton, actress (Dallas, Trapped, Bad Blonde), dies at 39
1967 - Elmer Rice, NY playwright/director/novelist, dies at 74
1967 - Laverne Andrews, singer (Andrews Sisters), dies at 51
1969 - Remington Kellogg, American naturalist (b. 1892)
1973 - Ralph Miller, last 19th century baseball player, dies
1974 - Graham Bond, rocker, dies jumping under a train
1975 - Avery Brundage, CEO (Intl Olympic Committee, 1952-72), dies at 87
1976 - Alan Baxter, dies at 67
1976 - Ulrike Meinhof, lead Germany Red Army Faction, dies
1979 - Talcott Parsons, US sociologist, dies at 76
1981 - Margaret Lindsay, actress (G Men, Lady Killer, Jezebel), dies at 70
1981 - Maurice Fernandes, cricket captain (WI in 1st Test win, 1930 v Eng), dies
1982 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian auto racer, dies in an accident
1982 - Neil Bogart, American record executive (b. 1943)
1984 - Gino Bianco, Brazilian racing driver (b. 1916)
1985 - Dolph Sweet, actor (Gil McGowan-Another World), dies at 74
1985 - Edmond O'Brien, actor (Sam Benedict), dies of Alzheimer's at 69
1985 - Karl Marx, German composer/conductor, dies at 87
1987 - Pam Ewing, (Victoria Principal) character on Dallas, is killed off
1987 - Doris Stokes, British psychic medium (b. 1920)
1988 - Robert A Heinlein, sci-fi writer (Friday), dies of heart failure at 80
1990 - Tomas O'Fiach, [Tomas Seamus Fee], Irish cardinal-archbishop, dies
1991 - Jean Langlais, composer, dies at 84
1991 - Lloyd Ford, stuntman, dies at 79
1991 - Ronnie Brody, British actor (Superman 3, What's Up Nurse), dies at 72
1992 - Addeke H Boerma, dir-gen (FAO), dies at 80
1992 - Brian Moore, writer (Catholics), dies of heart failure at 59
1992 - Gul Mahomed, cricketer (8 Tests for India & one for Pakistan), dies
1992 - Margaretha D Ferguson-Wigerink, author (Fear on Java), dies
1992 - Richard Derr, actor (When Worlds Collide), dies at 74 of cancer
1993 - Kees Deenik, singer/conductor
1993 - Avram Davidson, American writer (b. 1923)
1994 - Cobina W "Coby" Molenaar, peace activist, dies at 88
1994 - George Peppard, actor (Breakfast at Tiffanys, A-Team), dies at 65
1994 - Rupert Haselden, journalist/screenwriter, dies at 36
1994 - Steven Keats, actor (Death Wish), dies of apparent suicide at 48
1995 - Carroll Best, bluegrass banjo, dies at 63
1995 - Jerry Zipkin, socialite, dies at 80
1995 - Prem Bhatia, journalist, dies at 83
1995 - Teresa Teng, singer, dies at 41
1996 - Jane Cowan, cello teacher, dies at 80