Today July 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
939 – The Major Occultation, or Ghaybat el-Kubra of Muhammad al-Mahdi
1099 – First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on.
1283 – War of the Sicilian Vespers: Battle of Malta
1497 – Vasco da Gama sets sail on first direct European voyage to India.
1579 – Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, was discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.
1663 – Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter to Rhode Island.
1680 – The first confirmed tornado in America kills a servant at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1709 – Great Northern War: Battle of Poltava: Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava thus effectively ending Sweden s role as a major power in Europe.
1716 – Great Northern War: Battle of Dynekilen
1758 – French forces hold Fort Carillon against British at Ticonderoga, New York.
1760 – French and Indian War: Battle of Restigouche – British defeat French forces in last naval battle in New France.
1775 – The Olive Branch Petition is adopted by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies.
1776 – The Declaration of Independence is read aloud in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Liberty Bell was famously rung.
1822 – Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.
1853 – Commodore Perry sails into Tokyo Bay.
1859 – King Charles XV/Carl IV accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway.
1864 – The Shinsengumi sabotage the Choshu-han shishi s planned attack on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya. This event is known as Ikedaya Jiken.
1874 – The Mounties begin their March West.
1876 – White supremacists kill five Black Republicans in Hamburg, SC.
1889 – The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published.
1892 – St. John s, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892.
1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetalism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
1898 – The shooting death of crime boss Soapy Smith releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.
1932 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22.
1947 – Reports are broadcast that a UFO has crashed landed in Roswell, New Mexico.
1960 – Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.
1962 – Ne Win sieged and dynamited the Ragoon University Student Union building to crash the Student Movement.
1966 – King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi.
1969 – IBM CICS is made generally available for the 360 mainframe computer.
1970 – Richard Nixon delivers special congressional message enunciating Native American Self-Determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination Act.
1977 – The ashes of Ahn Eak-tai, a Korean conductor and the composer of the national anthem Aegukga, are transferred from the island of Majorca to the Korean National Cemetery.
1982 – Assassination attempt against former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Dujail.
1982 – Senegalese Trotskyist political party LCT is legally recognized.
1992 – Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe creates the office of High Commissioner on National Minorities.
1997 – NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance in 1999.
1999 – Allen Lee Davis is executed by electrocution by the state of Florida, the last use of the electric chair for capital punishment in Florida.
2003 – Sudan Airways Flight 39, with 116 people on board, crashes in Sudan; the only survivor is a two-year-old boy who subsequently dies as a result of his injuries.
2006 – Jose Ramos-Horta is appointed Prime Minister of East Timor by President Xanana Gusmao.
Births
1528 – Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (d. 1580)
1545 – Don Carlos of Spain (d. 1568)
1593 – Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian painter (d. 1653)
1621 – Jean de la Fontaine, French writer (d. 1695)
1760 – Christian Kramp, French mathematician (d. 1826)
1766 – Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon (d. 1842)
1792 – Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, queen of Bavaria (d. 1854)
1819 – Francis Leopold McClintock, British naval officer and explorer (d. 1907)
1830 – Frederick William Seward, United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1915)
1830 – Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Altenburg (d. 1911)
1836 – Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (d. 1914)
1838 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (d. 1917)
1839 – John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist (d. 1937)
1851 – Arthur Evans, English archaeologist (d. 1941)
1857 – Alfred Binet, French psychologist (d. 1911)
1867 – Käthe Kollwitz, German artist (d. 1945)
1878 – Jimmy Quinn, Scottish footballer (d. 1945)
1882 – Percy Grainger, Australian composer (d. 1961)
1885 – Ernst Bloch, German philosopher (d. 1977)
1892 – Richard Aldington, English poet (d. 1962)
1892 – Pavel Korin, Russian painter (d. 1967)
1895 – Igor Tamm, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1898 – Melville Ruick, American actor (d. 1972)
1904 – Henri Cartan, French mathematician
1905 – Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator (d. 1997)
1906 – Philip Johnson, American architect (d. 2005)
1907 – George W. Romney, American businessman and politician (d. 1995)
1908 – Louis Jordan, American saxophonist (d. 1975)
1908 – Nelson A. Rockefeller, 41st Vice President of the United States (d. 1979)
1914 – Jyoti Basu, Indian politician
1914 – Billy Eckstine, American jazz singer (d. 1993)
1917 – Faye Emerson, American actress (d. 1983)
1918 – Craig Stevens, American actor (d. 2000)
1919 – Walter Scheel, German politician
1920 – Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Danish industrialist (Lego Group) (d. 1995)
1923 – Harrison Dillard, American athlete
1924 – Johnnie Johnson, American blues musician (d. 2005)
1926 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (d. 2004)
1927 – Maurice Hayes, Irish politician
1932 – Jerry Vale, American singer
1933 – Marty Feldman, English comedian and actor (d. 1982)
1933 – Antonio Lamer, French Canadian lawyer and chief justice
1934 – Ed Lumley, Canadian corporate executive and former politician
1935 – Steve Lawrence, American entertainer and singer
1935 – Vitali Sevastyanov, Russian cosmonaut
1941 – Dario Gradi, Italian-born football manager
1942 – Phil Gramm, American politician
1944 – Jai Johanny Johanson, American musician (The Allman Brothers Band)
1944 – Jeffrey Tambor, American actor
1945 – Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss politician
1947 – Kim Darby, American actress
1947 – Luis Fernando Figari, Peruvian founder of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae
1948 – Raffi, Canadian children s entertainer
1949 – Frank Delima, American comedian
1949 – Dale Hoganson, Canadian ice hockey player
1949 – Wolfgang Puck, Austrian-born celebrity chef
1951 – Anjelica Huston, American actress
1952 – Jack Lambert, American football player
1952 – Anna Quindlen, American columnist
1955 – Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress
1956 – Terry Puhl, Canadian baseball player
1957 – Aleksandr Gurnov, Russian television personality
1957 – Carlos Cavazo, American musician (Quiet Riot)
1958 – Kevin Bacon, American actor
1958 – Tzipi Livni, Israeli politician
1958 – Pauline Quirke, British actress
1958 – Neetu Singh, Indian Actress
1958 – Andreas Carlgren, Swedish politician
1959 – Robert Knepper, American actor
1960 – Mal Meninga, Australian rugby league footballer
1961 – Toby Keith, American singer
1961 – Andrew Fletcher, English musician (Depeche Mode)
1962 – Joan Osborne, American singer and songwriter
1964 – Linda de Mol, Dutch actress and host
1964 – Alexei Gusarov, Russian ice hockey player
1965 – Lee Tergesen, American actor
1966 – Shadlog Bernicke, Nauruan politician
1967 – Jordan Chan, Hong Kong actor and singer
1968 – Akio Suyama, Japanese seiyu
1968 – Billy Crudup, American actor
1968 – Michael Weatherly, American actor
1969 – Sugizo Japanese guitarist and singer
1970 – Beck, American singer
1971 – Amanda Peterson, American actress
1972 – Sourav Ganguly, Indian cricketer
1972 – Karl Dykhuis, Canadian ice hockey player
1972 – Shosuke Tanihara, Japanese actor
1973 – Kathleen Robertson, Canadian actress
1974 – Zhanna Friske, Russian actress and singer
1974 – Tami Erin, American actress and model
1975 – Elias Viljanen, Finnish Guitarist
1976 – Talal El Karkouri, Moroccan footballer
1976 – David Kennedy, American guitarist (Angels & Airwaves)
1977 – Wang Zhizhi, Chinese basketball player
1977 – Milo Ventimiglia, American actor
1980 – Robbie Keane, Irish footballer
1981 – Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player
1982 – Hakim Warrick, American basketball player
1982 – Joshua Alba, American actor
1982 – Sophia Bush, American actress
1983 – Jaroslav Janiš, Czech racing car driver
1983 – Elizabeth Del Mar, American pornographic actress
1983 – John Bowker, American baseball player
1984 – Alexis Dziena, American actress
1985 – Jamie Cook, British musician (Arctic Monkeys)
1986 – Renata Costa, Brazilian footballer
1987 – Vlada Roslyakova, Russian model
1992 – Benjamin Grosvenor, British pianist
1998 – Jaden Smith, American actor
Deaths
810 – Pepin, King of Italy (b. 773)
901 – Saint Grimbald
975 – King Edgar of England
1153 – Pope Eugene III
1538 – Diego de Almagro, Spanish explorer (b. 1475)
1623 – Pope Gregory XV (b. 1554)
1689 – Edward Wooster, English Connecticut pioneer (b. 1622)
1695 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch scientist (b. 1629)
1716 – Robert South, English churchman (b. 1634)
1721 – Elihu Yale, American benefactor of Yale University (b. 1649)
1726 – John Ker, Scottish spy (b. 1673)
1784 – Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist (b. 1735)
1822 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (b. 1792)
1826 – Luther Martin, American statesman (b. 1748)
1850 – Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge (b. 1774)
1855 – Sir William Edward Parry, English Arctic explorer (b. 1790)
1859 – King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway (b. 1799)
1895 – Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian scientist (b. 1821)
1898 – Soapy Smith, American con artist (b. 1860)
1905 – Walter Kittredge, American musician (b. 1834)
1913 – Louis Hémon, French-born writer (b. 1880)
1917 – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (b. 1877)
1930 – Sir Joseph Ward, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1856)
1933 – Anthony Hope, British author (b. 1863)
1934 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (b. 1848)
1939 – Havelock Ellis, British physician (b. 1859)
1941 – Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, senator, historian and orientalist (b. 1874)
1943 – Jean Moulin, French Resistance leader (b. 1899)
1950 – Othmar Spann, Austrian philosopher (b. 1878)
1956 – Giovanni Papini, Italian essayist (b. 1881)
1957 – Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (b. 1879)
1962 – Georges Bataille, French writer and philosopher (b. 1897)
1967 – Fatima Jinnah, Pakistani political figure (b. 1893)
1967 – Vivien Leigh, English actress (b. 1913)
1971 – Charlie Shavers, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1920)
1973 – Wilfred Rhodes, English cricketer (b. 1877)
1979 – Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1906)
1979 – Robert B. Woodward, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1917)
1979 – Michael Wilding, English actor (b. 1912)
1981 – Wild Bill Hallahan, American baseball player (b. 1902)
1986 – Skeeter Webb, American baseball player (b. 1909)
1987 – Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet (b. 1896)
1987 – Lionel Chevrier, Canadian politician (b. 1903)
1988 – Ray Barbuti, American athlete (b. 1905)
1990 – Howard Duff, American actor (b. 1913)
1991 – James Franciscus, American actor (b. 1934)
1994 – Christian-Jaque, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1904)
1994 – Kim Il-sung, North Korean leader (b. 1912)
1994 – Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American entrepreneur and explorer (b. 1927)
1994 – Dick Sargent, American actor (b. 1930)
1999 – Pete Conrad, American astronaut (b. 1930)
2001 – John O Shea, New Zealand film director (b. 1920)
2002 – Ward Kimball, American animator (b. 1914)
2004 – Paula Danziger, American author (b. 1944)
2004 – Jean Lefebvre, French actor (b. 1922)
2006 – June Allyson, American actress (b. 1917)
2006 – Peter Hawkins, British actor/voice actor (b. 1924)
Holidays and observances
Annual Soapy Smith wake, held each year in Skagway, Alaska in the Gold Rush Cemetery and in Hollywood, California at the Magic Castle
Saints Abda and Sabas
Saint Auspicius, bishop of Trier
Saint Evodius, bishop of Rouen, confessor (Translation)
Saint Grimbald, abbot, confessor
Saint Kilian of Würzburg, bishop, and companions
Saint Nummius, confessor St. Nom
Saint Procopius, martyr
Saint Quintinus, martyr (Invention)
Saint Theobald (Thibaut), abbot
Saint Barbara (Translation)
Saint Elizabeth, queen of Portugal
Saint Sunniva and companions, virgins
