From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). There are 267 days remaining.
[edit] Events
- 217 - Roman Emperor Caracalla is assassinated (and succeeded) by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
- 1093 - The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by Walkelin.
- 1139 - Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated.
- 1149 - Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Ptolemy II of Tusculum.
- 1271 - In Syria, sultan Baybars conquers the Krak of Chevaliers.
- 1492 - Death of Lorenzo de' Medici, dubbed "The Magnificent", ruler of Florence and patron of arts.
- 1513 - Explorer Juan Ponce de León declares Florida a territory of Spain .
- 1730 - Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.
- 1767 - Ayutthaya kingdom falls to Burmese invaders.
- 1820 - The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Melos.
- 1832 - Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
- 1848 - Battle of Goito, part of the Italian Wars of Independence
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield - Union forces are thwarted by a Confederate army at Mansfield, Louisiana.
- 1866 - Italy and Prussia ally against Austria-Hungary.
- 1867 - The first World's Fair is inaugurated in Paris.
- 1886 - William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
- 1893 - The first recorded college basketball game occurs in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
- 1895 - The United States Supreme Court declares income tax to be unconstitutional in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.
- 1899 - Martha Place becomes the first woman to be executed in an electric chair.
- 1904 - The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale.
- 1904 - British mystic Aleister Crowley transcribes the first chapter of the Book of the Law.
- 1904 - Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
- 1913 - The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.
- 1916 - In Corona, California, car racer Bob Burman crashes, killing three and badly injuring five spectators.
- 1918 - World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York, New York's financial district.
- 1929 - Indian Independence Movement: At Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts, and bombs to court arrest.
- 1935 - The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
- 1940 - World War II: Great Britain and France announce that they have mined Norwegian territorial waters to prevent their use by German supply ships.
- 1942 - World War II: Siege of Leningrad - Soviet Union forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.
- 1942 - World War II: the Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.
- 1943 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases to common carriers and public utilities.
- 1946 - The last meeting of the League of Nations, the precursor of the United Nations, is held.
- 1950 - India and Pakistan sign the Pact of Delhi.
- 1952 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills to prevent a nationwide strike.
- 1953 - Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by Kenya's British rulers.
- 1957 - The Suez Canal in Egypt is reopened.
- 1960 - The U.S. Senate approves a civil rights bill despite Southern senators' marathon filibuster effort.
- 1973 - 32 terrorist bombings in Cyprus
- 1974 - Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves breaks baseball great's Babe Ruth's record by hitting his 715th home run.
- 1975 - Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.
- 1985 - Bhopal disaster: India files suit against Union Carbide for the disaster which killed an estimated 2,000 and injured another 200,000.
- 1987 - Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racially-charged remarks he had made while on Nightline.
- 1989 - South Africa: the Democratic Party is formed from the merger of four parties.
- 1989 - The two Greek Communist Parties, along with smaller left-wing parties, merge to form the Coalition of the Left, of Social Movements and Ecology in Greece.
- 1990 - New Democracy wins the national election in Greece.
- 1992 - Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
- 1999 - Haryana Gana Parishad, a political party in the Indian state of Haryana, merges with the Indian National Congress.
- 2000 - 19 Marines are killed when an Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashes near Marana, Arizona.
- 2004 - Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
- 2004 - U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice testifies before the 9/11 Commission .
- 2005 - Funeral of Pope John Paul II.
- 2006 - Shedden massacre: the bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Ontario, Canada. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos motorcycle gang.
[edit] Births
- 1320 - King Peter I of Portugal (d. 1367)
- 1533 - Claudio Merulo, Italian composer (d. 1604)
- 1541 - Michele Mercati, Italian physician (d. 1593)
- 1605 - King Philip IV of Spain, (d. 1665)
- 1641 - Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English statesman (d. 1704)
- 1692 - Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (d. 1770)
- 1842 - Elizabeth Bacon Custer, wife of George Armstrong Custer (d. 1933)
- 1818 - August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist (d. 1892)
- 1818 - King Christian IX of Denmark (d. 1906)
- 1859 - Edmund Husserl, Austrian philosopher (d. 1938)
- 1865 - Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist (d. 1940)
- 1869 - Harvey Cushing, American neuorosurgeon (d. 1939)
- 1874 - Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (d. 1960)
- 1875 - King Albert I of Belgium (d. 1934)
- 1889 - Sir Adrian Boult, British conductor (d. 1983)
- 1892 - Mary Pickford, Canadian actress (d. 1979)
- 1892 - Richard Neutra, American architect (d. 1970)
- 1896 - Yip Harburg, American lyricist (d. 1981)
- 1904 - John Hicks, British economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (d. 1989)
- 1905 - Helen Joseph, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 1992)
- 1905 - Erwin Keller, German field hockey player (d. 1971)
- 1906 - Raoul Jobin, French Canadian tenor (d. 1974)
- 1908 - Hugo Fregonese, Argentine film director (d. 1987)
- 1911 - Melvin Calvin, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
- 1911 - Emil Cioran, Romanian philosopher and essayist (d. 1995)
- 1912 - Alois Brunner, Austrian Nazi
- 1912 - Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater (d. 1969)
- 1914 - María Félix, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
- 1918 - Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States
- 1918 - Glendon Swarthout, Award-winning American author (d. 1992)
- 1919 - Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia
- 1920 - Carmen McRae, American jazz singer (d. 1994)
- 1921 - Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (d. 2003)
- 1923 - George Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 2003)
- 1923 - Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (d. 1997)
- 1924 - Frédéric Back, Canadian short film director and screenwriter
- 1926 - Jürgen Moltmann, German theologian
- 1928 - Leah Rabin, wife of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (d. 2000)
- 1929 - Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (d. 2000)
- 1929 - Jacques Brel, Belgian singer/composer (d. 1978)
- 1930 - Carlos Hugo of Bourbon-Parma, Duke of Parma
- 1931 - John Gavin, American actor and politician
- 1933 - Fred Ebb, American composer (d. 2004)
- 1934 - Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect
- 1937 - Seymour Hersh, American journalist
- 1938 - Kofi Annan, Ghanian United Nations Secretary General
- 1940 - John Havlicek, American basketball player
- 1941 - Vivienne Westwood, British fashion designer
- 1941 - Peggy Lennon, American singer (The Lennon Sisters)
- 1942 - Roger Chapman, British rock singer (Family, Streetwalkers)
- 1943 - Tony Banks, British politician (d. 2006)
- 1943 - Michael Bennett, American dancer/choreographer (d. 1987)
- 1943 - Miller Farr, American football player
- 1945 - Derrick Walker, British racing team owner
- 1946 - Catfish Hunter, Hall of Fame player (d. 1999)
- 1946 - Tim Thomerson, American actor
- 1947 - Tom DeLay, American politician
- 1947 - Steve Howe, British rock guitarist (Yes, Asia, GTR)
- 1947 - Robert Kiyosaki, American investor
- 1947 - Larry Norman, American singer/songwriter
- 1948 - Michael Leshner, Canadian lawyer and gay rights advocate
- 1949 - John Madden, British director
- 1949 - Brenda Russell, American singer/songwriter
- 1950 - Grzegorz Lato, Polish footballer
- 1954 - Gary Carter, baseball player
- 1955 - Joolz Denby, English poet and novelist
- 1955 - Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist
- 1955 - Kane Hodder, American actor and stuntman
- 1957 - Fred Smerlas, American football player
- 1960 - John Schneider, American actor
- 1962 - Izzy Stradlin, American musician (Guns N' Roses)
- 1963 - Julian Lennon, British musician and singer
- 1963 - Alec Stewart, British cricketer
- 1964 - Biz Markie, American rapper/disc jockey
- 1966 - Robin Wright Penn, American actress
- 1966 - Mazinho, Brazilian football player
- 1966 - Mark Blundell, British racing driver
- 1966 - Bobby Ologun, Nigerian television personality
- 1968 - Patricia Arquette, American actress
- 1971 - Chino XL, American rapper
- 1972 - Paul Gray, American bassist (Slipknot)
- 1973 - Emma Caulfield, American actress
- 1973 - Alex S. Gonzalez, American Major League Baseball player
- 1974 - Holger Hott Johansen, Norwegian orienteerist
- 1975 - Timo Pérez, Dominican baseball player
- 1977 - Ana de la Reguera, Mexican actress
- 1977 - Mark Spencer, computer programmer
- 1979 - Alexi Laiho, Finnish guitarist and singer (Children of Bodom)
- 1980 - Manuel Ortega, Austrian singer
- 1980 - Grace Park, American actress
- 1980 - Katee Sackhoff, American actress
- 1981 - Taylor Kitsch, Canadian actor and model
- 1982 - Judy Star, Canadian porn star
- 1983 - Adrian Bellani, American actor
- 1983 - Allu Arjun, Indian film actor
- 1984 - Júlia Liptáková, Slovakian model
- 1984 - Kirsten Storms, American actress
- 1986 - Igor Akinfeev, Russian football player
- 1986 - Felix Hernandez, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1986 - Erika Sawajiri, Japanese actress and model
- 1987 - Tony Black, American actor
- 1989 - Hitomi Takahashi, Japanese singer
- 1992 - Craig Moxley
- 2005 - Leah Isadora Behn, member of Norway's Royal Family
[edit] Deaths
- 217 - Caracalla, Roman Emperor (b. 186)
- 956 - Gilbert of Chalon, Duke of Burgundy
- 1143 - John II Comnenus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1087)
- 1364 - King John II of France (b. 1319)
- 1461 - Georg Purbach, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1423)
- 1492 - Lorenzo de Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1449)
- 1586 - Martin Chemnitz, Lutheran reformer and theologian (b. 1522)
- 1587 - John Foxe, English writer (b. 1516)
- 1691 - Carlo Rainaldi, Italian architect (b. 1611)
- 1697 - Niels Juel, Danish admiral (b. 1629)
- 1704 - Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist (b. 1624)
- 1704 - Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English statesman (b. 1641)
- 1725 - John Wise, English clergyman (b. 1652)
- 1735 - Francis II Rákóczi, leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburg (b. March 27, 1676)
- 1848 - Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b. 1797)
- 1857 - Mangal Pandey, Indian soldier
- 1861 - Elisha Otis, US elevator builder (b. 1811)
- 1870 - Charles de Bériot, Belgian composer (b. 1802)
- 1919 - Loránd Eötvös, Hungarian physicist (b. 1848)
- 1920 - Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (b. 1884)
- 1931 - Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)
- 1936 - Robert Bárány, Austrian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1876)
- 1938 - Joe "King" Oliver, American musician (b. 1885)
- 1942 - Kostas Skarvelis, Greek songwriter (b. 1880)
- 1950 - Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish-born ballet dancer (b. 1890)
- 1965 - Lars Hanson, Swedish actor (b. 1886)
- 1973 - Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist (b. 1881)
- 1974 - James Charles McGuigan, Catholic archbishop of Toronto (b. 1894)
- 1978 - Ford Frick, baseball commissioner (b. 1894)
- 1981 - Omar Bradley, U.S. general (b. 1893)
- 1984 - Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1894)
- 1985 - J. Fred Coots, American songwriter (b. 1897)
- 1986 - Yukiko Okada, Japanese idol singer (b. 1967)
- 1990 - Ryan White, American activist (AIDS) (b. 1971)
- 1991 - Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin, Norwegian musician (black metal) (b. 1969)
- 1992 - Daniel Bovet, Swiss-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1907)
- 1993 - Marian Anderson, American contralto (b. 1897)
- 1994 - Kurt Cobain, American Rockstar, Body found belived to have died April 5th (b. 1967)
- 1994 - François Rozet, French Canadian actor (b. 1899)
- 1996 - Ben Johnson, American actor (b. 1918)
- 1997 - Laura Nyro, American singer and composer (b. 1947)
- 2000 - Claire Trevor, American actress (b. 1910)
- 2002 - María Félix, Mexican actress (b. 1914)
- 2004 - Bruce Edwards, golf caddy (b. 1954)
- 2005 - Eddie Miksis, baseball player (b. 1926)
- 2005 - Onna White, Canadian choreographer (b. 1924)
- 2006 - Gerard Reve, Dutch writer (b. 1923)
[edit] Holidays and observances
[edit] External links
