April 8

is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). There are 267 days remaining.

Events

217 - Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated (and succeeded) by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
1492 - Death of Lorenzo de' Medici, dubbed "The Magnificent", ruler of Florence and patron of arts.
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 Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield - Union General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign is thwarted by Confederate General Richard Taylor's forces at Mansfield, Louisiana.
1886 - William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Home Rule bill into the House of Commons.
1893 - First recorded college basketball game occurs in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania when the Geneva College Covenanters defeat the New Brighton YMCA.
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 - Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
1913 - The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified requiring direct election of Senators.
1916 - In Corona, California, car racer Bob Burman crashes through a crowd barrier at the last Boulevard Race, killing himself, his mechanic and a track policeman, 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 in a corridor not to cause injury and courted arrest.
1935 - The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
1942 - World War II: Siege of Leningrad - Soviet Union forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.
1945 - At the POW camp at Flossenbürg, pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is hanged.
1952 - In a radio address to the nation from the White House, President Harry S. Truman calls for the seizure of all steel mills in the United States in order to prevent a nationwide strike.
1953 - Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by Kenya's British rulers.
1967 - In Vienna, Austria, Sandie Shaw wins the twelfth Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom singing "Puppet on a String".
1974 - At the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron breaks baseball great's Babe Ruth's record by hitting his 715th home run.
1975 - Frank Robinson of the Cleveland Indians manages 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 great controversy over racially-charged remarks he had made while on Nightline.
1989 - South Africa: In Johannesburg, the Progressive Federal Party, Independent Party, National Democratic Movement and the force of "Ontevrede Afrikaners" or dissatisfied Afrikaners merge to form the Democratic Party.
1992 - Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces to the world 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.
2004 - Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
2005 - Funeral of Pope John Paul II.
2006 - Shedden massacre: A farmer near Shedden, Ontario, Canada finds the bodies of eight men, all shot to death, in a field. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos motorcycle gang.

Births

563 BC - Gautama Buddha, Indian religious leader (d. 483 BC)
1320 - King Peter I of Portugal (d. 1367)
1533 - Claudio Merulo, Italian composer (d. 1604)
1541 - Michele Mercati, Italian physician and gardener (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)
1859 - Edmund Husserl, Austrian philosopher (d. 1938)
1865 - Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist (d. 1940)
1868 - King Christian IX of Denmark (d. 1906)
1869 - Harvey Cushing, American neuorosurgeon, pioneer of brain surgery (d. 1939)
1874 - Stanisław Taczak, Polish general, commander-in-chief of the Greater Poland Uprising (d. 1960)
1875 - King Albert I of Belgium (d. 1934)
1889 - Sir Adrian Boult, British conductor (d. 1983)
1892 - Mary Pickford, Canadian actress and studio founder (d. 1979)
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)
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
1921 - Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (d. 2003)
1923 - George Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 2003)
1923 - Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (d. 1997)
1926 - Jürgen Moltmann, German theologian
1928 - John Gavin, American actor and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
1929 - Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (d. 2000)
1929 - Jacques Brel, Belgian singer and composer (d. 1978)
1930 - Carlos Hugo of Bourbon-Parma, Duke of Parma, French-born fascist
1933 - Fred Ebb, American composer (d. 2004)
1934 - Kurokawa Kisho, Japanese architect
1937 - Seymour Hersh, American journalist
1938 - Kofi Annan, Ghanian United Nations Secretary General, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
1940 - John Havlicek, American basketball player
1941 - Vivienne Westwood, British fashion designer
1942 - Roger Chapman, British rock singer (Family, Streetwalkers)
1943 - Michael Bennett, American dancer, choreographer, and theater director (d. 1987)
1943 - Miller Farr, American football player
1946 - Catfish Hunter, Hall of Fame baseball 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, businessman, and writer
1947 - Larry Norman, American singer and songwriter
1949 - John Madden, British director
1949 - Brenda Russell, American singer and songwriter
1954 - Gary Carter, baseball player
1955 - Joolz Denby, English poet and novelist
1955 - Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist
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 and disc jockey
1966 - Robin Wright Penn, American actress
1966 - Mazinho, Brazilian football player
1966 - Bobby Ologun, Nigerian television personality and martial artist
1968 - Patricia Arquette, American actress
1971 - Chino XL, American rapper
1972 - Paul Gray, American bassist (Slipknot)
1973 - Alex S. Gonzalez, American Major League Baseball player
1975 - Timo Pérez, Dominican Major League Baseball player
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
1982 - Judy Star, Canadian ex porn star
1984 - Júlia Liptáková, Slovakian model
1984 - Kirsten Storms, American actress
1986 - Erika Sawajiri, Japanese actress and model
1986 - Igor Akinfeev, Russian football player

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)
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)
1950 - Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish-born ballet dancer (b. 1890)
1965 - Lars Hanson, Swedish actor (b. 1886)
1973 - Pablo Picasso, Spanish artist (b. 1881)
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)
1990 - Ryan White, American activist (AIDS) (b. 1971)
1991 - Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin, Norwegian musician (black metal)
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 musician (b. 1967) (Date is for discovery of body - death probably occurred several days earlier)
1996 - Ben Johnson, American actor (b. 1918)
1997 - Laura Nyro, American singer and composer (b. 1947)
2000 - Claire Trevor, American actress (b. 1910)
2002 - Maria Felix, Mexican actress (b. 1914)
2003 - Anita Borg, American computer scientist (b. 1949)
2004 - Bruce Edwards, golf caddy (b. 1954)
2006 - Gerard Reve, Dutch writer (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

Buddha's Birthday in Japan
Saint Walter of Pontoise (died 1099)
Saint Constance
Saint Julie Billiart of Namur (died 1816).

External links

April 7 - April 9 - March 8 - May 8 -- listing of all days

Gourt Home::Gourt :: April 8

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links