August 8

is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining.

Events

1509 - The Emperor Krishnadeva Raya is crowned, marking the beginning of the regeneration of the Vijayanagara Empire.
1585 - John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in quest for the Northwest Passage.
1588 - Battle of Gravelines ends, marking the end of the Spanish Armada's attempt to invade England.
1605 - The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden.
1647 - Battle of Dangan Hill - Irish forces are defeated by British Parliamentary forces.
1786 - Mont Blanc in Switzerland is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr Michel-Gabriel Paccard.
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 Mormon Church.
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.
1911 - Public Law 62-5 sets the number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives at 435. The law will take 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.
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.
1967 - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded.
1968 - Jurō Wada successfully performs Japan's first heart transplant.
1969 - An iconic picture of the Beatles is taken to be used on their album Abbey Road.
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 - STS-28: The 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.
2008 - The Games of the XXIX Olympiad will begin with the Opening Ceremony in Beijing, China.

Births

1079 - Emperor Horikawa of Japan (d. 1107)
1602 - Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (d. 1675)
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, eleventh 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, U.S. 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
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
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
1954 - 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
1967 - Marcelo Balboa, American football (soccer) player
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 valet
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
1988 - Princess Beatrice of York
1989 - Sesil Karatantcheva, Bulgarian tennis player

Deaths

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)
1831 - Konstantinas Sirvydas, Lithuanian writer and lexicographer (b. 1579)
1684 - George Booth, 1st Baron Delamer (b. 1622)
1694 - Antoine Arnauld, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1612)
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)
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 in Physics (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)

Holidays and observances

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).
United States - Bonza Bottler Day.
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

External links

August 7 - August 9 - July 8 - September 8 -- listing of all days

Gourt Home::Gourt :: August 8

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links