January 8: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 357 days remaining (358 in leap years).

Events

• 871 - Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats Danish invasion army.
• 1198 - Innocent III becomes Pope.
• 1297 - Monaco gains its independence.
• 1499 - Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany
• 1734 - Premiere of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
• 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
• 1790 - George Washington delivers the first State of the Union Address address in New York City.
• 1806 - Cape Colony becomes a British colony.
• 1811 - Unsuccessful slave revolt led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
• 1815 - War of 1812: In the Battle of New Orleans Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
• 1838 - Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
• 1863 - Battle of Springfield of the American Civil War is fought.
• 1867 - African American men granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.
• 1877 - Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry (Montana).
• 1889 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine.
• 1900 - United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
• 1906 - A landslide in Haverstraw, New York kills 20 due to the excavation of clay along the Hudson River.
• 1908 - A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.
• 1912 - The African National Congress was founded.
• 1916 - World War I: Allied forces withdraw from Gallipoli.
• 1918 - President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.
• 1922 - The Social Democratic Youth League of Norway is founded.
• 1926 - Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz and renames it Saudi Arabia.
• 1935 - A.C. Hardy patents the spectrophotometer.
• 1953 - René Mayer becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1958 - 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.
• 1959 - Conquest of Cuba by Fidel Castro is completed with the conquest of Santiago de Cuba.
• 1959 - Michel Debré becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1962 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.).
• 1962 - Harmelen train disaster kills 93 in The Netherlands.
• 1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
• 1973 - Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of placing bugs in Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
• 1975 - Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband.
• 1977 - Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
• 1982 - AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
• 1987 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 8.30 to close at 2,002.25 -- The Dow's first close above 2,000.
• 1989 - Kegworth air disaster kills 47 in Great Britain.
• 1989 - Beginning of Japanese Heisei era.
• 1994 - Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He will stay on the space station till March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
• 1996 - An Antonov 32 cargo jet crashes into the central market in Kinshasa, Zaire killing more than 350.
• 2004 - RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest passenger ship ever built, was christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
• 2006 - An earthquake hits Kythira in Greece.

• 1556 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)
• 1583 - Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (d. 1643)
• 1601 - Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Spanish writer (d. 1658)
• 1628 - François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
• 1632 - Samuel Pufendorf, German jurist (d. 1694)
• 1635 - Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish Archbishop of Toledo (d. 1709)
• 1735 - John Carroll, first American Catholic archbishop (d. 1815)
• 1763 - Edmond Charles Genêt, French ambassador to the United States (d. 1834)
• 1786 - Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States (d. 1844)
• 1792 - Lowell Mason American composer (d. 1872)
• 1805 - John Bigler, Governor of California (d. 1871)
• 1805 - Orson Hyde, American religious leader (d. 1878)
• 1817 - Sir Theophilus Shepstone, South African statesman (d. 1893)
• 1821 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general (d. 1904)
• 1821 - W.H.L. Wallace, American Union general {d. 1862)
• 1823 - Alfred Russel Wallace, British naturalist and biologist (d. 1913)
• 1824 - Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet (d. 1861)
• 1824 - Wilkie Collins, British novelist (d. 1889)
• 1836 - Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch artist (d. 1912)
• 1843 - Frederick Abberline, Scotland Yard investigator, famous for Jack the Ripper case (d. 1929)
• 1867 - Emily Greene Balch, American writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1961)
• 1870 - Miguel Primo de Rivera, dictator of Spain (d. 1930)
• 1871 - James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1940)
• 1881 - Henrik Shipstead, U.S. Senator from Minnesota (d. 1960)
• 1883 - Patrick J. Hurley, U.S. Secretary of War (d. 1963)
• 1885 - John Curtin, fourteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945)
• 1885 - A. J. Muste, Dutch-born civil rights activist and pacifist (d. 1967)
• 1888 - Matthew Moore, Irish actor (d. 1960)
• 1891 - Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
• 1891 - Bronislava Nijinska, Russian choreographer (d. 1972)
• 1897 - Dennis Wheatley, British author (d. 1977)
• 1902 - Carl Rogers, American psychologist (1883)
• 1903 - Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist (d. 1960)
• 1904 - Karl Brandt, Nazi war ciminal (d. 1948)
• 1905 - Franjo Cardinal Seper, Croatian Catholic cardinal (d. 1981)
• 1908 - William Hartnell, British actor (d. 1975)
• 1909 - Willy Millowitsch, German actor (d. 1999)
• 1909 - Evelyn Wood, American educator (d. 1995)
• 1910 - Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova, Russian ballerina (d. 1988)
• 1912 - José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (d. 1992)
• 1923 - Larry Storch, American actor
• 1923 - Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)
• 1923 - Joseph Weizenbaum, German-born computer scientist
• 1924 - Ron Moody, English actor
• 1926 - Evelyn Lear, American soprano
• 1926 - Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer
• 1926 - Soupy Sales, American comedian
• 1931 - Bill Graham, German music promoter (d. 1991)
• 1933 - Charles Osgood, American journalist and commentator
• 1934 - Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
• 1934 - Roy Kinnear, English actor (d. 1988)
• 1934 - Alexandra Ripley, American writer (d. 2004)
• 1935 - Elvis Presley, American singer and guitarist (d. 1977)
• 1937 - Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
• 1937 - John Hume, Irish politician
• 1938 - Bob Eubanks, American game show host
• 1941 - Graham Chapman, British comedian (Monty Python) (d. 1989)
• 1941 - Boris Vallejo, Peruvian illustrator
• 1942 - Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author
• 1942 - Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan
• 1942 - Yvette Mimieux, American actress
• 1944 - Terry Brooks American writer
• 1946 - Robby Krieger, American musician (The Doors)
• 1947 - David Bowie, English musician
• 1947 - Samuel Schmid, Swiss Federal Councilor
• 1949 - Wolfgang Puck, Austrian chef
• 1951 - Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
• 1953 - Bruce Sutter, American baseball player
• 1955 - Mike Reno, Canadian musician (Loverboy)
• 1959 - Paul Hester, Australian drummer (Crowded House) (d. 2005)
• 1961 - Calvin Smith, American athlete
• 1966 - Andrew Wood, American singer (Mother Love Bone) (d. 1990)
• 1967 - Michelle Forbes, American actress
• 1969 - R. Kelly, American singer
• 1969 - Ami Dolenz, American actress
• 1969 - Jeff Abercrombie, American musician (Fuel (band))
• 1971 - Jason Giambi, baseball player
• 1973 - Mark Knight, English video game composer, sound designer, and electric violin player
• 1973 - Sean Paul, Jamaican singer
• 1977 - Amber Benson, American actress
• 1978 - Marco Fu, Hong Kong snooker player
• 1980 - Rachel Nichols, American actress
• 1981 - Jeff Francis, Canadian baseball player
• 1982 - Gaby Hoffmann, American actress
• 1983 - Chris Mordetsky, American professional wrestler
• 1985 - Rachael Lampa, American singer
• 1986 - Jaclyn Linetsky, Canadian actress (d. 2003)

• 482 - Saint Severinus
• 1100 - Antipope Clement III
• 1107 - King Edgar I of Scotland (b. 1074)
• 1198 - Pope Celestine III
• 1324 - Marco Polo, Italian explorer (b. 1254)
• 1337 - Giotto di Bondone, Italian artist (b. 1267)
• 1464 - Thomas Ebendorfer, Austrian historian (b. 1385)
• 1557 - Albert the Warlike, Prince of Bayreuth (b. 1522)
• 1570 - Philibert de l'Orme, French architect
• 1642 - Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and physicist (b. 1564)
• 1707 - John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair, Scottish politican (b. 1648)
• 1713 - Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer (b. 1653)
• 1775 - John Baskerville, English printer (b. 1706)
• 1789 - Jack Broughton, English boxer
• 1794 - Justus Möser, German statesman (b. 1720)
• 1815 - Edward Pakenham, British general (killed in battle) (b. 1778)
• 1825 - Eli Whitney, American inventor (b. 1765)
• 1854 - William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (b. 1768)
• 1874 - Charles-Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French writer and historian (b. 1814)
• 1878 - Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, Russian poet (b. 1821)
• 1880 - Joshua A. Norton, "Emperor Norton I of the United States" (b. 1811)
• 1896 - William Raine Marshall, Governor of Minnesota (b. 1825)
• 1896 - Paul Verlaine, French poet (b. 1844)
• 1934 - Andrei Bely, Russian writer (b. 1880)
• 1941 - Lord Robert Baden-Powell, English soldier, writer, and founder of Scouting (b. 1857)
• 1942 - Joseph Franklin Rutherford, American religious publisher (b. 1869)
• 1948 - Kurt Schwitters, German painter (b. 1887)
• 1950 - Joseph Schumpeter, Austrian economist (b. 1883)
• 1956 - Jim Elliot, American Christian missionary and martyr (b. 1928)
• 1958 - Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (b. 1883)
• 1963 - Kay Sage, American artist and poet (b. 1898)
• 1969 - Albert Hill, British athlete (b. 1889)
• 1970 - Georges Guibourg, French performer (b. 1891)
• 1972 - Kenneth Patchen, American poet and painter (b. 1911)
• 1975 - Richard Tucker, American tenor (b. 1913)
• 1976 - Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1898)
• 1979 - Sara Carter, American country musician (b. 1898)
• 1980 - John Mauchly, American physicist and computer engineer (b. 1907)
• 1981 - Matthew "Stymie" Beard, American actor (b. 1925)
• 1983 - Tom McCall, Governor of Oregon (b. 1913)
• 1986 - Pierre Fournier, French cellist (b. 1906)
• 1989 - Bruce Chatwin, English novelist (b. 1940)
• 1990 - Terry-Thomas, British actor, comedian (b. 1911)
• 1991 - Steve Clark, English guitarist (Def Leppard) (b. 1960)
• 1993 - Eleanor Hibbert, British author (b. 1906)
• 1994 - Pat Buttram, American actor (b. 1915)
• 1995 - Carlos Monzon, Argentinian boxer (b. 1942)
• 1996 - François Mitterrand, President of France (b. 1916)
• 1997 - Melvin Calvin, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
• 1998 - Michael Tippett, English composer (b. 1905)
• 2000 - Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrianist (b. 1918)
• 2002 - Alexander Prochorow, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
• 2002 - Dave Thomas, American fast food entrepreneur (Wendy's) (b. 1932)
• 2003 - Ron Goodwin, British composer and conductor (b. 1925)
• 2004 - John A. Gambling, American radio talk-show host (b. 1930)
• 2005 - Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster (b. 1952)
• 2005 - Warren Spears, American choreographer and dancer
• 2005 - Michel Thomas, Polish linguist (b. 1914)
• 2006 - Tony Banks, British Peer in the House of Lords and former Member of Parliament. Also known as Lord Stratford.

• Commonwealth Day is celebrated in Northern Mariana Islands.

January 7 - January 9 - December 8 - February 8 — listing of all days