May 8

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MMXI

May 8 in recent years

2011 (Sunday)

2010 (Saturday)

2009 (Friday)

2008 (Thursday)

2007 (Tuesday)

2006 (Monday)

2005 (Sunday)

2004 (Saturday)

2003 (Thursday)

2002 (Wednesday)

May 8 is the 128th day of the year (129th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 237 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 413 – Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, who are plundered by the Visigoths.
• 589 – Reccared summons the Third Council of Toledo.
• 1450 – Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
• 1541 – Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River and names it Río de Espíritu Santo.
• 1788 – The French Parlement is suspended to be replaced by the creation of forty-seven new courts.
• 1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror by revolutionists, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme Générale, is tried, convicted, and guillotined all on the same day in Paris.
• 1821 – Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia.
• 1846 – Mexican-American War: The Battle of Palo Alto – Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
• 1877 – At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.
• 1886 – Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine.
• 1898 – The first games of the Italian football league system are played.
• 1899 – The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin opens.
• 1902 – In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
• 1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.
• 1919 – Edward George Honey first proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, which later results in the creation of Remembrance Day. In the United States it was called Armistice Day and is now Veterans Day.
• 1924 – the Klaipėda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania.
• 1927 – Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli disappeared after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane.
• 1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against British oppression in India.
• 1941 – The German Luftwaffe launch a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby
• 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
• 1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
• 1945 – Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre.
• 1945 – World War II: V-E Day, combat ends in Europe. German forces agree in Rheims, France, to an unconditional surrender.
• 1945 – End of the Prague uprising, today celebrated as a national holiday in the Czech Republic.
• 1946 – Estonian school girls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which stood in front of the Bronze Soldier in Tallinn.
• 1963 – South Vietnamese soldiers of Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine.
• 1967 – The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
• 1970 – The Hard Hat riot occurs in the Wall Street area of New York City as blue-collar construction workers clash with demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War.
• 1972 – Vietnam War – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
• 1972 – Four Black September terrorists hijack Sabena Flight 571. Israeli Sayeret Matkal commandos recapture the plane the following day.
• 1973 – A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants.
• 1976 – The rollercoaster Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
• 1978 – First ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
• 1980 – The eradication of smallpox is endorsed by the World Health Organization.
• 1984 – The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
• 1984 – Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three and wounding 13. René Jalbert, sergeant-at-arms of the assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour.
• 1984 – Thames Barrier officially opened.
• 1987 – The Loughgall Ambush: The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
• 1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered the 'worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history' and still the worst to occur on Mother's Day.
• 1997 – A China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 crashes on approach into Bao'an International Airport, killing 35 people.

Births

• 1326 – Joanna I of Auvergne, queen of France (d. 1360)
• 1460 – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1536)
• 1521 – Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit (d. 1597)
• 1587 – Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)
• 1622 – Claes Rålamb, Swedish statesman (d. 1698)
• 1629 – Niels Juel, Danish admiral (d. 1697)
• 1632 – Heino Heinrich Graf von Flemming, German marshal (d. 1706)
• 1653 – Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars, Marshall of France (d. 1734)
• 1668 – Alain-René Lesage, French writer (d. 1747)
• 1670 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier (d. 1726)
• 1735 – Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter (d. 1811)
• 1738 – Mikhail Kamensky, Russian general (d. 1809)
• 1753 – Miguel Hidalgo Mexican revolutionary (d. 1811)
• 1786 – Jean Vianney, French Catholic priest (d. 1859)
• 1821 – William Henry Vanderbilt, member of the Vanderbilt family (d. 1885)
• 1825 – George Bruce Malleson, Indian officer (d. 1898)
• 1828 – Jean Henri Dunant, Founder of the Red Cross; Nobel laureate (d. 1910)
• 1828 – Sharbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk (d. 1898)
• 1829 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American musician (d. 1869)
• 1835 – Bertalan Székely, Hungarian painter (d. 1910)
• 1839 – Adolphe-Basile Routhier, French Canadian lyricist (d. 1920)
• 1842 – Emil Christian Hansen, Danish physiologist (d. 1909)
• 1847 – Oscar Hammerstein I, American theater producer and impresario (d. 1919)
• 1850 – Ross Barnes, baseball player (d. 1915)
• 1853 – Dan Brouthers, baseball player (d. 1932)
• 1858 – Heinrich Berté, Austrian operetta composer (d. 1924)
• 1858 – John Meade Falkner, English novelist (d. 1932)
• 1859 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician (d. 1925)
• 1884 – Harry S. Truman, President of the United States (d. 1972)
• 1893 – Edd Roush, American baseball player (d. 1988)
• 1893 – Teddy Wakelam, English sports broadcaster and rugby player (d. 1963)
• 1893 – Francis Ouimet, American golfer and businessman (d. 1967)
• 1895 – James H. Kindelberger, American aviation executve (d. 1962)
• 1895 – Fulton J. Sheen, American bishop (d. 1979)
• 1895 – Edmund Wilson, American writer (d. 1972)
• 1899 – Arthur Q. Bryan, American voice actor (d. 1959)
• 1899 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian-born British economist and philosopher, Nobel laureate (d. 1992)
• 1901 – Turkey Stearnes, American baseball player (d. 1979)
• 1902 – André Michel Lwoff, French microbiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
• 1903 – Fernandel, French actor (d. 1971)
• 1904 – John Snagge, British radio personality (d. 1996)
• 1905 – Red Nichols, American musician (d. 1965)
• 1906 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian director (d. 1977)
• 1910 – Andrew E. Svenson, American children's book author and publisher (d. 1975)
• 1910 – Mary Lou Williams, American singer (d. 1981)
• 1911 – Robert Johnson, American blues musician (d. 1938)
• 1913 – Bob Clampett, American animator (d. 1984)
• 1914 – Romain Gary, Polish writer (d. 1980)
• 1915 – Milton Meltzer, American writer (d. 2009)
• 1916 – João Havelange, Brazilian industrialist
• 1916 – Swami Chinmayananda, Indian spiritualist (d. 1993)
• 1919 – Lex Barker, American actor (d. 1973)
• 1920 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and filmmaker (d. 1996)
• 1920 – Tom of Finland, Finnish fetish artist (d. 1991)
• 1920 – Sloan Wilson, American author (d. 2003)
• 1925 – Ali Hassan Mwinyi, President of Tanzania
• 1926 – David Attenborough, English naturalist
• 1926 – Don Rickles, American comedian
• 1927 – Chumy Chúmez, Spanish film director (d. 2003)
• 1928 – Theodore Sorensen, American lawyer and special counsel to John F. Kennedy (d. 2010)
• 1929 – Claude Castonguay, Quebec politician
• 1929 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese actress (d. 2007)
• 1930 – Heather Harper, Irish singer
• 1930 – Gary Snyder, American poet
• 1932 – Julieta Campos, Cuban-born Mexican writer (d. 2007)
• 1932 – Phyllida Law, Scottish actress
• 1932 – Sonny Liston, American boxer (d. 1970)
• 1935 – Princess Elisabeth of Denmark
• 1935 – Jack Charlton, English footballer
• 1937 – Carlos Gaviria Díaz, Colombian politician
• 1937 – Thomas Pynchon, American novelist
• 1937 – Mike Cuellar, American baseball player (d. 2010)
• 1940 – Peter Benchley, American author (d. 2006)
• 1940 – Irwin Cotler, Canadian politician
• 1940 – Ricky Nelson, American singer (d. 1985)
• 1940 – Toni Tennille, American singer
• 1940 – Emilio Delgado, American actor
• 1941 – Mahmoud Ahmed, Ethiopian singer
• 1941 – John Fred, American singer (d. 2005)
• 1941 – Bill Lockyer, American politician
• 1942 – Norman Lamont, British politician
• 1942 – Terry Neill, Northern Irish footballer
• 1943 – Paul Samwell-Smith, British bassist (The Yardbirds)
• 1944 – Gary Glitter, English singer
• 1945 – Keith Jarrett, American musician
• 1946 – André Boulerice, French-Canadian politician
• 1946 – Jonathan Dancy, British philosopher
• 1947 – H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist, Nobel laureate
• 1948 – Felicity Lott, English singer
• 1948 – Steve Braun, American baseball player
• 1948 – Stephen Stohn, Canadian television producer
• 1950 – Robert Mugge, American music documentary filmmaker
• 1951 – Philip Bailey, American singer (Earth, Wind & Fire)
• 1951 – Mike D'Antoni, American professional basketball coach
• 1951 – Chris Frantz, American musician (Talking Heads)
• 1951 – Deborah Harmon, American actress
• 1953 – Alex Van Halen, Dutch-born American drummer (Van Halen)
• 1953 – Billy Burnette, American singer and guitarist (Fleetwood Mac)
• 1954 – Stephen Furst, American actor
• 1954 – David Keith, American actor
• 1955 – Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian politician
• 1956 – Jeff Wincott, Canadian actor
• 1957 – Bill Cowher, American professional football coach
• 1957 – Marie Myriam, French singer
• 1958 – Lovie Smith, American professional football coach
• 1959 – Ronnie Lott, American football player
• 1960 – Franco Baresi, Italian footballer
• 1960 – Eric Brittingham, American bassist
• 1961 – Janet McTeer, British actress
• 1961 – Akira Taue, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1961 – David Winning, Canadian film director
• 1963 – Terry Christian, British radio and television presenter
• 1963 – Sylvain Cossette, Quebec singer and songwriter
• 1963 – Anthony Field, Australian musician and actor
• 1963 – Michel Gondry, French director and screenwriter
• 1963 – Robin Jarvis, British writer
• 1963 – Izabela Kloc, Polish politician
• 1963 – Rick Zombo, American ice hockey player
• 1964 – Melissa Gilbert, American actress
• 1964 – Bobby Labonte, American race car driver
• 1964 – Dave Rowntree, British musician (Blur)
• 1966 – Marta Sánchez, Spanish singer
• 1966 – Claudio Taffarel, Brazilian footballer
• 1967 – Joshua Goldberg, American website editor (d. 2011)
• 1968 – Nathalie Normandeau, Quebec politician
• 1968 – Johan Pehrson, Swedish politician
• 1968 – Jamie Summers, American porn star
• 1969 – Akebono Taro, American sumo wrestler, the 64th Yokozuna
• 1970 – Luis Enrique, Spanish football player
• 1970 – Naomi Klein, Canadian author and activist
• 1972 – Darren Hayes, Australian singer
• 1972 – Ray Whitney, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1973 – Hiromu Arakawa, Japanese artist
• 1973 – Marcus Brigstocke, English comedian
• 1973 – Kris Hudson-Lee, English musician
• 1974 – Jon Tickle, English entertainer
• 1974 – Korey Stringer, American football player (d. 2001)
• 1975 – Enrique Iglesias, Spanish singer
• 1975 – Jussi Markkanen, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1975 – Gastón Mazzacane, Argentine racing driver
• 1976 – Martha Wainwright, Canadian musician and songwriter
• 1976 – Ian Watkins, Welsh singer and actor (Steps)
• 1977 – Joe Bonamassa, American blues rock guitarist and singer
• 1977 – Theodoros Papaloukas, Greek basketball player
• 1977 – Jennifer Walcott, American glamor model
• 1978 – Matthew Davis, American actor
• 1978 – Jang Woo Hyuk, Korean singer
• 1978 – Lúcio, Brazilian footballer
• 1978 – Josie Maran, American model
• 1980 – Keyon Dooling, American basketball player
• 1980 – Panayiotis Kafkis, Greek basketball player
• 1980 – Michelle McManus, Scottish singer
• 1980 – Benny Yau, Canadian entertainer
• 1981 – Andrea Barzagli, Italian footballer
• 1981 – Tatyana Dektyareva, Russian athlete
• 1981 – Björn Dixgård, Swedish guitarist, singer, songwriter
• 1981 – John Maine, American baseball player
• 1981 – Yasuko Tajima, Japanese swimmer
• 1982 – Adrian Gonzalez, American baseball player
• 1982 – Buakaw Por. Pramuk, Thai Muaythai kickboxer
• 1983 – Juan Martin Goity, Argentine-born German rugby player
• 1983 – Lawrence Vickers, American football player
• 1983 – Roberto Vitiello, Italian footballer
• 1983 – Matt Willis, British singer (Busted)
• 1984 – Nadine Chandrawinata, Indonesian beauty pageant contestant
• 1985 – Mashio Miyazaki, Japanese actress
• 1986 – Marvell Wynne, American footballer
• 1987 – Felix Jones, American football player
• 1987 – Mark Noble, English footballer
• 1990 – Kemba Walker, American basketball player
• 1991 – Ethan Gage, Canadian soccer player
• 1996 – Sandy Rai, Korean Actress

Deaths

• 1192 – Duke Ottokar IV of Styria (b. 1163)
• 1278 – Emperor Duanzong of China (b. 1268)
• 1319 – King Haakon V of Norway (b. 1270)
• 1473 – John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (b. 1420)
• 1538 – Edward Fox, English bishop
• 1672 – Jean-Armand du Peyrer, Comte de Tréville and French Officer (b. 1598)
• 1766 – Samuel Chandler, English non-conformist minister (b. 1693)
• 1773 – Ali Bey Al-Kabir, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt (b. 1728)
• 1781 – Richard Jago, English poet (b. 1715)
• 1785 – Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French statesman (b. 1719)
• 1785 – Pietro Longhi, Venetian painter (b. 1701)
• 1788 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian-born physician and naturalist (b. 1723)
• 1794 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (executed) (b. 1743)
• 1819 – King Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii
• 1828 – Mauro Giuliani, Italian composer (b. 1781)
• 1837 – Alexander Balashov, Russian general and statesman (b. 1770)
• 1842 – Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (b. 1790)
• 1853 – Jan Roothaan, Dutch priest (b. 1785)
• 1873 – John Stuart Mill, English philosopher (b. 1806)
• 1880 – Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (b. 1821)
• 1891 – Helena Blavatsky, Russian-born author (b. 1831)
• 1903 – Paul Gauguin, French painter (b. 1848)
• 1907 – Edmund G. Ross, American Senator (b. 1826)
• 1936 – Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (b. 1880)
• 1943 – Mordechaj Anielewicz, Polish Resistance Fighter (b. 1919)
• 1944 – Themistoklis Diakidis, Greek high jumper (b. 1882)
• 1945 – Wilhelm Rediess, SS and Police leader of Nazi-occupied Norway (b. 1900)
• 1945 – Bernhard Rust, Nazi education minister (b. 1883)
• 1945 – Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of Nazi-occupied Norway (b. 1898)
• 1947 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-born department store founder (b. 1858)
• 1948 – U Saw, Burmese politician (b. 1900)
• 1950 – Vital Brazil, Brazilian physician (b. 1865)
• 1952 – William Fox, Austrian-born film producer (b. 1879)
• 1960 – J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904)
• 1967 – LaVerne Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (b. 1911)
• 1969 – Remington Kellogg, American naturalist (b. 1892)
• 1975 – Avery Brundage, President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1887)
• 1981 – Uri Zvi Grinberg, Israeli poet and journalist (b. 1896)
• 1982 – Neil Bogart, American record executive (b. 1943)
• 1982 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (b. 1950)
• 1984 – Lila Bell Wallace, American magazine publisher (Reader's Digest) (b. 1890)
• 1984 – Gino Bianco, Brazilian racing driver (b. 1916)
• 1985 – Karl Marx, German composer (b. 1897)
• 1985 – Theodore Sturgeon, American science fiction writer (b. 1918)
• 1985 – Dolph Sweet, American actor (b. 1920)
• 1986 – Ernle Bradford, English historian and writer (b. 1922)
• 1987 – Doris Stokes, British psychic medium (b. 1920)
• 1988 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer (b. 1907)
• 1990 – Luigi Nono, Italian composer (b. 1924)
• 1991 – Jean Langlais, French composer and pianist (b. 1907)
• 1991 – Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (b. 1903)
• 1992 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player [AAGPBL] (b. 1933)
• 1993 – Avram Davidson, American writer (b. 1923)
• 1994 – George Peppard, American actor (b. 1928)
• 1995 – Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (b. 1953)
• 1996 – Beryl Burton, English cyclist (b. 1937)
• 1996 – Dominguín, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1926)
• 1996 – Garth Williams, American illustrator (b. 1912)
• 1996 – Larry Levis, American poet (b. 1946)
• 1998 – Bebe Rebozo, American banker and Watergate figure (b. 1912)
• 1999 – Sir Dirk Bogarde, British actor (b. 1921)
• 1999 – Ed Gilbert, American actor (b. 1931)
• 1999 – Dana Plato, American actress (b. 1964)
• 2000 – Guadalupe "Pita" Amor, Mexican poet (b. 1918)
• 2000 – Alexander Chislenko, Russian-American transhumanist (b. 1959)
• 2000 – Dédé Fortin, singer Québécois to group Les Colocs (b. 1962)
• 2000 – Henry Nicols, AIDS activist (b. 1973)
• 2001 – Koby Mandell, Israeli-American terror victim (b. 1987)
• 2005 – Nicolás Vuyovich, Argentine racing driver (b. 1981)
• 2006 – Iain Macmillan, Abbey Road photographer (b. 1938)
• 2008 – Eddy Arnold, country music star (b. 1918)
• 2008 – François Sterchele, Belgian football player (b. 1982)
• 2009 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1917)
• 2009 – Bud Shrake, American writer (b. 1931)
• 2011 – Lionel Rose, Australian boxer (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Agathius
  • Apparition of Saint Michael
  • Arsenius the Great (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • Desideratus
  • Catherine de Saint-Augustin
  • Julian of Norwich (Anglican, Lutheran)
  • Peter of Tarentaise
  • May 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Earliest day on which Mother's Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (United States and others)
• Earliest day on which State Flag and State Emblem Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (Belarus)
• Earliest day on which World Fair Trade Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (International)
• Miguel Hidalgo's birthday (Mexico)
• Parents' Day (South Korea)
• Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War, continues to May 9 (International)
• Truman Day (Missouri)
• Victory in Europe Day (Europe)
• White Lotus Day (Theosophy)
• World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day (International)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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