June 8

June 8 is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 206 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

Pre-1600

• 218 – Battle of Antioch: With the support of the Syrian legions, Elagabalus defeats the forces of emperor Macrinus.
• 452 – Attila leads a Hun army in the invasion of Italy, devastating the northern provinces as he heads for Rome.
• 793 – Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of Norse activity in the British Isles.
• 1042 – Edward the Confessor becomes King of England - the country's penultimate Anglo-Saxon king.
• 1191 – Richard I arrives in Acre, beginning the Third Crusade.

1601–1900

• 1663 – Portuguese Restoration War: Portuguese victory at the Battle of Ameixial ensures Portugal's independence from Spain.
• 1772 – Alexander Fordyce flees to France to avoid debt repayment, triggering the credit crisis of 1772 in the British Empire and the Dutch Republic.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Continental Army attackers are driven back at the Battle of Trois-Rivières.
• 1783 – Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.
• 1789 – James Madison introduces twelve proposed amendments to the United States Constitution in Congress.
• 1794 – Maximilien Robespierre inaugurates the French Revolution's new state religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being, with large organized festivals all across France.
• 1856 – A group of 194 Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the mutineers of HMS Bounty, arrives at Norfolk Island, commencing the Third Settlement of the Island.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys: Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson save the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by General George B. McClellan.
• 1867 – Coronation of Franz Joseph as King of Hungary following the Austro-Hungarian compromise (Ausgleich).
• 1887 – Herman Hollerith applies for US patent #395,781 for the 'Art of Compiling Statistics', which was his punched card calculator.

1901–present

• 1906 – Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.
• 1912 – Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures.
• 1918 – A solar eclipse is observed at Baker City, Oregon by scientists and an artist hired by the United States Navy.
• 1928 – Second Northern Expedition: The National Revolutionary Army captures Peking, whose name is changed to Beijing ("Northern Capital").
• 1929 – Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labour. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
• 1940 – World War II: The completion of Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of Allied forces from Narvik at the end of the Norwegian Campaign.
• 1941 – World War II: The Allies commence the Syria–Lebanon Campaign against the possessions of Vichy France in the Levant.
• 1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy submarines I-21 and I-24 shell the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle.
• 1949 – Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
• 1949 – George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is published.
• 1953 – An F5 tornado hits Beecher, Michigan, killing 116, injuring 844, and destroying 340 homes.
• 1953 – The United States Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co. that restaurants in Washington, D.C., cannot refuse to serve black patrons.
• 1959 – USS Barbero and the United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
• 1966 – An F-104 Starfighter collides with XB-70 Valkyrie prototype no. 2, destroying both aircraft during a photo shoot near Edwards Air Force Base. Joseph A. Walker, a NASA test pilot, and Carl Cross, a United States Air Force test pilot, are both killed.
• 1966 – Topeka, Kansas, is devastated by a tornado that registers as an "F5" on the Fujita scale: The first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.
• 1966 – The National Football League and American Football League announced a merger effective in 1970.
• 1967 – Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident occurs, killing 34 and wounding 171.
• 1968 – James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested at London Heathrow Airport.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: Nine-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc is burned by napalm, an event captured by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut moments later while the young girl is seen running down a road, in what would become an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo.
• 1982 – Bluff Cove Air Attacks during the Falklands War: Fifty-six British servicemen are killed by an Argentine air attack on two landing ships, RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram.
• 1982 – VASP Flight 168 crashes in Pacatuba, Ceará, Brazil, killing 128 people.
• 1984 – Homosexuality is decriminalized in the Australian state of New South Wales.
• 1987 – New Zealand's Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987.
• 1992 – The first World Oceans Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• 1995 – Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.
• 2001 – Mamoru Takuma kills eight and injures 15 in a mass stabbing at an elementary school in the Osaka Prefecture of Japan.
• 2004 – The first Venus Transit in well over a century takes place, the previous one being in 1882.
• 2007 – Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State's worst storms and flooding in 30 years resulting in the death of nine people and the grounding of a trade ship, the MV Pasha Bulker.
• 2008 – At least 37 miners go missing after an explosion in a Ukrainian coal mine causes it to collapse.
• 2008 – At least seven people are killed and ten injured in a stabbing spree in Tokyo, Japan.
• 2009 – Two American journalists are found guilty of illegally entering North Korea and sentenced to 12 years of penal labour.
• 2014 – At least 28 people are killed in an attack at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan.

Births

Pre-1600

• 862 – Emperor Xizong of Tang (d. 888)
• 1508 – Primož Trubar, Slovenian Protestant reformer (d. 1586)
• 1552 – Gabriello Chiabrera, Italian poet and author (d. 1638)
• 1593 – George I Rákóczi, prince of Transylvania (d. 1648)

1601–1900

• 1625 – Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Italian-French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1712)
• 1671 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1751)
• 1717 – John Collins, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1795)
• 1724 – John Smeaton, English engineer, designed the Coldstream Bridge and Perth Bridge (d. 1794)
• 1745 – Caspar Wessel, Norwegian-Danish mathematician and cartographer (d. 1818)
• 1757 – Ercole Consalvi, Italian cardinal (d. 1824)
• 1788 – Charles A. Wickliffe, American politician, 14th Governor of Kentucky (d. 1869)
• 1810 – Robert Schumann, German composer and critic (d. 1856)
• 1829 – John Everett Millais, English painter and illustrator (d. 1896)
• 1831 – Thomas J. Higgins, Canadian-American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1917)
• 1842 – John Q. A. Brackett, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1918)
• 1851 – Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval, French physician and physicist (d. 1940)
• 1852 – Guido Banti, Italian physician and pathologist (d. 1925)
• 1854 – Douglas Cameron, Canadian politician, 8th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (d. 1921)
• 1855 – George Charles Haité, English painter and illustrator (d. 1924)
• 1858 – Charlotte Scott, English mathematician (d. 1931)
• 1859 – Smith Wigglesworth, English evangelist (d. 1947)
• 1860 – Alicia Boole Stott, Irish-English mathematician and theorist (d. 1940)
• 1867 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (d. 1959)
• 1868 – Robert Robinson Taylor, American architect (d. 1942)
• 1872 – Jan Frans De Boever, Belgian painter and illustrator (d. 1949)
• 1875 – Ernst Enno, Estonian poet and author (d. 1934)
• 1876 – Alexandre Tuffère, Greek-French triple jumper (d. 1958)
• 1885 – Karl Genzken, German physician (d. 1957)
• 1891 – William Funnell, Australian public servant (d. 1962)
• 1893 – Ernst Marcus, German zoologist (d. 1968)
• 1893 – Gaby Morlay, French actress (d. 1964)
• 1894 – Erwin Schulhoff, Czech composer and pianist (d. 1942)
• 1895 – Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1978)
• 1897 – John G. Bennett, English mathematician and technologist (d. 1974)
• 1899 – Eugène Lapierre, Canadian organist, composer and arts administrator (d. 1970)
• 1899 – Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician (d. 1945)
• 1900 – Lena Baker, African-American maid executed for capital murder, later pardoned posthumously (d. 1945)

1901–present

• 1903 – Ralph Yarborough, American lawyer and politician (d. 1996)
• 1903 – Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian-French author and poet (d. 1987)
• 1910 – John W. Campbell, American journalist and author (d. 1971)
• 1910 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French-American photographer, sculptor, and painter (d. 2003)
• 1911 – Edmundo Rivero, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 1986)
• 1912 – Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, British abstract painter (d. 2004)
• 1912 – Maurice Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1989)
• 1912 – Harry Holtzman, American painter (d. 1987)
• 1915 – Kayyar Kinhanna Rai, Indian journalist, author, and poet (d. 2015)
• 1916 – Francis Crick, English biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
• 1916 – Luigi Comencini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2007)
• 1916 – Richard Pousette-Dart, American painter and educator (d. 1992)
• 1917 – Byron White, American football player, lawyer and judge (d. 2002)
• 1918 – George Edward Hughes, Irish-New Zealand philosopher and logician (d. 1994)
• 1918 – Robert Preston, American actor and singer (d. 1987)
• 1918 – John D. Roberts, American chemist and academic (d. 2016)
• 1919 – John R. Deane, Jr., American general (d. 2013)
• 1920 – Gwen Harwood, Australian poet and playwright (d. 1995)
• 1921 – Gordon McLendon, American broadcaster and businessman (d. 1986)
• 1921 – Olga Nardone, American actress (d. 2010)
• 1921 – LeRoy Neiman, American painter (d. 2012)
• 1921 – Alexis Smith, Canadian-born American actress and singer (d. 1993)
• 1921 – Suharto, Indonesian soldier and politician, 2nd President of Indonesia (d. 2008)
• 1924 – Billie Dawe, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 2013)
• 1924 – Kenneth Waltz, American political scientist and academic (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Barbara Bush, American wife of George H. W. Bush, 41st First Lady of the United States (d. 2018)
• 1927 – Jerry Stiller, American actor, comedian and producer (d. 2020)
• 1929 – Nada Inada, Japanese psychiatrist and author (d. 2013)
• 1930 – Robert Aumann, German-American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1930 – Marcel Léger, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1993)
• 1931 – James Goldstone, American director and screenwriter (d. 1999)
• 1931 – Dana Wynter, British actress (d. 2011)
• 1932 – Ray Illingworth, English cricketer and sportscaster
• 1932 – Ian Kirkwood, Lord Kirkwood, Scottish lawyer and judge (d. 2017)
• 1933 – Rommie Loudd, American football player and coach (d. 1998)
• 1933 – Joan Rivers, American comedian, actress, and television host (d. 2014)
• 1934 – Millicent Martin, English actress and singer
• 1935 – Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2015)
• 1936 – James Darren, American actor
• 1936 – Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
• 1937 – Gillian Clarke, Welsh poet and playwright
• 1938 – Angelo Amato, Italian cardinal
• 1940 – Nancy Sinatra, American singer and actress
• 1941 – Robert Bradford, Northern Irish politician and activist (d. 1981)
• 1941 – George Pell, Australian cardinal
• 1942 – Nikos Konstantopoulos, Greek politician, Greek Minister of the Interior
• 1942 – Doug Mountjoy, Welsh snooker player (d. 2021)
• 1943 – Colin Baker, English actor
• 1943 – William Calley, American military officer
• 1943 – Willie Davenport, American hurdler (d. 2002)
• 1943 – Peter Eggert, German footballer and manager
• 1943 – Pierre-André Fournier, Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 2015)
• 1944 – Boz Scaggs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1945 – Steven Fromholz, American singer-songwriter, producer, and poet (d. 2014)
• 1945 – Derek Underwood, English cricketer
• 1946 – Graham Henry, New Zealand rugby player and coach
• 1947 – Annie Haslam, English singer-songwriter and painter
• 1947 – Sara Paretsky, American author
• 1947 – Eric F. Wieschaus, American biologist, geneticist, and academic Nobel Prize laureate
• 1949 – Emanuel Ax, Polish-American pianist and educator
• 1949 – Hildegard Falck, German runner
• 1950 – Kathy Baker, American actress
• 1950 – Sônia Braga, Brazilian actress and producer
• 1951 – Bonnie Tyler, Welsh singer-songwriter
• 1953 – Sandy Nairne, English historian and curator
• 1953 – Ivo Sanader, Croatian historian and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Croatia
• 1953 – Olav Stedje, Norwegian singer-songwriter
• 1954 – Kiril of Varna, Bulgarian metropolitan (d. 2013)
• 1954 – Sergei Storchak, Ukrainian-Russian politician
• 1955 – Tim Berners-Lee, English computer scientist, invented the World Wide Web
• 1955 – José Antonio Camacho, Spanish footballer and manager
• 1955 – Griffin Dunne, American actor, director, and producer
• 1956 – Jonathan Potter, English psychologist, sociolinguist, and academic
• 1957 – Scott Adams, American author and illustrator
• 1957 – Don Robinson, American baseball player and politician
• 1957 – Sonja Vectomov, Czech/Finnish sculptor
• 1958 – Louise Richardson, Irish political scientist and academic
• 1959 – C.T. Fletcher, American powerlifter and bodybuilder; three-time World Bench Press Champion and three-time World Strict Curl Champion
• 1959 – Mohsen Kadivar, Iranian philosopher
• 1960 – Mick Hucknall, English singer-songwriter
• 1960 – Thomas Steen, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
• 1961 – Mary Bonauto, American lawyer and gay rights activist
• 1963 – Karen Kingsbury, American journalist and author
• 1964 – Butch Reynolds, American runner and coach
• 1965 – Kevin Farley, American screenwriter
• 1967 – Russell E. Morris, Welsh chemist and academic
• 1968 – Sharon Shannon, Irish traditional musician
• 1975 – Mark Ricciuto, Australian footballer and sportcaster
• 1976 – Lindsay Davenport, American tennis player
• 1977 – Kanye West, American rapper, producer, director, and fashion designer
• 1978 – Maria Menounos, American television personality, professional wrestler, author, and actress
• 1981 – Rachel Held Evans, American Christian author (d. 2019)
• 1982 – Nadia Petrova, Russian tennis player
• 1983 – Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player; winner of six Grand Slam tournament titles.
• 1984 – Javier Mascherano, Argentinian footballer
• 1986 – Keith Gill, American financial analyst and investor
• 1989 – Timea Bacsinszky, Swiss tennis player
• 1997 – Jeļena Ostapenko, Latvian tennis player

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 632 – Muhammad, the central figure of Islam, widely regarded as its founder (b. 570/571)
• 696 – Chlodulf, bishop of Metz (or 697)
• 951 – Zhao Ying, Chinese chancellor (b. 885)
• 1042 – Harthacnut, English-Danish king (b. 1018)
• 1154 – William of York, English archbishop and saint
• 1290 – Beatrice Portinari, object of Dante Alighieri's adoration (b. 1266)
• 1376 – Edward, the Black Prince, English son of Edward III of England (b. 1330)
• 1383 – Thomas de Ros, 4th Baron de Ros, English politician (b. 1338)
• 1384 – Kan'ami, Japanese actor and playwright (b. 1333)
• 1405 – Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York (b. c.1350)
• 1405 – Thomas de Mowbray, 4th Earl of Norfolk (b. 1385)
• 1476 – George Neville, English archbishop and academic (b. 1432)
• 1492 – Elizabeth Woodville, Queen consort of England (b. 1437)
• 1501 – George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly, Earl of Huntly and Lord Chancellor of Scotland (b. 1440)
• 1505 – Hongzhi Emperor of China (b. 1470)
• 1600 – Edward Fortunatus, German nobleman (b. 1565)

1601–1900

• 1611 – Jean Bertaut, French bishop and poet (b. 1552)
• 1612 – Hans Leo Hassler, German organist and composer (b. 1562)
• 1621 – Anne de Xainctonge, French saint, founded the Society of the Sisters of Saint Ursula of the Blessed Virgin (b. 1567)
• 1628 – Rudolph Goclenius, German lexicographer and philosopher (b. 1547)
• 1651 – Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1604)
• 1714 – Sophia of Hanover (b. 1630)
• 1716 – Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, German son of Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1658)
• 1727 – August Hermann Francke, German-Lutheran pietist, philanthropist, and scholar (b. 1663)
• 1768 – Johann Joachim Winckelmann, German archaeologist and scholar (b. 1717)
• 1771 – George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1716)
• 1795 – Louis XVII of France (b. 1785)
• 1809 – Thomas Paine, English-American theorist and author (b. 1737)
• 1831 – Sarah Siddons, Welsh actress (b. 1755)
• 1835 – Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Italian economist and jurist (b. 1761)
• 1845 – Andrew Jackson, American general, judge, and politician, 7th President of the United States (b. 1767)
• 1846 – Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist (b. 1799)
• 1857 – Douglas William Jerrold, English journalist and playwright (b. 1803)
• 1874 – Cochise, American tribal chief (b. 1805)
• 1876 – George Sand, French author and playwright (b. 1804)
• 1885 – Ignace Bourget, Canadian bishop (b. 1799)
• 1889 – Gerard Manley Hopkins, English poet (b. 1844)
• 1899 – Mary of the Divine Heart, German nun and saint (b. 1863)

1901–present

• 1924 – Andrew Irvine, English mountaineer and explorer (b. 1902)
• 1924 – George Mallory, English lieutenant and mountaineer (b. 1886)
• 1929 – Bliss Carman, Canadian-American poet and playwright (b. 1861)
• 1945 – Karl Hanke, Polish-German soldier and politician (b. 1903)
• 1951 – Eugène Fiset, Canadian physician, general, and politician, 18th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1874)
• 1951 – Oswald Pohl, German SS officer (b. 1892)
• 1956 – Marie Laurencin, French painter and sculptor (b. 1883)
• 1959 – Leslie Johnson, English race car driver (b. 1912)
• 1965 – Edmondo Rossoni, Italian politician (b. 1884)
• 1966 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer and academic (b. 1890)
• 1968 – Elizabeth Enright, American author and illustrator (b. 1909)
• 1968 – Ludovico Scarfiotti, Italian race car driver (b. 1933)
• 1969 – Arunachalam Mahadeva, Sri Lankan politician and diplomat (b. 1885)
• 1969 – Robert Taylor, American actor and singer (b. 1911)
• 1970 – Abraham Maslow, American psychologist and academic (b. 1908)
• 1971 – J.I. Rodale, American author and playwright (b. 1898)
• 1976 – Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe, Norwegian zoologist and psychologist (b. 1894)
• 1982 – Satchel Paige, American baseball player (b. 1906)
• 1984 – Gordon Jacob, English composer and academic (b. 1895)
• 1987 – Alexander Iolas, Egyptian-American art collector (b. 1907)
• 1997 – George Turner, Australian author and critic (b. 1916)
• 1997 – Karen Wetterhahn, American chemist and academic (b. 1948)
• 1998 – Sani Abacha, Nigerian general and politician, 10th President of Nigeria (b. 1943)
• 1998 – Maria Reiche, German mathematician and archaeologist (b. 1903)
• 2000 – Frédéric Dard, French author and screenwriter (b. 1921)
• 2000 – Jeff MacNelly, American cartoonist (b. 1948)
• 2001 – Alex de Renzy, American director and producer (b. 1935)
• 2004 – Charles Hyder, American astrophysicist and academic (b. 1930)
• 2004 – Mack Jones, American baseball player (b. 1938)
• 2006 – Jaxon, American illustrator and publisher, co-founded Rip Off Press (b. 1941)
• 2006 – Matta El Meskeen, Egyptian monk, theologian, and author (b. 1919)
• 2008 – Šaban Bajramović, Serbian singer-songwriter (b. 1936)
• 2009 – Omar Bongo, Gabonese captain and politician, President of Gabon (b. 1935)
• 2012 – Pete Brennan, American basketball player (b. 1936)
• 2012 – Charles E. M. Pearce, New Zealand-Australian mathematician and academic (b. 1940)
• 2012 – Ghassan Tueni, Lebanese journalist, academic, and politician (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Paul Cellucci, American soldier and politician, 69th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1948)
• 2013 – Yoram Kaniuk, Israeli painter, journalist, and critic (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Taufiq Kiemas, Indonesian politician, 5th First Spouse of Indonesia (b. 1942)
• 2014 – Alexander Imich, Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, and academic (b. 1903)
• 2014 – Yoshihito, Prince Katsura of Japan (b. 1948)
• 2015 – Chea Sim, Cambodian commander and politician (b. 1932)
• 2017 – Sam Panopoulos, Greek cook (b. 1934)
• 2018 – Anthony Bourdain, American chef and travel documentarian (b. 1956)
• 2019 – Andre Matos, Brazilian heavy metal musician (b. 1971)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Blessed Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan
  • Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart (Droste zu Vischering)
  • Chlodulf of Metz
  • Jacques Berthieu, S.J.
  • Jadwiga (Hedwig) of Poland
  • Medard
  • Melania the Elder
  • Roland Allen (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • Thomas Ken (Church of England)
  • William of York
  • June 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Earliest day on which Queen's Birthday can fall, while June 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Monday in June. (Australia, except Western Australia and Queensland)
• Bounty Day (Norfolk Island)
• Caribbean American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
• Engineer's Day (Peru)
• Primož Trubar Day (Slovenia)
• World Brain Tumor Day
• World Oceans Day

External links

• "On This Day". BBC.
• The New York Times: On This Day

• "Historical Events on June 8". OnThisDay.com.
• "Today in Canadian History". Canada Channel.