May 8
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May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). There are 237 days remaining.
Events
- 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.
- 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, was tried, convicted, and guillotined all on one day in Paris.
- 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 (ends May 11).
- 1886 - Pharmacist Dr. John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that would later be named "Coca-Cola".
- 1896 - Against Warwickshire, Yorkshire sets a still-standing County Championship record when they accumulate an innings total of 887.
- 1898 - The first games of the Italian Football League are played.
- 1899 - The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin opens.
- 1902 - In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of St. Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
- 1914 - Paramount Pictures is formed.
- 1919 - Edward George Honey first proposed the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, which later resulted in the creation of Remembrance Day.
- 1933 - Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest of British oppression in India.
- 1942 - World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end. This is the first time in the naval history where two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
- 1942 - World War II: On the night of 8/9 May 1942, gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebelled. Their mutiny was crushed and three of them were executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
- 1945 - World War II: VE Day. German forces agree to an unconditional surrender.
- 1945 - Thousands of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Setif massacre.
- 1967 - The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1974 - The Canadian Government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is defeated in the House of Commons.
- 1984 - The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
- 1984 - Cpl. 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.
- 1990 - Jonathan was born.
- 1987 - The SAS ambushes and kills the Loughgall Martyrs.
- 1997 - A China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 crashes on approach into Shenzhen's Huangtian Airport, killing 35
- 1999 - Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel military college.
- 2005 - The new Canadian War Museum opens, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of V-E Day.
Births
- 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 field marshal and Governor of Berlin (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)
- 1737 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (d. 1794)
- 1825 - George Bruce Malleson, Indian officer and author (d. 1898)
- 1828 - Jean Henri Dunant, Swiss founder of the Red Cross, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1910)
- 1829 - Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American composer and pianist (d. 1869)
- 1842 - Emil Christian Hansen, Danish fermentation physiologist (d. 1909)
- 1850 - Ross Barnes, baseball player (d. 1915)
- 1884 - Harry S. Truman, President of the United States (d. 1972)
- 1895 - Fulton J. Sheen, American bishop and television personality (d. 1979)
- 1899 - Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
- 1902 - Andre Michael Lwoff, French microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1994)
- 1903 - Fernandel, French actor (d. 1971)
- 1905 - Red Nichols, American jazz cornettist (d. 1965)
- 1906 - Roberto Rossellini, Italian director (d. 1977)
- 1911 - Robert Johnson, American singer and guitarist (d. 1938)
- 1914 - Romain Gary, Polish writer (d. 1980)
- 1916 - João Havelange, Brazilian industrialist and football league president
- 1919 - Lex Barker, American actor (d. 1973)
- 1925 - Ali Hassan Mwinyi, President of Tanzania
- 1926 - Sir David Attenborough, British television presenter and producer
- 1926 - Don Rickles, American comedian
- 1928 - Theodore Sorenson, American political operative and writer
- 1930 - Heather Harper, Irish soprano
- 1930 - Gary Snyder, American poet
- 1932 - Phyllida Law, Scottish actress
- 1932 - Sonny Liston, American boxer (d. 1970)
- 1935 - Jack Charlton, English footballer
- 1937 - Thomas Pynchon, American novelist
- 1940 - Ricky Nelson, American singer (d. 1985)
- 1942 - Terry Neill, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
- 1943 - Toni Tennille, American singer
- 1944 - Gary Glitter, English singer
- 1945 - Keith Jarrett, American musician
- 1947 - H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1948 - Felicity Lott, English soprano
- 1951 - Chris Frantz, American drummer (Talking Heads)
- 1953 - Alex Van Halen, Dutch-born drummer
- 1954 - David Keith, American actor
- 1957 - Marie Myriam, French singer
- 1964 - Melissa Gilbert, American actress and president of the Screen Actors Guild
- 1964 - Bobby Labonte, American race car driver
- 1964 - Dave Rowntree, British drummer (Blur)
- 1966 - Claudio Taffarel, Brazilian footballer
- 1968 - Jamie Summers, American porn star
- 1972 - Darren Hayes, Australian singer
- 1972 - Ray Whitney, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 - Hiromu Arakawa, Japanese artist
- 1974 - Korey Stringer, American football player (d. 2001)
- 1975 - Enrique Iglesias, Spanish-born singer
- 1976 - Martha Wainwright, Canadian musician and songwriter
- 1978 - Lúcio, Brazilian footballer
- 1980 - Michelle McManus, Scottish singer
- 1981 - Björn Dixgård, Swedish guitarist
- 1985 - Mashio Miyazaki, Japanese actress
Deaths
- 535 - Pope John II
- 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
- 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 - Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii
- 1828 - Mauro Giuliani, Italian composer (b. 1781)
- 1842 - Jules Dumont d'Urville, French explorer (b. 1790)
- 1873 - John Stuart Mill, English philosopher (b. 1806)
- 1880 - Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (b. 1821)
- 1891 - Helena Blavatsky, Russian-born author (b. 1831)
- 1936 - Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (b. 1880)
- 1943 - Mordechaj Anielewicz, Polish Resistance Fighter (b. 1919)
- 1947 - Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-born department store founder (b. 1858)
- 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)
- 1975 - Avery Brundage, President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1887)
- 1982 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (b. 1950)
- 1985 - Theodore Sturgeon, American science fiction writer (b. 1918)
- 1988 - Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer (b. 1907)
- 1990 - Luigi Nono, Italian composer (b. 1924)
- 1990 - Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich, Northern Irish clergyman (b. 1923)
- 1991 - Jean Langlais, French composer and pianist (b. 1907)
- 1991 - Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (b. 1903)
- 1993 - Avram Davidson, writer (b. 1923)
- 1994 - George Peppard, American actor (b. 1928)
- 1995 - Teresa Teng, Asian superstar (b. 1953)
- 1996 - Beryl Burton, English cyclist (b. 1937)
- 1999 - Dirk Bogarde, British actor (b. 1921)
- 1999 - Dana Plato, American actress (b. 1964)
- 2000 - Guadalupe "Pita" Amor, Mexican poet (b. 1918)
Holidays and observances
External links
May 7 - May 9 - April 8 - June 8 – listing of all days