June 8
June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. Events536 - St. Silverius becomes Pope (probable date). 793 - The first Viking raid on British soil at Lindisfarne where a set date for the raid is known1776 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trois-Rivières - American invaders are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec. 1783 - The volcano Laki, in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine. 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 McClellan. 1866 - The Canadian Parliament meets for the first time in Ottawa. 1887 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punch card calculator.1912 - Carl Laemmle incorporated Universal Pictures.1941 - World War II: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon. 1948 - Milton Berle hosts the debut of Texaco Star Theater. 1949 - Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is published. 1949 - Red Scare: Such celebrities as 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. 1950 - Sir Thomas Blamey becomes the only Field Marshal in Australian history. 1953 - Flint-Worcester Tornadoes: A tornado hits in Flint, Michigan and kills 115. This is the last tornado to claim more than 100 lives. 1953 - The United States Supreme Court rules that Washington, D.C restaurants could not refuse to serve black patrons.1959 - The first (and only) delivery of Missile Mail. 1967 - 6-Day War: The USS Liberty incident occurs, killing 34 and wounding 171. 1968 - James Earl Ray is arrested for the murder of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr 1968 - The body of assassinated U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. 1969 - After the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) cancels the program, the last Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour airs. 1984 - Homosexuality is decriminalised in the state of New South Wales, Australia.1986 - Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.1995 - Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.1996 - Panama becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty. 1998 - Charlton Heston assumes the presidency of the National Rifle Association. 1999 - War on Drugs: The government of Colombia announces it will include the estimated value of the country's illegal drug crops, exceeding half a billion US dollars, in its gross national product.2001 - Popular editorial site suck.com, one of the first original content sites on the internet, publishes its final article, "Gone Fishin'." 2004 - First Transit of Venus in this millennium.
Births1625 - Giovanni Domenico Cassini, scientist (d. 1712)1724 - John Smeaton, civil engineer (d. 1794)1743 - Alessandro Cagliostro, adventurer (d. 1795)1810 - Robert Schumann, composer (d. 1856)1847 - Ida McKinley, former First Lady of the United States (d. 1907)1867 - Frank Lloyd Wright, architect (d. 1959)1903 - Marguerite Yourcenar, author (d. 1987) 1903 - Ralph Yarborough, U.S. Senator and Texas politician (d. 1996)1910 - John W. Campbell Jr, science fiction writer, publisher, editor (d. 1971)1916 - Francis Crick, scientist, Nobel laureate, helped discover the molecular structure of DNA1917 - Byron White, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 2002)1918 - Robert Preston, actor (d. 1987)1921 - Suharto, former President of Indonesia 1921 - Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (d. 1993)1924 - Lyn Nofziger, political operative1925 - Barbara Bush, former First Lady of the United States (to 41st President, George Bush, mother to 43rd President George W. Bush)1927 - LeRoy Neiman, painter1929 - Jerry Stiller, comedian, actor1933 - Joan Rivers, comedienne, author1934 - Millicent Martin, singer, actress1936 - James Darren, actor, singer1940 - Nancy Sinatra, singer1941 - Fuzzy Haskins, musician ("P Funk")1942 - Doug Mountjoy, Welsh snooker player1944 - Boz Scaggs, singer, songwriter1948 - Jürgen von der Lippe, German show master1950 - Sonia Braga, actress1951 - Bonnie Tyler, singer, guitarist1955 - Griffin Dunne, actor1955 - Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web1957 - Scott Adams, cartoonist ("Dilbert")1958 - Keenen Ivory Wayans, comedian, actor, director1960 - Mick Hucknall, singer/songwriter ("Simply Red")1962 - Nick Rhodes, musician ("Duran Duran")1966 - Julianna Margulies, actress (ER)1970 - Kelli Williams, actress (The Practice)1971 - Troy Vincent, American football player1973 - Lexa Doig, Canadian actress (Andromeda)1977 - Kanye West, rapper, producer1978 - Matthew Bellamy, musician ("Muse")1982 - Nadia Petrova, Russian tennis player
Deaths218 - Macrinus, Roman Emperor (b. c. 165)632 - Muhammad, founder of Islam (b. c. 570)1042 - Harthacanute, King of England (b. 1018)1795 - King Louis XVII of France (b. 1785)1809 - Thomas Paine, American revolutionary and writer: Common Sense (b. 1737)1845 - Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (b. 1767)1857 - Douglas William Jerrold, British dramatic playwright and political satirist (b. 1803)1874 - Cochise, Apache leader (b. c. 1812)1876 - George Sand, author (b. 1804)1924 - George Leigh Mallory (b. 1886) and Andrew Irvine (b. 1902), mountaineers1929 - Bliss Carman, poet (b. 1861)1966 - Anton Melik, Slovene geographer (b. 1890)1969 - Robert Taylor, actor (b. 1911)1970 - Abraham Maslow, psychologist (b. 1908)1979 - Herb Polesie, playwright1982 - Satchel Paige, baseball player (b. 1906)1998 - Sani Abacha, then President of Nigeria (b. 1904)2000 - Jeff MacNelly, political cartoonist2004 - Mack Jones, Major League Baseball player (b. 1938)
Holidays and observancesRoman Empire - second day of the Vestalia in honor of Vesta
External links BBC: On This Day
June 7 - June 9 - May 8 - July 8 -- listing of all days
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