July 8

July 8 is the 189th day of the year (190th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 176 days remaining.

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Events

• 1099 – First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders mocked them.
• 1497 – Vasco da Gama sets sail on first direct European voyage to India.
• 1663 – Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter to Rhode Island.
• 1680 – The first confirmed tornado in America killed a servant at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• 1709 – Battle of Poltava: Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava thus effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe.
• 1758 – French and Indian War: French forces hold Fort Carillon against British at Ticonderoga, New York.
• 1760 – French and Indian War: Battle of the Ristigouche – British defeat French forces in last naval battle in New France.
• 1822 – Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.
• 1859 – King Charles XV / Carl IV accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway
• 1889 – The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published.
• 1889  – During the last championship bare-knuckle boxing match, John L. Sullivan defeats Jake Kilrain after 75 rounds.
• 1896 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech, Chicago.
• 1932 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22.
• 1947 – Reports are broadcast that a UFO has crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico.
• 1969 – IBM CICS is made generally available for the 360 mainframe computer
• 1990 – At 12:34:56 PM the time and date by US reckoning was 12:34:56 7/8/90.
• 1997 – Mayo Clinic researchers warn that the dieting-drug "fen-phen" can cause severe heart and lung damage.
• 1997  – NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance in 1999.
• 1999 – Allen Lee Davis executed by electrocution by the state of Florida. Last use of the Electric Chair for capital punishment in Florida.
• 2000 – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth book in J.K. Rowling's hugely popular Harry Potter series, is published.

Births

• 1545 – Don Carlos of Spain, son of Philip II of Spain (d. 1568)
• 1593 – Artemisia Gentileschi, painter (d. 1651)
• 1621 – Jean de la Fontaine, fablist
• 1760 – Christian Kramp, mathematician.
• 1819 – Francis Leopold McClintock, naval officer and explorer
• 1836 – Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (d. 1914)
• 1838 – Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin, German inventor (d. 1917)
• 1839 – John D. Rockefeller, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1937)
• 1851 – Arthur Evans, archaeologist (d. 1941)
• 1867 – Käthe Kollwitz, painter and graphic artist (d. 1945)
• 1882 – Percy Grainger, Australian composer (d. 1961)
• 1885 – Ernst Bloch, philosopher (d. 1977)
• 1904 – Henri Cartan, French mathematician
• 1908 – Louis Jordan, singer and saxophonist (d. 1975)
• 1908  – Nelson A. Rockefeller, Vice President of the United States(d. 1979)
• 1918 – Craig Stevens, actor (d. 2000)
• 1919 – Walter Scheel, politician
• 1923 – Harrison Dillard, American athlete
• 1932 – Barbara Loden, actress
• 1933 – Marty Feldman, comedian and actor
• 1935 – Steve Lawrence, entertainer, singer
• 1935  – Vitali Sevastyanov, cosmonaut
• 1941 – Dario Gradi, football manager
• 1942 – Phil Gramm, politician
• 1945 – Micheline Calmy-Rey, member of the Swiss Federal Council
• 1951 – Anjelica Huston, actress
• 1958 – Kevin Bacon, actor
• 1961 – Andy Fletcher, musician (Depeche Mode)
• 1961  – Toby Keith, country music singer
• 1968 – Billy Crudup, actor
• 1970 – Beck, rock and roll singer
• 1972 – Saurav Ganguly, Indian cricketer
• 1975 – Kathleen Robertson, actress
• 1977 – Wang Zhizhi, Chinese basketball player
• 1980 – Robbie Keane, Irish footballer
• 1981 – Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player
• 1982 – Hakim Warrick, American basketball player

Deaths

• 810 – Pepin, King of Italy (b. 773)
• 975 – King Edgar of England
• 1153 – Pope Eugene III
• 1623 – Pope Gregory XV
• 1695 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch scientist
• 1822 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet (b. 1792)
• 1826 – Luther Martin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
• 1850 – Prince Adolphus of the United Kingdom, 1st Duke of Cambridge
• 1859 – King Oscar I of Sweden-Norway
• 1905 – Walter Kittredge, American musician and composer during the Civil War.
• 1917 – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter
• 1933 – Anthony Hope, author
• 1939 – Havelock Ellis, physician, psychologist (b. 1859).
• 1943 – Jean Moulin, leader of the French Resistance in WW II
• 1950 – Othmar Spann, Austrian philosopher and economist
• 1957 – Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States
• 1959 – Major Dale R. Buis, US Army, first U.S. soldier to die in Vietnam
• 1973 – Wilfred Rhodes, Yorkshire and England cricketer and highest first-class wicket taker (b. 1877)
• 1986 – Skeeter Webb, baseball player (b. 1909)
• 1988 – Ray Barbuti, American athlete
• 1990 – Howard Duff, actor
• 1994 – Kim Il Sung, North Korean leader (b. 1912).
• 2001 – John O'Shea, New Zealand director (b. 1920)
• 2002 – Ward Kimball, Disney animator
• 2003 – Ladan and Laleh Bijani, Iranian twins
• 2004 – Paula Danziger, author

Holidays and observances

• Feast day of Saint Grimbald

External links

• BBC: On This Day

July 7 – July 9 – June 8 – August 8 — listing of all days