Title: May 8 Content: == Events == === Up to 1900 === * 413 - Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths. * 1541 – Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River. * 1654 - The Peace of Westminster ends the First Anglo-Dutch War. * 1781 – Battle of Pensacola in Florida: Spanish troops reconquer Pensacola. * 1788 - The French parliament is suspended to be replaced by the creation of forty-seven new courts. * 1794 – French chemist Antoine Lavoisier is executed on the guillotine. * 1821 - Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia Inn. * 1842 – French explorer Jules Dumont D'Urville and his family, are among those killed in a major train crash. * 1842 – The Great Fire of Hamburg is brought under control. It had killed 51 people and made 20,000 homeless. * 1846 - Mexican-American War: 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 declared capital city of the Confederate States of America. * 1886 – John Pemberton creates the drink that is now known as Coca-Cola. * 1898 – The Italian football league is held for the first time; all in one day. === 1901 2000 === * 1901 - The Australian Labor Party is founded. * 1902 – The Volcano Mt. Pelée erupts on the Caribbean Island of Martinique, killing 30,000 people. * 1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded. * 1919 - Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a Moment of Silence to commemorate the World War I Armistice on November 11. * 1927 - Attempting to make the first Transatlantic flight from Paris to New York City, Frenchmen Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli disappear after taking off aboard the White Bird airplane. * 1933 – Mahatma Gandhi begins a 21-day fast against British colonial oppression. * 1941 - World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby. * 1942 – World War II: In the Battle of the Coral Sea, a Japanese Navy aircraft attacks the ship USS Lexington. * 1945 – End of World War II in Europe; this day is known as VE Day for "Victory in Europe". * 1945 – Thousands of Algerian civilians are massacred by French colonial troops. * 1945 – End of Prague uprising. * 1963 - South Vietnamese soldiers of Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists who were defying a ban on the Buddhist flag, killing 9. * 1967 - The Philippines province of Davao is spilt into three, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental. * 1969 – The movie Easy Rider, starring Dennis Hopper, has its premiere in Cannes, France. * 1970 – The last Beatles album, Let it Be, is released. * 1973 – Members of the American Indian Movement leave the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, after a 71-day protest. * 1976 - The rollercoaster "Revolution", the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain. * 1978 – Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler reach the top of Mt. Everest without Oxygen supplies, becoming the first people to do so. * 1980 – The WHO announces the eradication of Smallpox. * 1984 – The Soviet Union decides to boycott the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. * 1984 – The Thames Barrier officially opens. * 1988 - Francois Mitterrand is elected to a second term as President of France. * 1993 - Lennox Lewis wins his Heavyweight Boxing fight against Tony Tucker in Las Vegas. * 1995 – The 50th anniversary of VE Day is marked. * 1997 – A China Southeast Airlines Boeing 737 crashes at Shenzhen Bao'an Airport, killing 35 people. === From 2001 === * 2003 - A train is sliced in two in a collision with a tourist bus in Siofok, Hungary, killing 30 German bus passengers and the driver. * 2007 – A new power-sharing deal takes effect in Northern Ireland. Ian Paisley becomes First Minister and Martin McGuinness becomes his Deputy. * 2007 - Archaeologists in Israel announce that they have discovered the grave of Herod the Great. * 2008 – Silvio Berlusconi becomes Prime Minister of Italy for a third time. * 2010 – Laura Chinchilla becomes President of Costa Rica. * 2013 - Manchester United football manager Alex Ferguson announces his upcoming retirement, which takes effect on May 19. He had been in charge of the team for over 26-and-a-half years, making him one of the game's longest-serving managers. David Moyes replaces him, but is already sacked on April 22, 2014. * 2014 - The African National Congress wins elections in South Africa, allowing Jacob Zuma to serve a second full term as President. * 2015 - 2015 Pakistan Army Mil Mi-17 crash: A helicopter carrying foreign diplomats crashes near Gilgit in the far north of Pakistan. The Norwegian and Filipino Ambassadors are among those killed in the accident. * 2015 - United Kingdom general election, 2015: As David Cameron starts his second term as Prime Minister, and the Scottish National Party adds 50 more MPs, three party leaders resign - Ed Miliband (Labour Party), Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats) and Nigel Farage (UKIP). Farage later decides to stay on as UKIP leader. * 2018 - President Donald Trump decides to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear agreement. * 2019 - The African National Congress wins the most votes in the elections held in South Africa, but with a reduced number of votes. == Births == === Up to 1900 === * 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) * 1629 - Niels Juel, Danish admiral (d. 1697) * 1639 - Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Italian painter (d. 1709) * 1653 - Claude Louis Hector de Villars, French general (d. 1734) * 1668 - Alain-René Lesage, French writer and playwright (d. 1747) * 1720 – William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1764) * 1735 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter (d. 1811) * 1737 – Edward Gibbon, British historian (d. 1794) * 1738 – Mikhail Kamensky, Russian general (d. 1809) * 1744 - Nikolay Novikov, Russian writer (d. 1818) * 1753 – Miguel Hidalgo, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1811) * 1781 – Pedro de Sousa Holstein, 1st Duke of Palmela, Portuguese politician (d. 1850) * 1786 – John Vianney, French priest and saint (d. 1859) * 1818 - Samuel Leonard Tilley, Canadian politician, 3rd Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1896) * 1821 – William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman (d. 1885) * 1824 - William Walker, American physician, lawyer, journalist and mercenary (d. 1860) * 1828 – Henry Dunant, Swiss co-founder of the Red Cross, co-winner of first Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1910) * 1828 - Charbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk and saint (d. 1898) * 1847 – Oscar Hammerstein I, American theatre producer and impresario (d. 1919) * 1856 – Pedro Lascuráin, Mexican politician, shortest-serving President (d. 1952) * 1859 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician (d. 1925) * 1867 - Albert, 8th Prince of Thurn and Taxis (d. 1952) * 1874 - E. W. Marland, Governor of Oklahoma (d. 1941) * 1884 – Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972) * 1889 – Song Jin-woo, Korean politician, educationist and journalist (d. 1945) * 1889 - Louis Van Hege, Belgian footballer (d. 1975) * 1895 – James H. Kindelberger, American aviation executive (d. 1962) * 1895 – Fulton J. Sheen, American bishop (d. 1979) * 1895 – Edmund Wilson, American writer (d. 1972) * 1895 – Joselito, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1920) * 1898 - Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (d. 1960) * 1899 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist (d. 1992) === 1901 1925 === * 1902 – André Michel Lwoff, French microbiologist (d. 1994) * 1903 – Fernandel, French comedy actor and singer (d. 1971) * 1904 – John Snagge, British radio personality (d. 1996) * 1905 – Red Nichols, American musician (d. 1965) * 1906 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian movie director (d. 1977) * 1909 – Count Lennart Bernadotte, Swedish royal (d. 2004) * 1910 – Mary Lou Williams, American singer (d. 1981) * 1911 – Robert Johnson, American blues musician (d. 1938) * 1913 - Bob Clampett, American animator, producer and director (d. 1984) * 1913 - Sid James, English actor (d. 1976) * 1914 – Romain Gary, Polish writer (d. 1980) * 1916 – Chinmayananda Saraswati, Indian spiritualist (d. 1993) * 1916 – Joao Havelange, Brazilian sports official (d. 2016) * 1917 - John Anderson, Jr., American politician, 36th Governor of Kansas (d. 2014) * 1919 - Lex Barker, American actor (d. 1973) * 1920 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and movie maker (d. 1996) * 1920 – Tom of Finland, Finnish fetish artist (d. 1991) * 1923 - Cheikha Rimitti, Algerian singer (d. 2006) * 1924 - Tapan Raychaudhuri, Indian historian (d. 2014) * 1925 – Ali Hassan Mwinyi, former President of Tanzania === 1926 1950 === * 1926 – David Attenborough, British naturalist, TV presenter and writer * 1926 – Don Rickles, American actor (d. 2017) * 1927 - Laszlo Paskai, Hungarian cardinal (d. 2015) * 1928 – Manfred Gerlach, East German politician (d. 2011) * 1928 - Ted Sorensen, American lawyer and 8th White House counsel (d. 2010) * 1929 - Girija Devi, Indian singer (d. 2017) * 1929 - Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese actress (d. 2007) * 1930 - Doug Atkins, American baseball player (d. 2015) * 1930 - Heather Harper, Irish-English soprano (d. 2019) * 1930 - Gary Snyder, American poet * 1932 – Phyllida Law, Scottish actress * 1932 – Sonny Liston, American boxer (d. 1970) * 1935 – Jack Charlton, English footballer * 1935 – Princess Elisabeth of Denmark (d. 2018) * 1936 – Kazuo Koike, Japanese manga artist * 1937 – Thomas Pynchon, American writer * 1938 – Jean Giraud, French comic book artist and production designer (d. 2012) * 1939 - Paul Drayton, American sprinter (d. 2010) * 1940 – Peter Benchley, American writer (d. 2006) * 1940 – Ricky Nelson, American singer and actor (d. 1985) * 1940 - Irwin Cotler, Canadian politician * 1940 - Toni Tennille, American singer (Captain & Tennille) * 1941 - James Traficant, American politician (d. 2014) * 1942 - Norman Lamont, British politician * 1943 - Pat Barker, British writer * 1944 – Bill Legend, British musician * 1944 – Gary Glitter, British musician * 1945 – Keith Jarrett, American musician * 1945 - Mike German, Baron German, Welsh politician * 1946 – Jonathan Dancy, British philosopher * 1947 – John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan, British politician * 1947 – H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist * 1947 – Felicity Lott, British singer * 1947 - Aram I, Armenian church leader * 1948 – Norbert Nigbur, German footballer * 1949 – Mohammed bin Hammam, Qatari FIFA official === 1951 1975 === * 1951 – Philip Bailey, American musician (Earth, Wind & Fire) * 1951 – Chris Frantz, rock musician * 1952 – Charles Camarda, American astronaut * 1953 – Alex Van Halen, Dutch-American musician * 1953 – Billy Burnette, American singer-songwriter * 1954 – Pam Arciero, American voice actress * 1954 – John Michael Talbot, American monk, singer and musician * 1954 - Clive Wood, English actor * 1955 – Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister and President of Ethiopia (d. 2012) * 1955 – Asgeir Sigurvinsson, Icelandic footballer * 1956 - David Provan, Scottish footballer * 1957 – Marie Myriam, French singer * 1958 – Roddy Doyle, Irish writer * 1958 – Kevin McCloud, English writer, designer and television presenter * 1958 – Lovie Smith, American football coach * 1958 – Simone Kleinsma, Dutch musical theatre actress * 1958 – Brooks Newmark, American- English politician * 1959 – Ronnie Lott, American football player * 1959 – David Pearce, British professional boxer (d. 2000) * 1960 – Franco Baresi, Italian footballer * 1961 – Akira Taue, Japanese professional wrestler * 1961 – Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City * 1961 – Andrea Pollack, German swimmer (d. 2019) * 1962 – David Sole, Scottish rugby player * 1962 – Natalia Molchanova, Russian diver (d. 2015) * 1963 – Michel Gondry, French director and screenwriter * 1963 – Aleksandr Kovalenko, Soviet triple jumper * 1963 - Anthony Field, Australian musician (The Wiggles) * 1964 – Dave Rowntree, British musician (Blur) * 1964 – Melissa Gilbert, American actress * 1965 – Mario Frick, Liechtenstein politician * 1967 – Viviana Durante, Italian ballet dancer * 1968 – Chris Lighty, American music executive and talent agent (d. 2012) * 1968 – Nathalie Normandeau, Canadian politician * 1969 – Akebono Taro, American sumo wrestler * 1970 – Luis Enrique Martínez García, Spanish footballer * 1970 – Naomi Klein, Canadian author and activist * 1971 – Shaolin, Brazilian cartoonist, comedian and presenter (d. 2016) * 1972 – Darren Hayes, Australian singer * 1973 – Hiromu Arakawa, Japanese manga artist * 1973 – Jesús Arellano, Mexican footballer * 1973 – Marcus Brigstocke, English comedian * 1974 – Korey Stringer, American football player (d. 2001) * 1975 – Enrique Iglesias, Spanish singer === From 1976 === * 1976 – Martha Wainwright, Canadian singer-songwriter * 1976 - Ian "H" Watkins, Welsh singer and actor * 1977 - Joe Bonamassa, American musician * 1977 – Bad News Brown, Canadian rapper (d. 2011) * 1978 – Matthew Davis, American actor * 1978 – Lúcio, Brazilian footballer * 1979 - Gennaro Sardo, Italian footballer * 1980 - Evgeny Lebedev, Russian businessman and newspaper owner * 1980 – Michelle McManus, Scottish singer * 1981 - Stephen Amell, Canadian actor * 1981 – Andrea Barzagli, Italian footballer * 1982 – Buakaw Banchamek, Thai Muay-Thai boxer * 1982 – Adrian Gonzalez, American baseball player * 1983 - Elyes Gabel, English actor * 1983 - Vicky McClure, English actress * 1983 – Matt Willis, English singer (Busted) * 1984 - Julia Whelan, American actress * 1985 – Sarah Vaillancourt, Canadian ice hockey player * 1986 - Galen Rupp, American long- distance runner * 1987 - Aneurin Barnard, Welsh actor * 1987 – Isabel Lestapier Winqvist, Miss Sweden winner * 1987 - Mark Noble, English footballer * 1987 - Felix Jones, American football player * 1988 - Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (d. 2014) * 1989 - Liam Bridcutt, English- Scottish footballer * 1989 - Nora Arnezeder, French actress * 1989 - Benoit Paire, French tennis player * 1990 - Kemba Walker, American basketball player * 1992 - Ana Mulvoy-Ten, English-Spanish actress * 1995 - Park Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress * 2003 - Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco == Deaths == === Up to 1900 === * 535 – Pope John II * 685 – Pope Benedict II * 840 – Emperor Junna of Japan (b. 786) * 1192 – Duke Ottokar IV of Syria (b. 1163) * 1278 – Emperor Duanzongof China (b. 1268) * 1319 – Haakon V of Norway (b. 1270) * 1782 – Marques de Pombal, Portuguese politician (b. 1699) * 1785 - Pietro Longhi, Venetian painter (b. 1701) * 1785 - Etienne François duc de Choiseul, French general and politician (b. 1719) * 1788 - Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian physician and naturalist (b. 1723) * 1794 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (executed) (b. 1743) * 1819 – Kamehameha I, King of Hawai'i (b. c. 1758) * 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) * 1884 - Judah P. Benjamin, American politician (b. 1811) * 1887 - Lorenzo Batlle, President of Uruguay (b. 1810) * 1891 – Helena Blavatsky, Russian-born writer (b. 1831) === 1901 2000 === * 1903 – Paul Gauguin, French painter (b. 1846) * 1904 – Eadweard Muybridge, British photographer (b. 1830) * 1907 - Edmund G. Ross, Territorial Governor of New Mexico (b. 1826) * 1936 – Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (b. 1880) * 1941 - Natalie of Serbia (b. 1859) * 1941 - Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and director (b. 1858) * 1943 - Mordechai Anielewicz, Polish Resistance activist (b. 1919) * 1944 - Ethel Smyth, English composer, conductor and writer (b. 1858) * 1945 – Bernhard Rust, Nazi education minister (b. 1883) * 1945 – Josef Terboven, Nazi Reichskommissar in Norway (b. 1898) * 1945 - Paul Giesler, German politician, Prime minister of Bavaria (b. 1895) * 1947 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, department store founder (b. 1858) * 1948 – U Saw, Burmese politician (b. 1900) * 1950 - Vital Brazil, Brazilian physician and immunologist (b. 1865) * 1952 – William Fox, Austro-Hungarian-born American movie producer (b. 1879) * 1960 – J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (b. 1904) * 1965 - Wally Hardinge, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1886) * 1967 - LaVerne Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (b. 1911) * 1971 - Lars Pettersson, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1925) * 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) * 1991 – Jean Langlais, French composer and pianist (b. 1907) * 1991 – Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (b. 1903) * 1993 – Avram Davidson, American science fiction writer (b. 1923) * 1994 – George Peppard, American actor (b. 1928) * 1996 – Dominguin, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1926) * 1998 – Jennings Randolph, American politician (b. 1902) * 1999 – Dirk Bogarde, British actor (b. 1921) * 1999 – Dana Plato, American actress (b. 1964) === From 2001 === * 2008 - Eddy Arnold, American singer (b. 1918) * 2008 - Luigi Malerba, Italian author (b. 1927) * 2008 – François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (b. 1982) * 2009 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1917) * 2010 – Andor Lilienthal, Hungarian chess player (b. 1911) * 2011 – Lionel Rose, Australian boxer (b. 1948) * 2011 – Cornell Dupree, American musician (b. 1942) * 2012 – Maurice Sendak, American writer (b. 1928) * 2012 – Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist (b. 1911) * 2012 - Nicholas Katzenbach, former United States Attorney General (b. 1922) * 2013 - Jeanne Cooper, American actress (b. 1928) * 2013 - Dallas Willard, American philosopher (b. 1935) * 2013 - Bryan Forbes, British movie director, screenwriter and producer (b. 1926) * 2013 - Taylor Mead, American actor (b. 1924) * 2014 - Yago Lamela, Spanish athlete (b. 1977) * 2014 - Joseph P. Teasdale, 48th Governor of Missouri (b. 1936) * 2014 - Jair Rodrigues, Brazilian musician and singer (b. 1939) * 2014 - Mercedes Salisachs, Spanish writer (b. 1917) * 2014 - Nancy Malone, American producer, director and actress (b. 1935) * 2015 - Deaths in the 2015 Pakistan Army Mil Mi-17 crash: **Domingo Lucenario, Jr., Ambassador of the Philippines to Pakistan (b. 1960) **Leif Holger Larsen, Ambassador of Norway to Pakistan (b. 1954) * 2015 - Phil Skoglund, New Zealand lawn bowls player (b. 1937) * 2015 - Zeki Alasya, Turkish actor and director (b. 1943) * 2015 - Atanas Semerdzhiev, Vice President of Bulgaria (b. 1924) * 2015 - Menashe Kadishman, Israeli artist (b. 1932) * 2015 - Martin Nag, Norwegian writer (b. 1926) * 2016 - Philippe Beaussant, French author and musicologist (b. 1930) * 2016 - Tonita Castro, American actress (b. 1953) * 2016 - Ken Gorgal, American football player (b. 1929) * 2016 - Nick Lashaway, American actor (b. 1988) * 2016 - Elisa Mainardi, Italian actress (b. 1927) * 2016 - William Schallert, American actor (b. 1922) * 2016 - John Bradshaw, American self-help writer (b. 1933) * 2016 - John Young, American baseball player (b. 1949) * 2017 - Allan H. Meltzer, American economist (b. 1928) * 2017 - Lou Richards, Australian footballer (b. 1923) * 2017 - Cécile DeWitt-Morette, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1922) * 2017 - Curt Lowens, German-born American actor (b. 1925) * 2017 - Lawson Soulsby, Baron Soulsby of Swaffham Prior, British microbiologist and life peer (b. 1926) * 2017 - Juan Carlos Tedesco, Argentine politician (b. 1944) * 2017 - Mary Tsoni, Greek actress (b. 1987) * 2018 - Anne V. Coates, British film editor (b. 1925) * 2018 - George Deukmejian, American politician, former Governor of California (b. 1928) * 2018 - Lara Saint Paul, Italian- Eritrean singer (b. 1945) * 2018 - Big Bully Busick, American professional wrestler (b. 1954) * 2019 - Jens Beutel, German politician (b. 1946) * 2019 - Sprent Dabwido, President of Nauru (b. 1972) * 2019 - Yevgeny Krylatov, Russian composer (b. 1934) * 2019 - David Montgomery, American baseball player (b. 1946) * 2019 - Bob Zeman, American football player and coach (b. 1937) == Observances == * Victory in Europe Day, marking the end of World War II in Europe in 1945. * International Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, birthday of Henry Dunant, co-founder of the International Red Cross. * Parents' Day (South Korea). * Truman Day (Missouri). * Miguel Hidalgo's birthday (Mexico). May 08