January 8

## Events
### Up to 1900 
* 307 &ndash; Jin Huidi, Chinese Emperor of the Jin Dynasty, is poisoned, and succeeded by his son, Jin Huaidi.
* 871 &ndash; Battle of Ashdown – Ethelred of Wessex defeats Danish invasion army.
* 1198 &ndash; Innocent III becomes Pope.
* 1297 &ndash; François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the Rock of Monaco; from then on, his family rules the Principality of Monaco.
* 1499 &ndash; King Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany.
* 1697 &ndash; Thomas Aikenhead of Edinburgh becomes the last person in Scotland, and in the present–day United Kingdom, to be executed for blasphemy.
* 1734 &ndash; Premiere of George Frideric Handel's *Ariodante* at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
* 1746 &ndash; Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
* 1781 &ndash; An earthquake hits Tabriz, Persia, killing over 50,000 people.
* 1790 &ndash; In New York City, George Washington makes the US' first State of the Union Address.
* 1806 &ndash; Cape Colony becomes a British colony.
* 1815 &ndash; War of 1812: In the Battle of New Orleans, Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
* 1835 &ndash; US national debt is at zero, for the only time in US history.
* 1838 &ndash; Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
* 1856 &ndash; Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
* 1863 &ndash; American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield.
* 1867 &ndash; African American men granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.
* 1877 &ndash; In Montana, Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry.
* 1889 &ndash; Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine.
* 1893 &ndash; Captain Thomas Robertson discovers Dundee Island in the Weddell Sea off Antarctica.
* 1894 &ndash; A fire at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago causes a good deal of damage.
* 1900 &ndash; United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.

### 1901&ndash;1950 
* 1906 &ndash; A landslide in Haverstraw, New York kills 20 due to the excavation of clay along the Hudson River.
* 1908 &ndash; A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.
* 1912 &ndash; The African National Congress is founded.
* 1916 &ndash; World War I: Allied forces withdraw from Gallipoli.
* 1918 &ndash; President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.
* 1926 &ndash; Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz and renames it Saudi Arabia.
* 1935 &ndash; A.C. Hardy patents the spectrophotometer.
* 1942 &ndash; World War II: To stop Japanese advances in the Pacific Ocean, the Allies create the commando ABDACOM.

### 1951&ndash;2000 
* 1953 &ndash; René Mayer becomes Prime Minister of France.
* 1958 &ndash; 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.
* 1959 &ndash; Michel Debré becomes Prime Minister of France, while Charles de Gaulle becomes the first President of France's Fifth Republic.
* 1961 &ndash; In a referendum, a majority of French voters supports Charles de Gaulle's policies on Algeria, which would lead towards the country's independence from France.
* 1963 &ndash; Leonardo da Vinci's *Mona Lisa* is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC).
* 1964 &ndash; President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
* 1971 &ndash; Bowing to international pressure, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
* 1973 &ndash; Watergate scandal: The trial begins for seven men accused of placing bugs in United States Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel.
* 1973 &ndash; The Soviet Luna 21 space mission is launched.
* 1975 &ndash; Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband.
* 1977 &ndash; Three bombs explode in Moscow, within 37 minutes, killing 7 people. These attacks are suspected to have been carried out by an Armenian Separatist group.
* 1982 &ndash; AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty–two subdivisions.
* 1989 &ndash; Kegworth Air Disaster: British Midland Flight 92 crashes onto the M1 motorway, killing 47 people out of the 127 on board.
* 1992 &ndash; President of the United States George H. W. Bush becomes ill on a visit in Japan and vomits on the Japanese Prime Minister.
* 1994 &ndash; Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He will stay on the space station till March 22, 1995 for a record 437 days in space.
* 1996 &ndash; An Antonov 32 cargo jet crashes into the central market in Kinshasa, Zaire killing more than 350 people
* 1998 &ndash; Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life in prison for planning the World Trade Center bombing and for planning Project Bojinka.
* 1999 &ndash; Cosmologists announce that the expansion rate of the universe is increasing.

### From 2001 
* 2003 &ndash; In Kosciuszko National Park, Australia, following several lightning strikes during the dry season, bush fires break out.
* 2003 &ndash; US Airways flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina killing all 21 people aboard.
* 2004 &ndash; Queen Elizabeth names the Queen Mary II cruise liner, the largest passenger ship ever built.
* 2010 &ndash; The Togo national football team is targeted in an attack in Cabinda, Angola, and therefore withdraws from the African Cup of Nations.
* 2011 &ndash; 2011 Tucson shooting: Six people are killed in a shooting in Tucson, Arizona, and several are injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Jared Lee Loughner is arrested for the shooting.
* 2015 &ndash; Maithripala Sirisena is elected President of Sri Lanka, defeating Mahinda Rajapaksa, and takes office the next day.

## Births
### Up to 1850 
* 1360 &ndash; Ulrich von Jungingen, 26th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (d. 1410)
* 1529 &ndash; John Frederick II, Duke of Saxony (d. 1595)
* 1556 &ndash; Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)
* 1583 &ndash; Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (d. 1643)
* 1587 &ndash; Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer (d. 1616)
* 1587 &ndash; Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Dutch colonial Governor (d. 1629)
* 1601 &ndash; Baltasar Gracian, Spanish writer (d. 1658)
* 1735 &ndash; John Carroll, first Bishop in the United States (d. 1815)
* 1788 &ndash; Archduke Rudolph of Austria (d. 1831)
* 1788 &ndash; Pavel Kiselyov, Russian general and politician (d. 1874)
* 1805 &ndash; John Bigler, 3rd Governor of California (d. 1871)
* 1817 &ndash; Theophilus Shepstone, South African politician (d. 1893)
* 1821 &ndash; James Longstreet, American Confederate General (d. 1904)
* 1822 &ndash; Alfredo Piatti, Italian cellist and composer (d. 1901)
* 1823 &ndash; Alfred Russel Wallace, British naturalist and biologist (d. 1913)
* 1824 &ndash; Wilkie Collins, British writer (d. 1889)
* 1824 &ndash; Francisco Gonzalez Bocanegra, Mexican poet (d. 1861)
* 1834 &ndash; Larin Paraske, Finnish runic singer (d. 1904)
* 1849 &ndash; Stepan Makarov, Russian admiral, explorer and writer (d. 1904)

### 1851&ndash;1900 
* 1859 &ndash; Fanny Bullock Workman, American geographer, cartographer, explorer, traveler and mountaineer (d. 1925)
* 1862 &ndash; Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher (d. 1934)
* 1864 &ndash; Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (d. 1892)
* 1865 &ndash; Winnaretta Singer, American patron of French music, arts, sciences and letters (d. 1943)
* 1866 &ndash; William G. Conley, 18th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1940)
* 1867 &ndash; Emily Greene Balch, American writer and pacifist (d. 1961)
* 1868 &ndash; Frank Dyson, English astronomer (d. 1939)
* 1870 &ndash; Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician (d. 1930)
* 1871 &ndash; James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish politician (d. 1940)
* 1873 &ndash; Elena of Montenegro, Queen of Italy (d. 1956)
* 1873 &ndash; Iuliu Maniu, Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
* 1876 &ndash; Arturs Alberings, Prime Minister of Latvia (d. 1934)
* 1879 &ndash; Charles Bryant, British actor and movie director (d. 1948)
* 1883 &ndash; Pavel Filonov, Russian painter (d. 1941)
* 1883 &ndash; Patrick J. Hurley, American soldier, statesman and diplomat (d. 1963)
* 1885 &ndash; John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945)
* 1886 &ndash; Thomas January, American soccer player (d. 1957)
* 1888 &ndash; Richard Courant, German–American mathematician (d. 1972)
* 1891 &ndash; Bronislava Nijinska, Russian choreographer (d. 1972)
* 1891 &ndash; Walther Bothe, German physicist (d. 1957)
* 1894 &ndash; Maximilian Kolbe, Polish Franciscan friar (d. 1944)
* 1896 &ndash; Jaromir Weinberger, Czech–American composer (d. 1967)
* 1897 &ndash; Dennis Wheatley, English writer (d. 1977)
* 1899 &ndash; Solomon Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Ceylon, present–day Sri Lanka (d. 1959)
* 1900 &ndash; François de Menthon, French politician and jurist (d. 1984)

### 1901&ndash;1950 
* 1902 &ndash; Carl Rogers, American psychologist (d. 1987)
* 1902 &ndash; Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov, Soviet politician (d. 1988)
* 1904 &ndash; Tampa Red, American blues musician (d. 1981)
* 1905 &ndash; Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer (d. 1988)
* 1905 &ndash; Carl Gustav Hempel, German philosopher (d. 1997)
* 1906 &ndash; Serge Poliakoff, Russian–French painter (d. 1969)
* 1908 &ndash; William Hartnell, English actor (d. 1975)
* 1909 &ndash; Willy Millowitsch, German actor (d. 1999)
* 1910 &ndash; Galina Ulanova, Russian |ballerina (d. 1998)
* 1912 &ndash; José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor and director (d. 1992)
* 1912 &ndash; Lawrence Walsh, American–Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
* 1917 &ndash; Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, American writer (d. 1994)
* 1921 &ndash; Leonardo Sciascia, Italian writer (d. 1989)
* 1922 &ndash; Dale D. Myers, American Deputy Administrator of NASA (d. 2015)
* 1922 &ndash; Jan Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter (d. 1986)
* 1923 &ndash; Larry Storch, American actor
* 1923 &ndash; Bryce DeWitt, American theoretical physicist (d. 2004)
* 1924 &ndash; Ron Moody, English actor (d. 2015)
* 1925 &ndash; Helmuth Hubener, German activist (d. 1942)
* 1926 &ndash; Evelyn Lear, American soprano (d. 2012)
* 1926 &ndash; Soupy Sales, American comedian (d. 2009)
* 1928 &ndash; Luther Perkins, American guitarist (d. 1968)
* 1929 &ndash; Wolfgang Peters, German footballer (d. 2003)
* 1929 &ndash; Saeed Jaffrey, Indian actor (d. 2015)
* 1931 &ndash; Bill Graham, German rock music entrepreneur (d. 1991)
* 1933 &ndash; Ko Un, Korean poet
* 1933 &ndash; Mariam Fakhr Eddine, Egyptian actress (d. 2014)
* 1934 &ndash; Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
* 1934 &ndash; Roy Kinnear, English actor (d. 1988)
* 1934 &ndash; Ronald Greenwald, American rabbi and activist (d. 2016)
* 1935 &ndash; Elvis Presley, American singer and guitarist (d. 1977)
* 1936 &ndash; Jyotindra Nath Dixit, Indian diplomat and politician (d. 2005)
* 1936 &ndash; Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian–English zoologist, ecologist and academic 
* 1937 &ndash; Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
* 1938 &ndash; Yevgeny Nesterenko, Russian opera singer
* 1938 &ndash; Bob Eubanks, American game show host
* 1939 &ndash; Nanda, Indian actress (d. 2014)
* 1941 &ndash; Graham Chapman, English comedian (d. 1989)
* 1942 &ndash; Stephen Hawking, English theoretical physicist and writer (d. 2018)
* 1942 &ndash; Junichiro Koizumi, former Prime Minister of Japan
* 1942 &ndash; Vyacheslav Zudov, Soviet–Russian cosmonaut
* 1942 &ndash; Valya Balkanska, Bulgarian folk singer
* 1942 &ndash; Robin Ellis, English actor
* 1942 &ndash; Yvette Mimieux, American actress
* 1944 &ndash; Terry Brooks, American author
* 1946 &ndash; Robby Krieger, American musician
* 1947 &ndash; Ashura Hara, Japanese professional wrestler (d. 2015)
* 1947 &ndash; David Bowie, English rock music singer, musician and actor (d. 2016)
* 1947 &ndash; Terry Sylvester, English singer and guitarist
* 1947 &ndash; Samuel Schmid, Swiss politician
* 1948 &ndash; Jerzy Kaczmarek, Polish fencer
* 1949 &ndash; John Podesta, American politician, 20th White House Chief of Staff
* 1949 &ndash; Kozo Kinomoto, Japanese footballer (d. 2017)

### 1951&ndash;1975 
* 1951 &ndash; Kenny Anthony, former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
* 1951 &ndash; John McTiernan, American director and producer
* 1951 &ndash; Franz Pachl, German chess player
* 1958 &ndash; Roman Wojcicki, Polish footballer
* 1958 &ndash; Rey Mysterio, Sr., Mexican wrestler
* 1958 &ndash; Betsy DeVos, 11th United States Secretary of Education
* 1959 &ndash; Paul Hester, Australian drummer
* 1959 &ndash; Duk Koo Kim, South Korean boxer (d. 1982)
* 1961 &ndash; Calvin Smith, American athlete
* 1964 &ndash; Ron Sexsmith, Canadian singer-songwriter
* 1964 &ndash; José-Luis Carranza, Peruvian footballer
* 1967 &ndash; Willie Anderson, American basketball player
* 1967 &ndash; Tom Watson, English politician
* 1967 &ndash; R. Kelly, American R&B singer
* 1968 &ndash; James Brokenshire, English politician
* 1969 &ndash; Ami Dolenz, American actress
* 1969 &ndash; J. Hunter Johnson, American game designer, author and translator
* 1971 &ndash; Pascal Zuberbühler, Swiss footballer
* 1972 &ndash; Giuseppe Favalli, Italian footballer
* 1972 &ndash; Paul Clement, English football manager
* 1973 &ndash; Sean Paul, Jamaican reggae singer
* 1973 &ndash; Henning Solberg, Norwegian rally driver
* 1975 &ndash; Chris Simmons, English actor

### From 1976 
* 1976 &ndash; Marcelo Gallardo, Argentine footballer
* 1977 &ndash; Amber Benson, American actress
* 1978 &ndash; Marco Fu, Hong Kong snooker player
* 1979 &ndash; Adrian Mutu, Romanian footballer
* 1979 &ndash; Windell Middlebrooks, American actor (d. 2015)
* 1979 &ndash; Stipe Pletikosa, Croatian footballer
* 1979 &ndash; Sarah Polley, Canadian movie actress, director and screenwriter
* 1979 &ndash; Tomasz Schafernaker, Polish–English meteorologist
* 1979 &ndash; Seol Ki-hyeon, South Korean footballer
* 1980 &ndash; Lee Jung-soo, South Korean footballer
* 1981 &ndash; Genevieve Cortese, American actress
* 1982 &ndash; Huang Sui, Chinese badminton player
* 1982 &ndash; John Utaka, Nigerian footballer
* 1983 &ndash; Felipe Colombo, Mexican–Argentine singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor
* 1983 &ndash; Kim Jong-un, North Korean leader
* 1986 &ndash; David Silva, Spanish footballer
* 1986 &ndash; Jaclyn Linetsky, Canadian actress (d. 2003)
* 1989 &ndash; Aaron Cruden, New Zealand rugby player
* 1990 &ndash; Xu Xin, Chinese ping–pong player
* 1991 &ndash; Jorge Enriquez, Mexican footballer
* 1992 &ndash; Koke, Spanish footballer
* 1992 &ndash; Rachell "Valkyrae" Hofstetter, American gaming content creator
* 1993 &ndash; Tang Yi, Chinese swimmer
* 1995 &ndash; Kyle Edmund, English tennis player
* 1997 &ndash; Jack Andraka, American inventor
* 2000 &ndash; Noah Cyrus, American actress
* 2011 &ndash; Prince Vincent of Denmark
* 2011 &ndash; Princess Josephine of Denmark

## Deaths
### Up to 1900 
* 307 &ndash; Jin Huidi, Emperor of China (b. 259)
* 482 &ndash; Severinus of Noricum, Italian saint (b. 410)
* 1107 &ndash; Edgar of Scotland (b. 1074)
* 1198 &ndash; Pope Celestine III (b. 1106)
* 1324 &ndash; Marco Polo, Italian trader and explorer (b. 1254)
* 1337 &ndash; Giotto, Italian painter and architect (b. 1266)
* 1598 &ndash; John George, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1525)
* 1642 &ndash; Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer (b. 1564)
* 1697 &ndash; Thomas Aikenhead, Scottish student, executed under Blasphemy law (b. 1676)
* 1713 &ndash; Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer (b. 1653)
* 1775 &ndash; John Baskerville, English printer (b. 1706)
* 1794 &ndash; Justus Möser, German statesman (b. 1729)
* 1815 &ndash; Edward Pakenham, British general (b. 1778)
* 1818 &ndash; Robert Bowie, Governor of Maryland (b. 1750)
* 1825 &ndash; Eli Whitney, American inventor (b. 1765)
* 1878 &ndash; Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet (b. 1821)
* 1880 &ndash; Emperor Norton, self–proclaimed Emperor of the United States (b. 1819)
* 1896 &ndash; William Rainey Marshall, Governor of Minnesota (b. 1825)
* 1896 &ndash; Paul Verlaine, French poet (b. 1844)

### 1901&ndash;2000 
* 1918 &ndash; Ellis H. Roberts, American politician (b. 1827)
* 1919 &ndash; Peter Altenberg, Austrian writer (b. 1859)
* 1925 &ndash; Fernand Sanz, French cyclist (b. 1881)
* 1934 &ndash; Andrei Bely, Russian poet (b. 1880)
* 1941 &ndash; Robert Baden-Powell, English founder of Scouting (b. 1857)
* 1943 &ndash; Richard Hillary, American pilot and author (b. 1919)
* 1948 &ndash; Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor (b. 1891)
* 1948 &ndash; Kurt Schwitters, German painter (b. 1887)
* 1950 &ndash; Joseph Schumpeter, Austrian economist (b. 1883)
* 1952 &ndash; Antonia Maury, American astronomer (b. 1866)
* 1953 &ndash; Hugh Binney, British naval commander and Governor of Tasmania (b. 1883)
* 1958 &ndash; Paul Pilgrim, American runner (b. 1883)
* 1964 &ndash; Julius Raab, Chancellor of Austria (b. 1891)
* 1969 &ndash; Albert Hill, British athlete (b. 1889)
* 1976 &ndash; Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1898)
* 1983 &ndash; Tom McCall, Governor of Oregon (b. 1913)
* 1990 &ndash; Jaime Gil de Biedma, Spanish poet (b. 1929)
* 1991 &ndash; Steve Clark, British guitarist (b. 1960)
* 1996 &ndash; Metin Göktepe, Turkish photographer and journalist (b. 1968)
* 1996 &ndash; François Mitterrand, President of France (b. 1916)
* 1997 &ndash; Melvin Calvin, American chemist (b. 1911)
* 1998 &ndash; Michael Tippett, English composer (b. 1905)

### From 2001 
* 2002 &ndash; Alexander Prokhorov, Russian physicist (b. 1916)
* 2002 &ndash; Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's fast food chain (b. 1932)
* 2003 &ndash; Ron Goodwin, British composer and conductor (b. 1925)
* 2005 &ndash; Michel Thomas, Polish–American linguist (b. 1914)
* 2006 &ndash; Tony Banks, British politician (b. 1943)
* 2007 &ndash; Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian actress (b. 1922)
* 2007 &ndash; Iwao Takamoto, American animator (b. 1925)
* 2010 &ndash; Art Clokey, American animator (b. 1921)
* 2011 &ndash; Jiri Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician (b. 1937)
* 2011 &ndash; John Roll, American judge (b. 1947)
* 2012 &ndash; Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian pianist (b. 1929)
* 2013 &ndash; Kenojuak Ashevak, Canadian Inuit artist (b. 1927)
* 2015 &ndash; Kep Enderby, Australian politician and judge (b. 1926)
* 2015 &ndash; Ray McFall, British nightclub owner (b. 1926)
* 2015 &ndash; Andraé Crouch, American gospel singer (b. 1942)
* 2015 &ndash; Hubert Markl, German biologist (b. 1938)
* 2015 &ndash; Leif Rantala, Finnish linguist (b. 1947)
* 2016 &ndash; German Moreno, Filipino television host (b. 1933)
* 2016 &ndash; André Courrèges, French fashion designer (b. 1923)
* 2016 &ndash; Red Simpson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1934)
* 2016 &ndash; Otis Clay, American singer (b. 1942)
* 2016 &ndash; Oscar Fritschi, Swiss politician (b. 1939)
* 2016 &ndash; Royal Parker, American television personality (b. 1929)
* 2016 &ndash; Piet Steenkamp, Dutch footballer (b. 1925)
* 2017 &ndash; James Mancham, 1st President of the Seychelles (b. 1939)
* 2017 &ndash; Ruth Perry, Liberian politician (b. 1939)
* 2017 &ndash; Hashemi Rafsanjani, 4th President of Iran (b. 1934)
* 2017 &ndash; Peter Sarstedt, English singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
* 2017 &ndash; Buddy Bregman, American arranger, producer and composer (b. 1930)
* 2017 &ndash; Klaib Al-Fawwaz, Jordanian diplomat and politician (b. 1950)
* 2017 &ndash; Miriam Goldberg, American newspaper publisher (b. 1916)
* 2017 &ndash; Roy Innis, American civil rights activist and politician (b. 1934)
* 2017 &ndash; Abdulkadir Kure, Nigerian politician (b. 1956)
* 2017 &ndash; Eli Zelkha, Iranian–American entrepreneur (b. 1950)
* 2017 &ndash; Nigel Spearing, British politician (b. 1930)
* 2018 &ndash; George Maxwell Richards, President of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1931)
* 2018 &ndash; Kato Ottio, Papua New Guinean rugby league player (b. 1994)
* 2018 &ndash; Denise LaSalle, American singer-songwriter (b. 1939)

## Observances 
* Commonwealth Day (Northern Mariana Islands)
* Celebration of Elvis Presley's Birthday at Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee
* Kim Jong-un's Birthday (North Korea)