April 8

## Events 
### Up to 1900 
* 217 &ndash; Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated (and succeeded) by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
* 1093 &ndash; The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated.
* 1139 &ndash; Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church.
* 1730 &ndash; Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.
* 1740 &ndash; War of Jenkins' Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third–rate HMS *Princess*.
* 1742 &ndash; The first performance of George Frideric Handel's oratorio *Messiah*, in Dublin.
* 1767 &ndash; Ayutthaya kingdom fell to Burmese invaders.
* 1784 &ndash; William Herschel discovers six Galaxies.
* 1820 &ndash; The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Melos.
* 1832 &ndash; Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
* 1864 &ndash; American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield – Union General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign is thwarted by Confederate General Richard Taylor's forces at Mansfield, Louisiana.
* 1866 &ndash; Italy and Prussia ally against the Austrian Empire.
* 1886 &ndash; William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
* 1893 &ndash; First recorded college basketball game occurs in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania when the Geneva College Covenanters defeated the New Brighton YMCA.
* 1899 &ndash; Martha Place becomes the first woman to be executed in an electric chair.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1904 &ndash; France and the United Kingdom sign the *Entente cordiale.*
* 1904 &ndash; Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after *The New York Times*.
* 1906 &ndash; Auguste Deter, the first–recorded Alzheimer's disease patient, dies at the age of 56.
* 1908 &ndash; Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
* 1910 &ndash; The Los Angeles Motordome opened near Playa del Rey, California.
* 1911 &ndash; Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.
* 1913 &ndash; The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified requiring direct election of Senators.
* 1916 &ndash; In Corona, California, auto racer Bob Burman crashed through a crowd barrier at the last Boulevard Race, killing himself, his mechanic and a track policeman, and badly injuring five spectators.
* 1918 &ndash; World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district.
* 1924 &ndash; Sharia courts are banned in Turkey, as part of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's reforms. 
* 1929 &ndash; Indian independence movement: At Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw handouts, and bombs in a corridor not to cause injury and courted arrest.
* 1933 &ndash; A majority of voters in Western Australia chooses to secede from Australia in a referendum; the result is not recognised.
* 1935 &ndash; The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
* 1942 &ndash; World War II: Siege of Leningrad – Soviet Union forces open a much–needed railway link to Leningrad.
* 1952 &ndash; In a radio address to the nation from the White House, President Harry S. Truman calls for the seizure of all steel mills in the United States in order to prevent a nationwide strike.
* 1953 &ndash; Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by Kenya's British rulers.
* 1954 &ndash; A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard aircraft collides with a Trans–Canada Airlines Canadian North Star aircraft over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
* 1954 &ndash; South African Airways Flight 201 crashes into the sea near Naples, Italy, killing 21 people.
* 1960 &ndash; The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch.
* 1961 &ndash; A large explosion on board the MV *Dara* in the Persian Gulf kills 238 people.
* 1967 &ndash; In Vienna, Austria, Sandie Shaw wins the twelfth Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom singing "Puppet on a String".
* 1970 &ndash; Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school, killing 46 children.
* 1971 &ndash; a 6–pound meteorite struck a house on Spring Street in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
* 1973 &ndash; Painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso dies in Mougins, France, at the age of 91.
* 1974 &ndash; At the Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron breaks baseball great's Babe Ruth's record by hitting his 715th home run.
* 1975 &ndash; Frank Robinson of the Cleveland Indians manages his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.
* 1975 &ndash; Vietnam War: After spending a week in South Vietnam, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Frederick Weyand gives a report to the U.S. Congress that South Vietnam will fall without additional military aid.
* 1985 &ndash; Bhopal disaster: India files suit against Union Carbide for the disaster which killed an estimated 2,000 and injured another 200,000.
* 1986 &ndash; Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California receiving 72% of the vote (voter turnout was also doubled over the previous mayoral election).
* 1987 &ndash; Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid great controversy over racially–charged remarks he had made while on *Nightline.*
* 1989 &ndash; South Africa In Johannesburg, the Progressive Federal Party, Independent party, National Democratic Movement and the force of "Ontevrede Afrikaners" or dissatisfied Afrikaners merged to form the Democratic Party.
* 1990 &ndash; *Twin Peaks* premieres.
* 1992 &ndash; Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces to the world that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
* 1993 &ndash; The Republic of Macedonia joins the UN.
* 1994 &ndash; The body of Kurt Cobain is discovered in his Washington home. He was 27 years old.
* 2000 &ndash; A U.S. Marine Corps V–22 Osprey crashes during landing at Marana, Arizona killing 19.

### From 2001 
* 2002 &ndash; Ed McMahon files a US$20 million lawsuit against his insurance company and others regarding a toxic mold infecting McMahon's Beverly Hills, California home.
* 2004 &ndash; Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
* 2005 &ndash; Funeral of Pope John Paul II.
* 2008 &ndash; Yo So-yeon becomes the first Korean woman in space.
* 2013 &ndash; Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dies aged 87 of complications from a stroke. See Death and funeral of Margaret Thatcher.
* 2013 &ndash; The self–proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant extremist group is created.
* 2018 &ndash; A suspected chemical attack in Douma, Syria, kills at least 50 people.
* 2018 &ndash; Hungary's general election results in Viktor Orbán winning a third term in office as Prime minister.
* 2024 &ndash; A total solar eclipse happened in North America including United States, Canada and Mexico.

## Births 
### Up to 1900 
* 563 BC &ndash; Gautama Buddha, religious leader (d. 483 BC)
* 1320 &ndash; King Peter I of Portugal (d. 1367)
* 1533 &ndash; Claudio Merulo, Italian composer (d. 1604)
* 1536 &ndash; Barbara of Hesse (d. 1597)
* 1541 &ndash; Michele Mercati, Italian physician (d. 1593)
* 1605 &ndash; King Philip IV of Spain (d. 1665)
* 1641 &ndash; Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English statesman (d. 1704)
* 1692 &ndash; Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (d. 1770)
* 1732 &ndash; David Rittenhouse, American astronomer, inventor and mathematician (d. 1796)
* 1761 &ndash; William Joseph Chaminade, French priest (d. 1850)
* 1783 &ndash; John Claudius Loudon, Scottish botanist and garden designer (d. 1843)
* 1793 &ndash; Karl Zell, German statesman and philologist (d. 1873)
* 1798 &ndash; Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet (d. 1857)
* 1815 &ndash; Andrew Graham, Irish astronomer (d. 1908)
* 1818 &ndash; King Christian IX of Denmark (d. 1906)
* 1818 &ndash; August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist (d. 1892)
* 1826 &ndash; Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican soldier (d. 1890)
* 1827 &ndash; Ramon Emeterio Betances, Puerto Rican politician, doctor and diplomat (d. 1898)
* 1842 &ndash; Elizabeth Bacon Custer, wife of George Armstrong Custer (d. 1933)
* 1859 &ndash; Edmund Husserl, Austrian–German philosopher (d. 1938)
* 1865 &ndash; Charles W. Woodworth, Entomologist (d. 1940)
* 1869 &ndash; Harvey Williams Cushing, American neurologist (d. 1939)
* 1871 &ndash; Clarence Hudson White, American photographer (d. 1925)
* 1872 &ndash; Ivan Bloch, physician (d. 1922)
* 1874 &ndash; Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (d. 1960)
* 1875 &ndash; King Albert I of Belgium (d. 1934)
* 1885 &ndash; Dimitrios Levidis, Greek composer (d. 1951)
* 1888 &ndash; Dennis Chavez, American politician (d. 1962)
* 1889 &ndash; Blanche Stuart Scott, American pilot (d. 1970)
* 1889 &ndash; Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (d. 1983)
* 1892 &ndash; Mary Pickford, Canadian–born actress, studio founder (d. 1979)
* 1892 &ndash; Richard Neutra, Austrian architect (d. 1970)
* 1898 &ndash; Achille Van Acker, 33rd Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1969)
* 1899 &ndash; John Christie, English serial killer (d. 1953)

### 1901 &ndash; 1950 
* 1902 &ndash; Andrew Irvine, British mountaineer (d. 1924)
* 1904 &ndash; Ron Hicks, British economist (d. 1989)
* 1904 &ndash; Yves Congar, French cardinal (d. 1995)
* 1905 &ndash; Helen Joseph, South African anti–apartheid activist (d. 1992)
* 1908 &ndash; Hugo Fregonese, Argentine director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
* 1910 &ndash; George Musso, American football player (d. 2000)
* 1911 &ndash; Emil Cioran, Romanian philosopher and essayist (d. 1995)
* 1911 &ndash; Melvin Calvin, American chemist, 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1997)
* 1912 &ndash; Sonja Henie, Norwegian Olympic and World Champion figure skater (d. 1969)
* 1912 &ndash; Julian Berrendero, Spanish cyclist (d. 1995)
* 1912 &ndash; Alois Brunner, Austrian Nazi (date of death unknown, possibly 2001, 2009 or 2010)
* 1913 &ndash; Sourou-Migan Apithy, President of Benin (d. 1989)
* 1914 &ndash; María Félix, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
* 1915 &ndash; Ivan Supek, Croatian physicist, philosopher and activist (d. 2007)
* 1917 &ndash; Hubertus Ernst, Dutch bishop (d. 2017)
* 1917 &ndash; Grigori Kuzmin, Russian–Estonian astronomer (d. 1988)
* 1918 &ndash; Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States (d. 2011)
* 1919 &ndash; Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia (d. 2007)
* 1919 &ndash; Virginia O'Brien, American actress (d. 2001)
* 1920 &ndash; Carmen McRae, American singer, composer, pianist and actress (d. 1994)
* 1921 &ndash; Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (d. 2003)
* 1923 &ndash; Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (d. 1997)
* 1923 &ndash; George Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 2003)
* 1926 &ndash; Jürgen Moltmann, German theologian
* 1926 &ndash; Shecky Greene, American comedian
* 1926 &ndash; Henry N. Cobb, American architect
* 1926 &ndash; Jean-Jacques Pauvert, French publisher and writer (d. 2014)
* 1928 &ndash; Leah Rabin, wife of Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin (d. 2000)
* 1929 &ndash; Walter Berry, Austrian bass–baritone (d. 2000)
* 1929 &ndash; Jacques Brel, Belgian singer and composer (d. 1978)
* 1929 &ndash; Renzo De Felice, Italian historian (d. 1996)
* 1930 &ndash; Carlos-Hugo of Bourbon-Parma, Spanish aristocrat (d. 2010)
* 1930 &ndash; Miller Williams, American poet (d. 2015)
* 1931 &ndash; John Gavin, American actor and diplomat (d. 2018)
* 1932 &ndash; Iskandar of Johor, 8th Yang di–Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia (d. 2010)
* 1932 &ndash; József Antall, Hungarian politician (d. 1993)
* 1933 &ndash; Fred Ebb, composer (d. 2004)
* 1934 &ndash; Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect (d. 2007)
* 1938 &ndash; Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat, former United Nations Secretary–General (d. 2018)
* 1938 &ndash; John Hamm, Canadian physician and politician, 25th Premier of Nova Scotia
* 1939 &ndash; Edwin Frederick O'Brien, American cardinal
* 1939 &ndash; Manolis Angelopoulos, Greek singer (d. 1989)
* 1940 &ndash; John Havlicek, American basketball player (d. 2019)
* 1941 &ndash; Vivienne Westwood, English fashion designer
* 1942 &ndash; Douglas Trumbull, American director, producer and special effects artist
* 1943 &ndash; Miller Farr, American football player
* 1943 &ndash; Michael Bennett, American dancer, choreographer, theater director (d. 1987)
* 1943 &ndash; Tony Banks, British politician (d. 2006)
* 1943 &ndash; James Herbert, British writer (d. 2013)
* 1944 &ndash; Tariana Turia, New Zealand politician
* 1944 &ndash; Hywel Bennett, Welsh actor (d. 2017)
* 1946 &ndash; Catfish Hunter, American baseball pitcher (d. 1999)
* 1946 &ndash; Tim Thomerson, American actor
* 1947 &ndash; Tom DeLay, American politician
* 1947 &ndash; Steve Howe, English rock guitarist
* 1947 &ndash; Robert Kiyosaki, American writer
* 1947 &ndash; Pascal Lamy, French politician
* 1947 &ndash; Larry Norman, American musician (d. 2008)
* 1948 &ndash; Danuta Hübner, Polish politician
* 1949 &ndash; John Madden, director
* 1949 &ndash; Joe Royle, English footballer and manager
* 1950 &ndash; Grzegorz Lato, Polish footballer

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1951 &ndash; Geir Haarde, former Prime Minister of Iceland
* 1951 &ndash; Joan Sebastian, Mexican singer and actor (d. 2015)
* 1954 &ndash; Gary Carter, American baseball catcher
* 1955 &ndash; Barbara Kingsolver, novelist
* 1955 &ndash; Gerrie Coetzee, South African boxer
* 1955 &ndash; Jim Fleeting, Scottish footballer
* 1955 &ndash; Kane Hodder, American stuntman and actor
* 1957 &ndash; Andrea Ypsilanti, German politician
* 1960 &ndash; John Schneider, actor
* 1960 &ndash; Gordon Chisholm, Scottish footballer and manager
* 1961 &ndash; Brian McDermott, English footballer and manager
* 1962 &ndash; Izzy Stradlin, American musician
* 1963 &ndash; Julian Lennon, English musician and singer
* 1963 &ndash; Alec Stewart, English cricketer
* 1964 &ndash; Dordi Nordby, Norwegian curler
* 1966 &ndash; Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand–Australian television personality (d. 2014)
* 1966 &ndash; Robin Wright, American actress
* 1966 &ndash; Mazinho, Brazilian footballer
* 1966 &ndash; Iveta Bartosova, Czech singer and actress (d. 2014)
* 1968 &ndash; Patricia Arquette, American actress
* 1968 &ndash; Susana Harp, Mexican musician
* 1970 &ndash; Care Santos, Catalan writer
* 1972 &ndash; Lisa Cameron, Scottish politician
* 1972 &ndash; Paul Gray, American musician (Slipknot) (d. 2010)
* 1972 &ndash; Sergei Magnitsky, Russian lawyer (d. 2009)
* 1973 &ndash; Khaled Badra, Tunisian footballer
* 1973 &ndash; Emma Caulfield, American actress
* 1974 &ndash; Holger Hott, Norwegian orienteering competitor 
* 1974 &ndash; Nnedi Okorafor, Nigerian–American writer
* 1975 &ndash; Anouk, Dutch singer

### From 1976 
* 1977 &ndash; Mark Spencer, computer programmer
* 1980 &ndash; Manuel Ortega, Austrian singer
* 1980 &ndash; Katee Sackhoff, American actress
* 1981 &ndash; Nikolay Kruglov, Jr., Russian biathlete
* 1981 &ndash; Taylor Kitsch, Canadian actor and model
* 1981 &ndash; Kelly Schafer, Scottish curler
* 1982 &ndash; Gennady Golovkin, Kazakhstani boxer
* 1983 &ndash; Allu Arjun, Indian actor
* 1983 &ndash; Edson Braafheid, Dutch footballer
* 1984 &ndash; Taran Noah Smith, American actor
* 1986 &ndash; Erika Sawajiri, Japanese actress and model
* 1986 &ndash; Bridget Kelly, American singer and songwriter
* 1986 &ndash; Igor Akinfeev, Russian footballer
* 1987 &ndash; Royston Drenthe, Dutch footballer
* 1987 &ndash; Dario Vidosic, Australian footballer
* 1987 &ndash; Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Belgian–Moroccan terrorist (d. 2015)
* 1988 &ndash; Jenni Asserholt, Swedish ice hockey player
* 1989 &ndash; Hitomi Takahashi, Japanese actress and singer
* 1989 &ndash; Gabriella Wilde, English actress and model
* 1990 &ndash; Kim Jong-hyun, South Korean singer-songwriter, dancer and actor (d. 2017)
* 1990 &ndash; Karim Bellarabi, German footballer
* 1991 &ndash; Minami Takahashi, Japanese actress and singer
* 1993 &ndash; Trent Sullivan, Australian actor
* 1994 &ndash; Sonya Singha, Thai actress
* 1999 &ndash; Ty Panitz, American actor
* 2002 &ndash; Skai Jackson, American actress

## Deaths 
### Up to 1900 
*217 &ndash; Caracalla, Roman Emperor (b. 188)
*622 &ndash; Prince Shotoku of Japan (b. 574)
*632 &ndash; Charibert, Frankish king (b. 607)
*956 &ndash; Gilbert, Duke of Burgundy
*1143 &ndash; John II Komnenos, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire (b. 1087)
*1364 &ndash; King John II of France (b. 1319)
*1450 &ndash; Sejong the Great, King of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea (b. 1397)
*1461 &ndash; Georg Purbach, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1423)
*1551 &ndash; Oda Nobuhide, Japanese warlord (b. 1510)
*1586 &ndash; Martin Chemnitz, Lutheran reformer and theologian (b. 1522)
*1612 &ndash; Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (b. 1575)
*1691 &ndash; Carlo Rainaldi, Italian architect (b. 1611)
*1704 &ndash; Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English statesman (b. 1641)
*1735 &ndash; Francis II Rakoczi, Hungarian aristocrat (b. 1676)
*1835 &ndash; Wilhelm von Humboldt, Prussian statesman (b. 1757)
*1848 &ndash; Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b. 1797)
*1861 &ndash; Elisha Otis, American inventor (b. 1811)
*1870 &ndash; Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer (b. 1802)
*1894 &ndash; Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian writer (b. 1838)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
*1906 &ndash; Auguste Deter, first–recorded victim of Alzheimer's disease (b. 1850)
*1919 &ndash; Lorand Eotvos, Hungarian physicist (b. 1848)
*1931 &ndash; Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer (b. 1864)
*1936 &ndash; Robert Bárány, Austrian doctor, won the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1876)
*1950 &ndash; Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish–Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1890)
*1958 &ndash; Ethel Turner, Australian writer (b. 1872)
*1962 &ndash; Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1892)
*1973 &ndash; Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1881)
*1974 &ndash; Ferruccio Novo, Italian football manager (b. 1899)
*1978 &ndash; Ford Frick, American baseball commissioner (b. 1894)
*1981 &ndash; Omar Bradley, American general (b. 1893)
*1983 &ndash; Isamu Kosuga, Japanese actor and director (b. 1904)
*1984 &ndash; Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist (b. 1894)
*1986 &ndash; Yukiko Okada, Japanese actress, singer and model (b. 1967)
*1990 &ndash; Ryan White, American activist (b. 1971)
*1992 &ndash; Daniel Bovet, Swiss pharmacologist (b. 1907)
*1993 &ndash; Marian Anderson, American contralto (b. 1897)
*1994 &ndash; Kurt Cobain, American musician (Nirvana) (b. 1967)
*1997 &ndash; Laura Nyro, American singer, pianist and composer (b. 1967)

### From 2001 
*2002 &ndash; María Félix, Mexican actress (b. 1914)
*2009 &ndash; Piotr Morawski, Polish mountaineer (b. 1976)
*2010 &ndash; Malcolm McLaren, British music manager (b. 1946)
*2010 &ndash; Abel Muzorewa, Zimbabwean politician (b. 1924)
*2012 &ndash; Jack Tramiel, Polish–born American entrepreneur and computer pioneer (b. 1928)
*2013 &ndash; Sara Montiel, Spanish actress and singer (b. 1928)
*2013 &ndash; Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1925)
*2013 &ndash; Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (b. 1942)
*2014 &ndash; Karlheinz Deschner, German writer and activist (b. 1924)
*2014 &ndash; Emmanuel III Delly, Iraqi Patriarch (b. 1927)
*2014 &ndash; The Ultimate Warrior, American professional wrestler (b. 1959)
*2015 &ndash; Jayakanthan, Indian Tamil writer (b. 1934)
*2015 &ndash; Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (b. 1936)
*2016 &ndash; Mircea Albulescu, Romanian actor and writer (b. 1934)
*2016 &ndash; Wei Chueh, Taiwanese Buddhist monk (b. 1928)
*2016 &ndash; Dick Alban, American football player (b. 1929)
*2017 &ndash; Fishman, Mexican professional wrestler (b. 1951)
*2017 &ndash; Georgy Grechko, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1931)
*2017 &ndash; Brian Matthew, English radio and television presenter (b. 1928)
*2017 &ndash; Donald Sarason, American mathematician (b. 1933)
*2018 &ndash; Leila Abashidze, Georgian actress, film director and screenwriter (b. 1929)
*2018 &ndash; Michael Goolaerts, Belgian racing cyclist (b. 1994)
*2018 &ndash; Juraj Herz, Slovakian film director, actor and screenwriter (b. 1934)
*2018 &ndash; Chuck McCann, American actor (b. 1934)
*2018 &ndash; John Miles, British racing driver (b. 1943)
*2019 &ndash; Josine Ianco-Starrels, Romanian–American art curator (b. 1926)
*2019 &ndash; Vasily Likhachyov, Russian politician (b. 1952)
*2019 &ndash; Nadja Regin, Serbian actress (b. 1931)
*2020 &ndash; Rick May, Canadian–American actor and voice actor (b. 1940)

## Observances 
* Buddha's Birthday (Japan)
* International Day of the Roma