October 8

October 8 is the 281st day of the year (282nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 84 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

1075 – Dmitar Zvonimir is crowned King of Croatia.
1480 – Stand–off on the Ugra River, between the forces of Akhmat Khan of the 'Great Horde', and those of Grand Duke Ivan III of Russia, resulting in the retreat of the Tataro–Mongols.
1573 – End of the Spanish Siege of Alkmaar (Netherlands) – First Dutch victory in the Eighty Years' War.
1600 – San Marino adopts its own constitution.
1806 – Napoleonic Wars: Forces of the British Empire lay siege to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, on France's English Channel coast.
1813 – The Treaty of Ried is signed between Bavaria and Austria.
1814 – The first election to Norway's Storting (Parliament) takes place.
1821 – The Government of Jose de San Martin creates the Peruvian Navy.
1822 – A volcanic eruption begins on the island of Java.
1856 – The Second Opium War between China and Western powers begins.
1860 – The telegraph line linking San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, opens.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Perryville, Kentucky.
1871 – The Great Chicago Fire occurs.
1879 – War of the Pacific: In the naval Battle of Angamos, Chile defeats Peru.
1895 – Empress Myeongseong of Korea is murdered by Japanese forces at Geongbok Palace, before her corpse is burned.
1897 – Gustav Mahler becomes director of the Vienna Court Opera.

1901 – 2000

1904 – Edmonton, Alberta and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan become cities.
1912 – The First Balkan War begins: Montenegro declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1918 – World War I: In the Argonne Forest, France, US Corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132.
1928 – Joseph Szigeti gives the first performance of Alfredo Casella's violin concerto.
1932 – The Indian Air Force is created.
1939 – World War II: Germany annexes Western Poland.
1941 – World War II: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany reaches the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.
1952 – United Kingdom: The Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash occurs. It is the UK's deadliest peacetime rail disaster.
1956 – The New York Yankees player Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in a World Series.
1962 – Algeria joins the UN.
1962 – Germany's Der Spiegel publishes an article on the Bundeswehr (German army), which leads to a major scandal.
1967 – Che Guevara is captured in Bolivia, leading to his execution the next day.
1973 – Yom Kippur War: Gabi Amir's armored brigade attack Egyptian–occupied positions on Israel's side of the Suez Canal, in hope of driving them away. The attack fails, destroying over 150 Israeli tanks.
1974 – Baja California Sur becomes a state of Mexico.
1978 – Australian Ken Warby sets a water speed record, which still stands.
1982 – Trade Unions, including Solidarity, are banned in Poland.
1982 – The musical Cats opens on Broadway.
1990 – Israel–Palestinian Conflict: In Jerusalem, Israeli police kill 17 Palestinian and injure over 100 near the Dome of the Rock.
1991 – Croatia decides to sever constitutional relations with Yugoslavia.
1998 – In Oslo, Gardermoen Airport replaces Fornebu Airport.
2000 – Aleksander Kwasniewski is re–elected as President of Poland.

From 2001

2001 – Two airplanes collide in heavy fog from take–off from Milan, Italy, killing 118 people.
2001 – George W. Bush announces the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
2004 – Wangari Maathai wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
2005 – 2005 Pakistan earthquake: At 03:50:38 UTC, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale happens in the Pakistan region of Kashmir, killing thousands of people.
2010 – Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
2013 – Peter Higgs and François Englert share the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the Higgs boson.
2015 – President Sepp Blatter is suspended from FIFA for ninety days, along with senior officials Michel Platini and Jerome Valcke, during a major corruption scandal.
2018 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases a special report, warning that "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society" would need to be made to prevent global warming by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over the upcoming century.

Births

Up to 1900

1515 – Margaret Douglas, Scottish noblewoman (d. 1578)
1585 – Heinrich Schütz, German composer (d. 1672)
1661 – Michel Le Quien, French history writer (d. 1733)
1676 – Benito Jeronimo Feijoo, Galician monk and scholar (d. 1764)
1713 – Yechezkel Landau, Polish rabbi (d. 1793)
1715 – Michel Benoist, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1774)
1720 – Jonathan Mayhew, American minister (d. 1766)
1747 – Jean-Francois Rewbell, French politician (d. 1807)
1789 – William Swainson, English–New Zealand ornithologist and entomologist (d. 1855)
1789 – John Ruggles, American politician (d. 1874)
1807 – Harriet Taylor Mill, English philosopher and activist (d. 1858)
1818 – John Henninger Reagan, American politician (d. 1905)
1823 – Ivan Aksakov, Russian writer (d. 1876)
1826 – Emily Blackwell, American physician and activist (d. 1910)
1834 – Walter Kittredge, American violinist and composer (d. 1905)
1843 – Kitty Kielland, Norwegian artist (d. 1914)
1846 – Bjorn Jonsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1912)
1850 – Henry Louis Le Chatelier, French chemist (d. 1936)
1863 – Edythe Chapman, American actress (d. 1948)
1864 – Ozias Leduc, Canadian painter (d. 1955)
1868 – Max Slevogt, German painter (d. 1932)
1868 – Coleman Livingston Blease, Governor of South Carolina (d. 1942)
1870 – Louis Vierne, French composer (d. 1937)
1871 – Ivan Poddubny, Russian wrestler (d. 1949)
1873 – Ejnar Hertzsprung, Danish chemist and astronomer (d. 1967)
1873 – Alexey Shchusev, Russian architect (d. 1949)
1875 – Laurence Doherty, English tennis player (d. 1919)
1877 – Hans Heysen, German–born landscape artist (d. 1968)
1883 – Otto Heinrich Warburg, German chemist, won the 1931 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1970)
1883 – Dick Burnett, American musician (d. 1977)
1884 – Walther von Reichenau, German general (d. 1942)
1889 – Collett E. Woolman, American businessman (d. 1966)
1890 – Edward Rickenbacker, American fighter pilot (d. 1973)
1890 – Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (d. 1971)
1892 – Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (d. 1941)
1893 – Clarence Williams, American pianist and composer (d. 1965)
1895 – Juan Perón, President of Argentina (d. 1974)
1895 – Zog I, King of Albania (d. 1961)
1896 – Julien Duvivier, French director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1967)
1897 – Rouben Mamoulian, Armenian director (d. 1987)

1901 – 1950

1901 – Eivind Groven, Norwegian composer and theorist (d. 1977)
1901 – Mark Oliphant, Australian physicist, humanitarian and politician, Governor of South Australia (d. 2000)
1903 – Georgy Geshev, Bulgarian chess player (d. 1937)
1908 – Martha Dodd, American writer (d. 1990)
1910 – Paulette Dubost, French actress (d. 2011)
1910 – Gus Hall, American Communist politician (d. 2000)
1913 – Robert Gilruth, American aviation and space travel pioneer (d. 2000)
1917 – Rodney Robert Porter, British biochemist (d. 1985)
1917 – Billy Conn, American boxer (d. 1993)
1917 – Walter Lord, American writer (d. 2002)
1918 – Jens Christian Skou, Danish chemist (d. 2018)
1919 – Kiichi Miyazawa, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2007)
1920 – Frank Herbert, American science fiction writer (d. 1986)
1922 – Nils Liedholm, Swedish footballer (d. 2007)
1924 – Alphons Egli, Swiss politician (d. 2016)
1927 – César Milstein, Argentine scientist (d. 2002)
1927 – Raymond Chow, Hong Kong film producer (d. 2018)
1928 – Bill Maynard, English actor (d. 2018)
1929 – Betty Boothroyd, English politician
1929 – Valdir Pereira, Brazilian footballer (d. 2001)
1929 – Franklin Stahl, American geneticist and biologist
1930 – Alasdair Milne, English director and producer (d. 2013)
1931 – Bill Brown, Scottish footballer (d. 2004)
1932 – Kenneth Appel, American mathematician (d. 2013)
1932 – Ray Reardon, Welsh snooker player
1934 – James Holshouser, American politician, 68th Governor of North Carolina (d. 2013)
1935 – Albert Roux, French–English chef
1937 – Paul Schell, American politician, 50th Mayor of Seattle (d. 2014)
1938 – Walter Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1938 – Bronislovas Lubys, Lithuanian politician and businessman (d. 2011)
1939 – Paul Hogan, Australian actor
1939 – Harvey Pekar, American writer (d. 2010)
1939 – Tanhum Cohen-Mintz, Israeli basketball player (d. 2014)
1939 – Lynne Stewart, American attorney (d. 2017)
1941 – Jesse Jackson, American clergyman and activist
1943 – Chevy Chase, American comedian and actor
1946 – Dennis Kucinich, American politician
1946 – Hanan Ashrawi, Pakistani scholar, activist and politician
1946 – Jean-Jacques Beineix, French director and producer
1948 – Gottfried Helnwein, Austrian–Irish artist
1948 – Claude Jade, French actress (d. 2006)
1948 – Pedro Lopez, Colombian serial killer
1948 – Johnny Ramone, American musician (d. 2004)
1948 – Baldwin Spencer, former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
1949 – Sigourney Weaver, American actress
1950 – Blake Morrison, English writer
1950 – Miguel Brindisi, Argentine footballer

1951 – 1975

1951 – Shannon C. Stimson, American political theorist
1952 – Takis Koroneos, Greek basketball player and coach
1952 – Edward Zwick, American director, producer and screenwriter
1953 – Robert Saxton, English composer
1954 – Brigitte Rohde, German sprinter
1956 – Janice E. Voss, American astronaut (d. 2012)
1956 – Stephanie Zimbalist, American actress
1957 – Martha Kearney, Irish–British broadcaster
1957 – Antonio Cabrini, Italian footballer
1958 – Ursula von der Leyen, German politician
1960 – Reed Hastings, American businessman, co–founder of Netflix
1960 – François Perusse, Canadian humorist
1964 – Jakob Arjouni, German writer (d. 2013)
1964 – CeCe Winans, American singer
1965 – C. J. Ramone, American musician
1965 – Ardal O'Hanlon, Irish comedian and actor
1965 – Harri Koskela, Finnish wrestler
1968 – Zvonimir Boban, Croatian footballer
1968 – Emily Procter, American actress
1970 – Matt Damon, American actor
1970 – Anne-Marie Duff, British actress
1970 – Sadiq Khan, British politician, Mayor of London
1970 – Tetsuya Nomura, Japanese video game designer and director
1971 – Monty Williams, American basketball player
1971 – David Gauke, British politician
1972 – Stanislav Varga, Slovakian footballer
1972 – Terry Balsamo, American guitarist
1972 – Kim Myung-min, South Korean actor
1974 – Fredrik Modin, Swedish ice hockey player
1974 – Koji Murofushi, Japanese hammer thrower

From 1976

1976 – Karina Bacchi, Brazilian model and actress
1976 – Renate Groenwold, Dutch speed skater
1976 – Seryoga, Belarussian rapper, actor and producer
1977 – Anne-Caroline Chausson, French cyclist
1977 – Jamie Marchi, American voice actress, director and screenwriter
1977 – Erna Siikavirta, Finnish musician (Lordi)
1977 – Travis Wester, American actor
1978 – Antonino D'Agostino, Italian footballer
1979 – Kristanna Loken, American actress
1980 – Nick Cannon, American actor, rapper and producer
1980 – The Miz, American professional wrestler
1981 – Chris Killen, New Zealand footballer
1984 – Anthony Le Tallec, French footballer
1985 – Eiji Wentz, Japanese entertainer
1985 – Simone Bolelli, Italian tennis player
1985 – Bruno Mars, American singer-songwriter
1987 – Aya Hirano, Japanese voice actress
1989 – Armand Traoré, French footballer
1993 – Angus T. Jones, American actor
1993 – Garbiñe Muguruza, Spanish tennis player
1993 – Barbara Palvin, Hungarian model
1993 – Molly Quinn, American actress
1996 – Sara Takanashi, Japanese ski jumper
1997 – Bella Thorne, American actress, singer and dancer

Deaths

Up to 1900

976 – Helen of Zadar, Queen of Croatia
1286 – John I of Dreux, Duke of Brittany (b. 1217)
1317 – Emperor Fushimi of Japan (b. 1265)
1621 – Antoine de Montchrestien, French soldier, playwright and economist (b. 1575)
1647 – Christian Soren Longomontanus, Danish astronomer (b. 1562)
1652 – John Greaves, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1602)
1656 – John George I, Elector of Saxony (b. 1585)
1735 – Yongzheng Emperor of China (b. 1678)
1754 – Henry Fielding, English writer (b. 1707)
1772 – Jean-Joseph de Mondonville, French violinist and composer (b. 1711)
1793 – John Hancock, American revolutionary and businessman (b. 1737)
1802 – Emmanuel Vitale, Maltese general (b. 1758)
1803 – Vittorio Alfieri, Italian writer (b. 1749)
1809 – James Elphinston, Scottish linguist, educator and orthographer (b. 1721)
1820 – Henri Christophe, King of Haiti (b. 1767)
1834 – François-Adrien Boieldieu, French composer (b. 1775)
1869 – Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States (b. 1804)
1879 – Miguel Grau Seminario, Peruvian naval officer (b. 1834)
1886 – Austin F. Pike, American politician (b. 1819)
1891 – Giovanni Caselli, Italian physicist (b. 1815)
1894 – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., American physician and writer (b. 1809)
1895 – Empress Myeongseong of Korea (b. 1851)
1897 – Alexei Savrasov, Russian painter (b. 1830)

1901 – 2000

1928 – Larry Semon, silent movie comedian (b. 1889)
1936 – Premchand, Indian writer (b. 1880)
1936 – Red Ames, American baseball player (b. 1882)
1942 – Sergei Chaplygin, Soviet engineer (b. 1869)
1944 – Wendell Willkie, American politician, candidate for President of the United States (b. 1892)
1945 – Felix Salten, Austrian writer (b. 1869)
1953 – Nigel Bruce, British actor (b. 1895)
1953 – Kathleen Ferrier, American contralto (b. 1912)
1967 – Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1883)
1972 – Prescott Bush, father of President of the United States George H. W. Bush (b. 1895)
1973 – Gabriel Marcel, French philosopher, playwright and critic (b. 1889)
1977 – Giorgos Papasideris, Greek singer, composer and lyricist (b. 1902)
1982 – Fernando Lamas, Argentine actor (b. 1916)
1982 – Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker, English peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner (b. 1889)
1983 – Joan Hackett, American actress (b. 1934)
1983 – Robert Docking, American politician, 38th Governor of Kansas (b. 1925)
1985 – Malcolm Ross, American balloonist and atmospheric physicist (b. 1919)
1987 – Konstantinos Tsatsos, President of Greece (b. 1899)
1992 – Willy Brandt, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Nobel Peace Prize winner (b. 1913)
1997 – Bertrand Goldberg, American architect (b. 1913)
1999 – John McLendon, American basketball player and coach (b. 1915)

From 2001

2002 – Jacques Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1952)
2004 – Jacques Derrida, French philosopher (b. 1930)
2012 – Eric Lomax, Scottish captain and writer (b. 1919)
2012 – Ken Sansom, American actor and singer (b. 1927)
2012 – Nawal Kishore Sharma, Indian politician, 20th Governor of Gujarat (b. 1925)
2012 – John Tchicai, Danish–French saxophonist and composer (b. 1936)
2013 – Phil Chevron, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1957)
2014 – Thomas Eric Duncan, Liberian Ebola patient diagnosed in the US (b. 1972)
2014 – Jeen van den Berg, Dutch speed skater (b. 1928)
2014 – Mike Waugh, American politician (b. 1955)
2014 – Helmut Ruge, German comedian, actor and writer (b. 1940)
2015 – Paul Prudhomme, American chef (b. 1940)
2015 – Jim Diamond, Scottish singer (b. 1951)
2017 – Gianni Bonagura, Italian actor (b. 1925)
2017 – Slim Chaker, Tunisian politician (b. 1961)
2017 – Jerry Kleczka, American politician (b. 1943)
2017 – Grady Tate, American soul–jazz drummer and singer (b. 1932)
2017 – Y. A. Tittle, American football player (b. 1926)
2017 – Birgitta Ulfsson, Finnish–Swedish actress (b. 1928)
2017 – Beverly Reid O'Connell, American judge (b. 1965)
2018 – Arnold Kopelson, American film producer (b. 1935)
2018 – George Taliaferro, American football player (b. 1927)
2018 – Joseph Tydings, American lawyer and politician (b. 1928)
2018 – Hiroshi Wajima, Japanese sumo and professional wrestler (b. 1948)
2018 – Venantino Venantini, Italian actor (b. 1930)

Observances

Independence Day (Croatia)
Navy Day (Peru)
Air Force Day (India)
Children's Day (Iran)
Arbor Day (Namibia)