December 8
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(Redirected from 8 December)
December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 23 days remaining.
Contents |
Events
- 1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogma of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was born free of original sin.
- 1869 - Timothy Eaton founds the T. Eaton Co., in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which would later become the Eaton's department store chain.
- 1886 - American Federation of Labor founded.
- 1888 - Bulgaria's National Assembly adopts an Act on establishing a higher school in Sofia.
- 1907 - King Gustav V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.
- 1914 - Battle of the Falkland Islands fought.
- 1941 - World War II: After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour the U.S. Congress passes a declaration of war against Japan.
- 1941 - World War II: The Japanese begin the invasion of the former British crown colony of Hong Kong less than 8 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour.
- 1941 - Holocaust: First Nazi use of gas vans on Jews, at the Chelmno camp near Lodz.
- 1949 - Chinese Civil War: The capital of the Republic of China is moved from Nanjing to Taipei, Taiwan.
- 1968 - NLS (a system for which hypertext and the computer mouse were developed) is publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco.
- 1969 - An Olympic Airways DC-6B crashes near Athens during a storm killing 93 people.
- 1976 - The Eagles release one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, Hotel California.
- 1980 - Mark David Chapman murders former Beatle John Lennon.
- 1987 - The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed.
- 1987 - Gunman Frank Vitovic shoots nine people dead and wounds five others at the Australia Post Building, Queen Street, Melbourne. Vitovic then kills himself by plunging five stories to his death.
- 1991 - Leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement ending the U.S.S.R. and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
- 1991 - First post-Communist Romanian Constitution is adopted in a referendum.
- 1993 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed into law by US President Bill Clinton.
- 1994 - US President Bill Clinton signs a bill enacting United States participation in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
- 1998 - 81 people killed by armed groups in the Tadjena massacre in Algeria.
- 2004 - The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
- 2004 - Former Pantera guitarist Darrell Abbott is shot dead on stage at a nightclub in Columbus, Ohio.
- 2004 - Population of Victoria (Australia) reaches 5 million for the first time.
Births
- 65 BC - Horace, Roman poet (d. 8 BC)
- 1542 - Mary Queen of Scots (d. 1587)
- 1626 - Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689)
- 1678 - Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton, English diplomat (d. 1757)
- 1708 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1765)
- 1730 - Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch-born physiologist and botanist (d. 1799)
- 1765 - Eli Whitney, American inventor (d. 1825)
- 1815 - Adolph Menzel, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1905)
- 1816 - August Belmont, Sr., Prussian-born financier (d. 1890)
- 1832 - Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
- 1848 - Joel Chandler Harris, American author and folklorist (d. 1908)
- 1861 - Aristide Maillol, French sculptor (d. 1944)
- 1861 - William C. Durant, American automobile pioneer (d. 1947)
- 1862 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright (d. 1921)
- 1864 - Camille Claudel, French graphic artist (d. 1943)
- 1865 - Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (d. 1957)
- 1886 - Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (d. 1957)
- 1890 - Bohuslav Martinů, Romanian composer (d. 1959)
- 1894 - James Thurber, American writer (d. 1961)
- 1911 - Lee J. Cobb, American actor (d. 1976)
- 1915 - Ernest Lehman, American screenwriter (d. 2005)
- 1918 - Gérard Souzay, French baritone (d. 2004)
- 1919 - Peter Tali Coleman, American politician (d. 1997)
- 1923 - Rudolph Pariser, Chinese-born chemist
- 1925 - Sammy Davis Jr., American actor and singer (d. 1990)
- 1927 - Vladimir Shatalov, cosmonaut
- 1930 - Maximilian Schell, Austrian-born actor, film director, and author
- 1933 - Flip Wilson, American comedian (d. 1998)
- 1936 - David Carradine, American actor
- 1937 - James MacArthur, American actor
- 1937 - Arne Næss Jr., Norwegian mountain climber and businessman (d. 2004)
- 1939 - James Galway, Irish flutist
- 1943 - Jim Morrison, American singer (The Doors) (d. 1971)
- 1943 - Mary Woronov, American actress
- 1947 - Gregg Allman, American musician
- 1947 - Thomas R. Cech, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1950 - Rick Baker, American film makeup artist
- 1953 - Kim Basinger, American actress
- 1956 - Warren Cuccurullo, American musician
- 1957 - Phil Collen, British guitarist (Def Leppard)
- 1961 - Ann Coulter, American author, political commentator, and attorney
- 1962 - Marty Friedman, American guitarist
- 1964 - Teri Hatcher, American actress
- 1966 - Sinéad O'Connor, Irish musician
- 1968 - Mike Mussina, baseball player
- 1973 - Corey Taylor, American musician (Slipknot)
- 1976 - Dominic Monaghan, German-born actor
- 1976 - Naimee Coleman, Irish singer and songwriter
- 1978 - Ian Somerhalder, American actor
- 1978 - Vernon Wells, baseball player
- 1986 - Amir Khan, British boxer
Deaths
- 899 - Arnulf of Carinthia (b. 850)
- 1626 - John Davies, English poet (b. 1569)
- 1632 - Philippe van Lansberge, Flemish astronomer (b. 1561)
- 1638 - Ivan Gundulic, Croatian poet (b. 1589)
- 1643 - John Pym, English statesman (b. 1583)
- 1649 - Noël Chabanel, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1613)
- 1680 - Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester, English politician (b. 1606)
- 1691 - Richard Baxter, English clergyman (b. 1615)
- 1695 - Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville, French orientalist (b. 1625)
- 1709 - Thomas Corneille, French dramatist (b. 1625)
- 1722 - Liselotte von der Pfalz, Duchess of Orléans and sister-in-law of Louis XIV (b. 1652)
- 1745 - Etienne Fourmont, French orientalist (b. 1683)
- 1746 - Charles Radclyffe, British politician (b. 1693)
- 1756 - William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington, English statesman and diplomat
- 1768 - Jean Denis Attiret, French Jesuit missionary and painter (b. 1702)
- 1830 - Benjamin Constant, Swiss writer (b. 1767)
- 1859 - Thomas de Quincey, English author (b. 1785)
- 1864 - George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1815)
- 1907 - King Oscar II of Sweden (b. 1829)
- 1917 - Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian-born writer (b. 1836)
- 1952 - Charles Lightoller, second officer on the Titanic (b. 1874)
- 1958 - Tris Speaker, baseball player (b. 1888)
- 1978 - Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1898)
- 1980 - John Lennon, British musician, singer, and songwriter (The Beatles) (b. 1940)
- 1982 - Marty Robbins, American singer (b. 1925)
- 1983 - Slim Pickens, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1984 - Luther Adler, American actor (b. 1903)
- 1992 - William Shawn, American magazine editor (b. 1917)
- 1994 - Tom Jobim, Brazilian composer and arranger (b. 1927)
- 1999 - Kuczka Péter, Hungarian writer, poet, and science fiction editor (b. 1923)
- 2001 - Don Tennant, American advertising executive (b. 1922)
- 2003 - Rubén González, Cuban pianist (Buena Vista Social Club)
- 2003 - Hans Hotter, German bass-baritone (b. 1909)
- 2004 - Darrell Abbott, American guitarist (Damageplan and Pantera) (b. 1966)
Holidays and observances
- Catholicism -Holy Day of Obligation The Feast of the Immaculate Conception
- Buddhism - The Enlightenment of Sakyamuni Buddha
- Afflux (50 Aftermath) (Discordianism)
- Bulgaria - Day of the Student (studentski praznik)
- Romania - Constitution Day
External links
December 7 - December 9 - November 8 - January 8 -- listing of all days
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