51BC Julius Caesar conquered the Celtic Parisii tribe on July 8, 51 B.C. The Romans called the place that is now known as Paris, Lutetia, or Lutetia Parisiorum. When the Romans took Lutetia, they burned and rebuilt the city. But it wasn't in the same spot as it is now. It was 7 miles west of its modern location in Nanterre. The place got a shorter name, Paris, in 212 AD. The name is derived from its early inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe.
1497 King Manuel I of Portugal sent Vasco da Gama out to discover a trade route into the Indian Ocean via the southern tip of Africa. He was given the job on the strength of his record of protecting Portuguese trading stations along the African Gold Coast from French attacks. On July 8, 1497 da Gama led a fleet of four ships with a crew of 170 men from Lisbon. Ten months later Da Gama and his crew arrived in Calicut, becoming the first to sail the passage from Europe to India round Africa.
1683 By the 1660s there were four established settlements on what was to be Rhode Island. The settlers decided to request a Royal Charter from King Charles II, who as a Catholic sympathizer in staunchly Protestant England, approved of the colony's promise of religious freedom. On July 8, 1663 the English monarch granted the request with the Royal Charter of 1663, uniting the four settlements It was described by one historian as "the grandest instrument of human liberty ever constructed."
1709 In 1700 Peter the Great's Russian army was defeated by Charles XII 's Swedish forces. After the battle, Charles XII decided to concentrate against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which gave Peter time to reorganize the Russian military. Charles XII's army invaded Russia nine years later but his Swedish forces were routed at the Battle of Poltava on July 8, 1709. The Swedish king fled to the Ottoman Empire and Peter the Great was established as the dominant force in Northern Europe.
1741 Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was a sermon written by Jonathan Edwards. When he preached it on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut, Edwards was interrupted many times by people moaning and crying out, "What shall I do to be saved?" The words have endured and are still read to this day.
1497 King Manuel I of Portugal sent Vasco da Gama out to discover a trade route into the Indian Ocean via the southern tip of Africa. He was given the job on the strength of his record of protecting Portuguese trading stations along the African Gold Coast from French attacks. On July 8, 1497 da Gama led a fleet of four ships with a crew of 170 men from Lisbon. Ten months later Da Gama and his crew arrived in Calicut, becoming the first to sail the passage from Europe to India round Africa.
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| Vasco da Gama leaving the port of Lisbon, Portugal |
1683 By the 1660s there were four established settlements on what was to be Rhode Island. The settlers decided to request a Royal Charter from King Charles II, who as a Catholic sympathizer in staunchly Protestant England, approved of the colony's promise of religious freedom. On July 8, 1663 the English monarch granted the request with the Royal Charter of 1663, uniting the four settlements It was described by one historian as "the grandest instrument of human liberty ever constructed."
1709 In 1700 Peter the Great's Russian army was defeated by Charles XII 's Swedish forces. After the battle, Charles XII decided to concentrate against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which gave Peter time to reorganize the Russian military. Charles XII's army invaded Russia nine years later but his Swedish forces were routed at the Battle of Poltava on July 8, 1709. The Swedish king fled to the Ottoman Empire and Peter the Great was established as the dominant force in Northern Europe.
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| The Battle of Poltava by Pierre-Denis Martin (1726) |
1741 Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was a sermon written by Jonathan Edwards. When he preached it on July 8, 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut, Edwards was interrupted many times by people moaning and crying out, "What shall I do to be saved?" The words have endured and are still read to this day.
1776 On July 8, 1776, the Liberty Bell pealed from the tower of Independence Hall summoning the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. This document declared that the 13 American colonies were no longer part of the British Empire and were now an independent nation.
1822 Percy Bysshe Shelley loved the sea and yachting but never learnt to swim. On July 8, 1822 he drowned whilst sailing in a sudden storm as he traveled back to Lerici, Italy in his schooner, the Don Juan. When his body was washed up on the beach two books were found, a slim edition of The Works of Sophocles and a volume of Keats' poems still clutched in his hand. Shelley was cremated soon afterwards on the beach near Viareggio attended by his anguished friends including Lord Byron.
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| The Funeral of Shelley by Louis Édouard Fournier (1889) |
1838 German general Ferdinand von Zeppelin was born July 8, 1838 in Konstanz, Grand Duchy of Baden. On retiring from the army in 1891, von Zeppelin devoted himself to the study of aeronautics, and his first airship was built and tested in 1900. During World War I a number of Zeppelin airships were employed in bombing England: they were also used for passenger transport.
1839 The American oil industry business magnate John D Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York on July 8, 1839. He was America's first-ever billionaire (not even including inflation) and is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller amassed his fortune from the Standard Oil company, of which he was a founder, chairman and major shareholder.
1876 Maria Spelterini became the first woman to cross Niagara Falls by tightrope on July 8, 1876, during the celebration of the American Centennial. Spelterini, an Italian tightrope walker, performed several crossings over the Niagara Gorge, each time increasing the level of difficulty by incorporating different challenges, such as crossing with baskets on her feet and blindfolded.
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| Maria Spelterini crossing the Niagara gorge on a tightrope |
1889 The first issue of The Wall Street Journal, the world's most circulated business daily newspaper, was published on July 8, 1889. It was founded by Charles H. Dow, of Dow Jones & Company, primarily to cover business and financial news.
1891 Divorcee Florence DeWolfe had been a student at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. After leaving her husband she supported herself and her son by giving piano lessons. One of her students was future US president Warren G Harding's sister. Florence and Harding eventually married on July 8, 1891. Florence Harding was deeply involved in her husband's career and Harding affectionately called his wife "the Duchess."
1899 The last bare knuckle heavyweight title boxing bout on July 8, 1899 between John L. Sullivan and Jake Kilrain. It took place at a secret location, which turned out to be Richburg, a town just south of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The fight lasted for 75 rounds — or two hours, 16 minutes and 25 seconds — before Kilrain’s manager threw in the towel, fearing for the boxer’s life.
1932 The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the 1930s. The depression originated in the United States, where it began in August 1929, when the country's economy first went into recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its lowest point of the Great Depression on July 8, 1932, closing at 41.22, down 89 percent from its peak in 1929.
1939 The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights between the United Kingdom and the United States began on July 8, 1939, between Southampton, England, and New York City, by Pan Am. The flights were operated by the Boeing 314 Clipper, a four-engine flying boat that could carry up to 74 passengers. The flights took about 16 hours to complete.
1891 Divorcee Florence DeWolfe had been a student at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. After leaving her husband she supported herself and her son by giving piano lessons. One of her students was future US president Warren G Harding's sister. Florence and Harding eventually married on July 8, 1891. Florence Harding was deeply involved in her husband's career and Harding affectionately called his wife "the Duchess."
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| Warren and Florence Harding in their garden. |
1899 The last bare knuckle heavyweight title boxing bout on July 8, 1899 between John L. Sullivan and Jake Kilrain. It took place at a secret location, which turned out to be Richburg, a town just south of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The fight lasted for 75 rounds — or two hours, 16 minutes and 25 seconds — before Kilrain’s manager threw in the towel, fearing for the boxer’s life.
1932 The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the 1930s. The depression originated in the United States, where it began in August 1929, when the country's economy first went into recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its lowest point of the Great Depression on July 8, 1932, closing at 41.22, down 89 percent from its peak in 1929.
1939 The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights between the United Kingdom and the United States began on July 8, 1939, between Southampton, England, and New York City, by Pan Am. The flights were operated by the Boeing 314 Clipper, a four-engine flying boat that could carry up to 74 passengers. The flights took about 16 hours to complete.
1941 On July 8, 1941 the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney along with the rest of her squadron attempted to shoot down the planet Venus thinking it was a high altitude bomber. Venus managed to survive the engagement.
1947 On July 8, 1947, various news agencies reported that the U.S. Army Air Force personnel in Roswell, New Mexico, had captured a "flying disc." However, the military later issued a statement that the object recovered was not a UFO but rather debris from a weather balloon, specifically a classified project called Mogul.
1948 The United States Air Force accepted its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF) on July 8, 1948. The first WAF recruit was Sgt. Esther Blake who enlisted on July 8, 1948, in the first minute of the first day that regular Air Force duty was authorized for women.
1959 Major Dale R. Ruis and Master Sergeant Chester M. Ovnand became the first Americans killed in the American phase of the Vietnam War when guerrillas struck a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) on July 8, 1959.
1948 The United States Air Force accepted its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF) on July 8, 1948. The first WAF recruit was Sgt. Esther Blake who enlisted on July 8, 1948, in the first minute of the first day that regular Air Force duty was authorized for women.
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| The first WAF squadron at Lackland AFB in 1948 |
1959 Major Dale R. Ruis and Master Sergeant Chester M. Ovnand became the first Americans killed in the American phase of the Vietnam War when guerrillas struck a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) on July 8, 1959.
1966 On July 8, 1966, Prince Philip was selected to play polo for England in an international tournament. He was an accomplished polo player and played competitively for many years. Philip was the first member of the Royal Family ever to represent his country at sport.
1994 Kim Jong-il became supreme leader of North Korea on July 8, 1994 after the death of his father, Kim il-sung. A big film fan, he had a collection of 20,000 movies in a private movie theater beneath a Pyongyang bunker. He wrote a 300-page book called On the Art of the Cinema that every filmmaker in North Korea was forced to read.
1994 In North Korea, people don't celebrate birthdays on July 8 and December 17, since those are the dates that Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il died. This is because the Kim family is considered to be sacred in North Korea, and their deaths are seen as national tragedies.
1998 On July 8, 1998 a first edition of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales was sold for £4,621,500, breaking the record for the most expensive book. The Chaucer book was published in 1476 or 1477 by William Caxton, who is considered to be the first English printer. The book is one of only 12 known surviving copies of the first edition.
2002 Serena Williams reached the #1 ranking in tennis singles for the first time on July 8, 2002, after winning the Wimbledon Championships. She has held the #1 ranking a total of 8 times, which is third all-time among female players. On her sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, tying the record set by Steffi Graf.
1994 Kim Jong-il became supreme leader of North Korea on July 8, 1994 after the death of his father, Kim il-sung. A big film fan, he had a collection of 20,000 movies in a private movie theater beneath a Pyongyang bunker. He wrote a 300-page book called On the Art of the Cinema that every filmmaker in North Korea was forced to read.
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| Kim Jong-il in 2010. By babeltravel - Flickr: |
1994 In North Korea, people don't celebrate birthdays on July 8 and December 17, since those are the dates that Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il died. This is because the Kim family is considered to be sacred in North Korea, and their deaths are seen as national tragedies.
1998 On July 8, 1998 a first edition of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales was sold for £4,621,500, breaking the record for the most expensive book. The Chaucer book was published in 1476 or 1477 by William Caxton, who is considered to be the first English printer. The book is one of only 12 known surviving copies of the first edition.
2002 Serena Williams reached the #1 ranking in tennis singles for the first time on July 8, 2002, after winning the Wimbledon Championships. She has held the #1 ranking a total of 8 times, which is third all-time among female players. On her sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, tying the record set by Steffi Graf.
2011 Gerald Ford's wife Betty Ford died of natural causes on July 8, 2011, at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, aged 93. After leaving the White House, the one-time First Lady faced up to her alcohol problem and established the Betty Ford Center for treating addiction.
2011 The word's largest dog biscuit was made by Hampshire Pet Products in Joplin, Missouri, USA, and weighed 279.87 kg (617 lb). It was made to celebrate the company's 10th anniversary and was baked in a custom-made oven. The biscuit was 1.16 m (3.8 ft) wide, 5.79 m (19 ft) long and 0.04 m (1.63 in) deep. It required a total of 10 bakers to make.
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