Monday, 8th December 2025 in Lisbon

Welcome to your daily snapshot of Lissabon! It's Bodhi Day (Buddhism). Explore 43 historical events, birthdays, deaths, and milestones that shaped this day in Lissabon. From remarkable moments in local and world history to the people who left their mark — find out what makes today special. Today's weather in Lissabon brings drizzly with temperatures between 13°C and 17°C. Tonight's moon is in its waxing crescent phase, and the zodiac sign of the day is Sagittarius. If you're curious about the history of a day — this page brings together everything worth knowing about this Monday, 8th December in Lissabon, PT.

Lisbon
Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL – CC BY-SA 2.0Wikimedia Commons

Lisbon, Portugal's capital city situated on the Tagus estuary, offers a mix of historic neighbourhoods and contemporary urban development along the Atlantic coast. On Monday, 8 December 2025, the weather will be drizzly with temperatures typical of early winter in the region. The astrological sign is Sagittarius, and the moon is in its waxing crescent phase, gradually increasing in illumination towards the first quarter.

On this day

The year 1980 saw the death of John Lennon, the English musician and member of The Beatles, who was murdered at the entrance of the Dakota building in New York City where he resided. His assassination shocked the world and marked the end of one of popular music's most influential careers.

Across the decades, 8 December has witnessed significant geopolitical moments. In 1991, Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian leaders signed the Belovezh Accords, a pivotal agreement that formally dissolved the Soviet Union and established the Commonwealth of Independent States, effectively ending nearly seven decades of Soviet rule. Meanwhile, in 2024, the Syrian civil war reached its conclusion when Bashar al-Assad's Syrian Ba'ath Party surrendered to the Syrian opposition, bringing an end to a devastating conflict that had lasted thirteen years.

Bodhi Day (Buddhism)

Bodhi Day commemorates the enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha, under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India. The observance falls on 8 December in most Mahayana Buddhist traditions, marking the moment of his spiritual awakening around the 5th century BCE. Practitioners typically meditate, light candles, and reflect on Buddhist teachings to honour this pivotal moment in religious history. The celebration has been observed for over two thousand years across Buddhist communities worldwide.

DayAtlas provides weather conditions for any specified date and location, alongside historical events, notable births and deaths that occurred on that day. Users can explore significant moments in history whilst understanding the atmospheric conditions and celestial context of their chosen date.

Find out what's happening today in Lissabon.

What the Weather Had in Store for Lissabon on 8th December 2025

Drizzle

Sunrise 08:42
Sunset 18:15
Sunshine duration 08:22 hours
Daylight duration 09:32 hours

Maximum temperature 17.2°C
Minimum temperature 13.7°C

Wind speed 25.3km/h from S
Precipitation 2.1mm

Horizons expand for those willing to question their edges.

Fortune of the Day

8th December in the Stars – Star Sign Sagittarius

Today, the zodiac sign Sagittarius celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality People born on December 8th blend infectious optimism with genuine philosophical inquiry. They appear spontaneous and energetic, yet possess a serious, exploratory mind drawn to deeper truths and universal meaning.

Strengths & Weaknesses Their strengths include optimism, intellectual curiosity, and magnetic enthusiasm. Weaknesses emerge as impatience and a tendency toward superficiality when sustained depth and follow-through are needed.

Love These individuals need intellectual stimulation and personal freedom in relationships. They love sincerely but can seem emotionally detached when mental connection is absent.

Caree & Finance Education, law, publishing, and international work appeal strongly to them. Financially optimistic yet sometimes careless—budgeting discipline and structure deserve conscious attention.

Health Physical activity and mental challenge keep these natives vital and grounded. Nervousness and restlessness can manifest as physical tension—meditation and consistent exercise provide balance.


That night, the moon was in its waxing crescent phase.


Chinese year of the Snake (Wood).

Fun Facts About 8th December

Name Days in Your Language: Rohan, Spence, Spencer, Spenser


Someone born on this day would be just 200 days old today — roughly 4,820 hours, 289,243 minutes, or 17,354,584 seconds spent on Earth so far.


It's the 342. day of the year. In 2025, 8th December falls on a Monday.


There are 23 days still to come.


We’re currently in Week 50 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 8th December

On this day, 274 notable people were born on 8th December — spanning from -65 to 2004. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

08/12/2004

Billie Starkz, American professional wrestler

Lillian Renia Bridget, better known by the ring name Billie Starkz, is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), but predominantly appears in AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where she is a member of the M.I.T stable and a former one-time and the inaugural ROH Women's World Television Champion.


Momoe Mori, Japanese entertainer

Momoe Mori is a Japanese rapper, dancer, model, and actress. She is best known as a member of the girl group @onefive, and is a former member of the idol group Sakura Gakuin. She is represented by the talent agency Amuse Inc. and is signed with the record label Avex Trax.


08/12/2002

Sunghoon, South Korean singer

Park Sung-hoon, known mononymously as Sunghoon, is a South Korean singer and former figure skater. He competed as a figure skater from 2010 to early 2020; while simultaneously being a K-pop trainee since 2018. He retired from the sport and debuted as a member of the South Korean boy band Enhypen in November 2020. Sunghoon is the 2016–2017 junior silver medalist and the 2015 novice gold medalist of Asian Figure Skating Trophy, and the 2015 novice gold medalist of Lombardia Trophy. He also won silver medals at the 2013 novice competition and the 2014 junior competition of South Korean Figure Skating Championships.


08/12/2001

Josh Christopher, American basketball player

Joshua Evan Christopher is an American professional basketball player for the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Arizona State Sun Devils. He is a 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m), 215-pound (98 kg) shooting guard.


08/12/2000

DeMario Douglas, American football player

DeMario "Pop" Douglas is an American professional football wide receiver for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Liberty Flames, and was selected by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL draft.


Bayron Matos, Dominican American football player

Bayron Matos is a Dominican professional American football offensive tackle for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). After growing up in the Dominican Republic, he moved to the U.S. in high school and played basketball. He played college basketball for the New Mexico Lobos and South Florida Bulls from 2019–20 to 2021–22, before switching to football in 2022. He is a participant in the NFL's International Player Pathway Program (IPPP).


Andy Pages, Cuban baseball player

Andy Pages, nicknamed "Big Dog", is a Cuban professional baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2024.


08/12/1999

Reece James, English footballer

Reece Lewis James is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Premier League club Chelsea, which he captains, and the England national team.


Tyrus Wheat, American football player

Tyrus Darrell Wheat Sr. is an American professional football outside linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Mississippi State Bulldogs.


08/12/1998

Josh Dunne, American ice hockey player

Josh Dunne is an American professional ice hockey forward for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). His elder sister Jincy, currently plays for the Minnesota Frost, and his younger sister Joy currently plays for Ohio State.


Owen Teague, American actor

Owen William Teague is an American actor. He first came to attention playing the psychopathic bully Patrick Hockstetter in It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), followed by main cast roles in the miniseries Mrs. Fletcher (2019) and The Stand (2020–2021). He played the antagonized young adult son of the title character in the film To Leslie (2022) and starred in his first lead film role as the chimpanzee Noa in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024).


08/12/1997

Hakeem Adeniji, American football player

Hakeem Adeniji is an American professional football offensive tackle. He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks, making the first-team in 2019 and second-team in 2018 before being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL draft.


Sam Hauser, American basketball player

Samuel David Hauser is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Marquette and, in his senior season, the Virginia Cavaliers, where he posted a stellar 50% FG, 42% 3FG, and 90% FT shooting season but came up just .004 short in free throw percentage from officially qualifying for the 50–40–90 club.


08/12/1996

Scott McTominay, Scottish footballer

Scott Francis McTominay is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Napoli. Born in England, he plays for the Scotland national team.


08/12/1995

Thatcher Demko, American ice hockey player

Thatcher Douglas Demko is an American professional ice hockey player who is a goaltender for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Demko was selected by the Canucks in the second round of the 2014 NHL entry draft.


08/12/1994

Cyriel Dessers, Belgian-Nigerian footballer

Cyriel Kolawole Dessers is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Greek Super League club Panathinaikos. Born in Belgium, he plays for the Nigeria national team.


Conseslus Kipruto, Kenyan runner

Conseslus Kipruto is a Kenyan middle-distance runner who specializes in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He was the 2016 Rio Olympic champion in the event. At the World Athletics Championships, Kipruto won gold medals in 2017 and 2019, silver medals in 2013 and 2015, and a bronze in 2022. In 2018, he captured gold medals at the African Championships and Commonwealth Games. He is a four-time Diamond League winner.


Raheem Sterling, English footballer

Raheem Shaquille Sterling is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for Eredivisie club Feyenoord.


08/12/1993

Janari Jõesaar, Estonian basketball player

Janari Jõesaar is an Estonian professional basketball player for Bosna of the Bosnian League and the ABA League. He is a 1.98 m tall small forward. He played college basketball for the Ole Miss Rebels and the Texas–Pan American Broncs. He also represents the Estonian national basketball team internationally.


Cara Mund, American model, Miss America 2018

Cara D. Mund is an American attorney and former Miss America from Bismarck, North Dakota. In June 2017, she was crowned Miss North Dakota 2017. On September 10, 2017, she was crowned Miss America 2018 in Atlantic City and became the first contestant from North Dakota to win the competition.


Jordan Obita, English footballer

Jordan John Obita is a professional footballer who plays as left-back or winger for Scottish Premiership club Hibernian, and the Uganda national football team.


AnnaSophia Robb, American actress

AnnaSophia Robb is an American actress, model, and singer. She began her career as a child actress making her feature film debut in Because of Winn-Dixie (2005). Robb then starred in a string of successful films playing notable roles such as Violet Beauregarde in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Leslie Burke in Bridge to Terabithia (2007), Sara in Race to Witch Mountain (2009), and surfer Bethany Hamilton in Soul Surfer (2011). She has also acted in Jumper (2008), The Way, Way Back (2013), and Rebel Ridge (2024).


08/12/1992

Mattias Janmark, Swedish ice hockey player

Mattias Janmark Nylén is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is a centre for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played in the NHL for the Dallas Stars, Chicago Blackhawks and Vegas Golden Knights. Janmark was drafted 79th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2013 NHL entry draft.


Yui Yokoyama, Japanese idol, model, and actress

Yui Yokoyama is a Japanese actress, YouTuber and former singer. She is a former member of the idol group AKB48. She was the second General Manager of the AKB48 Group. She had served as the captain of AKB48 Team A, and was a former member of AKB48 sister group NMB48. From 2011 to 2015, Yokoyama was also a member of the group Not Yet.


08/12/1991

Philip Holm, Swedish ice hockey player

Philip Holm is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman for Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).


08/12/1989

Drew Doughty, Canadian ice hockey player

Drew Doughty is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman and alternate captain for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected second overall by the Kings in the 2008 NHL entry draft from the Guelph Storm of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), where he was twice voted the league's top offensive defenceman. He is considered to be one of the NHL's top defencemen of the 2010s.


Jen Ledger, English musician and singer

Jennifer Carole Ledger is an English and American musician who serves as the drummer and co-vocalist for the Christian rock band Skillet. At the age of 18, she became Skillet's drummer when previous drummer Lori Peters retired.


Andrew Nicholson, Canadian basketball player

Andrew Fabian Nicholson is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Seoul Samsung Thunders of the Korean Basketball League (KBL). He played college basketball for the St. Bonaventure Bonnies before being selected by the Orlando Magic with the 19th overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft.


Jesse Sene-Lefao, New Zealand rugby league player

Jesse Sene-Lefao is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a prop or second-row forward for the Sheffield Eagles in the RFL Championship.


08/12/1986

Enzo Amore, American wrestler and rapper

Eric Arndt is an American professional wrestler. He is performing on the independent circuit under the ring name Real1. He is best known for his tenure in WWE under the ring name Enzo Amore and came to prominence for his partnership with Big Cass, whom he teamed with from 2013 to 2017. Together, they won the NXT Year-End Award for Tag Team of the Year in 2015. He was later moved to the 205 Live brand, where he was a two-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion. Since leaving WWE for controversial reasons in January 2018, he has also embarked on a rap music career under the name Real1.


Amir Khan, English boxer

Amir Iqbal Khan is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2022. Born and raised in Bolton, Khan began to box competitively at the age of 11. He rose to fame during the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he won a silver medal in the lightweight division and became at the age of 17, Britain's youngest boxing Olympic medalist. He turned professional in 2005. In 2007, he was named ESPN prospect of the year. He later became one of the youngest ever British professional world champions, winning the World Boxing Association (WBA) title at the age of 22.


Sam Tagataese, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player

Sam Tagataese pronounced is a Samoa international rugby league footballer who last played as a prop forward for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL.


Kate Voegele, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress

Kate Elizabeth Voegele is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She made her musical debut in 2003, with the release of her extended play The Other Side. She performed numerous local live shows to promote the album, and toured with artists such as John Mayer. In 2005, she released her second extended play, Louder Than Words. Both had local success, and helped raise awareness of Voegele as an artist. During this time period, Voegele performed at events such as Farm Aid to promote her music, and began posting her music on popular social media network MySpace. She also won numerous awards and honors for her songwriting abilities.


08/12/1985

Josh Donaldson, American baseball player

Joshua Adam Donaldson is an American former professional baseball third baseman. In his 13-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played for the Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, and Milwaukee Brewers.


Meagan Duhamel, Canadian figure skater

Meagan Duhamel is a retired Canadian pair skater. With partner Eric Radford, she is a two-time world champion, a 2018 Olympic gold medallist in the team event, a 2014 Olympic silver medallist in the team event, a 2018 Olympic bronze medallist in the pairs event, a two-time Four Continents champion, the 2014–15 Grand Prix Final champion, and a seven-time Canadian national champion (2012–18).


Dwight Howard, American basketball player

Dwight David Howard II is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Superman" for his athletic prowess, he is an NBA champion, eight-time All-Star, eight-time All-NBA Team honoree, five-time All-Defensive Team member, and three-time Defensive Player of the Year.


Oleksiy Pecherov, Ukrainian basketball player

Oleksiy Ivanovych Pecherov is a Ukrainian former professional basketball player. He was also a member of the Ukraine national basketball team.


08/12/1984

Emma Green Tregaro, Swedish high jumper

Emma Anna-Maria Green, also known as Emma Green Tregaro is a retired Swedish high jumper. She won a bronze medal in the event at the 2005 IAAF World Championships. She represented Sweden at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. She finished 2nd at the 2010 European Athletics Championships with a new personal best of 2.01 m.


Greg Halford, English footballer

Gregory Halford is an English former footballer. He was naturally a right-back or centre-back but could play in numerous positions including central midfield, right midfield and even as a striker.


Sam Hunt, American singer-songwriter

Sam Lowry Hunt is an American country music singer and songwriter. Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Hunt played football in his high school and college years and attempted to pursue a professional sports career before signing with MCA Nashville in 2014.


08/12/1983

Neel Jani, Swiss race car driver

Neel Jani is a Swiss professional racing driver.


08/12/1982

Alfredo Aceves, Mexican baseball player

Alfredo Aceves Martínez is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.


Halil Altıntop, Turkish footballer

Halil Altıntop is a Turkish former professional footballer. During his playing days, he was deployed as an attacking midfielder, centre-forward, or winger. Halil is the identical twin brother of Hamit Altıntop.


Hamit Altıntop, Turkish footballer

Hamit Altıntop is a Turkish former professional footballer and current board member of the Turkish Football Federation. He was a versatile midfielder who could play either in a defending or attacking role and on both flanks, known for his creative flair and long-range shooting ability. He is the identical twin brother of footballer Halil Altıntop.


Chrisette Michele, American singer-songwriter

Chrisette Michele Payne is an American R&B and soul singer. She won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2009 for her song "Be OK".


Nicki Minaj, Trinidadian-American rapper and actress

Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, known professionally as Nicki Minaj, is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Dubbed the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her dynamic rap flow, witty lyrics, musical versatility, and alter egos, and is credited as a driving force in the mainstream resurgence of female rap since the 2010s.


Serena Ryder, Canadian singer-songwriter

Serena Lauren Ryder is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Born in Toronto, she grew up in Millbrook, Ontario. Ryder first gained national recognition with her ballad "Weak in the Knees" in 2007 and has released eight studio albums.


08/12/1981

Philip Rivers, American football player

Philip Michael Rivers is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Chargers franchise. He played college football for the NC State Wolfpack, winning ACC Player of the Year and ACC Athlete of the Year between 2003 and 2004. Rivers was selected fourth overall in the 2004 NFL draft by the New York Giants, who traded him to the San Diego Chargers during the draft.


08/12/1980

Yuliya Krevsun, Ukrainian runner

Yuliya Krevsun is a Ukrainian middle-distance running athlete who specialises in the 800 metres. She is a member of Fenerbahçe Athletics club in Turkey.


Brandt Snedeker, American golfer

Brandt Newell Snedeker is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He won the 2012 FedEx Cup with a victory in the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, a win that moved him into the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career. In February 2013 after winning the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, he moved to a career high of No. 4 in the world. On August 16, 2018, he shot the tenth sub-60 round in the history of the PGA Tour, scoring an opening round 59 at the Wyndham Championship.


08/12/1979

Daniel Fitzhenry, Australian rugby player

Daniel Fitzhenry is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s. He played for the Wests Tigers in the NRL and Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League. He primarily played on the wing.


Johan Forssell, Swedish lawyer and politician

Carl Johan Henrik Forssell is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party. He has served as Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy in the cabinet of Ulf Kristersson since 10 September 2024, having served as Minister for Foreign Trade and International Development Cooperation prior to that. and has been Member of the Riksdag since the 2010 general election, representing Stockholm Municipality. He was chairman of the Moderate Youth League, the youth wing of the Moderate Party, from 2004 to 2006.


Raymond Lam, Chinese actor and singer

Raymond Lam is a Hong Kong actor and singer who is best known for roles in the television dramas A Step into the Past, Twin of Brothers, Moonlight Resonance, Highs and Lows and Line Walker and was dubbed the King of Chok after his role in The Mysteries of Love.


Ingrid Michaelson, American singer-songwriter and pianist

Ingrid Ellen Michaelson is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 2006 single "The Way I Am" and her 2014 single "Girls Chase Boys", both of which achieved success on Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts, and received platinum certifications by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She has released eight independent albums.


Christian Wilhelmsson, Swedish footballer

Christian Ulf Wilhelmsson is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a winger. Beginning his career with Mjällby AIF in 1997, he went on to represent clubs in Norway, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, England, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Qatar before retiring at Mjällby in 2015. Wilhelmsson won 79 caps for the Sweden national team between 2001 and 2012, and represented his country at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and at Euro 2004, 2008, and 2012.


08/12/1978

John Oster, English-Welsh footballer

John Morgan Oster is a football coach and former professional player who played as a midfielder.


Frédéric Piquionne, French footballer

Frédéric Michel Piquionne is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward.


Anwar Siraj, Ethiopian footballer

Anwar Siraj is retired Ethiopian footballer.


Ian Somerhalder, American actor

Ian Joseph Somerhalder is a retired American actor. He is known for playing Boone Carlyle in ABC's science fiction adventure drama television series Lost (2004–2010) and Damon Salvatore in the CW supernatural teen drama series The Vampire Diaries (2009–2017).


Vernon Wells, American baseball player

Vernon Wells III is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the New York Yankees.


08/12/1977

Ryan Newman, American race car driver

Ryan Joseph Newman, nicknamed "Rocket Man", is an American professional stock car racing driver that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2000 to 2023. He claimed 18 official wins including the 2008 Daytona 500 and 2013 Brickyard 400, as well as 117 top-fives, 51 pole positions, and a non-points win at the 2002 Winston. Newman was runner-up in 2014, and ranked sixth in 2002, 2003, and 2005. Newman currently competes in the SMART Modified Tour for Coulter Motorsports.


Aleksandra Olsza, Polish tennis player

Aleksandra Olsza is a Polish former tennis player. Her career highlights include winning of the 1995 Wimbledon Championships in both girls' singles and doubles. At the 1996 US Open, Olsza defeated world No. 12, Magdalena Maleeva.


Anita Weyermann, Swiss runner and journalist

Anita Weyermann is a Swiss former middle- and long-distance runner.


08/12/1976

Brettina, Bahamian-American singer-songwriter and actress

Brettina Lorena Robinson is a Bahamian singer-songwriter, model, and actress, based in Los Angeles.


Reed Johnson, American baseball player

Reed Cameron Johnson is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, and Washington Nationals.


Zoe Konstantopoulou, Greek lawyer and politician

Zoe Konstantopoulou is a Greek politician and lawyer who served as Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament from February to October 2015. Since 2016 she serves as the president of the Course of Freedom.


Dominic Monaghan, German-British actor

Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is a British actor. He is best known for playing Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck in Peter Jackson's film trilogy The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003), and Charlie Pace on the ABC television drama Lost (2004–2010).


08/12/1975

Kevin Harvick, American race car driver

Kevin Michael Harvick is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for NASCAR on Fox.


08/12/1974

Cristian Castro, Mexican singer

Cristian Sáinz Castro is a Mexican pop singer. He is the son of actors Verónica Castro and Manuel "El Loco" Valdés, and nephew of actors Ramón Valdés and Germán "Tin-Tan" Valdés. Castro has sold over 12 million records, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all-time.


Nick Zinner, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer

Nicholas Joseph Zinner is an American musician and photographer who is the guitarist of the indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs.


08/12/1973

Corey Taylor, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor

Corey Todd Taylor is an American musician, songwriter, author and actor. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #8, as well as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Stone Sour.


08/12/1972

Indrek Allmann, Estonian architect

Indrek Allmann is an Estonian architect and city planner.


Janae Kroc, American powerlifter

Janae Marie Kroczaleski is an American transgender powerlifter, bodybuilder, Marine veteran, and motivational speaker.


Édson Ribeiro, Brazilian sprinter

Édson Luciano Ribeiro is a Brazilian sprinter competing mostly in 100 metres. He has been successful on regional level, and won two Olympic medals with the Brazilian 4 x 100 metres relay team.


08/12/1971

Abdullah Ercan, Turkish footballer and manager

Abdullah Ercan is a retired Turkish international footballer and manager.


08/12/1969

Kristin Lauter, American mathematician and cryptographer

Kristin Estella Lauter is an American mathematician and cryptographer whose research interest is broadly in application of number theory and algebraic geometry in cryptography. She is particularly known for her work in the area of elliptic curve cryptography. She was a researcher at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, from 1999–2021 and the head of the Cryptography Group from 2008–2021; her group developed Microsoft SEAL. In April 2021, Lauter joined Facebook AI Research (FAIR) as the West Coast Head of Research Science. She became the President-Elect of the Association for Women in Mathematics in February 2014 and served as President February 1, 2015 - January 31, 2017.


08/12/1968

Michael Cole, American sportscaster and journalist

Sean Michael Coulthard, better known by his on screen name Michael Cole, is an American professional wrestling commentator and journalist. Since 1997, he has been signed to WWE, where he serves as the play-by-play commentator for the Raw brand, and was the vice president of announcing between 2020 and 2024.


Mike Mussina, American baseball player and coach

Michael Cole Mussina, nicknamed "Moose", is an American former baseball starting pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1991–2000) and the New York Yankees (2001–2008). In 2019, Mussina was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.


Doriano Romboni, Italian motorcycle racer (died 2013)

Doriano Romboni was an Italian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.


08/12/1967

Jeff George, American football player

Jeffrey Scott George is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini, earning the Sammy Baugh Trophy and first-team All-Big Ten honors in 1989.


Andy Kapp, German curler

Andreas "Andy" Kapp is a German curler from Unterthingau. After participating in several tournaments at the Junior, Olympic, and World Championship levels, Kapp surprised many by winning the 1992 European championship. The following year, he finished 7th at the European Championships, but at the 1994 World Championships, he and his team won the bronze medal. The next year, Kapp won another bronze medal. In 1997, at the World Championships, Kapp achieved his best showing by leading his team to a silver medal, losing to Sweden's Peja Lindholm in the final. In December of the same year, Kapp won his second European Championship, shortly before the first official medal event for curling at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. However, he had a disappointing 1998 Olympics, where, as one of the top medal favorites, he finished 1-6, placing last in the 8-team field.


Kotono Mitsuishi, Japanese voice actress and singer

Kotono Mitsuishi is a Japanese actress and narrator. She was affiliated with Arts Vision and Lasley Arrow, but is now freelance. Mitsuishi lived in Nagareyama, Chiba. She graduated from high school and entered the Katsuta Voice Actor's Academy in 1986. She is well known for her roles as Usagi Tsukino in Sailor Moon series, Misato Katsuragi in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sayaka Mine in Yaiba, Boa Hancock in One Piece, Murrue Ramius, Haro and Narrator in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY, Rena Mizunashi in Detective Conan and Mei Mei in Jujutsu Kaisen.


Darren Sheridan, English footballer and manager

Darren Stephen Sheridan is an English former footballer and manager. As a player, Sheridan played as a centre midfielder. He had one spell as a player-manager, with Barrow, before managing Salford City.


08/12/1966

Bushwick Bill, Jamaican-American rapper (died 2019)

Richard William Stephen Shaw, better known by his stage name Bushwick Bill, was a Jamaican rapper. He was a member of the Texas hip hop group Geto Boys, a group he originally joined as a breakdancer in 1986 as Little Billy. He went on to become one third of the most popular incarnation of the group, alongside Willie D and Scarface.


Les Ferdinand, English footballer and coach

Leslie Ferdinand is an English football coach, former professional footballer and television pundit.


Matthew Labyorteaux, American actor

Matthew Charles Labyorteaux is an American film, television and voice actor. In many of his credits, his last name is spelled as "Laborteaux". He is also credited as Matthew Charles for his work in animation.


Tyler Mane, Canadian wrestler and actor

Daryl Karolat is a Canadian actor and retired professional wrestler, better known by the name Tyler Mane. He is known for playing supervillain Sabretooth in X-Men (2000), X-Men: The Official Game (2006) and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), Ajax in Troy (2004), slasher villain Michael Myers in Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009), supervillain Blackstar in the Netflix series Jupiter's Legacy (2021) and supervillain Richard Frank / Torminox in the Max series Doom Patrol (2022–2023).


Sinéad O'Connor, Irish singer-songwriter (died 2023)

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor, also known as Shuhada' Sadaqat, was an Irish singer, songwriter, and activist. During her musical career, which encompassed several hit records and artist collaborations, O'Connor drew attention to issues such as child abuse, human rights, racism, and women's rights. She was also known for her outspoken public image, openly discussing her spiritual journey, activism, socio-political viewpoints, and struggles with mental health.


08/12/1965

David Harewood, English actor

David Michael Harewood OBE is an English actor and presenter who has served as president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art since February 2024. He is known for his television roles as David Estes in Homeland (2011–2012), J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter and Hank Henshaw / Cyborg Superman in Supergirl (2015–2021). He has also appeared in films such as Blood Diamond, The Merchant of Venice, and Strings, whilst his video game roles include Usef Omar in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (2016) and Warlin Door in Alan Wake II (2023).


Theo Maassen, Dutch actor, producer, and screenwriter

Theodorus Wilhelmus (Theo) Maassen is a Dutch comedian and actor who grew up in the village of Zijtaart in the Dutch province of North Brabant. He currently lives in Eindhoven. In addition to his shows, he has also made a number of appearances in films.


Teresa Weatherspoon, American basketball player and coach

Teresa Gaye Weatherspoon is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for Vinyl BC of the Unrivaled basketball league. She was previously the head coach of the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played for the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA and served as the head basketball coach of the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters. Weatherspoon was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. In 2016, Weatherspoon was chosen to the WNBA Top 20@20, a list of the league's best 20 players ever in celebration of the WNBA's twentieth anniversary.


08/12/1964

James Blundell, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist

James Blundell is an Australian country music singer. Born in Stanthorpe, Queensland, Blundell first rose to prominence after being named "best new talent" at the 1987 Country Music Awards of Australia. Blundell has since released several albums in both Australia and the United States, with his most successful album This Road selling more than 145,000 copies in Australia. Blundell was an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate in Queensland at the 2013 federal election, running for Katter's Australian Party. At the 2019 Country Music Awards of Australia, Blundell was inducted into the Hall of Fame.


Teri Hatcher, American actress

Teri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Lois Lane on the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993–1997). She also played Paris Carver in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Mel Jones and the Beldam in Coraline (2009) and Susan Mayer on the television series Desperate Housewives (2004–2012), for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.


Chigusa Nagayo, Japanese wrestler

Chigusa Nagayo is a Japanese professional wrestler best known for her mainstream popularity in the 1980s as a member of the Crush Gals with long-time tag team partner Lioness Asuka. In 1995 she founded GAEA Japan and in 2014 created its successor Marvelous That's Women Pro Wrestling. Nagayo is often regarded as the most popular and one of the greatest and most influential female wrestlers of all time. Wrestling Journalist and historian Dave Meltzer has stated that in the 1980s, the Crush Gals reached a level of popularity in Japan equatable to Hulk Hogan in the United States in the same period, and thereafter Chigusa Nagayo was the most popular woman in wrestling for an extended period until her first retirement in 1989.


Óscar Ramírez, Costa Rican footballer and coach

Óscar Antonio Ramírez Hernández, is a Costa Rican former footballer who played as a midfielder and was recently the manager of Alajuelense.


08/12/1963

Greg Howe, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer

Gregory Howe is an American guitarist and composer. An active musician across four decades, he has released ten studio albums in addition to collaborating with a wide variety of artists.


Toshiaki Kawada, Japanese wrestler

Toshiaki Kawada is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), whom he worked for from his debut in 1982 up until 2008. In the promotion, he was a five-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, a nine-time World Tag Team Champion, three-time winner of the Real World Tag League and a two-time winner of the Champion Carnival. He was also recognized as the ace of the promotion from 2000 to 2005.


Wendell Pierce, American actor

Wendell Edward Pierce is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor of stage and screen. He first gained recognition portraying Detective Bunk Moreland in the HBO drama series The Wire from 2002 to 2008.


Ricky Walford, Australian rugby league player

Ricky Walford is an Indigenous Australian former professional and state representative rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played for the Sydney Roosters, North Sydney Bears and the St. George Dragons. He was a goal-kicking Winger.


08/12/1962

Steve Elkington, Australian-American golfer

Stephen John Elkington is an Australian professional golfer on the PGA Tour Champions. Formerly on the PGA Tour, he spent more than fifty weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking from 1995 to 1998. Elkington won a major title at the PGA Championship in 1995, and is a two-time winner of The Players Championship.


Marty Friedman, American-Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and television host

Martin Adam Friedman is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until 1989, as well as his 13 solo albums and tours. Friedman has resided in Tokyo since 2003, where he has appeared on over 700 Japanese television programs such as Rock Fujiyama, Hebimeta-san, Kōhaku Uta Gassen and Jukebox English. He has released albums with several record labels, including Avex Trax, Universal, EMI, Prosthetic, and Shrapnel Records.


Nikos Karageorgiou, Greek footballer and manager

Nikos Karageorgiou is a Greek professional football manager and former player.


Berry van Aerle, Dutch footballer

Berry van Aerle is a Dutch former professional footballer who played mainly as a right-back but also as a midfielder.


08/12/1961

Mark Bugden, Australian rugby league player

Mark Bugden, nicknamed "Buggo", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who primarily played as a hooker. The teams he played for at a club level were: the Newtown Jets (1981−83), the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (1984−88), and the Parramatta Eels (1989−90).


Ann Coulter, American political commentator and author

Ann Hart Coulter is an American conservative political activist, author, syndicated columnist, and lawyer. She became known as a media pundit in the late 1990s, appearing in print and on cable news as an outspoken critic of the Clinton administration. Her first book concerned the impeachment of Bill Clinton and drew from her experience writing legal briefs for Paula Jones's attorneys, as well as columns she wrote about the cases. Coulter's syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate appears in newspapers and is featured on conservative websites. Coulter has also written 13 books.


Conceição Lima, São Toméan poet

Maria da Conceição de Deus Lima was a São Toméan poet.


Mikey Robins, Australian comedian and television host

Mikel Mason "Mikey" Robins is an Australian media personality, comedian and writer. He is best known for the satirical game show Good News Week, which ran on the ABC and Network Ten between 1996 and 2000, and returned again when the series was resurrected in February 2008.


08/12/1960

Aaron Allston, American game designer and author (died 2014)

Aaron Dale Allston was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons game setting Mystara. His later works as a novelist include those of the X-Wing series: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Starfighters of Adumar, and Mercy Kill. He wrote two entries in the New Jedi Order series: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand. Allston wrote three of the nine Legacy of the Force novels: Betrayal, Exile, and Fury, and three of the nine Fate of the Jedi novels: Outcast, Backlash, and Conviction.


Lim Guan Eng, Malaysian accountant and politician

Lim Guan Eng is a Malaysian politician and accountant who served as the Minister of Finance of Malaysia from 2018 to 2020. A member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), he has served as the party's second advisor since 2025.


08/12/1959

Stephen Jefferies, South African cricketer and coach

Stephen Thomas Jefferies is a former South African first-class cricketer.


Mark Steyn, Canadian-American author and critic

Mark Steyn is a Canadian author and a radio, television, and on-line presenter. He has written several books, including The New York Times bestsellers America Alone, After America, and Broadway Babies Say Goodnight. In the US he has guest-hosted the nationally syndicated Rush Limbaugh Show, as well as Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News, on which he regularly appeared as a guest and fill-in host.


08/12/1958

Rob Byrnes, American author and blogger

Robert Charles "Rob" Byrnes Jr. is a 21st-century gay American, novelist and blogger, whose fiction focuses primarily on gay men and other sexual minorities. He serves on the Steering Committee for The Publishing Triangle, and was also a member of the Executive Council of the International Association of Crime Writers/North American Branch from 2011 to 2015.


Rob Curling, Malayan-English journalist

Rob Curling is a British television presenter and journalist. He presents the sport for Sky News. He also fronts the tennis coverage for British Eurosport. Up to and including 2011, he anchored BBC Sport's interactive television coverage of: Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Wimbledon, Open Golf, Six Nations Rugby and World Athletics Championships. He was the host of the game show Turnabout, which aired on BBC One for eight series between 1990 and 1996. He presented the Halford Tour Series cycling for ITV4, and commentated on table tennis on the BBC at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.


Arlette Sombo-Dibélé, Central African lawyer and politician

Arlette Sombo-Dibélé is a Central African lawyer and politician.


Michel Ferté, French race car driver (died 2023)

Michel Ferté was a French professional racing driver. He was the younger brother of Alain Ferté, who is also a professional racing driver.


Bob Greene, American physiologist and author

Bob Greene is an American exercise physiologist and certified personal trainer specializing in fitness, metabolism, and weight loss. Greene is the creator of Best Life, a diet and fitness plan, and Best Life Foods, which sells a line of butter substitutes.


Mirosław Okoński, Polish footballer

Mirosław Okoński is a Polish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.


George Rogers, American football player

George Washington Rogers Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a running back for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 to 1987. He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks, earning unanimous All-American honors and winning the Heisman Trophy in 1980. He was the first overall pick in the 1981 NFL draft, and he played for the New Orleans Saints and the Washington Redskins.


08/12/1957

Mike Buchanan, British men's rights advocate

Gordon Michael Alexander Buchanan is a retired businessman and men's rights activist, who founded and for two separate periods has led the organisation Justice for Men and Boys (J4MB), which formerly operated as a minor political party, in the United Kingdom.


James Cama, American martial artist and educator (died 2014)

James Cama Sr. was an American martial arts practitioner and teacher.


Phil Collen, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Philip Kenneth Collen is an English musician who is best known as the co-lead guitarist for the rock band Def Leppard. Collen joined the band in 1982 during the recording of the Pyromania album. Before joining Def Leppard, Collen had performed with a number of bands in the burgeoning British glam metal scene. Outside of Def Leppard, he has been involved in a number of side projects; those projects include the trio Man Raze, with which he is the lead singer and sole guitarist.


08/12/1956

Warren Cuccurullo, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Warren Bruce Cuccurullo is an American musician, songwriter, restaurant owner, and former bodybuilder who first worked with Frank Zappa during the 1970s. He was also a founding member of Missing Persons in the 1980s. In 1989, Cuccurullo joined Duran Duran, becoming a long-term member of the band until 2001. In 2022, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Duran Duran.


Andrius Kubilius, Lithuanian academic and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Lithuania

Andrius Kubilius is a Lithuanian politician who is currently serving as the European Commissioner for Defence and Space in the Second von der Leyen Commission. He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2024 and as Prime Minister of Lithuania from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. He was the leader of the conservative political party Homeland Union from 2003 to 2015, of which he continues to be a member.


Slick, American wrestler and manager

Kenneth Wayne Johnson is an American retired professional wrestling manager, better known by his ring name, Slick. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) between 1986 and 1993. He is the son of professional wrestler Rufus R. Jones.


08/12/1955

Milenko Zablaćanski, Serbian actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2008)

Milenko Zablaćanski,, , was a Serbian actor, director, and screenwriter.


08/12/1954

Harold Hongju Koh, American lawyer, academic, and politician

Harold Hongju Koh is an American diplomat, lawyer, legal scholar, politician, and writer. Except for his periods of government service, he has taught at Yale Law School from 1985 to the present, including as the law school's 15th Dean from 2004 to 2009, and currently as a Sterling Professor of international law. From 1998 to 2001, he served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor under President Bill Clinton. From 2009 to 2013, he served as the legal adviser of the Department of State in the Obama administration. He has published more than ten books on topics including international law, the U.S. Constitution, and international relations. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2007.


Frits Pirard, Dutch cyclist

Frits Pirard was a Dutch professional road bicycle racer. Pirard won stage 1 of the 1983 Tour de France. He also competed in the team time trial event at the 1976 Summer Olympics.


08/12/1953

Kim Basinger, American actress

Kimila Ann Basinger is an American actress. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Initially a TV starlet, she shot to fame as a Bond girl in 1983 and enjoyed a long heyday over the next two decades.


Norman Finkelstein, American author, academic, and activist

Norman Gary Finkelstein is an American political scientist and activist. His primary fields of research are the politics of the Holocaust and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.


Roy Firestone, American sportscaster and journalist

Roy Firestone is an American sports commentator and journalist. Firestone is a graduate of Miami Beach High School and the University of Miami.


Sam Kinison, American comedian (died 1992)

Samuel Burl Kinison was an American stand-up comedian and actor. A former Pentecostal preacher, he performed stand-up routines that were characterized by intense sudden tirades, punctuated with his distinctive scream. Initially performing for free, Kinison became a regular fixture at The Comedy Store, where he met and eventually befriended such comics as Robin Williams and Jim Carrey.


Władysław Kozakiewicz, Lithuanian-Polish pole vaulter and coach

Władysław Kozakiewicz is a Lithuanian-born retired Polish athlete who specialised in the pole vault. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and the bras d'honneur gesture which he showed to the hostile Soviet crowd. In Poland, where the gesture was viewed as a symbol of resistance against Soviet dominance, it became known as "Kozakiewicz's gesture". In addition, he won several medals at continental level, won two Summer Universiades and broke the pole vault world record three times, twice outdoors and once indoors. He is also a ten-time Polish champion.


Steve Yates, English footballer

Steve Yates is an English former professional footballer who played as a left back. He made nearly 300 appearances in the Football League mainly for Southend United.


08/12/1952

Steve Atkinson, English-Hong Kong cricketer

Stephen Robert Atkinson is an English-born former cricketer who represented both the Netherlands and Hong Kong in international cricket.


Khaw Boon Wan, Malayan-Singaporean politician, Singaporean Minister of Health

Khaw Boon Wan is a Malaysian-born Singaporean former politician who served as Minister for Transport between 2015 and 2020, Minister for National Development between 2011 and 2015, and Minister for Health between 2003 and 2011. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Moulmein division of Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC) between 2001 and 2006, and the Sembawang division of Sembawang GRC between 2006 and 2020.


08/12/1951

Bill Bryson, American essayist, travel and science writer

William McGuire Bryson is an American journalist and author who was naturalized as a British citizen in 2014. Bryson has written nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Bryson moved to Britain in his twenties and remained in the country for most of his adult life. However, he periodically returned to live in the U.S. such as between 1995 and 2003. He was the chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011.


Richard Desmond, English publisher and businessman, founded Northern & Shell

Richard Clive Desmond is a British ex-publisher, businessman and former pornographer. He is the founder of Northern & Shell, a publisher that started by publishing music magazines in the 1970s, followed by variety of pornographic magazines in the 1980s. In the 1990s, it launched celebrity magazines and Portland TV that produced pornographic television channels. In the early 2000s, the company sold the pornographic magazine titles and purchased the Express Newspapers, followed by Britain's Channel 5 in 2010. It launched The Health Lottery in 2011. Channel 5 was sold in 2014, Portland TV in 2016 and the Express Newspapers in 2018.


Jan Eggum, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist

Jan Eggum is a Norwegian singer-songwriter. He has been characterized as a "face for the melancholy", and the themes in his songs often revolve around broken hearts, loneliness, and sorrow. Sometimes, his lyrics include social criticism, but he also reveals trivial and funny sides of himself.


08/12/1950

Rick Baker, American actor and makeup artist

Richard Alan Baker is an American actor and retired special make-up effects creator. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker has won the Academy Award for Best Makeup a record seven times from a record eleven nominations, beginning with his win in the first year of the category's existence, for the 1981 horror comedy An American Werewolf in London.


Tim Foli, American baseball player, coach, and manager

Timothy John Foli is an American former professional baseball player, coach and minor league manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop for the New York Mets, Montreal Expos, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, California Angels and New York Yankees from 1970 to 1985. At age 17, Foli was the first pick in the Major League Baseball draft in 1968 and went on to be a member of the 1979 World Series champion Pirates. Foli was known as a fiery player who was a reliable fielder but only an average hitter. Foli was a free swinger, especially in 1982 when he walked only 14 times, the lowest total ever for 150 or more games played. His free swinging did not aim for the fences, however, as he averaged less than two home runs per season.


Dan Hartman, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 1994)

Daniel Earl Hartman was an American pop rock musician. Among songs he wrote and recorded were "Free Ride" as a member of the Edgar Winter Group, and the solo hits "Relight My Fire", "Instant Replay", "I Can Dream About You", "We Are the Young" and "Second Nature". "I Can Dream About You", his most successful US hit, reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984. The James Brown song "Living in America", which Hartman co-wrote and produced, reached No. 4 on March 1, 1986.


08/12/1949

Mary Gordon, American author, critic, and academic

Mary Catherine Gordon is an American writer from Queens and Valley Stream, New York. She is the McIntosh Professor of English at Barnard College. She is best known for her novels, memoirs and literary criticism. In 2008, she was named Official State Author of New York.


Nancy Meyers, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Nancy Jane Meyers is an American filmmaker. She has written, produced, and directed many critically and commercially successful films. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Private Benjamin (1980). Her film Baby Boom (1987) was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. She co-wrote Father of the Bride (1991), Father of the Bride Part II (1995), and both wrote and directed The Parent Trap (1998), What Women Want (2000), Something's Gotta Give (2003), The Holiday (2006), It's Complicated (2009), and The Intern (2015).


Robert Sternberg, American psychologist and academic

Robert J. Sternberg is an American psychologist and psychometrician. He is a professor of Human Development at Cornell University. He is a distinguished associate of the Psychometrics Centre at the University of Cambridge.


08/12/1948

Luis Caffarelli, Argentinian-American mathematician and academic

Luis Ángel Caffarelli is an Argentine-American mathematician. He studies partial differential equations and their applications. Caffarelli is a professor of mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin, and the winner of the 2023 Abel Prize.


John Waters, English-Australian actor, singer-songwriter, and guitarist

John Waters is an English-born Australian film, theatre and television actor, presenter, singer, songwriter, musician and playwright. He is the son of British actor Russell Waters. John Waters was part of the Australian children's television series Play School for 18 years.


08/12/1947

Gregg Allman, American musician (died 2017)

Gregory LeNoir Allman was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. Allman grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, and the Allman Brothers Band fused it with rock music, jazz, and country. He wrote several of the band's most popular songs, including "Whipping Post", "Melissa", and "Midnight Rider". Allman also had a successful solo career, releasing eight studio albums. He was born and spent much of his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee, before relocating to Daytona Beach, Florida, and then Macon, Georgia.


Gérard Blanc, French singer, guitarist, and actor (died 2009)

Gérard Blanc was a French singer, guitarist and actor.


Thomas Cech, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Thomas Robert Cech is an American chemist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Sidney Altman for their discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA.


Kati-Claudia Fofonoff, Finnish author and poet (died 2011)

Kati-Claudia Fofonoff was a Skolt Sámi author and translator who wrote in Skolt Sámi and Finnish. Her books have also been translated into Northern Sámi, Norwegian and Icelandic.


Margaret Geller, American astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic

Margaret J. Geller is an American astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Her work has included pioneering maps of the nearby universe, studies of the relationship between galaxies and their environment, and the development and application of methods for measuring the distribution of matter in the universe.


08/12/1946

Chava Alberstein, Polish-Israeli singer-songwriter and guitarist

Chava Alberstein is an Israeli musician, lyricist, composer, and musical arranger. She moved to Israel in 1950 and started her music career in 1964. Alberstein has released over sixty albums in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish. She is known for her liberal activism and advocacy for human rights and Arab-Israeli unity, which has sometimes stirred controversy, such as the ban of her song "Had Gadya" by Israel State Radio in 1989. Alberstein has received numerous accolades, including the Kinor David Prize, the Itzik Manger Prize, and honorary doctorates from several universities.


John Rubinstein, American actor, director, and composer

John Rubinstein is an American actor, composer and director.


08/12/1945

John Banville, Irish novelist and screenwriter

William John Banville is an Irish novelist, adapter of dramas, and screenwriter. A former member of Aosdána, he voluntarily relinquished the financial stipend in 2001 to another, more impoverished, writer.


Julie Heldman, American tennis player

Julie Heldman is an American tennis player who won 22 singles titles. In 1968 and 1969, she was ranked No. 2 in the U.S. She was Canadian National 18 and Under Singles Champion at age 12, U.S. Champion in Girls' 15 Singles and Girls' 18 Singles, Italian Open Singles Champion, Canadian Singles and Doubles Champion, and U.S. Clay Court Doubles Champion. She won three medals at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, and three gold medals at the 1969 Maccabiah Games.


08/12/1944

George Baker, Dutch singer-songwriter

Johannes "Hans" Bouwens, known as George Baker, is a Dutch singer and songwriter who, with his band George Baker Selection, scored three international hits: "Little Green Bag" (1969), "Paloma Blanca" (1975) and "Santa Lucia by Night" (1985).


Bertie Higgins, American singer-songwriter

Elbert Joseph "Bertie" Higgins is an American singer-songwriter. In 1982, Higgins had a top 40 album with Just Another Day in Paradise. It spawned the hit song "Key Largo", which referenced the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall film of the same name and reached No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100, No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and No. 50 on the Billboard Country chart.


Ted Irvine, Canadian ice hockey player

Edward Amos Irvine is a Canadian former professional hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League from 1964 to 1977.


Vince MacLean, Canadian educator and politician

Vincent James MacLean was leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party in 1985 and again from 1986 to 1992. He was replaced by John Savage.


08/12/1943

Larry Martin, American paleontologist and ornithologist (died 2013)

Larry Dean Martin was an American vertebrate paleontologist and curator of the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center at the University of Kansas. Among Martin's work is research on the Triassic reptile Longisquama and theropod dinosaur Caudipteryx and Dakotaraptor. According to the University of Kansas, he "has been a leading opponent of the theory that birds are 'living dinosaurs.'" Later he acknowledged a correlation and further contributed. He has also appeared in a few television documentaries about dinosaurs, including Jurassic Fight Club.


Jim Morrison, American singer-songwriter and poet (died 1971)

James Douglas Morrison was an American singer-songwriter and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, and unpredictable performances, along with the dramatic circumstances surrounding his life and early death, Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most influential frontmen in rock history. Since his death, his fame has endured as one of popular culture's top rebellious and oft-displayed icons, representing the generation gap and youth counterculture.


James Tate, American poet (died 2015)

James Vincent Tate was an American poet. His work earned him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He was a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.


Bodo Tümmler, German runner

Bodo Tümmler is a German former middle-distance runner. He competed for West Germany at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics in the 1500 meter event, and won a bronze medal in 1968.


Mary Woronov, American actress, director, and screenwriter

Mary Woronov is an American actress, writer, and figurative painter. She is primarily known as a cult film star because of her work with Andy Warhol and her roles in Roger Corman's cult films. Woronov has appeared in over 80 movies and on stage at Lincoln Center and off-Broadway productions as well as numerous times in mainstream American TV series, such as Charlie's Angels and Knight Rider. She frequently co-starred with friend Paul Bartel; the pair appeared in 17 films together, often playing a married couple.


08/12/1942

Bob Love, American basketball player (died 2024)

Robert Earl Love was an American professional basketball player who spent the prime of his career with the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls. A versatile forward who could shoot with either his left or right hand, Love later worked as the Bulls' director of community affairs and goodwill ambassador. Love was nicknamed "Butterbean", which dates back to his boyhood when he was fond of the legume.


08/12/1941

Ed Brinkman, American baseball player and coach (died 2008)

Edwin Albert Brinkman was an American professional baseball player, coach and scout. He played as a shortstop in Major League Baseball from 1961 to 1975, most prominently as a member of the Washington Senators and the Detroit Tigers.


Bob Brown, American football player (died 2023)

Robert Stanford Brown, nicknamed "the Boomer", was an American professional football offensive tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1964 through 1973. He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, earning unanimous All-American honors. Brown was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles as the second overall pick in the 1964 NFL draft. A six-time Pro Bowl selection, he played for the Eagles from 1964 to 1968, the Los Angeles Rams from 1969 to 1970, and the Oakland Raiders from 1971 to 1973. Brown was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004.


Duke Cunningham, American commander and politician (died 2025)

Randall Harold "Duke" Cunningham was an American politician, Vietnam War veteran and fighter ace. A member of the Republican Party, Cunningham represented three California districts in the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2005, and later served prison time for accepting bribes from defense contractors.


Bobby Elliott, English drummer

Robert Hartley Elliott is an English rock drummer, best known for playing with the Hollies. He has been described as "one of the very finest drummers in all of pop/rock".


Geoff Hurst, English footballer and manager

Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, as England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley in 1966. With the death of Sir Bobby Charlton in October 2023, Hurst is the only living player from the team that won the 1966 final.


08/12/1940

Brant Alyea, American baseball player (died 2024)

Garrabrant Ryerson Alyea was an American professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, and St. Louis Cardinals. In 1965, he became the ninth player to hit a home run on his first MLB pitch.


08/12/1939

Red Berenson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Gordon Arthur "Red" Berenson is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre, world champion, Stanley Cup champion and head coach of the Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey team from 1984 to 2017. Berenson was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2005 and the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.


Jerry Butler, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2025)

Jerry Butler Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. After leaving the group in 1960, Butler achieved over 55 Billboard Pop and R&B Chart hits as a solo artist including "He Will Break Your Heart," "Let It Be Me," and "Only the Strong Survive." He was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2015.


James Galway, Irish flute player

Sir James Galway is an Irish virtuoso flute player from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Flute". After several years working as an orchestral musician, he established an international career as a solo flute player. In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music at the Classic Brit Awards.


Felipe Gozon, Filipino lawyer and businessman

Felipe Enrique "Henry" Lapuz Gozon, is a Filipino lawyer, business executive, and the current chairman and adviser of the board of GMA Network Inc., one of the largest media conglomerate in the Philippines.


Dariush Mehrjui, Iranian director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2023)

Dariush Mehrjui was an Iranian filmmaker, screenwriter, and a member of the Iranian Academy of the Arts.


Soko Richardson, American drummer (died 2004)

Eulis Soko Richardson was an American rhythm and blues drummer. His career spanned almost fifty years, during which he performed and recorded with seminal groups including John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. He is perhaps best known for his innovative arrangement of Ike & Tina Turner's version of the Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Proud Mary."


08/12/1937

James MacArthur, American actor (died 2010)

James Gordon MacArthur was an American actor and recording artist.


Arne Næss Jr., German-Norwegian mountaineer and businessman (died 2004)

Arne Næss Jr. was a Norwegian businessman and the second husband of actress and singer Diana Ross.


08/12/1936

David Carradine, American actor, director, and producer (died 2009)

David Carradine was an American actor and director, whose career included over 200 major and minor roles in film, television and on stage. He was widely known to television audiences as the star of the series Kung Fu (1972–1975), playing Kwai Chang Caine, a peace-loving Shaolin monk traveling through the American Old West.


Michael Hobson, American publisher (died 2020)

Michael Zametkin Hobson was an American publisher who was an executive vice president for Marvel Comics.


Peter Parfitt, English cricketer

Peter Howard Parfitt is an English former cricketer. He attended Fakenham Grammar School, and King Edward VII Grammar School, in Kings Lynn, Norfolk.


Juan Ricardo Faccio, Uruguayan football player and manager (died 2024)

Juan Ricardo Faccio Porta was a Uruguayan football player and manager.


08/12/1935

Dharmendra, Indian actor, producer, and politician (died 2025)

Dharmendra was an Indian actor, producer and politician, primarily known for his work in Hindi films. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema. Known as the "He-man", he was popular for his handsome looks and leading roles in several blockbusters. In a career spanning 65 years, he worked in over 300 films, holding the record for starring in the highest number of hit films in Hindi cinema. Dharmendra was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2012, and was later posthumously conferred the Padma Vibhushan in 2026.


Tatiana Zatulovskaya, Russian-Israeli chess player (died 2017)

Tatiana Zatulovskaya was an Israeli chess player. She was a three-time Soviet women's champion and twice the world women's senior champion. She was awarded the titles Woman International Master (WIM) in 1961 and Woman Grandmaster (WGM) in 1976 by FIDE. Her last name may also be spelled as Zatulovskaia or Zatulovskaja.


08/12/1933

Johnny Green, American basketball player (died 2023)

John Michael Green, nicknamed "Jumpin' Johnny", was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans, earning consensus second-team All-American honors. He was a four-time NBA All-Star.


Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (died 1998)

Clerow "Flip" Wilson Jr. was an American comedian and actor best known for his television appearances during the late 1960s and 1970s. From 1970 to 1974, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series The Flip Wilson Show, and introduced viewers to his recurring character Geraldine. The series earned Wilson a Golden Globe and two Emmy Awards, and it was the second highest-rated show on network television for a time.


08/12/1932

Claus Luthe, German automotive designer (died 2008)

Claus Luthe was a German car designer, noted for his design work on the NSU Ro 80, Volkswagen K70 and numerous seminal models from Audi and BMW. Luthe was a pioneer of aerodynamics and digital design within the automotive field.


08/12/1931

Bob Arum, American boxing promoter, founded Top Rank

Robert Arum is an American lawyer and boxing promoter. He is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. Prior to becoming a boxing promoter, Arum was employed as an attorney in the tax division of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.


08/12/1930

Julian Critchley, English journalist and politician (died 2000)

Sir Julian Michael Gordon Critchley was a British journalist, author and Conservative Party politician. He was the member of parliament for Rochester and Chatham from 1959 to 1964 and Aldershot from 1970 to 1997.


Maximilian Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2014)

Maximilian Schell was a Swiss actor, theatre director, filmmaker, and musician of Austrian origin. He was one of the most internationally acclaimed German-speaking actors of his generation, earning accolades for his work on both screen and stage. Born and initially raised in Vienna, where his parents were involved in the arts, he grew up surrounded by performance and literature. While he was still a child, his family fled to Switzerland in 1938 when Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany, and they settled in Zürich. After the Second World War, Schell took up acting and directing full-time.


08/12/1929

Victor Nosach, chronicler of the history of workers and trade union of Russia (died 2011)

Victor Ivanovich Nosach was a Soviet and Russian historian, Doctor of Historian Sciences, Member of the Academy of Humanitarian Sciences, Honored Scientist of Russian Federation.


08/12/1928

Bill Hewitt, Canadian journalist and sportscaster (died 1996)

Foster William Alfred Hewitt was a Canadian radio and television sportscaster. He was the son of hockey broadcaster Foster Hewitt and the grandson of Toronto Star journalist W. A. Hewitt.


Ulric Neisser, German-American psychologist, neuroscientist, and academic (died 2012)

Ulric Richard Gustav Neisser (December 8, 1928 – February 17, 2012) was a German-American psychologist, Cornell University professor, and member of the US National Academy of Sciences. He has been referred to as the "father of cognitive psychology". Neisser researched and wrote about perception and memory. He posited that a person's mental processes could be measured and subsequently analyzed.


08/12/1927

Niklas Luhmann, German thinker and social theorist (died 1998)

Niklas Luhmann was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and systems theorist.


Vladimir Shatalov, Kazakhstani general, pilot, and astronaut (died 2021)

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Shatalov was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew three space missions of the Soyuz programme: Soyuz 4 (1969), Soyuz 8 (1969), and Soyuz 10 (1971). From 1987 to 1991, he headed the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Lieutenant General, Soviet Air Force (1975).


08/12/1926

Ralph Puckett, American Army officer (died 2024)

Ralph Puckett Jr. was a United States Army officer. He led the Eighth Army Ranger Company during the Korean War and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on November 25, 1950, when his company of 51 Rangers was attacked by several hundred Chinese soldiers at the battle for Hill 205. He later served in the Vietnam War and retired from the army in 1971 as a colonel. After being appointed on July 19, 1996, he served as the Honorary Colonel of the 75th Ranger Regiment.


08/12/1925

Sammy Davis Jr., American actor, singer, and dancer (died 1990)

Samuel George Davis Jr. was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician.


Nasir Kazmi, Pakistani Urdu poet (died 1972)

Nasir Raza Kazmi was an Urdu poet from Pakistan. Kazmi was born in Ambala, Punjab, British India.


Carmen Martín Gaite, Spanish author and poet (died 2000)

Carmen Martín Gaite was a Spanish author who wrote many novels, short stories, screenplays, and essays across multiple genres. Her work has received significant recognition: in 1957, she was awarded the Premio Nadal for Entre visillos; in 1988 she won the Prince of Asturias Award;in 1992 she received the Premio Castilla y León de las Letras, and she also was awarded the Premio Acebo de Honor for her life's work.


Jimmy Smith, American organist (died 2005)

James Oscar Smith was an American jazz musician who helped popularize the Hammond B-3 organ, creating a link between jazz and 1960s soul music.


08/12/1924

Lionel Gilbert, Australian historian, author, and academic (died 2015)

Lionel Arthur Gilbert CF was an Australian historian, author, curator, lecturer, and biographer, specializing in applied, natural, and local history. Born in Burwood, New South Wales, he studied at Sydney Teachers College and, beginning in 1946, worked as a teacher and later a headmaster in state schools in various locations around New South Wales until 1961. In 1963 Gilbert graduated from the University of New England with a Bachelor of Arts in History. That same year, he was appointed a lecturer and curator at the Armidale Teachers' College Museum of Education, in which capacity he served until his retirement in 1984, overseeing several expansions of the museum and establishment of a historical research centre.


08/12/1923

Dewey Martin, American actor (died 2018)

Dewey Dallas Martin was an American film and television actor.


Rudolph Pariser, Chinese-American soldier and chemist (died 2021)

Rudolph Israel Pariser was an American physical and polymer chemist.


08/12/1922

Lucian Freud, German-English painter and illustrator (died 2011)

Lucian Michael Freud was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, who is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists.


Jean Ritchie, American singer-songwriter (died 2015)

Jean Ruth Ritchie was an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player, called by some the "Mother of Folk". In her youth she learned hundreds of folk songs in the traditional way, many of which were Appalachian variants of centuries-old British, Scottish and Irish songs, including dozens of Child Ballads. In adulthood, she shared these songs with wide audiences, as well as writing some of her own songs using traditional foundations.


08/12/1920

McDonald Bailey, Trinidadian-English sprinter and rugby player (died 2013)

Emmanuel McDonald Bailey was a British and Trinidadian athlete, who was born in Williamsville, Trinidad and Tobago and competed at two Olympic Games.


08/12/1919

Peter Tali Coleman, Samoan-American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of American Samoa (died 1997)

Peter Tali Coleman was an American Samoan politician and lawyer. Coleman was the first and only person of Samoan descent to be appointed governor of American Samoa between 1956 and 1961 and later became the territory's first and third popularly elected governor from 1978 to 1985 and 1989 to 1993, serving a total of three elected terms. In between, he had served in different administrative positions for Pacific islands.


Julia Bowman Robinson, American mathematician and theorist (died 1985)

Julia Hall Bowman Robinson was an American mathematician noted for her contributions to the fields of computability theory and computational complexity theory—most notably in decision problems. Her work on Hilbert's tenth problem played a crucial role in its ultimate resolution. Robinson was a 1983 MacArthur Fellow.


Kateryna Yushchenko, Ukrainian computer scientist and academic (died 2001)

Kateryna Lohvynivna Yushchenko was a Ukrainian computer and information research scientist, corresponding member of USSR Academy of Sciences (1976), and member of The International Academy of Computer Science. She developed one of the world's first high-level languages with indirect address in programming, called the Address programming language. Over the period of her academic career, Yushchenko supervised 47 Ph.D. students. Further professional achievements include Yushchenko being awarded two USSR State Prizes, The USSR Council of Ministers Prize, The Academician Glushkov Prize, and The Order of Princess Olga. Yushchenko was the first woman in the USSR to become a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in programming.


08/12/1917

Ian Johnson, Australian cricketer and administrator (died 1998)

Ian William Geddes Johnson, was an Australian cricketer who played 45 Test matches as a slow off-break bowler between 1946 and 1956. Johnson captured 109 Test wickets at an average of 29.19 runs per wicket and as a capable lower order batsman made 1,000 runs at an average of 18.51 runs per dismissal. He captained the Australian team in 17 Tests, winning seven and losing five, with a further five drawn. Despite this record, he is better known as the captain who lost consecutive Ashes series against England. Urbane, well-spoken and popular with his opponents and the public, he was seen by his teammates as a disciplinarian and his natural optimism was often seen as naive.


08/12/1916

Richard Fleischer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2006)

Richard Owen Fleischer was an American film director. His career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1940s, and lasting through the New Hollywood era, until the late 1980s. He was the son of animation pioneer Max Fleischer, and served as chairman of Fleischer Studios.


08/12/1915

Ernest Lehman, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2005)

Ernest Paul Lehman was an American screenwriter and film producer. He was nominated six times for Academy Awards for his screenplays during his career, but did not win. At the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his achievements and his influential works for the screen. He was the first screenwriter to receive that honor.


08/12/1914

Floyd Tillman, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2003)

Floyd Tillman was an American country musician who, in the 1930s and 1940s, helped create the Western swing and honky tonk genres. Tillman was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1984.


Ernie Toshack, Australian cricketer (died 2003)

Ernest Raymond Herbert Toshack was an Australian cricketer who played in 12 Tests from 1946 to 1948. A left arm medium paced bowler known for his accuracy and stamina in the application of leg theory, Toshack was a member of Don Bradman's "Invincibles" that toured England in 1948 without being defeated. Toshack reinforced the Australian new ball attack of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller.


08/12/1913

Delmore Schwartz, American poet and short story writer (died 1966)

Delmore Schwartz was an American poet and short story writer.


08/12/1911

Lee J. Cobb, American actor (died 1976)

Lee J. Cobb was an American actor, known both for film roles and his work on the Broadway stage, as well as for his starring role on the television series The Virginian. He often played arrogant, intimidating, and abrasive characters, but he also acted as respectable figures such as judges and police officers. He was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, all in the Best Supporting Actor category.


Nikos Gatsos, Greek poet and songwriter (died 1992)

Nikos Gatsos was a Greek poet, translator and lyricist.


08/12/1908

Concha Piquer, Spanish singer and actress (died 1990)

María de la Concepción Piquer López, better known as Concha Piquer, was a Spanish singer and actress. She was known for her work in the copla form, and she performed her own interpretations of some of the key pieces in the Spanish song tradition, mostly works of the mid-20th century trio of composers Antonio Quintero, Rafael de León y Manuel Quiroga.


John A. Volpe, American soldier and politician, 61st Governor of Massachusetts (died 1994)

John Anthony Volpe was an American businessman, diplomat, and politician from Massachusetts. A son of Italian immigrants, he founded and owned a large construction firm. Politically, he was a Republican in increasingly Democratic Massachusetts, serving as its 61st and 63rd governor from 1961 to 1963 and 1965 to 1969, as the United States secretary of transportation from 1969 to 1973, and as the United States ambassador to Italy from 1973 to 1977. As Secretary of Transportation, Volpe was an important figure in the development of the Interstate Highway System at the federal level.


08/12/1903

Zelma Watson George, Black American opera singer (died 1994)

Zelma Watson George was an African-American philanthropist who was famous for being an alternate in the United Nations General Assembly and as a headliner in Gian Carlo Menotti's opera The Medium in 1949, the first African-American to play a role that was typically played by a white actress.


08/12/1902

Wifredo Lam, Cuban-French painter (died 1982)

Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla, better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cuban spirit and culture. Inspired by and in contact with some of the most renowned artists of the 20th century, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, and Diego Rivera, Lam melded his influences and created a unique style, which was ultimately characterized by the prominence of hybrid figures. This distinctive visual style of his also influenced many artists. Though he was predominantly a painter, he also worked with sculpture, ceramics, and printmaking in his later life.


08/12/1900

Sun Li-jen, Chinese general and politician (died 1990)

Sun Li-jen was a Chinese National Revolutionary Army general best known for his leadership in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. His military achievements earned him the laudatory nickname "Rommel of the East". Sun's commands were credited with effectively confronting Japanese troops in the 1937 Battle of Shanghai and in 1943–1944 during the Burma campaign; his New 1st Army was known as the "Best Army under heaven" (天下第一軍).


Ants Oras, Estonian-American author and academic (died 1982)

Ants Oras was an Estonian translator and writer.


08/12/1899

Arthur Leslie, English-Welsh actor and playwright (died 1970)

Arthur Leslie Scottorn Broughton, better known as Arthur Leslie, was a British actor and playwright, best known for original character of public house landlord Jack Walker in television soap Coronation Street.


John Qualen, Canadian-American actor (died 1987)

John Qualen was a Canadian-American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles.


08/12/1894

E. C. Segar, American cartoonist, created Popeye (died 1938)

Elzie Crisler Segar, known by the pen name E. C. Segar, was an American cartoonist. He created Popeye in 1929, introducing the character in his comic strip Thimble Theatre.


James Thurber, American humorist and cartoonist (died 1961)

James Grover Thurber was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University (OSU), leaving in 1918 without graduating. He spent over a year in Paris, working for the US State Department as a code clerk, and on his return to Columbus in 1920 was hired as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. He married his first wife, Althea Adams, in 1922. Thurber was hired by The New Yorker in early 1927, and soon became a prolific and popular contributor.


08/12/1892

Marcus Lee Hansen, American historian, author, and academic (died 1938)

Marcus Lee Hansen was an American historian, who won the 1941 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Atlantic Migration, 1607–1860 (1940).


08/12/1890

Bohuslav Martinů, Czech-American pianist and composer (died 1959)

Bohuslav Jan Martinů was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores, and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal, and instrumental works. He became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and briefly studied under Czech composer and violinist Josef Suk. After leaving Czechoslovakia in 1923 for Paris, Martinů deliberately withdrew from the Romantic style in which he had been trained. During the 1920s he experimented with modern French stylistic developments, exemplified by his orchestral works Half-time and La Bagarre. He also adopted jazz idioms, for instance in his Kitchen Revue.


08/12/1887

Elizabeth Daryush, English poet (died 1977)

Elizabeth Daryush was an English poet.


08/12/1886

Diego Rivera, Mexican painter and educator (died 1957)

Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the mural movement in Mexican and international art.


08/12/1884

Francis Balfour, English colonel and politician (died 1965)

Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Cecil Campbell Balfour was a British military officer and colonial administrator.


08/12/1881

Tuomas Bryggari, Finnish politician (died 1964)

Tuomas Bryggari was a Finnish trade unionist, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Vaasa Province East between September 1922 and July 1948. Prior to being elected, he was imprisoned for political reasons following the Finnish Civil War.


Albert Gleizes, French painter (died 1953)

Albert Gleizes was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on Cubism, Du "Cubisme", 1912. Gleizes was a founding member of the Section d'Or group of artists. He was also a member of Der Sturm, and his many theoretical writings were originally most appreciated in Germany, where especially at the Bauhaus his ideas were given thoughtful consideration. Gleizes spent four crucial years in New York, and played an important role in making America aware of modern art. He was a member of the Society of Independent Artists, founder of the Ernest-Renan Association, and both a founder and participant in the Abbaye de Créteil. Gleizes exhibited regularly at Léonce Rosenberg's Galerie de l’Effort Moderne in Paris; he was also a founder, organizer and director of Abstraction-Création. From the mid-1920s to the late 1930s much of his energy went into writing, e.g., La Peinture et ses lois, Vers une conscience plastique: La Forme et l’histoire and Homocentrisme.


08/12/1880

Johannes Aavik, Estonian linguist and philologist (died 1973)

Johannes Aavik was an Estonian linguist and innovator of the Estonian language.


08/12/1877

Paul Ladmirault, French pianist, violinist, and composer (died 1944)

Paul Émile Ladmirault was a French composer and music critic whose music expressed his devotion to Brittany. Claude Debussy wrote that his work possessed a "fine dreamy musicality", commenting on its characteristically hesitant character by suggesting that it sounded as if it was "afraid of expressing itself too much". Florent Schmitt said of him: "Of all the musicians of his generation, he was perhaps the most talented, most original, but also the most modest". Peter Warlock dedicated his Capriol Suite to him and Swan Hennessy his Trio, Op. 54.


08/12/1875

Frederik Buch, Danish actor and screenwriter (died 1925)

Frederik Buch was a Danish film actor of the silent era in Denmark. He starred in over 100 films, and prolifically worked under Lau Lauritzen Sr. for thirty years.


08/12/1874

Ernst Moro, Austrian physician and pediatrician (died 1951)

Ernst Moro (1874–1951) was a Slovenian physician and pediatrician who was the first in western medicine to describe an infant reflex that was named after him.


08/12/1865

Rüdiger von der Goltz, German general (died 1946)

Gustav Adolf Joachim Rüdiger Graf von der Goltz was a German army general during the First World War. He commanded the Baltic Sea Division, which intervened decisively in the Finnish Civil War in the spring of 1918, landing at Hanko and capturing Helsinki. After the armistice Goltz remained in Finland until December 1918, exercising significant political influence; the Quartermaster General of the White Army, Hannes Ignatius, described him as the "true regent of Finland". In 1919 he commanded German and Baltic German forces in Latvia, defeating the Bolsheviks and capturing Riga, before being recalled under Allied pressure in October 1919. After the war he was active in right-wing nationalist politics in Germany, participating in the Kapp Putsch and later the Harzburg Front.


Jacques Hadamard, French mathematician and academic (died 1963)

Jacques Salomon Hadamard was a French mathematician who made major contributions in number theory, complex analysis, differential geometry, and partial differential equations.


Jean Sibelius, Finnish violinist and composer (died 1957)

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped Finland develop a stronger national identity when the country was struggling from several attempts at Russification in the late 19th century.


08/12/1864

Camille Claudel, French illustrator and sculptor (died 1943)

Camille Rosalie Claudel was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity. Later in the 20th century, she gained renewed attention and recognition for the originality and quality of her work.


08/12/1863

Charles Lincoln Edwards, American zoologist (died 1937)

Charles Lincoln Edwards was an American zoologist. His research included studies of development in reptiles and sea cucumbers, chromosomes of Ascaris roundworms, and taxonomy of sea cucumbers and copepods, naming at least five species of copepods found in sea cucumber body cavities.


08/12/1862

Georges Feydeau, French playwright (died 1921)

Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau was a French playwright of the Belle Époque era, remembered for his farces, written between 1886 and 1914.


08/12/1861

William C. Durant, American businessman, founded General Motors and Chevrolet (died 1947)

William Crapo Durant was an American businessman. A leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, he was the founder of General Motors and a co-founder of Chevrolet. He created a system in which a company held multiple brands – each seemingly independent, with different automobile lines – bound under a unified corporate holding company. He also founded Frigidaire.


Aristide Maillol, French sculptor and painter (died 1944)

Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol was a French Catalan sculptor, painter, and printmaker.


Georges Méliès, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1938)

Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès was a French filmmaker, actor, magician, and toymaker. He led many technical and narrative developments in the early days of cinema, primarily in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Méliès rose to prominence creating "trick films" and became well known for his innovative use of special effects, popularizing such techniques as substitution splices, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted colour. He was also one of the first filmmakers to use storyboards in his work. His most important films include A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904).


08/12/1860

Amanda McKittrick Ros, Irish author and poet (died 1939)

Anna Margaret Ross, known by her pen-name Amanda McKittrick Ros, was an Irish writer. She published her first novel Irene Iddesleigh at her own expense in 1897. However, it was reprinted by Nonesuch Press in 1926; the reprint sold out immediately. She wrote poetry and a number of novels. She has been described as a "writer with an immense power of words but uncertain use of them."


08/12/1832

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian-French author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1910)

Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished by both the freshness of its inspiration and the rare purity of its spirit". The first Norwegian Nobel laureate, he was a prolific polemicist and extremely influential in Norwegian public life and Scandinavian cultural debate. Bjørnson is considered to be one of "the four greats" of Norwegian literature, alongside Ibsen, Lie, and Kielland. He is also celebrated for his lyrics to the Norwegian national anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet". The composer Fredrikke Waaler based a composition for voice and piano on a text by Bjørnson, as did Anna Teichmüller.


08/12/1822

Jakov Ignjatović, Hungarian-Serbian author (died 1889)

Jakov Ignjatović was a novelist and prose writer, who primarily wrote in Serbian but also in Hungarian. He was also an active member of Matica Srpska.


08/12/1818

Charles III, Prince of Monaco (died 1889)

Charles III was Prince of Monaco and Duke of Valentinois from 20 June 1856 to his death. He was the founder of the famous casino in Monte Carlo, as his name in Monegasque and Italian was Carlo III. He was born in Paris, the only son of Florestan, Prince of Monaco, and Caroline Gibert de Lametz.


08/12/1817

Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs, Danish lawyer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Denmark (died 1896)

Christian Emil Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs was a Danish nobleman and politician. He was Council President of Denmark from 1865 to 1870 as the leader of the Frijs Cabinet.


08/12/1815

Adolph Menzel, German painter and illustrator (died 1905)

Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel was a German Realist artist noted for drawings, etchings, and paintings. Along with Caspar David Friedrich, he is considered one of the two most prominent German painters of the 19th century, and was the most successful artist of his era in Germany. First known as Adolph Menzel, he was knighted in 1898 and changed his name to Adolph von Menzel.


08/12/1813

August Belmont, Prussian-American financier and diplomat, 16th United States Ambassador to the Netherlands (died 1890)

August Belmont Sr. was a German-American financier, diplomat, and Democratic Party politician. As chair of the Democratic National Committee from 1860 to 1872, during a period of turmoil and reconciliation for the party following the American Civil War, Belmont was one of the longest serving party leaders in American history. During his life, he was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. He was also a thoroughbred racehorse owner and the founder and namesake of the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown of American Thoroughbred horse racing.


08/12/1807

Friedrich Traugott Kützing, German pharmacist, botanist and phycologist (died 1893)

Friedrich Traugott Kützing was a German pharmacist, botanist and phycologist.


08/12/1795

Peter Andreas Hansen, Danish astronomer and mathematician (died 1874)

Peter Andreas Hansen was a Danish-born German astronomer.


08/12/1765

Eli Whitney, American engineer, invented the cotton gin (died 1825)

Eli Whitney Jr. was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin in 1793, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Whitney's invention made upland short cotton into a profitable crop, which strengthened the economic foundation of slavery in the United States and prolonged the institution. Despite the social and economic impact of his invention, Whitney lost much of his profits in legal battles over patent infringement for the cotton gin. Thereafter, he turned his attention to securing contracts with the government in the manufacture of muskets for the newly formed United States Army. He continued making arms and inventing until his death in 1825.


08/12/1756

Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria (died 1801)

Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria was Elector of Cologne and Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights from 1780 until his death. Influenced by Enlightenment ideals, he sought to implement reforms in various political fields. During the First Coalition War, his territories on the left bank of the Rhine were occupied and later annexed by France. He was the youngest child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. He was the last fully functioning Elector of Cologne and the second employer and patron of the young Ludwig van Beethoven.


08/12/1731

František Xaver Dušek, Czech pianist and composer (died 1799)

František Xaver Dušek ; 8 December 1731 – 12 February 1799) was a Czech composer and musician. He was one of the most important harpsichordists and pianists of his time.


08/12/1730

Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch physician, physiologist, and botanist (died 1799)

Jan Ingenhousz was a Dutch-British physiologist, biologist and chemist.


08/12/1724

Claude Balbastre, French organist and composer (died 1799)

Claude Balbastre was a French composer, organist, harpsichordist and fortepianist. He was one of the most famous musicians of his time.


08/12/1708

Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1765)

Francis I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1745 to 1765, Archduke of Austria from 1740 to 1765, Duke of Lorraine and Bar from 1729 to 1737, and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1737 to 1765. He became the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire and Tuscany through his marriage to his second cousin Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Emperor Charles VI. Francis was the last non-Habsburg monarch of the Empire. The couple were the founders of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and their marriage produced sixteen children.


08/12/1699

Maria Josepha of Austria, Queen Consort of Poland (died 1757)

Maria Josepha of Austria was the Queen of Poland, Grand Duchess of Lithuania and Electress of Saxony by marriage to Augustus III. From 1711 to 1717, she was heiress presumptive to the Habsburg monarchy.


08/12/1678

Antonio de Benavides, colonial governor of Florida (died 1762)

Antonio Benavides Bazán y Molina was a Lieutenant General in the Spanish Army who held administrative positions in the Americas as Royal Governor of Spanish Florida (1718–1734), Governor of Veracruz (1734–1745), Governor and Captain General of Yucatán province, as well as Governor of Manila in the Philippines. Before his successive appointments to these various positions, he served with distinction in several campaigns of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1710, and perhaps saved the life of Philip V, the first Bourbon King of Spain, at Guadalajara.


Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole, English politician and diplomat, British Ambassador to France (died 1757)

Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole, was a British diplomat and politician who served as the British ambassador to France from 1724 to 1730. He was the son of Robert Walpole and the younger brother of Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain.


08/12/1558

François de La Rochefoucauld, Catholic cardinal (died 1645)

François de La Rochefoucauld was a French Cardinal and an "important figure in the French Counter Reformation church".


08/12/1542

Mary, Queen of Scots, daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise (died 1587)

Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication on 24 July 1567.


08/12/1538

Miklós Istvánffy, Hungarian politician (died 1615)

Baron Miklós Istvánffy de Baranyavár et Kisasszonyfalva was a Hungarian politician, Humanist historian and poet, who served as Palatinal Governor of Hungary from 19 January 1582 to November 1608.


08/12/1424

Anselm Adornes, Belgian merchant, politician and diplomat (died 1483)

Anselm Adornes, also known as Anselm Adorno, was a merchant, patron, politician and diplomat, who belonged to the fifth generation of the Adornes family to live in Bruges.


08/12/1418

Queen Jeonghui, Queen consort of Korea (died 1483)

Queen Jeonghui, of the Papyeong Yun clan, was a posthumous name bestowed on the wife and queen of Yi Yu, King Sejo. She was Queen of Joseon from 1455 until her husband's death in 1468, after which she was honoured as Queen Dowager Jaseong (자성왕대비) during the reign of her son, Yi Hwang, King Yejong, She was later honoured as Grand Queen Dowager Jaseong (자성대왕대비) during the reign of her grandson, Yi Hyeol, King Seongjong.


08/12/1412

Astorre II Manfredi, Italian lord (died 1468)

Astorre II Manfredi was lord of Imola from 1439 and of Faenza from 1443.


08/12/1021

Wang Anshi, Chinese economist and chancellor (died 1086)

Wang Anshi, courtesy name Jiefu, was a Chinese economist, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. He served as chancellor and attempted major and controversial socioeconomic reforms known as the New Policies. These reforms constituted the core concepts of the Song-dynasty Reformists, in contrast to their rivals, the Conservatives, led by the Chancellor Sima Guang.


01/01/1970

Horace, Roman poet (died 8 BC)

Quintus Horatius Flaccus, commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his Odes as the only Latin lyrics worth reading: "He can be lofty sometimes, yet he is also full of charm and grace, versatile in his figures, and felicitously daring in his choice of words."


Lives Remembered on 8th December

On 8th December, 121 remarkable people passed away — from 855 to 2024. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

08/12/2024

Jill Jacobson, American actress (born 1954)

Jill Jacobson was an American actress of film, television, primetime soap opera, stage, and standup, best known for her television performances.


Clarke Reed, American businessman and politician (born 1928)

Clarke Thomas Reed Sr. was an American businessman and politician. He served as Chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party from 1966 to 1976. Prior to his political career, Reed was an agricultural businessman and a graduate in economics.


08/12/2023

Ryan O'Neal, American actor (born 1941)

Charles Patrick Ryan O'Neal was an American actor. Born in Los Angeles, he trained as an amateur boxer before beginning a career in acting in 1960.


08/12/2021

Robbie Shakespeare, Jamaican bass guitarist and record producer (born 1953)

Robert Warren Dale Shakespeare was a Jamaican bass guitarist and record producer, best known as half of the reggae rhythm section and production duo Sly and Robbie, with drummer Sly Dunbar. Regarded as one of the most influential reggae bassists, Shakespeare was also known for his creative use of electronics and production effects units. He was sometimes nicknamed "Basspeare".


08/12/2019

René Auberjonois, American actor (born 1940)

René Marie Murat Auberjonois was an American actor. He was a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award winner, and a three-time Emmy Award nominee, among other accolades.


Juice Wrld, American rapper, singer and songwriter (born 1998)

Jarad Anthony Higgins, known professionally as Juice Wrld, was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He emerged as a leading figure in the emo and SoundCloud rap genres, which garnered mainstream attention during the mid-to-late 2010s. His stage name, which he said represents "taking over the world", was derived from the crime thriller film Juice (1992).


Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer and actor (born 1933)

Caroll Edwin Spinney was an American puppeteer, cartoonist, author, artist and speaker, most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street from its inception in 1969 until 2018.


08/12/2018

David Weatherall, English physician, geneticist, and academic (born 1933)

Sir David John Weatherall was a British physician and researcher in molecular genetics, haematology, pathology and clinical medicine.


08/12/2016

John Glenn, American astronaut and senator, first American to go into orbit (born 1921)

John Herschel Glenn Jr. was an American Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space and the first to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1962. Following his retirement from NASA, he served from 1974 to 1999 as a U.S. senator from Ohio. In 1998, he flew into space again at the age of 77.


08/12/2015

Mattiwilda Dobbs, American soprano and actress (born 1925)

Mattiwilda Dobbs was an American coloratura soprano and was one of the first black singers to enjoy a major international career in opera. She was the first black singer to perform at La Scala in Italy, the first black woman to receive a long-term performance contract and to sing a lead role at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and the first black singer to play a lead role at the San Francisco Opera.


Alan Hodgkinson, English footballer and coach (born 1936)

Alan Hodgkinson MBE was an English professional football goalkeeper and goalkeeping coach.


Douglas Tompkins, American businessman, co-founded The North Face and Esprit Holdings (born 1943)

Douglas Rainsford Tompkins was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. He founded the North Face Inc, co-founded Esprit and various environmental groups, including the Foundation for Deep Ecology and Tompkins Conservation.


John Trudell, American author, poet, and actor (born 1946)

John Trudell was an American author, poet, actor, musician, and political activist. He was the spokesperson for the Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as Radio Free Alcatraz. During most of the 1970s, he served as the chairman of the American Indian Movement, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.


Elsie Tu, English-Hong Kong educator and politician (born 1913)

Elsie Tu, known as Elsie Elliott in her earlier life, was a British-born Hong Kong social activist, elected member of the Urban Council of Hong Kong from 1963 to 1995, and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1988 to 1995.


08/12/2014

Tom Gosnell, Canadian lawyer and politician (born 1951)

Thomas Charles Gosnell was mayor of London, Ontario, Canada from December 1, 1985, to December 1, 1994. He was the son of James Fredrick Gosnell, known as "Fred", who was the mayor of London, Ontario, Canada briefly in 1972. Gosnell was London City Council's deputy mayor and budget chief from 2003 to 2010. Gosnell died at his home in London of cancer in 2014.


Russ Kemmerer, American baseball player and coach (born 1930)

Russell Paul Kemmerer was an American professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher who played for the Boston Red Sox (1954–1957), the Washington Senators (1957–1960), the Chicago White Sox (1960–1962), and the Houston Colt .45s (1962–1963) to finish his career.


Knut Nystedt, Norwegian organist and composer (born 1915)

Knut Nystedt was a Norwegian orchestral and choral composer.


08/12/2013

John Cornforth, Australian-English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)

Sir John Warcup Cornforth Jr., was an Australian–British chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975 for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions, becoming the only Nobel laureate born in New South Wales.


Sándor Szokolay, Hungarian composer and academic (born 1931)

Sándor Szokolay was a Hungarian composer and professor of the Liszt Ferenc Academy, Budapest.


Richard S. Williamson, American lawyer and diplomat (born 1949)

Richard Salisbury Williamson was an American lawyer, diplomat and political advisor. He previously served as Special Envoy to Sudan under George W. Bush. Williamson was a partner at Winston & Strawn and was also Thomas J. Sharkey Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Seton Hall's Whitehead School of Diplomacy.


08/12/2012

Jerry Brown, American football player (born 1987)

Jerry Jerome Brown Jr. was an American professional football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL). In college, he played on the defensive line for the University of Illinois. In his professional career, he was a member of the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys of the NFL, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League, and the Jacksonville Sharks and San Antonio Talons of the Arena Football League (AFL). He was signed as a free agent by the Sharks in 2011; in the team's ArenaBowl XXIV victory, he had one tackle assist, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.


John Gowans, Scottish-English 16th General of The Salvation Army (born 1934)

John Gowans was a Scottish clergyman, who was the 16th General of The Salvation Army from 1999 to 2002, succeeding General Paul Rader. He is also notable for pairing with General John Larsson in the composition of many songs and musicals.


Johnny Lira, American boxer (born 1951)

Johnny Lira was a professional lightweight and welterweight boxing contender who was born and died in Chicago, Illinois.


08/12/2009

Luis Días, Dominican singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1952)

Luis Díaz Portorreal, best known as Luis Días, was a Dominican Republic musician, composer and performer of popular music.


08/12/2008

Oliver Postgate, English voice actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1925)

Richard Oliver Postgate was an English animator, puppeteer, and writer. He was the creator and writer of several popular British children's television programmes. Bagpuss, Pingwings, Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, Clangers and Pogles' Wood, were all made by Smallfilms, the company he set up with collaborator, artist and puppet maker Peter Firmin. The programmes were originally broadcast by the BBC from the 1950s to the 1980s. In a 1999 BBC poll Bagpuss was voted the most popular children's television programme of all time.


Robert Prosky, American actor (born 1930)

Robert Prosky was an American actor. He became a well-known supporting actor in the 1980s with his roles in Thief (1981), Christine (1983), The Natural (1984), and Broadcast News (1987).


08/12/2007

Gerardo García Pimentel, Mexican journalist (born 1983)

Gerardo Israel García Pimentel was a Mexican journalist and crime reporter.


08/12/2006

Martha Tilton, American singer (born 1915)

Martha Tilton was an American popular singer during America's swing era and traditional pop period. She is best known for her 1939 recording of "And the Angels Sing" with Benny Goodman.


José Uribe, Dominican baseball player (born 1959)

José Altagracia González Uribe was a Dominican Major League Baseball shortstop from 1984 until 1993. Most of his ten-year career was spent with the San Francisco Giants. He played for the Giants in the 1989 World Series against the Oakland Athletics.


08/12/2005

Rose Heilbron, British barrister and judge (born 1914)

Dame Rose Heilbron, DBE was a British barrister who served later as a High Court judge. Her career included many "firsts" for a woman – she was the first woman to achieve a first class honours degree in law at the University of Liverpool, the first woman to win a scholarship to Gray's Inn, one of the first two women to be appointed King's Counsel in England, the first woman to lead in a murder case, the first woman recorder, the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey, and the first woman treasurer of Gray's Inn. She was also the second woman to be appointed a High Court judge, after Elizabeth Lane.


08/12/2004

Dimebag Darrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1966)

Darrell Lance Abbott, known professionally as Dimebag Darrell, was an American musician. He was the guitarist of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, both of which he co-founded alongside his brother Vinnie Paul. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest metal guitarists of all time.


08/12/2003

Rubén González, Cuban pianist (born 1919)

Rubén González Fontanills was a Cuban pianist. Together with Lilí Martínez and Peruchín he is said to have "forged the style of modern Cuban piano playing in the 1940s".


Pekka Siitoin, Finnish neo-Nazi and Satanist (b. 1944)

Timo Pekka Olavi Siitoin was a Finnish neo-Nazi, Satanist, and occultist.


08/12/2001

Mirza Delibašić, Bosnian basketball player and coach (born 1954)

Mirza Delibašić was a Bosnian professional basketball player and coach. He is widely considered one of the greatest players in the history of European basketball.


Betty Holberton, American computer scientist and programmer (born 1917)

Frances Elizabeth Holberton was an American computer scientist who was one of the six original programmers of the first general-purpose electronic digital computer, ENIAC. The other five ENIAC programmers were Jean Bartik, Ruth Teitelbaum, Kathleen Antonelli, Marlyn Meltzer, and Frances Spence.


08/12/1999

Péter Kuczka, Hungarian poet and author (born 1923)

Péter Kuczka was a Hungarian writer, poet and science fiction editor. He was also active as a comic writer.


08/12/1997

Bob Bell, American clown and actor (born 1922)

Robert Lewis Bell was an American actor and announcer famous for his alter-ego, Bozo the Clown. He was the original portrayer of the character for Chicago superstation WGN-TV.


08/12/1996

Howard Rollins, American actor (born 1950)

Howard Ellsworth Rollins Jr. was an American stage, film and television actor. He was best known for his role as Andrew Young in 1978's King, George Haley in the 1979 miniseries Roots: The Next Generations, Coalhouse Walker Jr. in the 1981 film Ragtime, as civil rights activist Medgar Evers in PBS' American Playhouse production of For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story in 1983, Captain Davenport in the 1984 film A Soldier's Story, and as Virgil Tibbs on the NBC/CBS television crime drama In the Heat of the Night (1988–1995).


Kashiwado Tsuyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 47th Yokozuna (born 1938)

Kashiwado Tsuyoshi was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Yamagata Prefecture. He was the sport's 47th yokozuna, fighting at the sport's highest rank from 1961 to 1969. After his retirement he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and ran his own training stable from 1970 until his death.


08/12/1994

Antônio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1927)

Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim, also known as Tom Jobim, was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger and singer. Jobim is considered a great exponent of Brazilian music and one of the fathers of bossa nova for having merged samba with cool jazz in the 1960s as a pioneer of the genre. He is also regarded as one of the most celebrated songwriters of the 20th century, and his compositions have been played and recorded by many singers and instrumentalists internationally since the early 1960s.


08/12/1993

Yevgeny Minayev, Russian weightlifter (born 1933)

Yevgeny Gavrilovich Minayev was a Russian weightlifter who competed for the Soviet Union. He won a silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics.


08/12/1992

William Shawn, American journalist (born 1917)

William Shawn was an American magazine editor who edited The New Yorker from 1952 until 1987.


08/12/1991

Buck Clayton, American trumpet player and composer (born 1911)

Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record "Confessin' that I Love You" as he passed by a shop window.


08/12/1984

Luther Adler, American actor (born 1903)

Luther Adler was an American actor who worked in theatre, film, television, and directed plays on Broadway.


Robert Jay Mathews, American militant leader, founded The Order (born 1953)

Robert Jay Mathews was an American neo-Nazi and the leader of The Order, an American white supremacist militant group that committed counterfeiting, several bank robberies, car heists, murders, and assassinations. Mathews is believed to have served as a lookout in the murder of Alan Berg. Before founding The Order, Mathews was a member of the neo-Nazi groups the National Alliance and Aryan Nations.


Razzle, English drummer (born 1960)

Nicholas Charles Dingley, better known by his stage name Razzle, was an English musician, who was the drummer of the Finnish glam rock band Hanoi Rocks from 1982 until his death in 1984.


Semih Sancar, Turkish general (born 1911)

Semih Sancar was the 16th Chief of the Turkish General Staff from 1973 to 1978, a period including the 1974 Operation Atilla. He was previously Commander of the Turkish Land Forces (1972–1973) and General Commander of the Turkish Gendarmerie (1969–1970).


08/12/1983

Keith Holyoake, New Zealand farmer and politician, 26th Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1904)

Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake was a New Zealand politician who served as the 26th prime minister of New Zealand, serving for a brief period in 1957 and then from 1960 to 1972, and also as the 13th governor-general of New Zealand, serving from 1977 to 1980. He is the only New Zealand politician to have held both positions.


Slim Pickens, American actor (born 1919)

Louis Burton Lindley, better known by his stage name Slim Pickens, was an American actor and rodeo performer. Starting off in the rodeo, Pickens took up acting, and appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows. For much of his career, Pickens played cowboy roles. He played comic roles in Dr. Strangelove, Blazing Saddles, 1941, and had a villainous role in One-Eyed Jacks with Marlon Brando.


08/12/1982

Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist and politician (born 1951)

Abraham Maurits Behr was a Surinamese journalist. He published the pamphlet De Rode Surinamer and edited the weekly newspaper Mokro. He also founded and led the Hoxhaist Communist Party of Suriname (KPS), and was in opposition to the military dictatorship of Dési Bouterse. Behr was assassinated along with 14 other prominent Bouterse opponents on 8 December 1982, in an incident known as the December murders.


André Kamperveen, Surinamese footballer and manager (born 1924)

Rudi André Kamperveen was a Surinamese football player, sports administrator, politician and businessman.


Marty Robbins, American singer-songwriter and race car driver (born 1925)

Martin David Robinson, known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American country and western singer and songwriter. He was one of the most popular and successful singers of his genre for most of his nearly four-decade career, which spanned from the late 1940s to the early 1980s. He was also an early outlaw country pioneer.


Haim Laskov, Israel Defense Forces fifth Chief of Staff (born 1919)

Haim Laskov was an Israeli public figure and the fifth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.


08/12/1980

John Lennon, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1940)

John Winston Ono Lennon was an English musician, songwriter and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history.


08/12/1978

Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (born 1898)

Golda Meir was the prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel's first and, to date, only female head of government.


08/12/1975

Gary Thain, New Zealand bass player (born 1948)

Gary Mervin Thain was a New Zealand bassist, best known for his work with British rock band Uriah Heep.


08/12/1971

Ernst Krenkel, Russian geographer and explorer (born 1903)

Ernst Teodorovich Krenkel was a Soviet Arctic explorer, radio operator, and doctor of geographical sciences (1938). He is best known as one of the four members of the North Pole-1 expedition, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1938. Amateur radio callsigns: EU2EQ, U3AA, UA3AA, RAEM.


Eleni Ourani, Greek poet and critic (born 1896)

Alkis Thrylos was a Greek writer. She was a member of the Negroponte (Νεγρεπόντη) family. She was a critic of literature of the theatre. Her husband was the poet Kostas Ouranis. She died on December 8, 1971.


08/12/1970

Cahir Healy, Irish Anti-Partitionist politician (born 1877)

Charles Everard Healy was an Irish politician. He was a leader of northern nationalists and a self-educated man who made major contributions to Ireland's political, cultural and literary heritage.


08/12/1966

Ward Morehouse, American playwright, author, and critic (born 1899)

Ward Morehouse was an American theater critic, newspaper columnist, playwright, and author.


08/12/1963

Sarit Thanarat, Thai field marshal and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Thailand (born 1908)

Sarit Thanarat was a Thai politician and military commander. He served as commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army and as Minister of Defense during Plaek Phibunsongkhram's premiership. In 1957, he became chief of a military junta after leading a coup in which Phibun was overthrown. Sarit lasted the de facto prime minister only five days before was replaced by Pote Sarasin, but assumed power again as the head of the Revolutionary Council after 1958 coup and then as the eleventh Prime Minister of Thailand in February 1959 until his death in 1963.


08/12/1958

Tris Speaker, American baseball player and manager (born 1888)

Tristram Edgar Speaker, nicknamed "the Gray Eagle", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a center fielder from 1907 to 1928. Considered one of the greatest players in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345. His 792 career doubles represent an MLB career record. His 3,514 hits are fifth in the all-time hits list. Defensively, Speaker holds career records for assists, double plays, and unassisted double plays by an outfielder. He held the major league career record for putouts by a center fielder (6,592) until he was surpassed by Willie Mays in 1971. His fielding glove was known as the place "where triples go to die."


08/12/1954

Claude Cahun, French artist, photographer, and writer (born 1894)

Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer.


Gladys George, American actress (born 1904)

Gladys George was an American actress of stage and screen. Though nominated for an Academy Award for her leading role in Valiant Is the Word for Carrie (1936), she spent most of her career in supporting roles in films such as Marie Antoinette (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Flamingo Road (1949), and Lullaby of Broadway (1951) in which marked her first color film.


Joseph B. Keenan, American lawyer and politician (born 1888)

Joseph Berry Keenan was an American lawyer best known for serving as Chief Prosecutor for the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He previously served as Assistant Attorney General in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.


08/12/1952

Charles Lightoller, English sailor (born 1874)

Commander Charles Herbert Lightoller, was a British mariner and naval officer who was the second officer on board the ocean liner RMS Titanic during its ill-fated maiden voyage, and was the most senior crewmember to survive the disaster.


08/12/1946

Tex O'Reilly, American mercenary (born 1880)

Edward Sinnott "Tex" O'Reilly was an American soldier of fortune, writer, journalist, and film actor. He is said to have fought in ten wars under many flags. Initially serving in the U.S. Army in the Spanish–American War, the Philippine–American War, and the Boxer Rebellion, he would claim to fight in several conflicts in Central America and to have fought with Pancho Villa in Mexico and claimed to have fought in the Rif War with the Spanish Foreign Legion in North Africa. He worked as a reporter for the Associated Press. He wrote an autobiography, Roving and Fighting, and Lowell Thomas wrote Born to Raise Hell about him. The latter book has been reprinted and is distributed by The Long Riders' Guild Press. He was the author of Pecos Bill.


08/12/1942

Albert Kahn, American architect, Fisher Building, Packard Automotive Plant, Ford River Rouge Complex (born 1869)

Albert Kahn was an American architect who collaborated with his brother Julius Kahn in designing industrial plant complexes such as the Ford River Rouge automobile complex. Based in Detroit, he also designed skyscrapers, office buildings, and mansions in the city and suburbs, as well as many buildings at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Kahn has been called the "architect of Detroit" as the designer of nearly 900 buildings in the city.


08/12/1941

Izidor Kürschner, Hungarian football player and coach (born 1885)

Izidor "Dori" Kürschner, in Brazil primarily known as Dori Kruschner,, was a Hungarian football player and coach. As player he was successful with Budapest club MTK, and also played for the Hungary national team. As coach he succeeded in Germany, winning the national championship with 1. FC Nürnberg. His greatest triumphs were to follow in Switzerland with the Grasshopper Club Zürich, where he won seven titles. Kürschner's arrival to Brazilian football brought tactical innovations which helped to establish the country as one of the world leaders in the sport.


08/12/1940

George Lloyd, English-Canadian bishop and theologian (born 1861)

George Exton Lloyd was an Anglican bishop and theologian who helped found Lloydminster, a city on the border of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada. He served as Bishop of Saskatchewan from 1922 to 1931.


08/12/1938

Friedrich Glauser, Swiss author (born 1896)

Friedrich Glauser was a German-language Swiss writer.


08/12/1937

Hans Molisch, Czech-Austrian botanist and academic (born 1856)

Hans Molisch was a Czech-Austrian botanist.


08/12/1932

Gertrude Jekyll, British horticulturist and writer (born 1843)

Gertrude Jekyll was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote over 1000 articles for magazines such as Country Life and William Robinson's The Garden. Jekyll has been described as "a premier influence in garden design" by British and American gardening enthusiasts.


08/12/1929

José Vicente Concha, Colombian politician and 8th President of Colombia (born 1867)

José Vicente Concha Ferreira was a Colombian politician who served as President of Colombia from 1914 to 1918. He was also a noted member of the Colombian Conservative Party.


08/12/1922

Dick Barrett, executed Irish Republican Army leader (born 1889)

Richard Barrett, commonly called Dick Barrett, was a prominent Irish Republican Army officer who fought in the War of Independence and on the Anti-Treaty side in the Irish Civil War. He was assistant quartermaster-general of the IRA with the rank of commandant. During the Civil War he was captured by Free State forces at the Four Courts on 30 June 1922 and later executed unlawfully on 8 December 1922.


Joe McKelvey, executed Irish Republican Army leader (born 1898)

Joseph McKelvey was an Irish Republican Army officer who was executed during the Irish Civil War without trial or court martial. He participated in the Anti-Treaty IRA's repudiation of the authority of the Dáil Éireann, the civil government of the Irish Republic declared in 1919 in March 1922, and was elected to the IRA Army Council as Deputy Chief of Staff. In April 1922, he helped command the occupation of the Four Courts in defiance of the new Irish Free State. This action helped to spark the civil war, between pro- and anti-treaty factions. McKelvey was among the most hardline of the republican side and, briefly in June 1922, became IRA Chief of Staff.


LIam Mellows, executed Irish Republican Army leader (born 1892)

William Joseph Mellows was an Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician. Born in England to an English father and Irish mother, he grew up in Ashton-under-Lyne before moving to Ireland, being raised in Cork, Dublin and his mother's native Wexford. He was active with the Irish Republican Brotherhood and Irish Volunteers, and participated in the Easter Rising in County Galway and the War of Independence. Elected as a TD to the First Dáil, he rejected the Anglo-Irish Treaty. During the Irish Civil War Mellows was captured by Pro-Treaty forces after the surrender of the Four Courts in June 1922. On 8 December 1922 he was one of four senior IRA men executed by the free state Government.


Rory O'Connor, executed Irish Republican Army leader, (born 1883)

Roderick O'Connor was an Irish republican who was Director of Engineering for the IRA in the Irish War of Independence. O'Connor opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and was chairman of the republican military council that became the Anti-Treaty IRA in March 1922. He was the main spokesman for the republican side in the lead-up to the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in June of that year. On 30 June, O'Connor was taken prisoner at the conclusion of the attack by Free State forces on the Four Courts in Dublin. On 8 December 1922, he was executed along with three other senior members of the IRA Four Courts garrison. All four men were executed without trial or court martial.


08/12/1919

J. Alden Weir, American painter (born 1852)

Julian Alden Weir was an American impressionist painter and member of the Cos Cob Art Colony in Greenwich, Connecticut. Weir was also one of the founding members of "The Ten", a loosely allied group of American artists dissatisfied with professional art organizations, who banded together in 1898 to exhibit their works as a stylistically unified group.


08/12/1918

Josip Stadler, Bosnian Catholic archbishop (born 1843)

Josip Stadler was a Bosnian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the first archbishop of Vrhbosna, from 1881 to his death in 1918. He was the founder of the religious order of the Servants of the Infant Jesus.


08/12/1917

Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian author (born 1836)

Mendele Mocher Sforim was a Belarusian Jewish author and one of the founders of modern Yiddish and Hebrew literature.


08/12/1914

Melchior Anderegg, Swiss mountain guide (born 1828)

Melchior Anderegg, from Zaun, Meiringen, was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascensionist of many prominent mountains in the western Alps during the golden and silver ages of alpinism. His clients were mostly British, the most famous of whom was Leslie Stephen, the writer, critic and mountaineer; Anderegg also climbed extensively with members of the Walker family, including Horace Walker and Lucy Walker, and with Florence Crauford Grove. His cousin Jakob Anderegg was also a well-known guide.


Maximilian von Spee, Danish-German admiral (born 1861)

Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert Reichsgraf von Spee was a German naval officer in the Imperial German Navy, who commanded the East Asia Squadron during World War I. Spee entered the navy in 1878 and served in a variety of roles and locations, including on a colonial gunboat in German West Africa in the 1880s, the East Africa Squadron in the late 1890s, and as commander of several warships in the main German fleet in the early 1900s. During his time in Germany in the late 1880s and early 1890s, he married his wife, Margareta, and had three children, his sons Heinrich and Otto and his daughter Huberta. By 1912, he had returned to the East Asia Squadron as its commander, and was promoted to the rank of Vizeadmiral the following year.


08/12/1913

Camille Jenatzy, Belgian race car driver (born 1868)

Camille Jenatzy was a Belgian race car driver. He is known for breaking the land speed record three times and being the first man to break the 100 km/h barrier. He was nicknamed Le Diable Rouge after the colour of his beard.


08/12/1907

King Oscar II of Sweden (born 1829)

Oscar II was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905.


08/12/1903

Herbert Spencer, English biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher (born 1820)

Herbert Spencer was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in Principles of Biology (1864) after reading Charles Darwin's 1859 book On the Origin of Species. The term strongly suggests natural selection, yet Spencer saw evolution as extending into realms of sociology and ethics, so he also supported Lamarckism.


08/12/1894

Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician and theorist (born 1821)

Pafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev was a Russian mathematician and considered to be the founding father of Russian mathematics.


08/12/1886

Isaac Lea, American conchologist, geologist, and publisher (born 1792)

Isaac Lea was an American publisher, conchologist and geologist. He was a partner in the publishing businesses Matthew Carey & Sons; Carey, Lea & Carey; Carey, Lea & Blanchard; and Lea & Blanchard.


08/12/1885

William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1821)

William Henry Vanderbilt was an American businessman and railroad magnate. Known as "Billy", he was the eldest son of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, an heir to his fortune and a prominent member of the Vanderbilt family. Vanderbilt became the richest American after he took over his father's fortune in 1877 until his own death in 1885, passing on a substantial part of the fortune to his wife and children, particularly to his sons Cornelius II and William. He inherited nearly $100 million from his father. The fortune had doubled when he died fewer than nine years later.


08/12/1869

Narcisa de Jesús, Ecuadorian saint (born 1832)

Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán was an Ecuadorian virgin and Dominican tertiary in the Roman Catholic Church. Martillo was known for her charitable giving and strict devotion to Jesus Christ while living a virginal and austere life of prayer and penance. Her devotion to prayer and the mortification of the flesh was strong and it led her to the decision to live as a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic in Patrocínio (Peru), where she died on 8 December 1869. Narcisa de Jesús was beatified on 25 October 1992.


08/12/1864

George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (born 1815)

George Boole was an English autodidact, mathematician, philosopher and logician who served as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in Ireland. He worked in the fields of differential equations and algebraic logic, and is best known as the author of The Laws of Thought (1854), which contains Boolean algebra. Boolean logic, essential to computer programming, is credited with helping to lay the foundations for the Information Age.


08/12/1859

Thomas De Quincey, English journalist and author (born 1785)

Thomas Penson De Quincey was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821). Many scholars suggest that in publishing this work De Quincey inaugurated the tradition of addiction literature in the Western world.


08/12/1856

Theobald Mathew, Irish social reformer and temperance movement leader (born 1790)

Theobald Mathew was an Irish Catholic priest, member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, and teetotalist reformer, popularly known as Father Mathew. He was born at Thomastown, near Golden, County Tipperary, on 10 October 1790, to James Mathew and his wife Anne, daughter of George Whyte, of Cappaghwhyte. Of the family of the Earls Landaff, he was a kinsman of the clergyman Arnold Mathew.


08/12/1830

Benjamin Constant, Swiss-French philosopher and author (born 1767)

Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque, or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.


08/12/1815

Mary Bosanquet Fletcher, Methodist preacher and philanthropist (born 1739)

Mary Bosanquet Fletcher was an English preacher credited with persuading John Wesley, a founder of Methodism, to allow women to preach in public. She was born into an affluent family, but after converting to Methodism, rejected its luxurious life. She was involved in charity work throughout her life, operating a school and orphanage until her marriage to John Fletcher. She and a friend, Sarah Crosby, began preaching and leading meetings at her orphanage and became the most popular female preachers of their time. Fletcher was known as a "Mother in Israel", a Methodist term of honour, for her work in spreading the denomination across England.


08/12/1779

Nathan Alcock, English physician (born 1707)

Nathan Alcock was an English physician.


08/12/1768

Jean Denis Attiret, French painter and missionary (born 1702)

Jean Denis Attiret was a French Jesuit painter and missionary to Qing China.


08/12/1756

William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington, English politician and diplomat, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (born 1690)

William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington, was a British statesman and diplomat.


08/12/1746

Charles Radclyffe, English courtier and soldier (born 1693)

Charles Radclyffe, titular 5th Earl of Derwentwater, was one of the few English participants in the Jacobite risings of both 1715 and 1745.


08/12/1745

Étienne Fourmont, French orientalist and academic (born 1683)

Étienne Fourmont was a French Orientalist who served as professor of Arabic at the Collège de France and published grammars on the Arabic, Hebrew, and Chinese languages.


08/12/1744

Marie Anne de Mailly, French mistress of Louis XV (born 1717)

Marie Anne de Mailly-Nesle, duchesse de Châteauroux was the youngest of five famous de Nesle sisters, four of whom would become mistresses of King Louis XV of France. Marie Anne was the King's mistress from 1742 until 1744.


08/12/1734

James Figg, English prizefighter

James Figg was an English prizefighter and instructor in historical European martial arts. While Figg primarily fought with weapons including short swords, quarterstaffs, and cudgels, he also played a role in boxing's development. In 1719, he opened a London fighting venue that could seat more than 1,000 spectators and was one of the first of its kind. In 1725, he organised and promoted modern history's first international boxing match at his amphitheatre. He claimed to have won more than 200 matches during his career, and was posthumously considered the first boxing champion.


08/12/1722

Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine (born 1652)

Madame Elizabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orléans, also known as Liselotte von der Pfalz, was a German member of the House of Wittelsbach who married into the French royal family. She was the second wife of Monsieur Philippe I, Duke of Orléans. By Philippe, Liselotte was the mother of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, and Élisabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Lorraine. Philippe II was France's ruler during the Regency. Liselotte gained literary and historical importance primarily through preservation of her correspondence, which is of great cultural and historical value due to her sometimes very blunt descriptions of French court life and is today one of the best-known German-language texts of the Baroque period.


08/12/1709

Thomas Corneille, French playwright and philologist (born 1625)

Thomas Corneille was a French lexicographer and dramatist.


08/12/1695

Barthélemy d'Herbelot, French orientalist and academic (born 1625)

Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville was a French Orientalist.


08/12/1691

Richard Baxter, English minister, poet, and hymn-writer (born 1615)

Richard Baxter was an English Nonconformist church leader and theologian from Rowton, Shropshire, who has been described as "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". He made his reputation in the late 1630s by his ministry at Kidderminster in Worcestershire, when he also began a long and prolific career as a theological writer.


08/12/1680

Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester, English lawyer and politician (born 1606)

Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester, PC, FRS, FRCP was an English peer. He was the son of Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, and his wife, the former Gertrude Talbot, daughter of George Talbot and Elizabeth Reyner, and cousin of the Earl of Shrewsbury. He was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.


08/12/1649

Noël Chabanel, French missionary and saint (born 1613)

Noël Chabanel was a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, and one of the Canadian Martyrs.


08/12/1643

John Pym, English politician (born 1583)

John Pym was an English politician, commonly credited with helping establish the modern English Parliamentary system. A key leader of the opposition to Charles I of England prior to the First English Civil War, his use of procedure to outmanoeuvre opponents was unusual for the period. Although he was respected by contemporaries rather than admired, in 1895 historian Goldwin Smith described him as "the greatest member of Parliament that ever lived".


08/12/1638

Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet (born 1589)

Dživo Franov Gundulić, better known today as Ivan Gundulić, was the most prominent Ragusan Baroque. He is regarded as the Croatian national poet. His work embodies central characteristics of Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation: religious fervor, insistence on "vanity of this world" and zeal in opposition to "infidels". Gundulić's major works—the epic poem Osman, the pastoral play Dubravka, and the religious poem Tears of the Prodigal Son —are examples of Baroque stylistic richness and, frequently, rhetorical excess.


08/12/1632

Philippe van Lansberge, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (born 1561)

Johan Philip Lansberge was a Flemish Calvinist Minister, astronomer and Mathematician. His name is sometimes written Lansberg, and his first name is sometimes given as Philip or Johannes Philippus. He published under the Latin name Philippus Lansbergius.


08/12/1626

John Davies, English poet, lawyer, and politician (born 1569)

Sir John Davies was an English poet, lawyer, and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1597 and 1621. He became Attorney General for Ireland and formulated many of the legal principles that underpinned the British Empire.


08/12/1596

Luis de Carvajal the Younger, Marrano writer and martyr (born c. 1566/1567)

Luis de Carvajal the Younger was a Spanish-born Crypto-Jewish writer. He was the nephew of the conquistador Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva, who was the governor of Nuevo León, and was brought to Mexico at a young age. In Mexico, he began to practice Judaism in secret alongside his family, and additionally kept memoirs of his life. His writings are the earliest known to be written by a Jew in the Americas. He was executed as a martyr of the Jewish faith by the Spanish Inquisition in 1596.


08/12/1550

Gian Giorgio Trissino, Italian humanist, poet, dramatist and diplomat (born 1478)

Gian Giorgio Trissino, also called Giovan Giorgio Trissino and self-styled as Giovan Giꞷrgio Trissino, was a Venetian Renaissance humanist, poet, dramatist, diplomat, grammarian, linguist, and philosopher. He first proposed adding letters to the Italian alphabet to distinguish J from I, and V from U.


08/12/1431

Hedwig Jagiellon, Polish and Lithuanian princess (born 1408)

Hedwig Jagiellon was a Polish and Lithuanian princess, and a member of the Jagiellon dynasty. For most of her life she, as the only child of Władysław II Jagiełło, was considered to be heiress of the Polish and Lithuanian thrones. After the birth of Jagiello's sons in 1424 and 1427, Hedwig had some support for her claims to the throne. She died in 1431 amidst rumors that she was poisoned by her stepmother Sophia of Halshany.


08/12/1365

Nicholas II, Duke of Opava (born 1288)

Nicholas II of Opava was Duke of Opava from 1318 to 1365 and Duke of Ratibór from 1337 to 1365 and Burgrave of Kladsko from 1350 to 1365 and also chamberlain of the Kingdom of Bohemia.


08/12/1292

John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury

John Peckham was a Franciscan friar and Archbishop of Canterbury in the years 1279–1292.


08/12/1186

Berthold IV, Duke of Zähringen (bornc 1125)

Berthold IV, Duke of Zähringen was a Duke of Zähringen and Rector of Burgundy. He was the son of Conrad I, Duke of Zähringen and Clementia of Luxembourg-Namur. He founded numerous cities, including Fribourg.


08/12/0964

Zhou the Elder, Chinese queen consort

Zhou Ehuang (周娥皇), posthumously named Queen Zhaohui (昭惠國后), was a queen consort of imperial China's short-lived Southern Tang state during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Her husband was Li Yu, Southern Tang's third and last ruler.


08/12/0899

Arnulf of Carinthia (born 850)

Arnulf of Carinthia was King of East Francia since 887, King of Italy since 894, and Emperor since 896. Initially, he was the Duke of Carinthia who overthrew his uncle Emperor Charles the Fat to become the Carolingian king of East Francia in late 887. He also ruled Lotharingia, and tried to impose suzerainty over West Francia, and rule over Burgundy and Italy. In 894, he invaded Italy and took Pavia, but soon returned to East Francia. Upon invading Italy again, he was crowned Emperor on 22 February 896 in Rome by Pope Formosus, but soon returned again to East Francia. He died on 8 December 899 at Ratisbon, in Bavaria. He was the last member of the Carolingian dynasty from the male line to rule in Italy as both King and Emperor, despite his rule being contested by his rivals Lambert of Italy and Berengar I of Italy.


08/12/0855

Drogo of Metz, illegitimate son of Charlemagne (born 801)

Drogo, also known as Dreux or Drogon, was an illegitimate son of Frankish emperor Charlemagne by the concubine Regina.


Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 8th December

Battle Day (Falkland Islands)

The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a First World War naval action between the British Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914 in the South Atlantic. The British, after their defeat at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November, sent a large force to track down and destroy the German cruiser squadron. The battle is commemorated every year on 8 December in the Falkland Islands as a public holiday.


Bodhi Day (Japan)

Bodhi Day is the Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that Gautama Buddha (Shakyamuni) is said to have attained enlightenment, also known as bodhi in Sanskrit and Pali. According to tradition, Siddhartha had recently forsaken years of extreme ascetic practices and resolved to sit under a Ficus religiosa, now known as the Bodhi Tree, and simply meditate until he found the root of suffering, and how to liberate oneself from it.


CARICOM–Cuba Day (Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba)

Cuba's foreign policy has been highly dynamic depending on world events throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Cuban foreign policy is impacted by the various spheres of influence and economic development of neighboring countries. During the 1980s, its geopolitical alignment with the Soviet Union isolated Cuba on the international stage. The fall of the Soviet Union, end of the Cold War, and emergence of Russia as a key trading partner led to limited regional relations. Cuba began to establish bilateral relations with South American countries during the late-1990s, mainly with Venezuela and Bolivia. Cuba has a cold relationship with the United States, with a variety of bilateral issues due to historic conflict and divergent political ideologies. It has a similarly strained relationship with the European Union (EU) due to Cuba's human rights policies. Since the late-2010s, Cuba has developed closer ties to Venezuela, Russia, and China.


Christian feast day: Budoc (Beuzec) of Dol

Budoc of Dol was a 5th-century Breton monk and Bishop of Dol, who has been venerated since his death as a saint in both Brittany and Devon. Budoc is the patron saint of Plourin in Finistère where his relics are preserved. His feast day was originally celebrated on 8 December, the date still used in Devon, but in Brittany this has been transferred to 9 December.


Christian feast day: Clement of Ohrid (Julian Calendar), and its related observances: Student's Day (Bulgaria)

The official public holidays in Bulgaria are listed in the table below.


Christian feast day: Eucharius

Saint Eucharius is venerated as the first bishop of Trier. He lived in the second half of the 3rd century.


Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Anglican Communion), lesser commemoration

The Church of England commemorates many of the same saints as those in the General Roman Calendar, mostly on the same days, but also commemorates various notable Christians who have not been canonised by Rome, with a particular though not exclusive emphasis on those of English origin. There are differences in the calendars of other churches of the Anglican Communion.


Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Festa da Conceição da Praia, celebrating Yemanjá, Queen of the Ocean in Umbanda (Salvador, Bahia)

In the Catholic Church, several locations around the world invoke the patronage of the Immaculate Conception. Catholic diocesan authorities with the expressed and written approval of the Pope in countries including Brazil, Korea, the Philippines, Spain, and the United States designate the Blessed Virgin Mary as their principal patroness.


Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Festival of Lights (Lyon)

The Festival of Lights in Lyon, France, is a popular event that originally aimed at expressing gratitude toward Mary, mother of Jesus, around December 8 of each year. This Lyonnaise tradition dictates that every house place candles along the outsides of all the windows to produce a spectacular effect throughout the streets. The festival includes other activities based on light and usually lasts four days, with the peak of activity occurring on the 8th. The two main focal points of activity are typically the Basilica of Fourvière which is lit up in different colours, as well as the Place des Terreaux, which hosts a different light show each year.


Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Mother's Day (Panama)

Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March or May. It complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Father's Day, Siblings Day, and Grandparents' Day.


Christian feast day: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (public holiday in several countries, a holy day of obligation in others), and its related observances: Lady of Camarin Day (Guam)

In the United States there are a number of observed holidays where employees receive paid time off. The labor force in the United States comprises about 62% of the general population. In the United States, 97% of the private sector businesses determine what days this sector of the population gets paid time off, according to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management. The following holidays are observed by the majority of US businesses with paid time off: New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, the day after known as Black Friday, Christmas Eve and Christmas. There are also numerous holidays on the state and local level that are observed to varying degrees.


Christian feast day: Patapios of Thebes

Patapios of Thebes is the patron saint of dropsy. Saint Patapios’ memory is celebrated on 8 December and also at the Tuesday 2 days after the Sunday of Easter. His relic is kept at the female monastery of Saint Patapios at Loutraki, a spa town near Athens, Greece.


Christian feast day: Pope Eutychian

Pope Eutychian, also called Eutychianus, was the bishop of Rome from 4 January 275 to his death on 7 December 283.


Christian feast day: Richard Baxter (US Episcopal Church)

Richard Baxter was an English Nonconformist church leader and theologian from Rowton, Shropshire, who has been described as "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". He made his reputation in the late 1630s by his ministry at Kidderminster in Worcestershire, when he also began a long and prolific career as a theological writer.


Christian feast day: Romaric

Saint Romaric was a Frankish nobleman who lived in Austrasia from the late 6th century until the middle of the 7th century. He and Amatus of Grenoble founded Remiremont Abbey.


Christian feast day: Theobald of Marly

Theobald of Marly was a French abbot and saint. He was born at the castle of Marly, Montmorency, and was trained as a knight. He served as a knight at the court of Philip Augustus, though he later entered the Cistercian monastery of Vaux-de-Cernay in 1220. He was elected prior in 1230 and ninth abbot in 1235.


Christian feast day: December 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

December 7 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - December 9


Constitution Day (Romania)

The following is a list of public holidays in Romania. According to Romanian law, Romania had 51 public holidays as of 2011, which cover 14% of the days of the year in the country from which 15 days are non-working. In 2025, Romania had 17 public non-working holidays


Constitution Day (Uzbekistan)

Public holidays in Uzbekistan:


Liberation Day (Syria)

Liberation Day is a public holiday in Syria, celebrated on 8 December to mark the fall of the Assad regime, which began in 1971 when Hafez al-Assad seized power and was later succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad in 2000. The holiday was established in October 2025 following a decree by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.


Day of Finnish Music (Finland)

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped Finland develop a stronger national identity when the country was struggling from several attempts at Russification in the late 19th century.


Earliest day on which National Tree Planting Day can fall, while December 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Monday in December. (Malawi)

Arbor Day is a secular day of observance in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant trees. Today, many countries observe such a holiday. Though usually observed in the spring, the date varies, depending on climate and suitable planting season.


Hari-Kuyō (Kansai region, Japan)

Hari-Kuyō is the Japanese Buddhist and Shinto Festival of broken sewing needles, celebrated on February 8 in the Kantō region, but on December 8 in the Kyoto Prefecture and Kansai region. It is celebrated by women in Japan as a memorial to all the sewing needles broken in their service during the past year, and as an opportunity to pray for improved skills. It is also called the Needle Mass and Pin Festival. "Hari" means "needle" and the suffix "-kuyo" means "memorial", derived from a Sanskrit word pūjā or pūjanā, meaning "to bring offerings".


National Youth Day (Albania)

There are 15 official public holidays observed in Albania. If a non-working public holiday falls on the weekend, then the first working day afterwards is a non-working day.


Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Day (Ethiopia)

The Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Day is a national holiday in Ethiopia that observes the FDRE Constitution Article 39 recognition of Nations, Nationalities and Peoples. Officially observed since 2006, the day affirms harmony, tolerance, and equal rights for the people of Ethiopia's cultures and languages, and economic and political affinity. Former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi stated "the Day is an occasion in which the Ethiopian Nations, Nationalities and Peoples…develop their language and culture and also forge strong cooperation."


What Happened on 8th December?

43 significant events took place on Friday, 8th December — stretching from 395 to 2024. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

08/12/2024

Damascus falls to rebels after Syrian troops withdraw and president Bashar al-Assad leaves the country as his government collapses. Israel as a result invaded into the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

On 7 December 2024, the Syrian opposition group known as the Southern Operations Room, in co-ordination with the Military Operations Command, led forces that entered the Rif Dimashq region of Syria from the south, and those forces then came within 20 kilometres (12 mi) of the capital Damascus. The Syrian Army withdrew from multiple points in the outskirts. Concurrently with the advance towards Damascus, opposition militia Tahrir al-Sham and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army in the north launched an offensive into Homs, while the Syrian Free Army advanced into the capital from the southeast. By 8 December 2024, rebel forces entered the city's Barzeh neighborhood. According to official state reports in Russian mass media and media footage, President Bashar al-Assad left Damascus by air to Moscow, where he was granted asylum, sealing the fall of his regime.


08/12/2019

First confirmed case of COVID-19 in China.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Starting in January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global health emergency; they declared the end of the emergency in May 2023.


08/12/2013

Riots break out in Singapore, after a fatal accident in Little India.

The Little India riot took place in the Singaporean subzone of Little India on 8 December 2013 at SST 21:21, after a fatal traffic accident at the road junction of Race Course Road and Tekka Lane caused the death of 33-year-old Indian construction worker Sakthivel Kumaravelu. Angry mobs of migrant workers – largely composed of Indian nationals – attacked the bus involved and emergency vehicles that arrived shortly after. There were around 300 rioters involved in the incident, which lasted for about two hours.


Metallica performs a show in Antarctica, making them the first musical act to perform on all seven continents.

Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrumentals and aggressive musicianship made them one of the founding "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer. Metallica's current lineup comprises founding members and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, and bassist Robert Trujillo. Former members of the band are bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton, and Jason Newsted, and guitarist Dave Mustaine, who formed Megadeth after being fired from Metallica in 1983.


08/12/2010

With the second launch of the Falcon 9, and the first launch of the Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.

SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 1 was the first orbital spaceflight of the Dragon cargo spacecraft, and the second overall flight of the Falcon 9 rocket manufactured by SpaceX. It was also the first demonstration flight for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. The primary mission objectives were to test the orbital maneuvering and reentry of the Dragon capsule. The mission also aimed to test fixes to the Falcon 9 rocket, particularly the unplanned roll of the first stage that occurred during flight 1. Liftoff occurred on 8 December 2010 at 15:43 UTC.


The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus at a distance of about 80,800 km (50,200 mi).

Solar sails are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large surfaces. A number of spaceflight missions to test solar propulsion and navigation have been proposed since the 1980s. The two spacecraft to successfully use the technology for propulsion were IKAROS, launched in 2010, and LightSail-2, launched in 2019. A further demonstrator, Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), was launched in 2024, and deployed successfully but is not being actively controlled due to a fault.


08/12/2009

Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq kill 127 people and injure 448 others.

The December 2009 Baghdad bombings were attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, which resulted in the deaths of at least 127 people and injuries to at least 448 more. The attacks have been condemned internationally as acts of terrorism. Opposition parties within Iraqi politics have suggested that the attacks were aided by corruption within the Iraqi security forces and that the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, was incompetent in managing the incident.


08/12/2004

The Cusco Declaration is signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.

The Cusco Declaration, formally titled Preamble to the Foundation Act of the South American Union, is a two-page declaration of intent signed by 12 South American countries during the Third South American Summit on 8 December 2004 in Cusco, Peru. It announces the foundation of the Union of South American Nations. It called for a regional parliament, a common market and a common currency.


Columbus nightclub shooting: Nathan Gale opens fire at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, killing former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and three others before being shot dead by a police officer.

On December 8, 2004, four men were killed and three others wounded in a mass shooting at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The main target of the attack was "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, who was on stage performing with his band Damageplan at the time of the shooting. During the opening song, 25-year-old Nathan Gale rushed the stage and fired his gun several times, killing Abbott. Three minutes after opening fire, Gale took a hostage in a negotiation attempt, but was shot in the forehead with a shotgun by responding officer James Niggemeyer.


08/12/2001

A raid conducted by the Internal Security Department (ISD) of Singapore foils a Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) plot to bomb foreign embassies in Singapore.

The Internal Security Department (ISD) is the principal security agency and domestic intelligence service of Singapore. The department is tasked with collecting and analysing intelligence, making assessments, and taking executive actions to counter national security threats to the country's sovereignty, safety, and stability. As a counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism organisation, the ISD is responsible for protecting Singapore from espionage or spying, foreign interference, covert operations, subversion, terrorism, organised crime, and political, racial or religious extremism.


08/12/1998

Eighty-one people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.

The Tadjena massacre was an incident resulting in 81 deaths. Beginning about 9:00 p.m. on December 8 and continuing until early December 9, 1998, 81 villagers were killed by armed groups in the mountain villages of Bouhamed and Ayachiche just north of Tadjena, some 170 km (106 mi) west of Algiers, in the Chlef region of western Algeria. The manner of killing is reported to have been notably sadistic, mutilating victims and burning corpses; CNN quoted a survivor as saying that "attackers slashed the throats of children, cutting the arms and legs off one of them and throwing the body in a boiling pot." In addition, 20 women were kidnapped. Another 7 people had been killed there on the previous night. The massacre took place about ten days before the beginning of Ramadan.


08/12/1991

The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) with a population of 9.1 million. The country has a hemiboreal climate and is administratively divided into six regions. Minsk is the capital and largest city; it is administered separately as a city with special status.


08/12/1988

A United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II crashes into an apartment complex in Remscheid, Germany, killing five people and injuring 50 others.

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is a part of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and is one of the six armed forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the Air Force was established by transfer of personnel from the Army Air Forces with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.


08/12/1987

Cold War: The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the White House.

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc. It began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.


An Israeli army tank transporter kills four Palestinian refugees and injures seven others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the Israel–Gaza Strip border, which has been cited as one of the events which sparked the First Intifada.

In 1949, UNRWA formally defined the term "Palestine refugee" to refer to any Palestinian citizen or the descendant of any male Palestinian citizen who—if their regular place of residence was located within Mandatory Palestine between 1 June 1946 and 15 May 1948—was found to have "lost both home and means of livelihood" during the 1948 Palestine war. While this definition originally included Arab Palestinians displaced from or within Israel as well as Jewish Palestinians displaced from Arab-controlled territory, it ceased to apply to Arabs and Jews who became Israeli citizens in 1952; Arab Palestinians who were displaced from their homes while ultimately remaining within Israeli territory were instead designated as "present absentees" and not subject to UNRWA's jurisdiction. In addition to more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled by Israel before the 1949 Armistice Agreements, another 285,000 to 325,000 Palestinians were displaced due to the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.


08/12/1985

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union in South Asia, is established.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an intergovernmental organization comprising eight sovereign states with full membership: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It also includes nine non-member observers: Australia, China, the European Union, Iran, Japan, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Korea, and the United States. As of 2021, SAARC members collectively account for about 21% of the world's population and 5.21% of the global economy.


08/12/1980

John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City.

John Winston Ono Lennon was an English musician, songwriter and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history.


08/12/1974

A plebiscite results in the abolition of monarchy in Greece.

A referendum on the constitutional form of the state was held in Greece on 8 December 1974.


08/12/1972

United Airlines Flight 553, a Boeing 737, crashes after aborting its landing attempt at Chicago Midway International Airport, killing 45. This is the first-ever loss of a Boeing 737.

United Air Lines Flight 553 was a scheduled domestic flight from Washington National Airport to Omaha, Nebraska, via Chicago Midway International Airport. On December 8, 1972, the Boeing 737-222 serving the flight, City of Lincoln registration N9031U, crashed while approaching Midway Airport. The probable cause of the crash was concluded to be the captain's failure to properly manage the flight.


08/12/1971

Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launches an attack on West Pakistan's port city of Karachi.

The India–Pakistan war of 1971, also known as the third Indo-Pakistani war, was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 December 1971. The war began with Pakistan's Operation Chengiz Khan, consisting of preemptive aerial strikes on eight Indian air stations. The strikes led to India declaring war on Pakistan, marking their entry into the war for East Pakistan's independence, on the side of Bengali nationalist forces. India's entry expanded the existing conflict with Indian and Pakistani forces engaging on both the eastern and western fronts.


08/12/1969

Olympic Airways Flight 954 strikes a mountain outside of Keratea, Greece, killing 90 people in the worst crash of a Douglas DC-6 in history.

Olympic Airways Flight 954 was a Douglas DC-6B aircraft that crashed into a mountain near Keratea, Greece, on December 8, 1969. All 85 passengers and 5 crew on board died in the crash.


08/12/1966

The Greek ship SS Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200.

SS Heraklion was a roll on/roll off car ferry operating the lines Piraeus – Chania and Piraeus – Heraklion (Irakleio) between 1965 and 1966. The ship capsized and sank on 8 December 1966 in the Aegean Sea, resulting in the death of more than 200 people. Its demise was one of the greatest maritime disasters of Greek history.


08/12/1963

Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board.

Pan Am Flight 214 was a scheduled flight of Pan American World Airways from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Baltimore, and then to Philadelphia in the United States. On December 8, 1963, while flying from Baltimore to Philadelphia, the Boeing 707 crashed near Elkton, Maryland. All 81 passengers and crew on the plane were killed. The crash was Pan Am's first fatal accident with the 707, which it had introduced to its fleet five years earlier.


08/12/1962

Workers at four New York City newspapers (this later increases to nine) go on strike for 114 days.

The 1962–1963 New York City newspaper strike was a strike action within the newspaper industry of New York City which ran from December 8, 1962 until March 31, 1963, lasting for a total of 114 days. Besides protesting low wages, the unions were resisting automation of the printing presses.


08/12/1955

The Flag of Europe is adopted by Council of Europe.

The flag of Europe or European flag consists of twelve golden stars forming a circle on a blue field. It was designed and adopted in 1955 by the Council of Europe (CoE) as a symbol for the whole of Europe.


08/12/1953

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace" speech, which leads to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world.

Dwight David Eisenhower, also known as Ike, was the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. He led the Allied Expeditionary Force during the Second World War, launching decisive campaigns in North Africa and Normandy and becoming a General of the Army.


08/12/1943

World War II: The German 117th Jäger Division destroys the monastery of Mega Spilaio in Greece and executes 22 monks and visitors as part of reprisals that culminated a few days later with the Massacre of Kalavryta.

117th Jäger Division was a German infantry division of World War II. The division was formed in April 1943 by the reorganization and redesignation of the 717th Infantry Division. The 717th Division had been formed in April 1941. It was transferred to Yugoslavia in May 1941, to conduct anti-Četnik and anti partisan and Internal security operations.


08/12/1941

World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares December 7 to be "a date which will live in infamy", after which the U.S. declares war on Japan.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.


World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Shanghai International Settlement, Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. (See December 7 for the concurrent attack on Pearl Harbor in the Western Hemisphere.)

The Shanghai International Settlement originated from the 1863 merger of the British and American concessions in Shanghai, in which British and American citizens would enjoy extraterritoriality and consular jurisdiction under the terms of unequal treaties agreed by both parties. These treaties were abrogated in 1943.


08/12/1933

Anarchist insurrection breaks out in Zaragoza, Spain.

The anarchist insurrection of December 1933 was an attempted revolution by Spanish anarchists, in response to the victory of the right-wing in the 1933 Spanish general election. It was the third of a series of anarchist insurrections in Spain, following those in January 1932 and January 1933.


08/12/1922

Two days after coming into existence, the Irish Free State executes four leaders of the Irish Republican Army: Dick Barrett, Joe McKelvey, Liam Mellows and Rory O'Connor.

The Irish Free State, also known by its Irish name Saorstát Éireann, was the Irish state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921, initially as a Dominion. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between the forces of the Irish Republic—the Irish Republican Army (IRA)—and British Crown forces.


08/12/1914

World War I: A squadron of Britain's Royal Navy defeats the Imperial German East Asia Squadron in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.


08/12/1912

Leaders of the German Empire hold an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out.

The German Empire, also referred to as Imperial Germany, the Second Reich, or simply Germany, was the period of the German Reich from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the November Revolution in 1918, when Germany changed its form of government to a republic. The German Empire consisted of 25 states, each with its own nobility: four constituent kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. While Prussia was only one of the four kingdoms in the realm, it contained about two-thirds of the Empire's population and territory, and Prussian dominance was also constitutionally established, since the King of Prussia was also the German Emperor.


08/12/1907

King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.

Gustaf V was King of Sweden from 8 December 1907 until his death in 1950. He was the eldest son of King Oscar II and Sophia of Nassau, a half-sister of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Reigning from the death of his father Oscar II in 1907 to his own death nearly 43 years later, he holds the record of being the oldest monarch of Sweden, dying at the age of 92. Gustaf also had the third-longest reign of a Swedish monarch after Magnus IV (1319–1364) and his own great-grandson, Carl XVI Gustaf (1973–present). He was also the last Swedish monarch to exercise his royal prerogatives, which largely died with him, although abolished only with the remaking of the Swedish constitution in 1974. He was the first Swedish king since the High Middle Ages not to have a coronation and so never wore the king's crown, a practice that has continued since.


08/12/1864

Pope Pius IX promulgates the encyclical Quanta cura and its appendix, the Syllabus of Errors, outlining the authority of the Catholic Church and condemning various liberal ideas.

Pope Pius IX was head of the Catholic Church from 16 June 1846 until his death in February 1878.


08/12/1863

Between two and three thousand churchgoers die in the Church of the Company Fire, possibly the largest single building fire by number of victims in modern history.

The Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús Fire was a mass casualty event in Santiago, Chile. It is the deadliest fire known to have occurred in the city, one of the deadliest single-building fires in world history and one of the deadliest-ever fires within a religious site. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people died, most of whom were women.


08/12/1854

In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived free of Original Sin.

An apostolic constitution is the most solemn form of legislation issued by the Pope. It is one of several types of papal bull that can be issued from the Vatican.


08/12/1851

Conservative Santiago-based government troops defeat rebels at the Battle of Loncomilla, signaling the end of the 1851 Chilean Revolution.

Pelucones was the name used to refer to Chilean aristocratic conservatives in early 19th century. The name "Pelucones" was originally used by the Pipiolos, or Liberals, as a derogatory term linking the conservatives to old fashioned wigs that were popular in the 18th century. Following the Chilean Civil War of 1829, when the Pipiolos were defeated, the Pelucones enforced the Chilean Constitution of 1833. This led to creation of a strong unitary, authoritarian and presidentialist system supported and maintained by the upper classes.


08/12/1660

A woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare's play Othello.

Margaret Hughes, also Peg Hughes or Margaret Hewes, was an English actress who is often credited as the first professional actress on the English stage, as a result of her appearance on 8 December 1660. Hughes was the mistress of the Royalist English Civil War general Prince Rupert of the Rhine.


08/12/1504

Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah writes his Oran fatwa, arguing for the relaxation of Islamic law requirements for the forcibly converted Muslims in Spain.

Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah al-Maghrawi al-Wahrani was a Maghrebi Maliki scholar of Islamic law, active in North Africa from the end of the fifteenth century until his death. He was identified as the author of the 1504 fatwa commonly named the Oran fatwa, instructing the Muslims in Spain about how to secretly practice Islam, and granting comprehensive dispensations for them to publicly conform to Christianity and performing acts normally forbidden in Islam when necessary to survive. Because of his authorship of the fatwa he is often referred to as "the Mufti of Oran", although he likely issued the fatwa in Fez, not in Oran and he did not have any official capacity in either city.


08/12/0877

Louis the Stammerer (son of Charles the Bald) is crowned king of the West Frankish Kingdom at Compiègne.

Louis the Stammerer was the king of Aquitaine and later the king of West Francia. He was the eldest son of Emperor Charles the Bald and Ermentrude of Orléans. Louis the Stammerer was physically weak and outlived his father by a year and a half.


08/12/0757

The poet Du Fu returns to Chang'an as a member of Emperor Xuanzong's court, after having escaped the city during the An Lushan Rebellion.

Year 757 (DCCLVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 757 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.


08/12/0395

Later Yan is defeated by its former vassal Northern Wei at the Battle of Canhe Slope.

Yan, known in historiography as the Later Yan, was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Xianbei people during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms.