Tuesday, 8th July 2025 in London

Welcome to your daily snapshot of London! Explore 48 historical events, birthdays, deaths, and milestones that shaped this day in London. 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 London brings drizzly with temperatures between 12°C and 21°C. Tonight's moon is in its waning crescent phase, and the zodiac sign of the day is Cancer. If you're curious about the history of a day — this page brings together everything worth knowing about this Tuesday, 8th July in London, GB.

London
Ilya Grigorik – CC BY-SA 3.0Wikimedia Commons

London, the capital of the United Kingdom, sits on the River Thames in south-east England and is one of the world's leading financial and cultural centres. On 8 July 2025, the city experiences drizzly weather typical of the season. The date falls during Cancer season in the zodiac calendar, and the moon is in its waning crescent phase.

On this day

On 8 July 2022, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated with an improvised firearm in what became a significant moment in Japanese politics. The attack was motivated by resentment against the Unification Church, reflecting deeper tensions within Japanese society regarding the influence of religious organisations.

Earlier in the decade, on the same date in 2014, Germany delivered one of the most dominant performances in FIFA World Cup history, defeating Brazil 7-1 in a semi-final match at the Mineirão stadium. The result broke several tournament records and shocked the football world, with the comprehensive victory becoming one of the most memorable matches in World Cup history.

DayAtlas provides comprehensive information for any date and location, displaying weather conditions, significant historical events, and notable births and deaths to give users a complete picture of what occurred on a particular day.

Find out what's happening today in London.

What the Weather Had in Store for London on 8th July 2025

Drizzle

Sunrise 04:54
Sunset 21:17
Sunshine duration 15:59 hours
Daylight duration 16:23 hours

Maximum temperature 21.9°C
Minimum temperature 12.4°C

Wind speed 13.8km/h from NW
Precipitation 0.2mm

Patience is not passivity—it is the art of precise timing.

Fortune of the Day

8th July in the Stars – Star Sign Cancer

Today, the zodiac sign Cancer celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality Those born on 8 July are deeply feeling and intuitive individuals who perceive their surroundings with emotional intensity. Ruled by the Moon, they possess natural talent for understanding others' emotions. Their inner world is rich and complex, driven by a strong need for emotional security.

Strengths & Weaknesses These people possess remarkable empathy, reliability, and a refined sense for harmony in their home environment. Their shadow side reveals hypersensitivity and a tendency to become lost in emotional matters. Sometimes they appear overly withdrawn or emotionally dependent.

Love In relationships, those born on this day seek deep emotional connection and loyalty. They are caring partners who long to be protected and truly understood. Their love runs intense, yet they need reassurance and emotional stability from their partner.

Caree & Finance Careers in social work, psychology, or household management appeal naturally to these individuals. Their financial stability depends on tempering emotional impulsiveness. With their attention to detail, they can build lasting wealth over time.

Health These natives should monitor their emotional wellbeing, as stress manifests quickly in physical symptoms. Soothing activities like yoga, swimming, or time in nature provide stabilizing benefits. A warm home and supportive relationships are essential for their overall wellbeing.


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


Chinese year of the Snake (Wood).

Fun Facts About 8th July

Name Days in Your Language: Aquila, Aquilina, Easton, Kilian


Someone born on this day would be just 329 days old today — roughly 7,916 hours, 474,990 minutes, or 28,499,450 seconds spent on Earth so far.


It's the 189. day of the year. In 2025, 8th July falls on a Tuesday.


There are 176 days still to come.


We’re currently in Week 28 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 8th July

On this day, 171 notable people were born on 8th July — spanning from 1478 to 1999. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

08/07/1999

İpek Öz, Turkish tennis player

İpek Öz is a Turkish professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 163, achieved on 18 July 2022, and a best doubles ranking of No. 311, achieved 20 October 2025.


08/07/1998

Maya Hawke, American actress

Maya Ray Thurman Hawke is an American actress and singer-songwriter. The daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, she began her career in modeling, and subsequently made her screen debut as Jo March in the 2017 BBC adaptation of Little Women. She gained international recognition for starring as Robin Buckley in the Netflix science fiction horror series Stranger Things (2019–2025).


Jaden Smith, American actor and rapper

Jaden Christopher Syre Smith is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. The son of Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will Smith, he has received various accolades, including a Teen Choice Award, an MTV Movie Award, a BET Award and a Young Artist Award. He has received a Grammy Award nomination, and has won two NAACP Image Awards and an Empire Award.


08/07/1997

Bryce Love, American football player

Jonathan Bryce Love is an American former football running back. He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal and was selected by the Washington Redskins in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft, although he never played in a game with them due to a lingering issue from a knee injury he suffered at Stanford. In his youth, he was also a sprinter specializing in the 200 meters and 400 meters, earning USA Track & Field Youth Athlete of the Year honors in 2009.


08/07/1996

Marlon Humphrey, American football player

Marlon N. Humphrey is an American professional football cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He attended Hoover High School, where he was named to the USA Today All-USA high school football team in 2012 and 2013. During his tenure, he won a silver medal in the 110 metres hurdles at the 2013 World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine. He also was named as a USA Today All-American Track and Field Team.


08/07/1993

David Corenswet, American actor

David Packard Corenswet is an American actor. After graduating from The Juilliard School in 2016, he began guest-starring in television series, including House of Cards in 2018. He played lead roles in the Netflix series The Politician (2019–2020) and Hollywood (2020), both created by Ryan Murphy. In 2022, he starred in the films Look Both Ways and Pearl, and the HBO miniseries We Own This City. After supporting roles in the film Twisters and the miniseries Lady in the Lake, he rose to prominence with his portrayal of the titular superhero in James Gunn's DC Universe (DCU) film Superman.


08/07/1992

Ariel Camacho, Mexican singer-songwriter (died 2015)

José Ariel Camacho Barraza was a Mexican musician and singer-songwriter. He predominantly performed regional Mexican music, mainly corridos. He was the lead singer and lead guitarist of his group, Ariel Camacho y Los Plebes del Rancho. In 2013, Ariel Camacho y Los Plebes del Rancho signed to JG Records where they frequently played in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. In 2014 they signed with DEL Records, which allowed them to play their music in the United States.


Son Heung-min, Korean footballer

Son Heung-min is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and captains the South Korea national team. Known for his speed, finishing, two-footedness, and ability to link play, he is the top Asian goalscorer in both Premier League and UEFA Champions League history, and is widely regarded as the greatest Asian player of all time.


08/07/1991

Virgil van Dijk, Dutch footballer

Virgil van Dijk is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captains both Premier League club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation, and one of the greatest defenders in Premier League history, he is known for his strength, leadership, speed and aerial ability.


08/07/1990

Kevin Trapp, German footballer

Kevin Christian Trapp is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Ligue 1 club Paris FC.


08/07/1989

Yarden Gerbi, Israeli Judo champion

Yarden Gerbi is an Israeli former judoka world champion. She won an Olympic bronze medal competing for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in women's 63 kg judo.


Tor Marius Gromstad, Norwegian footballer (died 2012)

Tor Marius Gromstad was a Norwegian footballer who played as a defender for Stabæk and FK Arendal.


08/07/1988

Miki Roqué, Spanish footballer (died 2012)

Miguel "Miki" Roqué Farrero was a Spanish professional footballer who played as a central defender.


Jesse Sergent, New Zealand cyclist

Jesse Sergent is a retired New Zealand racing cyclist who rode professionally between 2011 and 2016 for Team RadioShack, Trek Factory Racing and AG2R La Mondiale.


08/07/1987

Josh Harrison, American baseball player

Joshua Isaiah Harrison is an American former professional baseball utility player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox, and Philadelphia Phillies. Harrison is a two-time MLB All-Star. Internationally, Harrison represents the United States. In the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC), he helped win Team USA's first gold medal in a WBC tournament.


08/07/1986

Renata Costa, Brazilian footballer

Renata Aparecida da Costa, commonly known as Renata Costa or Kóki, is a Brazilian football coach and former player, most recently an assistant coach with Iranduba. She represented the Brazil women's national football team at three editions of the FIFA Women's World Cup and three Olympic football tournaments.


08/07/1983

John Bowker, American baseball player

John Brite Bowker is an American former professional baseball player. An outfielder and first baseman, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Phillies and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yomiuri Giants and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. Bowker stands 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighs 205 pounds (93 kg); he bats and throws left-handed.


Rich Peverley, Canadian ice hockey player

John Richard Peverley is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He spent four years with the St. Lawrence University hockey team before turning professional, then playing three years for several teams in both the ECHL and American Hockey League (AHL). In 2007, he signed a contract with the Nashville Predators of the NHL, playing for the team for parts of three seasons before the Atlanta Thrashers claimed him off waivers in 2009. Peverley first played internationally for Team Canada at the 2010 World Championships. He retired after the 2013–14 season because of a heart ailment.


08/07/1982

Shonette Azore-Bruce, Barbadian netball player

Shonette Azore-Bruce also simply known as Shonette Azore is a Barbadian netball player who represents Barbados internationally and plays in the positions of goal defense and goal keeper. She competed at the Netball World Cup on four occasions in 1999, 2011, 2015 and 2019. She also represented Barbados at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018.


Sophia Bush, American actress and director

Sophia Anna Bush is an American actress. She starred as Brooke Davis in The WB/CW drama series One Tree Hill (2003–2012), and as Erin Lindsay in the NBC police procedural drama series Chicago P.D. (2014–2017). She was a producer for and starred in the lead role of Dr. Samantha "Sam" Griffith in the medical drama Good Sam (2022).


Hakim Warrick, American basketball player

Hakim Hanif Warrick is an American former professional basketball player. A power forward, he played college basketball for the Syracuse Orange from 2001 to 2005. He won an NCAA championship in 2003 and blocked a potential game-tying three-pointer in the title game.


08/07/1981

Wolfram Müller, German runner

Wolfram Müller is a German middle-distance runner who specialises in the 1500 metres.


Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player

Anastasia Andreyevna Myskina is a Russian former professional tennis player. Myskina won the 2004 French Open singles title, becoming the first Russian woman to win a major singles title. Due to this victory, she rose to No. 3 in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, becoming the first Russian woman to reach the top 3 in the history of the rankings. In September 2004, she reached a career-high ranking of No. 2.


08/07/1980

Eric Chouinard, American-Canadian ice hockey player

Eric Guy Chouinard is an American-born Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers and Minnesota Wild.


Robbie Keane, Irish footballer

Robert David Keane is an Irish professional football coach and former player, who was most recently the head coach of NB I club Ferencváros. Widely considered one of Ireland's greatest ever footballers, Keane played as a striker, and was captain of the Republic of Ireland from March 2006 until his international retirement in August 2016. He is the most capped player and top goalscorer for Ireland.


08/07/1979

Mat McBriar, American football player

Mat McBriar is an Australian former professional player of American football who was a punter in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers and San Diego Chargers. He played college football for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.


Ben Jelen, Scottish-American singer-songwriter

Benjamin Ivan Jelen is a Scottish-born American former singer-songwriter who plays the piano, violin, and guitar. He has lived in Scotland, England, Texas, New Jersey and New York. His career has been characterized by near-stardom, with his debut album, Give It All Away peaking at No. 113 on the Billboard 200 list. As of 2011, he is on indefinite hiatus from his solo career and is working with a new band, along with former Deuce Project member Josh McMillan known as Under The Elephant.


08/07/1978

Urmas Rooba, Estonian footballer

Urmas Rooba is a retired Estonian footballer, who last played for Paide Linnameeskond in Meistriliiga. He played the position of defender.


08/07/1977

Christian Abbiati, Italian footballer

Christian Abbiati is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.


Paolo Tiralongo, Italian cyclist

Paolo Tiralongo is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2000 and 2017 for the Fassa Bortolo, Ceramica Panaria–Navigare, Lampre–NGC and Astana teams.


Milo Ventimiglia, American actor, director, and producer

Milo Anthony Ventimiglia is an American actor. Making his screen acting debut on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1995, he portrayed the lead role on the short-lived series Opposite Sex in 2000 before landing his breakthrough role in Gilmore Girls (2001–2007).


Wang Zhizhi, Chinese basketball player

Wang Zhizhi is a Chinese former professional basketball player who was the head coach of the Bayi Rockets, the team with which he spent his domestic career in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He also played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Miami Heat, becoming China's first player to compete in the NBA.


08/07/1976

Talal El Karkouri, Moroccan footballer

Talal El Karkouri is a Moroccan former professional footballer and former coach of Qatar Stars League club Umm Salal SC. He played top-flight football in Morocco, France, Greece, England and Qatar before retiring in 2012. He made his international debut for Morocco in 2000, and earned 53 caps, playing at three African Cups of Nations.


Ellen MacArthur, English sailor

Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur is an English retired sailor and charity founder. On 7 February 2005, she broke the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe, a feat which gained her international renown. She held the record until early 2008. Following her retirement from professional sailing on 2 September 2010, MacArthur announced the launch of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a charity that works with business and education to promote a circular economy.


08/07/1974

Hu Liang, Chinese field hockey player

Hu Liang is a Chinese professional field hockey player who represented China at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The team finished last in their group, and finished 11th after beating South Africa.


08/07/1973

Kathleen Robertson, Canadian actress and writer

Kathleen Robertson is a Canadian actress. She has starred in a number of films, and from 2011 to 2012 played the role of Kitty O'Neill in the Starz political drama series Boss. From 2014 to 2016, Robertson starred as homicide detective Hildy Mulligan in the TNT series Murder in the First. She also played Tina Edison in the Canadian sitcom Maniac Mansion (1990–1993) and Clare Arnold in the Fox teen drama series Beverly Hills, 90210 (1994–1997). In 2019, she played a main character in the series Northern Rescue.


08/07/1972

Karl Dykhuis, Canadian ice hockey player

Karl Sebastien Dykhuis is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 12 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens.


Sourav Ganguly, Indian cricketer

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, also known as Dada, is an Indian cricket administrator and former cricketer and captain of the Indian national cricket team. He is popularly called the Maharaja of Indian Cricket. He is regarded as one of India's most successful cricket captains. As captain, he led Indian national team to win the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy and reach the final of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, the 2000 ICC Champions Trophy and the 2004 Asia Cup.


Shōsuke Tanihara, Japanese actor

Shōsuke Tanihara is a Japanese actor probably best known outside Japan for his portrayal of Riki Fudoh in Fudoh: The New Generation and Hajime Kudo in Godzilla vs. Megaguirus.


08/07/1971

Neil Jenkins, Welsh rugby player and coach

Neil Jenkins, is a Welsh former rugby union player and current coach. He played fly-half, centre, or full back for Pontypridd, Cardiff, Celtic Warriors, Wales and the British & Irish Lions. Jenkins is Wales' highest ever points-scorer and is the fifth highest on the List of leading rugby union test point scorers. He was the first player to score 1,000 points in international matches.


08/07/1970

Beck, American singer-songwriter and producer

Beck David Hansen, known mononymously as Beck, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical collages of wide-ranging genres. He has musically encompassed folk, funk, soul, hip hop, electronica, alternative rock, country, and psychedelia. He has released 15 studio albums, as well as several non-album singles and a book of sheet music.


Mark Butler, Australian politician

Mark Christopher Butler is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in the House of Representatives since 2007. He was a minister in the Gillard and Rudd governments and also served as national president of the ALP from 2015 to 2018.


Sylvain Gaudreault, Canadian educator and politician

Sylvain Gaudreault is a Canadian politician and teacher. He was the Member of National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Jonquière in the city of Saguenay from 2007 to 2022. He represented the Parti Québécois. On May 6, 2016, the party caucus chose him as interim leader following the resignation of PQ leader Pierre Karl Péladeau.


Todd Martin, American tennis player and coach

Todd Martin is an American retired tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the 1994 Australian Open and the 1999 US Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4.


08/07/1969

Sugizo, Japanese singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer

Yūne Sugihara , born Yasuhiro Sugihara and better known by his stage name Sugizo, is a Japanese musician, songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist and violinist of the rock band Luna Sea since 1989.


08/07/1968

Billy Crudup, American actor

William Gaither Crudup is an American actor. He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for his performance in Jesus' Son (1999). He went on to star in high-profile films, including Almost Famous (2000), Big Fish (2003), Mission: Impossible III (2006), Watchmen (2009), Public Enemies (2009), The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015), Jackie (2016), and Alien: Covenant (2017), in both lead and supporting roles.


Shane Howarth, New Zealand rugby player and coach

Shane Paul Howarth is a former international rugby union player who gained four caps and scored 54 points for the All Blacks before later switching allegiance to Wales, attaining 19 Welsh caps.


08/07/1967

Jordan Chan, Hong Kong actor and singer

Jordan Chan Siu-chun is a Hong Kong actor, singer and dancer, known for starring in the Young and Dangerous film series and for his role in the 1998 TV adaptation of Louis Cha's novel, The Duke of Mount Deer. In recent years, he received renewed attention for his appearances in the Chinese reality shows Where Are We Going, Dad? in 2017 and Call Me By Fire.


Charlie Cardona, Colombian singer

Charlie Cardona is a Colombian singer. In 1990, he became the lead singer of the musical ensemble Grupo Niche and at the 11th Lo Nuestro Awards he was nominated for Tropical New Artist of the Year.


08/07/1966

Ralf Altmeyer, German-Chinese virologist and academic

Ralf M. Altmeyer is a German virologist who leads the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, a joint institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institut Pasteur and Shanghai Municipal Government, founded in 2004.


Shadlog Bernicke, Nauruan politician

Shadlog Armait Bernicke is a Nauruan politician representing the Buada constituency in the Parliament of Nauru.


08/07/1965

Dan Levinson, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and bandleader

Daniel A. Levinson is an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, and bandleader. He is best known for his mastery of the jazz styles of the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s.


08/07/1964

Alexei Gusarov, Russian ice hockey player and manager

Alexei Vasilievich Gusarov is a Russian former ice hockey defenceman. He played for the Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues. Gusarov and Valeri Kamensky were the first Russian-born players to achieve the Triple Gold Club, along with being one of the first 10 members in the Triple Gold Club. He reached this level while with the Colorado Avalanche in 1996.


08/07/1963

Mark Christopher, American director and screenwriter

Mark Christopher is a screenwriter and director best known for directing and writing 54 (1998).


08/07/1962

Joan Osborne, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Joan Elizabeth Osborne is an American singer, songwriter, and interpreter of music, having recorded and performed in various popular American musical genres including rock, pop, soul, R&B, blues, and country. She is best known for her recording of the Eric Bazilian-penned song "One of Us" from her debut album, Relish (1995). Both the single and the album became worldwide hits and garnered a combined seven Grammy Award nominations. Osborne has toured with Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers and was featured in the documentary film about them, Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002).


08/07/1961

Ces Drilon, Filipino journalist

Cecilia "Ces" Victoria Oreña-Drilon is a Filipino broadcast journalist. She anchored news and public affairs programs for the News and Current Affairs division of ABS-CBN Corporation from 1989 to 2020. From 2018 to 2020, she also served as the division's Content Acquisition Head for the Lifestyle Ecosystem Group. Oreña-Drilon is currently a news anchor for The Big Story, the flagship nightly newscast of One News.


Andrew Fletcher, English keyboard player (died 2022)

Andrew John Fletcher, also known as Fletch, was an English musician and founding member of the electronic band Depeche Mode. In 2020, he and the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


Toby Keith, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (died 2024)

Toby Keith Covel was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and businessman. He began using the stage name Toby Keith early in his music career.


Karl Seglem, Norwegian saxophonist and record producer

Karl Seglem is a Norwegian Jazz musician, composer and producer, known from a series of combined jazz and traditional music releases, as well as leading his own record label NorCD from 1991.


08/07/1960

Mal Meninga, Australian rugby league player and coach

Malcolm Norman Meninga is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long career in both Australia and England, playing mainly as a goal-kicking centre. After retiring, Meninga has enjoyed success as a coach, and is a former head coach of the Australian national team and currently head coach of the new NRL franchise the Perth Bears.


08/07/1959

Pauline Quirke, English actress

Pauline Perpetua Sheen is a retired English actress. She began her career with roles on various television series, before fronting her own comedy sketch show, Pauline's Quirkes, in 1976. She later starred as Vicky Smith on the BBC drama series Angels (1982–1983), and achieved fame with her portrayal of Sharon Theodopolopodous on the long-running sitcom Birds of a Feather, for which she won a British Comedy Award and was nominated on three occasions for a National Television Award. In 1997, she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress for her role in the BBC miniseries The Sculptress. Between 2010 and 2012, Quirke played Hazel Rhodes on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale.


08/07/1958

Kevin Bacon, American actor and musician

Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American actor. Known for various roles, including leading man characters, Bacon has received numerous accolades such as a Golden Globe Award and two Actor Awards.


Andreas Carlgren, Swedish educator and politician, 8th Swedish Minister for the Environment

Hemming Andreas Carlgren is a Swedish Centre Party politician, and a former Minister for the Environment in the Swedish government.


Tzipi Livni, Israeli lawyer and politician, 18th Justice Minister of Israel

Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni is an Israeli politician, diplomat and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former foreign minister, vice prime minister, minister of justice, and leader of the opposition. She is known by some for her efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Widely considered the most powerful woman in Israel since Golda Meir, Livni has served in eight different cabinet positions throughout her career, setting the record for most government roles held by an Israeli woman. She was the first female Israeli vice prime minister, justice minister, agriculture minister, and housing minister.


08/07/1957

Carlos Cavazo, Mexican-American guitarist and songwriter

Carlos Cavazo is an American musician best known as the guitarist for heavy metal band Quiet Riot during their commercial peak. He has also played with Snow, 3 Legged Dogg, Hollywood Allstarz, and Ratt.


Aleksandr Gurnov, Russian journalist and author

Aleksandr Gurnov, full name Aleksandr Borisovich Gurnov, is a Russian TV persona.


08/07/1956

Terry Puhl, Canadian baseball player and coach

Terry Stephen Puhl is a Canadian former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder from 1977 to 1991, most prominently as a member of the Houston Astros, where he helped the franchise win its first-ever National League West division title and postseason berth in 1980. He also played for the Kansas City Royals.


08/07/1952

Larry Garner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Larry Garner is a Louisiana blues musician best known for his 1994 album Too Blues.


Jack Lambert, American football player and sportscaster

John Harold Lambert is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for his entire 11-year career for Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). Recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990 as "the greatest linebacker of his era," Lambert was the starting middle linebacker on four Super Bowl-winning teams with the Steelers. He played college football for the Kent State Golden Flashes. In 2019, he was named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.


Marianne Williamson, American author and activist

Marianne Deborah Williamson is an American self-help author, speaker, and political activist. She began her professional career as a spiritual leader of the Church of Today, a Unity Church in Warren, Michigan. Williamson has written several self-help books, including A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles in 1992, which became a New York Times Best Seller. She rose to prominence through frequent appearances on Oprah Winfrey's show, and becoming known as her "spiritual advisor".


08/07/1951

Alan Ashby, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster

Alan Dean Ashby is an American former professional baseball catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) and former radio and television sports commentator. A switch hitter, he played for the Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, and Houston Astros between 1973 and 1989.


Anjelica Huston, American actress and director

Anjelica Huston is an American actress, director and model. Known for often portraying eccentric and distinctive characters, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for three British Academy Film Awards and six Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2010, she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


08/07/1949

Wolfgang Puck, Austrian-American chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur

Wolfgang Johannes Puck is an Austrian-born American chef and restaurateur.


Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Indian politician, 14th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (died 2009)

Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy, popularly known as YSR, was an Indian politician. He served as the 14th chief minister of Andhra Pradesh from 2004 to 2009. Reddy was elected four terms to the Lok Sabha from Kadapa. He was also elected six terms to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Pulivendula. Over the course of his career, he won every election that he contested, either to Assembly or Lok Sabha.


08/07/1948

Raffi, Egyptian-Canadian singer-songwriter

Raffi Cavoukian, known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is an Armenian-Canadian singer-lyricist and author born in Egypt best known for his children's music. In 1992, The Washington Post called him "the most popular children's singer in the English-speaking world". He developed his career as a "global troubadour" to become a music producer, author, entrepreneur, and founder of the Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring, an initiative focused on promoting children's rights and well-being. He has also been involved in advocacy for environmental and social causes, often addressing issues like commercial exploitation of children and climate change through his music and public appearances.


Ruby Sales, American civil-rights activist

Ruby Nell Sales is an African-American social justice activist, scholar, and public theologian. She has been described as a "legendary civil rights activist" by the PBS program Religion and Ethics Weekly, and is one of 50 civil rights leaders showcased by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.


08/07/1947

Kim Darby, American actress

Kim Darby is an American actress and teacher. Her breakout role was as Mattie Ross in the 1969 Western film True Grit, earning her a BAFTA Award nomination for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. The same year, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her performance in counterculture comedy Generation (1969).


Jenny Diski, English author and screenwriter (died 2016)

Jenny Diski FRSL was an English novelist, non-fiction writer and memoirist. She was a regular contributor to the London Review of Books; articles and essays she wrote for the publication are in the collections Don't and Why Didn't You Do What You Were Told? Her memoirs include In Gratitude, The Sixties, Skating to Antarctica, and Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking around America With Interruptions, for which she won the 2003 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.


Luis Fernando Figari, Peruvian religious leader, founded the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae

Luis Fernando Figari Rodrigo is a Peruvian Catholic layman who is the founder and former superior general of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. He also founded the Christian Life Movement and several other religious associations.


08/07/1945

Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss politician, 91st President of the Swiss Confederation

Micheline Anne-Marie Calmy-Rey is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SP/PS), she was the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs for the whole of her tenure as a Federal Councillor. She was President of the Swiss Confederation twice, in 2007 and 2011.


08/07/1944

Jaimoe, American drummer

John Lee Johnson, frequently known by the stage names Jai Johanny Johanson and Jaimoe, is an American drummer and percussionist. He is best known as one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band and, with the death of Dickey Betts on April 18, 2024, he is the last surviving original member of the band.


Jeffrey Tambor, American actor and singer

Jeffrey Michael Tambor is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom The Ropers (1979–1980), as Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show (1992–1998), George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development and Maura Pfefferman on Transparent (2014–2017). For his role in the latter, Tambor earned two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series out of three nominations. In 2015, he was also awarded a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Pfefferman.


08/07/1942

Phil Gramm, American economist and politician

William Philip Gramm is an American economist and politician who represented Texas in both chambers of Congress. Though he began his political career as a Democrat, Gramm switched to the Republican Party in 1983. Gramm was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1996 Republican Party presidential primaries against eventual nominee Bob Dole.


08/07/1941

Dario Gradi, Italian-English footballer, coach, and manager

Dario Gradi is an Italian-English former football player, coach and manager. He was associated for more than 36 years with Crewe Alexandra, where he was variously manager, director of football and director of the Academy, until October 2019.


08/07/1940

Joe B. Mauldin, American bass player and songwriter (died 2015)

Joseph Benson Mauldin Jr. was an American bassist, songwriter, and audio engineer who was best known as the bassist for the early rock and roll group the Crickets. Mauldin initially played a double bass, then switched to a Fender Precision electric bass. After several years with the Crickets, he became a recording engineer at Gold Star Studios, the Los Angeles studio which became the "hit factory" for Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, and other major 1960s rock performers.


08/07/1939

Ed Lumley, Canadian businessman and politician, 8th Canadian Minister of Communications (died 2025)

Edward C. Lumley was a Canadian corporate executive and politician.


08/07/1938

Diane Clare, English actress (died 2013)

Diane Clare was an English actress.


08/07/1935

John David Crow, American football player and coach (died 2015)

John David Crow Sr. was an American professional football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1957 as a halfback playing for the Texas A&M Aggies. After college, he played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago / St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers from 1958 to 1968.


Steve Lawrence, American actor and singer (died 2024)

Steve Lawrence was an American singer, comedian, and actor. He was best known as a member of the pop duo Steve and Eydie, with his wife Eydie Gormé. Lawrence also played the featured role of Maury Sline, the manager and friend of the main characters in the 1980 blockbuster film The Blues Brothers and its sequel. Lawrence and Gormé first appeared together as regulars on Tonight Starring Steve Allen in 1954 and continued performing as a duo until Gormé's retirement in 2009.


Vitaly Sevastyanov, Russian engineer and cosmonaut (died 2010)

Vitaly Ivanovich Sevastyanov was a Soviet cosmonaut and an engineer who flew on the Soyuz 9 and Soyuz 18 missions.


08/07/1934

Raquel Correa, Chilean journalist (died 2012)

Raquel Teresa Correa was a Chilean journalist who spent the main part of her career with the newspaper El Mercurio. She was well known for her interviews and reporting, and was the recipient of Chile's National Prize for Journalism in 1991.


Edward D. DiPrete, American politician, 70th Governor of Rhode Island (died 2025)

Edward Daniel DiPrete was an American politician. He served as the 70th Governor of Rhode Island for three two-year terms, serving from 1985 to 1991. Convicted of numerous corruption charges, he was the only Rhode Island governor to have gone to prison.


Marty Feldman, English actor and screenwriter (died 1982)

Martin Alan Feldman was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was known for his prominent, misaligned eyes.


08/07/1933

Antonio Lamer, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Chief Justice of Canada (died 2007)

Joseph Antonio Charles Lamer was a Canadian lawyer and jurist who served as the 16th Chief Justice of Canada from 1990 to 2000.


08/07/1930

Jerry Vale, American singer (died 2014)

Jerry Vale was an American traditional pop singer. During the 1950s and 1960s, he reached the top of the pop charts with his interpretations of romantic ballads, including a cover of Eddy Arnold hit "You Don't Know Me" (1956) and "Have You Looked into Your Heart" (1964). Vale, who was of Italian descent, sang numerous songs in Italian, many of which were used in soundtracks of films by Martin Scorsese.


08/07/1928

Balakh Sher Mazari, former prime minister of Pakistan (died 2022)

Sardar Mir Balakh Sher Mazari was a Pakistani politician who served as Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan for five weeks in 1993. He was the tumandar and the paramount sardar of the Mazari tribe which is situated on the tristate area between Balochistan, Sindh, and Punjab provinces of Pakistan.


08/07/1927

Maurice Hayes, Irish educator and politician (died 2017)

Maurice Hayes was an Irish public servant and, late in life, an independent member of both the 21st and 22nd Seanad. Hayes was nominated by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, in 1997 and re-nominated in 2002. He also served, at the Taoiseach's request, as Chairman of the National Forum on Europe in the Republic of Ireland.


Bob Beckham, American country singer (died 2013)

Robert Joseph Beckham was an American country music publisher based in Nashville, who mentored generations of songwriters as head of Combine Music Publishing from 1964 to 1989. He played a pivotal role in the career of Kris Kristofferson and guided other artists including Dolly Parton, Larry Gatlin, Tony Joe White and Billy Swan.


08/07/1926

David Malet Armstrong, Australian philosopher and author (died 2014)

David Malet Armstrong, often D. M. Armstrong, was an Australian philosopher. He is well known for his work on metaphysics and the philosophy of mind, and for his defence of a factualist ontology, a functionalist theory of the mind, an externalist epistemology, and a necessitarian conception of the laws of nature.


John Dingell, American lieutenant and politician (died 2019)

John David Dingell Jr. was an American politician from the state of Michigan who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1955 until 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, Dingell holds the record as the longest-serving member of Congress in American history.


Martin Riesen, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender (died 2003)

Martin Riesen was a Swiss ice hockey goaltender who represented the Swiss national team at the 1956 Winter Olympics.


Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-American psychiatrist and author (died 2004)

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was a Swiss and American psychiatrist, a pioneer in near-death studies, author, and developer of the five stages of grief, also known as the "Kübler-Ross model".


08/07/1925

Marco Cé, Italian cardinal (died 2014)

Marco Cé was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Patriarch of Venice from 1978 to 2002 and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1979.


Arthur Imperatore Sr., Italian-American businessman (died 2020)

Arthur Edward Imperatore Sr. was an American businessman and sports owner from New Jersey. He was best known as being the founder and president of the NY Waterway, a ferry service. After serving in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II Imperatore founded, with his brothers, A-P-A Transport Corp. He purchased the Colorado Rockies hockey team in 1978 and sold it in 1981. That same year he purchased waterfront land at Weehawken, New Jersey, with the intention of constructing a residential development. Imperatore set up a passenger ferry service to support this development and that grew into NY Waterway which ran 36 ferries.


Bill Mackrides, American football quarterback (died 2019)

William Mackrides was an American professional football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He helped the Eagles win the 1948 and 1949 NFL Championships.


Dominique Nohain, French actor, screenwriter and director (died 2017)

Dominique Nohain was a French actor, dramatist, screenwriter and theatre director. He was the son of Jean Nohain and thus cousin with Jean-Claude Dauphin.


08/07/1924

Johnnie Johnson, American pianist and songwriter (died 2005)

Johnnie Clyde Johnson was an American pianist who played jazz, blues, and rock and roll. His work with Chuck Berry led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for breaking racial barriers in the military as a Montford Point Marine, where he endured racism and inspired social change while integrating the previously all-white Marine Corps during World War II.


Charles C. Droz, American politician (died 2025)

Charles Clinton Droz was an American politician from Miller, South Dakota. He was a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives. He was an alumnus of South Dakota State University and a veteran of World War II serving with the United States Army. Droz was a farmer and rancher. He was married to Fern Elizabeth Matre since 1948, until her death in December 2020 at the age of 92. Droz died in Miller on July 22, 2025, at the age of 101.


08/07/1923

Harrison Dillard, American sprinter and hurdler (died 2019)

William Harrison "Bones" Dillard was an American track and field athlete, who is the only male in the history of the Olympic Games to win gold in both the 100 meter (sprints) and the 110 meter hurdles, making him the “World’s Fastest Man” in 1948 and the “World’s Fastest Hurdler” in 1952.


Val Bettin, American actor (died 2021)

Valentine John Bettin was an American actor, known for using an English accent in all of his roles. He is perhaps best known for voicing Dr. David Q. Dawson in the 1986 Disney animated film The Great Mouse Detective and the Sultan in Disney's Aladdin, taking over for Douglas Seale in the two direct-to-video sequels The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves as well as the TV show. Bettin also hosted The Storyteller, a children's show on Chicago television in the late 1950s.


08/07/1921

John Money, New Zealand psychologist and sexologist, known for his research on gender identity, and responsible for controversial involuntary sex reassignment of David Reimer (died 2006)

John William Money was a New Zealand American psychologist, sexologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University known for his research on human sexual behavior and gender.


08/07/1920

Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman (died 1995)

Godtfred Kirk Christiansen was a Danish businessman who was the managing director of the Lego Group from 1957 to 1973. He was the third son of company founder Ole Kirk Christiansen and took over as managing director in 1957, eventually becoming the sole owner. Godtfred is credited with playing a pivotal role in the development of the Lego brick design and patented it in 1958. He also created the Lego System in Play, the cornerstone of the Lego construction toy. Godtfred stepped down as Leader of the company in 1973. His son Kjeld Kirk Christiansen became president in 1979.


08/07/1919

Walter Scheel, German soldier and politician, 4th President of West Germany (died 2016)

Walter Scheel was a German statesman. A former member of the Nazi Party who joined the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) in 1946, he first served in government as the Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1961 to 1966 and later as President of Germany from 1974 to 1979. He led the FDP from 1968 to 1974.


08/07/1918

Paul B. Fay, American businessman, soldier, and diplomat, 12th United States Secretary of the Navy (died 2009)

Paul Burgess Fay Jr. was the Acting United States Secretary of the Navy in November 1963, and a close confidant of President John F. Kennedy.


Irwin Hasen, American illustrator (died 2015)

Irwin Hasen was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of the Dondi comic strip. He also had a significant run on DC Comics' original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, in the 1940s as well as creating Wildcat for the same publisher.


Oluf Reed-Olsen, Norwegian resistance member and pilot (died 2002)

Oluf Bernhard Reed-Olsen was a Norwegian resistance member and pilot during World War II. As a resistance member he is best known for the Lysaker Bridge sabotage as well as operating illegal radio transmitters. After the war he was a businessman and Scouting leader. He wrote books and contributed to a film based on his war experience.


Julia Pirie, British spy working for MI5 (died 2008)

Elizabeth Mary Julia Pirie is best known as a British spy who worked for MI5 from the 1950s through her retirement in the 1990s. She was known to her family as Elizabeth, but as Julia by her MI5 colleagues. She was initially recruited to spy on the Communist Party of Great Britain. The Communist Party's relevance had dwindled significantly by 1978 and she was withdrawn from her role there and assigned to other roles by MI5.


Edward B. Giller, American Air Force major general (died 2017)

Edward Bonfoy Giller was a United States Air Force (USAF) major general who served as the assistant general manager for military application, United States Atomic Energy Commission, Germantown, Maryland. Giller was assistant director and then director of the Research Directorate for the Air Force Special Weapons Center at Kirtland Air Force Base in the 1950s and 60s. He was the USAF Liaison officer for the Project Orion.


Craig Stevens, American actor (died 2000)

Craig Stevens was an American film and television actor, best known for his starring role on television as private detective Peter Gunn from 1958 to 1961.


08/07/1917

Pamela Brown, English actress (died 1975)

Pamela Mary Brown was a British actress. For her portrayal of Queen Victoria's mother Princess Victoria, Duchess of Kent in Victoria Regina (1961) she was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.


Faye Emerson, American actress (died 1983)

Faye Margaret Emerson was an American film and stage actress and television interviewer who gained fame as a film actress in the 1940s before transitioning to television in the 1950s and hosting her own talk show.


J. F. Powers, American novelist and short story writer (died 1999)

James Farl Powers was an American novelist and short story writer who often drew his inspiration from developments in the Catholic Church, and was known for his studies of Catholic priests in the Midwest. Although not a priest himself, he is known for having captured a "clerical idiom" in postwar North America. His first novel, Morte d'Urban, won the 1963 National Book Award for Fiction.


08/07/1916

Jean Rouverol, American author, actress and screenwriter (died 2017)

Jean Rouverol was an American actress, screenwriter and author who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios in the 1950s.


08/07/1915

Neil D. Van Sickle, American Air Force major general (died 2019)

Neil David Van Sickle was an American Air Force major general who was the deputy inspector general at Headquarters, United States Air Force, Washington, D.C.


Lowell English, United States Marine Corps general (died 2005)

Lowell Edward English was a highly decorated officer in the United States Marine Corps who served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He is most noted for his service as assistant division commander of 3rd Marine Division during the Vietnam War and, later, as commander of Task Force Delta. He rose to the rank of major general and completed his career in 1969 as commanding general of Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.


08/07/1914

Jyoti Basu, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of West Bengal (died 2010)

Jyoti Basu aka শালিবাহন(born Jyotirindra Basu or Jyoti Bose; 8 July 1914 – 17 January 2010) was an Indian Marxist theorist, communist activist, and politician. He was one of the most prominent leaders of the Communist movement in India. He served as the 6th and longest serving Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000. He was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was a member of Politburo of the party from its formation in 1964 until 2008. He was also a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly 11 times. In his political career, spanning over seven decades, he was noted to have been India's longest serving chief minister under elected democracy at the time of his resignation. He declined the post of Prime Minister after the 1996 Indian general election, after the CPM refused to let him head a multi-party coalition as it would not be able to implement Marxist programs, and relinquished the prime ministership to Deve Gowda.


Billy Eckstine, American singer and trumpet player (died 1993)

William Clarence Eckstine was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award "for performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording". His recording of "I Apologize" was given the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999. The New York Times described him as an "influential band leader" whose "suave bass-baritone" and "full-throated, sugary approach to popular songs inspired singers such as Earl Coleman, Johnny Hartman, Joe Williams, Arthur Prysock, and Lou Rawls."


08/07/1913

Alejandra Soler, Spanish politician (died 2017)

Alejandra Soler Gilabert was a Spanish politician and schoolteacher. She also worked for the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.


08/07/1911

Ken Farnes, English cricketer (died 1941)

Kenneth Farnes was an English cricketer. He played in fifteen Tests from 1934 to 1939.


08/07/1910

Carlos Betances Ramírez, Puerto Rican general (died 2001)

The 65th Infantry Regiment, nicknamed "The Borinqueneers" during the Korean War for the original Arawak Native Taino name for Puerto Rico (Borinquen), is a Puerto Rican regiment of the United States Army. The regiment's motto is Honor et Fidelitas, Latin for Honor and Fidelity. The Army Appropriation Bill created by an act of Congress on 2 March 1899 authorized the creation of the first body of native troops in Puerto Rico. On 30 June 1901, the "Porto Rico Provisional Regiment of Infantry" was organized. On 1 July 1908, Congress incorporated the regiment into the Regular Army as the Puerto Rico Regiment of Infantry, United States Army. On 14 May 1917, the regiment was activated and additional men were assigned, with the unit being sent to serve at Panama. On 4 June 1920, the regiment was renamed 65th Infantry. During World War II, the regiment saw action throughout Europe, especially France and Germany, participating in Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno and Rhin. Several Purple Hearts were awarded posthumously to members of the 65th Regiment.


08/07/1909

Alan Brown, English soldier (died 1971)

Brigadier Alan Ward Brown was a British Army tank officer of the Second World War.


Ike Petersen, American football player (died 1995)

Kenneth Anthony "Ike" Petersen was an American professional football back who played two seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Chicago Cardinals and Detroit Lions. He played college football at Gonzaga University. His last name is sometimes misspelled as "Peterson".


08/07/1908

Louis Jordan, American singer-songwriter, saxophonist, and actor (died 1975)

Louis Thomas Jordan was an American jazz, blues and jump blues saxophonist, vocalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "the King of the Jukebox", he earned his highest profile towards the end of the swing era.


Nelson Rockefeller, American businessman and politician, 41st Vice President of the United States (died 1979)

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st vice president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. A member of the Republican Party and the wealthy Rockefeller family, he was the 49th governor of New York from 1959 to 1973. He was the leader of the moderate faction of his party, known as the Rockefeller Republicans.


V. K. R. Varadaraja Rao, Indian economist, politician, professor and educator (died 1991)

Vijayendra Kasturi Ranga Varadaraja Rao was an Indian economist, politician and educator.


08/07/1907

George W. Romney, American businessman and politician, 43rd Governor of Michigan (died 1995)

George Wilcken Romney was an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as chairman and president of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and 3rd secretary of housing and urban development from 1969 to 1973. He was the father of Mitt Romney, who served as United States senator from Utah and as governor of Massachusetts and was the 2012 Republican presidential nominee; the husband of 1970 U.S. Senate candidate Lenore Romney; and the paternal grandfather of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel.


08/07/1906

Philip Johnson, American architect, designed the IDS Center and PPG Place (died 2005)

Philip Cortelyou Johnson was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 Madison Avenue in New York City, designed for AT&T; 190 South La Salle Street in Chicago; IDS Tower in downtown Minneapolis; the Sculpture Garden of New York City's Museum of Modern Art; the postmodern Williams Tower in Houston, Texas; and the Pre-Columbian Pavilion at Dumbarton Oaks. His January 2005 obituary in The New York Times described his works as being "widely considered among the architectural masterpieces of the 20th century".


08/07/1905

Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator and director (died 1997)

Leonid Alekseyevich Amalrik was a Soviet animation director and animator. Honoured Worker of the Arts Industry of the RSFSR (1965).


08/07/1904

Henri Cartan, French mathematician and academic (died 2008)

Henri Paul Cartan was a French mathematician who made substantial contributions to algebraic topology.


08/07/1900

George Antheil, American pianist, composer, and author (died 1959)

George Johann Carl Antheil was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author, and inventor whose modernist musical compositions explored the sounds – musical, industrial, and mechanical – of the early 20th century. Spending much of the 1920s in Europe, Antheil returned to the United States in the 1930s, and thereafter composed music for films, and eventually, television. As a result of this work, his style became more tonal. A man of diverse interests and talents, Antheil was constantly reinventing himself. He wrote magazine articles, an autobiography, a mystery novel, and newspaper and music columns.


08/07/1898

Melville Ruick, American actor (died 1972)

Melville Ruick was an American actor.


08/07/1895

Igor Tamm, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1971)

Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm was a Soviet physicist who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Ilya Mikhailovich Frank, for their 1934 discovery and demonstration of Cherenkov radiation. He also predicted the quasi-particle of sound: the phonon; and in 1951, together with Andrei Sakharov, proposed the Tokamak system.


08/07/1894

Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1984)

Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa or Peter Kapitza was a leading Soviet Russian physicist and Nobel laureate, whose research focused on low-temperature physics.


08/07/1893

R. Carlyle Buley, American historian and author (died 1968)

Roscoe Carlyle Buley was an American historian and educator.


08/07/1892

Richard Aldington, English author and poet (died 1962)

Richard Aldington was an English writer and poet. He was an early associate of the Imagist movement. His 50-year writing career produced "143 separate titles, including poetry, literary criticism, fiction, essays, anthologies, biographies, translations, and introductions. In addition, he published reviews of over 1,350 separate books, published hundreds of other articles, and wrote an immense quantity of letters, of which approximately 8,000 have been located since his death." He edited The Egoist, a literary journal, and wrote for The Times Literary Supplement, Vogue, The Criterion, and Poetry. His biography, Wellington (1946), won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.


Pavel Korin, Russian painter (died 1967)

Pavel Dmitriyevich Korin was a Russian painter and art restorer. He is famous for his preparational work for the unimplemented painting Farewell to Rus.


08/07/1890

Stanton Macdonald-Wright, American painter (died 1973)

Stanton Macdonald-Wright, was a modern American artist. He was a co-founder of Synchromism, an early abstract, color-based mode of painting, which was the first American avant-garde art movement to receive international attention.


08/07/1885

Ernst Bloch, German philosopher, author, and academic (died 1977)

Ernst Simon Bloch was a German Marxist philosopher. Bloch was influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx, as well as by apocalyptic and religious thinkers such as Thomas Müntzer, Paracelsus, and Jacob Böhme. He established friendships with György Lukács, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, Walter Benjamin, and Theodor W. Adorno. Bloch's work focuses on an optimistic teleology of the history of mankind.


Hugo Boss, German fashion designer, founded Hugo Boss (died 1948)

Hugo Ferdinand Boss was a German businessman who founded the fashion house Hugo Boss. He was an active member of the Nazi Party from 1931, and remained so until Nazi Germany's capitulation. His clothing company also utilized forced labour drawn from German-occupied territories and prisoner-of-war camps to manufacture military uniforms for the Schutzstaffel and Wehrmacht.


08/07/1882

Percy Grainger, Australian-American pianist and composer (died 1961)

Percy Aldridge Grainger was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who moved to the United States in 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. Although much of his work was experimental and unusual, the piece with which he is most generally associated is his piano arrangement of the folk-dance tune "Country Gardens".


08/07/1876

Alexandros Papanastasiou, Greek sociologist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (died 1936)

Alexandros Papanastasiou was a Greek lawyer, sociologist and politician who served twice as the prime minister of Greece during the interwar period. He was a pioneer in the establishment of the Second Hellenic Republic.


08/07/1867

Käthe Kollwitz, German painter and sculptor (died 1945)

Käthe Kollwitz was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including The Weavers and The Peasant War, depict the effects of poverty, hunger and war on the working class. Despite the realism of her early works, her art is now more closely associated with Expressionism. Kollwitz was the first woman not only to be elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts but also to receive honorary professor status.


08/07/1857

Alfred Binet, French psychologist and graphologist (died 1911)

Alfred Binet, born Alfredo Binetti, was a French psychologist who together with Théodore Simon invented the first practical intelligence test, the Binet–Simon test. In 1904, Binet took part in a commission set up by the French Ministry of Education to decide whether school children with learning difficulties should be sent to a special boarding school attached to a lunatic asylum, as advocated by the French psychiatrist and politician Désiré-Magloire Bourneville, or whether they should be educated in classes attached to regular schools as advocated by the Société libre pour l'étude psychologique de l'enfant (SLEPE) of which Binet was a member. There was also debate over who should decide whether a child was capable enough for regular education. Bourneville argued that a psychiatrist should do this based on a medical examination. Binet and Simon wanted this to be based on objective evidence. This was the beginning of the IQ test. A preliminary version was published in 1905. The full version was published in 1908, and slightly revised in 1911, just before Binet's death.


08/07/1851

Arthur Evans, English archaeologist and academic (died 1941)

Sir Arthur John Evans was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age.


John Murray, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Victoria (died 1916)

John (Jack) Murray was an Australian politician who was the 23rd premier of Victoria from 1909 to 1912.


08/07/1839

John D. Rockefeller, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Standard Oil Company (died 1937)

John Davison Rockefeller Sr. was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern history. Rockefeller was born into a large family in Upstate New York who moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland, Ohio. He became an assistant bookkeeper at age 16 and went into several business partnerships beginning at age 20, concentrating his business on oil refining. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897 and remained its largest shareholder. In his retirement, he focused his energy and wealth on philanthropy, especially regarding education, medicine, higher education, and modernizing the Southern United States.


08/07/1838

Eli Lilly, American soldier, chemist, and businessman, founded Eli Lilly and Company (died 1898)

Eli Lilly was an American Union Army officer, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded Eli Lilly and Company.


Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and businessman, founded the Zeppelin Airship Company (died 1917)

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was a German general and later inventor of the Zeppelin rigid airships. His name became synonymous with airships and dominated long-distance flight until the 1930s. He founded the company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.


08/07/1836

Joseph Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (died 1914)

Joseph Chamberlain was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually was a leading imperialist in coalition with the Conservatives. He split both major British parties in the course of his career. He was the father, by different marriages, of Nobel Peace Prize winner Austen Chamberlain and of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.


08/07/1831

John Pemberton, American chemist and pharmacist, invented Coca-Cola (died 1888)

John Stith Pemberton was an American pharmacist, chemist, and Confederate States Army officer who is best known as the inventor of Coca-Cola. On May 8, 1886, he developed an early version of a beverage that would later become Coca-Cola, but sold the rights to Asa Griggs Candler for roughly 2,300 dollars shortly before his death in 1888.


08/07/1830

Frederick W. Seward, American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Assistant Secretary of State (died 1915)

Frederick William Seward was an American politician and member of the Republican Party who served twice as the Assistant Secretary of State. He served as Assistant Secretary from 1861 to 1869 when his father, William H. Seward, was the Secretary of State under both Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, and then from 1877 to 1879 in the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes.


08/07/1819

Francis Leopold McClintock, Irish admiral and explorer (died 1907)

Admiral Sir Francis Leopold McClintock was an Irish explorer in the British Royal Navy, known for his discoveries in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. He confirmed explorer John Rae's controversial report gathered from Inuit sources on the fate of Franklin's lost expedition, the ill-fated Royal Navy undertaking commanded by Sir John Franklin in 1845 attempting to be the first to traverse the Northwest Passage.


08/07/1779

Giorgio Pullicino, Maltese painter and architect (died 1851)

Giorgio Pullicino was a Maltese painter, architect, and professor of drawing and architecture at the University of Malta. He is known for his harbour views painted in a number of media, and he is also considered to be one of the first neoclassical architects in Malta. He produced designs for a number of buildings, but the only structure which is definitely proven to have been designed by him is a monumental obelisk known as the Spencer Monument. However, several other buildings, including the Monument to Sir Alexander Ball, are widely attributed to him.


08/07/1766

Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon (died 1842)

Dominique Jean, Baron Larrey was a French surgeon and soldier best known for his service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. An important innovator in battlefield medicine and triage, Larrey invented the flying ambulance and is sometimes considered the first modern military surgeon.


08/07/1760

Christian Kramp, French mathematician and academic (died 1826)

Christian Kramp was a French mathematician, who worked primarily with factorials.


08/07/1621

Jean de La Fontaine, French author and poet (died 1695)

Jean de La Fontaine was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, as well as in French regional languages.


08/07/1593

Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian painter (died 1653)

Artemisia Lomi Gentileschi was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished 17th-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing professional work by the age of 15. In an era when women had few opportunities to pursue artistic training or work as professional artists, Gentileschi was the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence and she had an international clientele. Gentileschi worked as an expatriate painter in the court of Charles I of England from 1638 to 1642, but she is thought to have fled the country in the early phases of the English Civil War. Her whereabouts over the following years are unknown, but she resurfaced in Naples during 1649. Her last known letter to one of her mentors was dated to 1650 and it indicates that she was still working as an artist. Her time of death is disputed, but her last known commission was in January 1654.


08/07/1545

Carlos, Prince of Asturias (died 1568)

Don Carlos, Prince of Asturias, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Philip II of Spain. His mother was Maria Manuela of Portugal, daughter of John III of Portugal. Carlos was known to be mentally unstable and was imprisoned by his father in early 1568, dying after half a year of solitary confinement. His imprisonment and death were utilized in Spain's Black Legend. His life inspired the play Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller and the opera Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi.


08/07/1538

Alberto Bolognetti, Roman Catholic cardinal (died 1585)

Alberto Bolognetti (1538–1585) was an Italian law professor, bishop, diplomat, and cardinal. He was appointed by Pope Gregory XIII as a papal nuncio to Florence, Venice, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In that last appointment, he persuaded King Stephen Báthory to adopt the Gregorian calendar. He was promoted to cardinal priest, but died before he could return to Rome for the ceremonies.


08/07/1528

Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (died 1580)

Emmanuel Philibert, known as Testa di ferro, was the 10th Duke of Savoy and ruler of the Savoyard states from 17 August 1553 until his death in 1580. He is notably remembered for restoring the Savoyard state, which had been occupied by France since his youth, following his triumph at the Battle of St. Quentin in 1557, and for transferring the capital to Turin.


08/07/1478

Gian Giorgio Trissino, Italian linguist, poet, and playwright (died 1550)

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.


Lives Remembered on 8th July

On 8th July, 107 remarkable people passed away — from 689 to 2025. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

08/07/2025

Edward D. DiPrete, American politician, 70th Governor of Rhode Island

Edward Daniel DiPrete was an American politician. He served as the 70th Governor of Rhode Island for three two-year terms, serving from 1985 to 1991. Convicted of numerous corruption charges, he was the only Rhode Island governor to have gone to prison.


Paulette Jiles, American writer (born 1943)

Paulette Kay Jiles was an American poet, memoirist and novelist.


08/07/2022

Shinzo Abe, Japanese politician (born 1954)

Shinzo Abe was a Japanese statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history, serving for nearly nine years.


Larry Storch, American actor and comedian (born 1923)

Lawrence Samuel Storch was an American actor and comedian known for his comic television roles, including voice-over work for cartoon shows such as Mr. Whoopee on Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales. For his potrayal of the bumbling Corporal Randolph Agarn on F Troop he was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1967.


Luis Echeverría, Mexican lawyer and politician (born 1922)

Luis Echeverría Álvarez was a Mexican lawyer, academic, and politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who served as the 57th president of Mexico from 1970 to 1976. Previously, Echeverría was Secretary of the Interior from 1963 to 1969. He was the longest-lived president in Mexican history and the first to reach the age of 100.


Tony Sirico, American actor (born 1942)

Genaro Anthony Sirico Jr. was an American actor. Often cast as a mobster, he is known for portraying Paulie Gualtieri in The Sopranos.


08/07/2020

Naya Rivera, American actress, model and singer (born 1987)

Naya Marie Rivera was an American actress, singer, and model recognized for her work on the popular musical comedy-drama series Glee. She began her career as a child actress and model, first appearing in national television commercials. At the age of four, she landed the role of Hillary Winston on the short-lived CBS sitcom The Royal Family (1991–1992), earning a nomination for a Young Artist Award at age five. After a series of recurring television roles and then guest spots as a teenager, she got her breakthrough role in 2009 as Santana Lopez on the Fox television series Glee. For the role, she received critical acclaim and various awards, including a SAG Award and ALMA Award, as well as earning nominations with the rest of the cast for a Grammy Award and a Brit Award.


Alex Pullin, Australian snowboarder (born 1987)

Alex Pullin, nicknamed Chumpy, was an Australian snowboarder who competed at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics. He was a two-time snowboard cross (boardercross) world champion.


08/07/2018

Tab Hunter, American actor, pop singer, film producer and author (born 1931)

Tab Hunter was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond hair and clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. During the 1950s and 1960s, Hunter was a Hollywood heartthrob, acting in numerous roles and appearing on the covers of hundreds of magazines. His notable screen credits include Battle Cry (1955), The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Gunman's Walk (1958), Damn Yankees (1958), Polyester (1981), and Lust in the Dust (1985). Hunter also had a music career in the late 1950s; in 1957, he released the no. 1 hit single "Young Love". Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, was a New York Times bestseller.


08/07/2016

Abdul Sattar Edhi, Pakistani philanthropist (born 1928)

Abdul Sattar Edhi NI LPP was a Pakistani humanitarian, philanthropist and ascetic who founded the Edhi Foundation, which runs the world's largest volunteer ambulance network, along with homeless shelters, animal shelters, rehabilitation centres, and orphanages across Pakistan.


08/07/2015

Ken Stabler, American football player and sportscaster (born 1945)

Kenneth Michael Stabler was an American professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Oakland Raiders. Nicknamed "Snake", he played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide and was selected by the Raiders in the second round of the 1968 NFL/AFL draft. During his 10 seasons in Oakland, Stabler received four Pro Bowl selections and was named Most Valuable Player in 1974. Stabler also helped the Raiders win their first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XI. He was posthumously inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.


James Tate, American poet (born 1943)

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.


08/07/2014

Plínio de Arruda Sampaio, Brazilian lawyer and politician (born 1930)

Plínio Soares de Arruda Sampaio was a Brazilian intellectual and political activist, who was affiliated with the Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (PSOL). He ran as a candidate for the presidency of the Federative Republic of Brazil in 2010.


John V. Evans, American soldier and politician, 27th Governor of Idaho (born 1925)

John Victor Evans Sr. was an American politician from Idaho. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the state's 27th governor and was in office for 10 years, from 1977 to 1987.


Ben Pangelinan, Guamanian businessman and politician (born 1956)

Vicente Cabrera "Ben" Pangelinan was a Guamanian politician and businessman who served as the speaker of the Guam Legislature from 2003 to 2005, representing from Barrigada, as a Democrat from 1993 to his death in 2014. Pangelinan was the former sitting chairperson of the Committee on Appropriations, Taxation, Banking, Insurance, Retirement, and Land in the 32nd Guam Legislature.


Howard Siler, American bobsledder and coach (born 1945)

Howard Banford Siler Jr. was an American bobsledder who competed from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.


Tom Veryzer, American baseball player (born 1953)

Thomas Martin Veryzer was an American professional baseball shortstop. He played 12 years in Major League Baseball, appearing in 979 games for the Detroit Tigers (1973–1977), Cleveland Indians (1978–1981), New York Mets (1982), and Chicago Cubs (1983–1984). He ranked third in the American League in 1977 with a range factor of 5.16 per nine innings at shortstop. His career range factor of 4.841 per nine innings at shortstop ranks as the 25th best in Major League history.


08/07/2013

Dick Gray, American baseball player (born 1931)

Richard Benjamin Gray was an American professional baseball player. He was an infielder in Major League Baseball, playing mainly as a third baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals from 1958 through 1960. Listed at 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and 165 pounds (75 kg), he batted and threw right handed.


Edmund Morgan, American historian and author (born 1916)

Edmund Sears Morgan was an American historian and an authority on early American history. He was the Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, where he taught from 1955 to 1986. He specialized in American colonial history, with some attention to English history. Thomas S. Kidd says he was noted for his incisive writing style, "simply one of the best academic prose stylists America has ever produced." He covered many topics, including Puritanism, political ideas, the American Revolution, slavery, historiography, family life, and numerous notables such as Benjamin Franklin.


Claudiney Ramos, Brazilian footballer (born 1980)

Claudiney Ramos was a professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He was nicknamed Rincón, because of his physical resemblance to former Corinthians player, Colombian Freddy Rincón. Born in Brazil, he capped for the Equatorial Guinea national team.


Rubby Sherr, American physicist and academic (born 1913)

Rubby Sherr was an American nuclear physicist who co-invented a key component of the first nuclear weapon while participating in the Manhattan Project during the Second World War. His academic career spanned nearly eight decades, including almost 40 years working at Princeton University.


Sundri Uttamchandani, Indian author (born 1924)

Sundri Uttamchandani was a noted Indian writer. She wrote mostly in Sindhi language. She was married to progressive writer A. J. Uttam.


Brett Walker, American songwriter and producer (born 1961)

Carl Brett Walker was an American songwriter, musician, and record producer.


08/07/2012

Muhammed bin Saud Al Saud, Saudi Arabian politician (born 1934)

Muhammed bin Saud Al Saud was a Saudi royal and politician. He was a son of King Saud and one of the grandsons of Saudi Arabia's founder King Abdulaziz. He served as the Saudi Arabian minister of defense from 1960 to 1962, during his father's reign. Later, Prince Muhammed was the governor of Al Bahah Province from 1987 to 2010.


Ernest Borgnine, American actor (born 1917)

Ernest Borgnine was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular performer, he appeared as a guest on numerous talk shows and as a panelist on several game shows.


Gyang Dalyop Datong, Nigerian physician and politician (born 1959)

Gyang Dalyop Datong was a Nigerian senator who represented the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State. He became a member of the Nigerian Senate in 2007. On 12 April 2003, he was elected to the 5th House of Representatives on the platform of the ANPP defeating his closest rival James Vwi of the PDP. He represented Barkin Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency from 2003 to 2007. Datong died on 8 July 2012 while attending a mass funeral of people who had been killed by Fulani herdsmen in Maase area of Riyom local government in Plateau State. The people at the funeral were attacked by gunmen thought to also be Fulani.


Martin Pakledinaz, American costume designer (born 1953)

Martin Pakledinaz was an American costume designer for stage and film.


08/07/2011

Roberts Blossom, American actor and poet (born 1924)

Roberts Scott Blossom was an American poet and character actor of theatre, film, and television. He is best known for his roles as Old Man Marley in Home Alone (1990) and as Ezra Cobb in the horror film Deranged (1974). Blossom is also remembered for his supporting roles in films such as The Great Gatsby (1974), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Christine (1983), and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988).


Betty Ford, 38th First Lady of the United States (born 1918)

Elizabeth Anne Ford was First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, as the wife of President Gerald Ford. As first lady, she was active in social policy, and set a precedent as a politically active presidential spouse. She was also Second Lady of the United States from 1973 to 1974, when her husband was vice president.


08/07/2009

Midnight, American singer-songwriter (born 1962)

Midnight was an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of heavy metal band Crimson Glory. The band became known for Midnight's "ear-shattering screams", which drew comparisons to Geoff Tate, and "painfully strident delivery."


08/07/2008

John Templeton, American-born British businessman and philanthropist (born 1912)

Sir John Marks Templeton was an American-born British investor, banker, fund manager, and philanthropist. In 1954, he entered the mutual fund market and created the Templeton Growth Fund, which averaged growth over 15% per year for 38 years. A pioneer of emerging market investing in the 1960s, Money magazine named him "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century" in 1999.


08/07/2007

Chandra Shekhar, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of India (born 1927)

Chandra Shekhar was an Indian politician and the prime minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with outside support from the Indian National Congress. He was the second Indian Prime Minister who had never held any prior government office.


Jack B. Sowards, American screenwriter and producer (born 1929)

Jack B. Sowards was an American screenwriter who wrote Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and the 1988 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Where Silence Has Lease". Sowards created the term Kobayashi Maru, naming it for his next-door neighbors in Hancock Park.


08/07/2006

June Allyson, American actress and singer (born 1917)

June Allyson was an American stage, film, and television actress.


08/07/2005

Maurice Baquet, French actor and cellist (born 1911)

Maurice Louis Baquet was a French actor and cellist.


08/07/2004

Paula Danziger, American author and educator (born 1944)

Paula Danziger was an American children's author who wrote more than 30 books, including her 1974 debut The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, for children's and young adult audiences. At the time of her death, all her books were still in print; they had been published in 53 countries and translated into 14 languages.


08/07/2002

Ward Kimball, American animator and trombonist (born 1914)

Ward Walrath Kimball was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honored with two Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film.


08/07/2001

John O'Shea, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1920)

John Dempsey O'Shea was a New Zealand independent filmmaker; he was a director, producer, writer and actor. He produced the only three feature films that were made in New Zealand between 1940 and 1970.


08/07/1999

Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut. Third man to walk on the moon. (born 1930)

Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. was an American NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval officer, aviator, and test pilot who commanded the Apollo 12 mission, on which he became the third person to walk on the Moon. Conrad was selected for NASA's second astronaut class in 1962.


08/07/1998

Lilí Álvarez, Spanish tennis player, author, and feminist (born 1905)

Elia Maria González-Álvarez y López-Chicheri, also known as Lilí de Álvarez, was a Spanish multi-sport competitor, an international tennis champion, an author, feminist and a journalist.


08/07/1996

Irene Prador, Austrian-born actress and writer (born 1911)

Irene Prador was a German-born actress and writer.


08/07/1994

Christian-Jaque, French director and screenwriter (born 1904)

Christian-Jaque was a French filmmaker. From 1954 to 1959, he was married to actress Martine Carol, who starred in several of his films, including Lucrèce Borgia (1953), Madame du Barry (1954), and Nana (1955). In 1961 he married Laurence Christol


Kim Il Sung, North Korean commander and politician, President of North Korea (born 1912)

Kim Il Sung was a North Korean revolutionary, military officer, politician, and dictator who founded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), also known as North Korea, in 1948, and led the country from its establishment until his death in 1994. He was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Il and was declared Eternal President.


Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American businessman and explorer (born 1927)

Lars-Eric Lindblad was a Swedish-American entrepreneur and explorer, who pioneered tourism to many remote and exotic parts of the world. He led the first tourist expedition to Antarctica in 1966 in a chartered Argentine navy ship, and for many years operated his own vessel, the MS Lindblad Explorer, in the region. Observers point to the Lindblad Explorer’s 1969 expeditionary cruise to Antarctica as the forerunner to today's sea-based tourism there.


Dick Sargent, American actor (born 1930)

Richard Stanford Cox, known professionally as Dick Sargent, was an American actor. He is best known for being the second actor to portray Darrin Stephens on ABC's fantasy sitcom Bewitched. He took the name Dick Sargent from a Saturday Evening Post illustrator/artist of the same name.


08/07/1993

Abul Hasan Jashori, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar and freedom fighter (born 1918)

Abul Hasan Jashori was a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar, politician, author, teacher and freedom fighter. He was the founding principal and Shaykh al-Hadith of the Jamia Ezazia Darul Uloom Jessore institution.


08/07/1991

James Franciscus, American actor (born 1934)

James Grover Franciscus was an American actor, known for his roles in feature films and in six television series: Mr. Novak, Naked City, The Investigators, Longstreet, Doc Elliot, and Hunter.


08/07/1990

Howard Duff, American actor (born 1913)

Howard Green Duff was an American actor. He started in radio during World War II before appearing in many Hollywood features and television programs from 1947 to 1990. He also directed for television. His career was marked by accusations of disloyalty during the red scare of the 1950s.


08/07/1988

Ray Barbuti, American runner and football player (born 1905)

Raymond James Barbuti was an American football player and sprint runner who won two gold medals at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Barbuti traveled to Amsterdam to initially only compete for the 400 meter sprint however the US medal position was meek and then US Olympic committee president, Major General Douglas MacArthur insisted after Barbuti won the 400 meter gold that he run in the 4 × 400 meter relay the next day. Barbuti was interrupted by MacArthur during his celebratory evening to start preparing to run the anchor for the event the next day. Barbuti initially, vehemently refused, claiming he would not displace a fellow US runner in search for further medals. However MacArthur was relentless and finally prevailed and history commenced with the team winning the gold.


08/07/1987

Lionel Chevrier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Justice (born 1903)

Lionel Chevrier was a Canadian politician who was a Member of Parliament and cabinet minister.


Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet and author (born 1896)

Gerardo Diego Cendoya was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27.


08/07/1986

Skeeter Webb, American baseball player and manager (born 1909)

James Laverne "Skeeter" Webb was an American professional baseball infielder in Major League Baseball from 1932 to 1949. He played 12 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, and Philadelphia Athletics.


08/07/1985

Phil Foster, American actor and screenwriter (born 1913)

Phil Foster was an American actor and performer, best known for his portrayal of Frank DeFazio in Laverne & Shirley.


Jean-Paul Le Chanois, French actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1909)

Jean-Paul Étienne Dreyfus, better known as Jean-Paul Le Chanois, was a French film director, screenwriter and actor. His film ...Sans laisser d'adresse won the Golden Bear (Comedies) award at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival.


08/07/1981

Joe McDonnell (hunger striker), Irish Republican Army member (born 1951)

Joseph McDonnell was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died during the 1981 Irish hunger strike.


Bill Hallahan, American baseball player (born 1902)

William Anthony Hallahan was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball during the 1920s and 1930s. Nicknamed "Wild Bill" because of his lack of control on the mound—he twice led the National League in bases on balls—Hallahan nevertheless was one of the pitching stars of the 1931 World Series and pitched his finest in postseason competition.


08/07/1979

Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1906)

Shinichiro Tomonaga , usually cited as Sin-Itiro Tomonaga in English, was a Japanese physicist. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics with Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger "for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics (QED), with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles".


Michael Wilding, English actor (born 1912)

Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding was an English stage, television, and film actor. He is best known for a series of films he made with Anna Neagle; he also made two films with Alfred Hitchcock, Under Capricorn (1949) and Stage Fright (1950); and he guest starred on Hitchcock's TV show in 1963. He was married four times, including to Elizabeth Taylor, with whom he had two sons.


Robert Burns Woodward, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)

Robert Burns Woodward was an American organic chemist. He is considered by many to be the preeminent synthetic organic chemist of the twentieth century, having made many key contributions to the subject, especially in the synthesis of complex natural products and the determination of their molecular structure. He worked closely with Roald Hoffmann on theoretical studies of chemical reactions. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1965.


08/07/1973

Gene L. Coon, American screenwriter and producer (born 1924)

Eugene Lee Coon was an American screenwriter, television producer, and novelist. He is best remembered for his work on the original Star Trek as a screenwriter, story editor, and showrunner from the middle of the series' first season to the middle of the second. Along with series creator Gene Roddenberry, Coon is given credit for the show's idealistic tone and for creating several key story and world-building elements that would become important parts of the ongoing franchise.


Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Education Minister of Israel (born 1884)

Ben-Zion Dinur was a Ukrainian-born Israeli historian, educator, and politician. He held the position of professor of Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and represented Mapai in the first Knesset, serving as Minister of Education. Dinur was one of the founders of Yad Vashem and a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences.


Wilfred Rhodes, English cricketer and coach (born 1877)

Wilfred Rhodes was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test matches. He holds the world records both for the most appearances made in first-class cricket and the most wickets taken. He completed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in an English cricket season a record 16 times. Rhodes played for Yorkshire and England into his fifties, and in his final Test in 1930 was, at 52 years and 165 days, the oldest player who has appeared in a Test match.


08/07/1972

Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinian writer and politician (born 1936)

Ghassan Fayiz Kanafani was a prominent Palestinian author and militant, considered to be a leading novelist of his generation and one of the Arab world's leading Palestinian writers. Kanafani's works have been translated into more than 17 languages.


08/07/1971

Kurt Reidemeister, German mathematician connected to the Vienna Circle (born 1893)

Kurt Werner Friedrich Reidemeister was a mathematician born in Braunschweig (Brunswick), Germany.


08/07/1968

Désiré Mérchez, French swimmer and water polo player (born 1882)

Désiré Alfred Mérchez was a male French swimmer and water polo player who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was born in Lille and died in Nice.


08/07/1967

Vivien Leigh, British actress (born 1913)

Vivian Mary Olivier, known professionally as Vivien Leigh and styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. After completing her drama school education, Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progressed to the role of heroine in Fire Over England (1937). She then won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her performances as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End in 1949. For the latter role, she also won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. She also won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway musical version of Tovarich (1963).


08/07/1965

Thomas Sigismund Stribling, American lawyer and author (born 1881)

Thomas Sigismund Stribling was an American writer. Although he acquired a law degree and practiced law for a few years, his career was mainly that of an author of fiction. Known first for adventure stories published in fiction magazines, he later published novels of social satire set mainly in the southern USA. His best-known work is the Vaiden trilogy, set in Florence, Alabama. The first volume is The Forge (1931). He won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1933 for the second novel of this series, The Store. The last, set during the 1920s, is The Unfinished Cathedral (1934). Both the second and third novels were chosen as selections by the Literary Guild.


08/07/1956

Giovanni Papini, Italian journalist, author, and critic (born 1881)

Giovanni Papini was an Italian journalist, essayist, novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, and philosopher. A controversial literary figure of the early and mid-twentieth century, he was the earliest and most enthusiastic representative and promoter of Italian pragmatism. Papini was admired for his writing style and engaged in heated polemics. Involved with avant-garde movements such as futurism and post-decadentism, he moved from one political and philosophical position to another, always dissatisfied and uneasy: he converted from anti-clericalism and atheism to Catholicism, and went from convinced interventionism – before 1915 – to an aversion to war. In the 1930s, after moving from individualism to conservatism, he finally became a fascist, while maintaining an aversion to Nazism.


08/07/1952

August Alle, Estonian lawyer, author, and poet (born 1890)

August Alle was an Estonian writer.


08/07/1950

Othmar Spann, Austrian sociologist, economist, and philosopher (born 1878)

Othmar Spann was a conservative Austrian philosopher, sociologist and economist. His radical anti-liberal and anti-socialist views, based on early 19th century Romantic ideas expressed by Adam Müller et al. and popularized in his books and lecture courses, helped antagonise political factions in Austria during the interwar years.


08/07/1943

Jean Moulin, French soldier and leader of the French Resistance (born 1899)

Jean Pierre Moulin was a French civil servant and hero of the French Resistance who succeeded in unifying the main networks of the Resistance in World War II. He served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance from 27 May 1943 until his death less than two months later.


08/07/1942

Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, Algerian-French general (born 1856)

Louis Félix Marie François Franchet d'Espèrey was a French general during World War I. In September 1914, as the new commander of the French 5th Army, he played a notable role in organising the allied response that led to the First Battle of the Marne. As commander of the large Allied army based at Salonika, he conducted the successful Macedonian campaign, which caused the collapse of the Southern Front and contributed to the armistice.


Refik Saydam, Turkish physician and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Turkey (born 1881)

İbrahim Refik Saydam was a Turkish physician, politician and the fourth Prime Minister of Turkey, serving from 25 January 1939 until his death on 8 July 1942.


08/07/1941

Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, historian, and politician (born 1874)

Moses Schorr, Polish: Mojżesz Schorr was a rabbi, Polish historian, politician, Bible scholar, assyriologist and orientalist. Schorr was an expert on the history of the Jews in Poland. He was the first Jewish researcher of Polish archives, historical sources, and pinkasim. The president of the 13th district B'nai B'rith Poland, he was a humanist and modern rabbi who ministered the central synagogue of Poland during its last years before the Holocaust.


08/07/1939

Havelock Ellis, English psychologist and author (born 1859)

Henry Havelock Ellis was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and inclinations, as well as on transgender psychology. He developed the notions of narcissism and autoeroticism, later adopted by psychoanalysis.


08/07/1934

Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer and academic (born 1848)

Édouard Benjamin Baillaud was a French astronomer.


08/07/1933

Anthony Hope, English author and playwright (born 1863)

Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope, was a British novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels but he is remembered predominantly for only two books: The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898).


08/07/1930

Joseph Ward, Australian-New Zealand businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1856)

Sir Joseph George Ward, 1st Baronet, was a New Zealand politician who served as the 17th prime minister of New Zealand from 1906 to 1912 and from 1928 to 1930. He was a dominant figure in the Liberal and United ministries of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.


08/07/1921

Ellen Oliver (suffragette), British suffragette and purity activist (born 1870)

Ellen Frederica Oliver was a British suffragette, purity activist and a follower of the Panacea Society, who was the first person to recognise Mabel Barltrop as a prophet in the movement.


08/07/1917

Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (born 1877)

Thomas John Thomson was a Canadian artist active in the early 20th century. During his short career, he produced roughly 400 oil sketches on small wood panels and approximately 50 larger works on canvas. His works consist almost entirely of landscapes, depicting trees, skies, lakes, and rivers. He used broad brush strokes and a liberal application of paint to capture the beauty and colour of the Ontario landscape.


08/07/1913

Louis Hémon, French-Canadian author (born 1880)

Louis Hémon, was a French writer, best known for his novel Maria Chapdelaine.


08/07/1905

Walter Kittredge, American violinist and composer (born 1834)

Walter Kittredge, was a famous American minstrel and songwriter. Over his career he wrote over 500 songs, many of them dealing with themes of abolitionism and the American Civil War, the most famous of which was Tenting on the Old Camp Ground.


08/07/1895

Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian chemist and physicist (born 1821)

Johann Josef Loschmidt, better known as Josef Loschmidt, was an Austrian scientist who performed ground-breaking work in chemistry, physics, and crystal forms.


08/07/1887

Ben Holladay, American businessman (born 1819)

Benjamin Holladay was an American transportation businessman responsible for creating the Overland Stage to California during the height of the 1849 California Gold Rush. He created a stagecoach empire and is known in history as the "Stagecoach King".


08/07/1873

Franz Xaver Winterhalter, German painter and lithographer (born 1805)

Franz Xaver Winterhalter was a German painter and lithographer, known for his flattering portraits of royalty and upper-class society in the mid-19th century. His name has become associated with fashionable court portraiture. Among his best known works are Empress Eugénie Surrounded by her Ladies in Waiting (1855) and the portraits he made of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1865).


08/07/1859

Oscar I of Sweden (born 1799)

Oscar I was King of Sweden and Norway from 8 March 1844 until his death. He was the second monarch of the House of Bernadotte.


08/07/1850

Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (born 1774)

Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge was the tenth child and seventh son of King George III of the United Kingdom and Queen Charlotte. He held the title of Duke of Cambridge from 1801 until his death. From 1816 to 1837, he served as Viceroy of the Kingdom of Hanover on behalf of his elder brothers King George IV and King William IV.


08/07/1823

Henry Raeburn, Scottish portrait painter (born 1756)

Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland.


08/07/1822

Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet and playwright (born 1792)

Percy Bysshe Shelley was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death, and he became an important influence on subsequent generations of poets, including Robert Browning, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Thomas Hardy, and W. B. Yeats. American literary critic Harold Bloom describes him as "a superb craftsman, a lyric poet without rival, and surely one of the most advanced sceptical intellects ever to write a poem."


08/07/1794

Richard Mique, French architect (born 1728)

Richard Mique was a Neoclassical French architect born in Lorraine. He is most remembered for his picturesque hamlet, the hameau de la Reine — not particularly characteristic of his working style — built for Queen Marie Antoinette in the Petit Trianon gardens within the estate of the Palace of Versailles.


08/07/1784

Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (born 1735)

Torbern Olof Bergman (KVO) was a Swedish chemist and mineralogist noted for his 1775 Dissertation on Elective Attractions, containing the largest chemical affinity tables ever published. Bergman was the first chemist to use the A, B, C, etc., system of notation for chemical species.


08/07/1721

Elihu Yale, American-English merchant and philanthropist (born 1649)

Elihu Yale was a British-American colonial administrator.


08/07/1716

Robert South, English preacher and theologian (born 1634)

Robert South was an English churchman who was known for his combative preaching and Latin poetry.


08/07/1695

Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (born 1629)

Christiaan Huygens, Lord of Zeelhem was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor who is regarded as a key figure in the Scientific Revolution. In physics, Huygens made seminal contributions to optics and mechanics, while as an astronomer he studied the rings of Saturn and discovered its largest moon, Titan. As an engineer and inventor, he improved the design of telescopes and invented the pendulum clock, the most accurate timekeeper for almost 300 years. A talented mathematician and physicist, Huygens authored the first modern treatise where a physical problem was idealized using mathematical parameters, while his work on light contains the first mathematical and mechanistic explanation of an unobservable physical phenomenon.


08/07/1689

Edward Wooster, English-American settler (born 1622)

Edward Wooster was an English early settler of Colonial America, and "the first permanent settler in Derby", Connecticut.


08/07/1623

Pope Gregory XV (born 1554)

Pope Gregory XV, born Alessandro Ludovisi, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 February 1621 until his death in 1623. He is notable for founding the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, an organization tasked with overseeing the spread of Catholicism and missionary work. Gregory XV was also responsible for the canonization of Saints Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Teresa of Ávila, and Philip Neri, which solidified his commitment to the Counter-Reformation.


08/07/1538

Diego de Almagro, Spanish general and explorer (born 1475)

Diego de Almagro, also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo, was a Spanish conquistador known for his exploits and killings in western South America. He participated with Francisco Pizarro in the Spanish conquest of Peru. While subduing the Inca Empire he laid the foundation for Quito and Trujillo as Spanish cities in present-day Ecuador and Peru, respectively. From Peru, Almagro led the first Spanish military expedition to central Chile. Back in Peru, a longstanding conflict with Pizarro over the control of the former Inca capital of Cuzco erupted into a civil war between the two bands of conquistadores. In the battle of Las Salinas in 1538, Almagro was defeated by the Pizarro brothers and months later he was executed.


08/07/1390

Albert of Saxony, Bishop of Halberstadt and German philosopher (born circa 1320)

Albert of Saxony was a German philosopher and mathematician known for his contributions to logic and physics. He was bishop of Halberstadt from 1366 until his death.


08/07/1261

Adolf IV of Holstein, Count of Schauenburg

Adolf IV was a Count of Schauenburg (1225–1238) and of Holstein (1227–1238), of the House of Schaumburg. Adolf was the eldest son of Adolf III of Schauenburg and Holstein by his second wife, Adelheid of Querfurt.


08/07/1253

Theobald I of Navarre (born 1201)

Theobald I, also called the Troubadour and the Posthumous, was Count of Champagne from birth and King of Navarre from 1234. He initiated the Barons' Crusade, was famous as a trouvère, and was the first Frenchman to rule Navarre.


08/07/1153

Pope Eugene III (born 1087)

Pope Eugene III, born Bernardo, called Bernardo da Pisa, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1145 to his death in 1153. He was the first Cistercian to become pope. In response to the fall of Edessa to the Muslims in 1144, Eugene proclaimed the Second Crusade. He was beatified in 1872 by Pope Pius IX.


08/07/0975

Edgar the Peaceful, English king (born 943)

Edgar, also known as Edgar the Peaceful, the Peacemaker and the Peaceable, was King of the English from 959 until his death in 975. He became king of all England on his brother Eadwig's death. He was the younger son of King Edmund I and his first wife, Ælfgifu. A detailed account of Edgar's reign is not possible, because only a few events were recorded by chroniclers and monastic writers, who were more interested in recording the activities of the leaders of the church.


08/07/0901

Grimbald, French-English monk and saint (born 827)

Saint Grimbald was a 9th-century Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Saint Bertin near Saint-Omer, France.


08/07/0900

Qatr al-Nada, wife of the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tadid

Asma bint Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun, better known as Qatr al-Nada, was a daughter of Tulunid vassal ruler Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad and the principal wife of the sixteenth Abbasid caliph, al-Mu'tadid.


08/07/0873

Gunther, archbishop of Cologne

Gunther or Gunthar was Archbishop of Cologne in Germany from 850 until he was excommunicated and deposed in 863.


08/07/0810

Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne (born 773)

Pepin or Pippin, was King of Italy from 781 until his death in 810. He was the third son of Charlemagne. Upon his baptism in 781, Carloman was renamed Pepin, where he was also crowned as king of the Lombard Kingdom his father had conquered. Pepin ruled the kingdom from a young age under Charlemagne, but predeceased his father. His son Bernard was named king of Italy after him, and his descendants were the longest-surviving direct male line of the Carolingian dynasty.


08/07/0689

Kilian, Irish bishop

Kilian, also spelled Cillian or Killian, was an Irish missionary bishop and the Apostle of Franconia, where he began his labours in the latter half of the 7th century. His feast day is 8 July.


Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 8th July

Christian Feast Day: Abda and Sabas

Abda and Sabas were two martyrs mentioned in the Menologium der Orthodox-Katholischen Kirche des Morgenlandes by Probst Maltzew. Their feast day is 8 July.


Christian Feast Day: Auspicius of Trier

Auspicius is said to be the successor of St. Maternus as the Bishop of Trier, Germany. However, some authorities identify him as the 5th-century Bishop of Toul, France.


Christian Feast Day: Grimbald

Saint Grimbald was a 9th-century Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Saint Bertin near Saint-Omer, France.


Christian Feast Day: Kilian and Totnan

Kilian, also spelled Cillian or Killian, was an Irish missionary bishop and the Apostle of Franconia, where he began his labours in the latter half of the 7th century. His feast day is 8 July.


Christian Feast Day: Saints Peter and Fevronia Day (Russian Orthodox)

The Day of Saint Peter and Saint Fevronia also known as the Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness, the Orthodox patrons of marriage, was officially introduced in Russia in 2008. Svetlana Medvedeva is among the most active promoters of the new holiday. Its symbol is a white daisy.


Christian Feast Day: Procopius of Scythopolis

Procopius of Scythopolis was a 4th century martyr who is venerated as a saint. He was a reader and exorcist in the church at Scythopolis; he also was famous as an ascetic and erudite theologian. Eusebius of Caesarea wrote of his martyrdom, which occurred during the persecution of Roman Emperor Diocletian, and stated that "he was born at Jerusalem, but had gone to live in Scythopolis, where he held three ecclesiastical offices. He was reader and interpreter in the Syriac language, and cured those possessed of evil spirits." Eusebius wrote that Procopius was sent with his companions from Scythopolis to Caesarea Maritima, where he was decapitated.


Christian Feast Day: Sunniva and companions

Saint Sunniva is the patron saint of the Norwegian Church of Norway Diocese of Bjørgvin, as well as all of Western Norway.


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: July 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

July 7 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - July 9


Air Force and Air Defense Forces Day (Ukraine)

An Armed Forces Day, alongside its branch-specific variants often referred to as Army or Soldier's Day, Navy or Sailor's Day, and Air Force or Aviator's Day, is a holiday dedicated to honoring the armed forces, or one of their branches, of a sovereign state, including their personnel, history, achievements, and sacrifices. It's often patriotic or nationalistic in nature, carrying information value outside of the conventional boundaries of a military's subculture and into the wider civilian society. Many nations around the world observe this day. It is usually distinct from a Veterans or Memorial Day, as the former is dedicated to those who previously served and the latter is dedicated to those who perished in the fulfillment of their duties.


What Happened on 8th July?

48 significant events took place on Saturday, 8th July — stretching from 1167 to 2022. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

08/07/2022

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is shot and killed with an improvised firearm due to resentment against the Unification Church.

Shinzo Abe was a Japanese statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. He was the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history, serving for nearly nine years.


08/07/2014

Israel launches an offensive on Gaza amid rising tensions following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers.

Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. It is bordered by Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the southwest. Israel's western coast lies on the Mediterranean Sea, its southern tip reaches the Red Sea, and to the east is Earth's lowest point near the Dead Sea. Jerusalem is the government seat and proclaimed capital, while Tel Aviv is Israel's largest urban area and economic centre.


The Brazil national football team suffers its joint-worst defeat, losing 7–1 to Germany in the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup, in a match dubbed the Mineiraço.

The Brazil national football team, nicknamed A seleção,  represents Brazil in men's international football and is administered by the Brazilian Football Confederation, the governing body of football in Brazil. It has been a member of FIFA since 1923 and was a founding member of CONMEBOL in 1916. It was also a member of PFC, the unified confederation of the Americas, from 1946 to 1961.


08/07/2011

Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.

Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985.


08/07/2003

Sudan Airways Flight 139 crashes near Port Sudan Airport during an emergency landing attempt, killing 116 of the 117 people on board.

Sudan Airways Flight 139 was a Sudan Airways passenger flight that crashed on 8 July 2003 at Port Sudan. The Boeing 737 aircraft was operating a domestic scheduled Port Sudan–Khartoum passenger service. Some 15 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft lost power in one of its engines, which prompted the crew to return to the airport for an emergency landing. In doing so, the pilots missed the airport runway, and the airplane descended until it hit the ground, disintegrating after impact. Of the 117 people aboard, 116 of them died.


08/07/1994

Kim Jong Il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il Sung.

Kim Jong Il was a North Korean politician and dictator who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his own death in 2011. Posthumously, Kim Jong Il was declared an Eternal Leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).


Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on an international science mission.

Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, and the female personification of the United States, Columbia was the first of five Space Shuttle orbiters to fly in space, debuting the Space Shuttle launch vehicle on its maiden flight on April 12, 1981 and becoming the first spacecraft to be re-used after its first flight when it launched on STS-2 on November 12, 1981. As only the second full-scale orbiter to be manufactured after the Approach and Landing Test vehicle Enterprise, Columbia retained unique external and internal features compared with later orbiters, such as test instrumentation and distinctive black chines. In addition to a heavier aft fuselage and the retention of an internal airlock throughout its lifetime, these made Columbia the heaviest of the five spacefaring orbiters: around 1,000 kilograms heavier than Challenger and 3,600 kilograms heavier than Endeavour when originally constructed. Columbia also carried ejection seats based on those from the SR-71 during its first six flights until 1983, and from 1986 onwards carried an imaging pod on its vertical stabilizer.


08/07/1990

West Germany win the FIFA World Cup final against defending champions Argentina, with Andreas Brehme scoring the game's only goal.

The Germany national football team represents Germany in men's international football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association, founded in 1900. Between 1949 and 1990, separate German national teams were recognised by FIFA due to Allied occupation and division: the DFB's team representing the Federal Republic of Germany, the Saarland team representing the Saar Protectorate (1950–1956) and the East Germany team representing the German Democratic Republic (1952–1990). The latter two were absorbed along with their records; the present team represents the reunified Federal Republic. The official name and code "Germany FR (FRG)" was shortened to "Germany (GER)" following reunification in 1990.


08/07/1988

The Island Express train travelling from Bangalore to Kanyakumari derails on the Peruman bridge and falls into Ashtamudi Lake, Kerala in India killing 105 passengers and injuring over 200 more.

The 16525 /16526 Island Express is an Indian Railways train running between Bengaluru City and Kanyakumari railway station, Kanyakumari. Train no. 16526 runs from Bengaluru to Kanyakumari, and Train No. 16525 runs in the reverse direction. The train runs daily through the state of Kerala and covers the 929 km journey.


08/07/1982

A failed assassination attempt against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein results in the Dujail Massacre over the next several months.

The Dujail massacre was the mass killing of Shia rebels by the Ba'athist Iraqi government on 8 July 1982 in Dujail, Iraq. The massacre was committed in retaliation for an assassination attempt by the Iranian-backed Islamic Dawa Party on the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. The town of Dujail had a large Shia population, with 75,000 residents at the time of the incident, and was a well-known stronghold of the Dawa Party. It is located approximately 53 km (33 mi) from the capital of Baghdad, in the Sunni-majority Saladin Governorate of Iraq.


08/07/1980

The inaugural 1980 State of Origin game is won by Queensland who defeat New South Wales 20–10 at Lang Park.

The 1980 State of Origin game was the first game between the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues rugby league teams to be played under "state of origin" selection rules. It was the third match of 1980's annual interstate series between the Blues and the Maroons, and was only allowed to go ahead because the first two matches were already won by New South Wales under established 'state of residency' rules. It was played on 8 July 1980 under the newly configured rules by which a player would represent his "state of origin", i.e. the state in which he was born or in which he started playing registered first grade rugby league football.


Aeroflot Flight 4225 crashes near Almaty International Airport in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (present day Kazakhstan), killing all 166 people on board.

Aeroflot Flight 4225 was a Tupolev Tu-154B-2 on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Alma-Ata Airport to Simferopol Airport on 8 July 1980. The aircraft had reached an altitude of no more than 500 feet when the airspeed suddenly dropped because of thermal currents it encountered during the climb out. This caused the airplane to stall less than 5 kilometres from the airport, crash and catch fire, killing all 156 passengers and 10 crew on board. To date, it remains the deadliest aviation accident in Kazakhstan. At the time, the crash was the deadliest involving a Tupolev Tu-154 until Aeroflot Flight 3352 crashed in 1984, killing 178 people.


08/07/1972

Israeli Mossad assassinate Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani.

The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, popularly known as Mossad, is the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel. It is one of the main organizations in the Israeli intelligence community, along with Aman and Shin Bet.


08/07/1970

Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he represented California in both houses of the United States Congress before serving as the 36th vice president under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961. His presidency saw the reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early when he became the only U.S. president to resign from office, as a result of the Watergate scandal.


08/07/1968

The Chrysler wildcat strike begins in Detroit, Michigan.

The Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) was an organization of African-American workers formed in May 1968 in the Chrysler Corporation's Dodge Main assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan.


08/07/1966

King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi.

This article contains two versions of the list of kings of Burundi, the traditional version before 1680 and the modern genealogy. The Kingdom of Burundi was ruled by sovereigns, titled mwami, whose regnal names followed a cycle: Ntare, Mwezi, Mutaga, and Mwambutsa. Traditionally, it was thought that there had been four complete cycles but the modern genealogy indicates that there were only two complete cycles, starting with Ntare III Rushatsi.


08/07/1965

Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 is destroyed by a bomb near 100 Mile House, Canada, killing 52.

Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 was a scheduled domestic flight from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, via Prince George, Fort St. John, Fort Nelson and Watson Lake on July 8, 1965. The Douglas DC-6B plane crashed after an in-flight explosion near 100 Mile House, British Columbia, killing all 52 people aboard. An inquest determined that the explosion was the result of a bomb, but the perpetrator and motive remain undetermined.


08/07/1962

Ne Win besieges and blows up the Rangoon University Student Union building to crush the Student Movement.

Ne Win was a Burmese general and politician who served as Burma's head of government from 1958 to 1960 and again from 1962 to 1974; and also as head of state from 1962 to 1981. Ne Win was Burma's military dictator during the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma period of 1962 to 1988.


08/07/1960

Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.

Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot who served as a United States Air Force officer and a CIA employee. Powers is best known for his involvement in the 1960 U-2 incident, when he was shot down while flying a secret CIA spying mission over the Soviet Union. Powers survived, but was captured and sentenced to 10 years in a Soviet prison for espionage. He served 21 months of his sentence before being released in a prisoner swap in 1962.


08/07/1948

The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called the Women's Air Force (WAF).

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.


08/07/1947

Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash-landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident.

An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes reported to consider them all saucers or discs. UFOs are also known as unidentified aerial phenomena or unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs). Upon investigation, most UFOs are identified as known objects or atmospheric phenomena, while a small number remain unexplained.


08/07/1937

Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan sign the Treaty of Saadabad.

The Treaty of Saadabad was a non-aggression pact signed by Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan on 8 July 1937, and lasted for five years. The treaty was signed in Tehran's Saadabad Palace and was part of an initiative for greater Middle Eastern-oriental relations spearheaded by King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan. Ratifications were exchanged in Tehran on 25 June 1938, and the treaty became effective on the same day. It was registered in the League of Nations Treaty Series on 19 July 1938.


08/07/1933

The first rugby union test match between the Wallabies of Australia and the Springboks of South Africa is played at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.

Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union or often just rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in England in the first half of the 19th century. Rugby involves running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, the game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends. The objective of the game is to score more points than the opposing team by scoring tries, conversion kicks, penalties, and drop goals.


08/07/1932

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow, is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.


08/07/1912

Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro leads an unsuccessful royalist attack against the First Portuguese Republic in Chaves.

Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Cabral Couceiro was a Portuguese soldier, colonial governor, monarchist politician and counter-revolutionary; he was notable for his role during the colonial occupation of Angola and Mozambique and for his dedication to the Monarchist Cause during the period of the First Portuguese Republic through the founding of the Monarchy of the North.


08/07/1898

The death of crime boss Soapy Smith, killed in the Shootout on Juneau Wharf, releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.

Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith II was an American con artist and gangster in the American frontier and the Klondike.


08/07/1892

St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892.

St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans 446.04 square kilometres (172.22 sq mi) and is the easternmost city in North America.


08/07/1889

The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), commonly known as the Journal, is an American newspaper based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance, and operates on a subscription model that requires readers to pay for access to most articles and other content. The Journal is published six days a week by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp.


08/07/1879

Sailing ship USS Jeannette departs San Francisco carrying an ill-fated expedition to the North Pole.

USS Jeannette was a naval exploration vessel which, commanded by George W. De Long, undertook the Jeannette expedition of 1879–1881 to the Arctic. After being trapped in the ice and drifting for almost two years, the ship and her crew of 33 were released from the ice, then trapped again, crushed and sunk some 300 nautical miles north of the Siberian coast. The entire crew survived the sinking, but eight died while sailing towards land in a small cutter. The others reached Siberia, but 12 subsequently perished in the Lena Delta, including De Long.


08/07/1876

The Hamburg massacre prior to the 1876 United States presidential election results in the deaths of six African-Americans of the Republican Party, along with one white assailant.

The Hamburg massacre was a riot in the United States town of Hamburg, South Carolina, in July 1876, leading up to the last election season of the Reconstruction era. It was the first of a series of civil disturbances planned and carried out by white Democrats in the majority-black Republican Edgefield District, with the goal of suppressing black Americans' civil rights and voting rights and disrupting Republican meetings, through actual and threatened violence.


08/07/1874

The Mounties begin their March West.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is the national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 provinces and territories, over 150 municipalities, and 600 Indigenous communities. The RCMP is commonly known as the Mounties in English.


08/07/1864

Ikedaya Incident: The Choshu Han shishis planned Shinsengumi sabotage on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya.

The Ikedaya incident , also known as the Ikedaya affair or Ikedaya riot, was an armed encounter between the shishi which included masterless samurai (rōnin) formally employed by the Chōshū, Tosa and Higo domains (han), and the Shinsengumi, the Bakufu's special police force in Kyoto on July 8, 1864, at the Ikedaya Inn in Sanjō-Kawaramachi, Kyoto, Japan.


08/07/1859

King Charles XV & IV accedes to the throne of Sweden–Norway.

Charles XV and IV was King of Sweden and King of Norway, there often referred to as Charles IV, from 8 July 1859 until his death in 1872. Charles was the third Swedish monarch from the House of Bernadotte. He was the first one to be born in Sweden, the first to grow up speaking Swedish as his first language, and the first to be raised from birth in the Lutheran faith.


08/07/1853

The Perry Expedition arrives in Edo Bay with a treaty requesting trade.

The Perry Expedition was a diplomatic and military expedition in two separate voyages to the Tokugawa shogunate (徳川幕府) by warships of the United States Navy. The goals of this expedition included exploration, surveying, and the establishment of diplomatic relations and negotiation of trade agreements with the various nations in the region. Opening contact with the government of Japan was considered a top priority of the expedition, and was one of the key reasons for its inception.


08/07/1822

Chippewas turn over a huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.

The Ojibwe are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and throughout the northeastern woodlands. The Ojibwe, being Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands and of the subarctic, are known by several names, including Ojibway or Chippewa. As a large ethnic group, several distinct nations also consider themselves Ojibwe, including the Saulteaux, Nipissings, and Oji-Cree.


08/07/1776

Church bells (possibly including the Liberty Bell) are rung after John Nixon delivers the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.

The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell today is located across the street from Independence Hall in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park.


08/07/1775

The Olive Branch Petition is signed by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies of North America.

The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, and signed on July 8, 1775, in a final attempt to avoid war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies in America. The Congress had already authorized the invasion of Canada more than a week earlier, but the petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated King George III to prevent further conflict. It was followed by the July 6, 1775 Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, however, which made its success unlikely in London. In August 1775, the colonies were formally declared to be in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion, and the petition was rejected by the British government; King George had refused to read it before declaring the colonists traitors.


08/07/1760

British forces defeat French forces in the last naval battle in New France.

The Battle of Restigouche was a naval battle fought in 1760 during the Seven Years' War on the Restigouche River between the British Royal Navy and the small flotilla of vessels of the French Navy, Acadian militia and Mi'kmaq militias. The loss of the French vessels, which had been sent to support and resupply the troops in New France after the fall of Quebec, marked the end of any serious attempt by France to keep hold of their colonies in North America. The battle was the last major engagement of the Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias before the Burying of the Hatchet Ceremony between the Mi'kmaq and the British.


08/07/1758

French forces hold Fort Carillon against the British at Ticonderoga, New York.

Fort Carillon, presently known as Fort Ticonderoga, was constructed by Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Governor of New France, to protect Lake Champlain from a British invasion. Situated on the lake some 15 miles (24 km) south of Fort Saint-Frédéric, it was built to prevent an attack on Canada and slow the advance of the enemy long enough for reinforcements to arrive.


08/07/1741

Reverend Jonathan Edwards preaches to his congregation in Enfield, Connecticut his most famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"; an influence for the First Great Awakening.

Jonathan Edwards was an American revivalist preacher, philosopher, and Congregationalist theologian. Edwards is widely regarded as one of America's most important and original philosophical theologians. Edwards's theological work is broad in scope but rooted in the Puritan heritage as exemplified in the Westminster and Savoy Confessions of Faith. Recent studies have emphasized how thoroughly Edwards grounded his life's work on conceptions of beauty, harmony, and ethical aptness, and how central the Age of Enlightenment was to his mindset. Edwards played a critical role in shaping the First Great Awakening and oversaw some of the first revivals in 1733–35 at his church in Northampton, Massachusetts. His work gave rise to a doctrine known as New England theology.


08/07/1730

An estimated magnitude 8.7 earthquake causes a tsunami that damages more than 1,000 km (620 mi) of Chile's coastline.

The 1730 Valparaíso earthquake occurred at 04:45 local time on July 8. It had an estimated magnitude of 9.1–9.3 and triggered a major tsunami with an estimated magnitude of Mt  8.75, that inundated the lower parts of Valparaíso. The earthquake caused severe damage from La Serena to Chillan, while the tsunami affected more than 1,000 km (620 mi) of Chile's coastline.


08/07/1716

The Battle of Dynekilen forces Sweden to abandon its invasion of Norway.

The naval Battle of Dynekilen took place on 8 July 1716 during the Great Northern War between a Dano-Norwegian fleet under Peter Tordenskjold and a Swedish fleet under Olof Strömstierna. The battle resulted in a Dano-Norwegian victory.


08/07/1709

Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava, thus effectively ending Sweden's status as a major power in Europe.

Peter I was the Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V until 1696. Peter, as an autocrat, organized a well-ordered police state.


08/07/1663

Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal charter to Rhode Island.

Charles II was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.


08/07/1579

Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, is discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.

Our Lady of Kazan, also called Mother of God of Kazan, is a holy icon of the highest stature within the Russian Orthodox Church, representing the Virgin Mary as the protector and patroness of the city of Kazan, and a palladium of all of Russia and Rus', known as the Holy Protectress of Russia. As is the case for any holy entity under a Patriarchate in communion within the greater Eastern Orthodox Church, it is venerated by all Orthodox faithful.


08/07/1497

Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India.

Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese mariner, explorer and nobleman. His discovery of the first direct maritime route between Europe and India via the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean from Malindi in Kenya to Kozhikode was to open up European exploration of, and commerce with, India, and is considered a landmark event and a turning point in world history.


08/07/1283

Roger of Lauria, commanding the Aragonese fleet, defeats an Angevin fleet sent to put down a rebellion on Malta.

Roger of Lauria (c. 1245 – 17 January 1305), was a Calabrian knight in service of the Aragonese as admiral of the Sicilian navy. He has been described as one of the most successful and talented naval tactician of the Middle Ages. He is known as Ruggero or Ruggiero di Lauria in Italian and Roger de Llúria in Catalan.


08/07/1167

The Byzantines defeat the Hungarian army decisively at Sirmium, forcing the Hungarians to sue for peace.

The Battle of Sirmium, Battle of Semlin or Battle of Zemun was fought on July 8, 1167 between the Byzantine Empire, and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Byzantines achieved a decisive victory, forcing the Hungarians to sue for peace on Byzantine terms. The battle consolidated Byzantine control of the western Balkans.