July 8

Events

• 1099 - Some 15,000 starving Christian soldiers begin the siege of Jerusalem by marching in a religious procession around the city as its Muslim defenders watch.
• 1283 - Roger of Lauria, commanding the Aragonese fleet, defeats an Angevin fleet sent to put down a rebellion on Malta.
• 1497 - Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India.
• 1579 - Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, is discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.
• 1663 - Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal charter to Rhode Island.
• 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.
• 1716 - The Battle of Dynekilen forces Sweden to abandon its invasion of Norway.
• 1730 - An estimated magnitude 8.7 earthquake causes a tsunami that damages more than of Chile's coastline.
• 1758 - French forces hold Fort Carillon against the British at Ticonderoga, New York.
• 1760 - British forces defeat French forces in the last naval battle in New France.
• 1775 - The Olive Branch Petition is signed by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies of North America.
• 1776 - Church bells are rung after John Nixon delivers the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
• 1808 - Joseph Bonaparte approves the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as king of Spain.
• 1822 - Chippewas turn over a huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.
• 1853 - The Perry Expedition arrives in Edo Bay with a treaty requesting trade.
• 1859 - King Charles XV & IV accedes to the throne of Sweden–Norway.
• 1864 - Ikedaya Incident: The Choshu Han shishi's planned Shinsengumi sabotage on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya.
• 1874 - The Mounties begin their March West.
• 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.
• 1879 - Sailing ship departs San Francisco carrying an ill-fated expedition to the North Pole.
• 1889 - The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.
• 1892 - St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892.
• 1898 - The death of crime boss Soapy Smith, killed in the Shootout on Juneau Wharf, releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.
• 1912 - Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro leads an unsuccessful royalist attack against the First Portuguese Republic in Chaves.
• 1932 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22.
• 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.
• 1937 - Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan sign the Treaty of Saadabad.
• 1947 - Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident.
• 1948 - The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force.
• 1960 - Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.
• 1962 - Ne Win besieges and dynamites the Rangoon University Student Union building to crush the Student Movement.
• 1966 - King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi.
• 1968 - The Chrysler wildcat strike begins in Detroit, Michigan.
• 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.
• 1972 - Israeli Mossad assassinate Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani.
• 1980 - The inaugural 1980 State of Origin game is won by Queensland who defeat New South Wales 20–10 at Lang Park.
• 1982 - A failed assassination attempt against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein results in the Dujail Massacre over the next several months.
• 1988 - The Island Express train travelling from Bangalore to Kanyakumari derails on the Peruman bridge and falls into Ashtamudi Lake, killing 105 passengers and injuring over 200 more.
• 1994 - Kim Jong-il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.
• 2003 - Sudan Airways Flight 139 crashes near Port Sudan Airport during an emergency landing attempt, killing 116 of the 117 people on board.
• 2011 - Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.
• 2014 - Israel launches an offensive on Gaza amid rising tensions following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers.

  Births

• 1478 - Gian Giorgio Trissino, Italian linguist, poet, and playwright
• 1528 - Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy
• 1538 - Alberto Bolognetti, Roman Catholic cardinal
• 1545 - Carlos, Prince of Asturias
• 1593 - Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian painter
• 1621 - Jean de La Fontaine, French author and poet
• 1760 - Christian Kramp, French mathematician and academic
• 1766 - Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon
• 1779 - Giorgio Pullicino, Maltese painter and architect
• 1819 - Francis Leopold McClintock, Irish admiral and explorer
• 1830 - Frederick W. Seward, American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Assistant Secretary of State
• 1831 - John Pemberton, American chemist and pharmacist, invented Coca-Cola
• 1836 - Joseph Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies
• 1838 - Eli Lilly, American soldier, chemist, and businessman, founded Eli Lilly and Company
• 1838 - Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and businessman, founded the Zeppelin Airship Company
• 1839 - John D. Rockefeller, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Standard Oil Company
• 1851 - Arthur Evans, English archaeologist and academic
• 1851 - John Murray, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Victoria
• 1857 - Alfred Binet, French psychologist and graphologist
• 1867 - Käthe Kollwitz, German painter and sculptor
• 1876 - Alexandros Papanastasiou, Greek sociologist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece
• 1882 - Percy Grainger, Australian-American pianist and composer
• 1885 - Ernst Bloch, German philosopher, author, and academic
• 1885 - Hugo Boss, German fashion designer, founded Hugo Boss
• 1890 - Stanton Macdonald-Wright, American painter
• 1892 - Richard Aldington, English author and poet
• 1892 - Pavel Korin, Russian painter
• 1893 - R. Carlyle Buley, American historian and author
• 1894 - Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1895 - Igor Tamm, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1898 - Melville Ruick, American actor
• 1900 - George Antheil, American pianist, composer, and author
• 1904 - Henri Cartan, French mathematician and academic
• 1905 - Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator and director
• 1906 - Philip Johnson, American architect, designed the IDS Center and PPG Place
• 1907 - George W. Romney, American businessman and politician, 43rd Governor of Michigan
• 1908 - Louis Jordan, American singer-songwriter, saxophonist, and actor
• 1908 - Nelson Rockefeller, American businessman and politician, 41st Vice President of the United States
• 1908 - V. K. R. Varadaraja Rao, Indian economist, politician, professor and educator
• 1909 - Alan Brown, English soldier
• 1909 - Ike Petersen, American football back
• 1910 - Carlos Betances Ramírez, Puerto Rican general
• 1911 - Ken Farnes, English cricketer
• 1913 - Alejandra Soler, Spanish politician
• 1914 - Jyoti Basu, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of West Bengal
• 1914 - Billy Eckstine, American singer and trumpet player
• 1915 - Neil D. Van Sickle, American Air Force major general
• 1915 - Lowell English, United States Marine Corps general
• 1916 - Jean Rouverol, American author, actress and screenwriter
• 1917 - Pamela Brown, English actress
• 1917 - Faye Emerson, American actress
• 1917 - J. F. Powers, American novelist and short story writer
• 1918 - Paul B. Fay, American businessman, soldier, and diplomat, 12th United States Secretary of the Navy
• 1918 - Irwin Hasen, American illustrator
• 1918 - Oluf Reed-Olsen, Norwegian resistance member and pilot
• 1918 - Julia Pirie, British spy working for MI5
• 1918 - Edward B. Giller, U.S Major General
• 1918 - Craig Stevens, American actor
• 1919 - Walter Scheel, German soldier and politician, 4th President of West Germany
• 1920 - Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman
• 1921 - John Money, New Zealand psychologist and sexologist, responsible for controversial sexual identity study on David Reimer
• 1923 - Harrison Dillard, American sprinter and hurdler
• 1924 - Johnnie Johnson, American pianist and songwriter
• 1924 - Charles C. Droz, American politician
• 1925 - Marco Cé, Italian cardinal
• 1925 - Arthur Imperatore Sr., Italian-American businessman from New Jersey
• 1925 - Bill Mackrides, American football quarterback
• 1925 - Dominique Nohain, French actor, screenwriter and director
• 1926 - David Malet Armstrong, Australian philosopher and author
• 1926 - John Dingell, American lieutenant and politician
• 1926 - Martin Riesen, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender
• 1926 - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-American psychiatrist and author
• 1927 - Maurice Hayes, Irish educator and politician
• 1927 - Khensur Lungri Namgyel, Tibetan religious leader
• 1927 - Bob Beckham, American country singer
• 1928 - Balakh Sher Mazari, former Prime Minister of Pakistan
• 1930 - Jerry Vale, American singer
• 1933 - Antonio Lamer, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Chief Justice of Canada
• 1934 - Raquel Correa, Chilean journalist
• 1934 - Marty Feldman, English actor and screenwriter
• 1934 - Edward D. DiPrete, American politician
• 1935 - John David Crow, American football player and coach
• 1935 - Steve Lawrence, American actor and singer
• 1935 - Vitaly Sevastyanov, Russian engineer and astronaut
• 1938 - Diane Clare, English actress
• 1939 - Ed Lumley, Canadian businessman and politician, 8th Canadian Minister of Communications
• 1940 - Joe B. Mauldin, American bass player and songwriter
• 1941 - Dario Gradi, Italian-English footballer, coach, and manager
• 1942 - Phil Gramm, American economist and politician
• 1944 - Jaimoe, American drummer
• 1944 - Jeffrey Tambor, American actor and singer
• 1945 - Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss politician, 91st President of the Swiss Confederation
• 1947 - Kim Darby, American actress
• 1947 - Jenny Diski, English author and screenwriter
• 1947 - Luis Fernando Figari, Peruvian religious leader, founded the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae
• 1948 - Raffi, Egyptian-Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1948 - Ruby Sales, American civil-rights activist
• 1949 - Wolfgang Puck, Austrian-American chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur
• 1949 - Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Indian politician, 14th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
• 1951 - Alan Ashby, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster
• 1951 - Anjelica Huston, American actress and director
• 1952 - Larry Garner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1952 - Jack Lambert, American football player and sportscaster
• 1952 - Marianne Williamson, American author and activist
• 1956 - Terry Puhl, Canadian baseball player and coach
• 1957 - Carlos Cavazo, Mexican-American guitarist and songwriter
• 1957 - Aleksandr Gurnov, Russian journalist and author
• 1958 - Kevin Bacon, American actor and musician
• 1958 - Andreas Carlgren, Swedish educator and politician, 8th Swedish Minister for the Environment
• 1958 - Tzipi Livni, Israeli lawyer and politician, 18th Justice Minister of Israel
• 1959 - Pauline Quirke, English actress
• 1960 - Mal Meninga, Australian rugby league player and coach
• 1961 - Ces Drilon, Filipino journalist
• 1961 - Andrew Fletcher, English keyboard player
• 1961 - Toby Keith, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
• 1961 - Karl Seglem, Norwegian saxophonist and record producer
• 1962 - Joan Osborne, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1963 - Mark Christopher, American director and screenwriter
• 1964 - Alexei Gusarov, Russian ice hockey player and manager
• 1965 - Dan Levinson, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and bandleader
• 1966 - Ralf Altmeyer, German-Chinese virologist and academic
• 1966 - Shadlog Bernicke, Nauruan politician
• 1967 - Jordan Chan, Hong Kong actor and singer
• 1968 - Billy Crudup, American actor
• 1968 - Shane Howarth, New Zealand rugby player and coach
• 1969 - Sugizo, Japanese singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
• 1970 - Beck, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1970 - Sylvain Gaudreault, Canadian educator and politician
• 1970 - Todd Martin, American tennis player and coach
• 1971 - Neil Jenkins, Welsh rugby player and coach
• 1972 - Karl Dykhuis, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1972 - Sourav Ganguly, Indian cricketer
• 1972 - Shōsuke Tanihara, Japanese actor
• 1974 - Hu Liang, Chinese field hockey player
• 1976 - Talal El Karkouri, Moroccan footballer
• 1976 - David Kennedy, American guitarist and songwriter
• 1976 - Ellen MacArthur, English sailor
• 1977 - Christian Abbiati, Italian footballer
• 1977 - Paolo Tiralongo, Italian cyclist
• 1977 - Milo Ventimiglia, American actor, director, and producer
• 1977 - Wang Zhizhi, Chinese basketball player
• 1978 - Urmas Rooba, Estonian footballer
• 1979 - Mat McBriar, American football player
• 1979 - Ben Jelen, Scottish-American singer-songwriter
• 1980 - Eric Chouinard, American-Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 - Robbie Keane, Irish footballer
• 1981 - Wolfram Müller, German runner
• 1981 - Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player
• 1982 - Sophia Bush, American actress and director
• 1982 - Hakim Warrick, American basketball player
• 1983 - John Bowker, American baseball player
• 1983 - Rich Peverley, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1986 - Jaime Garcia, Mexican baseball player
• 1986 - Renata Costa, Brazilian footballer
• 1988 - Miki Roqué, Spanish footballer
• 1988 - Jesse Sergent, New Zealand cyclist
• 1988 - Dave Taylor, Australian rugby league player
• 1989 - Yarden Gerbi, Israeli Judo champion
• 1989 - Tor Marius Gromstad, Norwegian footballer
• 1991 - Virgil van Dijk, Dutch footballer
• 1992 - Ariel Camacho, Mexican singer-songwriter
• 1992 - Son Heung-min, Korean footballer
• 1992 - Xander Mobus, American voice actor
• 1997 - Bryce Love, American football player
• 1997 - Lauran Hibberd, English singer-songwriter
• 1998 - Jaden Smith, American actor and rapper

  Deaths

• 689 - Kilian, Irish bishop
• 810 - Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne
• 873 - Gunther, archbishop of Cologne
• 900 - Qatr al-Nada, wife of the Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tadid
• 901 - Grimbald, French-English monk and saint
• 975 - Edgar the Peaceful, English king
• 1153 - Pope Eugene III
• 1253 - Theobald I of Navarre
• 1261 - Adolf IV of Holstein, Count of Schauenburg
• 1390 - Albert of Saxony, Bishop of Halberstadt and German philosopher
• 1538 - Diego de Almagro, Spanish general and explorer
• 1623 - Pope Gregory XV
• 1689 - Edward Wooster, English-American settler
• 1695 - Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist
• 1716 - Robert South, English preacher and theologian
• 1721 - Elihu Yale, American-English merchant and philanthropist
• 1784 - Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist and mineralogist
• 1794 - Richard Mique, French architect
• 1820 - Octavia Taylor, daughter of Zachary Taylor
• 1822 - Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet and playwright
• 1850 - Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
• 1859 - Oscar I of Sweden
• 1873 - Franz Xaver Winterhalter, German painter and lithographer
• 1887 - Ben Holladay, American businessman
• 1895 - Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian chemist and physicist
• 1905 - Walter Kittredge, American violinist and composer
• 1913 - Louis Hémon, French-Canadian author
• 1917 - Tom Thomson, Canadian painter
• 1930 - Joseph Ward, Australian-New Zealand businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 1933 - Anthony Hope, English author and playwright
• 1934 - Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer and academic
• 1939 - Havelock Ellis, English psychologist and author
• 1941 - Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, historian, and politician
• 1942 - Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, Algerian-French general
• 1942 - Refik Saydam, Turkish physician and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Turkey
• 1943 - Jean Moulin, French soldier
• 1950 - Othmar Spann, Austrian sociologist, economist, and philosopher
• 1952 - August Alle, Estonian lawyer, author, and poet
• 1956 - Giovanni Papini, Italian journalist, author, and critic
• 1965 - Thomas Sigismund Stribling, American lawyer and author
• 1968 - Désiré Mérchez, French swimmer and water polo player
• 1971 - Kurt Reidemeister, German mathematician connected to the Vienna Circle
• 1972 - Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinian writer and politician
• 1973 - Gene L. Coon, American screenwriter and producer
• 1973 - Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Education Minister of Israel
• 1973 - Wilfred Rhodes, English cricketer and coach
• 1979 - Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1979 - Michael Wilding, English actor
• 1979 - Robert Burns Woodward, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1981 - Bill Hallahan, American baseball player
• 1985 - Phil Foster, American actor and screenwriter
• 1985 - Jean-Paul Le Chanois, French actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1986 - Skeeter Webb, American baseball player and manager
• 1987 - Lionel Chevrier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Justice
• 1987 - Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet and author
• 1988 - Ray Barbuti, American runner and football player
• 1990 - Howard Duff, American actor
• 1991 - James Franciscus, American actor
• 1994 - Christian-Jaque, French director and screenwriter
• 1994 - Kim Il-sung, North Korean commander and politician, President of North Korea
• 1994 - Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American businessman and explorer
• 1994 - Dick Sargent, American actor
• 1996 - Irene Prador, Austrian-born actress and writer
• 1998 - Lilí Álvarez, Spanish tennis player, author, and feminist
• 1999 - Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
• 2001 - John O'Shea, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter
• 2002 - Ward Kimball, American animator and trombonist
• 2004 - Paula Danziger, American author and educator
• 2005 - Maurice Baquet, French actor and cellist
• 2006 - June Allyson, American actress and singer
• 2007 - Chandra Shekhar, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of India
• 2007 - Jack B. Sowards, American screenwriter and producer
• 2008 - John Templeton, American-born British businessman and philanthropist
• 2009 - Midnight, American singer-songwriter
• 2011 - Roberts Blossom, American actor and poet
• 2011 - Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States
• 2012 - Muhammed bin Saud Al Saud, Saudi Arabian politician
• 2012 - Ernest Borgnine, American actor
• 2012 - Gyang Dalyop Datong, Nigerian physician and politician
• 2012 - Martin Pakledinaz, American costume designer
• 2013 - Dick Gray, American baseball player
• 2013 - Edmund Morgan, American historian and author
• 2013 - Claudiney Ramos, Brazilian footballer
• 2013 - Rubby Sherr, American physicist and academic
• 2013 - Sundri Uttamchandani, Indian author
• 2013 - Brett Walker, American songwriter and producer
• 2014 - Plínio de Arruda Sampaio, Brazilian lawyer and politician
• 2014 - John V. Evans, American soldier and politician, 27th Governor of Idaho
• 2014 - Ben Pangelinan, Guamanian businessman and politician
• 2014 - Howard Siler, American bobsledder and coach
• 2014 - Tom Veryzer, American baseball player
• 2015 - Ken Stabler, American football player and sportscaster
• 2015 - James Tate, American poet
• 2016 - Abdul Sattar Edhi, Pakistani philanthropist
• 2018 - Tab Hunter, American actor, pop singer, film producer and author
• 2020 - Naya Rivera, American actress, model and singer

  Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
• * Abda and Sabas
• * Auspicius of Trier
• * Grimbald
• * Kilian, Totnan, and Colman
• * Peter and Fevronia Day
• * Procopius of Scythopolis
• * Sunniva and companions
• * Theobald of Marly
• * July 8
• Air Force and Air Defense Forces Day