December 8
1660 | The first Shakespearian actress to appear on an English stage (she is believed to be a Ms. Norris) makes her debut as Desdemona. | ||
1861 | CSS Sumter captures the whaler Eben Dodge in the Atlantic. The American Civil War is now affecting the Northern whaling industry. | ||
1863 | Union General William Averell’s cavalry destroys railroads in the southwestern part of West Virginia. | ||
1914 | The German cruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Nurnberg, and Liepzig are sunk by a British force in the Battle of the Falkland Islands. | ||
1920 | President Woodrow Wilson declines to send a representative to the League of Nations in Geneva. | ||
1932 | Japan tells the League of Nations that it has no control over her designs in China. | ||
1941 | Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita begins his attack against the British army at Singapore. | ||
1943 | U.S. carrier-based planes sink two cruisers and down 72 planes in the Marshall Islands. | ||
1944 | The United States conducts the longest, most effective air raid on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. | ||
1948 | The United Nations approves the recognition of South Korea. | ||
1967 | In the biggest battle yet in the Mekong Delta, 365 Viet Cong are killed. | ||
1968 | South Vietnam’s Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky arrives in Paris for peace talks. | ||
1980 | John Lennon is shot to death outside his Manhattan apartment building. | ||
1982 | The Washington, D.C., police shoot and kill a man threatening to blow up the Washington Monument. | ||
1987 | The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed. | ||
1987 | An Israeli army tank transporter kills 4 Palestinian refugees and injures 7 others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, leading to the First Intifada. | ||
1991 | The leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine sign an agreement that dissolves the Soviet Union and establishes the Commonwealth of Independent States. | ||
2004 | The Cuzco Declaration signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations. | ||
2010 | SpaceX becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft. | ||
2010 | The Japanese solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS passes the planet Venus. | ||
Born on December 8 | |||
65 BC | Quintus "Horance" Horatius Flaccus, Roman poet and satirist best known for his three books Odes. | ||
1542 | Mary, Queen of Scotland (1542-67). | ||
1626 | Christina, Queen of Sweden (1644-54). | ||
1765 | Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin. | ||
1894 | James Thurber, American writer, cartoonist and editor (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty). | ||
1906 | Richard Llewellyn, author (How Green Was My Valley). | ||
1913 | Delmore Schwartz, poet and writer. | ||
1916 | Richard Fleischer, film director, (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Soylent Green). | ||
1922 | Jean Ritchie, singer, songwriter of folk music ("Blue Diamond Mines"). | ||
1925 | Sammy Davis Jr., singer ("The Candy Man"), dancer, actor (Ocean’s 11); member of the "Rat Pack". | ||
1930 | Maximilian Schell, actor, writer, director, producer; won Academy Award for Best Actor for Judgement at Nuremberg (1961). | ||
1933 | Flip Wilson (Clerow Wilson Jr.), comedian and actor; won a Golden Globe and two Emmy Awards for his 1970s TV variety series, The Flip Wilson Show. | ||
1939 | Sir James Galway, virtuoso flute player known as "The Man With the Golden Flute." | ||
1941 | Bobby Elliott, drummer, member of the band The Hollies. | ||
1943 | Jim Morrison, singer, songwriter, poet; lead singer for The Doors and Rick & the Ravens. | ||
1943 | Larry Martin, paleontologist; leading opponent of the "birds are living dinosaurs" theory. | ||
1947 | Gregg Allman, singer, songwriter, musician; founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. | ||
1953 | Kim Basinger, actress, singer, producer; won Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for L.A. Confidential (1997). | ||
1964 | Teri Hatcher, actress; Lois Lane on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman TV series; won Golden Globe for Best Actress as Susan Mayer on Desperate Housewives TV series. | ||
1966 | Sinead O’Connor, Irish singer, songwriter; has frequently generated controversy with her views on social issues such as organized religion and women’s rights. Source: History Net |