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July 8
Events
*939 - The Major Occultation, or ''Ghaybat el-Kubra'' of Muhammad al-Mahdi
*1099 - First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on.
*1283 - War of the Sicilian Vespers: Battle of Malta
*1497 - Vasco da Gama sets sail on first direct European voyage to India.
*1579 - ''Our Lady of Kazan'', a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, was discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.
*1663 - Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter to Rhode Island.
*1680 - The first confirmed tornado in America kills a servant at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
*1709 - Great Northern War: Battle of Poltava: Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava thus effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe.
*1716 - Great Northern War: Battle of Dynekilen
*1758 - French forces hold Fort Carillon against British at Ticonderoga, New York.
*1760 - French and Indian War: Battle of Restigouche - British defeat French forces in last naval battle in New France.
*1775 - The Olive Branch Petition is adopted by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies.
*1776 - The Declaration of Independence is read aloud in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Liberty Bell was famously rung.
*1822 - Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.
*1853 - Commodore Perry sails into Tokyo Bay.
*1859 - King Charles XV/Carl IV accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway.
*1864 - The Shinsengumi sabotage the Choshu-han shishi's planned attack on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya. This event is known as Ikedaya Jiken.
*1874 - The Mounties begin their March West.
*1876 - White supremacists kill five Black Republicans in Hamburg, SC.
*1889 - The first issue of the ''Wall Street Journal'' is published.
*1892 - St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892.
*1896 - William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetalism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
*1898 - The shooting death of crime boss Soapy Smith releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.
*1932 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22.
*1947 - Reports are broadcast that a UFO has crashed landed in Roswell, New Mexico.
*1960 - Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.
*1962 - Ne Win sieged and dynamited the Ragoon University Student Union building to crash the Student Movement.
*1966 - King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi.
*1969 - IBM CICS is made generally available for the 360 mainframe computer.
*1970 - Richard Nixon delivers special congressional message enunciating Native American Self-Determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination Act.
*1977 - The ashes of Ahn Eak-tai, a Korean conductor and the composer of the national anthem ''Aegukga'', are transferred from the island of Majorca to the Korean National Cemetery.
*1982 - Assassination attempt against former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Dujail.
* 1982 - Senegalese Trotskyist political party LCT is legally recognized.
*1992 - Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe creates the office of High Commissioner on National Minorities.
*1997 - NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance in 1999.
*1999 - Allen Lee Davis is executed by electrocution by the state of Florida, the last use of the electric chair for capital punishment in Florida.
*2003 - Sudan Airways Flight 39, with 116 people on board, crashes in Sudan; the only survivor is a two-year-old boy who subsequently dies as a result of his injuries.
Births
*1528 - Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (d. 1580)
*1545 - Don Carlos of Spain (d. 1568)
*1593 - Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian painter (d. 1653)
*1621 - Jean de la Fontaine, French writer (d. 1695)
*1760 - Christian Kramp, French mathematician (d. 1826)
*1766 - Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon (d. 1842)
*1792 - Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, queen of Bavaria (d. 1854)
*1819 - Francis Leopold McClintock, British naval officer and explorer (d. 1907)
*1830 - Frederick William Seward, United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1915)
* 1830 - Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Altenburg (d. 1911)
*1836 - Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (d. 1914)
*1838 - Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (d. 1917)
*1839 - John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and philanthropist (d. 1937)
*1851 - Arthur Evans, English archaeologist (d. 1941)
*1857 - Alfred Binet, French psychologist (d. 1911)
*1867 - Käthe Kollwitz, German artist (d. 1945)
*1878 - Jimmy Quinn, Scottish footballer (d. 1945)
*1882 - Percy Grainger, Australian composer (d. 1961)
*1885 - Ernst Bloch, German philosopher (d. 1977)
*1892 - Richard Aldington, English poet (d. 1962)
* 1892 - Pavel Korin, Russian painter (d. 1967)
*1895 - Igor Tamm, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
*1898 - Melville Ruick, American actor (d. 1972)
*1904 - Henri Cartan, French mathematician
*1905 - Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator (d. 1997)
*1906 - Philip Johnson, American architect (d. 2005)
*1907 - George W. Romney, American businessman and politician (d. 1995)
*1908 - Louis Jordan, American saxophonist (d. 1975)
* 1908 - Nelson A. Rockefeller, 41st Vice President of the United States (d. 1979)
*1914 - Jyoti Basu, Indian politician
* 1914 - Billy Eckstine, American jazz singer (d. 1993)
*1917 - Faye Emerson, American actress (d. 1983)
*1918 - Craig Stevens, American actor (d. 2000)
*1919 - Walter Scheel, German politician
*1920 - Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Danish industrialist (Lego Group) (d. 1995)
*1923 - Harrison Dillard, American athlete
*1924 - Johnnie Johnson, American blues musician (d. 2005)
*1926 - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (d. 2004)
*1927 - Maurice Hayes, Irish politician
*1932 - Jerry Vale, American singer
*1933 - Marty Feldman, English comedian and actor (d. 1982)
* 1933 - Antonio Lamer, French Canadian lawyer and chief justice
*1934 - Ed Lumley, Canadian corporate executive and former politician
*1935 - Steve Lawrence, American entertainer and singer
* 1935 - Vitali Sevastyanov, Russian cosmonaut
*1941 - Dario Gradi, Italian-born football manager
*1942 - Phil Gramm, American politician
*1944 - Jai Johanny Johanson, American musician (The Allman Brothers Band)
* 1944 - Jeffrey Tambor, American actor
*1945 - Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss politician
*1947 - Kim Darby, American actress
* 1947 - Luis Fernando Figari, Peruvian founder of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae
*1948 - Raffi, Canadian children's entertainer
*1949 - Frank Delima, American comedian
* 1949 - Dale Hoganson, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1949 - Wolfgang Puck, Austrian-born celebrity chef
*1951 - Anjelica Huston, American actress
*1952 - Jack Lambert, American football player
* 1952 - Anna Quindlen, American columnist
*1955 - Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress
*1956 - Terry Puhl, Canadian baseball player
*1957 - Aleksandr Gurnov, Russian television personality
* 1957 - Carlos Cavazo, American musician (Quiet Riot)
*1958 - Kevin Bacon, American actor
*1958 - Tzipi Livni, Israeli politician
*1958 - Pauline Quirke, British actress
*1958 - Neetu Singh, Indian Actress
* 1958 - Andreas Carlgren, Swedish politician
*1959 - Robert Knepper, American actor
*1960 - Mal Meninga, Australian rugby league footballer
*1961 - Toby Keith, American singer
* 1961 - Andrew Fletcher, English musician (Depeche Mode)
*1962 - Joan Osborne, American singer and songwriter
*1964 - Linda de Mol, Dutch actress and host
* 1964 - Alexei Gusarov, Russian ice hockey player
*1965 - Lee Tergesen, American actor
*1966 - Shadlog Bernicke, Nauruan politician
*1967 - Jordan Chan, Hong Kong actor and singer
*1968 - Akio Suyama, Japanese seiyu
* 1968 - Billy Crudup, American actor
* 1968 - Michael Weatherly, American actor
*1969 - Sugizo Japanese guitarist and singer
*1970 - Beck, American singer
*1971 - Amanda Peterson, American actress
*1972 - Sourav Ganguly, Indian cricketer
* 1972 - Karl Dykhuis, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1972 - Shōsuke Tanihara, Japanese actor
*1973 - Kathleen Robertson, Canadian actress
*1974 - Zhanna Friske, Russian actress and singer
* 1974 - Tami Erin, American actress and model
*1975 - Elias Viljanen, Finnish Guitarist
*1976 - Talal El Karkouri, Moroccan footballer
* 1976 - David Kennedy, American guitarist (Angels & Airwaves)
*1977 - Wang Zhizhi, Chinese basketball player
* 1977 - Milo Ventimiglia, American actor
*1980 - Robbie Keane, Irish footballer
*1981 - Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player
*1982 - Hakim Warrick, American basketball player
* 1982 - Joshua Alba, American actor
* 1982 - Sophia Bush, American actress
*1983 - Jaroslav Janiš, Czech racing car driver
* 1983 - Elizabeth Del Mar, American pornographic actress
* 1983 - John Bowker, American baseball player
*1984 - Alexis Dziena, American actress
*1985 - Jamie Cook, British musician (Arctic Monkeys)
*1986 - Renata Costa, Brazilian footballer
*1987 - Vlada Roslyakova, Russian model
*1992 - Benjamin Grosvenor, British pianist
*1998 - Jaden Smith, American actor
Deaths
*810 - Pepin, King of Italy (b. 773)
*901 - Saint Grimbald
*975 - King Edgar of England
*1153 - Pope Eugene III
*1538 - Diego de Almagro, Spanish explorer (b. 1475)
*1623 - Pope Gregory XV (b. 1554)
*1689 - Edward Wooster, English Connecticut pioneer (b. 1622)
*1695 - Christiaan Huygens, Dutch scientist (b. 1629)
*1716 - Robert South, English churchman (b. 1634)
*1721 - Elihu Yale, American benefactor of Yale University (b. 1649)
*1726 - John Ker, Scottish spy (b. 1673)
*1784 - Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist (b. 1735)
*1822 - Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (b. 1792)
*1826 - Luther Martin, American statesman (b. 1748)
*1850 - Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge (b. 1774)
*1855 - Sir William Edward Parry, English Arctic explorer (b. 1790)
*1859 - King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway (b. 1799)
*1895 - Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian scientist (b. 1821)
*1898 - Soapy Smith, American con artist (b. 1860)
*1905 - Walter Kittredge, American musician (b. 1834)
*1913 - Louis Hémon, French-born writer (b. 1880)
*1917 - Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (b. 1877)
*1930 - Sir Joseph Ward, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1856)
*1933 - Anthony Hope, British author (b. 1863)
*1934 - Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer (b. 1848)
*1939 - Havelock Ellis, British physician (b. 1859)
*1941 - Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, senator, historian and orientalist (b. 1874)
*1943 - Jean Moulin, French Resistance leader (b. 1899)
*1950 - Othmar Spann, Austrian philosopher (b. 1878)
*1956 - Giovanni Papini, Italian essayist (b. 1881)
*1957 - Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (b. 1879)
*1962 - Georges Bataille, French writer and philosopher (b. 1897)
*1967 - Fatima Jinnah, Pakistani political figure (b. 1893)
*1967 - Vivien Leigh, English actress (b. 1913)
*1971 - Charlie Shavers, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1920)
*1973 - Wilfred Rhodes, English cricketer (b. 1877)
*1979 - Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1906)
* 1979 - Robert B. Woodward, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1917)
* 1979 - Michael Wilding, English actor (b. 1912)
*1981 - Wild Bill Hallahan, American baseball player (b. 1902)
*1986 - Skeeter Webb, American baseball player (b. 1909)
*1987 - Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet (b. 1896)
* 1987 - Lionel Chevrier, Canadian politician (b. 1903)
*1988 - Ray Barbuti, American athlete (b. 1905)
*1990 - Howard Duff, American actor (b. 1913)
*1991 - James Franciscus, American actor (b. 1934)
*1994 - Christian-Jaque, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1904)
* 1994 - Kim Il-sung, North Korean leader (b. 1912)
* 1994 - Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American entrepreneur and explorer (b. 1927)
* 1994 - Dick Sargent, American actor (b. 1930)
*1999 - Pete Conrad, American astronaut (b. 1930)
*2001 - John O'Shea, New Zealand film director (b. 1920)
*2002 - Ward Kimball, American animator (b. 1914)
*2004 - Paula Danziger, American author (b. 1944)
* 2004 - Jean Lefebvre, French actor (b. 1922)
*2006 - June Allyson, American actress (b. 1917)
* 2006 - Peter Hawkins, British actor/voice actor (b. 1924)
Holidays and observances
*Annual Soapy Smith wake, held each year in Skagway, Alaska in the Gold Rush Cemetery and in Hollywood, California at the Magic Castle
*Saints Abda and Sabas
*Saint Auspicius, bishop of Trier
*Saint Evodius, bishop of Rouen, confessor (Translation)
*Saint Grimbald, abbot, confessor
*Saint Kilian of Würzburg, bishop, and companions
* Saint Nummius, confessor St. Nom
*Saint Procopius, martyr
*Saint Quintinus, martyr (Invention)
*Saint Theobald (Thibaut), abbot
*Saint Barbara (Translation)
*Saint Elizabeth, queen of Portugal
*Saint Sunniva and companions, virgins
Source: Wikipedia