History of Today 08 June – Important Events in World History
History of Today in India – 08 June
Explore the history of today 08 June in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.
Last updated on 08 June 2026, 10:05 AM
📜 Important Events on 08 June in World History
- 08 Jun 2023: Former US President Donald Trump is indicted on federal charges of misusing classified information. Read more
- 08 Jun 2008: 7 people are killed and 11 more are injured in a massacre in Akihabara. Read more
- 08 Jun 2007: Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State's worst storms and flooding in 30 years, resulting in the death of nine people and the grounding of a trade ship, the MV Pasha Bulker. Read more
- 08 Jun 2007: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-117 carrying two truss segments and solar arrays to the International Space Station. Read more
- 08 Jun 2004: The first Venus Transit in well over a century takes place, the previous one being in 1882. Read more
- 08 Jun 2001: Mamoru Takuma kills eight and injures 15 in a mass stabbing at an elementary school in the Osaka Prefecture of Japan. Read more
- 08 Jun 1995: Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia. Read more
- 08 Jun 1992: The first World Oceans Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Read more
- 08 Jun 1992: GP Express Airlines Flight 861 crashes on approach to Anniston Regional Airport in Anniston, Alabama, killing three. Read more
- 08 Jun 1987: New Zealand's Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987. Read more
- 08 Jun 1984: Homosexuality is decriminalized in the Australian state of New South Wales. Read more
- 08 Jun 1983: Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 loses one of its propellers in flight resulting in damage to the flight controls. The Lockheed L-188 Electra makes an emergency landing at Anchorage International Airport and there are no injuries. Read more
- 08 Jun 1982: Bluff Cove Air Attacks during the Falklands War: Fifty-six British servicemen are killed by an Argentine air attack on two landing ships, RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram. Read more
- 08 Jun 1982: VASP Flight 168 crashes in Pacatuba, Ceará, Brazil, killing 128 people. Read more
- 08 Jun 1972: Vietnam War: Nine-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc is burned by napalm, an event captured in a photograph moments later while the young girl is seen running naked down a road, in what would become an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo. Read more
- 08 Jun 1968: James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested at London Heathrow Airport. Read more
- 08 Jun 1967: Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident: A United States Navy spy ship is attacked by the Israeli Air Force and Navy, resulting in 34 deaths and 171 wounded. Read more
- 08 Jun 1966: An F-104 Starfighter collides with XB-70 Valkyrie prototype no. 2, destroying both aircraft during a photo shoot near Edwards Air Force Base. Joseph A. Walker, a NASA test pilot, and Carl Cross, a United States Air Force test pilot, are both killed. Read more
- 08 Jun 1966: Topeka, Kansas, United States is devastated by a tornado that registers as an "F5" on the Fujita scale, exceeding US$200 million in damages. Seventeen people are killed, over five hundred more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed. Read more
- 08 Jun 1961: Marriage of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent to Katharine Worsley at York Minster. Read more
- 08 Jun 1959: USS Barbero and the United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail. Read more
- 08 Jun 1953: An F5 tornado hits Beecher, Michigan, United States, killing 116, injuring 844, and destroying 340 homes. Read more
- 08 Jun 1953: The United States Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co. that restaurants in Washington, D.C., cannot refuse to serve black patrons. Read more
- 08 Jun 1949: George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is published in the United States Read more
- 08 Jun 1943: World War II: The two-day Battle of Porta between the Royal Italian Army and the Greek People's Liberation Army begins. Read more
- 08 Jun 1942: World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy submarines I-21 and I-24 shell the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle. Read more
- 08 Jun 1941: World War II: The Allies commence the Syria–Lebanon Campaign against the possessions of Vichy France in the Levant. Read more
- 08 Jun 1940: World War II: The completion of Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of Allied forces from Narvik at the end of the Norwegian campaign. Read more
- 08 Jun 1929: Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labour. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. Read more
- 08 Jun 1928: Second Northern Expedition: The National Revolutionary Army captures Beijing, whose name is changed to Beiping ("Northern Peace"). Read more
- 08 Jun 1924: British Mount Everest expedition: British mountaineers Andrew Irvine and George Mallory go missing. Read more
- 08 Jun 1906: Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value. Read more
- 08 Jun 1887: Herman Hollerith applies for US patent #395,781 for the 'Art of Compiling Statistics', which was his punched card calculator. Read more
- 08 Jun 1867: Coronation of Franz Joseph as King of Hungary following the Austro-Hungarian compromise (Ausgleich). Read more
- 08 Jun 1862: American Civil War: A Confederate victory by forces under General Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Cross Keys, along with the Battle of Port Republic the next day, prevents Union forces from reinforcing General George B. McClellan in his Peninsula campaign. Read more
- 08 Jun 1861: American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union. Read more
- 08 Jun 1856: A group of 194 Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the mutineers of HMS Bounty, arrives at Norfolk Island, commencing the Third Settlement of the Island. Read more
🎂 Important Births on 08 June in World History
- 08 Jun 2004: Francesca Capaldi, American actress Francesca Angelucci Capaldi is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Chloe James in the Disney Channel sitcom Dog with a Blog (2012–15) and Nellie Chambers in the Brat web series Crown Lake (2019–20). Read more
- 08 Jun 1997: Jeļena Ostapenko, Latvian tennis player Jeļena "Aļona" Ostapenko is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) as high as world No. 5 in singles, which she achieved on 19 March 2018, and No. 3 in doubles, attained on 14 July 2025. She is the current No. 1 player from Latvia. Read more
- 08 Jun 1995: Ferland Mendy, French footballer Ferland Sinna Mendy is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for La Liga club Real Madrid and the France national team. Read more
- 08 Jun 1994: Liv Morgan, American professional wrestler Gionna Jene Daddio is an American professional wrestler and actress. She has been signed to WWE since October 2014, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Liv Morgan. She is the current Women's World Champion in her third reign, and is the de facto leader of The Judgment Day stable. She is also a former four-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion. Additionally, she won the 2022 Money in the Bank ladder match, the inaugural 2024 WWE Women's Crown Jewel Championship, and the 2026 Royal Rumble match. Read more
- 08 Jun 1989: Timea Bacsinszky, Swiss tennis player Timea Bacsinszky is a Swiss former professional tennis player. A former top ten singles player, Bacsinszky reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, on 16 May 2016. She won four singles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and 14 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit Read more
- 08 Jun 1986: Keith Gill, American financial analyst and investor Keith Patrick Gill is an American financial marketer, educator, and individual investor known for his posts on the subreddits r/wallstreetbets and r/SuperStonk. His analyses of GameStop stock and details of his resulting investment gains — posted on Reddit under the username DeepFuckingValue (DFV) and on YouTube and Twitter as Roaring Kitty — were cited as a driving factor in the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021, and as a spark for the subsequent trading frenzy in retail stocks. The kitten shown in Gill's Roaring Kitty profile picture was later reported to be "Tygr", a village kitten photographed in 2008 by Czech photographer Jiří Kasal. The rising stock value allowed Gill to turn an initial US$53,000 investment into $50 million by January 2021. Between 2021–2024, Gill kept a low profile but continued to increase his GameStop ownership. As of June 2024, Gill also owned 9 million Class A shares of Chewy, Inc. Read more
- 08 Jun 1985: Alexandre Despatie, Canadian diver, twice Olympic silver 3m springboard silver medallist Alexandre Despatie is a Canadian diver and broadcaster from Laval, Quebec. He was the world champion at the 1 and 3 m springboards from 2005 to 2007 and is the first, and so far only, diver to have been world champion in all three individual categories. He is also a 37-time Canadian senior diving champion and nine-time junior champion, and the most decorated male diver in Canadian history, winning two Olympic silver medals and reaching eight podiums at the world championships, including three gold medals. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Read more
- 08 Jun 1984: Javier Mascherano, Argentinian footballer and manager Javier Alejandro Mascherano is an Argentine football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of Major League Soccer club Inter Miami. As a player, he played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder, most notably for Liverpool, Barcelona and the Argentina national team, being heralded as one of the best defenders and midfielders of his generation. Read more
- 08 Jun 1983: Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player; winner of six Grand Slam tournament titles. Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 20 weeks, and as the world No. 1 in women's doubles for 4 weeks, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won 41 singles titles and 11 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including four singles majors and two doubles majors, as well as three singles titles at the Tour Finals. Read more
- 08 Jun 1982: Nadia Petrova, Russian tennis player Nadezhda Viktorovna "Nadia" Petrova is a Russian former professional tennis player. A former top-five player in both singles and doubles, she reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world in both disciplines. Petrova won a total of 37 titles on the WTA Tour in her career, 13 in singles and 24 in doubles, as well as over $12.4 million in prize money, making her one of the most successful Russian tennis players of all time. Read more
- 08 Jun 1981: Rachel Held Evans, American Christian author (died 2019) Rachel Held Evans was an American columnist and author. Her book A Year of Biblical Womanhood was a New York Times bestseller in e-book non-fiction, and Searching for Sunday was a New York Times bestseller nonfiction paperback. Read more
- 08 Jun 1981: Sara Watkins, American fiddle, ukulele, and guitar player Sara Ullrika Watkins is an American singer-songwriter and fiddler. Watkins debuted in 1989 as the fiddler of Nickel Creek, the progressive bluegrass group she formed with her brother Sean and mandolinist Chris Thile. In addition to singing and fiddling, Watkins also plays the ukulele and the guitar, and also played percussion while touring with the Decemberists. In 2012, she and her brother played with Jackson Browne during his "I'll Do Anything" acoustic tour. Read more
- 08 Jun 1979: Derek Trucks, American guitarist, former member of the Allman Brothers band Derek Trucks is an American guitarist, songwriter, and founder of The Derek Trucks Band. He became an official member of The Allman Brothers Band in 1999. In 2010, he formed the Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, blues singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi. His musical style encompasses several genres and he has twice appeared on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He is the nephew of the late Butch Trucks, drummer for the Allman Brothers. Read more
- 08 Jun 1978: Maria Menounos, American television personality, professional wrestler, author, and actress Maria Menounos is an American and Greek television host. She has hosted Extra and E! News; she was a TV correspondent for Today, Access Hollywood, and co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece. She also co-created and is currently CEO of online podcast series network AfterBuzz TV. She is currently signed to WWE where she has served as an ambassador since 2013, having even competed in some tag team events as a pro since 2009. She hosted the podcast Conversations with Maria Menounos. She also co-hosted the Miss Universe 2023 pageant. Read more
- 08 Jun 1977: Kanye West, American rapper, producer, director, and fashion designer Ye is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and businessman. He has been listed among the greatest rappers of all time and referred to as one of the most prominent figures in hip-hop. His music, characterized by frequent stylistic shifts, has been credited with facilitating the emergence of rappers who did not conform to gangsta rap conventions. He is also known for his controversial public persona, including his polarizing cultural and political commentary. Read more
- 08 Jun 1976: Lindsay Davenport, American tennis player Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 98 weeks, and as the world No. 1 in women's doubles for 32 weeks. Davenport won 55 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including three majors, the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and the 1999 Tour Finals. She also won 38 doubles titles, including three majors and three consecutive Tour Finals. Read more
- 08 Jun 1975: Mark Ricciuto, Australian footballer and sportcaster Mark Anthony Ricciuto is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). From Ramco, South Australia, Ricciuto started as a junior with the local Waikerie Magpies Football Club. He joined the West Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), making his debut at the age of 16, before being recruited by Adelaide as a zone selection prior to the 1993 season. Read more
- 08 Jun 1974: Lauren Burns, Australian taekwondo practitioner Lauren Chantel Burns is an Australian taekwondo practitioner and Olympic champion. She won Australia's first Olympic gold medal in taekwondo at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, competing in the women's under 49 kg class. Burns holds the rank of 3rd dan black belt in taekwondo. Following her competitive taekwondo career, she has been involved in a range of activities, including motivational speaking and community work. Read more
- 08 Jun 1971: Bernard Grech, Maltese lawyer and politician Bernard Grech is a Maltese politician and lawyer who was the leader of the Nationalist Party and the Leader of the Opposition from 2020 until 2025. Read more
- 08 Jun 1970: Gabby Giffords, American politician and advocate for ending gun violence in the United States Gabrielle Dee Giffords is an American retired politician and gun violence prevention advocate. She served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Arizona's 8th congressional district from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned due to a severe brain injury suffered during an assassination attempt. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the third woman in Arizona's history to be elected to the U.S. Congress. Read more
- 08 Jun 1970: Steve Renouf, Australian rugby league player Steven Renouf is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Nicknamed 'the Pearl', he was known as one of the sport's greatest centres. Renouf set numerous records for the Brisbane Broncos club. After spending eleven years with Brisbane, which yielded four premierships, he left Australia to play for English club Wigan Warriors, where he spent two seasons before retiring. He was named in Australia's Indigenous team of the century (1908–2007). Read more
- 08 Jun 1970: Kelli Williams, American actress and director Kelli Renee Williams is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as lawyer Lindsay Dole on the ABC legal drama The Practice, psychologist and deception expert Dr. Gillian Foster on the Fox series Lie to Me, Jackie Clarke on the Lifetime series Army Wives, and Margaret Reed on the NBC drama series Found. Read more
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08 Jun 1969: David Barnhill, Australian rugby league player David Barnhill is a former Ireland international rugby league footballer who
played as a Second row forward in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. His club career was with the Canberra Raiders, St. George Dragons, Sydney City and the Leeds Rhinos. Read more - 08 Jun 1967: Russell E. Morris, Welsh chemist and academic Russell Edward Morris is a British chemist and Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews since 2016. He played first-class cricket while he was a student at the University of Oxford, and also represented the university in association football playing in Varsity matches at various venues, including Wembley Stadium and Highbury. Read more
- 08 Jun 1967: Kathryn Tickell, English traditional folk musician, Northumbrian smallpipe bagpiper Kathryn Tickell, OBE, DL is an English musician, noted for playing the Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle. Read more
- 08 Jun 1966: Julianna Margulies, American actress Julianna Margulies is an American actress. After several small television roles, Margulies received wide recognition for her starring role as Carol Hathaway in the NBC medical drama series ER, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award and six Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to four Golden Globe Award nominations. In 2009, she took on the lead role of Alicia Florrick in the CBS legal drama series The Good Wife (2009–2016). Her performance garnered critical acclaim, winning an additional two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Television Critics Association Award. Read more
- 08 Jun 1965: Kevin Farley, American screenwriter Kevin Prindiville Farley is an American actor. He is best known for playing the lead role in David Zucker’s comedy film An American Carol (2008) and voiced several characters in F Is for Family (2015–2021). He is the younger brother of the late American comedian and actor Chris Farley, who died in 1997. Read more
- 08 Jun 1964: Butch Reynolds, American runner and coach Harry Lee "Butch" Reynolds Jr. is an American former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 meter dash. He held the world record for the event for 11 years 9 days with his personal best time of 43.29 seconds set in 1988. That year, he was the silver medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and a relay gold medalist. Read more
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08 Jun 1961: Mary Bonauto, American lawyer and gay rights activist Mary L. Bonauto is an American lawyer and civil rights advocate who has worked to eradicate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and has been referred to by US Representative Barney Frank as "our Thurgood Marshall."
She began working with the Massachusetts-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, now named GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) organization in 1990. A resident of Portland, Maine, Bonauto was one of the leaders who both worked with the Maine legislature to pass a same-sex marriage law and to defend it at the ballot in a narrow loss during the 2009 election campaign. These efforts were successful when, in the 2012 election, Maine voters approved the measure, making it the first state to allow same-sex marriage licenses via ballot vote. Bonauto is best known for being lead counsel in the case Goodridge v. Department of Public Health which made Massachusetts the first state in which same-sex couples could marry in 2004. She is also responsible for leading the first strategic challenges to section three of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Read more - 08 Jun 1960: Neil Baker, Australian rugby league player Neil Baker is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s. Baker played mostly at fullback and five-eighth for Canterbury, Salford, South Sydney Rabbitohs and Penrith. Read more
- 08 Jun 1960: Mick Hucknall, English singer-songwriter Michael James Hucknall is an English singer and songwriter. Hucknall achieved international fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter of the soul-influenced pop band Simply Red, with whom he had a 25-year career and sold over 50 million albums. Hucknall was described by the Australian Rhythms Magazine as "one of the truly great blue-eyed soul singers", while Q credited him with "the most prodigious voice this side of Motown". Read more
- 08 Jun 1960: Thomas Steen, Swedish ice hockey player and coach Anders Thomas Steen is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player and coach. Steen is the former city councillor for the Winnipeg ward of Elmwood-East Kildonan. Steen played professional ice hockey in the Elitserien, National Hockey League and Deutsche Eishockey Liga. In his time in the NHL, he spent the entirety of his career with the original Winnipeg Jets. Read more
- 08 Jun 1959: Mohsen Kadivar, Iranian philosopher Mohsen Kadivar is an Iranian mujtahid, Islamic theologian, philosopher, writer, leading intellectual reformist, and research professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University. A political Iranian dissident, Kadivar has been a vocal critic of the doctrine of clerical rule, also known as Velayat-e Faqih, and a strong advocate of democratic and liberal reforms in Iran as well as constructional reform in understanding of shari'a and Shi'a theology. Kadivar has served time in prison in Iran for his political activism and beliefs. Read more
- 08 Jun 1958: Louise Richardson, Irish political scientist and academic Dame Louise Mary Richardson is an Irish political scientist whose specialist field is the study of terrorism. In January 2023, she became president of the philanthropic foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York. In January 2016, she became the first female vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, having formerly been the principal and vice-chancellor of the University of St Andrews, and as the executive dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Her leadership at the University of Oxford played an important role in the successful development of a vaccine to combat COVID-19. Read more
- 08 Jun 1957: Scott Adams, American author and illustrator (died 2026) Scott Raymond Adams was an American cartoonist, author, and conservative commentator. He was best known as the creator of the Dilbert comic strip and nonfiction works of business, self-improvement, commentary, and satire. Read more
- 08 Jun 1955: Tim Berners-Lee, English computer scientist, invented the World Wide Web Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee, also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web, HTML, the URL system, and HTTP. He is a professorial research fellow at the University of Oxford and a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Read more
- 08 Jun 1955: José Antonio Camacho, Spanish footballer and manager José Antonio Camacho Alfaro is a Spanish former football left-back and a former manager. Read more
- 08 Jun 1954: Kiril of Varna, Bulgarian metropolitan (died 2013) Metropolitan Kiril ; June 8, 1954 – July 9, 2013), was the Bulgarian Orthodox metropolitan of Varna and Veliki Preslav, Bulgaria. Read more
- 08 Jun 1954: Sergei Storchak, Ukrainian-Russian politician Sergei Anatolievich Storchak is a Ukrainian-born Russian politician who had former served as the a Deputy Finance Minister of Russia. Storchak was born in Olevsk, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine SSR, and became one of Russia's three deputy finance ministers in November 2005. He specialized in international financial relations, and was a prominent figure in negotiations over paying off Soviet-era debt. He negotiated Russia's repayment of its debt to the Paris Club of creditor nations, which it completed last year. In April 2009, he was charged with attempted fraud and embezzlement of state funds. Read more
- 08 Jun 1953: Ivo Sanader, Croatian historian and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Croatia Ivo Sanader is a Croatian former politician who served as Prime Minister of Croatia from 2003 to 2009. He was president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) from 2000 to 2009. Read more
- 08 Jun 1951: Bonnie Tyler, Welsh singer-songwriter Gaynor Sullivan, known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer and songwriter. Known for her distinctive husky voice, Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album The World Starts Tonight and its singles "Lost in France" and "More Than a Lover". Her 1977 single "It's a Heartache" reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, and number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. Read more
- 08 Jun 1951: Tony Rice, American bluegrass musician (died 2020) David Anthony Rice was an American bluegrass guitarist and singer. He was an influential acoustic guitar player in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and acoustic jazz. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Read more
- 08 Jun 1950: Kathy Baker, American actress Katherine Whitton Baker is an American actress. Baker began her career in theater and made her screen debut in the 1983 drama film The Right Stuff. She received the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress and an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in Street Smart (1987). Baker also has appeared in over 50 films, including Jacknife (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Cider House Rules (1999), Cold Mountain (2003), Nine Lives (2005), The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), Last Chance Harvey (2008), Take Shelter (2011), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), and The Age of Adaline (2015). Read more
- 08 Jun 1950: Sônia Braga, Brazilian actress and producer Sônia Maria Campos Braga is a Brazilian actress. She is known in the English-speaking world for her Golden Globe Award–nominated performances in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) and Moon over Parador (1988). She also received a BAFTA Award nomination in 1981 for Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands. For the 1994 television film The Burning Season, she was nominated for an Emmy Award and a third Golden Globe Award. Her other television and film credits include The Cosby Show (1986), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), The Rookie (1990), Angel Eyes (2001), Sex and the City (2001), American Family (2002), Alias (2005), Aquarius (2016), Bacurau (2019), and Fatima (2020). In 2020, The New York Times ranked her #24 in its list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century. Read more
- 08 Jun 1949: Emanuel Ax, Polish-American pianist and educator Emanuel "Manny" Ax is a Polish-American classical pianist. He is known for his chamber music collaborations with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and violinists Isaac Stern and Young Uck Kim, as well as his piano recitals and performances with major orchestras in the world. Read more
- 08 Jun 1949: Hildegard Falck, German runner Hildegard Falck is a retired West German runner. At the 1972 Olympics she won a gold medal in the 800 m and a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay with West German team. In the 800 m final she finished 0.1 seconds ahead of Nijolė Sabaitė and Gunhild Hoffmeister. Read more
- 08 Jun 1947: Annie Haslam, English singer-songwriter and painter Annie Haslam is an English vocalist, songwriter and painter. She is best known as the lead singer of progressive rock band Renaissance since 1971, and for her long and diverse solo singing career. She has a five-octave vocal range. From 2002, Haslam has developed a parallel career as a visual artist, producing paintings on canvas, painted musical instruments and giclées. Read more
- 08 Jun 1947: Sara Paretsky, American author Sara Paretsky is an American author of detective fiction, best known for her novels focused on the protagonist V. I. Warshawski. Read more
- 08 Jun 1947: Eric F. Wieschaus, American biologist, geneticist, and academic Nobel Prize laureate Eric Francis Wieschaus is an American evolutionary developmental biologist and 1995 Nobel Prize-winner. Read more
- 08 Jun 1946: Graham Henry, New Zealand rugby player and coach Sir Graham William Henry is a New Zealand rugby union coach, and former head coach of the country's national team, the All Blacks. Nicknamed 'Ted', he led New Zealand to win the 2011 World Cup. Read more
- 08 Jun 1945: Steven Fromholz, American singer-songwriter, producer, and poet (died 2014) Steven John Fromholz was an American singer-songwriter who was selected as the Poet Laureate of Texas for 2007. Read more
- 08 Jun 1945: Derek Underwood, English cricketer (died 2024) Derek Leslie Underwood was an English international cricketer. In retirement he became president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 2008. Read more
- 08 Jun 1944: Marc Ouellet, Canadian archbishop and cardinal Marc Armand Ouellet is a Canadian Catholic prelate who served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America from 2010 to 2023. He is a member of the Sulpicians. Read more
- 08 Jun 1944: Boz Scaggs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist William Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was a bandmate of Steve Miller in the Ardells in the early 1960s and a member of the Steve Miller Band from 1967 to 1968. Read more
- 08 Jun 1943: Colin Baker, English actor Colin Charles Baker is an English actor. He is known for playing the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (1984–1986) and Paul Merroney in the BBC drama series The Brothers (1974–1976). He has also performed prolifically in stage productions across the UK, particularly pantomimes. Read more
- 08 Jun 1943: William Calley, American military officer William Laws Calley Jr. was a United States Army officer and war criminal, convicted by court-martial of the murder of 22 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai massacre on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War. Calley was released to house arrest under orders by President Richard Nixon three days after his conviction. The United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia granted him a new trial, but that ruling was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His initial life sentence having been modified to a term of 20 years and then further reduced to ten, Calley ultimately served three years of house arrest for the murders. Public opinion at the time about Calley was divided. After his dismissal from the U.S. Army and release from confinement, Calley avoided public attention. Read more
- 08 Jun 1943: Willie Davenport, American hurdler (died 2002) William D. Davenport was an American sprint runner. Read more
- 08 Jun 1942: Doug Mountjoy, Welsh snooker player (died 2021) Douglas James Mountjoy was a Welsh snooker player. He was a member of the professional snooker circuit from the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and remained within the top 16 of the world rankings for 11 consecutive years. He began his professional snooker career by taking the 1977 Masters, which he entered as a reserve player. He won both the 1978 UK Championship and the 1979 Irish Masters. Mountjoy reached the final of the 1981 World Snooker Championship where he was defeated by Steve Davis. He was also runner-up at the 1985 Masters losing to Cliff Thorburn, but by 1988 he had dropped out of the top 16. Read more
- 08 Jun 1942: Chuck Negron, American singer (Three Dog Night) (died 2026) Charles Negron II was an American singer-songwriter. He was best known as a founding member and lead vocalist of the rock band Three Dog Night. Read more
- 08 Jun 1941: Robert Bradford, Northern Irish politician and activist (died 1981) Robert Jonathan Bradford was a Methodist Minister and a Vanguard Unionist and Ulster Unionist Member of Parliament for the Belfast South constituency in Northern Ireland until his murder by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 14 November 1981. Read more
- 08 Jun 1941: George Pell, Australian cardinal (died 2023) George Pell was an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as the inaugural prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy at the Vatican from 2014 to 2019 and a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers from 2013 to 2018. Ordained a priest in 1966 and bishop in 1987, he was made a cardinal in 2003. Pell served as the eighth Archbishop of Sydney (2001–2014), the seventh Archbishop of Melbourne (1996–2001) and an auxiliary bishop of Melbourne (1987–1996). He was also an author and columnist. A conservative, Pell maintained a high public profile on a wide range of issues, while retaining an adherence to Catholic orthodoxy. Read more
- 08 Jun 1940: Nancy Sinatra, American singer and actress Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer, actress, film producer, and author. She is the elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra and is known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". Read more
- 08 Jun 1939: Herb Adderley, American football player (died 2020) Herbert Anthony Adderley was an American professional football cornerback who played for the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). In 1980, he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Read more
- 08 Jun 1939: Bill Watrous, American comedian, actress, and television host (died 2014) William Russell Watrous III was an American jazz trombonist. He is perhaps best known for his rendition of Sammy Nestico's arrangement of the Johnny Mandel ballad "A Time for Love", which he recorded on a 1993 album of the same name. A self-described "bop-oriented" player, he was well known among trombonists as a master technician and for his mellifluous sound. Read more
- 08 Jun 1938: Angelo Amato, Italian cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B. was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints between 2008 and 2018. He served as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2002 to 2008 and became a cardinal in 2010. Read more
- 08 Jun 1937: Gillian Clarke, Welsh poet and playwright Gillian Clarke is a Welsh poet and playwright, who also edits, broadcasts, lectures and translates from Welsh into English. She co-founded Tŷ Newydd, a writers' centre in North Wales. Read more
- 08 Jun 1937: Bruce McCandless II, American aviator, electrical engineer and astronaut (died 2017) Bruce McCandless II was an American Navy officer and aviator, electrical engineer, and NASA astronaut. In 1984, during the first of his two Space Shuttle missions, he completed the first untethered spacewalk by using the Manned Maneuvering Unit. Read more
- 08 Jun 1936: James Darren, American actor (died 2024) James William Ercolani, known by his stage name James Darren, was an American actor, singer, and television director. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had notable starring and supporting roles in films including the youth and beach-culture film Gidget (1959) and its sequels. He also appeared in The Gene Krupa Story (1959), All the Young Men (1960), The Guns of Navarone (1961), and Diamond Head (1962). Read more
- 08 Jun 1936: Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013) Kenneth Geddes "Ken" Wilson was an American theoretical physicist and a pioneer in using computers for studying particle physics. He was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on phase transitions—illuminating the subtle essence of phenomena like melting ice and emerging magnetism. It was embodied in his fundamental work on the renormalization group. Read more
- 08 Jun 1935: Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (died 2015) Chief Molade Alexander Okoya-Thomas FCNA, MFR, OFR, KSS was a Nigerian businessman and philanthropist. Read more
- 08 Jun 1934: Millicent Martin, English actress and singer Millicent Mary Lillian Martin is an English actress, singer, and comedian. She was the singer of topical songs on the weekly BBC Television satirical show That Was the Week That Was, and won a BAFTA TV Award in 1964. For her work on Broadway, she received Tony Award nominations for Side by Side by Sondheim (1977) and King of Hearts (1978), both for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Other television roles include her recurring role as Gertrude Moon in the NBC sitcom Frasier (2000–04) and Joan Margaret in Grace & Frankie (2017–2022). Read more
- 08 Jun 1933: Joan Rivers, American comedian, actress, and television host (died 2014) Joan Alexandra Molinsky, known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona that was heavily self-deprecating and acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians, delivered in her signature New York accent. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy. She received an Emmy Award and a Grammy Award, as well as nomination for a Tony Award. Read more
- 08 Jun 1932: Ray Illingworth, English cricketer and sportscaster (died 2021) Raymond Illingworth CBE was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. He is one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in first-class cricket. He played for Yorkshire, Leicestershire (1969–1978) and England (1958–1973) and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1960. Read more
- 08 Jun 1932: Ian Kirkwood, Lord Kirkwood, Scottish lawyer and judge (died 2017) Ian Candlish Kirkwood, Lord Kirkwood QC was a Senator of the College of Justice of the Supreme Courts of Scotland. He was appointed to the Inner House in 1987. Read more
- 08 Jun 1931: Dana Wynter, British actress (died 2011) Dana Wynter was a German-born British actress who was raised in the United Kingdom and southern Africa. She appeared in film and television for more than 40 years, beginning in the 1950s. One of her best-known film performances was in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). A tall, dark, elegant beauty, she played both victim and villain. Her characters both in film and on television sometimes faced horrific dangers, which they often did not survive, but she also played scheming, manipulative women on television mysteries and crime procedural dramas. Read more
- 08 Jun 1930: Robert Aumann, German-American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate Robert John Aumann is an Israeli-American mathematician, and a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He is a professor at the Center for the Study of Rationality in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also holds a visiting position at Stony Brook University, and is one of the founding members of the Stony Brook Center for Game Theory. Read more
- 08 Jun 1930: Marcel Léger, Canadian lawyer and politician (died 1993) Marcel Léger was a Canadian politician, and a supporter of Quebec sovereignty. He also founded the Canadian polling firm that became Léger Marketing. Read more
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08 Jun 1929: Nada Inada, Japanese psychiatrist and author (died 2013)
Nada Inada was the pen-name of a Japanese psychiatrist, writer and literary critic active in late Shōwa period and early Heisei period Japan. His pen name is from the Spanish language phrase "nada y nada". Read more - 08 Jun 1928: Gustavo Gutiérrez, Peruvian philosopher, theologian and priest (died 2024) Gustavo Gutiérrez-Merino Díaz was a Peruvian Catholic philosopher, theologian, and Dominican priest who was one of the founders of Latin American liberation theology. His 1971 book A Theology of Liberation is considered pivotal to the formation of liberation theology at large. He held the John Cardinal O'Hara Professorship of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and was a visiting professor at universities in North America and Europe. Read more
- 08 Jun 1928: Mimi Mariani, Indonesian actress, model, and singer (died 1971)
- 08 Jun 1928: J. R. P. Suriyapperuma, Sri Lankan politician (died 2025) J. R. P. Suriyapperuma was a Sri Lankan politician who was a National List member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Read more
- 08 Jun 1928: Kate Wilhelm, American fiction author (Hugo Award winner) (died 2018) Kate Wilhelm was an American author. She wrote novels and stories in the science fiction, mystery, and suspense genres, including the Hugo Award–winning Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. Wilhelm established the Clarion Workshop along with her husband Damon Knight and writer Robin Scott Wilson. Read more
- 08 Jun 1927: Jerry Stiller, American actor, comedian and producer (died 2020) Gerald Isaac Stiller was an American comedian and actor. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 2015. Stiller saw a late-career resurgence starting in 1993, playing Frank Costanza on the sitcom Seinfeld, a part which earned him an Emmy nomination. In 1998, Stiller began his role as Arthur Spooner on the CBS comedy series The King of Queens, another role that garnered widespread acclaim. Read more
- 08 Jun 1925: Barbara Bush, American wife of George H. W. Bush, 41st First Lady of the United States (died 2018) Barbara Bush was the first lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of George H. W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States. She was previously second lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, when her husband was vice president under President Ronald Reagan, and founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Among her children are George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States, and Jeb Bush, the 43rd governor of Florida. Bush and Abigail Adams are the only two women to be the wife of one U.S. president and the mother of another. At the time she became first lady, she was the second oldest woman to hold the position, behind only Anna Harrison, who never lived in the capital. Bush was generally popular as first lady, recognized for her apolitical grandmotherly image. Read more
- 08 Jun 1924: Billie Dawe, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (died 2013) Billie Dawe was a Canadian amateur ice hockey player. He was a member of the 1950 World Champion team, the Edmonton Mercurys, and captained that team to a gold medal at the 1952 Winter Olympics. Read more
- 08 Jun 1924: Kenneth Waltz, American political scientist and academic (died 2013) Kenneth Neal Waltz was an American political scientist who was a member of the faculty at both the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University and one of the most prominent scholars in the field of international relations. He was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War. Read more
- 08 Jun 1923: Alice Coleman, English geographer (directed UK Land Use Survey) England (died 2023) Alice Mary Coleman was a British geographer. A professor at King's College London, she was noted for directing the 1960s Second Land Use Survey of Britain, as well as for analyses of land use planning and urban design which have influenced the design of residential developments since the 1980s. She was a member of the Freedom Association. Read more
- 08 Jun 1921: Gordon McLendon, American broadcaster and businessman (died 1986) Gordon Barton McLendon was an American radio broadcaster. Nicknamed "the Maverick of Radio", McLendon is widely credited for perfecting, during the 1950s and 1960s, the commercially successful Top 40 radio format created by Todd Storz. He also developed offshore pirate radio broadcasting to both Scandinavia and the British Isles. In addition, he was active in circles of conservative business-political power in the 1960s until the time of his death. Read more
- 08 Jun 1921: Olga Nardone, American actress (died 2010) Olga Nida Carmena Nardone was an American actress and one of the last surviving Munchkins from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, in which she played a member of the Lullaby League. She was known as "Little Olga" and "Princess Olga" and was one of the smallest of the Wizard of Oz Munchkins, standing at just 3 feet 4 inches (101.6 cm) tall. Read more
- 08 Jun 1921: LeRoy Neiman, American painter (died 2012) LeRoy Neiman was an American artist known for his brilliantly colored, expressionist paintings and screenprints of athletes, musicians, and sporting events. Read more
- 08 Jun 1921: Alexis Smith, Canadian-born American actress and singer (died 1993) Margaret Alexis Smith was an American actress, pin-up girl and singer. She appeared in several major Hollywood films in the 1940s and had a notable career on Broadway in the 1970s, winning a Tony Award in 1972 for the Stephen Sondheim-James Goldman musical Follies. Read more
- 08 Jun 1921: Suharto, Indonesian soldier and politician, 2nd President of Indonesia (died 2008) Suharto was an Indonesian military officer and politician who served as the second and longest-serving president of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998. Read more
- 08 Jun 1920: Gwen Harwood, Australian poet and playwright (died 1995) Gwen Harwood was an Australian poet and librettist. Harwood is regarded as one of Australia's finest poets, publishing over 420 works, including 386 poems and 13 librettos. She won numerous poetry awards and prizes, and one of Australia's most significant poetry prizes, the Gwen Harwood Poetry Prize is named for her. Her work is commonly studied in schools and university courses. Read more
- 08 Jun 1919: John R. Deane, Jr., American general (died 2013) John Russell Deane Jr. was a highly decorated United States Army officer who rose to the rank of general and served as commander of the United States Army Materiel Command. Read more
- 08 Jun 1918: George Edward Hughes, Irish-New Zealand philosopher and logician (died 1994) George Edward Hughes was an Irish-born New Zealand philosopher and logician whose principal scholarly works were concerned with modal logic and medieval philosophy. Read more
- 08 Jun 1918: Robert Preston, American actor and singer (died 1987) Robert Preston Meservey was an American stage and screen actor best-known for his role as Professor Harold Hill in the 1957 musical The Music Man, for which he received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He reprised the role in the 1962 film adaptation, and received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination. Read more
- 08 Jun 1918: John D. Roberts, American chemist and academic (died 2016) John Dombrowski Roberts was an American chemist. He made contributions to the integration of physical chemistry, spectroscopy, and organic chemistry for the understanding of chemical reaction rates. Another characteristic of Roberts' work was the early use of NMR, focusing on the concept of spin coupling. Read more
- 08 Jun 1917: Byron White, American football player, lawyer and judge (died 2002) Byron Raymond "Whizzer" White was an American lawyer and professional football halfback who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1962 to 1993. At the time of his retirement, he was the Supreme Court's only sitting justice appointed by a Democrat and the last-living member of the progressive Warren Court. Read more
- 08 Jun 1916: Francis Crick, English biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2004) Francis Harry Compton Crick was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical structure of the DNA molecule. Read more
- 08 Jun 1916: Luigi Comencini, Italian director and screenwriter (died 2007) Luigi Comencini was an Italian film director. Together with Dino Risi, Ettore Scola, and Mario Monicelli, he was considered among the masters of the "commedia all'italiana" genre. Read more
- 08 Jun 1916: Richard Pousette-Dart, American painter and educator (died 1992) Richard Warren Pousette-Dart was an American abstract expressionist artist most recognized as a founder of the New York School of painting. His artistic output also includes drawing, sculpture, and fine-art photography. Read more
- 08 Jun 1915: Seán McCaughey, Irish Republican Army leader, died on hunger strike (died 1946) Seán McCaughey was an Irish militant and Republican activist. He was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) leader in the 1930s and 1940s and hunger striker. Read more
- 08 Jun 1915: Kayyar Kinhanna Rai, Indian journalist, author, and poet (died 2015) Kayyara Kinhanna Rai was an Indian independence activist, author, poet, journalist, teacher and farmer. Read more
- 08 Jun 1912: Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, British abstract painter (died 2004) Wilhelmina Barns-Graham CBE was one of the foremost British abstract artists, a member of the influential Penwith Society of Arts. Read more
- 08 Jun 1912: Maurice Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician (died 1989) Maurice Bellemare, was a politician in Quebec, Canada. He was known as Le Vieux Lion de la Politique Québécoise because of his colourful style and his many years of public office. Bellemare was one of the last survivors of the Union Nationale party. Read more
- 08 Jun 1912: Harry Holtzman, American painter (died 1987) Harry Holtzman was an American artist and founding member of the American Abstract Artists group. Read more
- 08 Jun 1911: Edmundo Rivero, Argentinian singer-songwriter (died 1986) Leonel Edmundo Rivero was an Argentine tango singer, composer, and impresario. Read more
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08 Jun 1910: John W. Campbell, American journalist and author (died 1971) John Wood Campbell Jr. was an American science fiction writer and editor. He was editor of Astounding Science Fiction from late 1937 until his death and was part of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Campbell wrote
"super-science" space opera under his own name and other stories under his primary pseudonym, Don A. Stuart. Campbell also used the pen names Karl Van Kampen and Arthur McCann. His novella Who Goes There? (1938) was adapted as the films The Thing from Another World (1951) and The Thing (1982); as well as a prequel The Thing (2011). Read more - 08 Jun 1910: Fernand Fonssagrives, French-American photographer, sculptor, and painter (died 2003) Fernand Fonssagrives, born Fernand Vigoureux near Paris, was a photographer known for his 'beauty photography' in the early 1940s, and as the first husband of the model Lisa Fonssagrives. He died in 2003 at Little Rock, Arkansas, United States. Read more
- 08 Jun 1903: Ralph Yarborough, American lawyer and politician (died 1996) Ralph Webster Yarborough was an American politician and lawyer who represented Texas in the United States Senate from 1957 to 1971. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a leader of the progressive wing of the party. Along with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, but unlike most Southern congressmen, Yarborough refused to support the 1956 Southern Manifesto, which called for resistance to the racial integration of schools and other public places. Yarborough voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court. Yarborough was the only senator from a state that was part of the Confederacy to vote for all five bills. Read more
- 08 Jun 1903: Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian-French author and poet (died 1987) Marguerite Yourcenar was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist who became a US citizen in 1947. Winner of the Prix Femina and the Erasmus Prize, she was the first woman elected to the Académie Française, in 1980. In 1965, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Read more
- 08 Jun 1900: Lena Baker, African-American maid executed for capital murder, later pardoned posthumously (died 1945) Lena Baker was an African American maid in Cuthbert, Georgia, United States, who was convicted of capital murder of a white man, Ernest Knight. She was executed by the state of Georgia in 1945. Baker was the only woman in Georgia to be executed by electrocution. Read more
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08 Jun 1899: Eugène Lapierre, Canadian organist, composer and arts administrator (died 1970) Eugène Lapierre was a Canadian organist, composer, journalist, writer on music, arts administrator, and music educator. He was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935 and the King George VI Coronation Medal in 1937. In 1963 he was named Chevalier of the Order of Malta and in 1966 he received the Bene merenti de patria from the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society. He is the great-uncle of composer Yves Lapierre.
Read more - 08 Jun 1899: Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician (died 1945) Ernst-Robert Grawitz was a German physician and an SS functionary during the Nazi era. Grawitz funded Nazi programs involving experimentation on inmates in Nazi concentration camps and was part of the group in charge of the murder of mentally ill and physically disabled people in the Aktion T4 programme. In April 1945, as the Soviet Red Army advanced on Berlin, Grawitz killed himself and his family. Read more
- 08 Jun 1899: Noel Wien, Founded Wien Air Alaska (died 1977) Noel Wien was an American pioneer aviator. He was the founder of Wien Alaska Airways. Read more
- 08 Jun 1897: John G. Bennett, English mathematician and technologist (died 1974) John Godolphin Bennett was a British academic and writer. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Constantinople in October 1920 and later helped to co-ordinate the work of Gurdjieff in England after the guru had moved to Paris. He also was active in starting the British section of the Subud movement, and co-founded its British headquarters. Read more
- 08 Jun 1895: Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, Spanish footballer and manager (died 1978) Santiago Bernabéu de Yeste was a Spanish football player, coach, and administrator who played for Real Madrid as a forward, later serving as the club's manager and then president. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Real Madrid, having served as its president for 34 years and 264 days, from 11 September 1943 until his death on 2 June 1978. Read more
- 08 Jun 1894: Erwin Schulhoff, Czech composer and pianist (died 1942) Erwin Schulhoff was an Austro-Czech composer and pianist. He was one of the figures in the generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany and whose works have been rarely noted or performed beyond Czechoslovakia until the 1980s. Read more
- 08 Jun 1893: Ernst Marcus, German zoologist (died 1968) Ernst Gustav Gotthelf Marcus was a German zoologist, occupant of the chair of zoology at the University of São Paulo from 1936 to 1963, and co-founder of the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo. Read more
- 08 Jun 1893: Gaby Morlay, French actress (died 1964) Gaby Morlay was a film actress from France. Read more
- 08 Jun 1891: William Funnell, Australian public servant (died 1962) William Funnell ISO was a senior Australian public servant, best known for his time as head of the Department of Labour and National Service between 1946 and 1952. Read more
- 08 Jun 1885: Karl Genzken, German physician (died 1957) Karl August Genzken was a Nazi physician who committed medical atrocities on prisoners of several concentration camps. He was an SS-Gruppenführer of the Waffen-SS and the Chief of the Medical Office of the Waffen-SS. After the war ended, he was tried and convicted as a war criminal and for crimes against humanity in the 1947 Doctors' Trial at Nuremberg. Genzken was sentenced to life imprisonment, but his sentence was commuted to 20 years and he was released in 1954. Read more
- 08 Jun 1878: Evan Roberts, Welsh Revivalist minister (died 1951) Evan John Roberts was a Welsh preacher and a leading figure of the 1904–1905 Welsh revival. Read more
- 08 Jun 1876: Alexandre Tuffère, Greek-French triple jumper (died 1958) Pierre Alexandre Tuffèri, also spelt Tuffère, was a French-Greek athlete, although he was born and lived in Athens, his father was French. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics and the 1900 Summer Olympics for France, and the 1906 Intercalated Games for Greece. Read more
- 08 Jun 1872: Jan Frans De Boever, Belgian painter and illustrator (died 1949) Jan Frans De Boever was a Belgian Symbolist painter, known for his paintings of voluptuous nude women in morbid contexts. Skeletons, death and eroticism flood his oeuvre. He made illustrations in gouache for Charles Baudelaire's famous Les Fleurs du mal for the Ghent collector and art patron Léon Speltinckx with 157 gouaches. While he was a successful artist during most of his lifetime, his megalomaniac character made him a solitary and isolated individual. Read more
- 08 Jun 1868: Robert Robinson Taylor, American architect (died 1942) Robert Robinson Taylor was an American architect and educator. Taylor was the first African-American student enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the first accredited African-American architect when he graduated in 1892. He was an early and influential member of the Tuskegee Institute faculty. Read more
- 08 Jun 1867: Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (died 1959) Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing architects worldwide through his works and mentoring hundreds of apprentices in his Taliesin Fellowship. Wright believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was exemplified in Fallingwater (1935), which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture". Read more
- 08 Jun 1860: Alicia Boole Stott, Irish-English mathematician and theorist (died 1940) Alicia Boole Stott was a British mathematician. She made a number of contributions to the field and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Groningen. She grasped four-dimensional geometry from an early age, and introduced the term "polytope" for a convex solid in four or more dimensions. Read more
- 08 Jun 1858: Charlotte Scott, English mathematician (died 1931) Charlotte Angas Scott was a British mathematician who made her career in the United States; she was influential in the development of American mathematics, including the mathematical education of women. Scott played an important role in Cambridge changing the rules for its famous Mathematical Tripos exam. Read more
- 08 Jun 1855: George Charles Haité, English painter and illustrator (died 1924) George Charles Haité was an English designer, painter, illustrator and writer. His most famous work is the iconic cover design of the Strand Magazine, launched in 1891, which helped popularise the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. Haité was also a founder member and the first president of the London Sketch Club. Read more
- 08 Jun 1854: Douglas Cameron, Canadian politician, 8th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (died 1921) Sir Douglas Colin Cameron KCMG was a Canadian politician. He served in the Ontario Legislature from 1902 to 1905, and was the eighth Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba from 1911 to 1916. Read more
- 08 Jun 1852: Guido Banti, Italian physician and pathologist (died 1925) Guido Banti was an Italian physician and pathologist. He also performed innovative studies on the heart, infectious diseases and bacteriology, splenomegaly, nephrology, lung disease, leukaemia and motor aphasia. He gave his name to Banti’s disease. Read more
- 08 Jun 1851: Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval, French physician and physicist (died 1940) Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval was a French physician, physicist and inventor of the moving-coil d'Arsonval galvanometer and the thermocouple ammeter. D'Arsonval was an important contributor to the emerging field of electrophysiology, the study of the effects of electricity on biological organisms, in the nineteenth century. Read more
- 08 Jun 1842: John Q. A. Brackett, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Massachusetts (died 1918) John Quincy Adams Brackett was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. A Republican and temperance advocate, he served one term as the 36th governor of Massachusetts, from 1890 to 1891. Born in New Hampshire and educated at Harvard, he practiced law in Boston before entering politics. Read more
- 08 Jun 1831: Thomas J. Higgins, Canadian-American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1917) Thomas J. Higgins was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War who was a recipient of America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Vicksburg. Read more
- 08 Jun 1829: John Everett Millais, English painter and illustrator (died 1896) Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest student to enter the Royal Academy Schools. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded at his family home in London, at 83 Gower Street. Millais became the most famous exponent of the style, his painting Christ in the House of His Parents (1849–50) generating considerable controversy, and he produced a picture that could serve as the embodiment of the historical and naturalist focus of the group, Ophelia, in 1851–1852. Read more
- 08 Jun 1810: Robert Schumann, German composer and critic (died 1856) Robert Schumann was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber groups, orchestra, choir and the opera. His works typify the spirit of the Romantic era in German music. Read more
🕊️ Important Deaths on 08 June in World History
- 08 Jun 2024: Ramoji Rao, Indian businessman, media proprietor and film producer (born 1936) Cherukuri Ramoji Rao was an Indian businessman, media proprietor and film producer. He was head of the Ramoji Group which owns the world's largest film production facility Ramoji Film City, Eenadu newspaper, ETV Network of TV channels, film production company Usha Kiran Movies. Read more
- 08 Jun 2024: Chet Walker, American basketball player (born 1940) Chester Walker was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and was selected in 2012 to become a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was a seven-time NBA All-Star. He played 13 seasons in the NBA, seven with the Philadelphia 76ers, and he helped lead the 76ers to an NBA championship in 1967. He played his last six seasons for the Chicago Bulls from 1969 to 1975. He played college basketball for the Bradley Braves, twice earning first-team consensus All-American honors, and was famously "hijacked" to Bradley to keep him from attending the University of Nebraska instead. He also won an Emmy award as a television producer. Read more
- 08 Jun 2023: Pat Robertson, American televangelist (born 1930) Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson was an American media mogul, televangelist, political commentator, presidential candidate, and charismatic minister. Robertson advocated a conservative Christian ideology and was known for his involvement in Republican Party politics. He was associated with the Charismatic movement within Protestant evangelicalism. He served as head of Regent University and of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). Read more
- 08 Jun 2022: Paula Rego, Portuguese-British visual artist (born 1935) Dame Maria Paula Figueiroa Rego was a British-Portuguese visual artist, widely considered the pre-eminent woman artist of the late 20th and early 21st century, known particularly for her paintings and prints based on storybooks. Rego's style evolved from abstract towards representational, and she favoured pastels over oils for much of her career. Her work often reflects feminism, coloured by folk-themes from her native Portugal. Read more
- 08 Jun 2019: Andre Matos, Brazilian heavy metal musician (born 1971) Andre Coelho Matos was a Brazilian singer and musician. He was involved in the heavy metal bands Viper, Angra, Shaman and Symfonia. Since 2006, Matos had been dedicating his time to his solo career. In 2012, he was ranked No. 77 at the list of 100 Greatest Voices of Brazilian Music by Rolling Stone Brasil. Read more
- 08 Jun 2018: Anthony Bourdain, American chef and travel documentarian (born 1956) Anthony Michael Bourdain was an American celebrity chef, author and travel documentarian. He starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. Read more
- 08 Jun 2015: Chea Sim, Cambodian commander and politician (born 1932) Chea Sim was a Cambodian politician who served as President of the Cambodian People's Party from 1991 to 2015 and President of the National Assembly of Cambodia from 1981 to 1998 and President of the Senate from 1999 to 2015. His official title was Samdech Akka Moha Thamma Pothisal Chea Sim. Read more
- 08 Jun 2014: Alexander Imich, Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, and academic (born 1903) Alexander Imich was a Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, zoologist and writer who was the president of the Anomalous Phenomena Research Center in New York City. He was born in 1903 in Częstochowa, Poland to a Jewish family. Read more
- 08 Jun 2014: Yoshihito, Prince Katsura of Japan (born 1948) Yoshihito, Prince Katsura was a member of the Imperial House of Japan and the second son of Takahito, Prince Mikasa and Yuriko, Princess Mikasa. He was a first cousin of Emperor Akihito. Originally known as Prince Yoshihito of Mikasa, he received the title Prince Katsura (Katsura-no-miya) and authorization to start a new branch of the Imperial Family on 1 January 1988 at age 39. He died of a heart attack on 8 June 2014, aged 66. Read more
- 08 Jun 2013: Paul Cellucci, American soldier and politician, 69th Governor of Massachusetts (born 1948) Argeo Paul Cellucci was an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 69th governor of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2001 and as the United States Ambassador to Canada from 2001 to 2005. He also served as 68th lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1999, as well as in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate from 1977 to 1991. Read more
- 08 Jun 2013: Yoram Kaniuk, Israeli painter, journalist, and critic (born 1930) Yoram Kaniuk was an Israeli writer, painter, journalist, and theatre critic. Read more
- 08 Jun 2013: Taufiq Kiemas, Indonesian politician, 5th First Spouse of Indonesia (born 1942) Muhammad Taufiq Kiemas was an Indonesian politician who served as the Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly of Indonesia from 2009 until his death in 2013. A member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), he was the husband of party chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri, president of Indonesia from 2001 to 2004. He remains Indonesia's only first gentleman. Read more
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08 Jun 2012: Charles E. M. Pearce, New Zealand-Australian mathematician and academic (born 1940) Charles Edward Miller Pearce was a New Zealand/Australian mathematician.
At the time of his death on 8 June 2012 he was the Elder Professor of Mathematics at the University of Adelaide. Read more - 08 Jun 2012: Ghassan Tueni, Lebanese journalist, academic, and politician (born 1926) Ghassan Tueni was a Lebanese journalist, politician and diplomat who headed An Nahar, one of the Arab world's leading newspapers. Some call him "The Dean of Lebanese Journalism". Read more
- 08 Jun 2010: Denise Narcisse-Mair, Canadian musician (born 1940) Denise Lorraine Narcisse-Mair was a Canadian musicologist, music educator, choral conductor, and composer. Read more
- 08 Jun 2009: Omar Bongo, Gabonese captain and politician, President of Gabon (born 1935) Omar Bongo Ondimba was a Gabonese politician who was the second president of Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009. A member of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), Bongo was promoted to key positions as a young official under Gabon's first President Léon M'ba in the 1960s, before being elected the second vice president in his own right in 1966. In 1967, after M'ba's death, he became the country's president. Read more
- 08 Jun 2007: Richard Rorty, American philosopher and public intellectual (born 1931) Richard McKay Rorty was an American philosopher, historian of ideas, and public intellectual. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, Rorty's academic career included appointments as the Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, the Kenan Professor of Humanities at the University of Virginia, and a professor of comparative literature at Stanford University. Among his most influential books are Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), Consequences of Pragmatism (1982), and Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (1989). Read more
- 08 Jun 2006: Jaxon, American illustrator and publisher, co-founded Rip Off Press (born 1941) Jack Edward Jackson, also known by his pen name Jaxon, was an American cartoonist, illustrator, historian, and writer. He co-founded Rip Off Press, and some consider him to be the first underground comix artist, due to his most well-known satirical comic strip God Nose. Read more
- 08 Jun 2006: Matta El Meskeen, Egyptian monk, theologian, and author (born 1919) Matta El Meskeen, born Youssef Iskandar, was a Coptic Orthodox monk. He was the key figure in the revival of Coptic monasticism, a movement which began in 1969 when he was appointed to the Monastery of St Macarius in the Wadi El Natrun in Egypt. By the time of his death the community had grown from 6 aged monks to 130 monks, and as many other monasteries were revived, new ones also began to open. He was twice nominated to become Coptic Pope, but was not chosen in either case. Read more
- 08 Jun 2004: Charles Hyder, American astrophysicist and academic (born 1930) Charles Latif Hyder was an American astrophysicist and dissident from Albuquerque, New Mexico, who campaigned against arms race, nuclear weapons and nuclear waste, and ran for the U.S. presidency. Media coverage of his hunger strike by the Communist press and television was seen as a Cold War retaliation to Andrei Sakharov, a Soviet scientist whose protest in turn was rallied by the Western media but received little or no coverage in the Soviet Bloc. By the end of his strike Hyder achieved superstar status in the USSR and the allied socialist countries, his name became nearly symbolic behind the Iron Curtain, though he remained little known in the United States, and apart from his wartime tour of duty never traveled outside the U.S. Read more
- 08 Jun 2004: Mack Jones, American baseball player (born 1938) Mack Fletcher Jones, nicknamed "Mack The Knife", was an American Major League Baseball left fielder who played for the Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves (1961–1967), Cincinnati Reds (1968), and Montreal Expos (1969–1971). He batted left-handed, threw right-handed and was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 180 pounds (82 kg). Read more
- 08 Jun 2001: Alex de Renzy, American director and producer (born 1935) Alexander de Renzy was an American director and producer of pornographic movies. Read more
- 08 Jun 2000: Frédéric Dard, French author and screenwriter (born 1921) Frédéric Charles Antoine Dard ) also known under the pen name San-Antonio, was a French writer. Known as an author of crime fiction and as a humorist, he was noted for his ability to blend the two genres. Though Dard also wrote serious fiction, his most successful books used a farcical tone. Read more
- 08 Jun 1998: Sani Abacha, Nigerian general and politician, 10th President of Nigeria (born 1943) Sani Abacha was a Nigerian military dictator and statesman who ruled Nigeria as military head of state from 1993, following a palace coup d'état, until his death in 1998. Read more
- 08 Jun 1998: Maria Reiche, German mathematician and archaeologist (born 1903) Maria Reiche Grosse-Neumann was a German-born Peruvian mathematician, archaeologist, and technical translator. She is known for her research into the Nazca Lines, which she first saw in 1941 together with American historian Paul Kosok. Known as the "Lady of the Lines", Reiche made the documentation, preservation and public dissemination of the Nazca Lines her life's work. Read more
- 08 Jun 1997: George Turner, Australian author and critic (born 1916) George Reginald Turner was an Australian writer and critic, best known for the science fiction novels written in the later part of his career. His first science fiction story and novel appeared in 1978, when he was in his early sixties. By this point, however, he had already achieved success as a mainstream novelist, including a Miles Franklin Award, and as a literary critic. Read more
- 08 Jun 1997: Karen Wetterhahn, American chemist and academic (born 1948) Karen Elizabeth Wetterhahn, also known as Karen Wetterhahn Jennette, was an American professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, who specialized in toxic metal exposure. She died of mercury poisoning at the age of 48 due to accidental exposure to the extremely toxic organic mercury compound dimethylmercury. Protective gloves in use at the time of the incident provided insufficient protection, and exposure to only one or two drops of the dimethylmercury absorbed through the gloves proved to be fatal after less than a year. Read more
- 08 Jun 1995: Juan Carlos Onganía, Argentine general and politician, 35th President of Argentina (born 1914) Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo was President of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as dictator after toppling the president Arturo Illia in a coup d'état self-named "Argentine Revolution". Read more
- 08 Jun 1987: Alexander Iolas, Egyptian-American art collector (born 1907) Alexander Iolas was an Egyptian-born Greek-American art gallerist and significant collector of classical and modern art works, who advanced the careers of René Magritte, Andy Warhol and many other artists. He established the modern model of the global art business, operating successful galleries in Paris, Geneva, Milan and New York. Read more
- 08 Jun 1984: Gordon Jacob, English composer and academic (born 1895) Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob CBE was an English composer and teacher. He was a professor at the Royal College of Music in London from 1924 until his retirement in 1966, and published four books and many articles about music. As a composer he was prolific: the list of his works totals more than 700, mostly compositions of his own, but a substantial minority of orchestrations and arrangements of other composers' works. Those music he orchestrated range from William Byrd to Edward Elgar to Noël Coward. Read more
- 08 Jun 1982: Satchel Paige, American baseball player (born 1906) Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Read more
- 08 Jun 1976: Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe, Norwegian zoologist and psychologist (born 1894) Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe was a Norwegian zoologist and comparative psychologist. He was the first person to describe a pecking order of hens, a discovery that contributed to understanding dominance hierarchies across species and influenced the field of ethology. Read more
- 08 Jun 1971: J. I. Rodale, American author and playwright (born 1898) Jerome Irving Rodale was a publisher, editor, and author who founded Rodale, Inc. in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and The Rodale Institute, formerly the Soil Health Foundation. Read more
- 08 Jun 1970: Abraham Maslow, American psychologist and academic (born 1908) Abraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. Read more
- 08 Jun 1969: Arunachalam Mahadeva, Sri Lankan politician and diplomat (born 1885) Arunachalam Mahadeva, KCMG was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and diplomat. He served as Minister of Home Affairs (1942-1946) and High Commissioner to India (1948-1949). Read more
- 08 Jun 1969: Robert Taylor, American actor (born 1911) Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor and singer who was one of the most popular leading men of his era. Read more
- 08 Jun 1968: Elizabeth Enright, American author and illustrator (born 1909) Elizabeth Wright Enright Gillham was an American writer of children's books, an illustrator, writer of short stories for adults, literary critic and teacher of creative writing. Perhaps best known as the Newbery Medal-winning author of Thimble Summer (1938) and the Newbery runner-up Gone-Away Lake (1957), she also wrote the popular Melendy quartet. A Newbery Medal laureate and a multiple winner of the O. Henry Award, her short stories and articles for adults appeared in many popular magazines and have been reprinted in anthologies and textbooks. Read more
- 08 Jun 1968: Ludovico Scarfiotti, Italian racing driver (born 1933) Ludovico Scarfiotti was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1963 to 1968. Scarfiotti won the 1966 Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari. In endurance racing, Scarfiotti won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring, both in 1963 with Ferrari. Read more
- 08 Jun 1966: Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer and academic (born 1890) Anton Melik was a Slovene geographer. Read more
- 08 Jun 1956: Marie Laurencin, French painter and sculptor (born 1883) Marie Laurencin was a French painter and printmaker. She became an important figure in the Parisian avant-garde as a member of the Cubists associated with the Section d'Or. Read more
- 08 Jun 1951: Eugène Fiset, Canadian physician, general, and politician, 18th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (born 1874) Major-General Sir Marie-Joseph-Eugène Fiset, was a Canadian physician, military officer, Deputy Minister of Militia and Defence, Member of Parliament, the 18th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, and the 3rd Canadian Surgeon General. Read more
- 08 Jun 1919: Cora Agnes Benneson, American attorney (born 1851) Cora Agnes Benneson was an American attorney, lecturer, and writer. She was one of the first women to practice law in New England. Benneson was raised in Quincy, Illinois, to parents involved in local politics, religious organizing, and philanthropy; her parents regularly invited prominent guests to their home, including the writers and philosophers Amos Bronson Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Benneson began her university studies in 1875 at the University of Michigan, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1878, a Bachelor of Laws in 1880, and a Master of Arts in 1883. After earning her master's degree, she was admitted to the bars of Illinois and Michigan. Read more
- 08 Jun 1913: Emily Davison, English suffragette (born 1872) Emily Wilding Davison was an English suffragette who fought for votes for women in Britain in the early twentieth century. A member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and a militant fighter for her cause, she was arrested on nine occasions, went on hunger strike seven times and was force-fed on forty-nine occasions. She died after being hit by King George V's horse Anmer at the 1913 Derby when she walked onto the track during the race. Read more
- 08 Jun 1899: Mary of the Divine Heart, German nun and saint (born 1863) Mary of the Divine Heart, born Maria Droste zu Vischering, was a German noblewoman and religious sister of the Catholic Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd. She is best known for having influenced Pope Leo XIII to consecrate the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pope Leo XIII called the solemn consecration "the greatest act of my pontificate". Read more
- 08 Jun 1889: Gerard Manley Hopkins, English poet (born 1844) Gerard Manley Hopkins was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame places him among the leading English poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovator, as did his praise of God through vivid use of imagery and nature. Read more
- 08 Jun 1885: Ignace Bourget, Canadian bishop (born 1799) Ignace Bourget was a Canadian Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Montreal from 1840 to 1876. Read more
- 08 Jun 1876: George Sand, French author and playwright (born 1804) Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil, best known by her pen name George Sand, was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac in Britain in the 1830s and 1840s, Sand is recognised as one of the most notable writers of the European Romantic era. She has more than 50 volumes of various works to her credit, including tales, plays and political texts, alongside her 70 novels. Read more
- 08 Jun 1874: Cochise, American tribal chief (born 1805) Cochise was the leader of the Chiricahui local group of the Chokonen and principal nantan of the Chokonen band of a Chiricahua Apache. A key war leader during the Apache Wars, he led an uprising that began in 1861 and persisted until a peace treaty was negotiated in 1872. Cochise County is named after him. Read more
- 08 Jun 1857: Douglas William Jerrold, English journalist and playwright (born 1803) Douglas William Jerrold was an English dramatist, journalist, and writer, best known for his satirical wit, his socially critical essays, and his association with the early years of Punch magazine. A prominent figure in Victorian literary and theatrical life, he achieved popular success with plays such as Black-Eyed Susan and was noted for his advocacy of social reform through journalism and drama. Read more
- 08 Jun 1846: Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist (born 1799) Rodolphe Töpffer was a Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist. He is best known for his illustrated books, which are possibly the earliest European comics. He is known as the father of comic strips and has been credited as the "first comics artist in history." Read more
- 08 Jun 1845: Andrew Jackson, American general, judge, and politician, 7th President of the United States (born 1767) Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. He rose to fame as a U.S. Army general and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. His political philosophy, which dominated his presidency, became the basis for the rise of Jacksonian democracy. His legacy is controversial: he has been praised as an advocate for white working Americans and preserving the union of states, and criticized for his racist policies, particularly towards Native Americans. Read more
- 08 Jun 1835: Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Italian economist and jurist (born 1761) Gian Domenico Romagnosi was an Italian philosopher, economist and jurist. Read more
- 08 Jun 1831: Sarah Siddons, Welsh actress (born 1755) Sarah Siddons was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified". Read more
- 08 Jun 1809: Thomas Paine, English-American theorist and author (born 1737) Thomas Paine was an English-born American Founding Father, inventor, political philosopher, and statesman. His pamphlets Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776–1783) framed the Patriot argument for independence from Great Britain at the outset of the American Revolution. Paine advanced Enlightenment-era arguments for human rights that shaped revolutionary discourse on both sides of the Atlantic. Read more
Why is 08 June Important in World History?
Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 08 June, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What happened on 08 June in World history?
On 08 June, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.
Is History of Today important for competitive exams?
Yes, History of Today is frequently asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, and State PSC exams as part of static GK and current awareness sections.