The May 8 reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

May 8

May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (129th in leap years). There are 237 days remaining.

Apr - May - Jun
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31
2004 day arrangement All days

Table of contents

1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances 5 Recorded this day

Events

• 1450 - Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
• 1541 - Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River naming it Rio de Espiritu Santo.
• 1794 - French chemist Antoine Lavoisier is executed by guillotine.
• 1846 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Palo Alto - Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande at Palo Alto, Texas in the first major battle of the war.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
• 1877 - At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Dog Show opens (ends May 11).
• 1886 - Pharmacist Dr. John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that would be named "Coca-Cola."
• 1898 - first games of the Italian Football League
• 1902 - In Martinique, Mount Pelee erupts destroys the town of St. Pierre and kills over 30,000 people. Only a small handful of St. Pierre's residents survived the blast.
• 1914 - Paramount Pictures is formed.
• 1933 - Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21 day fast in protest of British oppression in India.
• 1942 - World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end. This is the first time in the naval history where two enemy fleets fought without visual contact between warring ships.
• 1945 - World War II: VE Day, the day the German forces agreed to an unconditional surrender.
• 1946 - Shunsaku Tamiya started business started under the name Tamiya Shoji Co. a sawmill/lumber company is founded in Oshika, Shizuoka-City, Japan.
• 1967 - The Philippine province of Davao was split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
• 1973 - A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement who were occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, ends with the surrender of the militants.
• 1984 - The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
• 1985 - New Coke is released on the 99th anniversary of Coca-Cola.
• 1997 - A China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 crashed on approach into Shenzhen's Huangtian Airport killing 35
• 1999 - Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel military college.

Births

• 1521 - Petrus Canisius, Jesuit (d. 1597)
• 1821 - Jean Henri Dunant, founder of the Red Cross and recipient of the Nobel Prize in peace 1901 (d. 1910)
• 1842 - Emil Christian Hansen, fermentation physiologist (d. 1909)
• 1850 - Ross Barnes, baseball player (d. 1915)
• 1884 - Harry S. Truman, former President of the United States (d. 1972)
• 1892 - Ezio Pinza, opera singer (d. 1957)
• 1895 - Fulton J. Sheen, bishop, television personality (d. 1979)
• 1903 - Fernandel, actor (d. 1971)
• 1905 - Red Nichols, jazz musician (d. 1965)
• 1906 - Roberto Rossellini, director (d. 1977)
• 1907 - Wof Stefan Traugott Graf von Baudissin, general (d. 1993)
• 1911 - Robert Johnson, blues singer and guitarist (d. 1938)
• 1914 - Romain Gary, writer (d. 1980)
• 1916 - João Havelange, industrialist and former FIFA president
• 1919 - Lex Barker, actor (d. 1973)
• 1926 - Don Rickles, comedian
• 1926 - Sir David Attenborough, pioneering television presenter and producer
• 1928 - Theodore Sorenson, political operative, writer
• 1932 - Sonny Liston, boxer (d. 1970)
• 1932 - Pyllida Law, actress
• 1937 - Thomas Pynchon, novelist
• 1940 - Ricky Nelson, pop singer, (d. 1985)
• 1943 - Toni Tennille, singer
• 1944 - Gary Glitter, singer
• 1945 - Keith Jarrett, jazz musician
• 1946 - Candice Bergen, actress
• 1954 - David Keith, actor
• 1964 - Melissa Gilbert, actress, president of the Screen Actors Guild
• 1975 - Enrique Iglesias, singer

Deaths

• 1794 - Antoine Lavoisier, chemist
• 1842 - Jules Dumont d'Urville, explorer
• 1880 - Gustave Flaubert, novelist
• 1947 - Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridges department store
• 1960 - J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician
• 1975 - Avery Brundage, President of the International Olympic Committee
• 1982 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian racing driver
• 1985 - Theodore Sturgeon, science fiction writer
• 1988 - Robert A. Heinlein, science fiction author
• 1993 - Avram Davidson, science fiction writer
• 1994 - George Peppard, actor
• 1999 - Dirk Bogarde, actor
• 1999 - Dana Plato, actress

Holidays and observances

• Commemoration of Julian of Norwich (Anglican)
• Roman Empire - festival in honor of Mens

Recorded this day

• 1906 - "It Takes The Irish To Beat The Dutch" by Billy Murray
• 1941 - "Let Me Off Uptown" by Anita O'Day & Roy Eldridge with Gene Krupa & his Orchestra

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See Also:

May 7 - May 9 - April 8 - June 8 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

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