November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 53 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
- 960 – Battle of Andrassos: Byzantines under Leo Phokas the Younger score a crushing victory over the Hamdanid Emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla
- 1519 – Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with a great celebration.
- 1520 – Stockholm Bloodbath begins: A successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces results in the execution of around 100 people.
- 1576 – Eighty Years' War: Pacification of Ghent – The States-General of the Netherlands meet and unite to oppose Spanish occupation.
- 1602 – The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford is opened to the public.
- 1605 – Robert Catesby, ringleader of the Gunpowder Plotters, is killed.
- 1620 – The Battle of White Mountain takes place near Prague, ending in a decisive Catholic victory in only two hours.
- 1745 – Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of ~5000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden.
- 1837 – Mary Lyon founds Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which later becomes Mount Holyoke College.
- 1861 – American Civil War: The "Trent Affair" – The USS San Jacinto stops the British mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.
- 1889 – Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state.
- 1892 – The New Orleans general strike begins, uniting black and white American trade unionists in a successful four-day general strike action for the first time.
- 1895 – While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the X-ray.
- 1901 – Bloody clashes take place in Athens following the translation of the Gospels into demotic Greek.
- 1917 – The People's Commissars give authority to Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin.
- 1923 – Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government.
- 1933 – Great Depression: New Deal – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million unemployed.
- 1936 – Spanish Civil War: Francoist troops fail in their effort to capture Madrid, but begin the 3-year Siege of Madrid afterwards.
- 1937 – The Nazi exhibition Der ewige Jude ("The Eternal Jew") opens in Munich.
- 1939 – Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.
- 1939 – In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes the assassination attempt of Georg Elser while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
- 1940 – Greco-Italian War: The Italian invasion of Greece fails as outnumbered Greek units repulse the Italians in the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas.
- 1942 – World War II: Operation Torch – United States and United Kingdom forces land in French North Africa.
- 1942 – World War II: French resistance coup in Algiers, in which 400 civilian French patriots neutralize Vichyist XIXth Army Corps after 15 hours of fighting, and arrest several Vichyst generals, allowing the immediate success of Operation Torch in Algiers.
- 1950 – Korean War: United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown, while piloting an F-80 Shooting Star, shoots down two North Korean MiG-15s in the first jet aircraft-to-jet aircraft dogfight in history.
- 1957 – Operation Grapple X, Round C1: the United Kingdom conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test over Kiritimati in the Pacific.
- 1960 – John F. Kennedy defeats Richard Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the twentieth century to become the 35th president of the United States.
- 1965 – The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands.
- 1965 – The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom.
- 1965 – The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Operation Hump during the Vietnam War, while the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment fight one of the first set-piece engagements of the war between Australian forces and the Vietcong at the Battle of Gang Toi.
- 1966 – Former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African American elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction.
- 1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law an antitrust exemption allowing the National Football League to merge with the upstart American Football League.
- 1968 – The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic is signed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by standardising the uniform traffic rules among the signatories.
- 1973 – The right ear of John Paul Getty III is delivered to a newspaper together with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay 2.9 million USD.
- 1976 – A series of earthquakes spreads panic in the city of Thessaloniki, which is evacuated.
- 1977 – Manolis Andronikos, a Greek archaeologist and professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.
- 1987 – Remembrance Day Bombing: A Provisional IRA bomb explodes in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland during a ceremony honouring those who had died in wars involving British forces. Twelve people are killed and sixty-three wounded.
- 2002 – Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences".
- 2004 – War in Iraq: More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
- 2011 – The potentially hazardous asteroid 2005 YU55 passed 0.85 lunar distances from Earth (about 324,600 kilometres or 201,700 miles), the closest known approach by an asteroid of its brightness since 2010 XC15 in 1976.
Births
- 30 – Nerva, Roman emperor (d. 98)
- 1342 – Julian of Norwich, English saint (d. 1416)
- 1491 – Teofilo Folengo, Italian poet (d. 1544)
- 1622 – Charles X Gustav of Sweden (d. 1660)
- 1656 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician (d. 1742)
- 1706 – Johann Ulrich von Cramer, German judge and philosopher (d. 1772)
- 1710 – Sarah Fielding, English author (d. 1768)
- 1715 – Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern (d. 1797)
- 1723 – John Byron, English navy officer (d. 1786)
- 1725 – Johann George Tromlitz, German flute player and composer (d. 1805)
- 1768 – Princess Augusta Sophia of the United Kingdom, (d. 1840)
- 1777 – Désirée Clary, French wife of Charles XIV John of Sweden (d. 1860)
- 1788 – Mihály Bertalanits Slovene poet and educator (d. 1853)
- 1836 – Milton Bradley, American businessman, founded Milton Bradley Company (d. 1911)
- 1837 – Ilia Chavchavadze, Georgian journalist and lawyer (d. 1907)
- 1847 – Jean Casimir-Perier, French politician, President of France (d. 1907)
- 1847 – Bram Stoker, Irish author (d. 1912)
- 1848 – Gottlob Frege, German mathematician (d. 1925)
- 1854 – Johannes Rydberg, Swedish physicist (d. 1919)
- 1866 – Herbert Austin, 1st Baron Austin, English businessman, founded the Austin Motor Company (d. 1941)
- 1868 – Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician (d. 1942)
- 1869 – Zinaida Gippius, Russian-French poet and author (d. 1945)
- 1881 – Clarence Gagnon, Canadian painter (d.1942)
- 1883 – Arnold Bax, English composer (d. 1953)
- 1884 – Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1922)
- 1885 – Hans Cloos, German geologist (d. 1951)
- 1885 – Emil Fahrenkamp, German architect (d. 1966)
- 1885 – Eva Morris, English super-centenarian (d. 2000)
- 1885 – Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general (d. 1946)
- 1888 – David Monrad Johansen, Norwegian composer (d. 1974)
- 1893 – Prajadhipok, Thai king (d. 1941)
- 1893 – Clarence Williams, American pianist and composer (d. 1965)
- 1896 – Bucky Harris, American baseball player (d. 1977)
- 1897 – Dorothy Day, American journalist and activist (d. 1980)
- 1898 – Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (d. 1937)
- 1900 – Margaret Mitchell, American author (d. 1949)
- 1900 – Charley Paddock, American runner (d. 1943)
- 1904 – Cedric Belfrage English-American journalist and author, co-founded The National Guardian (d. 1990)
- 1908 – Martha Gellhorn, American journalist and author (d. 1998)
- 1910 – James McCormack, first Director of Military Applications of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (d. 1975)
- 1912 – June Havoc, American actress (d. 2010)
- 1912 – Stylianos Pattakos, Greek army officer
- 1918 – Kazuo Sakamaki, Japanese navy officer (d. 1999)
- 1918 – Hermann Zapf, German designer
- 1919 – P. L. Deshpande, Indian author (d. 2000)
- 1920 – Esther Rolle, American actress (d. 1998)
- 1920 – Eugênio Sales, Brazilian cardinal (d. 2012)
- 1921 – Douglas Townsend, American composer (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Christiaan Barnard, South African surgeon (d. 2001)
- 1922 – Ademir Marques de Menezes, Brazilian footballer (d. 1996)
- 1923 – Jack Kilby, American engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
- 1924 – Johnny Bower, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1924 – Joe Flynn, American actor (d. 1974)
- 1926 – Carroll E. Lanier, American politician (d. 2012)
- 1927 – L. K. Advani, Indian politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India
- 1927 – Chris Connor, American singer (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Ken Dodd, English singer-songwriter and actor
- 1927 – Nguyen Khanh, Vietnamese general and politician, Prime Minister of South Vietnam
- 1927 – Patti Page, American singer and actress (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Nguyen Khanh, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd President of South Vietnam (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Bobby Bowden, American football coach
- 1929 – António Castanheira Neves, Portuguese philosopher
- 1931 – Darla Hood, American actress (d. 1979)
- 1931 – Morley Safer, American journalist
- 1932 – Stéphane Audran, French actress
- 1932 – Ben Bova, American author
- 1933 – Peter Arundell, English race car driver (d. 2009)
- 1935 – Alain Delon, French actor
- 1935 – Stratos Dionysiou, Greek singer (d. 1990)
- 1935 – Alfonso López Trujillo, Colombian bishop (d. 2008)
- 1936 – Virna Lisi, Italian actress
- 1938 – Driss Basri, Moroccan politician (d. 2007)
- 1942 – Angel Cordero Jr., Puerto Rican jockey
- 1943 – Martin Peters, English footballer
- 1944 – Bonnie Bramlett, American singer and actress (Delaney & Bonnie)
- 1945 – Arduino Cantafora, Italian-Swiss architect and author
- 1946 – Guus Hiddink, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1946 – Roy Wood, English singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Electric Light Orchestra, The Move, Wizzard, and Wizzo Band)
- 1947 – Minnie Riperton, American singer-songwriter (d. 1979)
- 1949 – Wayne LaPierre, American businessman, author, and activist
- 1949 – Bonnie Raitt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1950 – Mary Hart, American journalist and actress
- 1951 – Alfredo Astiz, Argentine captain
- 1951 – Peter Suber, American philosopher and academic
- 1952 – Albert Bittlmayer, German footballer (d. 1977)
- 1952 – John Denny, American baseball player
- 1952 – Christie Hefner, American businesswoman
- 1952 – Jan Raas, Dutch cyclist
- 1952 – Jerry Remy, American baseball player
- 1952 – Alfre Woodard, American actress
- 1953 – Giorgos Foiros, Greek footballer and manager
- 1953 – John Musker, American animator and director
- 1954 – David Bret, French-English author
- 1954 – Michael D. Brown, American lawyer and radio host
- 1954 – Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-English author
- 1954 – Rickie Lee Jones, American singer-songwriter
- 1954 – Jeanette McGruder, American singer (The Brides of Funkenstein)
- 1954 – Thanasis Pafilis, Greek politician
- 1955 – Patricia Barber, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1956 – Mari Boine, Norwegian singer-songwriter and producer
- 1956 – Richard Curtis, English actor, screenwriter, director, and producer
- 1956 – Steven Miller, American record producer
- 1957 – Alan Curbishley, English footballer and manager
- 1957 – Porl Thompson, English guitarist (The Cure, Easy Cure, Malice, and Shelleyan Orphan)
- 1957 – Hardi Volmer, Estonian singer and director
- 1958 – Don Byron, American clarinet player and composer
- 1958 – Ken Lamberton, American educator and writer
- 1959 – Chi Chi LaRue, American drag queen performer and director
- 1960 – Oleg Menshikov, Russian actor
- 1960 – Michael Nyqvist, Swedish actor
- 1961 – Micky Adams, English footballer and manager
- 1961 – Leif Garrett, American singer and actor
- 1965 – Jeff Blauser, American baseball player
- 1965 – Craig Chester, American actor and screenwriter
- 1966 – Toralf Arndt, German footballer
- 1966 – Gordon Ramsay, Scottish chef and television host
- 1966 – Urmas Välbe, Estonian skier
- 1967 – Kamar de los Reyes, Puerto Rican actor
- 1967 – Henry Rodriguez, Dominican baseball player
- 1967 – Courtney Thorne-Smith, American actress
- 1968 – Keith Jones, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1968 – Jose Offerman, Dominican baseball player
- 1968 – Sergio Porrini, Italian footballer
- 1968 – Parker Posey, American actress
- 1968 – Zara Whites, Dutch actress
- 1969 – Roxana Zal, American actress
- 1970 – Tom Anderson, American businessman, co-founded of Myspace
- 1970 – Diana King, Jamaican singer-songwriter
- 1970 – José Porras, Costa Rican footballer
- 1971 – Carlos Atanes, Spanish director
- 1971 – Tech N9ne, American rapper (The Regime)
- 1972 – Gretchen Mol, American actress
- 1974 – Penny Heyns, South African swimmer
- 1974 – Masashi Kishimoto, Japanese illustrator
- 1974 – Seishi Kishimoto, Japanese illustrator
- 1974 – Matthew Rhys, Welsh actor
- 1975 – Angel Corella, Spanish dancer
- 1975 – Brevin Knight, American basketball player
- 1975 – José Manuel Pinto, Spanish footballer
- 1975 – Tara Reid, American actress
- 1975 – Alena Vašková, Czech tennis player
- 1976 – Brett Lee, Australian cricketer
- 1976 – Colin Strause, American director
- 1977 – Jully Black, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
- 1977 – Bucky Covington, American singer-songwriter
- 1977 – Nick Punto, American baseball player
- 1978 – Shyne, Belizean-American rapper
- 1978 – Júlio Sérgio Bertagnoli, Brazilian footballer
- 1978 – Tim de Cler, Dutch footballer
- 1978 – Maurice Evans, American basketball player
- 1978 – Ali Karimi, Iranian footballer
- 1979 – Andrea Benatti, Italian rugby player
- 1979 – Aaron Hughes, Irish footballer
- 1979 – Dania Ramírez, Dominican actress
- 1980 – Luís Fabiano, Brazilian footballer
- 1980 – Laura Jane Grace, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Against Me!)
- 1980 – Ana Vidović, Croatian guitarist
- 1980 – Holly Walsh, British comedian, comedy writer and TV and radio presenter
- 1981 – Joe Cole, English footballer
- 1981 – Yann Kermorgant, French footballer
- 1981 – Azura Skye, American actress
- 1982 – Ted DiBiase, Jr., American wrestler
- 1982 – Lynndie England, American soldier
- 1982 – Ethan Juan, Taiwanese model and actor
- 1982 – Mika Kallio, Finnish motorcycle racer
- 1982 – Sam Sparro, Australian singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1983 – Katharina Molitor, German javelin thrower
- 1983 – Remko Pasveer, Dutch footballer
- 1983 – Pavel Pogrebnyak, Russian footballer
- 1983 – Nikola Rachelle, English singer
- 1983 – Chris Rankin, New Zealand actor
- 1983 – Blanka Vlašić, Croatian high jumper
- 1984 – Kuntal Chandra, Bangladeshi cricketer (d. 2012)
- 1984 – Steven Webb, English actor
- 1985 – Magda Apanowicz, Canadian actress
- 1985 – Jack Osbourne, English actor and producer
- 1986 – Jamie Roberts, Welsh rugby player
- 1986 – Aaron Swartz, American computer programmer and activist (d. 2013)
- 1987 – Sam Bradford, American football player
- 1988 – Jessica Lowndes, Canadian actress and singer
- 1988 – Lucia Slaničková, Slovak heptathlete
- 1990 – Anett Griffel, Estonian model
- 1991 – Riker Lynch, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor (R5)
- 1994 – Lauren Alaina, American singer
- 1994 – Shane Feldman, Canadian actor
- 2003 – Lady Louise Windsor, English daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Deaths
- 955 – Pope Agapetus II
- 1115 – Godfrey of Amiens, French bishop (b. 1066)
- 1171 – Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut (b. 1108)
- 1195 – Conrad, Count Palatine of the Rhine (b. 1135)
- 1226 – Louis VIII of France (b. 1187)
- 1246 – Berengaria of Castile (b. 1180)
- 1308 – Duns Scotus, Scottish philosopher (b. 1266)
- 1517 – Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, Spanish cardinal (b. 1436)
- 1527 – Jerome Emser, German theologian (b. 1477)
- 1599 – Francisco Guerrero, Spanish composer (b. 1528)
- 1600 – Natsuka Masaie, Japanese warlord (b. 1562)
- 1605 – Robert Catesby, English conspirator, leader of the Gunpowder Plot (b. 1573)
- 1627 – Jahangir, Mughal emperor (b. 1569)
- 1658 – Witte Corneliszoon de With, Dutch navy officer (b. 1599)
- 1674 – John Milton, English poet (b. 1608)
- 1719 – Michel Rolle, French mathematician (b. 1652)
- 1817 – Andrea Appiani, Italian painter (b. 1754)
- 1830 – Francis I of the Two Sicilies (b. 1777)
- 1873 – Breton de los Herreros, Spanish playwright (b. 1796)
- 1887 – Doc Holliday, American dentist (b. 1851)
- 1890 – César Franck, Belgian organist and composer (b. 1822)
- 1895 – Robert Battey, American surgeon (b. 1828)
- 1905 – Victor Borisov-Musatov, Russian painter (b. 1870)
- 1917 – Colin Blythe, English cricketer (b. 1879)
- 1921 – Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, Slovak poet (b. 1849)
- 1924 – Mike Merlo, Italian-American gangster (b. 1880)
- 1934 – Carlos Chagas, Brazilian physician (b. 1879)
- 1944 – Walter Nowotny, Austrian-German pilot (b. 1920)
- 1945 – August von Mackensen, German field marshal (b. 1849)
- 1949 – Cyriel Verschaeve, Flemish priest (b. 1874)
- 1953 – Ivan Bunin, Russian author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
- 1953 – John van Melle, South African author (b. 1887)
- 1965 – Dorothy Kilgallen, American journalist (b. 1913)
- 1966 – Bernhard Zondek German-Israeli gynecologist (b. 1891)
- 1968 – Wendell Corey, American actor (b. 1914)
- 1968 – Peter Mohr Dam, Faroese politician, 3rd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1898)
- 1970 – Huw T. Edwards, Welsh politician (b. 1892)
- 1974 – Ivory Joe Hunter, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1914)
- 1975 – Jaime Montestrela, Portuguese poet (b. 1925)
- 1977 – Tasos Giannopoulos, Greek actor (b. 1931)
- 1977 – Bucky Harris, American baseball player (b. 1896)
- 1978 – Norman Rockwell, American painter (b. 1894)
- 1979 – Yvonne de Gaulle, French wife of Charles de Gaulle (b. 1900)
- 1983 – James Booker, American singer and pianist (b. 1939)
- 1983 – James Hayden, American actor (b. 1953)
- 1983 – Mordecai Kaplan, Lithuanian-American rabbi and educator (b. 1881)
- 1985 – Nicolas Frantz, Luxembourger cyclist (b. 1899)
- 1985 – Jacques Hnizdovsky, Ukrainian-American painter and illustrator (b. 1915)
- 1986 – Vyacheslav Molotov, Russian politician (b. 1890)
- 1992 – Larry Levan, American DJ and producer (b. 1954)
- 1993 – Andrey Nikolayevich Tikhonov, Russian mathematician (b. 1906)
- 1994 – Michael O'Donoghue, American writer (b. 1940)
- 1998 – Rumer Godden, English author (b. 1907)
- 1998 – John Hunt, Baron Hunt, English army officer and mountaineer (b. 1910)
- 1998 – Jean Marais, French actor (b. 1913)
- 1999 – Lester Bowie, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1941)
- 1999 – Leon Štukelj, Slovenian gymnast (b. 1898)
- 2001 – Aristidis Moschos, Greek santouri player (b. 1930)
- 2002 – Jon Elia, Pakistani poet, scholar, and philosopher (b. 1931)
- 2003 – Bob Grant, English actor (b. 1932)
- 2003 – C. Z. Guest, American actress, fashion designer, and author (b. 1920)
- 2003 – Guy Speranza, American singer-songwriter (Riot) (b. 1956)
- 2004 – Peter Mathers, English-Australian author (b. 1931)
- 2005 – David Westheimer, American author (b. 1917)
- 2005 – Alekos Alexandrakis, Greek actor (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Basil Poledouris, American composer (b. 1945)
- 2006 – Hannspeter Winter, Austrian physicist (b. 1941)
- 2007 – Aad Nuis, Dutch journalist, poet, and politician (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Dulce Saguisag, Filipino politician (b. 1943)
- 2007 – Chad Varah, English priest, founded The Samaritans (b. 1911)
- 2009 – Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian physicist (b. 1916)
- 2010 – Quintin Dailey, American basketball player (b. 1961)
- 2010 – Alex Fagan, American police officer (b. 1950)
- 2010 – Jack Levine, American painter (b. 1915)
- 2010 – Emilio Eduardo Massera, Argentine navy officer (b. 1925)
- 2011 – Heavy D, Jamaican-American rapper, producer, and actor (b. 1967)
- 2011 – Bil Keane, American cartoonist (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Lee MacPhail, American baseball manager and executive (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Patrick Francis Sheehan, Irish-Nigerian bishop (b. 1932)
Holidays and observances
External links