May 8
It’s No Socks Day and National Teacher Day and National Coconut Cream Pie Day and V-E Day and World Red Cross Day / World Red Crescent Day
ON THIS DAY…
1450 Jack Cade’s Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI
1541 Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River and names it Río de Espíritu Santo
1559 Queen Elizabeth I of England signs the Act of Uniformity
1660 Charles II is proclaimed King of England marking the restoration of the monarchy after the English Civil War and the reign of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector
1701 Pirate Captain Kidd goes on trial at the Old Bailey in London
1792 British Captain George Vancouver sighted and named Mt. Rainier, WA
1794 Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror by revolutionists, Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry who was also a tax collector with the Ferme Générale, was tried, convicted, and guillotined all on one day in Paris
1840 The first US photographic patent was issued to Alexander S. Wolcott of New York City
1846 General Zachary Taylor defeated a detachment of the Mexican army in a two-day battle at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma; this victory forced Mexican troops across the Rio Grande River to Matamoros, protecting the newly annexed state of Texas from invasion
1861 Richmond, VA is named the capital of the Confederate States of America
1873 Melvil Dewey presented the first draft of his decimal classification system to the Amherst College Library Committee
1877 At Gilmore’s Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens
1879 The first US patent for an automobile was filed by George Baldwin Selden of Rochester, NY
1886 Pharmacist Dr. John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage that would later be named “Coca-Cola”
1914 Paramount Pictures is formed
1915 H.P. Whitney’s Regret became the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby
1919 Edward George Honey first proposed the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate The Armistice of World War I, which later resulted in the creation of Remembrance Day
1921 Sweden abolished capital punishment
1932 In London, the Piccadilly Circus lights are lit by electricity for the first time
1933 Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest of British oppression in India
1942 The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end; this is the first time in the naval history where two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships
1945 V-E Day: German forces agree to an unconditional surrender
1950 Douglas MacArthur is appointed commander of the United Nations forces in Korea
1951 Dacron men’s suits were introduced in New York City; the 8-oz fabric consisted of 55% Dacron and 45% worsted
1956 First performance of John Osborne’s controversial play Look Back In Anger at London’s Royal Court Theatre
1956 Alfred E. Neuman appears on the first cover of Mad Magazine
1961 Former British diplomat George Blake, is jailed for 42 years after being found guilty of spying for Russia; in 1966 he successfully escapes from Wormwood Scrubs prison in London
1961 The first practical seawater conversion plant in the US was opened in Freeport, TX
1962 The musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opened on Broadway
1962 London trolley buses went out of service
1963 Dr. No premiered in US theaters
1968 A Pulitzer prize was awarded to William Styron for Confessions of Nat Turner
1970 The Beatles final album, “Let it Be,” is released in the UK
1970 Anti-war protests took place across the United States and around the world; in New York, construction workers broke up a demonstration on Wall Street
1973 A 71-day standoff, between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, ends with the surrender of the militants
1978 David R. Berkowitz, known as the “Son of Sam,” pled guilty to six murder charges
1980 The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that smallpox had been eradicated
1984 The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, CA
1984 Joanie and Chachi got married on ABC-TV’s Happy Days
1985 “New Coke” was released to the public on the 99th anniversary of Coca-Cola
1987 Gary Hart, dogged by questions about his personal life, including his relationship with Miami model Donna Rice, withdrew from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination
1990 Tom Waits won $2.5 million when a Los Angeles court ruled that Frito-Lay unlawfully used a Waits sound alike in its Doritos ads
1996 Julie Andrews declined her Tony Award nomination after her show, Victor/Victoria, was snubbed for best musical
1999 Nancy Mace becomes the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel military college
2000 Scientists announced that they had mapped chromosome 21 which is associated with Down syndrome, epilepsy, Lou Gehrigs disease and Alzheimers
2001 China rejected a US plan to repair EP-3 the spy plane and fly it away; China protested the resumption of US surveillance flights off its coast and said it would refuse to let the United States fly out a crippled Navy spy plane
2006 Silicon Graphics, a pioneer of 3-D visualization technology, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
2007 A new Northern Ireland Executive is formed under the leadership of Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party as First Minister and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin as Deputy First Minister
BORN:
1698 Henry Baker, naturalist who introduced microscopy to the general audience with papers on the microscopical examinations of water creatures and fossils
1742 Lionel Lukin, coach-builder, inventor and pioneer who patented the “unimmergible” (unsinkable) construction of the modern lifeboat
1786 Thomas Hancock, inventor and manufacturer who founded the British rubber industry; his chief invention, the “masticator,” worked rubber scraps into a shredded mass of rubber that could be formed into blocks or rolled into sheets
1808 John Scott Russell, civil engineer best known for researches in ship design; he designed the first seagoing battleship built entirely of iron
1842 Emil Christian Hansen, botanist who revolutionised beer-making through development of new ways to culture yeast
1884 Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (19451953), 34th Vice President of the United States (1945), US Senator (1935-1945)
1902 André Michel Lwoff, biologist who contributed to the understanding of lysogeny, in which a bacterial virus, or bacteriophage, infects bacteria and is transmitted to subsequent bacterial generations solely through the cell division of its host
1906 Roberto Rossellini, writer-director-producer (Paisà, Germania anno zero, Vanina Vanini, Europa ’51)
1919 Lex Barker, actor (Tarzan’s Magic Fountain, Tarzan and the Slave Girl, Tarzan’s Peril)
1926 Don Rickles, abrasive comedian and actor (Toy Story, Daddy Dearest, C.P.O. Sharkey, Beach Blanket Bingo)
1926 Sir David Attenborough, OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, one of the world’s most acclaimed broadcasters and naturalists who is widely considered one of the pioneers of the nature documentary, his career as the respected face and voice of British natural history programs has endured for more than 50 years
1932 Sonny Liston, formidable boxer who was the World Heavyweight Champion from 1962-1964
1932 Phyllida Law, actress and mother of Emma and Sophie Thompson (Emma, Kingdom, Miss Potter, Saving Grace, Much Ado About Nothing)
1935 Jack Charlton, footballer for the English National Team (19651970) who won the World Cup in 1966, and Leeds United (1952-1973)
1937 Thomas Pynchon, writer (The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity’s Rainbow, Vineland)
1940 Ricky Nelson, actor-singer-songwriter (Rio Bravo, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, The Wackiest Ship in the Army)
1940 Peter Benchley, author and screenwriter (Jaws, The Deep, The Island)
1943 Toni Tennille, one-half of the Grammy Award winning duo, Captain & Tennille
1951 Chris Frantz, drummer (Talking Heads)
1953 Alex Van Halen, drummer (Van Halen)
1954 David Keith, actor (Brubaker, An Officer and a Gentlemen, The Lords of Discipline, The Two Jakes, The Indian in the Cupboard)
1954 Stephen Furst, actor (National Lampoon’s Animal House, Scavenger Hunt, Up the Creek, St. Elsewhere, The Dream Team, Babylon 5)
1957 Jeff Wincott, actor (Prom Night, Night Heat, Mission of Justice, No Exit)
1959 Ronnie Lott, football player who was selected for the Pro Bowl ten times (1981-84, 1986-1991) and in his ten years with the San Francisco 49ers, he helped them to win eight division titles and four Super Bowls: XVI (1981), XIX (1984), XXIII (1988), and XXIV (1989)
1961 Janet McTeer, actress (The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, Tideland, The Black Velvet Gown)
1964 Dave Rowntree, drummer (Blur)
1964 Melissa Gilbert, actress and President of the Screen Actors Guild from 2001-2005 (Little House on the Prairie, Sweet Justice, The Miracle Worker, The Diary of Anne Frank)
DIED:
1873 John Stuart Mill, philosopher, political economist, civil servant and Member of Parliament; he was an influential liberal thinker of the 19th century, dies at 66
1880 Gustave Flaubert, writer who is counted among the greatest Western novelists (Madame Bovary, Salammbô), dies at 58
1903 Paul Gauguin, leading Post-Impressionist painter; his bold experimentation with coloring led directly to the Synthetist style of modern art while his expression of the inherent meaning of the subjects in his paintings, under the influence of the cloisonnist style, paved the way to Primitivism and the return to the pastoral, dies at 54
1904 Eadweard Muybridge, photographer important for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion and in motion-picture projection, dies at 74
1952 William Fox, founded the Fox Film Corporation and the Fox West Coast Theatres chain, dies at 73
1985 Theodore Sturgeon, science fiction author (More Than Human, Venus Plus X, Godbody), dies at 67
1985 Dolph Sweet, actor (Finian’s Rainbow, The Lord’s of Flatbush, Heaven Can Wait, Reds, Gimme a Break!), dies at 64
1988 Robert Heinlein, 4-time Hugo Award-winning Science Fiction Grand Master (The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, Double Star), dies at 80
1993 Avram Davidson, Hugo and 3-time World Fantasy Award-winning and a Queen’s Award and an Edgar Award in the mystery genre author (The Enquiries of Dr. Esterhazy, “Naples,” “Or All the Seas with Oysters”), dies at 70
1994 George Peppard, actor (The A-Team, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Blue Max, Banacek, Damnation Alley), dies at 65
1996 Garth Williams, prominent American illustrator known for his work on children’s books (Charlotte’s Web, The Cricket in Times Square), dies at 84
1999 Dana Plato, actress (Diff’rent Strokes, Return to Boggy Creek), commits suicide at 34 by drug overdose
1999 Sir Dirk Bogarde, 2-time BAFTA Award-winning actor (The Servant, Darling, Victim, Modesty Blaise), dies at 78
2006 Iain Macmillan, photographer famous for taking the iconic cover for The Beatles’ album “Abbey Road”, dies at 67