8th September, on this day

70 Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem.
238 The first recorded ritual bout of Sumo wrestling - each year a priest still officiates for the Ceremony of the Crows at the Kamo Shrine in Kyoto, Japan
1264 The Statute of Kalisz, guaranteeing Jews safety and personal liberties and giving battei din jurisdiction over Jewish matters, was promulgated by Boleslaus the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland.
1331 Stefan Dušan declares himself king of Serbia
1380 Russians defeat Tatars at Kulikovo, beginning decline of Tatars
1449 Battle of Tumu Fortress - Mongolians capture the Chinese emperor.
1504 Italian sculptor, painter and poet Michelangelo unveils his 'Statue of David ' in Florence
1514 Battle of Orsha - In one of the biggest battles of the century, Lithuanians and Poles defeat the Russian army.
1522 Spanish navigator Juan de Elcano returns to Spain, completes 1st circumnavigation of globe, expedition begins under Ferdinand Magellan
1553 City of Lichfield, England established
1565 Spanish explorer Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles founds the first Catholic settlement in America at St Augustine in Florida
1565 Turkish siege of Malta broken by Maltese and Knights of St John
1664 The Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam is siezed by the English and renamed New York in honour of James, Duke of York - the future King James II of England
1727 A barn fire during a puppet show in the village of Burwell in Cambridgeshire, England kills 78 people, many of whom are children.
1755 French and Indian War: Battle of Lake George.
1756 French and Indian War: Kittanning Expedition.
1761 Marriage of George III of the United Kingdom to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Queen Charlotte).
1793 French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Hondschoote.
1796 Battle of Bassano - French beat Austrians
1810 The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor's men established fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon.
1831 William IV was crowned King of Great Britain.
1858 Lincoln makes a speech about when you can fool people
1860 Excursion steamer "Lady Elgin" drowns 340 in Lake Michigan
1863 47 Texas volunteers repel Federal invasion force at Sabine Pass, TX
1883 Completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad across the United States of America
1886 Following permission for public digging, thousands flocked to the Witwatersrand in southern Africa in search of gold. The settlement is now called Johannesburg
1888 The first official Football League matches are played in England
1888 In London, police suspect a serial killer is at large when the disembowelled body of Annie Chapman is found and presumed to be the second victim of 'Jack The Ripper'
1900 6,000 killed when a hurricane and tidal wave destroys Galveston, Texas, most deadly in US history
1904 At the end of a British expedition to Lhasa, expedition leader Colonel Francis Younghusband forces Tibet to sign a treaty whereby the Dalai Lama cannot concede territory to another foreign power without British consent
1914 Private Thomas Highgate becomes the first British soldier to be executed for desertion during the war.
1915 World War I: Tsar Nicholas II takes personal commad of the Russian armies fighting Germany
1921 1st Miss America crowned (Margaret Gorman of Washington DC)
1923 Honda Point Disaster: Nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost.
1924 Alexandra Kollontai of Russia becomes 1st woman ambassador
1926 By a unanimous vote, Germany is admitted to the League of Nations
1930 1st appearance of the comic strip "Blondie"
1934 Luxury liner "Morro Castle" burns off NJ, killing 134
1935 US Senator from Louisiana, Huey Long, nicknamed "Kingfish," is fatally shot in the Louisiana capitol building.
1939 FDR declares "limited national emergency" due to war in Europe
1941 World War II: the beginning of the siege of Leningrad as German troops completely surround the city. An estimated 1 million Russians die before the seige ends in January 1944
1941 Entire Jewish community of Meretsch, Lithuania is exterminated
1943 American General Dwight Eisenhower announces the unconditional surrender of Italy
1943 Julius Fucík is executed by Nazis.
1943 The O.B.S. (German General Headquarters for the Mediterranean zone) in Frascati was bombed by USAAF.
1944 The first German V2 flying bombs land in Britain - exploding at Chiswick in London killing 3 people
1945 US invades Japanese-held Korea
1945 World War II: Japanese prime minister Hideki Tojo attempts to take his own life rather than face a war crimes tribunal
1951 The Treaty of Peace with Japan is signed by 49 nations in San Francisco
1952 Ernest Hemingway's "Old Man & the Sea" published
1954 SE Asia Treaty Org (SEATO) formed to stop communist spread in SE Asia
1956 Harry Belafonte's album "Calypso," goes to number 1 and stays for 31 weeks
1958 Oman turns over Gwadur to Pakistan
1960 Publishers Penguin Books are charged with public obscenity for publishing D H Lawrence's controversial book - 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'
1960 In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1)
1962 Newly independent, Algeria, by referendum, adopts a Constitution.
1962 Last run of the famous Pines Express over the Somerset and Dorset Railway line (UK) fittingly using the last steam locomotive built by British Railways 9F locomotive 92220 'Evening Star'
1963 Ines Cuervo de Priete, 34, gives birth to quintuplets, all boys
1965 Hurricane Betsy kills 75 in Louisiana & Florida
1966 Queen Elizabeth II officially opens The Severn Bridge linking South Wales with southwest England
1966 "Star Trek" premiers on NBC-TV
1966 "That Girl" starring Marlo Thomas premiers on ABC-TV
1967 Surveyor 5 launched; makes soft landing on Moon Sept 10
1967 Uganda abolishes traditional tribal kingdoms, becomes a republic
1967 The formal end of steam traction in the North East of England by British Railways.
1968 The Beatles perform their last live TV performance on the David Frost show. They perform their new hit Hey Jude.
1968 British tennis player Virginia Wade beats American Billie Jean King to win the US Open
1970 Hijacking (and subsequent destruction) of three airliners to Jordan by Palestinians; the events to follow would later become known as Black September
1971 In Washington, DC, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.
1974 US President Gerald Ford grants former President Richard Nixon a full pardon for all the crimes he may have committed while in office including the 'cover-up' of the 'Watergate' break-in which had ultimately led to his resignation
1975 US Air Force Tech Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, appears in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine with the headline (printed in all uppercase) "I Am A Homosexual." He is later given a general discharge.
1977 Interpol sends a resolution concerning video piracy
1977 Jimmy McCullough quits Wings
1985 7 die in a car and train crash in San Jose, California
1991 Republic of Macedonia becomes independent.
1994 A USAir Boeing 737 crashes in Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania, near the city of Aliquippa.
1996 Wonderbra model Eva Herzigova marries Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres at a star-studied wedding in the American state of New Jersey
1999 United States Attorney General Janet Reno names former Senator John Danforth to head an independent investigation of the 1993 fire at the Branch Davidian church near Waco, Texas in response to revelations in the film Waco: The Rules of Engagement contradicting the official government stories.
2004 The NASA unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-lands when its parachute fails to open.

8th September 2005

30 bodies found in nursing home

Cheney embarks on hurricane tour

Embryo with two mothers approved

8th September 2006

Kabul suicide bomb hits US convoy

Blasts kill 37 in India graveyard

Paper reprints Holocaust cartoons

8th September 2007

Deadly bomb hits Algerian base

McCann parents named as suspects

Thousands bid Pavarotti farewell

8th September 2008

US takes over key mortgage firms

Russians 'agree Georgia deadline

Three guilty of bomb conspiracy

8th September 2009

Deadly blast in China coal mine

Kazakh helicopter crash kills 10

Deadly day for US troops overseas

8th September 2010

Birthdates which occurred on 8th September:

1157 Richard I [Richard the Lion Hearted], King of England (1189-99)
1474 Ludovico Ariosto Italy, poet (Orlando Furioso)
1588 Marin Mersenne France, mathematician/musician/philospher (Cartesian)
1830 Fr‚d‚ric Mistral Proven‡al poet (Nobel 1904)
1841 Anton¡n Dvor k Nelahozeves, Czech, composer (New World Symphony)
1873 David O McKay Huntsville, Utah, 9th pres of Mormon church
1873 Max Reinhardt Austria, theatrical director (Oedipus Rex)
1889 Robert A Taft (Sen-R-Ohio, Taft-Hartley Act)
1897 Jimmie Rodgers Mendoza Miss, country singer/singing brakeman
1898 Queenie Smith NYC, actress/dancer (Funny Side)
19-- Byron Morrow Chicago Ill, actor (New Breed, Executive Suite)
19-- Michael Lardie rock guitarist (Great White-Twice Shy)
19-- Rob Grad rocker (Kik Tracee-Hot Wire)
1900 Claude D Pepper (Rep-D-Fla), old people's advocate
1907 Gavin Muir Chic Ill, actor (Hollister-Betty Hutton Show)
1907 Leon Askin Vienna Austria, actor (Pierre-Charlie Farrell Show)
1910 Jean-Louis Barrault France, actor (Les Enfants du Paradis)
1912 Leo Cherne NYC, economist/commentator (All Star News)
1914 Hillary Brooke Abbott & Costello's neighbor (Hillary)
1921 Harry Secombe Wales, actor (Down Among the "Z" Men)
1922 Lyndon LaRouche American presidental candidate (1980)
1922 Sid Caesar Yonkers NY, comedian (Your Show of Shows)
1924 Wendell Ford (Sen-D-Ky)
1925 Denise Darcel Paris France, actress (Dangerous When Wet)
1925 Peter Sellers England, actor (not now, Kato, Bobo, Pink Panther)
1929 Christoph von Dohn nyi Berlin Germany, conductor/pianist
1929 Severn Darden actor (Popesco-Mary Hartman)
1930 Jeanette Altwegg England, figure skater (Olympic-gold-1952)
1932 Patsy Cline Va, country singer (Walkin' After Midnight)
1934 Peter Maxwell Davies Manchester England, composer (Prolation)
1937 Virna Lisi Italy, actress (Assault on a Queen, Bluebeard)
1938 Sam Nunn (Sen-D-Ga)
1940 Willie Tyler Red Level Ala, ventriloquist (Lester)
1941 Alan Feinstein NYC, actor (Max-Berrengers, Family Tree)
1945 Rogie Vachon Qu‚bec, NHL goalie (Canadiens, Kings, Vezina-1968)
1947 Ann Beattie Wash DC, short story writer (New Yorker Magazine)
1951 Mark McCumber golfer
1951 Tom Gullikson Wisc, tennis player (US mixed Doubles 1984)
1954 Clayton Norcross actor (Bold & Beautiful, Colbys, Santa Barbara)
1956 Maurice Cheeks NBA guard (NY Knicks, Phila '76ers)
1957 Heather Thomas Greenwich Ct, actress (Jody-Fall Guy, Coed Fever)
1958 David Lewis guitarist (Atlantic Starr-Touch a 4 Leaf Clover)
1961 Franny Michel Bkln NY, actress (Patricia-Apple's Way)
1971 Cristy Thom Los Angeles Ca, playmate (Feb, 1991)
1973 Jason Downs actor

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Deaths which occurred on September 8th:
1100 Clement III 1st antipope (1084-1100), dies (birth date unknown)
1935 Huey P Long (Sen-La) assassinated at Baton Rouge Capitol building
1965 Dorothy Danridge actress, dies at 41 in Hollywood
1969 Bud Collyer TV emcee (Beat the Clock, To Tell the Truth), dies at 61
1979 Jean Seberg actress, dies at 40
1981 Roy Wilkins longtime executive director of NAACP, dies at 80
1991 Alex North music composer (Spartacus), dies at 80 of cancer