On This Day In History, 8 January


On This Day In History 8 January Image

World Events Today

  • King Ethelred I of Wessex and his younger brother, Alfred the Great, beat invading Danish Vikings at the Battle of Ashdown today in 871
  • The President of the United States, John F Kennedy, and his wife Jacqueline, attended the unveiling of the Mona Lisa, on loan from France, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington today in 1963
  • The drug lord “El Chapo”, after yet another prison escape, was captured again today in 2016, he had been on the run for 6 months

Entertainment Events Today

  • The composer George Frideric Handel’s first opera, Almira, written when he was 19, premiered today in 1705 in Hamburg
  • After opening on Broadway in June 1980, the musical 42nd Street, closed today in 1989 after 3,486 performances

Family Events Today

  • The American singer Elvis Presley, “The King”, was born today in 1935 in Tupelo
  • The English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, Stephen William Hawking, was born today in 1942 in Oxford, he is most renowned for his best-selling book, A Brief History of Time
  • David Robert Jones, better known as the English singer-songwriter and actor David Bowie, was born today in 1947 in London

Main Event Today

  • The Russian cosmonaut Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov, set off for the Mir Space Station today in 1994, he set a record for the longest single stay in space, 437 days

National Day Today

  • Today, it’s National English Toffee Day

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