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This day in history

This day in history: 8 February

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Key facts

311 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 8 February.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2023: Two children are killed and six others are injured when a bus crashes into a daycare centre in Laval, Quebec, Canada. The driver is arrested and charged with homicide and dangerous driving.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Cuthmann of Steyning

Christian feast day: Elffled of Whitby

Christian feast day: Elisabetta Martinez

Christian feast day: February 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Gerolamo Emiliani

Christian feast day: Josephine Bakhita

Christian feast day: Juventius of Pavia

Christian feast day: Mengold of Huy

Christian feast day: Stephen of Muret

Military Foundation Day (North Korea)

Parinirvana Day (some Mahayana Buddhism traditions; most celebrate on February 15)

Prešeren Day (Slovenia)

Events

2023Two children are killed and six others are injured when a bus crashes into a daycare centre in Laval, Quebec, Canada. The driver is arrested and charged with homicide and dangerous driving.

2020A soldier opens fire in a military camp and a shopping center in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, killing 29 people and injuring 58 others before being shot dead by police the next day. It is considered the deadliest mass shooting in the countr

2014A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia, kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured.

2013A blizzard kills at least 18 and leaves hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in the northeastern United States and parts of Canada.

2010Over 2 miles (3.2 km) of road are buried after a storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of avalanches, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 others.

1993An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 and an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 collide mid-air near Qods, Iran, killing all 133 people on board both aircraft.

1989Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores, killing all 144 passengers on board.

1986Twenty-three people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, making it one of the worst rail accidents in Canada.

1983A dust storm hits Melbourne, resulting in the worst drought on record and severe weather conditions in the city.

1974The crew of Skylab 4, the last mission to visit the American space station Skylab, returns to Earth after 84 days in space.

1971South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration into the country.

1968American civil rights movement: An attack on Black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation leaves three dead and 28 injured in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

1965Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing all 84 people on board.

1963The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party.

1962Nine protestors are killed at Charonne station, Paris, by French police under the command of ex-Vichy official and Parisian Prefect of Police Maurice Papon.

1960Queen Elizabeth II issues an Order-in-Council, proclaiming the House of Windsor and declaring that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.

1950The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.

1946The People's Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North and replaced by the communist-controlled Provisional People's Committee of North Korea.

1945World War II: British and Canadian forces commence Operation Veritable to occupy land between the Maas and Rhine rivers.

1945World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet POWs from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemünde, Usedom.

1942World War II: Japan invades Singapore.

1937Spanish Civil War: Republican forces establish the Interprovincial Council of Santander, Palencia and Burgos in Cantabria.

1924The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.

1910The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.

1904Japanese forces launch a surprise attack against Russian-controlled Port Arthur, marking the start of the Russo-Japanese war.

1904The Dutch Colonial Army's Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch a military campaign in the Dutch East Indies' Northern Sumatra region, leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians.

1887The Dawes Act is enacted, authorizing the U.S. President to divide Native American tribal land into individual allotments.

1885The first Japanese immigrants arrive in Hawaii.

1879England's cricket team, led by Lord Harris, is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney.

1879Sandford Fleming first proposes the adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.

1865Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, delaying the criminalization of slavery until the amendment's national adoption on December 6, 1865. The amendment is ultimately ratified by Delaware on February

1837Richard Johnson becomes the first and only Vice President of the United States chosen by the Senate.

1817An army led by Grand Marshal Las Heras crosses the Andes to join San Martín in the liberation of Chile from Spain.

1807Napoleon defeats the coalition forces of Russian General Bennigsen and Prussian General L'Estocq at the Battle of Eylau.

1693The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the second-oldest institution of higher education in the Thirteen Colonies, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.

1601Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, unsuccessfully rebels against Queen Elizabeth I.

1587Mary, Queen of Scots is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

1347The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.

1250Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah.

1238The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.

Born on this day

2001I.N, South Korean singer

1999Alessia Russo, English footballer

1998Rui Hachimura, Japanese basketball player

1997Kathryn Newton, American actress

1996Kenedy, Brazilian footballer

1996Leighton Vander Esch, American football player

1995Gabriel Deck, Argentine basketball player

1995Joshua Kimmich, German footballer

1994Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Turkish footballer

1994Nikki Yanofsky, Canadian singer-songwriter

1992Bruno Martins Indi, Portuguese-Dutch footballer

1991Nam Woo-hyun, South Korean singer

1990Bethany Hamilton, American surfer

1990Klay Thompson, American basketball player

1989Brendan Smith, Canadian ice hockey player

1989Courtney Vandersloot, American-Hungarian basketball player

1989JaJuan Johnson, American basketball player

1989Julio Jones, American football player

1989Zac Guildford, New Zealand rugby player

1988Keegan Meth, Zimbabwean cricketer

1987Carolina Kostner, Italian figure skater

1987Javi García, Spanish footballer

1986Anderson .Paak, American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer

1985Brian Randle, American basketball player and coach

1985Félix Pie, Dominican baseball player

1985Jeremy Davis, American bass player and songwriter

1985Petra Cetkovská, Czech tennis player

1984Cecily Strong, American actress

1984Panagiotis Vasilopoulos, Greek basketball player

1984Sean Bergenheim, Finnish ice hockey player

1983Cory Jane, New Zealand rugby player

1983Jermaine Anderson, Canadian basketball player

1981Jim Parrack, American actor

1981Myriam Montemayor Cruz, Mexican singer

1981Steve Gohouri, Ivorian footballer (died 2015)

1980William Jackson Harper, American actor

1979Aaron Cook, American baseball player

1978Mick de Brenni, Australian politician

1978Ranveer Brar, Indian chef, author, restauranteur, and television personality

1977Dave Farrell, American musician and songwriter

Died on this day

2025Dick Jauron, American football player and coach (born 1950)

2025Gyalo Thondup, Brother of the 14th Dalai Lama (born 1928)

2025Sam Nujoma, Namibian politician, 1st President of Namibia (born 1929)

2023Arto Heiskanen, Finnish professional hockey player (born 1963)

2021Marty Schottenheimer, American football player and coach (born 1943)

2021Mary Wilson, American singer (born 1944)

2020Robert Conrad, American actor (born 1935)

2017Alan Simpson, English scriptwriter (born 1929)

2017Peter Mansfield, English physicist, Nobel laureate (born 1933)

2017Rina Matsuno, Japanese idol singer (born 1998)

2016Amelia Bence, Argentine actress (born 1914)

2016Margaret Forster, English historian, author, and critic (born 1938)

2016Nida Fazli, Indian poet and songwriter (born 1938)

2016Violette Verdy, French ballerina (born 1933)

2015Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, Finnish physician and parapsychologist (born 1939)

2014Els Borst, Dutch physician and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (born 1932)

2014Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (born 1988)

2014Nancy Holt, American sculptor and painter (born 1938)

2013Giovanni Cheli, Italian cardinal (born 1918)

2013James DePreist, American conductor and educator (born 1936)

2013Maureen Dragone, American journalist and author (born 1920)

2013Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist (born 1918)

2012Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian singer-songwriter (born 1950)

2012Wando, Brazilian singer-songwriter (born 1945)

2011Tony Malinosky, American baseball player and soldier (born 1909)

2010John Murtha, American colonel and politician (born 1932)

2008Ruby Garrard Woodson, American educator and cultural historian (born 1931)

2007Anna Nicole Smith, American model and actress (born 1967)

2007Ian Stevenson, Canadian-American psychiatrist and academic (born 1918)

2006Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer (born 1914)

Quote of the day

“Nothing is so certain as that the evils of idleness can be shaken off by hard work.”

Seneca

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From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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