On this day: January 8th
Credit/Source: Wikipedia
307 Emperor Huai of Jin becomes emperor of the Jin dynasty (266–420) in succession to his father, Emperor Hui of Jin, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying.
871 Æthelred I, King of Wessex and Alfred the Great lead a Wessex army to Battle of Ashdown by Danelaw Vikings.
1297 François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing House of Grimaldi as the rulers of Monaco.
1454 The papal bull ''Romanus Pontifex'' awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador.
1499 Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII of France.
1547 The first Lithuanian-language book, the ''Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas'', is published in Königsberg.
1735 The premiere of George Frideric Handel's ''Ariodante'' takes place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
1746 Jacobite rising of 1745: Charles Edward Stuart occupies Stirling.
1790 George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.
1806 The Dutch Cape Colony in southern Africa becomes the British Cape Colony as a result of the Battle of Blaauwberg.
1811 Charles Deslondes leads 1811 German Coast uprising in the North American settlements of St. Charles Parish, Louisiana and St. James Parish, Louisiana.
1815 War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
1828 The Democratic Party (United States) is organized.
1835 US President Andrew Jackson announces a celebratory dinner after having reduced the National debt of the United States # History for the only time.
1863 American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield.
1867 The United States Congress passes the bill to allow African American men the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
1877 Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Battle of Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
1889 Herman Hollerith is issued US patent # 395,791 for the 'Art of Applying Statistics' — his punched card calculator.
1900 President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
1912 The African National Congress is founded, under the name South African Native National Congress (SANNC).
1918 U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" as conditions for ending World War I.
1920 The steel strike of 1919 ends in failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers labor union.
1926 Crown Prince Bảo Đại is crowned emperor of Vietnam, the country's last monarch.
1926 Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz.
1933 Anarchist insurrection of January 1933 breaks out in Barcelona, Second Spanish Republic.
1936 Kashf-e hijab decree is made and immediately enforced by Reza Shah, Iran's head of state, banning the wearing of Islamic veils in public.
1940 World War II: Britain Rationing in the United Kingdom.
1945 World War II: Commonwealth of the Philippines troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack invading Imperial Japanese Army.
1946 Andrei Zhdanov, Chairman of the Finnish Allied Commission, submitted to the War-responsibility trials in Finland an interrogation report by General Erich Buschenhagen, a German prisoner of war, on the contacts between Finnish and German military personnel before the Continuation War and a copy of Adolf Hitler's Operation Barbarossa.
1956 Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionary are killed by the Huaorani people of Ecuador shortly after making first contact.
1959 Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic.
1961 In France a French referendum on Algerian self-determination, 1961 supports Charles de Gaulle's policies in Algeria.
1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
1972 Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali people leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh.
1973 Soviet Union space mission ''Luna 21'' is launched.
1973 Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party (United States) headquarters at Watergate complex begins.
1975 Ella T. Grasso becomes List of Governors of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
1977 1977 Moscow bombings explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenians separatist group.
1981 A local farmer reports a Trans-en-Provence Case in Trans-en-Provence, claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time".
1982 Breakup of the Bell System: In the United States, AT&T Corporation agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
1989 Kegworth air disaster: British Midland International Flight 92, a Boeing 737 Classic, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.
1994 Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on ''Soyuz TM-18'' leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
1996 An Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft 1996 Air Africa crash in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing up to 223 people on the ground; two of six crew members are also killed.
2002 President of the United States George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
2003 Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashes near Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey, killing the entire crew and 70 of the 75 passengers.
2003 Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, in Charlotte, North Carolina, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board.
2004 The , then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
2005 The nuclear sub collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.
2009 A 6.1-magnitude 2009 Costa Rica earthquake in northern Costa Rica kills 15 people and injures 32.
2010 Gunmen from an offshoot of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda Togo national football team attack carrying the Togo national football team on its way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, killing three people and injuring another nine.
2011 Sitting US Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is shot in the head along with 18 others in a 2011 Tucson shooting. Giffords survived the assassination attempt, but six others died, including John Roll, a federal judge.
2016 Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world's most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico.
2016 West Air Sweden Flight 294 crashes near the Swedish reservoir of Akkajaure; both pilots, the only people on board, are killed.
2020 Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashes immediately after takeoff at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport; all 176 on board are killed. The plane was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.
2021 Twenty-three people are killed in what is described as a La Vega raid in La Vega Parish, Caracas, Venezuela.
2023 Supporters of former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro 2023 Praça dos Três Poderes attack the National Congress of Brazil.
1037 Su Shi, Chinese calligrapher and poet (d. 1101)
1345 Kadi Burhan al-Din, poet, qadi, and ruler of Sivas (d. 1398)
1529 John Frederick II, Duke of Saxony, duke of Saxony (d. 1595)
1583 Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1643)
1587 Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1616)
1587 Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1629)
1589 Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet and playwright (d. 1638)
1601 Baltasar Gracián, Spanish priest and author (d. 1658)
1626 Jean Talon, first Intendant of New France (d. 1694)
1628 François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
1632 Samuel von Pufendorf, German economist and jurist (d. 1694)
1635 Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish cardinal (d. 1709)
1638 Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (d. 1665)
1735 John Carroll (bishop), American archbishop, founder of Georgetown University (d. 1815)
1763 Edmond-Charles Genêt, French-American translator and diplomat (d. 1834)
1786 Nicholas Biddle (banker), American banker and financier (d. 1844)
1788 Archduke Rudolf of Austria (1788–1831), Austrian archduke and archbishop (d. 1831)
1792 Lowell Mason, American composer and educator (d. 1872)
1805 John Bigler, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 3rd Governor of California (d. 1871)
1805 Orson Hyde, American religious leader, 3rd President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church) (d. 1878)
1812 Sigismond Thalberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1871)
1817 Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (d. 1893)
1821 James Longstreet, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Turkey (d. 1904)
1823 Alfred Russel Wallace, Welsh geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1913)
1824 Wilkie Collins, English novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 1889)
1824 Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (d. 1861)
1830 Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (d. 1894)
1836 Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-English painter and academic (d. 1912)
1843 Frederick Abberline, English police officer (d. 1929)
1852 James Milton Carroll, American pastor and author (d. 1931)
1859 Fanny Bullock Workman, American mountaineer, geographer, and cartographer (d. 1925)
1860 Emma Booth-Tucker, English author (d. 1903)
1862 Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday (publisher) (d. 1934)
1864 Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (d. 1892)
1865 Winnaretta Singer, American philanthropist (d. 1943)
1866 William G. Conley, American educator and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1940)
1867 Emily Greene Balch, American economist and author, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1870 Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1930)
1871 James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish captain and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1940)
1873 Iuliu Maniu, Romanian lawyer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
1881 Henrik Shipstead, American dentist and politician (d. 1960)
1881 Linnie Marsh Wolfe, American librarian and author (d. 1945)
1883 Pavel Filonov, Russian painter and poet (d. 1941)
1883 Patrick J. Hurley, American general, politician, and diplomat, 51st United States Secretary of War (d. 1963)
1885 John Curtin, Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945)
1885 Mór Kóczán, Hungarian javelin thrower and pastor (d. 1972)
1885 A. J. Muste, Dutch-American pastor and activist (d. 1967)
1888 Richard Courant, German-American mathematician and academic (d. 1972)
1891 Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (d. 1957)
1891 Storm Jameson, English journalist and author (d. 1986)
1891 Bronislava Nijinska, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1972)
1896 Jaromír Weinberger, Czech-American composer and academic (d. 1967)
1897 Dennis Wheatley, English soldier and author (d. 1977)
1899 S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 1959)
1900 Dorothy Adams, American character actress (d. 1988)
1900 Serge Poliakoff, Russian-French painter (d. 1969)
1902 Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (d. 1987)
1904 Karl Brandt, German physician and SS officer (d. 1948)
1905 Carl Gustav Hempel, German philosopher from the Vienna and the Berlin Circle (d. 1997)
1908 William Hartnell, English actor (d. 1975)
1908 Fearless Nadia, Australian-Indian actress and stuntwoman (d. 1996)
1909 Ashapoorna Devi, Indian author and poet (d. 1995)
1909 Bruce Mitchell (cricketer), South African cricketer (d. 1995)
1909 Evelyn Wood (teacher), American author and educator (d. 1995)
1910 Galina Ulanova, Russian actress and ballerina (d. 1998)
1911 Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and author (d. 1970)
1912 José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor and director (d. 1992)
1912 Lawrence Walsh, Canadian-American lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2014)
1915 Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
1917 Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1994)
1920 Douglas Wilmer, English actor (d. 2016)
1922 Dale D. Myers, American engineer (d. 2015)
1923 Larry Storch, American actor and comedian(d. 2022)
1923 Giorgio Tozzi, American opera singer and actor (d. 2011)
1923 Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)
1923 Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American computer scientist and author (d. 2008)
1924 Benjamin Lees, Chinese-American soldier and composer (d. 2010)
1924 Ron Moody, English actor and singer (d. 2015)
1925 Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (d. 1972)
1926 Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (d. 2012)
1926 Kerwin Mathews, American actor (d. 2007)
1926 Kelucharan Mohapatra, Indian dancer and choreographer (d. 2004)
1926 Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer (d. 2022)
1926 Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (d. 2009)
1927 Charles Tomlinson, English poet and academic (d. 2015)
1928 Slade Gorton, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 14th Attorney General of Washington (d. 2020)
1929 Saeed Jaffrey, Indian-British actor (d. 2015)
1931 Bill Graham (promoter), German-American businessman (d. 1991)
1931 Clarence Benjamin Jones, American lawyer and scholar
1933 Charles Osgood, American soldier and journalist (d. 2024)
1933 Jean-Marie Straub, French director and screenwriter (d. 2022)
1934 Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
1934 Roy Kinnear, British actor (d. 1988)
1935 Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (d. 1977)
1936 Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian-English zoologist, ecologist, and academic (d. 2020)
1937 Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
1938 Bob Eubanks, American game show host and producer
1939 Carolina Herrera (fashion designer), Venezuelan-American fashion designer
1940 Cristy Lane, American country and gospel singer
1941 Graham Chapman, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1989)
1941 Boris Vallejo, Peruvian-American painter
1942 Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (d. 2018)
1942 Junichirō Koizumi, Japanese politician, 56th Prime Minister of Japan
1942 Yvette Mimieux, American actress (d. 2022)
1944 Terry Brooks, American lawyer and author
1945 Phil Beal, English footballer
1945 Nancy Bond, American author and academic
1945 Kathleen Noone, American actress
1946 Robby Krieger, American guitarist and songwriter
1946 Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Mexican drug lord
1947 David Bowie, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2016)
1947 Antti Kalliomäki, Finnish pole vaulter and politician
1948 Gillies MacKinnon, Scottish director and screenwriter
1949 Lawrence Rowe, Jamaican cricketer
1951 Kenny Anthony, Saint Lucian politician, 5th Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
1952 Vladimir Feltsman, Russian-American pianist and educator
1952 Peter McCullagh, Irish mathematician and academic
1953 Marián Šťastný, Slovak ice hockey player
1953 Bruce Sutter, American baseball pitcher (d. 2022)
1955 Harriet Sansom Harris, American actress
1955 Mike Reno, Canadian singer and drummer
1957 Dwight Clark, American football player (d. 2018)
1957 Nacho Duato, Spanish dancer and choreographer
1957 Ron Cephas Jones, American actor (d. 2023)
1957 Calvin Natt, American basketball player
1958 Betsy DeVos, American businesswoman and politician, 11th Secretary of Education
1958 Rey Misterio, Mexican wrestler, trainer, and actor. (d. 2024)
1959 Paul Hester, Australian drummer (d. 2005)
1960 Dave Weckl, American drummer
1961 Calvin Smith, American sprinter
1964 Ron Sexsmith, Canadian singer-songwriter
1965 Michelle Forbes, American actress
1966 Maria Pitillo, American actress
1966 Igor Vyazmikin, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2009)
1966 Andrew Wood (singer), American singer-songwriter (d. 1990)
1967 Willie Anderson (basketball), American basketball player
1967 R. Kelly, American singer-songwriter, producer, and sex offender
1967 Tom Watson (Labour politician), English politician
1971 Jason Giambi, American baseball player
1971 Andreas Kollross, Austrian politician
1971 Pascal Zuberbühler, Swiss footballer and coach
1972 Paul Clement (football manager), English footballer, coach, and manager
1973 Mike Cameron, American baseball player
1976 Jenny Lewis, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress
1977 Amber Benson, American actress, writer, director, and producer
1978 Marco Fu, Hong Kongese snooker player
1979 Seol Ki-hyeon, South Korean footballer and manager
1979 Windell Middlebrooks, American actor (d. 2015)
1979 Adrian Mutu, Romanian footballer
1979 Stipe Pletikosa, Croatian footballer
1979 Sarah Polley, Canadian actress and director
1980 Sam Riley, English actor and singer
1981 Genevieve Cortese, American actress
1981 Jeff Francis, Canadian baseball player
1982 Gaby Hoffmann, American actress
1982 (or 1983, 1984) Kim Jong Un, North Korean soldier and politician, 3rd List of leaders of North Korea
1983 Chris Masters, American wrestler
1984 Jeff Francoeur, American baseball player and broadcaster
1987 Chris Douglas-Roberts, American basketball player
1987 Cynthia Erivo, English actress and singer-songwriter
1987 Freddie Stroma, English actor
1988 Adrián López, Spanish footballer
1988 Michael Mancienne, English footballer
1988 Alex Tyus, American-Israeli basketball player
1989 Aaron Cruden, New Zealand rugby player
1990 Blair Walsh, American football player
1991 Josh Hazlewood, Australian cricketer
1991 Stefan Johansen, Norwegian footballer
1991 Stefan Savić, Montenegrin footballer
1991 Greg Smith (basketball, born 1991), American basketball player
1992 Stefanie Dolson, American basketball player
1992 Koke (footballer, born 1992), Spanish footballer
1992 Valkyrae, American online streamer
1993 William Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player
1993 Sophie Pascoe, New Zealand swimmer
1994 Glenn Robinson III, American basketball player
1995 Ryan Destiny, American actress and singer
1998 Tony Bradley (basketball), American basketball player
1998 Jhoan Durán, Dominican baseball player
1999 Ignas Brazdeikis, Lithuanian-Canadian basketball player
1999 Damiano David, Italian singer-songwriter
2000 Noah Cyrus, American singer, songwriter, and actress
2001 Zach Charbonnet, American football player
307 Emperor Hui of Jin, Chinese emperor (b. 259)
482 Severinus of Noricum, Italian apostle and saint
871 Bagsecg, Viking warrior and leader
926 Athelm, archbishop of Canterbury
1079 Adèle of France, countess of Flanders (b. 1009)
1107 Edgar, King of Scotland (b. 1074)
1198 Pope Celestine III, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1106)
1337 Giotto, Italian painter and architect, designed Scrovegni Chapel and Giotto's Campanile (b. 1266)
1354 Charles de la Cerda, French nobleman (b. 1327)
1424 Stephen Zaccaria, archbishop of Patras
1456 Lawrence Giustiniani, Italian bishop and saint (b. 1381)
1538 Beatrice of Portugal, Duchess of Savoy, duchess of Savoy (b. 1504)
1557 Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (b. 1522)
1570 Philibert de l'Orme, French sculptor and architect, designed the Château d'Anet (b. 1510)
1598 John George, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1525)
1642 Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (b. 1564)
1707 John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and politician, Secretary of State, Scotland (b. 1648)
1713 Arcangelo Corelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1653)
1775 John Baskerville, English printer and type designer (b. 1706)
1789 Jack Broughton, English boxer (b. 1703)
1794 Justus Möser, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1720)
1815 Edward Pakenham, Anglo-Irish general and politician (b. 1778)
1825 Eli Whitney, American engineer and theorist, invented the cotton gin (b. 1765)
1854 William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, English field marshal and politician, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance (b. 1768)
1865 Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre, French general and politician, Minister of Defence (France) (b. 1779)
1874 Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French historian and archaeologist (b. 1814)
1878 Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet and critic (b. 1821)
1880 Emperor Norton, English-American businessman (b. 1811)
1883 Miska Magyarics, Slovene-Hungarian poet (b. 1825)
1896 William Rainey Marshall, American banker and politician, 5th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1825)
1896 Paul Verlaine, French poet and writer (b. 1844)
1914 Simon Bolivar Buckner, American general and 30th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1823)
1916 Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (b. 1884)
1916 Ada Rehan, Irish-American actress (b. 1860)
1918 Ellis H. Roberts, American journalist and politician, 20th Treasurer of the United States (b. 1827)
1920 Josef Josephi, Polish-born singer and actor (b. 1852)
1925 George Bellows, American painter (b. 1882)
1934 Andrei Bely, Russian novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1880)
1934 Alexandre Stavisky, Ukrainian-French financier (b. 1886)
1938 Johnny Gruelle, American author and illustrator (b. 1880)
1941 Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general and founder of the Scouting (b. 1857)
1941 Vladimír Mandl, Czechoslovak lawyer (b. 1899)
1942 Joseph Franklin Rutherford, American lawyer and religious leader (b. 1869)
1943 Andres Larka, Estonian general and politician, 1st Minister of Defence (Estonia) (b. 1879)
1944 William Kissam Vanderbilt II, American lieutenant and sailor (b. 1878)
1945 Karl Ernst Krafft, Swiss astrologer and author (b. 1900)
1948 Kurt Schwitters, German painter and graphic designer (b. 1887)
1950 Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and academic (b. 1883)
1952 Antonia Maury, American astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1866)
1953 Hugh Binney, English admiral and politician, 16th Governor of Tasmania (b. 1883)
1954 Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian-French painter and illustrator (b. 1898)
1958 Mary Colter, American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (b. 1869)
1961 Schoolboy Rowe, American baseball player and coach (b. 1910)
1963 Kay Sage, American painter (b. 1898)
1975 Richard Tucker (tenor), American operatic tenor (b. 1913)
1976 Zhou Enlai, Chinese soldier and politician, 1st Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1898)
1980 John Mauchly, American physicist and academic (b. 1907)
1982 Grégoire Aslan, Swiss-English actor and screenwriter (b. 1908)
1983 Gerhard Barkhorn, German general and pilot (b. 1919)
1986 Pierre Fournier, French cellist and educator (b. 1906)
1990 Bernard Krigstein, American illustrator (b. 1919)
1990 Terry-Thomas, English actor and comedian (b. 1911)
1991 Steve Clark, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1960)
1994 Pat Buttram, American actor and comedian (b. 1915)
1994 Harvey Haddix, American baseball player and coach (b. 1925)
1996 Metin Göktepe, Turkish photographer and journalist (b. 1968)
1996 François Mitterrand, French sergeant and politician, 21st President of France (b. 1916)
1997 Melvin Calvin, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate (b. 1911)
1998 Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (b. 1905)
2000 Hilary Smart, American sailor (b. 1925)
2002 Alexander Prokhorov, Australian-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (b. 1916)
2002 Dave Thomas (businessman), American businessman and philanthropist, founded Wendy's (b. 1932)
2003 Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (b. 1925)
2006 Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, Northern Irish broadcaster and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics (b. 1943)
2007 Jane Bolin, American lawyer and judge (b. 1908)
2007 Arthur Cockfield, Baron Cockfield, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1916)
2007 Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-American actress and singer (b. 1922)
2007 David Ervine, Northern Irish politician and activist (b. 1953)
2007 Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1925)
2008 George Moore (jockey), Australian jockey and trainer (b. 1923)
2009 Lasantha Wickrematunge, Sri Lankan journalist (b. 1958)
2010 Art Clokey, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
2011 Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician (b. 1937)
2011 Thorbjørn Svenssen, Norwegian footballer (b. 1924)
2012 Dave Alexander (blues musician), American singer and pianist (b. 1938)
2012 T. J. Hamblin, English haematologist and academic (b. 1943)
2012 Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian-French pianist and educator (b. 1929)
2013 Kenojuak Ashevak, Canadian sculptor and illustrator (b. 1927)
2013 Jeanne Manford, American educator and activist, co-founded PFLAG (b. 1920)
2013 Alasdair Milne, Indian-English director and producer (b. 1930)
2014 Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher, Dutch-Australian swimmer (b. 1925)
2014 Antonino P. Roman, Filipino lawyer and politician (b. 1939)
2015 Andraé Crouch, American singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor (b. 1942)
2015 Kep Enderby, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 23rd Attorney-General for Australia (b. 1926)
2015 Patsy Garrett, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
2016 Maria Teresa de Filippis, Italian racing driver (b. 1926)
2016 German Moreno, Filipino television host, actor, comedian and talent manager (b. 1933)
2017 Nicolai Gedda, Swedish operatic tenor (b. 1925)
2017 James Mancham, Seychellois politician, President 1976-77 (b. 1939)
2017 Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iranian politician (b. 1934)
2017 Peter Sarstedt, Indian-British singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
2020 Pat Dalton, Australian footballer (b. 1942)
2020 Buck Henry, American actor, screenwriter, and director (b. 1930)
2021 Iancu Țucărman, Romanian Holocaust survivor (b. 1922)
2022 Michael Lang (producer), American concert promoter and producer (b. 1944)
2024 Adan Canto, Mexican actor (b. 1981)
Babinden (Belarus, Russia)
Christian calendar of saints:
- Abo of Tiflis
- Apollinaris Claudius
- Beatification Eurosia Fabris
- Gauchito Gil (Folk Catholicism)
- Gudula
- Harriet Bedell (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Lawrence Giustiniani
- Lucian of Beauvais
- Maximus of Pavia
- Our Lady of Prompt Succor (Roman Catholic Church)
- Pega (Anglicanism and Roman Catholic churches)
- Severinus of Noricum
- Thorfinn of Hamar
- January 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Commonwealth Day (Northern Mariana Islands)
Earliest day on which Children's Day (Thailand) can fall, while January 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Saturday in January. (Thailand)
Typing Day (International observance)
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/8 BBC: On This Day]
[https://www.onthisday.com/events/january/8 Historical Events on January 8]