June 8th in History

68 - The Roman Senate proclaims Galba as Emperor.

632 -The prophet Muhammad dies in Medina and is succeeded by Abu Bakr who becomes the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate.

793 - Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of the Scandinavian invasion of England.

1042 - Edward the Confessor becomes King of England, one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England.

1376 - Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III of England dies

1783 - Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.

1794 - Robespierre inaugurates the French Revolution's new state religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being, with large organized festivals all across France.

1861 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.

1906 - Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.

1912 - Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures.

1929 - Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labour. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

1941 - World War II: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.

1949 - George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is published.

1967 - Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident occurs, killing 34 and wounding 171.

1967 - Six-Day War: The Israeli army enters Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs.

1968 - Robert F. Kennedy's funeral takes place at the Basilica of St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City.

1992 - The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

2007 - Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State's worst storms and flooding in 30 years resulting in the death of nine people and the grounding of a trade ship, the MV Pasha Bulker.

Famous Birthdays

862 - Emperor Xizong of Tang

1625 - Giovanni Domenico Cassini, scientist and astronomer

1847 - Ida Saxton McKinley, wife of William McKinley, 25th First Lady of the United States

1903 - Marguerite Yourcenar, author

1921 - Suharto, soldier and 2nd President of Indonesia

1925 - Barbara Bush, wife of George H. W. Bush, 41st First Lady of the United States

1933 - Joan Rivers, television personality, comedian, writer, film director, and actress.

1936 - James Darren, actor, singer, and director

1943 - Colin Baker, actor

1944 - Annie Haslam, singer-songwriter and painter

1953 - Ivo Sanader, 8th Prime Minister of Croatia

1955 - Tim Berners-Lee, computer scientist and engineer, invented the World Wide Web

1962 - Nick Rhodes, keyboardist and producer

1969 - J.P. Manoux, actor

1975 - Shilpa Shetty, actress

1976 - Lindsay Davenport, tennis player

1981 - Alex Band, singer-songwriter, musician, and producer

1982 - Nadia Petrova, tennis player

1984 - Andrea Casiraghi, son of HRH Caroline, Princess of Hanover, currently 2nd in line to the Monégasque:  throne, and will likely succeed to the throne should his uncle, HSH Prince Albert II, die without legitimate issue.

1994 - Nick Benson, actor