8th of January is the 8th day of the year. It's very important day. Lots of things happened on 8th of January throughout centuries

1297 - Monaco gained its independence.

1324 - Marco Polo, Italian explorer (b. 1254) died.

1556 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord was born. (d. 1623)

1642 - Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and scientist (b. 1564) died.

1775 - John Baskerville, English printer (b. 1706) died.

1790 - George Washington delivered the first State of the Union Address in New York City.

1821 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general was born. (d. 1904)

1821 - W.H.L. Wallace, American Union general was born. (d. 1862)

1835 - The United States national debt was 0 (=none) for the first and only time.

1862 - Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher was born. (d. 1934)

1867 - African American men were granted with the right to vote in Washington, D.C.

1880 - Joshua A. Norton, American eccentric and emperor (b. 1811) died.

1894 - St. Maximilian Kolbe, Polish martyr, Patron Saint of the 20th Century was born. (d. 1941)

1896 - Paul Verlaine, French poet (b. 1844) died.

1903 - Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist was born. (d. 1960)

1926 - Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud became the King of Hejaz and renamed it Saudi Arabia.

1934 - Alexandra Ripley, American writer was born. (d. 2004)

1935 - Elvis Presley, American singer and guitarist was born. (d. 1977)

1941 - Graham Chapman, British comedian was born. (d. 1989)

1941 - Robert Baden-Powell, English founder of scouting (b. 1857) died.

1942 - Stephen Hawking, English theoretical physicist and author was born.

1942 - Junichiro Koizumi, Japanese politician was born.

1944 - Terry Brooks, American writer was born.

1947 - David Bowie, English musician was born.

1950 - Joseph Schumpeter, Austrian economist (b. 1883) died.

1951 - John McTiernan, American film director was born.

1959 - Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution has been completed with the take over of Santiago de Cuba.

1961 - Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese creator of Yu-Gi-Oh was born.

1967 - Zbigniew Cybulski, Polish actor (b. 1927) died.

1973 - Mark Knight, English sound designer was born.

1973 - Watergate scandal had begun.

1979 - The tanker Betelgeuse exploded in Bantry Bay, Ireland (The Betelgeuse Incident).

1979 - Sarah Polley, Canadian actress was born.

1979 - Sara Carter, American country musician (b. 1898) died.

1989 - Japanese Heisei era have begun.

1991 - Steve Clark, English guitarist (Def Leppard) (b. 1960) died.

1996 - François Mitterrand, President of France (b. 1916) died.

2002 - Dave Thomas, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1932) died.

2007 - Iwao Takamoto, American animator (b. 1925) died.

2008 - Sun have begun 24th solar cycle (first spot spotted).

I'd like to excuse all fans of the number 8 for writting this so late