Events from the year
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
in
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
.
Incumbents
Albania
Andorra
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
European Union
*
President of the European Commission
The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...
:
José Manuel Barroso
José Manuel Durão Barroso (; born 23 March 1956) is a Portuguese politician and law professor. He previously served from 2002 to 2004 as the List of Prime Ministers of Portugal, 114th prime minister of Portugal and from 2004–2014 as the 11 ...
*
President of the Parliament:
Hans-Gert Pöttering
Hans-Gert Pöttering (born 15 September 1945) is a German lawyer, historian and conservative politician ( CDU, European People's Party), who served as President of the European Parliament from January 2007 to July 2009 and as Chairman of the C ...
*
President of the European Council
The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This Institutions of the European Union, institution comprises the college of heads of state or governme ...
:
**
Janez Janša
Ivan Janša (; born 17 September 1958), better known as Janez Janša (), is a Slovenian politician who served three times as a prime minister of Slovenia, a position he had held from 2004 to 2008, from 2012 to 2013, and from 2020 to 2022. Since ...
(January–June)
**
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...
(July–December)
*
Presidency of the Council of the EU
The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. It rotates among the member state ...
:
**
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
(January–July)
**
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
(July–December)
Finland
France
Germany
Georgia
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Vatican City
Events
*January 1:
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
and
Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
becomes a eurozone member, adopting the
euro
The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
for the first time.
*May 21: The first all-English
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...
final saw Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties after a 1–1 draw in Moscow's
Luzhniki Stadium
The Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, commonly known as
Luzhniki Stadium, is the national stadium of Russia, located in its capital city, Moscow. Its total seating capacity of 78,011 makes it the List of football stadiums in R ...
.
*August 7–16:
Russo-Georgian War
The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia,Occasionally, the war is also referred to by other names, such as the Five-Day War and August War. was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the ...
*August 28: The Russian group
Voina staged the
Fuck for the heir Puppy Bear! performance at the Timiryazev State Biological Museum in Moscow to protest at the election of
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...
in the
2008 Russian presidential election
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9.
Etymology
English ''eight'', from Old English '', æhta'', Proto-Germanic ''*ahto'' is a direct continuation of Proto-Indo-European '' *oḱtṓ(w)-'', and as such cognate wi ...
.
*December 6: A police officer assassinated 15-year-old student Alexis Grigoropoulos.
Large riots took place the following days in Greece.
Deaths
January
*January 2
**
George MacDonald Fraser
George MacDonald Fraser (2 April 1925 – 2 January 2008) was a Scottish author and screenwriter. He is best known for a series of works that featured the character Harry Paget Flashman, Flashman. Over the course of his career he wrote eleven n ...
, British author
**
Günter Schubert
Günter Schubert (18 April 1938 – 2 January 2008) was a German actor. He was born in Weißwasser and died in Berlin. His son Alexander Schubert is also an actor.
Filmography
* 1966: ''Die Söhne der großen Bärin''
* 1972: ''Sechse ziehe ...
, German actor
*January 3
**
Jimmy Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...
, British racing driver
**
Werner Dollinger
Werner Dollinger (10 October 1918 – 3 January 2008) was a German politician and economist, a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). He served as Federal Minister for the Treasury from 1962 to 1966, Federal Minister for Econom ...
, German politician
*January 7 –
Detlef Kraus
Detlef Kraus (30 November 1919 – 7 January 2008) was a German pianist. He was an internationally known interpreter of the music of Johannes Brahms.
Born in Hamburg, Kraus gave his first concert at the age of 16, playing '' The Well-Tempered ...
, German pianist
*January 9 –
John Harvey-Jones, British businessman
*January 19 –
Morris Maddocks, British bishop
*January 30 –
Jeremy Beadle
Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle MBE (12 April 1948 – 30 January 2008) was an English television and radio presenter, writer and producer. From the 1980s to the late 1990s he was a regular face on British television, and in two years ...
, British television presenter, writer and producer
February
*28 February –
Mike Smith, British singer
March
*8 March –
Carol Barnes, British newsreader
*18 March –
Anthony Minghella
Anthony Minghella (6 January 195418 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright, and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007. He directed ''Truly, Madly, Deeply (film), ...
, British film director
*19 March
**
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.
Clarke co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A ...
, British science fiction author and inventor
**
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was an English actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award for his work. Scofield ...
, British actor
*20 March –
Brian Wilde
Brian George Wilde (13 June 1927 – 20 March 2008) was an English actor best known for his roles in television comedy, most notably Mr Barrowclough in ''Porridge (1974 TV series), Porridge'' and Walter "Foggy" Dewhurst in ''Last of the Summer ...
, British actor
*23 March –
Neil Aspinall
Neil Stanley Aspinall (13 October 1941 24 March 2008) was a British music industry executive. A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head the Beatles' company Apple Corps.
The Beatles employed Aspinall first as ...
, British record producer and business executive
*28 March –
Michael Podro
Michael Podro (13 March 1931 – 28 March 2008) was a British Art history, art historian. Podro, the son of Jewish refugees from central Europe, was born in and grew up in Hendon, Middlesex. He attended Berkhamsted Collegiate School, Berkham ...
, British art historian
April
*1 April –
Jim Finney, British football referee
*7 April –
Mark Speight
Mark Warwick Fordham Speight (6 August 1965 – 7 April 2008) was an English television presenter and host of children's art programme ''SMart''. Speight was born in Seisdon, Staffordshire, and left school at 16 to become a cartoonist. He t ...
, British television presenter
*25 April –
Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family.
Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...
, British jazz musician and broadcaster
May
*16 May –
David Mitton, British producer and director
*24 May –
Rob Knox
Robert Arthur Knox (21 August 1989 – 24 May 2008) was an English actor who portrayed the character of Marcus Belby in the film ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'', and had signed to appear in its sequel ''Harry Potter and the Deathly H ...
, British actor
*28 May –
Beryl Cook
Beryl Cook, OBE (10 September 192628 May 2008) was a British painter best known for her original and instantly recognisable paintings. Often comical, her works pictured people whom she encountered in everyday life, including people enjoying ...
, British artist
July
*2 July –
Elizabeth Spriggs
Elizabeth Jean Spriggs (18 September 1929 – 2 July 2008) was an English actress.
Spriggs' roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company included Nurse in ''Romeo and Juliet'', Gertrude in ''Hamlet'', and Beatrice in ''Much Ado About Nothing''. I ...
, British actress
*3 July –
Clive Hornby
Clive William Hornby (20 October 1944 – 3 July 2008) was an English actor, best known for his role as Jack Sugden in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale''. He first appeared in the programme (then named ''Emmerdale Farm'') in 1980, and remained in ...
, British actor
*4 July –
Charles Wheeler, British journalist
*14 July –
Hugh Lloyd
Hugh Lewis Lloyd (22 April 1923 – 14 July 2008) was an English actor who made his name in film and television comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in '' Hancock's Half Hour'', '' Hugh and I'' and other ...
, British actor
August
*11 August –
Bill Cotton
Sir William Frederick Cotton (23 April 1928 – 11 August 2008) was a British television producer and executive, and the son of dance band leader Billy Cotton. The television and radio presenter Fearne Cotton is related to him, as he was her ...
, British producer
*29 August –
Geoffrey Perkins
Geoffrey Howard Perkins (22 February 1953 – 29 August 2008) was a British comedy producer, writer and performer. He was BBC head of comedy between 1995 and 2001, and produced the first two radio series of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ...
, British comedy producer, writer and performer
*31 August –
Ken Campbell
Kenneth Victor Campbell (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English actor, director and writer. He was known for his work in experimental theatre. He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre".
Campbell achieved notoriety ...
, British actor and raconteur
September
*15 September –
Richard Wright, British musician
*24 September -
Ruslan Yamadayev
Ruslan (Khalid or Halid) Bekmirzayevich Yamadayev () (10 December 1961 – 24 September 2008) was a Chechen military leader and politician. A member of the high-profile Yamadayev family, he was assassinated in Moscow in 2008. He was one of Kre ...
, Russian politician
November
*3 November –
Brooks Mileson
Brooks John Joseph Mileson (13 November 1947 – 3 November 2008) was an English businessman and the owner of now dissolved professional football club Gretna as well as being a philanthropist to 70 non-League clubs.
Early life
The eldest ...
, British businessman,
*4 November –
Syd Lucas, British World War I veteran
*12 November –
Mitch Mitchell
John Graham "Mitch" Mitchell (9 July 194612 November 2008)In his book about the Experience, Mitchell states he celebrated his 21st birthday while on tour on 9 July 1967, which makes his birth year 1946.Mitchell's obituaries in ''Billboard (mag ...
, British drummer
*16 November –
Reg Varney
Reginald Alfred Varney (11 July 1916 – 16 November 2008) was an English actor, entertainer and comedian. He is best remembered for having played the lead role of bus driver Stan Butler in the London Weekend Television, LWT sitcom ''On the Buse ...
, British actor
December
*8 December –
Oliver Postgate
Richard Oliver Postgate (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008) was an English Animation, animator, puppeteer, and writer. He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television programmes. ''Bagpuss'', ''Pingwings' ...
, British animator, puppeteer and writer
*14 December –
Kathy Staff
Kathy Staff (born Minnie Higginbottom; 12 July 1928 – 13 December 2008) was an English actress known for her work on British television. She is best known for her portrayal of Nora Batty in ''Last of the Summer Wine'', the longest running si ...
, British actress
*24 December –
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...
, British playwright
See also
*
2008 in the European Union
Events in the year 2008 in the European Union.
2008 was designated as:
* European Year of Intercultural Dialogue
Incumbents
* President of the European Council
** Janez Janša (Jan – Jun 2008)
** Nicolas Sarkozy (July – Dec 2008)
* Commis ...
*
List of state leaders in Europe in 2008
References
{{Year in Europe, 2008
2000s in Europe
Years of the 21st century in Europe