January 8

Events

Pre-1600

* 307 – Sima Chi becomes emperor of the Jin dynasty in succession to his brother, Sima Zhong, despite a challenge from his other brother, Sima Ying.
* 871 – Æthelred I and Alfred the Great lead a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.
* 1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family 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.
*1547 – The first Lithuanian-language book, the '' Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas'', is published in Königsberg.

1601–1900

* 1735 – The premiere of George Frideric Handel's '' Ariodante'' takes place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
*1746 – Second Jacobite rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie 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 an unsuccessful slave revolt in the North American settlements of St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
*1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
*1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.
* 1835 – US President Andrew Jackson announces a celebratory dinner after having reduced the United States national debt to zero 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 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.

1901–present

*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, Steel and Tin Workers labor union.
*1926 – Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuỵ 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, Spain.
*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 introduces food rationing.
*1945 – World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack invading Japanese Imperial forces.
*1946 – Andrei Zhdanov, Chairman of the Finnish Allied Commission, submitted to the Finnish War Criminal Court 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 Hitler's Barbarossa plan.
*1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Waorani 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 referendum 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 leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh.
*1973 – Soviet space mission '' Luna 21'' is launched.
* 1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
*1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
*1977 – Three bombs explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
*1981 – A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, 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 agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
*1989 – Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, 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 crashes into a crowded market 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 Airport, in Charlotte, 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 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 attack a bus 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 mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona. 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 police ″massacre″ in La Vega, Caracas, Venezuela.
*2023 – Supporters of former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro storm the Brazilian Congress.

Births

Pre-1600

*1037 – Su Dongpo, Chinese calligrapher and poet (died 1101)
* 1345 – Kadi Burhan al-Din, poet, kadi, and ruler of Sivas (died 1398)
* 1529 – John Frederick II, duke of Saxony (died 1595)
* 1583 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (died 1643)
* 1587 – Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer and academic (died 1616)
* 1587 – Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (died 1629)
* 1589 – Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet and playwright (died 1638)

1601–1900

*1601 – Baltasar Gracián, Spanish priest and author (died 1658)
*1626 – Jean Talon, first Intendant of New France (died 1694)
*1628 – François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, French general (died 1695)
*1632 – Samuel von Pufendorf, German economist and jurist (died 1694)
* 1635 – Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish cardinal (died 1709)
*1638 – Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (died 1665)
* 1735 – John Carroll, American archbishop, founder of Georgetown University (died 1815)
* 1763 – Edmond-Charles Genêt, French-American translator and diplomat (died 1834)
*1786 – Nicholas Biddle, American banker and financier (died 1844)
*1788 – Rudolf of Austria, Austrian archduke and archbishop (died 1831)
*1792 – Lowell Mason, American composer and educator (died 1872)
* 1805 – John Bigler, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 3rd Governor of California (died 1871)
* 1805 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader, 3rd President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (died 1878)
*1812 – Sigismond Thalberg, Swiss pianist and composer (died 1871)
* 1817 – Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (died 1893)
* 1821 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Turkey (died 1904)
* 1823 – Alfred Russel Wallace, Welsh geographer, biologist, and explorer (died 1913)
*1824 – Wilkie Collins, English novelist, playwright, and short story writer (died 1889)
* 1824 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (died 1861)
*1830 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (died 1894)
*1836 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-English painter and academic (died 1912)
*1843 – Frederick Abberline, English police officer (died 1929)
* 1852 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor and author (died 1931)
* 1859 – Fanny Bullock Workman, American mountaineer, geographer, and cartographer (died 1925)
*1860 – Emma Booth-Tucker, English author (died 1903)
*1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (died 1934)
*1864 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (died 1892)
* 1865 – Winnaretta Singer, American philanthropist (died 1943)
*1866 – William G. Conley, American educator and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (died 1940)
*1867 – Emily Greene Balch, American economist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1961)
*1870 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (died 1930)
* 1871 – James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish captain and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (died 1940)
*1873 – Iuliu Maniu, Romanian lawyer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Romania (died 1953)
* 1881 – Henrik Shipstead, American dentist and politician (died 1960)
* 1881 – Linnie Marsh Wolfe, American librarian and author (died 1945)
* 1883 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter and poet (died 1941)
* 1883 – Patrick J. Hurley, American general, politician, and diplomat, 51st United States Secretary of War (died 1963)
* 1885 – John Curtin, Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1945)
* 1885 – Mór Kóczán, Hungarian javelin thrower and pastor (died 1972)
* 1885 – A. J. Muste, Dutch-American pastor and activist (died 1967)
* 1888 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician and academic (died 1972)
* 1891 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1957)
* 1891 – Storm Jameson, English journalist and author (died 1986)
* 1891 – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian dancer and choreographer (died 1972)
* 1896 – Jaromír Weinberger, Czech-American composer and academic (died 1967)
*1897 – Dennis Wheatley, English soldier and author (died 1977)
*1899 – S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (died 1959)
*1900 – Dorothy Adams, American character actress (died 1988)
* 1900 – Serge Poliakoff, Russian-French painter (died 1969)

1901–present

* 1902 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (died 1987)
* 1904 – Karl Brandt, German physician and SS officer (died 1948)
* 1905 – Carl Gustav Hempel, German philosopher from the Vienna and the Berlin Circle (died 1997)
* 1908 – William Hartnell, English actor (died 1975)
* 1908 – Fearless Nadia, Australian-Indian actress and stuntwoman (died 1996)
* 1909 – Ashapoorna Devi, Indian author and poet (died 1995)
* 1909 – Bruce Mitchell, South African cricketer (died 1995)
* 1909 – Evelyn Wood, American author and educator (died 1995)
* 1910 – Galina Ulanova, Russian actress and ballerina (died 1998)
*1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and author (died 1970)
*1912 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor and director (died 1992)
* 1912 – Lawrence Walsh, Canadian-American lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (died 2014)
* 1915 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (died 1991)
*1917 – Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (died 1994)
* 1920 – Douglas Wilmer, English actor (died 2016)
* 1922 – Dale D. Myers, American engineer (died 2015)
*1923 – Larry Storch, American actor and comedian(died 2022)
* 1923 – Giorgio Tozzi, American opera singer and actor (died 2011)
* 1923 – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (died 1985)
* 1923 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American computer scientist and author (died 2008)
* 1924 – Benjamin Lees, Chinese-American soldier and composer (died 2010)
* 1924 – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (died 2015)
*1925 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (died 1972)
*1926 – Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (died 2012)
* 1926 – Kerwin Mathews, American actor (died 2007)
* 1926 – Kelucharan Mohapatra, Indian dancer and choreographer (died 2004)
* 1926 – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer (died 2022)
* 1926 – Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (died 2009)
*1927 – Charles Tomlinson, English poet and academic (died 2015)
*1928 – Slade Gorton, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 14th Attorney General of Washington (died 2020)
* 1929 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian-British actor (died 2015)
* 1931 – Bill Graham, German-American businessman (died 1991)
* 1931 – Clarence Benjamin Jones, American lawyer and scholar
*1933 – Charles Osgood, American soldier and journalist (died 2024)
* 1933 – Jean-Marie Straub, French director and screenwriter (died 2022)
*1934 – Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (died 1987)
* 1934 – Roy Kinnear, British actor (died 1988)
*1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (died 1977)
*1936 – Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian-English zoologist, ecologist, and academic (died 2020)
* 1937 – Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
*1938 – Bob Eubanks, American game show host and producer
*1939 – Carolina Herrera, Venezuelan-American fashion designer
*1940 – Cristy Lane, American country and gospel singer
*1941 – Graham Chapman, English actor and screenwriter (died 1989)
* 1941 – Boris Vallejo, Peruvian-American painter
*1942 – Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (died 2018)
* 1942 – Junichirō Koizumi, Japanese politician, 56th Prime Minister of Japan
* 1942 – Yvette Mimieux, American actress (died 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 (died 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 (died 2022)
* 1955 – Harriet Sansom Harris, American actress
* 1955 – Mike Reno, Canadian singer and drummer
*1957 – Dwight Clark, American football player (died 2018)
* 1957 – Nacho Duato, Spanish dancer and choreographer
* 1957 – Ron Cephas Jones, American actor (died 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. (died 2024)
*1959 – Paul Hester, Australian drummer (died 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 (died 2009)
* 1966 – Andrew Wood, American singer-songwriter (died 1990)
*1967 – Willie Anderson, American basketball player
* 1967 – R. Kelly, American singer-songwriter, producer, and sex offender
* 1967 – Tom Watson, English politician
*1971 – Jason Giambi, American baseball player
* 1971 – Andreas Kollross, Austrian politician
* 1971 – Pascal Zuberbühler, Swiss footballer and coach
*1972 – Paul Clement, 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 (died 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 Supreme Leader 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, American basketball player
*1992 – Stefanie Dolson, American basketball player
* 1992 – Koke, 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, 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

Deaths

Pre-1600

* 307 – Hui of Jin, Chinese emperor (born 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 (born 1009)
* 1107 – Edgar, King of Scotland (born 1074)
* 1198 – Celestine III, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1106)
* 1337 – Giotto, Italian painter and architect, designed Scrovegni Chapel and Giotto's Campanile (born 1266)
* 1354 – Charles de la Cerda, French nobleman (born 1327)
* 1424 – Stephen Zaccaria, archbishop of Patras
* 1456 – Lawrence Giustiniani, Italian bishop and saint (born 1381)
* 1538 – Beatrice of Portugal, duchess of Savoy (born 1504)
* 1557 – Albert Alcibiades, margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (born 1522)
* 1570 – Philibert de l'Orme, French sculptor and architect, designed the Château d'Anet (born 1510)
* 1598 – John George, Elector of Brandenburg (born 1525)

1601–1900

*1642 – Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (born 1564)
*1707 – John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and politician, Scottish Secretary of State (born 1648)
*1713 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian violinist and composer (born 1653)
*1775 – John Baskerville, English printer and type designer (born 1706)
*1789 – Jack Broughton, English boxer (born 1703)
*1794 – Justus Möser, German lawyer and jurist (born 1720)
*1815 – Edward Pakenham, Anglo-Irish general and politician (born 1778)
* 1825 – Eli Whitney, American engineer and theorist, invented the cotton gin (born 1765)
* 1854 – William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, English field marshal and politician, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance (born 1768)
* 1865 – Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (born 1779)
* 1874 – Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French historian and archaeologist (born 1814)
*1878 – Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet and critic (born 1821)
*1880 – Emperor Norton, English-American businessman (born 1811)
* 1883 – Miska Magyarics, Slovene-Hungarian poet (born 1825)
* 1896 – William Rainey Marshall, American banker and politician, 5th Governor of Minnesota (born 1825)
* 1896 – Paul Verlaine, French poet and writer (born 1844)

1901–present

*1914 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, American general and 30th Governor of Kentucky (born 1823)
* 1916 – Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (born 1884)
* 1916 – Ada Rehan, Irish-American actress (born 1860)
*1918 – Ellis H. Roberts, American journalist and politician, 20th Treasurer of the United States (born 1827)
* 1920 – Josef Josephi, Polish-born singer and actor (born 1852)
*1925 – George Bellows, American painter (born 1882)
*1934 – Andrei Bely, Russian novelist, poet, and critic (born 1880)
* 1934 – Alexandre Stavisky, Ukrainian-French financier (born 1886)
*1938 – Johnny Gruelle, American author and illustrator (born 1880)
*1941 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general and founder of the Scout movement (born 1857)
* 1941 – Vladimír Mandl, Czechoslovak lawyer (born 1899)
*1942 – Joseph Franklin Rutherford, American lawyer and religious leader (born 1869)
*1943 – Andres Larka, Estonian general and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of War (born 1879)
*1944 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, American lieutenant and sailor (born 1878)
*1945 – Karl Ernst Krafft, Swiss astrologer and author (born 1900)
*1948 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter and graphic designer (born 1887)
*1950 – Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and academic (born 1883)
*1952 – Antonia Maury, American astronomer and astrophysicist (born 1866)
*1953 – Hugh Binney, English admiral and politician, 16th Governor of Tasmania (born 1883)
*1954 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian-French painter and illustrator (born 1898)
* 1958 – Mary Colter, American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (born 1869)
* 1961 – Schoolboy Rowe, American baseball player and coach (born 1910)
*1963 – Kay Sage, American painter (born 1898)
*1975 – Richard Tucker, American operatic tenor (born 1913)
*1976 – Zhou Enlai, Chinese soldier and politician, 1st Premier of the People's Republic of China (born 1898)
*1980 – John Mauchly, American physicist and academic (born 1907)
* 1982 – Grégoire Aslan, Swiss-English actor and screenwriter (born 1908)
*1983 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German general and pilot (born 1919)
* 1986 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist and educator (born 1906)
*1990 – Bernard Krigstein, American illustrator (born 1919)
* 1990 – Terry-Thomas, English actor and comedian (born 1911)
*1991 – Steve Clark, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1960)
*1994 – Pat Buttram, American actor and comedian (born 1915)
* 1994 – Harvey Haddix, American baseball player and coach (born 1925)
*1996 – Metin Göktepe, Turkish photographer and journalist (born 1968)
* 1996 – François Mitterrand, French sergeant and politician, 21st President of France (born 1916)
*1997 – Melvin Calvin, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911)
*1998 – Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (born 1905)
*2000 – Hilary Smart, American sailor (born 1925)
*2002 – Alexander Prokhorov, Australian-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)
* 2002 – Dave Thomas, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Wendy's (born 1932)
*2003 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (born 1925)
*2006 – Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, Northern Irish broadcaster and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics (born 1943)
*2007 – Jane Bolin, American lawyer and judge (born 1908)
* 2007 – Arthur Cockfield, Baron Cockfield, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (born 1916)
* 2007 – Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-American actress and singer (born 1922)
* 2007 – David Ervine, Northern Irish politician and activist (born 1953)
* 2007 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (born 1925)
*2008 – George Moore, Australian jockey and trainer (born 1923)
*2009 – Lasantha Wickrematunge, Sri Lankan journalist (born 1958)
*2010 – Art Clokey, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1921)
*2011 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician (born 1937)
* 2011 – Thorbjørn Svenssen, Norwegian footballer (born 1924)
*2012 – Dave Alexander, American singer and pianist (born 1938)
* 2012 – T. J. Hamblin, English haematologist and academic (born 1943)
* 2012 – Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian-French pianist and educator (born 1929)
*2013 – Kenojuak Ashevak, Canadian sculptor and illustrator (born 1927)
* 2013 – Jeanne Manford, American educator and activist, co-founded PFLAG (born 1920)
* 2013 – Alasdair Milne, Indian-English director and producer (born 1930)
*2014 – Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher, Dutch-Australian swimmer (born 1925)
* 2014 – Antonino P. Roman, Filipino lawyer and politician (born 1939)
*2015 – Andraé Crouch, American singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor (born 1942)
* 2015 – Kep Enderby, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 23rd Attorney-General for Australia (born 1926)
* 2015 – Patsy Garrett, American actress and singer (born 1921)
*2016 – Maria Teresa de Filippis, Italian racing driver (born 1926)
* 2016 – German Moreno, Filipino television host, actor, comedian and talent manager (born 1933)
*2017 – Nicolai Gedda, Swedish operatic tenor (born 1925)
* 2017 – James Mancham, Seychellois politician, President 1976-77 (born 1939)
* 2017 – Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iranian politician (born 1934)
* 2017 – Peter Sarstedt, Indian-British singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1941)
*2020 – Pat Dalton, Australian footballer (born 1942)
* 2020 – Buck Henry, American actor, screenwriter, and director (born 1930)
*2021 – Iancu Țucărman, Romanian Holocaust survivor (born 1922)
*2022 – Michael Lang, American concert promoter and producer (born 1944)
*2024 – Adan Canto, Mexican actor (born 1981)

Holidays and observances

* Babinden (Belarus, Russia)
*Christian feast day:
** Abo of Tiflis
** Apollinaris Claudius
** Blessed 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 (Anglican 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 can fall, while January 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Saturday in January. (Thailand)
* Typing Day (International observance)

References

External links

BBC: On This Day
*

Historical Events on January 8

{{months

Days of January