Friday, May 08, 2026 Text is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 licence.

Today's Anniversary – Friday, May 08


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Births

* 1978 Josie Maran American model and actress.
* 1973 Marcus Brigstocke English comedian and satirist who has worked extensively in stand-up comedy, television and radio.
* 1972 Darren Hayes Singer-songwriter.
* 1947 John Reid British politician, who served as a Labour Party Member of Parliament and cabinet minister under Tony Blair, most notably as Defence Secretary (2005–06) and then Home Secretary (2006–07).
* 1942 Norman Lamont British Conservative politician who was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the government of John Major from 1990 to 1993.
* 1941 James A. Traficant Democratic Representative in the United States Congress from 1981 to 2002.
* 1937 Thomas Pynchon American writer based in New York City, noted for his dense and complex works of fiction.
* 1932 H. Dieter Zeh Professor Emeritus of the University of Heidelberg and theoretical physicist.
* 1930 Gary Snyder American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist.
* 1929 John Bogle Founder of The Vanguard Group, an investment company, and the creator of the index fund.
* 1926 David Attenborough Pioneering British natural history filmmaker and writer.
* 1919 Stanislav Andreski Polish-British sociologist.
* 1914 Romain Gary Novelist, film director, WWII pilot and diplomat.
* 1912 George Woodcock Canadian writer of political biography and history, essayist, literary critic, poet, anarchist, and pacifist.
* 1899 Friedrich Hayek Nobel laureate in economics, social scientist and political theorist.
* 1895 Fulton J. Sheen Born Peter John Sheen, was television's first preacher of note, in the early 1950s on the DuMont Television Network, and later on ABC.
* 1895 Edmund Wilson American writer and literary critic.
* 1894 Benjamin Graham Influential economist and professional investor.
* 1884 Harry S. Truman Thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953); as vice president, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D Roosevelt.
* 1882 Henry J. Kaiser American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding.
* 1846 Emile Galle French artist who worked in glass, and is considered to be one of the major forces in the French Art Nouveau movement.
* 1828 Henry Dunant Swiss businessman and social activist.
* 1821 William Henry Vanderbilt American railroad executive, the son and heir of millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt.
* 1731 Beilby Porteus Anglican reformer and leading abolitionist.
* 1668 Alain-Rene Lesage Also spelled Le Sage, was a French novelist and playwright.
* 1592 Francis Quarles Prolific English prose-writer and poet.
* 0 Edward Gibbon Arguably the most important historian since the time of the ancient Roman Tacitus.

Deaths

† 2013 Geza Vermes Scholar and writer on religious history, particularly Jewish and Christian.
† 2012 Maurice Sendak American writer and illustrator of children's literature.
† 1988 Robert A. Heinlein One of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of science fiction of the 20th Century.
† 1985 Theodore Sturgeon American Science-Fiction writer, essayist, and poet.
† 1983 John Fante American novelist, short-story and screenwriter of Italian descent.
† 1982 Gilles Villeneuve Canadian Formula 1 racing driver.
† 1982 Neil Bogart Born Neil E Bogatz, was an American record executive.
† 1947 Cassius Jackson Keyser American mathematician of pronounced philosophical inclinations.
† 1936 Oswald Spengler German historian, philosopher and political writer, most famous for his Der Untergang des Abendlandes, completed in 1922 and translated as The Decline of the West in 1928.
† 1907 Enoch Fitch Burr American theologian and astronomer.
† 1904 Frederick York Powell Regius Professor of Modern History, Oxford University, 1894–1904.
† 1880 Gustave Flaubert French novelist.
† 1880 Jones Very American essayist, poet, clergymen, and mystic associated with the American Transcendentalism movement.
† 1873 John Stuart Mill Also known as J S Mill, was an English political philosopher and economist who was an advocate of utilitarianism.
† 1794 Antoine Lavoisier French intellectual and nobleman, widely regarded as the founder of modern chemistry.
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