On this day...

794 Church at Lindisfarne, England destroyed by Northmen
1675 First American commercial corporation chartered (NY Fishing Co)
1705 "Almira," Handel's first opera, premiers, Hamburg
1798 11th Amendment ratified, judicial powers construed
1800 Austrians defeat French in 2nd battle of Novi
1800 Wild Boy of Aveyron discovered in southern France
1833 Boston Academy of Music, first US music school, established
1838 First telegraph message sent using dots & dashes, NJ
1838 Rebellion at Amherstburg, Ontario breaks out
1848 Austrian soldiers kill 10 students, Pavia
1853 First US bronze equestrian statue (of Andrew Jackson) unveiled, Washington
1856 Dr. John A. Veatch discovers borax, Tuscan Springs CA
1867 Legislation gives suffrage to DC blacks, despite President Johnson's veto
1870 US mint at Carson City, Nevada begins issuing coins
1884 Chrome tanning process for leather patented by Augustus Schultz
1889 Dr. Herman Hollerith receives first US patent for a tabulating machine
1897 Michael Eagan wins first US national amateur handball championship
1902 First National Bowling Championship held (Chicago IL)
1913 Frank Chance becomes Yankee manager
1918 Mississippi becomes first state to ratify 18th amendment (Prohibition)
1918 President Wilson outlines his 14 points for peace after WW I
1925 First all-female US state supreme court appointed, Texas
1926 Abdul-Aziz ibn Sa'ud becomes king of Hejaz; renames it Saudi Arabia
1935 Spectrophotometer patented, A.C. Hardy
1940 Britain's first WW II rationing (bacon, butter & sugar)
1955 Georgia Tech ends Kentucky's 130-game home basketball win streak
1956 Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog," single goes to #1 & stays #1 for a record 11 weeks
1958 Cuban revolutionary forces capture Havana
1959 Charles de Gaulle inaugurated as president of France's 5th Republic
1962 Dutch express train crashes into slow commuter train, 91 die
1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson declares "War on Poverty"
1965 Senator Dirksen proposes marigold as national flower (didn't pass)
1965 Star of India returned to American Museum of Natural History
1968 Jacques Cousteau's first undersea special on US network TV
1971 Voyageurs National Park (MN) established
1973 Secret peace talks between US & North Vietnam resumed near Paris
1973 USSR launches Luna 21 for Moon landing
1974 Gold hits record $126.50 an ounce in London
1974 Silver hits record $3.40 an ounce in New York
1975 Judge Sirica orders release of Watergate's John W. Dean III, Herbert W. Kalmbach & Jeb Stuart Magruder from prison
1979 512 die as oil tanker Bantry Bay blows up
1979 Today Show gets a new theme song
1980 Islander Glenn Resch's 20th shut-out opponent-Canucks 3-0
1980 NCAA decides to sponsor women's championships in 5 sports
1982 AT&T agrees to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies
1985 Japan launches Sakigake space probe to Halley's Comet
1986 President Reagan freezes Libyan assets in the US.
1987 First time, Dow Jones Industrial Average surpassed 2,000, closing at 2,002.25
1987 Jack Sikma (Milwaukee) begins NBA free throw streak of 51 games
1988 Hewlett-Packard introduces the HP-28S Advanced Scientific Calculator
1989 Soviet Union promises to eliminate stockpiles of chemical weapons
1992 US President George Bush gets ill & vomits on Japanese prime minister's lap during Japanese tour

Birthdays which occurred on January 8th:

1587 Johannes Fabricius, Denmark, astronomer (discovered sunspots)
1786 Nicholas Biddle, made 2nd bank of US first effective central bank
1821 James Longstreet, military commander (first Corps, ANV)
1823 Alfred Russel Wallace, codiscoverer (evolution)
1824 Wilkie Collins, English novelist (The Woman in White)
1830 Hans von Bulow, Dresden, pianist/virtuoso conductor/musical writer
1862 Frank Nelson Doubleday, publisher/founder (Doubleday & Co)
1864 William Wilkie Collins, England, novelist (The Moonstone)
1867 Emily Balch, US, sociologist/feminist (Nobel 1946)
1868 Sir Frank Dyson, proved Einstein right about light bent by gravity
1885 John Curtin, Victoria, Australian PM (Labor, 1941-45)
1891 Bronislava Nijinska, ballet choreographer
1891 Storm Jameson, English novelist (The Green Man, Cousin Honore)
1891 Walther Bothe, Germany, subatomic particle physicist (Nobel 1954)
1896 Jaromir Weinberger, Prague, Czechoslovakia, composer
1900 Queen Marie, of Yugoslavia
1902 Alexander Gray, Wrightsville PA, actor (This is Music)
1902 Carl R. Rogers, US, psychologist (Client-Centered Therapy)
1902 Georgy M. Malenkov, Stalin's successor as head of CPSU, PM (1953-55)
1904 Peter Arn,o New York NY, cartoonist (New Yorker)
1905 Carl Gustav Hempel, German Logical Positivist philosopher
1917 Stanley Prager, New York NY, comedian (College Bowl)
1922 Abbey Simon, New York NY, pianist
1923 Giorgio Tozzi, Chicago IL, basso
1923 Joseph Wiezenbaum, artificial intelligence pioneer
1923 Larry Storch, New York NY, comedian (F Troop, Larry Storch Show)
1924 Ron Moody, London England, actor (12 Chairs, Wrong is Right)
1926 Evelyn Lear, Brooklyn NY, soprano
1926 Soupy Sales [Milton Hines], NC, comedian (Soupy Sales Show)
1928 Sander Vanocur, Cleveland OH, news anchor (NBC Weekend News)
1930 Doreen Wilber, US, archer (Olympic-gold-1972)
1931 May Wynn, actress (Liz-Noah's Ark)
1933 Charles Osgood, New York NY, news anchor (CBS Weekend News)
1933 May Wynn [Donna Lee Hickey], New York NY, actress (Caine Mutiny)
1934 Jacques Anquetil, France, Tour de France bicycle racer (5-time winner)
1934 Roy Kinnear, English actor (TW3, Help!, The 3 Musketeers)
1935 Elvis Presley, Tupelo MS, singer (Blue Suede Shoes, Hounddog)
1935 Nolan Miller, Burkburnett TX, fashion designer (Dynasty, Love Boat)
1937 Shirley Bassey, Wales, singer (Goldfinger)
1939 Yvette Mimieux, Hollywood CA, actress (Time Machine, Where the Boys Are)
1940 Anthony Gaurdine, (Little Anthony & Imperials-Goin Out of My Head)
1946 Kathleen Noone, actress (All My Children, Knots Landing)
1946 Robbie Kreiger, rocker (Doors)
1947 David Bowie, singer/actor (Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust)
1947 Terry Sylvester, rocker (Hollies-You are the Air that I Breathe)
1953 Bruce Sutter, pitcher (Cubs, Cards, Braves)
1955 Mike Reno, rock vocalist (Loverboy)
1968 Ami Dolenz, actress (General Hospital, Can't Buy Me Love)
1975 Jenny Lewis, Las Vegas NV, actress (Becky-Life With Lucy)

Deaths which occurred on January 8th:

1336 Giotto di Bondone, Italian Renaissance painter
1642 Galileo Galilei, dies at 78 in Arceti, Italy
1922 Colonel Charles R. Young dies at 58, in Lagos Nigeria
1941 Lord Robert Baden-Powell. founder of the Boy Scout movement
1952 Antonia Maury, discoverer of supergiant, giant & dwarf stars, dies
1976 Chou En-lai, China's premier, dies of cancer in Peking at 78
1978 Walter Keirnan, TV panelist (I've Got a Secret), dies at 75
1981 Woody Chamblis, actor (Mr. Lathrop-Gunsmoke), dies at 66
1982 Gregoire Aslan, character actor, dies at 73 of a heart attack
1982 Reta Shaw, actress (Ghost & Mrs. Muir), dies at 69
1983 Gale Page, actress, dies of cancer at 72
1983 Lois Wilson, actress (Alice-Aldrich Family), dies at 88
1988 Frank Pace, Jr., US Secretary of Army (1950-53), dies at 76
1991 Steve Clark, guitarist (Def Leppard), dies at 30