On this day...

1793 The Louvre was opened to the public by the Revolutionary government, although only part of the collection could be viewed.

1895 William Röntgen discovered X-rays during an experiment at the University of Wurzburg.

1923 Hitler led his unsuccessful rising in Munich, known as the Beer Hall Putsch.

1942 Under Eisenhower's command, US and British forces invaded North Africa, in "Operation Torch."

1958 Melody Maker published the first British album charts.

1987 An IRA bomb went off in Eniskillen, Co Fermanagh, shortly before a Remembrance Day service, killing 11 people.

1991 EC foreign ministers, meeting in Rome, imposed an economic embargo on Yugoslavia in an effort to halt the civil war there.

1994 In the US mid-term elections, the Democrats and President Clinton suffer a devastating setback: the Republicans gain control of the Senate for the first time since 1986.

Birthdays which occurred on November 8th:

1656 Sir Edmond Halley, first to calculate comet's orbit (Halley's Comet)
1848 Gottlob Frege, Germany, mathematician/logician (Begriffsschrift)
1883 Sir Arnold Bax, London, composer (Farewell My Youth)
1896 Bucky Harris, baseball manager (Phillies, Yankees)
1897 Dorothy Day, author (Stump the Authors)
1900 Margaret Mitchell, writer (Gone With the Wind)
1913 Robert Strauss, New York, actor (Sgt. Gruzewsky-Mona McCluskey)
1914 Norman Lloyd, Jersey City NJ, actor (Auschlander-St. Elsewhere)
1916 June Havoc, Seattle, actress (Willy, Panic, GE Theater)
1916 Peter Weiss, Germany, Swedish writer/dramatist/novelist (Marat/Sade)
1921 Gene Saks, actor/director (One & Only, Prisoner of Second Ave)
1921 Jerome Hines, Hollywood, basso (I am The Way)
1922 Christiaan Barnard, S. Africa, surgeon (perform first heart transplant)
1922 Esther Rolle, Pompano Beach Florida, actress (Florida-Good Times, Maude)
1924 Joe Flynn, Youngstown Ohio, actor (McHale's Navy)
1927 Patti Page, Claremont Oklahoma, singer (Tennessee Waltz)
1930 Bob Harris, Long Beach, actor (Jim-Troubleshooters)
1931 Morley Safer, Toronto, TV newscaster (60 Minutes)
1935 Alain Delon, France, actor (Honor Among Thieves)
1936 Edward G. Gibson, Buffalo NY, astronaut (Skylab 4)
1942 Angel Cordero, Jr., jockey (won over 6,000 races)
1947 Minnie Ripperton, Chicago, singer (Loving You)
1949 Bonnie Raitt, Los Angeles, country singer (Green Light, The Glow)
1951 Mary Hart, Sioux Falls SD, TV hostess (Entertainment Tonight)
1952 Christie Hefner, daughter of Hugh Hefner, Playboy CEO
1954 Rickie Lee Jones, Chicago, singer (Chuck E's in Love)
1956 Randi Brooks, New York, actress (Man With Two Brains, Tightrope)
1961 Leif Garrett, Hollywood, singer/actor (Devil x 5, Three for the Road)
1967 Courtney Thorne-Smith, actress (Day by Day, Lucas, Summer School)
1967 Kim Dugger, Wichita Kansas, Miss Kansas-America (1991)
1968 Parker Posey, Baltimore, actress (Tess Shelby-As the World Turns)

Deaths which occurred on November 8th:

1308 Duns Scotus, who coined the word "dunce"
1933 King Nadir Shah, of Afghanistan, assassinated by Abdul Khallig
1965 Dorothy Kilgallen, columnist (What's My Line?), dies at 52
1968 Wendell Corey, actor (11th Hour, Peck's Bad Girl), dies at 54
1969 Kam Tong, actor (Have Gun Will Travel, Mr. Garlund), dies at 62
1978 Norman Rockwell, artist, dies in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, at 84
1983 Robert Agnew, director, died at 84 of kidney failure
1986 Beatrice Kay, singer/actress (Sister Sue-Calvin & the Col), dies at 78