April 8 is the 98th day of the year (99th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 267 days remaining until the end of the year.
Up to 1900
- 217 – Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated (and succeeded) by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
- 1093 - The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated.
- 1139 - Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church.
- 1730 – Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.
- 1740 - War of Jenkins' Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate HMS Princess.
- 1742 – The first performance of George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah, in Dublin.
- 1767 – Ayutthaya kingdom fell to Burmese invaders.
- 1784 - William Herschel discovers six Galaxies.
- 1820 – The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Melos.
- 1832 – Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield - Union General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign is thwarted by Confederate General Richard Taylor's forces at Mansfield, Louisiana.
- 1866 - Italy and Prussia ally against the Austrian Empire.
- 1886 - William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
- 1893 – First recorded college basketball game occurs in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania when the Geneva College Covenanters defeated the New Brighton YMCA.
- 1899 – Martha Place becomes the first woman to be executed in an electric chair.
1901 – 2000
- 1904 – France and the United Kingdom sign the Entente cordiale.
- 1904 – Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
- 1906 - Auguste Deter, the first-recorded Alzheimer's disease patient, dies at the age of 56.
- 1908 - Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
- 1910 – The Los Angeles Motordome opened near Playa del Rey, California.
- 1911 - Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.
- 1913 – The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified requiring direct election of Senators.
- 1916 – In Corona, California, auto racer Bob Burman crashed through a crowd barrier at the last Boulevard Race, killing himself, his mechanic and a track policeman, and badly injuring five spectators.
- 1918 – World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district.
- 1924 - Sharia courts are banned in Turkey, as part of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's reforms.
- 1929 – Indian independence movement: At Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw handouts, and bombs in a corridor not to cause injury and courted arrest.
- 1933 - A majority of voters in Western Australia chooses to secede from Australia in a referendum; the result is not recognised.
- 1935 – The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
- 1942 – World War II: Siege of Leningrad - Soviet Union forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.
- 1952 – In a radio address to the nation from the White House, President Harry S. Truman calls for the seizure of all steel mills in the United States in order to prevent a nationwide strike.
- 1953 – Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by Kenya's British rulers.
- 1954 - A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard aircraft collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadian North Star aircraft over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
- 1954 - South African Airways Flight 201 crashes into the sea near Naples, Italy, killing 21 people.
- 1960 - The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch.
- 1961 - A large explosion on board the MV Dara in the Persian Gulf kills 238 people.
- 1967 – In Vienna, Austria, Sandie Shaw wins the twelfth Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom singing "Puppet on a String".
- 1970 - Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school, killing 46 children.
- 1971 – a 6-pound meteorite struck a house on Spring Street in Wethersfield, Connecticut.
- 1973 - Painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso dies in Mougins, France, at the age of 91.
- 1974 – At the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron breaks baseball great's Babe Ruth's record by hitting his 715th home run.
- 1975 – Frank Robinson of the Cleveland Indians manages his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.
- 1975 – Vietnam War: After spending a week in South Vietnam, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Frederick Weyand gives a report to the U.S. Congress that South Vietnam will fall without additional military aid.
- 1985 – Bhopal disaster: India files suit against Union Carbide for the disaster which killed an estimated 2,000 and injured another 200,000.
- 1986 – Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California receiving 72% of the vote (voter turnout was also doubled over the previous mayoral election).
- 1987 – Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid great controversy over racially-charged remarks he had made while on Nightline.
- 1989 – South Africa In Johannesburg, the Progressive Federal Party, Independent party, National Democratic Movement and the force of "Ontevrede Afrikaners" or dissatisfied Afrikaners merged to form the Democratic Party.
- 1990 – Twin Peaks premieres.
- 1992 – Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces to the world that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
- 1993 - The Republic of Macedonia joins the UN.
- 1994 – The body of Kurt Cobain is discovered in his Washington home. He was 27 years old.
- 2000 – A U.S. Marine Corps V-22 Osprey crashes during landing at Marana, Arizona killing 19.
From 2001
- 2002 – Ed McMahon files a US$20 million lawsuit against his insurance company and others regarding a toxic mold infecting McMahon's Beverly Hills, California home.
- 2004 – Darfur conflict: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
- 2005 – Funeral of Pope John Paul II.
- 2008 – Yo So-yeon becomes the first Korean woman in space.
- 2013 - Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dies aged 87 of complications from a stroke. See Death and funeral of Margaret Thatcher.
- 2013 - The self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant extremist group is created.
- 2018 - A suspected chemical attack in Douma, Syria, kills at least 50 people.
- 2018 - Hungary's general election results in Viktor Orbán winning a third term in office as Prime minister.
- 2024 - A total solar eclipse happened in North America including United States, Canada and Mexico.
Up to 1900
- 563 BC – Gautama Buddha, religious leader (d. 483 BC)
- 1320 – King Peter I of Portugal (d. 1367)
- 1533 - Claudio Merulo, Italian composer (d. 1604)
- 1536 - Barbara of Hesse (d. 1597)
- 1541 - Michele Mercati, Italian physician (d. 1593)
- 1605 – King Philip IV of Spain (d. 1665)
- 1641 - Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English statesman (d. 1704)
- 1692 - Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (d. 1770)
- 1732 - David Rittenhouse, American astronomer, inventor and mathematician (d. 1796)
- 1761 - William Joseph Chaminade, French priest (d. 1850)
- 1783 - John Claudius Loudon, Scottish botanist and garden designer (d. 1843)
- 1793 - Karl Zell, German statesman and philologist (d. 1873)
- 1798 - Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet (d. 1857)
- 1815 - Andrew Graham, Irish astronomer (d. 1908)
- 1818 – King Christian IX of Denmark (d. 1906)
- 1818 - August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist (d. 1892)
- 1826 - Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican soldier (d. 1890)
- 1827 - Ramon Emeterio Betances, Puerto Rican politician, doctor and diplomat (d. 1898)
- 1842 – Elizabeth Bacon Custer, wife of George Armstrong Custer (d. 1933)
- 1859 – Edmund Husserl, Austrian-German philosopher (d. 1938)
- 1865 – Charles W. Woodworth, Entomologist (d. 1940)
- 1869 - Harvey Williams Cushing, American neurologist (d. 1939)
- 1871 - Clarence Hudson White, American photographer (d. 1925)
- 1872 – Ivan Bloch, physician (d. 1922)
- 1874 – Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (d. 1960)
- 1875 – King Albert I of Belgium (d. 1934)
- 1885 - Dimitrios Levidis, Greek composer (d. 1951)
- 1888 - Dennis Chavez, American politician (d. 1962)
- 1889 - Blanche Stuart Scott, American pilot (d. 1970)
- 1889 – Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (d. 1983)
- 1892 – Mary Pickford, Canadian-born actress, studio founder (d. 1979)
- 1892 - Richard Neutra, Austrian architect (d. 1970)
- 1898 - Achille Van Acker, 33rd Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1969)
- 1899 - John Christie, English serial killer (d. 1953)
1901 – 1950
- 1902 – Andrew Irvine, British mountaineer (d. 1924)
- 1904 – Ron Hicks, British economist (d. 1989)
- 1904 - Yves Congar, French cardinal (d. 1995)
- 1905 – Helen Joseph, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 1992)
- 1908 - Hugo Fregonese, Argentine director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
- 1910 – George Musso, American football player (d. 2000)
- 1911 – Emil Cioran, Romanian philosopher and essayist (d. 1995)
- 1911 – Melvin Calvin, American chemist, 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1997)
- 1912 – Sonja Henie, Norwegian Olympic and World Champion figure skater (d. 1969)
- 1912 - Julian Berrendero, Spanish cyclist (d. 1995)
- 1912 – Alois Brunner, Austrian Nazi (date of death unknown, possibly 2001, 2009 or 2010)
- 1913 – Sourou-Migan Apithy, President of Benin (d. 1989)
- 1914 – María Félix, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
- 1915 - Ivan Supek, Croatian physicist, philosopher and activist (d. 2007)
- 1917 - Hubertus Ernst, Dutch bishop (d. 2017)
- 1917 - Grigori Kuzmin, Russian-Estonian astronomer (d. 1988)
- 1918 – Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States (d. 2011)
- 1919 – Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia (d. 2007)
- 1919 – Virginia O'Brien, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1920 - Carmen McRae, American singer, composer, pianist and actress (d. 1994)
- 1921 – Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (d. 2003)
- 1923 – Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (d. 1997)
- 1923 - George Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 2003)
- 1926 – Jürgen Moltmann, German theologian
- 1926 – Shecky Greene, American comedian
- 1926 - Henry N. Cobb, American architect
- 1926 - Jean-Jacques Pauvert, French publisher and writer (d. 2014)
- 1928 – Leah Rabin, wife of Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin (d. 2000)
- 1929 – Walter Berry, Austrian bass-baritone (d. 2000)
- 1929 – Jacques Brel, Belgian singer and composer (d. 1978)
- 1929 - Renzo De Felice, Italian historian (d. 1996)
- 1930 – Carlos-Hugo of Bourbon-Parma, Spanish aristocrat (d. 2010)
- 1930 - Miller Williams, American poet (d. 2015)
- 1931 - John Gavin, American actor and diplomat (d. 2018)
- 1932 – Iskandar of Johor, 8th Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia (d. 2010)
- 1932 - József Antall, Hungarian politician (d. 1993)
- 1933 – Fred Ebb, composer (d. 2004)
- 1934 - Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect (d. 2007)
- 1938 – Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat, former United Nations Secretary-General (d. 2018)
- 1938 - John Hamm, Canadian physician and politician, 25th Premier of Nova Scotia
- 1939 - Edwin Frederick O'Brien, American cardinal
- 1939 - Manolis Angelopoulos, Greek singer (d. 1989)
- 1940 – John Havlicek, American basketball player (d. 2019)
- 1941 – Vivienne Westwood, English fashion designer
- 1942 - Douglas Trumbull, American director, producer and special effects artist
- 1943 – Miller Farr, American football player
- 1943 – Michael Bennett, American dancer, choreographer, theater director (d. 1987)
- 1943 – Tony Banks, British politician (d. 2006)
- 1943 - James Herbert, British writer (d. 2013)
- 1944 - Tariana Turia, New Zealand politician
- 1944 - Hywel Bennett, Welsh actor (d. 2017)
- 1946 – Catfish Hunter, American baseball pitcher (d. 1999)
- 1946 – Tim Thomerson, American actor
- 1947 – Tom DeLay, American politician
- 1947 - Steve Howe, English rock guitarist
- 1947 - Robert Kiyosaki, American writer
- 1947 - Pascal Lamy, French politician
- 1947 - Larry Norman, American musician (d. 2008)
- 1948 - Danuta Hübner, Polish politician
- 1949 – John Madden, director
- 1949 - Joe Royle, English footballer and manager
- 1950 – Grzegorz Lato, Polish footballer
1951 – 1975
- 1951 – Geir Haarde, former Prime Minister of Iceland
- 1951 - Joan Sebastian, Mexican singer and actor (d. 2015)
- 1954 – Gary Carter, American baseball catcher
- 1955 – Barbara Kingsolver, novelist
- 1955 – Gerrie Coetzee, South African boxer
- 1955 - Jim Fleeting, Scottish footballer
- 1955 - Kane Hodder, American stuntman and actor
- 1957 – Andrea Ypsilanti, German politician
- 1960 – John Schneider, actor
- 1960 - Gordon Chisholm, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1961 - Brian McDermott, English footballer and manager
- 1962 – Izzy Stradlin, American musician
- 1963 – Julian Lennon, English musician and singer
- 1963 – Alec Stewart, English cricketer
- 1964 - Dordi Nordby, Norwegian curler
- 1966 - Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand-Australian television personality (d. 2014)
- 1966 – Robin Wright, American actress
- 1966 – Mazinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1966 - Iveta Bartosova, Czech singer and actress (d. 2014)
- 1968 – Patricia Arquette, American actress
- 1968 - Susana Harp, Mexican musician
- 1970 - Care Santos, Catalan writer
- 1972 - Lisa Cameron, Scottish politician
- 1972 – Paul Gray, American musician (Slipknot) (d. 2010)
- 1972 - Sergei Magnitsky, Russian lawyer (d. 2009)
- 1973 - Khaled Badra, Tunisian footballer
- 1973 - Emma Caulfield, American actress
- 1974 - Holger Hott, Norwegian orienteering competitor
- 1974 - Nnedi Okorafor, Nigerian-American writer
- 1975 - Anouk, Dutch singer
From 1976
- 1977 – Mark Spencer, computer programmer
- 1980 – Manuel Ortega, Austrian singer
- 1980 - Katee Sackhoff, American actress
- 1981 - Nikolay Kruglov, Jr., Russian biathlete
- 1981 – Taylor Kitsch, Canadian actor and model
- 1981 - Kelly Schafer, Scottish curler
- 1982 - Gennady Golovkin, Kazakhstani boxer
- 1983 - Allu Arjun, Indian actor
- 1983 – Edson Braafheid, Dutch footballer
- 1984 – Taran Noah Smith, American actor
- 1986 - Erika Sawajiri, Japanese actress and model
- 1986 - Bridget Kelly, American singer and songwriter
- 1986 – Igor Akinfeev, Russian footballer
- 1987 – Royston Drenthe, Dutch footballer
- 1987 - Dario Vidosic, Australian footballer
- 1987 - Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Belgian-Moroccan terrorist (d. 2015)
- 1988 - Jenni Asserholt, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1989 - Hitomi Takahashi, Japanese actress and singer
- 1989 - Gabriella Wilde, English actress and model
- 1990 - Kim Jong-hyun, South Korean singer-songwriter, dancer and actor (d. 2017)
- 1990 - Karim Bellarabi, German footballer
- 1991 - Minami Takahashi, Japanese actress and singer
- 1993 - Trent Sullivan, Australian actor
- 1994 – Sonya Singha, Thai actress
- 1999 - Ty Panitz, American actor
- 2002 - Skai Jackson, American actress
Up to 1900
- 217 – Caracalla, Roman Emperor (b. 188)
- 622 - Prince Shotoku of Japan (b. 574)
- 632 - Charibert, Frankish king (b. 607)
- 956 - Gilbert, Duke of Burgundy
- 1143 - John II Komnenos, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire (b. 1087)
- 1364 - King John II of France (b. 1319)
- 1450 - Sejong the Great, King of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea (b. 1397)
- 1461 - Georg Purbach, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1423)
- 1551 - Oda Nobuhide, Japanese warlord (b. 1510)
- 1586 - Martin Chemnitz, Lutheran reformer and theologian (b. 1522)
- 1612 - Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (b. 1575)
- 1691 - Carlo Rainaldi, Italian architect (b. 1611)
- 1704 - Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English statesman (b. 1641)
- 1735 - Francis II Rakoczi, Hungarian aristocrat (b. 1676)
- 1835 - Wilhelm von Humboldt, Prussian statesman (b. 1757)
- 1848 – Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b. 1797)
- 1861 - Elisha Otis, American inventor (b. 1811)
- 1870 - Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer (b. 1802)
- 1894 - Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian writer (b. 1838)
1901 – 2000
- 1906 – Auguste Deter, first-recorded victim of Alzheimer's disease (b. 1850)
- 1919 - Lorand Eotvos, Hungarian physicist (b. 1848)
- 1931 – Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer (b. 1864)
- 1936 – Robert Bárány, Austrian doctor, won the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1876)
- 1950 - Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish-Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1890)
- 1958 - Ethel Turner, Australian writer (b. 1872)
- 1962 - Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1892)
- 1973 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1881)
- 1974 - Ferruccio Novo, Italian football manager (b. 1899)
- 1978 - Ford Frick, American baseball commissioner (b. 1894)
- 1981 – Omar Bradley, American general (b. 1893)
- 1983 - Isamu Kosuga, Japanese actor and director (b. 1904)
- 1984 – Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist (b. 1894)
- 1986 - Yukiko Okada, Japanese actress, singer and model (b. 1967)
- 1990 - Ryan White, American activist (b. 1971)
- 1992 – Daniel Bovet, Swiss pharmacologist (b. 1907)
- 1993 – Marian Anderson, American contralto (b. 1897)
- 1994 – Kurt Cobain, American musician (Nirvana) (b. 1967)
- 1997 - Laura Nyro, American singer, pianist and composer (b. 1967)
From 2001
- 2002 - María Félix, Mexican actress (b. 1914)
- 2009 – Piotr Morawski, Polish mountaineer (b. 1976)
- 2010 – Malcolm McLaren, British music manager (b. 1946)
- 2010 – Abel Muzorewa, Zimbabwean politician (b. 1924)
- 2012 - Jack Tramiel, Polish-born American entrepreneur and computer pioneer (b. 1928)
- 2013 - Sara Montiel, Spanish actress and singer (b. 1928)
- 2013 - Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1925)
- 2013 - Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (b. 1942)
- 2014 - Karlheinz Deschner, German writer and activist (b. 1924)
- 2014 - Emmanuel III Delly, Iraqi Patriarch (b. 1927)
- 2014 - The Ultimate Warrior, American professional wrestler (b. 1959)
- 2015 - Jayakanthan, Indian Tamil writer (b. 1934)
- 2015 - Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (b. 1936)
- 2016 - Mircea Albulescu, Romanian actor and writer (b. 1934)
- 2016 - Wei Chueh, Taiwanese Buddhist monk (b. 1928)
- 2016 - Dick Alban, American football player (b. 1929)
- 2017 - Fishman, Mexican professional wrestler (b. 1951)
- 2017 - Georgy Grechko, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1931)
- 2017 - Brian Matthew, English radio and television presenter (b. 1928)
- 2017 - Donald Sarason, American mathematician (b. 1933)
- 2018 - Leila Abashidze, Georgian actress, film director and screenwriter (b. 1929)
- 2018 - Michael Goolaerts, Belgian racing cyclist (b. 1994)
- 2018 - Juraj Herz, Slovakian film director, actor and screenwriter (b. 1934)
- 2018 - Chuck McCann, American actor (b. 1934)
- 2018 - John Miles, British racing driver (b. 1943)
- 2019 - Josine Ianco-Starrels, Romanian-American art curator (b. 1926)
- 2019 - Vasily Likhachyov, Russian politician (b. 1952)
- 2019 - Nadja Regin, Serbian actress (b. 1931)
- 2020 - Rick May, Canadian-American actor and voice actor (b. 1940)
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