On this day: 8 January

Selected events and births on 8 January, from Wikipedia’s “On this day”.

Events

• 1198 – Lotario dei Conti was elected as Pope Innocent III; he later worked to restore papal power in Rome. Read more: 1198 papal election Pope Innocent III
• 1735 – George Frideric Handel's opera Ariodante premiered at the Covent Garden Theatre in London. Read more: George Frideric Handel Ariodante Royal Opera House
• 1790 – George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address in New York City, then the provisional capital of the United States. Read more: George Washington State of the Union
• 1889 – American statistician Herman Hollerith received a patent for his electromechanical tabulating machine for punched-card data. Read more: Herman Hollerith Tabulating machine Punched card
• 1904 – Blackstone Library, the first branch of the Chicago Public Library system, was dedicated. Read more: Blackstone Library Chicago Public Library
• 1928 – The Committee for Union Action is established in Guatemala. Read more: Comité Pro Acción Sindical Guatemala
• 1936 – Reza Shah issued the Kashf-e hijab decree, ordering Iranian police to remove hijabs from any women in public. Read more: Reza Shah Kashf-e hijab Hijab
• 1939 – The New Deal for Aborigines was formally announced by the Australian government, providing for full civil rights for Indigenous Australians in exchange for cultural assimilation. Read more: New Deal for Aborigines Indigenous Australians Cultural assimilation
• 1981 – In Trans-en-Provence, France, a local farmer reported a UFO sighting claimed to be "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time". Read more: Trans-en-Provence Trans-en-Provence case

Born on this day

• 1942 – Junichirō Koizumi, Japanese politician, 56th Prime Minister of Japan Read more: Junichiro Koizumi Prime Minister of Japan
• 1951 – Kenny Anthony, Saint Lucian politician, 5th Prime Minister of Saint Lucia Read more: Kenny Anthony List of prime ministers of Saint Lucia
• 1993 – William Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player Read more: William Karlsson
• 1993 – Sophie Pascoe, New Zealand swimmer Read more: Sophie Pascoe
• 1994 – Glenn Robinson III, American basketball player Read more: Glenn Robinson III
• 1995 – Ryan Destiny, American actress and singer Read more: Ryan Destiny
• 1998 – Tony Bradley, American basketball player Read more: Tony Bradley (basketball)
• 1998 – Jhoan Durán, Dominican baseball player Read more: Jhoan Durán
• 1999 – Ignas Brazdeikis, Lithuanian-Canadian basketball player Read more: Ignas Brazdeikis
• 1999 – Damiano David, Italian singer-songwriter Read more: Damiano David
• 2000 – Noah Cyrus, American singer, songwriter, and actress Read more: Noah Cyrus
• 2001 – Zach Charbonnet, American football player Read more: Zach Charbonnet

Text from Wikipedia: Selected anniversaries / January 8 and the linked articles, via the Wikimedia “On this day” feed, under CC BY-SA 4.0. We leave out entries about wars, violence and disasters to keep this page family-friendly.