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James Earl Ray, suspect in Martin Luther King Jr. assassination, is arrested

Born on This Day

Joan Rivers

1933 - 2014

Stand-up comic who mined her personal life for her often brash routines. The first woman to host a late-night talk show.

Frank Lloyd Wright

1867 - 1959

Architect whose "Prairie Style" pioneered organic architecture, melding residential designs with the natural world.

Nancy Sinatra

1940 -

Singer who hit #1 with "These Boots Are Made For Walking" and duetted with father Frank on "Something Stupid."

Joan Rivers2010 Getty Images

Frank Lloyd WrightBettmann Archive

Nancy SinatraGetty Images

793

JUN8

In the first recorded Viking attack in Europe, Norse invaders launch a devastating raid on England’s Lindisfarne monastery, killing and looting. Accounts of the time reported “dreadful forewarnings,” including “fiery dragons flying in the sky.”

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Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on June 8th

Muhammad, the prophet who spread Islam, dies

In Medina, located in present-day Saudi Arabia, Muhammad, one of the most influential religious and political leaders in history, dies in the arms of Aisha, his third and favorite wife. Some scholars have identified the date as June 8, 632, but note that the exact date is not possible to verify. Born in Mecca of humble […]

Apache chief Cochise dies

Chief Cochise, one of the great leaders of the Apache Indians in their battles with the Anglo-Americans, dies on the Chiricahua reservation in southeastern Arizona. Little is known of Cochise’s early life. By the mid-19th century, he had become a prominent leader of the Chiricahua band of Apache Indians living in southern Arizona and northern […]

Final sighting of George Mallory on Mount Everest

On June 8, 1924, English geologist Noel Odell catches sight of George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine, two fellow members of a British expedition to climb Mount Everest, far in the distance, each man a “tiny black spot” silhouetted against the snow. By Odell’s reckoning, they are within about 800 vertical feet of the summit. […]

First Porsche completed

On June 8, 1948, a hand-built aluminum prototype labeled “No. 1″ becomes the first vehicle to bear the name of one of the world’s leading luxury car manufacturers: Porsche. The Austrian automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche debuted his first design at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900. The electric vehicle set several Austrian land-speed records, […]

FBI report names Hollywood figures as communists

Hollywood figures, including film stars Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni, and Edward G. Robinson, are named in a FBI report as Communist Party members. Such reports helped to fuel the anticommunist hysteria in the United States during the late-1940s and 1950s. The FBI report relied largely on accusations made by “confidential informants,” supplemented with […]

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George Orwell’s “1984” is published

George Orwell’s novel of a dystopian future, 1984, is published on June 8, 1949. The novel’s all-seeing leader, known as “Big Brother,” becomes a universal symbol for intrusive government and oppressive bureaucracy. George Orwell was the nom de plume of Eric Blair, who was born in India. The son of a British civil servant, Orwell […]

NFL and AFL announce merger

On June 8, 1966, the rival National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) announce that they will merge. The first “Super Bowl” between the two leagues took place at the end of the 1966 season, though it took until the 1970 season for the leagues to unite their operations and integrate their regular-season […]

Israel attacks USS Liberty

During the Six-Day War, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attack the USS Liberty in international waters off Egypt’s Gaza Strip. The intelligence ship, well-marked as an American vessel and only lightly armed, was attacked first by Israeli aircraft that fired napalm and rockets at the ship. The Liberty attempted to radio for assistance, but the […]

Senator Robert F. Kennedy buried

Three days after falling prey to an assassin in California, Senator Robert F. Kennedy is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, just 30 yards from the grave of his assassinated older brother, President John F. Kennedy. Robert Kennedy, born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1925, interrupted his studies at Harvard University to serve […]

Shirley Chisholm visits her opponent George Wallace in the hospital

Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress, visits Alabama Governor George Wallace, perhaps the single most famous supporter of racial segregation in modern history, as he recovers from an assassination attempt on June 8, 1972. The two were both seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. Wallace won the […]

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“Ghostbusters” released

On June 8, 1984, the now-classic comedy Ghostbusters is released in theaters across the United States. Produced and directed by Ivan Reitman, Ghostbusters starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis as disgraced parapsychology professors in New York City who turn to “paranormal investigation”–hunting down and capturing ghosts—to make money after Columbia University yanks their […]

Anthony Bourdain dies by suicide

The former “bad boy” chef and bestselling author Anthony Bourdain, 61, is found dead in his hotel room by apparent suicide.

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