08 January History
- 1681 - The Treaty of Radzin ends a five year war between the Turks and the allied countries of Russia and Poland.
- 1745 - England, Austria, Saxony and the Netherlands form an alliance against Russia.
- 1815 - A rag-tag army under Andrew Jackson defeats the British on the fields of Chalmette in the Battle of New Orleans.
- 1871 - Prussian troops begin to bombard Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
- 1892 - A coal mine explosion kills 100 in McAlister, Oklahoma.
- 1900 - The Boers attack the British in Ladysmith, South Africa, but are turned back.
- 1908 - A subway line opens linking the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
- 1940 - Great Britain begins rationing sugar, meat and butter.
- 1946 - President Harry S. Truman vows to stand by the Yalta accord on self-determination for the Balkans.
- 1954 - President Dwight Eisenhower proposes stripping convicted Communists of their U.S. citizenship.
- 1963 - President John F. Kennedy attends the unveiling of the Mona Lisa.
- 1979 - The United States advises the Shah to leave Iran.
08 January Birthdays
- 1587 - Johannes Fabricus, astronomer who discovered sunspots.
- 1786 - Nicholas Biddle, head of the first United States bank.
- 1862 - Frank Nelson Doubleday, founder of Doubleday publishing house.
- 1935 - Elvis Presley, rock 'n roll singer, actor in over thirty films.