Today in History - History - May 8th

1989Paul McCartney releases remake of "Ferry Cross the Mersey" in aid of those affected by the Hillsborough disaster, which claimed the lives of 95 Liverpool football fans

1973Ernie Banks fills in for Cubs mgr Whitey Lockman who is ejected during the game, technically becoming baseball's 1st African American manager

1993Lennox Lewis beats Tony Tucker in 12 for heavyweight boxing title

1660English parliament declares Charles Stuart to be King Charles II of England

1994President Clinton announces US will no longer repatriate boat people

1963JFK offers Israel assistance against aggression

1967Muhammad Ali is indicted for refusing induction in US Army

1541Hernando de Soto discovers Mississippi River

1947A movement among Card players to protest its 1st meeting with Jackie Robinson & the Dodgers is aborted by a talk from owner Sam Breadon

1899Ernest Rutherford publishes his discovery of two different kinds of radiation (Alpha and Beta Particles)

1957Bill Cowher, Crafton Pennsylvania, American football coach

1975Enrique Iglesias, Madrid, Spanish singer-songwriter and King of Latin Pop (Bailamos, Hero)

1968Omar Camporese, Bologna Italy, tennis star

1932Sonny Liston, Sand Slough Arkansas, American heavyweight boxer

1884Harry Truman, Lamar Missouri, 33rd US President (D) (1945-1953), (d. 1972)

1737Edward Gibbon, Putney, English historian (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire)

1926David Attenborough, London UK, Naturalist, TV producer and host (BBC "Life" Series)

1753Phillis Wheatley, American poet who was both the second published African-American poet and first published African-American woman.

1911Robert Johnson, blues singer (King of Delta Blues Singer)

1940Peter Benchley, NYC, novelist (Jaws, The Deep), (d. 2006)

1981Author John Grisham (26) weds Renee Jones

1783First American flag seamstress Betsy Ross (31) weds John Claypoole at Christ Church

1959Actress Raquel Welch (18) weds high school sweetheart James Welch

1910Film producer Samuel Goldwyn (27) weds first wife Blanche Lasky

1873John Stuart Mill, great Empiricist philosopher, dies at 66

1819Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (1782-1819)