Today in History - History - May 8th

1933Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast in protest against British oppression in India.

1907Tommy Burns beats Jack O'Brien in 20 for heavyweight boxing title

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

1994Laura Davies wins LPGA Sara Lee Golf Classic

1966Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Tall City Golf Open

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

1960Wiffi Smith wins LPGA Betsy Rawls Peach Blossom Golf Open

1521Parliament of Worms installs edict against Martin Luther

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

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

1968Omar Camporese, Bologna Italy, tennis star

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

1957Bill Cowher, Crafton Pennsylvania, American football coach

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

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

1932Sonny Liston, Sand Slough Arkansas, American heavyweight boxer

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

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

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

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

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

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

1981Author John Grisham (26) weds Renee Jones

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

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

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