See:
Wikipedia.
Events:
January 1 - A ball signifying New Year's Day drops in New York City's Times Square for
the first time.
January 8 - A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17,
injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.
January 11 - Grand Canyon National Monument is created.
January 12 - A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
January 21 - New York City passes a law, the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for
women to smoke in public only to be vetoed by the mayor.
January 24 - Robert Baden-Powell begins the Boy Scout movement.
February 11 - Australia regain The Ashes with a 308 run cricket victory over England.
First Ideal Home Exhibition held.
April 27 - The 1908 Summer Olympics open in London.
May 10 - Mother's Day is observed for the first time (Andrew's Methodist Church in
Grafton, West Virgina).
May 26 - At Masjid-al-Salaman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike
in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the
United Kingdom.
June 30 - The Tunguska impact event occurs in Siberia.
July 6 - Robert Peary sets sail for the Arctic North Pole.
July 22 - Albert Fisher establishes the Fisher Body Company to manufacture
carriage and automobile bodies.
July 26 - United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to
immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau
of Investigation).
December 28 - An earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily killing over 75,000.
De Meester's Dutch government resigns.
November - George Howard Taft defeats William Jennings Bryan in the U.S. presidential
election.
Change of Emperor of Qing Dynasty from Guangxu Emperor of China (1875-1908) to
Henry Puyi (1909-1911).
Henry Ford produces its first Model T automobile.
A 40,000-year-old Neanderthal boy skeleton is found at Le Moustier in southwest France.
The Child Labour Act of Ontario is passed.
1908 in
sports:
The third Summer Olympic Games are held in London, England.
September 23 - Baseball/History: the "Merkle incident".
December 26 - Jack Johnson becomes the first African American heavyweight boxing
champion by defeating Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.
Births:
January 7 -
Red Allen, jazz musician (d. 1967).
January 9 -
Simone de Beauvoir, feminist philosopher.
January 12 -
Jean Delannoy, film director.
January 14 -
Rus Columbo, singer, bandleader, composer.
January 15 -
Edward Teller.
January 26 -
Stéphane Grappelli, musician, composer (d. 1997).
January 27 -
Oran "Hot Lips" Page, jazz trumpet (d. 1954).
February 1 -
George Pal, director, producer (d. 1980).
February 5 -
Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins, actresses (d. 1969).
February 7 -
Buster Crabbe, Olympic Games swimming gold medalist, actor.
February 8 -
Emil Staiger, scientist of literature (d. 1987).
February 11 - Sutan
Takdir Alishahbana, Indonesian linguistic/author/novelist.
February 11 -
Vivian Ernest Fuchs, geologist/explorer.
February 11 -
Josh White, musician.
February 15 -
HAP Grieshaber, painter and graphic artist (d. 1981).
February 17 -
Red Barber, baseball announcer, sports journalist (d. 1992).
February 22 -
John Mills, actor.
February 23 -
William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia, (d. 1988).
February 26 -
Tex Avery, cartoonist (d. 1980).
February 26 -
Jean-Pierre Wimille, race car driver (d. 1949).
February 29 -
Balthus, painter (d. 2001).
February 29 -
Dee Brown, writer, historian (d. 2002).
March 2 -
Walter Bruch, engineer (d. 1990).
March 5 -
Rex Harrison, actor (d. 1990).
March 8 -
Claire Trevor, actress.
March 7 -
Anna Magnani, actress (d. 1973).
March 13 -
Walter Annenberg, publisher, philanthropist (d. 2002).
March 17 -
Brigitte Helm, actress (d. 1996).
March 18 -
Fredrika Laurentia Theodora van den Houten.
March 20 - Sir
Michael Redgrave, actor (d. 1985).
March 22 -
Louis L'Amour, author (d. 1988).
March 23 -
Joan Crawford, actor (d. 1977).
March 25 -
Helmut Käutner, actor and film director (d. 1980).
March 25 -
David Lean, film director (d. 1991).
March 27 -
Izabella Suzanna van den Houten.
March 28 -
Jacobus van den Houten.
March 29 -
Arthur O'Connell, actor (d. 1981).
April 1 -
Abraham Maslow, psychologist.
April 2 -
Buddy Ebsen, actor, dancer.
April 5 -
Bette Davis, US-american actress (d. 1989).
April 5 -
Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (d. 1989).
April 7 -
Percy Faith, composer, musician (d. 1976).
April 15 -
Eden Ahbez, hermit, musician.
April 20 -
Lionel Hampton, jazz musician, bandleader (d. 2002).
April 25 -
Edward R. Murrow, journalist (d. 1965).
May 7 -
Max Grundig, industrialist (d. 1989).
May 8 -
Cristian Vasile, Romanian tango singer (d. 1974).
May 19 -
Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d. 1982).
May 20 -
Jimmy Stewart, American actor.
May 23 -
Anna Cornelia Hage.
May 23 -
John Bardeen, physicist (d. 1991).
May 25 -
Theodore Roethke, American poet.
May 28 -
Ian Fleming, author of James Bond books (d. 1964).
May 30 -
Mel Blanc, voice actor.
May 31 -
Don Ameche, (actor).
July 15 -
Adriaan van den Houten.
August 4 -
Nicolaas Jacobus van den Houten.
August 4 -
Kurt Eichhorn, conductor.
August 5 -
Harold Holt, seventeenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967).
August 10 -
Adriana Stoffelina Jonas.
August 27 -
Don Bradman, cricket player.
August 27 -
Lyndon Johnson, 36th president of the United States.
August 28 -
Roger Tory Peterson, naturalist, artist, and educator.
August 29 -
Sophia Maria Smits.
August 31 -
Arie van der Horn.
September 6 -
Louis Essen, physicist (d. 1997).
September 30 -
Hendrikus Maarten van den Houten.
October 14 -
Allan Jones, actor, singer (d. 1992).
October 16 -
Enver Hoxha, dictator of Albania.
November 16 -
Klaartje Meijer.
November 20 -
Alistair Cooke, television host (d. 2004).
November 24 -
Albertine Maria van den Houten.
November 28 -
Claude Levi-Strauss.
November 30 -
Paulus van den Houten.
December 6 -
Pierre Graber, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 2003).
December 7 -
Maarten van den Houten.
December 10 -
Olivier Messiaen, composer.
December 31 -
Simon Wiesenthal, Nazi hunter.
Honor Adams.
Deaths:
January 1 -
Adriana van den Houten.
January 25 -
Ouida, writer.
February 1 -
Nicolaas Jan Jacobus Storm.
February 1 - King
Charles of Portugal.
February 23 -
Arentje (Arendje) van den Houten.
March 21 -
Jacob Noteboom.
April 20 -
Henry Chadwick, baseball writer and historian.
April 22 -
Cornelis Kamerling.
April 22 -
Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
June 13 -
Bastiaan Meerman.
July 20 -
Demetrius Vikelas, Greek IOC president.
May 26 -
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadi sect.
August 25 -
Henri Becquerel, French physicist.
September 18 -
Cornelis Marinus Bakker.
September 20 -
Pablo de Sarasate, violinist.
October 30 -
Caroline Astor, American socialite.
November 12 -
Cornelis van den Houten.
November 14 5-7 pm -
Guangxu Emperor of China.
November 15 1-3 pm - Empress Dowager
Cixi.
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