A birthday on the globe
8 November on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born
For 8 November, the English Wikipedia lists 67 events and 262 births. 35 of the events stand at their places as rays of light; eight more are dashed circles, where the sentence links only to a country or a sea. The taller the ray, the longer ago it happened. The people born that day come further down, as blue points.
A birthday, yours or someone else’s:
Turn it into a greetingScroll: the globe turns to each place
The day you were born, on the globe.
Three things from your day
Scroll: your day first, then 8 November through the years
The Earth on 8 November
The picture on the globe was assembled by NASA from satellite photographs taken in November 2004: the snow, the ice and the green are those of the month.
On 8 November the Sun passes straight overhead at noon along the parallel of 16.5° south. In London, the day lasts about 9 hours 15 minutes.
Beyond 73° south the Sun no longer sets; beyond 73° north it no longer rises.
The line between day and night is tilted on the globe exactly as on this day of the year. On the dark side you can see the lights of towns.
Britain & Ireland · Bodleian Library
1602
The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford is opened to the public.
On the map: Bodleian Library.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish and Chinese.
Europe · Murano
1291
The Republic of Venice enacts a law confining most of Venice's glassmaking industry to the "island of Murano".
On the map: Murano.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Romanian and Chinese.
Europe · Vienna
1968
The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic is signed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by standardising the uniform traffic rules among the signatories.
On the map: Vienna.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Romanian.
Europe · Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
1977
Manolis Andronikos, a Greek archaeologist and professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.
On the map: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish and Chinese.
Asia · Louvre Abu Dhabi
2017
The Louvre Abu Dhabi was inaugurated by the French president Emmanuel Macron and then-crown prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
On the map: Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Latin America · Tenochtitlan
1519
Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with a great celebration.
On the map: Tenochtitlan.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish and Chinese.
North America · Mount Holyoke College
1837
Mary Lyon founds Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which later becomes Mount Holyoke College.
On the map: Mount Holyoke College.
North America · United States Congress
1994
Republican Revolution: On the night of the 1994 United States midterm elections, Republicans make historic electoral gains by securing massive majorities in both houses of Congress (54 seats in the House and eight seats in the Senate, additionally), thus bringing to a close four decades of Democratic domination.
On the map: United States Congress.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Chinese.
Oceans · Aldabra
1965
The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands.
On the map: Aldabra.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish.
8 November
What the other Wikipedias remember#
For these years the English list has nothing on this day. The events below come from the same day’s lists on Wikipedia in Spanish and were translated for this page.
From Wikipedia in Spanish · Paris
1793
In Paris, the Louvre Museum opens to the public.
On the map: Paris.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Spanish.
8 November
Born on 8 November#
The English Wikipedia lists 262 births for this day. The blue points are the birthplaces of 60 of these people: those written about in the most Wikipedia editions, where Wikidata gives a place of birth.
Born on 8 November
1935
Alain Delon, French-Swiss actor, producer, screenwriter (died 2024)
Place of birth: Sceaux.
Born on 8 November
1954
Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-British novelist, screenwriter, and short story writer
Place of birth: Nagasaki.
Born on 8 November
1900
Margaret Mitchell, American journalist and author (died 1949)
Place of birth: Atlanta.
Born on 8 November
1656
Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician (died 1742)
Place of birth: Haggerston.
Born on 8 November
1848
Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and philosopher (died 1925)
Place of birth: Wismar.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1966
Gordon Ramsay, British chef, restaurateur, and television host/personality
Place of birth: Johnstone.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1981
Joe Cole, English footballer
Place of birth: London Borough of Islington.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1943
Martin Peters, English footballer and manager (died 2019)
Place of birth: London.
8 November
Number one in the charts that week
At the cinema
An animal recorded that day
The record can be seen in GBIF, which brings together wildlife records from around the world.
All your birthdays
The weather that day
Data: Met Office Hadley Centre (HadCET); NOAA (GHCN-Daily, Mauna Loa).
Above the Earth
Sources: Jonathan McDowell, GCAT (launches); GFZ Potsdam (Kp index). Days are counted in Universal Time.
Football that day
International matches played that day:
Source: the “International football results” dataset kept by Mart Jürisoo (CC0).
Also that day
The earthquake’s page at the USGS
Source: the USGS catalogue. The day is counted in Universal Time (UTC).
In those days
Make a link for someone
Type the name, pick the day and the year of birth. The link opens straight on their day, with their name in the greeting.
The link carries the name, date and place typed here; anyone who gets it can see them.
Put another birthday beside it
Your mother’s, your child’s, a friend’s: the two days appear side by side.
Below: 8 November through the years.
The whole globe of the day
Drag the globe to turn it. Touch a ray or a point to read what happened there.
Everything Wikipedia lists for 8 November
The list is the English Wikipedia’s, in its own wording, as it stood in October 2026. 24 events have no place on the map: the sentence links to no place with coordinates, only to places too wide to mark, or to several countries.
- 960
Battle of Andrassos: Byzantines under Leo Phokas the Younger score a crushing victory over the Hamdanid Emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla.
Asia · Byzantine EmpireWikipedia: Battle of Andrassos - 1278
Trần Thánh Tông, the second emperor of the Trần dynasty, decides to pass the throne to his crown prince Trần Khâm and take up the post of Retired Emperor.
Asia · Trần dynastyWikipedia: Trần Thánh Tông - 1291
The Republic of Venice enacts a law confining most of Venice's glassmaking industry to the "island of Murano".
Europe · MuranoWikipedia: Republic of Venice - 1519
Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with a great celebration.
Latin America · TenochtitlanWikipedia: Aztecs - 1520
After being crowned king of Sweden, Christian II gave the order to execute nearly 100 people, mostly noblemen, despite promises of general amnesty.
Europe · Stockholm BloodbathWikipedia: Stockholm Bloodbath - 1576
Eighty Years' War: Pacification of Ghent: The States General of the Netherlands meet and unite to oppose Spanish occupation.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Pacification of Ghent - 1602
The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford is opened to the public.
Britain & Ireland · Bodleian LibraryWikipedia: Bodleian Library - 1605
Robert Catesby, ringleader of the Gunpowder Plotters, is killed.
Britain & Ireland · Gunpowder PlotWikipedia: Gunpowder Plot - 1614
Japanese daimyō Dom Justo Takayama is exiled to the Philippines by shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu for being Christian.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Daimyo - 1620
The Battle of White Mountain takes place near Prague, ending in a decisive Catholic victory in only two hours.
Europe · Battle of White MountainWikipedia: Battle of White Mountain - 1644
The Shunzhi Emperor, the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, is enthroned in Beijing after the collapse of the Ming dynasty as the first Qing emperor to rule over China.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Shunzhi Emperor - 1745
Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of approximately 5,000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden.
Britain & Ireland · Battle of CullodenWikipedia: Battle of Culloden - 1837
Mary Lyon founds Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which later becomes Mount Holyoke College.
North America · Mount Holyoke CollegeWikipedia: Mary Lyon - 1861
American Civil War: The "Trent Affair": The USS San Jacinto stops the British mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.
no place on the mapWikipedia: American Civil War - 1889
Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state.
North America · MontanaWikipedia: Montana - 1892
The Carmaux-Bons Enfants bombing marks the start of Émile Henry's attacks into the Ère des attentats (1892–1894).
Europe · Carmaux-Bons Enfants bombingWikipedia: Carmaux-Bons Enfants bombing - 1892
The New Orleans general strike begins, uniting black and white American trade unionists in a successful four-day general strike action for the first time.
North America · New OrleansWikipedia: 1892 New Orleans general strike - 1895
While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the X-ray.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Wilhelm Röntgen - 1901
Gospel riots: Bloody clashes take place in Athens following the translation of the Gospels into demotic Greek.
Europe · AthensWikipedia: Gospel riots - 1917
The first Council of People's Commissars is formed, including Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Council of People's Commissars - 1919
Eichenfeld massacre: Members of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine murder 136 Mennonite colonists at Jaskyowo, initiating a series of massacres that resulted in the deaths of 827 Ukrainian Mennonites.
Europe · Eichenfeld massacreWikipedia: Eichenfeld massacre - 1920
Rupert Bear, illustrated by Mary Tourtel makes his first appearance in print.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Rupert Bear - 1923
Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government.
Europe · Beer Hall PutschWikipedia: Beer Hall Putsch - 1932
Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected as the 32nd President of the United States, defeating incumbent president Herbert Hoover.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 1932 United States presidential election - 1932
The Australian military withdrew from their "war against emus" in Western Australia, due to negative press coverage of the operation.
Oceania · Emu WarWikipedia: Emu War - 1933
Great Depression: New Deal: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than four million unemployed.
no place on the mapWikipedia: New Deal - 1936
Spanish Civil War: Francoist troops fail in their effort to capture Madrid, but begin the three-year Siege of Madrid afterwards.
Europe · MadridWikipedia: Spanish Civil War - 1937
The Nazi exhibition Der ewige Jude ("The Eternal Jew") opens in Munich.
Europe · MunichWikipedia: The Eternal Jew - 1939
In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes the assassination attempt of Georg Elser while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
Europe · MunichWikipedia: Beer Hall Putsch - 1939
Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.
Europe · Venlo incidentWikipedia: Venlo incident - 1940
Greco-Italian War: The Italian invasion of Greece fails as outnumbered Greek units repulse the Italians in the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas.
Europe · Battle of Elaia–KalamasWikipedia: Greco-Italian War - 1942
World War II: French Resistance coup in Algiers, in which 400 civilian French patriots neutralize Vichyist XIXth Army Corps after 15 hours of fighting, and arrest several Vichyist generals, allowing the immediate success of Operation Torch in Algiers.
Africa · Operation TorchWikipedia: Operation Torch - 1950
Korean War: United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown, while piloting an F-80 Shooting Star, shoots down two North Korean MiG-15s in the first jet aircraft-to-jet aircraft dogfight in history.
Asia · North KoreaWikipedia: Korean War - 1957
Operation Grapple X, Round C1: The United Kingdom conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test over Kiritimati in the Pacific.
Oceania · KiritimatiWikipedia: Operation Grapple - 1957
Pan Am Flight 7 disappears between San Francisco and Honolulu. Wreckage and bodies are discovered a week later.
Oceans · Pan Am Flight 7Wikipedia: Pan Am Flight 7 - 1960
John F. Kennedy is elected as the 35th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, who would later be elected president in 1968 and 1972.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 1960 United States presidential election - 1963
Finnair's Aero Flight 217 crashes near Mariehamn Airport in Jomala, Åland, killing 22 people.
Europe · Aero Flight 217Wikipedia: Aero Flight 217 - 1965
American Airlines Flight 383 crashes in Constance, Kentucky, killing 58.
North America · American Airlines Flight 383Wikipedia: American Airlines Flight 383 - 1965
The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Operation Hump during the Vietnam War, while the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment fight one of the first set-piece engagements of the war between Australian forces and the Viet Cong at the Battle of Gang Toi.
Asia · Operation HumpWikipedia: Operation Hump - 1965
The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands.
Oceans · AldabraWikipedia: British Indian Ocean Territory - 1965
The Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 is given Royal Assent, formally abolishing the death penalty in the United Kingdom for almost all crimes.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 - 1966
Former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African American elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction.
North America · MassachusettsWikipedia: 1966 United States Senate election in Massachusetts - 1966
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law an antitrust exemption allowing the National Football League to merge with the upstart American Football League.
no place on the mapWikipedia: AFL–NFL merger - 1968
The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic is signed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by standardising the uniform traffic rules among the signatories.
Europe · ViennaWikipedia: Vienna Convention on Road Traffic - 1971
English rock group Led Zeppelin released their fourth album, which became one of the best-selling albums worldwide.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Led Zeppelin - 1972
American pay television network Home Box Office (HBO) launches.
no place on the mapWikipedia: HBO - 1973
The right ear of John Paul Getty III is delivered to a newspaper outlet along with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay US$2.9 million.
no place on the mapWikipedia: John Paul Getty III - 1974
British peer Lord Lucan disappeared without a trace, a day after allegedly murdering Sandra Rivett, his children's nanny.
no place on the mapWikipedia: John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan - 1977
Manolis Andronikos, a Greek archaeologist and professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.
Europe · Aristotle University of ThessalonikiWikipedia: Manolis Andronikos - 1981
Aeroméxico Flight 110 crashes near Zihuatanejo, Mexico, killing all 18 people on board.
Latin America · Aeroméxico Flight 110Wikipedia: Aeroméxico Flight 110 - 1983
TAAG Angola Airlines Flight 462 crashes after takeoff from Lubango Airport killing all 130 people on board. UNITA claims to have shot down the aircraft, though this is disputed.
Africa · Lubango AirportWikipedia: TAAG Flight 462 - 1987
Remembrance Day bombing: A Provisional IRA bomb explodes in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland during a ceremony honouring those who had died in wars involving British forces. Twelve people are killed and sixty-three wounded.
Britain & Ireland · Remembrance Day bombingWikipedia: Remembrance Day bombing - 1988
U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush is elected as the 41st president.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 1988 United States presidential election - 1994
Republican Revolution: On the night of the 1994 United States midterm elections, Republicans make historic electoral gains by securing massive majorities in both houses of Congress (54 seats in the House and eight seats in the Senate, additionally), thus bringing to a close four decades of Democratic domination.
North America · United States CongressWikipedia: Republican Revolution - 1997
Eritrea adopts the nakfa as its official currency.
Africa · EritreaWikipedia: Eritrea - 1999
Bruce Miller is killed at his junkyard near Flint, Michigan. His wife Sharee Miller, who convinced her online lover Jerry Cassaday to kill him (before later killing himself) was convicted of the crime, in what became the world's first Internet murder.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Sharee Miller - 1999
German newspaper Der Spiegel publishes a report by the Federal Intelligence Service accusing figures in Liechtenstein of cooperating with organized crime.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Der Spiegel - 2002
Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441: The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences".
Asia · Ba'athist IraqWikipedia: Iraq disarmament crisis - 2004
Iraq War: More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
Asia · FallujahWikipedia: Iraq War - 2006
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Israeli Defense Force kill 19 Palestinian civilians in their homes during the shelling of Beit Hanoun.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 2006 shelling of Beit Hanoun - 2011
The potentially hazardous asteroid 2005 YU55 passes 0.85 lunar distances from Earth (about 324,600 kilometres or 201,700 miles), the closest known approach by an asteroid of its brightness since 2010 XC15 in 1976.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Potentially hazardous object - 2013
Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, strikes the Visayas region of the Philippines; the storm left at least 6,340 people dead with over 1,000 still missing, and caused $2.86 billion (2013 USD; equivalent to $3.95 billion in 2025) in damage.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Typhoon Haiyan - 2016
Donald Trump is elected the 45th President of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton, the first woman ever to receive a major party's nomination.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 2016 United States presidential election - 2016
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly announces the withdrawal of ₹500 and ₹1000 denomination banknotes.
Asia · IndiaWikipedia: 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation - 2017
The Louvre Abu Dhabi was inaugurated by the French president Emmanuel Macron and then-crown prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Asia · Louvre Abu DhabiWikipedia: Louvre Abu Dhabi - 2020
Myanmar holds the 2020 general election, re-electing a government led by the National League for Democracy, which is deposed by the Burmese military the following February during the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 2020 Myanmar general election - 2020
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: Azerbaijani forces defeated the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh in the Battle of Shusha, reclaiming the town after 28 years.
Asia · Armenia–Azerbaijan borderWikipedia: Second Nagorno-Karabakh War
What the other Wikipedias remember
For these years the English list has nothing on this day. The events below come from the same day’s lists on Wikipedia in Spanish and were translated for this page.
- 1793
In Paris, the Louvre Museum opens to the public.
Who was born on 8 November
In order of how many Wikipedia editions have an article about each. The first 60 of 262 are shown.
- 1935
Alain Delon, French-Swiss actor, producer, screenwriter (died 2024)
SceauxWikipedia: Alain Delon - 1954
Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-British novelist, screenwriter, and short story writer
NagasakiWikipedia: Kazuo Ishiguro - 1847
Bram Stoker, Irish novelist and critic, created Count Dracula (died 1912)
ClontarfWikipedia: Bram Stoker - 1900
Margaret Mitchell, American journalist and author (died 1949)
AtlantaWikipedia: Margaret Mitchell - 1656
Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician (died 1742)
HaggerstonWikipedia: Edmond Halley - 1848
Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and philosopher (died 1925)
WismarWikipedia: Gottlob Frege - 30
Nerva, Roman emperor (died 98)
NarniWikipedia: Nerva - 1986
Aaron Swartz, American computer programmer and activist (died 2013)
Highland ParkWikipedia: Aaron Swartz - 1923
Jack Kilby, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2005)
Jefferson CityWikipedia: Jack Kilby - 1837
Ilia Chavchavadze, Georgian journalist, lawyer, and politician (died 1907)
KvareliWikipedia: Ilia Chavchavadze - 1922
Christiaan Barnard, South African surgeon and academic (died 2001)
Beaufort WestWikipedia: Christiaan Barnard - 1946
Guus Hiddink, Dutch footballer and manager
VarsseveldWikipedia: Guus Hiddink - 1974
Masashi Kishimoto, Japanese author and illustrator, created Naruto
- 1622
Charles X Gustav, King of Sweden (died 1660)
NyköpingWikipedia: Charles X Gustav - 1893
Prajadhipok, Thai king (died 1941)
Grand PalaceWikipedia: Prajadhipok - 1936
Virna Lisi, Italian actress (died 2014)
AnconaWikipedia: Virna Lisi - 1966
Gordon Ramsay, British chef, restaurateur, and television host/personality
JohnstoneWikipedia: Gordon Ramsay - 1847
Jean Casimir-Perier, French politician, 6th President of France (died 1907)
former 1st arrondissement of ParisWikipedia: Jean Casimir-Perier - 1884
Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (died 1922)
- 1981
Joe Cole, English footballer
London Borough of IslingtonWikipedia: Joe Cole - 1975
Tara Reid, American actress
WyckoffWikipedia: Tara Reid - 1897
Dorothy Day, American journalist and activist (died 1980)
Brooklyn HeightsWikipedia: Dorothy Day - 1927
Patti Page, American singer and actress (died 2013)
ClaremoreWikipedia: Patti Page - 1980
Luís Fabiano, Brazilian footballer
CampinasWikipedia: Luís Fabiano - 1942
Sandro Mazzola, Italian footballer and sportscaster (died 2026)
- 1952
Alfre Woodard, American actress
- 1989
SZA, American singer-songwriter
St. LouisWikipedia: SZA - 1924
Dmitry Yazov, Marshal of the Soviet Union (died 2020)
YazovoWikipedia: Dmitry Yazov - 1854
Johannes Rydberg, Swedish physicist and academic (died 1919)
HalmstadWikipedia: Johannes Rydberg - 1868
Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician and academic (died 1942)
WrocławWikipedia: Felix Hausdorff - 1975
José Manuel Pinto, Spanish footballer
El Puerto de Santa MaríaWikipedia: José Manuel Pinto - 1932
Stéphane Audran, French actress (died 2018)
VersaillesWikipedia: Stéphane Audran - 1968
Parker Posey, American actress
BaltimoreWikipedia: Parker Posey - 1908
Martha Gellhorn, American journalist and author (died 1998)
St. LouisWikipedia: Martha Gellhorn - 1989
Morgan Schneiderlin, French footballer
- 1949
Bonnie Raitt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
BurbankWikipedia: Bonnie Raitt - 1983
Pavel Pogrebnyak, Russian footballer
- 1885
Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general and politician, 4th Japanese Military Governors of the Philippines (died 1946)
AkatsukaWikipedia: Tomoyuki Yamashita - 1922
Ademir Marques de Menezes, Brazilian footballer, coach, and sportscaster (died 1996)
- 1927
L. K. Advani, Indian lawyer and politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of India
KarachiWikipedia: L. K. Advani - 1956
Richard Curtis, New Zealand-English screenwriter, film and television producer, and film director
WellingtonWikipedia: Richard Curtis - 1972
Gretchen Mol, American model and actress
Deep RiverWikipedia: Gretchen Mol - 1978
Ali Karimi, Iranian footballer and manager
TehranWikipedia: Ali Karimi - 1943
Martin Peters, English footballer and manager (died 2019)
LondonWikipedia: Martin Peters - 1960
Michael Nyqvist, Swedish actor and producer (died 2017)
StockholmWikipedia: Michael Nyqvist - 1974
Matthew Rhys, Welsh actor
CardiffWikipedia: Matthew Rhys - 1979
Aaron Hughes, Irish footballer
CookstownWikipedia: Aaron Hughes - 1979
Dania Ramirez, Dominican actress
Santo DomingoWikipedia: Dania Ramirez - 1572
John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg (died 1619)
Halle (Saale)Wikipedia: John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg - 1883
Charles Demuth, American painter (died 1935)
LancasterWikipedia: Charles Demuth - 1947
Margaret Rhea Seddon, American physician and astronaut
MurfreesboroWikipedia: Rhea Seddon - 1960
Oleg Menshikov, Russian actor, singer, and director
SerpukhovWikipedia: Oleg Menshikov - 1978
Tim de Cler, Dutch footballer
LeidenWikipedia: Tim de Cler - 1982
Ted DiBiase, Jr., American wrestler and actor
Baton RougeWikipedia: Ted DiBiase Jr. - 1983
Remko Pasveer, Dutch footballer
EnschedeWikipedia: Remko Pasveer - 1883
Arnold Bax, English composer and poet (died 1953)
StreathamWikipedia: Arnold Bax - 1914
Norman Lloyd, American actor, director, and producer (died 2021)
Jersey CityWikipedia: Norman Lloyd - 1947
Minnie Riperton, American singer-songwriter (died 1979)
ChicagoWikipedia: Minnie Riperton - 1715
Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern (died 1797)
- 1971
Tech N9ne, American musician, record producer, and actor
Kansas CityWikipedia: Tech N9ne
What is celebrated on 8 November
- Christian feast day: Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity (Roman Catholic Church)
- Christian feast day: Four Crowned Martyrs
- Christian feast day: Godfrey of Amiens
- Christian feast day: Johann von Staupitz (Lutheran)
- Christian feast day: Blessed John Duns Scotus
- Christian feast day: Saints and Martyrs of England (Church of England)
- Christian feast day: Tysilio
- Christian feast day: Willehad of Bremen
- Christian feast day: November 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Intersex Day of Remembrance (New South Wales, Australia)
- International Day of Radiology (European Society of Radiology)
- National Aboriginal Veterans Day (Canada)
- Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the other Bodiless Powers of Heaven (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- World Urbanism Day
A greeting link for someone
Type a name and, if you like, the year of birth. The link opens with a greeting, and beside each event it says how old the person turned that day, or how many years before their birth it happened.
The name and the year go only into the link you send.
All 366 days
How the globe is made
Where the events come from
Each edition of this page uses the day’s list from Wikipedia in its own language: Romanian, English, Spanish, Chinese. The lists are written by volunteers and differ from one edition to the next; the text of each event is Wikipedia’s, with a link to the article. A row that appears twice in a list is shown once. The lists have not been checked event by event: they are Wikipedia’s, mistakes included.
For events before 1582, and for countries that moved to the Gregorian calendar later (Britain in 1752, Russia in 1918), the same day may be counted Old Style in one list and New Style in another.
The chapter “What the other Wikipedias remember” adds up to five events a day from the lists of the other three editions, only for years in which the English list has nothing on that day. They were translated for this page, passed the same filters as the tour, and are not counted among the events of the English list.
How an event gets onto the map
The place comes from Wikidata. If the sentence links to the article about the event itself (a battle, an opening, an earthquake), dated to the same year, the ray stands on its coordinates or on those of its location. Otherwise it stands on the first place the sentence links to: a town, a building, a mountain, an island. This second step can be wrong: sometimes the sentence only mentions the place. That is why the page says, under each event, which place the ray stands on.
When the sentence links to a single state or province, or to a single sea, lake or desert larger than 5,000 km², the globe shows a dashed circle, not a ray. The circle has the area Wikidata gives, with its radius kept between 1.2° and 16°, or a radius of 4.5° when Wikidata gives no area; it says only that the sentence links to that place. Organisations, ships, spacecraft, museum objects, rivers, mountain ranges, languages and continents are never used as places. When a sentence names several states and no exact place, the event stays in the list only.
What the height means
The height of a ray shows how many years have passed, on a logarithmic scale: 10 years, 100 years and 1,000 years are equal steps apart; anything older than about 2,600 years has the tallest ray. The colour runs from pale yellow for recent years to violet for antiquity.
Where the tour stops
In each region the tour stops at up to three events (five in Britain and Ireland), chosen mainly by three things: whether Wikipedia’s editors put the event in the “On this day” box of their main page (the English, Spanish and Chinese editions), how many Wikipedia editions have an article about it, and how many of the four lists include it. Events whose sentence or article is about a war, an attack, a crime or a disaster are left out of the tour; they stay in the whole list, in Wikipedia’s wording. The filter is a list of words and a list of Wikidata types, so it can miss some.
The tour of births names the people with articles in the most editions and leaves aside those whom the list or Wikidata describes as rulers, politicians, commanders, leaders of movements or criminals; they stay in the list.
The Earth and the Sun
The daytime images are NASA’s Blue Marble Next Generation mosaics, one for each month of 2004; the night side is Black Marble 2016. The tilt of the line between day and night is computed for the day; the hour is chosen so that the place being read is in daylight. The latitude where the Sun stands overhead is the average of the four years of the leap cycle; in a given year it can differ by up to 0.4°.
The day you were born
The number ones come from the weekly lists on Wikipedia: Billboard for the United States (from 1940; the Hot 100 from August 1958), the UK Singles Chart (from November 1952), Los 40 Principales for Spain (from July 1966) and, for Romania, the Romanian Top 100 and Airplay 100 (2001–2021, with missing weeks). The page shows the chart of the week in which the day of birth falls, with its date; Billboard and the UK chart are dated at the end of their week. For Romania before 2001 and for China these sources have no weekly chart.
The films are those that reached cinemas in the United States up to ten days before or three days after that day (some of them in a few cinemas at first), from the English Wikipedia’s yearly lists (from 1968), in order of how many editions have an article about them. The events “in those days” are the ones on the neighbouring days’ lists that carry the year of birth, passed through the same filter as the tour.
The day of birth, year included
The Moon, the star sign and the constellation are worked out by the page itself, for noon Universal Time on the day. The lit part of the Moon is rounded and can differ by a few per cent from that at the hour of birth. The sign follows the usual zodiac of twelve equal parts starting at the March equinox; the constellation is the one the Sun actually stood in front of, by the borders set by the International Astronomical Union, and within a day of a border the page does not name it. When the Sun changes sign while it is that day anywhere on Earth, the page gives the moment of crossing, rounded to ten minutes and accurate to within about a quarter of an hour, and the clock time in a few cities, with the time zone and summer time of that year.
The year in the Chinese calendar is the one your device’s own calendar gives for the date, checked against the Hong Kong Observatory’s tables. “All your birthdays” uses the same sources as the rest of the chapter for the same day in every year since the birth: the temperature, well-known launches that took place on that very day, matches of the teams the edition follows, snow deeper than 10 cm and strong geomagnetic storms. The three things at the top and the four on the picture are chosen in a fixed order (the song, the animal, a full Moon, a well-known launch before an ordinary earthquake); on the picture you can change them.
When the link carries a year of birth, the page adds a few things about that exact day. The weather is the Met Office’s Central England temperature record and the readings from New York’s Central Park; the “usual high” is the average of the daily highs of 1961–1990 for that date, with two days either side. The carbon dioxide figure is the monthly mean at the Mauna Loa observatory, where measurements begin in March 1958.
The earthquake is the one with the largest magnitude in the USGS catalogue for that day, counted in Universal Time. Before the 1960s the catalogue has gaps even above magnitude 5.5, so in the older years many days have no earthquake. The page gives only the magnitude and the place: the country the epicentre falls in or, when the epicentre is at sea within 300 km of a coast, the nearest country; farther out, only the ocean.
The launches are those that reached orbit or left for the Moon and the planets, from Jonathan McDowell’s GCAT catalogue. If nothing left that day, the page shows the nearest launch within three days before or after, and says how many days away it was. The geomagnetic storm appears only when the Kp index reached at least 5 in one of the day’s eight three-hour intervals.
The animal comes from GBIF: an observation made by a person (the animal seen or heard, or its tracks), dated to that exact day, with coordinates and a CC0 or CC BY licence. Only a few hundred well-known species are searched (mammals, birds, turtles, butterflies); of those noted that day, mammals and species with articles in many Wikipedia editions come first; birds noted almost every day, and species used recently, wait their turn. Observations dated 1 January are left out, because records without a day are often filed there. An observation shows that the animal was recorded there, not how many animals there were.
The matches are those between national teams. Only matches of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, Canada and Australia are shown, along with those at the big final tournaments. The picture to send is drawn in the page from the day’s globe and the facts above, and stays on your device until you send it.
Sources
- Events, births and holidays: the day’s page on Wikipedia, text under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Coordinates, places of birth and the number of editions: Wikidata (CC0).
- The Earth by day: NASA Blue Marble Next Generation. The Earth by night: NASA Black Marble 2016.
- Borders and regions: Natural Earth.
- World population and births per year: UN World Population Prospects 2024.
- Charts and films: Wikipedia’s lists for Billboard, the UK Singles Chart, Los 40 Principales, Romanian Top 100, Airplay 100 and American films by year (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Weather: Met Office Hadley Centre, HadCET (Open Government Licence) and NOAA GHCN-Daily, New York Central Park. Carbon dioxide: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Mauna Loa.
- Earthquakes: the USGS catalogue. Launches: Jonathan McDowell, GCAT (CC BY). Kp index: GFZ Potsdam (CC BY 4.0). Matches: International football results, Mart Jürisoo (CC0).
- Animal observations: GBIF, with a link to each record; species names come from Wikidata.