# August the 8th in history **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737 "2010-10-20T03:26:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/1 "2010-10-20T03:26:58Z")
Does anyone know if 8/8 is the anniversary of anything significant in history? I’m hoping to tease a friend about their birthday commemorating bad things. Thanks, AllFree ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/2 "2010-10-20T03:32:44Z")
8th Aug. 1974 : Richard Nixon Announces his resignation following the Watergate Scandal During a nationally televised broadcast 8th Aug. 1963 : The date of “The Great Train Robbery” in United Kingdom when thieves held up a train carrying the Royal Mail and stole 120 mail sacks , the mail sacks contained cash and gems valued in excess of 7 Million. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/3 "2010-10-20T04:00:23Z")
Wikipedia has a page fore every day of the year: [August 8 - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_8) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/4 "2010-10-20T04:05:44Z")
Not a date, but “88” is a popular white-supremist tattoo, which certainly counts as a “commemerating bad things” ---
**Author:** ![AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/5 "2010-10-20T04:09:28Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Wikipedia has a page fore every day of the year: [August 8 - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_8) Thank you! this resource alone gives me a massive load of ammo, from this point on I guess we could go for anything not on that page, or more abstract like the 88 tattoo stuff, assuming anyone wants to go on. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/6 "2010-10-20T08:16:48Z")
> [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](#): > > Does anyone know if 8/8 is the anniversary of anything significant in history? I’m hoping to tease a friend about their birthday commemorating bad things. > > Thanks, > AllFree Yes ! I was born on that day, and the rest is history . ---
**Author:** ![AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/7 "2010-10-20T08:18:10Z")
> [@indian](#): > > Yes ! I was born on that day, and the rest is history . But considering the objective here, have you done anything significantly bad? That would be a real help 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/8 "2010-10-20T09:23:20Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Wikipedia has a page fore every day of the year: [August 8 - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_8) Wow, a lot of stuff happened on my birthday, and I share it with a lot of interesting people - [oct 27](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_27) ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/9 "2010-10-20T11:16:12Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Wow, a lot of stuff happened on my birthday, and I share it with a lot of interesting people - [oct 27](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_27) Lucky bastard. All I get is a long, long list of soccer, football and baseball players. The only one of the lot worth sharing a birthday with is Yngwie Malmsteen, and I don’t even like his music. I also gots the damn _Night of the Long Knives_. Good vibes, man, good vibes. Oooh, the Soyuz 11 incident, too. Only known death in space, cool auspices to be born under. Let’s see, what else, a few murders, a couple battles, a joust… Congo got its independance, so I guess there’s an upside… no, no, a few lines down Hong Kong doesn’t and goes to China, so scratch that. It’s crap all the way down. Good thing I was born to make that one day considerably better throughout the ages. I should probably edit that Wiki page to reflect that. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/10 "2010-10-20T11:20:38Z")
August 8th is a NOFX song: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upHebizA6TA) ETA: moderately nsfw lyrics (occasional f-bomb) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/11 "2010-10-20T13:02:54Z")
It’s Terry Nation’s birthday. He invented the Daleks. You just can’t get more evil than that. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/12 "2010-10-20T14:09:50Z")
Terry Nation, making evil cute since… what year? ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/13 "2010-10-20T20:37:26Z")
8/8 is my birthday, and every year in the list of “famous people born on this day” I have to see that Scott Stapp, probably the biggest douchebag in modern pop music, was born on my birthday. I don’t think you can go lower than that. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/august-the-8th-in-history/557737/14 "2010-10-20T20:43:45Z")
OK, John Holmes was also born on August 8, so you all need to settle down. Also, the Battle of Lihula. > **[Battle of Lihula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lihula)** > > Campaign against the Semigallians > Campaign against the Lithuanians > The Battle of Lihula or Battle of Leal was fought between invading Swedes and Estonians for the control of a castle in Lihula, Estonia in 1220. The exact date remains uncertain, though some historians suggest that the battle took place on August 8. The event is described in the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia and the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle. > Swedish troops, initially led by King John, had earlier in 1220 invaded the western coa... > **[John Holmes (actor)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Holmes_(actor))** > > John Curtis Holmes (né Estes; August 8, 1944 – March 13, 1988), better known as John C. Holmes or Johnny Wadd (after the lead character he portrayed in a series of related films), was an American pornographic film actor. He ranks among the most prolific adult film performers, with documented credits for at least 573 films. > Holmes was best known for his exceptionally large penis, which was heavily promoted for its length and thickness. However, no documented measurement of Holmes' actual pen...