A British man legally changed his name to Bacon Double Cheeseburger
The 33-year-old from London said he wanted a name that "stands out and reflects my love of burgers." He spent £89 on the deed poll change and insisted...
May 8 in History
Significant events that happened on this day.
Historical Events
2016
1998
Mercedes-Benz bought Chrysler for $37 billion in what was called a merger of equals
The deal was hailed as creating the world's largest car company and the "merger of the century." It turned out to be a disaster. Cultural clashes, fal...
1987
A man tried to rob a bank in Michigan by writing the holdup note on the back of his own birth certificate
The would-be robber handed the teller a note demanding money, not realizing he'd used his birth certificate as paper. Police had his full name, birth...
1980
The World Health Organization officially declared that smallpox had been eradicated from the planet
MajorThis marked the first and only time humanity has successfully eliminated a disease entirely through vaccination. The last naturally occurring case was...
1978
Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler became the first people to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen
Medical experts had predicted that climbing above 26,000 feet without oxygen would cause brain damage or death. The feat was so extraordinary that som...
1945
Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies, ending World War II in Europe
MajorKnown as V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day), the surrender was signed in Berlin and took effect at 11:01 PM. Celebrations erupted across Europe and North...
1933
Mahatma Gandhi began a 21-day fast to protest British oppression in India
The 63-year-old independence leader's self-purification fast drew worldwide attention to India's struggle for independence. His condition became so cr...
1902
Mount Pelée erupted in Martinique, killing nearly 30,000 people in minutes
MajorThe volcanic eruption completely destroyed the city of Saint-Pierre, known as the "Paris of the Caribbean." Only two people in the city survived: a pr...
1886
Pharmacist John Pemberton first sold Coca-Cola as a brain tonic at a pharmacy in Atlanta
Originally marketed as a cure for headaches and nervousness, the beverage sold for five cents a glass. Pemberton's bookkeeper came up with the name an...
1879
George Selden filed the first patent for an automobile in the United States
Selden's clever patent covered a "road engine" powered by internal combustion, even though he never actually built a working car. He then delayed the...
1846
The Battle of Palo Alto became the first major battle of the Mexican-American War
Fought in Texas, the American artillery proved devastatingly effective, and the Mexican forces withdrew after suffering heavy casualties. This war wou...
1794
French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, was guillotined during the Reign of Terror
Despite his groundbreaking work on combustion and naming oxygen and hydrogen, he was executed for being a tax collector under the old regime. The judg...
1660
Charles II was proclaimed King of England after 11 years of republican rule
Following Oliver Cromwell's death and the collapse of the Commonwealth, Parliament invited Charles to return from exile. His restoration brought back...
1541
Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto became the first European to reach the Mississippi River
De Soto and his expedition encountered the mighty river near present-day Memphis, Tennessee. He died a year later and was buried in the river to preve...