8 June in history
6 events that happened on 8 June, from 632 to 1968.
International day
World Oceans Day
Officially recognised by the United Nations in 2008, World Oceans Day highlights the ocean's critical role in sustaining life on Earth and promotes global action to protect marine ecosystems from pollution and overexploitation.
✦ Anniversary of the day
793 CE 1,233 years ago
Vikings raid the monastery of Lindisfarne
Norse raiders attacked the island monastery off Northumbria, killing monks and seizing treasure. The shock across Christian Europe has made the raid a symbolic start of the Viking Age.
1845 CE 181 years ago
Andrew Jackson dies at the Hermitage
The seventh US president died at his Tennessee plantation aged 78. Victor at New Orleans and champion of the 'common man', he also drove the forced removal of Native Americans.
1949 CE 77 years ago
Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is published
Secker and Warburg published George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian surveillance state. Terms such as 'Big Brother' and 'doublethink' passed into everyday language.
1968 CE 58 years ago
James Earl Ray is arrested at Heathrow
Martin Luther King's killer was caught at London Heathrow travelling on a false Canadian passport. He pleaded guilty in 1969 and was sentenced to 99 years.
