Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/April 8
This is a list of selected April 8 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
April 8: Fast of the Firstborn and Birkat HaChammah begin at dawn (Judaism, 2009); Passover begins at sunset (Judaism, 2009); Hanamatsuri in Japan
- 217 – Roman Emperor Caracalla (bust pictured) was assassinated at a roadside near Harran.
- 1093 – Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire, one of the largest cathedrals in England, was dedicated by Bishop Walkelin.
- 1341 – Italian scholar and poet Petrarch took the title poet laureate at a ceremony in Rome.
- 1886 – British Prime Minister William Gladstone introduced the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
- 1904 – France and the United Kingdom signed the entente cordiale, agreeing to a peaceful coexistence after centuries of intermittent conflict.
- 1904 – British occultist and writer Aleister Crowley began transcribing The Book of the Law, a Holy Book in Thelema.