On This Day: 8 May

Joan of Arc leads the Dauphin's troops to victory over the English at Orleans		1429
An army of men from Kent and neighbouring counties marches on London, beginning Jack Cade's rebellion against the government of Henry VI		1450
Queen Elizabeth I signs the Act of Uniformity – setting the order of prayer to be used in the Book of Common Prayer, and mandating church attendance once a week, with a 12 pence fine for deafulters		1559
British monarchy restored		1660
French National Assembly accepts Talleyrand's proposal and asks the Académie des Sciences to "deduce an invariable standard for all measures and weights"		1790
French chemist Antoine Lavoisier (also a tax collector with the Ferme Générale) – branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror – is tried, convicted and guillotined in one day in Paris		1794
Kamchamcha, the king who united Hawaii, dies		1819
Working Men's Association issues the People's Charter		1838
Between 50 and 200 lives are lost when a train derails and catches fire in Paris		1842
Battle of Palo Alto: Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande, in the first major battle of the Mexican–American War		1846
Bermuda's Pearl defeats the USA's Brenda in the first international yacht race		1849
Tuganini, the last Tasmanian aborigine, dies		1876
Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named 'Coca–Cola' as a patent medicine		1886
The first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens, at Gilmore's Gardens in New York		1877
The first games of the Italian football league system are played		1898
The Irish Literary Theatre opens in Dublin		1899
The eruption of Mount Pelée destroys the city of St. Pierre, Martinique, and kills 38,000		1902
Eugene–Henri Paul Gauguin dies at his Polynesian home		1903
Paramount Pictures is founded		1912
Sweden abolishes the death penalty		1921
The Communist Party of Romania is founded		1921
South Africa adopts Afrikaans as its official language		1924
French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off from Paris aboard the biplane L'Oiseau Blanc in an attempt to make the first non–stop transatlantic flight		1927
Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21–day fast of self–purification, launching a one–year campaign to help the people he dubbed the Harijans ('children of God') – previously known as the Untouchables		1933
The Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby		1941
The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end as Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington		1942
Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed – the only Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during World War II		1942
Allied nations celebrate VE Day		1945
Thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax, Nova Scotia		1945
Hundreds of civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Algerian market town of Sétif		1945
The Prague Uprising comes to an end after three days, as Czech and German leaders sign a ceasefire allowing German forces to withdraw from the city		1945
John Osborne's Look back in anger premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London		1956
Diplomat George Blake jailed for over 40 years for espionage		1961
The New Revolution – the first steel coaster with a vertical loop – opens at the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in California		1976
Dutch art dealer Peter Menten goes on trial in Amsterdam for murdering Polish Jews in 1941		1977
Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler make the first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen		1978
The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox		1980
Official opening of the Thames flood barrier		1984
Twelve weeks before the start of the Los Angeles Olympics, the Soviet Union announces that its athletes will not be competing		1984
Democrat Gary Hart withdraws his bid for the Presidency after revelations of his affair with model Donna Rice		1987
Eight Provisional IRA members and one civilian are killed in a battle with police and soldiers at Loughgall in Co. Armagh, after an attempted bomb attack on a police station		1987
Estonia adopts its 1938 constitution and affirms independence		1990
SAS veteran Dr. Thomas Shanks, 47, arrested in Glasgow for the murder of his girlfriend Vicky Fletcher, 21, in a pub car park in Castleford, West Yorkshire		1998
NATO missiles mistakenly bomb the Chinese embassy in Belgrade		1999
Foreign nationals are evacuated from Sierra Leone as the civil war escalates		2000

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On This Day: 8 May