| 8 June 597 | Scotland [births and deaths] | St Columba, Irish abbot and important missionary, traditionally considered chiefly responsible for converting Scotland to the Christian faith, dies on the island of Iona, in modern Scotland (c. 76). |
| 8 June 632 | Arabia [births and deaths] | Muhammad, founder of Islam, dies in Medina, Arabia (62). |
| 8 June 1042 | England, Denmark [political events] | Harthacnut, King of England and Denmark, dies. He is succeeded in England by his adopted heir, Edward the Confessor, son of Aethelred II the Unready, and in Denmark by Magnus I, King of Norway. |
| 8 June 1201 | Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Germany [treaties] | By the Diploma of Neuss, King Otto IV cedes imperial authority in Italy to the papacy. In return, Pope Innocent III agrees to recognize Otto as ‘king of the Romans’ (king of Germany) instead of his rival Philip Hohenstaufen, Duke of Swabia. |
| 8 June 1809 | USA, UK [births and deaths] | Thomas Paine, British-born American political pamphleteer whose writings influenced the American Revolution, dies in Boston, Massachusetts (72). |
| 8 June 1886 | UK [legislation] | British prime minister William Ewart Gladstone's Liberal government is defeated on the second reading of the Irish Home Rule Bill, with 93 Liberals, including John Bright, Joseph Chamberlain, and the Marquess of Hartington voting with the opposition. |
| 8 June 1930 | Romania [political events] | Crown Prince Carol, strongly supported by the army and the peasantry, is elected king of Romania as Carol II by the national assembly, which sets aside his son Michael, king since 1927. |
| 8 June 1959 | USA [aircraft] | The US X-15 rocket plane makes its first flight. Only three of the planes are built, but over the next ten years they achieve a speed of 7,200 kph/4,500 mph (Mach 6) and an altitude of 106,700 m/350,000 ft. |
| 8 June 1963 | USA [public health] | The American Heart Association begins its first public campaign against smoking tobacco. |
| 8 June 1977 | Uganda [political events] | Uganda is excluded from the Commonwealth conference for its human-rights abuses. |
| 8 June 1985 | UK [popular music] | The British pop group Dire Straits releases the album Brothers in Arms. It becomes the first CD to sell 1 million copies. |
| 8 June 1990 | USSR [political events] | The Russian parliament votes that its laws should take precedence over those of the USSR; on 12 June, the Russian Federation formally declares itself a sovereign state. |
| 8 June 1999 | UK [crime and punishment] | British politician Jonathan Aitken becomes the first former MP this century to be sent to prison, for perjury and perverting the course of justice. He is sentenced to 18 months in an open prison in West Sussex. |
| 8 June 2000 | Greece [terrorism] | Members of Greek guerrilla group November 17 shoot dead British diplomat Stephen Saunders in Athens, Greece. Fellow UN countries condemn the Greek government for failing to act against such terrorist groups. |
