February 8: What Happened On This Day in History?

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The first thing I found in my research, and thought it was VERY interesting to know, is that on this date in history, in the year 1915, the silent movie entitled “Birth of a Nation” premiered in Los Angeles, California, a groundbreaking event, for the movie industry. For those in England, this was the day, in 1587, that Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle after she was accused and convicted of a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. For us here in Virginia, February 8th, 1693, was the day that the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA was granted a charter. This college, one of the oldest in the U.S, is about an hour’s drive from my house. The Boy Scouts of America were incorporated on Feb 8th, 1910. For those in Italy, what happened on February 8th, 1989 was a terrible tragedy when a chartered plane, flew into a fog-covered mountain in the Azores, killing 144 people, mostly Italian tourists. Nick Nolte, American actor was born on February 8th, along with Mary Steenburgen, Ted Koppel and author, John Grisham. Do you know of anything else of special note that happened on February 8th?