You don't have Javascript enabled. To view this site requires Javascript to be enabled.
MjIxMi0tLTU1NC0tLTE=.jpg
If you can't access speech audio, click here to get Real Player
sponsored by peru

8th June


632: Founder of Islam dies


In Medina, Muhammad dies in the arms of Aishah, his third and favourite wife. In 610, in a cave north of Mecca, he had a vision in which God commanded him to become the Arab prophet of the true religion. Muhammad regarded himself as the last prophet of the Judaic-Christian tradition, and his inspired teachings brought unity to the Bedouin tribesmen of Arabia. After gaining followers in Mecca he was forced to flee to Medina, where he administered a rapidly growing empire. In 630, he returned to Mecca as a conqueror, and by his death in 632 he was the effective ruler of all southern Arabia. During the next century, vast conquests continued under Muhammad's successors, and by 732 the Muslim empire was among the largest the world had ever seen. Today, Islam is the world's second-largest religion.

1999

British politician Jonathan Aitken is sentenced to 18 months in jail for perjury - after lying to the High Court during his libel trial.

1994

United States President Bill Clinton receives an honorary Oxford University degree.

1982

Falklands War: Almost 50 British troops are killed at Bluff Cove when Argentinian aircraft bomb British troops ships.

1968

James Earl Ray, wanted for the murder of black American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, is arrested in London travelling under as assumed name with a Canadian passport.

1965

American troops in Vietnam are given authorisation to engage in offensive operations.

1942

World War II: Japanese submarines fire at the Australian city of Sydney.

1926

Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba gives her final stage performance at Covent Garden in London.

1925

In Britain, Margaret Bondfield becomes the first woman Cabinet Minister when she is appointed Minister of Labour.

1924

The last sighting of English climber George Mallory - seen 800 feet from the summit of Mount Everest during his third attempt to become the first man to conquer the world's highest mountain.

1915

World War I: Allied troops capture the town of Neuville in France from the Germans.

1536

English Parliament agrees that the succession to the throne should go to the future children of King Hnery VIII and his new wife Jane Seymour - declaring Princesses Mary and Elizabeth (by previous wives) to be illegitimate.

1960

English singer Mick Hucknall.

1940

Nancy Sinatra - daughter of American singer Frank Sinatra.

1933

American comedienne Joan Rivers.

1921

Indonesian president General Suharto.

1916

British scientist Francis Crick. Nobel Prize winner in 1962.

1867

American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

1772

Scottish engineer and inventor Robert Stephenson.

1988

British broadcaster Russell Harty.

1969

Actor Rober Taylor dies of lung cancer aged 57.

1954

British mathematician Alan Turing commits suicide aged 41.

1845

Andrew Jackson, aged 78 - 7th President of the United States of America.

1809

English political writer Thomas Paine - author of The Rights of Man (1792).

1742

Italian violin maker Omobono Stradivari - son of Antonius - aged 62.

1376

The Black Prince - son of King Edward of England, aged 46.

632

Mohammed, prophet of Islam