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Today in History: July 8

1099 Christian Crusaders march around Jerusalem as Muslims watch from within the city.

1663 The British crown grants Rhode Island a charter guaranteeing freedom of worship.

1709 Peter the Great defeats Charles XII at Poltava, in the Ukraine, effectively ending the Swedish empire.

1758 The British attack on Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga, New York, is foiled by the French.

1863 Demoralized by the surrender of Vicksburg, Confederates in Port Hudson, Louisiana, surrender to Union forces.

1865 Four of the conspirators in President Abraham Lincoln's assassination are hanged in Washington, D.C.

1918 Ernest Hemingway is wounded in Italy while working as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross.

1960 The Soviet Union charges American pilot Francis Gary Powers with espionage.

1982 Porn star John Homes convicted of receiving stolen property

2015 The NFL's Washington Redskins have their trademark vacated on the grounds it may cause offence to native Americans

2021 Global known death toll from COVID-19 passes 4 million (equal to all deaths in battle since 1982)

2021 Japan says the Olympics will be held without spectators as Tokyo announces state of emergency due to a surge in COVID-19

Born on July 8

1839 John D. Rockefeller, financier, philanthropist, founder of Standard Oil.

1908 Nelson Rockefeller, U.S. vice president to Gerald Ford.

JOTD
A university professor is in the habit of staring his classes with a sexist joke,

and very soon his female students get tired of it. To teach him a lesson they all agree to walk out of the class the next time he starts telling one of his dirty stories. However, the professor gets wind of this plan and decides to catch them out. At the next class he starts his lecture by saying, 'Y know, I heard that they're so short of whores in China, they're having to ship them in from abroad...' All the female students stand up and start to leave. 'Hey, not so fast ladies!' shouts the professor. 'The boat doesn't leave till tomorrow!'