This Day in History for 20th March

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All Events Birthdays
Weddings Deaths

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 180

141 - 6th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1345 - Saturn/Jupiter/Mars-conjunction: thought "cause of plague epidemic"
1525 - Paris' parliament begins pursuit of Protestants
1569 - Duke van Alva leads "tenth penning" in Ponts the Cé
1598 - French king Henri IV & duke van Mercour sign treaty
1600 - The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden.
1602 - United Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) forms
1616 - Walter Raleigh released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana
1627 - France & Spain signs accord for fighting protestantism
1697 - Willem de Vlamingh returns to Batavia after exploring "South Land"
1739 - Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.
1760 - Great Fire of Boston destroys 349 buildings
1800 - French army defeats Turks at Helipolis Turkey, & advance to Cairo
1814 - Prince Willem Frederik becomes monarch of Netherlands
1815 - Napoleon enters Paris after escape from Elba, begins 100-day rule
1816 - US Supreme Court affirms its right to review state court decisions
1833 - US & Siam sign commercial treaty
1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published (Boston)
1861 - An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina.
1863 - Battle of Pensacola FL -evacuated by Federals
1865 - 2nd day of Battle of Bentonville NC
1865 - Michigan authorizes workers' cooperatives
Outlaw Jesse James 1868 - Jesse James Gang robs bank in Russelville Kentucky of $14,000
1883 - Unity treaty of Paris signed: protects industrial property
1885 - John Matzeliger of Suriname patents shoe lacing machine
1885 - Yiddish theater opens in NY with Golldfaden operetta
1886 - 1st AC power plant in US begins commercial operation, Mass
1888 - Start of the Sherlock Holmes Adventure, "A Scandal in Bohemia"
1888 - The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta staged in Moscow, Russia.
1890 - General Federation of Womans' Clubs founded
1890 - German emperor Wilhelm II fires republic chancellor Otto Von Bismarck
1896 - Marines land in Nicaragua to protect US citizens
1896 - Uprising in Matabeleland
1897 - 1st US orthodox Jewish Rabbinical seminary (RIETS) incorporates in NY
1897 - 1st known intercollegiate basketball game, Yale beats Penn 32-10
1897 - France signs treaty with emperor Menelik II of Abyssinia
1906 - George B Shaws "Captain Brassbound's Conversion," premieres in London
Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck 1911 - National Squash Tennis Association forms (NYC)
1911 - Winter Garden Theater opens at 1634 Broadway NYC
1914 - 1st international figure-skating tournament held in US, New Haven
1916 - Allies attack Zeebrugge Belgium
1920 - 1st flight from London to South Africa lands (took 1½ months)
1920 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld
1920 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger
1922 - USS Langley is commissioned, Navy's 1st aircraft Carrier
1922 - WIP-AM in Philadelphia PA begins radio transmissions
1923 - Bavarian minister of Interior refuses to forbid Nazi SA
1923 - Belgian Senate rejects Dutch University in Ghent
1924 - Finnair begins scheduled flight of Helsinki-Tallinn
1924 - Stanley Cup: Mont Canadiens (NHL) sweep Vanc Millionaires (PCHA) in 2
1930 - Clessie Cummins sets diesel engine speed record of 129.39 kph
1931 - Bishop Schreiber warns against national-socialism in Berlin
1932 - Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Region in RSFSR becomes Kara-Kalpak ASSR
1933 - Dachau, 1st concentration camp, completed
1934 - Rudolf Kuhnold demonstrates radar in Kiel Germany
1934 - Test of practical radar apparatus made by Rudolf Kuhnold in Germany
1934 - Female Babe Didrickson pitches hitless inning for Phila A's in exhibition game against Brooklyn Dodgers
1935 - "Your Hit Parade" made its debut on radio
1937 - Franco-offensive at Guadalajara Spain
1939 - 7,000 Jews flee German occupied Memel Lithuania
1940 - Paul Reynoud becomes French premier
1941 - Nazi-German/Yugoslav pact drawn
1942 - Convoy PQ13 departs Reykjavik Iceland to Russia
1942 - Gen MacArthur vows, "I shall return"
1942 - Major German assault on Malta
1943 - British offensive against Mareth-line
1943 - German U-384 bombed & sinks
1944 - Bus falls off bridge into Passaic River NJ, killing 16
1944 - Mount Vesuvius, Italy explodes
1945 - US 70th Infantry division/7th Armour division attack Saar
1946 - Belgian government of Spaak, resigns
1947 - 180-metric ton blue whale (record) caught in South Atlantic
1948 - 1st live televised musical Eugene Ormandy on CBS followed in 90
1948 - 20th Academy Awards - "Gentleman's Agreement," L Young, R Colman win minutes by 2nd live televised musical Arturo Toscvanni on NBC
1951 - Indonesian army offensive against Darul Islam on Java
1951 - Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded.
1952 - 24th Academy Awards - "American in Paris," H Bogart & Vivian Leigh win
1952 - Final ratification of peace treaty restoring sovereignty to Japan
1952 - US senate ratifies peace treaty with Japan
1953 - Senator Edwin C Johnson offers a bill to give clubs the sole
1954 - "King & I" closes at St James Theater NYC after 1246 performances
1954 - 16th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: La Salle beats Bradley 92-76
1954 - 1st newspaper vending machine used (Columbia Pennsylvania)
1955 - KXTV TV channel 10 in Sacramento, CA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1956 - 156-day strike against Westinghouse ends
1956 - E Ochab succeeds Beirut as 1st secretary of Polish CP
1956 - Mount Bezymianny on Kamchatka Peninsula (USSR) explodes
1956 - Tunisia gains independence from France
1956 - USSR performs nuclear test
1956 - Union workers ended a 156-day strike at Westinghouse Electric Corp
1957 - Britain accepts NATO offer to mediate in Cyprus, but Greece rejects it
1958 - 50" snow across the Mason-Dixon line
1958 - Clandestine Burasi Bizim Radio (communist) begins transmitting
1958 - Greek Clandestine Radio (communist), Voice of Truth 1st transmission
1962 - Sjoukje Dijkstra becomes world champion figure skater
1963 - 1st "Pop Art" exhibition (NYC)
1964 - ESRO established, European Space Research Organization
1965 - 27th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Michigan 91-80
1965 - Venkataraghavan takes 8-72 v NZ at Delhi
1966 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA St Petersburg Women's Golf Open

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 255

43 BC - Ovid, Roman poet (d. 17)
1469 - Princess Cecily of York (d. 1507)
1477 - Jerome Emser, German theologian (d. 1527)
1502 - Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (d. 1575)
1634 - Balthasar Bekker, Frisian theologist (Examiner of Comets)
1644 - Ivan Mazepa, Cossack Hetman of the Hetmanate (d. 1709)
1680 - Baron Emanuele d' Astorga, Italian composer (Stabat mater)
1725 - Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1789)
1728 - Franciscus L Kersteman, Dutch lawyer/astrologist
1735 - Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist (d. 1784)
1737 - Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke, King of Thailand (d. 1809)
1739 - Eligio Celestino, composer
1741 - Jean Antoine Houdon, French sculptor (d. 1828)
1750 - Martinus van Marum, Dutch chemist/physicist (Homo Diluvii Testus)
1770 - Friedrich Hölderlin, German writer (d. 1843)
1774 - John Braham, composer
1799 - Karl August Nicander, Swedish poet (d. 1839)
1804 - Neal Dow, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1897
1811 - George Caleb Bingham, US, politician/painter (Country Election)
1811 - Napoleon FKJ Bonaparte II, Napoleon's son/King of Rome
1812 - George Bibb Crittenden, Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1880
1813 - Matthias Keller, Ulm Germany, hymm writer (O Farther un High)
1820 - Alexander J Cuza, monarch of Moldavia/Wallachia/Romania
1823 - John Echols, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1896
1823 - Ned Buntline, American publisher (d. 1886)
1825 - William Nelson Rector Beall, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1826 - Carel Vosmaer, Dutch art historian/poet/editor
1828 - Henrik Ibsen, Norway, playwright (Peer Gynt, Hedda Gabler)
1829 - Charles Albert White, composer
1830 - Eugene Asa Carr, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1910
1831 - Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman (d. 1881)
1833 - Henry Southwick Perkins, composer
1834 - Charles William Elliot, Boston, Pres of Harvard (1869-1909)
1836 - Ferris Jacobs, Jr., American politician (d. 1886)
1836 - Sir Edward Poynter, British painter (d. 1919)
1840 - Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (d. 1894)
1846 - Auguste Bender, writer
1853 - George Godfrey, Chelsea Mass, heavyweight boxer (Old Chocolate)
1856 - Frederick Winslow Taylor, father of scientific management
1856 - Sir John Lavery, Irish artist (d. 1941)
1863 - Ernesto Nazareth, composer
1868 - Obe Postma, Frisian poet/geography/historian (Frisian Clay Farm)
1870 - Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, Prussian general/politician (East Africa)
1872 - Bernhard Seklas, composer
1872 - Karin Michaelis, writer
1873 - Sergei V Rachmaninov, Russian/US pianist/composer (Aleko) [NS=Apr 1]
1874 - Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (d. 1945)
1876 - Payne Whitney, American businessman (d. 1927)
1879 - Maud Menten, Canadian biochemist (d. 1960)
1882 - René Coty, Le Harve France, president of France (1953-58)
1883 - Colin Campbell, Falkirk Scot, actress (High Bright Sun, Leather Boys)
1883 - Karl Hasse, composer
1885 - Eugen Herrigel, Germany, philosopher/early pioneer of Zen in Europe
1885 - Hendrik A de Fish, [Henri Pauwels], Flemish philological/sociologist
1888 - S V Vegesack, writer
1890 - Lauritz Melchior, Copenhagen Denmark, baritone tenor (Natl Symphony)
1895 - Fredric Wertham, German-born psychologist (d. 1981)
1896 - Hal Walker, Ottumwa Ia, director (I Married Joan)
1902 - Edgar Buchanan, Humansville Mo, actor (Uncle Joe-Petticoat Junction)
1902 - Kathryn Forbes, short story writer (mama's bank account)
1903 - Vincent Richards, hall of fame tennis pro (elected 1961)
1904 - B[urrhus] F[rederic] Skinner, Pa, Behaviorism pioneer (Skinner box)
1905 - Jean Galia, French rugby footballer (d. 1949)
1906 - Abraham Beame, (Mayor-D-NYC), NYC's 1st Jewish mayor
1906 - Ozzie Nelson, Jersey City NJ, actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet)
1906 - Pavel P Parenago, Russian astronomer
1908 - Frank Stanton, Muskegon Mich, broadcasting executive (CBS)
1908 - Michael Redgrave, Bristol England, actor (Browning Version, Lady Vanishes)
1908 - Philip "Felix" Bekkers, actor (Czardasvorstin)
1911 - Mieke Verstraete, Belgian/Dutch actress (Pleasantly Settled)
1911 - Alfonso García Robles, Mexican diplomat and Nobel laureate (d. 1991)
1913 - Judith Evelyn, Seneca SD, actress (13th Letter, Tingler, Rear Window)
1914 - Wendell Corey, Dracut Mass, actor (11th Hour, Peck's Bad Girl)
1914 - William Baddeley, rector (St Jame's Piccadilly)
1915 - Sviatosiav Richter, Zhitomir Ukraine, pianist (Stalin Prize-1945)
1915 - Rudolf Kirchschläger, President of Austria (d. 2000)
1916 - Pierre Messmer, PM (France)
1917 - Dolf Verspoor, literary/interpreter (M Nijhoff Prize 1958)
1917 - Peter Caddy, founder (Findhorn Community)
1917 - Vera Lynn, singer (Anniversary Waltz)
1918 - Bernd-Alois Zimmermann, German composer (Soldiers)
1918 - Jack Barry, Lindenhurst NY, game show emcee (Joker's Wild)
1918 - Marian McPartland, jazz pianist (Bill Mayer, Jimmy McPartland)
1918 - Donald Featherstone, British writer and wargamer
1920 - Douglas G Chapman, biomathematical statistician
1920 - Werner Klemperer, Cologne Germany, actor (Col Klink-Hogan's Heroes)
1921 - Amadou-Mahtar M'Bow, Senegal, director general (UNESCO)
1921 - Primoz Ramovs, composer
1922 - Arnold Burgen, college president (Academia Europaea)
Actor & Comedian Carl Reiner (1922) 1922 - Carl Reiner, Bronx, comedian (2000 Year Old Man, Dick Van Dyke Show)
1922 - Doug Barnard Jr, (Rep-D-GA, 1977- )
1922 - Jack Kruschen, Winnipeg Canada, actor (Papa-Webster, Busting Loose)
1922 - Larry Elgart, New Haven Ct, bandleader/alto sax (Elgart Orch)
1922 - Ray Goulding, Lowell Mass, comedian (Bob & Ray)
1923 - Shaukat Siddiqui, Pakistani Author, Journalist and Political Activist (d. 2006)
1924 - Jozef Kroner, Slovak actor (d. 1998)
1924 - Hermann Guggiari, Paraguay, engineer and sculptor (Rejas, NNUU)(d.2012)
1925 - James Pickles, judge
1925 - John D Erlichman, Politician (Nixon aide, Watergate)
1926 - Ted Bessell, Flushing NY, actor (Don-That Girl, Frankie-Gomer Pyle)

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Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 6 of 5

1848 - King Louis I of Bayern abdicates to marry dancer Lola Montez
1963 - Sikkim crown prince Paldan Thondup Namgyal marries Hope Cooke
1969 - Beatle John Lennon marries Yoko Ono in Gibraltar
1969 - Beatle John Lennon marries Yoko Ono in Gibraltar
1993 - Morton Downey Jr weds Lori Krebs
1999 - "Smallville" actress Annette O' Toole (46) weds "Laverne and Shirley" actor Michael McKean (51) at The Regal Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California

Famous Divorces

Divorces 1 - 1 of 1

2009 - "Dawson's Creek" actor Kerr Smith (37) divorces actress Harmoni Everett (34) due to irreconcilable differences after 6 years of marriage

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 100 of 124

687 - St. Cuthbert, patron saint of Northumbria (b. c. 634).
842 - Alfonso II the Chaste, king of Asturia (791-842), dies
1191 - Clement III, [Paolo Scolari], Pope (1187-91, 3rd crusades), dies
1239 - Hermann von Salza, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (c. 1179)
1351 - Mohammed ibn-Tughluq, sultan of Delhi India, dies
1393 - Johannes Nepomucenus, [Jan Nepomucky], Czech saint, killed
1413 - King Henry IV of England (1399-1413) dies at 45
1501 - Jean Carondelet, lawyer/chancellor of Burgundy (1480-96), dies at 72
1531 - Sicke Freerks/Frericx, [Cutter], Dutch anabaptist, beheaded
1549 - Thomas Seymour of Sudely, English Lord Admiral, beheaded
1568 - Albrecht von Hohenzollern, 1st duke of Prussia, dies at 77
1586 - Richard Maitland, Scottish statesman and historian (b. 1496)
1617 - Franciscus Aguilon, physicist/theologist/mathematician, dies at 50
1619 - Matthias II, Holy Roman Catholic emperor (1611-19), dies
1646 - Matthew Vossius, historian (Annales Holland Zelandiaeque), dies at 35
1673 - Augustyn Kordecki, Polish prior (b. 1603)
1703 - Johann Kunckel/Kunkel, German alchemist/ambassador to Sweden, dies
1730 - Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (b. 1692)
1732 - Johann Ernst Hanxleden, German philologist (b. 1681)
1746 - Nicolas de Largillière, French painter (b. 1656)
1751 - Frederick Louis, English prince of Wales/son of George I, dies
1757 - Johann Paul Kunzen, composer, dies at 60
1767 - Firmin Abauzit, French huguenot/scholar, dies at 87
1780 - Sir Benjamin Truman - English brewer (b. 1699/1700)
1793 - William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish judge and politician (b. 1705)
1804 - Ignaz Malzat, composer, dies at 47
1812 - Jan Ladislav Dussek, Bohemian pianist/composer, dies at 52
1835 - Louis-Leopold Robert, French painter (b. 1794)
1848 - Abraham des Amorie van der Hoeven, Dutch theologist/poet, dies at 27
1855 - Joseph Aspdin, English mason and inventor (b. 1788)
1865 - Keisuke Yamanami, Japanese samurai (b. 1833)
1866 - Rikard Nordraak, composer, dies at 23
1871 - Antonio Buzzolla, composer, dies at 56
1873 - Adolfe Louis Eugene Fetis, composer, dies at 52
1874 - Hans Christian Lumbye, composer, dies at 63
1878 - Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (b. 1814)
1887 - Pavel Annenkov, Russian literature historian, dies at 73
1890 - Alexander F. Mozhaiski, aviation pioneer (b. 1825)
1892 - Arthor Goring Thomas, composer, dies at 41
1894 - Lajos Kossuth, Hungarian freedom fighter/president (1849), dies at 91
1897 - Apollon Maykov, Russian poet (b. 1821)
1899 - Martha M Place, of Bkln, becomes 1st woman to be executed in an electric chair.
1899 - Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist (b. 1822)
1910 - Félix Tournachon, [Nadar], French writer/photographer, dies at 89
1911 - Jean-Theodore Radoux, composer, dies at 75
1913 - Christian Barnekow, composer, dies at 75
1913 - Song Jiao-ren, leader Chinese Guomindang-Party, dies
1916 - Ota Benga, Congolese pygmy (b. 1884)
1918 - Lewis A. Grant, American Civil War General (b. 1828)
1920 - Venustiano Carranza, president Mexico (1915-20), murdered at 60
1925 - George N Curzon, British Foreign minister (1919-22), dies at 66
1929 - Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France (WW I), dies at 77
1931 - Hermann Müller, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
1933 - Giuseppe [Joe] Zangara, electrocuted for assassination attempt on FDR
1934 - A Emma W T von Waldeck-Pyrmont, Dutch queen (& regent), dies at 76
1936 - Durant Clifford Parkin, cricketer (Tests for S Afr 1891-92), dies
1940 - Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)
1941 - D A van den Bosch, anti-nazi clergyman (Amersfoort Camp), dies
1942 - Theodoro Valcarcel, composer, dies at 41
1944 - Felix Woyrsch, composer, dies at 83
1947 - Sigurd Wallén, Swedish actor and filmdirector (b. 1884)
1950 - Walter Eucken, German economist, dies at 59
1951 - Jan Ingenhoven, composer, dies at 74
1951 - Kathleen Lockhart Manning, composer, dies at 60
1953 - Graciliano Ramos, Brazilian author (Vidas Secas), dies at 60
1962 - Andrew E Douglass, Dendrochronologer (Study of Tree Rings), dies
1962 - C Wright Mills, US sociologist (Power Elite), dies at 45
1963 - Karl Otten, writer, dies at 73
1964 - Brendan Behan, Irish writer/poet, dies at 41
1964 - Jean Rogister, composer, dies at 84
1967 - A J F Moody, 1st US Army General to die in Vietnam
1968 - Carl T Dreyer, Danish director (Passion of Jeanne d'Arc), dies
1969 - Henri Longchambon, French politician (b. 1896)
1970 - Manolis Chiotis, Greek bouzouki virtuoso and song writer (b. 1920)
1972 - Aad de Haas, Dutch religious painter/graphic artist, dies at 51
1972 - Jan Engelman, Dutch poet/art critic (At the Front), dies at 71
1972 - Marilyn Maxwell, actress (Grace-Bus Stop), dies at 50
1974 - Chet Huntley, newscaster (NBC Huntley-Brinkley Report), dies at 62
1974 - [Lavinia] Marian Fleming Poe, Black US advocate in Virg, dies at 83
1976 - Michael Goodliffe, actor (Gorgon, 7th Dawn, Way Out), dies at 61
1982 - Hendrik L van Beek, Dutch vice-admiral, dies at 52
1983 - Ivan Matveyevich Vinogradov, Russian mathematician (b. 1891)
1987 - Norman Harris, guitarist (O'Jays), dies at 39 of heart failure
1988 - Gil Evans, Canadian/US jazz composer (Out of the Cool), dies at 75
1990 - Jannetje Visser-Roosendaal, Dutch writer, dies at 90
1990 - Jev Jasjin, Russian soccer goalie, dies at 60
1990 - Lev Yashin, Soviet footballer (b. 1929)
1991 - Conor Clapton, Eric Clapton's son, falls out of 53rd floor window at 5
1992 - Avonne Taylor, actress (My Best Girl, Honor Among Lovers), dies at 93
1992 - Frank Westbrook, dancer/choreographer, dies at 82
1992 - Georges Delerue, French composer (Hiroshima, My Love), dies at 67
1993 - Claudia Yeltsin, mother of Russian president Yeltsin, dies at 85
1993 - Jonathan Ball, English youngster, killed by IRA at 3
1994 - Lewis Grizzard, American humorist (b. 1946)
1995 - Merv Harvey, cricketer (scored 12 & 31 in Test Aus v Eng 46-47), dies
1995 - Rachida Hammadi, Algerian TV journalist, murdered at 32
1995 - Sidney Kingsley, US playwright (Pulitzer prize 1934), dies at 88
1996 - Alan Ridout, composer, dies at 61
1996 - Claude Bourdet, human rights activist/journalist, dies at 86
1996 - Victor Zorza, journalist/Russian specialist, dies at 71