March 21
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (81st in leap years). There are 285 days remaining.
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[change] Events
- 1556 – In Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake.
- 1788 – A fire destroys 856 buildings in New Orleans and leaves most of the town in ruins.
- 1800 – With the church leadership driven out of the Vatican during an armed conflict, Pius VII was crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.
- 1801 – The Battle of Alexandria was fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis in Egypt.
- 1804 – Code Napoléon was adopted as French civil law.
- 1857 – Earthquake in Tokyo, Japan kills over 100,000.
- 1871 – Journalist Henry Morton Stanley began his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.
- 1919 – The Chinese High School is established in Singapore by Tan Kah Kee.
- 1918 – World War I: Second Battle of the Somme begins
- 1928 – Charles Lindbergh is presented the Congressional Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight.
- 1935 – Shah Reza Pahlavi formally asked the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran, which means 'Land of the Aryans'.
- 1940 – Paul Reynaud becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1945 – World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma
- 1952 – Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio
- 1960 – Apartheid: Massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa: Police open fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180
- 1963 – Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, closes.
- 1964 – In Copenhagen, Denmark, Gigliola Cinquetti wins the ninth Eurovision Song Contest for Italy singing "Non ho l'età" (I'm not old enough).
- 1965 – Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9 which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
- 1965 – Martin Luther King Jr leads 3,200 people on the start of the 3rd and finally successful Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery Alabama.
- 1970 The first Earth Day proclamation was issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto.
- 1970 – Vinko Bogataj crashes during a ski-jumping championship in Germany; his image becomes that of the "agony of defeat guy" in the opening credits of ABC's Wide World of Sports.
- 1970 – In Amsterdam, Netherlands, Dana wins the fifteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "All Kinds of Everything".
- 1980 – President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
- 1980 – On the season finale of the soap opera Dallas, the infamous character J.R. Ewing is shot by an unseen assailant, leading to the catchphrase "Who Shot JR?"
- 1985 – Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.
- 1989 – Sports Illustrated reports allegations that tie baseball player Pete Rose to baseball gambling.
- 1990 – Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.
- 1999 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
- 2002 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh along with three other suspects are charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
- 2004 – In Malaysia, the 11th Federal and State elections are held, returning the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional to power with an increased majority.
- 2005 – In Red Lake, Minnesota, 10 are killed in a school shooting, the worst since the Columbine High School massacre.
[change] Births
- 1685 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (d. 1750)
- 1763 – Jean Paul, German writer (d. 1825)
- 1768 – Joseph Fourier, French engineer and mathematician (d. 1830)
- 1775 – Lucien Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1840)
- 1806 – Benito Juarez, President of Mexico (d. 1872)
- 1839 – Modest Mussorgsky, Russian composer (d. 1881)
- 1869 – Florenz Ziegfeld, American theater producer (d. 1932)
- 1885 – Pierre Renoir, French actor and director (d. 1952)
- 1901 – Karl Arnold, German politician (d. 1958)
- 1920 – Eric Rohmer, French director (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German politician
- 1931 – Richard Ratsimandrava, President of Madagascar (d. 1975)
- 1932 – Walter Gilbert, American chemist
- 1933 – Michael Heseltine, British politician
- 1935 – Brian Clough, English footballer and manager (d. 2004)
- 1940 – Solomon Burke, American singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
- 1942 – Fradique de Menezes, President of São Tomé and Príncipe
- 1942 – Ali Abdullah Saleh, President of Yemen
- 1946 – Timothy Dalton, British actor
- 1949 – Slavoj Zizek, Slovenian sociologist and cultural critic
- 1956 – Ingrid Kristiansen, Norwegian athlete
- 1957 – Youssef Rzouga, Tunisian poet
- 1958 – Gary Oldman, British actor
- 1959 – Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer
- 1960 – Ayrton Senna, Brazilian Formula 1 driver (d. 1994)
- 1961 – Lothar Matthaus, German footballer
- 1962 – Rosie O'Donnell, American comedian, actress, talk show host, and publisher
- 1962 – Matthew Broderick, American actor
- 1963 – Shawn Lane, American musician
- 1967 – Jonas Berggren, Swedish musician (Ace of Base)
- 1969 – Ali Daei, Iranian footballer
- 1975 – Mark Williams, Welsh snooker player
- 1978 – Kevin Federline, American dancer
- 1978 – Rani Mukerji, Indian actress and model
- 1980 – Marit Bjorgen, Norwegian cross-country skier
- 1980 – Ronaldinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1982 – Antar Yahia, Algerian footballer
- 1982 – Aaron Hill, American baseball player
- 1988 – Lee Cattermole, English footballer
- 1989 – Nicolas Lodeiro, Uruguayan footballer
[change] Deaths
- 1556 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1489)
- 1617 – Pocahontas, Native American, daughter of Powhatan (b. 1595)
- 1801 – Andrea Luchesi, Italian composer (b. 1741)
- 1843 – Guadalupe Victoria, 1st President of Mexico (b. 1786)
- 1857 – William Scoresby, British explorer (b. 1789)
- 1910 – Nadar, French photographer (b. 1820)
- 1915 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, American inventor (b. 1856)
- 1936 – Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer (b. 1865)
- 1957 – C. K. Ogden, English writer (b. 1889)
- 1985 – Michael Redgrave, British actor (b. 1908)
- 1991 – Leo Fender, American guitar maker (b. 1909)
- 1992 – John Ireland, Canadian film actor and director (b. 1914)
- 1998 – Galina Ulanova, Russian ballerina (b. 1910)
- 1999 – Ernie Wise, British comedian (b. 1925)
- 2001 – Anthony Steel, British actor (b. 1920)
- 2010 – Wolfgang Wagner, German opera director and festival organiser (b. 1919)
- 2011 – Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet-Russian gymnast (b. 1952)
- 2011 – Pinetop Perkins, American musician (b. 1913)
[change] Observances
- Independence Day (Namibia)
- Human Rights Day (South Africa)
- Benito Juarez' birthday (Mexico)
- Spring Equinox – Northern Hemisphere
- Autumn Equinox – Southern Hemisphere
