TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2009

Today is Tuesday, March 24, the 83rd day of 2009. There are 282 days left in the year.

1603 _ Scottish king James VI becomes King James I of England

1721 _ Johann Sebastian Bach opens his Brandenburgse Concerts

1801 _ Aleksandr P. Romanov becomes emperor of Russia

1924 _ Greece becomes a republic

1934 _ U.S. declares the Philippines to become independent in 1945

1952 _ Great demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa

1955 _ Tennessee Williams' ``Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" opens on Broadway for 694 performances

1958 _ Elvis Presley joins the army (serial number 53310761)

1960 _ U.S. appeals court rules novel, ``Lady Chatterley's Lover," not obscene

1962 _ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards perform as Little Boy Blue & Blue Boys