THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2009

Today is Thursday, March 26, the 85th day of 2009. There are 280 days left in the year.

1668 _ England takes control of Bombay India

1780 _ First British Sunday newspaper appears (British Gazette & Sunday Monitor)

1824 _ First performance of Beethoven's ``Missa Solemnis"

1871 _ Paris Commune founded

1872 _ Thomas J. Martin patents fire extinguisher

1885 _ Eastman Film Co. manufactures first commercial motion picture film

1945 _ Japanese resistance ends on Iwo Jima

1974 _ Romanian communist party names party leader Nicolae Ceausescu President

1975 _ ``Tommy" premieres in London

1989 _ First free elections in USSR: 190 million votes cast, Boris Yeltsin wins