Today in History

FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2009

Today is Friday, March 27, the 86th day of 2009. There are 279 days left in the year. 1625 _ Charles I, King Of England, Scotland and Ireland, ascends to throne 1790 _ The shoelace invented 1914 _ First successful blood transfusion (in Brussels) 1931 _ Charlie Chaplin receives France's distinguished Legion of Honor 1933 _ Japan leaves League of Nations 1958 _ Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet premier and First Secretary of Communist Party 1973 _ 45th Academy Awards: ``Godfather," Marlon Brando & Liza Minnelli win; Brando turns down Oscar for best actor in support of Indians 1977 _ 583 die in aviation's worst disaster KLM-Pan Am 747 crash, Tenerife 1988 _ Ku Ok-hee wins Standard Register Turquoise Classic Golf Tournament 1997 _ 39 cult members in California commit mass suicide (Hale-Bopp)

Mar 26, 2009

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

Mar 25, 2009

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009

Today is Wednesday, March 25, the 84th day of 2009. There are 281 days left in the year. 1133 _ William the Conqueror orders first Domesday Survey of England 1776 _ Continental Congress authorizes a medal for General George Washington 1821 _ Greece gains independence from Turkey (National Day) 1896 _ Modern Olympics begin in Athens Greece 1957 _ Treaty of Rome establishes European Economic Community (Common Market) 1958 _ Sugar Ray Robinson is first boxing champion to win five times 1961 _ Sputnik 10 carries a dog into Earth orbit; later recovered 1965 _ West German Bondsdag extends war crimes retribution 1967 _ The Turtles' ``Happy Together" goes No. 1 1970 _ Concorde makes its first supersonic flight (700 MPH/1,127 KPH)

Mar 24, 2009

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

Mar 23, 2009

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2009

Today is Monday, March 23, the 82nd day of 2009. There are 283 days left in the year. 1743 _ George Frideric Handel's oratorio ``Messiah" premieres in London 1775 _ Patrick Henry proclaims ``Give me liberty or give me death" 1835 _ Charles Darwin reaches Los Arenales in the Andes 1839 _ First recorded use of ``OK" [oll korrect] (Boston's Morning Post) 1858 _ Streetcar patented (Eleazer A. Gardner of Philadelphia) 1903 _ Wright brothers obtain airplane patent 1919 _ Benito Mussolini forms Fascist movement in Milan Italy 1925 _ Tennessee becomes first state to outlaw teaching theory of evolution 1942 _ U.S. moves native-born of Japanese ancestry into detention centers 1972 _ Evil Knievel breaks 93 bones after successfully clearing 35 cars

Mar 22, 2009

SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2009

Today is Saturday, March 21, the 80th day of 2008. There are 285 days left in the year. 1610 _ King James I addresses English House of Commons 1697 _ Czar Peter the Great begins tour through West-Europe 1790 _ Thomas Jefferson reports to President Washington in New York as secretary of state 1826 _ Beethoven's Quartet No.13 in B flat major (Op. 130) premieres in Vienna 1857 _ Earthquake hits Tokyo; about 107,000 die 1935 _ Persia officially renamed Iran 1939 _ Nazi-Germany demands Gdansk (Danzig) from Poland 1951 _ 29,000 U.S. soldiers in Korea 1961 _ Beatles' first appearance at the Cavern Club 1965 _ Martin Luther King Jr. begins march from Selma to Montgomery, Al.

Mar 20, 2009

FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2009

Today is Friday, March 20, the 79th day of 2009. There are 286 days left in the year. 1815 _ Napoleon enters Paris after escape from Elba, begins 100-day rule 1890 _ German emperor Wilhelm II fires republic's chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck 1942 _ General MacArthur vows, ``I shall return" 1944 _ Mt. Vesuvius, Italy, explodes 1952 _ 24th Academy Awards: ``American in Paris", Humphrey Bogart & Vivian Leigh win 1954 _ First newspaper vending machine used (Columbia, Pa.) 1969 _ Beatle John Lennon marries Yoko Ono in Gibraltar 1969 _ U.S. President Nixon proclaims he would end Vietnam war in 1970 1991 _ Michael Jackson signs $65-million, six-album deal with Sony records 1995 _ Poison Gas released in Tokyo subway 12 killed, 4,700 injured

Mar 19, 2009

THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2009

Today is Thursday, March 19, the 78th day of 2009. There are 287 days left in the year. 0721 B.C. _ First recorded lunar eclipse; Location, Babylon 1571 _ Spanish troops occupy Manila 1644 _ 200 members of Peking imperial family/court commit suicide 1915 _ Pluto photographed for first time (although unknown at the time) 1931 _ Nevada legalizes gambling 1942 _ FDR orders men between 45 and 64 to register for non-military duty 1945 _ 800 killed as Kamikaze attacked USS Franklin off Japan 1945 _ Adolf Hitler issues ``Nero Decree": destruction of German facilities 1970 _ West German Chancellor Willy Brandt and East German Premier Willi Stoph meet 1997 _ Supreme Court hears Internet indecency arguments

Mar 18, 2009

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2009

Today is Wednesday, March 18, the 77th day of 2009. There are 288 days left in the year. 1871 _ Communards revolt in Paris France 1899 _ Phoebe, a moon of Saturn is discovered by Pickering 1902 _ Enrico Caruso becomes first well-known performer to make a record 1922 _ British magistrates in India sentence Mohandas K. Gandhi to six years for disobedience 1931 _ First electric shavers go on sale in U.S. (Schick) 1949 _ NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ratified 1952 _ Communist offensive in Korea 1972 _ People's Republic of China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, China 1992 _ Donna Summer gets a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame 1995 _ Michael Jordan announces he is ending his 17-month NBA retirement

Mar 17, 2009

TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2009

Today is Tuesday, March 17, the 76th day of 2009. There are 289 days left in the year. 0455 _ Roman senator Petronius Maximus becomes Emperor 1521 _ Ferdinand Magellan discovers the Philippines 1580 _ Prince Willem of Orange welcomed in Amsterdam 1753 _ First official St Patrick's Day 1755 _ Transylvania Land Co. buys Kentucky for $50,000 from a Cherokee chief 1845 _ Rubber band patented by Stephen Perry of London 1861 _ Italy declares independence; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed 1917 _ Czar Nicolas II of Russia abdicates the throne 1959 _ Dalai Lama flees Tibet for India 1988 _ Iran says Iraq uses poison gas

Mar 16, 2009

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