Anniversaries 20th to 26th March 2017

Monday 20^th March

35 years ago: Retired cricketer and former West Indian captain Richie Richardson made his 1^st class debut for the Leeward Islands against Barbados. Very much a flamboyant batsman, renowned for his playing of fast bowling, he is remembered for often wearing a wide-brimmed maroon hat as opposed to a helmet, when facing express bowlers.

20 years ago: the US tobacco company Liggett Group became the first to admit that smoking is hazardous to health and addictive.

Tuesday 21^st March

20 years ago: The Rev WV Awdry, British clergyman and acclaimed writer of the Thomas the Tank Engine series of books, died at the age of 85.

15 years ago: British schoolgirl Amanda (Milly) Dowler aged 13, vanished when walking home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England. Her body was eventually found in September 2002 and Levi Belfield was convicted of her murder 9 years later.

Wednesday 22^nd March

20 years ago: 14-year-old Tara Lipinski became the youngest ever winner of the World Figure Skating Championships.

5 years ago: Australia’s most wanted man Malcolm Naden was captured in Gloucester, New South Wales, after 7 years on the run. He was wanted for indecent assault and murder charges, resulting in him pleading guilty to all 32 counts and being sentenced to life imprisonment plus 40 years without parole.

Thursday 23^rd March

30 years ago: an IRA car bomb exploded at a British army base at Rheindahlen, West Germany injuring 31 people.

10 years ago: Sony released the Playstation 3 console in Europe and Australia (released in both the US and Japan 4 months earlier).

Friday 24^th March

40 years ago: Joseph Ratzinger was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising in Germany. He was later to become Pope Benedict XV1.

25 years ago: Dirk Fremout became the first Belgian to travel in space.

Saturday 25^th March

150 years ago: Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini was born in Parma, Italy. In 1937 he became the first music director of the NBC Symphony Orchestra leading to great popularity in the United States and beyond. He died in January 1957 in New York and his body was returned to his homeland for burial.

80 years ago: The Washington Daily News became the first newspaper to feature a perfumed advertisement.

Sunday 26^th March

100 years ago: the Seattle Metropolitans became the first US winners of the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup after beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 in the final series.

80 years ago: A statue of spinach-guzzling, cartoon character Popeye was erected in Crystal City, Texas. Known as the spinach capital of the world, growing the aromatic vegetable is the city’s main industry.

Anniversaries 13th to 19th March 2017

Monday 13^th March

90 years ago, the British Army ceased using the lance as an official battle weapon – presumably, they didn’t like it up ‘em anymore!

In 1947, the musical Brigadoon, by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, opened on Broadway.

Tuesday 14^th March

75 years ago, the first successful use of penicillin to treat a patient took place when Anne Miller, who was dying of streptococcal septicaemia, was given an injection of penicillin atYale–New Haven Hospital, Connecticut, USA.

It is 10 years since the death of UK actor Gareth Hunt, remembered for playing footman Frederick Norton in the TV series Upstairs, Downstairs and Mike Gambit in The New Avengers.

Wednesday 15^th March

Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States was born on this day in 1767.

80 years ago, H. P. Lovecraft, American horror/fantasy/science fiction writer died in poverty at the age of 46. Virtually unknown in his lifetime, he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors in his genre.

Thursday 16^th March

In 1976, Harold Wilson, Labour leader for 13 years and Prime Minister for almost eight, announced his resignation to a shocked nation.

2 years later in 1978, Former Italian premier Aldo Moro was kidnapped at gunpoint in Rome by a gang believed to be from the Red Brigade.

Friday 17^th March

In 1992, in a referendum, the people of South Africa voted to back political reform and put an end to apartheid.

On that very same day, American actress Grace Stafford, best known for providing the voice of the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker died. She was also the wife of animator and producer Walter Lantz, who created the character.

Saturday 18^th March

In 1967, the supertanker SS Torrey Canyon hit a rock on a reef between the Cornish mainland and the Isles of Scilly while attempting to take a shortcut to South Wales. 32 million gallons of crude oil were spilt – the worst spill in UK history.

15 years ago, Burger King became the first fast-food restaurant chain to sell veggie burgers on a nationwide basis in the USA.

Sunday 19^th March

40 years ago, the acclaimed American television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show ended after 7 seasons. She passed away as recently as January 2017, at the age of 80.

In 1992, Buckingham Palace announced the separation of the Duke and Duchess of York – Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. (Married July 1986, divorced May 1996.)

Anniversaries 6th - 12th March 2017

Monday 6^th March

In 1957, the Gold Coast declared independence from the UK, creating the country of Ghana.

 

British comedian Frankie Howerd was born 100 years ago today. Most famous for TV series Up Pompeii and appearing in many Carry On… movies, he died of a heart attack in April 1992.

Tuesday 7^th March

250 years ago today, French-Canadian explorer and former governor of Louisiana, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville died. He is remembered as being the founder of New Orleans.

100 years ago the world’s first jazz record was released: Livery Stable Blues by the Original Dixieland Jass Band (note: jass was restyled as jazz later that same year).

Wednesday 8^th March

In 1942, José Raúl Capablanca died aged 53. Cuban world chess champion (1921–27), he was considered to be possibly the best chess player of all time.

It is 10 years since the death of John Inman, British comedy actor. Best known for his role as Mr Humphries in the television sitcom Are You Being Served? he was noted for his catchphrase ‘I’m free!’

Thursday 9^th March

The first documented discovery of gold in California happened on this day in 1842. Taking place at Rancho, San Francisco, it led to a small gold rush, with about 2,000 people coming to mine gold.

U2’s iconic album The Joshua Tree was released on this day in 1987.

Friday 10^th March

In 1937, Russian novelist, playwright, short-story writer and satirist Yevgeny Zamyatin died. His novel We strongly influenced both Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.

In 1977, astronomers discovered a system of rings around the planet Uranus.

Saturday 11^th March

Joseph S. Cullinan, American oil industrialist and founder of Texaco died in 1937.

In 1952, Douglas Adams, British comedy writer and dramatist was born. Best known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, he died in May 2001 from heart failure.

Sunday 12^th March

British actress Googie Withers was born 100 years ago on this day. A leading lady of the British stage and screen in the 1940s and 1950s, she is fondly remembered for her portrayal of the role of prison governor Faye Boswell in LWT’s Within These Walls in the 1970s. She died as recently as July 2011, at the grand age of 94.

           

In 1997, Australian Susie Maroney became the first woman to swim the Florida Straits – 112 miles (180 km) from Cuba to Key West, Florida.