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.