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March 11th
1544 - Born this day, Torquato Tasso, Italian poet. Died in 1595. 1669 - Volcano Etna in Italy (Sicily) erupted killing 15,000. 1682 - The Chelsea Hospital for old soldiers (Chelsea Pensioners), also venue for the world-famous flower show, was founded. 1702 - The first English daily newspaper to meet with some success, The Daily Courant, was launched near Fleet Street in London. Published until 1735. 1731 - Born this day, Robert Treat Paine, jurist, signer of the US Declaration of Independence. Died in 1814. 1791 - Samuel Mulliken, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became the first person to receive more than one patent from the US Patent Office. 1845 - In New Zealand, further Maori uprisings broke out against British rule. 1845 - On this date, Henry Jones of Bristol, England, patented self-raising flour. 1851 - The first performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto was given in Venice. 1861 - On this date in 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas adopted the Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States of America. The constitution resembled the Constitution of the United States, even repeating much of its language, but was actually more comparable to the Articles of Confederation, the initial post-Revolutionary War US constitution, in its delegation of extensive powers to the states. The constitution also contained substantial differences from the US Constitution in its protection of slavery, which was "recognised and protected" in slave states and territories. However, in congruence with US policy since the beginning of the 19th century, the foreign slave trade was prohibited. The constitution provided for six-year terms for the president and vice president, and the president was ineligible for successive terms. Although a presidential item veto was granted, the power of the central Confederate government was sharply limited by its dependence on state consent for the use of any funds and resources. Although Britain and France both briefly considered entering the Civil War on the side of the South, the Confederate States of America, which survived until April 1865, never won foreign recognition as an independent government. 1864 - The Bradfield Reservoir near Sheffield burst its banks, unleashing a huge torrent of water, killing 250 people. 1882 - The Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association was formed in Princeton, New Jersey. 1885 - Born this day, Malcolm Campbell, auto racer, first person to travel 300 mph in a car. Died in 1948. 1888 - A blizzard started to roar along the Atlantic Seaboard shutting down communication and transportation lines. The white stuff continued to fall for three days in the "Great Blizzard of 1888." 1903 - Born this day, Lawrence Welk, bandleader. Died in 1992. 1909 - The first gold medal to a perfect-score bowler was awarded to A. C. Jellison. The honour was bestowed by the American Bowling Congress. 1916 - Born this day, Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister. Died in 1995. 1917 - General Maude with 50,000 British and Indian troops marched into Baghdad, capturing 9,000 Turkish prisoners. 1919 - Born this day, Mercer Ellington, bandleader, songwriter. Died in 1996. 1921 - Born this day, Vince Boryla, basketball. 1923 - Born this day, A. Louise Brough, tennis. 1923 - Born this day, Terence Alexander, actor. (Bergerac). 1925 - Born this day, Ron Todd, former Union boss. 1926 - Irish statesman Eamon de Valera resigned as head of Sinn Fein; he later formed the Fianna Fail party. 1927 - Samuel Roxy Rothafel opened the famous Roxy Theatre in New York City. The showplace was indeed a palace. It cost $10,000,000 to build and held 6,200 theatre-goers. The Roxy truly was part of the 'golden age of the movie palace'. The screen was 18-feet by 22-feet. The first feature shown at the Roxy was The Loves of Sunya starring Gloria Swanson and John Boles. 1927 - The Flatheads Gang was responsible for the first armoured-car robbery, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was reported that $104,250 was taken in the heist. 1930 - Babe Ruth signed a two-year contract with the New York Yankees for the sum of $80,000. 1930 - William Howard Taft became the first US president to be buried in the National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. 1930 - Born this day, Troy Ruttman, auto racer, youngest winner of Indianapolis 500. 1931 - Born this day, Valerie French [Harrison], actress. Died in 1990. 1931 - Born this day, Rupert Murdoch, Australian media tycoon, newspaper publisher. 1932 - Born this day, Nigel Lawson, former Tory Chancellor (now Lord). 1932 - Born this day, Leroy Jenkins, musician, violinist. 1934 - Born this day, Sam Donaldson, newsman, former ABC White House correspondent. 1935 - The Bank of Canada was established. 1935 - Born this day, Nancy Kovack, actress. 1935 - Hermann Goering officially created the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe. 1936 - Born this day, Antonin Scalia, US Supreme Court. 1941 - The US Congress passed the Lend-Lease Bill, which enabled Britain to borrow money to buy additional food and arms during World War II (WWII). 1942 - Vaughn Monroe and his orchestra recorded the classic, Sleepy Lagoon. It was the last song Monroe would record for Bluebird Records. Vaughn sang on the track while Ray Conniff played trombone. Both later moved to different record companies. Monroe went with RCA and Conniff to Columbia. The big-voiced baritone of Monroe was regularly heard on radio and he was featured in several movies in the '50s. He died in May 1973. Racing With the Moon and Ghost Riders in the Sky were two of his greatest contributions to popular music. 1943 - Born this day, Robert Plager, hockey. 1943 - Born this day, 'Little' Johnny Taylor, singer (Part Time Love). 1944 - Born this day, [Eric] Rick Rothwell, musician, drummer, Mindbenders, 1965 US No.1 single Game Of Love, 1966 UK No.2 single Groovy Kind Of Love. 1944 - Born this day, Don Maclean, comic. 1945 - Born this day, Dock [Phillip] Ellis, baseball. 1946 - Born this day, Jim Niekamp, hockey. 1947 - Born this day, Mark Stein, musician, organist, singer, Vanilla Fudge, 1968 US No.6 single You Keep Me Hangin' On. 1947 - Born this day, Alan Yentob, director of the BBC. 1948 - Born this day, Jim McMillian, basketball. 1948 - Born this day, Cesar [Francisco Zorrilla] Geronimo, baseball. 1948 - Born this day, Roy Barnes, Governor of Georgia. 1948 - Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of novelist and screenwriter F. Scott Fitzgerald, died in a fire in an Asheville, North Carolina mental hospital, where she was a patient. She had been diagnosed as schizophrenic, and had spent most of her later years in asylums. Eight other women patients died in the same blaze. 1948 - Born this day, George Kooymans, Golden Earring, 1974 UK No.7 and US No.13 single Radar Love. 1948 - Reginald Weir, of New York City, became the first black tennis player to participate in a US Indoor Lawn Tennis Association tournament. 1950 - Born this day, Windlan Hall, football. 1950 - Born this day, Jerry Zucker, writer. 1950 - Born this day, Bobby McFerrin, pianist, jazz musician, songwriter, singer, 1988 US No.1 and UK No.2 single Don't Worry Be Happy. 1951 - Born this day, Katie Kissoon, Mac & Katie Kissoon, 1971 US No.20 and UK No.41 single Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, 1975 UK No.3 single Sugar Candy Kisses. 1951 - Born this day, Dominique Sanda, actress. 1952 - Born this day, Douglas Adams, author. 1952 - Born this day, Rod Derline, basketball. 1952 - Born this day, Susan Richardson, actress. 1955 - Died this day, Sir Alexander Fleming, British Nobel Prize winning bacteriologist. 1955 - Born this day, Flinto, Jimmy The Hoover, 1983 UK No.18 single Tantalise (Wo Wo Ee Yeh Yeh). 1955 - Born this day, Nina Hagen, German singer, songwriter, The Nina Hagen Band. 1956 - Born this day, Curtis Brown, Jr., astronaut. 1956 - Sir Lawrence Olivier starred in the three-hour afternoon NBC-TV special, Richard III. The network reportedly paid $500,000 for the rights to the program. A writer named William Shakespeare was responsible for Richard III. 1957 - Born this day, Cheryl Lynn, singer (Got to Be Real). 1958 - Born this day, Anissa Jones [Mary Anissa Jones], actress, in West Lafayette, Indiana. She starred as Buffy in Family Affair, plus she appeared in Elvis's The Trouble with Girls (1969) before dying at only seventeen of a drug overdose. 1959 - A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry's drama about members of a black family trying to raise themselves out of their slum environment, opened on Broadway to very favourable reviews. 1960 - At Cape Canaveral, Pioneer V was launched into orbit around the sun. 1961 - Born this day, Bruce Watson, musician, guitarist, Big Country, 1983 UK No.10 single Fields Of Fire plus 14 other UK top 40 singles, 1983 US No.17 single In A Big Country. 1961 - Born this day, Mike Percy, Dead Or Alive, 1985 UK No.1 single You Spin Me Round, Like A Record. 1963 - Born this day, Alex Kingston, actress. (ER). 1963 - The Mann Hugg Blues Brothers, later to become Manfred Mann, played their first concert at London's Marquee Club. 1964 - Born this day, Shane Ritchie, comedian, actor, TV presenter, former game show host. 1964 - Senator Carl Hayden broke the record for continuous service in the US Senate. He completed 37 years and seven days in the upper chamber. 1964 - Born this day, Vinnie Paul, Pantera, 1994 UK No.19 single I'm Broken. 1964 - Raul Leoni was inaugurated as president of Venezuela. 1965 - Tom Jones had his first UK No.1 single with It's Not Unusual. Jones took his name from the film Tom Jones and once had worked as a glove cutter. 1965 - Born this day, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, interior designer. 1966 - ITV's Ready Steady Go, was entirely devoted to the music of James Brown. 1967 - The Supremes had their ninth US No.1 single with Love Is Here And Now Your Gone. It made No.17 in the UK. 1967 - Music publisher, Dick James, announced that 446 different versions of the Paul McCartney song Yesterday had been recorded so far. 1967 - The World Cup skiing title was earned by Jean-Claude Killy, of France. 1968 - Otis Redding posthumously received a gold record for the single, (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay. Redding was killed in a plane crash in Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin on December 10, 1967. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. The song was recorded just three days before his untimely death. Redding recorded 11 charted hit songs between 1965 and 1969. 1968 - Born this day, Lisa Loeb, US singer, 1994 US No.1 and UK No.6 single Stay, I Missed You, from the film Reality Bites. 1969 - Born this day, Rami Jaffee, keyboards, The Wallflowers, 1997 US No.3 album Bringing Down The Horse. 1969 - Died this day, John Wyndham, author, Day Of The Triffids, aged 65. 1970 - Died this day, Erle Stanley Gardner, writer, the creator of the immensely-popular Perry Mason novels, died aged 80 in Temecula, California. 1970 - The Japanese Consul-General in Sao Paulo, Nobuo Okuchi, was kidnapped by Brazilian revolutionaries. 1970 - Blood, Sweat & Tears were nominated for a then-record eleven Grammy Awards (They won three). 1970 - Winners at this years Grammy awards included Joe South for song of the year with Games People Play, Crosby Stills and Nash won best new artist, The Fifth Dimension won Record of the year with Aquarius / Let The Sun Shine In. 1971 - Jim Morrison of The Doors arrived in Paris booking into The Hotel Georges, the following week he moved into an apartment at 17, Rue Beautreillis in Paris. Morrison lived in Paris until his death on 3 July 1971. 1972 - Neil Young went to No.1 on the US and UK album chart with Harvest, featuring the hit single Heart Of Gold. 1972 - Nilsson started a five week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with The Peter Ham and Tom Evans Badfinger song Without You. (It was also No.1 for Mariah Carey in 1994). 1973 - Hector J. Campora won the first presidential election to be held in Argentina since 1965. 1973 - Gaullists and their allies retained an absolute majority in the second ballot of the French general election. 1974 - Kenneth and Keith Littlejohn, allegedley MI6 spies inside the IRA, escaped from prison. 1974 - Marlo Thomas's famous Free to Be…You and Me special aired. 1977 - The Clash appeared at The Roxy Club, London, supported by The Slits, the first all-female punk group who were making their live debut. 1977 - Died this day, French singer Claude Francois, electrocuted while changing a light bulb as he was standing in his bathtub. 1976 UK hit Tears On The Telephone. 1978 - Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell album, began a 416 week run on the UK chart, going on to sell over 2 million copies. 1978 - The debut single from Kate Bush, Wuthering Hights, a song inspired by the Emily Bronte novel, started a four week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart. 1978 - Bobby Hull, of the Winnipeg Jets, joined Gordie Howe by getting career goal number 1,000 in a game against the Quebec Nordiques. 1979 - Born this day, Joel Madden, vocals and Benji Madden, Good Charlotte, 2002 US No.7 album The Young And The Hopeless, 2003 UK No.6 single Girls and Boys. 1980 - Appearing the first of two nights at London's Hammersmith Odeon, was Peter Gabriel, tickets were £3.50 to £1.50. 1981 - Chilean President Augusto Pinochet was sworn in for an eight-year term as president. 1981 - Born this day, LaToya, Destiny's Child, 2000 US No.1 and worldwide hit single Independent Woman Part 1. 1982 - Born this day, Thora Birch, actress. 1982 - Jimmy Sohns of the Shadows of Knight was arrested for distributing cocaine. 1985 - DJs around the US began questioning listeners to see which ones could name the 46 pop music stars who appeared on the hit, We Are The World. The song, airing first as a single, contains a 'Who's Who' of contemporary pop music. 
1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev at the age of 54, and the youngest member of the ruling Politburo, has attained supreme power in the Soviet Union today. Gorbachev, who also succeeds Konstantin Chernenko as head of the Communist Party, is seen as a political reformer. In his first pronouncement, he praised detente with the west and called for a reduction in the stockpile of arms. 1985 - The first night of a 10 date UK tour with Bryan Adams supported by Tina Turner at the Brighton Conference Centre. 1985 - The Egyptian Al-Fayed brothers won control of the House of Fraser in London and thus gained control of the department store Harrods. 1986 - Popsicle announced its plan to end the traditional twin-stick frozen treat for a flatter, one-stick model. 1988 - The Bank of England pound note ceased to be legal tender at midnight, and was replaced by the pound coin. 1989 - Debbie Gibson started a five week run at No.1 on the US album chart with Electric Youth. 1989 - Too Many Broken Hearts gave actor turned singer Jason Donovan his first UK No.1 single. 1990 - The Lithuanian Parliament proclaimed the restoration of the Baltic Republic's pre-World War II (WWII)independence from the Soviet Union. Lithuania was the first Soviet republic to break away from Communist control. 1993 - Oasis recorded their first demo's at The Real People's studio in Liverpool. The set included Rock 'n' Roll Star, Columbia and Fade Away. 1994 - Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei, following in his father's footsteps, was sworn in as Chile's president. 1994 - Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar and his government were ousted by parliament in a vote of no-confidence. 1995 - Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, the political arm of the Irish Republican Army, arrived in New York. 1995 - A lone gunman shot dead Burundi's Energy and Mines Minister Ernest Kabushemeye in the nation's capital, Bujumbura. 1996 - Pulps Jarvis Cocker walked free from Kensington police station after police failed to charge him with any criminal offence following his 'stage invasion', during Michael Jackson's performance at the Brit Awards on 19 February 1996. 1996 - The remaining Beatles turn down a $225 million offer to do a 'reunion' tour. 1997 - Paul McCartney was knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth. 1998 - French authorities dug up the remains of legendary French singer and actor Yves Montand and whisked them to a laboratory for DNA tests to settle a paternity suit. The tests would determine if Montand was the father of Aurore Drossard, age 22, who claimed she was his daughter and wanted part of his estate. Montand died in 1991 at age 70, just three days before he was to testify in the lawsuit. While alive, he refused to submit to the DNA testing, but was forced to do it in death. (So was she?) 2000 - Prime Minister Tony Blair warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin the west would not tolerate continued human rights abuses in Chechenya. 2000 - Destiny's Child went to No.1 on the US singles chart with Say My Name. 2001 - Dave Matthews Band started a two week run at No.1 on the US album chart with Everyday. 2001 - Westlife went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the Billy Joel song Uptown Girl. 2002 - Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted the international coalition against terrorism would take action against Iraq in a 'calm and measured way'. 2002 - Connie Francis sued her record label for unpaid royalties and 'inappropriate' licensing of her recordings. 2003 - Tony Blair warned France and Russia they risked letting Saddam Hussein 'off the hook' by threatening to veto a new United Nations (UN) resolution on Iraq. 2005 - Died this day, Dave Allen, comedian, aged 68. |
Trivia
Trivia - petty details or considerations, matters or things that are very unimportant, inconsequential, or nonessential; trifles; trivialities.
Trivial - of very little importance or value; insignificant: "Don't bother me with trivial matters." Trivially - unimportant, nugatory, slight, immaterial, inconsequential, frivolous, trifling.