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March 16th
1736 - Died this day, Giovanni Pergolesi, composer, known for his Stabat Mater, was killed aged 26, by an orange thrown by an unappreciative member of the audience. 1739 - Born this day, George Clymer, Signer of the US Declaration of Independence. Died in 1813. 1751 - Born this day, James Madison, 4th US President. Married Dorothea (Dolley) Payne on 15 September 1794 in Harewood, Nr Charles Town, Virginia. (Dorothea (Dolley) Payne was born on 20 May 1768 in Guilford County, North Carolina, and died on 12 July 1849 in Washington D.C. and was buried in Montpelier, Orange County, Virginia.) 1787 - Born this day, Georg Ohm, German physicist, a pioneer in the study of electricity. 1792 - Gustavus III of Sweden was shot by Captain Anckarstroem at a masked ball and died on 29 March. His rule was known as the "Gustavian Enlightenment" and he was a great patron of the arts. 1802 - The United States Congress passed an act establishing a military academy at West Point, New York. 1822 - Born this day, Rosa Bonheur, artist. Died in 1899. 1822 - Born this day, John Pope, Civil War general. Died in 1892. 1825 - Women who felt oppressed by their employers gathered at Palmo's Opera House in New York City, not for opera, but for speeches and music about their troubles. 1827 - Freedom's Journal, the first Negro newspaper in the United States, was published in New York City by John Russworm and Samuel Cornish. 1850 - The novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, was published for the first time. Other novels by Mr. Hawthorne included The House of Seven Gables, The Marble Faun, Twice-Told Tales, Tanglewood Tales and The Wonder Book. 1851 - Spain signed a concordat with the Papacy under which Roman Catholicism became the only authorised faith. It also gave control of education and the press to the Church. 1871 - The State of Delaware, the first state to enter the union, enacted the first fertilizer law. 1872 - The first English Football Association (FA) Cup final was played at the Kennington Oval in London; the Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers 1-0. 1882 - The US Senate approved a treaty allowing the United States to join the Red Cross. 1883 - Susan Hayhurst graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy as the first woman pharmacy graduate. 1896 - Born this day, Conrad Nagel, actor. Died in 1970. 1900 - Sir Arthur Evans uncovered the ancient city of Knossos on the island of Crete. 1906 - Born this day, [Henry] Henny Youngman, comedian, 'King of the One Liners'. Died in 1998. 1912 - Born this day, Pat Nixon [Ryan], former US First Lady. Died in 1993. 1915 - The Federal Trade Commission began operation. The US government appointed five commissioners to receive $10,000 each year to regulate commerce and prohibit unlawful trade. 1917 - Grand Duke Michael, brother of former Czar Nicholas II who had abdicated the day before, refused to take the Russian throne; the provisional government under Prince Georgi Lvov then formally took office. 1918 - Tallulah Bankhead made her New York acting debut with a role in The Squab Farm. 1920 - Born this day, Leo McKern, actor. 1926 - Born this day, Jerry Lewis [Joseph Levitch], actor, comedian. 1926 - The first liquid-fuel rocket was successfully launched by Professor Robert Goddard at Auburn, Massachusetts. The rocket traveled 184 feet in 2.5 seconds. 1927 - Born this day, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, US Senator from New York. (Democrat). 1927 - Born this day, [Reuben] Ruby Braff, jazz musician, trumpeter, cornetist, actor. 1930 - Born this day, [Hobert Neal] Hobie Landrith, baseball. 1932 - Born this day, Don Blasingame, baseball. 1932 - Born this day, Betty Johnson, singer (Little Blue Man). 1935 - German leader Adolf Hitler renounced the disarmament clauses in the Versailles Treaty and introduced conscription. 1937 - Former world champion hurdler, Percy Beard was hired by the Brooklyn Dodgers to teach the faltering baseball team how to run. 1939 - Slovakia was placed under German control; Hungary annexed Ruthenia (formerly part of Czechoslovakia). 1940 - Died this day, Selma Lagerlöf (authoress: Jerusalem, Gosta Berling’s Saga, The Wonderful World of Nils, Liljecrona’s Home, Christ Legends, The Ring of the Lowenskolds; She was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize for literature 1909. 1940 - Born this day, Bernado Bertolucci, Academy Award-winning Italian film director. 1942 - Born this day, Chuck Wollery, US game-show host. 1942 - Born this day, R. Walter Cunningham, astronaut. 1942 - Born this day, Roger Crozier, hockey. 1942 - Born this day, MacArthur Lane, football. 1942 - Born this day, Chuck Woolery, game show host. 1942 - Born this day, Jerry Jeff Walker [Paul Crosby], US singer, guitarist, songwriter, wrote Mr Bojangles, a hit for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. 1942 - Fats Waller recorded The Jitterbug Waltz in New York for Bluebird Records. 1947 - Born this day, Tom Bradley, baseball. 1948 - Born this day, Michael Bruce, musician, guitarist, keyboardist, Alice Cooper Band, 1972 UK No.1 and US No.7 single School's Out. 1949 - Born this day, Erik Estrada, actor (CHiPs). 1950 - US Congress voted to remove federal taxes on oleomargarine. 1950 - Born this day, Tim Stokes, football. 1951 - Born this day, Kate Nelligan, actress. 1952 - Born this day, Graham Cole, actor. 1954 - Born this day, Brian McKenzie, hockey. 1954 - Born this day, Hollis Stacy, golf. 1954 - Born this day, Nancy Wilson, musician, guitarist, singer, Heart, 1987 US No.1 and UK No.3 single Alone. 1954 - Born this day, Jimmy Nail, actor, singer, 1992 UK No.1 single Ain't No Doubt. (Auf Weidesen Pet). 1955 - Born this day, Isabelle Huppert, actress. 1955 - British Labour party MPs voted to withdraw the party whip from long-time rebel Aneurin Bevan. 1955 - British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill today reacted angrily to American politicians' claims that he hadn't fought Soviet leader Josef Stalin hard enough to secure Poland's independence during the 1945 Yalta Conference at which the US, Soviet and British war leaders agreed the future shape of the post-World War II (WWII) world. 1955 - The Ballad of Davy Crockett, by Bill Hayes, reached the number one spot on the pop music charts and stayed for five weeks beginning this day. The smash hit song sold more than 7,000,000 records on more than 20 different labels. Everyone seemed to be singing the song that saluted the frontier hero who was "Born on a mountain top in Tennessee..." Coonskin caps were seen everywhere as the Crockett craze spread like a frontier fire. 1957 - The Gumby Show created by Art Clokey premiered. Gumby and his horse, Pokey, were filmed using the process of claymation. 
1957 - Born this day, Matthew Bannister, broadcaster. 1959 - Born this day, Flavor Flav, musician, Public Enemy, 1988 UK No.18 single Don't Believe The Hype. 1960 - Born this day, Vicki Lewis, in Cincinnati, Ohio, actress (Beth-Newsradio). 1961 - Disney's The Absent-Minded Professor opened in US theatres. 1961 - Julie Parrish made her TV debut on The Untouchables. 1962 - The first Russian 'Cosmos' satellite was launched. 1963 - Peter, Paul and Mary released the single, Puff The Magic Dragon. Through the years, controversy continually surrounded the song. It was banned by several radio stations whose management figured that the song was about the elicit joys of smoking marijuana. The group denied this startling assumption. "It's about a magic dragon named Puff," they said. The trio recorded a dozen hits that charted between 1962 and 1969. "Puff" was their third song. It went to number two on the pop charts and puffed around for nearly three months. The group next did a Bob Dylan protest song, Blowin' in the Wind and ended a sterling career with a John Denver song - the group's biggest - Leaving on a Jet Plane. 1963 - Born this day, Stuart Kerr, drummer, Love & Money, Texas, 1989 UK No.8 single I Don't Want A Lover, left in 1991. 1963 - Born this day, Kevin Smith, actor, (Hercules, Xena: Warrior Princess). 1964 - Paul Hornung, 'The Golden Boy', and Alex Karras, the guy who punched out a horse in the movie, Blazing Saddles, were reinstated to the NFL after an 11-month suspension for betting on football games. 1964 - The Beatles released in the US their hit single, Can't Buy Me Love/You Can't Do That on the Capitol label. They set a new record for advance sales in the US with 2,100,000 copies of Can't Buy Me Love. 1965 - The Rolling Stones were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with The Last Time. It was the band's third UK No.1. 1966 - American astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott docked their Gemini-8 space vehicle with an Agena craft, a first in orbital history. 1968 - Some 300 Vietnam villagers died at the hands of American troops in what came to be known as the My Lai massacre. 1968 - Robert F. Kennedy formally announced that he would join the presidential race, a race that for him was tragically cut short when he was assassinated just three months later. 1968 - The posthumously released single by Otis Redding, (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay, jumped into the No.1 slot on Billboard's pop record charts and stayed there for 4 weeks. It made No.3 in the UK. Otis was killed in a plane crash on 10 Decenber 1967 three days after recording the song. 1969 - Appearing at ‘Pop World 69’ at London’s Wembley Empire Pool, were Fleetwood Mac, The Move, Amen Corner, Peter Sarstedt, The Tymes, Harmony Grass and Geno Washington. 1970 - Died this day, Tammy Terrell, Motown soul singer and one time singing partner of Marvin Gaye, at the age of 24 in Graduate Hospital, Philadelphia. She had six (other source says eight) brain operations in 18 months. Hits with Marvin Gaye including 1967 US No.5 single Your Precious Love. 1970 - Published today, the complete New English Bible, simultaneously by the Oxford and Cambridge University Press. 1971 - Winners at this years Grammy Awards included, Simon & Garfunkel who won Record of the year, Song of the year and Album of the year for Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Carpenters won Best new act and Best vocal performance. 1971 - The Jackson 5 single, Never Can Say Goodbye was released on this date, and within five days, it had sold 1,213,000 copies, an unparalleled success since the heyday of the Beatles. 1971 - Boxer Henry Cooper retired after losing his title to Joe Bugner. 1972 - Appearing at The Royal Albert Hall, London, was Neil Diamond. 1972 - John Lennon lodged an appeal with the US immigration office in New York, after he was served with deportation orders arising from his 1968 cannabis possession conviction. 1972 - Born this day, Andrew Dunlop, guitar, Travis, 1999 UK No.1 album The Man Who, 1999 UK No.10 single Why Does It Always Rain On Me?. 1973 - David Cassidy played the first of six sold out shows at the Empire Pool, Wembley. 1973 - In Paris, finance ministers of 14 countries, and the heads of the IMF, OECD and BIS agreed to establish a currency system with backing from the United States, based on floating rates of exchange. 1973 - The Queen opened the new London Bridge. The old one was sold for £1m and rebuilt at Lake Havasu in America. 1974 - Barbra Streisand started a two week run at No.1 on the US album chart with The Way We Were, the singers second US No.1. 1974 - Paper Lace had their only UK No.1 single with Billy Don't Be A Hero. 1976 - Harold Wilson resigned as Prime Minister, Downing Street announced this day without any warning. He drove to Buckingham Palace to tell the Queen of his decision. Political commentators were baffled by the news. Wilson who had led the Labour party for 13 years and had won three elections, was asked why he is going. He just smiled. He was succeeded by James Callaghan on 5 April. 1977 - After being with the label for six days The Sex Pistols were fired from A&M due to pressure from other label artists and its Los Angeles head office. 25,000 copies of God Save The Queen were pressed and the band made £75,000 from the deal. 1978 - Former Italian premier Aldo Moro was kidnapped by Red Brigades guerrillas, who demanded the release of all Communist prisoners. 1978 - The US Senate approved the first of two Panama Canal pacts. The treaty guaranteed neutrality of the canal after Panama assumed control at the end of 1999. 1979 - CBS-TV aired the Wings Over America special. 1979 - The China Syndrome, a film about a nuclear plant disaster which starred Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, and Michael Douglas, opened in US theatres on this date. Ironically, a few weeks later, there was a nuclear disaster at the plant at Three Mile Island In Pennsylvania. Fonda and Lemmon both received Oscar nominations for their performances in the powerful drama, as did Mike Gray, T.S. Cook, and James Bridges for their original screenplay. 1982 - Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev announced that the Soviet Union was freezing deployment of SS-20 missiles west of the Urals. 1983 - Died this day, Arthur Godfrey, radio and TV personality, died in New York City at the age of 79. 1983 - On this day, inventor Clive Sinclair (now Sir Clive), was voted young businessman of the year at 42 years of age. 1984 - South Africa and Mozambique signed a non-aggression pact near the border town of Komatipoort. 1985 - US journalist Terry Anderson was kidnapped in Beirut; he was not released until 4 December 1991 after 2,454 days in captivity. 1985 - A Chorus Line played performance number 4,000 at New York's famed Shubert Theatre. The show originally opened in July 1975, and became the longest-running show to light up the Great White Way in September 1983. 1985 - People magazine listed the top 57, money-making, show-biz stars. At the pinnacle was Paul McCartney, former Beatle and leader of the group Wings, whose music empire was said to be worth $500 million. Bob Hope made the list - with a worth of about $200 million. 1985 - Appearing at Wembley Arena, London, was Howard Jones, tickets were £6.80. 1986 - Appearing at The Pavilion, Brighton, were The Housemartins. 1987 - Bostonia magazine printed an English translation of Albert Einstein's last high school report card. The brain behind the theory of relativity did relatively well - with an "A" in math - but a "D" in French. 1988 - In Panama, General Manuel Antonio Noriega survived a coup attempt that he said was US-inspired. 1988 - A loyalist gunman opened fire at an IRA funeral for three people killed by the SAS in Gibraltar. 1989 - MTV launched a contest to give away Jon Bon Jovi's childhood home. 1989 - Bez from the Happy Mondays was arrested at Manchester Airport moments before boarding a flight to Belfast for a gig and charged for trying to leave the country, breaking bail conditions set after a previous arrest. 1991 - Died this day, all seven members of Country star Reba McEntire's band were killed when their plane crashed near San Diego. 1991 - The Farm scored their only UK No.1 album with Spartacus. 1991 - Baghdad claimed its troops had crushed an uprising in southern Iraq that began in the wake of the Gulf War. 1992 - A state court in Los Angeles awarded humorist Art Buchwald and producer Alain Bernheim $900,000 from Paramount Studios for Buchwald's idea for the movie Coming to America, which was a hit for comedian Eddie Murphy. 1992 - At a Metallica gig at Orlando Arena, fans dangled an usher by his ankles from the balcony as trouble broke out at the concert, the band were charged $38,000 for repairs and cleaning after the audience trashed the building. 1993 - Appearing at The Boardwalk, Manchester, were The Spin Doctors. 1993 - Died this day, Johnny Cymbal, singer (Mr. Bass Man), was also known as Derek when he sang Cinnamon. Died of a heart attack. 1993 - Authorities met face-to-face for the first time with representatives from the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, in an effort to end the 17-day siege peacefully. 1994 - The International Atomic Energy Agency said North Korea barred its inspectors from checking one of the Communist nation's seven nuclear sites. 1994 - Tonya Harding pleaded guilty to helping to cover up the plot against fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan. 1995 - Norman Thagard stepped aboard the Mir space station to become the first US astronaut to fly on a Russian spacecraft. 1995 - Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams met President Bill Clinton for the first time. 1996 - The Ramones performed what they claimed would be their last ever date in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 1996 - Died this day, Charles Pope, singer with US soul group The Tams, of heart failure. 1971 UK No.1 single Hey Girl Don't Bother Me. 1998 - In a 14-page statement, the Vatican apologised for not doing more to prevent the murders of millions of Jews at the hands of the Nazis. 1999 - Millionaire magazine publisher Steve Forbes announced his second bid for the Republican presidential nomination. 2000 - A New York City undercover narcotics detective shot to death an unarmed man, Patrick Dorismond, during a confrontation outside a midtown Manhattan bar. Outrage over the killing intensified when Mayor Giuliani released Dorismond's sealed juvenile arrest records, allegedly to show how the victim had a propensity for violence. 2000 - Most of the loss-making motor car company Rover, was sold off by German car firm BMW to London-based venture capitalist company Alchemy in a £2billion deal. 2002 - Crown Prince Abdullah, the defacto leader of Saudi Arabia, told Vice President Dick Cheney that it was not in the best interests of the United States or the region for the US to attack Iraq. 2003 - Died this day, Thora Hird, actress, (Last of the Summer Wine, Songs of Praise). 2003 - Gareth Gates featuring The Kumars started a two week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with Spirit In The Sky. The song had been a UK No.1 for Norman Greenbaum in 1970 and for Doctor and the Medics in 1986. 2003 - Prime Minister Tony Blair met US President George Bush in the Azores as Saddam Hussein put Iraq on a war footing. |
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.