1738 – Turlough O’Carolan, Irish harper and composer (b. 1670)
1931 – Ida B. Wells (-Barnett), American journalist, civil rights activist, and co-founder of the NAACP, dies at 68
1933 – Eric Jan Hanussen [Hermann Steinschneider], Austrian astrologist, clairvoyant, illusionist, and speaking tutor to Hitler, murdered at 43
1937 – John Drinkwater, English poet and playwright (Bird in Hand), dies at 54
1958 – Tom Brown, American dixieland jazz trombonist, dies at 69
1969 – Norman Gallichan, New Zealand cricket all-rounder (1 Test, HS 30, 3 wickets; Manawatu, Wellington), dies at 62
1996 – John Snagge, British newsreader and commentator for the BBC (Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race), dies at 91
1999 – Cal Ripken Sr, American baseball manager (Baltimore Orioles 1987-88; World Series 1983 [coach]), dies of lung cancer at 63
2007 – Andranik Margaryan, 14th Prime Minister of Armenia (2000-07), dies at 57
2023 – Pavel Krotov, Russian freestyle skier (World C’ship gold mixed team aerials 2021), dies at 30
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 25th March 2024
1305 – Consecration of the Scrovegni Chapel (Arena Chapel) in Padua, Italy, with fresco masterpiece by Florentine painter Giotto
1581 – Portuguese Cortes (King’s Court) calls Philip II King of Portugal, further legitimatizing his rule
1865 – SS General Lyon at Cape Hatteras catches fire and sinks, killing 400
1900 – US Socialist Party forms in Indianapolis
1972 – “Selling of the President” closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 5 performances
1979 – Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova retains her WTA Tour Championship with a 6–3, 3–6, 6–2 win over American teenager Tracey Austin in NYC
1986 – Men’s Figure Skating Championship in Geneva won by Brian Boitano (USA)
1988 – “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas is released
2003 – Capitol/Nashville Records releases “Rules of Travel”, the tenth studio album by singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash; produced by husband John Leventhal, it includes a duet with her father Johnny Cash
2020 – Spain’s death toll from COVID-19 overtakes China’s at 3,434 to become then second worldwide behind Italy with 7,503 deaths with a worldwide toll of 20,836
Today in History for 25th March 2024
Historical Events
421 – Friday at 12 PM – city of Venice founded
1961 – 3rd place game is one of the wildest contests in NCAA Tournament history as St Joseph’s defeats Utah, 127-120 in quadruple overtime
1968 – Members of the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC) disrupt a meeting of Londonderry Corporation to protest at the lack of housing provision in the city, Northern Ireland
1979 – Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova retains her WTA Tour Championship with a 6–3, 3–6, 6–2 win over American teenager Tracey Austin in NYC
1985 – Edwin Meese III takes office as US Attorney General
2019 – Further power blackouts in Caracas, Venezuela, prompt government to tell workers and students to stay at home
Famous Birthdays
1532 – Pietro Pontio, Italian composer (Ragionamento di Musica), born in Parma, Duchy of Milan (d. 1596)
1762 – Francesco Giuseppe Pollini, Italian composer, singer, and pupil of Mozart, born in Ljubljana , Habsburg Empire (d. 1846)
1903 – Gertrude “Binnie” Barnes, actress (Last of the Mohicans, 3 Musketeers), born in London, England (d. 1998)
1930 – David Burge, American pianist, composer and conductor, born in Evanston, Illinois (d. 2013)
1960 – Idy Chan Yuk-Lin, Hong Kong actress
1982 – Álvaro Saborío, Costa Rican footballer
Famous Deaths
1223 – Afonso II, 3rd King of Portugal (1211-23), dies at 36
1692 – Gerardus Blasius, Flemish anatomist, dies at about 66
1712 – Nehemiah Grew, English naturalist (b. 1641)
1983 – Martha Sleeper, actress (Spitfire), dies of a heart attack at 72
1991 – Marcel Lefebvre, French Catholic prelate (b. 1905)
2020 – Mark Blum, American actor (Desperately Seeking Susan, Blind Date, Presidio), dies of COVID-19 complications at 69
Famous Deaths for 24th March 2024
1603 – Elizabeth I Tudor [Virgin Queen], Queen of England and Ireland (1558-1603) and daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, dies at 69
1877 – Walter Bagehot, English journalist and economist (founded National Review), dies at 51
1882 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet (Song of Hiawatha), dies at 75
1888 – Vsevolod Garshin, Russian author (b. 1855)
1899 – Billy Barnes, English cricket all-rounder (21 Tests, 1 x 100, HS 134, 51 wickets, BB 6/28; Nottinghamshire CCC), dies at 46
1910 – Galen Clark, Canadian-born American naturalist and conservationist (discovered and helped preserve Mariposa’s Grove of giant Sequoia trees), dies at 95
1968 – Lauwrens Voorthuyzen, Dutch sect leader, dies at 70
1977 – Saburō Moroi, Japanese composer and educator, dies at 73
2010 – Jules van Neerven, Dutch economist, journalist, and editor (Limbourg Daily), dies at 80
2020 – Albert Uderzo, French cartoonist and script writer (Asterix comic books), dies at 92
Historical Events for 24th March 2024
1877 – University boat race between Oxford and Cambridge ends in a dead heat
1972 – Great Britain imposes direct rule over Northern Ireland
1980 – Capitol Records releases some rare Beatles tracks on the LP “Rarites”
1981 – Bombay beat Delhi by innings and 46 to win Ranji Cricket Trophy
1982 – US sub Jacksonville collides with a Turkish freighter near Virginia
1987 – 1st Soul Train Music Awards: Janet Jackson, Luther Vandross win
1990 – Tom Hunter swims world record 50m freestyle (21.81 sec)
1996 – MTA raises NYC bridge tolls to $3.50 each way
1997 – 69th Academy Awards: “The English Patient”, Geoffrey Rush and Frances McDormand win
2015 – Germanwings flight on route between Barcelona and Düsseldorf crashes in the French Alps killing all 150 on board
Today in History for 24th March 2024
Historical Events
1883 – 1st telephone call between NY and Chicago
1905 – A group of Cretans dedicated to Crete’s union with Greece led by Eleutherios Venizelos, meet at the village of Therisso and proclaim a union in defiance of the Great Powers
1979 – 10 rebounds and 10 assists, as the Spartans cruise to a 101-67 by Penn Mich State’s Earvin “Magic” Johnson registers triple-double 29 pts
1990 – Indian troops leave Sri Lanka
1999 – “The Matrix” film written and directed by The Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeve, Lawrence Fishburne and Carrie-Ann Moss premieres
2013 – Scotland defeats Sweden to win the 2013 World Women’s Curling Championship
Famous Birthdays
1919 – John J. Duncan Sr., American politician (Rep-R-TN, 1965-1988), born in Huntsville, Tennessee (d. 1988)
1938 – David Irving, British historian
1951 – Dougie Thompson, Scottich bassist (Supertramp – “Bloody Well Right”), born in Glasgow, Scotland
1957 – Scott J Horowitz, PhD/Capt USAF/astronaut (STS 75, 82), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1960 – Kelly LeBrock, American actress (Weird Science, Woman in Red), born in New York City
1977 – Natalie Hemby (Wrucke), American Grammy Award-winning country music songwriter (Miranda Lambert – “Only Prettier”; “Automatic”; Toby Keith – “Drinks After Work”), and singer (The Highwomen), born in Bloomington, Illinois
Famous Deaths
1396 – Walter Hilton, English mystic
1563 – Hosokawa Harumoto, Japanese military leader (b. 1514)
1823 – Cornelis van Foreest, Dutch politician, Mayor of Alkmaar, dies at 66
1993 – John Hersey, American author (Hiroshima, Bell for Adano, Wall), dies at 78
2010 – Robert Culp, American actor, screenwriter, voice actor, and director (I Spy, Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice), dies at 79
2020 – Albert Uderzo, French cartoonist and script writer (Asterix comic books), dies at 92
Famous Deaths for 23rd March 2024
1361 – Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, richest peer in England, dies at 50 or 51
1653 – Johan van Galen, Dutch admiral (commanded Dutch fleet during Battle of Leghorn), dies of wounds from the Battle of Leghorn at about 48
1748 – Johann Gottfried Walther, German composer and musicologist, dies at 63
1786 – Patience Wright, 1st US woman pro artist, dies (birth date unknown)
1819 – August von Kotzebue, German dramatist, dies at 57
1987 – Adriaan Pitlo, Dutch lawyer, dies at 85
1991 – Parkash Singh, Indian soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross (b. 1913)
1995 – Russell Reading Braddon, Australian author, dies at 74
2000 – Dick van Niehoff, Dutch pop vocalist (Fouryo), dies at 62
2006 – Sarah Caldwell, American conductor/opera director (Flagstaff), dies at 82
Historical Events for 23rd March 2024
1752 – Pope Stephen II elected to succeed Zacharias, dies 2 days later
1861 – London’s 1st tramcars, designed by Mr Train of NY, begins operating
1931 – Indian independence fighters Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar are hanged after conducting an assassination and a bombing. Their request to be shot by a firing squad is refused.
1933 – Kroll Opera in Berlin opens
1950 – “Great to Be Alive” opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 52 performances
1980 – PGA Tournament Players Championship, Sawgrass Country Club (Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida): Lee Trevino wins by 1 stroke ahead of runner-up Ben Crenshaw
1981 – US Supreme Court upholds law making statutory rape a crime only for men
1988 – Geffen Records releases “Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm”, Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell’s 13th studio album
2019 – More than 130 Fulani people killed in Ogossagou, Mali, in attack by Dogon hunters, prompting government ban on the hunters
2023 – Canada records record population growth (+2.7%), adding 1 million people in 2022, mostly through immigration
Today in History for 23rd March 2024
Historical Events
1630 – French troops occupy Pinerolo Piedmont
1933 – Kroll Opera in Berlin opens
1973 – After a 5½ year run soap “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” ends
1980 – 18-year old American tennis star Tracy Austin wins her only WTA Tour Championship; upsets Martina Navratilova in the final 6–2, 2–6, 6–2 in NYC
2015 – British entertainer James Corden becomes the host of “The Late Late Show” on CBS; hosts the program through 2023
2021 – First ever tweet by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey “just setting up my twttr” sells for $2.9 million in digitally autographed version
Famous Birthdays
1937 – Craig Breedlove, American auto racer (5 x world land speed record holder; first to reach 500mph (800km/h) and 600mph (970km/h), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2023)
1971 – Alexander Selivanov, NHL right wing (Tampa Bay Lightning), born in Moscow, Russia
1975 – Rita Grande, Napoli Italy, tennis star (3rd round 1996 Aust Open)
1976 – Dougie Lampkin, English motorcycle trials rider (7 x world outdoor champion; 4 x indoor world champion), born in Silsden, England
1981 – Tony Peña, Jr., Dominican baseball player
1990 – Eugenie, Princess of York and daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, born in London
Famous Deaths
1962 – Josef van Schaik, Dutch lawyer and politician (Vice-Premier of Netherands), dies at 80
1995 – Alan Barton, English singer (Smokie, Black Lace), dies in a bus crash at 41
1995 – Russell Reading Braddon, Australian author, dies at 74
2001 – Rowland Evans, American news reporter (CNN-Evans and Novak), dies at 79
2021 – Julié Pomagalski, French snowboarder (World C’ship gold snowboard cross 1999), dies in an avalanche at 40
2022 – Madeleine Albright (née Korbell), American diplomat (UN Delegate, 1993-97), and 1st female US Secretary of State (1997-2001), dies of cancer at 84
Famous Deaths for 22nd March 2024
1661 – Hendrick Uylenburgh, Dutch art dealer who launched Rembrandt and others, buried at about 73
1687 – Jean-Baptiste Lully, Italian-born French composer (Miserere Suites de Symphonies et Trios), dies at 54
1867 – Ferdinando Giorgetti, Italian composer, dies at 70
1975 – Paul Verhoeven, German actor and director (Das kleine Hofkonzert), dies at 73
1981 – James “Jumbo” Elliott, American track coach (b. 1915)
1986 – Harriette Arnow, American novelist and historian (Dollmaker), dies at 77
1990 – Alexander Chugayev, Soviet Russian composer, dies at 66
1994 – Walter Lantz, American cartoonist (Woody Woodpecker’s creator), dies at 93
1996 – Claude Mauriac, French writer (Le Temps immobile), dies at 81
2006 – Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot (b. 1921)