1662 – First public bus service begins, promoted by Blaise Pascal, operates in Paris as the “Carosses a Cinq Sous” until 1675
1870 – 1st US National Wildlife Preserve (Lake Meritt in Oakland California)
1891 – Britain is linked to the continent by Telephone
1938 – NY 1st requires serological blood tests of pregnant women
1944 – Nazi Germany occupies Hungary
1950 – CCNY beats Bradley 69-61 for the NIT championship
1965 – Poppin’ Fresh Pillsbury Dough Boy introduced
1990 – 32-day lockout by baseball owners ends
2011 – MESSENGER spacecraft enters Mercury’s orbit
2014 – US closes the Syrian embassy in Washington and expels all Syrian diplomats
Author: gil7
Today in History for 18th March 2023
Historical Events
1859 – Vera Cruz besieged by Miramon (Cons) in Mexican War of Reform
1913 – King George I of Greece is assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki
1939 – England beats Scotland, 9-6 at Murrayfield, Edinburgh to force a share of the Home Nations Rugby Championship with Wales and Ireland
1966 – General Suharto forms government in Indonesia
1994 – South Africa Goldstone committee reveals existence of secret police
2021 – US Senate confirms William Joseph Burns as new CIA Director
Famous Birthdays
1909 – Ernest Gallo, American winemaker (d. 2007)
1910 – Chiang Ching-huo, Chinese politician (son of Chinese president Chiang Kai-shek, President of Taiwan 1978-88), born in Fenghua, Zhejiang, China (d. 1988)
1914 – César Guerra-Peixe, Brazilian violinist and composer (Brasilia Symphony), born in Petrópolis, Brazil (d. 1993)
1925 – James Pickles, English judge and columnist, born in Halifax, West Yorkshire (d. 2010)
1926 – Peter Graves [Aurness], American actor (Mission Impossible, Airplane!, Stalag 17), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 2010)
1996 – Madeline Carroll, American actress
Famous Deaths
1886 – Leopold Zunz, German Jewish scholar (Science of Judaism), dies at 91
1944 – Benjamin Delmonte, theater director and actor (Black Haired Whore), dies at 79
1947 – William C. Durant, American automobile pioneer (General Motors), dies at 85
1958 – Sigve Lie, Norwegian sailor (Olympic gold dragon class 1948, 52), dies at 51
1983 – Kenneth E. Boulding, English economist (b. 1910)
2022 – John Clayton, American sports journalist/reporter (The Pittsburgh Press, The News Tribune; ESPN), dies at 67
Famous Deaths for 17th March 2023
1272 – Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (b. 1220)
1910 – Joaquin Valverde Durán, Spanish composer, dies at 64
1949 – Aleksandra Ekster, Russian painter (b. 1882)
1982 – Joop Willemsen, Dutch cameraman, murdered in El Salvador
1990 – Rick Grech, British musician (Blind Faith, Traffic), dies at 44
1992 – Grace Stafford Lantz, American actress and cartoon voice (Woody Woodpecker), dies at 87
1993 – Charlotte Hughes, British supercentenarian (lived under the rule of 6 monarchs and 24 British Prime Ministers), dies at 115
1996 – Thomas Enders, American diplomat, dies at 64
2010 – Robert Michael White, American test pilot (X-15), dies at 85
2011 – Michael Gough, English actor (Hammer Horror Films, Search for the Nile), dies at 94
Historical Events for 17th March 2023
1800 – British warship HMS Queen Charlotte catches fire off the Tuscan Archipelago; 700 die
1842 – Treaty of 1842: Wyandotte (Huron) Indian nation cedes 114,000 acres of land in Ohio and Michigan to US, in exchange for 148,000 acres west of the Mississippi
1897 – British boxer Bob Fitzsimmons KOs American champion ‘Gentleman’ Jim Corbett in the 14th round to win World Heavyweight title in Carson City, Nevada
1900 – American modern dancer Isadora Duncan gives her first Europen performance in London, England
1943 – Physician Willem J. Kolff performs the world’s first ‘hemodialysis’ using his artificial kidney machine, however the treatment is unsuccessful and the patient dies, in the Netherlands
1959 – Australia and USSR restore diplomatic relations
1960 – US President Eisenhower forms anti-Castro-exile army under the CIA
1961 – Jaguar head William Lyons debuts the first E-Type model at the Geneva International Motor Show, creating a sensation
1995 – Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams visits the White House in Washington, D.C.
2021 – America’s Cup, Auckland: Emirates Team New Zealand beats Italian yacht Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli by 46s in race 10 for a 7-3 series victory and retain the cup
Today in History for 17th March 2023
Historical Events
1756 – St. Patrick’s Day is first celebrated in NYC at the Crown and Thistle Tavern
1884 – John Joseph Montgomery makes 1st glider flight at Otay, California
1950 – Belgian government of Gaston Eyskens resigns due to constitutional crisis
1990 – Scotland beats England, 13-7 at Murrayfield, Edinburgh for it’s 14th outright Five Nations Rugby Championship, 3rd Grand Slam title and 10th Triple Crown
1994 – Iran transport aircraft crashes in Azerbaijan (32 killed)
2013 – 10 people are killed by a car bombing in Basra, Iraq
Famous Birthdays
1781 – Dominique Jacques de Eerens, Dutch general and politician (Governor-General of Dutch East Indies 1836-40), born in Alkmaar, Dutch Republic (d. 1840)
1934 – Q T Macon, blues vocal/guitar
1939 – Shahid Mahmoud, Pakistani cricketer (opener scored 16 and 9 in only Pak Test)
1956 – Patrick McDonnell, American cartoonist (Mutts), born in Elizabeth, New Jersey
1973 – Caroline Corr, Irish Celtic folk rock singer, drummer, and bodhrán player (The Corrs – “What Can I Do”), born in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland
1979 – Nicole “Coco” Austin, American glamor model
Famous Deaths
1516 – Giuliano de’ Medici, ruler of Florence, dies at 37
1967 – Richard Reeves, American character actor (The Adventures of Superman; Date With an Angel), dies from cirrhosis of the liver at 54
1970 – Fernand Crommelynck, Belgian playwright (Chaud et Frois), dies at 83
1971 – Ernst Bachmeister, German writer, dies at 96
1982 – Koos Koster, Dutch newscaster (IKON), murdered in El Salvador
2015 – Bob Appleyard, English cricketer (superb England off-spinner, brief career), dies at 90
Famous Deaths for 16th March 2023
1322 – Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1276), dies in battle at Boroughbridge
1559 – Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1496)
1804 – Francisco marquis Albergati Capacelli, Italian playwright, dies at 75
1937 – J Austen Chamberlain, English Minister of Foreign Affairs (Nobel), dies at 73
1957 – Constantin Brancusi, Romanian French sculptor, dies at 81
1972 – Pie Traynor, American Baseball HOF 3rd baseman (MLB All-Star 1933, 34; World Series 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates) and manager (Pittsburgh Pirates 1934–39), dies at 72
1979 – Jean Monnet, French political economist and diplomat, dies at 90
1987 – Scott McKay [Carl Chester Gose], American actor (Stage Door, Guest in House, 30 Seconds over Tokyo), dies of kidney failuyre at 71
1996 – Olive Netta Parsons, co-founder (Collet’s bookshop), dies at 104
2005 – Allan Hendrickse, South African politician (b. 1927)
Historical Events for 16th March 2023
1730 – Willem Charles Henry Friso installed as viceroy of Drenthe
1861 – Confederate government appoints commissioners to Britain
1870 – Hiram R. Revels makes 1st official speech by an African American in the US Senate
1900 – Sir Arthur Evans rediscovers the bronze age city of Knossos in Crete, home of the legendary Minotaur
1934 – Academy Award gold statuette 1st called Oscar in print by Sidney Skolsky
1956 – US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Tenley Albright
1958 – LPGA Titleholders Championship Women’s Golf, Augusta CC: Beverly Hanson wins by 5 strokes ahead of Betty Dodd
1984 – South Africa and Mozambique sign non attack treaty
2016 – US President Barack Obama nominates Merrick Garland as Supreme Court Justice
2021 – French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal win the Pritzker Prize for architecture
Today in History for 16th March 2023
Historical Events
1190 – York (England) Pogrom: Jews seek refuge in Clifford’s Tower, which is then besieged by a mob; about 150 people are massacred or commit suicide rather than submit to Christian baptism
1911 – Stanley Cup, Dey’s Arena, Ottawa, ON: Ottawa Senators beat Port Arthur Bearcats (ON), 13-4
1919 – Frank Wedekind’s play “Elius Erweckung” premieres in Hamburg
1966 – Man From Uncle star David McCallum receives huge welcome in London
1976 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson announces his resignation
2003 – 50th ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament: #12 Duke beats NC State, 84-77
Famous Birthdays
1849 – James E. Smith, American minister and “oldest new father known to medicine” at 102 with a woman 64 years younger, born in Williamsburg, Virginia
1920 – Traudl Junge, German secretary to Adolf Hitler, born in Munich (d. 2002)
1924 – Beryl Davis, British-American cabaret and big band singer (Quintette du Hot Club de France, Glenn Miller’s US Army Air Force Orchestra), born Plymouth, England (d. 2011)
1937 – Amos Tversky, Israeli cognitive and mathematical psychologist, born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine (d. 1996)
1937 – David Del Tredici, American pianist, Neo-Romantic composer, and 1980 Pulitzer winner (In Memory of a Summer Day), born in Cloverdale, California
1954 – Nancy Wilson, rock guitarist (Heart – “Baracuda”; “What About Love”), born in San Francisco, California
Famous Deaths
1037 – Robert I, Archbishop of Rouen
1835 – Charles Farquharson, Scottish-born slave plantation owner in the Bahamas (wrote Farquharson’s Journal – only plantation journal to survive), dies at 74
1914 – Gaston Calmette, editor (Le Figaro), killed by Mme Caillaux at 55
1956 – Joseph John Richards, American composer, dies at 77
1974 – Daniel Frank Gerber, American manufacturer of baby food, dies at 75
1993 – Mohammed Hussein Nagdi, Iran diplomat/resistance fighter, murdered
Famous Deaths for 15th March 2023
963 – Romanus II, Byzantine emperor (959-63), dies at 25
1711 – Eusebio Kino, Italian Catholic missionary (b. 1645)
1889 – Melville Reuben Bissell, American inventor of the carpet sweeper, dies of pneumonia at 45
1891 – Joseph Bazalgette, English civil engineer (b. 1819)
1891 – Théodore de Banville, French writer, dies at 67
1905 – Amalie Skram, Norwegian author (Paa St Jorgen), dies at 58
1996 – Bob Pearce, American wrestler (Olympic gold bantamweight freestyle 1932), dies at 88
1997 – Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-French painter and author (Op Art), dies at 90
2015 – Mike Porcaro, American rock bassist (Toto, 1982-2007 “Stranger In Town”), dies from Lou Gehrig’s disease at 59
2018 – Michael Getler, American journalist and 1st ombudsman appointed by a US broadcasting network (PBS), dies of bile duct cancer at 82
Historical Events for 15th March 2023
1562 – General Francois de Guise enters Paris
1729 – Sister St Stanislas Hachard, 1st American nun, takes her vows in New Orleans
1877 – Cricket’s inaugural Test match commences as Australia plays England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground; Australia wins by 45 runs in 4 days
1897 – 1st indoor fly casting tournament opens, at Madison Square Garden
1937 – First American blood bank in a hospital is opened at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois
1949 – Cricket’s master batsman Don Bradman receives his knighthood from the Governor-General of Australia, the Rt Hon. WJ McKell at the investiture in Queen’s Hall, Parliament House, Melbourne
1949 – WICU TV channel 12 in Erie, PA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1955 – US Air Force unveils self-guided missile
1962 – Richard Rodgers’ musical drama “No Strings”, starring Diahann Carroll and Richard Kiley, opens at the 54th Street Theatre (later transferring to the Broadhurst), New York; runs for 580 performances and wins 3 Tony Awards
1994 – 8th Soul Train Music Awards: Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston win