1931 – US Ladies’ Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson
1939 – Nazi Germany demands the return of Danzig (Gdańsk) from Poland
1958 – Dr. Ernest Lawrence, nuclear scientist and Nobel laureate, receives first West Point Sylvanus Thayer Award, presented to an outstanding US citizen whose service in the national interest exemplifies devotion to ideals of West Point motto: “Duty, Honor, Country”
1978 – San Francisco passes the most comprehensive homosexual rights bill in US history
1995 – NYC agrees to sell its 2 owned radio stations (WNYC AM and FM)
2012 – Sergio Agüero and Samir Nasri score to give Manchester City 2-1 win over Chelsea at City of Manchester Stadium; EPL record 20th consecutive home win; streak ends with 3-3 draw v Sunderland 31/3
2018 – English TV presenter Ant McPartlin charged with drink driving following an accident in London
2019 – Emilia Clarke reveals she suffered two brain aneurysms while filming “Games of Thrones” in an article for “The New Yorker”
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 20th March 2026
1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is published in Boston
1937 – Franco’s Republican army launch their (eventually successful) counter-offensive against Italian International Brigades fighting for the Nationalists at the Battle of Guadalajara, Spain
1951 – Indonesian army offensive against Darul Islam on Java
1952 – Final ratification of peace treaty restoring sovereignty to Japan by US Senate
1987 – Yvonne van Gennip skates ladies’ world record 5 km (7:20.36)
1989 – Major League Baseball announces Reds manager Pete Rose is under investigation
1994 – “Flowering Peach” opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for 41 performances
2016 – Barack Obama becomes the first US President to visit Cuba since 1928, arriving for a three-day tour with First Lady Michelle
Historical Events for 19th March 2026
1808 – Charles IV, king of Spain, abdicates after riots and a popular revolt at the winter palace Aranjuez. His son, Ferdinand VII, takes the throne
1962 – Columbia Records releases the self-titled debut album of American folk singer Bob Dylan; quickly recorded collection of mostly cover tunes, with two original songs is largely ignored
1969 – Chicago 8 indicted in aftermath of Chicago Democratic convention
1974 – Jefferson Starship begins their 1st tour
1985 – US Senate votes 55-45 to authorize production of the MX “Peacekeeper” intercontinental ballistic missile
1995 – Revival of Brien Friel’s stage drama “Translations”, starring Brian Dennehy, opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 25 performances
2001 – 16th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Aerosmith; Solomon Burke; The Flamingos; Michael Jackson; Queen; Paul Simon; Steely Dan; Ritchie Valens; James Burton; Johnnie Johnson; and Chris Blackwell
2003 – Airstrikes by an American and British-led coalition signal the beginning of the invasion of Iraq without United Nations support and in defiance of world opinion
Historical Events for 18th March 2026
1859 – Vera Cruz besieged by Miramon (Cons) in Mexican War of Reform
1891 – Britain is linked to the continent by Telephone
1900 – Japan uses its influence over Korea to deny Russia’s efforts to obtain a naval station at Korean Port of Masampo, the lead up to the Russo-Japanese war
1902 – Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso becomes the first well-known performer to make a record
1948 – Philips begin experimental TV broadcasting
1950 – CCNY beats Bradley 69-61 for the NIT championship
1982 – 8th People’s Choice Awards: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field and Jane Fonda win (Motion Picture) and Alan Alda and Barbara Mandrell win (TV)
2005 – Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube is removed at the request of her husband
Historical Events for 17th March 2026
1757 – Prince Mas Saïd of Mataram surrenders to Mangkubumi in Java
1775 – Transylvania Land Company, headed by Richard Henderson, buys most of Kentucky through treaty signed with Cherokee chiefs at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River (later declared illegal)
1845 – Bristol man Henry Jones patents self-raising flour
1870 – Mass legislature authorizes incorporation of Wellesley Female Seminary
1953 – WWLP TV channel 22 in Springfield, MA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1982 – 4 Dutch TV crew members shot dead in El Salvador
1988 – Then highest scoring NCAA basketball game to date; Loyola-Marymont 119, Wyoming 115
1988 – Iran says Iraq uses poison gas
Historical Events for 16th March 2026
1731 – Treaty of Vienna signed by Prince Eugene of Savoy, Count Sinzendorf and Count Gundacker, Thomas Stahremberg and the British envoy to Vienna, Sir Thomas Robinson.
1941 – National Gallery of Art opens in Washington, D.C.
1946 – Bobby Clark’s stage farce “The Would-Be Gentleman”, adapted from Moliére’s “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme”, closes at the Booth Theater, NYC. after 77 performances
1966 – Gemini 8 launched with Neil Armstrong and David R. Scott aboard, conducts the 1st docking of two spacecraft in orbit, flight aborted after critical system failure with the crew returned safely to Earth
1975 – Gene Curty, Nitra Scharfman and Chuck Strand’s musical rock opera “The Lieutenant” closes at the Lyceum Theater, NYC, after 9 performances
1988 – US sends 3,000 soldiers to Nicaragua’s neighbor Honduras
2020 – Global infections and deaths from COVID-19 overtake those in China for the 1st time, 86,000 vs 80,860 infections, 3,241 vs 3,208 deaths according to John Hopkins Uni
2022 – US Federal Reserve raises interest rates for the first time since 2018 by a quarter of a point to help ease rising price inflation
Historical Events for 15th March 2026
1672 – King Charles II of England enacts the Declaration of Indulgence in an unsuccessful attempt to extend religious liberty to Protestant nonconformists and Roman Catholics in his realms
1964 – USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
1981 – Suriname failed coup under sgt-mjr Wilfred Hawker
1985 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1997 – France beats Scotland, 47-20 at Parc des Princes, Paris to claim an 11th outright Five Nations Rugby Championship and 5th Triple Crown; fly-half Christophe Lamaison lands 6 penalties and 3 conversions
2013 – Li Keqiang assumes office as the 7th Premier of the People’s Republic of China
2017 – French fashion house Givenchy appoints it first female designer, Englishwoman Clare Waight Keller
2024 – Former US VP Mike Pence says “he cannot in good conscience” endorse Donald Trump for President in an interview on Fox News
Historical Events for 14th March 2026
1644 – England grants a patent to Providence Plantations for what is now Rhode Island
1845 – -5.3°F (-20.7°C) in Groningen, Netherlands
1903 – W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory’s play “Hour-glass” premieres in Dublin
1912 – King Vittorio Emanuel III of Italy injured in an assassination attempt
1990 – Mikhail Gorbachev becomes president of the Soviet Congress
1993 – Ricky Ponting hits twin tons for Tasmania aged 18 years 84 days
1993 – 14th Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament: Seton Hall beats Syracuse, 103-70
2016 – NASA releases data showing February 2016 warmest month ever recorded globally – 1.35C above the long-term average
Historical Events for 13th March 2026
1901 – Amidst increasing anti-gambling sentiment, wagering on horse racing is banned in San Francisco, CA; Ingleside Race Track closes March 15
1922 – NHL Championship: Ottawa Senators outscore Toronto St Pats, 5 to 4, in 2 games
1961 – Elizabeth Gurley Finn (70) becomes President of US Communist Party
1973 – “Irene” opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 605 performances
1979 – NHL New York Islanders Mike Bossy’s 5th career hat trick
1982 – Ice Pairs Championship at Copenhagen won by Baess and Thierbach (GDR)
1985 – Funeral services held for Konstantin Chernenko in Moscow
2019 – British MPs vote to reject a no-deal Brexit, defeating Theresa May’s government 321 votes to 278
Historical Events for 12th March 2026
1755 – 1st steam engine in America installed, to pump water from a mine
1910 – Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Montreal Wanderers beat Berlin Dutchmen (ON), 7-3
1912 – Helen Hayes Theater (Little Theatre) opens at 240W 44th St, NYC
1933 – Franklin D. Roosevelt conducts his first “fireside chat” as US President via radio, speaking directly to 60 million listening Americans, eight days after his inauguration
1958 – 3rd Eurovision Song Contest: Andre Claveau for France wins singing “Dors, mon amour” in Hilversum
1977 – Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet bans the Christian-Democratic Party
1985 – Larry Bird scores Boston Celtic record 60 points
2006 – 47th SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament: Florida beats South Carolina, 49-47