March 21st in History

On this day in history —

  • Archbishop Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake by Queen Mary I (1556)
  • The Great New Orleans Fire destroys 850 of the city’s 1,000 buildings (1788)
  • Pope Pius VII is crowned with a papier-mâché tiara because Napoléon Bonaparte had stolen the real one. Five subsequent popes wore the temporary tiara because it was lightweight and comfortable (1800)
  • The British beat the French for supremacy in Egypt in the Battle of Alexandria (1801)
  • The first modern legal code in Europe, the Code Napoléon, is adopted (1804)
  • The Tokyo Earthquake kills over 100,000 people (1857)
  • Persia becomes Iran (1935)
  • The US governor of Puerto Rico orders a police attack against a peaceful march of the Nationalist Party, killing 17 and wounding 235 in the Ponce Massacre. No charges were ever filed. (1943)
  • Kenneth “Kingfish” Washington becomes the first African-American in the NFL (1943)
  • The first rock and roll concert, the Moondog Coronation Ball, is held in Cleveland (1952)
  • Alcatraz Prison closes (1963)
  • The Selma to Montgomery March finally begins, after two previous attempts were violently stopped by police. It will reach Montgomery two days later. (1965)
  • President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will boycott the Moscow Summer Olympics (1980)
  • The Breitling Orbiter 3 achieves the first circumnavigation of the Earth by balloon (1999)

It’s the birthday of —

  • Kevin Federline, Britney husband (1978
  • Rosie O’Donnell, talk show host (1962)
  • Matthew Broderick, actor (1962)
  • Gary Oldman, actor (1958)
  • Eddie Money, singer (1949)
  • Timothy Dalton, actor (1944 or 1946)
  • Vivian Stanshall, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band founding member (1943)
  • Tom Flores, football player and coach (1937)
  • Michael Heseltine, British politician (1933)
  • Russ Meyer, filmmaker (1922)
  • Julio Gallo, winemaker (1910)
  • Phyllis McGinley, children’s book author and poet (1905)
  • Jock Sutherland, football player and coach (1889)
  • Modest Mussorgsky (Модéст Мýсоргский), composer (1881)
  • Maurice Farman, airplane designer (1877)
  • George Owen Squier, first military passenger on an airplane and founder of the Musak Corporation (1865)
  • Alexander Mozhaysky (лександр Фёдорович Можайский), Russian aviation pioneer, claimed by the Soviet Union as first to achieve powered flight (1825)
  • Benito Juárez, Mexican president — birthday is a Mexican patriotic holiday (1806)
  • Joseph Fourier, mathematician and physicist (1768)

Deaths —

  • Pinetop Perkins, blues pianist (2011)
  • Bobby Short, cabaret singer (2005)
  • Barney Martin, actor (2005)
  • Herman Talmadge, segregationist (2002)
  • Galina Ulanova (Галина Уланова), ballet dancer (1998)
  • William Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine (1997)
  • Dack Rambo, actor (1994)
  • Macdonald Carey, soap opera star (1994)
  • Leo Fender, guitar man (1991)
  • Robert Preston, music man (1987)
  • Dean Paul Martin, pop musician and fighter pilot (1987)
  • Angelo “The Gentle Don” Bruno, mobster (1980)
  • Joe “Ducky” Medwick, baseball player (1975)
  • Candy Darling, Warhol “superstar” (1974)
  • Cyril M. Kornbluth, science fiction writer (1958)
  • Frederick W. Taylor, “father of scientific management” (1915)
  • Nadar, photographer and caricaturist (1910)
  • Giovanni Arduino, geologist (1795)
  • Archbishop James Ussher, calculated that creation began on Sunday, October 23, 4004 BCE (1656)
  • Pocahontas, ancestor of Nancy Reagan (1617 — buried)

Holidays —

  • World Puppetry Day (International) — Cover
  • Natalicio de Benito Juárez (Mexico)
  • Harmony Day (Australia)
  • Human Rights Day (South Africa)
  • International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (United Nations)
  • Independence Day (Namibia)
  • Library Day (Bangladesh)
  • Mother’s Day (most Arab countries)
  • Salii (ancient Rome)
  • Truant’s Day (Poland)
  • World Down Syndrome Day (International)
  • World Poetry Day (International)
  • Youth Day (Tunisia)

Events Held on the March Equinox (between March 19 and March 21)

  • Nowrūz (نوروز‎) (Iranian New Year)
  • International Astrology Day
  • Shunbun no Hi (春分の日) (Japan)
  • World Storytelling Day (originated in Sweden)
  • Ostara/Mabon (Wicca)