March 22
is the
81st day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (82nd in
Leap years). There are 284 days remaining.
*
238 -
Gordian I and his son
Gordian II are proclaimed
Roman emperors.
*
1621 - The
Pilgrims of
Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with
Massasoit of the
Wampanoags.
*
1622 -
Jamestown massacre:
Algonquian Indians kill 347
English settlers around
Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population.
*
1630 -
Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards,
dice, and gaming tables.
*
1638 -
Anne Hutchinson is expelled from
Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.
*
1765 - The
Parliament of Great Britain passed the
Stamp Act, which introduced a tax to be levied directly on its
American colonies.
*
1784 - The
Emerald Buddha was moved with great ceremony to its current place in
Wat Phra Kaew,
Thailand.
*
1809 -
Charles XIII succeeds
Gustav IV Adolf to the
Swedish throne.
*
1849 - The
Austrians defeat the
Piedmontese at the
Battle of Novara.
*
1871 - In
North Carolina,
William Woods Holden becomes the first
governor of a
U.S. state to be removed from office by
impeachment.
*
1873 - A law is approved by the Spanish National Assembly in
Puerto Rico to abolish
slavery.
*
1888 -
The Football League is formed.
*
1894 - The first playoff game for the
Stanley Cup starts.
*
1895 - First display (a private screening) of
motion pictures by
Auguste and Louis Lumière.
*
1933 -
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs into law a bill legalizing the sale of
beer and
wine.
*
1939 -
World War II:
Germany takes
Memel from
Lithuania.
*
1941 -
Washington's
Grand Coulee Dam begins to generate
electricity.
*
1942 -
World War II: In the
Mediterranean Sea,
Regia Marina defeats
Royal Navy in the
Second Battle of Sirte.
*
1943 -
World War II: the entire population of
Khatyn in
Belarus is burnt alive by
German occupation forces.
*
1945 - The
Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in
Cairo,
Egypt.
*
1954 - Closed since
1939, the
London bullion market reopens.
*
1958 -
Faisal becomes
King of Saudi Arabia.
*
1960 -
Arthur Leonard Schawlow &
Charles Townes receive the first
patent for a
laser.
*
1963 -
Please Please Me, the first
Beatles album, is released in the
UK.
*
1965 -
Bob Dylan "goes electric," releasing his first album featuring electric instruments,
Bringing It All Back Home.
*
1975 - A fire at the
Brown's Ferry nuclear reactor in
Decatur, Alabama causes dangerous lowering of cooling water levels.
* 1975 - In
Stockholm,
Sweden,
Teach-In wins the twentieth
Eurovision Song Contest for the
Netherlands singing "
Ding-a-dong."
*
1978 -
Karl Wallenda of the
Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in
San Juan, Puerto Rico.
*
1979 -
Margaret Thatcher puts down an
Early Day Motion censuring the government, which leads to the defeat of the
Labour government of
James Callaghan.
*
1984 - Teachers at the
McMartin preschool in
Manhattan Beach, California are charged with
Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges are later dropped as completely unfounded.
*
1989 -
Fawn Hall,
Oliver North's former secretary, begins two days of testimony at
North's Iran-Contra trial in
Washington.
*
1993 - The
Intel Corporation ships the first
Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+
MIPS, and a 64 bit data path.
*
1995 -
Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns after setting a record for 438 days in
space.
*
1996 -
Göran Persson succeeds
Ingvar Carlsson as Swedish
prime minister.
*
1997 -
Tara Lipinski, age 14 years and 10 months, becomes the youngest champion of the women's world
figure skating competition.
* 1997 - The comet
Hale-Bopp has its closest approach to
earth.
*
2006 -
ETA, armed
Basque separatist group, declares permanent ceasefire.
* 2006 -
Queen of the North runs aground on
Gil Island and sinks; 101 on board, 2 presumed deaths.
* 2006 - Three
Christian Peacemaker Teams Hostages are freed by British forces in
Baghdad after 118 days captivity and the death of their colleague, American
Tom Fox.
*
1212 -
Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan (d.
1234)
*
1366 -
Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, English politician (d.
1399)
*
1459 -
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d.
1519)
*
1503 -
Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian writer (d.
1583)
*
1599 -
Anthony van Dyck, Flemish painter (d.
1641)
*
1609 - King
John II Casimir of Poland (d.
1672)
*
1663 -
August Hermann Francke, German protestant minister (d.
1727)
*
1712 -
Edward Moore, English writer (d.
1757)
*
1720 -
Nicolas-Henri Jardin, French architect (d.
1799)
*
1723 -
Charles Carroll, American lawyer and delegate to the Continental Congress (d.
1783)
*
1797 - King
Wilhelm I of Germany (d.
1888)
*
1812 -
Stephen Pearl Andrews, abolitionist (d.
1886)
*
1817 -
Bahá'u'lláh, Persian prophet of the Bahá'í Faith (d.
1892)
* 1817 -
Braxton Bragg, American Confederate general (d.
1876)
*
1818 -
John Ainsworth Horrocks, English-born explorer of
South Australia (d.
1846)
*
1860 -
Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (d.
1940)
*
1866 -
Jack Boyle, Baseball player (d.
1913)
*
1868 -
Robert Millikan, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1953)
*
1878 -
Michel Théato, Luxembourg athlete (d.
1919)
*
1880 -
Ernie Quigley, Canadian-American sports official (d.
1960)
*
1887 -
Chico Marx, American comedian and actor (d.
1961)
*
1896 -
He Long, Chinese marshal (d.
1969)
*
1901 -
Greta Kempton, American artist (d.
1991)
*
1907 -
Lucia dos Santos, Portuguese nun (d.
2005)
*
1908 -
Louis L'Amour, American author (d.
1988)
*
1909 -
Gabrielle Roy, Canadian author (d.
1983)
*
1912 -
Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor (d.
1985)
* 1912 -
Karl Malden, American actor
*
1913 -
Tom McCall, Governor of Oregon (d.
1983)
*
1915 -
Georgiy Zhzhonov, Russian actor and writer
*
1918 -
Cheddi Jagan,
President of Guyana (d.
1997)
*
1920 -
Werner Klemperer, German actor (d.
2000)
* 1920 -
Ross Martin, Polish-American actor (d.
1981)
*
1924 -
Allen Neuharth, American businessman and writer
*
1923 -
Marcel Marceau, French mime
*
1928 -
Carrie Donovan, American fashion editor (d.
2001)
* 1928 -
Ed Macauley, American basketball player
*
1930 -
Derek Bok, American lawyer and educator
* 1930 -
Pat Robertson, American televangelist
* 1930 -
Stephen Sondheim, American composer and lyricist
*
1931 -
Burton Richter, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
* 1931 -
William Shatner, Canadian actor
*
1933 -
May Britt, Swedish actress
* 1933 -
Abolhassan Banisadr,
President of Iran*
1934 -
Orrin Hatch, U.S. Senator from Utah
*
1935 -
M. Emmet Walsh, American actor
* 1935 -
Gene Oliver, baseball player
*
1936 -
Ron Carey, labor leader
* 1936 -
Roger Whittaker, British singer
*
1937 -
Armin Hary, German athlete
*
1940 -
Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian actor (d.
1996)
* 1940 -
Dave Keon, Canadian
ice hockey player
*
1941 -
Jeremy Clyde, British actor and singer
* 1941 -
Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor
* 1941 -
Billy Collins, American Poet
*
1943 -
George Benson, American musician
* 1943 -
Keith Relf, British musician (
The Yardbirds) (d.
1976)
*
1946 -
Rudy Rucker, American author
*
1948 -
Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist
* 1948 -
Andrew Lloyd Webber, British composer
*
1949 -
Fanny Ardant, French actress
*
1952 -
Bob Costas, American sports commentator and talk show host
*
1955 -
Pete Sessions, American politician
* 1955 -
Lena Olin, Swedish actress
*
1956 -
Generosa Ammon, widow of
Ted Ammon (d.
2003)
*
1957 -
Stephanie Mills, American actress, singer
*
1959 -
Matthew Modine, American actor
* 1959 -
Mike Brey, College Basketball coach
*
1966 -
Artis Pabriks, Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs
*
1967 -
Mario Cipollini, Italian cyclist
*
1970 -
Leontien van Moorsel, Dutch cyclist
* 1970 -
Andreas Johnson, Swedish singer
*
1972 -
Shawn Bradley, Former American basketball player
* 1972 -
Elvis Stojko, Canadian figure skater
*
1974 -
Marcus Camby, American basketball player
*
1974 -
Kidada jones, American actress, model, fashion designer
*
1976 -
Teun de Nooijer, Dutch field hockey player
* 1976 -
Reese Witherspoon, American actress
*
1979 -
Aaron North, American guitarist
*
1988 -
David Radford,
American Idol contestant
*
1322 -
Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, English politician (b.
1278)
*
1418 -
Dietrich of Nieheim, German historian
*
1421 -
Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, second son of
Henry IV of England (killed in battle) (b.
1388)
*
1544 -
Johannes Magnus, last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden (b.
1488)
*
1602 -
Agostino Carracci, Italian artist (b.
1557)
*
1685 -
Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (b.
1638)
*
1687 -
Jean Baptiste Lully, Italian-born French composer (b.
1632)
*
1758 -
Jonathan Edwards, American minister (b.
1703)
* 1758 -
Richard Leveridge, English bass and composer (b.
1670)
*
1772 -
John Canton, English physicist (b.
1718)
*
1820 -
Stephen Decatur, American naval officer (b.
1779)
*
1832 -
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer (b.
1749)
*
1896 -
Thomas Hughes, English novelist (b.
1822)
*
1913 -
Sung Chiao-jen, Chinese Nationalist (b.
1882)
*
1924 -
William Macewen, Scottish surgeon (b.
1848)
*
1945 -
John Hessin Clarke, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b.
1857)
*
1951 -
Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (b.
1871)
*
1952 -
Uncle Dave Macon, American musician (b.
1870)
*
1958 -
Mike Todd, American film producer (b.
1909)
*
1977 -
A.K. Gopalan, Indian communist leader (d.
1904)
*
1978 -
Karl Wallenda, German acrobat (b.
1905)
*
1981 -
James "Jumbo" Elliott, American track coach (b.
1915)
*
1986 -
Charles Starrett, American actor
*
1990 -
Gerald Bull, Canadian engineer (b.
1928)
*
1993 -
Curtis Taylor, an eighth grader who went to
Oak Bridge Middle School and got teased. (b.
1978)
*
1994 -
Dan Hartman, American musician, songwriter, and record producer (b.
1950)
* 1994 -
Walter Lantz, American cartoonist (b.
1900)
*
1999 -
David Strickland, American actor (b.
1969)
*
2001 -
William Hanna, American animator and studio founder (b.
1910)
*
2003 -
Terry Lloyd, English reporter (b.
1952)
*
2004 -
Ahmed Yassin, Palestinian co-founder of Hamas
*
2005 -
Kenzo Tange, Japanese architect (b.
1913)
*
2006 -
Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot (b.
1921)
* 2006 -
Kurt von Trojan, Australian science fiction author (b.
1937)
*The fourth day of
Quinquatria in ancient
Rome, held in honor of
Minerva.
*
World Water Day.
Liturgical feasts
*
Easter Sunday -
1818,
2285. In the
Gregorian Calendar 22 March is the earliest date on which
Easter Sunday can fall (
25th April is the latest).
*
Saint Octavian*
Saint Lea of Rome*
Saint Reinhilde of Ghent*
Blessed Genta of Maaseik*
On this day in Canada*
NY Times: On this day*
BBC: On This DayMarch 21 -
March 23 -
February 22 -
April 22 --
listing of all days
