March 21

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MMXI

March 21 in recent years

2011 (Monday)

2010 (Sunday)

2009 (Saturday)

2008 (Friday)

2007 (Wednesday)

2006 (Tuesday)

2005 (Monday)

2004 (Sunday)

2003 (Friday)

2002 (Thursday)

March 21 is the 80th day of the year (81st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 285 days remaining until the end of the year.

March 21st is the common date of the March equinox (although astronomically the equinox is more likely to fall on March 20 in all but the most easterly longitudes). In astrology, the day of the equinox is the first full day of the sign of Aries. It is also the traditional first day of the astrological year.

Events

• 717 – Battle of Vincy between Charles Martel and Ragenfrid.
• 1152 – Annulment of the marriage of King Louis VII of France and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
• 1188 – Emperor Antoku accedes to the throne of Japan.
• 1413 – Henry V becomes King of England.
• 1556 – In Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake.
• 1788 – A fire in New Orleans leaves most of the town in ruins.
• 1800 – With the church leadership driven out of Rome during an armed conflict, Pius VII is crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.
• 1801 – The Battle of Alexandria is fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis in Egypt.
• 1804 – Code Napoléon is adopted as French civil law.
• 1814 – Napoleonic Wars: Austrian forces repel French troops in the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube.
• 1821 – Greek War of Independence: First revolutionary act in the monastery of Agia Lavra, Kalavryta.
• 1844 – The Bahá'í calendar begins. This is the first day of the first year of the Bahá'í calendar. It is annually celebrated by members of the Bahá'í Faith as the Bahá'í New Year or Náw-Rúz.
• 1857 – An earthquake in Tokyo, Japan kills over 100,000.
• 1871 – Otto von Bismarck is appointed Chancellor of the German Empire.
• 1871 – Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.
• 1913 – Over 360 are killed and 20,000 homes destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio.
• 1918 – World War I: The first phase of the German Spring Offensive, Operation Michael, begins.
• 1919 – The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established becoming the first Communist government to be formed in Europe after the October Revolution in Russia.
• 1921 – The New Economic Policy is implemented by the Bolshevik Party in response to the economic failure as a result of War Communism.
• 1928 – Charles Lindbergh is presented with the Medal of Honor for the first solo trans-Atlantic flight.
• 1933 – Construction of Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed.
• 1935 – Shah Reza Pahlavi formally asks the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran, which means 'Land of the Aryans.'
• 1937 – Ponce Massacre: 18 people and a 7-year-old girl in Ponce, Puerto Rico, are gunned down by a police squad acting under orders of US-appointed Governor, Blanton C. Winship.
• 1943 – Wehrmacht officer Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler by using a suicide bomb, but the plan falls through. Von Gersdorff is able to defuse the bomb in time and avoid suspicion.
• 1945 – World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.
• 1945 – World War II: Operation Carthage – British planes bomb Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. They also hit a school and 125 civilians are killed.
• 1945 – World War II: Bulgaria and the Soviet Union successfully complete their defense of the north bank of the Drava River as the Battle of Drava concludes.
• 1946 – The Los Angeles Rams sign Kenny Washington, making him the first African American player in the American football since 1933.
• 1952 – Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.
• 1960 – Apartheid: Massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa: Police open fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.
• 1963 – Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, closes.
• 1964 – In Copenhagen, Denmark, Gigliola Cinquetti wins the ninth Eurovision Song Contest for Italy singing "Non ho l'età" ("I'm not old enough").
• 1965 – Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9 which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
• 1965 – Martin Luther King, Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
• 1968 – Battle of Karameh in Jordan between Israeli Defense Forces and Fatah.
• 1970 – The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by Mayor of San Francisco Joseph Alioto.
• 1980 – US President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
• 1980 – On the season finale of the soap opera Dallas, the infamous character J.R. Ewing is shot by an unseen assailant, leading to the catchphrase "Who shot J.R.?"
• 1989 – Sports Illustrated reports allegations tying baseball player Pete Rose to baseball gambling.
• 1990 – Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.
• 1994 – The last episode of the Australian TV series Mother and Son was broadcast.
• 1997 – In a Tel Aviv, Israel coffee shop, a suicide bomber kills 3 and injures 49.
• 1999 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
• 2002 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh along with three other suspects are charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
• 2006 – Immigrant workers constructing the Burj Khalifa and a new terminal of Dubai International Airport riot causing $1M in damage.

Births

• 1521 – Maurice, Elector of Saxony (d. 1553)
• 1527 – Hermann Finck, German composer (d. 1558)
• 1685 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (d. 1750)
• 1713 – Francis Lewis, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1803)
• 1763 – Jean Paul, German writer (d. 1825)
• 1768 – Joseph Fourier, French mathematician (d. 1830)
• 1801 – Maria Theresa of Tuscany, Queen of Sardinia (d. 1855)
• 1806 – Benito Juárez, Mexican statesman (d. 1872)
• 1811 – Nathaniel Woodard, English educationalist (d. 1891)
• 1825 – Alexander F. Mozhayskiy, Russian aviation pioneer (d. 1890)
• 1835 – Thomas Hayward, English cricketer (d. 1876)
• 1839 – Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, Russian composer (d. 1881)
• 1854 – Alick Bannerman, Australian cricketer (d. 1924)
• 1863 – George Owen Squier, American inventor (d. 1934)
• 1869 – Florenz Ziegfeld, American theater producer (d. 1932)
• 1876 – Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (d. 1968)
• 1880 – Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, American actor (d. 1971)
• 1882 – Aleksander Kesküla, Estonian politician and nationalist (d. 1963)
• 1882 – Bascom Lamar Lunsford, American lawyer, folklorist, and folk musician (d. 1973)
• 1885 – Pierre Renoir, French actor and director (d. 1952)
• 1895 – Zlatko Baloković, Croatian violinist (d. 1955)
• 1901 – Karl Arnold, German politician (d. 1958)
• 1902 – Son House, American musician (d. 1988)
• 1904 – Forrest Mars Sr., American candymaker (d. 1999)
• 1904 – Nikolaos Skalkottas, Greek composer (d. 1949)
• 1904 – Jehane Benoît, Canadian culinary author (d. 1987)
• 1905 – Phyllis McGinley, American author and poet (d. 1978)
• 1906 – Jim Thompson, American designer and businessman (d. 1967)
• 1910 – M S Khan, Bangladeshi intellectual (d. 1978)
• 1910 – Julio Gallo, American vintner (d. 1993)
• 1913 – George Abecassis, English race car driver (d. 1991)
• 1914 – Paul Tortelier, French cellist (d. 1990)
• 1916 – Ustad Bismillah Khan, Indian shehnai maestro (d. 2006)
• 1917 – Frank Hardy, Australian author (d. 1994)
• 1917 – Yigael Yadin, Israeli archeologist and politician (d. 1984)
• 1918 – Patrick J. Lucey, American politician
• 1920 – Georg Ots, Estonian singer (d. 1975)
• 1920 – Manolis Chiotis, Greek bouzouki player and songwriter (d. 1970)
• 1921 – Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (d. 1986)
• 1922 – Russ Meyer, American film director and producer (d. 2004)
• 1923 – Philip Abbott, American actor (d. 1998)
• 1923 – Nirmala Srivastava, Indian religious figure (d. 2011)
• 1924 – Dov Shilansky, Israeli politician (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Peter Brook, British stage director and producer
• 1925 – Hugo Koblet, Swiss cyclist (d. 1964)
• 1927 – Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German politician
• 1929 – Maurice Catarcio, American professional wrestler (d. 2005)
• 1930 – James Coco, American actor (d. 1987)
• 1932 – Walter Gilbert, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1932 – Joseph Silverstein, American violinist and conductor
• 1933 – Michael Heseltine, English politician
• 1934 – Al Freeman, Jr., American actor
• 1935 – Brian Clough, English footballer and football manager (d. 2004)
• 1936 – Ed Broadbent, Canadian politician
• 1936 – Mike Westbrook, British jazz composer, bandleader and pianist
• 1937 – Tom Flores, American Football player
• 1940 – Solomon Burke, American singer (d. 2010)
• 1942 – Françoise Dorléac, French actress (d. 1967)
• 1942 – Kostas Politis, Greek basketball player and coach
• 1943 – István Gyulai, Hungarian sports executive (d. 2006)
• 1943 – Hartmut Haenchen, German conductor
• 1943 – Vivian Stanshall, English musician (Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band) (d. 1995)
• 1944 – Marie-Christine Barrault, French actress
• 1944 – Hideki Ishima, Japanese guitarist (Flower Travellin' Band)
• 1945 – Rose Stone, American musician (Sly & the Family Stone)
• 1946 – Ray Dorset, English musician (Mungo Jerry)
• 1946 – Timothy Dalton, British actor
• 1948 – Scott Fahlman, American computer scientist
• 1949 – Slavoj Žižek, Slovenian sociologist and cultural critic
• 1949 – Eddie Money, American musician
• 1950 – Roger Hodgson, English musician (Supertramp)
• 1951 – Russell Thompkins Jr, American singer (The Stylistics)
• 1953 – Paul Martin Lester, American educator, author, and photographer
• 1955 – Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Greek politician
• 1956 – Guy Chadwick, English guitarist, vocalist and songwriter (The House of Love)
• 1956 – Ingrid Kristiansen, Norwegian runner
• 1958 – Sabrina Le Beauf, American actress
• 1958 – Gary Oldman, English actor
• 1959 – Sarah Jane Morris, English singer
• 1959 – Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer
• 1959 – Yuval Rotem, Israeli Ambassador
• 1960 – Benito de Leon, Filipino military officer
• 1960 – Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (d. 1994)
• 1960 – Robert Sweet, American drummer
• 1961 – Lothar Matthäus, German footballer
• 1962 – Matthew Broderick, American actor
• 1962 – Kathy Greenwood, Canadian actress
• 1962 – Rosie O'Donnell, American comedian and actress
• 1962 – Mark Waid, American comic book writer
• 1963 – Shawn Lane, American musician (d. 2003)
• 1963 – Shawon Dunston, American baseball player
• 1963 – Ronald Koeman, Dutch footballer and football manager
• 1964 – Ahmed Radhi, Iraqi international football star
• 1964 – Jesper Skibby, Danish professional cyclist
• 1965 – Xavier Bertrand, French politician
• 1967 – Jonas Berggren, Swedish musician (Ace of Base)
• 1967 – Adrian Chiles, British television and radio presenter
• 1967 – Maxim Reality, British MC (The Prodigy)
• 1968 – Cameron Clyne, Australian businessman
• 1968 – DJ Premier, American record producer
• 1968 – Jaye Davidson, American actor
• 1968 – Greg Ellis, English actor
• 1968 – Shin Seung Hun, South Korean ballad singer
• 1968 – Scott Williams, American basketball player
• 1968 – Samantha Dorman, American model
• 1969 – Ali Daei, Iranian footballer
• 1969 – Jonah Goldberg, American author and pundit
• 1970 – Shiho Niiyama, Japanese voice actress (d. 2000)
• 1970 – Cenk Uygur, American radio talk show host
• 1972 – Large Professor, American hip hop artist
• 1972 – Chris Candido, American professional wrestler (d. 2005)
• 1972 – Christopher Wallace, American Rapper also known as The Notorious B.I.G or Biggie Smalls (d. 1997)
• 1973 – Vanessa Branch, British-American actress and model
• 1973 – Ananda Lewis, American model and television personality
• 1973 – Stuart Nethercott, English footballer
• 1973 – Jerry Supiran, American actor
• 1974 – Laura Allen, American actress
• 1974 – Jose Clayton, Tunisian footballer
• 1974 – Rhys Darby, New Zealand comedian
• 1974 – Edsel Dope, American singer (Dope)
• 1975 – Fabricio Oberto, Argentine basketball player
• 1975 – Justin Pierce, British actor (d. 2000)
• 1975 – Vitaly Potapenko, Ukrainian basketball player
• 1975 – Mark Williams, Welsh snooker player
• 1975 – Yacoub Al-Mohana, Kuwaiti film director
• 1976 – Tekin Sazlog, Turkish footballer
• 1976 – Rachael MacFarlane, American voice actress
• 1977 – Charles Blackstone, American author
• 1978 – Nick Baines, English keyboardist (Kaiser Chiefs)
• 1978 – Charmaine Dragun, Australian news anchor (d. 2007)
• 1978 – Kevin Federline, American dancer; ex-husband of Britney Spears
• 1978 – Cristian Guzmán, Dominican baseball player
• 1978 – Rani Mukherjee, Indian actress
• 1980 – Marit Bjørgen, Norwegian cross-country skier
• 1980 – Ronaldinho Gaucho, Brazilian international footballer
• 1980 – Deryck Whibley, Canadian guitarist and singer (Sum41)
• 1980 – Lee Jin, South Korean actress
• 1981 – Germano, Brazilian footballer
• 1982 – Aaron Hill, American baseball player
• 1982 – Colin Turkington, British racing driver
• 1982 – Jocie Kok, Chinese-Singaporean singer
• 1983 – Jean Ondoa, Cameroonian footballer
• 1984 – Tiago, Brazilian footballer
• 1985 – Ryan Callahan, American hockey player
• 1985 – Adrian Peterson, American football player
• 1988 – Lee Cattermole, English footballer
• 1988 – Erik Johnson, American ice hockey player
• 1989 – Nicolas Lodeiro, Uruguayan footballer
• 1989 – Takeru Satoh, Japanese actor
• 1989 – Rochelle Wiseman, English singer (The Saturdays)
• 1990 – Mandy Capristo, German singer (Monrose)
• 1990 – Ryann Krais, American heptathlete
• 1990 – Rafael Avila, Honduran Celebrity
• 1991–Luke Chapman,English footballer
• 1995 – Diggy Simmons, American rapper

• 2004 – Count Claus-Casimir of Orange-Nassau, Jonkheer van Amsberg

Deaths

• 1063 – Blessed Richeza of Lotharingia, venerated in Roman Catholicism, wife of King Mieszko II of Poland
• 1076 – Robert I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1011)
• 1181 – Taira Kiyomori, Japanese Feudal general (b. 1118)
• 1306 – Robert II, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1248)
• 1487 – Nicholas of Flue, Swiss hermit and saint (b. 1417)
• 1556 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (burned at the stake) (b. 1489)
• 1617 – Pocahontas, Native American, daughter of Powhatan (b. c.1595)
• 1656 – James Ussher, Irish Anglican archbishop (b. 1581)
• 1676 – Henri Sauval, French historian (b. 1623)
• 1729 – John Law, Scottish economist (b. 1671)
• 1734 – Robert Wodrow, Scottish historian (b. 1679)
• 1751 – Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (b. 1706)
• 1762 – Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer (b. 1713)
• 1772 – Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, French cartographer (b. 1703)
• 1795 – Giovanni Arduino, Italian geologist (b. 1714)
• 1801 – Andrea Luchesi, Italian composer (b. 1741)
• 1804 – Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé (executed) (b. 1772)
• 1843 – Robert Southey, English poet (b. 1774)
• 1843 – Guadalupe Victoria, first President of Mexico (b. 1786)
• 1850 – Miguel Pedrorena, American settler
• 1863 – Edwin Vose Sumner, American Civil War general (b. 1797)
• 1881 – Samuel Courtauld, American-born textile magnate (b. 1793)
• 1884 – Ezra Abbot, American bible scholar (b. 1819)
• 1910 – Nadar, French photographer (b. 1820)
• 1915 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, American inventor (b. 1856)
• 1920 – Evelina Haverfield British suffragette (b. 1867)
• 1934 – Franz Schreker, Austrian composer (b. 1878)
• 1936 – Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer (b. 1865)
• 1945 – Arthur Nebe, German SS officer (b. 1894)
• 1951 – Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (b. 1871)
• 1958 – Cyril M. Kornbluth, American writer (b. 1923)
• 1970 – Manolis Chiotis, Greek songwriter and musician (b. 1920)
• 1975 – Joe Medwick, baseball player (b. 1911)
• 1978 – Louis Cottrell, Jr., American musician (b. 1911)
• 1980 – Peter Stoner, American mathematician, astronomer and Christian apologist (b. 1888)
• 1980 – Angelo Bruno, American mobster (b. 1910)
• 1984 – Shauna Grant, American actress (suicide) (b. 1963)
• 1985 – Sir Michael Redgrave, English actor (b. 1908)
• 1987 – Dean Paul Martin, American musician (b. 1951)
• 1987 – Robert Preston, American actor (b. 1918)
• 1991 – Leo Fender, American guitar manufacturer (b. 1909)
• 1992 – John Ireland, Canadian film actor and director (b. 1914)
• 1992 – Natalie Sleeth, American composer (b. 1930)
• 1994 – Macdonald Carey, American actor (b. 1913)
• 1994 – Dack Rambo, American actor (b. 1941)
• 1994 – Lili Damita, French actress (b. 1904)
• 1997 – W. V. Awdry, English children's writer (b. 1911)
• 1998 – Galina Sergeyevna Ulánova, Russian prima ballerina assoluta (b. 1910)
• 1999 – Ernie Wise, British comedian (b. 1925)
• 2001 – Chung Ju-yung, Korean industrialist (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Anthony Steel, English actor (b. 1920)
• 2002 – Herman Talmadge, American politician (b. 1913)
• 2003 – Umar Wirahadikusumah, Fourth Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1924)
• 2004 – Ludmilla Tchérina, French ballet dancer and actress (b. 1924)
• 2005 – Barney Martin, American actor (b. 1923)
• 2005 – Bobby Short, American singer (b. 1924)
• 2007 – Drew Hayes, American writer and graphic artist (b. 1969)
• 2007 – Sven O. Høiby, the father of Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway (b. 1936)
• 2007 – Kevin Whitrick, first British man to commit suicide on a live chatroom (b. 1964)
• 2008 – Guillermo Jullian de la Fuente, Chilean architect (b. 1931)
• 2009 – Walt Poddubny, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1960)
• 2010 – Wolfgang Wagner, German opera director (b. 1919)
• 2011 – Loleatta Holloway, American singer (b. 1946)
• 2011 – Gerd Klier, German footballer (b. 1944)
• 2011 – Ladislav Novák, Czech footballer (b. 1931)
• 2011 – Pinetop Perkins, Member of the Blues Hall of Fame (b. 1913)

Holidays and observances

• Birth of Benito Juárez, a Fiestas Patrias (Mexico)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Nicholas of Flüe
• Commemoration of Thomas Cranmer, Translator and Reviser of the Liturgy, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1556 CE (Anglicanism)
• Earliest day on which Holy Saturday can fall, while April 24 is the latest; celebrated on Saturday before Easter. (Christianity)
• Harmony Day (Australia)
• Human Rights Day (South Africa)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Namibia from South African mandate in 1990.
• International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (International)
• Mother's Day (most of the Arab World)
• Nowrouz (lit. "New Day" in Persian) : the Persian New Year; the first day of the Persian calendar, i.e. 1st of Farvardin, is observed on the Vernal Equinox and usually coincides with March 21st, except for leap years when it coincides with March 20th.
• The first day of Bahá, the first month in Bahá'í calendar (Bahá'í Faith)
• Truant's Day (Poland)
• Vernal Equinox (see March 20)
• World Down Syndrome Day (International)
• World Poetry Day (International)
• Youth Day (Tunisia)
• Earth Day (International)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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