Events

• 196 BC – Ptolemy V ascends to the throne of Egypt.

• 1306 – Robert The Bruce is crowned King of Scotland at Scone.

• 1309 – Pope Clement V excommunicates Venice and all its population.

• 1329 – Pope John XXII issues his In Agro Dominico condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical.

• 1513 (not 1512 as often cited) – Explorer Juan Ponce de León sights North America (specifically Florida) for the first time, mistaking it for another island.

• 1613 – The first English child born in Canada at Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland to Nicholas Guy.

• 1625 – Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.

• 1642 – The sixth Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Joseph takes office.

• 1782 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

• 1794 – The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.

• 1794 – Denmark and Sweden form a neutrality compact.

• 1814 – War of 1812: In central Alabama, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

• 1836 – Texas Revolution: Goliad massacre – Antonio López de Santa Anna orders the Mexican army to kill about 400 Texans at Goliad, Texas.

• 1836 – Kirtland Temple in Ohio is dedicated in an 8 hour long service led by Joseph Smith, Jr. and Sidney Rigdon.

• 1846 – Mexican-American War: Siege of Fort Texas.

• 1851 – First reported sighting of the Yosemite Valley by Europeans.

• 1854 – Crimean War: The United Kingdom declares war on Russia.

• 1868 – The Lake Ontario Shore Railroad Company is organized in Oswego, New York.

• 1871 – The first international rugby football match, England v. Scotland, is played in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.

• 1881 – Rioting takes place in Basingstoke in protest against the daily vociferous promotion of rigid Temperance by the Salvation Army.

• 1886 – Famous Apache warrior, Geronimo, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phaze of the Apache Wars.

• 1890 – A tornado strikes Louisville, Kentucky, killing 76 and injuring 200.

• 1906 – The Alpine Club of Canada is founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba

• 1910 – A fire during a barn-dance in Ököritófülpös, Hungary, kills 312.

• 1918 – Moldova and Bessarabia join Romania.

• 1938 – The Battle of Taierzhuang takes place.

• 1941 – World War II: Yugoslavian Air Force officers topple the pro-axis government in a bloodless coup.

• 1943 – World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands – In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.

• 1945 – World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan's ports and waterways begins.

• 1948 – The Second Congress of the Workers Party of North Korea is convened.

• 1958 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.

• 1963 – Beeching axe: Dr. Richard Beeching issues a report calling for huge cuts to the United Kingdom's rail network.

• 1964 – The Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes South Central Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.

• 1969 – Mariner 7 is launched.

• 1970 – Concorde makes its first supersonic flight.

• 1975 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.

• 1976 – The first 4.6 miles of the Washington Metro subway system opens.

• 1977 – Tenerife disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). 61 survived on the Pan Am flight.

• 1980 – The Norwegian oil platform Alexander Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.

• 1980 – Silver Thursday: A steep fall in silver prices, resulting from the Hunt Brothers attempting to corner the market in silver, led to panic on commodity and futures exchanges.

• 1986 – A car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing 1 police officer and injuring 21 people.

• 1990 – The United States begins broadcasting TV Martí to Cuba in an effort to bridge the information blackout imposed by the Castro regime.

• 1993 – Jiang Zemin is appointed President of the People's Republic of China.

• 1993 – Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo.

• 1994 – One of the biggest tornado outbreaks in recent memory hits the Southeastern United States. One tornado slams into a church in Piedmont, Alabama during Palm Sunday services killing 20 and injuring 90.

• 1994 – The Eurofighter takes its first flight in Manching, Germany.

• 1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.

• 1999 – An F-117 Nighthawk is shot down during the Kosovo War.

• 2000 – A Phillps Petroleum plant explosion in Pasadena, Texas kills 1 and injures 71.

• 2002 – Passover Massacre: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people partaking of the Passover meal in Netanya, Israel.

• 2004 – , a decommissioned Leander class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.

• 2009 – Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails killing at least 99 people.

Births

• 972 – King Robert II of France (d. 1031)

• 1416 – Antonio Squarcialupi, Italian composer (d. 1480)

• 1627 – Stephen Fox, English politician (d. 1716)

• 1676 – Francis II Rákóczi, leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburg (d. 1735)

• 1696 – Antoine Court, French Huguenot minister (d. 1760)

• 1702 – Johann Ernst Eberlin, German composer (d. 1762)

• 1712 – Claude Bourgelat, French veterinary surgeon (d. 1779)

• 1714 – Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian theologian and historian (d. 1795)

• 1730 – Thomas Tyrwhitt, English classical scholar (d. 1786)

• 1746 – Michael Bruce, Scottish poet (d. 1767)

• 1765 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (d. 1841)

• 1784 – Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, Hungarian philologist, the founder of Tibetology (d. 1842)

• 1785 – King Louis XVII of France (d. 1795)

• 1797 – Alfred de Vigny, French author (d. 1863)

• 1809 – Baron Haussmann, French civic planner (d. 1891)

• 1810 – William Hepworth Thompson, English classical scholar (d. 1886)

• 1813 – Nathaniel Currier, American illustrator (d. 1888)

• 1817 – Karl Wilhelm von Nägeli, Swiss biologist (d. 1891)

• 1845 – Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1923)

• 1847 – Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)

• 1851 – Vincent d'Indy, French composer and teacher (d. 1931)

• 1857 – Karl Pearson, English statistician (d. 1936)

• 1859 – George Giffen, Australian cricketer (d. 1927)

• 1860 – Frank Frost Abbott, American classical scholar (d. 1924)

• 1863 – Sir Henry Royce, English automobile pioneer (d. 1933)

• 1869 – James McNeill, Irish politician (d. 1938)

• 1871 – Heinrich Mann, German writer (d. 1950)

• 1879 – Miller Huggins, American baseball player and manager (d. 1929)

• 1883 – Marie Under, Estonian author and poet (d. 1980)

• 1886 – Sergey Kirov, Russian bolshevik leader (d. 1934)

• 1886 – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German architect (d. 1969)

• 1892 – Ferde Grofé, American composer (d. 1972)

• 1893 – Karl Mannheim, Hungarian sociologist (d. 1947)

• 1899 – Gloria Swanson, American actress (d. 1983)

• 1897 – Douglas Hartree, English mathematical physicist (d. 1958)

• 1901 – Carl Barks, American illustrator (d. 2000)

• 1901 – Erich Ollenhauer, German politician (d. 1963)

• 1901 – Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister of Japan, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1975)

• 1901 – Kenneth Slessor, Australian poet (d. 1971)

• 1902 – Charles Lang, American cinematographer (d. 1998)

• 1905 – Elsie MacGill, Canadian aeronautical engineer (d. 1980)

• 1906 – Pee Wee Russell, American musician (d. 1969)

• 1909 – Golo Mann, German historian (d. 1994)

• 1909 – Ben Webster, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1973)

• 1912 – James Callaghan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2005)

• 1913 – Theodor Dannecker, SS officer (d. 1945)

• 1914 – Richard Denning, American actor (d. 1998)

• 1914 – Budd Schulberg, American screenwriter and novelist

• 1915 – Robert Lockwood, Jr., American blues guitarist (d. 2006)

• 1917 – Cyrus Vance, American politician (d. 2002)

• 1920 – Robin Jacques, illustrator (d. 1995)

• 1921 – Harold Nicholas, American dancer (d. 2000)

• 1922 – Stefan Wul, French author (d. 2003)

• 1923 – Endo Shusaku, Japanese author (d. 1996)

• 1923 – Louis Simpson, Jamaican-born poet

• 1924 – Sarah Vaughan, American singer (d. 1990)

• 1927 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (d. 2007)

• 1931 – David Janssen, American actor (d. 1980)

• 1935 – Abelardo Castillo, Argentine writer

• 1935 – Julian Glover, British actor

• 1935 – Fr. Stanley Rother, Roman Catholic Priest, Martyr and Missionary to Guatemala (d. 1981)

• 1937 – Thomas Aquinas Daly, American painter

• 1939 – Cale Yarborough, American race car driver

• 1940 – Janis Martin, American singer (d. 2007)

• 1940 – Austin Pendleton, American actor

• 1941 – Ivan Gašparovič, President of Slovakia

• 1942 – John E. Sulston, British chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

• 1942 – Michael York, English actor

• 1942 – Michael Jackson, English writer (d. 2007)

• 1944 – Khosrow Shakibai, Iranian actor (d. 2008)

• 1946 – Olaf Malolepski, German musician (Die Flippers)

• 1947 – Brian Jones, British balloonist

• 1947 – Walt Mossberg, the highest-paid journalist at the Wall Street Journal

• 1950 – Tony Banks, English musician (Genesis)

• 1950 – Petros Efthimiou, Greek politician

• 1950 – Lynn McGlothen, American baseball player (d. 1984)

• 1952 – Maria Schneider, French actress

• 1952 – Richard Séguin, Quebec singer and songwriter

• 1956 – Leung Kwok Hung, Hong Kong activist

• 1956 – Thomas Wassberg, Swedish cross-country skier

• 1957 – Nick Hawkins, British politician

• 1957 – Billy Mackenzie, Scottish musician (Associates) (d. 1997)

• 1959 – Andrew Farriss, Australian musician (INXS)

• 1960 – Hans Pflügler, German footballer

• 1960 – Renato Russo, Brazilian rock singer-songwriter (d. 1996)

• 1961 – Tak Matsumoto, Japanese guitarist (B'z)

• 1961 – Tony Rominger, Swiss cyclist

• 1962 – Jann Arden, Canadian musician

• 1962 – John O'Farrell, British author and satirist

• 1963 – Charly Alberti, Argentinian musician

• 1963 – Randall Cunningham, American football player

• 1963 – Dave Koz, Smooth Jazz saxophonist

• 1963 – Quentin Tarantino, American director, writer, and producer

• 1963 – Xuxa, Brazilian television personality

• 1964 – Glenn Carter, English actor and singer-songwriter

• 1966 – Paula Trickey, American actress

• 1966 – Haruto Umezawa, Japanese manga artist

• 1967 – David Bavaro, American football player

• 1967 – Talisa Soto, American actress

• 1967 – Kenta Kobashi, Japanese professional wrestler

• 1968 – Sandra Hess, Swiss-born actress and model

• 1969 – Kevin Corrigan, American actor

• 1969 – Pauley Perrette, American actress, photographer, poet, writer

• 1969 – Victoria O'Keefe, British actress (d. 1990)

• 1970 – Mariah Carey, American soul/dance-pop singer

• 1970 – Brent Fitz, Canadian musician (Theory of a Deadman)

• 1970 – Brendan Hill, British drummer (Blues Traveler)

• 1970 – Princess Leila of Iran (d. 2001)

• 1970 – Elizabeth Mitchell, American actress

• 1971 – David Coulthard, Scottish Formula One driver

• 1971 – Nathan Fillion, Canadian actor

• 1972 – Charlie Haas, professional wrestler

• 1972 – Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Dutch footballer

• 1974 – Russ Haas, wrestler (d. 2001)

• 1974 – Gaizka Mendieta, Spanish footballer

• 1975 – Fergie, American pop singer (The Black Eyed Peas)

• 1975 – Tom Goegebuer, Belgian weightlifter

• 1975 – Chakrit Yamnam, Thai film and television actor

• 1976 – Djamel Belmadi, Algerian footballer

• 1976 – Danny Fortson, American basketball player

• 1976 – Carl Ng, Hong Kong/British actor and model

• 1977 – Vitor Meira, Brazilian racing driver

• 1977 – Adrian Anca, Romanian footballer

• 1979 – Michael Cuddyer, Minnesota Twins baseball player

• 1981 – Carey Davis, National Football League fullback

• 1981 – Lin Jun Jie, Chinese Singer

• 1981 – Terry McFlynn, Northern Irish footballer

• 1982 – Kurara Chibana, Japanese beauty queen, first runner-up Miss Universe 2006

• 1984 – Laura Critchley, British singer/song writer

• 1985 – Baby M, American custody case child

• 1985 – Dario Baldauf, Austrian footballer

• 1985 – Stijn De Smet, Belgian footballer

• 1985 – Caroline Winberg, Swedish supermodel

• 1986 – SoCal Val, American professional wrestling valet

• 1987 – Chad Denny, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1988 – Brenda Song, American actress

• 1990 – Scott Selwood, Australian rules footballer

• 1995 – Taylor Atelian, American actress

Deaths

• 710 – Rupert of Salzburg

• 973 – Herman, Duke of Saxony

• 1191 – Pope Clement III (b. 1130)

• 1350 – King Alfonso XI of Castile (b. 1312)

• 1378 – Pope Gregory XI (b. 1336)

• 1462 – Vasili II of Russia, Grand Prince of Moscow (b. 1415)

• 1482 – Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold; wife of Maximilian I (b. 1457)

• 1555 – William Hunter, Protestant martyr

• 1572 – Girolamo Maggi, Italian Renaissance man (b. c. 1523)

• 1625 – King James I of England and Ireland, James VI of Scotland (b. 1566)

• 1635 – Robert Naunton, English politician (b. 1563)

• 1676 – Bernardino de Rebolledo, Spanish poet, soldier and diplomat (b. 1597)

• 1697 – Simon Bradstreet, English colonial magistrate (b. 1603)

• 1757 – Johann Stamitz, Czech-born composer (b. 1717)

• 1770 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian artist (b. 1696)

• 1809 – Joseph-Marie Vien, French painter (b. 1716)

• 1827 – François Alexandre Frédéric, French social reformer (b. 1747)

• 1836 – James Fannin, Texas revolutionary (b. 1804)

• 1843 – Karl Salomo Zachariae von Lingenthal, German jurist (b. 1769)

• 1849 – Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford (b. 1776)

• 1850 – Wilhelm Beer, German astronomer (b. 1797)

• 1864 – Jean-Jacques Ampère, French scholar (b. 1800)

• 1865 – Petrus Hoffman Peerlkamp, Dutch scholar (b. 1786)

• 1873 – Amedée Simon Dominique Thierry, French journalist and historian (b. 1797)

• 1875 – Edgar Quinet, French historian (b. 1803)

• 1878 – Sir George Gilbert Scott, English architect (b. 1811)

• 1879 – Prince Waldemar of Prussia, son of Emperor Frederick III (b. 1868)

• 1889 – John Bright, English statesman (b. 1811)

• 1897 – Andreas Anagnostakis, Greek physician (b. 1826)

• 1898 – Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Indian Muslim intellectual (b. 1817)

• 1910 – Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, American scientist; son of Louis Agassiz (b. 1835)

• 1918 – Henry Adams, American historian (b. 1838)

• 1923 – Sir James Dewar, Scottish chemist (b. 1842)

• 1924 – Walter Parratt, English composer (b. 1841)

• 1926 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1887)

• 1927 – Joe Start, American baseball player (b. 1842)

• 1931 – Arnold Bennett, British novelist (b. 1867)

• 1934 – Francis William Reitz, 5th State President of the Orange Free State (b. 1844)

• 1940 – Michael Joseph Savage, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1872)

• 1967 – Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)

• 1967 – Jim Thompson, American designer (disappeared) (b. 1906)

• 1968 – Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1934)

• 1972 – Sharkey Bonano, American musician (b. 1904)

• 1972 – M. C. Escher, Dutch artist (b. 1898)

• 1977 – A. P. Hamann, American politician (b. 1909)

• 1977 – Diana Hyland, American actress (b. 1936)

• 1977 – Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Dutch Aviator (b. 1927)

• 1981 – Mao Dun, Chinese writer (b. 1895)

• 1988 – Renato Salvatori, Italian actor (b. 1934)

• 1989 – May Allison, American actress (b. 1890)

• 1989 – Jack Starrett, American actor and film director (b. 1936)

• 1991 – Ralph Bates, British actor (b. 1940)

• 1991 – Aldo Ray, American actor (b. 1926)

• 1992 – Easley Blackwood, American bridgeplayer (b. 1903)

• 1993 – Clifford Jordan, American saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1931)

• 1993 – Paul László, Hungarian interior designer and architect (b. 1900)

• 1996 – Howard Wyeth, American drummer and pianist (b. 1944)

• 1998 – David McClelland, American psychologist (b. 1917)

• 1998 – Ferry Porsche, Austrian automobile manufacturer (b. 1909)

• 2000 – Ian Dury, English musician (b. 1942)

• 2002 – Milton Berle, American actor and comedian (b. 1908)

• 2002 – Dudley Moore, British actor (b. 1935)

• 2002 – Billy Wilder, American director (b. 1906)

• 2003 – Daniel Ceccaldi, French actor (b. 1927)

• 2003 – Ricardo Munguia, Salvadoran aid worker

• 2003 – Paul Zindel, American writer (b. 1936)

• 2004 – Adán Sánchez, Mexican-American singer (b. 1984)

• 2005 – Ahmed Zaki, Egyptian prominent actor (b. 1949)

• 2005 – Wilfred Bigelow, Canadian heart surgeon (b. 1913)

• 2005 – Bob Casey, American baseball announcer (b. 1925)

• 2005 – Grant Johannesen, American concert pianist (b. 1921)

• 2006 – Dan Curtis, American television producer and director (b. 1928)

• 2006 – Ian Hamilton Finlay, Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener (b. 1925)

• 2006 – Stanisław Lem, Polish writer (b. 1921)

• 2006 – Ruari McLean, British typographer (b. 1917)

• 2006 – Lyn Nofziger, American journalist and political advisor to Ronald Reagan (b. 1924)

• 2007 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1929)

• 2008 – Jean-Marie Balestre, French president of motor sport's FIA (b. 1921)

• 2008 – George Pruteanu, Romanian literary critic and politician (b. 1947)

• 2009 – Jack Dreyfus, American businessman (b. 1913)

Holidays and observances

• Sal Castro Day at Savanna High School

• March 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Roman Catholic observances

• *St. Alexander (Pannonian [Hungarian], soldier, martyred in 3rd century)

• *St. Amator of Guarda (Portuguese, hermit)

• *St. Ananias (Israelite, prophet of Old Testament era)

• *St. Augusta of Treviso (Italian, virgin, martyred [beheaded by her pagan father] in 5th century)

• *St. Gelasius (Irish, abbot, Archbishop of Armagh, d. 1174)

• *St. John of Lycopolis (Egyptian, hermit for 40 years, advisor to emperor, c. 395)

• *Sts. Philetus, Lydia, Macedo, Theoprepius, Amphilochius, and Chronidas (martyred c. 121)

• *St. Romulus of Nîmes (French, Benedictine abbot, c. 730)

• *Sts. Zanitas, Lazarus, Marotas, Narses, Elias, Abibos, Sembeeth, Mares, and Sabas (Persian, martyred in 344)