March 3 is the 62nd day of the year (63rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 303 days remaining until the end of the year. [edit] Events - 1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England.
- 1575 – Indian Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Bengali army at the Battle of Tukaroi.
- 1585 – The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza.
- 1803 – Colégio Militar is founded in Portugal by Colonel Teixeira Rebello.
- 1820 – The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise.
- 1845 – Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state.
- 1845 – For the first time the U.S. Congress passes legislation overriding a presidential veto.
- 1849 – The United States Department of the Interior is established.
- 1849 – The U.S. Congress passes the Gold Coinage Act allowing the minting of gold coins.
- 1857 – Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.
- 1861 – Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs.
- 1865 – The U.S. Congress authorizes the formation of the Freedmen's Bureau.
- 1865 – Opening of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the founding member of the HSBC Group.
- 1873 – Censorship: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail.
- 1875 – Georges Bizet's opera Carmen receives its première at the Opéra Comique of Paris.
- 1875 – The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, Canada as recorded in The Montreal Gazette.
- 1877 – Rutherford B. Hayes is privately inaugurated as the 19th President of the United States (his public inauguration coming on March 5).
- 1878 – Bulgaria regains its independence from Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of San Stefano; shortly after Congress of Berlin stripped its status to an autonomous state of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1879 – The United States Geological Survey is created.
- 1885 – The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York.
- 1891 – The Penalty Kick rule in Association Football is conceived, but does not come into effect until the next season.
- 1904 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder.
- 1905 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an elected assembly, the Duma.
- 1910 – Rockefeller Foundation: J.D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he can devote full time to being a philanthropist.
- 1913 – Establishment of the first football club in Bulgaria – Ticha, now known as PFC "Cherno More".
- 1915 – NACA, the predecessor of NASA, is founded.
- 1918 – Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending Russia's involvement in World War I, and leading to the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
- 1923 – TIME magazine is published for the first time.
- 1924 – The 1400-year-old Islamic caliphate is abolished when Caliph Abdul Mejid II of the Ottoman Empire is deposed. The last remnant of the old regime gives way to the reformed Turkey of Kemal Atatürk.
- 1924 – The Free State of Fiume is annexed by Kingdom of Italy.
- 1931 – The United States officially adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem.
- 1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
- 1939 – In Mumbai, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest at the autocratic rule in India.
- 1940 – Five people are killed in an arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Norrskensflamman in Luleå, Sweden.
- 1942 – World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid the town of Broome, Western Australia killing more than 100 people.
- 1943 – World War II: In London, England, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.
- 1944 – The Order of Nakhimov and Order of Ushakov are instituted in USSR as the highest naval awards.
- 1945 – World War II: American and Filipino troops take Manila in the Philippines.
- 1953 – A Canadian Pacific Airlines De Havilland Comet crashes in Karachi, Pakistan killing 11.
- 1958 – Nuri as-Said becomes the prime minister of Iraq for the 14th time.
- 1961 – Hassan II becomes King of Morocco.
- 1969 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.
- 1971 – Beginning of Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and India's official entry to the Bangladesh Liberation War in support of Mukti Bahini.
- 1972 – Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures.
- 1974 – Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris, France killing all 346 aboard.
- 1976 – 5 workers are killed by the police in a demonstration in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
- 1980 – The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken.
- 1985 – Arthur Scargill declares that the National Union of Mineworkers national executive voted to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Great Britain without any peace deal over pit closures.
- 1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
- 1991 – In two concurring referendums: 74 % of the population of Latvia votes for independence from the Soviet Union, in Estonia – 83 %.
- 1991 – United Airlines Flight 585 crashes on approach into Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing 25.
- 1992 – The nation of Bosnia is established.
- 1997 – The tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, opens after two-and-a-half years of construction.
- 2002 – Citizens of Switzerland narrowly vote in favor of their country becoming a member of the United Nations.
- 2004 – Belgian brewer Interbrew and Brazilian rival AmBev agree to merge in a $11.2 billion deal that forms InBev, the world's largest brewer.
- 2005 – Mayerthorpe Incident: James Roszko murders four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables during a drug bust at his property in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta, then commits suicide. It is the deadliest peace-time incident for the RCMP since 1885 and the North-West Rebellion.
- 2005 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling.
- 2009 – The Sri Lankan cricket team is attacked by terrorists while on their way to the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore for a Test match against Pakistan.
- 2009 – The building of the Historisches Archiv der Stadt Köln (Historical Archives) in Cologne, Germany, collapses.
[edit] Births - 1455 – King John II of Portugal (d. 1495)
- 1520 – Matthias Flacius, Croatian Protestant reformer (d. 1575)
- 1583 – Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English diplomat, poet, and philosopher (d. 1648)
- 1589 – Gisbertus Voetius, Dutch theologian (d. 1676)
- 1606 – Edmund Waller, British poet (d. 1687)
- 1652 – Thomas Otway, British dramatist (d. 1685)
- 1678 – Madeleine de Verchères, French Canadian heroine (d. 1747)
- 1756 – William Godwin, English journalist, political philosopher and novelist (d. 1836)
- 1778 – Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Hanover (d. 1841)
- 1793 – William Charles Macready, English actor (d. 1873)
- 1800 – Heinrich Georg Bronn, German geologist (d. 1862)
- 1805 – Jonas Furrer, first President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1861)
- 1816 – William James Blacklock, British landscape painter (d. 1858)
- 1831 – George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (d. 1897)
- 1839 – Jamsetji Tata, Indian industrialist (d. 1904)
- 1845 – Georg Cantor, German mathematician (d. 1918)
- 1847 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-Canadian inventor (d. 1922)
- 1848 – Adelaide Neilson, English actress (d. 1880)
- 1851 – Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author (d. 1911)
- 1860 – John Montgomery Ward, American baseball player (d. 1925)
- 1863 – Arthur Machen, Welsh-born author (d. 1947)
- 1866 – Fred A. Busse, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1914)
- 1868 – Émile Chartier, French philosopher, journalist and pacifist (d. 1951)
- 1869 – Henry Joseph Wood, English conductor (d. 1944)
- 1871 – Maurice Garin, French cyclist (d. 1957)
- 1873 – William Green, American labor union leader (d. 1952)
- 1880 – Florence Auer, American actress (d. 1962)
- 1880 – Yōsuke Matsuoka, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan (d. 1946)
- 1880 – Sir Robert Chapman, British soldier and politician (d. 1963)
- 1882 – Charles Ponzi, Italian fraud convict (d. 1949)
- 1883 – Cyril Burt, educational psychologist (d. 1971)
- 1886 – Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (d. 1968)
- 1887 – Lincoln J. Beachey, American aviator (d. 1915)
- 1890 – Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (d. 1939)
- 1891 – Federico Moreno Torroba, Spanish composer (d. 1982)
- 1893 – Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramicist (d. 1998)
- 1894 – Ethel Grandin, silent film actress (d. 1988)
- 1895 – Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, Norwegian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- 1895 – Matthew Ridgway, Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, U.S. Army Chief of Staff (d. 1993)
- 1901 – Claude Choules, One of two surviving British veterans of World War I
- 1910 – Kittens Reichert, American silent screen child actor (d. 1990)
- 1911 – Jean Harlow, American actress (d. 1937)
- 1911 – Hugues Lapointe, Canadian politician and Lieutenant governor of Quebec (d. 1982)
- 1911 – Harold J. Stone, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1917 – Will Eisner, Jewish-American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur (d. 2005)
- 1917 – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (d. 1952)
- 1918 – Dr. Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
- 1918 – Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrian (d. 2000)
- 1920 – Julius Boros, American golfer (d. 1994)
- 1920 – James Doohan, Canadian-born actor (d. 2005)
- 1920 – Ronald Searle, British illustrator
- 1921 – Diana Barrymore, stage & film actress (d. 1960)
- 1922 – Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (d. 2002)
- 1923 – Barney Martin, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1923 – Doc Watson, American musician
- 1924 – Tomiichi Murayama, former Prime Minister of Japan
- 1924 – Ali Faik Zaghloul, Egyptian radio presenter
- 1924 – Lilian Velez, Filipno actress (d. 1948)
- 1926 – Lys Assia, Swiss singer
- 1926 – Joseph Anthony Ferrario, American Catholic prelate (d. 2003)
- 1926 – James Merrill, American poet (d. 1995)
- 1927 – Pierre Aubert, member of the Swiss Federal Council
- 1928 – Gudrun Pausewang, German writer
- 1930 – Heiner Geißler, German politician
- 1930 – Ion Iliescu, President of Romania
- 1933 – Marco Antonio Muñiz, Mexican singer (Los Tres Aces)
- 1933 – Margaret Fink, Australian film producer
- 1933 – Lee Radziwill, American fashion executive
- 1933 – Alfredo Landa, Spanish actor
- 1937 – Bobby Driscoll, American actor (d. 1968)
- 1940 – Germán Castro Caycedo, Colombian writer and journalist
- 1940 – Perry Ellis, fashion designer (d. 1986)
- 1940 – Owen Spencer-Thomas, English broadcaster, journalist and Anglican clergyman
- 1942 – Mike Pender, English singer and guitarist (The Searchers)
- 1944 – Lee Holdridge, Haitian-American composer
- 1945 – George Miller, Australian film director
- 1946 – John Virgo, English snooker player
- 1947 – Jennifer Warnes, American singer and songwriter
- 1947 – Otto Stuppacher, Austrian racing driver (d. 2001)
- 1947 – Clifton Snider, American poet and writer
- 1948 – Snowy White, British guitarist (Thin Lizzy, Pink Floyd)
- 1949 – Jüri Allik, Estonian psychologist
- 1949 – Gloria Hendry, American actress
- 1949 – Jesse Jefferson, American baseball player
- 1950 – Tim Kazurinsky, American actor and comedian
- 1951 – Lindsay Cooper, English musician and composer (Henry Cow, News from Babel)
- 1951 – Heizō Takenaka, Japanese economist and retired politician
- 1952 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (d. 1998)
- 1952 – Rudy "Daboy" Fernandez, Filipino actor (d. 2008)
- 1953 – Robyn Hitchcock, British musician
- 1953 – Zico, Brazilian footballer
- 1954 – Édouard Lock, Canadian dance choreographer (La La La Human Steps)
- 1955 – Andy Breckman, American comedian and radio personality
- 1956 – Zbigniew Boniek, Polish footballer
- 1957 – Thom Hoffman, Dutch actor and photographer
- 1958 – Miranda Richardson, British actress
- 1958 – Marc Silvestri, American comic book artist and publisher (Top Cow Productions)
- 1959 – Ira Glass, American radio host
- 1960 – Neal Heaton, American baseball player
- 1960 – Colin Wells, English cricketer
- 1961 – Perry McCarthy, English racing driver
- 1961 – Mary Page Keller, American actress
- 1961 – Knut Nærum, Norwegian comedian
- 1961 – Fatima Whitbread, English javelin thrower
- 1961 – John Matteson, American biographer
- 1962 – Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American athlete
- 1962 – Glen E. Friedman, American photographer and artist
- 1962 – Herschel Walker, American football player
- 1963 – Sophia Aliberti, Greek actress and TV presenter
- 1964 – Raúl Alcalá, Mexican cyclist
- 1964 – Laura Harring, Mexican-born American actress
- 1964 – Duncan Phillips, Australian drummer (Newsboys)
- 1965 – Dragan Stojković, Serbian footballer
- 1966 – Fernando Colunga, Mexican actor
- 1966 – Timo Tolkki, Finnish musician (Stratovarius)
- 1966 – Tone Lōc, American rapper and actor
- 1968 – Brian Leetch, American ice hockey player
- 1969 – Simon Whitlock, Australian Darts Player
- 1970 – Julie Bowen, American actress
- 1970 – Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistani cricketer
- 1971 – Charlie Brooker, English comedian, writer and broadcaster.
- 1971 – Tyler Florence, chef, Food Network personality, & cookbook author
- 1972 – Darren Anderton, English footballer
- 1973 – Romāns Vainšteins, Latvian cyclist
- 1973 – Matthew Marsden, English actor and singer
- 1973 – Victoria Zdrok, Ukrainian model
- 1974 – David Faustino, American actor
- 1974 – Paula Malai Ali, Malaysian-Bruneian TV presenter and actress
- 1976 – Fraser Gehrig, Australian Rules footballer
- 1977 – Ronan Keating, Irish singer
- 1977 – Stéphane Robidas, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 – Matt Diaz, American baseball player
- 1978 – Seomoon Tak, Korean singer
- 1979 – Albert Jorquera, Spanish footballer
- 1979 – Patrick Renna, American actor
- 1979 – Alex Zane, English comedian
- 1980 – Mason Unck, American football player
- 1981 – Dusty Dvoracek, American football player
- 1981 – Kim Yoo-Jin (Eugene), South Korean singer and actress
- 1981 – Lil' Flip, American rapper
- 1981 – Emmanuel Pappoe, Ghanaian footballer
- 1981 – Sung Yu Ri, South Korean singer and actress
- 1981 – Julius Malema, South African politician
- 1982 – Jessica Biel, American actress
- 1982 – Colton Orr, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Ashley Hansen, Australian Rules footballer
- 1984 – Alexander Semin, Russian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Santonio Holmes, American football player
- 1985 – Sam Morrow, Northern Irish footballer
- 1986 – Stacie Orrico, American singer
[edit] Deaths - 1111 – Bohemund I, Prince of Antioch
- 1239 – Vladimir III Rurikovich, Grand Prince of Kiev (b. 1187)
- 1459 – Ausiàs March, Catalan poet (b. 1397)
- 1554 – John Frederick, Elector of Saxony (b. 1503)
- 1703 – Robert Hooke, English scientist (b. 1635)
- 1706 – Johann Pachelbel, German composer (b. 1653)
- 1707 – Aurangzeb, Mughal Emperor of India (b. 1618)
- 1717 – Pierre Allix, French Protestant pastor (b. 1641)
- 1744 – Jean Barbeyrac, French jurist
- 1765 – William Stukeley, English archaeologist (b. 1687)
- 1768 – Nicola Porpora, Italian composer (b. 1686)
- 1792 – Robert Adam, Scottish architect (b. 1728)
- 1850 – Oliver Cowdery, American religious leader (b. 1806)
- 1894 – Ned Williamson, American baseball player (b. 1857)
- 1899 – William P. Sprague, American politician from Ohio (b. 1827)
- 1920 – Theodor Philipsen, Danish painter (b. 1840)
- 1927 – Mikhail Artsybashev, Russian writer (b. 1878)
- 1927 – J.G. Parry-Thomas, Welsh motor-racing driver (b. 1884)
- 1932 – Eugen d'Albert, German composer (b. 1864)
- 1943 – George Thompson, English cricketer (b. 1877)
- 1953 – James J. Jeffries, American heavyweight boxer (b. 1875)
- 1959 – Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (b. 1906)
- 1961 – Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887)
- 1966 – William Frawley, American actor (b. 1887)
- 1966 – Alice Pearce, American actress (b. 1917)
- 1966 – Joseph Fields, American playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, and film producer (b. 1895)
- 1977 – Percy Marmont, British/American actor (b. 1883)
- 1982 – Georges Perec, French writer (b. 1936)
- 1983 – Hergé, Belgian comics creator (b. 1907)
- 1983 – Arthur Koestler, Austrian writer (b. 1905)
- 1987 – Danny Kaye, American actor, singer, and comedian (b. 1913)
- 1988 – Sewall Wright, American biologist (b. 1889)
- 1990 – Gérard Blitz, Belgian waterpoloist and entrepreneur (b. 1912)
- 1991 – Arthur Murray, American dancer and dance instructor (b. 1895)
- 1993 – Carlos Marcello, Tunisian-born gangster (b. 1910)
- 1993 – Carlos Montoya, flamenco guitarist (b. 1903)
- 1993 – Albert Sabin, Polish-born medical researcher (b. 1906)
- 1995 – Howard W. Hunter, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1907)
- 1996 – Marguerite Duras, French writer (b. 1914)
- 1996 – John Cardinal Krol, American Catholic clergyman (b. 1910)
- 1998 – Fred Friendly, American broadcast executive (b. 1915)
- 1999 – Gerhard Herzberg, German-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- 2000 – Toni Ortelli, Italian composer and alpinist (b. 1904)
- 2001 – Louis Edmonds, American actor (b. 1923)
- 2002 – Harlan Howard, American musician (b. 1927)
- 2003 – Horst Buchholz, German actor (b. 1933)
- 2003 – Luis Marden, American photojournalist (b. 1913)
- 2003 – Goffredo Petrassi, Italian composer (b. 1904)
- 2003 – Peter Smithson, English architect (b. 1923)
- 2004 – Cecily Adams, American actress and casting director (b. 1958)
- 2005 – Max M. Fisher, American philanthropist (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Ivor Cutler, Scottish poet (b. 1923)
- 2006 – William Herskovic, Holocaust hero and philanthropist (b. 1914)
- 2007 – Osvaldo Cavandoli, Italian cartoonist, creator of La Linea. (b. 1920)
- 2008 – Giuseppe Di Stefano, Italian operatic tenor. (b. 1921)
[edit] Holidays and observances [edit] External links
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