[Edit]

top

708 - Constantine is consecrated Pope.

1300 - Dante descends to the Inferno in The Divine Comedy.

1306 - Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scotland.

1409 - The Council of Pisa opens.

1634 - The first settlers arrive in Maryland (led by Lord Baltimore).

1655 - Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christian Huygens.

1655 - Protestants take control of Maryland at the Battle of the Severn.

1802 - The Treaty of Amiens is signed as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace" between France and United Kingdom.

1807 - The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing slavery in the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1807 - The Swansea and Mumbles Railway, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, became the first passenger carrying railway in the world.

1811 - Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for his publication of the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism.

1821 - Greece declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire, beginning the Greek War of Independence.

1857 - Phonautograph patented.

1865 - The "Claywater Meteorite" explodes just before reaching ground level in Vernon County, Wisconsin. Fragments having a combined mass of 1.5 kg are recovered.

1865 - American Civil War: In Virginia, Confederate forces capture Fort Stedman from the Union in a bloody battle.

1894 - Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, Ohio for Washington D.C..

1901 - At the five-day "Week of Nice" race in Nice, France, Mercedes wins its first racing victory.

1908 - Clube Atletico Mineiro, Founded in Belo Horizonte,Brazil.

1911 - In New York City the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers.

1918 - The Belarusian People's Republic was established.

1924 - Greece proclaims itself a republic.

1931 - The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.

1939 - Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli becomes Pope Pius XII.

1939 - The Second cartoon to feature Happy Rabbit Prest-O Change-O is released

1941 - Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers.

1947 - An explosion in a coalmine in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.

1949 - The extensive deportation campaign was conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Soviet authorities deported more than 92,000 people from Baltics to remote areas of the Soviet Union.

1955 - United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" as obscene.

1957 - The European Economic Community is established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg).

1958 - Canada's Avro Arrow makes it debut flight.

1960 - In London, United Kingdom, Jacqueline Boyer wins the fifth Eurovision Song Contest for France singing "Tom Pillibi".

1965 - Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery.

1969 - During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their first Bed-In for Peace in the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel (until March 31).

1971 - Bangladesh Liberation War: Beginning of Operation Searchlight of Pakistan Army against East Pakistani civilians.

1972 - In Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, Vicky Leandros wins the seventeenth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Après toi" (After you).

1975 - Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a mentally ill nephew.

1979 - The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.

1988 - The Candle demonstration in Bratislava was the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

1990 - In the Bronx, New York City, a fire at an illegal social club called "Happy Land" kills 87 people.

1992 - Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returns to Earth after a 10-month stay aboard the Mir space station.

1995 - Mike Tyson is released from the Indiana Youth Center after serving three years for a rape conviction.

1995 - Ward Cunningham opens the first wiki, the WikiWikiWeb.

1996 - An 81-day-long standoff between the antigovernment group Montana Freemen and law enforcement near Jordan, Montana, begins.

1996 - The Labour Party is founded in Turkey.

1996 - The EU's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease (BSE).

1999 - Enron energy traders allegedly route 2,900 megawatts of electricity destined to California to Silver Peak, Nevada, population 200.

2004 - Air Holland files for bankruptcy in response to unproven allegations of marijuana abuse by their pilots.

2006 - The Capitol Hill massacre, where gunman kills six people before taking his own life at a party in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, one of the largest crime scenes the city has ever had.

2006 - Protesters demanding a re-election in Belarus following the rigged Belarusian presidential election, 2006 clash with riot police. Opposition leader Aleksander Kozulin was among several protesters arrested.

2006 - Over 500,000 people in Los Angeles were protesting against illegal immigration.

2006 - Reading F.C. were promoted to the English Premiership for the first time in their 135 year history.

top

1252 - Conradin, Duke of Swabia (d. 1268)

1297 - Andronicus III Palaeologus, Eastern Roman Emperor (d. 1341)

1297 - Arnost of Pardubice, Archbishop of Prague (d. 1364)

1345 - Blanche of Lancaster, wife of John of Gaunt (d. 1369)

1347 - Catherine of Siena, Italian saint (d. 1380)

1404 (baptism) - John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English military leader (d. 1444)

1479 - Vasili III, Grand Prince of Moscow (d. 1533)

1539 - Christopher Clavius, German mathematician (d. 1612)

1541 - Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1587)

1593 - Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1649)

1643 - Louis Moréri, French encylopedist (d. 1680)

1661 - Paul de Rapin, French historian (d. 1725)

1699 - Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer (d. 1783)

1767 - Joachim Murat, King of Naples (d. 1815)

1800 - Heinrich von Dechsen, German geologist (d. 1889)

1863 - Simon Flexner, American pathologist (d. 1946)

1867 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor, (d. 1957)

1868 - William Lockwood, English cricketer (d. 1932)

1873 - Rudolf Rocker, German anarchist (d. 1958)

1877 - Walter Little, Canadian poltician (d. 1961)

1881 - Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (d. 1945)

1881 - Mary Gladys Webb, English writer (d. 1927)

1884 - Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (d. 1950)

1886 - Athenagoras, Patriarch of Constantinople (d. 1972)

1892 - Andy Clyde, American actor (d. 1967)

1899 - Burt Munro, New Zealand motorcycle racer (d. 1978)

1901 - Ed Begley, American actor (d. 1970)

1903 - Nahum Norbert Glatzer, Jewish-American scholar (d. 1990)

1906 - A.J.P. Taylor, British historian (d. 1990)

1908 - Helmut Käutner, German actor and director (d. 1980)

1908 - David Lean, English film director (d. 1991)

1911 - Jack Ruby, killer of Lee Harvey Oswald (d. 1967)

1914 - Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize laureate

1918 - Howard Cosell, American sports reporter (d. 1995)

1920 - Patrick Troughton, British actor (d. 1987)

1920 - Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner

1921 - Simone Signoret, French actress (d. 1985)

1922 - Eileen Ford, model agency executive

1925 - Flannery O'Connor, American author (d. 1964)

1926 - László Papp, Hungarian boxer (d. 2003)

1926 - Jaime Sabines, Mexican poet (d. 1999)

1926 - Gene Shalit, American film critic

1928 - Jim Lovell, American astronaut

1929 - Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (d. 2003)

1934 - Gloria Steinem, American author

1935 - Flash Elorde, Filipino boxer

1938 - Hoyt Axton, American musician and actor (d. 1999)

1939 - Toni Cade Bambara, American author (d. 1995)

1940 - Anita Bryant, American entertainer

1942 - Aretha Franklin, American singer

1942 - Richard O'Brien, English actor and writer

1943 - Paul Michael Glaser, American actor

1946 - Bonnie Bedelia, American actress

1946 - Maurice Krafft, French vulcanologist (d. 1991)

1946 - Cliff Balsam, English footballer

1946 - Gerard John Schaefer, American serial killer (d. 1995)

1947 - Elton John, English singer and songwriter

1949 - Nick Lowe, British singer

1952 - Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician

1955 - Daniel Boulud, French chef and restaurateur

1956 - Matthew Garber, British actor (d. 1977)

1960 - Idy Chan Yuk-Lin, Hong Kong actress

1960 - Steve Norman, British saxophonist (Spandau Ballet)

1962 - Marcia Cross, American actress

1964 - Lisa Gay Hamilton, American actress

1964 - Ken Wregget, Canadian hockey player

1964 - Alex Solis, Panamanian Jockey

1965 - Sarah Jessica Parker, American actress

1965 - Stefka Kostadinova, Bulgarian high jumper

1966 - Tom Glavine, baseball player

1966 - Anton Rogan, Irish footballer

1966 - Jeff Healey, Canadian guitarist

1966 - Tatjana Patitz, German supermodel

1967 - Matthew Barney, American media artist

1967 - Debi Thomas, American figure skater

1969 - Dale Davis, American basketball player

1970 - Kari Matchett, Canadian actress

1971 - Cammi Granato, American hockey player

1973 - Anthony Barness, English footballer

1974 - Lark Voorhies, American actress

1976 - Juvenile, American rapper

1976 - Wladimir Klitschko, Ukrainian boxer

1976 - Francis Bellew, Irish Gaelic Footballer

1976 - Gigi Leung, Hong Kong singer/actress

1979 - Natasha Yi, American supermodel

1982 - Danica Patrick, American race car driver

1982 - Sean Faris, American Actor and Model

1982 - Álvaro Saborío, Costa Rican footballer

1984 - Yuriy Leonovich, Ukrainian-American Cellist

1984 - Katharine McPhee, American Idol contestant

1987 - Nobunari Oda, Japanese figure skater

1989 - Alyson Michalka, American actress

top

752 - Pope-elect Stephen (died before taking office)

1223 - Afonso II of Portugal (b. 1185)

1345 - Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, English politician (b. 1281)

1458 - Marqués de Santillana, Spanish poet (b. 1398)

1558 - Marcos de Niza, French Franciscan explorer

1603 - Ikoma Chikamasa, Japanese warlord (b. 1526)

1609 - Olaus Martini, Swedish Archbishop of Uppsala (b. 1557)

1620 - Johannes Nucius, German composer

1625 - Giambattista Marini, Italian poet (b. 1569)

1712 - Nehemiah Grew, English naturalist (b. 1641)

1736 - Nicholas Hawksmoor, British architect

1738 - Turlough O'Carolan, Irish harper and composer (b. 1670)

1751 - Frederick I of Sweden (b. 1676)

1801 - Novalis, German poet (b. 1772)

1818 - Caspar Wessel, Danish mathematician (b. 1745)

1860 - James Braid, Scottish surgeon (b. 1795)

1914 - Frédéric Mistral, French poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1830)

1918 - Claude Debussy, French composer (b. 1862)

1951 - Eddie Collins, baseball player (b. 1887)

1957 - Max Ophüls, German-born director and writer (b. 1902)

1958 - Tom Brown, American musician (b. 1888)

1969 - Max Eastman, American writer (b. 1883)

1969 - Billy Cotton, British Bandleader & Entertainer (b. 1889)

1975 - Faisal of Saudi Arabia (b. 1906)

1980 - Roland Barthes, French literary critic and writer (b. 1915)

1980 - Milton H. Erickson, American psychiatrist (b. 1901)

1980 - Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (b. 1913)

1988 - Robert Joffrey, dancer, teacher, and choreographer (b. 1930)

1992 - Nancy Walker, American actress (b. 1922)

1994 - Max Petitpierre, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1899)

1995 - James Coleman, American sociologist (b. 1926)

1995 - Krešimir Ćosić, Croatian basketball player (b. 1948)

1999 - Cal Ripken, Sr., baseball manager (b. 1936)

2000 - Helen Martin, American actress (b. 1909)

2002 - Kenneth Wolstenholme, British football commentator (b. 1920)

2006 - Buck Owens, American singer and television personality (b. 1929)

2006 - Rocío Dúrcal, Spanish singer and actress (b. 1944)

top

In Christianity, March 25 is typically celebrated as the day of the Annunciation so long as it does not coincide with a Sunday or during Holy Week.

Traditional date of the death (circa 33), of Jesus (b. circa 1 BC in traditional dating).

Traditional date of the start of the new year (Lady Day) in England and Wales until the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752.

As the day falls close to the vernal equinox, similar to the way Christmas falls near the winter solstice, both days are regarded as one of the Quarter Days to Christians in the British Isles.

Good Friday (week changes yearly)

Maryland Day.

Greek Independence Day.

Freedom Day in Belarus

International Waffle Day in Sweden.

top

The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Lady Day) - this date is nine months before Christmas Day, and is based on the traditional date in Catholicism of a 1 BC - Annunciation of the Virgin Mary and conception of Jesus.

One of the four Irish Quarter days in the Irish calendar.

Saint Dysmas, the 'Good Murderer'

Saint Harold

Saint Humbert

Saint Izaak

Saint Pelagius

top

The date of the passing of Sauron in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Many fans celebrate this day by throwing parties.