23 March 2006

This Day in History....

1026 Koenraad II crowns himself king of Italy
1066 18th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1153 Treaty of Konstanz between Frederik I "Barbarossa" & Pope Eugene III
1490 1st dated edition of Maimonides "Mishna Torah" published
1534 Aragón legal
1568 Treaty of Longjumeau: French huguenots go on strike
1579 Friesland joins Union of Utrecht
1593 English Congressionalist Henry Barrow accused of slander
1630 French troops occupy Pinerolo Piedmont
1657 France & England form alliance against Spain; England gets Dunkirk
1708 English pretender to the throne James III lands at Firth of Forth
1743 George Frideric Händel's oratorio "Messiah" premieres in London
1775 Patrick Henry proclaims "Give me liberty or give me death"
1794 Josiah Pierson patents a "cold-header" (rivet) machine
1794 Lieutenant-General Tadeusz Kosciuszko returns to Poland
1801 Murder attempt on Czar Paul I
1806 Lewis & Clark reach Pacific coast
1808 Napoleon's brother Joseph takes the throne of Spain
1832 British Parliament passes reform bill
1835 Charles Darwin reaches Los Arenales, in the Andes
1836 Coin Press invented by Franklin Beale
1839 1st recorded use of "OK" [oll korrect] (Boston's Morning Post)
1840 Draper takes 1st successful photo of the Moon (daguerrotype)
1849 Battle of Novara (King Charles Albert vs Italian republic)
1857 Elisha Otis' 1st elevator installed (488 Broadway, NYC)
1858 Streetcar patented (Eleazer A Gardner of Philadelphia)
1861 London's 1st tramcars, designed by Mr Train of New York, begins operating
1862 Battle of Kernstown VA-Jackson begins his Valley Campaign
1864 Encounter at Camden AR
1865 General Sherman/Cox' troops reach Goldsboro NC
1867 Congress passes 2nd Reconstruction Act over President Johnson's veto
1868 University of California founded (Oakland CA)
1880 Flour rolling mill patented (John Stevens of Wisconsin)
1881 Boers & Britain sign peace accord; end 1st Boer war
1881 Gas lamp sets fire to Nice France opera house; 70 die
1889 President Harrison opens Oklahoma for white colonization
1891 1st jazz concert was held at Carnegie Hall
1896 Umberto Giordano's opera "Andrea Chénier" premieres in Milan
1901 Dame Nellie Melba, reveals secret of her now famous toast
1903 Wright brothers obtain airplane patent
1910 1st race at Los Angeles Motordrome (1st US auto speedway)
1912 Dixie Cup invented
1915 Zion Mule Corp forms
1917 4 day series of tornadoes kills 211 in Midwest US
1918 Alick Wickham dives 200' into Australia's Yarra River
1918 Crépy-en-Laonnoise: German artillery shells Paris France, 256 killed
1918 Lithuania proclaims independence
1918 Paris bombs "Thick Bertha's Dike" (nickname for the widow Krupp)
1919 Bashkir ASSR, in RSFSR, constituted
1919 Benito Mussolini forms Fascist movement in Milan Italy
1919 Moscow's Politburo/Central Committee forms
1920 Perserikatan Communist of India (PKI) political party forms
1922 1st airplane lands at the US Capitol in Washington DC
1922 KMJ-AM in Fresno CA begins radio transmissions
1922 WEW-AM in Saint Louis MO begins radio transmissions
1923 Frank Silver & Irving Conn release "Yes, We Have No Bananas"
1925 Tennessee becomes 1st state to outlaw teaching theory of evolution
1926 NHL Championship: Montréal Canadiens outscore Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-4 in 2 games
1929 1st telephone installed in White House
1930 US Ladies Figure Skating Championship won by Maribel Vinson
1930 US Men's Figure Skating Championship won by Roger Turner
1933 Enabling Act: German Reichstag grants Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers
1933 Kroll Opera in Berlin opens
1934 US Congress accepts Philippines independence in 1945
1936 Italy, Austria & Hungary sign Pact of Rome
1937 Los Angeles Railway Co starts using PCC streetcars
1938 Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis frees 74 St L Cardinals minor leaguers
1940 1st radio broadcast of "Truth or Consequences" on CBS
1940 All-India-Muslim League calls for a Muslim homeland
1942 2,500 Jews of Lublin massacred or deported
1942 Japanese forces occupy Andaman Islands in Indian Ocean
1942 US move native-born of Japanese ancestry into detention centers
1943 German counter attack on US lines in Tunisia
1944 Bomb assassination against Southern Tirol congregation in Rome, 33 die
1944 Nicholas Alkemade falls 5,500 meter without a parachute & lives
1945 British 7th Black Watch crosses the Rhine
1945 Largest operation in Pacific war, 1,500 US Navy ships bomb Okinawa
1945 Prime Minister Winston Churchill visits Montgomery's headquarter in Straelen
1946 8th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Oklahoma State beats North Carolina 43-40
1948 John Cunningham sets world altitude record (54,492' (18,133 meter))
1949 Sidney Kingsley's "Detective Story" premieres in New York NY
1950 "Great to Be Alive" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 52 performances
1950 22nd Academy Awards: "All King's Men", Broderick Crawford & Olivia de Havilland win
1950 Sophocles Venizelos forms liberal Greeks government
1950 UN World Meteorological Organization established
1951 Wages in France increase 11%
1952 Rangers with less than 14 minutes to go blow a 6-2 lead, losing 7-6 to Chicago Black Hawks; Mosienko scores 3 times in 21 seconds
1956 18th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: San Francisco beats Iowa 83-71; this is San Francisco's 2nd consecutive national basketball championship
1956 Pakistan proclaimed an Islamic republic in Commonwealth (National Day)
1956 Sudan becomes independent
1957 19th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: North Carolina beats Kansas 54-53 (3 overtimes)
1957 US army sells last homing pigeons
1960 Explorer (8) fails to reach Earth orbit
1962 JFK visits San Francisco
1962 Nawab of Pataudi captains India cricket vs West Indies age 21 years 77 days
1962 Wake Forest coach "Bones" McKinney becomes 2nd person to play & coach
1962 William DeWitt buys Cincinnati Reds for $4,625,000
1963 25th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Loyola beats Cincinnati 60-58 (OT)
1963 Rolf Hochhuth's "Der Stellvertreter" premieres in Berlin
1964 UNCTAD 1 world conference opens in Geneva
1965 Gemini 3 launched, 1st US 2-man space flight (Grissom & Young)
1965 Moroccan army shoots on demonstrators, about 100 killed
1966 1st official meeting after 400 years of Catholic & Anglican Church
1968 30th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats North Carolina 78-55
1968 Reverend Walter Fauntroy, is 1st non-voting congressional delegate from Washington DC
1969 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Port Charlotte Golf Invitational
1969 Rally for Decency (Miami)
1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 Dutch 2nd Chamber accept simplified divorce
1971 USSR performs underground nuclear test
1972 Evil Knievel breaks 93 bones after successfully clearing 35 cars
1972 New York Yankees agree to continue playing ball in the Bronx
1973 After a 5½ year run, soap "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" ends
1973 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1973 Yoko Ono is granted permanent residence in US
1975 Sue Roberts wins LPGA Bing Crosby International Golf Classic
1976 International Bill of Rights goes into effect (35 nations ratify)
1978 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1979 Larry Holmes TKOs Osvaldo Ocasio in 7 for heavyweight boxing title
1979 Wings release "Goodnight Tonight"
1980 Border completes 150 in each inning of Test Cricket vs Pakistan
1980 Donna Caponi Young Pro-Am wins LPGA National Golf Tournament
1980 France performs nuclear test
1980 Shah of Iran arrives in Egypt
1981 Supreme Court rules states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teen-age girls sought abortions
1981 Supreme Court upholds law making statutory rape a crime only for men
1982 Guatemala military coup under General Rios Montt, President Romeo Lucas flees
1982 Isle's Mike Bossy's 20th career hat trick-4 goals
1983 US President Ronald Reagan introduces "Star Wars"-plan (SDI)
1984 Andrea Schöne skates ladies world record 3 km (4 :0.91)
1984 World Ice Dance Championship in Ottawa won by J Torvill & Chris Dean (Great Britain)
1984 World Ice Pairs Figure Skating Championship in Ottawa won by Underhill & Paul Martini (Canada)
1984 World Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Ottawa won by Katarina Witt (German Democratic Republic)
1984 World Men's Figure Skating Championship in Ottawa won by Scott Hamilton (USA)
1985 Betsy King wins LPGA Standard Register PING
1985 Billy Joel weds supermodel Christie Brinkley
1985 Discovery moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS 51-D mission
1985 Julian Lennon's 1st concert (San Antonio TX)
1985 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1986 6th Golden Raspberry Awards: Rambo; First Blood Part II wins
1986 Heavyweight Trevor Berbick KOs Pinklon Thomas
1986 Penny Pulz wins LPGA Circle K Tucson Golf Open
1987 Soap opera "Bold & Beautiful" premieres
1987 US offers military protection to Kuwaiti ships in the Persian Gulf
1987 West Germany SPD chairman Willy Brandt resigns
1989 2 Utah scientists claim they have produced fusion at room temperature
1989 Joel Steinberg sentenced to 25 years for killing his adopted daughter
1990 Former Exxon Valdez Captain Joseph Hazelwood ordered to help clean up Prince William Sound & pay $50,000 in restitution for 1989 oil spill
1991 1st World League of American Football games, London beats Frankfurt 24-11, Sacramento beats Raleigh-Durham 9-3 & Montréal beats Birmingham 20-5
1991 20 Tornadoes kill 5 in Tennessee
1991 Sergei Bubka pole vaults world record indoor (6.12 meter)
1992 Florida Marlins begin selling tickets
1993 Belgian government of Dehaene, resigns
1993 New York Knicks & Phoenix Suns get into a major brawl
1994 Amy Fisher's lover, Joey Buttafuoco, released from jail after 4 months & 9 days
1994 Graeme Obree bicycles world record 10 km (11 :8)
1994 Howard Stern formally announces his Libertarian run for New York Governor
1994 Last day of Test cricket for Kapil Dev
1994 Richard Jacobs buys naming rights to Indians new ball park at Gateway for $13.8 million (renamed Jacobs Field)
1994 Russian Airbus A-310 crashes in Siberia (74-75 killed)
1994 Wayne Gretzky sets NHL record with 802 goals scored
1995 "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" opens at R Rodgers NYC for 548 performances
1995 Dollar equals 88.41 yen (record)
1997 "Mandy Patinkin in Concert" closes at Lyceum Theater NYC
1997 17th Golden Raspberry Awards: Striptease wins
1997 Laura Davies wins Standard Register PING Golf Tournament
1997 Liberty Legends of Senior Golf
1997 Phil Mickelson wins Bay Hill Golf Invitiational
1997 Wrestlemania XIII in Chicago, Undertaker beats Psycho Sid for title
1998 70th Academy Awards: Titanic, Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt win
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Missing in Action........

1961 BAILEY LAWRENCE ROBERT ALBUQUERQUE NM 08/15/62 RELEASED ALIVE IN 98
1961 BANKOWSKI ALFONS A. STAMFORD CT KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH
1961 GARSIDE FREDERICK T. PLYMOUTH MA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 MAGEE RALPH WAYNE PORT SULPHUR LA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 MATTESON GLENN DALLAS TX KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 SAMPSON LESLIE V. RICHEY MT KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 NOV 91
1961 WEITKAMP EDGAR WILKEN YORK PA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH
1961 WESTON OSCAR B. JR. NORFOLK VA KIA RESULT OF SHOOTDOWN/CRASH
1966 CLARK DONALD E. JR. LYNCHBURG VI 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1966 DAWSON CLYDE DUANE FOND DU LAC WI 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1966 HEWITT SAMUEL EUGENE WALKERTON IN
1966 TAPP JOHN B. HARRODSBURG KY
1968 FRANKS IAN J. NEW YORK NY
1969 DAVIS ROBERT C. BURLINGTON NJ REMAINS RETURNED 94-95 IDENTIFIED 10/30/96
1969 WIDDIS JAMES W. NEWARK NJ REMAINS RETURNED 94-95 IDENTIFIED 10/30/96
1972 JACKSON JAMES T. HIALEAH FL
1972 PIKE DENNIS S. BAGDAD AZ
1972 WHITT JAMES E. PENFIELD IL
1975 MARTIN EARL 07/75 RELEASED FROM SAIGON

Births which occurred on March 23:

1599 Thomas Selle composer
1638 Frederik Ruysch Dutch anatomist
1699 John Bartram naturalist/explorer, father of American botany
1736 Iman Willem Falck Dutch Governor of Ceylon (1765-83)
1749 Hugo Franz Karl Alexander von Kerpen composer
1749 Pierre-Simon Laplace mathematician/astronomer/physicist
1750 Johannes Matthias Sperger composer
1761 John W de Winter Dutch Vice-Admiral (Battle at Kamperduin)
1769 William Smith geologist (Strata Identified by Organized Fossils)
1795 Leopold Jansa composer
1801 Peterus D Regout Dutch industrialist (Sphinx, Maastricht)
1808 Jeronimo de Bosch Kemper sociologist/historian (Statistic yearbook)
1811 Camille Marie Stamaty composer
1811 Carl Gottfried Wilhelm Taubert composer
1818 Don Carlos Buell Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1898
1821 Aleksej F Pisemski Russian writer (Clodhopper)
1823 Schuyler Colfax ® 17th Vice President (1869-73)
1825 Edward Lloyd Thomas Brigadier General (Confederate Army) died in 1898
1826 Leon Minkus composer
1834 Julius Reubke composer
1837 Joseph Wieniawski composer
1844 Eugene Gigout composer
1847 Alexandru D Xenopol Romania, historian
1854 Alfred Milner Giessen Germany, British Governor (Cape colony)
1857 Fannie Farmer actress (namesake of a candy company)
1858 Ludwig Quidde German historian/politician (Nobel prize 1927)
1860 Horatio W Bottomley British journalist/swindler
1863 Godfried CE van Daalen Dutch General/Governor of Atjeh
1864 Hjalmar Borgstrom composer
1876 Sir Muirhead Bone Glasgow Scotland, etcher/engraver of architecture
1878 Franz Schrecker composer
1881 Hermann Staudinger Germany, chemist/plastics researcher (Nobel '53)
1881 Roger Martin du Guard France, novelist (Les Thibault-Nobel 1937)
1882 C Montague Shaw Adelaide Australia
1883 Faisal I ibn Hussein ibn Ali 1st king of Iraq/Syria
1884 Glauco Velasquez composer
1887 Anthony van Hoboken Dutch musicologist (Haydn-catalog)
1887 Felix Felixovitch Yussupov Russian prince/murderer of Rasputin
1887 Juan Gris Spain, cubist painter (Still Life Before an Open Window)
1887 Sidney Hillman union leader (Sidney Hillman Foundation)
1891 Catherine Murphy Urner composer
1895 Dane Rudhyar composer
1898 Georgios Grivas Greek General/opposition leader on Cyprus
1898 Hazel Dawn [LaTout] Ogden UT, actress (Niobe, Under Cover, Feud Girl)
19-- Ken Michelman New York NY, actor (Abner-White Shadow)
19-- Terry Alexander Detroit MI, actor (Troy-One Life to Live)
1900 Erich Fromm Frankfurt Germany, psychologist (Sane Society)
1900 Jose Antonio Calcano composer
1901 Jan H de Groot Dutch resistance fighter/co-founder (Free Netherlands)
1902 Philip Ober Fort Payne AL, actor (General Stone-I Dream of Jeannie)
1905 Paul Grimault animator
1905 Ralph Perring Lord Mayor (London)
1906 George Posford composer
1907 Daniel Bovet Switzerland, pharmacologist (Nobel 1957)
1907 Douglas Patrick Thomas Jay politician
1908 Dominique de Menil arts patron/human rights advocate
1908 Joan Crawford [Lucille Fay LeSueur] San Antonio TX, actress (Mildred Pierce, What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?)
1910 Akira Kurosawa Tokyo Japan, director (7 Samurai, Living)
1910 Lale [Liselotte H] Anderson Bremerhaven Germany, singer/actress (Der Pott)
1911 Augustus John "Gus" Risman rugby league player
1911 Charles Joseph A Russhon USAF Lieutenant Colonel/liaison (James Bond films)
1911 Denis Wright diplomat
1911 Edward Warner diplomat
1911 Richard Chapman golfer (1940 US amateur, 1951 British amateur)
1912 Alfred Schwarzmann Germany, gymnast (Olympics-2 golds-1936)
1912 John Payne Roanoke VA, actor (Dodsworth, Razor's Edge)
1912 Werner von Braun Wirsitz Germany, rocket expert (I Aim at the Stars)
1914 Robert Gross composer
1915 Francis Berry poet/Shakespearean scholar
1917 H C Allen American historian
1917 Johnny Guarnieri New York NY, jazz pianist (Morey Amsterdam Show)
1917 Kenneth Tobey actor (The Thing, Strange Invaders)
1917 Patricia Burke Milan Italy, actress (Forbidden)
1919 Michael Lyne British air Vice-marshal
1920 Alexander Grigori Harut'unyan composer
1920 Geoffrey Bush composer
1920 James Brown Desdemona TX, actor (Lieutenant Rip Masters-Rin Tin Tin)
1920 Jimmy Edwards comedy actor (Barnes)
1920 Neal Smith (Representative-Democrat-IA, 1959- )
1921 Donald Malcome Campbell Surrey UK, boat racer (1955 speed records)
1921 Ian Todd President (Royal College of Surgeons)
1921 Wolfgang Altendorfer writer
1922 Marty Allen Pittsburgh PA, comedian (Allen & Rossi), "Hello Dere"
1922 Ugo Tognazzi Cremona Italy, actor/director (La Cage Aux Folles)
1923 Arnie Weinmeister AAFC, NFL defensive tackle (New York Yankees, Giants)
1924 Peter Godfrey chartered accountant
1925 Cees de Ruyter European champion billiards player
1925 David McNee commissioner (Metropolitan Police)
1926 Martha Wright Seattle WA, singer (Let's Dance, The Martha Wright Show)
1927 Osvaldo Lacerda composer
1928 11th duke of Beaufort English large landowner/multi-millionaire
1928 Alfred Morris British MP
1929 Albert H Crews astronaut
1929 Gerrit den Braber Dutch composer/producer
1929 James Ackley Maxwell actor/director (Traitors, Pyt Potter, Otley)
1929 Michael Manser architect
1929 Roger Bannister England, 1st to run a 4 minute mile (May 6, 1954)
1931 Norman F Lent (Representative-Republican-NY, 1971- )
1933 Geoffrey Leigh CEO (Allied London Properties)
1933 Monique van Vooren Belgium, actress (Andy Warhol's Frankenstein)
1933 Norman Bailey British bass-baritone (Flying Dutchman)
1934 Bryan Bass headmaster (City of London School)
1934 Mark Rydell New York NY, actor (Havana, Punchline, Long Goodbye)
1935 Barry Cryer comedian/writer (Goodies Rule-OK, All You Need is Cash)
1935 Desmond Pitcher CEO (Merseyside Development Corporation)
1935 Szilárd Kun Hungary, rapid fire pistol (Olympics-silver-1952)
1937 Craig Breedlove Los Angeles CA, auto-racing champion (600 MPH-Spirit of America)
1937 Heinz Martin Lonquich composer
1938 Christopher Glenn New York NY, news anchor (CBS Nightwatch)
1938 Kenneth J Gregory warden (Goldsmiths' College)
1939 Bert Berdis Pittsburgh PA, comedian (Tim Conway Show)
1939 Boris Ivanovich Tischenko composer
1940 Brian Hastings cricketer (New Zealand batsman in 70's)
1940 Luis Gasca rocker
1940 Tariq Yunus actor (Bollywood, Ashanti, Deceivers)
1942 Jimmy Miller US pop drummer (Rolling Stones, Motörhead)
1943 Gail Goodrich NBA star (Lakers, Suns)
1943 Peter Graves supt minister (Westminster Central Hall)
1944 Michael Nyman composer (Mesmer, Carrington)
1944 Salim Altaf cricketer (Pakistan medium-pacer in 21 Tests 1967-78)
1947 Barbara Rhodes Poughkeepsie NY, actress (Don't Just Stand There)
1948 Michael Gleeson otolaryngologist
1948 R J Bennett FBA/geographer
1948 Wasim Bari cricket wicket-keeper (Pakistan's most successful)
1949 Karen English (Representative-Democrat-AZ)
1949 Ric Ocasek Baltimore MD, rocker (Cars-Double Life, All Mixed Up, Bye Bye Love)
1950 Corrine Clery Paris France, actress (Moonraker, Yor)
1950 P R Scott Headmaster (Bancroft's School, Woodford Green)
1951 Dick Mast Bluffton OH, Nike golfer (1990 Mississippi Gulf Coast)
1951 Lis Howell director of programs (GMTV)
1952 Patricia Richardson Bethesda MD, actress (Jill-Home Improvement)
1953 Chaka Khan [Yvette Marie Stevens] Great Lakes IL, rocker (Rufus-I'm Every Woman)
1953 Geoffrey Clifton-Brown British MP
1953 Louie Anderson Minneapolis MN, comedian (Ratboy, Wrong Guys)
1954 Moses Malone NBA all star center (Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia '76ers)
1955 Cindy Olavarri Pleasant Hills CA, cyclist (7-Eleven team)
1956 Andrew Mitchell British MP
1956 Laura Thorne chef (named one of 10 best American chefs)
1957 Amanda Plummer New York NY, actress (Hotel New Hampshire, Dollmaker)
1957 Sheila Rena Ingram Washington DC, 4X400 meter relayer (Olympics-silver-1976)
1957 Teresa Ganzel Toledo OH, actress (Teachers Only, Duck Factory)
1958 Serena Grandi [Fagioli], Bologna Italy, actress (Miranda)
1960 Oscar Michael Moore journalist
1960 Terry Sweeney St Albans NY, writer/comedian (Saturday Night Live)
1962 Johan Steur soccer player (FC Volendam)
1963 Ana Quirot Cuba, 800 meter runner (Olympics-bronze/silver-92, 96)
1963 Kim Williams Bethesda MD, LPGA golfer (1995 GHP Heartland-26th)
1965 Dante Jones NFL linebacker (Denver Broncos)
1965 Daren Puppa Kirkland Lake, NHL goalie (Tampa Bay Lightning)
1965 Richard Grieco Waterton NY, actor (21 Jump Street, Booker)
1965 Wayne Presley Detroit MI, NHL right wing (Toronto Maple Leafs)
1966 James Saxon NFL fullback (Philadelphia Eagles)
1966 Marti Pellow rocker (Wet, Wet, Wet-Wishing I Was)
1966 Mike Remlinger Middletown NY, pitcher (Cincinnati Reds)
1967 David Ford Edmonton Alberta, kayaker (Olympics-15-92, 96)
1967 Duncan Macrae actor (Casino Royale, Kidnapped), dies at 61
1967 Sandra Ferguson [Reinhardt] Pittsburgh PA, actress (Amanda-Another World, Illegal in Blue)
1968 Atul Wassan cricketer (Indian pace bowler 1989-90)
1968 Curtis Mayfield CFL receiver (Saskatchewan Roughriders)
1968 David Maeva CFL linebacker (British Columbia Lions)
1968 Mark Maddox linebacker (Buffalo Bills)
1968 Mike Atherton cricketer (Lancashire batsman & England captain)
1970 Carl Pickens NFL wide receiver (Cincinnati Bengals)
1970 Turhon O'Bannon CFL receiver (Winnipeg Blue Bombers)
1971 Alexander Selivanov Moscow Russia, NHL right wing (Tampa Bay Lightning)
1971 Chris Lipuma Oak Lawn, NHL defenseman (Tampa Bay Lightning)
1971 Demetrius DuBose NFL linebacker (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
1971 Hiroyoshi Yamamoto wrestler (NJPW)
1971 Karen McDougal Gary IN, playmate (December 1997)
1971 Renette Cruz Miss Canada-Universe (1996)
1971 Yasmeen Ghauri Montréal Canada, model (Valentino Perfume)
1972 Jennifer K Chapman Miss Massachusetts-USA (1997)
1972 Jonas Bjorkman Vaxjo Sweden, tennis star (Davis Cup 1994)
1972 Ryan Kuwabara hockey forward (Team Japan 1998)
1973 David Vaughn NBA forward (Orlando Magic, San Francisco Warriors)
1973 Igor Nikitin hockey defenseman (Team Kazakhstan Olympics-1998)
1973 Jason Kidd NBA guard (Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks)
1973 Kathy Carboy Cincinnati OH, diver (Olympics-96)
1973 Naoko Sawamatsu Nishinomiya Japan, tennis star (1994 Singapore)
1973 Ninya Perna Miss Nevada-USA (1997)
1973 Rob Lazeo CFL offensive tackle (Saskatchewan Roughriders)
1974 Eric Washington NBA guard (Denver Nuggets)
1974 Scott Galyon linebacker (New York Giants)
1974 Tony Alberda Dutch soccer player (SC Heerenveen, Emmen)
1975 Rita Grande Napoli Italy, tennis star (3rd round 1996 Australian Open)
1976 Keri Russell actress (Mickey Mouse Club, Lottery, Daddy Girls)
1976 Nolan Baumgartner Calgary, NHL defenseman (Washington Capitals)
1977 Josh Ackerman actor (Mickey Mouse Club)
1978 Nicholle Tom Hinsdale IL, actress (Beethoven, Maggie-Nanny, Beverly Hills 90210)
1990 Eugenie Princess of York/daughter of prince Andrew/Sarah Ferguson
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Deaths which occurred on March 23:

1169 Shirkuh Kurd General/vizier of Cairo/Saladin's uncle, dies
1237 Jan of Brienne King of Jerusalem/Emperor of Constantinople, dies
1369 Pedro the Cruel, King/tyrant of Castile & Leon, murdered
1555 Julius III [Giovanni M del Monte], Pope (1550-55), dies at 67
1606 Justus Lipsius [Joost Lips], Dutch classic philologist, dies at 58
1653 Johan van Galen Dutch Admiral (Dunes Monte Christo), dies at about 48
1658 Valentin Dretzel composer, dies at 79
1669 Philipp Buchner composer, dies at 54
1676 Paulus Wirtz [Würtz], German/Netherlands army commander, dies at 63
1748 Johann Gottfried Walther German composer/musicologist, dies at 63
1756 Georg Gottfried Wagner composer, dies at 57
1783 Gaspard Fritz composer, dies at 67
1786 Patience Wright 1st US woman pro artist, dies (birth date unknown)
1801 Paul I tsar of Russia (1796-1801), strangled at 46
1806 George Frederic Pinto composer, dies at 20
1809 Ferdinand-Philippe-Joseph Staes composer, dies at 60
1816 Ignaz Vitzthumb composer, dies at 95
1818 Nicolas Isouard composer, dies at 42
1819 August v Kotzebue writer, dies
1821 Bernhard Anselm Weber pianist/conductor/composer, dies at 56
1832 Vaclav Vilem Wurfel composer, dies at 41
1842 Stendhal [Marie-Henri Beyle], French author (Lamiel), dies at 59
1862 Karl Robert von Nesselrode German chancellor, dies at 81
1869 Charles Lucas composer, dies at 60
1880 Gustav Adolf Mankell composer, dies at 67
1881 Nikolay Rubinstein composer, dies at 45
1902 Kálmán Tisza premier of Hungary (1875-90), dies at 71
1906 Victor Barton cricketer (scored 23 in Test England vs South Africa 1892), dies
1907 Constantine P Pobedonostsev Russian reactionary senator, dies at 79
1914 Teunis Stoel actor, dies at 62
1918 Cesar Cortinas composer, dies at 27
1919 Jean HL Bossard actor/impresario (2 Orphans), dies at 45
1925 Aleksei Kuropatkin Russian General/minister of War, dies at 76
1937 Helge Rode Danish poet/essayist, dies at 66
1943 André Lichtenberger French Sudan writer (Le Petit Roi), dies at 72
1943 Joseph Moiseyevich Schillinger composer, dies at 47
1944 O C Wingate British General-Major (Burma), dies in air crash
1946 Alexandru Zirra composer, dies at 62
1950 Douglas Carr England cricket leg-spinner (Test 1909), dies
1952 Klaas Schilder Dutch vicar/theologist/antifascist, dies at 61
1953 Raoul Dufy painter, Forcalquier, France
1957 L Patrick Abercrombie English architect, dies at 77
1958 Florian Znaniecki Polish/US sociologist/philosopher, dies at 76
1960 Franklin P Adams columnist (Information Please), dies at 78
1961 A C Russell cricketer (10 Tests for England 910 runs), dies
1961 James Edward Murray (Senator-Democrat-MT) (1935-61), dies
1961 Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko cosmonaut, dies in accident at 24
1962 Josephus RH van Schaik lawyer/vice-premier of Netherlands, dies at 80
1962 Val Paul producer (F-Man), dies at 73
1963 Davey Moore dies seconds after being KOed in feather-weight championship
1964 Peter Lorre actor (Casino Royale), dies at 59
1964 Vassily Vainonen Russian ballet choreographer (Gayaneh), dies at 66
1965 Mae Murray actress (Bachelor Apartment), dies of heart ailment at 75
1966 Johannes W Elsensohn Dutch actor/writer (Arie), dies at 82
1967 Duncan Macrae actor (Casino Royale, Kidnapped), dies at 61
1968 Edwin O'Connor US writer, dies at 49
1969 Rudolf Pannwitz German author/philosopher (Urblik), dies at 87
1971 Armin Loos composer, dies at 67
1971 Simon Vestdijk Dutch author/poet (Brass Garden), dies at 72
1973 Ken Maynard actor (Phantom Rancher, $50,000 Reward), dies at 77
1979 Philip Bourneuf actor (Big Night, Frankenstein), dies at 71
1982 Mario Praz Italian author (Casa della vita), dies at 85
1983 Dr Barney Clark 1st artificial heart recipient , dies after 112 days at 62
1985 Anton Constandse Dutch anarchist/writer, dies at 85
1985 Patricia Roberts Harris (Representative-D), dies at 60
1985 Singing Nun [Janine Deckers] commits suicide in Belgium at 52
1987 Dean Paul Martin musician/tennis pro, killed in plane crash at 29
1991 Dominic Bellissimo created buffalo chicken wings, dies at 68
1991 Fons Jansen Dutch night club performer, dies at 65
1991 Mona Maris actress (Camila, Berlin Correspondent), dies at 88
1992 Friedrich A von Hayek British economist (Road to Serfdom), dies at 92
1993 Hans Werner Richter German writer/founder (Gruppe 47), dies at 84
1994 Alvara del Portillo Spanish Opus Dei bishop, dies at 80
1994 Giulietta Masina wife of Federico Felini/(La Strada), dies at 74
1994 Jim Moloney dies of Parkinson's disease
1994 Luis Donaldo Colosio Mexican Presidential candidate, assassinated at 44
1995 Alan Barton singer (Smokie, Black Lace), dies in a bus crash
1995 Daniel George "Danny" Apolinar composer/songwriter, dies at 61
1995 Davie Cooper soccer star, dies at 39
1995 Irving Shulman author/screenwriter, dies at 81
1995 Ripley L Ingram singer, dies at 65
1995 Robert Turner winner of 1st All-American Soap Box Derby, dies at 72
1995 Russell Reading Braddon author, dies at 74
1996 Jay D Miller record producer, dies at 73
1996 Peter Baer artost/printmaker, dies at 72

1775 Patrick Henry voices American opposition to British policy

During a speech before the second Virginia House of Burgesses on this day in 1775, Patrick Henry presses for military action against the British with the most stirring oratory of the revolutionary age:

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

The irony of Virginia slaveholders fearing that the British would turn their colonists into slaves would not have evaded Henry’s keen intellect. Although Henry condemned slavery in theory, he was a slaveholder in practice.

Ten years earlier, Henry had set colonial protests against the Stamp Act in motion by seeing a series of four resolutions opposing the Stamp Tax through the Virginia House of Burgesses in May 1765. He originally drafted seven resolutions, but introduced only five because he deemed the others too radical to gain passage; four of the five were passed. However, colonial newspapers printed all seven as if they had all passed, and the exaggeration enhanced Henry’s, and Virginia’s, revolutionary reputation. Other colonists came to believe that Virginia had declared itself immune to any taxation from any body except their own assembly and that anyone voicing support for Parliament’s right to tax was considered a traitor to Virginia, which was the gist of the resolutions Henry had declined to introduce.

Henry also played a leading role in removing Virginia’s royal governor, Lord Dunmore, from power. He then served as the first governor of the independent state of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and again after the war, from 1784 to1786.

As the new nation decided whether or not to overthrow the Articles of Confederation and accept the U.S. Constitution, Henry led the opposition to ratification in Virginia. Consistently standing against centralized power and for individual rights, he thought the new Constitution erred too far on the side of the government against the people. He was thus a strong supporter of the Bill of Rights as a means to amend the Constitution.
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1862 Battle of Kernstown, Virginia

Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson suffers a rare defeat when his attack on Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley fails.

Jackson was trying to prevent Union General Nathaniel Banks from sending troops from the Shenandoah to General George McClellan's army near Washington. McClellan was preparing to send his massive army by water to the James Peninsular southeast of Richmond for a summer campaign against the Confederate capital. When Turner Ashby, Jackson's cavalry commander, detected that Yankee troops were moving out of the valley, Jackson decided to attack and keep the Union troops divided.

Ashby attacked at Kernstown on March 22. He reported to Jackson that only four Union regiments were present--perhaps 3,000 men. In fact, Union commander James Shields actually had 9,000 men at Kernstown but kept most of them hidden during the skirmishing on March 22. The rest of Jackson's force arrived the next day, giving the Confederates about 4,000 men. The 23rd was a Sunday, and the religious Jackson tried not to fight on the Sabbath. The Yankees could see his deployment, though, so Jackson chose to attack that afternoon. He struck the Union left flank, but the Federals moved troops into place to stop the Rebel advance. At a critical juncture, Richard Garnett withdrew his Confederate brigade due to a shortage of ammunition, and this exposed another brigade to a Union attack. The northern troops poured in, sending Jackson's entire force in retreat.

Jackson lost 80 killed, 375 wounded, and 263 missing or captured, while the Union lost 118 dead, 450 wounded, and 22 missing. Despite the defeat, the battle had positive results for the Confederates. Unnerved by the attack, President Lincoln ordered McClellan to leave an entire corps to defend Washington, thus drawing troops from McClellan's Peninsular campaign. The battle was the opening of Jackson's famous Shenandoah Valley campaign. Over the following three months, Jackson's men marched hundreds of miles, won several major battles, and kept three separate Union forces occupied in the Shenandoah.

1918 Paris hit by shells from new German gun

At 7:20 in the morning on March 23, 1918, an explosion in the Place de la Republique in Paris announces the first attack of a new German gun.

The Pariskanone, or Paris gun, as it came to be known, was manufactured by Krupps; it was 210mm, with a 118-foot-long barrel, which could fire a shell the impressive distance of some 130,000 feet, or 25 miles, into the air. Three of them fired on Paris that day from a gun site at Crépy-en-Laonnaise, 74 miles away.

The gun sent Paris, a city that had withstood all earlier attempts at its destruction, including scattered bombings, reeling. At first, the Paris Defense Service assumed the city was being bombed, but soon they determined that it was actually being hit by artillery fire, a heretofore unimagined situation. By the end of the day, the shelling had killed 16 people and wounded 29 more. It would continue throughout the German offensive of that year in four separate phases between March 23 and August 9, 1918, inflicting a total of somewhere under 260 Parisian casualties. This low total was due to the fact that the residents of Paris learned to avoid gathering in large groups during shellings, limiting the number of those killed and wounded by the shells and diminishing the initially terrifying impact of the weapon.

Almost all information about the Pariskanone, one of the most sophisticated weapons to emerge out of World War I, disappeared after the war ended. Later, the Nazis tried without success to reproduce the gun from the few pictures and diagrams that remained. Copies were deployed in 1940 against Britain across the English Channel, but failed to cause any significant damage.
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1944 Germans slaughter Italian civilians

On this day, German occupiers shoot more than 300 Italian civilians as a reprisal for an Italian partisan attack on an SS unit.

Since the Italian surrender in the summer of 1943, German troops had occupied wider swaths of the peninsula to prevent the Allies from using Italy as a base of operations against German strongholds elsewhere, such as the Balkans. An Allied occupation of Italy would also put into their hands Italian airbases, further threatening German air power.

Italian partisans (antifascist guerrilla fighters) aided the Allied battle against the Germans. The Italian Resistance had been fighting underground against the fascist government of Mussolini long before its surrender, and now it fought against German fascism. The main weapon of a guerrilla, defined roughly as a member of a small-scale "irregular" fighting force that relies on limited and quick engagements of a conventional fighting force, is sabotage. Aside from killing enemy soldiers, the destruction of communication lines, transportation centers, and supply lines are essential guerrilla tactics.

On March 23, 1944, Italian partisans operating in Rome threw a bomb at an SS unit, killing 33 soldiers. The very next day, the Germans rounded up 335 Italian civilians and took them to the Adeatine caves. They were all shot dead as revenge for the SS soldiers. Of the civilian victims, 253 were Catholic, 70 were Jewish and the remaining 12 were unidentified.

Despite such setbacks, the partisans proved extremely effective in aiding the Allies; by the summer of 1944, resistance fighters had immobilized eight of the 26 German divisions in northern Italy. By war's end, Italian guerrillas controlled Venice, Milan, and Genoa, but at considerable cost. All told, the Resistance lost some 50,000 fighters-but won its republic.
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1961 U.S. plane shot down over Laos

One of the first American casualties in Southeast Asia, an intelligence-gathering plane en route from Laos to Saigon is shot down over the Plain of Jars in central Laos. The mission was flown in an attempt to determine the extent of the Soviet support being provided to the communist Pathet Lao guerrillas in Laos. The guerrillas had been waging a war against the Royal Lao government since 1959. In a television news conference, President John F. Kennedy warned of communist expansion in Laos and said that a cease-fire must precede the start of negotiations to establish a neutral and independent nation.
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1970 Prince Sihanouk issues a call for arms

From Peking, Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia issues a public call for arms to be used against the Lon Nol government in Phnom Penh and requests the establishment of the National United Front of Kampuchea (FUNK) to unite all opposition factions against Lon Nol. North Vietnam, the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong), and the communist Pathet Lao immediately pledged their support to the new organization.

Earlier in March, Sihanouk had been overthrown in a bloodless coup led by Cambodian Gen. Lon Nol. Between 1970 and 1975, Lon Nol and his army, the Forces Armees Nationale Khmer (FANK), with U.S. support and military aid, fought the Khmer Rouge and Sihanouk's supporters for control of Cambodia. During the five years of bitter fighting, approximately 10 percent of Cambodia's 7 million people died. When the U.S. forces departed South Vietnam in 1973, both the Cambodians and South Vietnamese found themselves fighting the communists alone. Without U.S. support, Lon Nol's forces succumbed to the communists in April 1975. The victorious Khmer Rouge evacuated Phnom Penh and began reordering Cambodian society, which resulted in a killing spree and the notorious "killing fields." Eventually, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were murdered or died from exhaustion, hunger, and disease.