On This Day In History
This day 101 years ago - 20 March 1919 - Slats the Lion was born in Dublin Zoo.
Slats was famously the first lion to feature in the production logo for the Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, appearing in all of its black-and-white films released between 1924 and 1928. pic.twitter.com/pkT3cYnr0E
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) March 20, 2020
#OTD in 1974, the UK's Princess Anne was the victim of a kidnap attempt. Told by the gunman to get out of her car, the 23-year old Olympian retorted 'Not bloody likely'. The attacker was stopped when a passing boxer punched him in the head. https://t.co/QyIm44xJKQ pic.twitter.com/c9zGeO3UUw
— On This Day She (@OnThisDayShe) March 20, 2022
On this day in 1924, Virginia passed the Eugenical Sterilization Act authorizing forced sterilization, and enacted a prohibition on interracial marriage, in an effort to "purify the white race." To overcome racial inequality, we must confront our history. https://t.co/aoVBFP8jkb
— Equal Justice Initiative (@eji_org) March 20, 2022
A Tribute to Brendan Behan who died #OnThisDay 1964 http://t.co/mbnnngtzpB pic.twitter.com/KRJ82vsezW
— RTÉ Archives (@RTEArchives) March 20, 2015
Brendan Behan died on this day in 1964 in the Meath Hospital, Dublin. He reportedly told a nun looking after him: ‘Ah, bless you, Sister, may all your sons be bishops’. #OnThisDay pic.twitter.com/45bdwB3pQg
— Walter Bullivant (@iambullivant) March 20, 2022
20 March 2020. Kenny Rogers died (aged 81). He was one of music’s true crossover artists, scoring hits in both the country and pop charts, with songs such as: Islands in the Stream, Ruby Don’t Take Your Love to Town, Lucille, Lady, Coward of The County and The Gambler. pic.twitter.com/6FdYIzJj8o
— Prof Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) March 20, 2022
March 21st
1349 Between 100 and 3,000 Jews are killed in Black Death riots in Erfurt, Germany
1804 Napoleonic Code adopted in France, stresses clearly written and accessible law
1871 Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his famous expedition to Africa
1975 Ethiopia abolishes its monarchy after 3,000 years
2014 Russia formally annexes Crimea amid international condemnation
Did You Know?
The European Space Agency reveals new data that indicates that the universe is 13.82 billion years old
Today in History in 2013
Would You Believe?
Yogi the bear becomes the 1st creature to be ejected at supersonic speeds by the US military testing ejection seats
Today in History in 1962
This day 141 years ago - 21 March 1879 - Irish inventor Louis Brennan successfully tested the world's first practical guided missile in Hobsons Bay, Melbourne.
Brennan - who has been described as “Ireland's most remarkable inventor” - was born in Castlebar, Co Mayo in 1852. pic.twitter.com/tECi9xsI1T
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) March 21, 2020
In 1672, portrait painter Élisabeth-Sophie Chéron was admitted to Paris' Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. She was also a poet and musician, fluent in Hebrew, Greek & Latin. From age 16, she supported her family after her father abandoned them.https://t.co/mznKAOtSuR pic.twitter.com/Cs1NXTdiSi
— On This Day She (@OnThisDayShe) March 21, 2022
On this day in 1981, two members of United Klans of America beat, strangled, hanged, and slashed the throat of a 19-year-old Black man named Michael Donald in Mobile, Alabama. To overcome racial inequality, we must confront our history. https://t.co/d8trUkYhNQ
— Equal Justice Initiative (@eji_org) March 21, 2022
March 22nd
1622 First American Indian (Powhatan) massacre of Europeans in Jamestown Virginia, 347 killed
1765 Stamp Act passed; 1st direct British tax on American colonists, organized by Prime Minister George Grenville
1784 The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current place in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand
1832 British Parliament, led by Charles Grey, passes the Reform Act, introducing wide-ranging changes to electoral system of England and Wales, increasing electorate from about 500,000 voters to 813,000
1954 Northland Center, the world's largest shopping mall at the time, opens in Oakpark, Michigan
1965 US confirms its troops used chemical warfare against the Vietcong
2018 US President Donald Trump imposes $60 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese imports
This day 122 years ago - 22 March 1898 - Michael Madden of Limerick became the first Irish-born soldier awarded the Medal of Honor, for assisting “a wounded comrade... under heavy fire.”
More than half of all foreign-born recipients of the Medal of Honor have been from Ireland. pic.twitter.com/ee6kFU3lSF
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) March 22, 2020
This day 125 years ago – 22 March 1895 – the body of Bridget Cleary was found in Tipperary, having been burned by her husband, Michael.
Michael Cleary claimed the women he had killed was not his wife, but a changeling left by fairies.
He subsequently served 15 years in prison. pic.twitter.com/8NsLAoj0jb
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) March 22, 2020
#OTD in 2018—six months after having brain surgery to remove a tumour— Kiko Matthews became the fastest woman to row the Atlantic, solo and unsupported, rowing the 3284 miles from La Gomera to Port St. Charles, Barbados in 49 days, 7 hours and 15 minutes. https://t.co/dM1YY8n65D pic.twitter.com/9bmliSd8C4
— On This Day She (@OnThisDayShe) March 22, 2022
On this day in 1901, police arrested a white woman and a Black man for allegedly walking together on an Atlanta, Georgia, public street. To overcome racial inequality, we must confront our history. https://t.co/77WFJgFZnO
— Equal Justice Initiative (@eji_org) March 22, 2022
March 23rd
1490 1st dated edition of Maimonides "Mishneh Torah", a code of Jewish religious law is published
1775 Patrick Henry proclaims "Give me liberty or give me death" in speech in favour of Virginian troops joining US Revolutionary war
1919 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party re-establishes a five-member Politburo which becomes the center of political power in the Soviet Union. Original members Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, Lev Kamenev and Nikolai Krestinsky
1933 Enabling Act: German Reichstag grants Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers
1945 Battle of Okinawa: US Navy ships bomb the Japanese island of Okinawa in preparation for the Allied invasion; it would become the largest battle of the Pacific War in World War II
2019 Syrian Democratic Forces announce that the last Islamic State territory has been retaken raising flags in Baghuz, Syria and ending the five-year Islamic State "caliphate"
Did You Know?
Elisha Otis installs his 1st elevator at 488 Broadway in New York City
Today in History in 1857
Would You Believe?
US army sells last homing pigeons
Today in History in 1957
This day 173 years ago – 23 March 1847 – the Choctaw, a Native American tribe, donated $170 to the Memphis Irish Relief Committee.
Their generosity is commemorated in a sculpture titled Kindred Spirits in Cork. A scholarship for Choctaw students in Ireland was announced in 2018. pic.twitter.com/lfB2Oa3poL
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) March 23, 2020