On this day

March 1st

1780 - USA: Pennsylvania became the first state to abolish slavery (Vermont had not yet joined the Union). The law provided that no child born after the date of its passage would be a slave.

1790 - USA: The first U.S. Census was authorized by Congress. It was completed on August 1. The population was placed at 3,929,625, including 697,624 slaves and 59,557 free blacks. The most populous state was Virginia, with 747,610 people, and the largest city was Philadelphia, with a population of 42,444.

1856 - USA: George F. Bristow's "Second Symphony in D Minor" was performed by the New York Philharmonic Society. This was one of the few orchestral works by a native-born composer that it presented during the mid-nineteenth century.

1867 - USA: Nebraska was admitted as a state, the 37th to join the Union.

1875 - USA: A Civil Rights Act was passed guaranteeing blacks equal rights in public places. The law also prohibited exclusion of blacks from jury duty.

1907 - Spain: A royal decree bans civil marriages.

1911 - USA: President William Howard Taft sends 30,000 U.S troops to the Mexican frontier in case of revolution breaking out.

1913 - USA: The Webb-Kenyon Interstate Liquor Act was passed over President Taft's veto. It stated that no liquor could be shipped into states where its sale was illegal. This was the first nationwide victory of the Anti-Saloon League.

1928 - USA: Dr Herbert Evans announces the discovery of a sixth vitamin "Vitamin F."

1930 - London: A bomb, believed to have been planted by Indian nationalists, is found at the British Museum.

1932 - USA: Charles A. Lindbergh Jnr, an infant of 20 months, was kidnapped from his parent's home in Hopewell, New Jersey. The body of a child was found on May 12, after payment of a $50,000 ransom. Outraged public opinion made kidnapping a federal crime carrying the death penalty.

1938 - Austria: 20,000 Nazis defy the government, and march through the city of Graz.

1940 - UK: Women are urged to wear light clothes in order to save darker dyes for forces uniforms.

1941 - Greece: An earthquake leaves around 10,000 people homeless in Larissa.

1943 - USA: Rationing of canned goods began

1944 - USSR: Soviet troops take Russaki, near Pskov.

1954 - USA: Five congressmen were shot on the floor of the House of Representatives by Puerto Rican nationalists. All recovered from their wounds.

1962 - USA: A plane crash killed 95 people when a jet heading for Los Angeles plunged into Jamaica Bay in New York, seconds after take off from Idlewild International Airport.

1965 - USA: A Maryland movie censorship law was ruled a violation of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court found that pictures may be censored before showing only if provision is made for swift court relief; and that the burden of proving that a film should not be shown must rest with the censor. Citing this decision, the Court on March 15 declared unconstitutional New York's censorship procedures. That case involved the Danish film "A Stranger Knocks."

1966 - London: Chancellor of the Exchequer James Callaghan announces Britain will switch to decimal currency in 1971.

1973 - USA: Robyn Smith became the first woman jockey to win a stakes race when she rode "North Sea" to victory in the Paumonok Handicap at Aqueduct Raceway.

1975 - Nairobi: 27 Kenyans are killed when a bomb rips through a bus station.

1976 - London: MP's approved the Road Traffic Bill, which made the wearing of seatbelts compulsory.

1979 - USA: "Sweeny Todd" a musical by Hugh Wheeler and Stephen Sondheim, starring Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou, opened at the Uris Theatre in New York.

1982 - USA: The J. Paul Getty Museum of Art in Malibu, California, became the wealthiest museum in the U.S. and probably the world, when it received some $1,100,000,000 from the estate of the oil magnate J. Paul Getty.

1984 - UK: Tony Benn is returned to parliament in the Chesterfield by-election.

1988 - UK: British Aerospace makes a surprise bid for the state-owned Rover car firm.

1991 - UK: Anne-Marie Dawe becomes the RAF's first female navigator.

1993 - Bosnia: U.S. Air Force planes begin to air-drop emergency aid to besieged Moslem enclaves.

1996 - USA: California researchers succeed in transmitting a trillion bits of information through an optical fibre, the equivalent of 12 million simultaneous phone calls.

2002 - Afghanistan: The U.S. begins its "Operation Anaconda" mission.

2007 - Greece: Greek archaeologists announce the discovery of a 2,200 year-old statue of the goddess Hera, during an excavation in the ruins of ancient Dion, a city under Mount Olympus.

2009 - Space: China's first lunar probe Chang'e 1 impacts the moon.

2012 - Australia: Heavy flooding is reported in the region of the capital city Canberra, with the old Cotter River Dam going under for the first time in 100 years.

March 3rd

1779 - USA: The British were victorious at Briar Creek, Georgia, where more than 300 Americans under General John Ashe were lost.

1842 - USA: Child Labour legislation was advanced when Governor John Davis of Massachusetts signed a law to regulate the workday of children under 12 years of age. Such children were limited to a ten-hour day, but the law applied only to "manufacturing establishments" and was not easily enforceable. Similar laws were passed in other states, particularly in New England and the Middle Atlantic states, but it was not until after the Civil War that enforcement of minimum age and maximum hour provisions began to effect child employment practises.

1851 - USA: Coinage of three-cent pieces was authorized by Congress. At the same time cheaper postage rates were set by Congress. A half ounce could be sent up to 3,000 miles for 3 cents.

1863 - USA: The Territory of Idaho was carved from four existing territories: Washington, Utah, Dakota, and Nebraska. It included the later states of Montana and Wyoming.

1871 - USA: The Indian Appropriation Act was passed. It made all Indians national wards and nullified all Indian treaties.

1873 - USA: An Act prohibiting the mailing of obscene literature was passed by Congress. The bill was promoted by Anthony Comstock, secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. Comstock, formerly a dry-goods store clerk, joined the YMCA and began to agitate for a New York vice society. He drew his inspiration from a London society that for 75 years had been engaged in ferreting out and bringing to trial moral offenders.

1883 - USA: Rebuilding of the U.S. Navy began with the appropriation by Congress of funds for the first steel vessels, three cruisers and a dispatch boat. Secretary of the Navy William H. Hunt was the first of four successive secretaries to build, with congressional approval, the new Navy.

1921 - South China Sea: 862 people are killed after the steamer Hong Moh becomes shipwrecked.

1931 - USA: An Act making "The Star Spangled Banner" the National Anthem was signed by President Herbert Hoover. Francis Scott Key wrote the words in 1814 during the bombardment of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.

1933 - New York: The movie classic "King Kong" has its Premiere in the city.

1934 - USA: Gangster John Dillinger escapes from jail in Indiana using a wooden fake pistol.

1940 - Atlantic: The Cruiser HMS "York" is scuttled after intercepting the German ship SS "Arucas off the coast of Iceland.

1941 Greece: As German troops in Bulgaria reach the Greek border, Italian planes bombard the earthquake zone at Larissa.

1942 - Chelmno, Poland: An estimated 3,200 Jews from Zychlin are put to death by gassing.

1943 - Burma: The Chindits cross the Mu River, and cut the rail link between Mandalay and Myitkyina for a second time.

1945 - Manila: The last pocket of Japanese resistance is cleared. 20,000 Japanese soldiers are believed to have been killed in the battle for the city.

1955 - London: The City is announced it will be a "smokeless zone" from the beginning of October 1955.

1961 - London: Edwin Bush is Britain's first suspected criminal to be identified by means of an "Identi-kit" picture.

1969 - USA: Apollo 9, manned by James A. McDivitt, Russell L. Schweichart, and David R. Scott, was successfully launched in Earth orbit on a ten-day mission to test the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). Apollo 9 splashed down on March 13.

1973 - UK: Slade's "Cum On Feel The Noize" entered the UK single chart at No.1, making them the first band to achieve this since the Beatles.

1979 - UK: The Bee Gees achieved their fourth UK No.1 single with "Tragedy."

1984 - UK: German group Nena were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "99 Red Balloons."

1987 - UK: NHS prescription charges rose 20p to £2.40.

1990 - USA: A gift of $50,000,000 to the United Negro College Fund, was announced by Walter H. Annenburg, wealthy publisher and a former ambassador to Great Britain. The fund represented 41 predominately black institutions and this gift was the largest ever in this field.

1991 - USSR: Latvians and Estonians vote for independence.

1995 - London: The House of Commons votes in favour of banning all forms of hunting.

1999 - UK: Oasis agreed to pay their former drummer Tony McCarroll a one-off sum of £550,000, after he sued the Manchester band for millions in unpaid royalties.

2000 - UK: Tom Jones wins the Best Male Artist Award at The Brits.

2005 - USA: Steve Fossets Global-Flyer touches down at Salina, Kansas, completing his non-stop solo around-the-world flight.

2009 - India: Three people are killed in an Indian Navy Air Show Crash in Hyderabad.

2011 - UK: The government releases 35 previously classified files relating to sightings of UFO's.

2013 - Space: NASA's Curiosity Rover is switched to a redundant on-board computer in response to an undefined memory issue on the active computer.

March 4th

1681 - USA: What is now roughly the state of Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn, a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers) by King Charles II of England. The Grant was apparently made to offset a debt of £16,000 the King owed to Penn's father.

1797 - USA: John Adams was inaugurated president of the United States. The second president, he served one term.

1809 - USA: Thomas Jefferson retired to private life at Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia. Impoverished after 44 years of nearly continuous public service, Jefferson returned to his studies of science, philosophy, and architecture. He became the key figure in the establishment of the University of Virginia in 1819.

1850 - USA: A fire struck the burgeoning town of San Francisco, which consisted of mainly wood houses, tents, and shacks.

1861 - USA: An official Confederate flag. "Stars and Bars" was adopted by a Confederate Convention at Montgomery, Alabama. The flag had seven stars and three stripes, and was raised over the Confederate capital at Montgomery. Later, after the similarity between Union and Confederate flags created confusion at the Battle of Bull Run, the Confederate army adopted a battle flag consisting of a red field and the blue cross of St. Andrew, with 13 stars.

1902 - USA: The American Automobile Association was created.

1912 - London: 96 people are arrested after a suffragette raid on the House of Commons.

1925 - USA: Calvin Coolidge was inaugurated for his first full term as President of the U.S.

1937 - Madrid: Riots break out over food shortages.

1941 - Turkey - The government turns down Hitler's personal plea to join the Axis powers.

1942 - Pacific: The U.S. carrier "Enterprise" attacks Marcus Island, around a 1,000 miles from Tokyo, causing extensive damage.

1943 - Burma: "Operation Cannibal" an allied drive to recapture Akyab, is prevented by strong Japanese resistance.

1944 - UK: Test's carried out in Bath on 3,361 children allegedly proved that babies conceived in Winter become more intelligent.

1945 - Helsinki: Finland formally declares war on Germany.

1956 - UK: Footballers demand extra fees for televised matches.

1959 - UK: Tidworth garrison in Hampshire is raided by thieves who escape with a quantity of firearms.

1962 - USA: The Atomic Energy Commission announced that the first atomic power plant in Antarctica was in operation at McMurdo Sound.

1964 - USA: James R. Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was found guilty of tampering with a federal jury in 1962 by a Chattanooga, Tennessee, federal jury. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison and fined $10,000.

1965 - London: David Attenborough is appointed head of BBC2.

1969 - London: The longest-ever Old Bailey trial ended with the Kray twins and four others found guilty of murder. The Kray twins received life sentences.

1976 - Stockholm: John Curry wins the men's figure skating world championship.

1978 - USA: The Chicago "Daily News" the only afternoon paper in the Windy City, ceased publication. Founded in 1875, it won 15 Pulitzer prizes.

1982 - USA: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City was given a collection of prints valued at $60,000,000, the gift of Belle Linsky. She and her late husband Jack had spent over 40 years putting the collection together.

1984 - USA: A Television Academy Hall of Fame was established. Its first inductees included Lucille Ball, and Milton Berle.

1988 - Beirut: Two Oxfam officials are seized by an unnamed Palestinian group.

1989 - UK: Five people are killed in a rail crash at Purley, Surrey.

1992 - USA: In an artificial insemination scandal, an infertility specialist was convicted in Virginia on 52 counts of fraud and perjury for artificially inseminating patients with his own sperm. DNA tests indicated that doctor, Cecil B. Jacobson, had fathered 15 children in this manner, while the prosecution alleged he had fathered as many as 75.

1994 - London: David Spedding is named as head of MI6.

2001 - Portugal: A bridge collapses in Northern Portugal killing up to 70 people.

2008 - Australia: India win Cricket's Commonwealth Bank series.

2012 - China: A report finds that 160 children in the Chinese town of Dongtang in Guadong Provinces Renhau County are suffering from lead poisoning.

2013 - Iraq: 40 Syrian soldiers are killed in an ambush in Western Iraq.

May 6 1972 saw Leeds United clinch our only FA Cup final success.

An Allan Clarke header proved enough for Don Revie's side to edge out Arsenal beneath Wembley's famous Twin Towers to lift the Centenary FA Cup.

1894 - The Battle of the Yalu:

News just in - 120 years ago this afternoon, the first big naval battle between recognizably modern ships (steel-built, all-steam powered with long-range weaponry, rapid-firing defensive weapons and torpedoes) occurred when the combined fleets of Qing dynasty China's Northern Sea Fleet and Imperial Japan fought each other off the mouth of the Yalu River on the Korean coast.
China and Japan had been busily sending increasing numbers of troops to a turbulent & unstable Korea in an effort to secure the nation as a satellite; Japanese attempts to intercept Chinese reinforcements by sea had led to the ten-year-old ships of the Northern Fleet sailing in force to cover a troop convoy and protect the ensuing landings. By chance, Japan's up-to-date navy was also out in strength, and swept into the bay in a long line ahead with an advance force of British-built cruisers.
The Chinese ships lined up in a compact V formation, and entered battle with several disadvantages; poor maintenance and endemic corruption had led to many of their ammunition supplies having been sold off or replaced with sawdust-filled duds to save costs and line pockets... and to spruce the ships up a bit, they'd recently received some lovely new coats of flammable paint and varnish on their hulls and decks. Discipline in the fleet was also somewhat irregular, with individual captains varying in character from unrestrainable heroes to outright poltroons.
The Japanese opened the fight with overwhelming fire against the weaker ships at the ends of the Chinese line, sending two ships fleeing for the nearest base and burning two others in short order. The surprisingly heavily-armoured battleships in the Chinese centre, however, proved ultimately tougher than the Japanese were able to deal with (the main Japanese 'anti-armour' guns kept breaking down and most of their guns were just too light); although several more Chinese ships succumbed to fire and explosion as the afternoon wore on, after four hours of battle the Japanese drew off for the night. The Chinese, having seen that their troopships had finished landing their cargo, also departed the scene.
Result: A pyrrhic victory for China, who succeeded in their mission but five of their twelve warships were sunk. Japan, having failed to sink the Chinese transports, won a longer-term victory; having evaded two ramming attempts, two torpedo attacks and survived with their fleet intact to command the seas, leaving China's army cut off in Korea and gaining the Empire its first major championship win in the Imperial Premier League.

Missing key events. Talking bollocks. Making stuff up.
~~~SAVE THE KRILL!~~~

"On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. the guns fell silent"
please remember!!

1915 - Battle of Dogger Bank:

Following the December 1914 raids on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby by German battlecruisers, the Royal Navy sought revenge. When the Germans attempted another similar raid on civilian targets (the fishing fleet on the Dogger Bank, which was falsely suspected of spying on the Germans), the plan was discovered by the British through decrypted radio messages and a trap was set up. British Admiral Beatty set out with five battlecruisers from Rosyth on the 23rd and, just after 7am on the 24th, arrived on the bank at the same time as Franz von Hipper's three German battlecruisers plus the slower armoured cruiser Blucher.
Hipper, spotting the British smoke, recognised a trap when he saw one and turned for home immediately; Beatty's ships were faster and soon caught up. At 18km range, Beatty opened fire. The shooting was at an unprecedented distance, and was correspondingly appallingly poor; 1% hit rates for HMS Lion, Tiger & Princess Royal, almost as good as not aiming at all given the huge size of the targets. Helping matters not one jot was Beatty's cavalier signalling and assumptions that his ship's captains could read his mind; the net result was that half the British ships concentrated their fire on the slow and weak Blucher while HMS Tiger fired wildly, believing her flagship HMS Lion's shell splashes to be her own. Before any of this confusion was resolved, Hipper had reluctantly left Blucher to her fate and his three big ships sped from the scene.
All that remained was the unfortunate Blucher's destruction by heavy gun; her casualties were horrific, with around 800 men killed. More might have been saved but for the calamitous arrival of a Zeppelin, which began bombing British rescue ships who duly departed.
British losses were 11 men dead; Germans almost a thousand.
While the Germans learned several lessons about damage control, all Beatty learned was that his ships ought to have more ammo stacked everywhere in the turrets with fire-doors left open to make for quicker shooting. This would bite him in the arse very badly the following year...

Missing key events. Talking bollocks. Making stuff up.
~~~SAVE THE KRILL!~~~

1940 - Seventy-five years ago today, John Lennon was stabbed by obsessive Steffi Graf fan Gavrilo Princip in Dallas, Texas.

Missing key events. Talking bollocks. Making stuff up.
~~~SAVE THE KRILL!~~~

^ I think you mean born on this day, he died on the 8th of December 1980.