1556 The Protestant Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was accused of high treason by the Catholic Queen "Bloody" Mary I. He was brought to trial, found guilty and condemned to death. Cranmer made several recantations of his Protestant beliefs. However as he was being burnt at the stake on March 21, 1556, he thrust his right hand which he signed the form and watched the fire shrivel it crying, “This hand hath offended.” Cranmer's death was immortalized in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
1685 Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenach, Germany on March 21, 1685, the youngest of eight children. Johann was orphaned aged 10 and was raised by his eldest brother Johann Christoph Bach, the organist at the Michaeliskirche in nearby Ohrdruf. He attended the Gymnasium in Eisenach the same school that Martin Luther attended 200 years earlier.
1747 Slave ship sailor John Newton nearly drowned at sea but, while lashed to the helm, he exclaimed, "Lord, have mercy upon us.” Later in his cabin he thought about what he had said and he came to the conclusion that God had spoken to him through the storm and that His amazing grace had begun to work for him. He dated his conversion to Christianity to March 21, 1747, a day he ever after observed.
1788 On March 21, 1788 a fire in New Orleans left most of the town in ruins. The Great New Orleans Fire destroyed 856 of the 1,100 structures in the city, spanning the south central Vieux Carré from Burgundy to Chartres Street, almost to the Mississippi River front buildings.
 |
| Cranmer's martyrdom, from John Foxe's book (1563) |
1685 Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenach, Germany on March 21, 1685, the youngest of eight children. Johann was orphaned aged 10 and was raised by his eldest brother Johann Christoph Bach, the organist at the Michaeliskirche in nearby Ohrdruf. He attended the Gymnasium in Eisenach the same school that Martin Luther attended 200 years earlier.
 |
| Eisenach in 1647 |
1747 Slave ship sailor John Newton nearly drowned at sea but, while lashed to the helm, he exclaimed, "Lord, have mercy upon us.” Later in his cabin he thought about what he had said and he came to the conclusion that God had spoken to him through the storm and that His amazing grace had begun to work for him. He dated his conversion to Christianity to March 21, 1747, a day he ever after observed.
1788 On March 21, 1788 a fire in New Orleans left most of the town in ruins. The Great New Orleans Fire destroyed 856 of the 1,100 structures in the city, spanning the south central Vieux Carré from Burgundy to Chartres Street, almost to the Mississippi River front buildings.
 |
| Map showing area in flames, behind Plaza de Armas (Jackson Square) to Burgundy Street. |
1804 Napoleon took 14,000 French decrees and simplified them into a unified set of seven laws. The Napoleonic Code was drafted by a commission of four eminent jurists and entered into force on March 21, 1804. It emphasized equality in the eyes of the law, justice and common sense and formed the basis of modern French law. They were forced on all conquered countries.
1816 The composer Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany into a prominent Jewish family. At the age of seven years, Felix was baptized with his brother and sisters in a home ceremony by Johann Jakob Stegemann, minister of the Evangelical congregation of Berlin's Jerusalem Church and New Church on March 21, 1816.
1832 In 1832 a cholera epidemic, which had been devastating Europe, crossed the Atlantic and reached Chicago. Such was the concern in Britain that the government declared March 21, 1832 to be a day of fasting and penitence.
1839 Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 9 was unusually long for a symphony of its time; a typical performance takes around 55 minutes. Schubert completed the symphony in 1827, but it wasn't performed until ten years after Schubert's death, when it was performed publicly for the first time by Felix Mendelssohn at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on March 21, 1839. It is today often considered Schubert’s finest piece for orchestra.
1844 The Baha’i religion was founded in the 19th century from a Muslim splinter group, Babism, by the Persian mystic Baha’u’llah. Years in the Bahá'í calendar are counted from Thursday, March 21, 1844, the beginning of the Bahá'í Era (abbreviated BE).Year 1 BE thus began at sundown March 20, 1844. It is annually celebrated by members of the Bahá'í Faith as the Bahá'í New Year or Náw-Rúz.
1918 The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended Russian involvement in World War I, allowed the transfer of large numbers of German troops from the East to the Western Front, resulting in the German March 1918 Offensive. The operation commenced on March 21, 1918 with an attack on British forces near Saint-Quentin. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 kilometers (37 miles).
1816 The composer Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg, Germany into a prominent Jewish family. At the age of seven years, Felix was baptized with his brother and sisters in a home ceremony by Johann Jakob Stegemann, minister of the Evangelical congregation of Berlin's Jerusalem Church and New Church on March 21, 1816.
 |
| Mendelssohn aged 12 (1821) by Carl Joseph Begas |
1832 In 1832 a cholera epidemic, which had been devastating Europe, crossed the Atlantic and reached Chicago. Such was the concern in Britain that the government declared March 21, 1832 to be a day of fasting and penitence.
1839 Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 9 was unusually long for a symphony of its time; a typical performance takes around 55 minutes. Schubert completed the symphony in 1827, but it wasn't performed until ten years after Schubert's death, when it was performed publicly for the first time by Felix Mendelssohn at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on March 21, 1839. It is today often considered Schubert’s finest piece for orchestra.
1844 The Baha’i religion was founded in the 19th century from a Muslim splinter group, Babism, by the Persian mystic Baha’u’llah. Years in the Bahá'í calendar are counted from Thursday, March 21, 1844, the beginning of the Bahá'í Era (abbreviated BE).Year 1 BE thus began at sundown March 20, 1844. It is annually celebrated by members of the Bahá'í Faith as the Bahá'í New Year or Náw-Rúz.
 |
| Baha'i temple |
1913 Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg’s early works were mostly Late Romantic. Gradually his music changed and became so chromatic that it was no longer in any key at all. When Schoenberg conducted the Vienna Concert Society in a concert of expressionist music on March 31, 1913, it so shocked the audience that they began to riot.
1945 The sensational disclosure was made in the House of Commons on March 21, 1945 that at one time during the war, Britain had only one drop hammer capable of forging the crankshaft of a Spitfire engine. MPs had guessed there were times when our resources were thin during the dark days, but probably had not thought we were as short as this.
1952 The Moondog Coronation Ball held at the Cleveland Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on March 21, 1952 is generally accepted as the first major rock and roll concert. The concert was organized by disc jockey Alan Freed, who is considered to have coined the term "Rock and Roll," along with Lew Platt, a local concert promoter.
1958 A distraught Shah of Iran went on television and radio on March 21, 1958 to announce that he was divorcing his wife of seven years, Queen Soraya, because she was unable to supply an heir to the so-called ‘Peacock Throne’. The Queen, known as Princess Soraya, later moved to Paris and became an actress.
1960 March 21 is a public holiday in South Africa to honor the 69 black Africans massacred that day in 1960 when police in Sharpeville opened fire on crowds protesting apartheid. A storm of international protest followed the Sharpeville shootings, including condemnation by the United Nations. The massacre marked a turning point in South Africa's apartheid policies and the country found itself increasingly isolated in the international community.
1961 The Beatles played their first evening performance at the Cavern Club on March 21, 1961. The band had previously played at the club during lunchtime sessions, but this was their first proper evening gig there. They went on to play at the Cavern Club a total of 292 times between 1961 and 1963, sharing just £5 a gig between them.
1962 On March 21, 1962, a ten-year-old boy found an unprotected industrial radiography source in a vacant lot in Mexico City. The source contained highly radioactive cobalt-60. The boy and four other people were exposed to the radiation, resulting in severe injuries and ultimately the death of four individuals, including the boy. This tragic event highlighted the dangers of mishandling radioactive materials and led to significant changes in safety regulations regarding the handling and disposal of such materials.
1963 In 1934, Alcatraz Island was fortified into a high-security federal penitentiary designed to hold the most dangerous prisoners in the U.S. penal system, especially those with a penchant for escape attempts. The then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered the penitentiary closed on March 21, 1963. The same year, the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois opened as the replacement facility for Alcatraz.
1967 A number of snakes that had disappeared from London Zoo were found by police in the cellar of a North London house on March 21, 1967. A 16-year-old boy was charged with stealing 24 snakes and a snake bag. Eight poisonous reptiles and one harmless sand boa were found dead. An official said: "Whoever handled the snakes is the luckiest person in London tonight."
1970 San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto issued the first-ever Earth Day proclamation on March 21, 1970. Mayor Alioto's action was inspired by John McConnell, a San Francisco publisher and peace activist, who had proposed an international holiday focused on environmental stewardship and preservation.
1999 Swiss psychiatrist Bertrand Piccard and English balloonist Brian Jones set off on March 1, 1999 in the balloon Breitling Orbiter 3 from Château d'Oex in Switzerland on the first non-stop balloon circumnavigation around the globe. They landed in Egypt 19 days, 21 hours and 47 minutes later on March 21 after a 28,431 mile (45,755 km) flight.
2006 X, commonly referred to by its former name, Twitter, was created on March 21, 2006. The first tweet was posted by co-founder Jack Dorsey and said: "Just setting up my twttr." It was launched on July 15th of that year. One of the names considered for "Twitter" was "Friendstalker."
2008 International Color Day is celebrated each year on March 21 by the International Color Association. The adoption of an international day of color was first proposed in 2008 by the Portuguese Color Association, whose president, Maria Joao Durao, presented the idea to the International Colour Association. Apparently they chose the date to mark the spring equinox, when light and dark are equal, though the equinox usually falls on March 19 or 20.
2009 Bruce Willis married model Emma Heming in Turks and Caicos on March 21, 2009. The ceremony was not legally binding, so the couple wed again in a civil ceremony in Beverly Hills, six days later. He has five daughters, three by his first marriage to Demi Moore - Rumer, Tallulah and Scout, plus two by his second marriage to Emma Hemming - Mabel and Evelyn.
1963 In 1934, Alcatraz Island was fortified into a high-security federal penitentiary designed to hold the most dangerous prisoners in the U.S. penal system, especially those with a penchant for escape attempts. The then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered the penitentiary closed on March 21, 1963. The same year, the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois opened as the replacement facility for Alcatraz.
1967 A number of snakes that had disappeared from London Zoo were found by police in the cellar of a North London house on March 21, 1967. A 16-year-old boy was charged with stealing 24 snakes and a snake bag. Eight poisonous reptiles and one harmless sand boa were found dead. An official said: "Whoever handled the snakes is the luckiest person in London tonight."
1970 San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto issued the first-ever Earth Day proclamation on March 21, 1970. Mayor Alioto's action was inspired by John McConnell, a San Francisco publisher and peace activist, who had proposed an international holiday focused on environmental stewardship and preservation.
1999 Swiss psychiatrist Bertrand Piccard and English balloonist Brian Jones set off on March 1, 1999 in the balloon Breitling Orbiter 3 from Château d'Oex in Switzerland on the first non-stop balloon circumnavigation around the globe. They landed in Egypt 19 days, 21 hours and 47 minutes later on March 21 after a 28,431 mile (45,755 km) flight.
2006 X, commonly referred to by its former name, Twitter, was created on March 21, 2006. The first tweet was posted by co-founder Jack Dorsey and said: "Just setting up my twttr." It was launched on July 15th of that year. One of the names considered for "Twitter" was "Friendstalker."
2008 International Color Day is celebrated each year on March 21 by the International Color Association. The adoption of an international day of color was first proposed in 2008 by the Portuguese Color Association, whose president, Maria Joao Durao, presented the idea to the International Colour Association. Apparently they chose the date to mark the spring equinox, when light and dark are equal, though the equinox usually falls on March 19 or 20.
2009 Bruce Willis married model Emma Heming in Turks and Caicos on March 21, 2009. The ceremony was not legally binding, so the couple wed again in a civil ceremony in Beverly Hills, six days later. He has five daughters, three by his first marriage to Demi Moore - Rumer, Tallulah and Scout, plus two by his second marriage to Emma Hemming - Mabel and Evelyn.
2012 The International Day of Forests, March 21, was established by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on November 28, 2012. Each year, various events celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests, and trees outside forests, for the benefit of current and future generations.
2015 The Guinness world record for memorizing the value of pi was set by Rajveer Meena at the VIT University, Vellore, India, on March 21, 2015. Rajveer, a resident of Mohocha village in Swaimodhapur district of Rajasthan, correctly recited from memory its first 70,000 digits. He wore a blindfold throughout the entire recall, which took him 9 hours 27 minutes.
Comments
Post a Comment