March 11
Today is
Johnny Appleseed Day in the United States.
Events
1818 –
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's novel,
Frankenstein; or The modern Prometheus, is published.
1845 –
Flagstaff War: Unhappy with translational differences regarding the
Treaty of Waitangi, chiefs Hone Heke, Kawiti and Māori tribe members chop down the British flagpole for a fourth time and drive settlers out of Kororareka, New Zealand.
1851 – The first performance of
Rigoletto by
Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.
1864 – The
Great Sheffield Flood kills 238 people in Sheffield, England.
1867 – The first performance of
Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Paris.
1872 – Construction of the
Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.
1888 – The
Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
1918 – The first case of Spanish flu occurs, the start of
a devastating worldwide pandemic, infecting 500,000,000 people, and killing and estimated 50 - 100,000,000 people (3 - 5% of the world population).
1927 – In New York City,
Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the
Roxy Theatre.
1946 –
Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops.
1977 – The
1977 Hanafi Siege: More than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.
1993 –
Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.
2011 – An
earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered
the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the
International Nuclear Event Scale.
Births
1885 – Malcolm Campbell
, 1887 – Raoul Walsh, 1895 – Shemp Howard, 1898 – Dorothy Gish, 1903 – Lawrence Welk♪ ♫, 1928 – Albert Salmi, 1931 – Rupert Murdoch, 1932 – Leroy Jenkins, 1934 – Sam Donaldson, 1936 – Antonin Scalia, 1945 – Dock Ellis (MLB pitcher who pitched a no-hitter whilst tripping balls on LSD), 1945 – Harvey Mandel♪ ♫, 1946 – Mark Metcalf ('Neidermeyer' in
Animal House), 1947 – Mark Stein♪ ♫(Vanilla Fudge), 1950 – Bobby McFerrin♪ ♫, 1950 – Jerry Zucker, 1952 – Douglas Adams, 1953 – Derek Daly
, 1953 – Jimmy Iovine (co-founded Interscope Records and Beats Electronics), 1961 – Elias Koteas, 1964 – Peter Berg, 1964 – Vinnie Paul
(Pantera), 1965 – Jesse Jackson, Jr., 1967 – Renzo Gracie(MMA fighter), 1968 – Lisa Loeb♪ ♫, 1969 – Terrence Howard, 1971 – Johnny Knoxville, 1982 – Thora Birch
Deaths
1955 – Alexander Fleming, 1955 – Oscar F. Mayer, 1957 – Richard E. Byrd, 1958 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, 1967 – Geraldine Farrar, 1970 – Erle Stanley Gardner, 1971 – Philo Farnsworth, 1996 – Vince Edwards, 2007 – Betty Hutton, 2010 – Merlin Olsen