On this day in History - Mar. 17

• 0045 BC - In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
• 0045 BC - Titus Labienus dies in battle (b. c. 100 BC). Roman leader.
• 0045 BC - Gnaeus Pompeius dies executed.
• 0180 - Marcus Aurelius dies (b. 0121). Commodus is now the only emperor of the Roman Empire.
• 0493 - Saint Patrick dies (b. c. 387). Patron saint of Ireland.
• 0624 - A key victory by Muhammad over his Meccan adversaries in the Battle of Badr.
• 0659 - Gertrude of Nivelles dies. Belgian abbess.
• 1040 - Harold Harefoot dies (b. c. 1016). King of England.
• 1058 - King Lulach I of Scotland dies (b. c. 1029).
• 1199 - Jocelin dies. Bishop of Glasgow.
• 1231 - Emperor Shijo of Japan was born (d. 1242).
• 1272 - Emperor Go-Saga of Japan dies (b. 1220).
• 1337 - Edward the Black Prince becomes Duke of Cornwall, the first ever British 'Duke'.
• 1425 - Ashikaga Yoshikazu dies (b. 1407). Ashikaga shogun.
• 1473 - King James IV of Scotland was born (d. 1513).
• 1516 - Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici dies (b. 1478). Ruler of Florence.
• 1565 - Alexander Ales dies (b. 1500). Scottish theologian.
• 1577 - The Cathay Company is formed to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold.
• 1628 - François Girardon was born (d. 1715). French sculptor.
• 1640 - Philip Massinger dies (b. 1583). English dramatist.
• 1649 - Cromwell abolishes the monarchy and declares England a Commonwealth.
• 1649 - Gabriel Lallemant dies (b. 1610). French Jesuit missionary, one of the Canadian Martyrs.
• 1672 - England declares war on Netherlands.
• 1673 - Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet begin their exploration of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi river.
• 1676 - Thomas Boston was born (d. 1732). Scottish church leader.
• 1680 - François de La Rochefoucauld dies (b. 1613). French writer.
• 1704 - Menno van Coehoorn dies (b. 1641). Dutch military engineer.
• 1705 - Eleanor Shaw and Mary Phillips were executed in England for allegedly bewitching a woman and her two children.
• 1713 - Juraj Jánošík dies (b. 1688). Famous Slovak outlaw.
• 1715 - Gilbert Burnet dies (b. 1643). Scottish Bishop of Salisbury.
• 1725 - Lachlan McIntosh was born (d. 1806). Scottish-born American military and political leader.
• 1741 - Jean-Baptiste Rousseau dies (b. 1671). French poet.
• 1753 - This was the date of the first official St. Patrick's Day.
• 1756 - St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern).
• 1764 - George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield dies. English astronomer.
• 1776 - American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington places artillery overlooking the city.
• 1777 - Roger Taney was born (d. 1864). 5th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
• 1780 - American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday "as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence".
• 1780 - Thomas Chalmers was born (d. 1847). Scottish pastor, social reformer, author, and scientist.
• 1781 - Ebenezer Elliott was born near Rotherham, Yorkshire (d. 01 Dec 1849). English poet.
• 1782 - Daniel Bernoulli dies (b. 1700). Dutch-born mathematician.
• 1787 - Edmund Kean was born (d. 1833). English actor.
• 1804 - Jim Bridger was born (d. 1881). American trapper and explorer.
• 1805 - The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King.
• 1808 - Motim em Aranjuez, provocado por apoiantes do príncipe das Asturias, Fernando, futuro Fernando VII, que provoca a queda de Godoy, e mais tarde a renúncia de Carlos IV de Espanha.
• 1820 - Jean Ingelow was born (d. 1897). English poet.
• 1830 - Laurent, Marquis de Gouvion Saint-Cyr dies (b. 1764). French marshal.
• 1834 - Gottlieb Daimler was born (d. 1900). German engineer and inventor.
• 1845 - The rubber band is patented.
• 1846 - Kate Greenaway was born (d. 1901). English children's author and illustrator.
• 1846 - Friedrich Bessel dies (b. 1784). German mathematician and astronomer.
• 1849 - William II of the Netherlands dies (b. 1792).
• 1853 - Christian Doppler dies (b. 1803). Austrian physician and mathematician.
• 1854 - Jeronymo Ribeiro wads born (d. 1926). Portuguese educator.
• 1856 - Mikhail Vrubel was born (d. 1910). Russian painter.
• 1861 - The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.
• 1862 - Silvio Gesell was born (d. 1930). Belgian economist.
• 1866 - Pierce Butler was born (d. 1939). US Supreme Court justice.
• 1870 - Horace Donisthorpe was born (d. 1951). British entomologist.
• 1875 - Ferdinand Laub dies (b. 1832). Czech violinist.
• 1879 - Rodrigo Solano was born in Penafiel (d. 1910). Portuguese journalist and poet.
• 1880 - Lawrence Oates was born English army officer and Antarctic explorer (d. 1912)
• 1880 - Sir Patrick Hastings was born (d. 1952). British barrister.
• 1881 - Walter Rudolf Hess was born (d. 1973). Swiss physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1883 - Urmuz was born (d. 1923). Romanian writer.
• 1884 - Alcide Nunez was born (d. 1934). American jazz clarinetist.
• 1886 - Carrollton Massacre: 20 African Americans are killed in Mississippi.
• 1886 - Princess Patricia of Connaught was born (d. 1974). British princess.
• 1888 - Paul Ramadier was born (d. 1961). French politician.
• 1891 - The British steamship SS Utopia sinks off the coast of Gibraltar, killing 574.
• 1892 - Benjamin Drake Van Wissen was born (d. 1984). Australian engineer.
• 1893 - Jules Ferry dies (b. 1832). French statesman.
• 1894 - Paul Green was born (d. 1981). American novelist, playwright.
• 1895 - Shemp Howard was born (d. 1955). Actor.
• 1897 - Jozef C. Mazur was born (d. 1970). American stained glass artist and painter.
• 1900 - Manuel Plaza Reyes was born (d. 1969). Chilean athlete.
• 1901 - A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation.
• 1901 - Alfred Newman was born (d. 1970). American film composer.
• 1902 - Bobby Jones was born (d. 1971). American golfer.
• 1903 - Se funda el Racing Club, uno de los más populares de Argentina.
• 1906 - The Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity is founded at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
• 1907 - Sonny Werblin was born (d. 1991). Former owner of the New York Jets.
• 1908 - Brigitte Helm was born (d. 1996). German actress.
• 1910 - Luther Gulick and his wife Charlotte found Camp Fire Girls (now Camp Fire USA) (formally announced in 1912).
• 1910 - Joaquin Valverde dies (b. 27 Feb 1846). Spanish composer.
• 1912 - Bayard Rustin was born (d. 1987). American civil rights activist.
• 1912 - Lawrence Oates dies (b. 1880). English army officer.
• 1913 - The Uruguayan Air Force was founded.
• 1914 - Sammy Baugh was born. American football player.
• 1915 - Henry Bumstead was born (d. 2006). American art director.
• 1916 - Ray Ellington was born (d. 1985). British singer.
• 1917 - Carlo Cassola was born in Rome (d. 29 Jan 1987). Italian neorealist novelist.
• 1917 - Se funda el club Toluca, de México.
• 1917 - Delta Phi Epsilon was founded at New York University Law School.
• 1917 - Franz Brentano dies (b. 1838) . German philosopher and psychologist.
• 1918 - Mercedes McCambridge was born. Actress.
• 1918 - Silvio Pinto was born (d. 1997). Brazilian painter.
• 1919 - Nat King Cole was born (d. 1965). American singer.
• 1920 - Mujibur Rahman was born (d. 1975). Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
• 1920 - Olga Orozco was born (d. 1999). Argentine poet, considered one of the major 20th-century South American writers.
• 1921 - The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.
• 1922 - Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born (d. 1975). Founding Leader of Bangladesh.
• 1925 - Gabriele Ferzetti was born. Italian film and stage actor.
• 1925 - Maria Magdalena Pinheiro Nogueira dies (b. 1862) Mother of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa.
• 1926 - Spain & Brazil prevent Germany joining League of Nations.
• 1926 - Siegfried Lenz was born. German writer.
• 1926 - Aleksei Brusilov dies (b. 1853). Russian general.
• 1928 - Krieger (Edino Krieger) was born. Composer.
• 1928 - William John McKeag was born (d. 2007). Canadian politician.
• 1929 - Na Espanha, a Universidade de Madrid é fechada pelo governo após tumultos e protestos estudantis.
• 1930 - James Irwin was born (d. 1991). American astronaut.
• 1931 - Nevada legalizes gambling.
• 1931 - David Peakall was born (d. 2001). British scientist.
• 1932 - Donald N. Langenberg was born. American physicist.
• 1933 - Myrlie Evers-Williams was born. American activist.
• 1933 - Penelope Lively was born in Cairo, Egypt. British writer.
• 1935 - Luis Goytisolo was born in Barcelona. Spanish writer.
• 1936 - Ken Mattingly was born. American astronaut.
• 1936 - Ladislav Kupkovic was born. Slovakian composer.
• 1936 - Patty Maloney was born. American actress.
• 1937 - Huracán Buceo is founded in Montevideo, Uruguay.
• 1937 - Adam Wade was born. American singer and actor.
• 1937 - Rudy Ray Moore was born (d. 2008). American comedian and actor.
• 1937 - Austen Chamberlain dies (b. 1863). English statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1938 - Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien was born. Northern Irish clergyman.
• 1938 - Rudolf Nureyev was born (d. 1993). Russian-born dancer and choreographer.
• 1938 - Zola Taylor was born (d. 2007). American singer (The Platters).
• 1939 - Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945): The Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and the Japanese breaks out.
• 1939 - Pacto de amistad y no agresión entre la España de Franco y el Portugal de Salazar.
• 1939 - Giovanni Trapattoni was born. Italian football coach. "Giovanni "Trap" Trapattoni has always been regarded in the world of Italian football as a coach for whom the result of a match is more important than the manner in which it is achieved". / Nasce em Cusano Milanino, Itália, Giovanni Trapattoni, treinador de futebol (AC Milan, Juventus, Inter, Cagliari e Fiorentina em Itália e Bayern Munich na Alemanha foram equipas treinadas por Trapattoni. Também foi seleccionador nacional da Itália). Vários títulos nacionais e internacionais. Foi campeão da Liga portuguesa pelo Benfica na época 2004/2005.
• 1939 - Jim Gary was born (d. 2006). American sculptor.
• 1939 - Robin Knox-Johnston was born. British Yachtsman.
• 1940 - Mark White was born. American politician.
• 1941 - In Washington, DC, the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1941 - Paul Kantner was born. American musician (Jefferson Airplane).
• 1941 - Wang Jin-pyng was born. Taiwanese politician.
• 1941 - Marguerite Nichols dies (b. 1895). American actress.
• 1942 - Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lviv Ghetto (western Ukraine) are gassed at the Belzec death camp (eastern Poland).
• 1942 - Dimitris Poulikakos was born. Greek composer, singer and actor.
• 1942 - John Wayne Gacy was born (d. 1994). American serial killer.
• 1944 - Cito Gaston was born. American baseball player and manager.
• 1944 - John Sebastian was born. American singer and songwriter.
• 1944 - Pattie Boyd was born. British photographer and model.
• 1945 - The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany collapses, ten days after its capture.
• 1945 - Elis Regina was born (d. 1982). Brazilian singer. / Nascimento de Elis Regina (Elis Regina Carvalho Costa), grande estrela da MPB, em Porto Alegre-RS.
• 1945 - Katri Helena was born. Finnish singer.
• 1945 - Michael Hayden was born. General USAF, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
• 1946 - Dai Li dies (b. 1897). Chibese spymaster.
• 1947 - James Morrow was born. American author.
• 1947 - Jan Andersson was born. Swedish politician.
• 1947 - Yury Chernavsky was born. Russian-born composer and producer.
• 1948 - Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the NATO Agreement.
• 1948 - Alex MacDonald was born. Scottish Footballer and football manager.
• 1948 - William Gibson was born. American-born writer.
• 1949 - Daniel Lavoie was born. French Canadian singer and songwriter.
• 1949 - Pat Rice was born. Northern Irish footballer and football manager.
• 1949 - Patrick Duffy was born. American actor (Dallas, Man from Atlantis, Step-by-Step video with Suzanne Somers).
• 1949 - Aleksandra Ekster dies (b. 1882). Russian painter.
• 1950 - University of California, Berkeley researchers announce the creation of element 98, which they name "Californium".
• 1950 - Patrick Adams was born. American record producer and songwriter.
• 1951 - Craig Ramsay was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1951 - Donald Findlay was born. Scottish lawyer.
• 1951 - Kurt Russell was born. American actor (Executive Decision, Backdraft, Elvis, Used Cars, Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China, Tango & Cash, Stargate, Tombstone, 3000 Miles to Graceland).
• 1951 - Scott Gorham was born. American musician (Thin Lizzy).
• 1952 - Nikos Xydakis was born. Greek musician and composer.
• 1952 - Perla was born. Paraguayan singer.
• 1953 - Chuck Muncie was born. American former football running back.
• 1953 - Filemon Lagman was born (d. 2001). Filipino communist revolutionary.
• 1954 - Eleven people riding a bus near Beersheba were wounded by machine-gun fire from terrorists.
• 1954 - Lesley-Anne Down was born. English actress.
• 1955 - Cynthia McKinney was born. American politician.
• 1955 - Gary Sinise was born. American actor.
• 1955 - Paul Overstreet was born. Country singer.
• 1956 - 8th Emmy Awards: Ed Sullivan Show, Phil Silvers Show & Lucy Ball.
• 1956 - Patrick McDonnell was born. American cartoonist.
• 1956 - Irene Joliot-Curie dies (b. 1897). French physicist, Nobel laureate.
• 1956 - Fred Allen dies (b. 1894). American actor and comedian.
• 1957 - A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.
• 1957 - Mal Donaghy was born. Northern Irish footballer.
• 1957 - Michael Kelly was born (d. 2003). American journalist.
• 1957 - Ramon Magsaysay dies (b. 1907). President of the Philippines.
• 1958 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
• 1958 - Pat Bolland was born. Canadian Broadcaster.
• 1959 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet and travels to India.
• 1959 - Christian Clemenson was born. American actor.
• 1959 - Danny Ainge was born. Basketball player and coach, baseball player.
• 1959 - Paul Black was born. American rock singer.
• 1959 - António Botto dies in Brazil (b. in Abrantes 1897). Portuguese poet.
• 1960 - President Eisenhower signed a National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program which lead to the Bay of Pig invasion.
• 1960 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
• 1960 - Arye Gross was born. American actor.
• 1961 - Andrew Paul was born. English actor.
• 1961 - Casey Siemaszko was born. American actor.
• 1961 - Dana Reeve was born (d. 2006). American actress and activist.
• 1961 - Sam Bowie was born. American basketball player.
• 1961 - Susanna M. Salter dies (b. 1860). Mayor of Argonia, Kansas.
• 1962 - Ank Bijleveld-Schouten was born. Dutch politician.
• 1962 - Clare Grogan was born. Scottish actress-singer.
• 1963 - Elizabeth Ann Seton of New York was beatified by Pope John XXIII.
• 1963 - Alex Fong Chung-Sun was born. Chinese actor.
• 1963 - Nick Peros was born. Canadian composer.
• 1964 - Jacques Songo'o was born. Cameroonian footballer.
• 1964 - Lee Dixon was born. English footballer.
• 1964 - Rob Lowe was born. American actor.
• 1964 - Lino Enea Spilimbergo dies. Argentinian painter.
• 1965 - Amos Alonzo Stagg dies (b. 1862). Baseball, basketball, football coach and player.
• 1966 - Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
• 1966 - Jeremy Sheffield was born. English actor.
• 1967 - Barry Minkow was born. American religious leader and ex-convict (fraud).
• 1967 - Billy Corgan was born. American musician (The Smashing Pumpkins).
• 1967 - William Patrick Corgan, Jr. was born. American musician.
• 1969 - Golda Meir becomes becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel.
• 1969 - Alexander McQueen was born. British fashion designer.
• 1969 - Mathew St. Patrick was born. American actor.
• 1970 - My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
• 1970 - Gene Ween was born. American Musician (Ween).
• 1970 - Yanic Truesdale was born. Canadian actor.
• 1971 - Bill Mueller was born. American baseball player.
• 1971 - Pedro Laginha was born. Portuguese actor.
• 1972 - Marc Gunn was born. Poet, podcaster, and Celtic musician (Brobdingnagian Bards).
• 1972 - Melissa Auf der Maur was born. Canadian musician.
• 1972 - Mia Hamm was born. American soccer player.
• 1973 - The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, as a former prisoner of war comes home to the United States to reunite with his family.
• 1973 - Caroline Corr was born. Irish singer and musician.
• 1973 - Jerome Woods was born. American Football player for the Kansas City Chiefs.
• 1973 - Rico Blanco was born. Filipino singer (Rivermaya).
• 1973 - Vance Wilson was born. American baseball player.
• 1974 - Mark Dolan was born. TV show host.
• 1974 - Louis Kahn dies. American architect.
• 1975 - The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad enter third and final bankruptcy, and William M. Gibbons selected as receiver and trustee for the railroad.
• 1975 - Justin Hawkins was born. British singer (The Darkness).
• 1975 - Andrew "Test" Martin was born. Canadian professional wrestler.
• 1975 - Natalie Zea was born. American actress.
• 1976 - Álvaro Recoba was born. Uruguayan footballer.
• 1976 - Brittany Daniel was born. American actress.
• 1976 - Cynthia Daniel was born. American actress and photographer.
• 1976 - Scott Downs was born. American baseball player.
• 1976 - Stephen Gately was born. Irish singer, musician, and actor (Boyzone).
• 1976 - Luchino Visconti dies (b. 1906). Italian film director.
• 1978 - Bolivia rompe relaciones diplomáticas con Chile.
• 1978 - A Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa é destruída por um violento incêndio.
• 1978 - Adam Jennings was born. British actor, producer and film director.
• 1979 - The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.
• 1979 - Andrew Ference was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1979 - Nicole "Coco" Austin was born. American glamor model.
• 1979 - Samoa Joe was born. Samoan professional wrestler.
• 1979 - Sharman Joshi was born. Indian actor.
• 1979 - Stormy Daniels was born. American pornographic actress.
• 1980 - Beginning of the colored regular emissions by Portuguese television /Iniciam-se as emissões regulares a cores na RTP (Portugal).
• 1980 - Danny Califf was born. American soccer player.
• 1981 - Aaron Baddeley was born. Australian golfer.
• 1981 - Kyle Korver was born. American basketball player.
• 1981 - Servet Çetin was born. Turkish football player.
• 1981 - Paul Dean dies (b. 1913). American baseball player.
• 1982 - Jacobus Andreas Koster and other journalists are assassinated in San Salvador.
• 1982 - Steven Pienaar was born. South African footballer.
• 1983 - Raul Meireles was born. Portuguese football player (FC Porto).
• 1983 - Haldan Keffer Hartline dies (b. 1903). American physiologist, Nobel laureate.
• 1983 - Horacio Butler dies in Buenos Aires (b. 28 Aug 1897). Argentine painter.
• 1983 - 9th People's Choice Awards.
• 1985 - Serial killer Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker", commits his first two murders in Los Angeles, California murder spree.
• 1986 - Olesya Rulin was born. American actress.
• 1987 - Krisnan Inu was born. New Zealand rugby league player.
• 1987 - Santo Trafficante, Jr. dies (b. 1914). American gangster.
• 1988 - A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
• 1988 - Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
• 1988 - Nikolas Asimos dies (b. 1949). Greek counter-culture composer and singer.
• 1989 - Merritt Butrick dies (b. 1959). American actor.
• 1990 - Opening of The Opera Bastille in Paris with Berlioz's "Les Troyens".
• 1990 - Capucine dies (b.1931). French actress.
• 1990 - Ric Grech dies (b. 1946). British bass player (Blind Faith - Traffic).
• 1992 - A suicide car-bomb kills 29 and injures 242 at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 1992 - Los presidentes de Guatemala, Jorge Serrano, y El Salvador, Alfredo Cristiani, firman un Acuerdo de Libre Comercio e integración Económica.
• 1992 - Grace Stafford dies (b. 1903). American actress.
• 1993 - Helen Hayes dies (b. 1900). American actress.
• 1993 - António José Saraiva dies (b. in Leiria, 31 Dec 1917). Portuguese professor and essayist.
• 1995 - Ronnie Kray dies (b. 1933). British gangster.
• 1995 - Rick Aviles dies (b. 1952). American actor.
• 1996 - René Clément dies (b. 1913). French film director and screenwriter.
• 1996 - Terry Stafford dies (b. 1941). American singer.
• 1996 - Mike Tyson beat Frank Bruno in 3rd round to gain Heavyweight title.
• 1999 - Ernest Gold dies (b. 1921). Austrian composer.
• 1999 - Rod Hull dies (b. 1936). British comedian.
• 2000 - The +800 deaths of members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God on March 17, 2000 is considered to be a mass murder and suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult.
• 2002 - Rosetta LeNoire dies (b. 1911). American actress.
• 2002 - Pat Weaver dies (b. 1908). American broadcast executive.
• 2003 - British Cabinet Minister, Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for war with Iraq.
• 2003 - Klaus Oldendorff dies. Ship owner.
• 2003 - Su Buqing dies (b. 1902). Chinese mathematician and educator.
• 2004 - Massive Unrest in Kosovo. Over 22 killed, 200 wounded, 15 destroyed Serb Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Belgrade and Nis.
• 2004 - J.J. Jackson dies (b. 1941). American television personality.
• 2005 - George F. Kennan dies (b. 1904). American Cold War strategist and historian.
• 2005 - Andre Norton dies (b. 1912). American writer.
• 2006 - Bob Blue dies (b. 1948). American singer/songwriter.
• 2006 - Oleg Cassini dies (b. 1913). American fashion designer.
• 2006 - Ray Meyer dies (b. 1913). American basketball coach.
• 2006 - Bob Papenbrook dies (b. 1955). American voice actor.
• 2007 - John Backus dies (b. 1924). American computer scientist.
• 2007 - Roger Bennett dies (b. 1959). American Southern Gospel performer.
• 2007 - Jim Cronin dies (b. 1951). Animal welfare campaigner and founder of Monkey World in Dorset, England.
• 2008 - New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer resigns after a scandal involving a high-end prostitute. David Paterson becomes acting New York State governor.
• 2008 - Roland Arnall dies (b. 1939). U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands.
• Feast day of St Patrick: a public holiday in Ireland and Montserrat, widely celebrated in North America (see St. Patrick's Day).
• Ancient Latvia - Kustonu Diena (return of the larks) observed.
• Boston, Massachusetts - Evacuation Day.
• Ancient Rome - the second day of the Bacchanalia in honor of Bacchus.
• Ancient Rome - the Liberalia in honor of Liber.
• National Boxer's Day / National Muay Thai Day.