Today is March 8
On this day in 1993 Nigerian Afro-
beats singer Fela Kuti arrested again on
suspicion of murder. More Highlights
Today:
1655 – John Casor becomes the first
legally-recognized slave in England's North
American colonies.
1702 – Anne Stuart, sister of Mary II,
becomes Queen regnant of England,
Scotland, and Ireland.
1722 – The Safavid Empire of Iran is
defeated by an army from Afghanistan at
The Battle of Gulnabad, pushing Iran into
anarchy.
1736 – Nader Shah, founder of the
Afsharid dynasty, is crowned Shah of Iran.
1775 – An anonymous writer, thought by
some to be Thomas Paine, publishes
"African Slavery in America", the first article
in the American colonies calling for the
emancipation of slaves and the abolition of
slavery.
1817 – The New York Stock Exchange is
founded.
1844 – King Oscar I ascends to the thrones
of Sweden and Norway.
1862 – American Civil War: The iron-clad
CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) is
launched at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1868 – Sakai incident: Japanese samurai
kill 11 French sailors in the port of Sakai
near Osaka.
1910 – French aviatrix Raymonde de
Laroche becomes the first woman to
receive a pilot's license.
1911 – International Women's Day is
launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Clara
Zetkin, leader of the Women's Office for the
Social Democratic Party in Germany.
1916 – World War I: A British force
unsuccessfully attempts to relieve the siege
of Kut (present-day Iraq) in the Battle of
Dujaila.
1917 – International Women's Day protests
in St. Petersburg mark the beginning of the
February Revolution (so named because it
was February on the Julian calendar).
1917 – The United States Senate votes to
limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.
1920 – The Arab Kingdom of Syria, the first
modern Arab state to come into existence,
is established.
1921 – Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato
Iradier is assassinated while exiting the
parliament building in Madrid.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: The Battle of
Guadalajara begins.
1942 – World War II: The Dutch surrender
to Japanese forces on Java.
1957 – Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal after
the Suez Crisis.
1957 – The 1957 Georgia Memorial to
Congress, which petitions the U.S. Congress
to declare the ratification of the 14th &
15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution
null and void, is adopted by the U.S. state of
Georgia.
1957 – Ghana joins the United Nations.
1963 – The Ba'ath Party comes to power in
Syria in a coup d'état by a clique of quasi-
leftist Syrian Army officers calling
themselves the National Council of the
Revolutionary Command.
1966 – A bomb planted by Irish
Republicans destroys Nelson's Pillar in
Dublin.
1974 – Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in
Paris, France.
1978 – The first radio episode of The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas
Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4.
1979 – Philips demonstrates the Compact
Disc publicly for the first time.
1983 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan calls
the Soviet Union an "evil empire".
1985 – A failed assassination attempt on
Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in
Beirut, Lebanon, kills at least 45 and injures
175 others.
1993 - Nigerian Afro-beats singer Fela Kuti
arrested again on suspicion of murder
Notable Births:
1726 – Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, Royal
Navy admiral of the fleet
1746 – André Michaux, French botanist
1748 – William V of Orange, Stadtholder of
the Dutch Republic
1783 – Hannah Van Buren, wife of Martin
Van Buren
1799 – Simon Cameron, 26th U.S. Secretary
of War
1804 – Alvan Clark, American telescope
maker and astronomer
1882 – Charles de Vendeville, French
swimmer
1886 – Edward Calvin Kendall, American
chemist, Nobel laureate
1897 – Damerla Rama Rao, Indian artist,
1931 – Neil Adcock, South African cricketer
1931 – John McPhee, American writer and
professor
1933 – Evelyn Margaret Ay, American
beauty pageant winner
1933 – Luca Ronconi, Italian theater and
opera director
1953 – Don Werner, American baseball
player
1954 – Cheryl Baker, British singer (Bucks
Fizz)
1954 – Bob Brozman, American musician
(R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders)
1966 – Cheryl James, American rapper and
actress (Salt-n-Pepa)
1967 – Joel Johnston, American baseball
player
1968 – Michael Bartels, German race car
driver
1983 – André Santos, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Mark Worrell, American baseball
player
1984 – Rafik Djebbour, Algerian footballer
1990 – Ben Tozer, English footballer
1991 – Devon Werkheiser, American actor
and musician
1992 – Charlie Ray, American actress
1993 – Stephanie Davis, British actress
(Hollyoaks)
1997 – Jurina Matsui, Japanese singer
