March 11

2024 Calendar

March 11 is the 70th day of the year (71st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 295 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

222 - Roman Emperor Elagabalus and his mother, Julia Soaemias are murdered by the Praetorian Guard.
1513 – Leo X is elected Pope.
1649 – The Frondeurs (rebels) and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.
1702 – The first regular English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published in London.
1708 – Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from a militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
1770 - James Cook reaches the Solander Islands off southern New Zealand.
1784 - The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.
1824 – The United States War Department creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
1845 – The Flagstaff War: In New Zealand, Chiefs Hone Heke and Kawiti lead 700 Maoris to chop down the British flagpole and drive settlers out of the British colonial settlement of Kororareka because of breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
1851 - The opera Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi is performed for the first time, in Venice.
1861 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
1864 – The Great Sheffield Flood: The largest man-made disaster ever to befall England kills over 250 people in Sheffield.
1867 - The opera Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi is performed for the first time, in Paris.
1872 - Meiji Japan officially annexes the Ryukyu Kingdom into what would become the Okinawa Prefecture.
1888 – The Great Blizzard of '88 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
1897 – A meteorite enters the earth's atmosphere and explodes over New Martinsville, West Virginia. The debris causes damage but no human injuries are reported.
1900 – Second Boer War: Boer leader Paul Kruger's peace overtures are rejected by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Lord Salisbury.

1901 – 2000

1917 – Baghdad falls to the Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Maude.
1918 - The first case of Spanish flu
1927 – In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.
1936 – British Prime Minister pardons five convicted Irish militants who promise to join growing conflict with Germany.
1941 – World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.
1942 – World War II: General Douglas MacArthur abandons Corregidor.
1945 - The Empire of Vietnam, a brief puppet state, led by Bao Dai, is declared.
1951 - The first Asian Games end in New Delhi.
1959 – In Cannes, France, Teddy Scholten wins the fourth Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands singing "Een beetje" (A little bit).
1966 – President Sukarno of Indonesia was forced to give up his executive power.
1966 – A fire at two ski resorts in Numata, Japan kills 31 people.
1977 – 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims were set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined negotiations.
1978 – Nine Palestinian Al Fatah guerillas hijack a bus in Israel, killing 34 civilians and wounding 70 before being killed by security forces. The Israelis retaliate by invading southern Lebanon three days later, under codename Operation Litani.
1983 – Bob Hawke becomes 23rd Prime Minister of Australia.
1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader.
1988 – Iran-Iraq War: ceasefire declared.
1989 – The television show COPS premieres.
1990 – Lithuania declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
1990 – Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected Chilean President since 1970.
1991 – A curfew is imposed on black townships in South Africa after fighting between rival political gangs kills 49.
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.
1996 – John Howard comes to power as the twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia.
1997 – An explosion at a nuclear waste reprocessing plant in Japan exposes 35 workers to low-level radioactive contamination in the worst nuclear accident in Japan's history.
1999 – Infosys becomes the first Indian company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

From 2001

2003 – The International Criminal Court is founded in The Hague.
2004 – Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid kill 191 people.
2005 – Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Brandau and deputy Hoyt Teasley are all murdered in the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia; the main suspect being Brian Nichols who surrendered to police on the 12th.
2006 – Former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic dies while on trial for war crimes in The Hague.
2006 – Michelle Bachelet becomes the first female President of Chile.
2009 – 17 people are killed in a shooting in Winnenden, Germany.
2010 - Sebastian Pinera becomes President of Chile.
2011 – 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami: A powerful magnitude 9.1 earthquake strikes off the east coast of Honshu, Japan, killing more than 5,000 people and leaving many more missing, destroying buildings, as tsunamis are triggered. The quake also leads to a nuclear accident, the Fukushima nuclear disaster, causing concern about radiation levels.
2012 - A US soldier kills 16 civilians in Panjwayi District, Afghanistan.
2014 - Michelle Bachelet becomes President of Chile for a second time, having previously held this office from 2006 to 2010.
2017 - Twin bombings in Damascus kill 74 people and injure at least 120.
2018 - The Congress of the Communist Party of China votes to extend Xi Jinping's term as president beyond the previous maximum 10-year limit.
2018 - Sebastian Pinera becomes President of Chile for a second time., having previously held this office from 2010 to 2014.

Births

Up to 1900

1444 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet (d. 1495)
1683 - Caroline of Ansbach (d. 1737)
1726 – Vasily Chichagov, Russian admiral and polar explorer (d. 1809)
1738 - Benjamin Tupper, American Continental Army officer (d. 1792)
1745 – Bodawpaya, King of Burma (d. 1819)
1787 – Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (d. 1852)
1811 – Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1877)
1818 - Marius Petipa, French-Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher (d. 1910)
1819 – Henry Tate, British sugar merchant and philanthropist (d. 1899)
1822 - Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician (d. 1900)
1838 – Okuma Shigenobu, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1922)
1847 – Sidney Sonnino, Italian politician (d. 1922)
1868 – Matti Kekki, Finnish politician (d. 1933)
1870 - Louis Bachelier, French mathematician (d. 1946)
1872 - Siegfried Flesch, Austrian fencer (d. 1939)
1872 - Kathleen Clarice Groom, Australian-English writer and screenwriter (d. 1954)
1876 - Carl Ruggles, American composer (d. 1971)
1878 - Umegatani Totaro II, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1927)
1884 - Lewi Pethrus, Swedish politician (d. 1974)
1885 – Malcolm Campbell, English racing driver (d. 1948)
1887 – Raoul Walsh, American director (d. 1980)
1890 – Vannevar Bush, American engineer and politician (d. 1974)
1891 – Gertrud Wolle, German actress (d. 1952)
1894 – Otto Grotewohl, German politician (d. 1964)
1895 - Shemp Howard, American comedian (d. 1955)
1897 - Henry Cowell, American composer and impresario (d. 1965)
1898 – Dorothy Gish, American actress (d. 1968)
1899 - John Campbell Ross, Australian supercentenarian (d. 2009)
1899 – King Frederick IX of Denmark (d. 1972)

1901 – 1950

1903 – Ronald Syme, New Zealand historian (d. 1989)
1903 - James Franklin Hyde, American chemist and inventor (d. 1991)
1903 – Lawrence Welk, American musician (d. 1992)
1904 - Harold F. Cherniss, American historian of ancient philosophy (d. 1987)
1908 - Matti Sippala, Finnish javelin thrower (d. 1997)
1910 - Robert Havemann, German chemist (d. 1982)
1910 – Jacinta Marto, Portuguese religious figure (d. 1920)
1911 - Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet, Scottish soldier, writer and politician (d. 1996)
1912 – Paul Janes, German footballer (d. 1987)
1913 - Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke, German pilot (d. 1944)
1914 - William Lloyd Webber, English composer (d. 1982)
1915 – Vijay Hazare, Indian cricketer (d. 2004)
1915 - Hans Peter Keller, German writer (d. 1988)
1916 – Harold Wilson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1995)
1920 - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch physicist (d. 2017)
1920 – Kenneth Dover, British classicist (d. 2010)
1922 – Abdul Razak Hussein, Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1976)
1922 - Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek-French political philosopher (d. 1997)
1923 – Agatha Barbara, President of Malta (d. 2002)
1923 - Louise Brough, American tennis player (d. 2014)
1924 - Franco Basaglia, Italian psychiatrist (d. 1980)
1925 - Rodney Wilkes, Trinidadian weightlifter (d. 2014)
1926 – Ralph Abernathy, American Civil rights campaigner (d. 1990)
1927 - Robert Mosbacher, American politician (d. 2010)
1927 – Joachim Fuchsberger, German actor and entertainer (d. 2014)
1927 - Josep Maria Subirachs, Catalan sculptor and painter (d. 2014)
1927 - Freda Meissner-Blau, German-Austrian politician (d. 2015)
1928 - Albert Salmi, American actor (d. 1990)
1929 - Timothy Carey, American actor (d. 1994)
1931 – Janosch, Silesian writer and illustrator
1931 - Marisa Del Frate, Italian actress (d. 2015)
1931 – Rupert Murdoch, Australian-American media tycoon
1932 – Nigel Lawson, British politician
1932 – Leroy Jenkins, American composer (d. 2007)
1933 – Jesus Gil y Gil, Spanish politician and businessman (d. 2004)
1933 - Sandra Milo, Italian actress
1934 - Sam Donaldson, American journalist
1935 - Nancy Kovack, American actress
1935 - Peter Walsh, Australian politician (d. 2015)
1936 - Harald zur Hausen, German physician and Nobel Prize winner
1936 – Antonin Scalia, American Supreme Court Justice (d. 2016)
1940 - Alberto Cortez, Argentine singer and songwriter (d. 2019)
1942 - Joel Steiger, American writer and producer
1942 - Marcus Borg, American scholar, theologian and writer (d. 2015)
1943 - Arturo Merzario, Italian racing driver
1945 - Harvey Mandel, American musician
1945 - Tricia O'Neil, American actress
1945 - Pirri, Spanish footballer
1946 - Mark Metcalf, American actor
1947 - Alan Yentob, English television presenter
1948 - Roy Barnes, American politician, 80th Governor of Georgia
1950 - Bobby McFerrin, American singer-songwriter, producer and conductor
1950 – Jerry Zucker, American director and screenwriter

1951 – 1975

1951 - Dominique Sanda, French actress and model
1952 – Douglas Adams, English writer (d. 2001)
1952 - Ricardo Martinelli, former President of Panama
1954 - Gale Norton, American politician, 48th United States Secretary of the Interior
1955 – Nina Hagen, German singer
1956 - Helen Rollason, English sports journalist and television presenter (d. 1999)
1956 - Curtis Brown, American astronaut
1956 - Rob Paulsen, American actor
1958 - Eddie Lawson, American motorcycle racer
1958 - Tetsuro Oda, Japanese singer, songwriter and record producer
1958 – Anissa Jones, American actress (d. 1976)
1959 - Manuel Negrete Arias, Mexican footballer
1959 - Dejan Stojanovic, Serbian-American writer
1959 - Nina Hartley, American pornographic actress
1959 - Martin Loeb, French actor
1960 - Robert Glenister, English actor
1962 - Matt Mead, 32nd Governor of Wyoming
1963 - Alex Kingston, British actress
1963 – David LaChapelle, American photographer and director
1964 - Emma Chambers, British actress (d. 2018)
1964 – Leena Lehtolainen, Finnish writer
1964 - Peter Berg, American director, actor and producer
1964 – Vinnie Paul, American guitarist (d. 2018)
1965 – Nigel Adkins, English football manager
1965 – Jesse Jackson, Jr., American politician
1965 - Wallace Langham, American actor
1965 - Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, English interior designer
1965 - Jenny Packham, English fashion designer
1965 - Michelle Thomson, Scottish politician
1967 – John Barrowman, Scottish-American actor, singer and dancer
1968 – Lisa Loeb, American singer-songwriter
1969 - Soraya, Colombian-American musician (d. 2006)
1969 - Terrence Howard, American actor
1971 - Johnny Knoxville, American comedian
1971 - Martin Rucinsky, Czech ice hockey player
1973 – Martin Hiden, Austrian footballer
1974 - Bobby Abreu, Venezuelan baseball player
1975 - Eric Lynch, American actor and radio personality (d. 2014)

From 1976

1976 – Thomas Gravesen, Danish footballer
1977 - Becky Hammon, American basketball player
1978 – Didier Drogba, Ivorian footballer
1978 – Albert Luque, Spanish footballer
1979 – Benji Madden, American singer (Good Charlotte)
1979 – Joel Madden, American guitarist (Good Charlotte)
1979 - Elton Brand, American basketball player
1980 – Paul Scharner, Austrian footballer
1981 - Matthias Schweighöfer, German actor
1981 - Luke Johnson, British musician
1981 - Russell Lissack, British musician (Bloc Party)
1981 – LeToya Luckett, American singer
1982 – Thora Birch, American actress
1984 – Anna Tsuchiya, Japanese model, actress and singer
1984 - Tom James, Welsh rower
1985 - Sonia Radeva, Bulgarian figure skater
1986 - Dario Cologna, Swiss skier
1986 - Mariko Shinoda, Japanese singer and actress (AKB48)
1988 - Fabio Coentrao, Portuguese footballer
1989 - Zaven Andriasian, Armenian chess player
1989 - Shin Soohyun, South Korean singer (U-KISS)
1989 - Anton Yelchin, Russian-American actor (d. 2016)
1991 – Lin Lin, Chinese-born Japanese singer
1991 - Poonam Pandey, Indian actress and model
1991 – Jack Rodwell, English footballer
1992 - Sacha Parkinson, English actress
1993 - Jodie Comer, English actress
1993 - Anthony Davis, American basketball player
1994 - Andrew Robertson, Scottish footballer

Deaths

Up to 1900

1425 BC – Thutmose III, Egyptian Pharaoh
222 – Elagabalus, Roman Emperor
222 – Julia Soaemias, mother of Elagabalus (b. 180)
638 - Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (b. 560)
859 - Eulogius of Cordoba, Spanish martyr
928 - Tomislav of Croatia
1198 - Marie of France, Queen of France (b. 1145)
1486 - Albert III, Margrave of Brandenburg (b. 1414)
1514 – Donato Bramante, Italian architect (b. 1444)
1759 - John Forbes, English general (b. 1710)
1801 – Tsar Paul I of Russia (b. 1754)
1820 - Benjamin West, English-American painter (b. 1738)
1847 – Johnny Appleseed, American pioneer agronomist (b. 1774)
1851 - George McDuffie, 55th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1790)
1869 - Vladimir Oboevsky, Russian philosopher (b. 1803)
1870 – Moshoeshoe I of Lesotho
1874 – Charles Sumner, American politician (b. 1811)
1892 - Archibald Scott Couper, Scottish chemist (b. 1831)
1898 - Dikran Tchouhadjian, Armenian composer and conductor (b. 1837)

1901 – 2000

1907 - Jean Casimir-Perier, 6th President of France (b. 1847)
1908 – Benjamin Waugh, American activist (b. 1811)
1920 - Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer, mathematician and engineer (b. 1865)
1929 - Joseph Toole, American politician, 1st Governor of Montana (b. 1851)
1931 – Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, German movie director (b. 1888)
1933 – Matti Kekki, Finnish politician (b. 1868)
1937 - Joseph S. Cullinan, American businessman (b. 1860)
1949 - Anastasios Charalambis, Greek politician (b. 1862)
1949 - Henri Giraud, French general (b. 1879)
1950 - Heinrich Mann, German writer (b. 1871)
1952 – Pierre Renoir, French actor and director (b. 1885)
1955 – Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, Nobel laureate (b. 1881)
1955 - Oscar F. Mayer, German-American businessman (b. 1859)
1957 – Richard E. Byrd, American naval officer and explorer (b. 1888)
1958 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish inventor (Lego) (b. 1891)
1958 - John J. Dempsey, 13th Governor of New Mexico (b. 1879)
1969 – John Wyndham, English writer (b. 1903)
1971 – Philo T. Farnsworth, American inventor (b. 1906)
1978 - Claude François, French singer (b. 1939)
1978 - Sofia Vembo, Greek singer and actress (b. 1910)
1980 - Chandra Bhanu Gupta, Indian politician, 4th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (b. 1902)
1982 - Horace Gregory, American poet (b. 1898)
1985 - Tom Adams, Prime Minister of Barbados (b. 1931)
1989 - John J. McCloy, American lawyer and banker (b. 1895)
1992 - Richard Brooks, American movie director (b. 1912)
1995 - Myfanwy Talog, Welsh actress (b. 1945)

From 2001

2002 – Rudolf Hell, German inventor (b. 1901)
2002 - Marion Dönhoff, German publicist (b. 1909)
2002 – James Tobin, American economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
2003 - Ivar Hansen, Danish politician (b. 1938)
2006 – Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia (b. 1941)
2007 – Betty Hutton, American actress (b. 1921)
2011 – Hugh Martin, American songwriter (b. 1914)
2013 - Tony Gubba, British journalist (b. 1943)
2014 - Bob Crow, British trade union leader (b. 1961)
2014 - Marga Spiegel, German writer (b. 1912)
2015 - Jimmy Greenspoon, American musician (b. 1948)
2015 - Martin H:son Holmdahl, Swedish academic (b. 1923)
2015 - Walter Burkert, German philologist (b. 1931)
2016 - Doreen Massey, British geographer (b. 1944)
2016 - Louis Meyers, American festival organiser (b. 1955)
2016 - Lawrence Van Gelder, American news columnist (b. 1933)
2017 - Kitty Courbois, Dutch actress (b. 1937)
2017 - Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, Bangladeshi diplomat (b. 1960)
2017 - Paul Mitchell, American football player (b. 1920)
2018 - Ken Dodd, English comedian and singer-songwriter (b. 1927)
2018 - Siegfried Rauch, German actor (b. 1932)
2018 - Karl Lehmann, German cardinal (b. 1936)
2018 - Mary Rosenblum, American writer and pilot (b. 1952)
2019 - Hal Blaine, American drummer (b. 1929)
2019 - Coutinho, Brazilian footballer (b. 1943)

Observances

Re-establishment of Independence (Lithuania)
Moshoeshoe Day (Lesotho)
Johnny Appleseed Day (United States)