44 BC: Julius Caesar, a Roman General and statesman who later became a dictator is stabbed to death by Brutus, Cassius and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March in Rome’.
1493: Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first voyage to the New World.
1783: In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. The plea is successful and the threatened coup d’etat never takes place.
1895: Enrico Caruso makes his stage debut. The Italian tenor is arguably the most famous opera singer of all time.
1917 The last emperor of Russia abdicates. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated following the February Revolution and nominates his brother Grand Duke Michael to succeed him. He was later executed together with his family and some of his servants.
1930: A proposed tunnel linking England and France was approved by the Channel Tunnel Committee.
1963: Gerry and the Pacemakers released their first British single, “How Do You Do It?” a song the Beatles had rejected. Their biggest hit was “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, from the musical Carousel, which has been the adopted anthem of Liverpool Football Club since the mid 1960s.
1964: English-American actress Elizabeth Taylor (32) marries for the 5th time to Welsh actor Richard Burton (38); divorce in 1974, remarry in 1975.
1965 LBJ calls for equal voting rights.
1968: Jimi Hendrix was declared the “most spectacular guitarist in the world” by LIFE magazine.
1972: Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather is premiered
The gangster movie based on Mario Puzo’s novel is one of the most popular films of all time.
1985: The world’s first internet domain name is registered. Symbolics.com was registered by the Symbolics Computer Corporation of Massachusetts. There are over 1 billion domains today.
1990: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes President of the Soviet Union. His economic and political reforms, as well as his advocacy of free speech, strengthened pro-democracy movements in other Eastern European countries and ultimately led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.
2010: Militants in Nigeria oil-producing region “Warri” detonated two car bombs near a government building where officials were discussing amnesty deal, showing their resolve to resume attacks after an agreement to bring peace and economic benefits to the area unraveled. Nigeria’s intelligence Agency later accused Henry Okah, an alleged ex-leader of militant group, MEND, of having wired the bombs.
2018: The death, aged 76, of the world renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. At the age of 22 Professor Hawking was given only a few years to live, after being diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease.
2019: 1.4 million students across 125 nations participated in the School Strike for Climate.
The protests were inspired by Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, with students making demands of their respective governments to take immediate action to prevent climate change.
2019: Christchurch, New Zealand mosque attacks
Births on This Day, March 15
Kevin Youkilis, 45 years
Kevin Edmund Youkilis, nicknamed “Youk”, is an American former professional baseball first baseman and third baseman, who primarily played for the Boston Red Sox. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he was drafted by the Red Sox in 2001, after playing college baseball at the University of Cincinnati.
Eva Longoria, 49 years
Eva Jacqueline Longoria Bastón is an American actress, producer, director and business woman. After a number of guest roles on several television series, she was recognized for her portrayal of Isabella Braña on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless, on which she starred from 2001 to 2003.
Olamide, 35 years
Olamide Gbenga Adedeji is a Nigerian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. One of the most influential artists in Africa, he has been pivotal to the creative and commercial success of several commercial success of several Afrobeats music stars, and is consistently praised for his role in elevating Street Pop to mainstream recognition as a distinct music genre. He is 35 today.
Kindly like, comment, follow, and share.