Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
On 31, Monday March 1919, A general strike begins in the Ruhr.
On 31, Friday March 1944, Maurice Blackburn, died (born 1880), politician
On 31, Friday March 1944, Antoni Kiewnarski, Polish WWII hero, died (b. 1899)
On 31, Friday March 1944, Mineichi Koga, Japanese admiral, died (b. 1885)
On 31, Friday March 1944, Włodzimierz Kolanowski, Polish army officer, died (b. 1913)
On 31, Tuesday March 1959, USA: Busch Gardens opens in Tampa, Florida.
On 31, Tuesday March 1959, India: The Dalai Lama is granted asylum.
On 31, Tuesday March 1959, Markus Hediger, Swiss writer and translator, born
On 31, Monday March 1969, Ernest Wetherell, politician
On 31, Monday March 1969, The Barroterán coal mine disaster kills 153 coal miners in Mexico
On 31, Monday March 1969, George de la Warr, British alternative physician, died (b. 1904)
On 31, Saturday March 1979, The last British soldier (belonging to the Royal Navy) leaves the Maltese Islands, after 179 years of presence. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
On 31, Saturday March 1979, Gali Atari and Milk and Honey win the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 for Israel, with the song Hallelujah.
On 31, Saturday March 1979, Tanya Tate, English porn actress, born
On 31, Friday March 1989, Phase 1 of Aggregation of television services occurs in Southern NSW, with WIN Television becoming a regional Nine Network affiliate, Prime Television becoming the Seven Network affiliate & Capital Television (now Southern Cross Ten) becoming the Network Ten affiliate.
On 31, Friday March 1989, Liu Zige, Chinese swimmer, born
On 31, Friday March 1989, Piotr Belousov, Soviet painter, died (b. 1912)
On 31, Thursday March 1994, The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull.
On 31, Wednesday March 1999, Sawyer Fredericks, American singer-songwriter, born
On 31, Wednesday March 1999, Jens Odgaard, Danish footballer, born
On 31, Wednesday March 1999, Yuri Knorozov, Russian linguist and epigrapher, died (b. 1922)
On 31, Tuesday March 2009, Torrential rain around the mid-north New South Wales coast leaves thousands stranded and forces people from over 100 properties to evacuate in the Coffs Harbour area.
On 31, Tuesday March 2009, Raúl Alfonsín, 49th President of Argentina, died (b. 1927)
On 31, Monday March 2014, David Hannay, 74, film producer, died
On 31, Monday March 2014, The United Nations International Court of Justice rules that Japan’s Antarctic whaling program is not scientific but commercial and forbids grants of further permits.
On 31, Monday March 2014, Frankie Knuckles, American disk jockey and record producer, died (b. 1955)
Other On This Day days in history
Neville Buch