This Day In History: March 23, 1839 OK is an expression that almost all of us, young or old, rich or poor, sprinkle throughout our sentences all day, every day. We use it so often and with so many shades of meaning that most of us assume it’s been around since the Big Bang. Surprisingly, the expression isn’t even two […]

This Day In History: March 20, 1778 In the 18th century, as is the case now, politics was a dirty, self-serving business. During its earliest days as a nation, the United States of America deftly took advantage of France’s age-old antipathy towards England. In turn, King Louis XVI of France was using the Americans to vex his old enemies as […]

This Day In History: March 19, 1976 Divorce has become as commonplace, if not more so, in the British Royal Family as it is among us mere peasants; three out of the present Queen’s four offspring have had failed marriages. But before the rash of royal divorces in the 1990s, the break-up of a royal union was a Really Big […]

This Day In History: March 18, 1911 “My struggles didn’t actually begin until after I’d written Alexander’s Ragtime Band. It’s been a struggle ever since to keep success going.” – Irving Berlin Before the phonograph and radio became common fixtures in most homes, popular music still thrived through the sale of sheet music. Families would gather around the piano and […]

This Day In History: March 17, 461 After St. Patrick’s death on March 17, 461, his story was largely forgotten. It took centuries for him to attain mythological status, and even at that, the St. Patrick that is revered today bears little resemblance to the man who actually existed. To begin with, St. Patrick wasn’t Irish. He was born as […]

This Day In History: March 16, 1190 The Jewish people inspired fear, revulsion and hatred among the English during the Middle Ages. They looked and talked a little different, their customs were different, and their religion was different. They were also reviled as the killers of Christ, a Jew who advocated “love thy neighbor as thyself” second only in importance […]

This Day In History: March 13, 1942 Dogs had been trained for military purposes by both sides during World War I. Once the war was over, the practice was temporarily abandoned. On March 13, 1942, the Quartermaster Corps of the U.S. Army once again began training dogs for the now official War Dog Program called the K-9 Corps. Over a […]

This Day In History: March 12, 1969 March 12, 1969, was a busy day in the Land of Fab Four. Paul McCartney, the last bachelor Beatle, married his girlfriend Linda Eastman, while George and Pattie Harrison were paid a visit by the Drugs Squad. One of the most enduring marriages in rock began, after a night of intense arguing according […]

This Day In History: March 11, 1888 On March 10, 1888, temperatures in the Northeast rose into the 50s after an exceptionally mild winter. Farmers were beginning to ready their fields, crocuses were sprouting in some areas, and people were looking forward to an early spring. By March 11, the region was caught in the grip of what became known […]

This Day In History: March 10, 1969 Escaped convict James Earl Ray pled guilty to the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on March 10, 1969. King was shot and killed while standing on the balcony outside his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. (This also lead to the death of a hotel worker. […]

This Day In History: March 9, 1959 “My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices.” – Ruth Handler, creator of Barbie On March 9, 1959, the American Toy Fair in New York City had the distinction of being […]

This Day In History: March 6, 1899 On March 6, 1899, the mainstay of medicine cabinets around the globe, acetylsalicylic acid, was patented by The Friedrich Bayer & Co. under the trade name Aspirin at the Imperial patent office in Berlin. After well over a century, it’s still one of the most effective, versatile, and commonly used medications world-wide. Although […]

This Day In History: March 5, 1969 On March 5, 1969 an arrest warrant was issued for Jim Morrison for one felony count of lewd and lascivious behavior, along with three additional misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure, open profanity, and drunkenness. These charges stemmed from a Doors performance on March 1st at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Coconut Grove Miami, […]

This Day In History: March 4, 1678 One of the most influential and renowned figures in European classical music, Antonio Vivaldi was born on March 4, 1678 in Venice, Italy. Music was in his blood – his father Giovanni was an accomplished violinist and Antonio’s first music teacher. Because of his father’s connections, the young boy was able to meet […]

This Day In History: March 3, 1887 On March 3, 1887, the lives of two extraordinary women were changed forever when Anne Sullivan, an impoverished graduate of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, arrived at the home of the well-heeled Kellers to work with their daughter Helen. Obviously bright but over-indulged by her parents, Helen was unable to see, hear […]

This Day In History: March 2, 1978 On the rainy, moonless night of March 2, 1978, two men entered a small village cemetery on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland, to commit a macabre crime. After a bit of stumbling around in the dark, they located the grave of the world’s most renowned comedian, Sir Charles Chaplin, who had recently […]

This Day In History: February 27, 1907 On February 27, 1907, the two leading theorists in the field of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, met in person for the first time after corresponding for almost a year. Their first conversation reportedly lasted for over 13 hours, so it’s safe to say the two men hit it off. At first. […]

This Day In History: February 26, 1932 “He is what the land and country is all about, the heart and soul of it personified and what it means to be here; and he said it all in plain English. Listen to him, and he will always bring you to your senses.” – Bob Dylan Born on February 26, 1932, John […]