Born on this Day 7th March
1792 John Herschel
1802 Sir Edward Landseer
1859 Kenneth Grahame
1875 Maurice Ravel
1930 The Earl of Snowdon
1938 Janet Guthrie
1944 Sir Ranulph Fiennes
1946 Matthew Fisher
1952 Sir Viv Richards
1958 Rik Mayall
1960 Ivan Lendl
1973 Ray Parlour
1990 Abigail and Brittany Hensel

Died on this Day
1809 Jean Pierre Blanchard
1988 Divine
2000 Stanley Kubrick

Music

1963 In London, Cliff Richard and Frank Ifield recorded appearances to be used on US television’s top rated ‘Ed Sullivan’ Show.

1969 The Who’s version of ‘Pinball Wizard’ was released in the UK.

1985 The song ‘We Are The World’ was heard on the radio for the first time.

1987 Two hits from the sixties held the top two places in the UK singles chart, ‘Stand By Me’ from Ben E King and ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’ by Percy Sledge.

Sport

1989 Ted Dexter was chosen as chairman of the England cricket selectors.

People & Showbiz

1983 Princess Michael of Kent was attacked by a man wearing a wolf’s head as she toured The Daily Mail’s Ideal Home Exhibition.

1984 Teacher Keith Jefferson from California beacame the first black man to play God in the New York Mystery Plays which were to be staged later in the year.

1995 Robert Stephens, the actor, was invested by the Queen at Buckingham Palace with his knighthood.

General Events

1866 The Albert Medal for gallantry was instituted. It was replaced by the George Cross in 1940.

1900 Part of the roof of Buckingham Palace was destroyed by fire.

1912 French aviator Henri Seimet became the first person to fly non-stop from Paris to London, taking 3 hours to complete the journey.

1969 London Underground’s new Victoria line from Victoria to Walthamstow, was opened by the Queen.

1984 Stephen Waldorf, having been shot by police in 1983, having been mistaken for escaped convict David Martin, received £120,000 compensation.

1989 Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations after a row over Salman Rushdie and his controversial novel.

1991 Four lions escaped from Chipperfields Circus in Grimsby and roamed the streets for an hour.

1995 The Bentley Azure was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show with a price ticket of £215,000, the most expensive production car Rolls Royce has ever built. With a 6.7 litre, turbo charged V-8 engine and a top speed of 150mph, it accelerates from 0-60mph in just 6.3 seconds.

2007 British House of Commons votes to make the upper chamber, the House of Lords, 100% elected.