Born on this Day 8th March
1286 John III, Duke of Brittany
1712 John Fothergill
1726 Richard Howe
1879 Otto Hahn
1921 Cyd Charisse
1942 Ann Packer
1943 Lynn Redgrave
1943 Michael Grade
1945 Micky Dolenz
1948 Dr. Jonathan Sacks
1954 David Wilkie
1954 Cheryl Baker
1957 Clive Burr
1958 Gary Numan
1976 Gaz Coombes
1979 Tom Chaplin
1988 Elly Jackson
1990 Ben Tozer

Died On This Day
1702 King William III
2001 Dame Ninette De Valois OM CH DBE
2003 Adam Faith

Music

1957 The editor of the NME predicted that the newcomer Tommy Sandswould soon eclipse Elvis Presley.

1969 The Beatles held the top 2 positions on the US album charts with ‘The Beatles’ and ‘Yellow Submarine’.

1980 The first festival of rock music kicks off in the Soviet Union.

1986 Diana Ross topped the UK chart with ‘Chain Reaction’, a record that did not even make the top 40 in her homeland.

Sport

1984 The British Medical Association’s board of science claimed there was evidence beyond doubt that brain damage commonly occured in amateur and professional boxers.

1992 It was reported that, having already barred a fan for carrying a cheese pasty, private security staff at Scarborough’s football ground had banned another for throwing a chocolate digestive biscuit onto the pitch .

People & Showbiz

1970 Samual Beckett’s play ‘Breath’, lasting only a minute in its entirety, received its premiere in Oxford.

1971 Associated Newspapers announced that the Daily Sketch was to be closed down after 62 years of publication.

1978 The first-ever radio episode of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4.

1993 The first episode of cult science fiction series ‘Babylon 5’ was broadcast in the US.

General Events

1702 Anne Stuart, sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

1817 The New York Stock Exchange is founded.

1910 The first pilot’s licence in Britain was issued.

1911 International Women’s Day is launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany.

1950 The last of the RAF’s Lancaster bombers was retired from service.

1966 IAn IRA bomb destroyed the Nelson column in Dublin.

1974 Charles de Gaulle Airport opens in Paris, France.

1983 A new generation of hovercraft was launched by inventor, Sir Christopher Cockerell, in the Isle of Wight. The new hovercraft halved the running costs of the original.

1995 A memorial garden for the 1,490 people lost in the sinking of The Titanic was to be opened in April at the National Maritime Museum.

1997 Subbeteo announced they were to move production out of the country. The game was invented in Tunbridge Wells, Kent and the move would mean the loss of 250 British jobs.