Born on this Day 18th March
1496 Mary Tudor
1603 Simon Bradstreet
1679 Matthew Decker
1828 William Randal Cremer
1840 William Cosmo Monkhouse
1844 Nikolai Rimsky Korsakov
1848 Princess Louise
1858 Rudolf Diesel
1869 Neville Chamberlain
1891 Alice Cullen
1893 Wilfred Owen
1905 Robert Donat
1907 John Zachary Young
1919 Christopher Challis
1925 James Pickles
1932 John Updike
1934 Roy Chapman
1939 Kenny Lynch
1939 Ron Atkinson
1949 Alex Higgins
1952 Pat Eddery
1959 Irene Cara
1960 James Plasket
1963 Vanessa Williams
1964 Courtney Pine
1964 Paul Elliott
1966 Peter Jones
1969 Andy Cutting
1969 Shaun Udal
1970 Queen Latifah
1977 Danny Murphy
1980 Sophia Myles
1985 Marvin Humes

Died on this Day
1988 Percy Thrower
1999 Rod Hull
2001 John Phillips

Music

1959 EMi discontinued the manufacture of 78 rpm singles.

1973 Wings played a benefit gig for the drug rehabilitation organisation Release at the Hard Rock Cafe in London.

1977 ‘White Riot’ , The Clash’s debuted single, was released in the UK.

1982 Soul singer Teddy Prendergrass was paralyzed from the waist down after being involved in a car crash.

Sport

1950 Roger Bannister ran the mile in a new record time of four minutes 1.48 seconds.

1995 The Home Office planned to cut the number of police officers used inside football and other stadiums by half and make event organisers replace them with private stewards and security guards.

People & Showbiz

1314 Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake.

1922 In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience. He would serve only 2 years.

1990 The BAFTA awards took place , with John Thaw named as Best TV Actor for the title role of ‘Inspector Morse’.

General Events

1834 Six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England are sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union.

1931 Electric razors were manufactured for the first time, by Schick Incorporated in Stanford, Connecticut.

1965 Soviet cosmonaut Lt Col Leanor made the first ever space walk when he left his space craft Voskod II and floated in space for 12 minutes and 9 seconds, travelling a distance of 3,000 miles at a speed of 17,500 mph, connected only by a nylon cord.

1988 The Queen formally opened Gatwick’s new £210 million terminal.

1989 Explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes had to abandon his walk to the North Pole unsupported after only travelling 10 miles in 2 days. He blamed appalling surface conditions which made pulling the sledges impossible.

1990 The UK suffered a March heatwave with temperatures reaching 21 degrees centigrade, 70 degrees fahrenheit in some areas.

1991 The Royal Green Jackets lowered their regimental flag and thus put an end to the presence of an English batallion on Gibraltar. A locally recruited Gibraltar Regiment took over and would mount guard at the governor’s house. The British captured Gibraltar in 1704.

1991 In the wake of victory against Iraq, President Bush announced he was to embark on a five-nation tour of the Middle East in late April.

1992 White South Africans vote overwhelmingly in favour, in a national referendum, to end the racist policy of Apartheid.

2003 British Sign Language is recognised as an official British language.