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reetings from Australia. 

Welcome to this Red-Letter Day. Below you will find today's global celebrations, birthdays and events.

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Pip Wilson

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Today is

Saint Patrick, as in legends told,
The morning being very cold,
In order to assuage the weather,
Collected bits of ice together;
Then gently breathed upon the pyre,
When every fragment blazed on fire.
Oh! if the saint had been so kind,
As to have left the gift behind
To such a lovelorn wretch as me,
Who daily struggles to be free;
I'd be content – content with part,
I'd only ask to thaw the heart,
The frozen heart, of Polly Roe.
Irish ballad

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
Irish blessing

For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad,
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad.
GK Chesterton, from 'The Ballad of the White Horse', 1911

… a man known only to very few by name – apart from a handful of psychiatrists (Freud, Jung, et al) and secret policemen – and among those few only to those who plucked his feathers to adorn their own posteriors.
Anton Kuh, writing of Otto Gross, Austrian libertarian psychoanalyst, born on March 17, 1877

There is a world beyond ours, a world that is far away, nearby, and invisible, and there is where God lives, where the dead live, the spirits and the saints. A world where everything has already happened and everything is known. That world talks. It has a language of its own. I report what it says. The sacred mushroom takes me by the hand and brings me to the world where everything is known. It is they, the sacred mushrooms, that speak in a way that I can understand. I ask them and they answer me. When I return from the trip that I have taken with them, I tell what they have told me and what they have shown me.
Maria Sabina, Mazatec shaman, born on March 17, 1898   Source

I was eight years old when a brother of my mother fell sick. He was very sick, and the shamans of the sierra that had tried to cure him with herbs could do nothing for him. Then I remembered what the teo-nanacatl [mushrooms] told me: that I should go and look for them when I needed help. So I went to take the sacred mushrooms, and I brought them to my uncle's hut. I ate them in front of my uncle, who was dying. And immediately the teo-nanacatl took me to their world, and I asked them what my uncle had and what I could do to save him. They told me an evil spirit had entered the blood of my uncle and that to cure him we should give him some herbs, not those the curanderos gave him, but others. I asked where these herbs could be found, and they took me to a place on the mountain where tall trees grew and the waters of a brook ran, and they showed me the herb that I should pull from the earth and the road I had to take to find them...[After regaining consciousness] it was the same place that I had seen during the trip, and they were the same herbs. I took them, I brought them home, I boiled them in water, and I gave them to my uncle. A few days later the brother of my mother was cured.
Maria Sabina, Mazatec shaman, born on March 17, 1898   Source

I am a woman who looks into the insides of things, says
I am a woman who investigates, says
I am a woman who shouts, says
I am a woman who resounds, says
I am a woman torn up out of the ground, says
I am a woman wise in medicine, says
I am a woman wise in herbs, says
I am a woman of light, says
I am a woman of heaven, says
I am a woman who gives life
I am a woman who reanimates 
Healing chant of Maria Sabina, Mazatec shaman, born on March 17, 1898. ("Says" refers to the fact that, as Maria believed, they are the mushrooms' words, not her own.)   Source

Before Wasson, I felt that the mushrooms exalted me. Now I no longer feel this ... from the moment the strangers arrived ... the mushrooms lost their purity. They lost their power. They decomposed. From that moment on, they no longer worked.
Maria Sabina, Mazatec shaman, born on March 17, 1898   Source 

The trouble with the yanks is, they're over-paid, over-sexed ... and over here!
A popular saying by Aussie men during the days that nearly a million American servicemen were garrisoned in Australia. General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Brisbane on March 17, 1942 to set up the Allied command for the south-west Pacific. 

If you can remember anything about the sixties, you weren't really there. 
Paul Kantner, frontman with The Jefferson Airplane, born on March 17, 1942

The future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed.
William Gibson, author and futurist born on March 17, 1948; during an NPR interview (November 1999)

More quotes by William Gibson at Wikiquote

Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.
USA President George W Bush; lying in an address to the people of the USA, March 17, 2003

Source: Bush Administration Officials' Lies about Iraq's Supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction in Their Own Words

March 17 is the 76^th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77^th in leap years), with 289 days remaining.
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Will y' be wearin' the green on St Patrick's Day?

(Shamrock, Trifolium repens [seamair bhán], is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

 

And will ye be drownin' the shamrock as well? For 'tis St Patrick's Day, one of the most widely celebrated national and religious feasts in the world.  

St Patrick's day is celebrated around the world, but you won't be finding the Irish in their native land drinking green-coloured beer, wearing enormous shamrocks, or dressing in green from head to toe.  They might be marching in a parade, having a night out, or taking the opportunity to get away for a long weekend.

Elsewhere, however, this is the day of days for those with even the slightest claim to Irish blood (and even for some of those without), a day when all can revel in the pride of association with that remarkable race of people which has contributed so much to world culture.

Celebration of this saint's day reaches its highest fervour in several parts of the United States, where St Patrick's Day parades have long been a part of the multicultural calendar. Irish immigrants made up a large segment of American society by the nineteenth century, particularly after An Gorta Mor, the disastrous Irish potato famine of 1845 - 47, during which time emigration and death reduced the population of the small island by two million souls. Even during the preceding century, the homesick Irish naturally gathered in their adopted countries, such as America and Australia, on the day of their national patron saint to celebrate their Irishness.

Today the annual St Patrick's Day parade in New York draws hundreds of thousands of participants and spectators. Dating back to 1762, this event is a parade of international fame and significance, in which Irish-Americans and Irish 'wannabes' let their hair down. The parade in Boston reaches back even further in time, having first been celebrated in 1737.

America's oldest Irish society, the Hibernian Society, was founded in 1812 in Savannah, Georgia. The next year they held their first private procession, the forerunner of Savannah's famous annual St Patrick's Day parade. In Savannah, as in other parts of the States, you can close your eyes and hold your nose to partake in some of the ubiquitous green-dyed beer and green donuts.  

Saint Patrick was an historical character who was born in an unknown place called Bannavem, probably in England or South Wales, about 389 CE. His father, Calpurnius, was a Roman official and deacon of the Christian Church.

At the age of 16, Patrick was captured by Celtic raiders and spent six years as a slave swineherd on an Irish farm, where he learned the Irish language, until he escaped to Europe. There he studied theology and was sent by Pope Celestine I back to Ireland to teach the natives about Christianity.  

Landing at Wicklow in 432, he soon established religious communities and churches, despite the relentless opposition of the established religion of the pagan Druids - a religion that in succeeding centuries was fiercely suppressed ...

 

Read on at the St Patrick's Day page    Irish genealogy search for our readers

A collection of Irish toasts and blessings    St Brendan's amazing voyage

About Lammas/Lughnasadh    Vikings!    Danny Boy - An Old Irish Ballad - NOT!    More

 

 

 

St Patrick's Day in the news

 

St Patrick's shared grave

It is thought that saint Patrick was buried at Downpatrick (appropriately), with the bones of St Bridget and St Columb.

Patrick's jawbone

Patrick's jawbone was for a long time in the possession of a humble family near Belfast. Accused people could place their hand on it and would be struck down by God if they lied. The relic was said to help women in childbirth. It also cured epilepsy, and protected against witches and the evil eye.

St Patrick's Day, Dublin

At daybreak on St Patrick's Day in Dublin, flags fly on steeples and the bells ring till midnight. The wealthy traditionally give gifts to the poor, and shamrocks are traditionally worn in hats. There are dances and sports featuring the shillelah.

St Patrick festival, London

In 19^th-Century London, a festival of Irishmen took place every year on St Patrick's Day, which was also the anniversary of the Society of St Patrick which aided children of Irish parents.

At the patron

In old Ireland, it was traditional for rural folk to hold a patron (pron. pattern), or fair, on St Patrick's Day, usually a day of singing, dancing and sometimes fighting.

Patrick's pilgrimage

Traditionally, the faithful have made an annual pilgrimage on this day to Croagh Patrick, the mountain from which the saint banished Ireland's venomous creatures.

Dying wish

When St Patrick was dying, he asked his lamenting followers not to grieve, but rather to rejoice at his easy death, and asked each of them to have a drop to drink. This is why the Irish have a crathur on St Patrick's Day... or so it is said. After dining it is traditional to stay a while over a 'Patrick's pot'.

Scottish Patrick

In the Scottish highlands and islands, St Patrick is honoured as much as in Ireland, and today is considered the first day of Spring. In the Hebrides, a south wind is expected this morning, bringing Patrick to visit his faithful. In the evening, a north wind should return him to Ireland.

Paddy's shamrakh

The trefoil (shamrock) is called in Arabic the shamrakh. The Roman Pliny wrote that the serpent is never found near the trefoil and that the plant was a remedy for snake and scorpion bites.

The shamrock

Think of St Patrick and you think of the shamrock, which the ancient Druids used as a healing herb. When Patrick landed near Wicklow to convert the Irish in 433, he explained the Trinity to the pagans by picking a shamrock and showing the three leaves on the one stalk, like the three parts of the Godhead in one.

What is the shamrock?

The Irish seamrog means little clover, but the identity of the Emerald Isle's most famous plant has long been disputed. Some say it was the Wood Sorrell, but these days Irishmen everywhere will don the Lesser Yellow Trefoil.

Lucky find

To find a four-leaved shamrock or clover is considered lucky, but not if you went looking for it. It must be found by chance.

Plant sweet peas now

A Paddy's Day recipe: Beef and Guinness Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pint Guinness
3 pounds stewing beef, cut into cubes
3 tablespoons oil
4 tablespoons butter
2 to 3 onions, peeled and sliced
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 pound mushrooms, quartered
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons minced parsley

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325°F/165°C. In a large pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Brown the meat, 3 to 5 minutes on each side, then transfer to a large casserole dish.

Add the butter to the pan and when hot, add the onions and cook for 5 minutes, or until browned. Add the celery and carrots and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, or until tender. Reduce heat to simmer, stir in the flour, cook for 2 minutes, or until blended. Add the Guinness, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Pour the vegetables over the meat, cover and cook for about 2 hours, or until the meat is tender. Stir occasionally and check the liquid level. Add a little more Guinness if the stew seems dry. Adjust seasonings and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serves 6.

You'll get more relatively traditional recipes here.

Kindly submitted by Nora from Extra! Extra!

 

BBC's Book of Irish facts (requires Flash)    St Patrick's life in his own words    Public holidays in the Republic of Ireland

Ancient Order of Hibernians    Irish Banned from NY Gay Halloween Parade

ReligionFacts.com: St Patrick's Day    History & Ritual of Irish Fraternal Organizations    Irish calendar

Irish festivals around the world    Four-leaf clover    St Patrick's Day in Australia

Meagher & Young Irelanders page in the Scriptorium

Irish Potato Famine (An Gorta Mor, or An Gorta Mór) in the Book of Days

An Gorta Mor    Irish History: The 'Famine' and Emigration    An Gorta Mor, the "famine"

An Gorta Mor in Book of Days     An tInneal Mallachtaí (Irish curse engine)

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The day that Noah entered the Ark (traditional; dates vary) Farvardigan, The Ten Days of the Dead, ancient Persia, Zoroastrianism (Mar 10 - 20) Lesser Panathenaea, festival of Athena, ancient Greece (Mar 15 - 18) Festival of the god Mars, ancient Rome (Mar 1 - 19) Festival of Hilaria, in honour of the Mother of Gods, ancient Rome (Mar 15 - 27) The second day of the Liberalia (a Bacchanalian festival) in honour of Dionysus, ancient Rome (Mar 16 - 17) Kustonu Diena, ancient Latvia To ward against insects, nothing could be planted on this day. The flour-mill was rotated nine times in the morning, when sparrows were driven from the homes, to ward against them for the summer. Spinning linen was forbidden as it attracted wolves. Embroidering and sewing forbidden, or else worms would infect crops and moles would dig holes, respectively.  Also known as Getrudas Diena (St Gertrude's Day). Celtic tree month of Nuin/Nion (Ash) Feb 18 - Mar 17 ends Trefuilnid Treochair (triple bearer of the triple key), national day of Ireland Egyptian day (dies egypticus, dies ægypticus or dies mala), unlucky day in Medieval Europe. ("But, notwithstanding, I will trust the Lord" was the associated saying.) Feast day of St Agricola Feast day of St Gertrude of Nivelles, Belgium (Sweet violet, Viola odorata, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.) Gertrude (626 - March 17, 659) was the aunt of the father of the French hero, Charles Martel. Gertrude was noted for her devoted care of the poor and she was reputed to know most of the Bible by heart. In art, she is represented as being in such rapt contemplation that a mouse is running up her pastoral staff unnoticed. Twice in her life St Gertrude was surrounded by a mysterious light. Once, while she prayed, a luminous globe descended on her, and the whole church was lit for half an hour. On another occasion, a ball of fire settling on her head was witnessed by other nuns. St Gertrude is the patron saint of travellers and also is invoked for protection and for gardening work. More Feast day of St Jan Sarkander Feast day of St Juan Nepomuceno Zegrí y Moreno Feast day of St Joseph of Arimathea This St Joseph was a rich Jew, probably a member of the Sanhedrin, who, after the Crucifixion, put the body of Jesus Christ in his own tomb. (Matthew xxvii, 57-60). Tradition says St Joseph of Arimathea, Christ's uncle, was imprisoned for twelve years and kept alive by the Holy Grail. On his release by the Emperor Vespasian, he brought the Grail, as well as the spear that wounded Christ (see March 15), to Britain where he started the conversion of the Britons and founded the Abbey at Glastonbury, where he is buried. Because St Joseph of Arimathea lent his tomb for the burial of Jesus Christ, the saint is the patron of funeral directors, coffin-bearers, undertakers and pallbearers. The Glastonbury thorn The thorn tree at Glastonbury grew when Joseph of Arimathea stuck his staff in the ground at Glastonbury, and always bloomed on Christmas Day. Or, so it is said. Joseph was a tin man Tradition says that St Joseph of Arimathea was a tin trader who followed ancient Phoenician tin trade routes to Britain, which is historically feasible. In Cornwall, an old saying amongst miners is "Joseph was a tin man". It has even been said that he took his nephew, Jesus, to Glastonbury in England on one of his journeys. Joseph is thus also the patron of tin miners and tin smiths.   For more on Joseph of Arimathea, see January 5, January 24, April 22, May 19, May 25 and June 20 in the Book of Days. Feast day of many martyrs of Alexandria Feast day of St Paul of Cyprus Feast day of St Peter Lieou Feast day of St Thomasello Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints World Maritime Day Evacuation Day, Boston, Massachusetts, USA From Wikipedia: In Suffolk County, Massachusetts, March 17 is Evacuation Day, an official holiday commemorating the evacuation of the city by British forces on March 17, 1776 (see American Revolutionary War). By happy coincidence, March 17 also happens to be St Patrick's Day. Evacuation Day is also observed in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The holiday was first proclaimed in 1941. Camp Fire Girls Founder's Day, USA The Camp Fire Girls organisation was founded on March 17, 1910, by Luther Gulick and his wife Charlotte (formally announced in 1912). Fallas fire festival, Valencia, Spain "Annual festival in Valencia, when giant sculptures are burnt in bonfires across the region. The tradition (according to Christians) is thought to have originated in ancient times from carpenters burning unwanted wood at the start of spring. In the Catalan language, fallas means 'fire'." Source: Earth, Moon and Sky Saint Patrick's Day public holiday, Montserrat       1473 King James IV of Scotland (d. 1513) 1777 Roger Taney (d. 1864), USA Chief Justice 1787 Edmund Kean (d. May 15, 1833), British Shakespearian actor 1804 Jim Bridger (d. 1881), pioneer of the Western United States 1808 Bishop Frederic Barker (d. April 6, 1882), English-born second Anglican Bishop of Sydney. About 195.5cm (6' 5") tall and a teetotaller, his name was jokingly given to the largest glass of beer sold in late-19th-Century Sydney. He was a graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge, and British Archbishop John Bird Sumner recommended him for the Diocese of Sydney. Barker was of frail health and was persuaded that "the comparative leisure of a Bishop of Sydney should encourage him to accept". He arrived in Sydney in 1855 and gave 27 years of service. His achievements include the foundation of Moore Theological College and of The Church Society (now the Home Mission Society) in 1856, and the completion of St Andrew's Cathedral in 1868. Under his guidance, The Clergy Widows and Orphans Fund was established in 1867, and the Clergy Superannuation Fund in 1876. He left Sydney in March, 1881, to visit England, but his health failed there and he never returned, dying soon after. Barker's Evangelicalism has left a strong imprint on the Sydney Diocese. His wife's father, John Harden, was a friend of William Wordsworth and his circle. 1820 Jean Ingelow (d. 1897), English poet 1834 Gottlieb Daimler (d. 1900), German engineer and inventor, pioneer of motor cars   1836 Henry Slade (d. September 8, 1905), controversial American medium and fraudster best known for his 'slate-writing' phenomena, and who came up for trial at the Bow Street Police Court, London on October 1, 1876. Pictured: Henry Slade in 1876; click image to open contemporary cartoon in a new window At the peak of the medium's fame, a magistrate sentenced Slade, under the Vagrancy Act of 1838, to three months' imprisonment with hard labour. The conviction was nullified on technical grounds, whereupon Slade hastily departed for the Continent before a fresh summons could be issued. Slade had arrived in England on July 13 the same year for a series of 'spiritual' demonstrations, at the invitation of Helena Blavatsky and Henry S Olcott, co-founders of the Theosophical Society. In his 1926 book, The History of Spiritualism, Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930) wrote the chapter, 'Henry Slade and Dr. Monck' (Ch. XIII), defending the medium and referring to Slade's 1878 visit to Australia, which was recorded in a book by James Curtis, Rustlings in the Golden City (Ballard, 1894). In 1885, Slade was tested in Philadelphia by the medium-busting Seybert Commission and was caught in obvious fraud. "The exposure by the Seybert Commission was preceded by J. W. Truesdell's revelations. In Bottom Facts of Spiritualism (1883), he claimed to have caught Slade in cheating and narrates an amusing incident. He had discovered a slate with a prepared message in the séance room. He stealthily added another message of his own: 'Henry, look out for this fellow; he is up to snuff – Alcinda.' He says that he enjoyed Slade's discomfiture when, at the appropriate moment, the unrehearsed message came to light."   Source During the last years of his life, Slade fell victim to alcohol addiction, and, in 1905, died penniless at the Battle Creek Sanatorium (Phelps Sanitarium) at Battle Creek, Michigan, USA, to which he had been sent by American Spiritualists. It has been said that in his prime, he had been worth US$1 million (an extraordinary amount in the 19th Century) as a result of the money he earned from his 'supernatural powers'. Contemporary NY Times report    More   1846 Kate Greenaway, English illustrator of children's books such as Mother Goose (1881), Little Ann (1883), and The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1889). The Kate Greenaway Medal was established by The (American) Library Association in 1955, for distinguished illustration in a book for children. 1862 Silvio Gesell (d. 1930), economist 1866 Pierce Butler (d. 1939) , USA Supreme Court justice 1870 Horace Donisthorpe, (d. 1951) British entomologist, myrmecologist and coleopterist 1873 Margaret Bondfield, first British female cabinet minister (Minister of Labour 1929 - '31) 1877 Otto Gross (d. 1920), Austrian pioneer psychoanalyst and libertarian revolutionary. Gross was involved in the development of psychiatry and psychoanalysis as well as in the modern literature of Expressionism and Dadaism. "A generation before Wilhelm Reich, Gross was the first analyst to emphasise the dialectical interdependence between individual inner change and collective political change. He tried to live his radical ideas in both his private and professional life -- which he refused to separate -- and thus became unacceptable to those trying to establish the credibility of analysis as a science in the eyes of society and academe."   Source: The Daily Bleed 1880 Sir Patrick Hastings (d. 1952), barrister 1880 Lawrence Oates, British explorer who sacrificed his life for the Scott expedition today or on the day before his 32nd birthday 1884 Alcide Nunez (d. 1934), jazz musician 1894 Paul Green (d. 1981), novelist, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright 1895 Shemp Howard (Samuel Horwitz; d. 1955), actor (with Larry Fine and brother Moe Howard, one of the Three Stooges). The verb 'to shemp' ('to fake') was coined from Shemp Howard's name, inspired by Columbia's use of an uncredited double in order to complete several Three Stooges shorts left uncompleted at the time of Shemp Howard's death. Shemp was also a brother of Stooge Curly Howard. 1895 Lloyd Rees, Australian landscape painter who won the Wynne Prize for his landscape paintings twice (1950 and 1982)   1898 Maria Sabina (d. November 22, 1985), Mazatec shaman, under whose guidance R Gordon Wasson and Allan Richardson on June 29, 1955, each consumed six pairs of the mushroom Psilocybe caerulescens var. Psilocybe caerulescens var. mazatecorum. The event was at a velada, or vigil, at the home of her friend Cayetano García. Wasson's account, and a LIFE magazine article on June 10, 1957, brought international fame to Sabina, but it was a fame that she came to hate. She had asked Wasson not to share photographs taken during their velada, but he had allowed LIFE to publish them. Some of the celebrities who travelled to her hometown of Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, Mexico, seeking the spiritual guidance of the Mazatec curandera (shaman, or spirit-healer), include John Lennon, Pete Townshend, Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan. The Mazatec people live near Mazatlan in the Oaxaca mountains of southern Mexico. Mazatecs are most known for their cultivation, and spiritual/traditional use, of the sage salvia divinorum (diviners' sage). The Mazatecs' religion is a synthesis of both traditional beliefs and Christian beliefs brought by the Spanish conquistadors. This accounts for their naming of such entheogens as salvia divinorum (Ska Maria Pastora), 'Maria' being a reference to the Christian Virgin Mary. The Mazatecs still employ traditional shamans for their spiritual needs. "Although the Life article made Maria famous, it also brought her great suffering. Sadly, her home would later be burned and she was banished to the outskirts of town as punishment for divulging the Indians' age-old secret about their use of teonanacatl, or "God's Flesh." She never regretted having met Wasson, however, and felt that it was destiny."   Source "Psychoactive mushrooms were her primary tool for entering "non-ordinary reality." She worked within a Christian framework, believing, for example, that the mushrooms grew where Christ's blood had dripped onto the ground."   Source Big Sur Tapes: Mazatec Indians of Mexico    Shop Maria Sabina     Wasson's First Voyage   1908 Brigitte Helm (d. 1996), actress 1912 Bayard Rustin (d. 1987), civil rights activist 1918 Mercedes McCambridge, actress 1919 Nat King Cole (d. 1965), American singer (born Nathaniel Adams Coles) 1920 Mujibur Rahman (d. 1975), Prime Minister of Bangladesh 1926 Siegfried Lenz, writer 1936 Ladislav Kupkovic, composer 1938 Rudolf Nureyev (d. 1993), Siberian-born ballet dancer who defected to the West in Paris 1939 Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, first yachtsman to complete the non-stop solo circumnavigation of the world 1940 Mark White, Texas politician 1942 John Wayne Gacy (d. 1994), American serial killer 1944 John Sebastian, singer-songwriter, also a member of the 1960s folk/rock quartet Lovin' Spoonful 1942 Paul Kantner, American musician, guitarist, vocalist driving force and longest-serving member of classic rock bands The Jefferson Airplane and The Jefferson Starship, one-time partner of Grace Slick (b. 1939), before a messy lawsuit over use of the band name. Slick was allowed to continue using the name Starship; neither she nor Kantner were allowed to use either the words 'Jefferson' or 'Airplane' in their acts. Jefferson Airplane was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list     More 1945 Elis Regina (d. 1982), Brazilian singer 1947 Little Pattie (Patricia Amphlett), 1960s Australian pop singer who became a national star while a 15-year-old pupil of Sydney Girls High School; 1965 Australian Female Singer of the Year. A girl-next-door singer, she is the cousin of Divinyls raunchy lead singer, Christina Amphlett. "In 1966, Pattie (having dropped the 'Little') toured Vietnam to entertain Australian troops. Despite assurances of absolute safety, at the tender age of 17 she found herself being evacuated from the beach at Long Tan, and returned home a changed (and more politically mature) person … "Christina Amphlett, the provocative singer of 80s Australian rock band The Divinyls, is Little Pattie's cousin."   Source 1948 William Gibson, American-Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction. Gibson coined the term 'cyberspace' in his short story 'Burning Chrome' and later popularized the concept in his debut novel, Neuromancer (1984). He was hailed by The Guardian in 1999 as "probably the most important novelist of the past two decades" in terms of influence. His fiction is hailed by critics for its characterization of late capitalism, postindustrial society and the portents of the information age. William Gibson signs EmpowerThyself's "New Glory" Banner 1949 Patrick Duffy, actor 1951 Kurt Russell, actor 1954 Lesley-Anne Down, actress 1955 Gary Sinise, actor 1955 Paul Overstreet, country singer 1956 Patrick McDonnell, cartoonist 1962 Rob Sitch, Australian medical practitioner, writer, film director (The Castle; The Dish) and entertainer (Frontline, TV Series) "… 'The Castle,' a comedy about a father trying to save his pride and joy of a home from airport expansion. Self-financed, written in just two weeks, and shot in 11 days on Super 16mm, the Australian indie's simplicity and dead-pan humor made a big impact in its native land, where it became the highest-grossing domestic release of 1997, and at Sundance 1998, where it was picked up by Miramax for a reported $6 million."   Source 1964 Rob Lowe, actor 1967 Billy Corgan, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter 1967 Barry Minkow, fraudulant businessman 1973 Caroline Corr, singer, musician 1998 Briar Rose, my darling granddaughter   Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section Send free e-cards to friends & family for celebrations & any topic Do you forget birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule your cards to be sent during the coming year. Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards Nauroze [ Mar 20 ] Birthdays Holi (India) [ Varies ] St Patrick's Day [ Mar 17 ] Varies Full Moon Day Varies Friday the 13th Varies Buddhist e-cards Varies Christian e-cards Varies Hindu e-cards Varies Jewish e-cards Varies Muslim e-cards Varies Pagan e-cards Varies Peace e-cards Varies Friendship e-cards Varies Chinese New Year Varies Vasant Panchami Varies Maha Shivaratri Varies Mardi Gras Varies Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) Varies Ash Wednesday / Lent Varies Holi Varies Purim Varies Mothers' Day (UK) Varies Ugadi Varies Gudi Padwa March 9 Telephone Day 10 Money Day 11 Dream Day 11 Frankenstein's Birthday 12 Plant A Flower Day 12 Alfred Hitchcock Day 12 Department Store Day 13 Uranus Day 14 Pi Day 14 Potato Chip Day 14 Genius Day 14 White Day 15 Ides Of March 15 Buzzard Day 16 Everything You Do Is Right Day 16 St Urho's Day 16 Curlew Day 16 Hiccup Day 17 St Patrick's Day 17 St Patrick's Day Parade (New York) 17 Submarine Day 18 Paper Dress Day 18 Grandparents And Grandchildren Day 18 Quilting Day 19 Let's Laugh Day 19 St Joseph's Day 19 Chocolate Caramel Day 19 Swallows Day 20 Autumnal Equinox / Spring Equinox 20 Smile Rejuvenation Day 20 Astrology Day 21 Nowruz 21 Flower Day 21 Baha'i New Year 21 Single Parents Day 22 Sing Out Day 22 International Goof Off Day 22 Roller Coaster Day 22 World Water Day 23 Cuddly Kitten Day 23 Liberty Day 24 Chocolate Covered Raisins Day 24 Houdini Day 25 Pecan Day 25 Independence Day (Greece) 26 Birthday Of Robert Frost 27 Photography Day 27 Fly A Kite Day 27 World Theatre Day 28 Hot Tub Day 28 Respect Your Cat Day 30 Doctors' Day 31 Bunsen Burner Day ... More Events Visit the Blogmanac, where today's Almanac is 'live' And I hope you will sign my GuestMap Your family and friends will get a kick when they hear their own name being sung in 'Happy Birthday'!! You can schedule your singing cards in advance, and even add your own face to funny animations. (Pay cards)         If you are enjoying this page, click to receive similar items daily with a free subscription to Wilson's Almanac ezine Webmaster, webmasters free content, or else articles at very reasonable rates Pip Wilson's articles are available for your website or publication, on application. Further details   45 BCE Julius Caesar defeated the Pompeian forces of Roman statesman Titus Labienus (b. c. 100 BCE) and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda. Titus Labienus died, and Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey the Younger) was executed after the battle (April 12). This was the last battle of Julius Caesar's civil war against the conservative republicans and he was murdered on March 15 of the following year (44 BCE) by a younger generation of conservative republicans, led by Brutus and Cassius. 180 Death of Marcus Aurelius (b. 121), Roman emperor. c. 461 - 464 The death of St Patrick (b. c. 373), patron saint of Ireland; he died in Saul, County Down, in what is now Northern Ireland. 1040 Death of Harold Harefoot (b. c. 1016), King of England. 1058 Death of King Lulach I of Scotland (b. c. 1029). 1337 Edward, the Black Prince, was made the first Duke of Cornwall by his father, King Edward III of England. 1425 Death of Ashikaga Yoshikazu (b. 1407), Ashikaga shogun. 1649 Oliver Cromwell abolished the monarchy of England. 1673 Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet began their exploration of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. 1704 Death of Menno van Coehoorn (b. 1641), Dutch military engineer. 1740 England: Justice of the Peace and author Henry Fielding, writing under the name of Captain Hercules Vinegar, summoned poet laureate Colley Cibber (1671 - 1757) to court for murdering the English language. 1756 According to Wikipedia, St Patrick's Day was celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern). 1766 American Revolution: British Parliament voted the repeal of the Stamp Act, a hated law of 1765 that helped spark the rebellion of the American colonial subjects. 1775 USA: Richard Henderson, a North Carolina judge, bought a vast tract of Cherokee land for the Transylvania Land Co.; the purchase was later declared invalid but land cession is not reversed. 1776 American Revolution: British forces evacuated Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington placed artillery overlooking the city. 1782 Death of Daniel Bernoulli, (b. 1700) mathematician. 1793 The first New York St Patrick's Day parade was held. 1816 After seventeen storm-tossed hours, the 38-ton Élise became the first steamship to cross the English Channel. 1826 The Kendal Community (now Massillon) was founded in Ohio, USA. It was a "Friendly Association for Mutual Interests". Workers' Co-ops in America 1843 Australia: As part of Roman Catholic celebrations of St Patrick's Day in Sydney, an exhibition of aeronautics, with two Montgolfier balloons was held in the grounds of the Stonemason's Arms in Parramatta Street. Source: St Patrick's Day in Australia 1845 Stephen Perry invented the rubber band. 1848 Just as rebellion erupted across Europe, people took to the streets of Berlin against the government of Prussian King Frederick William IV. 1853 Death of Christian Doppler, Austrian physician and mathematician. 1861 The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed; the nation's first Parliament declared Victor Emmanuel king, at Turin. 1871 Australia: The site of Alice Springs was found by explorer John Ross, although WW Mills had been there before him. The Outback settlement, which was surveyed in 1888, was named for Alice Todd, wife of the Postmaster General of South Australia. 1876 Powder River, South Dakota, USA: US Army soldiers attacked and massacred a sleeping village of Lakota, mistakenly believing it to be the encampment of Lakota warrior Crazy Horse. "In the first of a series of battles over the Black Hills, Colonel Joseph Reynolds leads troops in an attack on a peaceful camp of Northern Cheyenne and Oglala Sioux near the Powder River. "From positions on ledges and behind rocks, the Indians hold the soldiers at bay until women and children can escape across the river. Then the soldiers burn the tepees and everything inside, including the winter food supply, and drive away all the Indians' ponies. "After dark, however, the Indians raid the Army encampment and recover their stolen horses. This lead to a court martial of Colonel Reynolds. The fighting near the Powder River culminates at the Little Big Horn and the ultimate destruction of freedom for the northern plains Indians – what Ayn Rand defends as 'morally correct' white men bringing civilization to North America."   Source: The Daily Bleed   1879 American outlaw Billy the Kid (Henry McCarty, c. 1860 - '81; alias William Henry Bonney) had a meeting with General Lew Wallace, Governor of New Mexico (and also author of the classic book Ben-Hur), in the governor's home. Billy, reputed to have killed 21 men, made an arrangement with the governor to turn state's evidence against other criminals in return for an amnesty for the crimes he had himself committed. In typical fashion, Billy the Kid greeted the governor with a revolver in one hand and a Winchester rifle in the other. After several days to think the issue over, McCarty agreed to testify in return for an amnesty. Part of the agreement was for the Kid to submit to a show arrest and a short stay in jail until the conclusion of his courtroom testimony. Even though his testimony helped to indict one of the powerful House faction leaders, John Dolan, the district attorney defied Wallace's order to set the outlaw free after testifying. A skilled escape artist, Henry McCarty, alias Billy the Kid, slipped out of his handcuffs and fled. Photos   Fact vs. Myth "Billy who? The Kid's death put to scientific test Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Friday June 6, 2003 The Guardian "It is more than 120 years since the famous outlaw Billy the Kid was shot dead at the age of 21 in New Mexico by Pat Garrett, his old drinking buddy turned sheriff. "It is a tale that has been celebrated in countless books, comics, songs and films. But was it really the Kid who was gunned down? Or did Garrett murder an innocent man and just pretend it was him? "Rumours that the Kid had survived to fight another day and had, in fact, died as an old man in Texas have circulated for years. So has the suggestion that Garrett was not really the upright lawman of his image but someone who killed an innocent man to help the Kid escape. Now plans are under way to use modern science to solve the riddle. "Billy the Kid, born Henry McCarty in New York in 1859 and also known as William H Bonney, was said to have carried out his first murder at the age of 12. By the time he escaped from jail in Lincoln, New Mexico, by shooting dead two deputies with a smuggled gun, his total murders had reached 21. "Claiming that he had been deceitfully promised a pardon by Governor Lew Wallace in exchange for information on other killings, Billy the Kid escaped as far as a friend's ranch at Fort Sumner, about 100 miles away. Garrett was waiting for him there. As he entered the house, Garrett shot him in the heart. "But an alternative theory suggests that it was Garrett who smuggled the gun and that the man who died was a drifter friend of the Kid's called, confusingly, Billy Barlow. This theory posits that the Kid lived long enough to return to New Mexico in 1950 under the name of Brushy Bill to demand the pardon he was denied. "Now the inheritors of Pat Garrett's law enforcement role want to clear up the rumours once and for all. "The body of the woman said to be the Kid's mother, Catherine Antrim, buried in Silver City, New Mexico, is to be exhumed. Her DNA will be compared with that of Brushy Bill, who is buried in Texas. If there is a match, then it would suggest that Garrett's reputation and one of the great legends of the Wild West may be seriously tarnished. "Steve Sederwall, mayor of Capitan in Lincoln county, New Mexico, said yesterday: 'There are Garretts still living here and I think they feel that we're at a point in time when we need to clear it up.' "Garrett's image was displayed on the sheriff's department's cars and badges, he said, which showed how important his reputation still was. "He said it would be 'probably months' before they knew for sure which Billy had bitten the dust."   Source Highwaymen, outlaws, bushrangers, pirates, gangsters, etc in the Book of Days   1886 Carrollton Massacre, USA: 20 African-Americans were killed in Mississippi. 1886 In order to further his artistic training under the supervision of his brother, Theo, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh moved to Paris. 1891 The British steamship SS Utopia sank off the coast of Gibraltar, killing 574. 1894 Le Chambard Socialiste's March 17, 1894, issue commemorated March 18, the start of the Paris Commune of 1871. In its cover illustration, next to Marianne (the French symbol of nation, revolution and liberty) were an agricultural worker, an industrial worker and an artist. One of Le Chambard's artists was Theophile Steinlen, the famous print and poster maker. More on Steinlen   And more 1899 The first-ever radio distress call was sent from a ship wrecked off the English coast. 1901 A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, created a sensation. 1908 Heavy flooding isolated Queensland from the rest of Australia.   1910 Arguably the first Australian flight of a powered aircraft took place when mechanic Fred Custance (1889 - 1922) flew a Bleriot monoplane for five minutes and 25 seconds at Bolivar, South Australia. It ended in a "very rough landing". The flight was witnessed by FH Jones, the owner of the property, and several neighbours, but the claim has long been disputed. The next day, March 18 [qv], 1910, American magician and escapologist, Harry Houdini, made a flight at Digger's Rest, near Melbourne. It is generally considered to qualify as the first controlled, powered flight in Australia, and certainly it was authenticated. On December 9 [qv], 1909, at Sydney's Victoria Park racecourse, Colin Defries made a flight that even at the time was disputed, but appears to have greater claims to authenticity than that of Custance. "The main witness was F. H. Jones, who owned the aircraft and who claimed in 1943 that he, and not Custance (who died in 1923), had made the flight. Jones also claimed on a previous occasion, that Custance's attempt was a mythical flight. Custance attempted a second flight soon after daybreak at 6.15am but crashed after takeoff. Conflicting reports, lack of reliable witnesses and doubts as to Custance's ability to fly for more than five minutes, completing three circuits and covering an estimated 4.8 kilometres all in semi darkness made the claim suspect."   Source See also Lawrence Hargrave and George and Florence Taylor, Australian pioneers of aviation Early Australian aviation     1910 French actress Elise Deroche became the first woman to hold a pilot's licence. More on Deroche at October 22, 1909. 1910 Luther Gulick and his wife Charlotte founded Camp Fire Girls (formally announced in 1912). 1921 Disregarding protests from doctors and the clergy, Dr Marie Stopes, feminist and birth control campaigner, opened The Mothers' Clinic, a family planning centre, in North London. 1926 The Girlfriend, a Richard Rodgers musical, opened in New York. 1931 Nevada, USA, legalized gambling. 1938 General Francisco Franco bombed Barcelona, Spain. 1939 Sino-Japanese War (1937 - '45): The Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and the Japanese broke out. 1941 USA: In Washington, DC, the National Gallery of Art was officially opened by President Franklin D Roosevelt.   1942 USA General Douglas MacArthur arrived at Brisbane, capital city of Queensland, Australia, taking supreme command of south-west Pacific Allied forces, and thus the Australian forces. It was a period not without friction as many of Australia's top brass did not see eye-to-eye with the idiosyncratic general. (On April 11, 1951, an incensed US President Truman relieved MacArthur from command amid controversy, mainly because the general issued a statement on March 24 threatening to invade China.) The US War Department's announcement of MacArthur's arrival 'down under' was brief: "General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia by plane today. He was accompanied by Mrs. MacArthur and son, and by his Chief of Staff, Major Gen. Richard K. Sutherland, Brig. Gen. Harold H. George of the Air Corps and several other staff officers. He will be the supreme commander in that region, including the Philippine Islands, in accordance with the request of the Australian Government. "No move made by the United States Government since the war began has had a more vivid or optimistic reaction than this one. Officials in and out of Congress rushed to commend the action, and reports from New York indicated that the Stock Exchange immediately registered higher prices."   Source: New York Times "Roosevelt believed that General MacArthur had personally compromised the defence of the Philippines through serious errors of military judgment, but MacArthur had promoted an image of himself in the United States as a hero and brilliant general, and Roosevelt came under enormous public pressure to save MacArthur and give him a new command. MacArthur ordered his starving and desperate troops to fight on to the end, and gave them false hope of survival with a cruel lie that substantial military relief would soon arrive from the United States."   Source "[MacArthur] had a keen sense for Filipino politics and had established close friendships with Filipino leaders, particularly Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon, the godfather of MacArthur's son and contributor of a $500,000 nest egg to his former field marshal's bank account. These considerable ties of emotion and self interest were sealed by MacArthur's genuine and deep sense of obligation to those he had left behind on Bataan and Corregidor and his near obsessive need to remove the blot of those defeats from his record."   Source: Parameters, US Army War College Quarterly, Spring 1995 Australia's wartime prime minister, John Curtin (pictured above with Gen. MacArthur)   1948 Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the NATO Agreement and a political, economic, military and cultural alliance. 1950 University of California, Berkeley researchers announced the creation of element 98, which they named 'Californium'. 1958 The United States launched the Vanguard 1 satellite. 1960 USA President Dwight D Eisenhower ordered the CIA to plot the overthrow of Fidel Castro's Communist regime in Cuba. 1962 Seminal English blues band, Blues Incorporated, played their first gig, at a club in Ealing, London. Over the years the band's lineup included such greats as Long John Baldry, Ginger Baker, Alexis Korner, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Jack Bruce, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Rod Stewart, John Paul Jones, John Mayall, Jimmy Page and various members of The Yardbirds and The Pretty Things. Blues Incorporated concentrated on their live work rather than making commercial recording and released only two singles. Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list 1966 Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the Alvin submarine found a missing American hydrogen bomb. 1968 Protesters against the Vietnam War violently took to the streets outside the US embassy in London. 1968 A press conference was held to announce that the Yippies would sponsor a 'Festival of Life' in Chicago during the Democratic Convention in the fall. 1969 Golda Meir (1898 - 1978) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, became Prime Minister of Israel. 1969 USA: Young Democrats sponsored Abbie Hoffman's appearance at Rio Grande College in Rio Grande, Ohio. He spoke before an audience of approximately 400 people on 'Administrative Tyranny'. The Yippie leader showed a movie about the Chicago riots with Keystone Cops inserts and demonstrated police brutality by using eggs and gourds. Student unrest followed Hoffman's visit to the campus. 1969 Australia: The first natural gas pipeline opened from Roma to Brisbane, Queensland. 1970 My Lai massacre: The United States Army charged 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident. 1977 The Sex Pistols were paid £75,000 compensation by AandM Records for the company's breaking of their contract over the 'God Save the Queen' controversy. 1978 In one of the world's worst oil spill disasters, the wreck of the oil tanker Amoco Cadiz leaked 220,000 tonnes of crude oil off the coast of Brittany. More oil spills 1983 The Prime Minister of Britain, Margaret Thatcher, narrowly avoided being killed by an IRA letter-bomb. 1984 The world's longest play, The Acting Life, opened at the Tom Mann Theatre, Sydney. Played by ten actors, the drama took 21 hours to perform. 1985 USA: Serial killer Richard Ramirez, the 'Night Stalker', committed his first two murders in Los Angeles, California murder spree. 1990 President François Mitterrand of France opened the Bastille opera house, Paris. 1991 In the USSR, a referendum was held to determine whether the nation would remain a single unit. 1992 A suicide car-bomb killed 29 and injured 242 at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 2000 Uganda: Between 780 and 1000 members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God died in mysterious circumstances. TThe cult was a breakaway sect from the Roman Catholic Church and founded by Credonia Mwerinde and Joseph Kibweteere. It emphasized apocalypticism and alleged Marian apparitions. The tragedy was either a cult suicide, or an orchestrated mass murder by sect leaders – President Yoweri Museveni called the event a "mass murder by these priests for monetary gain". The sect deemed the wider world to be corrupt, members seeing themselves as a Noah's Ark of purity. With this in mind, members severely restricted their speech to avoid saying anything dishonest or sinful. Curiously, the group had a feast that involved large quantities of Coca Cola and beef before dying. Report    More    And more 2003 British Cabinet Minister Robin Cook resigned in opposition to government plans for war with Iraq. 2004 Massive unrest in Kosovo. More than 22 were killed and 200 wounded, and 15 Serb Orthodox shrines were destroyed in Kosovo, and two mosques destroyed in Belgrade and Nis.     Tomorrow: Edgar Cayce, the sleeping prophet    Main calendar | Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search     Wikipedia and David Brown's prodigious Daily Bleed are both excellent resources that aid my research. I frequently make use of their generously liberal 'fair use', 'copyleft' and 'anti-copyright' policies, with much gratitude. © My own copyright policy is also liberal, but as this is my livelihood, conditions apply. Read more about today at Wilson's Blogmanac

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