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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

On St Valentine's Day cast beans in clay
But on St Chad sow good and bad.
Huntingdonshire, England, cottagers' saying

If you feed your hens often with toasts taken out of ale, or with barley boiled, they will lay soon.
Markham, Cheap and Good Husbandry, 1613: today eggs should start being plentiful

Only death reveals what a nothing the body of man is.
Juvenal, Roman poet,  born March 2, c. 55 CE; Satires, tr. Hubert Creekmore

Remote though your farm be,
It's something to be the lord of one green lizard - and free.
Juvenal; ibid

This is his first punishment, that by the verdict of his own heart no guilty man is acquitted.
Juvenal; Satires

We should pray for a sane mind in a sound body.
Juvenal; ibid

Never does Nature say one thing and wisdom another.
Juvenal; ibid

Hold it the greatest wrong to prefer life to honour and for the sake of life to lose the reason for living.
Juvenal; ibid

A man who has nothing can whistle in a robber's face.
Juvenal; ibid

Revenge is always the joy of narrow,
Sick and petty minds.
Juvenal; ibid

Nature, in giving tears to man, confessed that he
Had a tender heart; this is our noblest quality.
Juvenal; ibid

I wish it, I command it. Let my will take the place of a reason.
Juvenal; ibid

An inveterate and incurable itch for writing besets many and grows old with their sick hearts.
Juvenal; ibid

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who is to guard the guards themselves?)
Juvenal; ibid

Such an avalanche of words falls, that you'd say it's like pans and bells being beaten. Now no one needs trumpets or bronzes: this woman by herself can come help the Moon when she's suffering from an eclipse.
Juvenal; on a woman   Source

Now we are suffering from the evils of a long peace. Luxury, more ruthless than war, broods over Rome and takes revenge for the world she has conquered.
Juvenal;   Source

O Muse of satire, breathing fire!
Oh, come and heed my urgent call!
I do not need the thundering lyre,
Hand me the scourge of Juvenal!
Not the pedestrian imitators,
Not the penurious translators,
Nor rhymesters echoless, poor lambs,
Shall fester from my epigrams!
Alexander Pushkin (Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin; 1799 - 1837)

The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other.
Thomas Jefferson, slave owner: the importation of slaves was banned by US Congress, on this day in 1807

The best of all is, God is with us.
Last words of John Wesley, English evangelist, died on March 2, 1791

Sometimes ... when you stand face to face with someone, you cannot see his face.
Mikhail Gorbachev, USSR Premier, born on March 2, 1931

Without glasnost there is not, and there cannot be, democratism, the political creativity of the masses and their participation in management.
Mikhail Gorbachev

Surely, God on high has not refused to give us enough wisdom to find ways to bring us an improvement ... in relations between the two great nations on Earth.
Mikhail Gorbachev

Certain people in the United States are driving nails into this structure of our relationship, then cutting off the heads. So the Soviets must use their teeth to pull them out.
Mikhail Gorbachev

What we need is Star Peace and not Star Wars.
Mikhail Gorbachev

Our enemy sees us clearly .... They will not start a war. They're worried about one thing; If democracy develops here, if we succeed, we will win.
Mikhail Gorbachev

March 2 is the 61^st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (62^nd in leap years). There are 304 days remaining.
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Feast day of St Chad of Mercia (Ceadda), Bishop of Lichfield
(Dwarf cerastium, Cerastium pumilum, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

St Chad of Mercia (Anglo-Saxon 'Ceadda'; d. March 2, 672) was a monk and priest in 7^th-Century England, in Mercia, one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. Ceadda was possibly derived from a pre-Christian deity of healing springs and holy wells, and the saint is the patron of such wells. His symbol was Crann Bethadh, the Tree of Life or World Tree.

Regarded as the missionary who introduced Christianity among the East Saxons, Chad was  a student of St Aidan at the Celtic monastery at Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, of which he became the bishop. He was also Bishop of Mercia and went about on foot, preaching, teaching the poorest. He travelled to Ireland as a monk, and there was ordained as a priest. 

From Wikipedia: Shortly after the Synod of Whitby in 663/4, Chad was invited to become Bishop of York by King Oswiu of Northumbria after the first choice for the position, Saint Wilfrid, failed to return from France, where he had gone in order to be consecrated to the position. In 666 Wilfrid returned from France freshly consecrated as Bishop of York, only to find Chad already occupying the same position. In 669 the Archbishop of Canterbury persuaded Chad to step down and allow Wilfred to take over; Chad stepped down gracefully.

Later that same year, King Wulfhere of Mercia requested a bishop. Impressed by Chad's humility (he refused to ride a horse, preferring to walk as Jesus had), Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus sent Chad. Under Chad, the See of Mercia was fixed at Lichfield. He was the first bishop of Mercia and Lindsey. Chad then proceeded to carry out missionary and pastoral work within the kingdom.

In old age he settled with some monks near Lichfield. Seven days before his death, a monk named Arvinus, who was outside the building in which he lay, heard music of a host of angels who attended the dying saint.

Chad became the patron saint of medicinal springs (see Sacred Springs and Wells). According to the Venerable Bede, once when Chad spoke, angelic singing descended from heaven and went into his voice for half an hour, then went back up to heaven. When he died he was attended by musical angels and his brother's soul.

He died in Stow, 700, and later his bones were 'translated' (moved) to the church of Saint Mary at Lichfield. The number of pilgrims raised it from a small village to a large town.  In his tomb there was a hole, through which pilgrims used to take out portions of the dust, which they mixed with holy water and gave to animals and humans to drink, for it could cure disease. Or, so it is said.

On the east side of the town is St Chad's Well, at the bottom of which is a stone, which they say Chad used to stand on, naked in the water, while preaching. The well, above which a shrine was erected, is supposed to cure sore eyes, among many diseases.

In 1643 the Royalists fortified Lichfield and were besieged in it on St Chad's Day by the Parliamentary troops under Lord Brooke, who prayed that if his cause were unjust he should be killed. At that moment he was killed by a shot from the church tower by a deaf and dumb man named Dyott. There is now an inscription at Lichfield:

'Twas levelled when fanatic Brooke
The fair cathedral stormed and took;
But thanks to heaven and good St Chad,
A guerdon [guardian] meet [good] the spoiler had!

It was perhaps Chad's reputation as a nature-loving saint that makes his feast day such a favourite for weather prognostication and agricultural lore.

In ecclesiastical art, St Chad is a bishop holding Lichfield Cathedral and a branch (usually a vine). He may also be depicted either holding the cathedral in the midst of a battlefield with the dead surrounding him, or with a hart leading hunters to him by a pool. Saint Chad gives his name to many churches around the Birmingham area including its Roman Catholic cathedral, St Chad's, as well as St Chad's College at the University of Durham.

"He had great qualities of mind and spirit, but greatest of all was his sense of the presence of God and the influence it had upon others, for it is said that all who met him were aware of God's glory. It was this experience, no doubt, which underlies the story that Wulfhere was so angry when his sons were converted that he slew them and, breathing fury, sought out St. Chad, but as he approached the bishop's cell a great light shone through its single window, and the king was almost blinded by its brightness …  

"… Many legends gathered round his name, and the familiar one which relates to his death reflects at least the inner beauty of his life. After two and one half years of steady, unremitting labor, when Chad came to die, his oratory was filled with the sound of music. First a laborer heard it, outside in the fields, and drew near in wonder, then ran and told others. St. Chad's followers gathered outside, and when they asked what it was, he told them that it meant that his hour had come and it was the angels calling him home. Then he gave each of them a blessing, begged them to keep together, to live in peace, and faithfully fulfill [sic] their calling. St. Chad's body simply wore out."   Source

More    More

The Celtic Tree of Life

"To the Celts, the [Celtic Tree of Life] was a source of basic sustenance – a bearer of food, a provider of shelter and fuel for cooking and warmth. Without trees, life would have been extraordinarily difficult.

"Wood from sacred trees had magickal properties, which was reflected in the Celtic Ogham alphabet, wherein each letter represents a particular sacred tree (modern Ogham divination is based on the uses and importance of these sacred trees to the Celtic people). Some trees provided food, some wood for making hunting weapons; others were sacred to the fairy-folk or to the Gods. In Celtic creation stories, trees were the ancestors of mankind, elder beings of wisdom who provided the alphabet, the calendar, and entrance to the realms of the Gods.

"Trees were also associated in the Shamanic beliefs of the Druids and other Celtic peoples with the supernatural world. Trees were a connection to the world of the spirits and the ancestors, living entities, and doorways into other worlds.

"The most sacred tree of all was the Oak tree, which represented the axis mundi, the center of the world. The Celtic name for oak, daur, is the origin of the word door – the root of the oak was literally the doorway to the Otherworld, the realm of Fairy. The word Druid, the name of the Celtic Priestly class, is compounded from the words for oak and wise – a Druid was one who was "Oak Wise," meaning learned in Tree magick and guardian or the doorway."   Source

Celtic Tree Calendar Months

(Articles evolving in the Book of Days;
tree mythology, folklore, quotes etc)

Beth  Birch  Dec 24* - Jan 20
Luis  Rowan  Jan 21 - Feb 17
Nuin/Nion  Ash Feb 18 - Mar 17
Fearn  Alder  Mar 18 - Apr 14
Saille  Willow  Apr 15 - May 12
Huath  Hawthorn  May 13 - Jun 9
Duir  Oak  Jun 10 - Jul 7
Tinne  Holly  Jul 8 - Aug 4
Coll  Hazel  Aug 5 - Sep 1
Muin  Vine  Sep 2 - 29
Gort  Ivy  Sep 30 - Oct 27
Ngetal  Reed  Oct 28 - Nov 24
Ruis  Elder  Nov 25 - Dec 22
Secret of the Unhewn Stone Dec 23

* The first date is the one with the article for the month

See also Yggdrasil, Nordic Tree of Life, and Odin, in the Scriptorium    More on the Tree of Life

St Chad lore for wells and fountains

Today, St Chad's day, is the day to clean and groom holy wells and fountains, known in Britain as well-dressing. Other days include Ascension Day, when in places such as Lichfield in England, villagers walked around the boundaries of the cathedral precinct area, carrying elm boughs and beating the eight places where wells had once been or still were present. In some places, such as Wirksworth, England, Pentecost Day was a day for well dressing.

Wells traditionally have mystical significance. Even today, wishing wells are common in parks and even may be found in shopping malls. Ancient Britain gives us many well customs. The first water drawn from a well on January 1 is supposed to  bring fortune and happiness, and is called 'the cream of the well'. It is customary to leave petals floating on the water. The wells at Wark, in Northumberland, UK, are supposed to have magical powers on New Year's Day. In Wales, drawing fresh spring water as a New Year's Day custom might have survived at the town of Tenby (a town in Pembrokeshire, west Wales) as late as the 1950s.

It was believed by the Druids of Britain that when a new spring or well bubbled up, its location was like a bridge or doorway to eternity, and eternal life that may sometimes be had by drinking of the waters there (cf, baptism). The Chalice Well, at Glastonbury, England (the Avalon of King Arthur) is one such sacred site.  More    More

Keyne, a Celtic saint who lived in the 5^th Century, was the daughter of Brychan, King of Brecknock, England. There is a quaint tradition associated with St Keyne's Well, near Liskeard, Cornwall. Folklore has it that the first spouse to drink from its waters will have the upper hand in the marriage. England's Poet laureate, Robert Southey, wrote a poem on it, The Well of St Keyne.  More

In ancient Rome, the Fontinalia festival (about October 13) honouring the freshwater goddesses, the Camenae, who were oracular water-nymphs, was a time in which holy wells and springs were garlanded and venerated. May 4 in Roman times was the day of venerating the hawthorn tree, sacred to the Good Goddess (Bona Dea). It is also called the may tree and white thorn. These are holy bushes and trees, associated with sacred wells and shrines and on such days will have ribbons tied to them.

More on sacred springs and wells

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First Tuesday in March Town Meeting Day, Vermont, USA.   On the dating of items in the Almanac First Tuesday in March Old English custom: to conjure the moon, to lie upon back, with laurel leaves blocking the ears. Festival of the god Mars, ancient Rome (Mar 1 - 19) Feast day of St Angela of the Cross Guerrero Feast day of St Basileus Feast day of St Charles the Good, Earl of Flanders, martyr Feast day of St Cynibild Feast day of St Henry Suso Feast day of St Heraclius Feast day of St Joavan, or Joevin, bishop in Armorica Feast day of St John Maron Feast day of St Jovinus Feast day of St Luke Casali Feast day of the Martyrs under Alexander Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days    Shop saints Sounkyo Ice Festival, Sounkyo Onsen (spa), Hokkaido, Japan (Jan 29 - Mar 5) Awashima Jinja Grand Festival, Uto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan (Mar 1 - 3) Todai-ji Shunie, Tōdai-ji temple, Nara, Japan, (Mar 1 - 14) Holy Wells Day Time of the Old Woman, Morocco (Feb 25 - Mar 4) Feast of 'Alá (Loftiness), Bahá'í Faith; First day of the 19th month of the Bahá'í Calendar Beginning of the Fast, Bahá'í Faith; sunrise to sunset fast for 19 days Mother March, Bulgaria "Women do no work on this day, or the Goddess will send storms to destroy instead of rains to nourish." Source: The Phoenix and Arabeth 1992 Calendar "March is the only female month of the year in the Bulgarian calendar." (Stein, Diane, The Goddess Book of Days, Llewellyn Publications, St Paul Minnesota, 1989). Stein identifies today with world goddesses Yemaya, Oya, Kwan Yin, Chalchiuhtlique, Isis, Tonantzin, Erzulie, Mawu, Iduna, Demeter, Spider Woman. Independence Day, Morocco Holiday commemorating the termination of the Treaty of Fez and establishment of sovereignty on March 2, 1956. Ruth W Gregory, Anniversaries and Holidays, American Library Association, Chicago, 1983, p. 32 Peasants' Day, Myanmar (Burma) Public holiday; features meetings of representatives of the Peasants' Council; a part of a one-week educational and cultural event. Gregory; ibid Victory of Aduwa Day, Ethiopia Commemorates victory over Italian forces in the 1896 Italian-Ethiopian conflict, resulting in the Treaty of Addis Ababa and the recognition of Ethiopia's independence. Gregory; ibid Texas Independence Day Anniversary of the declaration of independence from Mexico in 1836; a legal holiday; the first day of Texas Week; also Sam Houston's birthday (see above) 1793 - first president of the Republic of Texas. Gregory; ibid Hime-no-Miya, Oagata-jinja shrine near Inuyama, Honshu, Japan (dates vary; first two Sundays in March) On the first two Sundays in March, the Japanese celebrate the Izanami, the mother goddess of Japan. Her temple at the Oagata-jinja shrine near Inuyama in central Honshu features large cleft rocks, huge clamshells and other sacred items that resemble female genitalia. At her festival, worshippers carry these items through the streets in procession. Anneli Rufus, The World Holiday Book: Celebrations for every day of the year, Harper San Francisco, 1994       c. 55 CE (Date uncertain.) Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, Latin satirical poet known as Juvenal. Little is known about his life, and most of the early biographies are fictitious.  However, it is known he spent time in the military and ended his life in exile for having criticised a popular stage performer, a favourite of the emperor Domitian. He is best known for coining the phrase 'panem et circenses' ('bread and circuses') which describes the primary pursuits of the Roman populace, and is applied to modern political agendas for the public – governments giving the people entertainments and big displays, fancy buildings, and so on, in order to distract them from such things as war and economic problems. "His verse established a model for the satire of indignation … Little is known about his life except that during much of it he was desperately poor. A tradition tells that as a youth he was banished from court for satirizing an imperial favorite; later his work reveals a deep hatred for the Emperor Domitian. He is known chiefly for his 16 satires, which contain a vivid representation of life in Rome under the empire."   Source More on Juvenal     1316 King Robert II of Scotland (d. 1390), founder of the House of Stewart 1545 Thomas Bodley, founder of the Bodleian Library, the main research library at Oxford University. Bodley commenced his education in Geneva while his father was in exile during the reign of Queen Mary. He later went to Oxford and became the university orator and a good scholar. After the Grand Tour of the continent he studied history and politics at Oxford and in 1583 was made gentleman usher to Queen Elizabeth, who employed him in various embassies. In 1597, because of the intrigues, he retired from court and set about re-establishing the public library at Oxford which had fallen into disrepair. He died in 1612, not seeing the rebuilding completed, but left a great legacy in one of the world's great libraries. It was reopened on November 8, 1602, and on this day each year there is a speech given in Bodley's honour at the open day. Robert Chambers, (Ed.), The Book of Days: A miscellany of popular antiquities in connection with the calendar, etc, W & R Chambers, London, 1881 (1879 Edition is online and 1869 edition here with CD-ROM available; See also The English Year: A Personal Selection from Chambers' Book of Days)   1779 Joel Roberts Poinsett, US statesman, botanist after whom the poinsettia is named 1793 Sam Houston (d. 1863), President of the Republic of Texas. Born in Lexington, Virginia, Houston lived for three years in his youth among Cherokee tribes people, learning their customs and language. He became a member of Congress in 1823 after spending time in the army and as a lawyer. In 1827 he became Governor of Tennessee. As Commander-in-Chief in the Texan War, Houston's army defeated the Mexicans at San Jacinto (1836). In politics, he helped the Republic of Texas gain independence and he became its president. David Crystal, The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia, Cambridge, UK, 1994 Sam's town: bad energy Houston, Texas, the city named after Sam Houston, has a population of only 1.6 million* but consumes energy like there was lots available. The expense of cooling the air in Houston's dwellings and other buildings exceeds the gross national product (GNP) of some 30 countries. John May, The Book of Curious Facts, Collins and Brown, London, UK, 1993, p 218 * 1993 figure quoted. The population of Houston in 2005 was 2,016,582.     1810 Pope Leo XIII (d. 1903). Leo XIII awarded a gold medal to a fashionable 19th-Century cocaine-laced wine called Vin Mariani, the drink that inspired Coca-Cola. The dangers of cocaine being unknown, Vin Mariani was also praised and used by many doctors and scientists as well as Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Pope Pius X, and USA presidents Ulysses S Grant and William McKinley. Endorsements for the tonic beverage were given by Thomas Alva Edison, Émile Zola, Alexandre Dumas, père, Henrik Ibsen, Frédéric Bartholdi and Jules Verne, among others. 1820 Eduard Douwes Dekker (d. February 19, 1887), best known under his pseudonym, Multatuli (Latin, 'I have suffered much'), died in Germany. The great Dutch anarchist writer/novelist, a one-time civil servant who wrote the autobiographical novel Max Havelaar, reflecting his disgust with Dutch colonialism and racism, was famous for his satirical novel, Max Havelaar (1860) in which he denounced the abuses of colonialism in the former Dutch colony of Indonesia. Dekker despised middle-class conformism, excoriating religion, the family, and prejudices of all kinds – racist, sexist or sexual. Multatuli's ideas influenced the socialist and libertarian milieu of his time and practising his libertarian ideals scandalised his contemporaries, living as he did with two women and their children. Sources: The Daily Bleed and Wikipedia   1824 Bedrich Smetana (d. 1884), Czech composer (opera: The Bartered Bride) 1829 Carl Schurz (d. May 14, 1906), German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army general in the American Civil War 1876 Pope Pius XII (b. Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; d. October 9, 1958), who reigned as the 260th pope from March 2, 1939 until his death 1900 Kurt Weill (d. 1950), composer (The Threepenny Opera, with lyrics by Bertholt Brecht) 1904 Dr Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel), American children's author (The Cat in the Hat) 1917 Desi Arnaz (d. 1986), Cuban-born American entertainer, Lucy's husband Ricky Ricardo in 1950s hit TV series I Love Lucy 1919 Jennifer Jones, American actress (Oscar for Best Actress: Song of Bernadette) 1931 Mikhail Gorbachev (Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov), former President of the Soviet Union, whose book Perestroika, though widely reported in the Western media as being a liberal document, revealed his adherence to Leninism and a new model for the dictatorship of the proletariat "Corruption did exist under Gorbachev; after Gorbachev it blossomed with new fervor. Oppressive poverty did exist under Gorbachev; after Gorbachev it reached the level of starvation. Under Gorbachev the system of residence permits did fetter the population; after Gorbachev hundreds upon hundreds of thousands lost their property and the roofs over their heads and set off across the country seeking refuge from people as angry and hungry as they were."   Source     Gorby trademarks his birthmark "The former Soviet leader who went head to head with Ronald Reagan is taking the concept of intellectual property to a new place. After a Russian vodka company started putting Mikhail Gorbachev's forehead birthmark on its bottle labels, the ex-premier moved to copyright the famous port wine stain himself. "Ironically, a strict anti-drinking initiative was one of Gorbachev's pet projects back in his heyday of promoting Perestroika.  "Political cartoonists who made the birthmark synonymous with the Communist president will be grateful he didn't think of trademarking it earlier. 'Given how seriously he seems to be taking these matters, companies may soon find themselves in court,' observes Minneapolis trademark lawyer Michael Bondi in Inc. Magazine."   Source More   1931 Tom Wolfe, American author 1942 John Irving, American author (The World According to Garp) 1942 Lou Reed (born Louis Firbank), American rock singer and guitarist who sometimes works with Amnesty International and other charities. Reed was a member of Velvet Underground, the first album of which was produced by Andy Warhol. Reed is married to performance artist Laurie Anderson. Lou Reed, another wild man of rock Born Louis Firbank in New York City, Reed became a founder member of the Velvet Underground in the late 1960s after studying poetry and journalism. His album of 1972, Transformer, was produced by David Bowie and his guitarist Mick Ronson; the transsexual-oriented single off it, Walk on the Wild Side was a top 20 hit in both the UK and USA and the censors of those days missed the line "even when she was giving head". In 1984 he had a hit with I Love You Suzanne. To many, he lost credibility when he advertised Honda motorcycles. Clarke, Donald, The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Penguin, London, 1990, 972)   Lou Reed, Vaclav Havel, White House gig "Reed recalls the interference he faced from White House Staff. 'What I remember is doing a soundcheck and somebody said you have to play softly. [I said,] 'we can't play softly – this is my idea of softly.''   Source Frank Zappa, Lou Reed and Czech President Vaclav Havel, in the Book of Days How Western rock music helped bring down a Communist government More    Hoax obit    Havel, Lou Reed: A friendship goes public for art Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list 1949 Eddie Money, American singer 1950 Karen Carpenter (d. 1983), American drummer and singer who formed, with her brother Richard Carpenter, The Carpenters (hit song: Close to You, by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) 1962 Jon Bon Jovi, American singer, songwriter (of the rock band Bon Jovi), and actor   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 Women's History Month [ Mar 1 - 31 ] Birthdays Holi [ Varies ] I Want You To Be Happy Day [ Mar 3 ] 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 March 1 Pig Day 1 Share A Smile Day 1 St David's Day 1 Peanut Butter Lovers' Day 2 Banana Cream Pie Day 2 Give Up Easily Day 3 I Want You To Be Happy Day 3 Employee Appreciation Day 3 National Anthem Day (USA) 3 Hina Matsuri (Japan) 4 Tavern Day 5 Say Hi To Mom Day 5 Multiple Personality Day 6 Chocolate Cheesecake Day 6 Dentists' Day 7 Cereal Day 8 International Women's Day 8 No Smoking Day 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 ... 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   986 Death of Lothair (b. 795), King of the Franks, Holy Roman Emperor. Louis V became king. 1127 Assassination of Charles the Good, Count of Flanders. 1717 The Loves of Mars and Venus became the first ballet performed in England.   1784 The French aeronautist Jean-Pierre Blanchard made his first ascent in a hydrogen balloon over Paris. Blanchard was the inventor of the parachute and first person (with John Jeffries) to cross the English Channel by balloon. "When Blanchard finally suffered a fall and died in Paris, his wife, Sophie Blanchard, continued the family business. She'd taken up flying in 1805. She was the first woman we know to have flown on her own, and she made 59 ascents before she was done. But she decided to improve her act by flying at night and putting on a fireworks display. Of course hydrogen is ferociously flammable."   Source: Women in Flight   1791 Long-distance communication sped up with the unveiling of a semaphore (optical telegraph) machine in Paris. 1791 The death of John Wesley (b. 1703), English evangelist who, with his brother, Charles Wesley (1707 - '88), founded the movement that became the Methodist Church. 1807 The United States Congress passed an act to "prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States ... from any foreign kingdom, place, or country". 1818 The Sedon pyramid of Giza, Egypt, was opened. 1836 Declaration of independence of Texas from Mexico. 1840 Charles Dickens (1812 - '70) started a weekly publication, Master Humphrey's Clock. 1848 French King Louis Philippe escaped from France and went into exile in England. 1851 The first census of Victoria, Australia was taken: population 77,345. This rose dramatically as the gold rush unfloded. 1855 Alexander II became Tsar of Russia. 1864 US President Abraham Lincoln (1809 - '65) rejected the South's call for peace talks, demanding surrender. 1867 Piotr Tchaikovsky first appeared as a conductor. 1880 Death of Sir John MacNeill (b. 1790), civil engineer. 1882 Robert Maclean attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, one of seven unsuccessful attempts on her life. 1883 Responding to the criticism that his poetry lacked metre, HG Wells declared: "Meters are used for gas, not the outpourings of the human heart". 1889 In the United States, four calves, several dogs and a horse were electrocuted to test criminal-execution equipment. 1895 Death of Berthe Morisot, (b. 1841) Impressionist painter. 1901 The US Forest Service began. 1919 The first Communist International met in Moscow. 1929 New South Wales, Australia: Coalminers, protesting wage reductions, commenced a strike that lasted until June, 1930. 1930 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), Indian leader and proponent of civil disobedience, addressed a letter to the Viceroy of India intimating his intention to break Salt Law, if Congress demands not conceded. 1933 King Kong, the movie, starring Fay Wray, opened in New York, NY, USA. King Kong is the name of a fictional giant ape from the fictional island (often incorrectly referred to as Skull Island), on which stands Skull Mountain. (There is, however, a Skull Island in Australia.) 1939 Howard Carter (b. 1873), the archaeologist who, with Lord Carnarvon, found the tomb of Tutankhamun, died today, some say according to an ancient curse from the tomb. Some might remark that he died in spite of it, having survived the event of the tomb opening by 16 years. 1939 Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli was elected Pope and took the name Pius XII. 1943 World War II: Battle of the Bismarck Sea – United States and Australian forces sank Japanese convoy ships. 1946 Ho Chi Minh was elected the President of North Vietnam. 1949 Captain James Gallagher landed his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas, USA after completing the first non-stop around-the-world aeroplane flight in 94 hours and one minute. 1955 King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicated the throne in favour of his father, King Norodom Suramarit. 1955 Floods in Australia that had started at the end of February killed 200 people and left 400,000 homeless. 1956 Morocco declared its independence from France. 1958 Vivian Fuchs (1908 - '99) and his British crew completed the first land crossing of Antarctica. 1959 Work officially began on the Sydney Opera House. 1962 In Burma, the army led by General Ne Win seized power in a coup. 1963 Release of Please Please Me in the United Kingdom, first LP from The Beatles. 1969 In Toulouse, France the first Concorde test flight was conducted; it travelled in excess of 450 kph (280 mph). 1969 Soviet and Chinese forces clashed at a border outpost on the Ussuri River. 1972 The Pioneer 10 space probe was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets. 1978 Czech Vladimir Remek became the first non-Russian and non-American to go into space, when he was launched aboard Soyuz 28. 1985 China: It became compulsory for restaurants in Beijing to open at lunchtime. 1986 Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom signed the Australia Bill, severing some (but, unfortunately, not all) constitutional ties between Australia and Britain. 1989 12 European Community nations agreed to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the 20th Century. 1990 Nelson Mandela was elected Deputy President of the African National Congress. 1995 In Moscow, Russian anti-corruption journalist Vladislav Listyev was killed by a gunperson. 1995 Nick Leeson was arrested for his role in the collapse of Barings Bank. 1995 Somalia: The last United Nations 'peacekeepers' left, leaving the state to its holocaust. 1998 Data sent from the Galileo spaceprobe indicated that Jupiter's moon Europa has a liquid ocean under a thick crust of ice.   2003 In protest against the looming illegal Australian aggression against Iraq, more than 300 women used their naked bodies to spell out 'No War' on a sports field in Sydney, Australia. [See February 8 for the Byron Bay, Australia protest with 750 nude women that drew so much attention to the cause, and February 15, 2003 for the main worldwide protests.] World Naked Bike Ride 2005 Dampier radar at 2:30pm 1 March 2004 2004 Cyclone Monty hit Western Australia with winds of 210 kph (130 mph). Australian weather    More    More (with NASA animations)   Cyclone Tracy   Wilson's Webcam Watch Click the image below to go to tropical cyclone updates generated by live webfeeds. List of  featured webcams and webfeeds Recommend a webcam/webfeed or report malfunction   Tropical Storms, Worldwide Click on an area of interest to receive a regional map "The tropical cyclone data presented at the site above are intended to convey only general information on current storms and must not be used to make life or death decisions or decisions relating to the protection of property: the data may not be accurate. If you are in the path of a storm you should be listening to official information sources. These data have no official status and should not be used for emergency response decision-making under any circumstances." Source   2004 Voters in the USA state of Georgia voted on a referendum concerning its Confederacy-derived flag. 2004 War in Iraq: Al Qaeda carried out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500. 2004 War in Iraq: A United Nations report from the weapons inspection teams stated that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction of any significance after 1994, despite US President George W Bush's and British Prime Minister Tony Blair's objection to the contrary before the invasion. 2006 Sir Menzies Campbell was elected the new leader of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats.   Tomorrow: Women's suffrage parade, 1913    Main calendar | Yesterday | Tomorrow | Search     An oldie but a goodie George Bush Sr was visiting Mikhail Gorbachev at the Kremlin. When he got him alone for a moment, he said to Gorbachev, "Mikhail, can you help me with a problem? I have some doubts about one of the key people under me. How do you decide that someone is smart enough to work for you?" "Well, when I was interviewing Eduard Shevardnadze, I asked him, 'Eduard, who is the son of your father but not your brother?'" "What did he say?" Bush asked. "He said, 'that's me', so I hired him." Bush patted Gorbachev on the shoulder. "Thanks, Mikhail. That's a great idea." As soon as he got back to Washington, Bush called Dan Quayle over to the White House. "Dan," he said, "I've got a question for you. Who is the son of your father but not your brother?" Quayle looked rather puzzled. "Can I get back to you on that in 24 hours, Mr. President?" He was very troubled by this question. He kept thinking about it and thinking about it, but couldn't get anywhere. Finally, the thought struck him, "I'll ask Jim Baker. He's a smart guy." Quayle called Baker on the phone. "Jim, I've got a question for you. Who is the son of your father, but not your brother?" "That would be me," Baker replied. Quayle broke into a big smile. "Thanks, Jim. You've helped me out big time." He went running to the West Wing and burst into the Oval Office. "Mr. President, I have the answer!" "Okay, Dan. Who is the son of your father, but not your brother?" "It's Jim Baker!" said Quayle. "No, stupid!" said Bush. "It's Shevardnadze." [This is from the days when the world thought no one dumber could reach high office in the USA.] 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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