ON THIS DAY
THE IDES OF MARCH - anniversary of the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. 1824: Work on John Rennie’s London Bridge began. 1909: “The world’s most beautiful store” opened in London’s Oxford Street. It was named after its American owner, Harry Gordon Selfridge. 1917: Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated. 1929: In Chicago, boogie-woogie pioneer Clarence ‘Pinetop’ Smith was killed as he sat at his piano, by a gunman’s bullet not intended for him. He was 24. 1932: The New BBC Dance Orchestra made its radio debut under the direction of Henry Hall. 1933: Hitler proclaimed the Third Reich, which he said would endure for a thousand years. 1937: America’s first central blood bank was set up. 1945: Album charts were first published in America, by Billboard, with the King Cole Trio number one. 1956: My Fair Lady opened on Broadway starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. The title was adapted from the Cockney pronunciation of “Mayfair”. 1968: Foreign Secretary George Brown quit as he accused Prime Minister Harold Wilson of running the Cabinet in a dictatorial fashion. 1974: A federal grand jury concluded that President Nixon was involved in a conspiracy to cover up White House involvement in the burglary at the Democratic Party headquarters in 1972. 1984: Only 21 of Britain’s 174 coal mines were working as strikes against the Coal Board’s 5.2% pay offer and its pit-closure programme became official. 1990: Mikhail Gorbachev was elected executive president of the USSR. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: George and Amal Clooney met Syrian families in Berlin to listen to their experiences and speak about the refugee crisis. BIRTHDAYS: Judd Hirsch, actor, 82; Frank Dobson, politician, 77; Mike Love, singer (Beach Boys), 76; David Cronenberg, film director, 74; Sly Stone, musician, 74; Ry Cooder, rock singer, 70; John Duttine, actor, 68; Ben Okri, novelist, 58; Eva Amurri, actress, 32.