TODAY IN HISTORY

In 461,

tradition says St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, died.

millions of mice invaded the area of Freising, Germany, forcing the evacuation of entire towns.

St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated for the first time in Canada, in Quebec City.

British forces left Boston for Halifax after American troops seized Dorchester Heights in a night attack.

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt first likened crusading journalists to a man with “the muckrake in his hand” in a speech to the Gridiron Club in Washington.

U.S. General Douglas

MacArthur reached Australia to lead Allied forces in the southwest Pacific during the Second World War. He’d been ordered to flee the Philippines on a harrowing boat trip just before its capture by Japan. On March 20th, at Terowie, South Australia, MacArthur made his famous speech in which he said “I came out of Bataan and I shall return.”

Golda Meir was sworn in as Israel’s first female prime minister. She served until 1974.

Pink Floyd’s concept album “Dark Side of the Moon” debuted on the Billlboard 200 Album chart. It stayed on for a record 741 straight weeks until April

1988. (It has re-entered the chart over the years after several re-issues and as of mid-February 2018 sits at a total of 937 weeks.) It resurfaced when Billboard created the Top Pop Catalog Album chart in March 1991, and has been a mainstay at just over 1,200 weeks.

the oil tanker “Amoco Cadiz” ran aground on the coast of Brittany, France. Over 220,000 tonnes of crude oil seeped out of the crippled ship, causing serious pollution to the coastline. It was, at the time, the world’s In 1985, U.S. President Ronald Reagan travelled to Quebec City for the “Shamrock Summit” -- a 24-hour meeting on acid rain with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.worst oil tanker spill and caused an international protest as scenes of marine animals dying under a coat of oil were broadcast all over the world.

about 924 members of the doomsday cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God committed suicide by locking themselves in their church and setting it on fire in Kanunga, Uganda.

U.S. President George W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein a 48-hour ultimatum to get out of Iraq with his two sons or face war. Prime Minister Jean Chretien declared Canada would not join the war without United Nations support.

three days shy of her 100th birthday, British wartime singer Dame Vera Lynn released “Vera Lynn 100,” an album of original vocals set to re-orchestrated versions of her most famous songs, making her the oldest singer to release a new album. She also became the first to chart in England as a centenarian.

The New York Times and The Guardian (London) reported that Cambridge Analytica, a voter-profiling firm based in the U.K., improperly harvested Facebook data of some 87 million users (including 622,000 in Canada) in order to help manipulate the outcomes in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Canadian Christopher Wylie, a former Cambridge Analytics employee, emerged as a primary source for the Times report. The social media giant drew continued criticism for its alleged inaction to protect users’ privacy and lost over US$70 billion in market value. Cambridge Analytica filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in May to liquidate operations.

Canadian Bianca Andreescu won her first WTA Tour title. The unseeded 18-year-old from Mississauga, Ontario upset eighth-seeded German Angelique Kerber 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the women’s final at the B-N-P Paribas Open. Andreescu was a major story on the women’s circuit during the year by winning 28-of-31 matches. The victory was worth just over $1.35 million dollars U.S.

In 1233,

In 1765,

In 1776,

In 1906,

In 1942,

In 1969,

In 1973,

In 1978,

In 2000,

In 2003,

In 2017,

In 2018,

In 2019,