TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Friday, March 29, the 89th day of 2024. There are 277 days left in the year. On this date in:

1871: Queen Victoria opened Royal Albert Hall in London.

1882: The Rev. Michael McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic service organization.

1947: Malagasy nationalists began a rebellion against French colonial rulers in Madagascar. The uprising – described as the first genuine nationalist insurrection in post-World War II African history – lasted nearly two years before French armed forces crushed it.

1951: American couple Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of passing wartime atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. Two years later, they were executed for conspiracy to commit espionage under the U.S. Espionage Act of 1917.

1973: The U.S. withdrew its final combat soldiers from South Vietnam, an unsuccessful end to America’s direct involvement in the war. Marines remained to guard installations, as did military advisers and Defense Department civilians.

1980: Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” album set a new mark with 303 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 U.S. chart. It topped the previous record set by Carole King’s “Tapestry” album. “Dark Side” made the Billboard chart for a total of 736 nonconsecutive weeks from March 17, 1973, until July 16, 1988.

1984: Baltimore Colts owner Bob Irsay had his NFL franchise’s property moved to Indianapolis in the middle of the night on 15 Mayflower trucks to the surprise of upset fans.

1995: Arsonists set a fire that destroyed New York’s historic Fulton Street Fish Market.

1999: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 10,000-point mark for the first time before the dot-com bubble burst the next year and spurred a rough next decade for the stock market.

2001: The largest exhibition of diamonds opened in Paris.

2004: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, aka NATO, grew by seven full members: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

2007: “Umbrella,” sang by Rihanna and featuring Jay-Z, was released worldwide on Def Jam Recordings. The chart-topping hit in the U.S., U.K. and Australia launched Rihanna’s career. Rolling Stone named it one of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”

2017: Britain invoked Article 50 to leave European Union, putting the U.K. on course to exit the E.U. in what became known as Brexit. Political votes delayed the official Brexit date, Jan. 31, 2020.