Back in Time – This Day in History – March 31

1889: The Eiffel Tower

By Mick Ferris, Press Association, AP, UPI, calendar.songfacts.com, classicbands.com and thisdayinmusic.com

1492: King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued an edict expelling Jews from Spanish soil, except those willing to convert to Christianity.

1521: Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan takes possession of Homohon, Archipelago of St Lazarus, The Philippines.

1596: Birth of French philosopher Rene Descartes.

1657: Parliament makes the Humble Petition to Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, offering him the crown, which he declines.

1685: Birth of composer Johann Sebastian Bach in Eisenach, Germany.

1727: Death of Isaac Newton aged 84.

1732: Birth of Franz Joseph Haydn in Vienna.

1770: Immanuel Kant is appointed Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Königsberg.

1796: Goethe’s “Egmont” premieres in Weimar.

1814: Forces allied against Napoleon capture Paris.

1822: Massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following a rebellion attempt.

1837: Death of landscape painter John Constable aged 60.

1841: First performance of Robert Schumann’s 1st Symphony in B.

1855: Novelist Charlotte Bronte dies aged 38.

1866: The Spanish navy bombards Valparaíso harbour, Chile.

1889: The Eiffel Tower, Paris, France, was inaugurated, becoming the world’s tallest tower of its era. With a height of 300-m (986-ft), it remained the world’s tallest structure until surpassed by the Empire State Building, 40 years later. 

1906: The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later renamed the National Collegiate Athletic Association) was established.

1907: The Romanian Army puts down a Moldavian farmers’ revolt.

1918: Daylight saving time went into effect in the United States for the first time.

1921: British coal miners goes on strike.

1924: London public transport strike ends.

1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Conservation Work Act, which created the Civilian Conservation Corps.

1939: Britain and France agree to support Poland if it is invaded by Germany.

1943: Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” premieres in New York. On the same day, US forces bomb Rotterdam by mistake, killing 326.

1945: Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” premieres in New York.

1948: The U.S. Congress passed the Marshall Aid Act, a plan to rehabilitate war-ravaged Europe.

1949: RCA Victor introduced the 45rpm 7” single.

1954: The U.S. Air Force Academy was established at Colorado Springs.

1956: Brenda Lee makes her US television debut, singing an unrehearsed version of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya (On The Bayou)" on ABC's Ozark Jamboree.

1957: Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Obie Wheeler, Carl Perkins and Glen Douglas open a tour of the South in Little Rock, Arkansas.

1958: Chuck Berry's rock 'n' roll classic 'Johnny B. Goode' single was released. It entered the US charts six weeks later and peaked at No.8 on the chart. The song's original lyrics referred to Johnny as a 'colored boy', but Berry later acknowledged that he changed it to 'country boy' to ensure radio play.

1959: The Dalai Lama fled Chinese-occupied Tibet and was granted political asylum in India.

1960: Lonnie Donegan was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'My Old Man's A Dustman', his third No.1. Donegan became the first British artist to enter the UK chart at No.1, the only other artist to achieve this feat at this time was Elvis Presley. The song which was recorded live at the Bristol Hippodrome was a music hall novelty song.

UK TOP 20 : Singles chart:

1. Lonnie Donegan - My Old Man's A Dustman

2. Johnny Preston - Running Bear

3. Percy Faith - Theme From 'A Summer Place'

4. Perry Como - Delaware

5. Adam Faith - Poor Me

6. Cliff Richard And The Shadows - Fall In Love With You

7. Max Bygraves - Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be

8. Anthony Newley - Why

9. Marv Johnson - You Got What It Takes

10. Emile Ford And The Checkmates - On A Slow Boat To China

11. Anthony Newley - Do You Mind?

12. Bobby Rydell - Wild One

13. Johnny And The Hurricanes - Beatnik Fly

14. Jack Scott - What In The World's Come Over You

15. Mr Acker Bilk And His Paramount Jazz Band - Summer Set

16. Lance Fortune - Be Mine

17. Billy Fury - Colette

18. Jimmy Jones - Handy Man

19. Craig Douglas - Pretty Blue Eyes

20. Jerry Lordan - Who Could Be Bluer

***

1962: The Beatles played their first gig in the South of England when they appeared at The Subscription Rooms, Stroud, on the same bill as The Rebel Rousers, tickets cost 5 shillings, ($0.70).

1964: Filming for A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles played a 'live television performance' in front of a studio of screaming fans (one of those fans was Phil Collins). The four songs used in the film were ‘Tell Me Why’, ‘I Should Have Known Better’, ‘And I Love Her’, and ‘She Loves You’.

1966: Harold Wilson’s Labour wins the general election.

1967: Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar live on stage for the first time while appearing at The Astoria in London.

1968: At the conclusion of a nationally broadcast address on Vietnam, President Lyndon B. Johnson stunned listeners by declaring, “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”

1970: Following an Orange Order parade, intense riots erupt on the Springfield Road in Belfast which last for three days.

1971: U.S. Army Lt. William Calley was sentenced to life in prison for his part in the deaths of 22 Vietnamese civilians in what was called the My Lai Massacre. Public opinion polls and news reports indicated that most Americans believed the sentence was too severe; many said Calley was a scapegoat. His sentence was gradually reduced and he was paroled in 1974.

1971: The final episode of The Johnny Cash Show airs on ABC. Cash closes the show with thanks to the cast and fans before moving into a rendition of "I Walk the Line."

1973: Muhammad Ali suffers a broken jaw in a shock split-points decision loss to Ken Norton. On the same day, Brian Fletcher and Red Rum win their first of three Grand Nationals at Aintree and Billie Jean King ends Australian Margaret Court’s 57-match winning streak in the semi finals of the WTA event in Indianapolis.

1973: US TOP 20: Album chart:

1. Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell - Dueling Banjos

2. Elton John - Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player

3. Diana Ross - Lady Sings The Blues (Soundtrack)

4. Deodato - Prelude

5. John Denver - Rocky Mountain High

6. Traffic - Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory

7. War - The World Is A Ghetto

8. Carly Simon - No Secrets

9. Bette Midler - The Divine Miss M

10. Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

11. Elvis Presley - Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite

12. Stevie Wonder - Talking Book

13. The Moody Blues - Seventh Sojourn

14. Neil Diamond - Hot August Night

15. Deep Purple - Who Do We Think We Are!

16. The Temptations - Masterpiece

17. David Bowie - Space Oddity

18. Focus - Moving Waves

19. The Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds Of Fire

20. Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill

***

1975: “Gunsmoke” closed out 20 seasons on CBS with its final first-run episode, “The Sharecroppers.”

1976: The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Karen Ann Quinlan, a young woman in a persistent vegetative state, could be disconnected from her respirator. (Quinlan, who remained unconscious, died in 1985.)

1976: The Brotherhood Of Man were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1976, 'Save Your Kisses For Me.' The group's first of three UK No.1's.

1980: Legendary athlete Jesse Owens dies from lung cancer aged 66.

1981: Robert De Niro wins the Oscar for best actor in the film Raging Bull.

1982: The Doobie Brothers announce their breakup. After a summer goodbye tour, lead singer Michael McDonald launches a successful solo career. The band regroups in 1987.

1986: 167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in a remote mountainous region of Mexico.

1986: O'Kelly Isley of The Isley Brothers died of a heart attack, aged 48. Had a hit in 1962 original version of 'Twist and Shout', (later covered by The Beatles) and the 1968 UK No.3 single 'This Old Heart Of Mine' and 1969 US No.2 single 'It's Your Thing'.

1990: Riots break out in British towns in protest against the new poll tax.

1991: The Warsaw Pact formally ended, with Soviet commanders surrendering their powers in an agreement between pact members and the Soviet Union.

1992: Def Leppard released their fifth studio album Adrenalize, the first by the band following the 1991 death of guitarist Steve Clark. Former Dio and Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell, was brought in as the newest member in April 1992. He appears in all promotional videos for the album's singles (except 'Let's Get Rocked'), despite not playing on the album.

1993: Actor Brandon Lee, 28, was accidentally shot to death during the filming of a movie in Wilmington, North Carolina, when he was hit by a bullet fragment that had become lodged inside a prop gun.

1995: Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, 23, was shot to death in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the founder of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

1995: Major League Baseball players went back to work, ending the longest strike in league history. The lockout, which began Aug. 12, 1994, ended the rest of the 1994 season.

1995: Jimmy Page escaped being stabbed when a fan rushed the stage at a Page and Plant gig at Auburn Hills, Michigan. The fan was stopped by two security guards, who he knifed instead.

1996: Jeffrey Lee Pierce, singer with The Gun Club, dies aged 37.

1998: The U.N. Security Council voted to impose an arms embargo on Yugoslavia after unrest in the Serbian province of Kosovo turned violent.

2001: Arsenal star David Rocastle died of non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma aged 33.

2002: Death of comedy writer Barry Took.

2004: Four American civilian contractors were killed in Fallujah, Iraq; frenzied crowds dragged the burned, mutilated bodies and strung two of them from a bridge.

2005: Terri Schiavo, a 41-year-old Florida woman in a persistent vegetative state since 1990, died 14 days after removal of her feeding tube amid a legal struggle over her fate that reached the White House and Supreme Court.

2007: Pakistan successfully tested its Hataf-II Abdali ballistic missile, believed capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

2011: Singer Michael Buble marries model Luisana Lopilato in Buenos Aires.

2015: Joni Mitchell was rushed to hospital after being found unconscious at her Los Angeles home. The singer songwriter was admitted to intensive care where she underwent tests. Los Angeles fire officials said paramedics had answered a 911 call in Bel Air, where Mitchell lives, and had taken a patient whom they did not identify to hospital.

2016: Death of comedian Ronnie Corbett aged 85.

2017: Mudslides killed more than 200 people after heavy rains in Colombia.

2019: George Clooney and Elton John call to boycott hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei after he plans new anti-gay laws to make homosexual sex punishable by death.

2019: Rapper Nipsey Hussle died in a shooting outside his Los Angeles clothing store.