On This Day 2026
Hello, … and welcome to day 76 of the year.

Tuesday, March 17th

Today is Saint Patrick’s Day, National Corned Beef & Cabbage Day and World Social Work Day. Your star sign is Pisces and your birthstone is Aquamarine.
1968 – More than 200 people were arrested after demonstrators clashed in an anti Vietnam war protest outside the US embassy in London.
More than 200 people were arrested after demonstrators clashed in an anti Vietnam war protest outside the US embassy in London.
Today’s birthdays
1951 – Kurt Russell (75), American actor (Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China, Tango and Cash), born in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States.
1955 – Gary Sinise (71), American actor (Forest Gump, CSI: NY, Apollo 13), born in Blue Island, Illinois, United States.

1956 – Rory McGrath (70), British comedian (They Think It’s All Over, Who Dares Wins, Commercial Breakdown) and television personality, born in Redruth, Cornwall.

1962 – Clare Grogan (64), Scottish actress (Red Dwarf) and singer with Altered Images (“Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday!”), born in Glasgow, Scotland.
1964 – Rob Lowe (62), American actor (The West Wing, 9-1-1: Lone Star, Wayne’s World), born in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States.
1969 – Hugo Speer (57), English actor (The Full Monty, Bedlam, The Musketeers), born in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
1973 – Caroline Corr (53), Irish singer and drummer for the Celtic folk rock band the Corrs (“Breathless”, “Runaway”), born in Dundalk, Ireland.
1975 – Justin Hawkins (51), English musician, singer, songwriter, co-founder and lead vocalist with The Darkness (“I Believe in a Thing Called Love”), born in Chertsey, Surrey.
1990 – Andrew John Hozier-Byrne (36), Irish singer and musician known professionally as Hozier (“Take Me To Church”), born in Bray, Ireland.
1992 – John Boyega (34), English actor (Pacific Rim Uprising, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi), born in Camberwell, London.
Famous deaths
1995 – Ronnie Kray (b. 1933), English gangster who (along with his twin brother), was heavily involved in organised crime from the late 1950s until their arrest in 1968.
2023 – Lance Reddick (b. 1962), American actor (The Wire, John Wick and the voice of Commander Zavala in the popular video game, Destiny and Destiny 2).
The day today
St. Patrick’s Day observes of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. The holiday has evolved into a celebration of Irish culture with parades, special foods, music, dancing, drinking and a whole lot of green. Saint Patrick’s Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early 17th century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Lutheran Church. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and, by extension, celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general.
1912 – Captain Lawrence Oates famously sacrificed his life during Captain Scott’s 1912 Terra Nova expedition by walking into a blizzard, hoping to save his struggling companions. Suffering from severe frostbite and gangrene, he left the tent on his 32nd birthday, uttering the legendary final words, “I am just going outside and may be some time”.

1948 – The UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France signed the Treaty of Brussels. Sometimes referred to as the Brussels Pact, the treaty revolved around organizing economic and military cooperation between the signing members. It also included a mutual defense clause, which led directly to the North Atlantic Treaty and the founding of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

1951 – The comic strip character Dennis the Menace appeared in the Beano for the first time. His red and black striped jumper did not feature until a few weeks later and his pet dog Gnasher did not make an appearance until 31st August 1968.
1957 – British European Airways withdrew their Viscount 701s from service after one of them crashed at Manchester Airport 4 days previously, killing 21 people.
1968 – More than 200 people were arrested after demonstrators clashed in an anti Vietnam war protest outside the US embassy in London.
1973 – St. Patrick’s Day marchers carry 14 coffins commemorating Bloody Sunday. On January 30, 1972, British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 immediately and wounding many others, with a 14th victim dying later. The 14 coffins represent these victims.
1978 – The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz ran aground on the coast of Brittany. Over 220,000 tons of crude oil seeped out of the crippled ship, causing serious pollution in Britain and France.
1979 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel in Berwickshire, Scotland, collapses, resulting in the deaths of two construction workers. The incident happened during engineering works to lower the track level to accommodate larger freight containers.
1984 – The 130th Boat Race was postponed (for 24 hours) an hour before the start, after the Cambridge boat was in collision with a barge and sank.
1993 – The death of Charlotte Hughes, aged 115 at St David’s Nursing home in Redcar, Cleveland. At the time of her death she was not only the oldest person in Britain, but the second oldest person in the world.
1995 – Gangster Ronnie Kray died in Broadmoor hospital. He was serving a life sentence for heinous crimes after being arrested by Superintendent Leonard “Nipper” Read.
2003 – British Cabinet Minister Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for the war with Iraq.
2012 – Bolton Wanderers footballer Fabrice Muamba collapses and is rushed to hospital during a live televised football match against Tottenham Hotspur. Following medical advice, he announced his retirement from professional football in August 2012.
2013 – The last TV network news from Television Centre in west London was broadcast on BBC One. Mishal Husain presented the programme from studio N6 at 22:00 GMT, signing off nearly 45 years of bulletins after the Centre had been sold for redevelopment.
2015 – The UK’s first Bio-Bus, nicknamed ‘the poo bus’ was officially launched in Bristol as Service Number 2. Powered entirely on gas generated by human and food waste it went into regular service on 25th March.
2016 – Archaeologists discovered a major 2,500-year-old Iron Age burial ground at a Pocklington, East Yorkshire housing development, featuring over 75 square barrows and 150+ burials from the Arras culture.
2017 – The live-action musical remake of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” starring Emma Watson as Belle is released. The film received generally positive reviews, with particular praise for the cast, visual style, and musical numbers. It became one of the highest-grossing films of all time.
2019 – Facebook said it removed 1.5 million videos globally of the New Zealand mosque attack in the first 24 hours after the attack. The gunman who attacked two mosques in Christchurch live-streamed the attacks on Facebook for 17 minutes using an app designed for extreme sports enthusiasts.
2020 – European Union announces a 30-day ban on entering its 26 countries for almost all travelers as it struggles to contain COVID-19.
2024 – Vladimir Putin won the Russian Presidential election again. While Putin supposedly won 88% of the vote, major Western nations, including the US, UK, and Germany, claimed that the vote was neither free nor fair. One key part of this was the fact that all viable political opponents were either imprisoned or censored.
Today in music
1957 – Elvis Presley bought the Graceland mansion from Mrs Ruth Brown-Moore. The 23 room, 10,000 square foot home, on 13.8 acres of land, would be expanded to 17,552 square feet of living space before Elvis moved in a few weeks later. The original building had at one time been a place of worship, used by the Graceland Christian Church and was named after the builder’s daughter, Grace Toof.

1966 – The Walker Brothers had their second UK No.1 with the single ‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’, (originally recorded by Frankie Valli).

1967 – Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles finished the recording of ‘She’s Leaving Home’ after adding backing vocals to the track. Harpist Sheila Bromberg who was part of the string section on the track became the first woman to play on a Beatles recording.
1973 – Dr Hook’s single ‘On The Cover Of Rolling Stone’ peaked at No.6 on the US chart. The single was banned in the UK by the BBC due to the reference of the magazine.
1979 – The Bee Gees went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their fifteenth studio album release Spirits Having Flown, the group’s first album after their collaboration on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The album’s first three tracks were released as singles and all reached No.1 in the US, giving the Bee Gees an unbroken run of six US chart-toppers and tying a record set by The Beatles.
1979 – Gloria Gaynor started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I Will Survive.’ The song was originally released as the B-side to a song first recorded by The Righteous Brothers called ‘Substitute.’
1984 – Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ peaked at No.1. Over the years David Lee Roth has given various accounts of the meaning behind the lyrics, but most often says they are about a TV news story he saw where a man was about to kill himself by jumping off a building.
1997 – Elvis Presley Enterprises of Memphis, Tennessee, lost its Court of Appeal battle to stop London trader Sid Shaw using the name of ‘The King’ on his souvenirs. The legal tussle with Mr Shaw, who ran a memorabilia shop called ‘Elvisly Yours’, had been going on for over 17 years. Speaking after the ruling, Mr Shaw said: ‘I’m delighted. I’ve proved that Elvis belongs to all of us – Elvis is part of our history, part of our culture’.
1997 – American R&B singer Jermaine Stewart died of AIDS-related liver cancer at age 39. Stewart scored the 1986 UK No.2 and US No.5 single ‘We Don’t Have To…Take Our Clothes Off’. He gained recognition as a dancer on the television show Soul Train. Stewart later worked with Shalamar, The Temptations and Boy George.
2004 – Ray Davies singer-songwriter from English group The Kinks received his CBE medal from the Queen at Buckingham Palace for services to the music industry.
2005 – Justin Hawkins from The Darkness became the centre of the latest hands-on activity at Madame Tussauds in London. His wax double would judge the air guitar skills of visitors who would be invited to play an imaginary guitar with smoke and music pumping out. Hawkins said: ‘I find the process of air guitaring rather silly. What makes a good air guitarist? Alcohol.’
2013 – John Lennon and George Harrison were honoured with a blue plaque at the site of the former Apple Boutique in a ceremony in London held at at 94 Baker Street. The new plaque reads “John Lennon, M.B.E., 1940-1980, and George Harrison, M.B.E., 1943-2001, worked here.”

2014 – Pop singer-songwriter Sia released her hit single “Chandelier.” The single reached the top 5 on the record charts in 20 countries, including France, Poland, Norway, Australia & New Zealand.

2023 – Taylor Swift kicked off the Eras Tour in Glendale, United States. The tour was met with unprecedented demand, breaking ticket sales and venue records worldwide. Around 3.5 million people registered for Ticketmaster’s US presale, which quickly crashed after going online on November 15, 2022; however, over 2.4 million tickets were sold that day, marking the highest single-day ticket sales for an artist.
Today in history
1040 – The death of Harold ‘Harefoot’ (Harold I), aged just 24, who was King of England for just 5 years. Harold was originally buried in Westminster Abbey, but his half-brother, Harthacnut, who succeeded him, had the body exhumed. Harold I was then beheaded and thrown into a fen bordering the Thames. The body was later recovered by fishermen and reburied in the churchyard of St. Clement Danes, in the City of Westminster.
1337 – Edward, the Black Prince was made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England; a duchy being a territory or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.
1473 – The birth of King James IV of Scotland. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field.
1649 – Oliver Cromwell abolished the position of King of England and the House of Lords and declared England a Commonwealth.
1891 – SS Utopia collided with HMS Anson (a pre-dreadnought battleship of the British Royal Navy) in the Bay of Gibraltar and sank in less than 20 minutes, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.
1899 – The first radio distress signal was transmitted from the East Goodwin Lightship when the German merchant vessel Elbe ran aground in dense fog on the Goodwin Sands, Kent.
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