It happened today – on this day in history – March 7
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322BC: Death of Aristotle.
1274: Death of Italian theologian Thomas Aquinas.
1530: Henry VIII’s request to divorce Catherine of Aragon is denied by the Pope.
1671: Birth of Scottish folk hero Rob Roy McGreagor.
1774: George III charges colonists in Boston with attempting to injure British commerce, paving the way for the closing of the port to punish them for the Boston Tea Party.
1814: Napoleon wins the Battle of Craonne against the combined forces of Russia and Prussia.
1872: Birth of abstract painter Piet Mondrian in The Netherlands.
1875: Birth of composer Maurice Ravel in France.
1876: Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for the telephone in the US.
1912: Roald Amundsen announces he has reached of the South Pole.
1926: The first transatlantic telephone call (London – New York).
1933: The game of Monopoly is invented.
1935: Malcolm Campbell sets world land speed record speed of 276.71 mph driving Bluebird – last record set at Daytona Beach, Florida.
1936: Hitler breaks the Treaty of Versailles by sending troops to the Rhineland.
1941: 50,000 British soldiers land in Greece. On the same day, British troops invade Abyssinia.
1944: Japan begins offensive in Burma.
1945: The US 9th Armoured Division attacks Remagen Germany, and crosses the Rhine.
1946: Bikini Atoll islanders are evacuated by the US government to make way for a nuclear testing site.
1951: Ezzard Charles defeats Jersey Joe Walcott in Round 15 for second time to win the NBA world heavyweight title.
1959: Kanyama Chiume, one of the leaders of the Nyasaland African Congress flees to London and goes into hiding after escaping arrest in his home country.
1965: State troopers assault scores of demonstrators demanding better voting rights for black people in the US as they attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery. On the same day, a golden eagle which escaped from Regent’s Park Zoo is still on the loose after outsmarting his keepers’ latest attempts to recapture him.
1966: Tina Turner records her vocal on the Phil Spector produced River Deep Mountain High. On the same day, Mike Millward guitarist from The Fourmost dies, aged 23 from leukaemia.
1967: The Beatles record additional overdubs for the Paul McCartney song Lovely Rita, including harmonies, effects, and the sound of a piece of toilet paper being blown through a hair comb.
1968: The BBC broadcasts the news in colour for the first time.
1969: Golda Meir is elected as the first female prime minister of Israel.
1971: Singles chart:
- Baby Jump – Mungo Jerry
- Another Day – Paul McCartney
- My Sweet Lord – George Harrison
- Rose Garden – Lynn Anderson
- It’s Impossible – Perry Como
- The Pushbike Song – The Mixtures
- Hot Love – T. Rex
- Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond
- Amazing Grace – Judy Collins
- Stoned Love – The Supremes
Album chart:
- All Things Must Pass – George Harrison
- Tumbleweed Connection – Elton John
- Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel
- Led Zeppelin 3 – Led Zeppelin
- Greatest Hits – Andy Williams
- The Yes Album – Yes
- Elton John – Elton John
- Motown Chartbusters Vol 4 – Various Artists
- Pendulum – Credence Clearwater Revival
- Chicago 3 – Chicago
1973: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League wins election in Bangladesh.
1975: The body of Lesley Whittle, the 17-year-old heiress kidnapped from her Shropshire home 52 days earlier, is found at the bottom of a drain shaft.
1977: Ali Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party wins elections. On the same day, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin meets US President Jimmy Carter.
1987: Mike Tyson beats James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith in 12 rounds for the WBA heavyweight boxing title.
1989: Iran drops diplomatic relations with Britain over Salman Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses”.
1994: Charles Taylor resigns as President of Liberia. On the same day, David Platt is appointed captain of England football team.
1999: Death of director Stanley Kubrick aged 70.
2009: Neymar makes his professional football debut aged 17 for Santos in Brazil.
2013: Death of guitarist Peter Banks (Brockbanks). “the architect of progressive music” aged 65. On the same day, jazz trumpeter Kenny Ball dies aged 82.
2019: Chinese telecommunications company Huawei sues the US government over a federal ban on its products.
BIRTHDAYS: Chris White, bassist/songwriter (The Zombies) 76; Matthew Fisher, organist (Procol Harum), 75; Ernie Isley, guitarist (The Isley Brothers) 69; Bryan Cranston, actor, 65; Ivan Lendl, tennis legend, 61; Taylor Dayne (Leslie Wundermann) singer, 59; E L James (Erika Leonard), author, 58; Wanda Sykes, comedian/actor, 57; Rachel Weisz (Craig), actress, 51; Ray Parlour, footballer, 48; Tobias Menzies, actor, 47; Jenna (Regina) Fischer, actress, 47; Josh Dewhurst, guitarist (Blossoms) 24.
