What Happened on March 31

Historical Events

1906 – GB Shaw’s German version of “Caesar and Cleopatra” premieres in Berlin
1909 – Gustav Mahler conducts New York Philharmonic for his 1st time
1972 – Official Beatles Fan Club closes down
1983 – Popayán Earthquake (5.5 Mw Depth) in Colombia kills 267 people, injuring some 7,500
1995 – Federal judge Sonia Sotomayor of US District Court in NYC issues an injunction against Major League Baseball owners in move that effectively ends 232-day strike
2004 – Australian swimmer Lisbeth Lenton breaks Inge de Bruijn’s 4-year old 100m freestyle women’s world record in 53.66s at the Australian Olympic trials in Sydney

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Famous Birthdays

1723 – Frederick V, King of Denmark-Norway (1746-66), born in Copenhagen Castle, Copenhagen (d. 1766)
1747 – Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, German composer (The Moon Has Risen), born in Lüneburg, Germany (d. 1800)
1809 – Edward FitzGerald, British poet, writer, and translator (Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam), born in Bredfield, Sussex, England (d. 1883)
1884 – Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-American astronomer (d. 1946)
1916 – Lucille Bliss, American voice actress (Cinderella, The Secret of NIMH), born in NYC, New York (d. 2012)
1982 – Chloé Zhao, Chinese filmmaker and director (The Rider, Nomadland), born in Beijing, China

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Famous Deaths

1389 – Everhard Tserclaes, sheriff of Brussels, murdered
1547 – King Francis I of France (1515-47), dies complaining about the weight of the crown at 52
1881 – Gaetano Gaspari, composer, dies at 73
2002 – Barry Took, British comedian (b. 1928)
2003 – H.S.M. Coxeter, English-born geometer (b. 1907)
2010 – Shirley Mills, American actress (b. 1926)

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