Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in March 2024 (listed six months in advance so you have time to write about them)
Historical anniversaries are great for ‘On This Day in History’ features, articles, biographies and other anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with newspaper and magazine readers and radio stations, and editors, producers and presenters love them. They’re easy to research too. You can also turn them into movies, documentaries, novels, use them to plan events and exhibitions, and much more. (Find out more at the end of this article.)
We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2024, which lists more than 3,000 anniversaries.
1 Mar 1974 – 50 years ago
A national speed limit of 55 mph came into effect in the USA because of the oil crisis.
The limit was partially lifted in 1987 and fully repealed in 1995.
2 Mar 1949 – 75 years ago
U.S. Air Force Captain James Gallagher completed the first non-stop round-the-world flight.
He landed his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas, having taken off from there 94 hours and one minute earlier.
3 Mar 1849 – 175 years ago
The United States Department of the Interior was formed.
4 to 10 Mar 1899 – 125 years ago
Cyclone Mahina hit Bathurst Bay in Queensland, Australia, killing between 300 and 400 people.
It was the deadliest cyclone in Australian history, and may have been the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. It produced the largest-recorded storm surge of 43 feet (13 metres) which swept up to 3 miles (5 km) inland.
5 Mar 1984 to Mar 1985 – 40 years ago
The 1984 miners’ strike, UK.
6,000 coal miners in Yorkshire, England began a strike to protest against pit closures and job losses.
On 6th March the National Coal Board announced that 20 mines in the north of England, Scotland and Wales would close, with the loss of 20,000 jobs. On 12th March the strike in Yorkshire became a national one involving tens of thousands of miners.
6 Mar 1964 – 60 years ago
American world heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay was given the name Muhammad Ali after joining the Nation of Islam.
7 Mar 1274 – 750 years ago
Death of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Italian Dominican friar, Catholic priest, philosopher and theologian.
8 Mar 1974 – 50 years ago
Charles de Gaulle Airport opened in Paris, France.
9 Mar 1824 –200 years ago
Birth of Leland Stanford, American industrialist and politician.
Co-founder (with his wife) of Stanford University.
Governor of California (1862–63). U.S. Senator from California (1885–93).
10 Mar 1949 – 75 years ago
American Nazi wartime broadcaster ‘Axis Sally’ (Mildred Gillars) was found guilty of treason by a jury in Washington D.C., USA
She was sentenced to 10 – 30 years in prison and fined $10,000. She was released in June 1961.
11 Mar 1824 – 200 years ago
The Bureau of Indian Affairs was established in the USA. It is now a federal agency within the Department of the Interior.
It is responsible for laws and policies relating to American Indians and Alaska Natives.
12 Mar 1964 – 60 years ago
New Hampshire became the first U.S. state to legally sell lottery tickets.
13 Mar 1974 – 50 years ago
The U.S. Senate voted to restore the death penalty, which had been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1972.
The death penalty was restored in 1976.
14 Mar 1964 – 60 years ago
Jack Ruby, the American nightclub owner who shot Lee Harvey Oswald after he was arrested for assassinating U.S. President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.
He appealed, but died of lung cancer less than three years later.
15 Mar 1874 – 150 years ago
The Second Treaty of Saigon was signed by France and Vietnam. It effectively made Vietnam a French protectorate.
16 Mar 1774 – 250 years ago
Birth of Matthew Flinders, British navigator and cartographer.
He led the first inshore navigation of Australia, and was the first person to call the country by that name. He was also part of the expedition that confirmed that Tasmania was an island.
17 Mar 1899 – 125 years ago
The first radio distress signal was sent. It was transmitted by the East Goodwin Lightship to the South Foreland Lighthouse to summon a lifeboat when the merchant ship Elbe ran aground on the Goodwin Sands off the coast of Kent, England.
18 Mar 1899 – 125 years ago
Saturn’s moon Phoebe was discovered by American astronomer William Henry Pickering while he was studying photographic plates taken in Peru in August 1898. It was the first moon to be discovered from photos.
19 Mar 1524 – 500 years ago
Florentine explorer Giovanni de Varrazano became the first European to reach the Atlantic coast of North America.
He reached Pamlico Sound, North Carolina on this date, continued north to New Brunswick in Canada, and then sailed southwards, exploring and surveying the coast to Florida.
20 Mar 1974 – 50 years ago
Britain’s Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips escaped from an attempted kidnapping in London.
The would-be kidnapper shot and wounded three people who tried to intervene.
21 Mar 1999 – 25 years ago
Death of Ernie Wise, British comedian and actor (Morecambe and Wise).
22 Mar 1934 – 90 years ago
The first Masters Tournament was held at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, USA.
23 Mar 1924 – 100 years ago
Birth of Bette Nesmith Graham, American typist and artist. The inventor of Liquid Paper correction fluid.
Mother of the musician Michael Nesmith (The Monkees). (Died 1980.)
24 Mar 1874 – 150 years ago
Birth of Harry Houdini, Hungarian-born American escape artist, illusionist and stunt performer.
25 Mar 1924 – 100 years ago
Greece became a republic. The monarchy was abolished and the Second Hellenic Republic was proclaimed.
Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis became its first president.
26 Mar 1934 – 90 years ago
Driving tests were introduced in Britain. They were voluntary until June 1935.
27 Mar 1899 – 125 years ago
The first international radio transmission.
Italian inventor and electrical engineer Guglielmo Marconi broadcast a radio telegraph message across the English channel from Wimereux in northern France to the South Foreland Lighthouse in England. The message was addressed to The Times newspaper and reported the success of his trials.
28 Mar 1964 – 60 years ago
Radio Caroline, Britain’s first off-shore pirate radio station, began broadcasting.
29 Mar 1974 – 50 years ago
The Terracotta Army was discovered in Shaanxi, China by a group of farmers who were digging a well.
The 8,000 life-sized warriors, plus chariots and horses were buried with the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (247 BC – 221 BC), to protect him in the afterlife. Non-military figures were later discovered in nearby pits. They included government officials, acrobats, musicians and strongmen.
30 Mar 1964 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the television quiz show Jeopardy! was broadcast on NBC in the USA.
31 Mar 1949 – 75 years ago
The first 7-inch 45 rpm vinyl single record was released. The first single was PeeWee the Piccolo, released by RCA Victor.
More anniversaries:
You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2024. The 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 editions are also available if you work further ahead. The anniversaries are available as PDF ebooks, Excel spreadsheets, and printed paperback books.
How to use the anniversaries:
If you’d like to know more about how to turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines and newspapers, take a look at our free 68-page guide, Ditch Your Day Job: the easiest way to make a living (or earn some extra cash) as a writer.
It has some terrific bonuses too, including a complete month of anniversaries from The Date-A-Base Book 2023, hundreds of article-writing tips and ideas, plus a 25 percent discount when you buy two or more editions of The Date-A-Base Book.