31 newsworthy historical anniversaries in March 2025

Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries in March 2025 (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 selected an anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2025, which lists more than 3,600 anniversaries. The Date-A-Base Book 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 are also available.

1 Mar 1995 – 30 years ago
The internet search company Yahoo! was founded.
Its search engine was launched on 5^th March.

2 Mar 1950 – 75 years ago
Birth of Karen Carpenter, American singer and drummer (The Carpenters). (Died 1983.)

3 Mar 1875 – 150 years ago
The first recorded indoor ice hockey game was played, at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal, Canada.
It is now recognised by the International Ice Hockey Federation as the first organised ice hockey game.

4 Mar 1825 – 200 years ago
John Quincy Adams was inaugurated as the 6^th President of the United States.
He was appointed President in a contingent election after no candidates won a majority in the 1824 presidential election.

5 Mar 1975 – 50 years ago
The Homebrew Computer Club held its first meeting in Menlo Park, California, USA.
It is considered to have started the personal computer revolution. Several notable computer pioneers and entrepreneurs were members, including the founders of Apple.

6 Mar 1985 – 40 years ago
American boxer Mike Tyson’s first professional fight, at the age of 18.
He knocked out Hector Mercedes in the first round.

7 Mar 1875 – 150 years ago
Birth of Maurice Ravel, French composer. Best known for Boléro.

8 Mar 1950 – 75 years ago
Volkswagen launched the Type 2 Transporter van – also known as the VW Camper, Bus, microbus, or Kombi.
It became the best-selling van in history, and early versions remain much-loved icons of the counterculture/hippie movement.

9 to 10 Mar 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II – Operation Meetinghouse (the Bombing of Tokyo, Japan). Considered to be the most destructive air raid in history.
330 U.S. B-29 bombers carried out low-altitude incendiary bomb attacks on Tokyo, destroying a quarter of the city and killing over 100,000 people.

10 Mar 1960 – 65 years ago
The UK’s first Top 50 record chart was published by the music trade magazine Record Retailer (now Music Week).

11 Mar 1955 – 70 years ago
Death of Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish bacteriologist.
Joint winner of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering penicillin.

12 Mar 1950 – 75 years ago
The Llandow air disaster, Sigingstone, Wales.
A privately hired plane stalled and crashed during a return flight from Ireland, killing 75 passengers and all five crew. Three passengers survived. It was the world’s worst air disaster at that time.

13 Mar 1955 – 70 years ago
Death of Tribhuvan, King of Nepal (1911–50, 1951–55). Died in mysterious circumstances.
Succeeded by Mahendra.

14 Mar 1925 – 100 years ago
Death of Walter Camp, (‘the Father of American Football’), American football player, coach and sports writer.

15 Mar 1985 – 40 years ago
The first .com internet domain name was registered (symbolics.com).

16 Mar 1935 – 90 years ago
Driving tests were introduced in Britain.
They were voluntary until 1^st June. From that date anyone who had started to drive on or after 1^st April 1934 had to pass the test.

17 Mar 1950 – 75 years ago
The creation of the chemical element Californium (Cf – atomic no. 98) was announced by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.

18 Mar 1850 – 175 years ago
American Express, the multinational financial services company, was founded in Buffalo, New York, USA.

19 Mar 1975 – 50 years ago
The film Tommy, a musical based on The Who’s rock opera album Tommy, was released in the USA.
(UK: 26^th March.)

20 Mar 1900 – 125 years ago
Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla was granted a U.S. patent for the wireless transmission of electric power.
(U.S. Patent 645,576.)

21 Mar 1925 – 100 years ago
The Butler Act was signed into law in Tennessee, USA.
Tennessee became the first U.S. state to ban the teaching of the theory of evolution. It led to the Scopes Trial in July 1925.

22 Mar 1960 – 65 years ago
The first laser was patented by American physicists Arthur Schawlow and Charles Townes of Bell Telephone Laboratories.
(U.S. Patent 2,929,922.)

23 Mar 1775 – 250 years ago
American Revolution: Patrick Henry, a Founding Father of the United States, gave a famous speech at the Second Virginia Convention. He called for America’s independence from Britain, saying: ‘Give me liberty, or give me death!’

24 Mar 1935 – 90 years ago
The first episode of the radio talent show Major Bowes Amateur Hour was broadcast on NBC in the USA.
(It began in April 1934 as a New York-only show but was broadcast nationally on this date. It transferred to CBS in September 1936. There was also a television version from 1948.)

25 Mar 1965 – 60 years ago
Martin Luther King Jr. led the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march in Alabama, USA.
This was the third, and finally successful, attempt to march to the state capitol. The first attempt was aborted because mobs and police violently attacked the demonstrators (known as ‘Bloody Sunday’). The second attempt was blocked by a court injunction.

26 Mar 1995 – 30 years ago
The Schengen Treaty came into effect in the European Union.
Seven nations (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) eliminated their internal border controls and tightened their external borders.

27 Mar 1625 – 400 years ago
Death of James VI and I, King of England and Ireland (1603–25) as James I, King of Scotland (1567–1625) as James VI.
Succeeded by Charles I.

28 Mar 1960 – 65 years ago
The first permanent star was installed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California, USA.
It honoured film director Stanley Kramer. Eight temporary stars, two of which honoured actress Joanne Woodward and actor Burt Lancaster, had been installed in 1958 to show what the Walk of Fame might eventually look like.

29 Mar 1945 – 80 years ago
World War II: the last German V-1 flying bomb hit Britain (in Datchworth, Hertfordshire).
On the same day, the Allies captured the last German V-1 launch site, preventing any further attacks.

30 Mar 1775 – 250 years ago
American Revolution: Britain passed the New England Restraining Act, prohibiting its colonies in New England from trading with any country except Britain, Ireland and the British West Indies (from 1^st July 1775).
In April the Act was extended to include colonies outside of New England.

31 Mar 1900 – 125 years ago
The first advertisement for an automobile appeared in the USA.
The W. E. Roach Company’s advertisement in the Saturday Evening Post simply claimed that Roach automobiles ‘give satisfaction’.

More anniversaries:

You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2025.

The 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029 editions are also available if you work further ahead.

Each edition is available as a PDF ebook (with a free Excel spreadsheet) or as a printed paperback book.

How to use the anniversaries:

How can you turn the anniversaries listed here and in The Date-A-Base Books into articles for magazines, newspapers and websites? How do you get paid for writing them, and how can you make a great living from it?

Download our free guide Ditch Your Day Job. It tells you everything you need to know!

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