1836: The thirteen-day siege of the Alamo by Santa Anna and his army ended. The Mexican army of three thousand men defeated the 189 Texas volunteers.
1899: Aspirin was patented by German researchers Felix Hoffman and Hermann Dreser.
1961: One of Britain's most popular entertainers, George Formby, died after suffering a heart attack. Lancashire-born Formby, 56, was one of the UK's best-paid stars during his heyday in the 1930s and 1940s.
1970: The British Government announced an indefinite ban on the importation of domestic pets. It follows the death from rabies of a dog called Sessan in Newmarket a week ago. The animal had been imported from Pakistan and released from quarantine on November 30.
1987: Forty-nine people have been confirmed dead - and dozens are missing - after a car ferry capsized just outside the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.
1997: Queen Elizabeth II launched the first official royal Web site.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
1935: Malcolm Campbell set an auto speed record of 276.8 mph in Florida.
1936: Hitler sent German troops into the Rhineland in violation of the Locarno Pact and the Treaty of Versailles.
1975: The body of Lesley Whittle, the 17-year-old heiress kidnapped from her Shropshire home 52 days ago, was found at the bottom of a drain shaft.
1988: The IRA has confirmed the three people shot dead by security forces in Gibraltar yesterday were members of an active service unit.
2002: A federal judge awarded Anna Nicole Smith more than $88 million in damages. The ruling was the latest in a legal battle over the estate of Smith's late husband, J. Howard Marshall II.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
1618: Johann Kepler discovered the third Law of Planetary Motion.
1702: Queen Anne took the throne upon the death of King William III
1907: The British House of Commons turned down a women's suffrage bill.
1909: Pope Pius X lifted the church ban on interfaith marriages in Hungary.
1972: A bomb exploded aboard a Trans World Airlines Boeing 707 at Las Vegas airport. No-one was injured in the blast which destroyed the cockpit of the aircraft as it stood empty on the tarmac.
2001: Divers raised the wreck of Donald Campbell's boat, Bluebird, from the bottom of Coniston Water in Cumbria. The boat had lain there since the accident in 1967 which killed Campbell, 46, as he attempted to break the world water speed record.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
0515 BC: The building of the great Jewish temple in Jerusalem was completed.
1629: King Charles I dissolved Parliament and did not call it back for 11 years.
1876: Alexander Graham Bell made the first successful call with the telephone. He spoke the words "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."
1893: New Mexico State University canceled its first graduation ceremony because the only graduate was robbed and killed the night before.
1969: Martin Luther King's killer gets life. James Earl Ray was jailed for 99 years by a court in Memphis, Tennessee, after admitting he carried out the murder of the American civil rights leader. Ray later repudiated the guilty plea and maintained his innocence until his death in April of 1998.
1988: Andy Gibb died from myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) following a long battle with cocaine addiction, which had weakened his heart.
2002: The Associated Press reported that the Pentagon informed the U.S. Congress in January that it was making contingency plans for the possible use of nuclear weapons against countries that threaten the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction, including Iraq and North Korea.
1302: The characters Romeo and Juliet were married this day according to William Shakespeare.
1955: Sir Alexander Fleming - the man who first discovered the life-saving drug penicillin - died of a heart attack. He was 73.
1966: Three men were convicted of the murder of Malcolm X.
1969: Levi-Strauss started selling bell-bottomed jeans.
1977: Film director Roman Polanski was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl at the home of Hollywood star Jack Nicholson.
1997: Paul McCartney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1998: The International Astronomical Union issued an alert that said that a mile-wide asteroid could come very close to, and possibly hit, Earth on Oct. 26, 2028. The next day NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that there was no chance the asteroid would hit Earth.
2002: Two columns of light were pointed skyward from ground zero in New York as a temporary memorial to the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
2004: Many die as bombs destroy Madrid trains. At least 170 people died and 500 were injured as huge explosions tore through three Madrid train stations during the morning rush-hour.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
1930 - Ghandi began his 200-mile march to the sea that symbolized his defiance of British rule over India.
1964: The president of the powerful American Teamsters union was sentenced to eight years in jail on bribery charges. James Hoffa was also fined $10,000 (£3,570) for trying to bribe a Federal Court jury which was hearing a conspiracy charge against him in 1962.
1969: Paul McCartney married Linda Eastman in a civil ceremony in London.
1980 - In Chicago, IL, a jury found John Wayne Gacy Jr. guilty of the murders of 33 men and boys.
1987 - "Les Miserables" opened on Broadway.
1994 - A photo by Marmaduke Wetherell of the Loch Ness monster was confirmed to be a hoax. The photo was taken of a toy submarine with a head and neck attached.
1999: One of the 20th century's finest musicians Yehudi Menuhin died, aged 82. Lord Menuhin was in Berlin, Germany, to conduct a concert when he fell ill with bronchitis. He died in hospital after a brief illness.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
0607: The 12th recorded passage of Halley's Comet occurred.
1881: Tsar Alexander II was assassinated when a bomb was thrown at him near his palace.
1925: A law in Tennessee prohibited the teaching of evolution.
1935: Three-thousand-year-old archives were found in Jerusalem confirming some biblical history.
1963: Gerry Marsden (Gerry & the Pacemakers) was fined £60 for evading British customs with a German guitar.
1996: A lone gunman went on a shooting spree at a school in Dunblane, Scotland, killing 16 children and their teacher.
2003: A report in the journal "Nature" reported that scientists had found 350,000-year-old human footprints in Italy. The 56 prints were made by three early, upright-walking humans that were descending the side of a volcano.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
1757: British Admiral John Byng was executed by a firing squad on board HMS Monarch for neglect of duty.
1891: The submarine Monarch laid telephone cable along the bottom of the English Channel to prepare for the first telephone links across the Channel.
1905: The British House of Commons cited a need to compete with Germany in naval strength.
1915: The British Navy sank the German battleship Dresden off the Chilean coast.
1964: A Dallas jury found Jack Ruby guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.
1991: The "Birmingham Six," imprisoned for 16 years for their alleged part in an IRA pub bombing, were set free after a court agreed that the police fabricated evidence.
2002: A Scottish appeals court upheld the conviction of a Libyan intelligence agent for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. A five-judge court ruled unanimously that Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was guilty of bringing down the plane over Lockerbie, Scotland.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
44 BC: Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated by high ranking Roman Senators. The day is known as the "Ides of March."
1877: The first cricket test between Australia and England was played in Melbourne. Australia won by 45 runs.
1976: The driver of a London Underground train has been shot dead while chasing a gunman who is believed to have detonated a bomb on his train.
1944: The Monastry at Cassino, Italy, was destroyed by Allied bombing. It has since been re-built.
1990: Britain strongly condemned the Iraqi authorities over the execution of The Observer journalist Farzad Bazoft in Baghdad.
1999: Relatives of Buddy Holly filed a suit against MCA Records for allegedly hoarding royalty payments, forging contracts and illegally producing albums without the consent of the family.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
1190 - The Crusaders began the massacre of Jews in York, England.
1963 - "Puff The Magic Dragon" was released by Peter, Paul and Mary.
1993 - In France, ostrich meat was officially declared fit for human consumption.
1994 - Tonya Harding pled guilty in Portland, OR, to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for covering up the attack on her skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. She was fined $100,000. She was also banned from amateur figure skating.
1995 - NASA astronaut Norman Thagard became the first American to visit the Russian space station Mir.
1998 - Rwanda began mass trials for 1994 genocide with 125,000 suspects for 500,000 murders.
1986: When Peter Popoff appeared in Anaheim on March 16, James Randi and associates recorded backstage radio transmissions to him that were later revealed on the Tonight Show.
0461: Bishop Patrick, St. Patrick, died in Saul. Ireland celebrates this day in his honor.
1930: Al Capone was released from jail.
1966: A U.S. submarine found a missing H-bomb in the Mediterranean off of Spain.
1957: British European Airways withdrew their fleet of Viscount 701s from service after one of them crashed at Manchester.
1984: The 130th Boat Race was postponed less than an hour before it was due to start after the Cambridge vessel was in collision with a barge and sank. The next day the Boat Race went ahead with Oxford crossing the winning line first.
1995: Notorious gangland killer Ronnie Kray died in hospital two days after he collapsed in his ward at Broadmoor where he was serving a life sentence for murder.
1999: The International Olympic Committee expelled six of its members in the wake of a bribery scandal.
2000: In Kanungu, Uganda, a fire at a church linked to the cult known as the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments killed more than 530. On March 31, officials set the number of deaths linked to the cult at more than 900 after authorities subsequently found mass graves at various sites linked to the cult.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
0037: The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius’ will and proclaims Caligula emperor and thereby paves the way for a rather interesting DVD 2000 years later.
1850 - Henry Wells & William Fargo founded American Express.
1891 - Britain became linked to the continent of Europe by telephone.
1921 - The steamer "Hong Koh" ran aground off of Swatow China. Over 1,000 people were killed.
1940 - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini held a meeting at the Brenner Pass. The Italian dictator agreed to join in Germany's war against France and Britain during the meeting.
1961 - The Poppin' Fresh Pillsbury Dough Boy was introduced.
1967: Supertanker Torrey Canyon ran aground on rocks between Land's End and the Scilly Isles and began leaking its cargo of oil into the sea. The 974-ft (297m) tanker, which was carrying 100,000 tons of crude oil, hit Pollard's Rock in the Seven Stones reef.
1974 - Most of the Arab oil-producing nations ended their five-month embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.
1986 - Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson.
1989 - A 4,400-year-old mummy was discovered at the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.
1994 - Zsa Zsa Gabor filed for bankruptcy.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
1644: 200 members of the Peking imperial family/court committed suicide.
1702: Upon the death of William III of Orange, Anne Stuart, the sister of Mary, succeeds to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1866: The immigrant ship Monarch of the Seas sank in Liverpool killing 738.
1915: Pluto was photographed for the first time. However, it was not known at the time.
1976: Buckingham Palace announced the separation of Princess Margaret and her husband, the Earl of Snowdon, after 16 years of marriage.
1981: During a test of the space shuttle Columbia two workers were injured and one was killed.
1982: Argentine flag hoisted on S Georgia. A group of Argentines landed at the British colony of the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic and planted their nation's flag.
1992: The Duke and Duchess of York are to separate, Buckingham Palace has revealed.
1994: The largest omelet in history was made with 160,000 eggs in Yokohama, Japan.
2002: Actor Ben Kingsley was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
1616: Walter Raleigh was released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana.
1792: In Paris, the Legislative Assembly approved the use of the guillotine.
1899: At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place became the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. She was put to death for the murder of her stepdaughter.
1966: The football World Cup was stolen while on exhibition at Central Hall in Westminster, London. The £30,000 solid gold Jules Rimet trophy disappeared while a church service was taking place in another part of the building.
1974: Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips escaped an apparent kidnap attempt in which four people were wounded.
1985: Boy George said in "Women's World" magazine that he would never marry, settle down, or become a father.
1993: An IRA bomb was detonated in Warrington, England. A 3-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy were killed.
1996: The U.K. announced that humans could catch CJD (Mad Cow Disease).
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
1733: Joseph Priestly invented carbonated water (seltzer).
1888: The English Football League was established.
1956: Civil rights leader, the Reverend Martin Luther King, was convicted of organising an illegal boycott by black passengers of buses in the US state of Alabama.
1995: Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returned to Earth after setting a record for 438 days in space.
2002: Woman granted 'right to die'. A woman paralysed from the neck down won the legal right to die by having her treatment withdrawn.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.
1906: The "Census of the British Empire" revealed that England ruled 1/5 of the world.
1944: In Rome, The Gestapo rounded up innocent Italians and shot them in response to a bomb attack that killed 32 German policemen. Over 300 civilians were executed
1953: Her Majesty Queen Mary, the Queen's grandmother, died peacefully in her sleep.
1981: Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs was rescued by Barbados police following his kidnapping.
1989: An oil tanker has ran aground on a reef off the Alaskan coast, releasing gallons of crude oil into the sea. The Exxon Valdez got into trouble in Prince William Sound when it hit Bligh Reef, splitting its side open and releasing oil, with reports of an eight-mile (12.8km) slick.
1992: Punch, Britain's oldest satirical magazine, closed after suffering crippling losses of £1.5m a year. The decision ended a publishing tradition dating back almost 151 years.
1999: The 7-mile tunnel under Mont Blanc in France was an inferno after a truck carrying flour and margarine caught on fire. At least 30 people were killed.
Late entry; how i missed this i'll never know-
Magician and skeptic Harry Houdini was born March 24, 1874. His investigations (and debunking) of spiritualists in the 1920s has served as an inspiration to skeptics ever since.
1306: Robert the Bruce was crowned king of Scotland.
1669: Mount Etna in Sicily erupted destroying Nicolosi. 20,000 people were killed.
1970: The Concorde made its first supersonic flight.
1975: King Faisal of Saudi Arabia died after a gun attack in Riyadh despite the efforts of doctors to save him. Prince Faisal bin Musaed was later found guilty of regicide and in June 1975 he was executed for the murder of his uncle King Faisal. The prince was beheaded in the public square in Riyadh. This is the traditional method of execution in Saudi Arabia under Islamic law.
"Astrology teaches us one thing and one thing only.... There's one born every minute!" Patrick Moore.