Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

March 9

1987
Pi is recited from memory to 40,000 places, by Hideaki Tomoyori (Japan).

1959
Barbie: Mattel introduces the doll that would become an American icon.

1953
The Heart of Juliet Jones comic strip premiers.

1946
Twenty-three people are killed at a soccer game in England, after metal barriers collapsed causing a stampede.

1933
First radio broadcast from the floor of the House of Representatives.

1916
Pancho Villa, a Mexican revolutionary, leads 1500 guerrillas into New Mexico killing 17 Americans.

1864
Ulysses S. Grant is commissioned Lieutenant-General, the highest rank in the army. He assumed command of the Union Army the following day.

1862
Battle of the ironclads: USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly the Merrimac) in Virginia ends in a standoff, during the Civil War.

1861
First Confederate currency is authorized, in denominations of $50, $100, $500, $1,000. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1831
The French Foreign Legion is established.

1562
Kissing in public is made illegal in Naples, Italy, punishable by death.

1971
Emmanuel Lewis, American diminutive actor. TV: Webster.

1949
Jaime Lyn Bauer, American actress. TV: The Young and the Restless (Lauralee Brooks Prentiss).

1943
Bobby Fischer (Robert James Fischer), American chess champion, first American to win the world chess championship (1972).

1940
Raul Julia, Puerto Rican actor. Film: Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) and The Addams Family (1991, Gomez).

1936
Mickey Gilley, American singer. In 1971, he opened Gilley's in Houston, the world's largest nightclub.

1934     d. 1968
Yuri A. Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut. He became the first man in space (1961) when he orbited the Earth aboard the Soviet Vostok 1.

1920     d. 1978
Carl Betz, American Emmy-winning actor. TV: The Donna Reed Show (Donna's husband) and Judd for the Defense (the tough Texas lawyer).

1918     d. 2006
Mickey Spillane (Frank Morrison), American author, creator of the hardboiled detective Mike Hammer. He has sold over 100 million books and inspired several TV series and movies. He started out as a comic book writer, working on titles such as Captain America, Human Torch, and Submariner. Writings: I, the Jury (1947), Kiss Me, Deadly (1952), and The Deep (1961)

1890     d. 1986
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (V.M. Skryabin), Soviet Communist leader, Soviet foreign minister (1939-49, 1953-56), and for whom the Molotov cocktail is named. He and Joseph Stalin found the party newspaper Pravda (1912).

1824     d. 1893
Leland Stanford, American politician, railroad builder, philanthropist, president of the Central Pacific Railroad (1863-93), president of the Southern Pacific Railroad (1885-90), and founder of Stanford University (1885).

1451     d. 1512
Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer, for whom America is named, and one of the first to recognize North and South America as new continents.

1996     b. 1896
George Burns (Nathan Birnbaum), American actor, comedian.  He partnered with his wife Gracie Allen.  Film: The Sunshine Boys (1975) and Oh, God! (1977).

1994     b. 1917
Fernando Rey (Fernando Casado Arambillet, Spanish actor. He was one of Spain's best-known actors. Film: The French Connection (1971, the French drug king) and Elisa, Vida mia (1977, Cannes Best Actor).

1994     b. 1920
Charles Bukowski, German-born American poet, novelist, "Bard of Beer and Broads." His heavy drinking and hard living provided the setting for the film Barfly (1987). Writings: Flowers, Fist and Bestial Wall (1959) and Ham on Rye (1982).

1993     b. 1909
Northcote Parkinson, British author, historian, creator of Parkinson's Law (work expands to fill the time available for its completion).

1947     b. 1859
Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, American women's rights leader, founder of the National League of Women Voters (1919). Her efforts contributed greatly to the passing of the 19th Amendment.

1944     b. 1893
Roy Brown, Canadian World War I flying ace, credited with shooting down the Red Baron (1918), although this is doubted by some.

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