March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). There are 285 days remaining.

Events

• 1556 - In Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake.
• 1788 - A fire destroys 856 buildings in New Orleans and leaves most of the town in ruins.
• 1800 - Pius VII becomes Pope
• 1804 - Code Napoléon adopted as French civil law.
• 1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Somme begins
• 1928 - Charles Lindbergh is presented the Congressional Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight.
• 1935 - Persia is renamed Iran
• 1940 - Paul Reynaud becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1945 - World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma
• 1952 - Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio
• 1960 - Apartheid: Massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa: Police open fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180
• 1963 - Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, closes.
• 1964 In Copenhagen, Denmark, Gigliola Cinquetti wins the ninth Italy singing "Non ho l'età" (I'm not old enough).
• 1965 - Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9 which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
• 1970 - Vinko Bogataj crashes during a ski jumping championship in Germany; his image becomes that of the "agony of defeat guy" on ABC's Wide World of Sports.
• 1970 - In Amsterdam, Netherlands, Dana wins the fifteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "All Kinds of Everything".
• 1980 - President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
• 1980 - On the season finale of the soap opera Dallas, the infamous character J.R. Ewing is shot by an unseen assailant, leading to the catchphrase "Who Shot JR?"
• 1985 -Canadian wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen begins his round the world journey in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.
• 1989 - Sports Illustrated reports allegations that tie Pete Rose to baseball gambling.
• 1990 - Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.
• 1999 - Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
• 2002 - In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh along with three other suspects are charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
• 2004 - In Malaysia, The 11th Federal and State elections are held, returning the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional to power with an increased majority.

Births

• 1685 - Johann Sebastian Bach, composer, (d. 1750)
• 1763 - Jean Paul, poet and publicist, (d. 1825)
• 1768 - French mathematician, (d. 1830)
• 1806 - Benito Juárez, Mexican statesman and national hero, (d. 1872)
• 1839 - Russian composer, (d. 1881)
• 1869 - Florenz Ziegfeld, theatrical producer, (d. 1932)
• 1876 - John Tewksbury, American athlete (d. 1968)
• 1882 - Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, actor, (d. 1971)
• 1895 - Zlatko Baloković, Croatian violinist, (d. 1955)
• 1901 - Karl Arnold, politician, (d. 1958)
• 1902 - Son House, blues musician, (d. 1988)
• 1921 - Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (d. 1986)
• 1922 - Russ Meyer, pornographic film director, producer
• 1923 - Shri Mataji Nirmala Shrivastava, the founder of Sahaja Yoga
• 1927 - Hans-Dietrich Genscher, politician
• 1936 - Mike Westbrook, English composer
• 1946 - Timothy Dalton, Shakespearean actor, James Bond actor
• 1958 - Gary Oldman, actor
• 1960 - Ayrton Senna, automobile racer, (d. 1994)
• 1961 - Lothar Matthäus, soccer player
• 1962 - Rosie O'Donnell, comedienne, actress, talk show host, publisher
• 1962 - Matthew Broderick, actor
• 1975 - Mark Williams, Welsh snooker player
• 1978 - Kevin Federline, American dancer
• 1980 - Ronaldinho, Brazilian footballer
• 1943 - Vivian Stanshall, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band

Deaths

• 1076 - Robert I, Duke of Burgundy
• 1306 - Robert II, Duke of Burgundy
• 1556 - Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, (b. 1489)
• 1795 - Giovanni Arduino, geologist, (b. 1714)
• 1843 - Robert Southey, poet
• 1881 - Samuel Courtauld, textile industrialist (b. 1793)
• 1884 - Ezra Abbot, American bible scholar, (b. 1819)
• 1934 - Franz Schreker, composer (b. 1878)
• 1951 - Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (b. 1871)
• 1958 - Cyril M. Kornbluth, science fiction writer, (b. 1923)
• 1984 - Sir Michael Redgrave, actor, (b. 1908)
• 1987 - Robert Preston, actor (b. 1918)
• 1991 - Leo Fender, guitar manufacturer
• 1997 - The Reverend W. V. Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, (b. 1911)
• 2001 - Norma Macmillan, cartoon voice actress, (b. 1921)
• 2001 - Chung Ju-young, founder of Hyundai group (b. 1915)
• 2003 - Wolfgang Kartte, politician

Holidays and observances

• South Africa: Human Rights Day
• Traditional date of vernal equinox, used for reckoning Easter. The real equinox usually occurs one day earlier.
• The third day of Quinquatria in ancient Rome, held in honor of Minerva.
• New Year of Iranian Calendar: Norouz occurs on the vernal equinox
• New Year of the Bahá'í Calendar
• Bahá'í Faith: Naw-Rúz: New Year (Norouz)
• Bahá'í Faith - End of the fast (end of the 19 day sunrise to sunset fast)
• Ostara - Neopagan festival of Ostara
• World Day Of Sleep- by World Health Organization
• World Poetry Day - by UNESCO
• International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination - by United Nations

March 20 - March 22 - February 21 - April 21 -- listing of all days