History of Today in India – 14 March

Explore the history of today 14 March in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 14 March 2026, 04:20 AM

📜 Important Events on 14 March in World History

14 Mar 2021: Burmese security forces kill at least 65 civilians in the Hlaingthaya massacre. Read more
14 Mar 2019: Cyclone Idai makes landfall near Beira, Mozambique, causing devastating floods and over 1,000 deaths. Read more
14 Mar 2017: A naming ceremony for the chemical element nihonium takes place in Tokyo, with then Crown Prince Naruhito in attendance. Read more
14 Mar 2008: A series of riots, protests, and demonstrations erupt in Lhasa and subsequently spread elsewhere in Tibet. Read more
14 Mar 2007: The Nandigram violence in Nandigram, West Bengal, results in the deaths of at least 14 people. Read more
14 Mar 2006: The 2006 Chadian coup d'état attempt ends in failure. Read more
14 Mar 2006: Operation Bringing Home the Goods: Israeli troops raid an American-supervised Palestinian prison in Jericho to capture six Palestinian prisoners, including PFLP chief Ahmad Sa'adat. Read more
14 Mar 1995: Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on board a Russian launch vehicle. Read more
14 Mar 1991: Escondida in Chile's Atacama Desert – which was to become the worlds most productive copper mine – is officially inaugurated. Read more
14 Mar 1988: In the Johnson South Reef Skirmish Chinese forces defeat Vietnamese forces in an altercation over control of one of the Spratly Islands. Read more
14 Mar 1982: The South African government bombs the headquarters of the African National Congress in London. Read more
14 Mar 1980: LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 crashes during final approach near Warsaw, Poland, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing team. Read more
14 Mar 1979: Alia Royal Jordanian Flight 600 crashes at Doha International Airport, killing 45 people. Read more
14 Mar 1978: The Israel Defense Forces launch Operation Litani, a seven-day campaign to invade and occupy southern Lebanon. Read more
14 Mar 1972: Sterling Airways Flight 296 crashes near Kalba, United Arab Emirates while on approach to Dubai International Airport, killing 112 people. Read more
14 Mar 1967: The body of U.S. President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery. Read more
14 Mar 1964: Jack Ruby is convicted of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin who had shot and killed John F. Kennedy the previous year. Read more
14 Mar 1961: A USAF B-52 bomber carrying nuclear weapons crashes near Yuba City, California. Read more
14 Mar 1951: Korean War: United Nations troops recapture Seoul for the second time. Read more
14 Mar 1945: The R.A.F. drop the Grand Slam bomb in action for the first time, on a railway viaduct near Bielefeld, Germany. Read more
14 Mar 1943: The Holocaust: The liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto is completed. Read more
14 Mar 1942: Anne Miller becomes the first American patient to be treated with penicillin, under the care of Orvan Hess and John Bumstead. Read more
14 Mar 1939: Slovakia declares independence under German pressure. Read more
14 Mar 1931: Alam Ara, India's first talking film, is released. Read more
14 Mar 1926: The El Virilla train accident, Costa Rica, kills 248 people and wounds another 93 when a train falls off a bridge over the Río Virilla between Heredia and Tibás. Read more
14 Mar 1923: Charlie Daly and three other members of the Irish Republican Army are executed by Irish Free State forces. Read more
14 Mar 1921: Six members of a group of Irish Republican Army activists known as the Forgotten Ten are hanged in Dublin's Mountjoy Prison. Read more
14 Mar 1920: In the second of the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, about 80% of the population in Zone II votes to remain part of Weimar Germany. Read more
14 Mar 1916: Battle of Verdun: German attack captures Côte 265 at the west end of Mort-Homme but the French 75th Infantry Brigade manages to hold Côte 295 at the east end. Read more
14 Mar 1903: Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, the first national wildlife refuge in the US, is established by President Theodore Roosevelt. Read more
14 Mar 1901: Utah governor Heber Manning Wells vetoes a bill that would have eased restrictions on polygamy. Read more
14 Mar 1900: The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard. Read more
14 Mar 1885: The Mikado, a light opera by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, receives its first public performance at the Savoy Theatre in London. Read more
14 Mar 1864: Rossini's Petite messe solennelle is first performed, by twelve singers, two pianists and a harmonium player in a mansion in Paris. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 14 March in World History

14 Mar 2008: Abby Ryder Fortson, American actress Abby Ryder Fortson is an American actress. She played Ella Novak in Transparent, Harper Weil in The Whispers, Sophie Pierson in Togetherness, Cassie Lang in Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), and Margaret Simon in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023). Read more
14 Mar 2001: Nico Mannion, Italian-American basketball player Niccolò "Nico" Mannion is an Italian-American professional basketball player for Olimpia Milano of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats. He attended Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top point guards in the 2019 class. Although he mainly grew up in the United States, Mannion represents his birth country of Italy in international competitions. Read more
14 Mar 2000: Chrisean Rock, American rapper and reality television personality Chrisean Eugenia Malone, known professionally as Chrisean Rock, is an American rapper and reality television personality. She is best known for appearing on Zeus Network's reality series Baddies (2022–2026) for four seasons. She then starred in her own short-lived series, Blueface & Chrisean: Crazy In Love (2022–2023), also for the network. Read more
14 Mar 2000: Jihoon, South Korean singer Park Ji-hoon, known mononymously as Jihoon, is a South Korean singer. He debuted in Treasure on August 7, 2020, and its single album entitled The First Step: Chapter One. Read more
14 Mar 1999: Marvin Bagley III, American basketball player Marvin Bagley III is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils and was a 2018 Consensus All-American. Read more
14 Mar 1999: Olivia Dean, English singer-songwriter Olivia Lauryn Dean is an English singer and songwriter. Her accolades include four Brit Awards and a Grammy Award. Read more
14 Mar 1998: Tyson Jost, Canadian ice hockey player Tyson Jost is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Read more
14 Mar 1997: Simone Biles, American gymnast Simone Arianne Biles Owens is an American artistic gymnast. Her 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals make her the most decorated gymnast in history. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time, and one of the greatest female athletes in history. With 11 Olympic medals, she is tied with Věra Čáslavská as the second-most decorated female Olympic gymnast behind Larisa Latynina, and has the most Olympic medals earned by a U.S. gymnast. Read more
14 Mar 1996: Batuhan Altıntaş, Turkish footballer Mustafa Batuhan Altıntaş is a Turkish footballer who plays as a forward for TFF 2. Lig club Güzide Gebzespor. Read more
14 Mar 1995: Brandon Aubrey, American multi-sport athlete Brandon Scott Aubrey is an American multi-sport athlete who plays as a placekicker for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He has also played professional association football as a center back. Read more
14 Mar 1995: Nick Eh 30, Canadian live streamer and professional gamer Nicholas Amyoony, better known online as Nick Eh 30, is a Canadian online streamer, YouTuber and professional gamer. Amyoony began making gaming videos as a student at Dalhousie University, and later dropped out to pursue his gaming and streaming career as he received online success while starting to play Fortnite Battle Royale in late 2017. Amyoony is particularly known for being family-friendly. Read more
14 Mar 1994: Ansel Elgort, American actor and DJ Ansel Elgort is an American actor and singer. He began his acting career with a supporting role in the horror film Carrie (2013). He gained wider recognition for starring as a teenage cancer patient in the romantic drama film The Fault in Our Stars (2014) and for his supporting role in The Divergent Series (2014–2016). Read more
14 Mar 1993: Anthony Bennett, Canadian basketball player Anthony Harris Bennett is a Canadian professional basketball player for Al-Najma of the Bahraini Premier League. He played college basketball for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) for one year. He was the first overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, becoming the first Canadian to be drafted number one overall. He played only four seasons in the NBA, averaging 4.4 points per game, and has been named the worst number-one pick in league history. Read more
14 Mar 1993: J. T. Miller, American ice hockey player Jonathan Tanner Miller is an American professional ice hockey player who is a forward and captain for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted by the Rangers in the first round, 15th overall, of the 2011 NHL entry draft. He has also played for the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Vancouver Canucks. Read more
14 Mar 1992: Shotzi Blackheart, American wrestler Ashley Louise Alfaro is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW), where she performs under the ring name Shotzi Blackheart and is the reigning MLW World Women's Featherweight Champion. She also appears on the independent circuit, predominantly for Game Changer Wrestling (GCW). She is best known for her tenure in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Shotzi and is a former one-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion. Read more
14 Mar 1992: Erik Gustafsson, Swedish ice hockey player Erik Gustafsson is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman for the Grand Rapids Griffins in the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Calgary Flames, Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs, and New York Rangers. Gustafsson was selected by the Edmonton Oilers in the fourth round, 93rd overall, of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Read more
14 Mar 1991: Emir Bekrić, Serbian hurdler Emir Bekrić is a former Serbian hurdler. He specialises and holds the Serbian national record for the 400 metres hurdles. He is coached by Mirjana Stojanović. In 2013, Bekrić became the first male track and field athlete from Serbia to win a medal at the IAAF Outdoor World Championships. In the same year he won the award European athletics rising star, as well as golden badge for Serbian athlete of the year. Read more
14 Mar 1990: Joe Allen, Welsh footballer Joseph Michael Allen is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is a first-team coach at Swansea City. Read more
14 Mar 1990: Tamás Kádár, Hungarian footballer Tamás Kádár is a Hungarian professional footballer who plays for Nemzeti Bajnokság I club MTK Budapest. He is a defender and is equally capable at centre-back or left-back. He made his debut for Zalaegerszegi TE at the age of 16 and has since gone on to win Hungary U-21 honours. Read more
14 Mar 1990: Haru Kuroki, Japanese actress Haru Kuroki is a Japanese actress. She won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her performance in the film The Little House. Read more
14 Mar 1990: Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, Icelandic footballer Kolbeinn Sigþórsson is an Icelandic former professional footballer who played as a forward. Read more
14 Mar 1989: Marwin González, Venezuelan baseball player Marwin Javier González is a Venezuelan former professional baseball utility player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, and New York Yankees, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Orix Buffaloes. González was signed as an international free agent by the Chicago Cubs in 2005. He made his MLB debut with the Astros in 2012, and won the World Series with the team in 2017. González has appeared at every position in MLB except for catcher. Read more
14 Mar 1989: Kevin Lacroix, Canadian race car driver Kevin Lacroix is a Canadian racing driver from Saint-Eustache, Quebec. He currently competes in the NASCAR Canada Series, driving the No. 74 Dodge for Innovation Auto Sport, a team he formed with fellow driver Mathieu Kingsbury. Read more
14 Mar 1989: Patrick Patterson, American basketball player Patrick Davell Patterson is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the NBA for the Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, Toronto Raptors, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers. Read more
14 Mar 1988: Stephen Curry, American basketball player Wardell Stephen Curry II, also known as Steph Curry, is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he plays as a point guard. Nicknamed "Chef Curry", he is widely regarded as the greatest shooter in basketball history and is credited with revolutionizing the game by popularizing the three-point shot across all levels of basketball. Read more
14 Mar 1988: Rico Freimuth, German decathlete Rico Freimuth is a retired German athlete who specialised in the decathlon. He won two medals at World Championships, bronze in 2015 and silver in 2017. Read more
14 Mar 1986: Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwean cricketer Elton Chigumbura is a Zimbabwean former cricketer, who played for the national cricket team between 2004 and 2020. Read more
14 Mar 1986: Jessica Gallagher, Australian skier and cyclist Jessica Gallagher is an Australian Paralympic alpine skier, track and field athlete, tandem cyclist and rower. She was Australia's second female Winter Paralympian, and the first Australian woman to win a medal at the Winter Paralympics at the 2010 Vancouver Games. She competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, where she won a bronze medal in the women's giant slalom visually impaired. Read more
14 Mar 1986: Andy Taylor, English footballer Andrew Taylor is an English former footballer who played as a defender. He is currently the B Team head coach at Bolton Wanderers. Read more
14 Mar 1983: Bakhtiyar Artayev, Kazakh boxer Bakhtiyar Garifollauly Artayev is a Kazakh amateur boxer who won the gold medal for Kazakhstan at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He was also the winner of the Val Barker Trophy for the outstanding boxer of the 2004 Olympics. In recognition of his success, one of the Taraz sport centres was named after him. In 2012 he was appointed as a president of the Astana Presidential Sports Club. Read more
14 Mar 1982: Carlos Marinelli, Argentine footballer Carlos Ariel Marinelli is an Argentine former footballer, who played as an attacking midfielder. Read more
14 Mar 1982: François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (died 2008) François Sterchele was a Belgian professional footballer who played for Germinal Beerschot and Club Brugge. The striker was the top scorer of the Jupiler League in 2006–07. Sterchele died in a single-person car accident on 8 May 2008. Read more
14 Mar 1981: Bobby Jenks, American baseball player (died 2025) Robert Scott Jenks was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox from 2005 through 2011, and was a two-time All-Star. A relief pitcher, Jenks served as a closer for most of his career, and he ranks second in career saves among White Sox pitchers. Read more
14 Mar 1981: George Wilson, American football player George Eugene Wilson Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was signed by the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent in 2004. Wilson was a longtime player for the Buffalo Bills and also played for the Tennessee Titans. Read more
14 Mar 1980: Aaron Brown, English footballer and coach Aaron Wesley Brown is an English professional footballer who played as a left-back or left winger. His late younger brother Marvin also played professionally and both were with Bristol City at the same time. Read more
14 Mar 1980: Ben Herring, New Zealand rugby player and coach Ben Herring is a rugby union coach and former professional player. Read more
14 Mar 1979: Nicolas Anelka, French footballer and manager Nicolas Sébastien Anelka is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. As a player, he regularly featured in his country's national team, often scoring at crucial moments. Known for his ability to both score and assist goals, he has been described as a classy and quick player, with good aerial ability, technique, shooting, and movement off the ball, and was capable of playing both as a main striker and as a second striker. Read more
14 Mar 1979: Dan Avidan, American musician and internet personality Leigh Daniel Avidan, also known by his stage name Danny Sexbang, is an American musician, internet personality, actor, and comedian. He is one half of the musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party with Brian Wecht, as well as the co-host of the Let's Play webseries Game Grumps with Arin Hanson. He is also part of the more rap-based comedy music trio Starbomb with Hanson and Wecht, and the vocalist for the rock duo Shadow Academy, known for its inspiration from classic novels, alongside Jim Roach. As of October 2023, Avidan also performs vocals for the electronic music duo Skyhill, originally co-founded by Avidan in 2007. Read more
14 Mar 1979: Chris Klein, American actor Frederick Christopher Klein is an American actor. He made his on-screen debut with a supporting role in the dark comedy film Election (1999) before his breakout starring role as Chris "Oz" Ostreicher in the teen sex comedy film American Pie (1999). He reprised his role in two sequels: American Pie 2 (2001) and American Reunion (2012). Read more
14 Mar 1979: Sead Ramović, German-Bosnian footballer Sead Ramović is a German football manager and former player who manages Algerian club CR Belouizdad. He played as a goalkeeper. Read more
14 Mar 1978: Pieter van den Hoogenband, Dutch swimmer Pieter Cornelis Martijn van den Hoogenband is a Dutch retired swimmer. He is a triple Olympic champion and former world record holder. Read more
14 Mar 1977: Vadims Fjodorovs, Latvian footballer and coach Vadims Fjodorovs is a Latvian former football goalkeeper, currently a goalkeeping coach for Daugava Daugavpils in the Latvian Higher League. Read more
14 Mar 1977: Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (died 2011) Naoki Matsuda was a Japanese professional footballer who played as a central defender for the Japan national team. Read more
14 Mar 1977: Jeremy Paul, New Zealand-Australian rugby player Jeremy Paul is a former professional rugby union player. He played hooker for the Wallabies and the ACT Brumbies. Read more
14 Mar 1976: Brian Quinn, American improvisational comedian and actor Brian Michael "Q" Quinn is an American improvisational comedian. He is a member of The Tenderloins, a comedy troupe also consisting of Sal Vulcano, James Murray, and formerly Joe Gatto. Along with the other members of The Tenderloins, he stars in the television series Impractical Jokers, which premiered in 2011, on TruTV. Read more
14 Mar 1976: Phil Vickery, English rugby player and sportscaster Philip John Vickery MBE DL is an English former rugby union player. A tighthead prop he won 73 international caps for England squad and was a member of England's World Cup winning squad in 2003, playing in all seven matches in the tournament. Read more
14 Mar 1975: Steve Harper, English footballer and referee Stephen Alan Harper is an English former professional footballer, and currently first team coach for Newcastle United and goalkeeping coach for the Northern Ireland national team. He is best known for his time playing at Newcastle, having amassed 157 league appearances over a twenty-year period between 1993 and 2013. Although he was not always the first choice goalkeeper at Newcastle, he was the longest-serving player in the club's history. Read more
14 Mar 1975: Dmitri Markov, Belarusian-Australian pole vaulter Dmitri Markov is a retired Belarusian-Australian pole vaulter. He is a former world champion and current Oceanian record holder. His gold medal winning jump at the 2001 World Championships made him the third person ever to clear 6.05 metres or 19 feet 10 inches. Read more
14 Mar 1974: Santino Marella, Canadian wrestler Anthony Carelli is a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Santino Marella. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he works as the on-screen director of authority. He also appears in partner promotion WWE, on its NXT brand. He is the founder of and instructor at Battle Arts Academy, a martial arts and professional wrestling training facility in Mississauga, Ontario, and the official ambassador of Judo Canada. Read more
14 Mar 1974: Patrick Traverse, Canadian ice hockey player Patrick Traverse is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played 279 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with five teams including the Ottawa Senators, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, and Dallas Stars. He was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the third round, 50th overall, in the 1992 NHL entry draft and joined the organization in 1993. In 2009, he left North America to play in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in Germany with the DEG Metro Stars and Hamburg Freezers. He played internationally for Canada at the 2000 World Championship. Read more
14 Mar 1973: Rohit Shetty, Indian film director and producer Rohit Shetty is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, stuntman, producer and television personality who works in Hindi cinema. A notable director of Hindi cinema, his movies often mix the genres of action comedy and masala films. Read more
14 Mar 1972: Irom Chanu Sharmila, Indian poet and activist Irom Sharmila Chanu, also known as the "Iron Lady of Manipur" or "Mengoubi" is an Indian civil rights activist and poet from the state of Manipur. In 2000, she began a hunger strike to abolish the Armed Forces Act, 1958. She ended her intermittent fast in 2016, after being force-fed for over 500 weeks in custody. Amnesty International has declared her a prisoner of conscience. Read more
14 Mar 1970: Kristian Bush, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Kristian Merrill Bush is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Bush is one half of the country music duo Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles, and was a member of the folk rock duo Billy Pilgrim with Andrew Hyra. In addition to his work in these two groups, Bush released one solo album, Southern Gravity, via Streamsound Records in 2015, and four solo albums via Big Machine Records, 52 ATL x BNA, 52 | In The Key Of Summer, 52 | New Blue, and 52 | This Year in 2022 and 2023. In 2023 Bush also released an EP titled Drink Happy Thoughts on his own label Songs Of The Architect. Read more
14 Mar 1969: Larry Johnson, American basketball player and actor Larry Demetric Johnson is an American former professional basketball player who spent his career as a power forward with the Charlotte Hornets and the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). An NCAA champion and two-time NBA All-Star, Johnson is a member of the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame and College Basketball Hall of Fame. Johnson won a version of national player of the year at the high school, junior college, and NCAA Division I levels. Read more
14 Mar 1968: Megan Follows, Canadian-American actress Megan Elizabeth Laura Diana Follows is a Canadian actress and director. She is known for her role as Anne Shirley in the 1985 Canadian television miniseries Anne of Green Gables and its two sequels. From 2013 to 2017, she starred as Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France, in the television drama series Reign. Read more
14 Mar 1968: Magnús Árni Magnússon, Icelandic politician Magnús Árni Skjöld Magnússon is an Icelandic academic, politician and former member of the Althing. A member of the Social Democratic Alliance, he represented the Reykjavík constituency from October 1998 to May 1999. Read more
14 Mar 1966: Jonas Elmer, Danish actor, director, and screenwriter Jonas Elmer is a Danish film director, screenwriter and previously an actor. In 1988 he was a production assistant at the set of Family Business, starring Sean Connery. Read more
14 Mar 1966: Elise Neal, American actress and producer Elise Demetria Neal is an American actress known for her work in television and film. She rose to prominence in 1997 with roles in Rosewood, Money Talks, and Scream 2. She later starred as Yvonne Hughley in the ABC/UPN sitcom The Hughleys (1998–2002), earning two NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. Her notable film credits include Restaurant (1998), Mission to Mars (2000), and Logan (2017). For her performance in Hustle & Flow (2005), she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Read more
14 Mar 1965: Kevin Brown, American baseball player and coach James Kevin Brown is an American former professional baseball right-handed pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 to 2005 for the Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Yankees. Brown led the American League in wins once and led the National League in earned run average twice. He was a six-time MLB All-Star and threw a no-hitter in 1997. Read more
14 Mar 1965: Aamir Khan, Indian film actor, producer, and director Aamir Hussain Khan is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to as "Mr. Perfectionist" in the media, through his career spanning over 30 years, Khan has established himself as one of the most notable actors of Indian cinema. Khan is the recipient of numerous awards, including nine Filmfare Awards, four National Film Awards, and an AACTA Award. He was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri in 2003 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010, and received an honorary title from the Government of China in 2017. Read more
14 Mar 1965: Billy Sherwood, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer William Wyman Sherwood is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, record producer and mixing engineer. He is best known as the current bass guitarist and harmony singer in English progressive rock band Yes, having previously performed two stints with the band as guitarist and keyboardist in 1994 and in 1997 to 2000. He is also known for working with former and current Yes members on other projects such as Arc of Life, Circa and Yoso. Read more
14 Mar 1965: Kevin Williamson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Kevin Meade Williamson is an American screenwriter and filmmaker. He is known for writing the screenplay for the slasher film Scream (1996)—which launched the Scream franchise—along with those for Scream 2 (1997) and Scream 4 (2011), and writing and directing Scream 7 (2026). He is also known for creating the WB teen drama series Dawson's Creek (1998–2003), the CW supernatural drama series The Vampire Diaries (2009–2017), the Fox crime thriller series The Following (2013–2015), the CBS All Access thriller series Tell Me a Story (2018–2020), and the Netflix crime drama series The Waterfront (2025). Read more
14 Mar 1964: Chris Johns, Australian rugby league player and administrator Chris Johns is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played in the centres, achieving representative honors for Australia and New South Wales. His club football career was spent with the St. George Dragons and Brisbane Broncos, as well as two spells in England, first with Castleford in 1986-87 and then Barrow in 1989–90. After retiring from the playing field, Johns worked in the administration of the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm clubs. Read more
14 Mar 1963: Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer and coach Bruce Anthony Reid is a former Australian international cricketer. A 203 cm tall left-arm fast-medium bowler, Reid also played domestically for his home state Western Australia. He was a part of the Australian team that won their first world title during the 1987 Cricket World Cup, and is the first Australian to take a hat-trick in the ODI format of the game. Read more
14 Mar 1961: Mike Lazaridis, Greek–Canadian businessman and philanthropist, founded BlackBerry Limited Mike Lazaridis, OC, FRS is a Canadian businessman that co-founded Research In Motion, the company that created and manufactured the BlackBerry wireless handheld device. He has gone on to become a major supporter of Canadian academic physics, and an investor in quantum computing technologies. Read more
14 Mar 1960: Heidi Hammel, American astronomer and academic Heidi B. Hammel is an American planetary astronomer who has extensively studied Neptune and Uranus. She was part of the team imaging Neptune from Voyager 2 in 1989. She led the team using the Hubble Space Telescope to view Shoemaker-Levy 9's impact with Jupiter in 1994. She has used the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Telescope to study Uranus and Neptune, discovering new information about dark spots, planetary storms and Uranus' rings. In 2002, she was selected as an interdisciplinary scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope. Read more
14 Mar 1960: Kirby Puckett, American baseball player (died 2006) Kirby Puckett was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett was instrumental in helping the Twins to win World Series championships in 1987 and 1991. Puckett generally played center field, although he was shifted to right field later in his career. Read more
14 Mar 1959: Laila Robins, American actress Laila Robins is an American stage, film and television actress. She has appeared in films including Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), An Innocent Man (1989), Live Nude Girls (1995), True Crime (1999), She's Lost Control (2014), Eye in the Sky (2015), and A Call to Spy (2019). Her television credits include regular roles on Gabriel's Fire, Homeland, and Murder in the First, playing Pamela Milton in the final season of The Walking Dead (2022), and Colonel Grace Mallory in The Boys (2019–2024) and Gen V (2023). Read more
14 Mar 1959: Tamara Tunie, American actress Tamara Tunie is an American film, stage, and television actress, singer, director, and producer. She is best known for her roles as attorney Jessica Griffin on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns and as medical examiner Melinda Warner in the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2000–2021). Tunie also appeared in films such as Rising Sun (1993), The Devil's Advocate (1997), The Caveman's Valentine (2001) receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female, Flight (2012), and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022). Since February 2025, she has played the role of Anita Dupree on the CBS daytime soap opera Beyond the Gates. Read more
14 Mar 1958: Albert II, Prince of Monaco Albert II is Prince of Monaco, reigning since 2005. Read more
14 Mar 1957: Tad Williams, American author Robert Paul "Tad" Williams is an American fantasy and science fiction writer. He is the author of the multivolume Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series, Otherland series, Shadowmarch series, and The Bobby Dollar series, as well as the standalone novels Tailchaser's Song and The War of the Flowers. Most recently, Williams published The Last King of Osten Ard series, with its final novel The Navigator's Children being published in 2024. More than 17 million copies of Williams' works have been sold. Read more
14 Mar 1956: Indu Malhotra, Judge of the Supreme Court of India Indu Malhotra is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. Post retirement, she is practicing as a full-time arbitrator in international and domestic arbitrations. Prior to her elevation, she was practicing as a Senior Counsel in the Supreme Court of India, and various High Courts. In 2007, she was the second woman to be designated as a Senior Counsel by the Supreme Court, after more than three decades. In 2018, she was the first woman to be elevated directly from the Bar as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India. She demitted office in March 2021 on completion of her term. She has contributed significantly to arbitration jurisprudence, both as a counsel and as a judge. Read more
14 Mar 1956: Butch Wynegar, American baseball player and coach Harold Delano "Butch" Wynegar Jr. is an American former professional baseball catcher who played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees and California Angels, and was a two-time All Star. Read more
14 Mar 1955: Jonathan Kaufer, American director and screenwriter (died 2013) Jonathan David Kaufer was an American film director, screenwriter, and occasional actor. Kaufer received his first job while in his late teens as a writer for the sitcom Mork & Mindy. Filmmaker Howard Zieff later hired Kaufer to do rewrites for his films, and his work on the 1979 film The Main Event led to a development deal enabling him to direct his first film, the romantic comedy Soup for One. At the time, he was the youngest director hired by a major studio. Read more
14 Mar 1954: Brian Smith, Australian rugby league player and coach Brian Smith is an Australian rugby league coach and former player. He was also the Football Manager for the New Zealand Warriors. Read more
14 Mar 1953: Nick Keir, Scottish singer-songwriter (died 2013) Nick Keir was a Scottish musician from Edinburgh, Scotland, who is best known for his work with The McCalmans. More recently Keir emerged as a singer-songwriter, producing three solo albums and performing as a soloist with The Tolkien Ensemble. Keir regularly played in both Scotland and Denmark at folk festivals and on tours, both with The McCalmans and also at solo gigs. Read more
14 Mar 1951: Jerry Greenfield, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Ben & Jerry's Jerry Greenfield is an American businessman, philanthropist, and activist. He is a co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc. Read more
14 Mar 1950: Rick Dees, American actor and radio host Rigdon Osmond Dees III, best known as Rick Dees, is an American radio personality, best known for his internationally syndicated radio show The Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 Countdown and for the 1976 satirical novelty song "Disco Duck". He is also known as the source of the audio in the 2002 "You Are An Idiot" trojan, which originated from a comedy sketch on his 1984 album Put It Where the Moon Don’t Shine. Read more
14 Mar 1948: Tom Coburn, American physician and politician (died 2020) Thomas Allen Coburn was an American politician and physician who served as a United States senator from Oklahoma from 2005 to 2015. A Republican, Coburn previously served as a United States representative from 1995 to 2001. Read more
14 Mar 1948: Billy Crystal, American actor, comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter William Edward Crystal is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He is known as a standup comedian and for his film and stage roles. Crystal has received numerous accolades, including six Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award as well as nominations for three Grammy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2007, the Critics' Choice Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2023. Read more
14 Mar 1948: Theo Jansen, Dutch sculptor Theodorus Gerardus Jozef Jansen is a Dutch artist. In 1990, he began building large mechanisms out of PVC that are able to move on their own and, collectively, are titled Strandbeest. The kinetic sculptures appear to walk. His animated works are intended to be a fusion of art and engineering. He has said that "The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds." Some of his creations are reported to incorporate primitive logic gates for collision detection with obstacles such as the sea. Read more
14 Mar 1947: Roy Budd, English pianist and composer (died 1993) Roy Frederick Budd was an English jazz pianist and composer known for his film scores, including Get Carter and The Wild Geese. Read more
14 Mar 1947: William J. Jefferson, American lawyer and politician William Jennings Jefferson is an American former politician from Louisiana whose career ended after his corruption scandal and conviction. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009 as a member of the Democratic Party. He represented Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, which includes much of the greater New Orleans area. He was elected as the state's first black congressman since the end of Reconstruction. Read more
14 Mar 1947: Jona Lewie, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player Jona Lewie is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his 1980 UK hits "You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties" and "Stop the Cavalry". Read more
14 Mar 1946: Wes Unseld, American basketball player, coach, and manager (died 2020) Westley Sissel Unseld Sr. was an American professional basketball player, coach and executive. He spent his entire National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets. Unseld played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals and was selected with the second overall pick by the Bullets in the 1968 NBA draft. Known as "The Incredible Hulk" and "The Oak Tree" because of his immense physical presence, Unseld was named the NBA Most Valuable Player and NBA Rookie of the Year during his rookie season and joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only two players in NBA history to accomplish the feat. He won an NBA championship with the Bullets in 1978 and the Finals MVP award to go with it. Read more
14 Mar 1945: Jasper Carrott, English comedian, actor, and game show host Robert Norman Davis, known by his stage name, Jasper Carrott, is an English comedian, writer, actor, singer and television presenter. His credits include An Audience With Jasper Carrott (1978), The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1982), Carrott's Lib (1982-1983), Jane and the Lost City (1987), Carrott's Commercial Breakdown (1989-1996), Canned Carrott (1990-1995), The Detectives (1993-1997), All About Me (2002–2004), and Golden Balls (2007–2009). Read more
14 Mar 1945: Michael Martin Murphey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Michael Martin Murphey is an American singer-songwriter. He was one of the founding artists of progressive country. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs by Marty Robbins in 1959. He has recorded the hit singles "Wildfire", "Carolina in the Pines", "What's Forever For", "A Long Line of Love", "What She Wants", "Don't Count the Rainy Days", and "Maybe This Time". Murphey is also the author of New Mexico's state ballad, "The Land of Enchantment". He has become a prominent musical voice for the Western horseman, rancher, and cowboy. Read more
14 Mar 1945: Walter Parazaider, American saxophonist Walter Parazaider is an American retired woodwind musician who is a founding member of the rock band Chicago. He is best known for being one-third of Chicago's brass/woodwind section alongside Lee Loughnane and James Pankow. Parazaider is a multi-instrumentalist. He plays a wide variety of wind instruments, including saxophone, flute, and clarinet. He also occasionally plays guitar. Read more
14 Mar 1944: Boris Brott, Canadian composer and conductor (died 2022) Boris Brott, was a Canadian conductor and motivational speaker. He was one of the most internationally recognized Canadian conductors, having conducted on stages around the world, including Carnegie Hall, La Scala, and Covent Garden. He was known for his innovative methods of introducing classical music to new audiences. Over his career, he commissioned, performed, and recorded a wide variety of Canadian works for orchestra. Read more
14 Mar 1944: Clyde Lee, American basketball player Clyde Wayne Lee is an American former professional basketball player who had his most success as an All-American center at Vanderbilt University, where the two-time Southeastern Conference (SEC) Player of the Year was among the most heralded players in school history. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the 1965 NBA draft and a one-time NBA All-Star, playing ten seasons in the league. Read more
14 Mar 1944: Václav Nedomanský, Czech ice hockey player and manager Václav Nedomanský is a Czech former ice hockey forward. Nedomanský was the first Czechoslovak hockey player to defect to North America for professional hockey, playing with the Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019. He is also a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame (1997), Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame (2002), Czech Ice Hockey Hall of Fame (2008) and was named into the IIHF All-Time Czech Team (2020). Read more
14 Mar 1944: Bobby Smith, English footballer and manager Robert William Smith is an English former footballer and football manager. He was capped by England at Schoolboys and Youth level. He is the son of Conway Smith and grandson of Billy Smith, from whom he gets his middle name. Read more
14 Mar 1944: Tom Stannage, Australian historian and academic (died 2012) Charles Thomas Stannage, was a prominent Western Australian historian, academic, and Australian rules football player. He edited the major work A New History of Western Australia, which was published in 1981. Read more
14 Mar 1943: Anita Morris, American actress and singer (died 1994) Anita Rose Morris was an American actress, singer and dancer. She began her career performing in Broadway musicals, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Seesaw and Nine, for which she received a Tony Award nomination. Read more
14 Mar 1942: Rita Tushingham, English actress Rita Tushingham is an English actress. She is known for her starring roles in films including A Taste of Honey (1961), The Leather Boys (1964), The Knack …and How to Get It (1965), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Smashing Time (1967). For A Taste of Honey, she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and Most Promising Newcomer at both the BAFTA Awards and Golden Globe Awards. Her other film appearances include An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), Under the Skin (1997), Being Julia (2004), and Last Night in Soho (2021). Read more
14 Mar 1941: Wolfgang Petersen, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2022) Wolfgang Petersen was a German film and television director, screenwriter and producer. His international breakthrough was the war film Das Boot (1981), which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He subsequently directed the blockbuster fantasy film The NeverEnding Story (1984), based on the 1979 novel of the same name. Read more
14 Mar 1939: Raymond J. Barry, American actor Raymond John Barry is an American film, television, and stage actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the film Steel City. Read more
14 Mar 1939: Bertrand Blier, French director and screenwriter (died 2025) Bertrand Blier was a French film director and writer. His 1978 film Get Out Your Handkerchiefs won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards. Read more
14 Mar 1939: Yves Boisset, French director and screenwriter (died 2025) Yves Félix Claude Boisset was a French film director and screenwriter. He directed fiction films like The Assassination, Le prix du danger, as well as investigative documentaries. Boisset was known for his left wing political views and the controversial releases of his films. He was labeled "the most censored man in France", and declared himself the most censored filmmaker of the Fifth Republic. Read more
14 Mar 1938: Eleanor Bron, English actress and screenwriter Eleanor Bron is an English stage, film and television actress, and an author. Her film roles include Ahme in the Beatles musical Help! (1965), the Doctor in Alfie (1966), Margaret Spencer in Bedazzled (1967) and Hermione Roddice in Women in Love (1969). She has appeared in television series such as Yes Minister, Doctor Who and Absolutely Fabulous. Read more
14 Mar 1938: Jan Crouch, American televangelist, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (died 2016) Janice Wendell Crouch was an American religious broadcaster. Crouch and her husband, Paul, founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 1973. Read more
14 Mar 1938: John Gleeson, Australian cricketer (died 2016) John William Gleeson was an Australian cricketer who played in 29 Test matches from 1967 to 1972. He is best known for his unique bowling style, which according to Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland "bamboozled batsmen" and could "regularly dumbfound the best batsmen in any team". Read more
14 Mar 1938: Árpád Orbán, Hungarian footballer (died 2008) Árpád Orbán was a Hungarian Olympic champion football player. Read more
14 Mar 1937: Peter van der Merwe, South African cricketer and referee (died 2013) Peter Laurence van der Merwe was a South African cricketer. He played in fifteen Tests from 1963 to 1967, captaining South Africa to series victories against England in 1965 and Australia in 1966–67. Read more
14 Mar 1936: Bob Charles, New Zealand golfer Sir Robert James Charles is a New Zealand professional golfer who won the 1963 Open Championship, the first left-handed player to win a major championship. He won the 1954 New Zealand Open as an 18-year-old amateur and made the cut in the same event in 2007, at the age of 71. His achievements over that period, in which he won 80 tournaments, rank him as one of the most successful New Zealand golfers of all time. Along with Michael Campbell, he is one of only two New Zealanders to win a men's major golf championship. Read more
14 Mar 1934: Eugene Cernan, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (died 2017) Eugene Andrew Cernan was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. Read more
14 Mar 1934: Paul Rader, American 15th General of The Salvation Army Paul Alexander Rader, was an American religious leader, who was the 15th General of the Salvation Army from 1994 to 1999, and was the President of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, from 2000 to 2006. Read more
14 Mar 1933: Michael Caine, English actor Sir Michael Caine is an English retired actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 130 films over a career that spanned eight decades and is considered a British cultural icon. He has received numerous awards including two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. As of 2017, the films in which Caine has appeared have grossed over $7.8 billion worldwide. Caine is one of only five male actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in five different decades. In 2000, he received a BAFTA Fellowship and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Read more
14 Mar 1933: Quincy Jones, American producer (died 2024) Quincy Delight Jones Jr. was an American record producer, composer, arranger, record executive, conductor, trumpeter, film and television producer and bandleader. During his seven-decade career, he received dozens of accolades, including 28 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for seven Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. Read more
14 Mar 1932: Mark Murphy, American singer-songwriter and actor (died 2015) Mark Howe Murphy was an American jazz singer based at various times in New York City, Los Angeles, London, and San Francisco. He recorded 51 albums under his own name during his lifetime and was principally known for his innovative vocal improvisations. He was the recipient of the 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2001 Down Beat magazine readers' jazz poll for Best Male Vocalist and was also nominated five times for the Grammy Award for Best Vocal Jazz Performance. He wrote lyrics to the jazz tunes "Stolen Moments" and "Red Clay". Read more
14 Mar 1932: Naina Yeltsina, Russian wife of Boris Yeltsin, First Lady of Russia Anastasia Iosifovna "Naina" Yeltsina is the widow of the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin. She was the First Lady of Russia during her husband's presidency (1991–1999). Read more
14 Mar 1929: Bob Goalby, American golfer (died 2022) Robert George Goalby was an American professional golfer. He won 11 PGA Tour events including the 1968 Masters. Read more
14 Mar 1928: Frank Borman, American astronaut (died 2023) Frank Frederick Borman II was an American United States Air Force (USAF) colonel, aeronautical engineer, NASA astronaut, test pilot, and businessman. He was the commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, and together with crewmates Jim Lovell and William Anders, became the first of 24 humans to do so, for which he was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Read more
14 Mar 1928: Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish environmentalist (died 1980) Félix Samuel Rodríguez de la Fuente was a Spanish naturalist and broadcaster. He is best known for the highly successful and influential television series El Hombre y la Tierra (1974–1980). A graduate in medicine and self-taught in biology, he was a multifaceted charismatic figure whose influence has endured despite the passing years. Read more
14 Mar 1927: Chuck Share, American basketball player (died 2012) Charles Edward Share was an American basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Share has the distinction of being the first NBA draft pick ever: he was selected by the Boston Celtics as the No. 1 overall pick in the inaugural 1950 NBA draft. Read more
14 Mar 1926: François Morel, Canadian pianist, composer, conductor, and educator (died 2018) François Morel was a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1994 and was awarded the Prix Denise-Pelletier in 1996. He has had his works premiered by the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Read more
14 Mar 1925: William Clay Ford Sr., American businessman (died 2014) William Clay Ford Sr. was an American businessman who was on the boards of Ford Motor Company and the Edison Institute. Ford owned the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) from 1964 until his death. He was the youngest child of Edsel Ford and was the last surviving grandchild of Henry Ford. Read more
14 Mar 1925: Francis A. Marzen, Roman Catholic priest (died 2004) Francis A. Marzen was a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, former editor of the Hawaii Catholic Herald and an information specialist for the City & County of Honolulu in the administration of Mayor Frank Fasi. Read more
14 Mar 1925: Joseph A. Unanue, American sergeant and businessman (died 2013) Joseph Andrew Unanue was an American businessman and president of Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic–owned food company in the United States. Read more
14 Mar 1923: Diane Arbus, American photographer (died 1971) Diane Arbus was an American photographer. She photographed a wide range of subjects including strippers, carnival performers, nudists, people with dwarfism, children, mothers, couples, elderly people, and middle-class families. She photographed her subjects in familiar settings: their homes, on the street, in the workplace, in the park. "She is noted for expanding notions of acceptable subject matter and violates canons of the appropriate distance between photographer and subject. By befriending, not objectifying her subjects, she was able to capture in her work a rare psychological intensity." Read more
14 Mar 1922: Les Baxter, American pianist and composer (died 1996) Leslie Thompson Baxter was an American composer, conductor, and musician. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica, and scored over 250 radio, television and motion pictures numbers. Read more
14 Mar 1921: S. Truett Cathy, American businessman, founded Chick-fil-A (died 2014) Samuel Truett Cathy was an American businessman, investor, author, and philanthropist who founded the fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A in 1946. Read more
14 Mar 1921: Ada Louise Huxtable, American author and critic (died 2013) Ada Louise Huxtable was an American architecture critic and writer on architecture. Huxtable established architecture and urban design journalism in North America and raised the public's awareness of the urban environment. In 1970, she was awarded the first ever Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. In 1981, she was named a MacArthur Fellow. Architecture critic Paul Goldberger, also a Pulitzer Prize-winner (1984) for architectural criticism, said in 1996: "Before Ada Louise Huxtable, architecture was not a part of the public dialogue." "She was a great lover of cities, a great preservationist and the central planet around which every other critic revolved," said architect Robert A. M. Stern, dean of the Yale University School of Architecture. Read more
14 Mar 1920: Hank Ketcham, American author and cartoonist, created Dennis the Menace (died 2001) Henry King Ketcham was an American cartoonist who created the Dennis the Menace comic strip, writing and drawing it from 1951 to 1994, when he retired from drawing the daily cartoon and took up painting full-time in his home studio. In 1953, he received the Reuben Award for the strip, which continues today in the hands of other cartoonists. Read more
14 Mar 1920: Dorothy Tyler-Odam, English high jumper (died 2014) Dorothy Jennifer Beatrice Tyler, MBE was a British athlete who competed mainly in the high jump. Read more
14 Mar 1919: Max Shulman, American author and screenwriter (died 1988) Maximilian Shulman was an American writer and humorist best known for his television and short story character Dobie Gillis, as well as for best-selling novels. Read more
14 Mar 1918: Zoia Horn, American librarian (died 2014) Zoia Markovna Horn was an American librarian who in 1972 became the first United States librarian to be jailed for refusing to share information as a matter of conscience. Horn, an outspoken member of the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee, worked at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, in the early 1970s. Horn was jailed for nearly three weeks for contempt of court after refusing to testify for the prosecution in the 1972 conspiracy trial of the "Harrisburg Seven" anti-war activists. Read more
14 Mar 1917: Alan Smith, English lieutenant and pilot (died 2013) Sir Alan Smith, CBE, DFC*, DL, was a British World War II Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire fighter ace and businessman. Read more
14 Mar 1916: Horton Foote, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (died 2009) Albert Horton Foote Jr. was an American playwright and screenwriter. He received Academy Awards for To Kill a Mockingbird, which was adapted from the 1960 novel of the same name by Harper Lee, and the film, Tender Mercies (1983). He was also known for his notable live television dramas produced during the Golden Age of Television. Read more
14 Mar 1915: Alexander Brott, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (died 2005) Alexander Brott,, born Joël Brod, was a Canadian conductor, composer, violinist and music teacher. Read more
14 Mar 1914: Lee Hays, American singer-songwriter (died 1981) Lee Elhardt Hays was an American folk singer and songwriter, best known for singing bass with the Weavers. Throughout his life, he was concerned with overcoming racism, inequality, and violence in society. He wrote or cowrote "Lonesome Traveller", "Wasn't That a Time?", "If I Had a Hammer", and "Kisses Sweeter than Wine", which became hits and Weavers' staples. He also familiarized audiences with songs of the 1930s labor movement, such as "We Shall Not Be Moved". Read more
14 Mar 1914: Bill Owen, English actor and songwriter (died 1999) William John Owen Rowbotham was an English actor and songwriter. He is best known for portraying Compo Simmonite in the Yorkshire-based BBC comedy series Last of the Summer Wine for over a quarter of a century. He died on 12 July 1999, his last appearance on-screen being shown in April 2000. Read more
14 Mar 1914: Lee Petty, American race car driver and businessman, founded Petty Enterprises (died 2000) Lee Arnold Petty was an American stock car racing driver who competed during the 1950s and 1960s. He is the patriarch of the Petty racing family. He was one of the early pioneers of NASCAR and one of its first stars. He was NASCAR's first three-time Cup champion. He is the father of Richard Petty, who went on to become one of the most successful stock car racing drivers in history. He is also the grandfather of Kyle Petty and great grandfather of Adam Petty. Read more
14 Mar 1913: Dominik Tatarka, Slovak writer (died 1989) Dominik Tatarka was a Slovak writer famous for his 1956 satirical text The Demon of Consent condemning Stalinism. Read more
14 Mar 1912: Cliff Bastin, English footballer (died 1991) Clifford Sydney Bastin was an English footballer who played as a winger for Exeter City and Arsenal. He also played for the England national team. Bastin is Arsenal's third-highest goalscorer of all time. Read more
14 Mar 1912: Les Brown, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (died 2001) Lester Raymond Brown was an American jazz musician who for over six decades (1938-2000) led his big band, later called Les Brown and His Band of Renown. Read more
14 Mar 1912: W. Graham Claytor Jr. American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of the Navy (died 1994) William Graham Claytor Jr. was an American attorney, United States Navy officer, railroad executive, and administrator of railroad, transportation, and defense affairs for the United States government, working under the administrations of three US presidents. Read more
14 Mar 1912: W. Willard Wirtz, American lawyer and politician, 10th United States Secretary of Labor (died 2010) William Willard Wirtz was a U.S. administrator, cabinet officer, attorney, and law professor. He served as the Secretary of Labor between 1962 and 1969 under the administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Wirtz was the last living member of Kennedy's cabinet. Read more
14 Mar 1911: Akira Yoshizawa, Japanese origamist (died 2005) Akira Yoshizawa was a Japanese origamist, considered to be the grandmaster of origami. He is credited with raising origami from a craft to a living art. According to his own estimation made in 1989, he created more than 50,000 models, of which only a few hundred designs were presented as diagrams in his 18 books. Yoshizawa acted as an international cultural ambassador for Japan throughout his career. In 1983, Emperor Hirohito awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun, 5th class, one of the highest honors bestowed in Japan. Read more
14 Mar 1908: Ed Heinemann, American designer of military aircraft (died 1991) Edward Henry Heinemann was a military aircraft designer for the Douglas Aircraft Company. Read more
14 Mar 1908: Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher and academic (died 1961) Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interest and he wrote on perception, art, politics, religion, biology, psychology, psychoanalysis, language, nature, and history. He was the lead editor of Les Temps modernes, the leftist magazine he established with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in 1945. Read more
14 Mar 1908: Phil Vincent, English engineer and businessman, founded Vincent Motorcycles (died 1979) Philip Conrad Vincent was a British motorcycle designer and manufacturer. Founder of Vincent Motorcycles, his designs influenced the development of motorcycles around the world. Read more
14 Mar 1908: Koča Popović, Yugoslav politician and Divisional Commander of the First Proletarian Division of the Yugoslav Partisans (died 1992) Konstantin "Koča" Popović was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and communist volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, 1937–1939 and Divisional Commander of the First Proletarian Division of the Yugoslav Partisans. He is on occasion referred to as "the man who saved the Yugoslav Partisans", because it was he who anticipated the weakest point in the Axis lines on the Zelengora–Kalinovik axis, and devised the plan for breaking through it during the Battle of Sutjeska, thus saving Josip Broz Tito, his headquarters and the rest of the resistance movement. After the war, he served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army, before moving to the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and spent the final years of his political career as Vice President of Yugoslavia. Read more
14 Mar 1906: Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Turkish composer and educator (died 1972) Ulvi Cemal Erkin was a member of the pioneer group of symphonic composers in Turkey, born in the period 1904–1910, who later came to be called The Turkish Five. These composers, all trained in Europe took on the responsibility of creating a new Turkish music style, both universal and also local at the same time. They utilized Western musical forms, i.e. symphony, concerto and opera, and brought in melodic, harmonic and modal elements of of Turkish folk music, also known as Anatolian Village Music, Ottoman Court music popularly known as Turkish Art Music. Read more
14 Mar 1905: Raymond Aron, French journalist, sociologist, and philosopher (died 1983) Raymond Claude Ferdinand Aron was a French philosopher, sociologist, political scientist, historian and journalist, one of France's most prominent thinkers of the 20th century. Read more
14 Mar 1904: Doris Eaton Travis, American actress and dancer (died 2010) Doris Eaton Travis was an American dancer, stage and film actress, dance instructor, owner and manager, writer, and rancher, who was the last surviving Ziegfeld Girl, a troupe of acclaimed chorus girls who performed as members in the Broadway theatrical revues of the Ziegfeld Follies. Read more
14 Mar 1903: Adolph Gottlieb, American painter and sculptor (died 1974) Adolph Gottlieb was an American abstract expressionist painter who also made sculpture and became a printmaker. Read more
14 Mar 1901: Sid Atkinson, South African hurdler and long jumper (died 1977) Sidney James Montford Atkinson was a South African athlete, winner of 110 m hurdles at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Read more
14 Mar 1899: K. C. Irving, Canadian businessman, founded Irving Oil (died 1992) Kenneth Colin Irving, was a Canadian businessman whose business began with a family sawmill in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, in 1882. In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Read more
14 Mar 1898: Reginald Marsh, French-American painter and illustrator (died 1954) Reginald Marsh was an American painter, born in Paris, most notable for his depictions of life in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. Crowded Coney Island beach scenes, popular entertainments such as vaudeville and burlesque, women, and jobless men on the Bowery are subjects that reappear throughout his work. He painted in egg tempera and in oils, and produced many watercolors, ink and ink wash drawings, and prints. Read more
14 Mar 1887: Sylvia Beach, American-French bookseller and publisher, who founded Shakespeare and Company (died 1962) Sylvia Beach, born Nancy Woodbridge Beach, was an American-born bookseller and publisher who lived most of her life in Paris, where she was one of the leading expatriate figures between World War I and II. Read more
14 Mar 1886: Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (died 1964) Firmin Lambot was a Belgian bicycle racer who twice won the Tour de France. Read more
14 Mar 1885: Raoul Lufbery, French-American soldier and pilot (died 1918) Gervais Raoul Victor Lufbery was a French and American fighter pilot and flying ace in World War I. Because he served in both the French Air Force, and later the United States Army Air Service in World War I, he is sometimes listed alternately as a French ace or as an American ace. Officially, all but one of his 17 combat victories came while flying in French units. Read more
14 Mar 1882: Wacław Sierpiński, Polish mathematician and academic (died 1969) Wacław Franciszek Sierpiński was a Polish mathematician. He was known for contributions to set theory, number theory, theory of functions, and topology. He published over 700 papers and 50 books. Read more
14 Mar 1879: Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, academic and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1955) Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum theory. His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which arises from special relativity, has been called "the world's most famous equation". He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for "his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect". Read more
14 Mar 1874: Anton Philips, Dutch businessman, co-founded Philips Electronics (died 1951) Anton Frederik Philips was a Dutch businessman. He is one of the co-founders of the Royal Philips Electronics N.V. in 1912 with his older brother Gerard Philips in Eindhoven, Netherlands. His father and Gerard had founded the Philips Company in 1891 as a family business while Anton served as chief executive officer from 1922 to 1939. Read more
14 Mar 1869: Algernon Blackwood, English author and playwright (died 1951) Algernon Henry Blackwood was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary critic S. T. Joshi stated, "His work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures (1914) "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century". Read more
14 Mar 1868: Emily Murphy, Canadian jurist, author, and activist (died 1933) Emily Murphy was a Canadian women's rights activist and author. In 1916, she became the first female magistrate in Canada and the fifth in the British Empire after Elizabeth Webb Nicholls, Jane Price, E. Cullen and Cecilia Dixon of Australia. She is best known for her contributions to Canadian feminism, specifically to the question of whether women were "qualified persons" to serve in the Senate under Canadian law. Read more
14 Mar 1864: Casey Jones, American engineer (died 1900) John Luther "Casey" Jones was an American railroader who was killed when his passenger train collided with a stalled freight train in Vaughan, Mississippi. Read more
14 Mar 1862: Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (died 1951) Vilhelm Friman Koren Bjerknes was a Norwegian geophysicist and meteorologist who did much to lay the foundation of the modern practice of weather forecasting. He formulated the primitive equations that are still in use in numerical weather prediction and climate modeling. He founded the so-called Bergen School of Meteorology, which was successful in advancing weather prediction and meteorology in the early 20th century. Read more
14 Mar 1854: Paul Ehrlich, German physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1915) Paul Ehrlich was a German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology and antimicrobial chemotherapy. He shared the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Élie Metchnikoff "in recognition of their work on immunity". Among his foremost achievements were finding a cure for syphilis in 1909 and inventing an important modification of the technique for Gram staining bacteria. The methods he developed for staining tissue made it possible to distinguish between different types of blood cells, which led to the ability to diagnose numerous blood diseases. Read more
14 Mar 1854: John Lane, English publisher, co-founded The Bodley Head (died 1925) John Lane was a British publisher who co-founded The Bodley Head with Charles Elkin Mathews. He published the Yellow Book newspaper. He established a New York branch of his publishing business and married American author Anna Eichberg King. Read more
14 Mar 1854: Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian author and poet (died 1920) Alexandru Macedonski was a Romanian poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic, known especially for having promoted French Symbolism in his native country, and for leading the Romanian Symbolist movement during its early decades. A forerunner of local modernist literature, he is the first local author to have used free verse, and claimed by some to have been the first in modern European literature. Within the framework of Romanian literature, Macedonski is seen by critics as second only to national poet Mihai Eminescu; as leader of a cosmopolitan and aestheticist trend formed around his Literatorul journal, he was diametrically opposed to the inward-looking traditionalism of Eminescu and his school. Read more
14 Mar 1854: Thomas R. Marshall, American lawyer and politician, 28th Vice President of the United States of America (died 1925) Thomas Riley Marshall was the 28th vice president of the United States from 1913 to 1921 under President Woodrow Wilson. A prominent lawyer in Indiana, he became an active and well known member of the Democratic Party by stumping across the state for other candidates and organizing party rallies that later helped him win election as the 27th governor of Indiana. In office, he attempted to implement changes from his progressive agenda to the Constitution of Indiana, but his efforts proved controversial and were blocked by the Indiana Supreme Court. Read more
14 Mar 1853: Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter (died 1918) Ferdinand Hodler was a Swiss painter. He is one of the best-known Swiss painters of the nineteenth century. His early works were portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings in a realistic style. Later, he adopted a personal form of Symbolism which he called "parallelism". Read more
14 Mar 1847: Castro Alves, Brazilian poet and playwright (died 1871) Antônio Frederico de Castro Alves was a Brazilian poet and playwright famous for his abolitionist and republican poems. One of the most famous poets of the Condorist movement, he wrote classics such as Espumas Flutuantes and Hinos do Equador, which elevated him to the position of greatest among his contemporaries, as well as verses from poems such as "Os Escravos" and "A Cachoeira de Paulo Afonso", in addition to the play Gonzaga, which earned him epithets such as "O Poeta dos Escravos" and "republican poet" by Machado de Assis, or descriptions of being "a national poet, if not more, nationalist, social, human and humanitarian poet", in the words of Joaquim Nabuco, of being "the greatest Brazilian poet, lyric and epic", in the words of Afrânio Peixoto, or even of being the "walking apostle of Condorism" and "a volcanic talent, the most enraptured of all Brazilian poets", in the words of José Marques da Cruz. He was part of the romantic movement, being part of what scholars call the "third romantic generation" in Brazil. Read more
14 Mar 1844: Umberto I of Italy (died 1900) Umberto I was King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his assassination in 1900. His reign saw the creation of the Italian Empire, as well as the creation of the Triple Alliance among Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. Read more
14 Mar 1844: Arthur O'Shaughnessy, English poet and herpetologist (died 1881) Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy was a British poet and herpetologist. Of Irish descent, he was born in London. He is most remembered for his poem "Ode", from his 1874 collection Music and Moonlight, which begins with the words "We are the music makers, / And we are the dreamers of dreams", and which has been set to music by several composers including Edward Elgar, Zoltán Kodály, Alfred Reed and, more recently, 808 State and Aphex Twin. Read more
14 Mar 1837: Charles Ammi Cutter, American librarian (died 1903) Charles Ammi Cutter was an American librarian. In the 1850s and 1860s he assisted with the re-cataloging of the Harvard College library, producing America's first public card catalog. The card system proved more flexible for librarians and far more useful to patrons than the old method of entering titles in chronological order in large books. In 1868 he joined the Boston Athenaeum, making its card catalog an international model. Cutter promoted centralized cataloging of books, which became the standard practice at the Library of Congress. He was elected to leadership positions in numerous library organizations at the local and national level. Cutter is remembered for the Cutter Expansive Classification, his system of giving standardized classification numbers to each book, and arranging them on shelves by that number so that books on similar topics would be shelved together. Read more
14 Mar 1836: Isabella Beeton, English author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (died 1865) Isabella Mary Beeton, known as Mrs Beeton, was an English journalist, editor and writer. Her name is particularly associated with her first book, the 1861 work Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management. She was born in London and, after schooling in Islington, north London, and Heidelberg, Germany, she married Samuel Orchart Beeton, an ambitious publisher and magazine editor. Read more
14 Mar 1835: Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (died 1910) Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli was an Italian astronomer and science historian. Schiaparelli established the Martian system of nomenclature still in use today; before him, features of the planet bore the names of contemporary astronomers, similar to the lunar map of van Langren that preceded that of Hevelius. Read more
14 Mar 1833: Frederic Shields, English painter and illustrator (died 1911) Frederic James Shields was a British artist, illustrator, and designer closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelites through Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Ford Madox Brown. Read more
14 Mar 1833: Lucy Hobbs Taylor, American dentist and educator (died 1910) Lucy Hobbs Taylor was an American dentist, known for being the first woman to graduate from dental school. Read more
14 Mar 1823: Théodore de Banville, French poet and critic (died 1891) Étienne Jean Baptiste Claude Théodore Faullain de Banville was a French poet and writer. His work was influential on the Symbolist movement in French literature in the late 19th century. Read more
14 Mar 1822: Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies (died 1889) Dona Teresa Cristina, popularly known as “the Mother of the Brazilians”, was Empress of Brazil as the wife of Emperor Dom Pedro II, a position she held from her marriage in 1843 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1889. Born a princess of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in present-day southern Italy, she was the daughter of King Francis I of the Italian branch of the House of Bourbon and his wife, Maria Isabella of Spain. Long portrayed by historians as timid and politically passive, modern scholarship has reassessed Teresa Cristina as a more complex figure, recognizing her intellectual curiosity, cultural patronage, and a quiet but consistent assertion of personal independence within the constraints of 19th-century court life. Read more
14 Mar 1820: Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (died 1878) Victor Emmanuel II was King of Sardinia from 23 March 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title of King of Italy and became the first king of an independent, united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878. Borrowing from the old Latin title Pater Patriae of the Roman emperors, the Italians gave him the epithet of "Father of the Fatherland". Read more
14 Mar 1813: Joseph P. Bradley, American lawyer and jurist (died 1892) Joseph Philo Bradley was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1870 to 1892. He was also a member of the Electoral Commission that decided the disputed 1876 United States presidential election. Read more
14 Mar 1804: Johann Strauss I, Austrian composer and conductor (died 1849) Johann Baptist Strauss I, also known as Johann Strauss Sr., the Elder or the Father, was an Austrian composer of the Romantic Period. He was famous for his light music, namely waltzes, polkas, and galops, which he popularized alongside Joseph Lanner, thereby setting the foundations for his sons—Johann, Josef and Eduard—to carry on his musical dynasty. He is best known for his composition of the Radetzky March. Read more
14 Mar 1801: Kristjan Jaak Peterson, Estonian poet (died 1822) Kristjan Jaak Peterson, also known as Christian Jacob Petersohn, was an Estonian poet, commonly regarded as a herald of Estonian national literature and the founder of modern Estonian poetry. Read more
14 Mar 1800: James Bogardus, American inventor and architect (died 1874) James Bogardus was an American inventor and architect, the pioneer of American cast-iron architecture, for which he took out a patent in 1850. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 14 March in World History

14 Mar 2025: Alan Simpson, United States senator from Wyoming (born 1931) Alan Kooi Simpson was an American politician from Wyoming. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a member of the Wyoming House of Representatives representing Park County, Wyoming from 1965 to 1977 and as a member of the United States Senate from 1979 to 1997. Simpson was Republican whip of the U.S. Senate from 1985 to 1995, serving as majority whip of the U.S. Senate from 1985 to 1987. He also served as co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform with Democratic co-chair Erskine Bowles of North Carolina. Read more
14 Mar 2022: Scott Hall, American wrestler (born 1958) Scott Oliver Hall was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenures with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under his real name and with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Razor Ramon. Read more
14 Mar 2019: Jake Phelps, American skateboarder and Thrasher editor-in-chief (born 1962) James Kendall "Jake" Phelps was an American skateboarder and magazine editor. Phelps led the magazine Thrasher as editor-in-chief for 27 years. Read more
14 Mar 2019: Charlie Whiting, British motorsport director (born 1952) Charles Whiting was a British mechanic. He served as the FIA Formula One Race Director, Safety Delegate, Permanent Starter and head of the F1 Technical Department, in which capacities he managed the logistics of each F1 Grand Prix, inspected cars in parc fermé before a race, enforced FIA rules, and controlled the lights that start each race. Read more
14 Mar 2019: Haig Young, Canadian politician (born 1928) Douglas Haig Young was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Harbour Grace in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly from 1972 to 1989. He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador. He was a former Minister of Public Works of Newfoundland and Labrador. Born in Upper Island Cove, he was a funeral director and had two children. Read more
14 Mar 2018: Jim Bowen, English stand-up comedian and TV personality (born 1937) James Brown Whittaker, known professionally as Jim Bowen, was an English stand-up comedian, actor and television personality. He was the long-time host of the ITV game show Bullseye, which he presented from its beginning in 1981 through to the end of its original run in 1995. Read more
14 Mar 2018: Marielle Franco, Brazilian politician and human rights activist (born 1979) Marielle Franco was a Brazilian politician, sociologist, feminist, socialist and human rights activist. Franco served as a city councillor of the Municipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro for the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) from January 2017 until her assassination. Read more
14 Mar 2018: Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (born 1942) Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical astrophysicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between 1979 and 2009, he was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, widely viewed as one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world. Read more
14 Mar 2018: Liam O'Flynn, Irish uileann piper (born 1945) Liam O'Flynn, Óg Flynn was an Irish uilleann piper and Irish traditional musician. In addition to a solo career and as a member of Planxty, O'Flynn recorded with: Christy Moore, Dónal Lunny, Andy Irvine, Kate Bush, Mark Knopfler, The Everly Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Mike Oldfield, Mary Black, Enya and Sinéad O'Connor. Read more
14 Mar 2016: John W. Cahn, German-American metallurgist and academic (born 1928) John Werner Cahn was an American scientist and recipient of the 1998 National Medal of Science. Born in Cologne, Weimar Germany, he was a professor in the department of metallurgy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1964 to 1978. From 1977, he held a position at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Cahn had a profound influence on the course of materials research during his career. One of the foremost authorities on thermodynamics, Cahn applied the basic laws of thermodynamics to describe and predict a wide range of physical phenomena. Read more
14 Mar 2016: Peter Maxwell Davies, English composer and conductor (born 1934) Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. Read more
14 Mar 2016: Suranimala Rajapaksha, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (born 1949) Rajapakse Mohottige Don Suranimala Rajapaksha was a Sri Lankan politician. Rajapaksha was first elected to the Parliament of Sri Lanka in 1994 and he was the Minister of School Education in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka from 2001 to 2004. He was a member of the United National Party (UNP) and a member of the UNP Working Committee.
He was also appointed as the Coordinating secretary to the prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2015. At the time of his death he acted as the special envoy (representative) to the Prime Minister. His younger son Kanishka Rajapaksha was also appointed as the Coordinating Assistant to the Prime Minister after the death of Rajapaksha. Kanishka is an attorney at law. Read more
14 Mar 2014: Tony Benn, English politician, Postmaster General of the United Kingdom (born 1925) Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, known between 1960 and 1963 as The Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol South East and Chesterfield for 47 of the 51 years between 1950 and 2001. He later served as President of the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 to 2014. Read more
14 Mar 2014: Meir Har-Zion, Israeli commander (born 1934) Meir Har-Zion was an Israeli military commando. Read more
14 Mar 2013: Jack Greene, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1930) Jack Henry Greene was an American country musician. Nicknamed the "Jolly Greene Giant" due to his height and deep voice, Greene was a long time member of the Grand Ole Opry. A three-time Grammy Award nominee, Greene is best known for his 1966 hit, "There Goes My Everything". The song dominated the country music charts for nearly two months in 1967 and earned Greene "Male Vocalist of the Year", "Single of the Year", "Album of the Year", and "Song of the Year" honors from the Country Music Association. Greene had a total of five number-one country hits and three others that reached the top 10. Billboard named Greene one of the top 100 "Most Played Artists". Read more
14 Mar 2013: Aramais Sahakyan, Armenian poet and author (born 1936) Aramais Sahakyan was an Armenian poet, humorist, publicist and translator. Read more
14 Mar 2013: Ieng Sary, Vietnamese-Cambodian politician, Cambodian Minister for Foreign Affairs (born 1925) Ieng Sary was the co-founder and a senior member of the Khmer Rouge and one of the main architects of the Cambodian genocide. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea led by Pol Pot and served in the 1975–79 government of Democratic Kampuchea as foreign minister and deputy prime minister. He was known as "Brother Number Three", as he was third in command after Pol Pot and Nuon Chea. His wife, Ieng Thirith, served in the Khmer Rouge government as social affairs minister. Ieng Sary was arrested in 2007 and was charged with crimes against humanity but died of heart failure before the case against him could be brought to a verdict. Read more
14 Mar 2012: Pierre Schoendoerffer, French director and screenwriter (born 1928) Pierre Schoendoerffer was a French film director, a screenwriter, a writer, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War veteran, a cinema academician. He was president of the Académie des Beaux-Arts for 2001 and for 2007. Read more
14 Mar 2012: Ċensu Tabone, Maltese general and politician, 4th President of Malta (born 1913) Vincent "Ċensu" Tabone, was the fourth president of Malta who also served as Minister and Nationalist MP. Read more
14 Mar 2010: Peter Graves, American actor (born 1926) Peter Graves was an American actor who portrayed Jim Phelps in the television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973 and in its revival from 1988 to 1990. His elder brother was actor James Arness. Graves also played airline pilot Captain Clarence Oveur in the 1980 comedy film Airplane! and its 1982 sequel Airplane II: The Sequel. Read more
14 Mar 2008: Chiara Lubich, Italian activist, co-founded the Focolare Movement (born 1920) Chiara Lubich was an Italian teacher and author who founded the Focolare Movement, which aims to bring unity among people and promote universal family. Read more
14 Mar 2007: Lucie Aubrac, French educator and activist (born 1912) Lucie Samuel, known as Lucie Aubrac, was a member of the French Resistance in World War II. A history teacher by occupation, she earned a history agrégation in 1938, a highly uncommon achievement for a woman at that time. In 1939 she married Raymond Samuel, who took the name Aubrac in the Resistance. She was active on a number of operations, including prison breakouts. Like her husband, she was a communist militant, which she remained after the war. She sat in the Provisional Consultative Assembly in Paris from 1944 to 1945. Read more
14 Mar 2006: Lennart Meri, Estonian director and politician, 2nd President of Estonia (born 1929) Lennart Georg Meri was an Estonian writer, film director, and statesman. He was the country's foreign minister from 1990 to 1992 and President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Read more
14 Mar 2003: Jack Goldstein, Canadian-American painter (born 1945) Jack Goldstein was a Canadian born, California and New York-based performance and conceptual artist turned post-conceptual painter in the 1980s. Read more
14 Mar 2003: Jean-Luc Lagardère, French engineer and businessman (born 1928) Jean-Luc Lagardère was a French businessman, CEO of the Lagardère Group, one of the largest French conglomerates. Read more
14 Mar 1999: Kirk Alyn, American actor (born 1910) Kirk Alyn was an American actor, best known for being the first actor to play the DC Comics character Superman in live-action for the 1948 movie serial Superman and its 1950 sequel Atom Man vs. Superman, as well as fellow DC Comics characters Blackhawk from the Blackhawk movie serial in 1952, and Lois Lane's father Sam Lane in 1978's Superman. Read more
14 Mar 1999: John Broome, American author (born 1913) John Broome, who additionally used the pseudonyms John Osgood and Edgar Ray Meritt, was an American comic book writer for DC Comics. Along with Gil Kane, he co-created the supervillain Sinestro and the Green Lantern Guy Gardner. Read more
14 Mar 1997: Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director and producer (born 1907) Alfred Zinnemann was an Austrian and American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Austria-Hungary and educated in France and Germany, Zinnemann began his career in Europe before emigrating to the US, where he specialized in shorts before making 25 feature films during his 50-year career. He won four Academy Awards, both for directing and producing, and made films in a variety of genres including thrillers, westerns, film noir, and stage adaptations. Read more
14 Mar 1995: William Alfred Fowler, American physicist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911) William Alfred Fowler (August 9, 1911 – March 14, 1995) was an American astrophysicist. He shared the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his theoretical and experimental studies of the nuclear reactions of importance in the formation of the chemical elements in the universe." He is known for his theoretical and experimental research into nuclear reactions within stars and the energy elements produced in the process. With Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge and Fred Hoyle, he authored the influential B2FH paper, Synthesis of the Elements in Stars. Read more
14 Mar 1994: Sheila Humphreys, Irish Republican, political activist and Hunger Striker (born 1899) Sheila Humphreys, also known as Sighle Humphreys, was an Irish republican and member of Cumann na mBan. Read more
14 Mar 1991: Howard Ashman, American playwright and composer (born 1950) Howard Elliott Ashman was an American playwright, lyricist, and stage director. He is most widely known for his work on feature films for Walt Disney Animation Studios, for which Ashman wrote the lyrics and Alan Menken composed the music. Ashman has been credited as being a main driving force behind the Disney Renaissance. His work included songs for Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. He died of AIDS complications in 1991. Read more
14 Mar 1989: Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary (born 1892) Zita of Bourbon-Parma was the last Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, in addition to other titles. She ascended to these titles when her husband, Charles I, became the last monarch of Austria-Hungary. She was declared Servant of God by Pope Benedict XVI. Read more
14 Mar 1984: Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet (born 1915) Hovhannes Shiraz was an Armenian poet. Read more
14 Mar 1980: Mohammad Hatta, Indonesian politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Indonesia (born 1902) Mohammad Hatta was an Indonesian statesman, nationalist, and independence activist who served as the country's first vice president as well as the third prime minister. Known as "The Proclamator", he and a number of Indonesians, including the first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, fought for the independence of Indonesia from the Netherlands. Hatta was an important figure during the Indonesian national awakening and during the national revolution. As a youth he was politically active in both the Netherlands and the Indies, which led him to be imprisoned in the Boven Digoel concentration camp for his activism. He also played a crucial role in the proclamation of Indonesian independence, being the second person to sign the declaration besides Sukarno, thus making him one of the founders of Indonesia. Read more
14 Mar 1980: Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish environmentalist (born 1928) Félix Samuel Rodríguez de la Fuente was a Spanish naturalist and broadcaster. He is best known for the highly successful and influential television series El Hombre y la Tierra (1974–1980). A graduate in medicine and self-taught in biology, he was a multifaceted charismatic figure whose influence has endured despite the passing years. Read more
14 Mar 1979: Frank McEncroe, Australian businessman (born 1908) Francis Gerard McEncroe was an Australian publican, caterer, dairy farmer and food manufacturer. He is known for his invention of the Australian fast food phenomenon that became known as the Chiko Roll. Read more
14 Mar 1977: Fannie Lou Hamer, American activist and philanthropist (born 1917) Fannie Lou Hamer was an American voting and women's rights activist, community organizer, and leader of the civil rights movement. She was the vice-chair of the Freedom Democratic Party, which she represented at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Hamer also organized Mississippi's Freedom Summer along with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She was a co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus, an organization created to recruit, train, and support women of all races who sought election to government offices. Read more
14 Mar 1976: Busby Berkeley, American director and choreographer (born 1895) Berkeley William Enos, known professionally as Busby Berkeley, was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that has often involved complex geometric patterns. His work used large numbers of showgirls and props as fantasy elements in kaleidoscopic on-screen performances. Read more
14 Mar 1975: Susan Hayward, American actress (born 1917) Susan Hayward was an American actress best known for her film portrayals of women that were based on true stories. Read more
14 Mar 1973: Howard H. Aiken, American computer scientist and engineer (born 1900) Howard Hathaway Aiken was an American physicist and a pioneer in computing. He was the original conceptual designer behind IBM's Harvard Mark I, the United States' first programmable computer. Read more
14 Mar 1973: Chic Young, American cartoonist (born 1901) Murat Bernard "Chic" Young was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip Blondie. His 1919 William McKinley High School Yearbook cites his nickname as Chicken, source of his familiar pen name and signature. According to King Features Syndicate, Young had a daily readership of 52 million. Stan Drake, who drew Blondie in the 1980s and 1990s, stated that Young "has to go down in history as one of the geniuses of the industry." Read more
14 Mar 1969: Ben Shahn, Lithuanian-American painter, illustrator, and educator (born 1898) Ben Shahn was an American artist. He is best known for his works of social realism, his left-wing political views, and his series of lectures published as The Shape of Content. Read more
14 Mar 1968: Erwin Panofsky, German historian and academic (born 1892) Erwin Panofsky was a German-Jewish art historian whose work represents a high point in the modern academic study of iconography, including his hugely influential Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art and his seminal Early Netherlandish Painting. Read more
14 Mar 1965: Marion Jones Farquhar, American tennis player (born 1879) Marion Jones Farquhar was an American tennis player. She won the women's singles titles at the 1899 and 1902 U.S. Championships. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006. Read more
14 Mar 1957: Evagoras Pallikarides, Cypriot activist (born 1938) Evagoras Pallikarides was a Greek-Cypriot poet and revolutionary who was a member of EOKA during the anticolonial 1955–1959 campaign against British rule in Cyprus. He was arrested on 18 December 1956 while transporting weaponry with his guerilla group, to which he confessed in his trial. He was sentenced to death by hanging, for firearms possession on 27 February 1957 and was the youngest fighter to be executed in Cyprus. His death generated widespread international condemnation due to his young age and the circumstances of his arrest. Read more
14 Mar 1953: Klement Gottwald, Czechoslovak Communist politician and 14th President of Czechoslovakia (born 1896) Klement Gottwald was a Czech communist politician, who was the leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1929 until his death in 1953 – titled as general secretary until 1945 and as chairman from 1945 to 1953. He was the first leader of Communist Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1953. Read more
14 Mar 1941: C. R. M. F. Cruttwell, English historian (born 1887) Charles Robert Mowbray Fraser Cruttwell was a British historian and academic who served as dean and later principal of Hertford College, Oxford. His field of expertise was modern European history, his most notable work being A History of the Great War, 1914–18. He is mainly remembered, however, for the vendetta pursued against him by the novelist Evelyn Waugh, in which Waugh showed his distaste for his former tutor by repeatedly using the name "Cruttwell" in his early novels and stories to depict a sequence of unsavoury or ridiculous characters. The prolonged minor humiliation thus inflicted may have contributed to Cruttwell's eventual mental breakdown. Read more
14 Mar 1937: Lars Edvard Phragmén, Swedish mathematician (born 1863) Lars Edvard Phragmén was a Swedish mathematician who made contributions to complex analysis, voting theory, and actuarial science. He succeeded Sofia Kovalevskaia as professor of mathematical analysis at Stockholm University in 1892, where his research culminated in the development of the Phragmén–Lindelöf principle, and later served as president of the board of the Mittag-Leffler Institute. His pioneering "load-balancing" voting methods for proportional representation have experienced renewed interest in modern social choice theory and found practical application in Swedish parliamentary elections. Read more
14 Mar 1932: George Eastman, American inventor and businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (born 1854) George Eastman was an American innovator and entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. After a decade of experiments in photography, he patented and sold a roll film camera, making amateur photography accessible to the general public for the first time. Working as the treasurer and later president of Kodak, he oversaw the expansion of the company and the film industry. Read more
14 Mar 1932: Frederick Jackson Turner, American historian (born 1861) Frederick Jackson Turner was an American historian during the early 20th century, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison until 1910, and then Harvard University. He was known primarily for his frontier thesis. He trained many PhDs who went on to become well-known historians. He promoted interdisciplinary and quantitative methods, often with an emphasis on the Midwestern United States. Read more
14 Mar 1930: A. A. Kannisto, Finnish politician (born 1876) Anders Anshelm Kannisto was a Finnish trade unionist, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Mikkeli Province between May 1907 and January 1911. A member of the Red Guard, he was taken prisoner by the White Guard at the start of the Finnish Civil War in 1918. After the war Kannisto was sentenced to eight years in prison for treason. He was released in 1921. Read more
14 Mar 1923: Charlie Daly and three other Irish Republicans are executed by Irish Free State forces (born 1896) Charlie Daly, born in Castlemaine, County Kerry, was the second son of Con. W. Daly, of Knockaneacoolteen, Firies, County Kerry. He went to school, first to Ballyfinnane National School, and later to the Christian Brothers at Tralee. Read more
14 Mar 1921: Bernard Ryan executed Irish republican (born 1901) Bernard Ryan was one of six men hanged in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin on 14 March 1921. He was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and part of the Dublin Brigade's Active Service Unit. He was one of The Forgotten Ten. Read more
14 Mar 1884: Quintino Sella, Italian economist and politician, Italian Minister of Finances (born 1827) Quintino Sella was an Italian politician, economist and mountaineer. Read more
14 Mar 1883: Karl Marx, German philosopher and theorist (born 1818) Karl Marx was a German philosopher, social and political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto, and his three-volume Das Kapital (1867–1894), a critique of classical political economy which employs his theory of historical materialism in an analysis of capitalism, in the culmination of his life's work. Marx's ideas and their subsequent development, collectively known as Marxism, have had enormous influence. Read more
14 Mar 1877: Juan Manuel de Rosas, Argentinian general and politician, 17th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (born 1793) Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rozas y López de Osornio, nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confederation. Born into a wealthy family, Rosas independently amassed a personal fortune, acquiring large tracts of land in the process. Rosas enlisted his workers in a private militia, as was common for rural proprietors, and took part in the disputes that led to numerous civil wars in his country. Victorious in warfare, personally influential, and with vast landholdings and a loyal private army, Rosas became a caudillo, as provincial warlords in the region were known. He eventually reached the rank of brigadier general, the highest in the Argentine Army, and became the undisputed leader of the Federalist Party. Read more
14 Mar 1860: Carl Ritter von Ghega, Italian engineer, designed the Semmering railway (born 1802) Karl Ritter von Ghega or Karl von Ghega was an Austrian-Albanian nobleman and the designer of the Semmering Railway from Gloggnitz to Mürzzuschlag. During his time, he was the most prominent of Austrian railway engineers and architects. Read more
14 Mar 1823: Charles François Dumouriez, French general and politician, French Minister of War (born 1739) Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez was a French military officer, minister of Foreign Affairs, minister of War in a Girondin cabinet and army general during the French Revolutionary War. Dumouriez is one of the names inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 3. Read more
14 Mar 1811: Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, English politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (born 1735) Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, styled Earl of Euston between 1747 and 1757, was a British Whig statesman of the Georgian era. He is one of a handful of dukes who have served as prime minister. Read more
14 Mar 1803: Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet (born 1724) Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock was a German poet. His best known works are the epic poem Der Messias and the poem Die Auferstehung, with the latter set to music in the finale of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2. One of his major contributions to German literature was to open it up to exploration outside of French models. Read more

Why is 14 March Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 14 March, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on 14 March in World history?

On 14 March, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

Is History of Today important for competitive exams?

Yes, History of Today is frequently asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, and State PSC exams as part of static GK and current awareness sections.