History of Today in India – 18 March

Explore the history of today 18 March in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 18 March 2026, 04:21 AM

📜 Important Events on 18 March in World History

• 18 Mar 2025: Israel launches widespread aerial bombardments and attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing at least 591 people, including children. Read more
• 18 Mar 2015: The Bardo National Museum in Tunisia is attacked by gunmen. Twenty-four people, almost all tourists, are killed, and at least 50 other people are wounded. Read more
• 18 Mar 2014: The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty. Read more
• 18 Mar 1997: The tail of a Russian Antonov An-24 charter plane breaks off while en route to Turkey, causing the plane to crash and killing all 50 people on board. Read more
• 18 Mar 1996: A nightclub fire in Quezon City, Philippines kills 162 people. Read more
• 18 Mar 1994: Bosnia's Bosniaks and Croats sign the Washington Agreement, ending war between the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and establishing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Read more
• 18 Mar 1990: Germans in the German Democratic Republic vote in the first democratic elections in the former communist dictatorship. Read more
• 18 Mar 1990: In the largest art theft in US history, 12 paintings, collectively worth around $500 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Read more
• 18 Mar 1980: A Vostok-2M rocket at Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43 explodes during a fueling operation, killing 48 people. Read more
• 18 Mar 1974: Güzel İstanbul, a nude sculpture by Gürdal Duyar in Istanbul, is torn down in the middle of the night. Read more
• 18 Mar 1971: Peru: A landslide crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200 people at the mining camp of Chungar. Read more
• 18 Mar 1970: Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. Read more
• 18 Mar 1969: The United States begins secretly bombing the Sihanouk Trail in Cambodia, used by communist forces to infiltrate South Vietnam. Read more
• 18 Mar 1968: Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency. Read more
• 18 Mar 1967: The supertanker Torrey Canyon runs aground off the Cornish coast. Read more
• 18 Mar 1966: United Arab Airlines Flight 749 crashes on approach to Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, killing 30 people. Read more
• 18 Mar 1965: Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space. Read more
• 18 Mar 1962: The Évian Accords end the Algerian War of Independence, which had begun in 1954. Read more
• 18 Mar 1959: The Hawaii Admission Act is signed into law. Read more
• 18 Mar 1953: An earthquake hits western Turkey, killing at least 1,070 people. Read more
• 18 Mar 1948: Soviet consultants leave Yugoslavia in the first sign of the Tito–Stalin split. Read more
• 18 Mar 1945: 40th Infantry Division, spearheaded by the 185th US Infantry Regiment, lands unopposed in Tigbauan, forcing the Japanese forces to surrender and General Macario Peralta and Gen. Gen. Eichelberger to declare the Liberation of Panay, Romblon and Guimaras. Read more
• 18 Mar 1944: Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts, killing 26 people, causing thousands to flee their homes, and destroying dozens of Allied bombers. Read more
• 18 Mar 1942: The War Relocation Authority is established in the United States to take Japanese Americans into custody. Read more
• 18 Mar 1940: World War II: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom. Read more
• 18 Mar 1938: Mexico creates Pemex by expropriating all foreign-owned oil reserves and facilities. Read more
• 18 Mar 1937: The New London School explosion in New London, Texas, kills 300 people, mostly children. Read more
• 18 Mar 1937: Spanish Civil War: Spanish Republican forces defeat the Italians at the Battle of Guadalajara. Read more
• 18 Mar 1925: The 1925 Tri-State tornado hits the Midwestern states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people. Read more
• 18 Mar 1922: In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience, of which he serves only two. Read more
• 18 Mar 1921: The second Peace of Riga is signed between Poland and the Soviet Union. Read more
• 18 Mar 1921: The Kronstadt rebellion is suppressed by the Red Army. Read more
• 18 Mar 1921: Mongolian Revolution of 1921: The Mongolian People's Army defeats local Chinese forces at Altanbulag, Selenge (then known as Maimachen). This battle was seen as the birthday of the People's Army and completed the expulsion of Chinese militants in Mongolia. Read more
• 18 Mar 1915: World War I: During the Battle of Gallipoli, three battleships are sunk during a failed British and French naval attack on the Dardanelles. Read more
• 18 Mar 1913: King George I of Greece is assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki. Read more
• 18 Mar 1902: Macario Sakay issues Presidential Order No. 1 of his Tagalog Republic. Read more
• 18 Mar 1901: The Kumasi Mutiny of 1901 begins. Read more
• 18 Mar 1899: Phoebe, a satellite of Saturn, becomes the first to be discovered with photographs, taken in August 1898, by William Henry Pickering. Read more
• 18 Mar 1874: The Hawaiian Kingdom signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trade rights. Read more
• 18 Mar 1871: Declaration of the Paris Commune; President of the French Republic, Adolphe Thiers, orders the evacuation of Paris. Read more
• 18 Mar 1865: American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States adjourns for the last time. Read more
• 18 Mar 1848: The premiere of William Henry Fry's Leonora in Philadelphia is the first known performance of a grand opera by an American composer. Read more
• 18 Mar 1848: Revolutions of 1848: A rebellion arises in Milan which in five days of street fighting drove Marshal Radetzky and his Austrian soldiers from the city. Read more
• 18 Mar 1834: Six farm labourers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England are sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 18 March in World History

• 18 Mar 2002: Brenden Rice, American football player Brenden Khalil Rice is an American professional football wide receiver for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Colorado and USC before being drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL draft. Rice is the son of Hall Of Famer Jerry Rice. Read more
• 18 Mar 1999: Diogo Dalot, Portuguese footballer José Diogo Dalot Teixeira is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a full-back or a wing-back for Premier League club Manchester United and the Portugal national team. Read more
• 18 Mar 1998: Emmanuel Clase, Dominican baseball player Emmanuel Clase is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, making his debut with the team in 2019. Read more
• 18 Mar 1997: Ciara Bravo, American actress Ciara Quinn Bravo is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress, starring in the Nickelodeon series Big Time Rush and the Fox series Red Band Society. She also appeared in the Nickelodeon television films Jinxed and Swindle. Bravo's voice work includes Giselita in Open Season 3, Patty in Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, and Sarah in Special Agent Oso. Read more
• 18 Mar 1997: Rieko Ioane, New Zealand rugby union player Rieko Edward Ioane is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a centre or wing for United Rugby Championship club Leinster. He plays for New Zealand at international level. Read more
• 18 Mar 1997: Jordan Whitehead, American football player Jordan Tyler Whitehead is an American professional football safety. He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers. Whitehead was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL draft. Read more
• 18 Mar 1997: Ivica Zubac, Croatian basketball player Ivica Zubac is a Croatian professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Croatian national basketball team. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round in the 2016 NBA draft. He played for the Lakers until the 2019 trade deadline when he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. During the 2021 NBA Playoffs, he helped the Clippers reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history. At the 2026 trade deadline, he was acquired by the Pacers. Read more
• 18 Mar 1996: Skal Labissière, Haitian basketball player Skal Labissière is a Haitian professional basketball player for the Capital City Go-Go of the NBA G League. He graduated from Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis, Tennessee, before playing one season of college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats. He played for the Stockton Kings of the NBA G League before being signed to the Sacramento Kings for one year. Read more
• 18 Mar 1995: Irina Bara, Romanian tennis player Irina Maria Bara is a professional tennis player from Romania. Read more
• 18 Mar 1995: Julia Goldani Telles, American actress and dancer Julia Goldani Telles is a Brazilian-American actress and ballet dancer. She is known for playing Sasha Torres on the short-lived ABC Family series Bunheads (2012–2013), Whitney Solloway on the Showtime original series The Affair (2014–2019), and Iris in the third season of The Girlfriend Experience (2021). Read more
• 18 Mar 1994: Kris Dunn, American basketball player Kristofer Michael Dunn is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played four seasons of college basketball for the Providence Friars before being drafted with the fifth overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. He played his rookie season with the Timberwolves before being traded to the Chicago Bulls in 2017. Dunn signed with the Atlanta Hawks as a free agent in November 2020, but only played nine games for the team due to ankle surgery. Read more
• 18 Mar 1994: Ronnie Stanley, American football player Ronnie Garrison Stanley is an American professional football offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Stanley was selected by the Ravens 6th overall in the first round of the 2016 NFL draft and earned Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors in 2019. Read more
• 18 Mar 1993: Solo Sikoa, American wrestler Joseph Yokozuna Fatu, better known by his ring name Solo Sikoa, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand as the leader of the MFT stable. He is one-half of the current WWE Tag Team Champions with Tama Tonga in their first reign as a team and Sikoa's first individual reign. Read more
• 18 Mar 1992: Anthony Barr, American football player Anthony Barr is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UCLA Bruins from 2010 to 2013, earning consensus All-American honors in 2013. He was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round, ninth overall of the 2014 NFL draft. Read more
• 18 Mar 1992: Trey Mancini, American baseball player Joseph Anthony "Trey" Mancini III is an American professional baseball first baseman, outfielder, and designated hitter in the Los Angeles Angels organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, and Chicago Cubs. His nickname "Boomer", originally "Boom Boom" after Ray Mancini, morphed into its current form when he enrolled at the University of Notre Dame. The Orioles selected Mancini in the eighth round of the 2013 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2016 with the Orioles. Read more
• 18 Mar 1992: Ryan Truex, American race car driver Ryan Matthew Truex is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 24 Toyota GR Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. As a reserve driver for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup and Xfinity Series, he also last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE for JGR. Read more
• 18 Mar 1992: Takuya Terada, Japanese singer, actor, and model Takuya Terada is a Japanese actor, singer and model. He was a member of the Korean boy group Cross Gene. Takuya is also well known as the former Japanese Representative on Korean variety television Show, JTBC's Non-Summit. Read more
• 18 Mar 1991: Travis Frederick, American football player Travis Frederick is an American former professional football player who spent his entire seven-year career as a center for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers and was selected 31st overall by the Cowboys in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft. In his time as a Cowboy he was elected to five Pro Bowls and he was an All-Pro in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Frederick is now the co-founder & chief operating officer of the tabletop role-playing game company Demiplane. Read more
• 18 Mar 1991: Leury García, Dominican baseball player Leury García is a Dominican professional baseball utility player who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox. While primarily used as an infielder and center fielder, Garcia has experience at every position except catcher and first base. Read more
• 18 Mar 1991: Solomon Hill, American basketball player Solomon Jamar Hill is an American former professional basketball player who played 10 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats. Read more
• 18 Mar 1991: Dylan Mattingly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Dylan Mattingly is an American composer from Berkeley, California. Read more
• 18 Mar 1991: J. T. Realmuto, American baseball player Jacob Tyler Realmuto is an American professional baseball catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Miami Marlins. Internationally, Realmuto represents the United States. Read more
• 18 Mar 1989: Robert Bortuzzo, Canadian ice hockey player Robert Bortuzzo is a Canadian professional ice hockey player. A defenceman, he is currently an unrestricted free agent. He was most recently under contract with the Utah Hockey Club of the National Hockey League (NHL). Bortuzzo was drafted 78th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2007 NHL entry draft. Read more
• 18 Mar 1989: Francesco Checcucci, Italian footballer Francesco Checcucci is a former Italian footballer who played as a defender. Read more
• 18 Mar 1989: Lily Collins, English-American actress Lily Jane Collins is an English and American actress. Born in Guildford and raised in Los Angeles, she began performing on screen at the age of two in the BBC sitcom Growing Pains. In the late 2000s, she began acting and modelling more regularly, and gained recognition for her supporting role in the sports drama film The Blind Side (2009). She went on to star in several films, including the horror film Priest (2011), the thriller Abduction (2011), and the fantasy films Mirror Mirror (2012) and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013). Read more
• 18 Mar 1989: Shreevats Goswami, Indian cricketer Shreevats Goswami is an Indian cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and wicketkeeper. He was born in Liluah in Howrah, the twin city of Kolkata, West Bengal. He started playing cricket at the age of 11. He played domestic cricket for Under-19 Bengal. During the Under-19 Tri-nation series in South Africa in January 2008, he scored 97 against South Africa and 104 against Bangladesh. In the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia, he scored 58 runs in one of the league matches and 51 in the semi-final against New Zealand. Read more
• 18 Mar 1989: Kana Nishino, Japanese singer-songwriter Kana Nishino is a Japanese pop singer signed with SME Records' Newcome Inc. She debuted on February 20, 2008, with the single "I". Read more
• 18 Mar 1989: Paul Marc Rousseau, Canadian guitarist and producer Paul Marc Rousseau is a Canadian musician and songwriter who is the lead guitarist for the rock band Silverstein. Read more
• 18 Mar 1989: Ming Xi, Chinese model Ming Xi or Xi Mengyao is a Chinese model. Her professional modeling career started in 2009 after she attended a TV competition. Her international modeling career began in 2011 when she debuted for the Givenchy Haute Spring Show. In the same year, she modeled the Givenchy ready-to-wear collection and appeared as the face of Givenchy's Fall/Winter publicity advertising campaign. Xi also modeled for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2013. Read more
• 18 Mar 1987: C. J. Miles, American basketball player Calvin Andre "C. J." Miles Jr. is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A native of Dallas, Miles was drafted in 2005 by the Utah Jazz after finishing high school. Read more
• 18 Mar 1987: Rebecca Soni, American swimmer Rebecca Soni is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who swam for the University of Southern California, and is a six-time Olympic medalist. She is a former world record-holder in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 200-meter breaststroke, and is the first woman to swim the 200-meter breaststroke in under 2 minutes 20 seconds. As a member of the U.S. national team, she held the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay from 2012 to 2017. Read more
• 18 Mar 1986: Abdennour Chérif El-Ouazzani, Algerian footballer Si-Abdennour Chérif El-Ouazzani is an Algerian football player. He currently plays for CA Bordj Bou Arréridj in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 2. Read more
• 18 Mar 1986: Lykke Li, Swedish singer-songwriter Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson, professionally known as Lykke Li, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, model and actress. Her music often blends elements of indie pop, dream pop and electronic. Her debut studio album, Youth Novels, was released in 2008, and has been followed by Wounded Rhymes (2011), I Never Learn (2014), So Sad So Sexy (2018), Eyeye (2022), and The Afterparty (2026). She is best known for her biggest hit single to date, "I Follow Rivers". Read more
• 18 Mar 1986: Cory Schneider, American ice hockey player Cory Franklin Schneider is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played for the Vancouver Canucks, New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Read more
• 18 Mar 1986: Eric Wood, American football player and sportscaster Eric Wood is an American former professional football player who was a center for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals and was selected in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft by the Bills with the 28th overall pick. Wood played nine seasons in the NFL, including a Pro Bowl appearance, before retiring following the 2017 season due to a neck injury. Since 2019, he has been the color commentator and analyst on the Buffalo Bills Radio Network. Read more
• 18 Mar 1985: Ana Beatriz, Brazilian race car driver Ana Beatriz Caselato Gomes de Figueiredo, known as both Ana Beatriz and Bia Figueiredo, is a racing driver from Brazil. Figueiredo has previously raced in the IndyCar Series and Stock Car Brasil, and was the first woman to win a race in the Indy Lights series. Read more
• 18 Mar 1985: Duane Henry, English actor Duane Henry is an English actor. Henry is most notable for his roles as Clayton Reeves in NCIS and Gareth Broadhurst in Doctors. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Read more
• 18 Mar 1985: Marvin Humes, English singer Marvin Richard James Humes is an English singer-songwriter, disc jockey, radio host, television presenter, and former actor. Before rising to prominence as a member of the British boy band JLS, he had an acting role in Holby City. As part of JLS, he achieved five number-one singles on the UK Singles Charts and a number-one album on the UK Albums Charts. As of December 2013, they had sold over 10 million records worldwide. Read more
• 18 Mar 1985: Vince Lia, Australian footballer Vince Lia is an Australian professional football (soccer) player who plays for Essendon Royals in VPL 2. Read more
• 18 Mar 1984: Simone Padoin, Italian footballer Simone Padoin is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a wingback or midfielder. Read more
• 18 Mar 1984: Rajeev Ram, American tennis player Rajeev Ram is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Ram is a six-time major champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open, the 2021 US Open, the 2022 US Open, and the 2023 US Open in men's doubles with Joe Salisbury, as well as Australian Open mixed doubles titles in 2019 and 2021 alongside Barbora Krejčíková. Ram has also won two Olympic silver medals, in mixed doubles with Venus Williams at the 2016 Olympics, and in doubles with Austin Krajicek at the 2024 Olympics. Read more
• 18 Mar 1984: Vonzell Solomon, American singer and actress Vonzell Monique Solomon, nicknamed Baby V, is an American singer who finished in third place in the fourth season of the televised singing competition American Idol. She also appeared in the independent movie Still Green. Read more
• 18 Mar 1983: Ethan Carter III, American wrestler Michael Hutter is an American professional wrestler and promoter better known by the ring name Ethan Carter III. He is best known for his tenures with, National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and WWE. Read more
• 18 Mar 1983: Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro, French tennis player Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro is a former professional tennis player from France. Read more
• 18 Mar 1983: Andy Sonnanstine, American baseball player Andrew Michael Sonnanstine is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays / Rays. Sonnanstine is a graduate of Wadsworth High School in Wadsworth, Ohio, and attended Kent State University. He also pitched for the Sanford Mainers of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Read more
• 18 Mar 1983: Tomasz Stolpa, Polish footballer Tomasz Stolpa is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Read more
• 18 Mar 1982: Chad Cordero, American baseball player Chad Patrick Cordero is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Cordero played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos / Washington Nationals and Seattle Mariners. Read more
• 18 Mar 1982: Timo Glock, German race car driver Timo Glock is a German racing driver, who competes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Dörr Motorsport. Glock competed in Formula One between 2004 and 2012. Read more
• 18 Mar 1982: Matthew Lombardi, Canadian ice hockey player Matthew Lombardi is a Canadian former professional ice hockey center who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Calgary Flames, Phoenix Coyotes, Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks. Lombardi made his NHL debut in 2003 and was a member of the Flames' team that went to the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals. During his career he was plagued with injuries, suffering two significant concussions. Lombardi played for Team Canada at the IIHF World Championships, winning gold in 2007 and silver in 2009. While playing in Switzerland, he was named to Team Canada and won the 2015 Spengler Cup. He retired from playing hockey in 2016. Read more
• 18 Mar 1982: Mantorras, Angolan footballer Pedro Manuel Torres, known as Mantorras, is an Angolan former professional footballer who played as a striker. Read more
• 18 Mar 1982: Adam Pally, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Adam Saul Pally is an American comedian and actor. He first earned recognition for starring as Max Blum in Happy Endings, as Dr. Peter Prentice in The Mindy Project, and as Wade Whipple in Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), its sequels, and the spin-off series Knuckles (2024). Pally also starred in Making History and was an executive producer of The President Show. Read more
• 18 Mar 1981: Tora Berger, Norwegian biathlete Tora Berger is a retired Norwegian biathlete and Olympic champion. Read more
• 18 Mar 1981: Fabian Cancellara, Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellara, nicknamed "Spartacus", is a Swiss cycling executive, businessman and former professional road racing cyclist who last rode for UCI ProTeam Lidl–Trek. He is known for being a quality time trialist, a one-day classics specialist, and a workhorse for his teammates who have general classification aspirations. Read more
• 18 Mar 1981: Leslie Djhone, French sprinter Leslie Djhone is a French track and field athlete who competes in the 400 metres and 4 × 400 metres relay. Read more
• 18 Mar 1981: Jang Na-ra, South Korean singer and actress Jang Na-ra is a South Korean actress and singer who has been active in both the South Korean and Chinese entertainment industries since 2001. She first gained wide recognition with her studio album Sweet Dream in 2002, and further rose to prominence for starring in television series Successful Story of a Bright Girl (2002), You Are My Destiny (2014), Hello Monster (2015), Go Back (2017), The Last Empress (2018–2019), VIP (2019), and Good Partner (2024). Read more
• 18 Mar 1981: Kasib Powell, American basketball player Kasib Powell is an American professional basketball coach and former player currently working as an assistant coach for the Golden State Valkyries in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Powell was born and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, where he played basketball at Teaneck High School. He played collegiately at Butler Community College and Texas Tech University. He also enjoyed a brief career in the NBA with the Miami Heat. Read more
• 18 Mar 1981: Tom Starke, German footballer Tom Peter Starke is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for six German Bundesliga clubs throughout his career that lasted for 18 seasons. Starke currently works as the goalkeeping coach for German club Bayern Munich U19. Read more
• 18 Mar 1981: Doug Warren, American soccer player Douglas Patrick Warren is an American former soccer goalkeeper, who last played for the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer, in 2008. He was a member of the U.S. team at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship. Read more
• 18 Mar 1981: Lovro Zovko, Croatian tennis player Lovro Zovko is a former professional tennis player from Croatia. Read more
• 18 Mar 1980: Sébastien Frey, French footballer Sébastien Frey is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
• 18 Mar 1980: Sophia Myles, English actress Sophia Myles is an English actress. She is best known in film for portraying Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in Thunderbirds (2004), Isolde in Tristan & Isolde (2006), Darcy in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), Erika in Underworld (2003) and Underworld: Evolution (2006) and Freya in Outlander (2008). Read more
• 18 Mar 1980: Vitaly Vishnevskiy, Russian ice hockey player Vitaly Viktorovich Vishnevskiy is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He previously played in the National Hockey League for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Atlanta Thrashers, Nashville Predators, and New Jersey Devils, as well as for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, SKA St. Petersburg and Severstal Cherepovets in the KHL. Read more
• 18 Mar 1980: Alexei Yagudin, Russian figure skater Alexei Konstantinovich Yagudin is a Russian former competitive figure skater. He is the 2002 Olympic champion, a four-time World champion, a three-time European champion, a two-time Grand Prix Final champion, the 1996 World Junior champion, and a two-time World Professional champion. Read more
• 18 Mar 1979: Adam Levine, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and television personality Adam Noah Levine is an American singer, musician and television personality who is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and sole continuous member of the pop rock band Maroon 5. Read more
• 18 Mar 1978: Jan Bulis, Czech ice hockey player Jan Bulis is a Czech former professional hockey winger who last played as the Captain of Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He spent nine seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), playing with the Washington Capitals, Montreal Canadiens, and Vancouver Canucks. The Capitals selected Bulis in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. Read more
• 18 Mar 1978: Fernandão, Brazilian footballer and manager (died 2014) Fernando Lúcio da Costa, better known as Fernandão, was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. Read more
• 18 Mar 1978: Brooke Hanson, Australian swimmer Brooke Louise Hanson, OAM is an Australian former competitive swimmer, Olympic gold medallist, world champion, and former world record-holder. Read more
• 18 Mar 1978: Hu Jun, Chinese actor[citation needed] Hu Jun is a Chinese actor best known for playing dramatic roles in various films and television series. He has acted in a number of Hong Kong films. Read more
• 18 Mar 1978: Brian Scalabrine, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster Brian David Scalabrine, known as the "White Mamba", is an American former professional basketball player who is currently a television analyst for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is also a commentator for basketball league Big3 and the co-host of "The Starting Lineup" on SiriusXM NBA Radio. Read more
• 18 Mar 1978: Jonas Wallerstedt, Swedish footballer, coach, and manager Anders Jonas Wallerstedt is a Swedish former footballer who is a pilot for Braathens Regional Airlines, and the former manager of the GIF Sundsvall U-17 Tipselit team. He is known for his aerial and goal scoring abilities. He is nicknamed "Walle" by both fans and teammates. During his career he has represented three clubs in the Swedish top flight, Allsvenskan, and was a part of the IFK Göteborg team that won the 2007 Allsvenskan. He is the first Swedish footballer to have played in the Russian Premier League. Read more
• 18 Mar 1977: Zdeno Chára, Slovak ice hockey player Zdeno Chára is a Slovak former professional ice hockey player. As a defenceman, he played 24 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, and Washington Capitals between 1997 and 2022. Standing 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) tall, Chára is the tallest person ever to play in the NHL, earning him the nickname "Big Z". Internationally, he played for the Slovakia men's national team and won two silver medals at the Ice Hockey World Championships. At the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, he won a silver medal playing for Team Europe. In 2025, he was inducted into both the IIHF Hall of Fame and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Read more
• 18 Mar 1977: Danny Murphy, English footballer and sportscaster Daniel Ben Murphy is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Read more
• 18 Mar 1977: Fernando Rodney, Dominican-American baseball player Fernando Rodney is a Dominican–American professional baseball pitcher for the Hamilton Cardinals of the Canadian Baseball League (CBL). He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Tampa Bay Rays, Seattle Mariners, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Miami Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, and Washington Nationals. Read more
• 18 Mar 1977: Willy Sagnol, French footballer and manager Willy David Frédéric Sagnol is a French professional football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is currently the manager of the Georgia national team. Read more
• 18 Mar 1977: Terrmel Sledge, American baseball player and coach Terrmel Sledge, also known as Terrence Melvin Sledge is an American former professional baseball outfielder and the former assistant hitting coach of the Chicago Cubs. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Yokohama BayStars. Prior to being hired by the Cubs, he was the hitting coach for the Tulsa Drillers in the Texas League. Read more
• 18 Mar 1976: Giovanna Antonelli, Brazilian actress and producer Giovanna Antonelli Prado is a Brazilian actress, television host, and producer. Read more
• 18 Mar 1976: Tomo Ohka, Japanese baseball player Tomokazu Ohka is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox (1999–2001), Montreal Expos / Washington Nationals (2001–2005), Milwaukee Brewers (2005–2006), Toronto Blue Jays (2007), Cleveland Indians (2009), in Japan's Baseball Challenge League for the Fukushima Hopes, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yokohama BayStars. He throws right-handed and is a switch hitter. Read more
• 18 Mar 1976: Scott Podsednik, American baseball player Scott Eric Podsednik is an American former professional baseball outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Best known for his baserunning, Podsednik led the major leagues in stolen bases in 2004 with 70, in times caught stealing in 2005 with 23, and the American League in times caught stealing in 2006 with 19. He won the World Series with the 2005 Chicago White Sox, hitting a walk-off home run in Game 2. Read more
• 18 Mar 1976: Mike Quackenbush, American wrestler, trainer, and author, founded Chikara wrestling promotion Michael Spillane is an American podcaster, author, professional wrestling trainer, professional wrestling promoter, and semi-retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Mike Quackenbush. Read more
• 18 Mar 1975: Sutton Foster, American actress, singer, and dancer Sutton Lenore Foster is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical seven times, winning it in 2002 for her role as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and in 2011 for her performance as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, a role which she reprised in 2021 for a London production, scoring a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her other Broadway credits include Grease, Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, Violet, The Music Man, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Once Upon a Mattress. On television, Foster played the lead role in the short-lived ABC Family comedy-drama Bunheads from 2012 to 2013. From 2015 to 2021, she starred in the TV Land comedy-drama Younger. Read more
• 18 Mar 1975: Brian Griese, American football player and sportscaster Brian David Griese is an American professional football coach and former player who was most recently the quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). A former quarterback in the NFL, he played college football for the Michigan Wolverines and was selected by the Denver Broncos in the third round of the 1998 NFL draft. Read more
• 18 Mar 1975: Kimmo Timonen, Finnish ice hockey player Kimmo Samuel Timonen is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Nashville Predators, Philadelphia Flyers, and Chicago Blackhawks. Timonen had played in over 1,100 NHL games before retiring. During his career, Timonen had also featured in three IIHF World Junior Championships, seven IIHF World Championships, two World Cups and five Olympic tournaments. He won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015 in his final career game. Read more
• 18 Mar 1975: Tomas Žvirgždauskas, Lithuanian footballer Tomas Žvirgždauskas is a Lithuanian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Read more
• 18 Mar 1974: Laure Savasta, French basketball player, coach, and sportscaster Laure Savasta is a French professional basketball player. She plays both point guard and shooting guard. She was, with Isabelle Fijalkowski, amongst the first French players to ever play in the WNBA. Savasta played for the Sacramento Monarchs in the WNBA and was a member of the French national team. She became the only female basketball coach for a professional basketball team. Read more
• 18 Mar 1974: Stuart Zender, English bass player, songwriter, and producer Stuart Patrick Jude Zender is an English bassist. He is best known as a former member of the band Jamiroquai. Read more
• 18 Mar 1973: Luci Christian, American voice actress and screenwriter Louisa Michelle "Luci" Christian is an American voice actress and ADR script writer. She has provided many voices for English versions of Japanese anime series and films. Read more
• 18 Mar 1972: Dane Cook, American comedian, actor, director, and producer Dane Jeffrey Cook is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is known for his use of observational, often vulgar, and sometimes dark comedy. He has released five comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed (2003), Retaliation (2005), Vicious Circle (2006), Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden (2007), and Isolated Incident (2009). Read more
• 18 Mar 1972: Reince Priebus, American lawyer and politician Reinhold Richard "Reince" Priebus is an American politician, attorney, and naval officer who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2011 to 2017 and as White House chief of staff during the first six months of Donald Trump's first presidency. Read more
• 18 Mar 1971: Wayne Arthurs, Australian tennis player Wayne Arthurs is a retired Australian professional tennis player. Read more
• 18 Mar 1971: Mike Bell, American wrestler (died 2008) Michael Bell, better known as Mike "Mad Dog" Bell, was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as a jobber throughout the 1990s. He also wrestled for Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW), where he won the UPW Heavyweight Championship and served as a trainer, and the original Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). He was the brother of Mark Bell and Chris Bell, director of the 2008 documentary, Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, and the 2015 follow up documentary, Prescription Thugs, in which Mike Bell's life and death by prescription drugs are explored. Read more
• 18 Mar 1971: Mariaan de Swardt, South African-American tennis player, coach, and sportscaster Mariaan de Swardt is a former professional tennis player from South Africa, who was active from 1988 to 2001. She twice represented her native country at the Summer Olympics, in 1992 and 1996, and was a member of the South Africa Fed Cup team in 1992 and from 1994 to 1997. In 2006, de Swardt became a U.S. citizen. Read more
• 18 Mar 1971: Kitty Ussher, English economist and politician Katharine Anne Ussher is a British economist, public policy research professional and former politician. In November 2023 she moved from being chief economist at the Institute of Directors to Managing Director, Group Head of Policy Development at Barclays. She was previously a Labour Party MP and Treasury minister, and later Chief Executive of the Demos think tank. She was a Non Executive Director with the UK subsidiary of the fintech Revolut from 2020-23, and is a current NED at the local authority pension pooling company, London CIV. In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Read more
• 18 Mar 1970: Katy Gallagher, Australian politician Katherine Ruth Gallagher is an Australian politician who has been serving as the Minister for Finance, Minister for Women, Minister for the Public Service and Vice-President of the Executive Council in the Albanese Government since 2022 and since 2025 as Minister for Government Services. She also formerly served as the 6th Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory from 2011 to 2014. She has been a Senator for the Australian Capital Territory since the 2019 federal election, as a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) having previously served in the Senate from 2015 to 2018. Read more
• 18 Mar 1970: Queen Latifah, American rapper, producer, and actress Dana Elaine Owens, known professionally by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, songwriter, and actress. She has received various accolades, including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two NAACP Image Awards, in addition to a nomination for an Academy Award. In 2006, she became the first hip-hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Read more
• 18 Mar 1969: Michael Bergin, American actor Michael John Bergin is an American real estate agent and former model and actor. Read more
• 18 Mar 1969: Andy Cutting, English accordion player and composer Andy Cutting is an English folk musician and composer. He plays melodeon and is best known for writing and performing traditional English folk and his own original compositions which combine English and French traditions with wider influences. He is three times winner of the Folk Musician of the Year award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and has appeared on around 50 albums, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with other musicians.
  He was born in Harrow, London and is married with three children. Read more
• 18 Mar 1969: Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ukrainian chess player Vasyl Mykhailovych Ivanchuk is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1988. A leading chess player since 1988, Ivanchuk has been ranked at No. 2 on the FIDE world rankings three times. Read more
• 18 Mar 1969: Shaun Udal, English cricketer Shaun David Udal is an English cricketer. An off spin bowler and lower-middle order batsman, he was a member of England's Test team for their tours to Pakistan and India in 2005/06. Read more
• 18 Mar 1968: Miguel Herrera, Mexican footballer and manager Miguel Ernesto Herrera Aguirre, popularly referred to by his nickname "Piojo", is a Mexican professional football manager and former player. Read more
• 18 Mar 1968: Temur Ketsbaia, Georgian footballer and manager Temur Ketsbaia is a Georgian professional football manager and former player. Read more
• 18 Mar 1968: Paul Marsden, English businessman and politician Paul William Barry Marsden is a British writer, businessman and politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shrewsbury and Atcham from 1997 until 2005. He was most prominently known for his anti-war views and crossing the floor twice, from Labour to the Liberal Democrats in 2001 and returning to Labour in 2005. He instructed a solicitor in 2010 to begin action for phone hacking that allegedly took place back in 2003 by a newspaper. In 2012, Marsden was appointed to draft the parliamentary inquiry report into VIP security at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London. Marsden is currently Quality & Risk Manager at EDF power Solutions responsible for re-engineering systems in the renewable energy business. Read more
• 18 Mar 1967: Miki Berenyi, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Miki Eleonora Berenyi is an English singer and guitarist. She is a member of Piroshka and the Miki Berenyi Trio, and is best known as a member of the alternative rock band Lush. Read more
• 18 Mar 1966: Jerry Cantrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and main songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains. The band rose to international fame in the early 1990s during Seattle's grunge movement and is known for its distinctive vocal style which includes the harmonized vocals between Cantrell and Layne Staley. Read more
• 18 Mar 1966: Peter Jones, English businessman Peter David Jones is an English entrepreneur, businessman, investor, and reality television personality, with interests in mobile phones, television, media, leisure, retail, publishing and property. He is the last remaining original investor on the BBC One series Dragons' Den, and has appeared on other television programmes with similar formats including Shark Tank and American Inventor in the United States. Read more
• 18 Mar 1966: Brian Watts, Canadian golfer Brian Peter Watts is an American professional golfer. Read more
• 18 Mar 1965: David Cubitt, English-Canadian actor David Cubitt is an English-born Canadian television actor. Read more
• 18 Mar 1964: Bonnie Blair, American speed skater Bonnie Kathleen Blair is a retired American speed skater. She is one of the top skaters of her era, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. Blair competed for the United States in four Olympics, winning five gold medals and one bronze medal. Read more
• 18 Mar 1964: Alex Caffi, Italian race car driver Alessandro Giuseppe "Alex" Caffi is an Italian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1986 to 1992. Read more
• 18 Mar 1964: Jo Churchill, British politician Johanna Peta Churchill is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury St Edmunds from 2015 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Minister of State in the Department for Work and Pensions from November 2023 until July 2024. She previously served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from 2022 to 2023. In that role, she took part in the 2023 Coronation and the 2023 State Opening of Parliament. Read more
• 18 Mar 1964: Isabel Noronha, Mozambican film director Isabel Helena Vieira Cordato de Noronha is a film director from Mozambique. Read more
• 18 Mar 1964: Courtney Pine, English saxophonist and clarinet player Courtney Pine, is a British jazz musician, who was the principal founder of the black British band the Jazz Warriors in the 1980s. Although known primarily for his saxophone playing, Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, and keyboards. On his 2011 album, Europa, he plays almost exclusively bass clarinet. Read more
• 18 Mar 1963: Jeff LaBar, American guitarist (died 2021) Jeffrey Philip LaBar was an American guitarist in the glam metal band Cinderella, in which he replaced original guitarist Michael Schermick. Read more
• 18 Mar 1963: Vanessa L. Williams, American model, actress, and singer Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She gained recognition as the first black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She would later resign her title amid a media controversy surrounding nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine. 32 years later, Williams was offered a public apology during the Miss America 2016 pageant for the events. Read more
• 18 Mar 1962: Thomas Ian Griffith, American actor, producer, screenwriter, musician and martial artist Thomas Ian Griffith is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, musician, and martial artist. His best-known roles include Terry Silver in John G. Avildsen's 1989 martial arts film The Karate Kid Part III, which he later reprised in the fourth through sixth and final season of the Netflix television series Cobra Kai (2021–2025), as well as voicing his character in the video game Cobra Kai 2: Dojos Rising (2022); head vampire Jan Valek in John Carpenter's 1998 neo-Western action horror film Vampires; warrior Taligaro in Raffaella De Laurentiis' 1997 sword and sorcery picture Kull the Conqueror; recurring character Larry Sawyer in the first season of The WB's teen drama series One Tree Hill (2004); and Catlin Ewing in NBC's soap opera Another World from 1984–1987. He also portrayed screen legend Rock Hudson in ABC's 1990 television biopic Rock Hudson, and serial killer Doug Clark in CBS's 2000 television biopic A Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle. Read more
• 18 Mar 1962: James McMurtry, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor James McMurtry is an American rock and folk rock/americana singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader, and occasional actor. He performs with veteran bandmates Daren Hess, Cornbread and Tim Holt. Read more
• 18 Mar 1962: Mike Rowe, American television personality Michael Gregory Rowe is an American television host and narrator. He is known for his work on the Discovery Channel series Dirty Jobs and the series Somebody's Gotta Do It originally developed for CNN. He hosted a series produced for Facebook called Returning the Favor in which he found people doing good deeds and did something for them in return. He also hosts a podcast titled The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe. Read more
• 18 Mar 1962: Etsushi Toyokawa, Japanese actor and director Etsushi Toyokawa is a Japanese actor. Read more
• 18 Mar 1962: Volker Weidler, German race car driver and engineer Volker Hermann Weidler is a retired racing driver from Germany, best known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991. Read more
• 18 Mar 1961: Grant Hart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2017) Grant Vernon Hart was an American musician, best known as the drummer and co lead vocalist in the punk rock band Hüsker Dü. After the band's breakup in 1988, he released his first solo album, Intolerance, before forming the alternative rock trio Nova Mob, where he moved to vocals and guitar. His solo career became his main focus after the dissolution of Nova Mob in 1995. Read more
• 18 Mar 1960: Richard Biggs, American actor (died 2004) Richard James Biggs II was an American television and stage actor, known for his roles on the television series Days of Our Lives and Babylon 5. Read more
• 18 Mar 1960: Guy Carbonneau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Joseph Harry Guy Carbonneau is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, coach and executive in the National Hockey League. He was also the president of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Chicoutimi Saguenéens. Carbonneau was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in November 2019. Read more
• 18 Mar 1960: James Plaskett, Cypriot-English chess player Harold James Plaskett is a British chess grandmaster and writer. Read more
• 18 Mar 1959: Luc Besson, French director, producer, and screenwriter, founded EuropaCorp Luc Paul Maurice Besson is a French filmmaker. He directed and produced the films Subway (1985), The Big Blue (1988), and La Femme Nikita (1990). Associated with the Cinéma du look film movement, he has been nominated for a César Award for Best Director and Best Picture for his films Léon: The Professional (1994) and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). He won Best Director and Best French Director for his sci-fi action film The Fifth Element (1997). He wrote and directed the sci-fi action film Lucy (2014), the space opera film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), Dogman (2023), and the fantasy romantic movie Dracula (2025). Read more
• 18 Mar 1959: Irene Cara, American singer-songwriter and actress (died 2022) Irene Cara Escalera was an American singer and actress who rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film Fame, and for recording the film's title song "Fame", which reached No. 1 in several countries. In 1983, Cara co-wrote and sang the song "Flashdance… What a Feeling", for which she shared an Academy Award for Best Original Song and won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1984. Read more
• 18 Mar 1958: Richard de Zoysa, Sri Lankan journalist and author (died 1990) Richard Manik de Zoysa was a well-known Sri Lankan journalist, author, human rights activist and actor, who was abducted and murdered on 18 February 1990. His murder caused widespread outrage inside the country and is widely believed to have been carried out by a death squad linked to elements within the government. Read more
• 18 Mar 1957: Christer Fuglesang, Swedish physicist and astronaut Arne Christer Fuglesang is a Swedish physicist and an ESA astronaut. He was first launched aboard the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission on 10 December 2006, making him the first Swedish citizen in space. Read more
• 18 Mar 1956: Rick Martel, Canadian wrestler Richard Vigneault is a Canadian retired professional wrestler, trainer, and television presenter, better known by his ring name, "The Model" Rick Martel. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. Championships held by Martel over the course of his career include the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, WCW World Television Championship, and WWF World Tag Team Championship. Read more
• 18 Mar 1956: Deborah Jeane Palfrey, American madam (died 2008) Deborah Jeane Palfrey, dubbed the D. C. Madam by the news media, operated Pamela Martin and Associates, an escort agency in Washington, D.C. Although she maintained that the company's services were legal, she was convicted on April 15, 2008, of racketeering, using the mail for illegal purposes, and money laundering. Slightly over two weeks later, facing a prison sentence of five or six years, she was found hanged. Autopsy results and the final police investigative report concluded that her death was a suicide. Read more
• 18 Mar 1956: Ingemar Stenmark, Swedish skier Jan Ingemar Stenmark is a Swedish former World Cup alpine ski racer. He is regarded as the greatest male skier in technical disciplines and one of the most prominent Swedish athletes ever, having won several Olympic medals and world cups during his career. When he retired in 1989, he held the record for international race wins (86), which was only broken in 2023 by Mikaela Shiffrin and remains unbroken amongst men. He competed for Tärna IK Fjällvinden. Read more
• 18 Mar 1955: Francis G. Slay, American lawyer and politician, 45th Mayor of St. Louis Francis Gerard Slay is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 45th Mayor of St. Louis, Missouri from 2001 to 2017. The first mayor of the city of St. Louis to be elected to the office four consecutive times, Slay is the longest-serving mayor in St. Louis history. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He is to date the last male mayor of St. Louis. Read more
• 18 Mar 1955: Jeff Stelling, English journalist and game show host Robert Jeffrey Stelling is an English television presenter. He presented Gillette Soccer Saturday for Sky Sports from 1994 for 29 years. He hosted coverage of the Champions League between 2011 and 2015. He also presented the Channel 4 quiz show Countdown (2009–2011) and ITV game show Alphabetical (2016–2017). Stelling left Soccer Saturday on 8 May 2023. Read more
• 18 Mar 1953: Franz Wright, Austrian-American poet and translator (died 2015) Franz Wright was an American poet. He and his father James Wright are the only parent/child pair to have won the Pulitzer Prize in the same category. Read more
• 18 Mar 1953: Takashi Yoshimatsu, Japanese composer Takashi Yoshimatsu is a Japanese classical music composer. He is well known for composing the score for the 2003 remake of Astro Boy. Read more
• 18 Mar 1952: Will Durst, American journalist and actor Will Durst is an American political satirist. He has been likened to Mort Sahl and Will Rogers. Read more
• 18 Mar 1952: Pat Eddery, Irish jockey and trainer (died 2015) Patrick James John Eddery was an Irish flat racing jockey and trainer. He rode three winners of the Derby and was Champion Jockey on eleven occasions. He rode the winners of 4,632 British flat races, a figure exceeded only by Sir Gordon Richards. Read more
• 18 Mar 1952: Bernie Tormé, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2019) Bernie Tormé was an Irish rock guitarist, songwriter, record label and recording studio owner. Tormé is best known for his work with Gillan, as well as his brief stint with Ozzy Osbourne replacing Randy Rhoads. After two solo albums, he formed the band Tormé.
  He also became the lead guitarist of the band Desperado with Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider.
  From 2014 to 2018, Tormé released four solo albums. Read more
• 18 Mar 1952: Mike Webster, American football player (died 2002) Michael Lewis Webster was an American professional football center in the National Football League (NFL) from 1974 to 1990 with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, class of 1997. Nicknamed "Iron Mike", Webster anchored the Steelers' offensive line during much of their run of four Super Bowl victories from 1974 to 1979 and is considered by many the greatest center in NFL history. Read more
• 18 Mar 1951: Paul Barber, English actor Paul Barber is an English actor from Toxteth, Liverpool. In a career spanning more than 45 years, he is best known for playing Denzil in Only Fools and Horses and Horse in The Full Monty. He also had two small parts in Coronation Street, first as Nelson in 2004 then as Billy Arrowsmith in 2008. Read more
• 18 Mar 1951: Ben Cohen, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Ben and Jerry's Bennett Cohen is an American entrepreneur, activist and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of the ice cream company Ben & Jerry's and a prominent supporter of progressive causes. Read more
• 18 Mar 1951: Bill Frisell, American guitarist and composer William Richard Frisell is an American jazz guitarist. He first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts, notably as a participant in the Downtown Scene in New York City, where he formed a long working relationship with composer and saxophonist John Zorn. He was also a longtime member of veteran drummer Paul Motian's groups from the early 1980s until Motian's death in 2011. Since the late 1990s, Frisell's output as a bandleader has also integrated prominent elements of folk, country, rock 'n' roll, and Americana. He holds six Grammy nominations and one win. Read more
• 18 Mar 1951: Timothy N. Philpot, American lawyer, author, and judge Timothy Neil Philpot is an American lawyer, author and judge. He was elected to serve as a family court circuit judge in Fayette County, Kentucky in 2004, and again in 2006 and 2014, in the latter case with a term expiring in January 2023. He previously served as a Republican member of the Kentucky Senate from 1993 to 1998 and as the president of Christian Business Men's Connection from 1996 to 2003. As a judge, Philpot has been criticized for writing opinion pieces on the law surrounding same-sex marriage but has also been defended as not being someone to allow his social views to influence his judicial decisions. Philpot is an author of a semi-autobiographical novel drawing on cases he has heard and his experiences as a judge, explored from his socially conservative Methodist perspective. Read more
• 18 Mar 1950: James Conlon, American conductor and educator James Conlon is an American conductor. He is the music director of Los Angeles Opera and principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra. Read more
• 18 Mar 1950: Brad Dourif, American actor Bradford Claude Dourif is an American actor. He is known for his Academy Award-nominated role as Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), portraying Gríma Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and voicing Chucky in the Child's Play franchise (1988–present). Read more
• 18 Mar 1950: Linda Partridge, English geneticist and academic Dame Linda Partridge is a British geneticist, who studies the biology and genetics of ageing (biogerontology) and age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Partridge is currently Weldon Professor of Biometry at the Institute of Healthy Ageing, Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, and the Founding Director Emeritus of the Max Planck Institute for the Biology of Ageing in Cologne, Germany. Read more
• 18 Mar 1950: Larry Perkins, Australian race car driver Larry Clifton Perkins is a former racing driver and V8 Supercar team owner from Australia. Read more
• 18 Mar 1949: Åse Kleveland, Norwegian singer and politician, Norwegian Minister of Culture Åse Maria Kleveland is a Norwegian singer, guitarist, politician and activist. She represented Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 with the entry "Intet er nytt under solen". Read more
• 18 Mar 1948: Guy Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach Guy Gerard Lapointe is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League. He retired in 2020 after serving as Coordinator of Amateur Scouting with the NHL's Minnesota Wild for 20 years. Read more
• 18 Mar 1948: Brian Lloyd, Welsh footballer Brian William Lloyd is a Welsh former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played 545 times in the Football League for five clubs and was capped three times by the Welsh national team. Read more
• 18 Mar 1948: Eknath Solkar, Indian cricketer (died 2005) Eknath Dhondu Solkar was an Indian all-round cricketer who played 27 Test matches and seven One Day Internationals for his country. He was born in Bombay, and died of heart attack in the same city at the age of 57. A specialist close-in fielder, he was regarded as one of the greatest fielders in the world during his playing days. His catches per match ratio is one of the best in Test cricket. Read more
• 18 Mar 1947: Patrick Barlow, English actor and playwright Evan George Patrick Barlow is an English actor, comedian and playwright. His comedic alter ego, Desmond Olivier Dingle, is the founder, artistic director and chief executive of the two-man National Theatre of Brent, which has performed on stage, on television and on radio. Barlow was born in Leicester. Read more
• 18 Mar 1947: Patrick Chesnais, French actor, director, and screenwriter Patrick Chesnais is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. Read more
• 18 Mar 1947: David Lloyd, English cricketer, journalist, and sportscaster David Lloyd is an English former cricket player, umpire, coach and commentator, who played county cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and Test and One Day International cricket for the English cricket team. He also played semi-professional football for Accrington Stanley. He is known through the cricketing world as Bumble due to the ostensible similarity between his facial profile and those of the Bumblies, characters from Michael Bentine's children's television programmes. Read more
• 18 Mar 1947: Drew Struzan, American artist, illustrator and poster/cover designer (died 2025) Drew Struzan was an American artist, illustrator, and cover designer. He was known for his more than 150 film posters, which include The Shawshank Redemption, Blade Runner, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, as well as films in the Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Harry Potter, and Star Wars film series. He also painted album covers, collectibles, and book covers. Read more
• 18 Mar 1947: B. J. Wilson, English rock drummer (died 1990) Barrie James "B. J." Wilson was an English rock drummer. He was best known as a member of Procol Harum for the majority of their original career from 1967 to 1977. Read more
• 18 Mar 1946: Michel Leclère, French race car driver Michel Leclère is a former motor racing driver from France. He competed in eight Formula One Grands Prix, making his debut on October 5, 1975. However, he did not score any championship points during his career in Formula One. Read more
• 18 Mar 1945: Hiroh Kikai, Japanese photographer (died 2020) Hiroh Kikai was a Japanese photographer best known within Japan for four series of monochrome photographs: scenes of buildings in and close to Tokyo, portraits of people in the Asakusa area of Tokyo, and rural and town life in India and Turkey. He pursued each of these for over two decades, and each led to one or more book-length collections. Read more
• 18 Mar 1945: Michael Reagan, American journalist and radio host (died 2026) Michael Edward Reagan was an American conservative political commentator, Republican Party strategist and radio talk show host. He was the adopted son of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan and his first wife, actress Jane Wyman. He worked as a columnist for Newsmax. Read more
• 18 Mar 1945: Susan Tyrrell, American actress (died 2012) Susan Tyrrell was an American character actress. Tyrrell's career began in theater in New York City in the 1960s in Broadway and off Broadway productions. Her first film was Shoot Out (1971). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Oma in John Huston's Fat City (1972). In 1978, Tyrrell received the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Andy Warhol's Bad (1977). Her New York Times obituary described her as "a whiskey-voiced character actress (with) talent for playing the downtrodden, outré, and grotesque." Read more
• 18 Mar 1945: Eric Woolfson, Scottish singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (died 2009) Eric Norman Woolfson was a Scottish songwriter, lyricist, vocalist, executive producer, pianist, and co-creator of the band The Alan Parsons Project, who sold over 50 million albums worldwide. Woolfson also pursued a career in musical theatre. Read more
• 18 Mar 1944: Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Israeli general and politician, 22nd Transportation Minister of Israel (died 2012) Amnon Lipkin-Shahak was an Israeli military officer and politician. He served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, as a Member of the Knesset, and as Minister of Transportation and Minister of Tourism. Read more
• 18 Mar 1944: Frank McRae, American football player and actor (died 2021) Frank McRae was an American film and television actor and a professional football player. Read more
• 18 Mar 1944: Dick Smith, Australian publisher and businessman, founded Dick Smith Electronics and Australian Geographic Richard Harold Smith is an Australian entrepreneur and aviator. He is the founder of Dick Smith Electronics, Australian Geographic and Dick Smith Foods. Smith has had a long interest in aviation and holds a number of world records in the field. A major philanthropist, he supports a number of charities and conservation efforts. Read more
• 18 Mar 1943: Dennis Linde, American singer-songwriter (died 2006) Dennis Linde was an American musician and songwriter based in Nashville who has had over 250 of his songs recorded. He is best known for writing the 1972 Elvis Presley song, "Burning Love", an international hit that has been featured in at least five motion pictures. In 1994, Linde won BMI's "Top Writer Award" and received four awards as BMI's most-performed titles for that year. He never liked publicity, and shunned awards shows to the extent of having family members collect his awards for him. He wrote both words and music for most of his songs, rarely collaborating with co-writers. He earned 14 BMI "Million-Air" songs. In 2001, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Read more
• 18 Mar 1942: Kathleen Collins, American filmmaker and playwright (died 1988) Kathleen Collins was an African American polymath from Jersey City, New Jersey, notable for her contributions as poet, playwright, writer, filmmaker, director, civil rights activist, and educator. Read more
• 18 Mar 1942: Jeff Mullins, American basketball player and coach Jeffrey Vincent Mullins is an American former basketball player and coach. He played college basketball with the Duke Blue Devils and in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the St. Louis Hawks and San Francisco/Golden State Warriors. He was a three-time NBA All-Star. Mullins served as the head basketball coach at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte from 1985 to 1996, being named the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year in 1988, and taking his team to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament three times. As a college player, he was the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Year and the ACC's athlete of the year (1963–64) and first-team All-ACC for three consecutive seasons. He was a consensus second-team All-American in 1964. His Duke teams twice reached the Final Four in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, and he was selected to the All-Tournament Team in 1964. He scored 43 points in one NCAA tournament game. Read more
• 18 Mar 1941: Wilson Pickett, American singer-songwriter (died 2006) Wilson Pickett was an American singer and songwriter. Read more
• 18 Mar 1939: Ron Atkinson, English footballer and manager Ronald Frederick Atkinson is an English former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Ron", he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits in the 1990s and early 2000s. Read more
• 18 Mar 1939: Jean-Pierre Wallez, French violinist and conductor Jean-Pierre Wallez is a French violinist and conductor. Read more
• 18 Mar 1938: Carl Gottlieb, American actor and screenwriter Carl Gottlieb is an American screenwriter, actor, comedian, and executive. He is best known for co-writing the screenplay for Jaws (1975) and its first two sequels, as well as directing the 1981 film Caveman. Read more
• 18 Mar 1938: Shashi Kapoor, Indian actor and producer (died 2017) Shashi Kapoor was an Indian actor and producer known primarily for his work in Hindi films. He is considered as one of the greatest actors in the history of Hindi cinema, and is a recipient of several accolades, including four National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2011, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2014, for his contribution to Indian cinema. Read more
• 18 Mar 1938: Kenny Lynch, English singer-songwriter and actor (died 2019) Kenneth Lynch, OBE was an English singer, songwriter, entertainer, and actor. He appeared in many variety shows in the 1960s. At the time, he was among the few black singers in British pop music. He was appointed an OBE in the 1970 New Year Honours list. Read more
• 18 Mar 1938: Timo Mäkinen, Finnish race car driver (died 2017) Timo Mäkinen was a Finnish race car driver and one of the original "Flying Finns" of motor rallying. He is best remembered for his hat-trick of wins in the RAC Rally and the 1000 Lakes Rally. Read more
• 18 Mar 1938: Machiko Soga, Japanese actress (died 2006) Machiko Soga was a Japanese actress and voice actress. She also performed by the stage name Stella Soga. Read more
• 18 Mar 1937: Rudi Altig, German cyclist and sportscaster (died 2016) Rudi Altig was a German professional track and road racing cyclist who won the 1962 Vuelta a España and the world championship in 1966. After his retirement from sports he worked as a television commentator. Read more
• 18 Mar 1937: Mark Donohue, American race car driver (died 1975) Mark Neary Donohue Jr., nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American race car driver and engineer known for his ability to develop and set up his race car as well as driving it, often to victory. Read more
• 18 Mar 1936: F. W. de Klerk, South African lawyer and politician, former State President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2021) Frederik Willem de Klerk was a South African politician who served as final state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president alongside Thabo Mbeki under President Nelson Mandela from 1994 to 1996. As South Africa's last head of state from the era of white-minority rule, he and his government dismantled the apartheid system and introduced universal suffrage. Ideologically a social conservative and an economic liberal, he led the National Party (NP) from 1989 to 1997. Read more
• 18 Mar 1935: Ole Barndorff-Nielsen, Danish mathematician and statistician (died 2022) Ole Eiler Barndorff-Nielsen was a Danish statistician who has contributed to many areas of statistical science. Read more
• 18 Mar 1935: Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author (died 2016) Frances Luella Cress Welsing was an American psychiatrist and well-known proponent of the pseudo-scientific melanin theory. Her 1970 essay, The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation and Racism , offered her interpretation of what she described as the origins of white supremacy culture. She was the author of The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors (1991). Read more
• 18 Mar 1934: Roy Chapman, English footballer and manager (died 1983) Roy Clifford Chapman was an English professional football player and manager. He was the father of former Arsenal and Leeds United striker Lee Chapman. Read more
• 18 Mar 1934: Charley Pride, American country music singer and musician (died 2020) Charley Frank Pride was an American country singer and baseball player. Beginning his career as a Negro league baseball player in the early-1950s, he later pursued a career in country music. Read more
• 18 Mar 1933: Unita Blackwell, American civil rights activist and politician (died 2019) Unita Zelma Blackwell was an American civil rights activist who was the first African-American woman to be elected mayor in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Blackwell was a project director for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and helped organize voter drives for African Americans across Mississippi. She was also a leader of the US–China Peoples Friendship Association, a group dedicated to promoting cultural exchange between the United States and China. She also served as an advisor to six US presidents: Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Read more
• 18 Mar 1932: John Updike, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (died 2009) John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once, Updike published more than twenty novels, more than a dozen short-story collections, as well as poetry, art and literary criticism and children's books during his career. Read more
• 18 Mar 1931: John Fraser, Scottish actor (died 2020) John Alexander Fraser was a Scottish actor and author. He is best known for his performances in the films The Dam Busters (1955),
  The Good Companions (1957), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), El Cid (1961), Repulsion (1965) and Isadora (1968). Read more
• 18 Mar 1930: James J. Andrews, American mathematician and academic (died 1998) James J. Andrews was an American mathematician, a professor of mathematics at Florida State University who specialized in knot theory, topology, and group theory. Read more
• 18 Mar 1929: Samuel Pisar, Polish-American lawyer and author (died 2015) Samuel Pisar was a Polish-American lawyer, author, and Holocaust survivor. Read more
• 18 Mar 1928: Miguel Poblet, Spanish cyclist (died 2013) Miguel Poblet Orriols was a Spanish professional cyclist, who had over 200 professional victories from 1944 to 1962. He was the first Spanish rider to wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, and in 1956 he became the first of only three riders to win stages in the three Grand Tours in the same year.
  He won the Milan–San Remo classic race on two occasions and took 26 stage wins in the three Grand Tours. His twenty-stage wins in the Giro d'Italia makes him the third most successful foreign rider in the "Giro" behind Eddy Merckx (25) and Roger De Vlaeminck (22). Poblet was of short stature who had great power, he was the first Spanish rider to be a specialist in one day races in an age when Spain only produced climbers. He had a lightning fast sprint, but could also climb well, taking the Spanish Mountain championships on three occasions and the mountainous Volta a Catalunya twice. His nickname whilst riding was "La Flecha Amarilla" due to the yellow kit of his Ignis team. Read more
• 18 Mar 1928: Fidel V. Ramos, Filipino general and politician, 12th President of the Philippines (died 2022) Fidel Valdez Ramos, popularly known as FVR and Eddie Ramos, was a Filipino general and politician who served as the 12th president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. He was the only career military officer to reach the rank of five-star general. Rising from second lieutenant to commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Ramos is credited for revitalizing and renewing international confidence in the Philippine economy during his six years in office. Read more
• 18 Mar 1927: John Kander, American pianist and composer John Harold Kander is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb, Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including Cabaret (1966) and Chicago (1975), both of which were later adapted into acclaimed films. He and Ebb also wrote the standard "New York, New York". The team received numerous nominations, including eleven for Tony Awards, two nominations for Academy Awards, and five for Golden Globe Awards. Read more
• 18 Mar 1927: George Plimpton, American journalist and actor (died 2003) George Ames Plimpton was an American writer. He is known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review, as well as his patrician accent. He was known for "participatory journalism," including accounts of his active involvement in professional sporting events, acting in a Western, performing a comedy act at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and playing with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and then recording the experience from the point of view of an amateur. Read more
• 18 Mar 1927: Lillian Vernon, German-American businesswoman and philanthropist, founded the Lillian Vernon Company (died 2015) Lillian Vernon was an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She founded the Lillian Vernon Corporation in 1951 and served as its chairwoman and CEO until July 1989, though she continued to serve as executive chairwoman until 2003, when the company was taken private by Zelnick Media. When it went public in 1987, Lillian Vernon Corporation was the first company traded on the American Stock Exchange founded by a woman. New York University's Lillian Vernon Writers House is named after her and houses the University's prestigious creative writing program. Read more
• 18 Mar 1926: Peter Graves, American actor and director (died 2010) 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
• 18 Mar 1925: Alessandro Alessandroni, Italian musician (died 2017) Alessandro Alessandroni was an Italian musician and composer. He played multiple
  instruments, including the guitar, mandolin, mandolincello, sitar, accordion and piano, composed more than 40 film scores and countless library music tracks, and was renowned for his whistling technique. Read more
• 18 Mar 1925: James Pickles, English journalist, lawyer, and judge (died 2010) James Pickles was an English barrister and circuit judge and who later became a tabloid newspaper columnist. He became known for his controversial sentencing decisions and press statements. His obituaries variously described him as forthright, colourful, and outspoken. Read more
• 18 Mar 1923: Andy Granatelli, American race car driver and businessman (died 2013) Anthony "Andy" Granatelli was an American businessman, most prominent as the CEO of STP as well as a major figure in automobile racing events. Read more
• 18 Mar 1922: Egon Bahr, German journalist and politician, Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany (died 2015) Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr was a German SPD politician. Read more
• 18 Mar 1922: Seymour Martin Lipset, American sociologist and academic (died 2006) Seymour Martin Lipset was an American sociologist and political scientist. His major work was in the fields of political sociology, trade union organization, social stratification, public opinion, and the sociology of intellectual life. He also wrote extensively about the conditions for democracy in comparative perspective. He was president of both the American Political Science Association (1979–1980) and the American Sociological Association (1992–1993). A socialist in his early life, Lipset later moved to the right, and was considered to be one of the first neoconservatives. Read more
• 18 Mar 1922: Suzanne Perlman, Hungarian-Dutch visual artist (died 2020) Suzanne Perlman was a Hungarian-Dutch visual artist known for her expressionist portraits and landscape paintings. Her bold use of colour has its origins in her early paintings of the tropical island of Curaçao, where she moved with her husband in 1940 to escape Nazi persecution. Her expressionist style developed under the tutelage of Austrian master Oskar Kokoschka in the late 1950s, with whom she worked in Salzburg in the 1960s. Reviewing a 1993 Exhibition as his Critic’s Choice in The Times, John Russell Taylor, art critic and author, wrote that "(Perlman) captures the particular feel of the place while abating none of her expressionist dash". Read more
• 18 Mar 1922: Fred Shuttlesworth, American activist, co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (died 2011) Freddie Lee Shuttlesworth was an American Baptist minister and civil rights activist who led fights against segregation and other forms of racism, during the civil rights movement. He often worked with Martin Luther King Jr., although they did not always agree on tactics and approaches. Read more
• 18 Mar 1918: Mitchell WerBell III, American mercenary (died 1983) Mitchell Livingston WerBell III was a U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) operative, mercenary, paramilitary trainer, firearms engineer, and arms dealer. Read more
• 18 Mar 1915: Richard Condon, American author and screenwriter (died 1996) Richard Thomas Condon was an American political novelist. Though his works were satire, they were generally transformed into thrillers or semi-thrillers in other media, such as cinema. All 26 books were written in distinctive Condon style, which combined a fast pace, outrage, and frequent humor while focusing almost obsessively on monetary greed and political corruption. Condon himself once said: "Every book I've ever written has been about abuse of power. I feel very strongly about that. I'd like people to know how deeply their politicians wrong them." Condon's books were occasionally bestsellers, and a number of his books were made into films; he is primarily remembered for his 1959 The Manchurian Candidate and, many years later, a series of four novels about a family of New York gangsters named Prizzi. Read more
• 18 Mar 1913: René Clément, French director and screenwriter (died 1996) René Clément was a French film director and screenwriter. He is known for directing the films The Battle of the Rails (1946), Forbidden Games (1952), Gervaise (1956), Purple Noon (1960), and Is Paris Burning (1966). He received numerous accolades including five prizes at the Cannes Film Festival and the Honorary César in 1984. Read more
• 18 Mar 1913: Werner Mölders, German colonel and pilot (died 1941) Werner Mölders was a World War II German Luftwaffe pilot, wing commander, and the leading German fighter ace in the Spanish Civil War. He became the first pilot in aviation history to shoot down 100 enemy aircraft and was highly decorated for his achievements. Mölders developed fighter tactics that led to the finger-four formation. He died in a plane crash as a passenger. Read more
• 18 Mar 1912: Art Gilmore, American voice actor and announcer (died 2010) Arthur Wells Gilmore was an American actor and announcer heard on radio and television programs, children's records, movies, trailers, radio commercials, and documentary films. He also appeared in several television series and a few feature films. Read more
• 18 Mar 1911: Smiley Burnette, American singer-songwriter and actor (died 1967) Lester Alvin Burnett, better known as Smiley Burnette, was an American country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick to Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and other B-movie cowboys. He was also a prolific singer-songwriter who is reported to have played proficiently over 100 musical instruments, sometimes more than one simultaneously. His career, beginning in 1934, spanned four decades, including a regular role on CBS-TV's Petticoat Junction in the 1960s. Read more
• 18 Mar 1909: Ernest Gallo, American businessman, co-founded the E & J Gallo Winery (died 2007) Ernest J. Gallo was an American businessman and philanthropist. Gallo co-founded the E & J Gallo Winery in Modesto, California. Read more
• 18 Mar 1909: C. Walter Hodges, English author and illustrator (died 2004) Cyril Walter Hodges was an English artist and writer best known for illustrating children's books and for helping to recreate Elizabethan theatre. He won the annual Greenaway Medal for British children's book illustration in 1964. Read more
• 18 Mar 1908: Loulou Gasté, French composer (died 1995) Louis "Loulou" Gasté was a French composer of songs. He composed more than 1000 songs, including "Battling Joe" and "For You". The song "For You" was popularised internationally as "Feelings" and has been covered almost 1200 times. Read more
• 18 Mar 1907: John Zachary Young, English zoologist and neurophysiologist (died 1997) John Zachary Young, generally known as "JZ" or "JZY", was an English zoologist and neurophysiologist, described as "one of the most influential biologists of the 20th century". Read more
• 18 Mar 1905: Thomas Townsend Brown, American physicist and engineer (died 1985) Thomas Townsend Brown was an American inventor whose experiments and research on electricity based anti-gravitational observable momentum by ionizing different materials led him to believe he discovered a type of anti-gravity. He believed this was caused by strong electric fields. Instead of anti-gravity, what Brown observed has generally been attributed to electrohydrodynamics, the movement of charged particles that transfer their momentum to surrounding neutral particles in the air, also called "ionic drift" or "ionic wind". For most of Brown's life, he developed devices based on his ideas, promoting them for use by industry and the military. The phenomena came to be called the "Biefeld–Brown effect" and "electrogravitics". He was granted multiple patents. Read more
• 18 Mar 1905: Robert Donat, English actor (died 1958) Friedrich Robert Donat was an English actor. Making his breakthrough film role in Alexander Korda's The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), today he is best remembered for his roles in The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935), and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor as the gentle English schoolmaster Mr. Chips. Read more
• 18 Mar 1904: Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet and author (died 1926) Srečko Kosovel was a Slovenian poet, now considered one of central Europe's major modernist poets. He was labeled an impressionistic poet of his native Karst region, a political poet resisting forced Italianization of the Slovene areas annexed by Italy, an expressionist, a dadaist, a satirist, and as a voice of international socialism, using avant-garde constructivist forms. He is now considered a Slovenian poetic icon. Read more
• 18 Mar 1903: Galeazzo Ciano, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1944) Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari, was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Italy under the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 1943. During this period, he was widely seen as Mussolini's most probable successor as head of government. Read more
• 18 Mar 1903: E. O. Plauen, German cartoonist (died 1944) E. O. Plauen was the pseudonym of Erich Ohser, a German cartoonist best known for his strip Vater und Sohn. Read more
• 18 Mar 1901: Manly Palmer Hall, Canadian mystic, author and philosopher (died 1990) Manly Palmer Hall was an American writer, lecturer, astrologer and mystic. Over his 70-year career he gave thousands of lectures and published over 150 volumes, of which the best known is The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928). In 1934 he founded the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles. Read more
• 18 Mar 1901: William Johnson, American painter (died 1970) William Henry Johnson was an American painter. Born in Florence, South Carolina, he became a student at the National Academy of Design in New York City, working with Charles Webster Hawthorne. He later lived and worked in France, where he was exposed to modernism. After Johnson married Danish textile artist Holcha Krake, the couple lived for some time in Scandinavia. There he was influenced by the strong folk art tradition. The couple moved to the United States in 1938. Johnson eventually found work as a teacher at the Harlem Community Art Center, through the Federal Art Project. Read more
• 18 Mar 1899: Marjorie Abbatt, English toy-maker and businesswoman (died 1991)

  Marjorie Abbatt, née Norah Marjorie Cobb, was an English toy-maker and businesswoman. Read more

• 18 Mar 1893: Costante Girardengo, Italian cyclist (died 1978) Costante Girardengo was an Italian professional road bicycle racer, considered by many to be one of the finest riders in the history of the sport. He was the first rider to be declared a "Campionissimo" or "champion of champions" by the Italian media and fans. At the height of his career, in the 1920s, he was said to be more popular than Mussolini and it was decreed that all express trains should stop in his home town Novi Ligure, an honour only normally awarded to heads of state. Read more
• 18 Mar 1893: Wilfred Owen, English soldier and poet (died 1918) Wilfred Edward Salter Owen was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced by his mentor Siegfried Sassoon and stood in contrast to the public perception of war at the time and to the confidently patriotic verse written by earlier war poets such as Rupert Brooke. Among his best-known works – most of which were published posthumously – are "Dulce et Decorum est", "Insensibility", "Anthem for Doomed Youth", "Futility", "Spring Offensive" and "Strange Meeting". Owen was killed in action on 4 November 1918, a week before the Armistice, at the age of 25. Read more
• 18 Mar 1890: Henri Decoin, French director and screenwriter (died 1969) Henri Decoin was a French film director and screenwriter, who directed more than 50 films between 1933 and 1964. He was also a swimmer who won the national title in 1911 and held the national record in the 500 m freestyle. He competed in the 400 m freestyle at the 1908 Summer Olympics and in the water polo tournament at the 1912 Summer Olympics. Read more
• 18 Mar 1886: Edward Everett Horton, American actor, singer, and dancer (died 1970) Edward Everett Horton, Jr. was an American character actor and comedian. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television, and voice work for animated cartoons. Read more
• 18 Mar 1884: Bernard Cronin, English-Australian journalist and author (died 1968) Bernard Cronin was an Australian author and journalist. With Gertrude Hart, he founded the Old Derelicts' Club in 1920 which later became the Society of Australian Authors. Read more
• 18 Mar 1882: Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer and educator (died 1973) Gian Francesco Malipiero was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor. Read more
• 18 Mar 1880: Kalle Hakala, Finnish politician (died 1947) Kalle Juhonpoika Hakala was a Finnish newspaper editor, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), he represented Mikkeli Province between October 1934 and May 1947. He had previously represented Mikkeli Province from February 1911 to May 1918 and from May 1924 to August 1933. He was imprisoned for a year following the end of the Finnish Civil War. Read more
• 18 Mar 1878: Percival Perry, 1st Baron Perry, English businessman (died 1956)

  Percival Lea Dewhurst Perry, 1st Baron Perry KBE was an English motor vehicle manufacturer who served as chairman of Ford Motor Company Limited in Britain for 20 years from its incorporation in 1928, completing almost a lifetime's work with Henry Ford. He also led the establishment of Segro. Read more

• 18 Mar 1877: Edgar Cayce, American mystic and psychic (died 1945) Edgar Cayce was an American clairvoyant who reported and chronicled an ability to diagnose diseases and recommend treatments for ailments while asleep. During thousands of transcribed sessions, Cayce answered questions on subjects including healing, reincarnation, dreams, the afterlife, past lives, nutrition, Atlantis, and future events. Cayce said he was a devout Christian and was not a spiritualist or communicating with spirits. Cayce is regarded as a founder of the New Age movement and a principal source of many of the movement's characteristic beliefs. Read more
• 18 Mar 1877: Clem Hill, Australian cricketer and engineer (died 1945) Clement Hill was an Australian cricketer who played 49 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1896 and 1912. He captained the Australian team in ten Tests, winning five and losing five. A prolific run scorer, Hill scored 3,412 runs in Test cricket—a world record at the time of his retirement—at an average of 39.21 per innings, including seven centuries. In 1902, Hill was the first batsman to make 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year, a feat that would not be repeated for 45 years. His innings of 365*, scored against New South Wales for South Australia in 1900–01, was a Sheffield Shield record for 27 years. The South Australian Cricket Association named a grandstand at the Adelaide Oval in his honour in 2003 and he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2005. Hill is regarded as one of the best batsman of his era. Read more
• 18 Mar 1874: Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian-French philosopher and theologian (died 1948) Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev was a Russian philosopher, theologian, and Christian existentialist who emphasized the existential spiritual significance of human freedom and the human person. Read more
• 18 Mar 1870: Agnes Sime Baxter, Canadian mathematician (died 1917) Agnes Sime Baxter (Hill) was a Canadian-born mathematician. She studied at Dalhousie University, receiving her BA in 1891, and her MA in 1892. She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1895; her dissertation was "On Abelian integrals", a resume of Neumann's Abelian integral with comments and applications." Read more
• 18 Mar 1869: Neville Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1940) Arthur Neville Chamberlain was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party from May 1937 to October 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasement, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement on 30 September 1938, ceding the German-speaking Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler. Following the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, which marked the beginning of World War II, Chamberlain announced the declaration of war on Germany two days later and led the United Kingdom through the first eight months of the war until his resignation as prime minister on 10 May 1940. Read more
• 18 Mar 1863: William Sulzer, American lawyer and politician, 39th Governor of New York (died 1941) William Sulzer, nicknamed Plain Bill, was an American lawyer and politician. He was the 39th governor of New York serving for 10 months in 1913, and a long-serving U.S. representative from the same state. Sulzer was the first, and to date only, New York governor to be impeached and the only governor to be convicted on articles of impeachment. He broke with his sponsors at Tammany Hall, and they produced convincing evidence that Sulzer had falsified his sworn statement of campaign expenditures. Read more
• 18 Mar 1862: Eugène Jansson, Swedish painter (died 1915) Eugène Fredrik Jansson was a Swedish painter known for his night-time land- and cityscapes dominated by shades of blue. Towards the end of his life, from about 1904, he mainly painted male nudes. The earlier of these phases has caused him to sometimes be referred to as blåmålaren, "the blue-painter". Read more
• 18 Mar 1858: Rudolf Diesel, German engineer, invented the Diesel engine (died 1913) Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, best known for inventing the diesel engine, which burns diesel fuel; both are named after him. Read more
• 18 Mar 1857: Harriet Converse Moody, American businesswoman and arts patron (died 1932) Harriet Converse Moody was an American businesswoman and arts patron. Moody began her career in Chicago in 1889, working as a schoolteacher and then forming a successful restaurant and catering business that operated for almost 40 years. After her brief marriage to the poet William Vaughn Moody, which ended upon his death of brain cancer, she became a patron to artists, particularly poets. Read more
• 18 Mar 1848: Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, American architect and engineer (died 1938) Nathanael Greene Herreshoff was an American naval architect, mechanical engineer, and yacht design innovator. He produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893 and 1920. Read more
• 18 Mar 1845: Kicking Bear, Native American tribal leader (died 1904) Kicking Bear was an Oglala Lakota who became a band chief of the Miniconjou Lakota Sioux. He fought in several battles with his brother, Flying Hawk, and first cousin, Crazy Horse, during the War for the Black Hills, including the Battle of the Greasy Grass. Read more
• 18 Mar 1844: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer and academic (died 1908) Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, a member of the group of composers known as The Five. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his fifteen operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy-tale and folk subjects. Read more
• 18 Mar 1842: Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet and critic (died 1898) Étienne Mallarmé, known professionally as Stéphane Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French Symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism. Read more
• 18 Mar 1840: William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (died 1901) William Cosmo Monkhouse was a British poet and critic. Read more
• 18 Mar 1837: Grover Cleveland, American lawyer and politician, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (died 1908) Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Democrat elected president after the American Civil War. Read more
• 18 Mar 1828: Randal Cremer, English activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1908) Sir William Randal Cremer usually known by his middle name "Randal", was a British Liberal Member of Parliament, a pacifist, and a leading advocate for international arbitration. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1903 for his work with the international arbitration movement. Read more
• 18 Mar 1823: Antoine Chanzy, French general (died 1883) Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy was a French general, notable for his successes during the Franco-Prussian War and as a governor of Algeria. Read more
• 18 Mar 1820: John Plankinton, American businessman, industrialist, and philanthropist (died 1891) John Plankinton was an American businessman. He is noted for expansive real estate developments in Milwaukee, including the luxurious Plankinton House Hotel designed as an upscale residence for the wealthy. He was involved with railroading and banking. The Plankinton Bank he developed became the leading bank of Milwaukee in his lifetime. He was involved in the development of the Milwaukee City Railroad Company, an electric railway. Read more
• 18 Mar 1819: James McCulloch, Scottish-Australian politician, 5th Premier of Victoria (died 1893) Sir James McCulloch, was a British colonial politician and statesman who served as the fifth premier of Victoria over four non-consecutive terms from 1863 to 1868, 1868 to 1869, 1870 to 1871 and 1875 to 1877. He is the third longest-serving premier in Victorian history. Read more
• 18 Mar 1814: Jacob Bunn, American businessman (died 1897) John Whitfield Bunn was an American corporate leader, financier, industrialist, and personal friend of Abraham Lincoln, whose work and leadership involved a broad range of institutions ranging from Midwestern railroads, international finance, and Republican Party politics, to corporate consultation, globally significant manufacturing, and the various American stock exchanges. He was of great historical importance in the commercial, civic, political, and industrial development and growth of the state of Illinois and the American Midwest, during both the nineteenth century and the twentieth century. John Whitfield Bunn was born June 21, 1831, in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Although every one of the business institutions co-founded or built by the Bunn Brothers has ceased to exist, and fallen purely into the realm of history, each of these businesses left an important legacy of honorable industrial, commercial, and civic vision for Illinois, the Midwest, and the United States. Read more
• 18 Mar 1813: Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (died 1864) Christian Friedrich Hebbel was a German poet and dramatist. Read more
• 18 Mar 1800: Harriet Smithson, Irish actress, the first wife and muse of Hector Berlioz (died 1854) Harriet Constance Smithson, who also went by Henrietta Constance Smithson, Harriet Smithson Berlioz, and Miss H.C. Smithson, was an Anglo-Irish Shakespearean actress of the 19th century, best known as the first wife and muse of Hector Berlioz. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 18 March in World History

• 18 Mar 2025: Kanzi, Bonobo research subject (born 1980) Kanzi was a male bonobo who was the subject of numerous studies on great ape language and cognition. According to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, a primatologist who has studied the bonobo since the 1990s, Kanzi exhibited advanced linguistic aptitude. Read more
• 18 Mar 2025: Jessie Hoffman Jr., American convicted murderer (born 1978) Jessie Dean Hoffman Jr. was an American convicted murderer who was sentenced to death in Louisiana for the 1996 rape and murder of Molly Elliott. On November 26, 1996, Hoffman, then 18, abducted the 28-year-old advertising executive in downtown New Orleans. After forcing her to withdraw money from an ATM at gunpoint, he made her drive to a remote area in St. Tammany Parish, where he raped and murdered her. Read more
• 18 Mar 2024: Thomas P. Stafford, American Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut (born 1930) Thomas Patten Stafford was an American Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, and one of 24 astronauts who flew to the Moon. He also served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1969 to 1971. Read more
• 18 Mar 2020: Alfred Worden, American test pilot, engineer and astronaut (born 1932) Alfred Merrill Worden was an American test pilot, engineer and NASA astronaut who was command module pilot for the Apollo 15 lunar mission in 1971. One of 24 people to have flown to the Moon, he orbited it 74 times in the command module (CM) Endeavour. Read more
• 18 Mar 2017: Chuck Berry, American guitarist, singer and songwriter (born 1926) Charles Edward Anderson Berry was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter; and one of the pioneers of rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957), and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958). Writing lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism, and developing a music style that included guitar solos and showmanship, Berry was a major influence on subsequent rock music. Read more
• 18 Mar 2016: Barry Hines, English author and screenwriter (born 1939) Melvin Barry Hines, FRSL was an English author, playwright and screenwriter. His novels and screenplays explore the political and economic struggles of working-class Northern England, particularly in his native West Riding/South Yorkshire. Read more
• 18 Mar 2016: Jan Němec, Czech director and screenwriter (born 1936) Jan Němec was a Czech filmmaker whose most important work dates from the 1960s. Film historian Peter Hames has described him as the "enfant terrible of the Czech New Wave." Read more
• 18 Mar 2016: Tray Walker, American football player (born 1992) Tray Walker was an American professional football player who was a cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Southern Tigers, and was selected by the Ravens in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL draft, ultimately playing only one season with the team before his death. Read more
• 18 Mar 2016: Guido Westerwelle, German lawyer and politician, 15th Vice-Chancellor of Germany (born 1961) Guido Westerwelle was a German politician who served as foreign minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vice-Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011, being the first openly gay person to hold any of these positions. He also led the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 2001 until he stepped down in 2011. A lawyer by profession, he was a member of the Bundestag from 1996 to 2013. Read more
• 18 Mar 2015: Zhao Dayu, Chinese footballer and manager (born 1961) Zhao Dayu, also known as Tatsuyu Matsuki , was a Chinese coach, businessman and a former international football striker. He was a naturalized citizen of Japan. Read more
• 18 Mar 2015: Thomas Hopko, American priest and theologian (born 1939) Thomas John Hopko was an Eastern Orthodox Christian priest and theologian. He was the Dean of Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary from September 1992 until July 1, 2002 and taught dogmatic theology there from 1968 until 2002. In retirement, he carried the honorary title of Dean Emeritus. Read more
• 18 Mar 2015: Grace Ogot, Kenyan nurse, journalist, and politician (born 1930) Grace Emily Ogot was a Kenyan author, nurse, journalist, politician and diplomat. Together with Charity Waciuma she was the first Anglophone female Kenyan writer to be published. She was one of the first Kenyan members of parliament and she became an assistant minister. Read more
• 18 Mar 2014: Catherine Obianuju Acholonu, Nigerian author, playwright, and academic (born 1951) Catherine Obianuju Acholonu was a Nigerian author, researcher and political activist. She served as the Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Arts and Culture and was a founder-member of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). Read more
• 18 Mar 2014: Kaiser Kalambo, Zambian footballer, coach, and manager (born 1953) Kaiser Kalambo was a Zambian coach and former footballer. He represented Zambia in three African Cup of Nations tournaments and was named Zambian captain in 1980, the same year in which he was voted Zambian footballer of the year. He later coached several club sides in Zambia and Botswana. Read more
• 18 Mar 2014: Lucius Shepard, American author and critic (born 1943) Lucius Shepard was an American writer. Classified as a science fiction and fantasy writer, he often leaned into other genres, such as magical realism. Read more
• 18 Mar 2013: Muhammad Mahmood Alam, Pakistani general and pilot (born 1935) Muhammad Mahmood Alam best known as M. M. Alam and affectionately nicknamed Little Dragon and Peanut Alam, was a Pakistani flying ace, war hero, and a former one-star rank officer in the Pakistan Air Force. Read more
• 18 Mar 2013: Henry Bromell, American novelist, screenwriter, and director (born 1947) Alfred Henry Bromell was an American novelist, screenwriter, and director. Read more
• 18 Mar 2013: Clay Ford, American lawyer and politician (born 1938) Clarence V. Ford, known as Clay Ford, was an attorney and Republican politician from Gulf Breeze in Santa Rosa County near Pensacola, Florida, who, from 2007 until his death, represented District 2 in the Florida House of Representatives. Read more
• 18 Mar 2012: Furman Bisher, American journalist and author (born 1918) James Furman Bisher was an American newspaper sportswriter and columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in Atlanta, Georgia. Read more
• 18 Mar 2012: William R. Charette, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1932) William Richard Charette was a United States Navy master chief hospital corpsman who received the nation's highest military decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor. He was awarded the medal for heroic actions "above and beyond the call of duty" on March 27, 1953, while assigned to a Marine Corps rifle company during the Korean War. He retired from the navy after 26 years of service. Read more
• 18 Mar 2012: William G. Moore Jr., American general (born 1920) William Grover Moore Jr. was a general in the United States Air Force and the former commander-in-chief of Military Airlift Command. Moore was a combat veteran with 100 missions flown during World War II and the Korean War, and more than 140 missions in the Vietnam War. Read more
• 18 Mar 2012: George Tupou V of Tonga (born 1948) George Tupou V was King of Tonga from 2006 until his death in 2012. He was the eldest son of King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV. Read more
• 18 Mar 2011: Warren Christopher, American lawyer and politician, 63rd United States Secretary of State (born 1925) Warren Minor Christopher was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, and United States Navy officer who served as the 63rd United States secretary of state from 1993 to 1997. Read more
• 18 Mar 2010: Fess Parker, American actor and businessman (born 1924) Fess Elisha Parker Jr. was an American film and television actor best known for his portrayals of the title characters in the Walt Disney television miniseries Davy Crockett and the television series Daniel Boone. Read more
• 18 Mar 2009: Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, Iranian journalist and blogger (born 1980) Omid Reza Mir Sayafi was an Iranian blogger and journalist. Read more
• 18 Mar 2009: Natasha Richardson, English-American actress (born 1963) Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress. A member of the Redgrave family, Richardson was a daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and a granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. She was married to Liam Neeson. Read more
• 18 Mar 2008: Anthony Minghella, English director and screenwriter (born 1954) Anthony Minghella was a British playwright and filmmaker. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007. He directed Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990), The English Patient (1996), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and Cold Mountain (2003), and produced Iris (2001). Read more
• 18 Mar 2007: Bob Woolmer, Indian-English cricketer, coach, and sportscaster (born 1948) Robert Andrew Woolmer was an English cricket coach, cricketer, and a commentator. He played in 19 Test matches and six One Day Internationals for the England cricket team and later coached South Africa, Warwickshire and Pakistan. During his coaching career with South Africa, he led the team to being the winners of the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy, first of the only two ICC titles the country has won to date. Read more
• 18 Mar 2006: Dan Gibson, Canadian photographer and cinematographer (born 1922) Dan Gibson was a Canadian photographer, cinematographer and sound recordist. Read more
• 18 Mar 2004: Harrison McCain, Canadian businessman, co-founded McCain Foods (born 1927) Harold Harrison McCain was a Canadian businessman and co-founder, along with his three brothers, of international frozen foods giant McCain Foods. Read more
• 18 Mar 2003: Karl Kling, German race car driver (born 1910) Karl Kling was a German racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One at 11 Grands Prix from 1954 to 1955. Read more
• 18 Mar 2003: Adam Osborne, Thai-English engineer and businessman, founded the Osborne Computer Corporation (born 1939) Adam Osborne was a British author, software publisher, and computer designer who founded several companies in the United States and elsewhere. He introduced the Osborne 1, the first commercially successful portable computer. Read more
• 18 Mar 2002: R. A. Lafferty, American soldier and author (born 1914) Raphael Aloysius Lafferty was an American science fiction, fantasy and historical fiction writer best known for his imaginative and eccentric short stories and novels from the 1960s and 1970s. Read more
• 18 Mar 2001: John Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1935) John Edmund Andrew Phillips was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the leader of the vocal group the Mamas & the Papas and remains frequently referred to as Papa John Phillips. In addition to writing the majority of the group's compositions, he also wrote "San Francisco " in 1967 for former Journeymen bandmate Scott McKenzie, as well as the oft-covered "Me and My Uncle", which was a favorite in the repertoire of the Grateful Dead. Phillips was one of the chief organizers of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. Read more
• 18 Mar 2000: Eberhard Bethge, German theologian and academic (born 1909) Eberhard Bethge was a German theologian and pastor, best known for being the close friend and biographer of the theologian and anti-Nazi Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Read more
• 18 Mar 1996: Odysseas Elytis, Greek poet and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911) Odysseas Elytis was a Greek poet, man of letters, essayist and translator, regarded as the definitive exponent of romantic modernism in Greece and the world. He is one of the most praised poets of the second half of the twentieth century, with his Axion Esti "regarded as a monument of contemporary poetry". In 1979, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Read more
• 18 Mar 1993: Kenneth E. Boulding, English-American economist and activist (born 1910) Kenneth Ewart Boulding was an English-born American economist, educator, peace activist, and interdisciplinary philosopher. Boulding was the author of two citation classics: The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society (1956) and Conflict and Defense: A General Theory (1962). He was co-founder of general systems theory and founder of numerous ongoing intellectual projects in economics and social science. He was married to sociologist Elise M. Boulding. Read more
• 18 Mar 1990: Robin Harris, American comedian (born 1953) Robin Hughes Harris Sr. was an American comedian and actor, best known for his recurring comic sketch about "Bé-bé's Kids". He was posthumously nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the film House Party. Read more
• 18 Mar 1988: Billy Butterfield, American trumpet player and cornet player (born 1917) Charles William Butterfield was an American jazz bandleader, trumpeter, flugelhornist, and cornetist. Read more
• 18 Mar 1987: Kari Diesen, Norwegian singer and revue actress (born 1914) Kari Diesen was a Norwegian singer and revue actress. She worked for the revue theatre Chat Noir from 1937 to 1953, and for the Edderkoppen Theatre from 1954 to 1959. She participated in 24 films between 1941 and 1985. Among her best known song recordings is her version of "Hovedøen". Read more
• 18 Mar 1986: Bernard Malamud, American novelist and short story writer (born 1914) Bernard Malamud was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Norman Mailer and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel The Natural was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford. His 1966 novel The Fixer, about antisemitism in the Russian Empire, won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Read more
• 18 Mar 1984: Charley Lau, American baseball player and coach (born 1933) Charles Richard Lau was an American professional baseball player and a highly influential hitting coach. During his playing career in Major League Baseball, Lau appeared in 527 games as a catcher and pinch hitter over all or portions of 11 seasons for four clubs. Then, beginning in 1969, he spent 15 years as a coach for five American League teams, most notably the Kansas City Royals. He was the incumbent hitting coach of the Chicago White Sox when he died, aged 50, from colorectal cancer in 1984. Read more
• 18 Mar 1983: Umberto II of Italy (born 1904) Umberto II was the last king of Italy. Umberto's reign lasted for 34 days, from 9 May 1946 until his formal deposition on 12 June 1946, although he had been the de facto head of state since 1944. Due to his short reign, he was nicknamed the May King. Read more
• 18 Mar 1982: Patrick Smith, Irish farmer and politician, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (born 1901) Patrick Smith was an Irish Fianna Fáil party politician, who served as a teachta dála from 1923 until 1977, a tenure of 53 years, and the longest in the state. He held a number of ministerial positions within the governments of Éamon de Valera and Seán Lemass. Read more
• 18 Mar 1980: Erich Fromm, German psychologist and philosopher (born 1900) Erich Seligmann Fromm was a German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime and settled in the United States. He was one of the founders of The William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology in New York City and was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory. Read more
• 18 Mar 1980: Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-American painter (born 1898) Tamara Łempicka, known outside Poland as Tamara de Lempicka, was a Polish painter who spent her working life in France and the United States. She is best known for her polished Art Deco portraits of aristocrats and the wealthy, and for her highly stylized paintings of nudes. Read more
• 18 Mar 1978: Leigh Brackett, American author and screenwriter (born 1915) Leigh Douglass Brackett was an American author and screenwriter. Nicknamed "the Queen of Space Opera", she was one of the most prominent female writers during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. As a screenwriter, she was best known for her collaborations with director Howard Hawks, mainly writing Westerns and crime films. She also worked on an early draft of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before it went into production. Read more
• 18 Mar 1978: Peggy Wood, American actress (born 1892) Mary Margaret Wood was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best remembered for her performance as the title character in the CBS television series Mama (1949–1957), for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series; her starring role as Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, in The Story of Ruth (1960); and her final screen appearance as Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music (1965), for which she received nominations for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Read more
• 18 Mar 1977: Marien Ngouabi, Congolese politician, President of the Republic of the Congo (born 1938) Marien Ngouabi was a Congolese politician and military officer who served as the fourth President of the People's Republic of the Congo from 1969 until his assassination in 1977. Read more
• 18 Mar 1977: Carlos Pace, Brazilian race car driver (born 1944) José Carlos Pace was a Brazilian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1972 to 1977. Pace won the 1975 Brazilian Grand Prix with Brabham. Read more
• 18 Mar 1973: Johannes Aavik, Estonian philologist and poet (born 1880) Johannes Aavik was an Estonian linguist and innovator of the Estonian language. Read more
• 18 Mar 1965: Farouk of Egypt (born 1920) Farouk I was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1936 and reigning until his overthrow in a military coup in 1952. Read more
• 18 Mar 1964: Sigfrid Edström, Swedish businessman, 4th President of the International Olympic Committee (born 1870) Johannes Sigfrid Edström was a Swedish industrialist, chairman of the Sweden-America Foundation, and fourth president of the International Olympic Committee. Read more
• 18 Mar 1963: C. C. Martindale, English Jesuit priest (born 1879) Cyril Charlie Martindale was a Roman Catholic priest, scholar, and writer. Along with Martin D'Arcy, he was one of England's foremost Catholics of the first half of the 20th century, and was a correspondent of figures including Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, and Ronald Knox. Read more
• 18 Mar 1962: Walter W. Bacon, American accountant and politician, 60th Governor of Delaware (born 1880) Walter Wolfkiel Bacon was an American politician and accountant from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party who served three terms as Mayor of Wilmington and two terms as Governor of Delaware. He is the only mayor of a Delaware city to have been elected Governor of Delaware. Read more
• 18 Mar 1956: Louis Bromfield, American environmentalist and author (born 1896) Louis Bromfield was an American writer and conservationist. A bestselling novelist in the 1920s, he reinvented himself as a farmer in the late 1930s and became one of the earliest proponents of sustainable and organic agriculture in the United States. He won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1927 for Early Autumn, founded the experimental Malabar Farm near Mansfield, Ohio, and played an important role in the early environmental movement. Read more
• 18 Mar 1954: Walter Mead, English cricketer (born 1868) Walter Mead was the principal bowler for Essex during their first two decades as a first-class county. As a member of the Lord’s ground staff, he was also after J.T. Hearne the most important bowler for MCC and Ground, who in those days played quite a number of first-class matches. Read more
• 18 Mar 1947: William C. Durant, American businessman, co-founded General Motors and Chevrolet (born 1861) William Crapo Durant was an American businessman. A leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, he was the founder of General Motors and a co-founder of Chevrolet. He created a system in which a company held multiple brands – each seemingly independent, with different automobile lines – bound under a unified corporate holding company. He also founded Frigidaire. Read more
• 18 Mar 1941: Henri Cornet, French cyclist (born 1884) Henri Cornet was a French cyclist who won the 1904 Tour de France. He is its youngest winner, just short of his 20th birthday. Read more
• 18 Mar 1939: Henry Simpson Lunn, English businessman, founded Lunn Poly (born 1859) Sir Henry Simpson Lunn was an English humanitarian and religious figure, and also founder of Lunn Poly, one of the UK's largest travel companies. Read more
• 18 Mar 1936: Eleftherios Venizelos, Greek journalist, lawyer, and politician, 93rd Prime Minister of Greece (born 1864) Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos was a Cretan Greek statesman and prominent leader of the Greek national liberation movement. As the leader of the Liberal Party, Venizelos served as prime minister of Greece for over 12 years, spanning eight terms from 1910 to 1933. Read more
• 18 Mar 1930: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, American painter (born 1863) Jean Leon Gerome Ferris was an American painter best known for his series of 78 scenes from American history, entitled The Pageant of a Nation, the largest series of American historical paintings by a single artist. Read more
• 18 Mar 1918: Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, American architect, designed the Plaza Hotel (born 1847) Henry Janeway Hardenbergh was an American architect, best known for his hotels and apartment buildings, and as a "master of a new building form — the skyscraper." He worked three times with Edward Clark, the wealthy owner of the Singer Sewing Machine Company and real estate developer: The Singer company's first tower in New York City, the Dakota Apartments, and its precursor, the Van Corlear. He is best known for building apartment dwellings and luxury hotels. Read more
• 18 Mar 1913: George I of Greece (born 1845) George I was King of Greece from 30 March 1863 until his assassination on 18 March 1913. Read more
• 18 Mar 1907: Marcellin Berthelot, French chemist and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1827) Pierre Eugène Marcellin Berthelot was a French chemist and Republican politician noted for the Thomsen–Berthelot principle of thermochemistry. He synthesized many organic compounds from inorganic substances, providing a large amount of counter-evidence to the theory of Jöns Jakob Berzelius that organic compounds required organisms in their synthesis.
  Berthelot was convinced that chemical synthesis would revolutionize the food industry by the year 2000, and that synthesized foods would replace farms and pastures. "Why not", he asked, "if it proved cheaper and better to make the same materials than to grow them?" Read more
• 18 Mar 1900: Hjalmar Kiærskou, Danish botanist (born 1835) Hjalmar Frederik Christian Kiærskou, sometimes also stated as Hjalmar Kiaerskov, was a Danish botanist. Read more
• 18 Mar 1898: Matilda Joslyn Gage, American author and activist (born 1826) Matilda Joslyn Gage was an American writer and activist. She is mainly known for her contributions to women's suffrage in the United States, but also campaigned for Native American rights, abolitionism, and freethought. She is the eponym for the Matilda effect, which describes the tendency to deny women credit for scientific invention. She influenced her son-in-law L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Read more
• 18 Mar 1871: Augustus De Morgan, Indian-English mathematician and academic (born 1806) Augustus De Morgan was a British mathematician and logician. He is best known for De Morgan's laws, relating logical conjunction, disjunction, and negation, and for coining the term "mathematical induction", the underlying principles of which he formalized. De Morgan's contributions to logic are heavily used in many branches of mathematics, including set theory and probability theory, as well as other related fields such as computer science. Read more
• 18 Mar 1845: Johnny Appleseed, American gardener and missionary (born 1774) John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced trees grown with apple seeds to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the Canadian province of Ontario, as well as the northern counties of West Virginia. He became an American icon while still alive, due to his kind, generous ways, his leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance that he attributed to apples. He was the inspiration for many museums and historical sites such as the Johnny Appleseed Museum in Urbana, Ohio, and today is recognized as an American folk hero. Read more
• 18 Mar 1835: Christian Günther von Bernstorff, Danish-Prussian politician and diplomat (born 1769) Count Christian Günther von Bernstorff was a Danish and Prussian statesman and diplomat. Read more
• 18 Mar 1823: Jean-Baptiste Bréval, French cellist and composer (born 1753) Jean-Baptiste Sebastien Bréval was a French cellist and composer. He wrote mostly for his own instrument, including pedagogical works as well as virtuoso display pieces. Read more

Why is 18 March Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 18 March, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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What happened on 18 March in World history?

On 18 March, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

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