March

1 - St David's Day (Saint David is patron saint of Wales dragon2.gif (5512 bytes) , good vegetarian, famous last words: 'do the little things')

- George Herbert, Welsh-born poet, orator & priest died of consumption, aged only 39, in 1633

And now in age I bud again,
After so many deaths I live and write;
         I once more smell the dew and rain,
And relish versing. Oh, my only light,
                      It cannot be
                      That I am he
         On whom thy tempests fell all night.

- The Flower

- also Botticelli's Birthday.(1445)

Botticelli Venus Botticelli Venus & Mars

3 - Johann Pachelbel, German baroque composer, died (1706). Most famous for Canon in D, which you are probably listening to now [NB to hear embedded sound enable audio in your browser]

6 -
Michelangelo's Birthday (1475) Renaissance painter, sculptor, poet etc, 'decorated' Sistine Chapel	*(UP AGAINST GOLIATH!)*

- Davy Crockett died at the Alamo (1836)

8 - International Women's Day

"International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage. " (United Nations)

See, also, Ballroom Dancing for Militant Feminists...

10 - world's first telephone call, made by inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1876)

- Japanese soldier found on Lubang Island in Philippines, believing World War 2 was still being fought (1974) - have YOU ever carried on fighting old wars long after they've ended?!

11 - Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami & Nuclear Meltdown (2011)

12 - Birthday Jack Kerouac (1922), American Beat Generation Writer, perhaps best-known for "On the Road"

Jack Kerouac was On the Road...'

14 -Albert Einstein's Birthday (born 1879, Germany / died 18 April 1955, U.S.A, aged 76)

"God does not play dice"

"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth."

- Karl Marx died 1883, aged 64.

- Tony Benn died aged 88, 2014. Was lucky enough to see (& hear) him speak live three times.

17 - St. Patrick's Day (Ireland)

18 - Kamikazes first attacked US ships (WW2, 1945)

Paris Commune established (1871)

On 19th March 1921, brutal Bolshevik forces took control of Kronstadt, suppressing the uprising by Soviet sailors who had demanded various rights & freedoms.

19 - Illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq began (2003) - click here for internal Iraq War links

- Arthur C. Clarke, Science-fiction writer, died 2008, aged 90.

20 - Sir Isaac Newton died 1726/27 (O/S or N/S Calendar), aged 84, English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, author, "natural philosopher"

20/23 - Vernal Equinox (Northern Hemisphere):

equi.gif (7243 bytes) Spring is here, bring on the daffs, little lambs etc

22 - World WATER Day who_advocacy_guide_on_water_for_life2_IRC_righthand.jpg (5406 bytes)

wwd_drop.gif (3502 bytes)

"4 of every 10 people in the world do not have access to even a simple pit latrine and nearly 2 in 10 have no source of safe drinking-water." (World Health Organisation)

25 - Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (1989)

26 - Beethoven, German composer, died 1827, aged 53. Click here to hear a little Fur Elise

(Illustration by Alex Grey)

- Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces (re "Monomyth" of archetypal hero's Journey), born (1904)

28 - Marc Chagall died, 1985, aged 97 . Belarusian-French artist.

quick click pic

- Nuclear leak at Three Mile Island (1979)

29 - Coca Cola invented (1886)

- UK Women got the Vote (1929) & about time too!

31st March - John Donne, English Metaphysical Poet & Preacher, died 1631.

"Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou thinkst, thou dost overthrow,
die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me."

"No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."

see Death

*

"Licence my roving hands, and let them go,
Before, behind, between, above, below."

see Sex

March