What Happened in March 2008

Historical Events

  • Mar 2 Riots in Yerevan, Armenia concerning the Armenian presidential election, 2008 come to a fatal end, with police forces clashing with civilians in their peaceful protest, resulting in 8 deaths.

Rockferry

Mar 3 Duffy releases her debut album "Rockferry" (Grammy - Best Pop Vocal Album, 2009)

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Mar 10 23rd Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Leonard Cohen; The Dave Clark Five; Madonna; John Mellencamp; The Ventures; Little Walter; Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff

Music History

Mar 11 Plácido Domingo named "The King of Singers" in BBC Music Magazine, based on voting by 16 renowned opera critics for the April 2008 issue

  • Mar 12 Streaming service Hulu launches for public access in the United States
  • Mar 13 Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000.00 an ounce for the first time
  • Mar 15 29th Big East Men's Basketball Tournament: Pittsburgh beats Georgetown, 74-65
  • Mar 15 Wales beats France, 29-12 at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff to complete a Grand Slam and win the Six Nations Rugby Championship with a 19th Triple Crown
  • Mar 16 49th SEC Men's Basketball Tournament: Georgia beats Arkansas, 66-57
  • Mar 16 55th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: #1 North Carolina beats #22 Clemson, 86-81
  • Mar 16 Dale Jarrett retires from points racing after the 2008 Food City 500
  • Mar 16 Rock Musical "Next to Normal" by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey premieres Off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre in New York (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2010) [1]
  • Mar 17 Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York resigns after scandal involving a high-end prostitute; David Paterson becomes acting governor
  • Mar 17 The popular online game for children, Fantage, is launched
  • Mar 19 GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed
  • Mar 22 French Swimmer Alain Bernard sets world record of 47.50 for 100m freestyle long course after winning the European LC Championships 2008
  • Mar 24 Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.

WrestleMania

Mar 30 WrestleMania XXIV, Florida Citrus Bowl, Orlando, FL: Kane defeats Chavo Guerrero; Randy Orton beats Triple H and John Cena in a title Triple Threat match; The Undertaker downs Edge

  • Mar 31 Aloha Airlines, a bankrupt airline, permanently ends passenger service
2008 History

Famous Weddings

  • Mar 23 France's former first lady Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz (50) weds Moroccan-born public relations executive Richard Attias (48) in Manhattan, New York
  • Mar 29 Biggest Loser contestant Amy Hildreth (28) weds Marty Wolff (27) in Charleston, South Carolina

Famous Divorces

Michael Biehn

Mar 3 Actor Michael Biehn (52) divorces film producer Gina Marsh after 20 years of marriage

Paul McCartney & Heather Mills

Mar 17 Musician Paul McCartney (65) divorces former model and anti-landmines campaigner Heather Mills (40) on the grounds of unreasonable behavior after 5-1/2 years of marriage

Robin Williams

Mar 21 Second wife Marsha Garces divorces comedian Robin Williams (56) after nearly 19 years of marriage due to irreconcilable differences


Famous Deaths

  • Mar 2 Jeff Healey, Canadian blues singer and lap-steel guitarist ("Angel Eyes"), dies of sarcoma at 41
  • Mar 3 Giuseppe Di Stefano, Italian operatic tenor, dies at 86
  • Mar 3 Norman "Hurricane" Smith, British sound engineer (The Beatles, 1962-65), producer (Pink Floyd; The Pretty Things), and musician ("Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?"; "Don't Let It Die"), dies at 85
  • Mar 3 Norman O'Neill, Australian cricket batsman (42 Tests @ 45.55, 6 x 100s; NSW CA), dies at 71
  • Mar 4 Elena Nathanael, Greek film actress (b. 1941)
  • Mar 4 Gary Gygax, American fantasy author and role-playing games creator (Dungeons & Dragons), dies at 69
  • Mar 4 George Walter, former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda (b. 1928)
  • Mar 4 Leonard Rosenman, American Academy and Emmy Award-winning film and television composer (Rebel Without A Cause; Star Trek IV; Bound for Glory; Sybill), dies of a heart attack at 83
  • Mar 4 Semka Sokolovic-Bertok, Yugoslavian-born Croatian actress (b. 1935)

Joseph Weizenbaum (1923-2008)

Mar 5 German-American computer scientist (ELIZA, "Computer Power and Human Reason"), dies at 85

  • Mar 6 Peter Poreku Cardinal Dery Cardinal Archbishop Emeritus of Tamale, Ghana
  • Mar 7 Francis Pym, British politician (Foreign Secretary 1982-83), dies at 86
  • Mar 8 Carol Barnes, British television news journalist (ITN; ITV), dies a few days after suffering a stroke at 63
  • Mar 10 Charles "Chuck" and "Bing" Day, American session guitarist, bassist and blues performer dies at 65
  • Mar 10 Richard Fran Biegenwald, American serial killer (b. 1940)
  • Mar 11 Dave Stevens, American illustrator and comic artist (The Rocketeer), dies at 52
  • Mar 12 Alun Hoddinott, Welsh composer (Floriture), dies at 78
  • Mar 12 Howard Metzenbaum, American businessman and politician (U.S. Senator from Ohio), dies at 90
  • Mar 12 Jorge Guinzburg, Argentine journalist, producer, humorist, and TV, theater and radio host (b. 1949)
  • Mar 12 Lazare Ponticelli, the last "poilu", French foot soldier of World War One, dies at 110 (b. 1897)
  • Mar 14 Chiara Lubich, Italian Catholic activist and leader and foundress of the Focolare (b. 1920)
  • Mar 14 Melville "Mel" Brandt, American actor and NBC staff announcer (Faraway Hill), dies at 88
  • Mar 14 Taslim Arif, Pakistan cricket wicket-keeper (6 Tests; top score 210no v Aust 1980), dies of lung infection at 53
  • Mar 15 Ken Reardon, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman and executive (Stanley Cup 1946; NHL All-Star 1946-50; Montreal Canadiens), dies at 86
  • Mar 15 Mikey Dread [Michael Campbell], Jamaican reggae singer, producer ("Rocker's Delight"), and broadcaster (BBC), dies of a brain tumor at 53
  • Mar 15 Sarla Thakral, first Indian woman to fly an aircraft (1936), dies at about 94
  • Mar 15 Vytautas Kernagis, Lithuanian pop-rock-folk singer-songwriter, and poet, dies of stomach cancer at 56
  • Mar 16 Bill Brown, Australian cricket batsman (22 Tests, 4 x 100, HS 206no; NSWCA, Queensland), dies at 95
  • Mar 16 G. David Low, American astronaut (b. 1956)
  • Mar 16 Gary Hart, American professional wrestling manager and wrestler (b. 1942)
  • Mar 16 Ivan Dixon, American actor, director and civil rights activist (Car Wash, Hogan's Heroes, The Final War of Olly Winter), dies of renal failure at 76
  • Mar 16 John Hewer, English actor famous for portraying Captain Birdseye in British commercials, dies at 86
  • Mar 16 Ola Brunkert, Swedish pop, rock and jazz drummer (ABBA), dies from injuries after a fall at 61
  • Mar 17 Roland Arnall, American businessman and U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, dies at 68
  • Mar 18 Andrew Britton, Author (b. 1981)
  • Mar 18 Anthony Minghella, English Oscar winning film director (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley), dies at 54

Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

Mar 19 English sci-fi author (2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End), dies of post-polio syndrome at 90

  • Mar 19 Hugo Claus, Belgian writer (Cool Lover, Sugar), dies at 78

Paul Scofield (1922-2008)

Mar 19 English actor (A Man for All Seasons and Quiz Show), dies from leukemia at 86

  • Mar 19 Raghuvaran, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam actor (b. 1948)
  • Mar 20 Brian Wilde, English actor (b. 1921)
  • Mar 20 Eric Ashton, English rugby league footballer (b. 1935)
  • Mar 20 Klaus Dinger, German electronic rock musician (Neu!; Kraftwerk; La Düsseldorf), dies of heart failure at 61
  • Mar 20 Shoban Babu, Indian actor (b. 1937)
  • Mar 21 Merv Wallace, New Zealand cricket batsman and captain (13 Tests, 5 x 50; Auckland), dies at 91
  • Mar 21 Patti Bown, American jazz pianist and composer (Gene Ammons, Quincy Jones), dies at 77
  • Mar 22 Cachao [Israel López], Cuban double-bassist, and composer (co-inventor of 'mambo' with his brother, Orestes López), dies at 89
  • Mar 24 Chalmers "Spanky" Alford‎, American gospel, neo-soul, and session guitarist (Mighty Clouds of Joy; Raphael Saadiq; D'Angelo), dies of complications from diabetes at 52 [1]
  • Mar 24 Hal Riney, American advertising executive (b. 1932)
  • Mar 24 Mary Joan Nielubowicz, US Navy Rear Admiral and nurse (Director of the Navy Nurse Corps, 1983-87), dies at 79
  • Mar 24 Neil Aspinall, British music executive (The Beatles), dies of lung cancer at 66
  • Mar 24 Richard Widmark, American actor (Madigan, Murder on the Orient Express, Judgement at Nuremberg), dies complications following a fall at 93
  • Mar 25 Ben Carnevale, American basketball coach (b. 1915)
  • Mar 25 Rafael Azcona, Spanish screenwriter (b. 1926)
  • Mar 26 Manuel Marulanda Velez aka Tirofijo, founder and lifelong leader of Colombian rebel group FARC-EP, dies of a heart attack at 77
  • Mar 26 Robert Fagles, American translator and professor (b. 1933)
  • Mar 26 Wally Phillips, American radio personality (b. 1925)
  • Mar 27 George Pruteanu, Romanian literary critic and politician (b. 1947)
  • Mar 27 Jean-Marie Balestre, French president of motor sport's FIA, dies at 86
  • Mar 30 Dith Pran, Cambodian photojournalist, survivor of the Cambodian genocide, and subject of the movie "The Killing Fields", dies of pancreatic cancer at 65
  • Mar 31 Bill Keightley, American college basketball equipment manager known as "Mr. Wildcat" (University of Kentucky, 1962-2008), dies at 81
  • Mar 31 Jules Dassin, American film director (The Naked City; Night And The City; Rififi), blacklisted during McCarthy era, dies at 96
  • Mar 31 William L. Dickinson, American politician (Rep-R-AL, 1965-93), dies at 82