What Happened in March 2011

Historical Events

Film & TV History

Mar 7 Charlie Sheen is fired from the CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men"

Music History

Mar 9 Bonham's Auctions in New York City conducts sale of Eric Clapton and friends' guitars and amplifiers to benefit Crossroads Centre at Antigua, a drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation facility he co-founded in 1997, raising over $1.75M

Rocker, Blues Guitarist and Singer-Songwriter Eric Clapton

Mar 9 Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final landing after 39 flights
Mar 11 9.0 magnitude earthquake strikes 130 km (80 miles) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people and causing the second worst nuclear accident in history at Fukushima nuclear plant
Mar 12 32nd Big East Men's Basketball Tournament: #9 Connecticut beats #3 Louisville, 69-66
Mar 12 A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant melts and explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after Japan's earthquake.
Mar 13 52nd SEC Men's Basketball Tournament: Kentucky beats Florida, 70-54
Mar 13 58th ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: #5 Duke beats #6 North Carolina, 75-58

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Mar 14 26th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Alice Cooper Band; Neil Diamond; Dr. John; Darlene Love; Tom Waits; Leon Russell; Jac Holzman; and Art Rupe

Latin Music Legends

Mar 16 U.S. Postal Service issues a set of five "Latin Music Legends" stamps, including one of Carlos Gardel

Mar 18 MESSENGER spacecraft enters Mercury's orbit
Mar 19 Despite a final round 24-8 defeat to Ireland at the new Aviva Stadium in Dublin, England wins the Six Nations Rugby Championship courtesy of their opening 4 straight victories

Sports History

Mar 22 Lawrence Taylor pleads guilty for misdemeanors of sexual misconduct and is sentenced to six years probation

Hall of Fame American Football Player Lawrence Taylor

Mar 30 Global credit information group Experian report that economic recovery in Wales slower than the rest of the UK, forecasting growth of 1.6% vs 2.2% for the rest of the UK

2011 History

Famous Weddings

Reese Witherspoon

Mar 26 Oscar winning actress Reese Witherspoon (36) weds talent agent Jim Toth (34) at Libbey Ranch in Ojai, California

Michael Bublé

Mar 31 Canadian-Italian singer Michael Bublé (35) officially weds Argentine actress and model Luisana Lopilato (23) in civil ceremony at Buenos Aires, Argentina Office of the Registry

Famous Deaths

Mar 1 John M. Lounge, American engineer and astronaut (STS 51-I, STS 26, STS 35), dies at 64
Mar 2 Čestmír Gregor, Czech composer, dies at 84
Mar 3 Aldo Clementi, Italian composer (Collage), and teacher (University of Bologna, 1971-92), dies at 85
Mar 3 Irena Kwiatkowska, Polish actress and comedienne (Siedem Kotów, Kabaret Starszych Panów), dies at 98
Mar 3 May Cutler, Canadian politician and publisher (b. 1923)
Mar 4 Alenush Terian, Iranian astronomer and physicist (b. 1920)
Mar 4 Arjun Singh, Indian politician (b. 1930)
Mar 4 Charles Jarrott, British film and television director (b. 1927)
Mar 4 Frank Chirkinian, American producer (b.c. 1926)
Mar 4 Johnny Preston, American pop singer (Running Bear), dies at 71
Mar 4 Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Indian politician and former Nepali Prime Minister (b. 1924)
Mar 4 Mikhail Simonov, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1920)
Mar 4 Simon van der Meer, Dutch physicist who won the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physics with Carlo Rubbia, dies at 85
Mar 4 Vivienne Harris, British businesswoman and newspaper publisher (b.c. 1921)
Mar 8 Mike Starr (musician), American Musician (b. 1966)
Mar 9 David S. Broder, American journalist (Pulitzer 1973), dies at 81

Mar 9 Inge Sørensen, Danish swimmer (youngest female Olympic Games medalist in an individual event [12] bronze 200m breaststroke 1936), dies at 86
Mar 10 Howard A. Roberts, American choral director (Leslie Uggams Show), dies at 86
Mar 11 Loleatta Holloway, American disco singer ("Love Sensation"), dies of heart failure at 64
Mar 12 Joe Morello, American jazz drummer (Dave Brubeck Quartet - "Blue Rondo à la Turk"), dies at 82
Mar 12 [Augustus] Owsley Stanley III, American audio engineer and LSD cook who worked with the Grateful Dead, dies in a car crash in Australia at 76

David Rumelhart (1942-2011)

Mar 13 American psychologist (backpropagation algorithm), dies of Pick's disease at 68

Mar 14 Ronnie Hammond, American rock singer (Atlanta Rhythm Section, 1972–83 & 1988–2001 - "So In To You"), dies of heart failure at 60
Mar 15 Marty Marion, American baseball shortstop and manager (MLB All-Star 1943–50; NL MVP 1944; St. Louis Cardinals), dies from a heart attack at 93
Mar 15 Melvin Sparks, American soul-jazz, hard bop, jazz-blues, and session guitarist (Lou Donaldson, Houston Person, Jimmy McGriff), dies from complications of diabetes at 64
Mar 15 Nate Dogg [Nathaniel Dwayne Hale], American rapper ("Regulate"), dies from heart failure related to multiple strokes at 41
Mar 15 Smiley Culture [David Victor Emmanuel], British reggae singer ("Police Officer"; "Cockney Translation"), dies from a self-inflicted stab wound at 48
Mar 16 Richard Wirthlin, American political strategist for Ronald Reagan, dies at 80
Mar 17 Ferlin Husky, American country singer (Born to Lose, Gone), dies at 85
Mar 17 Michael Gough, English actor (Hammer Horror Films, Search for the Nile), dies at 94
Mar 18 Jet Harris [Terence Harris], English rock bassist (Drifters), dies of cancer at 71
Mar 18 Warren M Christopher, 63rd United States Secretary of State (1993-97), dies at 85
Mar 19 Kym Bonython, Australian radio broadcaster, jazz musician, speedway promoter, dies at 90
Mar 20 Johnny Pearson, British pianist, arranger, orchestra leader, and composer (Cilla Black; Top of the Pops; Dusty Springfield), dies at 85
Mar 21 Gerd Klier, German footballer (b. 1944)
Mar 21 Ladislav Novák, Czech footballer (b. 1931)
Mar 21 Nikolai Adrianov, Soviet-Russian gymnast (Olympic-4 gold/2 silver/bronze-1976), dies at 58
Mar 21 Pinetop Perkins, Member of the Blues Hall of Fame (b. 1913)

Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)

Mar 23 English-American actress (Cleopatra, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), businesswoman, humanitarian, and serial bride, dies of congestive heart failure at 79

Mar 23 Fred Titmus, English cricket all-rounder (53 Tests, 153 wickets, 10 x 50s; Middlesex), dies at 78
Mar 26 Diana Wynne Jones, British sci-fi author (Drowned Ammet; Witch Week), dies of lung cancer at 76

Geraldine Ferraro (1935-2011)

Mar 26 American politician (US Representative from New York (D), 1979-85), and the 1st female vice-presidential nominee (1984), dies of nulitiple myelomaat 75

Mar 26 Harry Coover, American chemist and inventor of Superglue, dies at 94 [1]
Mar 26 Paul Baran, internet pioneer who helped create the technical underpinnings of Arpanet, dies at 84
Mar 26 Roger Abbott, Canadian comedian (Air Farce Live) (b. 1946)
Mar 27 Farley Granger, American actor (Arnold, Rope, Deathmask), dies at 85
Mar 28 Lee Hoiby, American concert pianist composer (1957 Arts & Letters; Summer and Smoke), dies at 85
Mar 28 Wenche Foss, Norwegian actress (b. 1917)
Mar 29 Ângelo de Sousa, Portuguese painter and sculptor (b. 1938)
Mar 31 Mel McDaniel, American country singer ("Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On"), dies of lung cancer at 68