What Happened on March 8

Historical Events

  • 1531 Henry VIII recognised as supreme head of Church in England by the Convocation of Canterbury
  • 1817 The New York Stock Exchange is founded
  • 1867 British North America Act is passed in the House of Commons, serves as Canada's constitution for more than 100 years
  • 1917 Russian "February Revolution" begins in earnest with protests celebrating International Woman's Day and riots in St Petersburg over food rations and conduct of the war [OS=Feb 23]
  • 1948 US Supreme Court rules in McCollum v. Board of Education that religious instruction in public schools is unconstitutional
  • 1973 The Provisional Irish Republican Army undertakes its first operation in Great Britain, planting four car bombs in London; 10 members of PIRA are arrested at Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the country
  • 2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 with 239 people loses contact and disappears, prompting the most expensive search effort in history and one of the most enduring aviation mysteries
  • More Historical Events

Mar 8 in Film & TV

Mar 8 in Music

  • 1902 1st performance of Jean Sibelius' 2nd Symphony, his most popular, by the Helsinki Philharmonic Society

Mar 8 in Sport

  • 1936 The first stock car race is held in Daytona Beach, Florida.
  • 1971 Joe Frazier ends Muhammad Ali's 31-fight winning streak at Madison Square Garden, NYC; retains heavyweight boxing title by unanimous points decision over 15 rounds in the "Fight of the Century"

Did You Know?

Baroness Raymonde de Laroche of Paris becomes the 1st ever licensed female pilot

On March 8, 1910

Would You Believe?

Aboriginal DNA study by University of Adelaide shows Aboriginal population dates back 50,000 years from one migration

On March 8, 2017

Famous Weddings

  • 1418 Jacqueline, Countess of Haintaut marries her cousin John IV Duke of Brabant in The Hague
  • 1820 5th US President James Monroe's daughter Maria 1st child of a President to marry in the White House
  • 1848 Confederate General James Longstreet (27) weds Maria Louisa Garland in Lynchburg, Virginia

More Weddings