March 17

 First St. Patrick’s Day parade held (1601); Golf legend Bobby Jones born (1902); Singer Nat King Cole born (1919); National Gallery of Art opens in Washington, DC (1941); Soccer great Mia Hamm born (1972).

Clive Staples Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1898 to a family of avid readers. Lewis, too, was soon immersed in literature: He started reading at just 3 years old, and by age 5, he had begun writing stories about a fantasy land populated by “dressed animals.”

Years later, a 19-year-old Lewis served in World War I with the Somerset Light Infantry. He experienced trench warfare on the front line in the Somme, the horrors of which he carried with him for the rest of his life.



Lewis first met J.R.R. Tolkien in 1926, and the two men developed a lifelong friendship. Lewis, who had become an atheist early in life, found his way back to theism and Christianity under Tolkien’s guidance. Tolkien, meanwhile, openly credited Lewis as a major source of creative encouragement: “Only from him,” wrote Tolkien, “did I ever get the idea that my ‘stuff’ could be more than a private hobby. But for his interest and unceasing eagerness for more I should never have brought The Lord of the Rings to a conclusion."

Lewis himself was a prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction. The latter included books and essays of Christian apologetics in which he passionately promotes and defends Christianity. Christian themes are also highly prevalent in his works of popular fiction, which include The Screwtape Letters, The Space Trilogy, and, most famously, The Chronicles of Narnia.

March 16

World's first liquid-fueled rocket launched in Massachusetts (1926); Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar records first 100 century batting score (2012); Dow Jones sees largest single-day point drop ever at 2,997 (2020); US president James Madison born (1751); Singer-songwriter Patty Griffin born (1964); Roman emperor Tiberius dies (37 CE)

March 15

The Ides of March: Julius Caesar assassinated by Brutus (44 BCE); President Andrew Jackson born (1767); Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg born (1933); Terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 51 (2019).

March 14

Eli Whitney patents cotton gin (1794); Albert Einstein born (1879); Stephen Curry born (1988); Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles born (1997); Stephen Hawking dies (2018).

March 13

Uranus discovered (1781); President Benjamin Harrison dies (1901); Susan B. Anthony dies (1906); Tennis star Coco Gauff born (2004); Pope Francis' papacy begins (2013).

March 12

Writer and author Jack Kerouac born (1922); Mahatma Gandhi begins 200-mile protest march against British salt tax (1930); Actress and singer Liza Minnelli born (1946); Jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker dies (1955).

March 11

Civil rights leader Ralph Abernathy born (1926); Sir Alexander Fleming, scientist who discovered penicillin, dies (1955); Janet Reno confirmed as first female attorney general in the US (1993); Coordinated bombings kill 191 people aboard trains in Madrid (2004); COVID-19 declared a pandemic by World Health Organization (2020).

March 10

Courrières mining accident kills 1,099 in France (1906); Harriet Tubman dies (1913); Sharon Stone born (1958); Dot-com bubble peaks as the Nasdaq hits 5,048 (2000); Ethiopian Airlines flight crashes, killing 157 (2019).

March 9

Italian soccer club Inter Milan founded (1908); Barbie doll debuts at American International Toy Fair (1959); Space Shuttle 'Discovery' makes final of 39 flights (2011); Italian cartographer and namesake of the Americas, Amerigo Vespucci, born (1451); US Olympic gold-winning gymnast Sunisa Lee born (2003)

March 8

First stock car race held in Daytona Beach (1936); International Women's Day becomes official United Nations holiday (1977); Baseball player Joe DiMaggio dies (1999); Sam Simon, director and codeveloper of "The Simpsons," dies (2015).

March 7

Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone (1876); Actor Bryan Cranston born (1956); Bloody Sunday as 600 civil rights protesters attacked by police in Selma, Alabama (1965); American poet Amanda Gorman born (1998); Director Stanley Kubrick dies (1999).

March 6

Michelangelo born (1475); Davy Crockett and 186 others are killed at the Battle of the Alamo (1836); Aspirin is patented (1899); Shaquille O’Neal born (1972); Artist Georgia O’Keeffe dies (1986).

Seneca

Lucius Annaeus Seneca, (better known as Seneca the Younger) was a well respected philosopher, statesman, and playwright. Born in Cordoba, Spain and raised in Rome, Seneca went on to become one of the most influential figures of the Stoic school of philosophy.Seneca’s philosophy encourages people to examine their inner selves and to live in more harmony with nature.

March 5

Five American colonists shot by British troops in Boston Massacre (1770); Josef Stalin dies (1953); Singer Patsy Cline dies (1963); Actress Eva Mendes born (1974); Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez dies (2013).

March 4

Antonio Vivaldi, violinist and composer, born (1678); Jeannette Rankin becomes first female member of US House of Representatives (1917); Frances Perkins becomes secretary of labor, first female member of US Cabinet (1933); Actor and comedian John Candy dies (1994); Actor Luke Perry dies (2019).

March 1

Articles of Confederation are ratified, go into effect in the US (1781); Writer Ralph Ellison born (1914); Harry Belafonte born (1927); The Peace Corps is established (1961); Actress Lupita Nyong'o born (1983); Justin Bieber born (1994).

March 2

Manhattan's Martha Washington Hotel opens, first exclusively for women (1903); Wilt Chamberlain sets NBA single-game scoring record at 100 (1962); James Bond actor Daniel Craig born (1968); English novelist of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' DH Lawrence dies (1930)

March 3

Inventor Alexander Graham Bell born (1847); "The Star-Spangled Banner" becomes the US national anthem (1931); Track and field great Jackie Joyner-Kersee born (1962); Turkish Airlines flight crashes outside Paris, killing all 346 aboard (1974); Sir Roger Bannister, first person to run a sub-four-minute mile, dies (2018).