On This Day March 11th

 OTD

March 11th is the Seventh Day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 295 days remain until the end of the year.

 

Events

843 – Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the veneration of icons in the Orthodox churches in the Byzantine Empire.

1702 – The Daily Courant, England's first national daily newspaper, is published for the first time.

1708 – Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.

1848 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.

1851 – The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.

1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 began along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400 people.

1927 – Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre in New York City.

1941 – World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.

1985—Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making Gorbachev the USSR's de facto and last head of state.

2011 – An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second-largest nuclear accident in history and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

 

Birthdays

1544 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet and educator (d. 1595)

1806 – Louis Boulanger, French Romantic painter, lithographer, and illustrator (d. 1867)

1819 – Henry Tate, English businessman and philanthropist, founded Tate & Lyle (d. 1899)

1890 – Vannevar Bush, American engineer and academic (d. 1974)

1903 – Lawrence Welk, American accordion player and bandleader (d. 1992)

1931 – Rupert Murdoch, Australian-American businessman and media magnate.

1945 – Dock Ellis, American baseball player and coach (d. 2008)

1952 – Douglas Adams, English author and playwright (d. 2001)

1964 – Vinnie Paul, American drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 2018

 

Holidays And Observances

Though Commonwealth Day today is a well-established holiday celebrated by an estimated 2 billion people worldwide, it wasn’t always called Commonwealth Day and had a minor start. It was initially known as “Empire Day,” established in 1902 to honor Queen Victoria. After Queen Victoria died the year before, the idea was put forth to establish a holiday that honored England, the unity between nations of the Commonwealth, and its ideals of freedom, tolerance, and justice.

Empire Day wasn’t officially recognized until 1916, after being celebrated unofficially in Canada for 14 years. It took another ten years to reach popularity—in 1925, an Empire Day Thanksgiving celebration at Wembley Stadium drew around 90,000 attendees.

In 1958, the then-Prime Minister, Harold MacMillan, rebranded Empire Day as Commonwealth Day because the Commonwealth shares history, legal systems, culture, and more. In 1973, the Royal Commonwealth Society proposed changing the day, and the Commonwealth Secretariat selected the second Monday in March as the observance day.

In today’s postcolonial world, there is much debate over the morality of the Commonwealth. While some countries still find it an essential and honorable piece of history, and others even still identify the Queen of England as their monarch, more and more discourse is emerging on whether it is a problematic holiday. Many countries in the Commonwealth were, at one time or another, prevented from gaining independence, and some find it a reminder of brutal colonization.

Nonetheless, Commonwealth Day is still enthusiastically celebrated in many countries. Several countries in the Commonwealth—though notably not Britain—celebrate Commonwealth Day as a public holiday. Parties and other festivities are held, good food is cooked, and flags are raised. Many tune in on Commonwealth Day to watch the service at Westminster Abbey, hear the Queen’s address, and feel a great sense of pride in the historic alliance that is the Commonwealth.

 

 

 

Others Include.

Canberra Day

Commonwealth Day

COVID-19 Global Pandemic Day

Debunking Day

Dream Day

Eight-Hour Day or Labor Day

Fill Our Staplers Day

Johnny Appleseed Day

Key Deer Awareness Day

National Funeral Director and Mortician Recognition Day

National Napping Day

National Promposal Day

National Worship of Tools Day

Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day

World Day of Muslim Culture, Peace, Dialogue and Film

World Plumbing Day

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