44 BC – Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March.
1493 – Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas.
1877 – First ever official cricket test match is played: Australia vs England at the MCG Stadium, in Melbourne, Australia.
1892 – Liverpool F.C. is founded.
1906 – Rolls-Royce Limited is incorporated.
1935 – Percy Shaw founded his company Reflecting Roadstuds Limited to make cat's eyes.
1952 – In Cilaos, Réunion, 1870 mm (73 inches) of rain falls in a 24-hour period, setting a new world record (March 15 through March 16).
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1956 – My Fair Lady receives its premiere performance on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.
1961 – South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.
1985 – The first Internet domain name is registered (symbolics.com).
1990 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first President of the Soviet Union.
Births
1916 – Harry James, American trumpet player, bandleader, and actor (d. 1983)
1924 – Walter Gotell, German-English actor (d. 1997)
1931 – James Ellis, Northern Irish actor (d. 2014)
1943 – Lynda La Plante, English actress, screenwriter, and author
1947 – Ry Cooder, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1949 – John Duttine, English actor
Deaths
44 BC– Julius Caesar, Roman general and statesman (b. 100 BC)
1891 – Joseph Bazalgette, English engineer (b. 1819)
1937 – H. P. Lovecraft, American author (b. 1890)
1975 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek businessman (b. 1900)
1998 – Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician and author (b. 1903)