Today

March 17: Saint Patrick's Day (Christianity); Anniversary of the Unification of Italy (1861)

Dorchester Heights Monument

• 1864 – Second Schleswig War: In an attempt to end a Danish blockade, Eduard von Jachmann led a Prussian squadron in an attack against a Danish fleet led by Edvard van Dockum.
• 1902 – The Dorchester Heights Monument (pictured), memorializing the siege of Boston during the American Revolutionary War, was dedicated.
• 1957 – A plane crash on the slopes of Mount Manunggal killed Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.
• 1979 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel in the Scottish Borders region of Scotland collapsed during refurbishing construction, killing two workers, and leading to the abandonment of the tunnel.
• 2004 – Unrest in Kosovo broke out, resulting in the deaths of 28, the wounding of more than 600 others, and the destruction of several Serb Orthodox churches and shrines.

• Jocelin of Glasgow (d. 1199)
• Menno van Coehoorn (d. 1704)
• Pattie Boyd (b. 1944)
• Shu Xiuwen (d. 1969)

More anniversaries:

• March 16
• March 17
• March 18

• Archive
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• List of days of the year

Did you know?

Making a Stand, Leeds

• ... that a seven-metre-tall (23 ft) "sculptural forest" (pictured) was created during Leeds 2023, inspired by the region's ancient woodland?
• ... that the Scottish surgeon John Blair was the only dux of his high school to receive his gold medal in the presence of his wife and child?
• ... that the 2023 drama film Time Still Turns the Pages won the Audience Choice Award at the 60th Golden Horse Awards?
• ... that the abandoned New World Department Store in Bangkok became home to thousands of fish?
• ... that Singaporean chef and restaurateur Tan Kue Kim cooked while wearing a S$40,000 gold Rolex watch?
• ... that some online social and "Barstool conservatives" spent their Christmas holidays arguing about whether a beer promotional calendar was "demonic"?
• ... that as she commenced chemotherapy, Irish singer Majella O'Donnell raised more than €350,000 for the Irish Cancer Society with a sponsored head shave live on The Late Late Show?
• ... that US president Calvin Coolidge left Mystic, South Dakota, in a lumber wagon?