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On this day in history - March 3

What Happened On This Day – March 3

  • 1991 Footage of Los Angeles police officers severely beating Rodney King causes a global outcry

    The acquittal of the police officers involved sparked the Los Angeles riots in 1992.

  • 1985 The U.K. miners' strike ends

    The year-long dispute was the country's longest-running industrial dispute and a defining issue of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government.

  • 1974 All 345 people on board a Turkish Airlines jet die as it plunges to the ground near Paris, France

    The crash of the DC-10 aircraft has the 4th highest death toll of any aviation accident in history.

  • 1938 The world's fastest steam locomotive is built

    The Mallard could reach a speed of over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).

  • 1924 The last remnant of the Ottoman empire in Turkey is abolished

    The end of the Islamic caliphate marked the demise of the 600-year old empire and gave way to the formation of a reformed Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
March 3

  • 1981 Julius Malema

    South African politician

  • 1977 Ronan Keating

    Irish singer-songwriter, actor

  • 1869 Henry Wood

    English conductor

  • 1847 Alexander Graham Bell

    Scottish/American engineer, invented the Telephone

  • 1845 Georg Cantor

    German mathematician

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
March 3

  • 1987 Danny Kaye

    American actor

  • 1983 Hergé

    Belgian illustrator

  • 1707 Aurangzeb

    Mughal Emperor

  • 1706 Johann Pachelbel

    German composer

  • 1703 Robert Hooke

    English scientist