Calendar for March 22nd, 2010

World Water Day

1621: Massasoit, chieftain of the Wampanoags, came to Plymouth to "treat of peace" with Pilgrims

1630: Gambling made illegal in Boston

Died 1687: Jean-Baptiste Lully (composer)

1765: Stamp Act passed by the English Parliament, requiring American colonists to buy and affix British-issued stamps to most documents

Born 1814: Thomas Crawford (sculptor)

Died 1832: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (writer)

Born 1846: Randolph Caldecott (illustrator)

1857: Elisha Graves Otis installed the first commercial passenger elevator, in NYC store

Born 1868: Robert Andrews Millikan (physicist)

1874: Young Men's Hebrew Association founded

Born 1887: Chico Marx (comedian)

1887: President Grover Cleveland appointed members of the first regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commision

1893: First women's basketball game was played at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts

Born 1908: Louis L'Amour (author)

Born 1912: Karl Malden (actor)

Born 1923: Marcel Marceau (mime)

Born 1930: Stephen Sondheim (composer)

Born 1931: William Shatner (actor)

1933: Beer and Wine Revenue Act, signed by FDR, legalized wine and so-called 3.2 beer

1941: Grand Coulee Dam on Colombia River began production of electric power

Born 1943: George Benson (singer)

1946: First U.S. rocket to leave the earth's atmosphere, launched from White Sands, New Mexico, attained height of 50 miles

Born 1948: Andrew Lloyd Webber (composer)

Born 1952: Bob Costas (sports broadcaster)

Born 1957: Stephanie Mills (singer)

1958: Hank Williams Jr. made his stage debut at 8 years old

1962: Louis B. Leakey announced his 1961 discovery of a 14 million-year-old hominoid in Kenya

1963: The Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, was released in Britain

1967: Muhammad Ali knocked out Zora Foley in NY. This was his last fight before being stripped of his title for avoiding the military draft

1972: Proposed women's equal rights amendment to Constitution submitted to states for ratification

Born 1976: Reese Witherspoon (actress)

1976: Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter revealed that the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, and Bob Dylan inspired him while he worked late nights at the Georgia governor's mansion

Died 1978: Karl Wallenda (circus performer)

Died 1979: Sir Richard Sykes (British ambassador to the Netherlands), assassinated by Irish Republican Army

1988: U.S. Congress voted to overide President Reagan's veto and reinstate the Civil Rights Restoration Act. The law, which was designed to replace protections voided by 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision, prohibitted discrimination by an institution receiving federal funds

Died 1999: David Strickland (actor)

Died 2004: Janet Akyuz Mattei (astronomer)

2006: A coyote was captured in Central Park, New York City. Named Hal by park workers, he was about a year old and weighed 35 pounds. First spotted on Sunday, March 19, the hunt began the afternoon of Tuesday, March 21 and ended Wednesday, March 22. He was taken to a wildlife center outside NYC. City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said the coyote is believed to be only the second coyote ever spotted in Central Park.

Died 2008: Israel "Cachao" Lopez (pioneer of mambo style music)

2009: Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano erupted four times. An ash plume more than 9 miles was released into the air in the volcano's first emission in nearly 20 years

Born 2233: James T. Kirk (character on Star Trek series)