THE IDES OF MARCH - anniversary of the death of Julius Ceasar in 44 BC.

1824 work on John Rennie's London Bridge began.

1876 The first cricket test between Australia and England was played in Sydney, with victory going to the home side by 45 runs.

1909 "The world's most beautiful store" opened in London's Oxford Street. It was named after its American owner, Gordon Selfridge.

1917 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated.

1932 The New BBC Dance Orchestra made its radio debut under the direction of Henry Hall.

1933 Hitler proclaimed the Third Reich, which he said would endure for a thousand years.

1937 America's first central blood bank was set up.

1945 Album charts were first published in America, by Billboard, with the King Cole Trio number one.

1956 My Fair Lady opened on Broadway starring Julie Andrews and RexHarrison. The title was adapted from the Cockney pronunciation of "Mayfair"

1968 Foreign Secretary George Brown quit as he accused Prime Minister Harold Wilson of running the Cabinet in a dictatorial fashion.

1974 A federal grand jury concluded that President Nixon was involved in a conspiracy to cover up White House involvement in the burglary at the Democratic Party headquarters in 1972.

1984 Only 21 of Britain's 174 coal mines were working as strikes against the Coal Board's 5.2% pay offer and its pit closure programme became official.

1990 Mikahil Gorbachev is elected executive President of the USSR.

ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: Four Britons were among 16 people who died when a light aircraft crashed in Cuba, the Foreign Office confirmed.

BIRTHDAYS:

Judd Hirsch, actor, 68; Robert Nye, novelist and poet, 64; Frank Dobson, politician, 63; Mike Love, singer, Beach Boys, 62; David Cronenberg, film director, 60; Sly Stone, rock musician, 60; Ry Cooder, rock singer, 56; John Duttine, actor, 54; Lord Alton of Liverpool, politician, 52; Ben Okri, novelist, 44; Terence Trent d'Arby, singer, 41.