^B{^#!16!2 March^N! Feast day of St Chad and St Joavan.
^B{1717^B} The first ballet, ^I{The Loves of Mars and Venus^I} was performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, England. ^B{1882^B} An attempt was made to assassinate Queen Victoria at Windsor. ^B{1949^B} US Airforce Captain James Gallagher returned to Fort Worth, Texas, after flying non-stop around the world in 94 hours with a crew of 13 men; tanker aircraft refueled their plane four times during the flight. ^B{1955^B} Severe flooding in N and W Australia killed 200 people. ^B{1969^B} The French-built supersonic aircraft ^I{Concorde^I} made its first test flight from Toulouse. ^B{1970^B} Rhodesia proclaimed itself a republic.
^B{^I{^#!14!Born ^N}Thomas Bodley, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, ^B{1545^B}; Bedrich Smetana, Czech composer, ^B{1824^B}; Kurt Weill, German composer who worked with Bertolt Brecht, ^B{1900^B}; Basil Hume, archbishop of Westminster, ^B{1923^B}; Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet leader, ^B{1931^B}; J P R Williams, Welsh rugby player, ^B{1949^B}; Ian Woosnam, Welsh golfer, ^B{1958^B}.
^B{^I{^#!14!Died ^N}John Wesley, English founder of Methodism, ^B{1791^B}; Horace Walpole, novelist and historian, ^B{1797^B}; D H Lawrence, English novelist, ^B{1930^B}; Howard Carter, English Egyptologist who discovered Tutankhamen's tomb, ^B{1939^B}; Joan Greenwood, English film actress, ^B{1987^B}; Randolph Scott, US film actor, ^B{1987^B}.
