Born on this day
Thursday, March 22, 1923. : French mime artist, Marcel Marceau, is born.
Marcel Marceau was born Marcel Mangel in Strasbourg, France, on 22 March 1923. His interest in acting developed after he saw Charlie Chaplin perform, and from 1946 on he studied at the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris. In 1947 he performed for the very first time as Bip the Clown, his tragicomic figure with silk dented hat and red flower, signifying the fragility of life. This has become his most famous character. Marceau appeared in several films including the 1968 film Barbarella and appeared as himself to speak the only word, “Non”, in the 1976 Mel Brooks comedy film, Silent Movie. In 1978 he established his own school in Paris, the international school of Mimodrame of Paris, Marcel Marceau. In 1996 he established the Marceau Foundation to promote mime in the United States.
Marceau’s last world tour covered the United States in 2004 and returned to Europe in 2005. The famous mime died in Cahors, Lot, France on 22 September 2007.
Born on this day
Friday, March 22, 2233. : Captain James T Kirk of the Starship Enterprise will be born.
Captain James Tiberius Kirk, played by actor William Shatner, is captain of the starship Enterprise in the fictitious Star Trek universe. According to speculative calculation, James T Kirk will be born in the town of Riverside, Iowa, United States, on 22 March 2233, to George and Winona Kirk. He will become the youngest starship captain in Starfleet, receiving command of the USS Enterprise for a five-year mission, although his age will not be specified in any Star Trek episodes.
The town of Riverside is already capitalising on the future birth of the famous captain. The town’s summertime “Riverfest” has been altered to “Trek Fest”, during which Trekkers flock to the streets in all manner of Star Trek garb, and a sign upon leaving the town proclaims “the Trek Begins”. A concrete slab behind a former barber shop marks the site where Kirk will be born. The slab holds both a plaque commemorating Kirk’s birth and a replica of the Enterprise, named the “USS Riverside”.
Australian Explorers
Monday, March 22, 1802. : Matthew Flinders names Kangaroo island in South Australia for the fresh food it provides his crew.
Matthew Flinders was the sea explorer who, together with Bass, was the first to prove that Van Diemen’s Land, or Tasmania, was an island and not connected to the mainland. Flinders was also the first to circumnavigate the continent, and between December 1801 and June 1803, he charted most of the coastline of Australia. This included the previously unknown coastline of southern Australia.
Kangaroo Island is a protected and unspoilt island off the coast of South Australia, and Australia’s third-largest island after Tasmania and Melville Islands. On 22 March 1802, Flinders and his crew landed on Kangaroo Island. By the time Flinders and his crew passed the eastern point of the Great Australian Bight, they had gone without fresh food for four months, living only on preserved meat. When they landed on the island, they found plenty of easy game by way of kangaroos, allowing them to feast on fresh food. Flinders recorded in his ship’s log: ‘the whole ship’s company was employed this afternoon in the skinning and cleaning of kangaroos’. He estimated that the crew stewed ‘half a hundredweight’ of kangaroo forequarters, tails and even heads, and that the entire crew also feasted on kangaroo steaks for many days after that.
Flinders was so grateful for the abundant supply of fresh food that he named the southern island “Kangaroo Island”.
Australian History
Monday, March 22, 1897. : Edmund Barton heads a conference to discuss the proposed constitution for the Commonwealth of Australia.
Prior to 1901, Australia was made up of six self-governing colonies; New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania. These colonies were ultimately under British rule from the time the First Fleet landed in 1788, until 1901. Numerous politicians and influential Australians through the years had pushed for federation of the colonies, and self-government.
The man who became Australia’s first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, was a strong advocate of the federation of the Australian colonies, and he led the federal movement following the death of Sir Henry Parkes. In 1897 he was one of the NSW delegates to the Constitutional Convention which developed a constitution for the proposed federation. Discussion of the constitution commenced on 22 March 1897. After not being accepted by the states the first time, the amended Commonwealth Constitution was given Royal Assent on 9 July 1900. On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved and the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed.
As the most vigorous federalist in the largest state, Barton was appointed Prime Minister, although this was only after some negotiations with the newly elected Governor-General, Lord Hopetoun, who initially invited Sir William Lyne, the Premier of New South Wales, to form a government. Barton was Prime Minister from January 1901 to September 1903.
Australian History
Sunday, March 22, 1942. : Nine Japanese aircraft bomb the town of Katherine in Australia’s Northern Territory.
In WWII, the first real attack of the Japanese on an Australian base occurred with the bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942. That attack scattered the naval base at Darwin and demoralised Australians. Darwin was bombed by the Japanese a total of sixty times between 19 February 1942 and 12 November 1943. Shortly after this initial attack, numerous other towns in Australia began to come under fire. Some of these raids were conducted on the northwest coastal towns of Broome and Wyndham, and in the east around Townsville and Cairns.
On 22 March 1942, the small town of Katherine, 320 km of Darwin and located in central Northern Territory, was bombed. In the only attack to be made on Katherine, nine Mitsubishi G4M1 “Betty” bombers of the Japanese Navy’s Tokao Kokutai, 23rd Koku Sentai made a pass over Katherine at 12.20pm before disappearing, only to return about 15 minutes later to bomb Katherine’s airfield. The aircraft dropped an estimated 91 bombs, 84 of which were anti-personnel “Daisey Cutters”. Damage within the town was minor, but there was one death, an aboriginal man known only as “Roger”.
Australian History
Friday, March 22, 1974. : Tasmania records its highest rainfall within a single day.
Although Australia is the driest continent, apart from Antarctica, it is periodically subject to a variety of weather conditions which bring flooding rains. Tasmania’s highest recorded rainfall in a single day occurred at Cullenswood on 22 March 1974. The total rainfall on this date was 352 mm. This was the same year that Australia’s eastern states were saturated and Brisbane, Queensland experienced severe flooding.
Interestingly, Tasmania – which is not normally regarded as a dry state – recorded the second lowest 24 hour rainfall record, being higher only than South Australia’s highest daily total of 272 mm. By contrast, Queensland’s highest rainfall total within a single day was 907 mm.
World History
Sunday, March 22, 1987. : A barge carrying 3,200 tons of trash leaves New York Harbor in search of a dumping ground, only to return months later, still carrying the trash.
The Mobro 4000 was a barge chartered by entrepreneur Lowell Harrelson to carry a load of trash to a site in North Carolina, towed by Louisiana-based tugboat, the Break of Dawn. Harrelson hoped to implement a new programme which experimented with converting waste into methane. The barge departed New York Harbor on 22 March 1987 with its load of 3,168 tons of garbage, headed for Morehead City, North Carolina. However, rumours began that the barge carried hospital waste such as syringes, gowns and diapers, which had contaminated the contents. North Carolina refused to accept it.
The Mobro continued down the east coast where it was rejected by both Louisiana and Florida. The Mexican navy denied it entrance to their waters. The barge continued on to Belize and the Bahamas, again being rejected, before returning to New York. Upon arrival it was met with a temporary restraining order and a heated legal battle preventing it from docking. In October the trash was finally incinerated in Brooklyn and the resulting ash was buried back where it started, in the Long Island town of Islip.