138 Fun Facts About March

How many days are there in March?

March has 31 days, one of seven such months alongside January, May, July, August, October and December.

March is named after the Roman god of what?

War: Mars gave his name to the month and the planet, and his month opened the season for military campaigns.

Which Roman king is traditionally credited with adding January and February to the calendar?

Numa Pompilius, Rome's legendary second king, is credited by Livy and Plutarch with adding January and February to the ten-month calendar that had begun with March.

March is the first month of which season in the Northern Hemisphere?

Spring: meteorologists count March, April and May as Northern Hemisphere spring, while south of the equator, in Australia and Brazil, March opens autumn.

What is the birth flower of March?

The daffodil, a spring-blooming narcissus, is the March birth flower and a symbol of rebirth and new beginnings; the jonquil is sometimes listed alongside it.

Which pale blue gemstone is one of March's two birthstones?

Aquamarine, a blue-green variety of the mineral beryl, takes its name from the Latin aqua marina, meaning 'sea water'.

In the old weather saying, March comes in like a lion and goes out like what?

Lamb: the proverb, in print since at least the 1700s, says March opens with lion-like winter storms and closes with mild, lamb-like spring weather.

On what date is Saint Patrick's Day?

March 17 is the traditional date of Saint Patrick's death, conventionally placed in the year 461, and has been kept as his feast day for centuries.

Saint Patrick is the patron saint of which country?

Ireland: Patrick, a fifth-century missionary bishop credited with spreading Christianity across the island, is its primary patron saint, alongside Brigid and Columba.

What colour do people traditionally wear on Saint Patrick's Day?

Since 2010 more than 300 landmarks in fifty countries, from the Sydney Opera House up, have been lit green for the day.

Which American city has dyed its river green for Saint Patrick's Day since 1962?

Chicago first dyed its river in 1962 after plumbers tracing sewage leaks with fluorescent dye noticed how vividly green it stained the water.

Which plant is the traditional emblem of Ireland, worn on Saint Patrick's Day?

The shamrock, from the Irish seamróg meaning 'young clover', is worn on Saint Patrick's Day and appears on Aer Lingus aircraft and Irish rugby shirts.

According to Irish folklore, a leprechaun hides a pot of gold where?

At the end of the rainbow: folklore has the leprechaun, a solitary fairy shoemaker, guarding a pot of gold that can never be reached because rainbows have no end.

Where was Saint Patrick born, before pirates carried him off as a teenage slave?

Britain: Patrick's own Confessio says he was born in Roman Britain at Bannavem Taburniae, captured by Irish raiders at sixteen, and spent six years enslaved before escaping.

March 14 is celebrated as the day of which mathematical constant, from its first three digits?

Pi, about 3.14159, gives the date 3/14; physicist Larry Shaw launched the first Pi Day at San Francisco's Exploratorium in 1988, with staff marching in circles and eating pie.

Which famous scientist was born on Pi Day, March 14, 1879?

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, in the German Empire, on March 14, 1879; he published the special theory of relativity in 1905.

The day in this month when day and night are about equal usually falls on which date?

It can drift to the 19th or 21st; the next March 19 equinox comes in 2044.

Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrated for over 3,000 years, is timed to which event?

The equinox: Nowruz begins at the exact moment of the March equinox, so it usually falls between March 19 and 22, marked with haft-sin tables, house cleaning and family visits.

Holi, the Hindu festival that usually falls in March, is famous for people throwing what at each other?

Coloured powder, called gulal, is thrown along with coloured water on Holi, which marks spring and the burning of the demoness Holika the night before.

In the United States, clocks go forward for daylight saving time on which day of March?

Second Sunday: the Energy Policy Act of 2005 moved the start of US daylight saving time to the second Sunday in March from 2007, with clocks going back on November's first Sunday.

Which president first proclaimed a National Women's History Week?

Jimmy Carter proclaimed the week of March 8, 1980 as National Women's History Week; it grew from a 1978 Sonoma County, California school celebration and became a full month in 1987.

International Women's Day is celebrated on which date?

March 8 became the fixed date after the 1917 Petrograd women's strike fell on that day in the Gregorian calendar; Clara Zetkin had proposed the day in Copenhagen in 1910.

Read Across America Day, on March 2, marks the birthday of which children's author?

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1904 and wrote more than 60 books.

'The Ides of March' is famous as the date in 44 BC when which Roman leader was assassinated?

Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times at a meeting of the Senate in the Theatre of Pompey by conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius.

March Madness is the nickname of the national championship tournament in which college sport?

Basketball: the NCAA Division I men's tournament, first played in 1939, expanded to a 64-team bracket in 1985, and its single-elimination games fill three weeks of March and early April.

Which park, created on March 1, 1872, was the world's first national park?

Yellowstone, signed into being by President Ulysses S. Grant, spans parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho and is famous for geysers such as Old Faithful.

Which planet did William Herschel discover on March 13, 1781, the first found with a telescope?

Uranus: Herschel spotted it from his garden in Bath, England, and first reported it as a comet; it was the first planet discovered since antiquity.

Alexander Graham Bell received the first U.S. patent for which invention on March 7, 1876?

The telephone: U.S. Patent 174,465, issued to Bell on March 7, 1876, was titled 'Improvement in Telegraphy'; three days later he spoke the famous 'Mr. Watson, come here' line.

The Barbie doll made its debut at the New York Toy Fair on March 9 of which year?

March 9 is still celebrated as Barbie's official birthday; the first doll wore a black-and-white striped swimsuit.

The first Oreo cookie was sold on March 6, 1912, to a grocer in which state?

New Jersey: Nabisco records the first Oreo sale to a grocer in Hoboken on March 6, 1912; the cookie imitated Hydrox, launched four years earlier in 1908.

In which city did Juliette Gordon Low hold the first Girl Scout troop meeting on March 12, 1912?

Low had met Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, the year before.

Which volunteer programme did President Kennedy create by executive order in March 1961?

Congress made it permanent that September with the Peace Corps Act.

The Battle of the Alamo ended on March 6, 1836, during which fight for independence?

The Texas Revolution: after a 13-day siege, Santa Anna's Mexican army overwhelmed roughly 200 defenders, including James Bowie and William Travis; Texas won its independence at San Jacinto the following month.

The Boston Massacre, in which British soldiers killed five colonists, happened on March 5 of which year?

1770: on March 5 that year British soldiers fired on a Boston crowd, killing five including Crispus Attucks; Samuel Adams and Paul Revere publicised the 'massacre' to stir revolutionary feeling.

Which of these United Nations observances falls on 21 March?

The International Day of Forests, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2012 and first marked in 2013, falls on 21 March; World Wildlife Day is 3 March.

World Water Day, a United Nations observance about fresh water, falls on which date this month?

The 22nd: the UN General Assembly designated 22 March as World Water Day in 1992, first observed in 1993; the UN World Water Development Report is launched around it each year.

Which Dutch painter was born on March 30, 1853?

Vincent van Gogh was born in Zundert in the Netherlands and named after a brother who had been stillborn exactly a year earlier.

Which magician was born Erik Weisz in Budapest on March 24, 1874?

Harry Houdini, born Erik Weisz, took his stage name from the French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1878.

People born in late March, from about the 21st onward, have which zodiac sign?

Aries, the ram, is the first sign of the tropical zodiac, running from about March 21 to April 19.

People born in the first weeks of March fall under which zodiac sign?

Pisces, the fishes, is the twelfth and final sign of the zodiac, running from about February 19 to March 20.

The Eiffel Tower opened in Paris on March 31 of which year, as the centrepiece of a World's Fair?

1889: the tower was inaugurated on March 31, 1889 for the Exposition Universelle, and at 300 metres stayed the world's tallest structure for 41 years until the Chrysler Building in 1930.

Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, can fall as late as which March date?

March 10: Ash Wednesday falls 46 days before Easter, and Easter's latest possible date is April 25, which last happened in 1943 and next comes in 2038.

Which stone is March's second birthstone, alongside aquamarine?

Bloodstone, also called heliotrope, is a dark green chalcedony flecked with red iron oxide and is March's traditional birthstone alongside aquamarine.

On the Roman calendar, the Ides of March fell on which date?

The 15th: in March, May, July and October the Ides fell on the 15th, and on the 13th in other months; each month's Ides were sacred to Jupiter.

Mothering Sunday in the UK falls on which Sunday of Lent?

The fourth Sunday of Lent, also Laetare Sunday, when Lenten fasting was traditionally relaxed; Mothering Sunday takes its name from visits to one's 'mother church'.

Saint David's Day on 1 March honours the patron saint of which nation?

Wales: Saint David, a sixth-century bishop who founded a monastery at what is now St Davids in Pembrokeshire, is its patron saint; leeks and daffodils are worn in his honour.

Saint Joseph's Day, Father's Day in several Catholic countries, falls on which date this month?

The 19th: Saint Joseph's Day on 19 March is Father's Day in Spain, Italy, Portugal and Croatia, honouring the husband of Mary as a model father.

Hinamatsuri, celebrated in Japan on 3 March, is also known as what?

Doll's Day, also called Girls' Day: families display tiered sets of ornamental dolls dressed as the Heian-period imperial court to wish their daughters health and happiness.

On White Day, 14 March, who gives gifts in Japan?

Men to women: on White Day, promoted by Japanese confectioners, men return gifts such as white chocolate or marshmallows to the women who gave them chocolate on Valentine's Day.

In which year did White Day begin in Japan?

1978: the National Confectionery Industry Association of Japan held the first White Day on 14 March 1978, and the custom later spread to South Korea, Taiwan and China.

The Jewish festival of Purim celebrates the foiling of whose plot?

Haman, the Persian king's vizier in the Book of Esther, plotted to kill the Jews; Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai foiled him, and Purim recalls the deliverance.

Commonwealth Day is held on which day in March?

The second Monday in March, a date fixed in 1977; the observance grew out of Empire Day, which had been held on 24 May, Queen Victoria's birthday.

How many people were killed in the Sharpeville massacre of 21 March 1960?

69: police opened fire on a crowd protesting the pass laws at Sharpeville, killing 69 and wounding about 180; South Africa has marked 21 March as Human Rights Day since the end of apartheid.

Gandhi's Salt March, which began on 12 March 1930, ended at which coastal village?

Dandi, on the Gujarat coast, where Gandhi scooped up natural salt in defiance of the British salt monopoly, after walking about 240 miles from Sabarmati Ashram near Ahmedabad.

How many days did the Salt March last?

24: Gandhi and 78 followers set out from Sabarmati on 12 March 1930 and reached Dandi on 5 April, 24 days later, breaking the salt law the next morning.

The 1965 Selma marches covered how many miles to Montgomery?

54 miles: the third march, protected by federalised troops, left Selma on 21 March 1965 and reached the Alabama capitol in Montgomery on 25 March; the Voting Rights Act followed in August.

Nazi Germany annexed which country on 12 March 1938 in the Anschluss?

Austria: German troops crossed the border on 12 March 1938 and Hitler proclaimed the union in Vienna; the 1919 treaties of Versailles and Saint-Germain had expressly forbidden it.

Which Soviet leader died on 5 March 1953 after a stroke?

Stalin suffered a stroke at his Kuntsevo dacha on 1 March 1953 and died there four days later, aged 74.

The Exxon Valdez ran aground on 24 March 1989 in which body of water?

Prince William Sound: the tanker struck Bligh Reef shortly after midnight on 24 March 1989 and spilled about 10.8 million gallons of crude oil along Alaska's coast.

The Three Mile Island nuclear accident of 28 March 1979 happened in which US state?

Pennsylvania: Unit 2 of the plant on the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg suffered a partial core meltdown, the worst accident in US commercial nuclear power history.

The magnitude 9.2 Alaska earthquake of 27 March 1964 is also known by what name?

The Good Friday earthquake: it struck at 5:36 pm on Good Friday, 27 March 1964, lasting about four and a half minutes, and its tsunamis killed most of the 131 victims.

The 11 March 2011 Japanese tsunami triggered a disaster at which nuclear plant?

Fukushima Daiichi: the tsunami knocked out the plant's backup power, and reactors 1, 2 and 3 suffered meltdowns, the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

The Madrid train bombings of 11 March 2004 came three days before which event in Spain?

A general election: the bombings came three days before Spain's 14 March 2004 vote, which the opposition Socialists under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero unexpectedly won.

Who made the first spacewalk on 18 March 1965?

Alexei Leonov left Voskhod 2 through an inflatable airlock for about 12 minutes; his suit ballooned so badly he had to bleed air to squeeze back inside.

Which social platform, founded in March 2006, originally limited posts to 140 characters?

Twitter: Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet, 'just setting up my twttr', on 21 March 2006; the service was renamed X in 2023.

Which Pink Floyd album was released in the US on 1 March 1973?

The Dark Side of the Moon, engineered by Alan Parsons at Abbey Road, featured Clare Torry's wordless vocal on 'The Great Gig in the Sky' and spent more than 900 weeks on the Billboard 200.

The Beatles' debut album, released on 22 March 1963, was called what?

Please Please Me: ten of its fourteen tracks were recorded in a single session on 11 February 1963 at EMI's Abbey Road studios, with the earlier singles making up the rest.

Renaissance master Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475 in which Tuscan town?

Caprese, a small town in the Tuscan hills now called Caprese Michelangelo, where his father was serving as podestà; he sculpted the Pietà and David before turning 30.

Which Polish composer, born 1 March 1810, settled in Paris at 21?

Chopin, born at Żelazowa Wola near Warsaw, wrote almost entirely for solo piano, settled in Paris in 1831 and died there in 1849, aged 39.

Antonio Vivaldi, born in Venice on 4 March 1678, is best known for which set of concertos?

The Four Seasons, four violin concertos published in Amsterdam in 1725 as part of Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, each paired with a sonnet describing its season.

Which singer, born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947, grew up in Pinner?

Elton John, born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in Pinner, Middlesex, won a Royal Academy of Music junior scholarship at 11 and took his stage name from bandmates Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.

The Iditarod sled dog race, held each March, runs from Anchorage to which town?

Nome: the roughly 1,000-mile race, first run in 1973, commemorates the 1925 serum run that rushed diphtheria antitoxin to Nome by dog sled.

Which university won the first NCAA men's basketball tournament in 1939?

Oregon's 'Tall Firs' beat Ohio State 46-33 in the first final on 27 March 1939 at Patten Gymnasium in Evanston, Illinois.

Which nation joined rugby's Five Nations in 2000 to make it the Six Nations?

Italy: the Six Nations' first match on 5 February 2000 saw Italy beat Scotland 34-20 in Rome, with Diego Domínguez kicking 29 points.

Which race is the highlight of March's Cheltenham Festival?

The Gold Cup, first run in 1924 over about three and a quarter miles, closes the four-day festival; Golden Miller won it five times in a row from 1932 to 1936.

Where was the Texas Declaration of Independence adopted on 2 March 1836?

It declared Texas independent from Mexico during the Texas Revolution.

Maine became the 23rd state on 15 March 1820 under which agreement?

The Missouri Compromise admitted Maine as a free state to balance Missouri's entry as a slave state; Maine had been a district of Massachusetts until then.

Florida became the 27th state on 3 March 1845, one day before which president left office?

John Tyler signed Florida's statehood act on 3 March 1845, his last full day in office, before James K. Polk was inaugurated on 4 March.

Nebraska became the 37th state on 1 March 1867 and moved its capital to which city?

Lincoln: the village of Lancaster was chosen as the new capital in 1867 and renamed for the recently assassinated president; the old territorial capital had been Omaha.

Vermont joined the Union in 1791 as which numbered state?

14th: Vermont entered on 4 March 1791 as the first state admitted after the original thirteen, once New York dropped its claim to the territory in 1790.

Greece celebrates its Independence Day on 25 March, the feast of what?

The Annunciation: the Greek War of Independence is dated from 25 March 1821, when Bishop Germanos of Patras is said to have raised the banner of revolt at Agia Lavra monastery.

Which UN body declared 21 March World Poetry Day in 1999?

UNESCO adopted 21 March as World Poetry Day at its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, to support linguistic diversity and endangered languages through poetry.

Why is World Down Syndrome Day held on 21 March?

3/21 echoes trisomy 21: Down syndrome is caused by a third copy of chromosome 21, so the 21st day of the third month was chosen; the UN recognised the day in 2011.

World Wildlife Day, 3 March, commemorates the 1973 signing of which convention?

CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, was signed in Washington on 3 March 1973; the UN General Assembly proclaimed the day in December 2013.

World Theatre Day is celebrated on which March date?

The 27th: the International Theatre Institute created World Theatre Day in 1961, first marking it on 27 March 1962, the opening date of the Theatre of Nations season in Paris.

The March Hare, proverbially mad, appears at a famous tea party in which 1865 book?

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll; the phrase 'mad as a March hare' appears in a proverb collection from 1546.

What is the March Hare called in Through the Looking-Glass?

Haigha, which Carroll said should rhyme with 'mayor', is the March Hare as one of the White King's Anglo-Saxon messengers; the other, Hatta, is the Hatter.

In Roman myth, Mars fathered which twin founders of Rome?

Romulus and Remus, born to the Vestal Rhea Silvia, were set adrift on the Tiber and suckled by a she-wolf before Romulus founded Rome, by tradition in 753 BC.

Which Greek god was Mars identified with under Greek influence?

Ares was the match, and his myths were reinterpreted in Roman literature and art under the name of Mars.

The Chinese Red Army's Long March of 1934-35 ended in which province?

Shaanxi: roughly 86,000 troops left the Jiangxi Soviet in October 1934, and the survivors reached northern Shaanxi a year later; the Communists later made Yan'an their base.

Which entertainer coined the name 'March of Dimes' as a pun on a newsreel series?

Eddie Cantor coined 'March of Dimes' in a January 1938 radio appeal, punning on 'The March of Time' newsreels and urging listeners to mail dimes to President Roosevelt.

The March sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy appear in which novel?

Little Women, published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, drew on Louisa May Alcott's own family; she followed it with Little Men and Jo's Boys.

Which composer is known as 'The March King'?

John Philip Sousa led the United States Marine Band from 1880 to 1892, then toured the world with his own Sousa Band and wrote 136 marches.

Which Sousa piece has been the official National March of the United States since 1987?

The Stars and Stripes Forever, composed by Sousa on Christmas Day 1896 on returning from Europe, was named the National March of the United States by Act of Congress in 1987.

Which comedy series used Sousa's 1893 march The Liberty Bell as its theme tune?

Monty Python's Flying Circus opened with Sousa's The Liberty Bell from its 1969 debut, chosen partly because the recording was royalty-free.

The 2005 documentary March of the Penguins follows which species in Antarctica?

Emperor penguins: Luc Jacquet's film follows their winter trek inland to breed, with males incubating a single egg on their feet; it won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Sherman's March to the Sea set out from which Georgia city on 15 November 1864?

Atlanta: Sherman's roughly 60,000 troops left the burning city on 15 November 1864 and cut a path of destruction nearly 300 miles to the Atlantic coast.

The 1936 Jarrow March protested the closure of which industry in the town?

A shipyard: the closure of Palmer's, Jarrow's main employer, in the early 1930s left most of the town jobless; around 200 marchers walked to London in October 1936 with a petition.

Actor Fredric March won his first Oscar for which 1931 film?

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: March tied with Wallace Beery (The Champ) for Best Actor at the 1932 ceremony; his second Oscar came for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).

MLB spring training is split between Florida and which other state?

Arizona hosts the Cactus League, with all 15 of its teams training around Phoenix, while Florida's Grapefruit League hosts the other 15.

How many teams did the men's March Madness bracket hold after its 2011 expansion?

68: the field grew from 64 to 65 in 2001 with a play-in game, then to 68 in 2011 with the 'First Four' in Dayton; the women's field matched 68 in 2022.

Which revolutionary group planned the March 1881 assassination of Tsar Alexander II?

Narodnaya Volya ('People's Will') killed the tsar in St Petersburg on 13 March 1881, when a second bomb thrown by Ignacy Hryniewiecki proved fatal after the first missed.

Which Canadian pop star was born on 1 March 1994?

Justin Bieber was born in London, Ontario, and raised in Stratford; his YouTube covers led manager Scooter Braun to discover him in 2007.

Stefani Germanotta, born 28 March 1986 in Manhattan, performs under what name?

Lady Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta at Lenox Hill Hospital, took her stage name from Queen's song 'Radio Ga Ga'.

Bruce Willis, born 19 March 1955, was born in which country?

West Germany: Willis was born in Idar-Oberstein, where his American father was stationed with the US Army, and the family moved to New Jersey in 1957.

What is the birth name of actor Michael Caine, born 14 March 1933?

Maurice Micklewhite took the name Michael Caine in 1954, reportedly from a cinema poster for The Caine Mutiny; he was born in Rotherhithe, south-east London.

Lawman Wyatt Earp was born on 19 March 1848 in which town?

Monmouth, Illinois, where the Earp family lived before moving to Pella, Iowa; Wyatt later served as a lawman in Wichita, Dodge City and Tombstone.

How many Grammy Awards did producer Quincy Jones, born 14 March 1933, win?

28: Quincy Jones won 28 Grammys from 80 nominations, including Album of the Year for Back on the Block in 1991, and was nominated for seven Academy Awards.

Composer Maurice Ravel, born 7 March 1875, is best known for which repetitive 1928 work?

He was born in the Basque town of Ciboure near Biarritz.

Reese Witherspoon, born 22 March 1976, won her Oscar for playing whom?

June Carter Cash: Witherspoon won Best Actress at the 2006 Academy Awards for Walk the Line, opposite Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, and did her own singing.

Steve McQueen, born 24 March 1930, raced under what alias?

Harvey Mushman was the name McQueen used to enter motorcycle desert races and other amateur events, so promoters could not trade on his star name.

Bangladesh celebrates its independence from which country on 26 March?

Pakistan: after the army's crackdown on 25 March 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's declaration of independence from Pakistan was broadcast on 26 March, beginning the nine-month Liberation War.

Which was the first sub-Saharan African country to win independence, on 6 March 1957?

Ghana: Kwame Nkrumah declared the former Gold Coast 'free forever' at midnight on 6 March 1957, making it the first sub-Saharan colony to win independence from European rule.

Which Baghdad compound did the opening airstrike of the 2003 Iraq invasion target on 20 March?

Dora Farms, a compound on the southern edge of Baghdad, was hit by cruise missiles and bunker-busting bombs at dawn on 20 March 2003 on a tip that Saddam was there; he was not.

Which New Zealand entomologist made the first realistic proposal for daylight saving in 1895?

George Hudson, a Wellington post-office worker who collected insects after hours, proposed a two-hour shift to the Wellington Philosophical Society in 1895.

Which two US states do not observe daylight saving time?

Hawaii and Arizona: neither changes its clocks, though the Navajo Nation in north-eastern Arizona does observe daylight saving time.

Which 8th-century monk recorded Hrethmonath as the Anglo-Saxon name for March?

Bede, the Northumbrian monk, listed the Anglo-Saxon months in The Reckoning of Time (725), naming March Hrethmonath after the goddess Hretha.

The Persian new year Nowruz has its roots in which religion?

Zoroastrianism: Nowruz predates Islam in Persia and is a holy day for Zoroastrians, Baháʼís and Ismaili Shia Muslims alike.

The word 'Lent', from Old English lencten, originally referred to what?

The lengthening of days: Old English lencten, meaning spring, comes from a Germanic root for 'long' and the growing daylight, and later gave its name to the Lenten fast.

The blizzard of 11-14 March 1888 that paralysed the north-eastern US was nicknamed what?

The Great White Hurricane: over 40 inches of snow and drifts topping 50 feet paralysed the north-east from Washington to Maine, killing about 400 people.

How many garment workers died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 25 March 1911?

146 workers, mostly young immigrant women, died in the Asch Building fire on 25 March 1911; a locked stairwell door trapped many on the ninth floor.

Until 1752, England began its new year on which March date, known as Lady Day?

The 25th: Lady Day, the feast of the Annunciation, opened the legal year in England until the 1752 calendar reform moved New Year's Day to 1 January.

Saint Piran's Day, 5 March, is the national day of which region?

Cornwall: Saint Piran, patron saint of tin miners, also gives Cornwall its flag, a white cross on a black field, said to show white tin flowing from black ore.

Casimir Pulaski Day, on the first Monday of March, is an official holiday in which state?

Illinois made Casimir Pulaski Day a state holiday in 1977, reflecting Chicago's large Polish community; Pulaski was a Polish-born cavalry commander killed in battle in Georgia in 1779.

Which country led the campaign for the UN's International Day of Happiness on 20 March?

Bhutan, which measures Gross National Happiness, led the push for UN General Assembly resolution 66/281 in June 2012 that created the 20 March observance.

Which UN agency, founded on 23 March 1950, has its founding date marked every year?

The World Meteorological Organization: its convention came into force on 23 March 1950, and it became a UN specialised agency in 1951; the first World Meteorological Day was held in 1961.

World Tuberculosis Day, 24 March, marks whose 1882 announcement of the TB bacillus?

Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to the Berlin Physiological Society on 24 March 1882 and won the 1905 Nobel Prize in Medicine for it.

Earth Hour began in 2007 as a lights-off event in which city?

Sydney: on 31 March 2007 some 2.2 million Sydney residents and more than 2,000 businesses switched off their lights for an hour, in an event organised by WWF-Australia.

The Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, often held in late March, runs between which two points on the Thames?

Putney and Mortlake: the Championship Course runs 4.2 miles (6.8 km) upstream from Putney Bridge to Chiswick Bridge at Mortlake, more than three times an Olympic 2,000-metre race.

What is the spot where the Sun crosses the celestial equator northward at the March equinox called?

The First Point of Aries, the zero point of right ascension; because of precession it has lain in the constellation Pisces for centuries, having drifted out of Aries since antiquity.

The Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament is held on a weekend in which part of the year?

Late March or early April: the Hong Kong Sevens, first played in 1976, grew into the flagship leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series and moved to the new Kai Tak Stadium in 2025.

Which Julie Andrews musical, released in March 1965, is set in Salzburg?

The Sound of Music, released on 2 March 1965, retells Maria von Trapp's story and won five Academy Awards including Best Picture; the family's escape follows the Anschluss.

Which Spanish city's Fallas festival, peaking from 15 to 19 March, ends with giant monuments being burned?

Valencia's festival joined UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2016; a daily firecracker spectacle called the Mascletà runs from 1 March.

At the Fallas, what is the ninot indultat?

Since 1934 each falla has entered one figure in a popular-vote competition; the winner goes to the Museo Fallero instead of the flames.

Pakistan Day on 23 March marks the 1940 Lahore Resolution and the 1956 adoption of what?

The first constitution turned the country from a dominion into a republic in 1956; the day is marked with a military parade.

On Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence that usually falls in March, what happens to Bali's only airport?

It closes for the entire day; even tourists must stay off beaches and streets, and only the pecalang, traditional security men, patrol outdoors.

Canberra Day, the second Monday of March, marks the city's naming on 12 March 1913 by whom?

Lady Denman, wife of Governor-General Lord Denman, announced the name 'Canberra' at the foundation-stone ceremony on 12 March 1913; the holiday moved to March's second Monday from 2008.

Tibetan Uprising Day on 10 March commemorates the 1959 revolt in which city?

Lhasa: the uprising began on 10 March 1959 when crowds surrounded the Norbulingka palace to protect the Dalai Lama, who fled to India a week later.