30/03/10

The first recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet was in 240 BC.  US Secretary of State William Seward purchased Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars in 1867.  The Yonge Street subway line, Canada's first subway, opened in 1954.

Born today:  Francisco Goya (1746-1828), Anna Sewell (1820-1878), Paul Verlaine (1844-1896), Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), Sean O'Casey (1880-1964), Countee Cullen (1903-1946), Tom Sharpe (1928), Rolf Harris (1930), Warren Beatty (1937), Graeme Edge (1941), Eric Clapton (1945), Robbie Coltrane (1950), MC Hammer (1962), Tracy Chapman (1964), Piers Morgan (1965), Celine Dion (1968) and Norah Jones (1979).

It is Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day in Trinidad and Tobago.