This Day in History: March 28

Featured Biography

Virginia Woolf
British writer
1986
Lady Gaga
American singer-songwriter and actress
1968
Lucy Lawless
New Zealand-born actress
1955
Reba McEntire
American singer and actress
1946
Henry Paulson
United States official
1942
Daniel C. Dennett
American philosopher

More Events On This Day

2004
Peter Ustinov
English filmmaker, writer, and humanitarian Sir Peter Ustinov—whose versatile career spanned more than 60 years, during which he excelled in numerous areas of the arts while gaining renown, especially by means of lectures and one-man shows, as a witty raconteur—died at age 82. Take our actors and acting quiz
Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock.com
1985
Marc Chagall
Belorussian-born French painter, printmaker, and designer Marc Chagall, whose works were among the first expressions of psychic reality in modern art, died at age 97. Test your knowledge of art history
AP/Shutterstock.com
1979
Three Mile Island
At 4:00 am an automatic valve mistakenly closed at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, culminating in radioactive leakage. Read about 10 of the world's worst industrial disasters
John S. Zeedick—Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1969
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, died at age 78 Sort fact from fiction in our U.S. presidents quiz
Fabian Bachrach
1939
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco, leader of the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War, captured the capital city of Madrid en route to his overthrow of the democratic Spanish republic. How much do you know about European history?
AP
1936
Mario Vargas Llosa
Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his novels of revolution and struggle, was born in Arequipa, Peru. Take our Nobel laureates in literature quiz
Mario Tama—Getty Images/Thinkstock
1935
Leni Riefenstahl
The Nazi documentary Triumph des willens (Triumph of the Will) was released in Germany; the propaganda film, which was directed by Leni Riefenstahl, centres on the party's 1934 congress in Nürnberg. Test your knowledge of Nazi Germany
© Olympia-Film/Kobal/Shutterstock.com
1920
Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks
American motion-picture actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were wed. How much do you know about women in classic cinema?
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1890
Paul Whiteman and Hildegarde Loretta Sell
American bandleader Paul Whiteman, called the “King of Jazz” for popularizing a musical style that helped to introduce jazz to mainstream audiences during the 1920s and '30s, was born. Take our music quiz
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1854
Crimean War
France and England declared war on Russia, joining forces with the Ottoman Turks in the Crimean War. Take our quiz about the history of war
© Photos.com/Getty Images
1472
Fra Bartolommeo: God the Father with SS. Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene
Painter Fra Bartolommeo, a prominent exponent of the High Renaissance style in early 16th-century Florence whose works included God the Father with SS. Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene (1509), was born. Test your knowledge of Italian Renaissance art
Scala/Art Resource, New York