If you were born on this date, Happy Birthday! Before we get to the birthday men and women of note for March 8, a couple of anniversaries:
On this date in 1010, Ferdowsi first published his great Iranian epic, the Shahmaneh.
In 1817, the New York Stock Exchange was founded.
In 1917, the US Senate voted to limit filibusters, by adopting the cloture rule.
In 1983, Ronald Reagan first used the phrase "evil empire" to describe the Soviet Union.
Now, onto birthdays of cultural note:
1566: Carlo Gesualdo:
1714 CPE Bach:
1856: Colin Campbell Cooper:
1859: Kenneth Grahame:
1892: Juana de Ibarbourou:
1893: Mississippi John Hurt:
1911: Alan Hovhaness:
1922: Cyd Charisse:
1927: Dick Hyman:
1931: Gerald Potterton:
1936: Gabor Szabo:
1937: Richard Farina:
1939: Robert Tear:
1944: Pepe Romero:
1945: Anselm Kiefer:
1949: Antonelli Venditti:
1957: Billy Childs:
1958: Gary Numan:
1968: Shawn Mullins:
1978: Apathy: