Daily English Crumbs (Advanced): March 10 in History

Significant historical events:

241 BC - First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands - The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet. End of the First Punic War.

1535 - the Spanish discovered Galápagos.

1848 - The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican-American War.

1876 - Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful telephone call by pronouncing words "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."

1906 - The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst ever, kills 1099 miners in Northern France.

1922 - Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison.

1959 - Tibetan uprising: fearing an abduction attempt by China, 300,000 Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama's palace to prevent his removal.

1969 - In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. Later he would retract his guilty plea.

1977 - Rings of Uranus: Astronomers discover rings around Uranus.

1978 - End of the first spaceflight of Vladimír Remek, a Czechoslovak astronaut.

Born on this day:

1920 - Boris Vian, French writer and musician (died on June 23, 1959)
1928 - James Earl Ray, American assassin (died in 1998)
1936 - Sepp Blatter, Swiss FIFA President
1940 - Chuck Norris, American actor and martial artist
1944 - Pavel Novák, Czech musician (died on February 11, 2009)
1950 - Petr Kalandra, Czech blues musician (died on September 7, 1995)
1957 - Osama bin Laden, Islamic terrorist, leader of al-Qaida
1958 - Sharon Stone, American actress, model and producer
1971 - Timbaland, American music producer
1973 - Eva Herzigová, Czech model and actress

Died on this day:

1940 - Mikhaïl Boulgakov, Russian writer (born in 1891)

1948 - Jan Masaryk, Czechoslovakian Foreign Minister (born in 1886): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Masaryk

1995 - Michal Tučný, Czech country musician (born in 1947)

2008 - Radovan Lukavský, Czech actor (born in 1919)

Follow-up questions and activities:

Which of these events are related to human rights and how?

Who was James Earl Ray?

How many years ago did these events happen?

Which country governs the Galápagos?

Which scientist worked on the Galápagos and what exactly was his work significant for?

Name some works by Mikhaïl Boulgakov.

How many years is Osama bin Laden older than Sharon Stone?

How old was James Earl Ray when he confessed to have assassinated MLK?

How did Jan Masaryk die? What was he wearing at the time of his death?

What does the word "sedition" mean?

Why was Mahatma Gandhi released from prison after two years of imprisonment in 1924?

Where and when did the Punic Wars take place?

How long was the Mexican-American war ended in 1848?

How old is Osama bin Laden?

What is FIFA?

Name books written by Boris Vian.

If you had invented telephone, what would your first phone-call words be?

Would you like to be an astronaut? Why? Why not?

Who of the famous people introduced today would you like to be and why?