Wednesday 9th of March 1796

27-year-old War leader Napoléon Bonaparte marries 33-year-old Joséphine de Beauharnais in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Sunday 9th of March 1890

Politician and diplomat Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov is born as Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Skryabin in Kukarka, Kirov Oblast, Russia.

Skryabin took the pseudonym 'Molotov', derived from the Russian molot (hammer) for his political work owing to the name's vaguely 'industrial' ring.

Saturday 9th of March 1918

Founder of the American Nazi Party George Lincoln Rockwell is born in Bloomington, Illinois, United States.

Saturday 9th of March 1918

Writer Mickey Frank Morrison Spillane known for his signature detective character Mike Hammer is born in New York, Brooklyn, New York, United States.

Saturday 9th of March 1918

Playwright Frank Benjamin Franklin Wedekind dies of complications from appendectomy surgery at the age of 54 in München, Bayern, Germany.

Friday 9th of March 1923

Cop killer Husted Walters is executed by hanging at the age of 23 in Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon, United States.

Friday 9th of March 1934

Cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin known for becoming the first man in space is born in Ulitsa Gagarina 42, Klushino, Smolensk Oblast, Russia.

Monday 9th of March 1942

Musician John Davies Cale known from the Velvet Underground is born in Garnant, Wales, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 9th of March 1943

Chess grandmaster Bobby Robert James Fischer is born in Michael Reese Hospital, 2929 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Bronzeville, Illinois, United States.

Friday 9th of March 1945

Serial killer Dennis Lynn Rader aka The BTK Killer is born in Pittsburg, Kansas, United States.

Saturday 9th of March 1946

33 die in Bolton Wanderers-Stoke City football game stampede in Burnden Park, Bolton, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

Over 400 people were injured. The dead and injured were lain along the touchline and covered with coats. A little under half an hour later the game was restarted with a new sawdust lined touchline separating the players from the bodies.

Thursday 9th of March 1950

Miscarriage of justice victim Timothy John Evans aka The Innocent Strangler of 10 Rillington Place is executed by hanging at the age of 26 in HM Prison Pentonville, Caledonian Road, London, Islington, Greater London, United Kingdom.

He was sentenced to death for the murder of his wife and child, who were actually killed by John Christie.

Tuesday 9th of March 1954

Irish republican hunger striker Bobby Robert Gerard Sands is born as Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 9th of March 1954

25-year-old Actor and film director John Nicholas Cassavetes marries 24-year-old Gena Rowlands in Cambria, Wisconsin, United States.

Saturday 9th of March 1963

69-year-old Mary E. Brown is raped, stabbed, strangled and fatally bludgeoned with a pipe by serial killer Albert DeSalvo aka The Boston Strangler aka The Measuring Man aka The Green Man in 319 Park Avenue, Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States.

Wednesday 9th of March 1966

38-year-old George Cornell is shot dead by gangster Ronald Kray aka Ronnie Kray in The Blind Beggar, 337 Whitechapel Road, London, Whitechapel, Greater London, United Kingdom.

On seeing Ronnie Kray enter the pub, Cornell sneered with sarcasm "Look who's here". Ronnie Kray walked towards Cornell, took out a 9 mm Luger, and calmly shot him once in the forehead, just above his right eye.

Monday 9th of March 1970

Tylenol poisoning victim Mary Ann Kellerman is born in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Thursday 9th of March 1972

8-year-old Douglas Owens is stabbed and sexually mutilated by unidentified serial killer Charlie Chop-off in New York, East Harlem, New York, United States.

Owens' penis had been cut but not severed from his body.

Tuesday 9th of March 1976

Start of the trial against 22-year-old Child killer Christian Ranucci aka Le Pull-Over Rouge for the abduction and murder of 8-year-old Marie-Dolorès Rambla in Aix-en-Provence, Provence, France.

The next day Ranucci was found guilty on all counts and was sentenced to death.

Sunday 9th of March 1980

34-year-old Performance and installation artist Chris Christopher Burden performs 'Cinque Cinquecento' at the Per/for/mance festival in Firenze, Toscana, Italy.

Monday 9th of March 1981

Mass murderer Steven Timothy Judy is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 25 in Indiana State Prison, 1 Park Row, Michigan City, Indiana, United States.

Friday 9th of March 1984

25-year-old Serial killer Thomas Rath aka Der Moormörder is arrested in Bad Fallingbostel, Niedersachsen, Germany.

The day before Rath abducted 18-year-old Gisela Brown who managed to push a cigarette into his left eye and memorised his license plate as he drove off.

Thursday 9th of March 1989

Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe dies of AIDS at the age of 43 in New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Wednesday 9th of March 1994

Poet and writer Charles Henry Bukowski aka Hank dies of leukemia at the age of 74 in San Pedro, California, United States.

Wednesday 9th of March 1994

Musician Xavier Rathé dies in an accidental fall off a building at the age of 36 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Saturday 9th of March 1996

Comedian, actor and singer George Burns dies of cardiac arrest at the age of 100 in Beverly Hills, California, United States.

Monday 9th of March 1998

25-year-old Stela Truya is shot dead by serial killer Donato Bilancia aka Il Mostro della Liguria in Varazze, Liguria, Italy.

Friday 9th of March 2001

Murderer Willie Ervin Fisher is executed by lethal injection at the age of 39 in Raleigh State Prison, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.

Friday 9th of March 2001

44-year-old Bernd Jürgen Armando Brandes is killed, cut to pieces and eaten by murderer and cannibal Armin Meiwes aka Der Metzgermeister in Rotenburg, Wüstefeld, Hessen, Germany.

Meiwes amputated Brandes' penis with his agreement and the two men attempted to eat it together. Before doing so Brandes swallowed twenty sleeping pills and a bottle of cough syrup, likely causing an effect of slowed breathing and extreme tiredness. Brandes initially insisted that Meiwes attempt to bite his penis off. This did not work and ultimately Meiwes used a knife to remove Brandes' appendage. Brandes apparently tried to eat some of his own penis raw but could not because it was too tough and, as he put it, "chewy". Meiwes then fried the penis in a pan with salt, pepper, wine, and garlic; he then fried it with some of Brandes' fat, but by then it was too burnt to be consumed. He then chopped the penis up into chunks and fed it to his dog. In the next ten months Meiwes consumed up to 20kgs of human meat.

Sunday 9th of March 2003

Experimental filmmaker Stan Stanley James Brakhage dies of cancer at the age of 70 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Monday 9th of March 2009

Installing Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven's exhibition 'Nothing More Natural' in Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Lorenzer Straße 32, Nürnberg, Bayern, Germany.