Once Upon A Time – March 12 – 1455 – First Record Of Johannes Gutenberg’s Bible

538 Witiges, King of the Ostrogoths, ends his siege of Rome, retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of victorious Byzantine General Belisarius

1455 First record of Johannes Gutenberg’s Bible, letter dated this day by Enea Silvio Piccolomini refers to the bible printed a year before

1642 Abel Tasman is the 1st European to sight New Zealand, viewing the north-west coast of the South Island

1888 Samuel Zwemer preaches his first sermon—to a congregation of African-Americans in a small New Brunswick, New Jersey, church. He will go on to become a notable missionary to the Arab world.

1918 Fearing foreign invasion Vladimir Lenin shifts revolutionary Russia’s capital from Petrograd (St. Petersburg) to Moscow

1930 Mahatma Gandhi begins his famous 200 mile (300km) protest march against the widely hated British salt tax

1994 The Church of England ordains its first ever 33 female priests

Historical Events Today
Today in Film & TV
1973 Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In last airs on NBC-TV

Today in Music
1832 The ballet La Sylphide first premieres at the Opéra de Paris.

Today in Sport
2020 NHL announces the pausing of the 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Do you know this fact about today?
1894 Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time in a candy store in Vicksburg, Mississippi

Would you believe this fact about today?
1881 Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world’s first black international football player and captain