March 28 in Pop Culture history

March 28 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

March 28 History Highlights

  • 1842 – The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra debuted, conducted by Otto Nicolai.
  • 1881 – ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’ Barnum and Baily Brothers Circus debuted.
  • 1979 – The Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant accident occurred.
  • If you were born on March 28th,
    You were likely conceived the week of… July 5th (prior year)

Three Mile Island Accident

On the morning of March 28, 1979, operators at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (TMI) began to see indications that their Unit 2 reactor had problems. They maneuvered to shut the plant down and investigate what was happening. The problem worsened as they tried different strategies for shutting down the reactor. By 11:00 a.m., it became clear that things were not under control and an evacuation order was issued for people living within five miles of TMI-2.

At 1:05 p.m., after many unsuccessful attempts at stopping the reaction in one of the two reactors by using traditional methods, workers injected massive quantities of boric acid into both reactors in order to cool them down with extreme prejudice by depriving them of water. The reactors finally shut down later that day, at about 11:00 p.m., after the insertion of over a million gallons of boric acid into each reactor.

The accident had begun some eighteen hours earlier and it was not until eleven hours later that the plant was brought under control. In the meantime, radiation had been released and the accident had resulted in a partial core meltdown.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were named after the most famous Italian artists from the Renaissance

  • Leonardo da Vinci (Born April 15th, 1452, died May 2nd, 1519)
  • Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. (Born March 6th, 1475, died February 18th, 1564)
  • Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Born spring 1483, died April 6th, 1520)
  • Donatello di Niccolò di Betto Bardi(Born ~ 1386, died December 13th, 1466)
  • (and Shredder was named after a trapezoidal cheese grater)

March 28 is…

Black Forest Cake Day
Respect Your Cat Day
Something On A Stick Day

March 28 Birthday Quotes

“When one is painting one does not think.”
– Raphael

“I love working. I feel guilty about doing nothing; I get bored.”
– Nick Frost

“Jazz came to America three hundred years ago in chains.”
Paul Whiteman

“I realize that life isn’t perfect – it can’t be perfect. I can drive myself nuts trying to make it perfect, or I can just have a lot of fun with the kids.”
– Kate Gosselin

“Fight and push harder for what you believe in, you’d be surprised, you are much stronger than you think.”
– Lady Gaga

March 28 Birthdays

1483 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (died in 1520)
1760 – Thomas Clarkson, English activist (died in 1846)
1836 – Frederick Pabst, German-American brewer, founded the Pabst Brewing Company (died in 1904)
1890 – Paul Whiteman, American composer and bandleader (died in 1967)
1905 – Marlin Perkins, American zoologist and television host (died in 1986)
1910 – Jimmie Dodd, American actor and singer-songwriter (died in 1964)
1925 – Dorothy ‘Darla’ DeBorba, American child actress (died in 2010)
1944 – Ken Howard, American actor (died in 2016)
1948 – Dianne Wiest, American character actress
1955 – Reba McEntire, American singer-songwriter and actress
1969 – Brett Ratner, American director and producer
1970 – Vince Vaughn, American actor
1972 – Nick Frost, English actor and screenwriter
1975 – Kate Gosselin, American television personality
1975 – Shanna Moakler, American model
1981 – Julia Stiles, American actress
1986 – Lady Gaga, American singer-songwriter and actress

March 28 History

1783 (Earthquake) Calabria, Italy

1920 – Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford got married; it was the first high profile celebrity wedding.

1949 – Fred Hoyle coined the term “Big Bang” in a radio interview.

1960 – Stanley Kramer was the first to get his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

1964 (Earthquake) Alaska – the 8.4 on the Richter scale quake killed 125 people.

1979 – Three Mile Island Nuclear Disaster happened when a pressure valve in the Unit-2 reactor at Three Mile Island failed to close.

1981 – #1 Hit March 28, 1981 – April 10, 1981: Blondie – Rapture

1990 – President George H. W. Bush posthumously awarded Olympic athlete Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.

2005 (Earthquake) Nothern Sumatra, Indonesia

Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts

TV Quotes… “You’re fired!” (Donald Trump) on “The Apprentice”

To put on a hat you ‘don’ it. To take it off you ‘doff’ it.

English words like “matter” and “material” come from the Latin word mater, meaning mother, since they believed all things and organisms were spontaneously generated by ‘Mother Earth.’

We have no idea why London (Londinium) is actually called London.

A group of Elk is called a Gang or Herd.

The amount of time it would take Mount Rushmore to erode into unrecognizability (assuming that it is not maintained) is approximately 7.2 million years.

“…if it weren’t for you meddling kids!” – Various villains on Scooby-Doo (Where Are You?)

“One day spent with someone you love can change everything.” – Mitch Albom

“He’s dead, Jim.” – Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy

Kansas is actually flatter than a Pancake.

The only reason many of us can spot a Columbian accent is because of Sofía Vergara.

Biggest film of 1940: Pinocchio (Action/Adventure) earned ~ $84,000,000

You can’t search for information about arachnophobia online without seeing dozens of pictures of spiders. #ironic

“When I was 14, I was the oldest I ever was. I’ve been getting younger ever since.” – Shirley Temple

Cookie Monster’s name is Sid.

More Pop Culture History Resources

March 27