Moments in Time – March 6, 2024

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• On March 18, 1971, a 100-foot tsunami, caused by a massive rock avalanche that crashed into Lake Yanahuani from a height of 1,300 feet, destroyed a Peruvian mining camp and killed hundreds of people.
• On March 19, 1954, Willie Mosconi, aka Mr. Pocket Billiards, set a new world record for running the most consecutive pool balls without a miss – 526, in fact! – during an exhibition in Springfield, Ohio. A handwritten and notarized affidavit with the signatures of more than 35 eyewitnesses served as proof of his feat.
• On March 20, 1648, King Charles I of England attempted an initial escape from his captivity at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight by climbing out of a window, but the effort proved fruitless when he got stuck between its frame and an iron bar, and had to retreat to his room.
• On March 21, 1984, New York City’s Central Park designated a section of its grounds as “Strawberry Fields” to commemorate former Beatle John Lennon, who was shot dead in front of his nearby residence by Mark David Chapman.
• On March 22, 1946, the United States Army made its first successful launch of an American-built rocket out of the atmosphere, using a combination of American and German scientists in adapting the German V-2 rockets seized after the Allied victory in World War II. The rocket reached an altitude of about 50 miles.
• On March 23, 2022, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announced the country would relax Covid mandates for some of its workforce, allowing restaurants and similar hospitality venues to increase their indoor capacity from 100 to 200 people. Vaccine passes were no longer required to get into shops, and visitors no longer needed to scan the venue’s location using their Covid-19 tracer apps.
• On March 24, 2017, 560 people dressed as ghosts to set a world record for the largest such gathering. But these spooks at the Mercy School Mounthawk weren’t trying to scare anyone – rather, their aim was to highlight the invisibility of arthritis.

© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.