GMT

Today in History: March 5

1624 Class-based legislation is passed in the colony of Virginia, exempting the upper class from punishment by whipping.

1766 Antonio de Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans.

1933 Hitler and Nationalist allies win the Reichstag majority. It will be the last free election in Germany until after World War II.

1933 Newly inaugurated President Franklin D. Roosevelt halts the trading of gold and declares a bank holiday.

1943 In desperation due to war losses, fifteen and sixteen year olds are called up for military service in the German army.

1976 Britain gives up on the Ulster talks and decides to retain rule in Northern Ireland indefinitely.

1984 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that cities have the right to display the Nativity scene as part of their Christmas display.

2019 Major study into the MMR vaccine involving over 650,000 children in Denmark finds it does not increase the risk of autism

Born on March 5


1574 William Oughtred, mathematician and inventor of the slide rule.

1853 Howard Pyle, writer and illustrator (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood).

Joke of the Day
A man’s wife asks him to go to the store to buy some cigarettes, so he walks down to the store only to find it closed.

So he goes into a nearby bar to use the vending machine. At the bar he sees a beautiful woman and starts talking to her.
They have a couple of beers and one thing leads to another and they end up in her apartment.
After they’ve had their fun, he realizes its 3 a.m. and says, “Oh no, it’s so late, my wife’s going to kill me.” He takes his shoes outside and rubs them in the grass and mud, then proceeds home.
His wife is waiting for him in the doorway and she is pretty pissed off. “Where the hell have you been?!?!” “Well, honey, it’s like this. I went to the store like you asked, but they were closed. So I went to the bar to use the vending machine. I saw this great-looking chick there and we had a few drinks and one thing led to another and I ended up in bed with her.”
She sees his shoes are covered with grass and says, “You lying bastard!!! You’ve been fishing again!!!”