Date·Lore

On This Day · The 70th day of the year

March 11

March 11 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1708 and 2020. Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.

♓ZodiacPisces ◈BirthstoneAquamarine ❀Birth flowerDaffodil

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on March 11?

March 11 is the 70th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1708 and 2020. Famous people born on March 11 include Douglas Adams, Antonin Scalia and John Barrowman.

The shape of the day

175 years on from Rigoletto, March 11 is a date with an anniversary worth pausing on. Most of the weight falls in the 21st century, where disaster looms large.

Pisces is the sign for March 11 — read more on the Pisces page, or see March's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on March 11

Movies, games, albums & shows

2026

  • Game Sancticide
  • Movie Reminders of Him

2025

  • Game Wanderstop

2022

  • Game WWE 2K22

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1708

    Anne, Queen of Great Britain

    Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.

  2. 1851

    Rigoletto

    The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.

  3. 1888

    Great Blizzard of 1888

    The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400 people.

  4. 1978

    Coastal road massacre

    Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel's Operation Litani.

  5. 1990

    Patricio Aylwin

    Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.

  6. 2006

    Michelle Bachelet

    Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as the first female president of Chile.

  7. 2009

    2009 Winnenden shootings

    Winnenden school shooting: Fifteen are killed and nine are injured before recent graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany.

  8. 2010

    Sebastián Piñera

    Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile. Aftershocks of the 2010 Pichilemu earthquakes hit central Chile during the ceremony.

  9. 2011

    2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

    An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.

  10. 2020

    World Health Organization

    The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic.

Famous birthday twins

Born on March 11

Douglas Adams

b. 1952

English author and playwright

Antonin Scalia

b. 1936

American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

John Barrowman

b. 1967

Scottish-American actor and singer

Didier Drogba

b. 1978

Ivorian footballer

Louise Brough

b. 1923

American tennis player

Rupert Murdoch

b. 1931

Australian-American businessman and media magnate

Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke

b. 1913

German colonel and pilot

Raoul Walsh

b. 1887

American actor and director

Deaths

  • 2018Karl Lehmann
  • 2015Walter Burkert
  • 2006Slobodan Milošević
  • 1955Alexander Fleming
  • 1931F. W. Murnau
  • 222Elagabalus

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Alberta of Agen
  • —Christian feast day: Constantine
  • —Christian feast day: Óengus of Tallaght
  • —Christian feast day: Sophronius of Jerusalem
  • —Christian feast day: Vindicianus
  • —Day of Restoration of Independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 (Lithuania)
  • —Moshoeshoe Day (Lesotho)
  • —Saudi Flag Day

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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