On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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Unsettling Inflation News Prices received by U.S. producers rose 0.4 percent in February, excluding energy and food. That sobering inflation report overshadowed other figures that showed weakness in industrial production. Page 31.
In the biggest U-turn in British politics in a decade, Prime Minister John Major appears set to scrap the unpopular "poll tax," which his predecessor, Margaret Thatcher, introduced in England and Wales only a year ago. That and a markedly more conciliatory tone about European political and monetary union, which was anathema to Mrs. Thatcher, have led some Thatcher loyalists in the Conservative Party to cry betrayal.
New York City has selected an automatic fare-collection system for subways and buses, intended ultimately to replace the venerable token with a prepaid fare card. The decision will not only eliminate the round coin that has jangled in the pockets of New Yorkers for nearly four decades but will usher in a new system of paying for transportation in the city, creating the option of varying rates according to distance traveled and leading to new kinds of political struggles over fare increases and the need for token clerks.
Western governments have agreed to forgive about half the $33 billion that Poland owes them, the French Government announced today, with the creditor nations offering what they called "extraordinary terms" to help ease Poland's transition to a market economy. Western officials said the debt-reduction package was the most generous treatment that the creditor nations, meeting in an informal group known as the Paris Club, had ever given a debtor nation. Many indigent African nations, for example, have been granted 33 percent debt relief, and they, along with developing nations in Asia and Latin America, are expected to demand treatment similar to Poland's.
The United States extended its pattern of sending cautionary signals to Iraq today by sending American tank units in southern Iraq to their forward-most positions along the tentative cease-fire line. Bush Administration officials said the troop movement did not signal any resumption of military operations, but was intended to remind President Saddam Hussein of the American presence in the region.
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of March 13, 1991, covering March 16, 1991.
Mariah Carey
Vanilla Ice
Sting
Wilson Phillips
Whitney Houston
1991Chris Boswell, American football player[†]
Christopher Lynn Boswell is an American professional football placekicker for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Rice Owls and was signed by the Houston Texans in 2014 as an undrafted free agent and has also spent time with the New York Giants. He is currently the most accurate field goal kicker in NFL history on field goal attempts of 50 yards or more.
1991Reggie Bullock, American basketball player[†]
Reginald Ryedell Bullock Jr. is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels before being selected by the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the 2013 NBA draft with the 25th overall pick. Bullock has also played for the Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, and Dallas Mavericks.
1991Admir Mehmedi, Swiss footballer[†]
Admir Mehmedi is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a second striker or centre forward. Born in North Macedonia, Mehmedi represented the Switzerland national team. He was most recently the sporting director of FC Schaffhausen.
1991Wolfgang Van Halen, American bassist[†]
Wolfgang William Van Halen is an American musician. The son of actress Valerie Bertinelli and guitarist Eddie Van Halen, he performed alongside his father and his uncle as the bassist for Van Halen from 2007 to 2020. He also performed with the heavy metal band Tremonti from 2012 to 2016. After his father's death in 2020, which led to the disbandment of Van Halen, he began to focus on his solo project Mammoth WVH, in which he performs all instruments and vocals. His debut album Mammoth WVH was released in 2021, and his second album Mammoth II was released in 2023.
1991Chris Austin, American country singer (born 1964)[†]
Christopher Clay Austin was an American country music singer. Austin was signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988 and charted three singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. His highest-charting single, "Blues Stay Away from Me," was included on the 1989 compilation album New Tradition Sings the Old Tradition. Austin also co-wrote Ricky Skaggs' 1991 single "Same Ol' Love."
1991Jean Bellette, Australian artist (born 1908)[†]
Jean Bellette was an Australian artist. Born in Tasmania, she was educated in Hobart and at Julian Ashton's art school in Sydney, where one of her teachers was Thea Proctor. In London she studied under painters Bernard Meninsky and Mark Gertler.
In 1991, the world population was approximately 5,418,735,891 people[†]