5th March -- A Historic Day

Courtesy of History Orb, here's a selection of interesting things that have happened on 5th March throughout the years:

363 - Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign which would bring about his own death.
1558 - Smoking tobacco introduced in Europe by Francisco Fernandes
1750 - 1st American Shakespearean production-"altered" Richard III, NYC
1770 - Boston Massacre, British troops kill 5 in crowd. Crispus Attackus becomes 1st black to die for American freedom
1807 - 1st performance of Ludwig von Beethoven's 4th Symphony in B
1836 - Mexico attacks Alamo
1836 - Samuel Colt manufactures 1st pistol, 34-caliber "Texas" model
1842 - Over 500 Mexican troops led by Rafael Vasquez invade Texas, briefly occupy San Antonio and then head back to the Rio Grande.
1917 - 1st jazz recording for Victor Records released
1922 - "Nosferatu" premieres in Berlin
1931 - Gandhi & British viceroy Lord Irwin sign pact
1933 - Germany's Nazi Party wins majority in parliament (43.9%-17.2M votes)
1943 - Anti fascist strikes in Italy
1945 - World War II: The "Battle of the Ruhr" begins.
1946 - Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech (Fulton Missouri)
1955 - Elvis Presley's 1st TV appearance on "Louisiana Hayride" show
1956 - "King Kong," 1st televised
1957 - Eamon de Valera's Fianna Fail-party wins election in Ireland
1959 - Iran & US sign economic & military treaty
1960 - Elvis Presley ends 2-year hitch in US Army
1965 - Ernie Terrel beats Eddie Machen in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1976 - British pound falls below $2 for 1st time
1994 - Largest milkshake (1,955 gallons of chocolate-Nelspruit S Africa)
1994 - Singer Grace Slick arrested for pointing a gun at a cop
2005 - The Burkinabé Party for Democracy and Socialism holds its first National Convention.
2008 - Crime Scene NI, a blog devoted to Northern Irish crime fiction is launched (this one's not actually on the History Orb site yet).

That's right, folks. Today marks the first anniversary of my little blog, Crime Scene NI. And it's been quite a year. I've been in touch with the finest writers in Ireland and beyond, I've read their sterling work, my signed book collection has increased at least ten-fold and I've been lucky enough to receive a tonne of great review copies, I've met writers and fellow bloggers in person, and thanks to a bit of networking, finally my dream of a writing career seems as if it might soon be a reality.

And the site itself seems to be reaching more and more people all the time. This is the 226th post and according to Statcounter, there have been well over 30,000 visits. I get a nice amount of comments, for which I'm always grateful, 10 people have availed of the 'Follow This Blog' thingy and others have bypassed the blogger stuff to send me nice personal emails. Nobody has ever gotten in touch with an angry word.

The blog's been in a couple of local papers and magazines, mentioned on some brilliant websites and it's taken me onto BBC radio.

All in all, it's been a good year for me. Thanks to all the writers and readers who've helped me along the way. Special thanks to Declan Burke, who really gave me the idea in the first place.

And just so this isn't all about me, I should mention that our most featured writer (according to a label count), Adrian McKinty, is running a competition that offers a copy of his fan-frickin-tastic new novel, Fifty Grand. Hop on over and leave your answer.

Peace.