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March 08

• 1966 A republican bomb destroyed the top half of Nelson’s Pillar in O’Connell Street, Dublin.
• 1869 Death of Hector Berlioz, French romantic composer, best known for his Symphonie Fantastique (1830), dedicated to Irish actress Harriet Smithson, whom he later married (1833).
• 1917 The February Revolution in Russia led to the establishment of a provisional government and the demise of the Romanov dynasty.
  Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general who founded the Zeppelin Airship Company, died.
• 1770 Mary Anne McCracken, revolutionary and philanthropist, sister of Henry Joy McCracken, born in High Street, Belfast.
• 1966 A republican bomb destroyed the top half of Nelson’s Pillar in O’Connell Street, Dublin. The remainder of the column was officially demolished three days later.
• 1973 A referendum on Northern Ireland’s remaining in the UK resulted in almost 600,000 for and just under 6,500 against, reflecting a low poll (59%) and a nationalist boycott.
• 1973 The IRA carried out its first major bomb attack on central London at the Old Bailey, killing one and injuring over 240. Later, ten were arrested while waiting to board a plane for Belfast, eight of whom were to receive life sentences, including the sisters Marion and Dolours Price.