March 15, 1959 (Sunday)
- Robert Foster, 32, set a record for holding his breath, remaining underwater for 13 minutes, 42.5 seconds (13:42.5), at San Rafael, California The record stood for 48 years, until broken by Arvydas and Diana Gaiciunas in Druskininkai, Lithuania, on June 16, 2007, at almost 16 minutes (15:58). Both Foster and the Gaiciunas siblings hyperventilated with pure oxygen beforehand in order to drive carbon dioxide from their lungs. The recognized record without such preparations is 11 minutes, 35 seconds, by freediver Stéphane Mifsud on June 8, 2009
- The prison at the Curragh Camp, where Ireland detained suspected terrorists without formal charges, was formally closed.
- Born: Harold Baines, American baseball player, in Easton, Maryland
- Died: Duncan Hines, 78, restaurant critic who later lent his name to a line of cake mixes
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Famous quotes containing the word march:
““Take some more tea,” the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
“I’ve had nothing yet,” Alice replied in an offended tone: “so I ca’n’t take more.”
“You mean you ca’n’t take less,” said the Hatter: “it’s very easy to take more than nothing.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)