A great actor stole our hearts, a brilliant composer was born and a legendary architect passed away – here are some interesting things that happened on this day in history.
The Eiffel Tower opened
Year: 1889
The open-lattice wrought-iron framework of the Eiffel Tower may have been greeted with skepticism at first, but since its opening on March 31, 1889, the building has become known as an architectural marvel.
It all came about when the French government announced a design competition for a monument to be built in honour of the centenary of the French Revolution. The Centennial Committee chose Gustave Eiffel's submission, which promised the world's tallest man-made structure, one that would rise almost 1,000 feet (304 metres) above Paris.
Eiffel was a noted bridge builder, who had also designed the framework for the Statue of Liberty, which had been erected in New York Harbour three years earlier.
Paris’s tower retained its record for a total of 41 years, until the Chrysler Building was finished in New York in 1930.
Jimi Hendrix burned his guitar
Year: 1967
Many classic rock fans will remember the moment Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, as it was immortalised on film. But the Purple Haze musician had actually done it before, on March 31 that same year, in Finsbury Park, London.
The story goes that while Hendrix was waiting to go on stage, he and Jimi Hendrix Experience manager Chas Chandler had a chat with rock journalist Keith Altham, who mentioned it would be cool if they played with fire while playing the song Fire. The pair decided to go one better and burn the instrument instead.
Hendrix is now known for many things – his musical genius, epic guitar skills and for dying at the mere age of 27 – but what became a ritual act of destruction is what made him really stand out in a very, very busy crowd.
In 2012, the black Fender Stratocaster it is believed Hendrix set fire to in California that year sold at auction for more than £200,000 (Dh909,285).
Toni Morrison won a major award
Year: 1988
"It will destroy one family's dream of safety and freedom; it will haunt an entire community for generations and, as related by Ms Morrison, it will reverberate in the readers' minds long after they have finished this book." That was how Michiko Kakutani summed up one event described in American writer Toni Morrison's novel Beloved in her review for The New York Times.
Morrison's work about a former slave in post-Civil War Ohio was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction on March 31, 1988. Before that, it had controversially been overlooked by the National Book Award, a move that saw 48 black writers, including Maya Angelou, write an open letter protesting the fact that Morrison had never won that award, nor a Pulitzer.
The Pulitzer board, however, insisted at the time this letter had no bearing on its decision. Secretary Robert Christopher said: “I think there was some feeling that it would be unfortunate if anyone diluted the value of Toni Morrison’s achievement by suggesting that her prize rested on anything but merit.”
Indeed, Morrison went on to receive a number of prestigious awards, including the Nobel Prize in Literature 1993 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented to her in 2012 by then president Barack Obama.
Morrison died on August 5 last year.
Heath Ledger captured teenage hearts
Year: 1999
Although Australian actor Heath Ledger had been on screens since 1992, it's when the world saw him as the cheeky, rebellious Patrick Verona in 10 Things I Hate About You, which came out on March 31,.seven years later, that he captured our hearts and minds. This modernisation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, starring Ledger and Julia Stiles, the film was and still is one of the most beloved teen rom-coms from the 1990s.
It tells the story of Kat Stratford (Stiles), a tempestuous teenager who isn’t interested in much other than getting into Sarah Lawrence College and fleeing the family home. Her younger sister, Bianca, however, is dying to date class beau Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan) – and their father comes up with a rule that she can date when Kat does.
Bianca hatches a plan to make sure that happens – and, naturally, it all goes wrong (at least at first).
Ledger went on to star in another 15 movies before he died in 2008 aged 28. This includes The Dark Knight, for which he posthumously won an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.
Bach was born
Year: 1685
Hailing from north Germany, Johann Sebastian Bach was and still is one of the most famous composers of the Baroque period. He's best known for compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Mass in B Minor.
He was born on March 31, 1685 in Eisenach into a large lineage of musicians. By the time he was 10, he was an orphan, being looked after by his eldest brother, Johann Christoph. It is he who gave Bach his first keyboard lessons, having learnt himself under the tutelage of composer Johann Pachelbel.
By 1703, Bach had been employed as a member of an orchestra by Johann Ernst, duke of Weimar, before he became the organist at Neue Kirche in Arnstadt. He was only 18 years old by this point.
He became a prolific and much-valued organist, but his keyboard music was also treasured. He kept working on his music, composing and releasing new pieces, throughout his life until he died of complications after eye surgery in Leipzig at the age of 65.
A legendary architect passed away
Year: 2016
Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid had many accolades under her belt. The British-Iraqi architect, who has been described as “the queen of the curve”, was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004. She was the recipient of the UK’s most prestigious architectural award, the Stirling Prize, in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, Queen Elizabeth II made her a Dame for her services to architecture. And, in 2016, the month before she died, she became the first woman to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Hadid’s company designed some of the most recognisable buildings of our modern skylines. This includes the award-winning London Aquatics Centre in London, England; the Guangzhou Opera House; Florida’s One Thousand Museum; and even Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Bridge, among many, many more.
She was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq and went on to study mathematics at the American University of Beirut before heading to London in 1972 to learn at the Architectural Association School of Architecture.
She quickly earned a reputation for her radical designs and started out by teaching, before going on to build her own firm.
She died on March 31, 2016 of a heart attack in Miami, Florida.
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
Price: base / as tested: Dh91,000 / Dh114,000
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 298hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 356Nm @ 4,700rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Financial considerations before buying a property
Buyers should try to pay as much in cash as possible for a property, limiting the mortgage value to as little as they can afford. This means they not only pay less in interest but their monthly costs are also reduced. Ideally, the monthly mortgage payment should not exceed 20 per cent of the purchaser’s total household income, says Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching.
“If it’s a rental property, plan for the property to have periods when it does not have a tenant. Ensure you have enough cash set aside to pay the mortgage and other costs during these periods, ideally at least six months,” she says.
Also, shop around for the best mortgage interest rate. Understand the terms and conditions, especially what happens after any introductory periods, Ms Glynn adds.
Using a good mortgage broker is worth the investment to obtain the best rate available for a buyer’s needs and circumstances. A good mortgage broker will help the buyer understand the terms and conditions of the mortgage and make the purchasing process efficient and easier.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
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