Top 10 March 5 Birthdays
"Just you wait, 'enry 'iggins, just you wait... " Somewhat Honorable Mention: March 5, 1512: Gerardus Mercator. The Flemish cartographer designed the world map most of us are familiar with the Mercator Projection. Which is way off, since he put his homeland of Flanders in the center, and made the land masses of the Northern Hemisphere, which were better known, look much bigger than those of the Southern Hemisphere. Dishonorable Mention: March 5, 1133: King Henry II of England. A military genius before he became King, he was ruthless as both ruler and diplomat, engaging in what would now be called a "cold war" with Kings Louis VII and Philip II of France, and even with his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who held more land in France than he did. His sons became Kings Richard I (the Lionhearted) and John, and both rebelled against him before he died, and succeeded. Dishonorable Mention: March 5, 1898: Zhou Enlai. Mao Zedong's 2nd-in-command during his revol...