March 29, 1871: The Royal Albert Hall Opens

March 29, 1871: The Royal Albert Hall opens in South Kensington, West London. The Hall was designed by Captain Francis Fowke and Major-General Henry Scott, both of the Royal Engineers. The glazed wrought-iron dome, reaching 135 feet high, was designed by Rowland Ordish.

Queen Victoria herself stepped out of her 10-year mourning for her husband, for whom it was named, and presided over the opening. A welcoming speech was given by her son, Edward, the Prince of Wales -- later King Edward VII -- because the Queen was too overcome to speak; "her only recorded comment on the Hall was that it reminded her of the British constitution."

The composer, organist, and choir conductor William Carter founded and directed a choir specifically for the opening. The first concert was of the cantata On Shore and Sea, composed by Arthur Sullivan, not yet partnered with William S. Gilbert.

The Hall's acoustic problems immediately became apparent. Engineers first tried to remove the strong echo by suspending a canvas awning below the dome. This helped and also sheltered concert-goers from the Sun, but the problem was not solved: it used to be jokingly said the Hall was "the only place where a British composer could be sure of hearing his work twice."

Since 1918, it has hosted boxing as well as concerts. British boxers Henry Cooper, Frank Bruno, Lennox Lewis and Prince Naseem Hamed have fought there.

Since 1941, it has annually hosted the BBC Sir Henry Wood Promenade Concert, or "The Proms."

The rock band Cream held its farewell concert there on November 26, 1968, and didn't perform together again until returning there in 2005. On September 22, 2011, British singer Adele performed a one-night-only concert as part of her tour. It was filmed for DVD, and screened at cinemas in 26 cities around the world.

The Beatles performed there early in their history, on April 18 and September 15, 1963. In spite of what John Lennon sang in their 1967 song "A Day In the Life," the capacity of the Hall is not 4,000 holes, but 5,272 people.

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March 29, 1871 was a Wednesday. Baseball was the only organized professional sport in North America at the time, and it was a few weeks away from debuting. (There would be no Spring Training until 1885.) SO there were no scores on this historic day.