Anniversaries

Births: Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, statesman, 1676; Joseph- Michel Montgolfier, balloonist, 1740; Joseph Christoph Kessler (Kotzler), pianist and composer, 1800; Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria, 1819; Sir John Buchan, first Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada and novelist, 1875; Guillaume Apollinaire (Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitsky), poet, 1880; Jules Romains (Louis-Henri Jean Farigoule), novelist, playwright and poet, 1885; Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood, novelist, 1904.

Deaths: Ottakar II, King of Bohemia, killed in battle 1278; Frans Hals, painter, 1666; Elizabeth Chudleigh, Countess of Bristol and Duchess of Kingston, concubine and alleged bigamist, 1788; Louis-Philippe, 'Citizen King' of France, 1850; Karl Wilhelm, choral director and composer of Die Wacht am Rhein, 1873; Lon (Alonso) Chaney, actor, 1930; Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer, 1958; Naomi Ellington Jacob, novelist, 1964; Sir Francis Charles Chichester, aviator and yachtsman, 1972; Charles Augustus Lindbergh, pioneer aviator, 1974; Charles Boyer, actor, 1978.

On this day: Julius Caesar landed in Britain, 55 BC; King Edward III, aided by the Black Prince, his son, defeated the French at the Battle of Crecy, 1346; the railway from Paris to St Germain (the first in France) was opened, 1837; Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah was first performed, Birmingham Festival, 1846; Krakatoa, the island volcano began erupting, killing over 36,000 people, 1883; under the 19th Amendment, women were granted the right to vote in the United States, 1920; the Anglo-Egyptian alliance was signed, 1936; the XXth Olympic Games opened in Munich, 1972; Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected Pope John Paul I, 1978.

Today is the Feast Day of St Bregwine, archbishop of Canterbury, St Elizabeth Bichier des Ages, St Herluin, St John Wall, St Mary Desmaisieres, St Pandonia and St Teresa Jornet Ihars.