Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, painter and engraver, 1727; Mungo Park, explorer of Africa, 1771; Philip Gilbert Hamerton, artist and author, 1834; Sir John Robert Seeley, historian and essayist, 1834; Robert Koldewey, archaeologist, 1855; Vibhaji Ranjitsinghi, Maharaja of Nawanagar, cricketer, 1872; Arthur Holly Compton, physicist, 1892; Bessie Love (Juanita Horton), actress, 1898; Cyril Vernon Connolly, author, journalist and critic, 1903; Gwendoline Watford, actress, 1927.

Deaths: Dr Edward Pococke, scholar and orientalist, 1691; Dr Thomas Sheridan, scholar and translator, 1738; Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, feminist writer, 1797; Ugo Foscolo, poet, 1827; Capt William Hobson, first Governor of New Zealand, 1842; Arthur Reed Ropes ('Adrian Ross'), lyricist and librettist, 1933; Charles Cruft, founder of the dog show, 1938; Felix Bloch, physicist, 1983; Balthazar Johannes Vorster, prime minister and president of South Africa, 1983.

On this day: the English defeated the Scots at the Battle of Pinkie, 1547; the Battle of Lake Erie was fought when Commodore Oliver H. Perry defeated the British flotilla, 1813; Simon Bolivar became the dictator of Peru, 1823; the Duke of York's Theatre, London opened (as the 'Trafalgar Square'), 1892; the first London production of the operetta The Chocolate Soldier was presented, 1910; the first motorway (autobahn) was completed in Germany, 1921; the first London production of the musical show Sally was presented, 1921; British forces arrived in France, 1939; in Norway, Lauritz Vidkun Quisling was sentenced to death for treason, 1945; the people of Gibraltar voted overwhelmingly to stay under British rule, 1967.

Today is the Feast Day of St Ambrose Barlow, St Aubert of Avranches, St Finnian of Moville, Saints Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora, St Nemesian, St Nicholas of Tolentino, St Pulcheria, St Salvius or Salvy of Albi and St Theodard of Maestricht.

TOMORROW

Births: Pierre de Ronsard, poet, 1524; Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, Marshal-General of France, 1611; James Thomson, poet, author of 'Rule, Britannia', 1700; Thomas Barnes, editor of the Times, 1785; Sir George Clement Martin, organist and composer, 1844; Benjamin (Ben) Tillett, Labour leader, 1860; O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), short-story writer, 1862; Sir James Hopwood Jeans, mathematician and astrophysicist, 1877; David Herbert Lawrence, novelist, 1885.

Deaths: Johannes Fyt, painter, 1661; John Brand, antiquary and topographer, 1806; David Ricardo, economist, 1823; Antero Tarquinio de Quental, poet, 1891; Prince Louis Mountbatten (first Marquess of Milford Haven), admiral, 1921; Field-Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, statesman, 1950; Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, Russian leader, 1971; Salvador Allende Gossens, president of Chile, allegedly committed suicide 1973.

On this day: the English, under Warenne and Cressingham, were defeated by the Scots under William Wallace at Stirling Bridge, 1297; the Duke of Marlborough defeated the French at the Battle of Malplaquet, the bloodiest war of the century, 1709; the British, commanded by General Howe, defeated the Americans under General George Washington at the Battle of Brandywine Creek, 1777; the Allies took Sevastopol after the city was abandoned by the the Russians, 1855; a British mandate was declared in Palestine, 1922; in Chile, the government was ousted by a military coup, and government was taken over by a junta, 1973.

Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Deiniol, St Paphnutius, St Patiens of Lyons, St Peter of Chavanon, Saints Protus and Hyacinth and St Theodora of Alexandria.