Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: Luigi Pulci, poet, 1432; Agostino Carracci, painter, baptised 1557; Jeremy Taylor, theologian, baptised 1613; Gilles Menage, lexicographer, 1613; Frederick William I, King of Prussia, 1688; Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor, 1769; Sir Walter Scott, novelist, 1771; Thomas De Quincey, essayist and critic, 1785; Sir Henry James Sumner Maine, lawyer and historian, 1822; Leon- Gustave-Cyprien Gastinel, composer, 1823; Edouard de Hartog, composer, 1828; Walter Crane, painter and illustrator, 1845; James Keir Hardie, Labour Party veteran, 1856; Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer, 1875; Ethel Barrymore (Ethel Mae Blythe), actress, 1879; Edna Ferber, novelist and playwright, 1887; Thomas Edward Lawrence, soldier and writer, 1888; Jacques-Francois-Antoine Ibert, composer, 1890; Prince Louis-Victor de Broglie, physicist, 1892; Gerty Theresa Cori (Radnitz), biochemist, 1896; Thomas Joseph Mboya, Kenyan leader, 1903.

Deaths: Macbeth, King of Scotland, killed in battle 1057; Philippa of Hainault, Queen of Edward III, 1369; Pope Pius II, 1464; Lilian Adelaide Neilson (Elizabeth Ann Brown), actress, 1880; William John Thoms, founder and editor of Notes and Queries, 1885; Wiley Post, aviator, killed in an air crash 1935; William Penn ('Will') Rogers, humorist, killed in an air crash 1935; Rene- Francois-Ghislain Magritte, Surrealist painter, 1967.

On this day: nearly 500 French ships were destroyed by the Duke of Bedford at Harfleur, 1416; the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) was founded in Paris by Ignatius de Loyola, 1534; the Prussians, under Frederick the Great defeated the Austrians under Baron von Laudon in the Battle of Liegnitz, 1760; the Allies under Suvorov defeated the French at the Battle of Novi Ligure, 1799; the Panama Canal was opened officially, 1914; the first London performance of the musical show Good News was presented, 1928; India became independent, 1947; Pakistan, having separated from India, became independent, 1947; the French Congo became independent, 1960; Bahrain became independent, 1971; in Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was deposed and later killed in a military coup, 1975.

Today is the anniversary of VJ Day, 1945, and the Feast Day of The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, St Arnulph of Soissons and St Tarsicius.

TOMORROW

Births: Catharine Cockburn, playwright and philosopher, 1679; Sir Thomas Picton, general, 1758; Heinrich August Marschner, operatic composer, 1795; Moritz Wilhelm Drobisch, mathematician and philosopher, 1802; Arthur Cayley, mathematician, 1821; Johan Siegwald Dahl, painter, 1827; Jules Laforgue, poet and critic, 1860; Henri-Constant-Gabriel Pierne, conductor and composer, 1863; Dame Mary Gilmore, poet, 1865; Georgette Heyer, novelist, 1902; Wendell Meredith Stanley, biochemist, 1904.

Deaths: Thomas Fuller, preacher and biographer, 1661; Andrew Marvell, poet, 1678; Jacques Bernoulli, mathematician, 1705; Matthew Tindal, writer, 1733; Joe Miller, comedian, 1738; Catherine Phillips (Payton), Quaker missionary, 1794; Duncan Phyfe (Fife), cabinet- maker, 1854; Ramakrishna (Gadadhur Chatterji), Hindu mystic, 1886; Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, chemist and inventor, 1899; Jose Maria de Eca de Queiros, novelist, 1900; Umberto Boccioni, futurist sculptor, 1916; Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer, astronomer, 1920; John Coates, tenor, 1941; George Herman 'Babe' Ruth, baseball player, 1948; Louis Jouvet, actor and director, 1951; Bela Lugosi (Bela Blasko), actor, 1956; Wanda Louis Landowska, harpsichordist, 1959; Selman Waksman, microbiologist and discoverer of streptomycin, 1973; Elvis Presley, rock singer, 1977; John George Diefenbaker, statesman, 1979.

On this day: Henry VIII and his army defeated the French at Guinegatte in the Battle of the Spurs, 1513; Prince Eugene of Savoy fought the French in the indecisive Battle of Cassano d'Adda, 1705; Prince Eugene defeated the Turks at Belgrade, 1717; the Jesuits were expelled from Rome, 1773; the American army defeated the British forces at the Battle of Bennington, 1777; British forces led by Cornwallis defeated the American army led by Horatio Gates at the Battle of Camden, New Jersey 1780; during Napoleon's invasion of Russia, the Battle of Smolensk began, 1812; the Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester 1819; the trial of Queen Caroline for adultery began, 1820; the Republic of Bolivia was proclaimed, 1825; the Russians were repulsed by the Piedmontese, the British and the French at the Battle of Tchernaya during the Crimean War, 1855; Wagner's opera Siegfried was first performed, Bayreuth 1876; the Tate Gallery, London, was opened, 1897; the explorer William Beebe descended 3,028 feet (1,922 metres) in his bathysphere into the ocean near Bermuda, 1934; following heavy thunderstorms, flooding devastated Lynton, Devonshire, 1952; Cyprus became an independent republic, 1960; Britain applied for membership of the EEC, 1961; after taking control of most of Northern Cyprus, Turkish forces called a ceasefire, 1974.

Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Armel, St Arsacius and St Stephen of Hungary.