Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: Ivan III (the Great), Grand Duke of Muscovy, 1440; Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St Albans, statesman and lawyer, 1561; Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, antiquary, 1571; Nicolas Lancret, painter, 1690; Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, author, 1729; Vincenzo Righini, singer and composer, 1756; Manuel del Popolo Vicente Rodriguez Garcia, tenor and composer, 1775; George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron, poet, 1788; Eugen Adam, painter, 1817; Paul- Vidal de la Blache, geographer, 1845; August Strindberg, playwright, 1849; Beatrice Potter Webb, social reformer, 1858; David Wark Griffith, silent-film producer and director, 1875; Lev Davidovich Landau, physicist, 1908; U Thant, Secretary-General of the United Nations, 1909.

Deaths: William Paterson, financier and founder of the Bank of England, 1719; Horace-Benedict de Saussure, geologist, 1799; William Westall, landscape painter, 1850; Charles Kean, actor-manager, 1868; Carlo Pellegrini ('Ape'), cartoonist, 1889; David Edward Hughes, inventor of the teleprinter and microphone, 1900; Queen Victoria, 1901; Robert Brough, painter, killed in a railway disaster 1905; George Jacob Holyoake, secularist and reformer, 1906; Pope Benedict XV, 1922; Walter Richard Sickert, painter, 1942; Marc Blitzstein, composer, 1964; Lyndon Baines Johnson, statesman, 1973; Herbert Sutcliffe, cricketer, 1978; Walter McLennan Citrine, first Baron Citrine, trade-union leader and statesman, 1983; Sir Arthur Bryant, historian, 1985.

On this day: the Falkland Islands were ceded to Britain by Spain, 1771; British troops were massacred by the Zulus at Isandhlwana, 1879; Edward VII acceded to the throne, 1901; the Hay- Herran Pact was concluded, under which the United States acquired the Panama Canal, 1903; 120,000 citizens marched on the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, only to be fired upon, 'Bloody Sunday' 1905; Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour prime minister, took office, 1924; the first broadcast of a football match took place (Arsenal v Sheffield United) at Highbury, London, 1927; the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square, London, was demolished, 1927; Britain, Irish Republic and Denmark joined the Common Market, 1972; a ceasefire agreement was concluded in the Lebanon, 1976.

Today is the Feast Day of St Anastasius the Persian, St Berhtwald of Ramsbury, St Blesilla, St Dominic of Sora, St Vincent Pallotti and St Vincent of Saragossa.

TOMORROW

Births: Philipp Jakob Spener, protestant theologian, 163; Muzio Clementi, composer, 1752; Stendhal (Henri-Marie Beyle), novelist, 1783; Thomas Henry Weist Hill, violinist, 1828; Edouard Manet, painter, 1832; Benoit- Constant Coquelin, actor, 1841; Antoinette Sterling, contralto, 1850; Rutland Boughton, composer, 1878; Gilbert Ledward, sculptor, 1888; Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein, film director, 1898.

Deaths: Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, 1002; William Baffin, explorer, 1622; John Cleland, author of Fanny Hill, 1789; William Pitt the Younger, statesman, 1806; John Field, pianist and composer, 1837; Julius Charles Hare, archdeacon and scholar, 1855; Thomas Love Peacock, novelist and poet, 1866; Charles Kingsley, poet and novelist, 1875; Louis-Christophe-Gustave-Paul Dore, artist, 1883; Eugene- Marin Labiche, playwright and farceur, 1888; Alexandre Cabanel, painter, 1889; William Whiteley, department- store owner, shot dead 1907; Anna Pavlova, ballerina, 1931; Charles Benjamin Bright M'Laren, first Baron Aberconway, politician, 1934; Dame Clara Ellen Butt, contralto, 1936; Edvard Munch, painter, 1944; Pierre Bonnard, painter and designer, 1947; Sir Alexander Korda (Sandor Laszlo Korda), film producer, 1956; Edward 'Kid' Ory, jazz musician, 1973; Paul Bustill Robeson, actor and singer, 1976; Frank Owen, editor and journalist, 1979; Sir Emile Littler, theatrical impresario, 1985.

On this day: the Royal Exchange, London, was opened by Queen Elizabeth I, 1571; the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, 1579; the Principality of Liechtenstein was constituted, 1719; Fletcher Christian and the Bounty mutineers landed on Pitcairn Island, 1790; the Battle of Spion Kop was fought during the Boer War, 1900; the musical show Our Miss Gibbs was first performed, London 1909; the show trial of Karl Radek and other alleged Trotskyists was held in Moscow, 1937; the bathyscaphe Trieste designed by Professor Piccard descended to a depth of 35,800ft in the Pacific Ocean, 1960; the proceedings of the House of Lords were televised for the first time, 1985.

Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Asclas, St Bernard of Vienne, Saints Clement and Agathangelus, St Emerentiana, St Ildephonsus, St John the Almsgiver, St Lufthildis and St Maimbod.