Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet, playwright and author, 1749; Antoine-Augustin Cournot, mathematician and economist, 1801; Constant Troyon, painter, 1810; Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, novelist, 1814; Thomas Seddon, landscape painter, 1821; Walter Cecil Macfarren, composer, 1826; Sir Edward Coley Burne- Jones, painter, 1833; Ira David Sankey, hymn-writer and revivalist, 1840; Bernhard Friedrich Wilhelm Listemann, violinist and conductor, 1841; George Hoyt Whipple, pathologist, 1878; Peter Fraser, statesman, 1884; Edward Vance Palmer, novelist, 1885; Ivor (Bertie) Gurney, poet and composer, 1890; Liam O'Flaherty, novelist, 1896; Charles Boyer, actor, 1897.

Deaths: St Augustine of Hippo, 430; Louis II the German, King of the East Franks, 876; Hugo Grotius, jurist and lawyer, 1645; John Leyden, physician and poet, 1811; Karl Theodor Korner, poet, playwright and patriot, 1813; William Smith, geologist, 1839; James Henry Leigh Hunt, critic and poet, 1859; Albrecht Adam, painter, 1862; Eilhardt Mitscherlich, chemist, 1863; Anatol Konstantinovich Liadov, composer, 1914; Ernest Orlando Lawrence, physicist, 1958; Bohuslav Martinu, composer, 1959; Prince William of Gloucester, killed in an air crash 1972.

On this day: the Scots routed the Royalist army at the Battle of Newburn, 1640; the Indian War in New England ended with the surrender of the Indians, 1676; Wagner's opera Lohengrin was first performed in Weimar, 1850; Cetewayo, the Zulu chief, was captured by the British, 1879; Montenegro was proclaimed an independent kingdom under Nicholas I, 1910; the Battle of the Heligoland Bight was fought, 1914; US forces under General George Marshall landed in Japan, 1945; 200,000 black Americans demonstrated in Washington for civil rights, 1963.

Today is the Feast Day of St Alexander of Constantinople, St Augustine of Hippo, St Edmund Arrowsmith, St Hermes of Rome, St John of Constantinople, St Julian of Brioude, St Moses of Abyssinia and St Paul IV of Constantinople.

TOMORROW

Births: Jean-Baptiste Colbert, statesman and founder of the French navy, 1619; John Locke, philosopher, 1632; Raphael Georg Kiesewetter, Edler von Wiesenbrunn, historian of music, 1773; Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, painter, 1780; Richard Rush, lawyer and statesman, 1780; John Frederick Denison Maurice, theologian, 1805; Oliver Wendell Holmes, physician and writer, 1809; John Leech, caricaturist and illustrator, 1817; Maurice-Polydore-Marie-Bernard Maeterlinck, poet and playwright, 1862; Jack (Weldon Leo) Teagarden, jazz musician, vocalist and bandleader, 1905; Ingrid Bergman, actress, 1915.

Deaths: Alessio Baldovinetti, Florentine painter, 1499; Lajos II, King of Hungary, 1526; John Fletcher, playwright, 1625; John Lilburne, pamphleteer and reformer, leader of the 'Levellers', 1657; Louis Couperin, composer, 1661; Edmond Hoyle, writer on card-playing, 1769; Joseph Wright (of Derby), painter, 1797; Pope Pius VI, 1799; William Simson, painter, 1847; Sir Charles James Napier, soldier and statesman, 1853; William Brockedon, painter, author and inventor, 1854; Christian Friedrich Schonbein, chemist, 1868; Felicien- Cesar David, composer, 1876; Brigham Young, Mormon leader, 1877; Arthur Melville, painter, 1904; The Rev William Archibald Spooner, perpetrator of 'Spoonerisms', 1930; Sir Philip Magnus Bt, educationist and mathematician, 1933; Astrid, Queen Consort of the Belgians, in a road accident 1935; Boris III, Tsar of Bulgaria, 1943; Cesare Pavese, novelist and translator, 1950; Vicki (Hedwig) Baum, novelist, 1960; Hazza El-Majali, prime minister of Jordan, assassinated 1960; Eamon de Valera, statesman, 1975; Ingrid Bergman, actress, 1982; Lee Marvin, actor, 1987.

On this day: the Spanish fleet was defeated by Edward III at Winchelsea, 1350; the Turks defeated the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohacs, 1526; HMS Royal George sank off Spithead while at anchor, with the loss of over 900 lives, 1782; Michael Faraday discovered the induction of electric currents, 1831; the Factory Act, regulating the employment of children, was passed, 1833; the city of Melbourne, Australia, was founded, 1835; the Treaty of Nanking was signed, ending the Anglo-Chinese war, and agreeing the lease of the Hong Kong territories to Britain, 1842; the British army defeated the Boers at Boomplatz, 1848; Royalist troops defeated and captured Garibaldi at the Battle of Aspromonte, 1862; the second Battle of Bull Run (American Civil War) started, 1862; the Sporting Times published an 'obituary' for English cricket, and first mentioned 'the Ashes', 1882; the Rugby League (originally 'Northern Union'), was formed from 21 clubs in the North of England, 1895; the third Olympic Games opened at St Louis, Missouri, 1904; the Graf Zeppelin airship completed its tour of the world, 1929; Simeon II became Tsar of Bulgaria under a Council of Regency, 1943; the Soviet Union exploded a hydrogen bomb, 1953.

Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Edwold of Cerne, St Medericus or Merry, St Sabina of Rome and the Beheading of John the Baptist.