Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Wilhelm Richard Wagner, composer, 1813; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, novelist, 1859; Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, actor and director, 1907. Deaths: Constantine the Great, Roman Emperor, 337; Maria Edgeworth, novelist, 1849;Sir John Denton Pinkstone French, first Earl of Ypres, soldier, 1925; Augusta, Lady Gregory, poet, playwright and theatre director, 1932; Cecil Day Lewis, poet and author, 1972; Rajiv Gandhi, former Indian prime minister, assassinated 1991. On this day: the Blackwall Tunnel under the Thames was officially opened, 1897; the Battle of Anzio started, 1944; the Organisation of African Unity was formed in Addis Ababa, 1963; Ceylon changed its named to Sri Lanka and became a republic, 1972. Today is the Feast Day of St Aigulf of Ayoul or Bourges, Saints Castus and Aemilius, St Helen of Caernarvon, St Humility, St Joachima de Mas, St Julia of Corsica, St Quiteria, St Rita (Margarita) of Cascia and St Romanus.