Birthdays and Anniversaries

Birthdays

Mr Geoffrey Archer, television newscaster, 53; Dr John Armitage, Principal, College of St Hild and St Bede, Durham, 65; Mr Michael Crick, television journalist, 39; Baron Guy de Rothschild, banker, 88; Mr Malcolm Fraser, former prime minister of Australia, 67; Mr William Hutton, Editor, the Observer, 47; Mr Paul Keetch MP, 36; Mr Terry Lightfoot, bandleader and jazz musician, 62; Mr Denis MacShane MP, 49; Mr Leonard Manasseh, architect, 81; Dr Leonard Mullins, former Director of Research, Malaysian Rubber Producers' Research Association, 79; Mr Dipak Nandy, Head of Equal Opportunities, Social Services Department, Notts County Council, 61; Mr Andrew Neil, Editor, the European, 48; Miss Rosalind Plowright, soprano, 48; Mr Harold Robbins, novelist, 81; Mrs Mary Robinson, president of the Irish Republic, 53; Mr Leo Sayer, singer, 49; Professor Sir David Smith, President, Wolfson College, Oxford, 67; Mr Robert Welch, designer and silversmith, 68; Professor Stanley Wells, Shakespearean scholar, 67; Mr Desmond Wilcox, radio and television presenter, 66; The Right Rev Mark Wood, former Bishop of Ludlow, 78; Mr James Woodhouse, director, ISIS East, 64.

Anniversaries

Births: Albrecht Durer, painter and engraver, 1471; Philip II, King of Spain, 1527; Alexander Pope, poet and satirist, 1688; Francis Egerton, Third Duke of Bridgewater, canal pioneer, 1736; Joseph Fouche, Duc d'Otrante, French revolutionary and secret police chief, 1763; Elizabeth Fry (Gurney), philanthropist and prison reformer, 1780; Rudolf Hermann Lotze, physiologist, philosopher and writer, 1817; Amy Fay, pianist, 1844; Henri Rousseau, primitive painter, 1844; Emile Verhaeren, poet, 1855; Willem Einthoven, physiologist, 1860; Glenn Hammond Curtiss, aviation pioneer, 1878; Konstantin Georgeyevich Paustovsky, writer, 1892; Marcel Lajos Breuer, architect and designer, 1902; Thomas Wright (Fats) Waller, songwriter and pianist, 1904; Raymond William Stacy Burr, film actor, 1917. Deaths: Henry VI, King of England, murdered, 1471; Hernando de Soto, soldier and explorer, 1542; Hieronymus Fabricius, physician, 1619; Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, historian and poet, 1647; James Graham, First Marquess of Montrose, Scottish royalist, executed, 1650; Robert Harley, First Earl of Oxford, statesman, 1724; Christopher Smart, poet, 1771; Christian Thomsen, archaeologist, 1865; Prince Paul Anton von Galanthea Esterhazy, diplomat, 1866; Franz von Suppe (Francesco Cavaliere Suppe Demelli), composer, 1895; General Venustiano Carranza, president of Mexico, murdered by revolutionaries, 1920; Ronald Arthur Annesley Firbank, novelist, 1926; Jane Addams, sociologist, 1935; Hugo de Vries, geneticist, 1935; Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron, art historian, 1983; Dino Grandi, Conte de Mordano, politician, 1988. On this day: St Helena was discovered by the navigator, Joao da Nova Castell, 1502; Napoleon was defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Aspern-Essling, 1809; the Standard newspaper was first published, 1827; Captain William Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty over the whole of New Zealand, 1840; gold was discovered in Australia, 1851; during the American Civil War, the Battle of Spotsylvania ended, 1864; the Treaty of Frankfurt was ratified, 1871; Leoncavallo's opera I Pagliacci was first performed, Milan, 1892; the Manchester Ship Canal was officially opened, 1894; Summer Time (daylight saving) was begun in Britain, 1916; Charles A. Lindbergh reached Paris at the end of his flight across the Atlantic, 1927. Today is the Feast Day of St Andrew Bobola, St Godfric and St Theophilus of Corte.