Birthdays and Anniversaries

Birthdays

The Right Rev John Bickersteth, former Bishop of Bath and Wells, 75; Mr Brian Booth, Rector and Chief Executive, University of Central Lancashire, 54; Mr Simon Burns MP, a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, 44; Mr Sherban Cantacuzino, former Secretary, Royal Fine Art Commission, 68; Sir Derman Christopherson, former Master, Magdalene College, Cambridge, 81; Miss Britt Ekland, actress, 53; Sir Andrew Hugh Smith, chairman, Holland & Holland, 65; Sir John Johnson, former diplomat, 66; Mr Roger Knight, Secretary, MCC, 50; Mr Roger Law, puppeteer, 55; Mr George Mann, cricketer and former chairman, TCCB, 79; Miss Monica Mason, ballerina, 55; Lord O'Hagan, former MEP, 51; Sir Peter Pain, former High Court judge, 83; Sir James Stubblefield, geologist, 95; Miss Jackie Trent, singer and lyricist, 56; Mr Terence Wood, former ambassador to Austria, 60.

Anniversaries

Births: Laurence Eusden, poet, baptised 1688; John Dalton, chemist and physicist, 1766; Vincent Novello, organist, composer and music publisher, 1781; Carl Ferdinand Pohl, writer and bibliographer, 1819; Jane Addams, sociologist, 1860; Sir Henry Walford Davies, organist and composer, 1869; Montagu Collet Norman, banker, 1871; John James Rickard Macleod, one of the discoverers of insulin, 1876; Leopold Hamilton Myers, novelist, 1881; Joseph Patrick Kennedy, financier and diplomat, 1888; Manfred Gurlitt, composer, 1890; Sir Edward Victor Appleton, physicist, 1892; Billy Rose (William Samuel Rosenberg), producer and lyricist, 1899; King Peter of Yugoslavia, 1923. Deaths: Benvenuto Tisio (Il Garofalo), painter, 1559; Suleyman I (the Magnificent; the ``Lawgiver''), Sultan of Turkey, 1566; Jean-Baptiste Colbert, statesman, 1683; Carlo Cignani, painter, 1719; Edmund Gibson, Bishop of Lincoln and author, 1748; George Alexander Stevens, writer and humorist, 1784; Sir Joseph Archer Crowe, consular official and art critic, 1896; Sir James Guthrie, painter, 1930; Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker, author and politician, 1932; Arthur Rackham, illustrator, 1939; Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, South African prime minister, assassinated 1966; Rodney Robert Porter, biochemist, 1985. On this day: Richard I defeated the Saracens at the Battle of Arsouf, 1191; the Pilgrim Fathers set sail in the Mayflower from Plymouth (6 September Old Style; 16 September New Style), 1620; the Great Fire of London came to an end, 1666; the first free lending library in Britain opened in Manchester, 1852; the first telephone exchange in Britain opened in Lombard Street, London, 1879; the first cricket test match in England was played at the Oval between England and Australia, 1880; King Carol II of Romania abdicated in favour of his son Michael, 1940; the Manila Conference began, 1954; India invaded West Pakistan, 1965; Swaziland became an independent kingdom, 1968; in Turkey, a massive earthquake centred on Lice resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths, 1975; the Soviet ruling council recognised the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, 1991. Today is the Feast Day of St Cagnoald or Chainoaldus, Saints Donatian, Laetus and Others and St Eleutherius of Spoleto.