Anniversaries

TODAY is the feast day of St John the Dwarf, hermit saint who lived in the Egyptian desert in the 5th century. He was told to plant a walking stick in the desert and water it daily. This he did every day until after three years it took root and bore fruit. He never talked of worldly affairs, considering news to be superficial.

17 October, 1662: Charles II sold Dunkirk to France

1727: John Wilkes, above, English political agitator born in Clerkenwell, son of a distiller. Champion of parliamentary reform, American independence, religious tolerance and free speech, he was also an infamous libertine. The Earl of Sandwich reportedly said to him: 'I don't know whether you'll die on the gallows or of the pox', to which Wilkes allegedly replied: 'That depends whether I first embrace your Lordship's principles or your Lordship's mistress.'

1777: Battle of Saratoga, victory for American colonists over British

1931:Al Capone jailed for 11 years for tax evasion