Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: Philip III, King of France, 1245; Henry IV, King of England, 1367; the Rev George Herbert, clergyman and poet, 1593; Julius Hermann Krigar, composer and conductor, 1819; Edward Everett Hale, writer, 1822; Joseph Aloysius (Allan) Dwan, film director, 1885; Henry Robinson Luce, publisher and founder Time and Fortune magazines, 1898; Hugh Burden, actor, 1913.

Deaths: Pope Honorius IV, 1287; Bartolome Esteban Murillo, painter, 1682; Melchior D'Hondecoeter, painter, 1695; Jean Adam, poet, 1765; Erik Johan Stagnelius, poet and writer, 1823; Bishop Reginald Heber, hymn-writer, 1826; Sir James Clark Ross, explorer, 1862; Franz Berwald, composer, 1868; Jesse James, outlaw, shot in the back 1882; Johannes Brahms, pianist and composer, 1897; Richard D'Oyly Carte, operatic impresario, 1901; Madame Albani (Marie-Louise Lejeunesse), singer, 1930; Conrad Veidt, actor, 1943; Kurt Julian Weill, composer, 1950; Ferde Grofe (Ferdinand Rudolf von Grofe), composer, 1972; Ray (Stanley Raymond) Noble, bandleader and composer, 1978; Graham Greene, novelist, 1991.

On this day: Mrs Emily Pankhurst was sentenced to three years' penal servitude for inciting others to place explosives at the house of David Lloyd George, 1913; Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari) was proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia, 1930; the German Afrika Korps captured Benghazi in Libya, 1941; the Arab nations concluded an armistice with Israel, 1949; in Korea, a Japanese Boeing 727 was hijacked and flown to Pyongyang, 1970.

Today is the Feast Day of Saints Agape, Chionia, and Irene, St Burgundofara or Fare, St Nicetas, St Pancras of Taormina, St Richard of Chichester and St Sixtus I, pope.

TOMORROW

Births: Grinling Gibbons, sculptor and woodcarver, 1648; Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, painter, 1758; Sir Charles William (Karl Wilhelm) Siemens, metallurgist and inventor, 1823; Maurice de Vlaminck, painter, 1876; Robert Emmet Sherwood, playwright, 1896; Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) rhythm and blues singer, 1915; Anthony Perkins, actor, 1932.

Deaths: Alfonso X, King of Castile and Leon, 1284; Frederick II, King of Denmark, 1588; Thomas Churchyard, poet and pamphleteer, 1604; John Napier, mathematician and inventor of logarithms, 1617; Oliver Goldsmith, playwright, 1774; William Henry Harrison, ninth US President, 1841; Karl Friedrich Benz, automobile engineer, 1929; Andre Michelin, tyre manufacturer, 1931; Wilhelm Ostwald, physical chemist, 1932; Martin Luther King, black clergyman and civil rights leader, assassinated 1968; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former Pakistani prime minister, executed, 1979; Gloria Swanson, actress, 1983.

On this day: the University of Basle, Switzerland, was founded, 1460; Ignatius of Loyola became the first Superior-General of the Jesuits, 1541; Francis Drake completed his circumnavigation of the world and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I, 1581; a Chinese republic was proclaimed in Tibet, 1912; the US dirigible airship Akron crashed off the New Jersey coast, with the loss of 73 lives, 1933; Faisal II acceded to the throne of Iraq, 1939; British troops captured Addis Ababa, 1941; the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, 1949. a US Air Force transport aircraft carrying orphans from Saigon, crashed on take-off from Vietnam, killing 155, 1975.

Tomorrow is the Feast Day of Saints Agathopus and Theodulus, St Benedict the Black, St Isidore of Seville, St Plato and St Tigernach.