Anniversaries

Births: Richard Mead, physician, 1673; Joseph Nollekens, sculptor, 1737; Charlotte Mary Yonge, novelist, 1823; Helen Broderick, actress and comedienne, 1891; Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Murray Grieve), poet, 1892; Enid Mary Blyton, children's author, 1897.

Deaths: John I, King of Portugal, 1433; Ottavio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, military commander, 1656; Henry James Pye, poet, 1813; Marshall Hall, physiologist, 1857; James Wilson, founder of the Economist, 1860; Richard Monckton Milnes, first Baron Houghton, poet, 1809; Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, painter, 1923; Edith Newbold Jones Wharton, novelist, 1937; Paul Jackson Pollock, painter, 1956.

On this day: the Battle of Passero Cape was fought when Admiral Byng attacked the Spanish fleet, 1718; Penang was ceded to Britain by the Rajah of Kedah, 1786; the Atlantic Charter was signed by Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt, 1941; King Talal of Jordan was deposed because of his mental illness, 1952; King Hussein succeeded to the throne of Jordan, 1952; the French colony of Chad became independent, 1960; a burst dam on the Manchhu river, Gujaret, India, resulted in the deaths of over 5,000 people, 1979.

Today is the Feast Day of St Alexander of Comana, St Attracta or Araght, St Blane, St Clare of Assisi, St Equitius, St Gerrard of Gallinaro, St Gery or Gaugericus, St Lelia, St Susanna and St Tiburtius.