Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: Honore Daumier, caricaturist and painter, 1808; Dame Marie Rambert, founder of the Ballet Rambert, 1888; Carl Mayer, film director, 1892. Deaths: James I, King of Scotland, assassinated 1437; Luca della Robbia, sculptor, 1482; Nathan Field, actor and playwright, buried 1633; Augustin- Eugene Scribe, playwright, 1861; Percy Aldridge Grainger, composer, 1961; Robert Oxton Bolt, playwright and screenwriter, 1995. On this day: Austria declared herself bankrupt, 1811; a great storm raged in England, with much damage to the Crystal Palace, while the steeple of Chichester Cathedral was blown away, 1861; Anthony Eden resigned as British Foreign Secretary, 1938; John Glenn, astronaut, was launched into space in the Mercury capsule Friendship 7, 1962; new-design pounds 10 notes were issued, showing a portrait of Florence Nightingale, 1975. Today is the Feast Day of St Eleutherius of Tournai, St Eucherius of Orleans, St Sadoth, Saints Tyrannio, Zenobius and their Companions and St Wulfric.

TOMORROW

Births: Peter III, Tsar of Russia, 172; Carl Czerny, pianist, teacher and writer, 1791; John Henry Newman, Cardinal, 1801; Charles-Marie Jean- Albert Widor, organist and composer, 1845; Sacha Guitry, actor, playwright and director, 1885; Anais Nin, writer, 1903; Wystan Hugh Auden, poet, 1907; Douglas Bader, Second World War fighter pilot, 1910; Tad Dameron (Tadley Ewing Peake), jazz pianist, composer and arranger, 1917. Deaths: Pope Julius II, 1513; Jethro Tull, agricultural writer, 1741; Kurt Eisner, Bavarian premier, assassinated in Munich 1919; George Ellery Hale, astronomer, 1938; Malcolm X (Little), black leader, murdered 1965. On this day: freedom of worship was established in France, 1795; the first republic of Cuba was founded, 1901; the British protectorate over Egypt ended, 1922; the New Statesman was founded, 1931; it was announced that British women aged 60 and over would receive the Old Age Pension, 1940; identity cards were abolished in Britain, 1952; in the United States, John Ehrlichman, H.R. Haldeman and John Mitchell were sentenced after the Watergate affair, 1975. Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St George of Amastris, St Germanus of Granfel, St Peter Damian, St Robert Southwell and St Severian of Scythopolis.