Anniversaries

TODAY: Births: Conte Giacomo Leopardi, poet, 1798; Antoine-Marie Roger de Saint-Exupery, aviator and author, 1900; Nelson Eddy, actor and singer, 1901. Deaths: Thomas Addison, physician and discoverer of "Addison's disease", 1860; Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet, 1861; Joseph Aloysius Hansom, inventor of the hansom cab, 1882; Thomas Henry Huxley, biologist, 1895; Paul Klee, painter, 1940; Ignaz Jan Paderewski, pianist and statesman, 1941; Jayne Mansfield (Vera Jayne Palmer), actress, killed in a car crash 1967; Lana Turner (Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner), actress, 1995. On this day: Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was burned down, 1613; the Daily Telegraph was first published, 1855; the Press Association was founded, 1868; an Act legalising Trades Unions was passed, 1871; the foundation stone of Westminster Cathedral was laid, 1895; Sir Roger Casement, an Irish revolutionary, was condemned to death for treason, 1916; US troops were withdrawn from Korea, 1949; US planes bombed Hanoi, North Vietnam, 1966. Today is the Feast Day of St Cassius of Narni, St Paul the Apostle, St Peter the Apostle and Saints Salome and Judith.

TOMORROW: Births: John Gay, poet and playwright, 1685; Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, surgeon and botanist, 1817; Harold Joseph Laski, politician and economist, 1893; Walter Ulbricht, East German leader, 1893. Deaths: Dr Lee De Forest, radio and sound engineer, 1961; Margery Louise Allingham, novelist, 1966; Nancy Freeman Mitford, author, 1973; Lillian Hellman, playwright, 1984. On this day: the use of the pillory was abolished by Parliament, 1837; the Stamp Tax on newspapers was abolished in Britain, 1855; Blondin, the acrobat, crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope with a man on his back, 1859; Tower Bridge in London was officially opened, 1894; an enormous natural explosion, the largest in modern history, took place in Siberia, 1908; the novel Gone With the Wind was first published, 1936; Guernsey was occupied by German forces, 1940; the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 11 returned to Earth but all three cosmonauts were found to be dead in their seats, 1971. Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Bertrand of Le Mans, St Emma, St Erentrude, St Martial of Limoges, St Theobald or Thibaud of Provins and The First Martyrs of the Church of Rome.