Anniversaries

Births: Andre de Lenotre, architect, 1613; John Aubrey, antiquarian, 1626; George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, philosopher, 1685; Thomas Augustine Arne, composer of 'Rule, Britannia', 1710; Sir August Friedrich Manns, conductor, 1825; Capt Charles Cunningham Boycott, land agent (from whose name the word 'boycott' is taken), 1832; Sir William Henry Perkin, chemist, 1838; Adolph Simon Ochs, newspaper proprietor, 1858; Gabriele D'Annunzio, poet and politician, 1863; William Halse Rivers Rivers, anthropologist, 1864; Kemal Ataturk, soldier and statesman, 1881; Philip Guedalla, historian, 1889; Vaslav Fomich Nijinsky, dancer, 1890; Kylie Tennant, novelist, 1912; Gordon MacRae, actor and singer, 1921; Jack Kerouac, novelist, 1922.

Deaths: Innocent I, pope, 417; St Gregory I, pope, 604; Ranulf Higden, author of the Polychronicon history, 1364; Cesare Borgia, cardinal, soldier and politician, killed 1507; John Bull, organist and composer, 1628; Frans van Mieris the Elder, painter, 1681; Gaetano Milanesi, scholar and painter, 1895; Hilaire, Comte de Chardonnet, inventor of rayon, 1924; Sun Yat-sen, Chinese leader, 1925; Edward Wyllis Scripps, journalist, at sea 1926; William T. Dannat, artist, 1929; Ivar Kreuger, industralist and swindler, 1932; Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor, organist and composer, 1937; Sir William Bragg, scientist, 1942; Tolchard Evans, composer and conductor, 1978; Arnold Ridley, playwright and actor, 1984.

On this day: the Bermudas became an English colony, 1609; the US Post Office was established, 1789; the Sikhs surrendered to the British at Rawalpindi, 1849; Verdi's opera Simon Boccanegra was first performed, Venice, 1857; Britain annexed Basutoland, 1868; the Albery Theatre, London, opened as the New Theatre, 1903; the first main line electric train in the UK ran from Liverpool to Southport, 1904; the Girl Guides (later Scouts) movement was started in the US by Juliette Gordon Low, 1912; the foundation stone of the Australian capital Canberra was laid, 1913; in Britain a 30 mph speed limit was imposed for cars in built-up areas, 1935; the coronation took place of Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, as Pope Pius XII, 1939; Finland signed a peace treaty which made territorial concessions to the USSR, 1940; Mauritius became independent, 1968.

Today is the Feast Day of St Alphege of Winchester, St Bernard of Capua, St Maximilian of Theveste, St Paul Aurelian or of Leon, Saints Peter, Gorgonius and Dorotheus, St Seraphina or Fina and St Theophanes the Chronicler.