Anniversaries

Births: Andrea del Sarto (Andrea Domenico d'Agnolo di Francesco), painter, 1486; Joseph Wilton, sculptor, 1722; Sir Joshua Reynolds, painter, 1723; Jean- Baptiste-Camille Corot, painter, 1796; Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ Scientist, 1821; Luigi Arditi, violinist and composer, 1822; Henri Viotta, conductor and composer, 1848; Eugene Auguste Ysaye, composer and violinist, 1858; Jens Otto Harry Jespersen, linguist and philologist, 1860; George A. Birmingham (the Rev James Owen Hannay), novelist, 1865; Roald Amundsen, Polar explorer, 1872; Trygve Halvdan Lie, statesman, 1896.

Deaths: Pope Innocent III, 1216; Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII, 1557; Francois-Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, statesman, 1691; Elijah Fenton, poet, 1730; Thomas Yalden, poet and writer of fables, 1736; Giuseppe Maria Crespi, painter and etcher, 1747; Josiah Spode, potter, 1827; Pierre-Jean de Beranger, poet, 1857; Ned Buntline (Edward Zane Carroll Judson), author, 1886; Gottfried Keller, novelist and poet, 1890; Edmond-Louis-Antoine Huot de Goncourt, novelist, 1896; William Hamilton Gibson, illustrator, author and naturalist, 1896; Sir Victor Alexander Haden Horsley, physician, 1916; Nicholas II, last Tsar of Russia, 1918; Joseph Hilaire Belloc, author, 1953; John Phillips Marquand, novelist, 1960.

On this day: Brennus and the Gauls defeated the Romans at Allia, 390 BC; the Muslim Era began when Mahomet began his flight from Mecca to Medina (The Hejira), 622; the Spanish defeated the Moors at the Battle of Tolosa, 1212; Captain John Gilbert patented the first dredger in Britain, 1618; the first banknotes in Europe were issued by the Bank of Stockholm, 1661; Mozart's opera Das Entfuhrung aus dem Serail was first performed, Vienna 1782; the District of Columbia was established in the US, 1790; Sir Henry Havelock arrived at the Battle of Cawnpore, 1857; the Tsar of Russia (Nicholas II) and all his family were murdered by Bolsheviks at Ekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk), 1918; the world's first parking meters were installed in Oklahoma City, US 1935; the first atomic test bomb was exploded at Los Alamos, New Mexico 1945; Leopold III, King of the Belgians, abdicated, 1951; the Mont Blanc road tunnel, between France and Italy, was opened, 1965; the Bill to abolish the Greater London Council received Royal Assent, 1985.

Today is the Feast Day of St Athenogenes, St Eustathius of Antioch, St Fulrad, St Helier, St Mary Magdalen Postel and St Reineldis.