Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: Nathaniel Hawthorne, author, 1804; Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian leader, 1807; Dr Thomas John Barnardo, philanthropist, 1845; John Calvin Coolidge, 30th US president, 1872; Louis Burt Mayer, Hollywood 'movie mogul', 1885; Gertrude Lawrence (Gertrud Alexandra Dagmar Lawrence Klasen), actress, 1898; Daniel Louis Armstrong, jazz trumpeter and singer, 1900; Lionel Trilling, author and educationist, 1905.

Deaths: Bencivieni di Pepo (Giovanni Cimabue), painter, 1302; William Byrd, organist and composer, 1623; Samuel Richardson, novelist and author of Pamela, 1761; John Adams, second US President, 1826; Thomas Jefferson, third US President, 1826; James Monroe, fifth US president, 1831; Viscomte Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand, politician and writer, 1848; Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli, astronomer, 1910; Max Klinger, painter, etcher and sculptor, 1920; Marie Curie (Marja Sklodowska), chemist, 1934; Suzanne Lenglen, tennis player, 1938; Louis Wain, illustrator of cats, 1939; Wladyslaw Sikorski, prime minister of Poland, in an air crash 1943.

On this day: Saladin defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Tiberias, 1187; Providence, Rhode Island, was founded by the English Puritan, Roger Williams, 1636; the Barebones Parliament began sitting, 1653; the American Declaration of Independence was adopted, 1776; the US Military Academy was opened at West Point with 10 cadets, 1802; the second Theatre Royal Haymarket opened in London, 1821; Don Miguel assumed the title of King of Portugal, 1828; the first London bus ran, from Marylebone Road to the Bank of England, 1829; the Britannia, the first Cunard steamship, sailed from Liverpool to Halifax and Boston, 1840; Karl Heinrich Marx and Friedrich Engels published the Communist Manifesto, 1848; the Union army defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Vicksburg, 1863; the Statue of Liberty was presented by the people of France to the US, 1883; the Gaiety Theatre, Strand, London, was demolished, 1903; the construction of the Panama Canal began, 1904; Hanna Reitsch made the first successful flight in a helicopter, Germany, 1937; the Republic of the Philippines was established, 1946.

Today is Independence Day in the United States of America and the Feast Day of St Andrew of Crete, St Bertha of Blangy, St Elizabeth of Portugal, St Odo of Canterbury, St Ulric of Augsburg and The Martyrs of Dorchester.

TOMORROW

Births: Luke Hansard, printer of Hansard, 1752; Mrs Sarah Siddons (Kemble), actress, 1755; Phineas Taylor Barnum, showman, 1810; John Loughborough Pearson, architect, 1817; Thomas Barry Sullivan, actor, 1821; Mandell Creighton, Bishop of London and author, 1843; Cecil John Rhodes, colonial developer and politician, 1853; Edouard Herriot, statesman and writer, 1872; Wanda Louise Landowska, harpsichord player, 1877; Joseph Holbrooke, composer, 1878; Dwight Filley Davis, statesman and founder of the Davis Tennis Cup, 1879; Jan Kubelik, violinist, 1880; Jean Cocteau, poet, novelist and artist, 1889; Gordon Jacob, composer, 1895; Georges Pompidou, president of France, 1911.

Deaths: Sir Robert Strange, line engraver, 1792; Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore, 1826; Joseph-Nicephore Niepce, pioneer in photography, 1833; James Hall, judge, editor and author, 1868; Sir Austen Henry Layard, archaeologist, 1894; Jules-Adolphe-Aime- Louis Breton, painter, 1906; Georges Bernanos, novelist and writer, 1948; Walter Adolph Gropius, architect, 1969; Thomas Joseph Mboya, statesman, assassinated, 1969; Georgette Heyer, novelist, 1974.

On this day: in London, the Star Chamber was abolished, 1641;the Parliamentarians were defeated by the Royalists at the Battle of Lansdown, 1643; the Turkish navy was defeated by the Russians at the Battle of Tschesme, 1770; George Hammond, the first British ambassador to the US was appointed, 1791; the British were defeated by the American forces at the Battle of Chippewa, 1814; the gold sovereign coin was first issued, 1817; the Spectator was first published, 1828; the travel agents, Thomas Cook and Son were founded when the first excursion train was run from Leicester to Loughborough, 1841; the Salvation Army was founded, when William Booth held the first open-air Christian Mission at Mile End, London, 1865; Dadabhai Naoroji was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Finsbury Central - the first Indian to be elected to the British Paliament, 1892; Oliveira Salazar became virtual dictator of Portugal at the head of a fascist regime, 1932; after the General Election, the Labour Party received its first absolute majority, 1945; the National Health Service came into operation, 1948; the first Assembly opened of the Western European Union at Strasbourg, 1955; the Cape Verde Islands became independent, 1975.

Tomorrow is Tynwald Day on the Isle of Man and the Feast Day of St Antony-Mary Zaccaria and St Athanasius the Athonite.