Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: Charles II, King, 1630; Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough, 1660; Dr John Walker, inventor of the friction match, 1781; Isaac Manuel Francisco Albeniz, composer, 1860; Gilbert Keith Chesterton, author, 1874; Oswald Spengler, philosopher, 1880; Erich Wolfgang Korngold, composer, 1897; Gregg Toland, cinematographer, 1904; Terence Hanbury White, novelist, 1906; John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th US President, 1917. Deaths: Sir Humphry Davy, scientist and inventor of the miners' safety lamp, 1829; Julius von Sachs, botanist and naturalist, 1897; Sir William Schwenck Gilbert, librettist and playwright, died after saving a young woman from drowning, 1911; Abbott Handerson Thayer, painter and naturalist, 1921; Adam Adolf Oberlander, painter and caricaturist, 1923; John Barrymore (Blythe), actor, 1942; Fanny Brice (Fannie Borach), comedienne, 1951; Juan Ramn Jimenez, poet, 1956; Mary Pickford (Gladys Mary Smith), actress, 1979; Jacqueline Onassis (Jacqueline Lee Bouvier), publisher, and widow of President John F. Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis, 1994. On this day: Constantinople fell to the Turks, 1453; Charles II entered London after the restoration of the monarchy, 1660; Rhode Island became the 13th of the United States, 1790; Wisconsin became the 30th of the United States, 1848; the first steam cable tram in Europe began operating in Highgate, London, 1884; the evacuation from Dunkirk began, 1940; Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing reached the summit of Mount Everest, 1953. Today is the Feast Day of St Bernard of Montjoux or Menthon, St Cyril of Caesarea, St Maximinus of Trier, Saints Sisinnius, Martyrius and Alexander, St Theodosia of Constantinople and Saints William, Stephen, Raymund and their Companions.

TOMORROW

Births: Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, 1672; Samuel Spalding, moral philosopher, 1807; Alfred Austin, poet, 1835; Peter Carl (Karl Gustavovich) Faberge, goldsmith, 1846; Pierre Marie-Felix Janet, psychologist, 1859; Howard Winchester Hawks, film director, 1896; Benny (Benjamin David) Goodman, bandleader and clarinettist, 1909. Deaths: Joan of Arc, martyr, burnt at the stake at Rouen 1431; Christopher Marlowe, playwright, killed in a brawl 1593; Sir Peter Paul Rubens, painter, 1640; Pierre Mignard le Romain, painter, 1695; Alexander Pope, poet and satirist, 1744; Francois Boucher, painter, 1770; Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet), philosopher and writer, 1778; Wilbur Wright, pioneer aviator, 1912; Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, poet and writer, 1960; Claude Rains, actor, 1967. On this day: Christopher Columbus set sail on his third voyage, 1498; King Henry VIII was married to Jane Seymour, 1536; the Grenadier Guards were formed, 1656; John Francis attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria, 1842; Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride was first performed, Prague 1866; Memorial Day (Decoration Day) was first observed in the United States, 1869; the Balkan War was ended by the Treaty of London, which created the new state of Albania, 1913; Cologne was raided by a large force of RAF aircraft, 1942; the first hovercraft flight took place, at Cowes, Isle of Wight, 1959; Eastern Nigeria declared itself independent, being renamed the Republic of Biafra, 1967; the British Trans-Arctic Expedition completed the first surface crossing of the continent, 3,620 miles in 464 days, 1969. Tomorrow is Trinity Sunday and the Feast Day of St Exuperantius of Ravenna, St Ferdinand of Castile, St Isaac of Constantinople, St Joan of Arc, St Luke Kirby, St Madelgisilus or Maugeille and St Walstan.