Anniversaries

Births: Peter von Hess, painter, 1792; Jan Kollar, Slavonic scholar and poet, 1793; George Bradshaw, publisher and originator of railway guides, 1801; Alexis-Henri Maurice-Charles Clerel de Tocqueville, historian and politician, 1805; Ivan Konstantinovich Aivasovski, marine painter, 1817; Jonathan Eastman Johnson, artist, 1824; Sophie Menter, pianist and teacher, 1848; Fritz Lubrich, singer, writer and editor, 1862; Donald Robert Perry Marquis, writer, 1878; Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, Italian leader, 1883; Newton Booth Tarkington, author, 1869; Sigmund Romberg, composer, 1887; William Cameron Menzies, film director and designer, 1896; Hjalmar Hammarskjold, Secretary-General of the United Nations, 1905; Joseph Grimond, Lord Grimond, politician, 1913.

Deaths: Philip I, King of France, 1108; David Teniers the Elder, painter, 1649; Benjamin Robins, mathematician and military engineer, 1751; William Wilberforce, campaigner for the abolition of slavery, 1833; John Owens, merchant and philanthropist, 1846; Robert Alexander Schumann, composer, 1856; Thomas Dick, scientific writer, 1857; Vincent van Gogh, committed suicide 1890; King Humbert (Umberto) I of Italy, assassinated, by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci, 1900; Edward Gordon Craig, actor, designer and director, 1966; Sir John (Giovanni Battista) Barbirolli, conductor, 1970; Erich Kastner, writer, 1974; Herbert Marcuse, philosopher, 1979; Luis Bunuel, film director, 1983; James David Graham Niven, actor, 1983; Raymond Massey, actor, 1983.

On this day: Mary, Queen of Scots married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, 1565; the Spanish Armada was defeated, 1588; the Permanent Court of Arbitration was set up at The Hague, 1899; following the assassination of Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel III became king of Italy, 1900; The Good Companions, a novel by J.B. Priestley, was published, 1929; the airship R100 set off on a trip across the Atlantic, 1930; the BBC Light Programme first broadcast, 1945; the XIVth Olympic Games opened at Wembley, 1948; a military coup took place in Nigeria and President Yakubu Gowon was deposed while he was out of the country, 1975; the Prince of Wales was married to Lady Diana Spencer, 1981.

Today is the Feast Day of Saints Beatrice and Simplicius, St Felix II, antipope, St Faustinus and Beatrice, St Lupus of Troyes, St Martha, St Olav, King of Norway and St William of Saint-Brieuc.