Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Alexander William Kinglake, historian and traveller, 1809; Henri- Rene Albert-Guy de Maupassant, author, 1850; Conrad Potter Aiken, novelist and poet, 1889; Harold Holt, Australian prime minister, 1908; Robert Taylor (Spangler Arlington Brugh), actor, 1911.

Deaths: Thomas Newcomen, inventor and engineer, 1729; James Gibbs, architect, 1754; Lord Frederick North, second Earl of Guilford, statesman, 1792; Richard, Earl Howe ("Black Dick"), naval officer, 1799; Alexis-Benoit Soyer, master cook and writer, 1858; William Henry Giles Kingston, author of boys' books, 1880; Thomas Henry Wyatt, architect, 1880; Friedrich Engels, political writer, 1895; Philip William "Phil" May, caricaturist, 1903; Catherine "Skittles" Walters, courtesan, 1920; Ella Shields (Buscher), music-hall artiste and male impersonator, 1952; Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson), film actress, 1962; Richard Burton (Richard Walter Jenkins), actor, 1984.

On this day: Sir William Wallace, leader of the Scots, was captured by the English, 1305; Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland for England, 1583; the first electrical traffic signals in the world were installed, Cleveland, Ohio 1914; German forces entered Warsaw, 1915; polygamy was abolished in Turkey, 1924; the British transatlantic airmail service was started, 1939; the musical Salad Days was first produced, London 1954; the European Monetary Agreement was signed, 1955; the French Southern and Antarctic Territories were created, 1955; the French colony of Upper Volta became independent, 1960; a nuclear test ban treaty was signed by Britain, the US and the Soviet Union, 1963.

Today is the Feast Day of St Abel, Saints Addai and Mari, St Afra and St Nonna.