Anniversaries

Births: Margaret, Queen of Scots, wife of Alexander III, 1240; Francesco Guardi, painter, 1712; Denis Diderot, scholar and encyclopaedist, 1713; John Addington Symonds, poet, critic and historian, 1840; Joshua Lockwood Logan, film and stage director, 1908; Flann O'Brien (Brian O'Nolan), novelist and playwright, 1911; Robert Adams, sculptor and designer, 1917; Donald Pleasence, actor, 1919.

Deaths: Philip III ("the Bold"), King of France, 1285; Joachim de Patenier (Patinir), painter, 1524; Lodovico Ferrari, mathematician, 1565; Charles, first Marquess Cornwallis, statesman and soldier, 1805; Sir Francis Grant, portrait painter, 1878; Jacques Offenbach (Jakob Levy Eberst), composer, 1880; "Barry Cornwall" (Bryan Waller Procter), poet, 1874; William Heinemann, publisher and playwright, 1920; Jean Vigo, film director, 1934; Leonard Rossiter, actor, 1984.

On this day: the Gregorian calendar was adopted in Italy and Spain, when this day became 15th October, 1582; Spain declared war on Britain, 1796; the United States was victorious at the Battle of the Thames, Ontario, 1813; Bulgaria declared its independence from Turkey, and Ferdinand I became Tsar, 1908; in Portugal, King Manoel, having fled the country, was deposed and a republic declared, 1910; Tripoli was occupied by Italian troops, 1911; the first air battle took place between German and French aircraft, 1914; the Allies landed at Salonika, 1915; the estate of Chequers was presented by Sir Arthur Lee as an official country residence for the Prime Minister, 1917; the Locarno Conference met and the great powers guaranteed frontiers and agreed to put disputes to arbitration, 1925; the march of unemployed shipyard workers from Jarrow to London started, 1936; the Cominform (Communist Information Bureau) was set up to aid European Communist parties, 1947; tea rationing ended in Britain, 1952.

Today is the Feast Day of St Apollinaris of Valence, St Flora of Beaulieu, St Galla, St Magenulf or Meinulf and St Maurus.