Anniversaries
Births: William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1573; Maj-Gen Sir Ralph Abercromby, soldier, 1734; Wilhelm Bernhard Molique, violinist and composer, 1802; Friedrich Kiel, composer and teacher, 1821; Felix August Bernhard Draseke, composer, 1835; Sir Philip Magnus Bt, politician, educationist and mathematician, 1842; James Whitcomb Riley, poet, 1849; Niels Henrik David Bohr, physicist, 1885; Heinrich Himmler, Nazi head of the SS, 1900.
Deaths: Margaret, "The Maid of Norway", Queen of Scotland, at sea 1290; Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, soldier and tyrant of Rimini, 1468; George Gascoigne, poet and playwright, 1577; Paul Bril, painter, 1626; Patrick Ferguson, soldier and inventor of the breech-loading gun, 1780; Edgar Allan Poe, novelist, 1849; William Barnes, Dorset dialect poet, 1886; Oliver Wendell Holmes, physician and writer, 1894; Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, composer, 1918; Marie Lloyd (Matilda Alice Victoria Wood), music-hall comedienne, 1922; Charles de Souzy Ricketts, artist, 1931; Marguerite Radclyffe Hall, writer, 1943; Clarence Birdseye, inventor of quick-freezing, 1956; Mario Lanza (Alfredo Arnold Cocozza), singer, 1959.
On this day: the Battle of Lepanto was fought, when Don John defeated the Turks in a naval engagement, 1571; Leon Gambetta escaped from Paris in a balloon during the Franco-German War, 1870; the Great Chicago Fire began, when over 250 people were killed and 95,000 made homeless, 1871; Crete revolted against Turkey and proclaimed its union with Greece, 1908; the Dutch airline KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij) was founded, 1919; the Westminster Theatre, London, opened, 1931; the London Philharmonic Orchestra gave its first performance at Queen's Hall, 1932; the Dumbarton Oaks Conference ended, 1944; the German Democratic Republic was set up in Eastern Germany, 1949; the first pictures of the far side of the moon were taken by the Soviet spacecraft Lunik III, 1959; The Independent was first published, 1986.
Today is the Feast Day of St Artaldus or Arthaud, St Helanus, St Justina of Padua, St Mark, pope, and St Osyth.
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