Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Arcangelo Corelli, composer, 1653; Ronald Arbuthnott Knox, theologian and essayist, 1888. Deaths: Giordano Bruno, philosopher, burnt at the stake 1600; Moliere (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), playwright, 1673; Sir Donald Wolfit, actor, 1968; Graham Vivian Sutherland, painter, 1980; Evelyn Laye (Elsie Evelyn Lay), actress and singer, 1996. On this day: the draisine, a forerunner of the bicycle, was patented by Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun, 1818; Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera was first produced, Rome 1859; Puccini's Madame Butterfly was first produced, Milan 1904; the inner tomb of Tutankhamen was opened at Luxor by the team led by Lord Carnarvon, 1923; a majority in the House of Commons decided that Britain should join the Common Market, 1972. Today is the Feast Day of St Evermod, St Finan of Lindisfarne, St Fintan of Cloneenagh, St Loman, The Seven Servite Founders and Saints Theodulus and Julian.