Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: John Claudius Loudon, horticulturist, 1783; Edmund Husserl, philosopher, 1859; Sir Adrian Boult, conductor, 1889; Mary Pickford (Gladys Smith), actress, 1893; E.Y. "Yip" Harburg (Isidore Hochberg), lyricist and librettist, 1898; Ilka Chase, novelist, playwright and actress, 1903; Sonja Henie, skater and actress, 1912. Deaths: Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus), Roman emperor, 217; John II, Byzantine emperor, killed by accident 1143; Wilhelm, Baron von Humboldt, philologist, 1835; Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti, composer, 1848; Elisha Graves Otis, inventor of the safety lift, 1861; Vaslav Fomich Nijinsky, dancer and choreographer, 1950; Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, painter and sculptor, 1973. On this day: Herbert Henry Asquith became prime minister, 1908; more than 200 people were drowned after the collision of a Nile excursion steamer near Cairo, 1912; King Zog of Albania left his country, following the Fascist invasion, 1939; the final assembly of the League of Nations was held, 1946; in Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta and five others were convicted of being involved with Mau Mau, 1953. Today is the Feast Day of St Dionysius of Corinth, St Julia Billiart, St Perpetuus of Tours and St Walter of Pontoise.