Anniversaries

TODAY: Births: William Pitt the Elder, First Earl of Chatham, statesman, 1708; Georgia O'Keeffe, painter, 1887; Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, field marshal, 1891; Aneurin Bevan, statesman, 1897; Sir Sacheverell Sitwell Bt, poet and author, 1897; Hamish Hamilton, publisher, 1900. Deaths: George Romney, portrait painter, 1802; Jean Gabin (Jean Moncorge), actor, 1976. On this day: Isaac Pitman published his shorthand system, 1837; London was flooded when the Thames rose by over 28 feet, 1875; the first assembly took place of the League of Nations, 1920; Today is the Feast Day of Saints Abibus, Gurias and Samonas, St Albert the Great, St Desiderius or Didier of Cohors, St Fintan of Rheinau, St Leopold of Austria and St Malo or Machutus.

TOMORROW: Births: Tiberius, Roman emperor, 42 BC; William Frend de Morgan, artist and novelist, 1839; Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, Fascist leader, 1896. Deaths: James Ferguson, astronomer, 1776; William Clark Gable, film actor, 1960; Arthur Bowden Askey, comedian, 1983. On this day: Washington was captured by British troops, 1776; the Suez Canal was formally opened at Port Said, 1869; Today is the Feast Day of St Afan, St Agnes of Assisi, St Edmund of Abingdon, St Eucherius of Lyons, St Gertrude of Helfta, St Margaret of Scotland, St Mechtildis of Helfta and St Nikon "Metanoeite".