Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Sir Philip Sidney, poet, soldier and courtier, 1554; John Bunyan, writer, baptised 1628; Jonathan Swift, author, 1667; Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), author, 1835; Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, statesman, 1874. Deaths: St Gregory of Tours (Georgius Florentius), bishop and historian, 539; Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, playwright, 1900; Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan, playwright, 1977; Zeppo (Herbert) Marx, comedian and agent, 1979; Joyce Irene Grenfell, entertainer, 1979; Cary Grant (Alexander Archibald Leach), actor, 1986. On this day: the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, near London, was destroyed by fire, 1936; the Trades Description Act came into force, 1968; because of a union dispute, the Times ceased publication for nearly a full year, 1978. Today is the Feast Day of St Andrew the Apostle, St Cuthbert Mayne and St Sapor.