Anniversaries

Births: Richard Mead, physician, 1673; Joseph Nollekens, sculptor, 1737; Joseph Schuster, composer, 1748; Jean- Victor-Marie Moreau, general, 1763; Rowland Hill, first Viscount Hill, general, 1772; John Christian Schetky, marine painter, 1778; Charlotte Mary Yonge, novelist, 1823; Marie-Francois Sadi Carnot, engineer and statesman, 1837; Christiaan Eijkman, physician, 1858; Helen Broderick, actress and comedienne, 1891; Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Murray Grieve), poet, 1892; Enid Mary Blyton, children's writer, 1897.

Deaths: John I, King of Portugal, 1433; Janos Corvinus Hunyadi, Hungarian leader, 1456; Hans Memling, painter, 1495; Johan Tetzel, Dominican monk and seller of indulgences, 1519; Ottavio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, military commander, 1656; Arthur Elphinstone, sixth Baron Balmerino, executed 1746; Henry James Pye, poet, 1813; Sir Samuel Auchmuty, general, 1822; Marshall Hall, physiologist, 1857; James Wilson, founder of the Economist, 1860; Richard Monckton Milnes, first Baron Houghton, MP and poet, 1885; John Henry Newman, Cardinal, 1890; Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist, 1919; Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, painter, 1923; Edith Newbold Jones Wharton, novelist, 1937; Paul Jackson Pollock, abstract painter, 1956.

On this day: Sir Martin Frobisher entered the bay now named after him, 1576; the Battle of Passero Cape was fought when Admiral Byng attacked the Spanish fleet, 1718; Penang was ceded to Britain by the Rajah of Kedah, 1786; during severe earthquakes in the Azores, the village of Sao Miguel sank, 1810; the bridge at Walton-on-Thames collapsed, 1859; the "moons" of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, were discovered by Professor Asaph Hall, astronomer, 1877; after the collapse of a burning bridge at Chatsworth, Illinois, 81 passengers in a train were killed, 1887; the Atlantic Charter was signed by Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt, 1941; the new Waterloo Bridge, London, was opened to traffic, 1942; King Talal of Jordan was deposed because of his mental illness, 1952; King Hussein succeeded to the throne of Jordan, 1952; the French colony of Chad became independent, 1960; in Bangladesh, monsoon floods resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 people, 1974; a burst dam on the Manchhu river, Morvi, Gujaret, India, resulted in the deaths of over 5,000 people, 1979.

Today is the Feast Day of St Alexander of Comana, St Attracta or Araght, St Blane, St Clare of Assisi, St Equitius, St Gerard of Gallinaro, St Gery or Gaugericus, St Lelia, St Susanna and St Tiburtius.