Anniversaries

Births: Johannes Agricola (Schneider), Lutheran reformer, 1494; Napoleon III (Charles-Louis-Napoleon Buonaparte), Emperor of France, 1808; August Wolf, painter, 1842; Jean-Francisque Raffaelli, painter and architect, 1845; Adolf Hitler, dictator, 1889; Harold Lloyd, comedian, 1893; Joan Miro, painter, 1893; Bruce Cabot (Jacques Etienne de Bujac), actor, 1904.

Deaths: Eliza Barton, the nun or 'Holy Maid of Kent', executed at Tyburn 1534; Jean-Louis Petit, surgeon, 1750; Antonio (Canale) Canaletto, painter, 1768; Pontiac, Ottawa Indian chief, 1769; Abraham (Bram) Stoker, theatre manager and author of Dracula, 1912; Christian X, King of Denmark, 1947; William Sansom, author, 1976.

On this day: the Moguls totally defeated the Afghans at the Battle of Panipat, 1526; Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Long Parliament, 1653; the Battle of Santa Cruz was fought, when Admiral Blake defeated the Spanish fleet off the Canary Islands, 1657; the Siege of Londonderry began when the city was attacked by the supporters of King James II, 1689; Captain James Cook discovered New South Wales, Australia, 1770; the play Hedda Gabler, by Hendrik Ibsen, was first produced in England at the Vaudeville Theatre, London, 1891; in the United States, the electron microscope was first demonstrated, 1940; Soviet troops entered Berlin, 1945; Pierre Trudeau became Prime Minister of Canada, 1968; President Richard Nixon announced that 150,000 troops would be withdrawn from Vietnam, 1970.

Today is the Feast Day of St Agnes of Montepulciano, St Caedwalla, St Hildegund, St Marcellinus of Embrun, St Marcian or Marian of Auxerre and St Peter of Verona.