Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1489; Christoph Willibald Gluck, composer, 1714; Friedrich Gottfried Klopstock, poet, 1724; Sir Charles Tupper, Canadian prime minister, 1821; Sir William Henry Bragg, physicist, 1862; Herman Hesse, poet and novelist, 1877; Jack Hylton, bandleader, 1892.

Deaths: Nostradamus (Michel de Nostre-Dame), astrologer, 1566; Jean- Jacques Rousseau, philosopher and writer, 1778; Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, physician and founder of homoeopathy, 1843; Sir Robert Peel, statesman, 1850; Joseph Chamberlain, statesman, 1914; Amelia Earhart, aviator, disappeared in the Pacific 1937; Ernest Miller Hemingway, novelist, committed suicide 1961; Betty Grable (Elizabeth Ruth Grable), actress, 1973; Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, novelist and lepidopterist, 1977.

On this day: Oliver Cromwell defeated the Royalist troops at the Battle of Marston Moor, 1644; the first elevated railway was opened in New York City, 1866; James Abram Garfield, 20th US president, was shot by Charles Jules Guiteau in Washington (he died on 19 September), 1881; Count Zeppelin's airship made its first trial flight, 1900; the British airship R34 began its flight from Scotland to the United States, 1920; the Vichy government was set up in France, 1940; a German submarine sank the British prison ship Arandora Star, carrying 1,640 interned Germans and Italians to Canada, of whom more than 1,000 were drowned, 1940; in the United States, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, 1964; the Erskine Bridge over the river Clyde in Scotland was opened, 1971.

Today is the Feast Day of St Monegundis, St Otto of Bamberg and Saints Processus and Martinian.

TOMORROW

Births: Louis XI, King of France, 1423; Robert Adam, architect and designer, 1728; Leos Janacek, composer, 1854; Sir Apirana Ngata, Maori statesman, 1874; George Michael Cohan, entertainer and songwriter, 1878; Franz Kafka, poet, 1883; Elizabeth Taylor (Coles), novelist, 1912.

Deaths: Marie de' Medici, Queen of France, 1642; Dorothea Jordan (Phillips), actress and royal mistress, 1816; Joel Chandler Harris, author and creator of 'Uncle Remus', 1908; David Alfred Thomas, first Viscount Rhondda, statesman, 1918; Rudy (Hubert Prior) Vallee, singer, 1986.

On this day: Licinius was defeated by Constantine at the Battle of Adrianople, 323; the settlement of Quebec was begun by Samuel de Champlain, 1608; George Washington became commander-in-chief of American forces, 1775; King Louis XVIII entered Paris, ending the 'Hundred Days', 1815; General Meade, leading the Union forces, defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863; Idaho became the 43rd of the United States, 1890; John Logie Baird transmitted the first colour television broadcast, London, 1928; the LNER steam locomotive Mallard achieved a speed record of 126mph, 1938; food rationing in Britain ended, 1954; France proclaimed the independence of Algeria after a referendum, 1962.

Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Anatolius of Constantinople, St Anatolius of Laodicea, St Bernardino Realino, St Helidorus of Altino, Saints Irenaeus and Mustiola, St Leo II, Pope, St Rumold or Rombaut and St Thomas the Apostle.