Anniversaries

Births: James II, King of Great Britain and Ireland, 1633; Sir Edward Sabine, astronomer, 1788; Alexander von Zemlinsky, composer, 1871; Stella Maria Katherine Mansfield (Kathleen Beauchamp), writer, 1888; Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th president of the US, 1890; ee cummings (Edward Estlin Cummings), poet and painter, 1894; Lillian Gish (Lillian de Guiche), actress, 1894.

Deaths: Harold, King of the English, killed in battle 1066; Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, general, committed suicide 1944; Errol Flynn, actor, 1959; Dame Edith Mary Evans, actress, 1976; Bing Crosby (Harry Lillis), singer, 1977; Leonard Bernstein, conductor and composer, 1990.

On this day: the Battle of Hastings was fought at Senlac Hill, Pevensey, Sussex, 1066; William I acceded to the throne of England, 1066; Mary, Queen of Scots was tried, 1586; bread riots took place in Hyde Park, 1855; the comic opera Rip Van Winkle was first produced, London 1882; the former US President Theodore Roosevelt was shot at by John Schrank, 1912; Oxford degrees were first conferred on women, 1920; Germany left the League of Nations, 1933; Charles Yeager made the first supersonic air flight (670mph) in California, 1947; 50p coins were issued to replace the 10 shilling note, 1969; the first close-up television pictures of Mars were transmitted to Earth by the US Mariner 9 spacecraft, 1971.

Today is the Feast Day of St Angadriama, St Burchard of Wurzburg, St Callixtus I, pope, St Dominic Lauricatus, St Justus of Lyons, St Manaccus and St Manechildis.