Anniversaries

Births: Edward Henry, first Baron Carson, Ulster politician, 1854; Anthony Hope (Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins), novelist, 1863; Mrs Patrick Campbell (nee Beatrice Stella Tanner), actress, 1865; George Ade, humorist and playwright, 1866; Amy Lowell, poet, 1874; Alban Maria Johannes Berg, composer, 1885; Ronald Colman, actor, 1891; Pietro Nenni, politician, 1891; James Francis Courage, novelist, 1903; Brendan Behan, playwright, 1923.

Deaths: John Hooper, bishop of Gloucester and Worcester, burnt at the stake 1555; Dr John Gregory, professor of medicine, 1773; Francis Danby, painter, 1861; Jules Michelet, historian, 1874; Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoievsky, novelist, 1881; Sir George Reid, painter, 1913; James Gibbons Huneker, critic, 1921; Elizabeth Mary Russell (Beauchamp), Countess Russell ('Elizabeth'), novelist, 1941; George Norman Douglas, novelist and essayist, 1952; Miklos Horthy de Nagybanya, admiral and former Regent, 1957; Alexandre Nikolayevich Benois, painter and theatre designer, 1960; Bill Haley (William John Clifton Haley), rock musician, 1981; Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov, Russian leader, 1984. On this day: Rome was proclaimed a Republic under Giuseppe Mazzini, 1849; Sybil Thorndike made her London debut in The Marquis, 1908; the British Military Service Act (conscription) came into force, 1916; a treaty giving Norway sovereignty over Spitsbergen was signed, 1920; the Balkan Entente was signed by Romania, Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey at Athens, 1934; soap rationing began in Britain, 1942; a terrible blizzard raged in the US, killing 64 people, 1969; the first trial flight of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet took place, 1969; an earthquake in southern California claimed 64 lives in and around Los Angeles, 1971; the British government declared a state of emergency due to a month-long miners' strike, 1972; Britain and East Germany established diplomatic relations, 1973; Spain and the USSR re-established diplomatic relations after 38 years, 1977; Lithuania voted to secede from the Soviet Union, 1991.

Today is the Feast Day of St Alto, St Ansbert, St Apollonia, St Nicephorus of Antioch, St Sabinus of Canosa and St Teilo.