Anniversaries

YESTERDAY

Births: James Harrington, political theorist, 1611; St Bernadette of Lourdes, 1844; Charles-Pierre Peguy, poet, 1873; Francis-Jean-Marcel Poulenc, composer, 1899.

Deaths: Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII, 1536; Nicholas Hillyarde, first English miniaturist painter, 1619; Francois de Salignac de la Mothe-Fenelon, priest and author, 1715; Trevor Howard, actor, 1988.

On that day: Galileo discovered the four satellites of Jupiter, 1610; the first national election in the US was held, 1789; the first woman was elected as foreman of a jury in Britain, 1921.

Yesterday was Christmas Day in the Orthodox Church and the Feast Day of St Aldric, St Canute Lavard, St Lucian of Antioch, St Raymund of Penafort, St Reinold, St Tillo and St Valentine.

TODAY

Births: William Wilkie Collins, novelist, 1824; Frank Nelson Doubleday, publisher and editor, 1862; Elvis Presley, rock singer, 1935.

Deaths: Galileo Galilei, astronomer, 1642; Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, 1825; Paul Verlaine, poet, 1895; Georgi Maksimilianovich Malenkov, former Soviet leader, 1988.

On this day: the British evacuated Gallipoli, 1916; General Charles de Gaulle was proclaimed President of the French Fifth Republic, 1959; the oil tanker Betelgeuse exploded in Bantry Bay, Ireland, with the loss of 49 lives, 1979.

Today is the Feast Day of St Adrian of Canterbury, St Apollinaris the Apologist, St Erhard, St Gudula, St Lucian of Beauvais, St Pega, St Severinus of Noricum Repense, St Severinus of Septempeda, St Thorfinn and St Wulain.

Yesterday's birthday and anniversary listings were held over for space reasons and are published today.