Anniversaries

Births: Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, 1342; Moliere (Jean- Baptiste Poquelin), playwright, baptised 1622; Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon, writer, 1675; Dr Samuel Parr, Latin scholar, 1747; Thomas Crofton Croker, folklorist, 1798; Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, social reformer, 1809; Jean-Baptiste Faure, baritone, 1830; Mihail Eminescu, poet, 1850; Giovanni Segantini, painter, 1858; Lewis Madison Terman, psychologist, 1877; Ion Antonescu, politician, 1882; Mazo de la Roche, novelist, 1885; David Ivor Novello (Davies), actor, composer and director, 1893; Abd el- Aziz IV ibn Saud, King of Saudi Arabia, 1902; Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipowner, 1906; Edward Teller, physicist, 1908; Michel-Jean- Pierre Debre, statesman, 1912; Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian leader, 1918; Martin Luther King, civil- rights leader, 1929.

Deaths: Servius Sulpicius Galba, Roman emperor, assassinated, 69; Fra Paolo Sarpi, historian, 1623; Gaspar Netscher, painter, 1684; Emma, Lady Hamilton (Lyon), mistress to Lord Nelson, 1815; Edward Matthew Ward, historical painter, 1879; Frances Anne (Fanny) Kemble, actress, 1893; Mathew B. Brady, US Civil War photographer, 1896; Henry du Pre Labouchere, journalist and Liberal leader, 1912; Jack (Weldon Leo) Teagarden, jazz musician, vocalist and bandleader, 1964; Daisy (Margaret Mary Julia) Ashford (Mrs James Devlin), author of The Young Visiters, 1972.

On this day: the Act of Supremacy was passed in England, 1535; following a severe London frost, more than 40 people died when ice on the Regent's Park lake gave way, 1867; the Dover-Folkestone railway tunnel collapsed, following heavy rains, 1877; women were able to take degrees at London University for the first time, 1878; the London Hippodrome theatre opened, 1900; the British National Health Insurance Act came into effect, 1912; the first aerial propaganda leaflets were dropped by the Italians over Libya, 1912; Joseph Caillaux, former French prime minister, was arrested for treason, 1918; in Berlin, Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht, Spartacist revolutionaries, were assassinated, 1919; Arthur Griffith was elected president of the Irish Free State after the resignation of Eamon de Valera, 1922; in the USSR, Grigori Zinoviev and other leaders were convicted of treason and imprisoned, 1935; after a battle lasting 27 hours, Communist forces occupied Tientsin, China, 1949; a coup d'etat was effected in Nigeria by General Johnson Ironsi, 1966; more than 300 lives were lost following an earthquake in western Sicily, 1968; explosions occurred aboard the US aircraft carrier Enterprise, killing 25 men and wounding 85, 1969; the Aswan High Dam in Egypt was officially opened, 1971; Queen Margrethe II acceded to the throne of Denmark, 1972; Mrs Golda Meir was the first Israeli head of state to be received by the Pope, 1973.

Today is the Feast Day of St Bonitus or Bonet, St Ceolwulf, St Isidore of Alexandria, St Ita, St John Calybites and St Macarius the Elder.