Anniversaries

Births: Louis II, King of France, 846; Benvenuto Cellini, sculptor and goldsmith, 1500; Pietro da Cortona, painter and architect, 1596; Antonio Canova, sculptor, 1757; Gustav IV, King of Sweden, 1778; Lydia Huntley Sigourney, poet, 1791; Jules Bastien-Lepage, painter, 1848; Stephen Townley Crane, author, 1871; Hermann Broch, novelist, 1886; Laurence Stephen Lowry, painter, 1887; Edmund Charles Blunden, scholar and poet, 1896.

Deaths: Giulio Romano (Giulio Pippi), painter, 1546; Salomon van Ruysdael, painter, buried 1670; John Radcliffe, physician and founder of the Radcliffe Library, Oxford, 1714; John Lindley, botanist and writer, 1865; Alexander III, Tsar of Russia, 1894; Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen, historian and archaeologist, 1903; Alfred Jarry, poet, novelist and playwright, 1907; Ezra Loomis Pound, poet, 1972; Phil Silvers, comedian and actor, 1985.

On this day: the Bank of Scotland was founded, 1695; 60,000 people died when Lisbon was destroyed by an earthquake, 1755; San Francisco bay was discovered by Gaspar de Portola, 1769; the first WH Smith bookstall opened at Euston Station, London, 1848; Lloyd's Register of Shipping was first published, 1884; at the Battle of Coronel, the British ships Good Hope and Monmouth were sunk, 1914; the British Television service was inaugurated, 1936; Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate President Truman, 1950; the first Premium Bonds went on sale, 1956; the first section of the M1 motorway was opened, 1959; East Germany opened its border with Czechoslovakia, allowing all who wished to pass through, 1989.

Today is the Feast Day of All Saints, St Austremonius or Stremoine, St Benignus of Dijon, St Cadfan, Saints Caesarius and Julian, St Marcellus of Paris, St Mary, martyr, St Mathurin or Maturinus and St Vigor.