Anniversaries

Births: Charles I, King of England and Scotland, 1600; Leopold Auenbrugger, physician, 1722; Stanislas Champein, composer, 1753; James Stark, painter, 1794; Francois-George Hainl, cellist and composer, 1807; James Abram Garfield, 20th US president, 1831; Hiram Bingham, archaeologist, 1875; Anton Walbrook (Adolf Wohlbruck), actor, 1900; Tommy Dorsey, trombonist and bandleader, 1905; Indira Gandhi, stateswoman, 1917.

Deaths: Nicolas Poussin, painter, 1665; Thomas Shadwell, poet and playwright, 1692; Theobald Wolfe Tone, Irish republican, committed suicide 1798; Franz Peter Schubert, composer, 1828; Sir William (Karl Wilhelm) Siemens, metallurgist, 1883; Thomas Harper Ince, film pioneer, 1924; Elizabeth Taylor, novelist, 1975.

On this day: Blackfriars Bridge across the Thames was opened for carriages, 1769; President Lincoln delivered his speech at Gettysburg, 1863; the Versailles Peace Treaty was rejected by the US Senate, 1919; the 19,000-ton liner Bermuda was gutted by fire while in Belfast harbour, 1931; the Cunard liner QE2 made her first voyage, 1968; in Paris, the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces was signed between Nato and members of the Warsaw Pact, thus ending the 'cold war', 1990.

Today is the Feast Day of St Barlaam of Antioch, St Ermenburga and St Nerses I.