Anniversaries

Births: Robert Raikes, publisher and founder of Sunday Schools, 1736; Marie-Felicite-Denise Pleyel (Mlle Moke), pianist, 1811; Anton Bruckner, composer and organist, 1824; Dadabhai Naoroji, first Asian member of parliament, 1825; Albert Joseph Moore, decorative painter, 1841; Darius Milhaud, composer, 1892; Antonin Artaud, playwright and director, 1896; Mary Renault, novelist, 1905; Richard Nathaniel Wright, novelist and essayist, 1908.

Deaths: Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, 1588; Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, 1767; Celestin-Francois Nanteuil, painter and engraver, 1873; Edvard Hagerup Grieg, composer, 1907; Walford Graham Robertson, playwright and artist, 1948; Robert Schuman, statesman, 1963; Albert Schweitzer, organist, doctor and missionary, 1965.

On this day: the Guelphs and Ghibellines fought the Battle of Montaperti, 1260; in France, Emperor Napoleon III was deposed, and the Third Republic proclaimed, 1870; the Apache Chief Geronimo surrendered to the US army, 1886; Largo Caballero formed a socialist government in Spain, 1936; 93 people died when the British liner Athenia sank after being torpedoed by a German U-boat the previous day, 1939; a demonstration of colour television was given on station W2XAB by the Columbia Broadcasting System, US, 1940; Antwerp was liberated by the Allies, 1944; the Forth Road Bridge was opened, 1964; in Rio de Janeiro, the US ambassador to Brazil was kidnapped by terrorists, 1969.

Today is the Feast Day of St Boniface I, pope, St Ida of Herzfeld, Saints Marcellus and Valerian, St Marinus of San Marino, St Rosalia, St Rose of Viterbo and St Ultan of Ardbraccan.