Anniversaries

Births: Richard I, King (Coeur de Lion), 1157; Ludovico Ariosto, poet, 1474; Louis II de Bourbon, fourth Prince de Conde, soldier, 1621; August Wilhelm von Schlegel, poet and author, 1767; William Collins, painter, 1788; Eduard Friedrich Morike, poet, 1804; Emil Naumann, composer and writer on music, 1827; Joseph- Etienne-Frederic Mistral, poet, 1830; Antonin Dvorak, composer, 1841; Viktor Meyer, chemist, 1848; William Wymark Jacobs, writer, 1863; Alfred Jarry, playwright and poet, 1873; Siegfried Lorraine Sassoon, poet and critic, 1886; Howard Dietz, lyricist, 1896; Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, politician, 1901; Peter Richard Henry Sellers, actor and comedian, 1925.

Deaths: Amy Robsart, wife of the Earl of Leicester, found mysteriously dead with a broken neck 1560; Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa, composer, 1613; Francis Quarles, poet, 1644; Francisco Gomez de Quevedo y Villegas, poet and satirist, 1645; Ann Lee, Shaker leader, 1784; William James Muller, painter, 1845; George Bradshaw, printer and publisher, 1853; Joseph Liouville, mathematician, 1882; Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz, physicist, 1894; Leon-Joseph-Florentin Bonnat, painter, 1922; Feisal I, King of Iraq, 1933; Richard Georg Strauss, composer, 1949; Andre Derain, painter, 1954; Sir Leonard George Holden Huxley, physicist, 1988.

On this day: the Turkish Siege of Malta ended, 1565; New Amsterdam in North America was surrendered by the Dutch to the English and renamed New York, 1664; in Canada, Montreal surrendered to the British troops, 1760; William IV was crowned King of Great Britain, 1831; Johannesburg, South Africa, was founded, 1886; in the US, a tornado and tidal wave caused widespread havoc, with the loss of over 6,000 lives near Galveston, Texas, 1900; Germany was admitted to the League of Nations, 1926; the Morro Castle, an American cruise liner, was destroyed by fire, with the loss of 134 lives, 1934; the first V2 flying bombs landed in London, 1944; the first non-stop flight from London to Canada was completed, 1944; the Treaty of Peace with Japan was signed by 49 powers in San Francisco, 1951; the Manila Conference ended, and the South East Asia Defence Treaty was signed, 1954; the Severn Road Bridge was officially opened, 1966; Milton Obote became the first president of the Republic of Uganda, 1967; in Vietnam, Australian Warrant Officer Keith Payne was awarded the VC, 1969; President Ford granted a full pardon to Richard Nixon for 'any offences he might have committed while in office', 1974; Cindy Nicholas, aged 19, swam the Channel both ways in 19 hours 55 minutes, 1977.

Today is the Feast Day of Saints Adrian and Natalia, St Corbinian, St Disibod, St Eusebius, St Kingsmark or Cynfarch Oer, St Nestabus, St Nestor, St Sergius I, pope and St Zeno.

Lectures

National Gallery: Colin Wiggins, 'Landscape in 17th-Century Holland', 1pm.

British Museum: George Hart, 'The Tale of Wenamun', 1.30pm; 'Apuleius and the Mysteries of Isis', 3pm.

Victoria & Albert Museum: Frances Musker, 'High Fashion 1880-1914', 2.30pm.

National Portrait Gallery: Susan Morris, 'Robert Bakewell (1725- 1795)', 1.30pm.

Tate Gallery: Simon Morley, 'Hogarth and Bratby: everything but the kitchen sink', 1pm.

Wallace Collection: Rosalind Savill, 'The Hertfords as Collectors of Sevres Porcelain', 1pm.