Anniversaries

Births: Mariotto Albertinelli, painter, 1474; Allan Ramsay, portrait painter, 1713; Johann Dominicus Fiorillo, painter and art historian, 1748; William Brockedon, painter, author and inventor, 1787; Moritz Hauptmann, musical theorist and composer, 1792; Henri Rosellen, pianist and composer, 1811; Lillie (Emilie Charlotte) Langtry, actress, 1853; Mary Henrietta Kingsley, writer and explorer, 1862; Walter James Redfern Turner, poet, music critic and playwright, 1889; Gosta Nystroem, composer and painter, 1890; Conrad Michael Richter, novelist, 1890.

Deaths: Claudius I, Roman Emperor, poisoned by his wife Agrippina 54; Pope Gregory XII, 1417; Nicolas de Malebranche, philosopher, 1715; Dr John Gill, Baptist preacher, 1771; Sir Henry Irving (John Henry Brodribb), actor, 1905; Willie Clarkson, theatrical costumier and wigmaker, 1934; Saul Gutmanovich Tchernichowsky, Hebrew poet, 1943; Sidney James Webb, first Baron Passfield, social reformer, 1947.

On this day: the arrest of the Templars for heresy took place in Paris, on the orders of Philip IV, 1307; the foundation stone of the White House, Washington, was laid by President George Washington, 1792; British forces defeated the Americans at the Battle of Queenston Heights, 1812; Greenwich was adopted as the universal meridian at the Washington Conference, 1884; 41 people were killed during a German air-raid on London, 1915; Ankara became the new capital of Turkey, 1923; Italy declared war on Germany, 1943; Athens was liberated by the Allies, 1944; the first London production of the musical show The Pajama Game was presented, 1955.

Today is the Feast Day of St Coloman, St Comgan, St Edward the Confessor, St Faustus of Cordova, St Gerald of Aurillac, Saints Januarius and Martial and St Maurice of Carnoet.