Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Anniversaries

Wednesday 05 April 1995 00:02 BST
Comments

Births: Thomas Hobbes, philosopher, 1588; Elihu Yale, merchant, administrator and founder of Yale College, 1649; Giovanni Giacomo Casanova, Chevalier de Seingalt, lover and adventurer, 1724; Jean-Honor Fragonard, painter, 1732; Sir Henry Havelock, general, 1795; Joseph Lister, first Baron Lister, surgeon and pioneer of antiseptics in surgery, 1827; Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet, 1837; Spencer Tracy, actor, 1900; Bette (Ruth Elizabeth) Davis, actress, 1908.

Deaths: William Brouncker, second Viscount Brouncker, first president of the Royal Society, 1684; Georges-Jacques Danton, French revolutionary leader, guillotined 1794; George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, fifth Earl of Carnarvon, Egyptologist, 1923; Douglas MacArthur, general, 1964; Howard Robard Hughes, aviator, industrialist and film producer, 1976; Marshal of the RAF Sir Arthur Travers Harris Bt, former chief of Bomber Command, 1984.

On this day: Strauss's opera Die Fledermaus was first performed, Vienna, 1874; Oscar Wilde was arrested for offences committed with Lord Alfred Douglas, 1895; an attempt was made to assassinate the Prince of Wales in Brussels, 1900; the second Battle of the Somme ended, 1918; the Dail Eireann chose a Sinn Fein Executive, with Eamon de Valera as president, 1919; Sir Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister, 1955; the first driverless automatic trains ran on the London Underground, 1964; the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth was sold to an American syndicate for £3,230,000, 1968; in Sicily, Mount Etna erupted, followed by violent flows of lava, 1971; Sir Harold Wilson resigned as Prime Minister, 1976.

Today is the Feast Day of St Albert of Montecorvino, St Derfel-Gadarn, St Ethelburga of Lyminge, St Gerald of Sauve-Majeure and St Vincent Ferrer.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in