Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: (St) Louis IX, King of France, 1214; King Edward II, 1284; Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, 1599; James Ferguson, astronomer, 1710; Emerich de Vattel, diplomat and jurist, 1714; Sir Mark Isambard Brunel, engineer and inventor, 1769; John Keble, Anglican priest and founder-member of the Oxford Movement, 1792; Friedrich Preller, landscape painter, 1804; Gustave-Rodolphe-Clarence Boulanger, painter, 1824; Pauline Lucca, soprano, 1841; Charles Burgess Fry, cricketer and writer, 1872; Walter de la Mare, poet and novelist, 1873; Guglielmo Marconi, radio pioneer, 1874; Wolfgang Pauli, physicist, 1900; Edward (Egbert) Roscoe Murrow, broadcaster and journalist, 1908; Ross Lockridge, novelist, 1914.

Deaths: Leon Battista degli Alberti, architect, sculptor, writer and musician, 1472; Margaret of Anjou, Queen, wife of Henry VI, 1482; Torquato Tasso, poet, 1595; David Teniers the Younger, painter, 1690; John Woodward, geologist and physician, 1728; Anders Celsius, inventor of the centigrade thermometer, 1744; William Cowper, poet, 1800; Thomas Duncan, painter, 1845; William Beaumont, physiologist, 1853; Daniel Maclise, painter, 1870; Johann Karl Friedrich Zllner, astrophysicist, 1882; Louis-Gabriel-Eugne Isabey, painter and lithographer, 1886; Kawanabe Kyosai, painter, 1889; William Bradford, marine painter, 1892; Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich- Danchenko, playwright and director, 1943; Gertie Millar (Countess of Dudley), musical comedy actress, 1952; Joseph Hergesheimer, novelist, 1954; Constance Collier (Laura Constance Hardie), actress, 1955; Sir Carol Reed, film director, 1976; Dame Celia Johnson, actress, 1982.

On this day: the Dutch defeated the Spanish in the Bay of Gibraltar, 1607; a Convention Parliament met and voted for the restoration of Charles II, 1660; the guillotine was first erected in Paris, 1792; construction of the Suez Canal began, 1859; the Confederate forces surrendered to Admiral Farragut at the Battle of New Orleans, 1862; the musical show The Geisha was first produced, London 1896; Arthur Daly opened Daly's Theatre in London, 1896; the US declared war on Spain, 1898; British, French, Australian and New Zealand forces landed at the Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey, 1915; Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg became president of Germany, 1925; Puccini's opera Turandot was first performed, Milan 1926; the San Francisco Conference of Allied nations opened, 1945; in North America, the St Lawrence Seaway, 89 miles long, was opened, 1959; the BBC radio serial The Dales ended after 21 years and over 5,400 episodes, 1969; in Portugal, a military junta deposed the government, president and prime minister, 1974; in Stockholm, the West German embassy was blown up by terrorists and two people shot, 1975; Portugal held its first free elections for 50 years; three main non-Communist parties winning a large majority, 1975.

Today is Anzac Day and the Feast Day of St Anianus of Alexandria, St Heribald and St Mark the Evangelist.