Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Gerard de Nerval (Gerard Labrunie), poet and writer, 1808; Wilhelm Richard Wagner, composer, 1813; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, novelist, 1859; Thomas Edward Neil Driberg, first Baron Driberg, politician and journalist, 1905; Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, actor and director, 1907. Deaths: Constantine the Great, Roman Emperor, 337; Victor-Marie Hugo, author, 1885; Cecil Day Lewis, poet and author, 1972; Rajiv Gandhi, former Indian prime minister, assassinated 1991. On this day: the Lancastrians defeated the Yorkists at the Battle of St Albans, 1455; the Blackwall Tunnel under the Thames was officially opened, 1897; Italy joined the Allies, 1915; Ceylon changed its named to Sri Lanka and became a republic, 1972. Today is the Feast Day of St Aigulf of Ayoul or Bourges, Saints Castus and Aemilius, St Helen of Caernarvon, St Humility, St Joachima de Mas, St Julia of Corsica, St Quiteria, St Rita (Margarita) of Cascia and St Romanus.