Anniversaries : 2nd & 3rd March 1996

Birthdays

TODAY: Births: Sir Thomas Bodley, diplomat and bibliophile, founder of the Bodleian Library, 1545; Samuel Houston, Texan statesman, 1793; Bedrich Smetana, composer, 1824; Kurt Julian Weill, composer, 1900. Deaths: John Wesley, founder of Methodism, 1791; Horace Walpole, fourth Earl of Orford, novelist and historian, 1797; David Herbert Lawrence, novelist, 1930; Howard Carter, painter and Egyptologist, 1939. On this day: the "War of Oranges" started between Spain and Portugal, 1801; the British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, led by Sir Vivian Fuchs, arrived at Ross Island, 1958; the French prototype Concorde made its first test flight, 1969. Today is the Feast Day of St Chad or Caedda, St Joavan of Brittany and The Martyrs under the Lombards.

TOMORROW: Births: Thomas Otway, playwright, 1652; Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, 1847; Sir Henry Joseph Wood, founder of Promenade Concerts, 1869; Jean Harlow (Harlean Carpenter), actress, 1911. Deaths: Robert Adam, architect, 1792; Noel Gay (Richard Moxon Armitage), composer and pianist, 1954; Lou Costello (Louis Francis Cristillo), actor and comedian, 1959; Danny Kaye (Daniel David Karminsky), actor and entertainer, 1987. On this day: serfdom was abolished in Russia, 1861; the US Congress adopted "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem, 1931; the Apollo 9 spacecraft was launched from Cape Kennedy, 1969. Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Aelred of Rievaulx, St Anselm of Nonantola, St Arthelais, St Chef, St Cunegund, empress, St Emeterius, St Gervinus, Saints Marinus and Astyrius, St Non or Nonnita and St Winwaloe or Guenole.