Anniversaries

TODAY: Births: Harriet Beecher Stowe, novelist, 1811; Burl Ives (Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives), actor and singer, 1909; Sam Wanamaker (Samuel Watenmaker), actor, director and producer, 1919; Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (Che Guevara), revolutionary, 1928. Deaths: Orlando de Lassus, composer, 1594; Jerome Klapka Jerome, writer, 1927; Emmeline Pankhurst, suffragette, 1928; Gilbert Keith Chesterton, author, 1936; John Logie Baird, television pioneer, 1946; Jorge Luis Borges, writer, 1986; Henry (Enrico) Mancini, composer, 1994. On this day: King William III landed at Carrickfergus in Ireland, 1690; the Stars and Stripes flag was adopted by the Continental Congress in America, 1777; Henley Regatta was held for the first time, 1839; the German army entered and occupied Paris, 1940; the Vatican announced that the Index of Prohibited Books was abolished, 1966. Today is the Feast Day of St Dogmael, St Methodius the Confessor and Saints Valerius and Rufinus.

TOMORROW: Births: Edward, the Black Prince, 1330; Edvard Grieg, composer, 1843; James Norval Harald Robertson-Justice, actor, 1905. Deaths: Wat Tyler, rebel, beheaded at Smithfield 1381; Wendell Meredth Stanley, biochemist, 1971; Ella Fitzgerald, singer, 1996. On this day: the Magna Carta was sealed by King John at Runnymede, near Windsor, 1215; Harrow School was founded, 1571; the Lake District was made into a National Park, 1951; Maj-Gen Jeremy Moore accepted the surrender of all Argentine forces on East and West Falkland, 1982. Today is the Feast Day of St Adelaide or Aleydis, St Dulas, St Edburga of Winchester, St Germana Cousin, St Hesychius of Durostorum, St Landelinus, St Orsisius and St Vitus. Today is the Official Birthday of the Queen.