Anniversaries

Birthdays

Births: Christopher Latham Sholes, inventor of an early typewriter, 1819; Quintin Hogg, founder of the Polytechnic, 1845; Jack Benny (Benjamin Kubelsky), comedian and actor, 1894. Deaths: Richard II, King, 1400; Captain James Cook, sea- captain and explorer, murdered 1779; William Tecumseh Sherman, general, 1891; Sir Pelham Granville (P.G.) Wodehouse, 1975. On this day: the Spanish Fleet was defeated off Cape St Vincent by John Jervis and Horatio Nelson, 1797; Marconi began the first regular broadcasting transmissions in England, 1922; the St Valentine's Day Massacre took place in Chicago, 1929; following a night and day bombardment by US Air Force and RAF heavy bombers, the German city of Dresden was reduced to a ruin, 1945; the Bank of England was nationalised, 1946; the Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranian leader, pronounced a fatwa, or death sentence, on the author Salman Rushdie, alleging blasphemy in his book Satanic Verses, 1989. Today is the Feast Day of St Abraham of Carrhae, St Adolf of Osnabruck, St Antoninus of Sorrento, St Auxentius, St Conran, Saints Cyril and Methodius, St John Baptist of the Conception, St Maro and St Valentine.

Lectures

National Gallery: Norman Coady, "Love (ii): love, lust and Correggio", 1pm.

Victoria and Albert Museum: Andrew Spira, "The Medieval Spirit in Later Ages", 2.30pm.

Tate Gallery: Stella Santacatarina talks about the work of Luciano Fabro, 1pm.