Anniversaries
Anniversaries
Births: Prince Henry the Navigator, sponsor of voyages, 1394; Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, composer and violinist, 1678; Sir Henry Raeburn, portrait painter, 1756; Robert Lindley, cellist and composer, 1776; Thomas Sturge Moore, poet and wood-engraver, 1870. Deaths: Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, 1193; Sir Thomas Malory, writer of Morte d'Arthur, 1470; William Willett, builder, and promoter of "daylight saving time", 1915; Antonin Artaud, actor, playwright and stage director, 1948; Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, neurologist, 1952; William Carlos Williams, physician and poet, 1963; Richard Thomas Church, poet and novelist, 1972. On this day: Pennsylvania was granted by charter to William Penn, 1681; the first meeting of Congress was held in New York, 1789; the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was founded, 1824; the Forth Bridge was officially opened, 1890; the Comintern (Communist International) was formed, 1919; British commandos raided the Lofoten Islands off Norway, then German-occupied, 1941; German radio declared that Dresden had been "wiped off the map of Europe" by Allied bombing, 1945; the nuclear submarine Nautilus travelled under the North Polar icecap, 1958; North Sea gas was first piped ashore near Durham, 1967; Edward Heath resigned and Harold Wilson became prime minister, forming a Labour government, 1974. Today is the Feast Day of St Adrian and his Companions, St Casimir of Poland and St Peter of Cava.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies