Anniversaries TODAY

Anniversaries

TODAY: Births: Sigmund Freud, neurologist and psychoanalyst, 1856; Rudolph Valentino, actor, 1895; George Orson Welles, actor, director and writer, 1915. Deaths: Cornelius Jansen, theologian, 1638; Maria Montessori, physician and educationist, 1952; Marlene Dietrich (Maria Magdalene Dietrich), actress, 1992. On this day: the first postage stamp, the Penny Black, was issued, 1840; the Zeppelin Hindenburg crashed and was destroyed by fire at Lakehurst, New Jersey, 1937; Josef Stalin became leader of the government of the Soviet Union, 1941; Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute mile, 1954. Today is the Feast Day of St Edbert, St Evodius of Antioch, St John Before the Latin Gate and St Petronax.

TOMORROW: Births: Robert Browning, poet, 1812; Johannes Brahms, composer, 1833; Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composer, 1840; Gary Cooper (Frank James Cooper), actor, 1901; Maria Eva Duarte Pern (Ibarguren), Argentine leader, 1919. Deaths: Caspar David Friedrich, landscape painter, 1840; William Hesketh Lever, first Viscount Leverhulme, soap millionaire, 1925; Max Miller, comedian, 1963. On this day: the first Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, opened in London, 1663; the Cunard liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine, with a total of 1,198 lives lost, 1915; the qualifying age of women voters was reduced from 30 to 21, 1928; Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, 1945. Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Domitian of Maestricht, St John of Beverley, St Letard or Liudhard and Saints Serenicus and Serenus.