Birthdays

Birthdays

The Duke of Gloucester, 52; Mr H.W. "Bunny" Austin, former tennis player, 90; Sir Kenneth Barnes, former senior civil servant, 74; The Right Rev Alan Chesters, Bishop of Blackburn, 59; Mrs Joan Clanchy, Headmistress, North London Collegiate School, 57; Mr Howard Clark, golfer, 42; Mr Michael Cockerell, television reporter, 56; Mr Richard Dales, former High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, 54; Mr Peter Fowler, former High Commissioner to Bangladesh, 60; Mr Stuart Graham, former chairman, International Commodities Clearing House, 75; Mr Tim Maby, radio news reporter and presenter, 49; Sir Ian McGregor, tropical medicine authority, 74; Mr David Martin, MEP, 42; Mr Malcolm Pyrah, show jumper, 55; Mr Graham Riddick MP, 41; Miss Alison Steadman, actress, 50; Mr Dennis Turner MP, 54; General Sir Harry Tuzo, former deputy Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, 79; Professor John Varey, former Principal, Westfield College, 74; The Right Rev Maurice Wood, former Bishop of Norwich, 80; Mr Steve Wright, disc jockey, 42.

Anniversaries

Births: Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, statesman, 1676; Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, balloonist, 1740; Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, chemist, 1743; Joseph Christoph Kessler (Kotzler), pianist and composer, 1800; Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria, 1819; Stephen Joseph Perry, astronomer and Jesuit, 1833; John William Mackail, scholar, 1859; Lee De Forest, radio and television inventor, 1873; Sir John Buchan, first Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor- General of Canada and novelist, 1875; Guillaume Apollinaire (Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitsky), poet, 1880; Jules Romains (Louis-Henri Jean Farigoule), novelist, playwright and poet, 1885; Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood, novelist, 1904. Deaths: Ottakar II, King of Bohemia, killed in battle 1278; Frans Hals, painter, 1666; Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, naturalist and microscopist, 1723; Elizabeth Chudleigh, Countess of Bristol and Duchess of Kingston, concubine and alleged bigamist, 1788; Count Alessandro de Cagliostro (Giuseppe Balsamo), impostor, 1795; Thomas Cooke, miser, 1811; Louis-Philippe, "Citizen King" of France, 1850; Hermann Goldschmidt, painter and astronomer, 1866; Baron Hendrik Leys, painter, 1869; Karl Wilhelm, choral director and composer of Die Wacht am Rhein, 1873; George Manville Fenn, novelist, 1909; William James, psychologist and philosopher, 1910; Matthias Erzberger, German finance minister, assassinated, 1921; Lon (Alonso) Chaney, actor, 1930; Frank (James Thomas) Harris, editor and author, 1931; Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer, 1958; Naomi Ellington Jacob, novelist, 1964; Sir Francis Charles Chichester, aviator and yachtsman, 1972; Charles Augustus Lindbergh, pioneer aviator, 1974; Charles Boyer, actor, 1978. On this day: Julius Caesar landed in Britain, 55 BC; King Edward III, aided by the Black Prince, his son, defeated the French at the Battle of Crecy, 1346; Frederick the Great repelled the Russian invading army at the indecisive Battle of Zorndorf, 1758; Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah was first performed, Birmingham Festival, 1846; Krakatoa, the island volcano, began erupting, killing over 36,000 people, 1883; under the 19th Amendment, women in the United States were granted the right to vote, 1920; the Anglo-Egyptian alliance was signed, 1936; the XXth Olympic Games opened in Munich, 1972; Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected Pope John Paul I, 1978. Today is the Feast Day of St Bregwine, archbishop of Canterbury, St Elizabeth Bichier des Ages, St Herluin, St John Wall, St Mary Desmaisieres, St Pandonia and St Teresa Jornet Ihars.