THE LIST

TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIA: Loki the Nordic god of strife was the 13th guest at a banquet in Valhalla; Judas was the 13th guest at the Last Supper; "It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen" in George Orwell's totalitarian N ineteenEighty-Four; 13 bumptious colonies were bad luck for George III; Winston Churchill always refused to travel on Friday 13th; a baker's dozen (which includes a 13th bun) is also known as a devil's dozen; 1813 was a bad year for Napoleon; 1913 was a big year for civil unrest in Britain; 13 continues to be an irritation for Twickenham, home of the 15-a-side game; an astronomer's claim that there is a 13th zodiac sign, Ophiuchus, is unlucky for those believing their horoscopes.

TODAY is the anniversary of the martyrdom in 628 of Saint Anastasius the Persian. He was a young soldier when the Persian army took the wood of the cross of Christ from Jerusalem and became so intrigued by the story of Christianity that he entered a monastery. Persecuted and imprisoned by the Persian rulers, he continued his devotions in jail where fellow inmates noticed that he prayed all night, surrounded by angels. He was beaten and tortured for refusing to renounce his religion. His patience under torture astonished his jailer, also a Christian, who was so moved that he allowed everyone access to the martyr. The prison soon filled with Christians until the authorities ordered that all should be put to death. Their corpses were thrown to the dogs, but the beasts left Anastasius intact. His remains were taken first to the monastery of St Sergius (now in Iraq) and then removed to Rome and enshrined in a church bearing his name.

22 January, 1887: Sir Joseph Whitworth (above), English inventor and mechanical engineer, died. His inventions include a gun made of compressed steel, with a spiral polygonal bore (1859). Many of his inventions were shown at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. He introduced standard gauges and screw threads and established Whitworth scholarships to encourage engineering education.

1905: Bloody Sunday in St Petersburg, when 120,000 citizens marched on the Winter Palace and were fired on.

1927: First live radio broadcast of a football match (Arsenal v Sheffield United) was transmitted from Highbury, London.