Anniversaries

Births: Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI, 1430; Roger Martin du Gard, novelist and playwright, 1881; Juan Gris, Cubist painter, 1887; Joan Crawford (Lucille Le Sueur), actress, 1904; Donald Malcolm Campbell, speed record holder, 1921.

Deaths: Pedro the Cruel, King of Castile and Leon, killed 1369; Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle), novelist, 1842; Raoul Dufy, painter and designer, 1953; Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie, town planner and architect, 1957; Peter Lorre (Laszlo Lowenstein), actor, 1964; Field Marshal Sir Claude John Auchinleck, 1981; Richard, Baron Beeching, reorganiser of British Rail, 1985.

On this day: the marriage of Catherine of Aragon to King Henry VIII was declared valid by the Pope, although in 1533 he had "married" Anne Boleyn, 1534; the Stamp Act, intended for taxing colonists in America, was passed by Parliament, 1765; Belgium was united with Holland, 1815; the first trams in London began operating in Bayswater, 1861; the Woolwich steam ferry was inaugurated in London, 1889; Adolf Hitler became dictator of Germany, 1933; Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, proclaimed her independence, 1971.

Today is the Feast Day of St Benedict the Hermit, St Ethelwald the Hermit, St Joseph Oriol, St Turibius of Lima and St Victorian.