Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: James V, King of Scotland, 1512; John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, poet and courtier, 1647; William Hazlitt, essayist and critic, 1778; William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, 1829; Joseph Pulitzer, newspaper proprietor and founder of the Pulitzer Prizes, 1847; George Arliss (George Augustus Andrews), actor, 1868. Deaths: Agostino Agazzari, composer, 1640; Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet, 1909; Khalil Gibran, writer, 1931; Evelyn Arthur St John Waugh, novelist, 1966; Antonia White, journalist and novelist, 1980. On this day: the United States patent system was established, 1790; the Catholic Emancipation Bill was passed by Parliament, 1829; the New York Tribune (later Herald-Tribune) was first published, 1841; George Eliot's novel The Mill on the Floss was published, 1860; Phineas T. Barnum's circus first opened, Brooklyn, New York, 1871; the US Senate passed the Civil Rights Bill, 1960; over 3,000 people were killed after severe earthquakes occurred in Iran, 1972; Golda Meir resigned as Prime Minister of Israel, 1974; the first London performance of the musical show Chicago was staged, 1979. Today is the Feast Day of St Bademus, St Fulbert of Chartres, St Macarius or Macaire of Ghent, St Michael de Sanctis, St Paternus of Abdinghof and the Martyrs under the Danes.

TOMORROW

Births: Marguerite d'Angouleme, Queen of Navarre, 1492; James Parkinson, physician and palaeontologist, discoverer of Parkinson's Disease, 1755; George Canning, statesman, 1770; Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson, soldier and orientalist, 1810; Sir Charles Halle (Carl Halle), pianist and conductor, 1819; Dean Gooderham Acheson, lawyer and statesman, 1893. Deaths: Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of Wales, 1240; Donato Bramante (d'Agnolo), architect, 1514; Sir Thomas Wyatt, conspirator, executed 1554; Antoine Coypel, painter, 1661; John Galt, novelist, 1839; James Anthony Bailey, circus proprietor, 1906; Erskine Caldwell, novelist, 1987. On this day: Sir Thomas Fairfax was victorious at the Battle of Selby during the English Civil War, 1644; William III and Mary II were crowned joint monarchs, 1689; George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion opened in London, 1914; the US spacecraft Apollo 13 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, 1970. Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Barsanuphius, St Gemma Galgani, St Godeberta, St Guthlac, St Isaac of Spoleto and St Stanislaus of Cracow.