Anniversaries

Births: Johannes Kepler, astronomer, 1571; Sir George Cayley, aeronautics pioneer, 1773; Louis Pasteur, chemist and bacteriologist, 1822; Sydney Greenstreet, actor, 1878; Marlene Dietrich (Maria Magdalena Dietrich), actress, 1901. Deaths: Pierre de Ronsard, poet, 1585; Joanna Southcott, religious fanatic, 1814; Charles Lamb, writer and essayist, 1834; Max Beckmann, painter, 1950; Lester Bowles Pearson, statesman, 1972; Howard Hoagland (Hoagy) Carmichael, composer, singer and pianist, 1981. On this day: the island of St Helena was chartered to the East India Company, 1673; Charles Darwin set sail for a world voyage on HMS Beagle, 1831; Peter Pan, the children's play by J.M. Barrie, was first performed, London 1904; the International Monetary Fund was set up in Washington, 1945; Spain became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship, 1978; President Hafizullah Amin of Afghanistan was overthrown after a Russian-sponsored coup d'etat, 1979. Today is the Feast Day of St Fabiola, St John the Evangelist, St Nicarete and Saints Theodore and Theophanes Graptoi.

Renaissance Art", 2pm.