Anniversaries

Births: Frans Snyders, animal painter, 1579; Johann Albert Fabricius, classical scholar, 1688; Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, writer, 1821; Jean-Edouard Vuillard, painter, 1868; Gustav VI Adolf, King of Sweden, 1882; George Smith Patton, US general, 1885; Rene Clair (Chomette), film director, 1898; Ivy Benson, bandleader, 1913.

Deaths: Johann Zoffany (Zauffely), theatrical painter, 1810; Soren Aabye Kierkegaard, philosopher, 1855; Ned Kelly, Australian outlaw, hanged 1880; Valentine Cameron Prinsep, artist, 1904; Sir Edward German (Edward German Jones), composer, 1936; Jerome David Kern, composer, 1945; Fred Niblo (Federico Nobile), film director, 1948; Victor Young, composer and conductor, 1956; Cyril Vernon Connolly, writer, journalist and critic, 1974; Alexander Milne Calder, sculptor, 1976; James Hanley, novelist and playwright, 1985; Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (Skriabin), Russian leader, 1986; Eamonn Andrews, television presenter, 1987.

On this day: work began on the Manchester Ship Canal, 1887; Washington became the 42nd of the United States, 1889; an armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany in the First World War, 1918; the two-minute silence for the dead in the First World War was first observed, 1919; the Cenotaph was unveiled in Whitehall, London, 1920; the first video recorder was demonstrated in Beverly Hills, California, 1952; Ian Smith made a unilateral declaration of independence for Rhodesia, 1965; Israel and Egypt signed a cease-fire, 1973; in London, the new Covent Garden fruit and vegetable market opened at Nine Elms, South London, 1974.

Today is the Feast Day of St Bartholomew of Grottaferrata, St Mannas of Egypt, St Martin of Tours and St Theodore the Studite.