Gazette: Anniversaries

Births: Sebastiano Serlio, architect, 1475; Laurence Eusden, poet, baptised 1688; Marie-Joseph Paul-Yves Roch-Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, statesman and soldier, 1757; John Dalton, chemist and physicist, 1766; Anton Diabelli, composer and publisher, 1781; Vincent Novello, organist, composer and founder of the music publishers, 1781; Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow-Godenhaus, painter, 1789; Carl Ferdinand Pohl, writer and bibliographer, 1819; Jane Addams, sociologist, 1860; Sir Henry Walford Davies, organist and composer, 1869; Montagu Collet Norman, banker, 1871; John James Rickard Macleod, one of the discoverers of insulin, 1876; Leopold Hamilton Myers, novelist, 1881; Joseph Patrick Kennedy, financier and diplomat, 1888; Manfred Gurlitt, composer, 1890; Sir Edward Victor Appleton, physicist, 1892; Billy Rose (William Samuel Rosenberg), producer and lyricist, 1899; King Peter of Yugoslavia, 1923.

Deaths: Benvenuto Tisio (Il Garofalo), painter, 1559; Suleyman I (the Magnificent; the "Lawgiver"), Sultan of Turkey, 1566; Jean-Baptiste Colbert, statesman, 1683; Carlo Cignani, painter, 1719; Edmund Gibson, Bishop of Lincoln and author, 1748; George Alexander Stevens, writer and humorist, 1784; Sir Joseph Archer Crowe, consular official and art critic, 1896; Sir James Guthrie, painter, 1930; Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker, writer and politician, 1932; Arthur Rackham, illustrator, 1939; Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, South African prime minister, assassinated 1966; Rodney Robert Porter, biochemist, 1985.

On this day: Richard I defeated the Saracens at the Battle of Arsouf, 1191; Del Cano, commanding the Vittoria, Magellan's ship, completed the first circumnavigation of the world, 1522; the Pilgrim Fathers set sail in the Mayflower from Plymouth (6 September Old Style; 16 September New Style), 1620; the Great Fire of London came to an end, 1666; the first free lending library in Britain opened in Manchester, 1852; the first telephone exchange in Britain opened in Lombard Street, London, 1879; the first cricket test match in England was played at the Oval between England and Australia, 1880; William McKinley, 25th US President, was fatally wounded by an anarchist, 1901; T.W. Burgess swam the English Channel from South Foreland to Cape Gris Nez, 1911; German aircraft approached the East Coast of England, but turned back, 1939; King Carol II of Romania abdicated in favour of his son Michael, 1940; Juliana became Queen of the Netherlands, 1948; the Manila Conference began, 1954; India invaded West Pakistan, 1965; Swaziland became an independent kingdom, 1968; a massive earthquake centred on Lice, Turkey, resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths, 1975; the Soviet ruling council recognised the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, 1991.

Today is the Feast Day of St Cagnoald or Chainoaldus, Saints Donatian, Laetus and Others and St Eleutherius of Spoleto.