Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Sir Robert Peel, statesman, 1788; John Boyd Dunlop, inventor of the pneumatic tyre, 1840; Sir William Newzam Prior Nicholson, painter and engraver, 1872. Deaths: Giambattista Moroni, portrait painter, 1578; Thomas Carlyle, author and historian, 1881; Marianne Craig Moore, poet, 1972; Emeric Pressburger, film producer, 1988. On this day: the Spanish captured Minorca from the British, 1782; the Prince of Wales ("Prinny") was declared Prince Regent, 1811; Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville was first performed, Rome, 1816; Verdi's opera Otello was first performed, Milan, 1887; in Russia, Church and State were officially separated, 1918; the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell, Lincs, was founded, 1920. Today is the Feast Day of St Adelaide of Bellich, St Agatha, St Avitus of Vienne, St Bertulph or Bertoul of Renty, Saints Indractus and Dominica and St Vodalus or Voel.