Anniversaries

Births: Prince Rupert of Bavaria, Royalist commander, 1619; Ludwig van Beethoven, composer, baptised 1770; Sir Humphry Davy, chemist and inventor, 1778; Sir George Hayter, painter, 1792; Joseph Henry, physicist, 1797; John Greenleaf Whittier, poet and essayist, 1807; Thomas Woolner, sculptor and poet, 1825; Ford Madox Ford (Ford Hermann Hueffer), novelist, 1873; J. Robertson Hare, actor, 1891; Erskine Preston Caldwell, novelist, 1903; Walter Greenwood, novelist and playwright, 1903; Stanley Raymond (Ray) Noble, composer and conductor, 1903; Willard Frank Libby, chemist, 1908.

Deaths: Pope Gregory VIII, 1187; Sir William Gascoigne, Lord Chief Justice, 1413; Thomas Guy, bookseller and philanthropist, 1724; Simn Bolvar, South American patriot, 1830; Lewis Henry Morgan, anthropologist and lawyer, 1881; Baron Ferdinand James de Rothschild, banker, 1898; Bernard Quaritch, bookseller, 1899; Sir William Thomson, first Baron Kelvin of Largs, physicist, 1907; Leopold II, King of the Belgians, 1909; Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, physician, 1917; Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury, pathologist, 1947; Dana Andrews (Carver Daniel Andrews), actor, 1992.

On this day: Drake's ship The Pelican (afterwards called The Golden Hind) sailed out of Plymouth on a round-the-world voyage, 1577; Simn Bolvar became president of Colombia, 1819; the first radio message was sent across the Atlantic, 1902; a protectorate over Egypt was proclaimed by Britain, 1914; Zulficar Ali Bhutto became prime minister of Pakistan, 1971.

Today is the Feast Day of St Begga, St Lazarus, St Olympias, St Sturmi and St Wivina.