Anniversaries

Births: Dr Nicholas Brady, poet, 1659; Cornelius Jansen, Roman Catholic reformer, 1585; Robert Liston, surgeon, 1794; Henri Bertini, pianist and composer, 1798; William Spark, organist and composer, 1825; Georges-Auguste Escoffier, chef, 1846; Howard Hanson, composer and conductor, 1896; Evelyn Arthur St John Waugh, novelist, 1903; Francis Bacon, painter, 1909.

Deaths: Rodolphus Agricola (Roelof Huysman), humanist, musician and painter, 1485; Jahangir, Mogul emperor of India, 1627; John Wallis, mathematician, 1703; John Locke, philosopher, 1704; William Julius Mickle, poet, 1788; John Smeaton, engineer, 1792; George Chambers, marine painter, 1840; Francesco Morlacchi, composer and conductor, 1841; Grant Allen (Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen), writer and scientist, 1899; John Adams-Acton, sculptor, 1910; David Jones, writer and painter, 1974; John Braine, novelist, 1986; Pietro Annigoni, painter, 1988; Henry Robert Hall, bandleader, 1989.

On this day: Harvard College was founded at Newe Towne, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1636; Michael Faraday made the first dynamo, 1831; Strasbourg was surrendered to the Germans, 1870; the Statue of Liberty was dedicated, 1886; HMS Havelock, the first destroyer in the Royal Navy, went on trials, 1893; an influenza epidemic raged in Britain, 1918; Benito Mussolini marched on Rome, 1922; the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange began a world economic crisis, 1929; Italy invaded Greece, 1940; the House of Commons voted in favour of Britain joining the Common Market, with a majority of 112, 1971.

Today is the Feast Day of St Abraham of Ephesus, Saints Anastasia and Cyril, St Faro, St Fidelis of Como, St Jude or Thaddeus, St Salvius or Saire and St Simon.