Anniversaries

Births: Count Johann von Struensee, physician and politician, 1737; John Wrottesley, second Baron Wrottesley, astronomer, 1798; Niels Henrik Abel, mathematician, 1802; Alexander William Kinglake, historian and traveller, 1809; Charles-Louis Ambroise Thomas, composer, 1811; Edward John Eyre, administrator and explorer of Australia, 1815; Henri- Rene Albert-Guy de Maupassant, author, 1850; Conrad Potter Aiken, novelist and poet, 1889; Harold Holt, prime minister of Australia, 1908; Robert Taylor (Spangler Arlington Brugh), actor, 1911.

Deaths: Louis III, King of France, 882; Thomas Newcomen, inventor and engineer, 1729; James Gibbs, architect, 1754; Lord Frederick North, second Earl of Guilford, statesman, 1792; Richard Howe, first Earl Howe ('Black Dick'), naval officer, 1799; Ferdinand von Hebra, dermatologist, 1880; Alexis-Benoit Soyer, master cook and writer, 1858; William Henry Giles Kingston, author of boys' books, 1880; Thomas Henry Wyatt, architect, 1880; Henry Charles Litolff, composer, 1891; Friedrich Engels, political writer, 1895; Philip William 'Phil' May, caricaturist, 1903; George Butterworth, composer, 1916; Catherine 'Skittles' Walters, courtesan, 1920; Ella Shields (Buscher), music-hall artiste and male impersonator, 1952; Joseph Holbrooke, composer, 1958; Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson), actress, 1962; Richard Burton (Richard Walter Jenkins), actor, 1984.

On this day: Sir William Wallace, leader of the Scots, was captured by the English, 1305; Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland for England, 1583; the Anglo-French Convention declared a British protectorate in Zanzibar and a French protectorate in Madagascar, 1890; the first electrical traffic signals were installed, Cleveland, Ohio, 1914; German forces entered Warsaw, 1915; polygamy was abolished in Turkey, 1924; the British transatlantic airmail service was started, 1939; the musical show Salad Days was first produced, London 1954; the European Monetary Agreement was signed, 1955; the French Southern and Antarctic Territories were created, 1955; the French colony of Upper Volta became independent, 1960; a nuclear test ban treaty was signed by Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, 1963.

Today is the Feast Day of Saints Addai and Mari, St Afra and St Nonna.