Anniversaries

Births: John Dee, scholar, mathematician and astrologer, 1527; John Clare, poet, 1793; Sir George Gilbert Scott, architect, 1811; Gustav Freytag, author, 1816; Eugen Huber, jurist and writer, 1849; Sidney James Webb, First Baron Passfield, social reformer, 1859; Gavrilo Princip, Bosnian revolutionary and assassin of Archduke Ferdinand, 1894; Kenneth MacKenzie Clark, first Baron Clark, art historian, 1903.

Deaths: Bertrand du Guesclin, Constable of France, 1380; Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, 1712; Jean-Paul Marat, French revolutionary leader, murdered in his bath 1793; Arnold Schonberg, composer, 1951; Oliver Hilary Sambourne Messel, designer, 1978; Sir Seretse Khama, President of Botswana, 1980.

On this day: Queen Victoria went to live in Buckingham Palace, 1837; the Scottish Reform Act was passed, 1868; the Treaty of Berlin was signed, granting Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria, 1878; the independence of Romania from Turkey was proclaimed, 1878; all political parties in Germany but the Nazis were banned, 1933; a 'Live Aid' rock concert, organised by Bob Geldof raised over pounds 42m for African famine relief, 1985.

Today is the Feast Day of Saints Bridget and Maura, St Eugenius of Carthage, St Francis Solano, St Henry the Emperor, St Mildred, St Silas or Silvanus.