Anniversaries

Births: Edward, the Black Prince, 1330; George Heriot, jeweller and goldsmith, 1563; Edvard Grieg, composer, 1843; Charles Wood, musician and scholar, 1866; James Norval Harald Robertson-Justice, actor, 1905.

Deaths: Wat Tyler, rebel, beheaded at Smithfield 1381; Guillaume Courtois (Guglielmo Cortese), painter, 1679; James Knox Polk, 11th US President, 1849; Frederick III, Emperor of Germany, 1888; Charles Francis Bush, inventor of the arc-lamp, 1929.

On this day: the Magna Carta was sealed by King John at Runnymede, near Windsor, 1215; Harrow School was founded, 1571; the first stone of the new London Bridge was laid by the Duke of York, 1825; the Stamp Duty on newspapers in Britain was abolished, 1855; the Lake District was made into a National Park, 1951; Maj-Gen Jeremy Moore accepted the surrender of all Argentine forces on East and West Falkland, 1982.

Today is the Feast Day of St Adelaide or Aleydis, St Dulas, St Edburga of Winchester, St Germana Cousin, St Hesychius of Durostorum, St Landelinus, St Orsisius and St Vitus.