Anniversaries

Births: Torquato Tasso, poet and playwright, 1544; Sir Henry Tate, sugar refiner and art collector, 1819; Sir Malcolm Campbell, speed record holder, 1885; Dorothy Gish (le Guiche), silent screen actress, 1898; Jessie Margaret Matthews, actress and dancer, 1907.

Deaths: Donato Bramante (d'Agnolo), architect, 1514; Benjamin West, painter, 1820; Sir Henry Walford Davies, composer and organist, 1941; Sir Alexander Fleming, bacteriologist, 1955; Erle Stanley Gardner, lawyer, author and creator of 'Perry Mason', 1970.

On this day: Chelsea Hospital for veteran soldiers was founded, 1682; the first successful English daily newspaper, the single-sheet Daily Courant, was published near Fleet Street, London, 1702; the first performance of Rigoletto by Verdi was given, Venice 1851; Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call, 1876; following a proclamation by Hermann Goering, the Luftwaffe, or German air force, was created, 1935; the German Army marched into Austria, 1938; Mount Etna, Sicily, erupted, 1974.

Today is the Feast Day of St Aurea, St Benedict of Milan, St Constantine of Cornwall, St Eulogius of Cordova, St Oengus or Aengus the Culdee, St Sophronius of Jerusalem, St Teresa Margaret Redi and St Vindician.