Anniversaries

Births: Maximilian I, Holy Roman emperor, 1459; Sir Anthony van Dyck, painter, 1599; Anton Raphael Mengs, painter, 1728; Wilhelm I, King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, 1797; John Frederick Kensett, artist, 1816; Randolph Caldecott, artist and illustrator, 1846; Robert Andrews Millikan, physicist, 1868.

Deaths: Thomas Carew, poet, 1639; Jean-Baptiste Lully, composer, 1687; Thomas Hughes, jurist, reformer and author, 1896; Ernest William Hornung, novelist, 1921; Benjamin Williams Leader, landscape painter, 1923; Michael Todd (Avram Goldenbogen), film producer, killed 1958; Sir Richard Sykes, ambassador to the Netherlands, shot dead 1979.

On this day: the Order of the Templars was abolished by the Pope, 1312; the English were defeated by the Scots at Anjou, 1421; the National Gallery in London was founded by the purchase of 38 pictures from JJ Angerstein, 1824; the English Football League was founded, 1888; Auguste and Louis Lumiere made the first demonstration of motion pictures using celluloid film, Paris, 1895; the Tsar of Russia was interned at Tsarskoye Selo (Dyetskoye Selo), 1917; the first international airline service began, flying between Paris and Brussels weekly, 1919; a Soviet government was formed in Budapest, and Bela Kun became foreign minister, 1919; a land speed record of 272mph was set up by Sir Malcolm Campbell in his car Blue Bird at Daytona Beach, Florida, 1933; Jordan became independent, 1946; Antonin Novotny, President of Czechoslovakia, was forced to resign and was succeeded by General Ludvik Svoboda, 1968; an attempt was made to abduct Princess Anne in the Mall, London, 1973.

Today is the Feast Day of St Basil of Ancyra, St Benvenuto of Osimo, St Deogratias, St Nicholas Owen, St Nicholas von Flue and St Paul of Narbonne.