Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: Henry III, King, 1207; Paul I, Tsar of Russia, 1754; Annie Besant, social reformer and theosophist, 1847; Paul Dukas, composer, 1865; Stanley Holloway, actor and entertainer, 1890; Laurence Harvey (Laruska Mischa Skikne), actor, 1928.

Deaths: Pierre Corneille, playwright, 1684; Maarten Jacobsz Heemskerk (Van Veen), painter, 1574; Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, painter, 1873; Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey, anthropologist, 1972; Don Banks, composer, 1980.

On this day: money orders were first issued in Britain, 1792; the News of the World was first published, 1843; the Midland Railway opened St Pancras Station, 1868; Austria issued the first postcards, 1869; the People's Republic of China was proclaimed, 1949; in the United States, the Watergate trial started, 1974.

Today is the Feast Day of St Bavo or Allowin, St Melorus or Mylor, St Remigius or Remi, St Romanus the Melodist and St Therese of Lisieux.

TOMORROW

Births: Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (Learmonth), poet, 1814; Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France, 1851; Charles de Souzy Ricketts, artist, 1866; Wallace Stevens, poet, 1879; Julius 'Groucho' Marx, comedian, 1890; Budd Abbot, comedian, 1895; Henry Graham Greene, novelist, 1904.

Deaths: Benoit Audran, artist and engraver, 1721; John Andre, English army officer, executed by George Washington for spying 1780; Max Bruch, composer, 1920; Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, sportsman and merchant, 1931; OB Clarence, actor, 1955; Marie Stopes, birth control pioneer, 1958; Marcel Duchamp (Henri-Pierre Roche), Surrealist painter, 1968; Rock Hudson (Roy Fitzgerald Scherer), actor, 1985.

On this day: Saladin entered Jerusalem, 1187; Rome became the capital city of Italy, 1870; the first Royal Naval submarine was launched at Barrow, 1901; the first rugby match was played at Twickenham, 1909; after colliding with the Queen Mary liner, the British cruiser Curacao sank off the coast of Donegal, with the loss of 338 lives, 1942; Neil Kinnock became leader of the Labour Party, 1983.

Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Eleutherius of Nicomedia, The Guardian Angels and St Leger or Leodegarius.