Anniversaries

Births: William Cecil, first Baron Burghley, statesman, 1520; William Henry West Betty, the Young Roscius, actor, 1791; Jean-Ignace-Isidore Gerard, caricaturist, 1803; Milton Snavely Hershey, chocolate company founder, 1857; John Joseph Pershing, expeditionary force commander during First World War, 1860; Arthur Henderson, politician and Nobel Prizewinner, 1863; Sherwood Anderson, playwright, 1876; John Boynton Priestley, author, 1894; John Smith QC, MP, politician, 1938.

Deaths: Andrea Mantegna, painter, 1506; Sir John Cheke, classical scholar, 1557; General James Wolfe, soldier, killed in action 1759; Charles James Fox, statesman, 1806; Alexandre Herculano de Carvalho e Araujo, poet, historian and politician, 1877; William Heath Robinson, artist and illustrator, 1944; Joe Pasternak, film producer, 1991.

On this day: Montrose was defeated by the Covenanters at Philiphaugh, 1645; John Bunyan was released from Bedford jail after 12 years, 1672; New York became the capital of the new United States of America, 1788; the Battle of the Aisne began, 1914; General Chiang Kai-shek was re-elected president of the Republic of China, 1943.

Today is the Feast Day of St Amatus or Ame, abbot, St Amatus or Ame, bishop, St Eulogius of Alexandria, St John Chrysostom and St Maurilius of Angers.

Lectures

National Gallery: Colin Wiggins, 'Dress and Undress (ii): Rubens, Peace and War', 1pm.

British Museum: Robert Russell, 'Russian Revolutionary Street Theatre', 1.15pm.