Anniversaries

Births: Pietro Aretino, satirist, 1492; Napoleon III, Emperor of France, 1808; Charles Maurras, writer and philosopher, 1868; Nikolai Yakovlevich Miaskovsky, composer, 1881; Adolf Hitler, dictator, 1889; Harold Lloyd, film comedian, 1893; Joan Miro, painter, 1893; Sir Donald Wolfit, actor-manager, 1902; Bruce Cabot (Jacques Etienne de Bujac), actor, 1904.

Deaths: Eliza Barton, the Nun or 'Holy Maid of Kent', executed at Tyburn 1534; Antonio (Canale) Canaletto, painter, 1768; Arthur Young, writer on agriculture, 1820; Abraham (Bram) Stoker, theatre manager and author of Dracula, 1912; William Sansom, author, 1976; Cecil Parker (Schwabe), actor, 1971.

On this day: Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Long Parliament, 1653; the Siege of Londonderry began, 1689; Captain James Cook discovered New South Wales, 1770; 1940; Soviet troops entered Berlin, 1945; Pierre Trudeau became prime minister of Canada, 1968; President Nixon announced that 150,000 troops would be withdrawn from Vietnam, 1970.

Today is the Feast Day of St Agnes of Montepulciano, St Caedwalla, St Hildegund, St Marcellinus of Embrun, St Marcian of Auxerre and St Peter of Verona.