Anniversaries

TODAY

Births: James Wolfe, general, 1727; Otakar Hostinsky, critic, 1847; Jimmy Nervo, comedian, 1897.

Deaths: Ovid, poet, 17; Conrad Hilton, hotel magnate, 1979; Dick Emery, comedian, 1983.

On this day: the Academie Francaise was established by Cardinal Richelieu, 1635; Louis Daguerre took the first photograph of the Moon, 1839; the first rocket to pass near the Moon was launched, 1959.

Today is the Feast Day of St Adalhard or Adelard, St Basil, St Caspar del Bufalo, St Gregory Nazianzen, St Macarius of Alexandria, St Munchin, St Seraphim of Sarov, St Vincentian and The Holy Name of Jesus.

TOMORROW

Births: Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator and statesman, 106 BC; Clement Richard Attlee, First Earl Attlee, statesman, 1883; John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, academic and novelist, 1892.

Deaths: Josiah Wedgwood, potter, 1795; Pierre-Athanase Larousse, editor and encyclopaedist, 1875; 'Lord Haw-Haw', British traitor, executed, 1946; Conrad Hilton, hotel magnate, 1979.

On this day: Martin Luther was excommunicated, 1521; Howard Carter discovered the sarcophagus in the tomb of Tutankhamun, 1924; Sir Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole, 1958.

Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Antherus, pope, St Bertilia of Mareuil, St Genevieve or Genovefa and St Peter Balsam.