Anniversaries

Births: St Philip Neri, missionary, 1515; Jean Picard, astronomer, 1620; Matthew Prior, poet, 1664; Elizabeth Hamilton, writer, 1758; Paul Julius, Baron von Reuter (Israel Beer Josaphat), news agency founder, 1816; Sir John Gilbert, painter and illustrator, 1817; Ludwig Theodore Gouvy, composer, 1822; John George Wood, clergyman and writer on natural history, 1827; Thomas William Hodgson Crosland, journalist, 1868; Frances Parkinson Keyes, novelist, 1885; Eugen Schufftan (Eugene Shuftan), cameraman, sculptor and painter, 1893; Harold Hart Crane, poet, 1899; Ernest Miller Hemingway, novelist, 1899.

Deaths: Robert Burns, poet, 1796; Daniel Lambert, fat man who weighed 739lb at his death, 1809; Colvin Smith, portrait painter, 1875; Karl von Piloty, historical painter, 1886; Dame Ellen Alicia Terry, actress, 1928; Louis-Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey, Marshal of France and statesman, 1934; Owen Wister, novelist, 1938; Kenneth Lewis Roberts, novelist, 1957; George Macaulay Trevelyan, historian, 1962; Philip St John Basil Rathbone, actor, 1967; Albert John Luthuli, president of the African National Congress, 1967.

On this day: the Marquesas Islands were discovered by Alvara Mendana, 1595; the Society of Jesus was dissolved by Pope Clement XIV, 1773; Napoleon defeated the Mamelukes in Egypt in the Battle of the Pyramids, 1798; George Christian Frederick Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was proclaimed King Leopold I of the Belgians after the country became a separate kingdom, 1831; the Confederates were victorious in the first Battle of Bull Run, 1861; the first train robbery in the American West was committed by the James-Younger Gang at Adair, Iowa, 1873; Battersea Bridge, London, opened, 1890; The Tate Gallery, presented to the nation by Sir Henry Tate, was opened, 1897; the Imperial Economic Conference began in Ottawa, 1932; Guam, in the Pacific, was re-occupied by the US, 1944; in the US, the first nuclear merchant ship, the NS Savannah was launched, 1959; Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike became prime minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), 1960; Runcorn Bridge across the Mersey opened, 1961; Commander Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the Moon, 1969; France exploded a nuclear device at Maruroa Atoll in the Pacific, 1973; the British ambassador to the Irish Republic was killed by a landmine, 1976; the first London performance of the musical show Follies was staged, 1987.

Today is Independence Day in Belgium and the Feast Day of St Arbogastes, St Laurence of Brindisi, St Praxedes, St Victor of Marseilles.