Anniversaries

Births: William Wollaston, philospher, 1659; Alfred Edward Housman, poet, 1859; Sir Gerald Hubert Edward Busson du Maurier, actor-manager, 1873; Robert Lee Frost, poet, 1874; Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams), playwright, 1911.

Deaths: Ludwig van Beethoven, composer, 1827; David Lloyd George, First Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, statesman, 1945; Raymond Thornton Chandler, novelist and scriptwriter, 1959; Noel Coward, playwright, 1973; Anthony Frederick Blunt, art expert and traitor, 1983.

On this day: the Royal Agricultural Society was incorporated, 1840; the first cremation in England took place at Woking, 1886; driving tests in Britain were introduced, 1934; the Battle of Iwo Jima ended, 1945; following the Great Train Robbery of 8 August, 1963, seven men were found guilty, 1964; in East Pakistan, civil war broke out after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the province to be independent, 1971; for the first time, women were allowed on the floor of the London Stock Exchange, 1973.

Today is the Feast Day of St Basil the Younger, St Braulio, St Castulus of Rome, St Felix of Trier, St Ludger and St Macartan.