Anniversaries

Births: Agnolo di Cosimo (El Bronzino), painter, 1503; Louis XVIII, King of France, 1755; Count Leopoldo Cicognara, archaeologist and writer on art, 1767; August Ferdinand Mobius, astronomer and mathematician, 1790; George Grote, historian, 1794; Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, first Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, 1887.

Deaths: St Margaret, Queen of Scotland, 1093; Mary I, Queen of England, 1558; Jakob Bohme, mystic and theosophist, 1624; Alain-Rene Lesage, novelist and playwright, 1747; Catherine II, the Great, of Russia, 1796; Robert Owen, social reformer, 1858; Richard Norman Shaw, architect, 1912; Sir Charles Holroyd, artist, 1917; Francois-Auguste Rodin, sculptor, 1917; Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, writer, stone-carver, engraver, 1940; Heitor Villa-Lobos, composer, 1959; Dame Gladys Cooper, actress, 1971.

On this day: Elizabeth I acceded to the throne of England, 1558; Sir Walter Raleigh was tried for treason, 1603; the first Battle of the Somme ended, 1916; the Far Eastern Republic in Siberia voted for union with the Soviet Union, 1922; General Nasser became head of state in Egypt, 1954; Kashmir voted to become part of India, 1956; the Soviet Luna 17 touched down on the Moon, 1970.

Today is the Feast Day of Saints Acisclus and Victoria, Saints Alphaeus and Zachaeus, St Anianus or Aignan of Orleans, St Dionysius of Alexandria, St Elizabeth of Hungary, St Gregory of Tours, St Gregory the Wonderworker, St Hilda, St Hugh of Lincoln and The Martyrs of Paraguay.