Anniversaries

Births: Sir John Holt, Lord Chief Justice, 1642; Joseph Rudyard Kipling, author and poet, 1865; Stephen Butler Leacock, humorous author and economist, 1869; Leslie Poles Hartley, novelist, 1895; Sir Carol Reed, film director, 1906.

Deaths: Richard, Duke of York, killed 1460; Roger Ascham, scholar and writer, 1568; Robert Boyle, chemist, 1691; Amelia Jenks Bloomer, social reformer, 1894; Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, mystic, murdered 1916; Richard Charles Rodgers, composer, 1979.

On this day: the Yorkists suffered a defeat at the Battle of Wakefield, 1460; the conflict over Kashmir was referred to the United Nations, 1947; France transferred sovereignty to Vietnam, 1949; Karol Wojtyla (later to be Pope John Paul II) became Archbishop of Krakow, Poland, 1963.

Today is the Feast Day of St Anysia, St Anysius, St Egwin and St Sabinus of Spoleto.