Anniversaries

Births: Marie-Alexandre Gunin, violinist and composer, 1744; Henry James Pye, poet, 1745; Adam Black, politician and publisher, 1784; Honor Daumier, caricaturist and painter, 1808; Henri Vieuxtemps, violinist and composer, 1820; William Terriss (William Charles James Lewin), actor, 1847; Bla Kun, communist activist, 1885; Charles Vincent Massey, statesman and diplomat, 1887; Dame Marie Rambert (Cyvia Rambam, later Miriam Ramberg), founder of the Ballet Rambert, 1888; Carl Mayer, film director, 1892; Ansel Easton Adams, photographer, 1902; Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin, Russian leader, 1904.

Deaths: Pope Martin V, 1431; James I, King of Scotland, assassinated 1437; Luca della Robbia, sculptor, 1482; Gentile Bellini, painter, 1507; Nathan Field, actor and playwright, buried 1633; Aurungzebe, last Mogul emperor of India, 1707; Mrs Elizabeth Rowe (Singer), author and poet, 1736; Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, 1790; Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean patriot, executed 1810; Joseph Hume, physician and social reformer, 1855; Augustin- Eugne Scribe, playwright, 1861; Robert Edwin Peary, Arctic explorer, 1920; Oswald Theodore Avery, bacteriologist, 1955; Laurence Housman, playwright, novelist and illustrator, 1959; Sir Charles Leonard Woolley, archaeologist, 1960; Percy Aldridge Grainger, composer, 1961; Chester William Nimitz, admiral, 1966.

On this day: Admiral Blake defeated the Dutch fleet under Van Tromp off Portsmouth, 1653; Kandy, Ceylon, was captured by the British, 1803; the French defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Saragossa, 1809; a great storm raged in England, with damage to the Crystal Palace, and the steeple of Chichester Cathedral was blown away, 1861; the Panama-Pacific International Exposition opened in San Francisco, 1915; the Netherlands West Indies were purchased by the United States, 1917; Anthony Eden resigned as British Foreign Secretary, 1938; the first London production of the musical show Where's Charley? took place, 1958; John Glenn, astronaut (now a Senator), was launched into space in the Mercury capsule Friendship 7, 1962; the first London production of the musical show Mame took place, 1969; new- design £10 notes were issued, showing a portrait of Florence Nightingale, 1975; poisonous fumes from a volcano in Java resulted in 175 deaths, 1979.