Births: John Tradescant the Younger, horticulturist, 1608; Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet, 1792; Sir Harry Lauder (MacLennan), comedian, 1870; Sir Osbert Lancaster, artist and writer, 1908. Deaths: Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, killed in battle at Evesham 1265; Hans Christian Andersen, writer of fairy tales, 1875; Roy Herbert Thomson, first Baron Thomson of Fleet, newspaper publisher, 1976. On this day: the Barons were defeated by Prince Edward at the Battle of Evesham, 1265; Lord Wantage founded the British Red Cross Society, 1870; Britain declared war on Germany, 1914. Today is the Feast Day of St Ia, St John-Baptist Vianney, St Molua or Lughaidh, St Sezni.
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