Anniversaries

Births: Sir Francis Beaufort, admiral and hydrographer, 1774; Sir Henry Parkes, statesman, 1815; Amelia Jenks Bloomer, women's rights campaigner, 1818; Joseph Joachim Raff, composer, 1822; Jay Gould, railway builder, 1836; Georges-Henri Rouault, Expressionist painter, 1871; Isadora Duncan, dancer, 1878; Hubert Horatio Humphrey, US senator and vice-president, 1911.

Deaths: Thomas Muntzer, Anabaptist campaigner, executed 1525; John Calvin, theologian, 1564; Francois-Emile Babeuf, revolutionary, 1797; Niccolo Paganini, violinist, 1840; Henry Adams, historian, 1918; Jawalharlal Nehru, statesman, 1964.

On this day: the Habeas Corpus Act was passed, 1679; St Petersburg (Leningrad) was founded by Peter the Great, 1703; the Battle of Aisne started, 1918; the first transatlantic air flight, with a five-man crew, arrived at Lisbon, 1919; the Cunard liner Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, 1936; the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, opened, 1937; the German battleship Bismarck was sunk, 1941; the European Defence Community was set up, 1952.

Today is the Feast Day of St Augustine of Canterbury, St Eutropius of Orange, St Julius of Durostorum, St Melangel or Monacella and St Restituta of Sora.