Anniversaries

TODAY: Births: Gian Lorenzo Bernini, sculptor, 1598; Allan Cunningham, poet, 1784; Joseph Severn, painter, 1793; Theodor Ambrose Hubert Schwann, physiologist, 1810; William James Linton, wood engraver, 1812; Carl Anton Florian Eckert, pianist, violinist, conductor and composer, 1820; Leopold Kronecker, mathematician, 1823; Hermann Gustav Gotz, composer, 1840; Pietro Mascagni, composer, 1863; Willa Sibert Cather, novelist, 1876; Charles Rudolf Friml, composer and pianist, 1879; Ernst Toch, composer, 1887; Arthur Joyce Lunel Cary, author, 1888; Honore-Gabriel Marcel, philosopher and playwright, 1889; Fay Bainter, film actress, 1892; Stuart Davis, abstract painter, 1894. Deaths: Cicero, executed 43 BC; Pope Innocent IV, 1254; Robert Kett, rebel leader, hanged 1549; Adriaan Willaert, composer, 1562; Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes), portrait painter, 1680; Algernon Sidney, republican and patriot, beheaded, 1683; Meindert Hobbema, landscape painter, 1709; Marie-Jeanne Becu, Comtesse du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, guillotined, 1793; Marshal Michel Ney, soldier, executed for treason, 1815; William Bligh, captain of the Bounty, 1817; Dr John Aikin, author and physician, 1822; John Flaxman, sculptor, 1826; The Rev Edward Irving, Presbyterian minister and theologian, 1834; William Swainson, naturalist, 1855; Ferdinand-Marie, Vicomte de Lesseps, engineer and diplomat, 1894; Thomas Nast, artist and cartoonist, 1902; Sir Frederick Treves, physician, 1923; Nicholas Murray Butler, educator, 1947; Rex Ellingwood Beach, novelist, 1949; Kirsten Malfrid Flagstad, operatic soprano, 1962; Thornton Niven Wilder, novelist, 1975; Robert Ranke Graves, poet, 1985; Kathleen Harrison, actress, 1995. On this day: Henry VI of England was crowned King of France, Paris, 1431; the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (now the Royal Opera House), was opened, 1732; William Pitt the Younger became prime minister, 1783; Delaware became the first of the United States, 1787; the Alhambra Theatre, London, was burned down, 1882; Gilbert and Sullivan's opera The Gondoliers was first produced, London, 1889; the Italians were defeated at Amba Alagi by the Abyssinians, 1895; an imperial edict authorised all Chinese to cut their pigtails, 1911; David Lloyd George became British prime minister, 1916; the United States declared war on Austria-Hungary, 1917; the first parliament of the Irish Free State met, electing William Thomas Cosgrave as president, 1922; the parliament of Northern Ireland voted against being included in the Irish Free State, 1922; the operetta The Last Waltz was staged for the first time in London, 1922; Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor, 1941; the Ivory Coast became an independent republic, 1960; Apollo 17 was launched from Cape Kennedy, 1972. Today is the Feast Day of St Ambrose of Milan, St Buithe or Boethius, St Eutychianus, St Martin of Saujon and St Servus.

TOMORROW: Births: Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Roman poet, 65 BC; Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, 1542; Gonzales Cocx, painter, 1614; Queen Christina of Sweden, 1626; Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, 1708; Johann Georg von Zimmermann, author, 1728; Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, 1765; Charles Wentworth Dilke, editor and critic, 1789; Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner, conductor and composer, 1791; Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel, artist, 1815; Rochus von Liliencron, theologian, philologist and musicologist, 1820; Bjornstjerne Bjornson, poet and playwright, 1832; George Alfred Henty, author of boys' books, 1832; Aristide Maillol, sculptor, 1861; Georges Melies, cinema pioneer, 1861; Georges-Leon Jules-Marie Feydeau, playwright, 1862; Jean Julius Christian Sibelius, composer, 1865; George Norman Douglas, diplomat and writer, 1868; Padraic Colum, poet, 1881; Kenneth Lewis Roberts, historical novelist, 1885; Bohuslav Martinu, composer, 1890; James Grover Thurber, wit and cartoonist, 1894; Lee J. Cobb (Leo Jacob), film actor, 1911. Deaths: Sigismund, King of Hungary and Holy Roman Emperor, 1437; Adriaan Willaert, composer and choralist, 1562; Sir John Davies, lawyer and poet, 1626; John Pym, statesman and parliamentarian, 1643; Gerard Terborch, painter, 1681; Richard Baxter, clergyman and writer, 1691; Barthelemy d'Herbelot de Molainville, scholar and orientalist, 1695; Thomas Corneille, playwright, 1709; Thomas De Quincey, author, 1859; George Augustus Henry Sala, journalist, 1895; Herbert Spencer, writer and philosopher, 1903; Alphonse Legros, painter and etcher, 1911; Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert, Count von Spee, vice-admiral, 1914; Gertrude Jekyll, landscape architect, 1932; Golda Meir (Goldie Mabovitch), Israeli stateswoman, 1978; John Winston Lennon, former member of the Beatles group, shot in New York, 1980; Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake, statesman, 1983. On this day: Prince Albert Edward (later King Edward VII) became Prince of Wales, 1841; Pope Pius IX promulgated the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, 1854; the first world heavyweight boxing championship, between the Englishman Tom King and the American John Heenan, took place, 1863; Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol, was opened, 1864; the first traffic lights were erected in Westminster, London, 1868; the Echo newspaper was first published, 1868; Gustav V succeeded his father Oscar II to the throne of Sweden, 1907; in the heavyweight boxing contest in London, Georges Carpentier knocked out Bombardier Billy Wells in the first round, 1913; the German fleet was sunk in the Battle of the Falkland Islands, 1914; in the Russian election for the constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks were soundly defeated, 1917; the London to Australia airmail service was begun, 1934; at Kiel, Germany launched her first aircraft-carrier, the Graf Zeppelin, 1938; Great Britain, Australia and the United States declared war on Japan, 1941; the Chinese Nationalist government transferred its capital from mainland China to Taipeh, on Taiwan island, 1949; Mr Arthur Scargill was elected president of the National Union of Mineworkers, 1981; President Reagan and Mr Gorbachev signed an agreement eliminating all ground-based intermediate-range nuclear missiles, 1987. Tomorrow is the Feast Day of The Immaculate Conception, St Eucharius, St Patapius, St Romaric and Sophronius of Cyprus.

Lectures

TODAY

National Gallery: Jacqueline Lewis, "Christmas (i): Gossaert, The Adoration of the Magi", 12pm.

Victoria and Albert Museum: Anna Contadini, "Islamic Glass", 2.30pm.

Tate Gallery: Laurence Bradbury, "Bridging the Generation Gaps in Art", 1pm.

British Museum: Richard Woff, "Some Images of Women in Fifth- century Athens", 1.15pm.

TOMORROW

Tate Gallery: Laurence Bradbury, "Works of Memorable Simplicity", 2.30pm.