Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: John Jacob Astor, fur trader and merchant, 1763; Hippolyte-Paul Delaroche, painter, 1797; Johan August Sodermann, composer, 1832; Erle Stanley Gardner, novelist and creator of "Perry Mason", 1889; James Cagney, actor, 1899. Deaths: Adam Smith, political economist and writer, 1790; Charlotte Corday, murderess of Marat, executed 1793; Charles Grey, second Earl Grey, statesman, 1845; James Abbott McNeill Whistler, painter, 1903; Billie Holiday (Eleanora Holiday), jazz singer, 1959. On this day: the Hundred Years' War ended after the defeat of the English at Castillon, 1453; the magazine Punch was first published, 1841; George Phillips Bond, astronomer, made the first photograph of a star, 1850; Disneyland opened in California, 1955. Today is the Feast Day of St Clement of Okhrida and his Companions, St Ennodius, St Kenelm, St Leo IV, Pope, St Marcellina, St Nerses Lampronazi, The Seven Apostles of Bulgaria, St Speratus and his Companions, The Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne and The Martyrs of Scillium.