Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: James VI, King of Scotland / James I, King of England, 1566; Blaise Pascal, mathematician and philosopher, 1623; Douglas, first Earl Haig, soldier, 1861; Bessie Wallis Warfield, Duchess of Windsor, 1896. Deaths: Matthew Merian the Elder, engraver and bookseller, 1650; Sir James Matthew Barrie, writer and playwright, 1937; Sir William Gerald Golding, novelist and Nobel prizewinner, 1993; Vivian Ellis, songwriter and composer, 1996. On this day: King Louis XI of France created a (private) Royal Mail service, 1464; an Act of Parliament was passed founding the Metropolitan Police, 1829; all German titles and names were renounced by the British royal family, who adopted the name Windsor, 1917; Kuwait became independent, 1961. Today is the Feast Day of St Bruno-Boniface, St Deodatus or Die, Saints Gervase and Protase, St Juliana Falconieri, St Odo of Cambrai and St Romuald.