Anniversaries

TODAY: Births: Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, 121; Leonardo da Vinci, painter, sculptor and architect, 1452; David Hume, philosopher and historian, 1711; John James Audubon, naturalist and artist, 1785; Ferdinand-Victor Eugene Delacroix, painter, 1798; Harold Sidney Harmsworth, first Viscount Rothermere, newspaper publisher, 1868; Anita Loos, writer, 1893; Rudolf Hess, Nazi leader, 1894; John Grierson, documentary film- maker, 1898. Deaths: John Wilkes Booth, actor and assassin, shot while trying to escape 1865; Dame Cicely Courtneidge, actress, 1980; William "Count" Basie, jazz pianist and bandleader, 1984. On this day: the Duke of York (later King George VI) married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (now Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother), 1923; German planes bombed Guernica in Spain during the Civil War, 1937; the Cubans invaded Panama, 1959; a revolt in the French army failed, and the leaders were arrested, 1961; Tanganyika and Zanzibar united to form Tanzania, 1964; an accident at the Soviet nuclear power station at Chernobyl resulted in a massive nuclear leak, 1986. Today is the Feast Day of St Franca of Piacenza, St Paschasius Radbertus, St Peter of Braga, St Richarius or Riquier and St Stephen of Perm.

TOMORROW: Births: Jean-Francois Millet, painter, 1642; Edward Gibbon, historian, 1737; Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, author and women's rights champion, 1759; Samuel Finlay Breese Morse, inventor of the Morse Code, 1791; Cecil Day Lewis, poet and novelist, 1904. Deaths: Ferdinand Magellan, navigator, killed by Philippine natives 1521; Alexander Nikolaievich Scriabin, composer and pianist, 1915; Harold Hart Crane, poet, committed suicide 1932; Kwame Nkrumah, former president of Ghana, 1972. On this day: the London Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park opened, 1828; Christina Rossetti, aged 12, produced her first book of poems, 1842; German troops occupied Athens, 1941; Britain recognised the state of Israel, 1950. Today is the Feast Day of St Anthimus of Nicomedia, St Asicus or Tassach, Saints Castor and Stephen, St Floribert of Liege, St Maughold or Maccul, St Zita.