Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Sir John Frederick William Herschel, astronomer, 1792; Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, painter, 1802; Victor (Felix-Marie) Masse, composer, 1822; Henry Moore, marine painter, 1831; Piet (Pieter Cornelis) Mondriaan, abstract painter, 1872; Joseph-Maurice Ravel, composer, 1875. Deaths: St Thomas Aquinas, Christian philosopher, 1274; Francesco Bartolozzi, engraver, 1815; Louis Boulanger, painter and lithographer, 1867; Herman J. Mankiewicz, screenwriter, 1953; Percy Wyndham Lewis, writer and artist, 1957. On this day: France declared war on Spain, 1793; the British and Foreign Bible Society was founded, 1804; Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightingale", made her debut, 1838; the first telephone was patented by Alexander Graham Bell, 1876; the first jazz record, "The Dixie Jazz Band One-step", went on sale in the United States, 1917; the transatlantic radio-telephone was established, 1926; in London, the Victoria Underground line was opened by the Queen, 1969; at Heathrow Airport, London, armed raiders stole pounds 850,000 worth of diamonds and currency, 1977. Today is the Feast Day of St Ardo, St Drausius or Drausin, St Esterwine, St Paul the Simple and St Theophylact.