Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, composer, 1809; Elizabeth Blackwell, first woman medical practitioner, 1821; Walter Bagehot, economist, author and journalist, 1826; Gertrude Stein, author and critic, 1874; Alvar Aalto, architect, 1898; Priaulx Rainier, composer, 1903. Deaths: Richard "Beau" Nash, gambler and dandy, 1762; Johann Beckmann, economist, 1811; George Crabbe, poet, 1832; John Lane, publisher, 1925; Boris Karloff (William Henry Pratt), actor, 1969; Teferi Bante, prime minister of Ethiopia, assassinated 1977; John Cassavetes, actor, director and screenwriter, 1989. On this day: the United States and Germany broke off diplomatic relations, 1917; the cities of Napier and Hastings, New Zealand, were almost destroyed in an earthquake when 256 people were killed, 1931; Berlin was bombed in daylight by the Allies using over 1,000 aircraft, 1945; the Benelux economic treaty was signed, 1958; Harold Macmillan made his "Wind of Change" speech in Cape Town, South Africa, 1960. Today is the Feast Day of St Anskar, St Blaise, St Ia the Virgin, St Laurence of Canterbury, St Laurence of Spoleto, Saint Margaret "of England" and St Werburga.