Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Thomas Weelkes, composer, baptised 1576; Dr James Beattie, poet and philosopher, 1735; Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay, historian and essayist, 1800; Richard Parkes Bonington, painter, 1801; Johann Strauss the Younger, composer, 1825; Sir Joseph Archer Crowe, consular official and art critic, 1828; Georges (Alexandre-Cesar Leopold) Bizet, composer, 1838; Pablo Ruiz Picasso, painter, 1881; Richard Evelyn Byrd, admiral, aviator and polar explorer, 1888; Abel Gance, film director and producer, 1889; Levi Eshkol, Israeli statesman, 1895; John Berryman, poet, 1914; Don Banks, composer, 1923. Deaths: Stephen, King of England, 1154; Geoffrey Chaucer, poet, 1400; Giorgione (Giorgio da Castelfranco), painter, 1510; Evangelista Torricelli, scientist and inventor of the barometer, 1647; George II, King of England, 1760; Eduard Hildebrandt, painter, 1868; Sir Charles Halle (Carl Halle), conductor and pianist, 1895; John Sims Reeves, tenor and musician, 1900; Frank (Benjamin Franklin) Norris, novelist, 1902; Frederick William Serafino Austin Lewis Mary Rolfe ("Baron Corvo"), author, 1913; Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow, painter, 1919; King Alexander of Greece, 1920; Susan Lawrence, politician, 1947; Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany, author, 1957; Vincent Leonard Price, actor and writer, 1993. On this day: led by King Henry V, the English army defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt, 1415; Bradshaw's Railway Guide was first published, 1839; the Charge of the Light Brigade took place at Balaclava, 1854; the Fiji Islands were annexed by Great Britain, 1874; the Transvaal was annexed by Great Britain, 1900; the Canadian Pacific steamer Princess Sophia was wrecked off Alaska with the loss of 343 lives, 1918; Terence McSwiney, Sinn Fein Lord Mayor of Cork, died after 73 days' hunger strike in Brixton Prison, London, 1920; the first London production of the musical show Follow the Girls was presented, 1945; the magazine Private Eye was first published, 1961; Taiwan was expelled, and the People's Republic of China was admitted to the United Nations, 1971; US Marines and Rangers invaded Grenada, 1983. Today is the Feast Day of Saints Chrysanthus and Daria, Saints Crispin and Crispinian, The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, Saints Fronto and George, St Gaudentius of Brescia and St Richard Gwyn.