Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Alfred Dreyfus, army officer, 1859; Auguste-Marie Louis-Nicolas Lumiere, photographic pioneer, 1862. Deaths: Jonathan Swift, author, satirist and clergyman, 1745; George Mortimer Pullman, sleeping-car manufacturer, 1897; Ernest, first Baron Rutherford of Nelson, physicist, 1937. On this day: Napoleon began his retreat from Moscow, 1812; Wagner's opera Tannhauser was first performed, Dresden, 1845; the People's Republic of China was proclaimed, 1949; President Samora Machel of Mozambique and about 30 of his staff were killed in the plane crash on the South African border, 1986. Today is the Feast Day of St Aquilinus of Evreux, St Charles Garnier, St Cleopatra, St Ethbin, St Frideswide, St Gabriel Lalemant, Saints Jean Brebeuf and Isaac Jogues, St John of Lalande, St Noel Chabanel, St Paul of the Cross, St Peter of Alcantara, St Philip Howard, Saints Ptolemaeus and Lucius St Rene Goupil and St Varus.

TOMORROW: Births: Sir Christopher Wren, mathematician and architect, 1632; Odilon Redon, painter and lithographer, 1840; Jean-Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud, poet, 1854; Charles Edward Ives, composer, 1874; Anna Neagle (Marjorie Rob-ertson), actress, 1904. Deaths: Jacopo della Quercia, sculptor, 1438; Sir Richard Francis Burton, explorer and Arabic scholar, 1890; Jack Buchanan, actor and singer, 1957; Bud Flanagan (Robert Winthrop), ''Crazy Gang'' comedian, 1968; Sir John Anthony Quayle, actor, 1989. On this day: the Sunday Times was first published, 1822; in Italy, Benito Mussolini, Fascist leader, seized power, 1922; Aristotle Onassis married Jacqueline Kennedy, 1968; the Sydney Opera House was opened to the public, 1973. Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Acca, St Andrew the Calybite of Crete, St Artemius, St Bertilla Boscardin and St Caprasius of Agen.