Anniversaries

TODAY: Births: Herbert George Wells, novelist, 1866; Gustav Holst (Gustavus Theodore von Holst), composer, 1874. Deaths: Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro), Roman poet, 19 BC; Sir Walter Scott, novelist, 1832; Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher, 1860. On this day: Stonehenge was sold by auction for pounds 6,600, 1915; the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was inaugurated, 1949. Today is the Feast Day of St Matthew the Apostle, and St Maura of Troyes.

TOMORROW: Births: Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of King Henry VIII, 1515; Michael Faraday, physicist and chemist, 1791. Deaths: Thomas Doggett, actor and donor of the Thames watermen's coat and badge, 1721; Alain-Fournier (Henri-Alban Fournier), writer, killed in action on the Marne 1914. On this day: France was declared to be a Republic, 1792; Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, ordering the freeing of slaves, 1862. Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Emmeramus, St Felix III (IV), pope, St Lauto or Lo, St Maurice of Agaunum, St Salaberga, St Thomas of Villanueva and the Theban Legion.