Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, 1274; Sir Kenelm Digby, diplomat and writer, 1603; Charles-Antoine Coypel, painter, 1694; Thomas Bowdler, editor and self-appointed censor of Shakespeare, 1754; John Quincy Adams, sixth US President, 1767; Thomas Wakley, founder of the Lancet, 1795; Elwyn Brooks White, author, 1899. Deaths: William Ernest Henley, poet and critic, 1903; Simon Newcomb, astronomer, 1909; Alfred Dreyfus, soldier, 1935; George Gershwin (Jacob Gershvin), composer, 1937; Sir Arthur John Evans, archaeologist, 1941; Lucien Pissarro, landscape painter and book designer, 1944; Paul Nash, painter, printmaker and photographer, 1946; The Aga Khan III, 1957. On this day: the Flemings defeated the Count of Artois at the Battle of the Spurs (Courtrai), 1302; Captain James Cook sailed from Plymouth on his last voyage, 1776; Waterloo Station, London, was officially opened, 1848; the massacre of Christians in Damascus ended, 1860; the Britannia Road Bridge over the Menai Strait was opened by the Prince of Wales, 1980. Today is the Feast Day of St Benedict, St Drostan, St Hidulf, St John of Bergamo, St Olga.