Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Niels Stensen, anatomist, 163; Dr George Birkbeck, educationist, 1776; Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy, novelist and playwright, 1883; Dame Barbara Hepworth, sculptor, 1903. Deaths: Carolus Linnaeus, botanist, 1778; Samuel Colt, gunsmith, 1862; William Frederick Cody ("Buffalo Bill"), 1917; Samuel Dashiell Hammett, detective story writer, 1961; Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel, couturier, 1971; Chester Burnett ("Howling Wolf"), blues singer, 1976. On this day: the Royal Exchange, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, burned down, 1838; the penny post was begun and 112,000 letters were posted in London, 1840; the London Underground (Metropolitan Railway) system was started, 1863; the tomb of Cleopatra was discovered, 1890; the League of Nations was inaugurated, 1920; the cartoon character "Tintin" appeared for the first time, 1929; the New London Theatre, Drury Lane, opened, 1973. Today is the Feast Day of St Agatho, pope, St Dermot or Diarmaid, St John the Good, St Marcian of Constantinople, St Peter Orseolo and St William of Bourges.