Anniversaries

Births: Andrea del Sarto (Andrea Domenico d'Agnolo di Francesco), painter, 1486; Joseph Wilton, sculptor, 1722; Sir Joshua Reynolds, painter, 1723; Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, painter, 1796; Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, 1821; Luigi Arditi, violinist and composer, 1822; Henri Viotta, conductor and composer, 1848; Jens Otto Harry Jespersen, linguist and philologist, 1860; George A. Birmingham (The Rev James Owen Hannay), novelist, 1865; Roald Amundsen, Polar explorer, 1872; Trygve Halvdan Lie, statesman, 1896.

Deaths: Pope Innocent III, 1216; Anne of Cleves, fourth wife of Henry VIII, 1557; Francois-Michel Le Tallier, Marquis de Louvois, statesman, 1691; Elijah Fenton, poet, 1730; Thomas Yalden, poet and writer of fables, 1736; Giuseppe Dada Crespi, painter and etcher, 1747; Josiah Spode, potter, 1827; Pierre-Jean de Beranger, poet, 1857; Ned Buntline (Edward Zane Carroll Judson), writer, 1886; Edmond-Louis-Antoine Huot de Goncourt, novelist, 1896; William Hamilton Gibson, illustrator, author and naturalist, 1896; Sir Victor Alexander Haden Horsley, physician, 1916; Nicholas II, last Tsar of Russia, 1918; Alexandra (Aleksandra Fyodorovna), Tsarina of Russia, consort of Nicholas II, 1918; Joseph Hilaire Belloc, author, 1953; John Phillips Marquand, novelist, 1960.

On this day: Brennus and the Gauls defeated the Romans at Allia, 390 BC; the Muslim Era began when Mahomet began his flight from Mecca to Medina (the Hejira), 622; the Spanish defeated the Moors at the Battle of Tolosa, 1212; Captain John Gilbert patented the first dredger in Britain, 1618; the first banknotes in Europe were issued by the Bank of Stockholm, 1661; Mozart's opera Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail was first performed, 1782; the District of Columbia was established in the US, 1790; Sir Henry Havelock arrived at the Battle of Cawnpore, 1857; the Tsar of Russia (Nicholas II) and all his family were murdered by Bolsheviks at Ekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk), 1918; the world's first parking meters were installed in Oklahoma City, 1935; the first atomic test bomb was exploded at Los Alamos, New Mexico, 1945; Leopold III, King of the Belgians, abdicated, 1951; the Mont Blanc road tunnel, between France and Italy, was opened, 1965; the Bill to abolish the Greater London Council received Royal Assent, 1985; British Airways and British Caledonian announced plans for a pounds 237 million merger, 1987.

Today is the Feast Day of St Athenogenes, St Eustathius of Antioch, St Fulrad, St Helier, St Mary Magdalen Postel, St Reineldis.