Anniversaries

Anniversaries

TODAY: Births: Sir Henry Percy (Harry Hotspur), soldier and politician, 1364; Honore de Balzac (Balssa), novelist, 1799; Moshe Dayan, Israeli military commander, 1915. Deaths: Christopher Columbus, explorer and navigator, 1506; Sir Max (Henry Maximilian) Beerbohm, caricaturist and writer, 1956; Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth, sculptor, 1975. On this day: the foundation stone of the Royal Albert Hall was laid, 1867; Amelia Earhart was the first woman to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic, 1932; the first US hydrogen bomb was dropped over Bikini atoll, 1956. Today is the Feast Day of St Austregisilus or Outrill, St Basilla or Basilissa, St Baudelius, St Bernardino of Siena, St Ethelbert and Saints Thalelaeus, Asterius, Alexander and Others.

TOMORROW: Births: Alexander Pope, poet and satirist, 1688; Henri Rousseau, primitive painter, 1844; Thomas Wright (Fats) Waller, songwriter and pianist, 1904. Deaths: Henry VI, King of England, murdered 1471; Prince Paul Anton von Galanthea Esterhazy, diplomat, 1866; Ronald Arthur Annesley Firbank, novelist, 1926. On this day: the Standard newspaper was first published, 1827; the Manchester Ship Canal was officially opened, 1894; Summer Time (daylight saving) was begun in Britain, 1916. Tomorrow is the Feast Day of St Andrew Bobola, St Godfric and St Theophilus of Corte.