Anniversaries

Anniversaries

Births: Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, writer, 1613; Titus Oates, impostor and fabricator of the "Popish Plot", 1649; Sophia Dorothea, Electress of Hanover, 1666; James Fenimore Cooper, novelist, 1789; Sir Francis Seymour Haden, surgeon and etcher, 1818; Jose de la Cruz Porfirio Daz, Mexican leader, 1830; Henry Sweet, philologist and phonetician, 1845; William Howard Taft, 27th US President, 1857; Robert Charles Benchley, humorist, 1889; Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, writer, 1890; Jean Renoir, film director, 1894; Tom Conway (Thomas Charles Sanders), actor, 1904; Jean Batten, aviator, 1909; Margaret Mary Lockwood, actress, 1916. Deaths: Sir Thomas Overbury, poet, poisoned while in the Tower of London 1613; Richard Boyle, first Earl of Cork, 1643; William Huskisson, statesman, run down by the locomotive Rocket, 1830; Arthur Henry Hallam, historian, 1833; Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer, 1859; John Hanning Speke, explorer, shot by accident 1864; William Seward Burroughs, adding machine pioneer, 1898; Willy Messerschmitt, aircraft designer, 1978. On this day: General Howe took New York, 1776; to halt the French occupation, the Russians set fire to Moscow, 1812; the Manchester and Liverpool railway opened, during which ceremony, the world's first railway accident occurred, 1830; Jumbo, a famous circus elephant, was hit and killed by a goods train in Ontario, Canada, 1885; tanks were first used in battle by the British Army at the Somme, 1916; Russia was proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky, 1917; Nikita Khrushchev began a 12-day visit to the United States, 1959; the first traffic wardens went on duty in London, 1960; the Sun newspaper was first published, 1964; industrial action by the National Graphical Association interrupted production, causing a production loss of 25 per cent of newspapers, 1971. Today is the Feast Day of St Achard or Aichardus, St Catherine of Genoa, St Mirin, St Nicetas the Goth and St Nicomedes.