Anniversaries

Births: Nicolaus Copernicus (Mikolaj Kopernik), astronomer, 1473; David Garrick, actor, 1717; Merle Oberon (Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson), actress, 1911; Stan Kenton (Stanley Newcomb), jazz band-leader, 1912. Deaths: Charles Blondin (Jean-Francois Gravelet), tightrope walker, 1897; Ernst Mach, physicist, 1916; Andre-Paul-Guillaume Gide, novelist, 1951. On this day: the phonograph was patented by Thomas Alva Edison, 1878; the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw its forces from Cuba, 1963; after failing to come to an agreement over the fishing dispute, Iceland broke off diplomatic relations with Britain, 1976. Today is the Feast Day of St Barbatus, St Beatus of Liebana, St Boniface of Lausanne, St Conrad of Piacenza and St Mesrop.