March 17th - Yippee ! Commodus, Kate Greenaway & Nureyev

Upon the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180, Commodus would become Emperor and rule Rome alone. I know it wasn't his finest hour in the movie Gladiator but I just love that film. Love it.

So here we are - Saint Patrick's Day. He is the Patron Saint of Ireland and March the 17th is celebrated as it is the anniversary of his death in Downpatrick, Ireland. I was interested to discover via the Wikipedia link that two letters written by him survive giving us an account, in part, of  his life.

James IV of Scotland was born on March the 17th 1473.

In 1845, Stephen Perry would receive his patent for the rubber band on March the 17th.

The children's writer and illustrator Kate Greenaway was born on St. Patrick's Day 1846. She studied at what is now the Royal College of Art, which at the time had a separate section for women. Here is an example of her beautiful work:

Lawrence ( known as Titus ) Oates was born on this day in 1880. He would walk to his death in a blizzard on March the 16th 1912. This lovely painting - A Very Gallant Gentleman by John Charles Dollman.

In 1901 on the 17th of March an exhibition was held at the Galeries Bernheim Jeune, in Paris, of Van Gogh's work, some eleven years after his death. It was huge success.

Rudolf Nureyev too shares this birthday -  he was born in 1938.

On March the 17th 1958 NASA launched the Vanguard 1. It is the second US satellite and the first to be solar powered. It has the distinction of being the oldest man-made object in space and it is still orbits the earth today, although communication is lost.

London Bridge was opened on March the 17th 1973 by the Queen. The Bridge connects the City of London to Southwark - a bridge has stood on or near this site since the Roman occupation.

I think we have covered the Feast Day for today - enjoy !

A quick search online produced numerous  Saint Patrick's Day recipes - I'm going to have a go at Dublin Coddle.