Today the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire was born; there's a charming post about her at http://patrickleighfermor.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/chatsworth-celebrates-the-many-lives-of-deborah-devonshire/ .
Joseph Haydn was born today too, in 1732.
The first installment of Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers was published today in 1836; it's one of the funniest books I ever read.
Happy national Potato Day!