He was carried down the channel to land at Torbay in the west of England on the 5th of November 1688, a very propitious day.
"It's a long and complicated story, but the cornerstone was laid on an astrologically propitious day".
Yesterday Jews across the world celebrated the festival of Purim, or Lots, which derives its name from the lots cast by the villain of a Biblical story, Haman, to determine the most propitious day for the extermination of the Jews of Persia, and which commemorates the events recounted in the Hebrew scriptural book of Esther.
On April 13-14 an estimated four million pilgrims ritually bathed in the Ganges to mark the most propitious day of the festival.
In fact, 11 December 1908 must have been a propitious date.
Good Friday seems a propitious time to examine the broad outline of these various depictions – particularly in view of the fact that, this very week, they have been thrown into arresting relief by the publication of The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, a wonderfully fresh reworking of the Gospel stories by Philip Pullman.
With Eid, marking the end of Ramadan, falling on Saturday, the weekend proved a propitious time to release films aimed at the UK's south Asian markets.
On Friday night the company made a propitious debut with a delightful production of Mozart's "Sogno di Scipione" ("The Dream of Scipione"), staged by Christopher Alden.
The 1970s – "a prolonged downpour with a single burst of sunshine", as Andrew O'Hagan memorably described it – was not a propitious time to be in England, but Testino loved it from the day he arrived.
While the Financial Times has warned that Osborne faces a £20bn black hole in his accounts, the poll is a propitious political backdrop for a chancellor preparing to open his budget red box next Wednesday.
