Wilbur Wright was born this day in 1867. Actor Peter Ustinov was born in 1921. The great arranger and composer Henry Mancini was born in 1924. Jazz flutist Herbie Mann was born in 1930. And Dusty Springfield was born in 1939.

Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger (the Pope emeritus) is 86 today. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was not as good as Wilt Chamberlain, is 66. Billy West, the voice of Philip J. Fry and many others, is 63. Jimmy Osmond is 50 today. I include him only so that you will click over and see what a hunk a hunk of handsome man thing he’s become. Or maybe it’s just the photo. Jon Cryer and Martin Lawrence are 48 today. And Claire Foy of Going Postal is 29.

The day belongs to the great painter, Louise Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun, who was born on this day in 1755. As I think that you can see in the self-portrait above, she’s just marvelous. As a result, she was very popular with aristocracy, and almost lost her head because of it. But she fled France and became a cause celebre throughout Europe, eventually returning to Paris in triumph. She died just before her 87th birthday.

Afterword

I can’t end the day without listening to this Dusty Springfield song: