The English playwright John Ford was born on this day in 1586. The inventor of baseball (more or less), Alexander Cartwright was born in 1820. J. P. Morgan was born in 1837, and we’ve been paying for it ever since. The great playwright Thornton Wilder was born 1897. William Holden was born in 1918. Director Lindsay Anderson was born in 1923. The great Japanese film critic Donald Richie was born in 1924 (and just died back in February). And concert promoter Don Kirshner was born in 1934.

Author Nick Hornby is 56 today. And actor Sean Bean is 54.

But the day belongs to the great ventriloquist Señor Wences who was born in 1896 and lived to be 103 years old. He was an amazing performer. In the clip below, you will see, however, that he is hardly a ventriloquist at all. But note that he is 70 years old in it. Ventriloquists lose their technique as they get older. I recommend just sitting back and enjoying the comedy. The truth is that it is almost impossible to not look at his various puppets as they talk anyway.

Happy birthday Señor Wences!