On this day back in 1711, the great philosopher David Hume was born. Poet Robert Browning was born in 1812. German composer Johannes Brahms was born in 1833. And Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in 1840. Gary Cooper was born in 1901. Night Stalker actor Darren McGavin was born in 1922. And Anne Baxter was born in 1923.

The only person I noticed having a birthday today is Traci Lords, the young woman who threw the porn industry into chaos when it was found that she had made 100 film while less than 18. She argues that this scandal actually made the porn industry much richer because of all the media attention it created. I tend to think she’s right. I’m not much interested in porn, but I know who she is. She’s 47 today and doing very well, I assume. She has a net worth of $7 million.

But the day belongs to a great talent, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who was born on this day in 1927. I am not saying that she is greater than Hume or Brahms. But she died last month and I didn’t notice it. Most people know her as the screenwriter of most of the Merchant-Ivory films like Remains of the Day and A Room with a View. But she was also a great novelist. She would have been 86 today.

Happy birthday, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala!

Afterword

This is from Jhabvala: