Georges Danton (1759) It was on this date, October 26, 1759, that French revolutionist Georges Jacques Danton was born in Arcis-sur-Aube. Though not from a wealthy family, he got a good education and became a lawyer before deciding the legal structure of France was inimical to freedom. He abandoned the law for revolutionary activities and, […]

François Mitterand (1916) It was on this date, October 26, 1916, that French President François Mitterand was born in Jarnac, Charente. Born into a conservative, a Roman Catholic family, Mitterrand first entered politics by way of the ultranationalist Croix de Feu organization, choosing it over the Vatican-opposed Action Française. Mitterand served as a junior minister […]

Geoffrey Chaucer (d. 1400) It was on this date, October 25, 1400, that the first great poet in the English language, Geoffrey Chaucer, died at his home in London. His date of birth is unknown, though it is probably around 1340-1343. Chaucer became a celebrated poet during his lifetime, which did not interfere with his […]

Georges Bizet (1838) It was on this date, October 25, 1838, that French opera composer Alexandre César Léopold Bizet – know as Georges Bizet – was born in Paris. His parents home-schooled him in music and at the age of nine the precocious child was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire. There he studied under Gounod, Halévy and […]

Alfred Nobel (1833) It was on this date, October 21, 1833, that Swedish chemist Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Stockholm. It is one of the ironies of his life that a man who made his fortune in the invention and manufacture of weapons of war – dynamite and other nitroglycerine derivatives – bequeathed among […]

John Dewey (1859) It was on this date, October 20, 1859, that American philosopher and educator John Dewey was born in Burlington, Vermont. Educated first in Vermont and taking his degree in philosophy from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Dewey gradually shed the strictures of his strict religious upbringing. Initially from the idealist school of […]

Sir Thomas Browne (1605) It was on this date, October 19, 1605, that British writer Sir Thomas Browne was born in London, the son of a prosperous silk merchant who died when Thomas was eight. Browne nevertheless studied at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he took his B.A. in 1626 and his M.A. three years later. […]

Leigh Hunt (1784) It was on this date, October 19, 1784, that English writer James Leigh Hunt was born in Southgate, Middlesex. His father was a clergyman, but got into financial difficulties and ended up in a debtor's prison, leaving Leigh Hunt in the care of his mother. Early on, Hunt developed a twin passion […]

Henri Bergson (1859) It was also on this date, October 18, 1859, that French philosopher Henri-Louis Bergson was born in Paris, in the Rue Lamartine, not far from the Opera House. His heritage was a blend of a prominent Jewish family from Poland and Irish stock on his mother's side. Bergson spent most of his […]

Oscar Wilde (1854) It was on this date, October 16, 1854, that Irish writer Oscar O'Flahertie Fingal Wills Wilde was born in Dublin. Oscar Wilde probably inherited from his feminist mother, by example if not by genetics, a flair for the dramatic in style and behavior. Wilde graduated from Oxford and moved to London to […]