It was on this date, November 22, 1819, that English Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans, who rose to fame under the pen-name “George Eliot,” was born in Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire. She developed a strong religious sense under the teachers at Mrs. Wallington’s School at Nuneaton, and early on published some religious poetry. Her hunger for […]

It was on this date, November 21, 1965, that Icelandic vocalist Björk Gudmundsdottir, know around the globe as Björk, was born in Reykjavik. Her musical influences included jazz, rock, and classical music, plus the songs, sagas and poetry of Iceland. She was sent to music school at the age of 5, and by age 11 […]

It was on this date, November 21, 1694, that French writer François-Marie Arouet, who became famous as Voltaire, was born in Paris. His education began under a skeptical French Jesuit. When his father, a notary, insisted that he study for the law, Arouet instead began a literary career. After he published a witty satire on […]

It was on this date, November 20, 1752, that the poet generally regarded as the first Romantic poet in English, Thomas Chatterton, was born in Bristol, the posthumous son of a local schoolmaster. Poverty and rejection were the story of his life, but in the brief 17 years of his existence, Chatterton forged mediæval poetry […]

It was on this date, November 20, 1862, that Finnish philosopher and sociologist Edward (Edvard) Alexander Westermarck was born in Helsinki, the son of a university Latin professor. He learned English to study Darwin and other naturalists, and became a professor himself — at the London School of Economics and Political Science (1907-1931), at the […]

It was on this date, November 20, 1923, that South African novelist and short-story writer Nadine Gordimer was born the daughter of a Jewish-Lithuanian emigrant in Springs, outside of Johannesburg. Gordimer was educated in a convent school and spent a year at university, but took no degree. Her first short story was published when she […]

It was on this date, November 19, 1933, that award winning American broadcaster Larry King, host of TV’s “Larry King Live” interview show, was born Lawrence Harvey Zeigler in Brooklyn, New York, the offspring of Orthodox Jews who had emigrated from Russia. Young Larry was so close to his father, that when he died of […]

It was on this date, November 19, 1936, American television talk-show host Dick Cavett was born in Gibbon, Nebraska. In his early career, Cavett was an actor in army training films, a stand-up comic, and wrote material for talk show hosts — including Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Jerry Lewis, and Johnny Carson — before becoming […]

It was on this date, November 19, 1938, that American media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner was born Robert Edward Turner III in Cincinnati, Ohio. Turner grew up in Savannah, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. He started building his media empire at age 24, after his father Ed put a gun to his head and left […]

It was on this date, November 19, 1962, that American film actress and director Jodie Foster was born Alicia Christian Foster in Los Angeles, California. One of the brighter intellectual lights in Hollywood, Foster graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a BA in Literature in 1985. To read more, go to THIS LINK. […]