Born in 1853 – Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter.

Above: The Reaper, c. 1910 and The Chosen One, 1893

Previously: Hodler

Born in 1593 – Georges de La Tour, French painter.

Above: The Newborn Christ (c. 1645–1648)

In 1912, The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) was founded in the United States. They pledged to uphold the original Promise and Law:

ORIGINAL PROMISE

On my honour, I promise that I will do my best:
To do my duty to God and my country;
To help other people at all times;
To obey the Guide Law

ORIGINAL LAW

• A Guide’s honour is to be trusted.
• A Guide is loyal.
• A Guide’s duty is to be useful and to help others.
• A Guide is a friend to all and a sister to every other Guide.
• A Guide is courteous.
• A Guide is a friend to animals.
• A Guide obeys orders.
• A Guide smiles and sings under all difficulties.
• A Guide is thrifty.
• A Guide is pure in thought, in word and in deed

Also, born in 1685, Irish bishop and philosopher, George Berkeley.

Born in 1893 – Wanda Gág, American author and illustrator.

Above: Cover of Gág’s 1928 children’s book, Millions of Cats.

In 2019, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, en route from Ethiopia to Kenya, crashed six minutes after takeoff killing all 157 people aboard. The crash led to 737 MAX aircraft being grounded worldwide.

Born in 1892 – Vita Sackville-West, English gardener author, and poet.

Above: Vita with german shepherd, and husband Sir Harold Nicolson.

Also: John Cale

Born in 1931 – Neil Postman, American author and social critic.

“What Huxley teaches is that in the age of advanced technology, spiritual devastation is more likely to come from an enemy with a smiling face than from one whose countenance exudes suspicion and hate. In the Huxleyan prophecy, Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours. There is no need for wardens or gates or Ministries of Truth. When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, people become an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility.”

Previously: Postman here, and here.

Born in 1878 – Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter and stage designer.

Above: Bolshevik (1920) and Looking at the Volga (1922)

Previously: Kustodiev

Also: Piet Mondrian

Born in 1926 – Andrzej Wajda, Polish director, producer, and screenwriter.

Above: Still from Wajda’s 1958 film, Ashes and Diamonds.

Also: Michelangelo

Born in 1853 – Howard Pyle, American author and illustrator.

Above: Marooned, 1909

Also: Karl Rahner, German theologian