Born in 1920 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and director.

Born in 1915 – Orson Welles, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter.

Born in 1813 – Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher and writer.

“A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that’s just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it’s a joke.”
― from Either/Or, Part I

Born in 1796 – Horace Mann, American educator, reformer, and politician.

“After a child has arrived at the legal age for attending school–whether he be the child of noble or of peasant–the only two absolute grounds of exemption from attendance are sickness and death." 

– from Life and Works of Horace Mann: Vol. III

Born in 1969 – Wes Anderson, American director, producer, and screenwriter.

Above: Still from Anderson’s 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums.

Born in 1945 – Annie Dillard, American author and poet.

“After the one extravagant gesture of creation in the first place, the universe has continued to deal exclusively in extravagances, flinging intricacies and colossi down aeons of emptiness, heaping profusions on profligacies with ever-fresh vigor. The whole show has been on fire from the word go. I come down to the water to cool my eyes. But everywhere I look I see fire; that which isn’t flint is tinder, and the whole world sparks and flames.”
                                                      ― from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

In 1992 – Following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King, riots erupted in Los Angeles.

Coach Jack Ramsay died a year ago today.

“The coach is a teacher; his subject is the fundamentals.”

Born in 1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft, English author and philosopher.

“Every political good carried to the extreme must be productive of evil.”