If they were still alive today...

...the following notables would be celebrating their birthday.  Today's a mostly British celebration, and we've got a bunch of really old geezers today!  The median age is 321:


British diarist Samuel Pepys turns 378 today.  He kept a 10-year diary that encompassed some of the seminal events in British history, including the Great Fire of London and the Great Plague of London.  They still make fascinating reading, and have been influential reference words for subsequent writers and historians.



Joshua Reynolds' self portrait.



Colonel Acland and Lord Sydney, The Archers, 1769, by Joshua Reynolds




Great British portrait painter Joshua Reynolds would be 272.

























German-born, though British-claimed, composer George Friedrich Handel turns 326.  His masterpiece oratorio composition, The Messiah, would rank high on many "most" lists:  Most performed, praised, published and beloved musical work ever written.

Victor Fleming, holding Toto, with Judy Garland, Mervyn Leroy and "The Munchkins".

Tough-as-nails "man's-man"--yet spotlessly attired gentleman, Hollywood director (and Clark Gable's best friend) Victor Fleming would be 122.  He is most noted for having directed both The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind---in the same year! (1939--though other directors did assist in directing major portions of both films, he is the credited director).  He had a complete (and understandable!) nervous breakdown the following year.  Here's a highly enjoyable collection of very rare outtakes and deleted scenes from The Wizard of Oz.  I don't know where this guy found these!


Fun with "The Wizard of Oz" - Alternate audio and Deleted scenes from Mark on Vimeo.