1787: On this day, Anne Elliot, second daughter of the vain and imperious Sir Walter and his wife Lady Elizabeth, was born in Kellynch Hall, Somersetshire. While her fictional counterpart Elizabeth Bennett is considered Jane Austen’s most famous creation, Anne Elliot has her many fans, including me, who found her a more realistic character and the one, in my opinion, who was the most credible and likeable.
1842: After being held captive for almost a month, Herman Melville escapes his cannibals captors in the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific. He would later write about the experience in his first book Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life.
1944: Pilot and author Antoine de Saint-Exupery is reported missing while on a flight over the Mediterranean. His body is never found.
