October 25 is the birthday of Spanish painter and sculptor PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973). After visiting the cave art at Lascaux, Picasso is reported to have said: "We have invented nothing." To see other art by Picasso inspired by his love of the bull, CLICK HERE.

October 25 is the birthday of the French film director ABEL GANCE (1889-1981). Among the many films Gance directed are the classics "J'Accuse" (1919), "Un grand amour de Beethoven" (1937) and his silent film masterpiece NAPOLÉON (1927). In the final scene of "Napoléon," Gance used two more screens creating a triptych, a sort of predecessor to Cinerama. To see a trailer for the immortal classic of world cinema, CLICK HERE.

October 25 is the birthday of "The Waltz King," JOHN STRAUSS, JR. Strauss was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well as a violinist. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet." (Wikipedia)

To witness how the Waltz King still gets people movin' and tapping' their feet, just witness this video by André Rieu.

HAPPY FEAST OF SAINTS CRISPIN AND CRISPIAN!!

They are the patron saints of cobblers, glove makers, lace makers, lace workers, leather workers, saddle makers, saddlers, shoemakers, tanners, and weavers. Especially in France, but also in England and in other parts of Europe, the festival of St Crispin was for centuries the occasion of solemn processions and merry-making, in which guilds of shoemakers took the chief part ... The Battle of Agincourt was fought on Saint Crispin's feastday. (The English tradition placed the twins at Canterbury rather than Gaul. Shakespeare's St. Crispin's Day Speech (sometimes called the "Band Of Brothers" Speech) from his play Henry V has immortalized the day. Also, for the Midsummer's Day Festival in the third act of Die Meistersinger, Wagner has the shoemakers' guild enter singing a song of praise to St. Crispin.