Today is the birthday of scrivener and alchemist Nicholas Flamel, who was born on the outskirts of Paris in the year 1300 to a poor but respectable family. He and his wife Pernelle were thought to have discovered an elixir of life. He has been enshrined in modern memory by the Harry Potter books, which feature the Flamel's as friends of Albus Dumbledore in the book "The Sorcerer's Stone."
Hilarious. Not having read Harry Potter I was totally drawn in by the life of Nicholas Flamel! Loved it.
And my birthday!