RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON, legendary British explorer, diplomat and author was born (d. 1890); an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat. If we left anything out it’s hard to imagine what it might be.

Burton was "the most interesting man alive" before there was such a thing. He was known for his far-flung and exotic travels and explorations within Asia and Africa as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian, and African languages.

His best-known achievements include traveling in disguise to Mecca, making an unexpurgated translation of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (the collection is more commonly called The Arabian Nights in English because of Andrew Lang's abridgment) and the Kama Sutra and journeying with John Henning Speke as the first white men guided by the redoubtable Sidi Mubarek Bombay to discover the Great Lakes of Africa in search of the source of the Nile.

Allegations of homosexuality followed Burton throughout most of his life, at a time when it was a criminal offense in the United Kingdom. Biographers disagree on whether or not Burton ever experienced Gay sex (he never directly acknowledges it in his writing).

These allegations began in his army days when General Sir Charles James Napier requested that Burton go undercover to investigate a male brothel reputed to be frequented by British soldiers. It has been suggested that Burton's detailed report on the workings of the brothel may have led some to believe he had been a customer.

Burton was a party boy and a heavy drinker at various times in his life and also admitted to taking both hemp and opium. Friends of the poet Algernon Swinburne blamed Burton for leading him astray, holding Burton responsible for Swinburne's alcoholism and interest in the works of the Marquis de Sade.

OCTAVE THANET, American novelist, born (d:1934); Born Alice French, Octave Thanet was one of the most popular novelists of the late 19^th century. She is no longer read, and with good reason. Her stuff is irredeemably dreadful by any standard. (In one novel, for example, the heroine falls in love with a young woman and proceeds to tell her so, nonstop, for twenty-two pages, not counting heaves and maidenly emotion-laden sighs.) For fifty years, Thanet, a 200-pound, six-footer, lived together with petite Jane Crawford at their mansion “Thanford” (Thanet/Crawford), a name, which is, admittedly, better than “Crawer.”

SERGEI DIAGHILEV, Russian choreographer, born (d: 1929); a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballet Russes from which many famous dancers and choreographers would later arise. One cannot underestimate the influence of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes on the development of 20^th century art. But the importance of his sexuality to Diaghelev’s creative art is sometimes overlooked. Had he not been a Gay man, had he not attracted to his cause the great Gay writers of the day, the stream of 20^th century art may have flowed in an entirely different direction (some might say towards “Let’s Make a Deal”). As Martin Green wrote in Children of the Sun, “He made the dancer Nijinsky first his lover and then his choreographer, slyly displacing Michel Fokine and inspiring Nijinsky to become the company’s chief ballet-creator. Diaghilev’s superb taste...was made manifest in this new Nijinksy, the choreographer, and in the ballets he created. These works of art were the children of Diaghilev’s sexual passion. The same thing happened later with Leonide Massine and Serge Lifar...These men created ballets under the spell of Diaghilev’s passion and he created through them.”

The American actress and comedienne 'MOMS' MABLEY was born (d. 1975). Though she had four children and five grandchildren, Mabley never married and she lived most of her life as a Lesbian.

Although she was not "out" in the modern sense, certainly Moms Mabley did break taboos and challenge assumptions throughout her career with her character of an old woman, who was sexual, savvy, and irrepressible.

The girl who survived childhood rape to carve out a successful career in the inhospitable world of show business grew up to be Moms, who described her television appearances by saying, "I looked at the world as my children."  Her albums include: The Funniest Woman In The World, Moms Mabley At The UN (1961), Young men si, Old men no, Live at the Apollo, The Funny Sides Of Moms Mabley; The Musicals: Miss Bandana (1927), Fast and Furious (1931); and the films: Emperor Jones (1933), Big Timers (1945), Boardinghouse Blues (1948), Killing Diller (1948), and Amazing Grace (1974).

RICKY WILSON, American musician was born (The B-52s) (d. 1985); The original guitarist in the rock band The B-52s, which he helped to form in 1976. Born in Athens, Georgia, he was the brother of fellow B-52s member Cindy Wilson. Like both other male members of the band, Wilson was out Gay.

Among guitar aficionados, Wilson's most salient feature must surely be his highly original approach to playing the instrument.

Because at first The B-52s did not have a bass, he invented his own tunings, grouping the strings into a bass course (usually tuned to 5ths for strumming) and a treble course (often tuned in unison), removing the middle two strings entirely, though sometimes he played with 5 strings as well. A blue Mosrite so modified is visible on the back cover of the B-52s self-titled first album. His style is said to have been heavily influenced by American surf group The Ventures, possibly Pink Floyd’s "Lucifer Sam" and other Batman-style 1960s music. Wilson died on October 12, 1985, aged 32, from health complications related to HIV-AIDS.

On this date the British science fiction writer (and, we note proudly, longtime subscriber to White Crane) SIR ARTHUR C. CLARKE died on this date (b. 1917). British writer, born in Minehead, Somerset, as Arthur Charles Clarke. He studied Maths and Physics at King's College in London.

His book "2001, A Space Odyssey" was made into a film in 1968 by Stanley Kubrick. Clarke lived in Colombo, Sri Lanka since 1956. His books include: Childhood's End (1953), The Deep Range (1957), A Fall of Moondust (1961), Profiles of the Future (1962), 2001, A Space Odyssey (1968), 2010: Odyssey Two (1985), The Ghost from the Grand Banks (1990), The Hammer of God (1993), The Light Of Other Days.