ROBERT GRAVES, English author born (d. 1985) author of The White Goddess and I, Claudius. The White Goddess proposed the existence of a European deity, the "White Goddess of Birth, Love and Death," inspired and represented by the phases of the moon, and who, Graves argues, lies behind the faces of the diverse goddesses of various European mythologies.

Graves argues that "true" or "pure" poetry is inextricably linked with the ancient cult-ritual of his proposed White Goddess and of her son. His conclusions come from his own conjectures about how early religions developed, as there is no historical evidence that the "White Goddess" as he describes her ever figured in any actual belief system. However given that the worship of the Goddess, as defined by Graves, took place in pre-literate and pre-historical times the lack of such evidence is not in itself evidence of lack. Graves described The White Goddess as "a historical grammar of the language of poetic myth."

BELLA ABZUG, U.S. Congresswoman from New York born (d. 1998) In addition to her numerous accomplishments in the U.S. House of Representatives (She famously said, "This woman's place is in the House — the House of Representatives," in her successful 1970 campaign to join that body) she was an outspoken supporter of LGBT civil rights. She was one of the first members of Congress to support Gay rights, introducing in 1974, the first federal gay rights bill, the Equality Act of 1974, with fellow Democratic New York City Representative, Edward Koch, the future mayor of New York City.

My personal encounter with her entailed a reception MECLA having for Midge Constanza in Los Angeles. I was doing press for the event, which was being held at attorney Sheldon Andelsen’s luxurious home. This was BC (“Before Cellphones”) and everyone had an answering service (you can Google it). Actual live people who took messages for you…and occasionally made mistakes. In this case the mistake worked in my favor. I called in to pick up my messages and was told that a “Beela Ab…Abzu..” she struggled with the name. And I said “You mean Bella Abzug!?” And she said yes. “Did she leave a call-back number? I asked incredulously. “Yes.”

And so I phoned Bella Abzug and said “Hi…this is Bo Young and I’m returning your call.”

“I’m not recognizing the name…not sure why I called you…” she responded.

And I said, “I thought it might be in response to an invitation to a reception we’re having to honor Midge Costanze this Friday.”

“Oh I love Midge, but I’m not sure I can come. I’m here for Planned Parenthood and they’re going to keep me pretty busy”

So I said, “Well, let me give you the information and maybe you can make it.” And I gave her the address and time etc.

Cut to the party.  Scene: A magnificent, ultra-modern, all white mansion. A bedazzling piece of “starchitecture” that said “I’m rich as Croesus.” The room is buzzing with the chatter of people networking and who are well aware they are in such a house, sitting on top of a hillside overlooking Beverley Hills and Bel Air. The horizon pool glistened outside and hot waiters are passing delicious finger food.

And out of the blue I hear a bellowing “Where’s Bo Young?” And I look in the direction of the front door, where the question came from…and there was Bella!. I walked up to her and she took me by the arm and kept me with her for the rest of the party. I was always touched by the way she made sure that everyone there knew who it was that got her there.

ARLETTY, French singer and actress died (b. 1898); In 1945 Arletty appeared in her most famous film role, the part of Garance in Marcel Carnes Les Enfants du Paradis. Arletty was imprisoned in 1945 for having had a wartime liaison with a German officer during the occupation of France; it was this very liaison, however, that enabled Carné to film some of the brilliant street scenes of Les Enfants du Paradis. She allegedly later commented on the experience, "My heart is French but my ass is international."

HIRAM BINGHAM III "re-discovers" Machu Picchu “Lost” City of the Incas". Whoever left their intricately stone carved city of about 1,000 at 11,000 feet above the Urubamba River, please use the White Courtesy telephone.

Bingham is credited with becoming the first outsider, in 1911, to visit the ruins of Machu Picchu, the now-famous Inca settlement in the Peruvian Andes that was built in the 15th century and abandoned around the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in the 16th century. Born in 1875 to Christian missionaries in Hawaii, Bingham earned a Ph.D. from Harvard and married a Tiffany & Co. heiress, whose wealth helped fund his expeditions. In 1911, Bingham, then a Yale University faculty member specializing in South American history, was in Peru searching for Vilcabamba, the last Inca outpost before it fell to the Spanish, when he encountered a local farmer who directed him to the ruins of Machu Picchu. Although the site was known to peasants living in the region, its existence had never been publicized. Bingham, who returned to Machu Picchu (meaning “old peak” in Quechua, one of Peru’s native languages) in 1912 to conduct a major excavation and made a third visit to the area in 1914-15, documented his sensational findings in a series of articles and books. Although some experts later contended that missionaries and other non-locals might have visited Machu Picchu before Bingham, he was the first to conduct a scientific exploration of the site.

In addition to his days as an explorer, Bingham commanded a flight school in France for the American military during World War I then went on to represent Connecticut in the U.S. Senate from 1925 to 1933. He died in 1956. In 2010, after a lengthy custody dispute, Yale University reached an agreement with the Peruvian government to return thousands of artifacts Bingham had excavated from Machu Picchu.