Homer Davenport (1867–1912) was a political cartoonist and writer from the United States. He is known for drawings that satirized figures of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, especially Ohio Senator Mark Hanna. Although Davenport had no formal art training, he became one of the highest paid political cartoonists in the world. He was also one of the first major American breeders of Arabian horses and one of the founders of the Arabian Horse Club of America. In 1893 he studied and drew the Arabian horses exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition. In 1904 he drew a favorable cartoon of President Theodore Roosevelt that boosted Roosevelt's election campaign. The president in turn helped Davenport in 1906 when the cartoonist required diplomatic permission to travel abroad in his quest to purchase pure desert-bred Arabian horses. The 27 horses Davenport purchased and brought to America had a lasting impact on Arabian horse breeding.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Davenport

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1609:

Thomas Thorpe published the first copies of Shakespeare's sonnets, possibly without William Shakespeare's consent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_sonnets

1882:

The Triple Alliance was created between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Alliance_%281882%29

1983:

A team of researchers led by French virologist Luc Montagnier published their discovery of HIV, but were not then certain that it caused AIDS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Montagnier

1993:

"One for the Road", the series finale of American television sitcom Cheers, was watched by 42.4 million American households on its original airing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_for_the_Road_%28Cheers%29

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

caravel: (nautical, historical) A light, usually lateen-rigged sailing ship used by the Portuguese and Spanish for about 300 years from the 15th century, first for trade and later for voyages of exploration. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caravel

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

A penniless man who has no ties to bind him is master of himself at any rate, but a luckless wretch who is in love no longer belongs to himself, and may not take his own life. Love makes us almost sacred in our own eyes; it is the life of another that we revere within us; then and so begins for us the cruelest trouble of all.   --Honoré de Balzac https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Honor%C3%A9_de_Balzac