Born Today Jean Genet and Édith Piaf

Today in famous people born in French history:

1910 – Jean Genet, French novelist, playwright, and poet (d. 1986)
Genet was a petty criminal early in life, and after ten convictions was threatened with a life sentence, but through the intercession of luminaries like Sartre and Picasso was left alone, and never committed a crime again.

1915 – Édith Piaf, French singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1963)
Here’s La Môme (her nickname, meaning “the little sparrow”). She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion, and took “Piaf”—slang for “sparrow”—as her last name.