This week’s work of art is by a portrait of Arthur Guinness, the founder of the Guinness beer empire, whose birthday may have been yesterday in 1724 or 25, no one is precisely sure. It’s been used by the brewery for some time, was most likely painted in the 18th century, though who painted it is not revealed.
Are you confusing “Arthur’s Day” with Arthur Guinness’s birthday? No-one knows when Guinness was born, though back in 1991 the company decided to set the date arbitrarily as 28 September, but that’s no more likely to be the truth than 364 other options.
Not confusing it, no. Arthur’s Day I understand, which is not the same day each year, it’s the fourth Thursday of September. This year it was celebrated on Sep. 22, for example. Next year Arthur’s Day will be on Sep. 27. I found the Sep. 24 date decades ago, and have known it to be speculation ever since. I’ve been collecting dates since the late 1970s, a goofy hobby I picked up when I was in the Army and had a lot of down time (I played in an Army Band, stationed in NYC). It seems more likely Diageo found the same source I did, and ran with it for Arthur’s Day. And as I understand it, even the year is in question, and it may have been 1724, rather than 1725. But I’m just looking to celebrate people and events, so I’d rather have a questionable date than none at all. I don’t think Jesus was born on December 25th either, but I’m not giving up Christmas.
Can you tell us what the source is? Odd that Diageo never mentioned it.