Aries achievers

Many happy returns to the grandmother from San Francisco who turns 73 today – Nancy Pelosi may be a fairly recent role model for most of us, but her savvy, her energy and her political acumen made a big impression when she came to everyone’s notice as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2007.

With that election,  ‘Pelosi became the first woman, the first Californian, and the first Italian-American to hold the Speakership.’

Alan Arkin, who celebrates his 79th today, became a cultural icon more than four decades ago when he starred in his first movie. Right in the middle of the cold war it turned out that – according to Hollywood at least – not all Russians were bad.  The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, released in 1966, was full of Russkis you could love, which was a relief because we were starting to realize that getting under our desks at school  might not be the best way to survive nuclear confrontation. Here is a bit of Arkin: