Happy birthday, Indiana Jones

It is the birthday of fictional hero Indiana Jones (1899), a professor of archaeology whose globe-trotting exploits to retrieve priceless artifacts bring him into conflict with Nazis, bloodthirsty cultists, and Soviets. The character created by filmmaker George Lucas (and fleshed out with his friend Steven Spielberg) was inspired by the pulp magazine and movie heroes of the 1930s, such as surgeon-scientist-explorer Doc Savage, as well as treasure hunter Allan Quatermain of the novel King Solomon’s Mines (1885) by H. Rider Haggard. Henry Jones, Jr., first appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and subsequently in three other films (all portrayed by Harrison Ford), as well as television series, video games, and novels. Theme park attractions also feature the character.

H. Rider Haggard wrote African adventures

It is the birthday of Victorian English writer H. Rider Haggard (1856), who is best remembered for his novel King Solomon's Mines (1885) and its sequel, Allan Quatermain (1887), among the first English adventure novels set in Africa. Quatermain is a professional big game hunter and an excellent marksman. Haggard wrote numerous sequels, and is generally credited with creating the Lost World literary genre. He is said to have influenced Edgar Rice Burroughs, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Miller, Graham Greene, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Margaret Atwood. Haggard also wrote She (1887),  Eric Brighteyes (1891) and Nada the Lily (1892).