French playwright Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known by his pseudonym Molière, was BOTD in 1622. Born in Paris to a prosperous family, he studied law before pursuing a more disreputable career as an actor. He founded the Illustrate Théâtre with the actress Madeleine Béjart, going bankrupt several times and ending up in debtors’ prison. He eventually obtained the patronage of notorious homosexual Philippe, Duke of Orléans, and became the official author of royal entertainment. His works covered tragedies, comedies, musicals and ballet-theatre and became hugely popular, though his satires of the church and ruling classes often landed him in trouble. His comedy Tartuffe was condemned by the Catholic Church and eventually banned by Parliament, and Don Juan was withdrawn and never restaged. His 1666 verse comedy The Misanthrope, satirising the hypocrites of aristocratic society, was also a commercial failure. Molière married Béjart’s sister Armande in 1662, with whom he had three children. He fell in love with his year-old protégé Michel Baron, causing a rift in his marriage. He died in 1673, while performing in his play The Hypochondriac, aged just 51. Given a pauper’s burial, his remains were transferred to Père Lachaise Cemetery in 1817. His work had a revival of popularity in the 19th century, and he is now considered one of the masters of French literature.