On this day in 1804 was born the French writer Armandine Aurore Lucille Dudevant (nee Dupin), whose pseudonym was George Sand.

This rebellious, cross-dressing, cigar-smoking, scandalously-acting woman is remembered today less for her writing than for being herself; the freedom that she represented, the boundaries that she completely ignored, the propriety she didn't care about, the lives she changed.

Romantically linked to many famous names in the world of art and culture, including Chopin, Liszt and de Musset, she fearlessly cut a swathe through male chauvinist attitudes, at least a century ahead of her time. She is a shining embodiment of the maxim 'know thyself - be thyself' and women today have much to thank her for. The world today likes conformity. Idiosyncratic people may be tolerated and even a...

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