Did you know about Leighton Meester
Leighton Meester is known for her starring role as Blair Waldorf on The CW television series Gossip Girl (2007–2012).
Famous Birthdays on April 9
April 9 has 260 recorded notable births across history, from 1096 to 2004. This page lists every one of them, with the best-known people first.
What happened on the day you were born?
1986 — Leighton Meester
American actress
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia · Report an error
Famous Birthdays
260 source records
1096 – 2004
Aries
Diamond birthstone
Daisy birth flower
Today in history
Major events on April 9
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1952 Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines Source
- 1947 The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel. Source
Did you know about Kristen Stewart
Known for her work in blockbusters and arthouse dramas, Stewart has been ranked among the world's highest paid actors and her films have collectively grossed over $4 billion worldwide.
Did you know about Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid is known for his starring roles in many successful films, including Breaking Away (1979), Jaws 3-D (1983), Innerspace (1987), Great Balls of Fire!
Did you know about Eric Harris
The ensuing media frenzy and moral panic turned "Columbine" into a byword for school shootings, and the event into one of the most infamous mass shootings.
Did you know about Joey Pollari
Joey Pollari first gained recognition for his role as Eric Tanner in the second season of the ABC series American Crime, and later appeared as Lyle, one of Simon's potential love interests, in the 2018 film Love, Simon.
More major people born on April 9
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1990
Kristen Stewart
American actress
Kristen Jaymes Stewart is an American actress and filmmaker. Known for her work in blockbusters and arthouse dramas, Stewart has been ranked among the world's highest paid actors and her films have collectively grossed over $4 billion worldwide. Her accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a César Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
1954
Dennis Quaid
American actor
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in many successful films, including Breaking Away (1979), Jaws 3-D (1983), Innerspace (1987), Great Balls of Fire! (1989), Dragonheart (1996), The Parent Trap (1998), Frequency (2000), The Rookie (2002), The Alamo, The Day After Tomorrow, In Good Company, Flight of the Phoenix, Yours, Mine & Ours (2005), and Vantage Point (2008). In 2003, Quaid received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Far from Heaven (2002).
1981
Eric Harris
American mass murderer, responsible for the Columbine High School massacre (died 1999)
Eric David Harris and Dylan Bennet Klebold were an American mass murder duo who perpetrated the Columbine High School massacre, where they killed 13 students and one teacher, and wounded 23 others. After killing most of their victims in the school library, the two died from suicide by gunshot. At the time, the attack was the deadliest high school shooting in United States history. The ensuing media frenzy and moral panic turned "Columbine" into a byword for school shootings, and the event into one of the most infamous mass shootings.
1994
Joey Pollari
American actor
Joey Pollari is an American actor, musician, and director. He first gained recognition for his role as Eric Tanner in the second season of the ABC series American Crime, and later appeared as Lyle, one of Simon's potential love interests, in the 2018 film Love, Simon. Beginning in 2025, he became a frequent collaborator of Ryan Murphy, first appearing in Monster: The Ed Gein Story, followed by The Beauty, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, and American Horror Story: 13.
1926
Hugh Hefner
American publisher, founded Playboy Enterprises (died 2017)
Hugh Marston Hefner was an American magazine publisher and businessman. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, a publication with sexualized photographs of women, articles, and fiction, and lengthy interviews with politicians, musicians, artists, and writers. Hefner extended the Playboy brand into a world network of Playboy Clubs. He also resided in luxury mansions where Playboy Playmates shared his partying lifestyle, fueling media interest.
1977
Gerard Way
American singer-songwriter and comic book writer
Gerard Arthur Way is an American singer, songwriter, and comic book writer, best known as the lead vocalist and co-founder of the rock band My Chemical Romance. They are considered one of the most influential rock groups of the 2000s and a major act in the emo and pop-punk genres, despite the band rejecting the former label.
1982
Jay Baruchel
Canadian actor
Jonathan Adam Saunders "Jay" Baruchel is a Canadian actor and filmmaker. He voiced Hiccup Haddock in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise (2010–2019) and had lead roles in the comedies Fanboys (2009), She's Out of My League (2010), and This Is the End (2013). Baruchel was the co-lead in the Disney action-fantasy film The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010). Films in which Baruchel has had a starring role have grossed over $1.28 billion at the worldwide box office as of 2024.
1974
Jenna Jameson
American actress and pornographic performer
Jenna Marie Massoli, known professionally as Jenna Jameson, is an American businesswoman, writer, television personality, and former pornographic film actress. She has been named the world's most famous adult entertainment performer and "The Queen of Porn".
1835
Leopold II of Belgium (died 1909)
Leopold II was the second king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909 as well as sovereign of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908.
1966
Cynthia Nixon
American actress
Cynthia Nixon is an American actress, activist, and theatre director. She has received various accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Grammy Award, making her one of the few actresses to have won three of the four major American entertainment awards (EGOT). She has also been nominated for six Golden Globe Awards. Nixon is best known for her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series Sex and the City (1998–2004) and films Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010), as well as the television show And Just Like That... (2021–2025).
1948
Jaya Bachchan
Indian actress and politician
Jaya Bachchan is an Indian actress and politician. She has served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from the Samajwadi Party since 2004. Known for her work in many Hindi films, she is noted for reinforcing a natural style of acting in both mainstream and "middle-of-the-road" cinema. Bachchan has received several accolades, including ten Filmfare Awards and the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian honour awarded by the Government of India.
1999
Lil Nas X
American rapper
Montero Lamar Hill, better known by his stage name Lil Nas X, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his 2018 country rap single "Old Town Road", which spent a then-record 19 weeks atop the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Simultaneously, he came out as gay, the first artist to do so while having a number-one record.
1987
Jesse McCartney
American singer-songwriter and actor
Jesse McCartney is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama All My Children as JR Chandler. He later joined the boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo musical career. Additionally, McCartney has appeared on shows such as Law & Order: SVU, Summerland, and Greek. McCartney has voiced characters such as Theodore in the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks film series, JoJo McDodd in Horton Hears a Who!, Terence in the Tinker Bell series, Dick Grayson in Young Justice, and Roxas and Ventus in the Kingdom Hearts video game series.
1953
Stephen Paddock
American mass murderer responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas shooting (died 2017)
Stephen Craig Paddock was an American mass murderer who perpetrated the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the deadliest mass shooting and one of the worst mass murders in American history.
1971
Jacques Villeneuve
Canadian race car driver
Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve is a Canadian former racing driver who competed in IndyCar from 1994 to 1995, and Formula One from 1996 to 2006. Villeneuve won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1997 with Williams, and won 11 Grands Prix across 11 seasons. In American open-wheel racing, Villeneuve won the IndyCar World Series and the Indianapolis 500 in 1995 with Team Green.
1806
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
English engineer, designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge (died 1859)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel was an English civil and marine engineer considered "one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution", "perhaps the most eminent Victorian engineer", and one whose work "altered the lives of almost every person in Britain, and millions abroad". The first engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR), he was responsible for the design and construction of its London–Bristol main line. His maritime career saw the construction of the largest steamships in the world at the time, the SS Great Western, SS Great Britain, and SS Great Eastern. His career was marred by continual financial and engineering setbacks.
1865
Erich Ludendorff
German general and politician (died 1937)
Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff was a Prussian-born German general and politician. He achieved fame during World War I (1914–1918) for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914. After his appointment as First Quartermaster General of the Great General Staff in 1916, Ludendorff oversaw virtually all decisions regarding Germany's strategy and war effort until the country's defeat in 1918. Later during the years of the Weimar Republic, he took part in the failed 1920 Kapp Putsch and Adolf Hitler's 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, thereby contributing significantly to Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
1979
Keshia Knight Pulliam
American actress
Keshia Knight Pulliam is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress. She landed her breakthrough role as Rudy Huxtable, on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992), and became the youngest person to be nominated for an Emmy Award, when she earned a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in A Comedy Series at the 38th Primetime Emmy Awards. She later reprised the character on the spin-off series A Different World (1987–88). Knight Pulliam is also known for her portrayal of Miranda Lucas-Payne on the TBS comedy drama series Tyler Perry's House of Payne (2007–present) and films such as Polly (1989), Beauty Shop (2005) and Madea Goes to Jail (2009).
1965
Paulina Porizkova
Czech-born Swedish-American model and actress
Paulina Porizkova is a fashion model, author and actress. In 1984, she became the first Central European woman to appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.
1942
Brandon deWilde
American actor (died 1972)
Andre Brandon deWilde was an American actor, who had a successful career as both a child actor and in adulthood, on both stage and screen. Born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn, he debuted on Broadway at the age of seven and became a national phenomenon by the time he completed his 492 performances for The Member of the Wedding. He won a Donaldson Award for his performance, becoming the youngest actor to win one, and starred in the subsequent film adaptation, for which he won a Golden Globe Award.
1967
Sam Harris
American author, philosopher, and neuroscientist
Samuel Benjamin Harris is an American neuroscientist, philosopher, author, and podcast host. His work includes a range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, determinism, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence. Harris came to prominence for his criticism of religion, and he is known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, along with Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett.
1978
Rachel Stevens
English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
Rachel Lauren Stevens is an English singer and actress. She has been a member of the pop group S Club, which was active from 1998 to 2003, and has reformed once again since 2023. She released her solo debut studio album Funky Dory in September 2003. The album reached number nine on the UK album chart and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) awarded it with a gold certification in October 2003. Two singles, "Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex" and "Funky Dory", were initially released from the album: "Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex" peaked at number two in the UK and received a silver certification from the BPI.
1939
Michael Learned
American actress
Michael Learned is an American actress, known for her role as Olivia Walton in the long-running CBS drama series The Waltons (1972–1981). She has won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series four times, which is tied for the record of most wins with Tyne Daly. Three of the wins were for The Waltons, while the other was for Nurse (1981-1982).
1963
Marc Jacobs
American-French fashion designer
Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately fifteen years, before it was discontinued after the 2015 fall/winter collection. At its peak, it had over 200 retail stores in 80 countries. He was the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton from 1997 to 2014. Jacobs was on Time magazine's "2010 Time 100" list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and was #14 on Out magazine's 2012 list of "50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America". He married his longtime partner Charly Defrancesco on April 6, 2019.
1933
Jean-Paul Belmondo
French actor and producer (died 2021)
Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo was a French actor, producer and distributor. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s thanks to the success of the film Breathless (1960), he also acted in other films that modernized cinema such as Two Women (1960), Le Doulos (1962), That Man from Rio (1964), Greed in the Sun (1964), and Weekend at Dunkirk (1964). With the film That Man from Rio, he also became a stuntman.
1975
David Gordon Green
American director and screenwriter
David Gordon Green is an American filmmaker. Green began his career in 1997 and gained fame with the independent film George Washington (2000). He directed two additional independent dramas, All the Real Girls (2003) and Snow Angels (2007), as well as the thriller Undertow (2004), all of which he wrote or co-wrote.
1963
Joe Scarborough
American journalist, lawyer, and politician
Charles Joseph Scarborough is an American television host and former politician who is the co-host of Morning Joe on MS NOW, alongside his wife Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist. He previously hosted Scarborough Country on the same network. A former member of the Republican Party, Scarborough represented Florida's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House from 1995 to 2001. He was appointed to the President's Council on the 21st Century Workforce in 2002, and was a visiting fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He was named in the 2011 Time 100 as one of the most influential people in the world.
1975
Robbie Fowler
English footballer and manager
Robert Bernard Fowler is an English football coach and former professional player. He is best known for his time playing for Liverpool, initially from 1993 to 2001.
1964
Rick Tocchet
Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
Richard Tocchet is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player who is the head coach for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the sixth round, 121st overall, by the Flyers in the 1983 NHL entry draft and also played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, and Phoenix Coyotes. He formerly served as the head coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Arizona Coyotes, and Vancouver Canucks. Tocchet won the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year in 2024.
1898
Paul Robeson
American singer, actor, and activist (died 1976)
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political stances.
1980
Albert Hammond Jr.
American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Albert Hammond Jr. is an American musician who is a member of the rock band the Strokes. He is best known for his role as the guitarist and occasional keyboard player and backing vocalist for the band. Hammond has released extensive solo work, including five solo albums.
1903
Ward Bond
American actor (died 1960)
Wardell Edwin Bond was an American character actor who appeared in more than 200 films and starred in the NBC television series Wagon Train from 1957 to 1960. Among his best-remembered film roles are Bert the cop in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and Captain Clayton in John Ford's The Searchers (1956).
1956
Nigel Slater
English food writer and author
Nigel Slater is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. He has written a column for The Observer Magazine for more than a decade and is the principal writer for the Observer Food Monthly supplement. Prior to this, Slater was a food writer for Marie Claire magazine for five years.
1965
Mark Pellegrino
American actor
Mark Ross Pellegrino is an American actor. He is best known for his work as Lucifer in Supernatural, Paul Bennett in Dexter, Jacob in Lost, James Bishop in Being Human, Clayton Haas in Quantico, Joe Messing in Mulholland Drive, and Deputy Bill Standall in 13 Reasons Why.
1989
Bianca Belair
American wrestler
Bianca Nicole Crawford is an American professional wrestler and fitness and figure competitor. As of April 2016, she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Bianca Belair. Belair is one of two women to win at a WrestleMania main event and her 420-day reign as Raw Women's Champion stands as the longest in the championship's history.
1821
Charles Baudelaire
French poet and critic (died 1867)
Charles-Pierre Baudelaire was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics, and are based on observations of real life.
1965
Jeff Zucker
American businessman
Jeffrey Adam Zucker is an American businessman and media executive. Zucker was the president of CNN Worldwide from 2013 to 2022. He oversaw CNN, CNN International, HLN, and CNN Digital. He was previously CEO of NBCUniversal.
1928
Tom Lehrer
American singer-songwriter, pianist, and mathematician (died 2025)
Thomas Andrew Lehrer was an American musician and mathematician. He recorded pithy, humorous, and often political songs that became popular in the 1950s and 1960s. His songs parodied popular musical forms, often with original melodies.
1968
Jay Chandrasekhar
American actor, comedian, writer and director
Jayanth Jambulingam Chandrasekhar is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for his work with the sketch comedy group Broken Lizard and for directing and starring in the Broken Lizard films such as the Super Troopers film series, Club Dread, and Beerfest. Since 2001, he has also worked frequently as a television director on many episodes of Community and The Goldbergs, among dozens of comedy series. He has also occasionally worked as a film director outside of Broken Lizard projects, most notably on the 2005 film The Dukes of Hazzard.
1933
Gian Maria Volonté
Italian actor (died 1994)
Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor and activist. He is known for his roles in Italian Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964), El Indio in Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965), El Chuncho Munoz in Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General (1966) and Professor Brad Fletcher in Sergio Sollima's Face to Face (1967) as well as high-profile social dramas depicting the political and social stirrings of Italian and European society in the 1960s and 1970s, including four films directed by Elio Petri – We Still Kill the Old Way (1967), Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971), and Todo modo (1976). He is also recognized for his performances in Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge (1970), Giuliano Montaldo's Sacco & Vanzetti (1971) and Giordano Bruno (1973), and Francesco Rosi's Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979).
1932
Carl Perkins
American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1998)
Carl Lee Perkins was an American country and rockabilly guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio in Memphis in 1954. Among his best known songs are "Blue Suede Shoes", "Honey Don't", "Matchbox" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby".
1945
Steve Gadd
American drummer and percussionist
Stephen Kendall Gadd is an American drummer and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and most highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1984. Gadd's performances on Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (1976) and "Late in the Evening" (1980), Herbie Mann's "Hi-jack" (1975) and Steely Dan's "Aja" (1977) are examples of his style. He has worked with other popular musicians from many genres including Van McCoy, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Randy Crawford, Eric Clapton, Michel Petrucciani, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and David Gilmour.
1898
Curly Lambeau
American football player and coach (died 1965)
Earl Louis "Curly" Lambeau was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). Lambeau, along with his friend and fellow Green Bay, Wisconsin settler, George Whitney Calhoun, founded the Green Bay Packers in 1919. He served as team captain in the team's first year before becoming player-coach in 1920. As a player, Lambeau lined up as a halfback, which in the early years of the NFL was the premier position. He was the team's primary runner and passer, accounting for 35 touchdowns in 77 games. He won an NFL championship in 1929 and subsequently retired from playing.
1921
Mary Jackson
African-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (died 2005)
Mary Jackson was an American aerospace engineer and mathematician at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which in 1958 was succeeded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She worked at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for most of her career. She started as a computer at the segregated West Area Computing division in 1951. In 1958, after taking engineering classes, she became NASA's first black female engineer.
1893
Rahul Sankrityayan
Indian linguist, author, and scholar (died 1963)
Rahul Sankrityayan was an Indian author, essayist, playwright, historian, and scholar of Buddhism who wrote in Hindi and Bhojpuri. Known as the "father of Hindi travel literature", Sankrityayan played a pivotal role in giving Hindi travelogue a literary form. He was one of the most widely travelled scholars of India, spending forty-five years away from his home, exploring regions such as Russia, Tibet, China, and Central Asia.
1906
Hugh Gaitskell
British politician and leader of the Labour Party (died 1963)
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955 until his death in 1963. An economics lecturer and wartime civil servant, he was elected to Parliament in 1945 and held office in Clement Attlee's governments, notably as Minister of Fuel and Power following the bitter winter of 1946–47, and eventually joining the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Facing the need to increase military spending in 1951 due to the Korean War, he imposed National Health Service charges on dentures and spectacles, prompting the leading left-winger Aneurin Bevan to resign from the Cabinet.
1957
Seve Ballesteros
Spanish golfer and architect (died 2011)
Severiano Ballesteros Sota was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 89 international tournaments in his career, including five major championships between 1979 and 1988; The Open Championship three times and the Masters Tournament twice. He gained attention in the golfing world in 1976, when at the age of 19, he finished second at The Open. He played a leading role in the re-emergence of European golf, helping the European Ryder Cup team to five wins both as a player and captain.
1994
Bladee
Swedish rapper and singer
Benjamin Thage Dag Reichwald, known professionally as Bladee, is a Swedish rapper and singer. In 2013, he formed the Drain Gang music collective alongside childhood friends Ecco2k, Thaiboy Digital, and Whitearmor. Bladee began releasing music that same year, and gained attention after collaborating with Yung Lean.
1974
Alexander Pichushkin
Russian serial killer
Alexander Yuryevich Pichushkin, also known as the Chessboard Killer and the Bittsa Park Maniac, is a Russian serial killer and former grocery store clerk who is believed to have killed at least forty-nine people, and possibly as many as sixty, between 1992 and 2006. Pichushkin was active in Moscow's Bittsa Park, where a number of the victims' bodies were found. On 29 October 2007, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. At time of imprisonment, he was unmarried with no children.
2000
Jackie Evancho
American singer
Jacqueline Marie Evancho is an American singer who gained wide recognition at an early age, singing primarily classical crossover covers. Since 2009, she has issued nine albums, a platinum-selling EP and two further EPs; three of her discs debuted in the top 10 on the Billboard 200. She has also presented three solo PBS concert specials.
1943
Leila Khaled
Palestinian activist
Leila Khaled is a Palestinian activist and former militant who is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). She is famous for her role in two plane hijackings, and she was the second woman to be involved in such an operation.
1996
Giovani Lo Celso
Argentine footballer
Giovani Lo Celso is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Betis and the Argentina national team.
1954
Iain Duncan Smith
British soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Sir George Iain Duncan Smith, often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Chingford and Woodford Green, formerly Chingford, since 1992.
1909
Robert Helpmann
Australian dancer, actor, and choreographer (died 1986)
Sir Robert Murray Helpmann was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, choreographer, and director. After early work in Australia, he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet under its creator, Ninette de Valois. He became one of the company's leading men, partnering Alicia Markova and later Margot Fonteyn. When Frederick Ashton, the company's chief choreographer, was called up for military service in the Second World War, Helpmann took over from him while continuing as a principal dancer.
2004
TommyInnit
English YouTuber and streamer
Thomas Michael Simons, better known as TommyInnit, is an English YouTuber, Twitch streamer, presenter and comedian. He gained popularity from creating Minecraft-related videos and live streams, including collaborations with fellow YouTubers and streamers in the Dream SMP.
1872
Léon Blum
French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1950)
André Léon Blum was a French socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister of France. As a Jew, he was heavily influenced by the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century.
1937
Marty Krofft
Canadian screenwriter and producer (died 2023)
Cydus Yolas and Moshopopoulos Yolas, known professionally as Sid and Marty Krofft or the Krofft Brothers, were a Canadian sibling team of television creators, writers, and puppeteers. Through their production company Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures, they made numerous children's television and variety show programs in the US, particularly in the 1970s, including H.R. Pufnstuf, Land of the Lost, and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. Their fantasy programs often featured large-headed puppets, high-concept plots, and extensive use of low-budget special effects.
1964
Doug Ducey
American politician and businessman, 23rd Governor of Arizona
Douglas Anthony Ducey is an American businessman and Republican politician who served as the 23rd governor of Arizona from 2015 to 2023 as well as Arizona State Treasurer from 2011 to 2015. He also was CEO of the ice cream parlor chain Cold Stone Creamery from 1995 to 2007.
1987
Craig Mabbitt
American singer
Craig Edward Mabbitt is an American singer who is the frontman of the rock band Escape the Fate. He was formerly the lead vocalist for Blessthefall and The Word Alive. He is also the lead vocalist of his side-project band Dead Rabbitts.
1987
Jazmine Sullivan
American singer-songwriter
Jazmine Marie Sullivan is an American singer and songwriter. She has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Grammy Awards from multiple nominations, a Billboard Women in Music Award, two BET Awards, and multiple NAACP Image Awards.
1905
J. William Fulbright
American lawyer and politician (died 1995)
James William Fulbright was an American politician, academic, and statesman who served as a United States Senator from Arkansas from 1945 until his resignation in 1974. As of 2023, Fulbright is the longest-serving chairman in the history of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for his strong multilateralist positions on international issues, opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War, and the creation of the international fellowship program bearing his name, the Fulbright Program.
1649
James Scott
1st Duke of Monmouth, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire (died 1685)
General James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, Duke of Buccleuch was an English Army officer and courtier. Originally called James Crofts or James Fitzroy, he was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II of England with his mistress Lucy Walter.
1957
Martin Margiela
Belgian fashion designer
Martin Margiela is a Belgian fashion designer, artist, and founder of the French luxury fashion house Maison Margiela. Throughout his career, Margiela has maintained a low profile, refusing to grant face-to-face interviews or be photographed. Since leaving fashion in 2008, he has emerged as an artist, exploring the themes that made him an iconic figure in fashion. He is considered to be one of the most influential fashion designers in recent history for his iconic deconstructed, upcycled aesthetic and oversized silhouette.
1917
Brad Dexter
American actor (died 2002)
Brad Dexter was an American actor and film producer. He is known for tough-guy and western roles, including the 1960 film The Magnificent Seven (1960), and producing several films for Sidney J. Furie such as Lady Sings the Blues. He is also known for a short marriage to Peggy Lee, a friendship with Marilyn Monroe and for saving Frank Sinatra from drowning. Dexter's tough-guy roles contrasted with his easygoing and friendly real-life personality.
1987
Graham Gano
American football player
Graham Gano is a Scottish–American professional football placekicker. He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles and was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2009. Gano has also played for the Las Vegas Locomotives in the United Football League (UFL), the Washington Redskins, and Carolina Panthers. During his time with the Panthers, he achieved the franchise's record for longest field goal at 63 yards in 2018.
1997
Luis Arráez
Venezuelan baseball player
Luis Sangel Arráez is a Venezuelan professional baseball infielder who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, and Philadelphia Phillies. Arráez represents the Venezuelan national team in international competitions. He is nicknamed "La Regadera".
2001
Nika Mühl
Croatian basketball player
Nika Mühl is a Croatian professional basketball player for the Portland Fire of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for Sopron Basket of the Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A. She played college basketball as a point guard for the UConn Huskies. Twice named Big East Conference Defensive Player of the Year while in college, Mühl is UConn's all-time leader in career assists, with 686, and also holds the program records for most assists in a single season and in a single game. She was selected 14th overall by Seattle in the 2024 WNBA draft and also plays for Beşiktaş JK of the Women's Basketball Super League in Turkey.
1918
Jørn Utzon
Danish architect, designed the Sydney Opera House (died 2008)
Jørn Oberg Utzon was a Danish architect. In 1957, he won an international design competition for his design of the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Utzon's revised design, which he completed in 1961, was the basis for the landmark, although it was not completed until 1973.
1935
Avery Schreiber
American actor and comedian (died 2002)
Avery Lawrence Schreiber was an American actor and comedian. He was a veteran of stage, television, and movies who came to prominence in the 1960s in a comedy duo with Jack Burns. He acted in an array of roles mostly on television sitcoms and a series of popular advertisements for Doritos tortilla chips.
1938
Viktor Chernomyrdin
Russian businessman and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Russia (died 2010)
Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Union, after which he became first chairman of Gazprom energy company and the second-longest-serving Prime Minister of Russia (1992–1998) based on consecutive years. He was a key figure in Russian politics in the 1990s and a participant in the transition from a planned to a market economy. From 2001 to 2009, he was Russia's ambassador to Ukraine. After that, he was designated as a presidential adviser.
1969
Barnaby Kay
English actor
Barnaby Kay is a British actor who has played roles in television, stage, film and performance art. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
1941
Hannah Gordon
Scottish actress
Hannah Campbell Grant Gordon is a Scottish actress and presenter who is known for her television work in the United Kingdom, including My Wife Next Door (1972), Upstairs, Downstairs (1974–75), Telford's Change (1979), Joint Account (1989–90) and an appearance in the final episode of One Foot in the Grave, broadcast in 2000. She has presented the Channel 4 lifestyle show Watercolour Challenge from 1998 to 2001 and played Ann Treves in David Lynch's 1980 film The Elephant Man. She is sometimes credited under her first married name of Hannah Warwick.
1921
Yitzhak Navon
Israeli politician (died 2015)
Yitzhak Rachamim Navon was an Israeli politician, diplomat, playwright, and author. He served as the president of Israel between 1978 and 1983 as a member of the centre-left Alignment party. He was the first Israeli president born in Jerusalem and the first Sephardi Jew to serve in that office.
1953
Hal Ketchum
American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2020)
Hal Michael Ketchum was an American country music singer and songwriter. Born in Greenwich, New York, he began his professional music career in Texas. After an independent release in the late 1980s, he signed with Curb Records in 1990, for which he would record until 2008. Ketchum recorded nine albums and one greatest-hits package for Curb, and a final album for Music Road in 2014.
1986
Mike Hart
American football player
Leon Michael Hart is an American football coach and former player, currently the running backs coach at Boston College. Hart played college football as a running back at the University of Michigan from 2004 to 2007, and holds the Michigan Wolverines career rushing record with 5,040 yards. He was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2008 NFL draft, and played for three seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Hart has previously worked as an assistant football coach at the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, Western Michigan University, Syracuse University and Indiana University Bloomington.
1937
Valerie Singleton
English television and radio host
Valerie Singleton is an English television and radio presenter. She is best known as a regular presenter of the BBC Television children's series Blue Peter from 1962 to 1972. She also presented the BBC Radio 4 PM programme for ten years, as well as a series of radio and television programmes on financial and business issues, including the BBC's The Money Programme from 1980 to 1988.
1930
Nathaniel Branden
Canadian-American psychotherapist and author (died 2014)
Nathaniel Branden was a Canadian–American psychotherapist and writer known for his work in the psychology of self-esteem. A former associate and romantic partner of Ayn Rand, Branden also played a prominent role in the 1960s in promoting Rand's philosophy, Objectivism. Rand and Branden split acrimoniously in 1968, after which Branden focused on developing his own psychological theories and modes of therapy.
1285
Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan
Emperor Renzong of Yuan (died 1320)
Buyantu Khan, born Ayurbarwada, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Renzong of Yuan, was the fourth emperor of the Yuan dynasty. In addition to being the Emperor of China, he is regarded as the eighth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, although it was only nominal due to the division of the empire. His regnal name "Buyantu Khan" means "blessed/good Khan" in the Mongolian language. His personal name "Ayurbarwada" was derived from a Sanskrit compound Āyurpārvata (आयुर्पार्वत), which means "the mountain of longevity", in contrast with Emperor Wuzong's name Qaišan.
1991
Gai Assulin
Israeli footballer
Gai Yigaal Assulin is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder. He last played for Serie D club Crema.
1926
Harris Wofford
American politician, author, and civil rights activist (died 2019)
Harris Llewellyn Wofford Jr. was an American attorney, civil rights activist, and Democratic Party politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1991 to 1995. A noted advocate of national service and volunteering, Wofford was also the fifth president of Bryn Mawr College from 1970 to 1978, was chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in 1986, was Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry in the cabinet of Governor Bob Casey Sr. from 1987 to 1991, and was a surrogate for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He introduced Obama in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center before Obama's speech on race in America, "A More Perfect Union."
1865
Charles Proteus Steinmetz
Polish-American mathematician and engineer (died 1923)
Charles Proteus Steinmetz was a Prussian-American mathematician and electrical engineer and professor at Union College. He fostered the development of alternating current that made possible the expansion of the electric power industry in the United States, formulating mathematical theories for engineers. He made ground-breaking discoveries in the understanding of hysteresis that enabled engineers to design better electromagnetic apparatus equipment, especially electric motors for use in industry.
1948
Patty Pravo
Italian singer
Nicoletta Strambelli, known professionally as Patty Pravo, is an Italian singer. She debuted in 1966 and remained most successful commercially for the rest of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Having suffered a decline in popularity in the following decade, she experienced a career revival in mid-late 1990s and reinstated her position on Italian music charts. Her most popular songs include "La bambola" (1968), "Pazza idea" (1973), "Pensiero stupendo" (1978), and "...E dimmi che non vuoi morire" (1997). Pravo has sold over 110 million records worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling Italian music artists. She scored fourteen top 10 albums and twelve top 10 singles in her native Italy. Pravo participated at the Sanremo Music Festival eleven times, most recently in 2026, and has won three critics' awards. She also performed twelve times at the Festivalbar.
1928
Paul Arizin
American basketball player (died 2006)
Paul Joseph Arizin, nicknamed "Pitchin Paul", was an American basketball player who spent his entire National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Philadelphia Warriors from 1950 to 1962. He retired with the then third highest career point total (16,266) in NBA history, and was named to the NBA's 25th, 50th and 75th anniversary teams. He was a high-scoring forward at Villanova University before being drafted by the Warriors of the fledgling NBA.
1802
Elias Lönnrot
Finnish physician and philologist (died 1884)
Elias Lönnrot was a Finnish medical doctor, philosopher, poet, musician, linguist, journalist, philologist and collector of traditional Finnish oral poetry. He is best known for synthesizing the Finnish national epic, Kalevala from short ballads and lyric poems he gathered from Finnish oral tradition during several field expeditions in Finland, Russian Karelia, the Kola Peninsula and Baltic countries. In botany, he is remembered as the author of the 1860 Flora Fennica, the first scientific text written in Finnish rather than in Latin.
1910
Abraham A. Ribicoff
American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (died 1998)
Abraham Alexander Ribicoff was an American politician from the U.S. state of Connecticut. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Connecticut in the United States House of Representatives and Senate and was the 80th governor of Connecticut and secretary of health, education, and welfare in President John F. Kennedy's cabinet. He was Connecticut's first and to date only Jewish governor.
1959
Bernard Jenkin
English businessman and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
Sir Bernard Christison Jenkin is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harwich and North Essex, previously Colchester North then North Essex, since 1992. He also served as chair of the Liaison Committee.
1929
Fred Hollows
New Zealand-Australian ophthalmologist (died 1993)
Frederick Cossom Hollows was a New Zealand–Australian ophthalmologist who became known for his work in restoring eyesight for people in Australia and many other countries through initiatives such as the Fred Hollows Foundation.
1991
Ryan Kelly
American basketball player
Ryan Matthew Kelly is an American professional basketball player for the Fukui Blowinds of the B.League in Japan. He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils.
1900
Allen Jenkins
American actor and singer (died 1974)
Allen Curtis Jenkins was an American character actor, voice actor and singer who worked on stage, film, and television. He may be best known to some audiences as the voice of Officer Charlie Dibble in the Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon series Top Cat (1961–62).
1964
Margaret Peterson Haddix
American author
Margaret Peterson Haddix is an American writer known best for the two children's series, Shadow Children (1998–2006) and The Missing (2008–2015). She also wrote the tenth volume in the multiple-author series The 39 Clues.
1921
Jean-Marie Balestre
French businessman (died 2008)
Jean-Marie Balestre was a French motorsport administrator and journalist. From 1978 to 1991, Balestre served as president of the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA); from 1985 to 1993, he also served as president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).
1953
John Howard
English singer-songwriter and pianist
John Howard is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and recording artist and published author. With his February 1975 debut album Kid in a Big World, Howard emerged as a late voice of the glam-pop wave of the early 1970s. Across a musical career that has included two main periods of recording activity – 1974-84 and 2004–present – Howard has released 21 studio albums and 12 studio EPs. In March 2018, he became a published author, his first autobiography, Incidents Crowded With Life, covering his childhood up to 1976, was published by Fisher King Publishing. In August 2020, the second volume of his autobiography, Illusions of Happiness, covering the years 1976 - 1986, was published by Fisher King Publishing. In February 2022, the third volume of his autobiography, In The Eyeline of Furtherance, covering 1986 to 2001, was published by Fisher King Publishing. In September 2023, Howard's first novel, Across My Dreams With Nets of Wonder, was published by Fisher King Publishing.
1931
Richard Hatfield
Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (died 1991)
Richard Bennett Hatfield was a Canadian politician who served as the premier of New Brunswick from 1970 to 1987. He was the longest-serving premier in New Brunswick history.
1867
Chris Watson
Chilean-Australian journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Australia (died 1941)
John Christian Watson was the third prime minister of Australia, serving from April to August 1904. He held office as the inaugural federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1901 to 1907 and was the first member of the party to serve as prime minister.
1947
Giovanni Andrea Cornia
Italian economist and academic (died 2024)
Giovanni Andrea Cornia was an Italian development economist. He was professor of economics, department of economics and management, at the University of Florence. He had previously been the director of the Regional Institute of Economic Planning of Tuscany, the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), in Helsinki, and the Economic and Policy Research Program, UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, in Florence. He was formerly also chief economist, UNICEF, New York. His main areas of professional interest were income and asset inequality, poverty, growth, child well-being, human development and mortality crises, transition economics, and institutional economics. He was author of over a dozen books and dozens of articles, reports and working papers on practical development economics issues in individual countries, regions and globally. Born on 9 April 1947, he died in July 2024, at the age of 77.
1970
Chorão
Brazilian singer-songwriter (died 2013)
Alexandre Magno Abrão, known professionally as Chorão, was a Brazilian singer-songwriter, skateboarder, filmmaker, screenwriter and businessman. Best known for being a founding member and the vocalist/main lyricist of the influential rock band Charlie Brown Jr., Folha de S.Paulo critic André Barcinski considered him "the nearest thing to a punk hero Brazilian mainstream music ever had", and Eduardo Tristão Girão of Portal Uai called him "the bad boy of Brazilian rock" and "the spokesman of the youth of the 1990s". Having been born and raised for most of his childhood in São Paulo, Chorão was the only Charlie Brown Jr. member not to be a Santos native, and its only founding member to remain consistently in all of the group's line-ups.
1893
Victor Gollancz
English publisher, founded Victor Gollancz Ltd (died 1967)
Sir Victor Gollancz was a British publisher and humanitarian. Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing politics. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism; he defined himself as a Christian socialist and an internationalist. He used his publishing house, Victor Gollancz Ltd, chiefly to promote pacifist and socialist non-fiction, and he launched the Left Book Club.
1979
Jeff Reed
American football player
Jeffrey Montgomery Reed is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Reed was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2002. He played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2002 until 2010, and is third all-time behind Gary Anderson and Chris Boswell for the most points scored by a Steeler.
1981
Dennis Sarfate
American baseball player
Dennis Scott Sarfate is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, and Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, Saitama Seibu Lions, and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). While an average reliever in MLB, Sarfate became one of the greatest closers in NPB history after moving his career overseas. Sarfate holds several NPB records, including most saves in a season and most by a foreign-born pitcher. As of 2020, his 234 career saves rank fifth-most in NPB history. He is a 3× NPB All-Star, a 3× Pacific League saves leader, a 5× Japan Series Champion, won the Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award, won the Pacific League MVP Award, and won the Matsutaro Shoriki Award.
1983
Ryan Clark
Australian actor
Ryan James Clark is an Australian lifeguard and former television and film actor. He became known for his portrayal of Sam Marshall in Home and Away over the course of a decade, from 1991 until 2001 before becoming a Waverley Council lifeguard on Bondi Beach and featuring in Bondi Rescue.
1893
Charles E. Burchfield
American painter (died 1967)
Charles Ephraim Burchfield was an American painter and visionary artist, known for his passionate watercolors of nature scenes and townscapes. The largest collection of Burchfield's paintings, archives and journals are in the collection of the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo. His paintings are in the collections of more than 109 museums in the USA and have been the subject of exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Hammer Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as other prominent institutions.
1916
Heinz Meyer
German Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) during World War II (died 1987)
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded for a wide range of reasons and across all ranks, from a senior commander for skilled leadership of his troops in battle to a low-ranking soldier for a single act of extreme gallantry. A total of 7,321 awards were made between its first presentation on 30 September 1939 and its last bestowal on 17 June 1945. This number is based on the analysis and acceptance of the order commission of the Association of Knight's Cross Recipients (AKCR). Presentations were made to members of the three military branches of the Wehrmacht—the Heer (Army), Kriegsmarine (Navy) and Luftwaffe —as well as the Waffen-SS, the Reichsarbeitsdienst and the Volkssturm. There were also 43 recipients in the military forces of allies of the Third Reich.
1926
Gerry Fitt
Northern Irish soldier and politician; British life peer (died 2005)
Gerard Fitt, Baron Fitt, was a politician from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was a founder and the first leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), a social democratic and Irish nationalist party.
1985
David Robertson
American baseball player
David Alan Robertson, nicknamed "D-Rob", is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher who played for eight teams during a 17-season career in Major League Baseball (MLB). Robertson won a World Series ring in 2009 as a member of the New York Yankees and made the American League All-Star Team in 2011.
1956
Nigel Shadbolt
English computer scientist and academic
Sir Nigel Richard Shadbolt is Principal of Jesus College, Oxford, and Professorial Research Fellow in the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford. He is chairman of the Open Data Institute which he co-founded with Tim Berners-Lee. He is also a visiting professor in the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. Shadbolt is an interdisciplinary researcher, policy expert and commentator. His research focuses on understanding how intelligent behaviour is embodied and emerges in humans, machines and, most recently, on the Web, and has made contributions to the fields of psychology, cognitive science, computational neuroscience, artificial intelligence, computer science and the emerging field of web science.
1895
Michel Simon
Swiss-French actor (died 1975)
Michel Simon was a Swiss actor of German origin active primarily in France. He appeared in many notable French films, including La Chienne (1931), Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932), L'Atalante (1934), Port of Shadows (1938), The Head (1959), and The Train (1964).
1962
Jeff Turner
American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
Jeffrey Steven Turner is an American former professional basketball player and broadcasting announcer. Turner played ten NBA seasons, spending time with the New Jersey Nets as well as the Orlando Magic. He ended his NBA career with 3,697 career points. Turner was a 6' 9" forward/center. After his career ended he spent nine years as a radio color commentator for the Magic. He then served as the head boys basketball coach at Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Florida from to 2005 to 2013, where he compiled a 151–72 record and won the state title in 2013. From 2011 to 2013 he was also a studio analyst for Magic games. In 2013, Turner was named television color commentator for the Magic.
1498
Jean
Cardinal of Lorraine (died 1550)
Jean de Lorraine was the third son of the ruling Duke of Lorraine, and a French cardinal, who was archbishop of Reims (1532–1538), Lyon (1537–1539), and Narbonne (1524–1550), bishop of Metz, and Administrator of the dioceses of Toul, Verdun, Thérouanne, Luçon, Albi, Valence, Nantes and Agen (1538–1550). He was a personal friend, companion, and advisor of King Francis I of France. Jean de Lorraine was the richest prelate in the reign of Francis I, as well as the most flagrant pluralist. He is one of several cardinals known as the Cardinal de Lorraine.
1985
Antonio Nocerino
Italian footballer
Antonio Nocerino is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He was formerly the head coach of USL Championship club Las Vegas Lights FC.
1624
Henrik Rysensteen
Dutch military engineer (died 1679)
Henrik Ruse, Baron of Rysensteen was a Dutch officer and fortification engineer. Following a period when he served in various armies in Germany and Italy, he wrote a well-researched book documenting the latest trends in fortification systems across Europe. As a result, he was entrusted with commissions for improving defences in his native Amsterdam, in Germany, and finally in Denmark and Norway where, benefitting from the support of the monarchy, he first became a general and later a baron. Ruse died in Sauwerd near Groningen in the Netherlands.
1965
Helen Alfredsson
Swedish golfer
Helen Christine Alfredsson is a Swedish professional golfer who played primarily on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and is also a life member of the Ladies European Tour. She won the LPGA major Nabisco Dinah Shore and twice finished second in the U.S. Women's Open. She also won the Women's British Open once and the Evian Masters three times before those events were designated as majors in women's golf by the LPGA Tour. In 2019, she won a "senior slam" by winning both of the senior women's major championships.
1875
Jacques Futrelle
American journalist and author (died 1912)
Jacques Heath Futrelle was an American journalist and mystery writer. He is best known for writing short detective stories featuring Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, also known as "The Thinking Machine" for his use of logic. Futrelle died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
1960
Jaak Aab
Estonian educator and politician, Minister of Social Affairs of Estonia
Jaak Aab is an Estonian politician who has served as Minister of Education and Research and three times as the Minister of Public Administration from 2017 to 2018, from 2019 to 2020 and from 2011 to 2022 and as the Minister of Social Affairs from 2005 to 2007. From 1994 until 5 January 2024, he was a member of the Estonian Centre Party before joining the Social Democratic Party. He is the former mayor of Võhma and has served in the IX, XI, XIV and XV Riigikogu.
1935
Aulis Sallinen
Finnish composer and academic
Aulis Heikki Sallinen is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. His music has been variously described as "remorselessly harsh", a "beautifully crafted amalgam of several 20th-century styles", and "neo-romantic". Sallinen studied at the Sibelius Academy, where his teachers included Joonas Kokkonen. He has had works commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, and has also written seven operas, eight symphonies, concertos for violin, cello, flute, horn, and English horn, as well as several chamber works. He won the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1978 for his opera Ratsumies.
1927
Tiny Hill
New Zealand rugby player (died 2019)
Stanley Frank "Tiny" Hill was a New Zealand international rugby union player and selector. A lock and flanker, Hill represented Canterbury and Counties at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1955 to 1959. He played 19 matches for the All Blacks, two of which were as captain, including 11 internationals. After retiring as a player, Hill served as New Zealand Army and Canterbury selector, and as an All Black selector from 1981 to 1986.
1887
Konrad Tom
Polish actor, writer, singer, and director (died 1957)
Konrad Tom, born Konrad Runowiecki, was a Polish Jewish actor, writer, singer and director born in Warsaw. He wrote song lyrics in Polish and in Yiddish for stage, film and cabaret, including szmonces. His wife was actress Zula Pogorzelska.Yiddish talkies were not only comparable to those of the Polish mainstream but were produced by the same people. The most successful Yiddish talkies were directed by established industry figures including Waszyński, Ford, Henryk Szaro, Jan Nowina-Przybylski, Leon Trystan, and Konrad Tom.
1919
J. Presper Eckert
American engineer, invented the ENIAC (died 1995)
John Adam Presper "Pres" Eckert Jr. was an American electrical engineer and computer pioneer. With John Mauchly, he designed the first general-purpose electronic digital computer (ENIAC), presented the first course in computing topics, founded the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation, and designed the first commercial computer in the U.S., the UNIVAC, which incorporated Eckert's invention of the mercury delay-line memory.
1946
Alan Knott
English cricketer
Alan Philip Eric Knott is an English former cricketer who represented his country at international level in both Tests and one-day internationals (ODI). An idiosyncratic wicket-keeper, Knott is regarded as one of the greatest glove men ever to play the game: "a natural gloveman, beautifully economical in his movements and armed with tremendous powers of concentration".
1882
Frederick Francis IV
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (died 1946)
Frederick Francis IV was the last Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and regent of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He inherited the throne when he was fifteen years old in 1897 and was forced to renounce it in 1918.
1933
Richard Rose
American political scientist and academic
Richard Rose is a political scientist, author, and academic whose comparative studies in social science have significantly influenced political science and public policy in both practice and theory. He is a Professor and Director of the Centre for the Study of Public Policy at the University of Strathclyde (UOS) in Scotland, and is a visiting fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre of the European University Institute and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
1956
Marina Zoueva
Russian ice dancer and coach
Marina Olegovna Zoueva or Zueva is a Russian figure skating coach, choreographer, and former competitor in ice dancing. Representing the Soviet Union with Andrei Vitman, she placed 5th at the 1977 World Championships and won two medals at Skate Canada International. She has coached a number of skaters to Olympic medals, including Ekaterina Gordeeva / Sergei Grinkov, Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir, Meryl Davis / Charlie White, and Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani.
1946
David Webb
English footballer, coach, and manager
David James Webb is an English former professional footballer who made 555 appearances in the Football League playing for Leyton Orient, Southampton, Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers, Leicester City, Derby County, AFC Bournemouth and Torquay United. He became a manager, taking charge of Bournemouth, Torquay United, Southend United, Chelsea, Brentford and Yeovil Town.
1956
Miguel Ángel Russo
Argentine footballer and coach (died 2025)
Miguel Ángel Russo was an Argentine professional football player and manager who played as a defensive midfielder. As a player, Russo spent his entire career in Estudiantes de La Plata. As a manager, he coached for over 1,000 matches over more than 30 years of his career.
1686
James Craggs the Younger
English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (died 1721)
James Craggs the Younger, was an English Whig politician. He was briefly the British envoy to Spain in 1711. Craggs received influential appointments in government following the Hanoverian succession, serving as both Secretary at War and Secretary of State for the Southern Department before his premature death in 1721. Craggs had a colourful private life and was involved in several extramarital affairs, scandals and duels.
1939
Margo Smith
American singer-songwriter (died 2024)
Margo Smith was an American country and Christian music singer–songwriter. She had several years of country success during the 1970s, which included two number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. In the 1990s, she transitioned towards the Christian market and released two successful albums. She is also known for her yodeling vocal skills and is often referred to as "The Tennessee Yodeler".
1654
Samuel Fritz
Czech Jesuit missionary to South America (died 1725?)
Samuel Fritz SJ was a Bohemian Jesuit missionary, noted for his exploration of the Amazon River and its basin. He spent most of his life preaching to Indigenous communities in the western Amazon region, including the Omaguas, the Yurimaguas, the Aisuare, the Ibanomas, and the Ticunas. In 1707 he produced the first accurate map of the Amazon River, establishing as its source the Marañón.
1957
Jamie Redfern
English-born Australian television presenter and pop singer
Jamie Redfern is an Australian television presenter and personality and pop singer. Redfern was an original cast member of children's variety show, Young Talent Time from April 1971 to early 1972, before leaving the show to tour in the US with Liberace. According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, he "possessed a booming, mature voice which belied his tender age... [he] scored four Top 40 hit singles and sold more than $1.3 million worth of records." His equal highest-charting singles were the double-A sided covers of "Rainbow on the River"/"We'll Meet Again", and "Venus", which each peaked at No. 8 on the Go-Set national charts.
1934
Tom Phillis
Australian motorcycle racer (died 1962)
Thomas Edward Phillis was an Australian professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He won the 1961 125cc motorcycle road racing World Championship and was the first person to lap the Isle of Man TT mountain circuit at over 100 mph on a pushrod-engined motorcycle. He was also the first person to win a World Championship motorcycle race on a Japanese machine.
1958
Nadey Hakim
British-Lebanese surgeon and sculptor
Nadey S. Hakim FASMBS, is a British-Lebanese professor of transplantation surgery at Imperial College London and general surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic London. He is also a writer, musician and sculptor, known for kidney and pancreas transplantations, and being part of the surgical team that performed the world's first hand transplantation in 1998 and then the double arm transplantation in 2000.
1880
Jan Letzel
Czech architect (died 1925)
Jan Letzel was a Czech architect who was active in early 20th century Japan. He is most famous for designing the Hiroshima Products Exhibition Hall that was partially destroyed in the atomic bombing of the city. The ruins of the Exhibition Hall is now the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, also known as the A-Bomb Dome, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
1984
Habiba Ghribi
Tunisian runner
Habiba Ghribi is a Tunisian middle- and long-distance runner who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase. She won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, giving her country its first Olympic medal by a woman. She is also the Tunisian record holder in the event, having run 9:05.36 at the Memorial van Damme in Brussels in September 2015.
1946
Nate Colbert
American baseball player (died 2023)
Nathan Colbert Jr. was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman from 1966 to 1976, most prominently as a member of the newly formed San Diego Padres, who joined the league as an expansion team in 1969. He was among the inaugural inductees into the Padres Hall of Fame.
1940
Hans-Joachim Reske
German sprinter
Hans-Joachim "Jochen" Reske is a West German former track and field athlete, who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He won a silver medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics, and in 1962, at the European championships, he finished in third place in the individual 400 m and his team won the 4 × 400 metre relay.
1981
A. J. Ellis
American baseball player
Andrew James Ellis, is an American former professional baseball catcher who is currently a special assistant to the general manager in the front office of the San Diego Padres. Ellis played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Miami Marlins, and the Padres, before retiring following the 2018 season.
1904
Sharkey Bonano
American singer, trumpet player, and bandleader (died 1972)
Joseph Gustaf "Sharkey" Bonano, also known as Sharkey Banana or Sharkey Bananas, was an American jazz trumpeter, band leader, and vocalist. His musical abilities were sometimes overlooked because of his love of being an entertainer; he would often sing silly lyrics in a high raspy voice and break into dance on stage.
1961
Kirk McCaskill
Canadian-American baseball and hockey player
Kirk Edward McCaskill is a Canadian-American former Major League Baseball pitcher and former professional ice hockey player. He played in Major League Baseball for the California Angels and Chicago White Sox between 1985 and 1996, and played in the American Hockey League for the Sherbrooke Jets during the 1983–84 season.
1995
Robert Bauer
German-Kazakhstani footballer
Robert Bauer is a German professional footballer who plays for Iraq Stars League club Al-Mosul SC. Bauer represented the Germany national under-20 football team at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand and won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics with the Germany Olympic football team.
1987
Jarrod Mullen
Australian rugby league player
Jarrod Stephen Mullen is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. He last played for the Sunshine Coast Falcons in the Queensland Cup. A New South Wales State of Origin representative, he played at five-eighth and halfback. He previously played for Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League (NRL).
1989
Danielle Kahle
American figure skater
Danielle "Dani" Kahle is an American former competitive figure skater. She won four medals on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series, including gold in Croatia in 2003, and finished 11th at the 2004 World Junior Championships. She won one senior international medal, silver, at the 2006 Karl Schäfer Memorial.
1932
Peter Moores
English businessman and philanthropist (died 2016)
Sir Peter Moores was a British businessman, art collector and philanthropist who was chairman of the Liverpool-based Littlewoods football pools and retailing business in the United Kingdom between 1977 and 1980. He was appointed CBE in 1991, appoint Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire in 1992, and knighted in 2003.
1634
Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau (died 1696)
Albertine Agnes of Nassau was the regent of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe during the minority of her son Henry Casimir II, Count of Nassau-Dietz, between 1664 and 1679. She was the sixth child and fifth daughter of stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels.
1848
Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz
Spanish Augustinian Recollect priest and saint (died 1906)
Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz was a Spanish Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Pasto from 1895 to 1906. He was a member of the Order of Augustinian Recollects and previously served as a missionary to the Philippines and as Vicar Apostolic of Casanare in Colombia.
1925
Art Kane
American photographer (died 1995)
Art Kane was an American fashion and music photographer active from the 1950s through the early 1990s. He created many portraits of contemporary musicians, including Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, Sonny and Cher, Aretha Franklin, Frank Zappa, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, the Rolling Stones, and The Who.
1990
Ryan Williams
American football player
Ryan Gene Williams is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft. He played college football for the Virginia Tech Hokies.
1921
Frankie Thomas
American actor (died 2006)
Frank Marion Thomas Jr., was an American actor, author and bridge-strategy expert who played both lead and supporting roles on Broadway, in films, in post-World War II radio, and in early television. He was best known for his starring role in Tom Corbett, Space Cadet.
1955
Yamina Benguigui
Algerian-French director and politician
Yamina Benguigui is a French film director and politician of Algerian descent. She is known for her films on gender issues in the North African immigrant community in France. Through her films, Benguigui gave a voice to many from the Maghrebi population in France.
1964
Juliet Cuthbert
Jamaican sprinter
Juliet Samantha Cuthbert-Flynn, née Cuthbert, is a Jamaican politician and retired track and field sprinter who competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres. As an athlete, Cuthbert-Flynn competed at four Olympic Games, winning two silver medals at the 1992 games held in Barcelona.
1930
F. Albert Cotton
American chemist and academic (died 2007)
Frank Albert Cotton FRS was an American chemist. He was the W.T. Doherty-Welch Foundation Chair and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Texas A&M University. He authored over 1600 scientific articles. Cotton was recognized for his research on the chemistry of the transition metals.
1943
Clive Sullivan
Welsh rugby league player (died 1985)
Clive Anthony Sullivan MBE was a Welsh rugby league footballer. A Great Britain and Wales international winger, he played for Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers in his career, winning Challenge Cup medals with both clubs, and also played for Oldham and Doncaster. Captaining Great Britain in 1972, he was the first black captain for Great Britain in any sport. He was part of the Great Britain team which won the 1972 Rugby League World Cup. His son, Anthony Sullivan, had a successful career with Hull Kingston Rovers, St. Helens, Wales in both rugby league and union, and Cardiff RFC.
2003
Hwang Do-yun
South Korean footballer
Hwang Do-yun is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for K League 1 club FC Seoul. He trained in the club's youth system before making his debut appearance in the 2023 K League 1 season.
1773
Étienne Aignan
French author and academic (died 1824)
Étienne Aignan was a French translator, political writer, librettist and playwright. In 1814 he was made a member of the Académie française, succeeding Bernardin de Saint-Pierre in Seat 27. He died on 21 June 1824 aged 51 years old.
1923
Leonard Levy
American historian and author (died 2006)
Leonard Williams Levy was an American historian, the Andrew W. Mellon All-Claremont Professor of Humanities and chairman of the Graduate Faculty of History at the Claremont Graduate School, California, who specialized in the history of basic American constitutional freedoms.
1971
Leo Fortune-West
English footballer and manager
Leopold Paul Osborne Fortune-West is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played in the Football League for Gillingham, Leyton Orient, Lincoln City, Rotherham United, Brentford, Cardiff City, Doncaster Rovers, Torquay United and Shrewsbury Town.
1883
Frank King
American cartoonist (died 1969)
Frank Oscar King was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip Gasoline Alley. In addition to innovations with color and page design, King introduced real-time continuity in comic strips by showing his characters aging over generations.
1981
Milan Bartovič
Slovak ice hockey player
Milan Bartovič is a Slovak former professional ice hockey left winger, who last played for HK Dukla Trenčín in the Slovak Extraliga. He was drafted 35th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1999 NHL entry draft.
1648
Henri de Massue
Earl of Galway, French soldier and diplomat (died 1720)
Henri de Massue, 2nd Marquis de Ruvigny, Earl of Galway, was a French Huguenot soldier and diplomat who was influential in the English service in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession.
1794
Theobald Boehm
German flute player and composer (died 1881)
Theobald Böhm was a German inventor and musician, who greatly improved the modern Western concert flute and its fingering system. He was a Bavarian court musician, a virtuoso flautist and a renowned composer.
1835
Somerset Lowry-Corry
4th Earl Belmore (died 1913)
Somerset Richard Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore,, styled as Viscount Corry from 1841 to 1845, was an Irish nobleman and Conservative politician who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1868 to 1872.
1937
Simon Brown
Baron Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, English lieutenant, lawyer, and judge (died 2023)
Simon Denis Brown, Baron Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, was a British barrister and judge. He was a Law Lord, then a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2012.
1948
Michel Parizeau
Canadian ice hockey player and coach
Michel Gérard Parizeau is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger and head coach who played two seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers.
1984
Adam Loewen
Canadian baseball player
Adam Alexander Loewen is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher and outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies, and Arizona Diamondbacks.
1929
Paule Marshall
American author and academic (died 2019)
Paule Marshall was an American writer, best known for her 1959 debut novel Brown Girl, Brownstones. In 1992, at the age of 63, Marshall was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship grant.
1967
Natascha Engel
German-English translator and politician
Natascha Engel is a British former politician. She served as Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Derbyshire from 2005 until her defeat at the 2017 general election.
1458
Camilla Battista da Varano
Italian saint (died 1524)
Camilla Battista da Varano OSCl,, from Camerino, Italy, was an Italian princess and a Poor Clare nun and abbess. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
1972
Siiri Vallner
Estonian architect
Siiri Vallner is an industrious Estonian architect. She works mostly in community projects, as well as in many competitions. She is a member of the Union of Estonian Architects.
1987
Kassim Abdallah
French-Comorian footballer
Kassim Abdallah Mfoihaia is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Championnat National 3 team Marseille II. Born in France, he played for the Comoros national team.
1598
Johann Crüger
Sorbian-German composer and theorist (died 1662)
Johann Crüger was a German composer of well-known hymns. He was also the editor of the most widely used Lutheran hymnal of the 17th century, Praxis pietatis melica.
1770
Thomas Johann Seebeck
German physicist and academic (died 1831)
Thomas Johann Seebeck was a German physicist who observed a relationship between heat and magnetism. Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted later called this phenomenon the thermoelectric effect.
1846
Paolo Tosti
Italian-English composer and educator (died 1916)
Sir Francesco Paolo Tosti KCVO was an Italian composer and music teacher. Today, he is remembered mostly for his light-hearted songs, which are popular among vocal students.
1946
Sara Parkin
Scottish activist and politician
Sara Parkin is a Scottish nurse and political activist. She started her working life as a nurse in Edinburgh but rose to prominence as a green political activist during and after the 1989 European Parliament election, in which the UK Green Party gained 15% of the votes but no seats. She resigned from the party in 1992, at odds with the party's anti-leadership stance, and went on to found the Forum for the Future with Jonathon Porritt, Chris Baines and Paul Ekins. Her current campaigning focus is sustainability literacy as an essential outcome of formal education, especially in universities and colleges. She lives in Hackney, East London.
1962
Ihor Podolchak
Ukrainian director, producer, and screenwriter
Ihor Podolchak is a Ukrainian filmmaker and visual artist. He is a co-founder of the creative association Masoch Fund, and a participant in the Ukrainian New Wave.
1974
Megan Connolly
Australian actress (died 2001)
Megan Jennifer Connolly was an Australian actress, mainly of soap opera. She grew up in the northern Sydney suburb of St Ives, New South Wales.
1933
Fern Michaels
American author (died 2025)
Mary Ruth Kuczkir, known by the pen name Fern Michaels, was an American writer of romance and thriller novels. Her books include Family Blessings, Pretty Woman, and Crown Jewel, as well as the Texas quartet and the Captive series. She wrote over 200 books and sold an estimated 150 million copies, with more than 150 New York Times and USA Today best sellers.
1933
René Burri
Swiss photographer and journalist (died 2014)
René Burri was a Swiss photographer. Burri was a member of Magnum Photos and photographed major political, historical and cultural events and key figures of the second half of the 20th century. He made portraits of Che Guevara and Pablo Picasso as well as iconic pictures of São Paulo and Brasília.
1964
Peter Penashue
Canadian businessman and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
Peter Penashue, is a Canadian politician from Newfoundland and Labrador. He was elected as the Conservative Party of Canada Member of Parliament for the riding of Labrador in the 2011 federal election. Penashue was the first Innu from Labrador to be elected to the House of Commons of Canada and the first Innu cabinet minister in Canadian history. He was also the first centre-right MP to be elected from the riding of Labrador since 1968, and only the second ever to win it since Newfoundland and Labrador joined Canada in 1949.
1993
Alexandra Hunt
American politician
Alexandra M. Hunt is an American political candidate, public health worker, published research scientist, and activist from Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Hunt has run to represent Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives and to serve as city controller of Philadelphia.
1952
Robert Clark
American author
Robert Clark is an American novelist and writer of nonfiction. He has received the Edgar, James Beard and Julia Child awards, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, and the Washington State Book Award as well as being a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the IMPAC Dublin Award. He has also been a Guggenheim Fellow and his books have been TLS and New York Times Notable Books of the Year. A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, he lives in New York City.
1943
Terry Knight
American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2004)
Terry Knight was an American rock and roll music producer, promoter, singer, songwriter and radio personality, who enjoyed some success in radio, modest success as a singer, but considerable success as the original manager-producer for Grand Funk Railroad and the producer for Bloodrock.
1867
Charles Winckler
Danish tug of war competitor, discus thrower, and shot putter (died 1932)
Charles Gustav Wilhelm Winckler was a Danish thrower, swimmer, and tug of war competitor. He was set to compete in three swimming events at the 1896 Summer Olympics but did not start in any. He then competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics in the men's discus throw and men's shot put on behalf of Denmark, though he did not reach the finals of either event. Alongside Swedish competitors, he won the gold medal in the tug of war tournament at the games.
1917
Henry Hewes
American theater writer (died 2006)
Henry Hewes was an American theater writer who worked as the drama critic for the Saturday Review weekly literary magazine from 1955 to 1979. He was the first major critic to regularly review regional and international theater. His interest in regional theater led him to found the American Theater Critics Association, the Tony Award for regional theater, and the American Theater Wing's design award, now called the Hewes Award. In 2002, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
1988
Jeremy Metcalfe
English race car driver
Jeremy Metcalfe is a British motor racing driver who last competed in 2008 in the British GT Championship where he finished the season as Vice-Champion along with team-mate Luke Hines. Racing in the Formula Renault UK championship prior to his move into GT, Metcalfe enjoyed a good level of success. He also had a productive career in karting, taking the Parma Industrials Karting Championship, a championship that was previously won by Scuderia Ferrari reserve driver Giancarlo Fisichella.
1966
John Hammond
English weather forecaster
John Michael Hammond is a meteorologist and an English weather forecaster, newsreader and continuity announcer for the BBC. In the past he could be seen presenting weather forecasts on BBC One news bulletins, the BBC News Channel, BBC Red Button and BBC World News. He is currently presenting for the BBC in Birmingham, including the regional news programme Midlands Today. He is a newsreader and continuity announcer for BBC Radio 4.
1096
Al-Muqtafi
caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate (died 1160)
Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Mustazhir, better known by his regnal name al-Muqtafi li-Amr Allah, was the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad from 1136 to 1160, succeeding his nephew al-Rashid, who had been forced to abdicate by the Seljuks. The continued disunion and contests between Seljuks afforded al-Muqtafi opportunity of not only maintaining his authority in Baghdad, but also extending it throughout Iraq.
1952
Bruce Robertson
New Zealand rugby player (died 2023)
Bruce John Robertson was a New Zealand rugby union player. A centre, he represented Counties at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, from 1972 to 1981. He played 102 matches for the All Blacks, including 34 internationals, and scored 30 tries, four of which were in test matches.
1991
Mary Killman
American synchronized swimmer
Mary Killman is an American synchronized swimmer. After switching to synchronized swimming from race swimming, Killman was a member of the teams that won silver medals in the duet and team competitions at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico and 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1962
John Eaves
American production designer and illustrator
John Eaves is a designer and illustrator best known for his work on the Star Trek franchise, starting with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. He served as a production illustrator on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise and was involved in all four Next Generation movies, specifically being responsible for the design of the Sovereign-class Enterprise-E. He also worked on a variety of films, such as Top Gun, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Valkyrie and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
1969
Linda Kisabaka
German runner
Linda Kisabaka is a retired German middle distance runner. She ran the 400 metres until 1996, when she began specialising in the 800 metres. She retired in 2001, having represented the sports clubs Bayer 04 Leverkusen and LAZ Leipzig during her active career.
1995
Domagoj Bošnjak
Croatian basketball player
Domagoj Bošnjak is a Croatian professional basketball player who last played for Široki of the Basketball Championship of Bosnia and Herzegovina and ABA League Second Division. Standing at 1.98 m he plays the shooting guard and small forward positions.
1944
Joe Brinkman
American baseball player and umpire
Joseph Norbert Brinkman is an American former umpire in Major League Baseball (MLB) who worked in the American League (AL) from 1972 to 1999 and throughout both major leagues from 2000 until his retirement during the 2006 season.
1922
Carl Amery
German author and activist (died 2005)
Carl Amery, the pen name of Christian Anton Mayer, was a German writer and environmental activist. Born in Munich, he studied at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU). He was a participant of Gruppe 47. He died in Munich.
1930
Wallace McCain
Canadian businessman, founded McCain Foods (died 2011)
George Wallace Ferguson McCain was a Canadian businessman and co-founder of McCain Foods. With an estimated net worth of $US 4.15 billion, McCain was ranked by Forbes as the 13th wealthiest Canadian and 512th in the world.
1964
Rob Awalt
German-American football player
Robert Mitchell Awalt is a German-American former professional football tight end in the National Football League (NFL) for the St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, and Buffalo Bills. He played college football at San Diego State University.
1984
Óscar Razo
Mexican footballer
Oscar Francisco Razo Ventura is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a defender. He previously played for CD Veracruz, and made 16 appearances for them in 2006–07. He retired on 1 January 2015.
1916
Julian Dash
American swing music jazz tenor saxophonist (died 1974)
St. Julian Bennett Dash was an American swing music jazz tenor saxophonist born in Charleston, South Carolina, United States, probably better known for his work with Erskine Hawkins and Buck Clayton.
1908
Joseph Krumgold
American author and screenwriter (died 1980)
Joseph Quincy Krumgold was an American writer of books and screenplays. He was the first person to win two annual Newbery Medals for the most distinguished new American children's book.
1978
Kousei Amano
Japanese actor
Hironari Amano is a Japanese actor. In 2008 he changed his name to Kousei Amano , maintaining the kanji in his name. In 2013, he married actress Akiko Hinagata.
1717
Georg Matthias Monn
Austrian organist, composer, and educator (died 1750)
Georg Matthias Monn was an Austrian composer, organist and music teacher whose works were fashioned in the transition from the Baroque to Classical period in music.
1962
Imran Sherwani
English field hockey player (died 2025)
Imran Ahmed Khan Sherwani was a British international field hockey player. He won gold with the Great Britain squad at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
1897
John B. Gambling
American radio host (died 1974)
John Bradley Gambling was an American radio personality. He was a member of the Gambling family, 3 generations of whom—John B., John A. and John R.—were hosts of WOR Radio's morning show Rambling with Gambling over the course of over 75 years.
1586
Julius Henry
Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (died 1665)
Julius Henry was duke of Saxe-Lauenburg between 1656 and 1665. Before ascending to the throne he served as Field Marshal in the imperial army.
1597
John Davenport
English minister, co-founded the New Haven Colony (died 1670)
John Davenport was an English Puritan clergyman and co-founder of the American colony of New Haven.
1627
Johann Caspar Kerll
German organist and composer (died 1693)
Johann Caspar Kerll was a German Baroque composer and organist. He is also known as Kerl, Gherl, Giovanni Gasparo Cherll and Gaspard Kerle.
1680
Philippe Néricault Destouches
French playwright (died 1754)
Philippe Néricault Destouches was a French playwright who wrote 22 plays.
1691
Johann Matthias Gesner
German scholar and academic (died 1761)
Johann Matthias Gesner was a German classical scholar and schoolmaster.
1794
Søren Christian Sommerfelt
Norwegian priest and botanist (died 1838)
Søren Christian Sommerfelt was a Norwegian priest and botanist, best known for his study of spore plants (cryptogams).
1807
James Bannerman
Scottish theologian and academic (died 1868)
James Bannerman was a Scottish theologian. He is best known for his classic work on Presbyterian ecclesiology, The Church of Christ.
1830
Eadweard Muybridge
English photographer and cinematographer (died 1904)
Eadweard Muybridge was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection.
1882
Otz Tollen
German actor (died 1965)
Otz Tollen was a German actor and film director.
1888
Sol Hurok
Ukrainian-American talent manager (died 1974)
Sol Hurok was a 20th-century American impresario.
1895
Mance Lipscomb
American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1976)
Beau De Glen "Mance" Lipscomb was an American blues singer, guitarist and songster.
1901
Jean Bruchési
Canadian historian and author (died 1979)
Jean Bruchési, FRSC was a Canadian writer, historian, public servant, and diplomat. He was the president of the Royal Society of Canada for 1953–4.
1901
Paul Willis
American actor and director (died 1960)
Paul Gregory Willis was an American actor of the silent film era.
1902
Théodore Monod
French explorer and scholar (died 2000)
Théodore André Monod was a French naturalist, humanist, scholar and explorer.
1906
Antal Doráti
Hungarian-American conductor and composer (died 1988)
Antal Doráti was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1943.
1906
Rafaela Aparicio
Spanish actress (died 1996)
Rafaela Díaz Valiente better known as Rafaela Aparicio was a famous Spanish film and theatre actress.
1906
Victor Vasarely
Hungarian-French painter (died 1997)
Victor Vasarely was a Hungarian-French artist, who is widely accepted as a "grandfather" and leader of the Op art movement.
1908
Paula Nenette Pepin
French composer, pianist and lyricist (died 1990)
Antonietta Paule Pepin Fitzpatrick, also known as Nenette, was a French composer, pianist and lyricist.
1912
Lev Kopelev
Ukrainian-German author and academic (died 1997)
Lev Zalmanovich (Zinovyevich) Kopelev was a Soviet author and dissident.
1915
Daniel Johnson Sr.
Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Premier of Quebec (died 1968)
Francis Daniel Johnson Sr. was a Canadian politician and the 20th premier of Quebec from 1966 until his death in 1968.
1916
Bill Leonard
American journalist (died 1994)
William Augustus Leonard was an American journalist and television executive who served as President of CBS News from 1979 to 1982.
1917
Johannes Bobrowski
German songwriter and poet (died 1965)
Johannes Bobrowski was a German lyric poet, narrative writer, adaptor and essayist.
1917
Ronnie Burgess
Welsh international footballer and manager (died 2005)
William Arthur Ronald Burgess was a Welsh international footballer, who played in the wing half position.
1924
Arthur Shaw
English professional footballer (died 2015)
Arthur Shaw was an English professional footballer who played as a wing half in the Football League for Brentford, Arsenal and Watford.
1925
Virginia Gibson
American actress, singer, and dancer (died 2013)
Virginia Gibson was an American dancer, singer and actress of film, television and musical theater.
1929
Sharan Rani Backliwal
Indian sarod player and scholar (died 2008)
Sharan Rani was an Indian classical sarod player and music scholar.
1930
Jim Fowler
American zoologist and television host (died 2019)
James Mark Fowler was an American professional zoologist and host of the acclaimed wildlife documentary television show Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.
1932
Armin Jordan
Swiss conductor (died 2006)
Armin Jordan was a Swiss conductor known for his interpretations of French music, Mozart and Wagner.
1934
Bill Birch
New Zealand surveyor and politician, 38th New Zealand Minister of Finance
Sir William Francis Birch was a New Zealand politician. He served as Minister of Finance from 1993 to 1999 in the fourth National Government.
1934
Mariya Pisareva
Russian high jumper (died 2023)
Mariya Pisareva was a Soviet athlete who competed mainly in the High Jump. She trained at Zenit in Moscow.
1936
Drew Shafer
American LGBT rights activist from Missouri (died 1989)
Drew Shafer was an American gay activist from Kansas City, Missouri, known for his LGBTQ activism.
1936
Jerzy Maksymiuk
Polish pianist, composer, and conductor
Jerzy Jan Maksymiuk is a Polish composer, pianist and orchestra conductor.
1936
Valerie Solanas
American radical feminist author, attempted murderer (died 1988)
Valerie Jean Solanas was an American radical feminist known for her attempted assassination of artist Andy Warhol in 1968.
1940
Jim Roberts
Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (died 2015)
James Wilfred Roberts, known as Jim Roberts or Jimmy Roberts, was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman and forward.
1941
Kay Adams
American singer-songwriter
Princetta Kay Adams is an American country music singer.
1944
Heinz-Joachim Rothenburg
German shot putter
Heinz-Joachim Rothenburg is a retired East German shot putter.
1948
Tito Gómez
Puerto Rican salsa singer (died 2007)
Tito Gómez was a Puerto Rican salsa singer.
1949
Tony Cragg
English sculptor
Sir Anthony Douglas Cragg is an Anglo-German sculptor, resident in Wuppertal, Germany since 1977.
1952
Tania Tsanaklidou
Greek singer and actress
Soultana (Tania) Tsanaklidou is a Greek artist, both singer and actress, who represented Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978.
1954
Ken Kalfus
American journalist and author
Ken Kalfus is an American author and journalist. Three of his books have been named New York Times Notable Books of the Year.
1955
Joolz Denby
English poet and author
Joolz Denby is an English poet, novelist, artist and tattooist based in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
1958
Tony Sibson
English boxer
Tony Sibson is an English former professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 1988.
1961
Mark Kelly
Irish keyboard player
Mark Colbert Kelly is an Irish keyboardist and a member of the neo-prog band Marillion.
1971
Austin Peck
American actor
Austin Peck is an American actor. He is best known for his work in daytime soap operas.
1971
Peter Canavan
Irish footballer and manager
Peter Canavan is an Irish former Gaelic footballer, manager and pundit.
1972
Bernard Ackah
German-Japanese martial artist and kick-boxer
Bernard Ackah is a German taekwondo practitioner, kickboxer, mixed martial artist and comedian.
1976
Kyle Peterson
American baseball player and sportscaster
Kyle Johnathan Peterson is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1999 and 2001.
1978
Jorge Andrade
Portuguese footballer
Jorge Manuel Almeida Gomes de Andrade is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.
1980
Luciano Galletti
Argentinian footballer
Luciano Martín Galletti is an Argentine retired professional footballer who played as a right winger.
1980
Sarah Ayton
English sailor
Sarah Lianne Ayton is an English former professional sailor.
1981
Ireneusz Jeleń
Polish footballer
Ireneusz Jeleń is a Polish footballer who plays as a right-winger or striker for CKS Piast Cieszyn.
1982
Carlos Hernández
Costa Rican footballer
Carlos Gerardo Hernández Valverde, known simply as Carlos Hernández, is a former Costa Rican football player who last played as an attacking midfielder.
1982
1992
Raheem Mostert
American football player
Dominique Raheem Mostert is an American professional football running back. He played college football for the Purdue Boilermakers.
1995
Demi Vermeulen
Dutch Paralympic equestrian
Demi Vermeulen is a Dutch Paralympic equestrian.
1996
Jayden Brailey
Australian rugby league player
Jayden Brailey is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a hooker for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League (NRL).
1998
Elle Fanning
American actress
Mary Elle Fanning is an American actress. Her accolades include nominations for an Academy Award, four Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards.
1999
Rúben Vinagre
Portuguese footballer
Rúben Gonçalo da Silva Nascimento Vinagre is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a left wing-back for Ekstraklasa club Legia Warsaw.
1999
Stanley Nsoki
French footballer
Stanley Pierre Nsoki is a French professional footballer who plays as a defender for Bundesliga club Union Berlin.
2000
Tiago Djaló
Portuguese footballer
Tiago Emanuel Embaló Djaló is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Süper Lig club Beşiktaş.