Famous Birthdays on June 12

Emperor Gaozong of Song, personal name Zhao Gou, courtesy name Deji, was the tenth emperor of the Chinese Song dynasty and the first of the Southern Song dynasty, ruling between 1127 and 1162 and retaining power as retired emperor from 1162 until his death in 1187. The ninth son of Emperor Huizong and a younger half-brother of Emperor Qinzong, Zhao Gou was not present in the capital of Bianjing when it fell to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in 1127 during the beginning of the Jin-Song Wars. Narrowly avoiding capture by Jin forces, he escaped first to Yangzhou and then Lin'an, assuming the throne and re-establishing the Song court. Despite initial setbacks, including Jin invasions and a brief deposition in 1129, Emperor Gaozong consolidated his political position and presided over the continued military conflict with Jin. Prior to 1141, military commanders including Han Shizhong and Yue Fei reconquered portions of the Central Plains while chancellors like Lü Yihao, Zhao Ding, Zhang Jun, and Qin Hui managed the civil bureaucracy.

Sir David Gill was a Scottish astronomer who spent most of his career as H.M. Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope. He was born in Aberdeen, trained as a watch and clock-maker, and spent ten years in the family business, which he took over from his father. He became a noted amateur astronomer, and was invited by Lord Lindsay to manage his private observatory, which he accepted, selling the family busisness. He took part in astronomical expeditions to Mauritius and Ascension Island, before being appointed to the Cape in 1879. He was particularly noted for his observations with the heliometer, using this instrument for measurement of parallax in order to determine distances, both from the earth to the sun and from our solar system to other stars. At the Cape, he developed the observatory, making it a world-class institution. He was a pioneer of astrophotography, and used photographic methods to create a star atlas of the southern hemisphere, and also supported and took part in the world-wide Carte du Ciel star-mapping project. He was a meticulous observer, taking great trouble to identify and eliminate systematic sources of error. He was a proponent of international cooperation, supporting international projects and collaborating with many of the other leading astronomers of his day. He helped initiate a geodetic survey of Southern Africa which eventually connected with North cape to provide the longest meridian arc in the world, providing a basis for cartography, navigation and astronomical observations.

Joseph Gérard Marquis Tardif is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played left winger in both the National Hockey League (NHL) and the World Hockey Association (WHA), principally for the Quebec Nordiques. He also represented Canada in the 1974 Summit Series. A dominant force in the WHA, Tardif had four consecutive seasons with 95+ points from 1975 to 1979; Tardif served as the captain of the Nordiques from 1975 to 1981, making him the first Nordique captain when the team entered the NHL. On April 4, 1978, he became the second professional hockey player to record 150 points in a season. In addition to his two Stanley Cup championships, he led the Nordiques to the Avco World Trophy to go along with winning the Gordie Howe Trophy for most valuable play in the WHA.

Ian David Craig was an Australian cricketer who represented the Australian national team in 11 Tests between 1953 and 1958. A right-handed batsman, Craig holds the records for being the youngest Australian to make a first-class double century, appear in a Test match, and captain his country in a Test match. Burdened by the public expectation of being the "next Bradman", Craig's career did not fulfil its early promise. In 1957, he was appointed Australian captain, leading a young team as part of a regeneration plan following the decline of the national team in the mid-1950s, but a loss of form and illness forced him out of the team after one season. Craig made a comeback, but work commitments forced him to retire from first-class cricket at only 26 years of age.

Raymond James Barbuti was an American football player and sprint runner who won two gold medals at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Barbuti traveled to Amsterdam to initially only compete for the 400 meter sprint however the US medal position was meek and then US Olympic committee president, Major General Douglas MacArthur insisted after Barbuti won the 400 meter gold that he run in the 4 × 400 meter relay the next day. Barbuti was interrupted by MacArthur during his celebratory evening to start preparing to run the anchor for the event the next day. Barbuti initially, vehemently refused, claiming he would not displace a fellow US runner in search for further medals. However MacArthur was relentless and finally prevailed and history commenced with the team winning the gold.

William Attewell was a cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and England. Attewell was a medium pace bowler who was renowned for his extraordinary accuracy and economy. On the many sticky or crumbling pitches encountered in his prime Attewell could get on a great deal of spin so as to always beat the bat, whilst his accuracy would make slogging – the only way to make runs under such conditions – very difficult. He was responsible for the development of "off theory" – bowling wide of the off stump to a packed off-side field to frustrate batsmen on the rapidly improving pitches of the 1890s. At times Attewell was a useful batsman for his county, and he scored 102 against Kent in 1897.

Samuel Arthur Thaiday is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League, serving as their captain from 2012 until 2013. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative second-row, he could also play prop and lock as well as hooker and spent all of his career at the Broncos, with whom he won the 2006 premiership. In 2008, Australia's centenary of rugby league and Thaiday's sixth year at the top level, he was one of only three current players to be named in the Indigenous Australian rugby league team of the century. On 6 July 2018, Thaiday announced his intention to retire from the NRL at the end of the 2018 season.

Maria Sophia Coertse was a South African soprano who appeared professionally as Mimi Coertse. Born in Durban, she began her vocal studies in 1949. She moved to Europe in 1953, first to England and later to the Netherlands and Austria. Coertse made her debut in opera in 1955 in Parsifal, and continued to perform with various opera companies until 1978. Coertse attained the rank of Kammersängerin, and received the Decoration for Meritorious Services, the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, and an honorary doctorate in philosophy from the University of Pretoria, among others. She was married three times and had two adopted children. Coertse died in April 2026 at the age of 93.

Luis García-Berlanga Martí was a Spanish film director and screenwriter. Acclaimed as a pioneer of modern Spanish cinema, his films are marked by social satire and acerbic critiques of Spanish culture under the Francoist dictatorship. These include Welcome Mr. Marshall! (1953), which won the International Prize at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, Plácido (1961), nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1962, and The Executioner (1963), winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 24th Venice International Film Festival He kept a long-time collaboration with screenwriter Rafael Azcona, with whom he co-wrote the scripts for seven of his films between 1961 and 1987.

Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny was an Austrian-born German intelligence officer and commando who served as an SS-Obersturmbannführer within the Waffen-SS during the Second World War. Over the course of the conflict, he was involved with operations including the removal from power of the Hungarian regent Miklós Horthy and the raid on Gran Sasso, which secured the liberation of Benito Mussolini from captivity. Skorzeny also commanded Operation Greif, in which German personnel infiltrated Allied positions while disguised in enemy uniforms. This led to his prosecution in 1947 before the Dachau Military Tribunal on charges of violating the 1907 Hague Convention. He was acquitted.

Dallas Dean Clark is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily for the Indianapolis Colts. He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes, earning unanimous All-American honors and recognition as the top college tight end in the nation. He was selected by Indianapolis in the first round of the 2003 NFL draft and he was a member of their Super Bowl XLI championship team against the Chicago Bears. He also played in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Baltimore Ravens.

Earl Joseph Watson Jr. is an American professional basketball coach and former player, who serves as an assistant coach for the San Diego Toreros. He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, where he was a four-year starter and named all-conference as a senior in the Pac-10. Watson was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in the second round of the 2001 NBA draft with the 39th overall selection. He played 13 seasons in the NBA with seven teams before becoming a coach in 2014. He was the head coach of the Phoenix Suns from 2016 to 2017.

Bradley Edward Delp was an American singer and musician who was the original lead vocalist of the American rock band Boston. A Massachusetts native, Delp began collaborating with leader Tom Scholz in 1970, and was the band's longtime lead singer across various stints from 1975 until his suicide in 2007. Delp is best known for his lead vocals on the albums Boston (1976), Don't Look Back (1978) and Third Stage (1986). He performed in every Boston concert tour prior to his death. Delp was known for his "unique and soulful singing" and vocal range.

Raúl Héctor Castro was a Mexican American politician, diplomat and judge. In 1964, Castro was selected to be U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, a position he held until 1968 when he was appointed U.S. ambassador to Bolivia. In 1974, Castro was elected to serve as the 14th governor of Arizona, and resigned two years into his term to become U.S. ambassador to Argentina. Prior to his entry into public service, Castro was a lawyer and a judge for Pima County, Arizona. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Edward Spencer Abraham is an American attorney, author, and politician who served as the 10th United States secretary of energy from 2001 to 2005, under President George W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1995 to 2001. Abraham is one of the founders of the Federalist Society, and a co-founder of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. As of 2026, he is the last Republican to have served as a U.S. senator from Michigan.

Heinz-Christian Strache is an Austrian politician and dental technician who served as Vice-Chancellor of Austria from 2017 to 2019 before resigning owing to his involvement in the Ibiza affair. He was also Minister of Civil Service and Sports from January 2018 to May 2019 and chairman of the Freedom Party (FPÖ) from April 2005 to May 2019. He previously served as a member of the National Council from October 2006 until December 2017 and as a member of the municipal council and state legislature of Vienna (2001–2006).

Lucille Elsa Roybal-Allard is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 1993 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she first entered Congress in 1993. Her district, numbered as the 33rd until 2003, the 34th from 2003 to 2013, and the 40th from 2013 to 2023, included much of southern Los Angeles, as well as several eastern suburbs, such as Downey, Bell and Bell Gardens. On December 20, 2021, Roybal-Allard announced her retirement at the end of the 117th Congress.

Wade Redden is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and a development coach of the Ottawa Senators, with whom he spent the majority of his career in the National Hockey League (NHL), which lasted from 1996 to 2013. He also played for the New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins. He played for the Canadian national team internationally seven times, winning two gold medals in the World Junior Championships and one in the World Cup of Hockey. He was a two-time NHL All-Star.

Kendra Leigh Wilkinson is an American television personality and real estate agent. She first gained recognition as one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends and for her role on the E! reality television series The Girls Next Door (2005–2009), on which her life in the Playboy Mansion was documented. Although not a Playboy Playmate, she has appeared in three nude pictorials with her Girls Next Door co-stars Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt. She subsequently starred in her own reality shows, Kendra (2009–2011) and Kendra on Top (2012–2017).

Jens Böhrnsen is a German politician of the SPD who served as President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen from 2005 to 2015. From 1 November 2009 until 31 October 2010, he was President of the Bundesrat. As such, he was acting head of state of Germany from the resignation of President Horst Köhler on 31 May 2010 until the election of Christian Wulff on 30 June 2010. Böhrnsen resigned in 2015 after his party sustained losses in the state parliament election.

Lewis Walton Moody is an English retired rugby union player. He played for Leicester Tigers and Bath and was part of the 2003 World Cup winning side. Moody was chosen for the 2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, being capped twice. He is known for the enthusiasm with which he played the game, his willingness to chase down opponents and his ability to compete for possession at restarts, which earned him the nickname "Mad Dog" from teammates and supporters.

Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge was an English physicist and electrical engineer whose investigations into electromagnetic radiation (EMR) contributed to the development of radio. He identified EMR independent of Heinrich Hertz's proof. In his 1894 Royal Institution lecture, The Work of Hertz and Some of His Successors, Lodge's demonstrations on methods to transmit and detect radio waves included an improved early radio receiver he named the coherer. His work led to his holding key patents in early radio communication, his "syntonic" patents.

Barbara Clementine Harris was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. She was the first woman consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion. She was elected suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, on September 24, 1988, and was consecrated on February 11, 1989. Eight thousand people attended the service, which was held at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts. She served in the role of suffragan bishop for 13 years, retiring in 2003.

Roy Bull was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s and spent his whole career – as player, coach & administrator – with the Manly-Warringah club in Sydney. In addition to playing in three New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership grand finals, he was a representative for the New South Wales rugby league team and the Australian national side. He has since been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Bert Sakmann is a German cell physiologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Erwin Neher in 1991 for their work on "the function of single ion channels in cells," and the invention of the patch clamp. Bert Sakmann was Professor at Heidelberg University and is an emeritus scientific member of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany. Since 2008 he leads an emeritus research group at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology.

Friedrich Karl Ferdinand Freiherr von Müffling, nicknamed Weiss, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall and military theorist. He served as Blücher's liaison officer in Wellington's headquarters during the Battle of Waterloo and was one of the organizers of the final victory over Napoleon. After the wars he served a diplomatic role at the Congress of Aix-la-Chappelle and was a major contributor to the development of the Prussian General Staff as Chief. Müffling also specialized in military topography and cartography.

Marv Albert is an American former sportscaster. Honored for his work by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks". Albert was best known nationally for his work as the lead announcer for both the NBA on NBC and NBA games on TNT. In 2015, he was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Bryan Gary Habana OIS is a South African former professional rugby union player. Playing mainly as a wing, he is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He played for the Golden Lions, the Blue Bulls and Western Province in South Africa, for the Bulls and the Stormers in Super Rugby, and for Toulon in the French Top 14, and won 124 caps for the South Africa national team.

Blake Aaron Ross is an American software engineer who is best known for his work as the co-creator of the Mozilla Firefox web browser with Dave Hyatt. In 2005, he was nominated for Wired magazine's top Rave Award, Renegade of the Year, opposite Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Jon Stewart. He was also a part of Rolling Stone magazine's 2005 hot list. From 2007, he worked for Facebook as Director of Product until resigning in early 2013.

Cosimo I de' Medici was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. He built the Uffizi (office) to organize his administration, and conquered Siena to consolidate Florence's rule in Tuscany. He expanded the Pitti Palace and most of the Boboli Gardens were also laid out during his reign.

John Kenneth Wetton was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He was known for his bass playing as well as his baritone voice. In 1971, he was a member of the rock band Family for a short time, before joining King Crimson in 1972. After the breakup of King Crimson at the end of 1974, he played in a number of other bands, including Roxy Music (1974–1975), Uriah Heep (1975–1976), U.K. (1977–1980), and Wishbone Ash (1980–1981).

Andranik Nahapeti Margaryan was an Armenian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Armenia from 12 May 2000, when the President appointed him, until his death on 25 March 2007. He was a member of the Republican Party of Armenia. He succeeded the Sargsyan brothers: Vazgen Sargsyan, who was murdered during the Armenian parliament shooting on 27 October 1999 and Aram Sargsyan, whom the President appointed a week later, but fired on 2 May 2000.

Marco Bortolami is an Italian professional rugby union coach and former professional player, whose career includes experience playing in the national top-level Italian, French, and English championships, before joining the then recently-born Pro14. Praised for his leadership skills, he captained all the teams he played for at professional level. At international level, he also captained the Italian side from 2002 until the 2007 Rugby World Cup, before being replaced in the permanent role by Sergio Parisse.

Héctor Solano Segura was a Mexican professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Héctor Garza. During his career he worked for various major Mexican professional wrestling promotions such as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Perros del Mal Producciones and, at the time of death, AAA. Garza also worked for several major promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in the United States.

Vladimir Igorevich Arnold was a Soviet and Russian mathematician. He is best known for the Kolmogorov–Arnold–Moser theorem regarding the stability of integrable systems, and contributed to several areas, including geometrical theory of dynamical systems, algebra, catastrophe theory, topology, real algebraic geometry, symplectic geometry, differential equations, classical mechanics, differential-geometric approach to hydrodynamics, geometric analysis and singularity theory, including posing the ADE classification problem. In his later years he shifted his research interests, investigating discrete mathematics.

Princess Maria Amalia of Courland was a Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel by her marriage to Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. She was a daughter of Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia and Margravine Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg. Her eldest son was King Frederick I of Sweden. One of her daughters was the most recent common ancestor of all the currently reigning monarchs of Europe from 1939 to 1941 and 1943 to 2022.

Catherine Bréchignac is a French physicist. She is a commander of the Légion d'honneur, "secrétaire perpétuel honoraire" of the Académie des sciences and former president of the CNRS. The Times says she has "a formidable reputation for determination, decisiveness and an aptitude for analysing and clarifying complex matters." As a president of the CNRS, she was responsible for 25,000 employees, 12,000 of whom are researchers, and a budget of 2.42 billion Euros.

Warwick Richard Capper is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans and the Brisbane Bears in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL). An accomplished full-forward, Capper kicked 388 goals over a 124-game career, twice finishing runner-up for the Coleman Medal with a peak of 103 goals in 1987. He was also famous for his high-flying spectacular marks, one of which earned him the 1987 Mark of the Year award.

Eugénie Brazier, known as "la Mère Brazier", was a French chef who, in 1933, became the first person awarded six Michelin stars, three each at two restaurants: La Mère Brazier in the rue Royale, one of the main streets of Lyon, and a second, also called La Mère Brazier, outside the city. This achievement was unmatched until Alain Ducasse was awarded six stars with the publication of the 1998 Michelin Guide.

Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele was an Austrian Expressionist painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portraits. The twisted body shapes and the expressive line that characterise Schiele's paintings and drawings mark the artist as an early exponent of Expressionism. Gustav Klimt, a figurative painter of the early 20th century, was a mentor to Schiele.

Charles Kingsley was an English clergyman, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. A broad church priest of the Church of England, he is particularly associated with Christian socialism, Anti-Catholicism, the working men's college, and forming labour cooperatives, which failed, but encouraged later working reforms. He is known for his novels Yeast (1848), Alton Locke (1850), Hypatia (1853), Westward Ho! (1855), The Water-Babies (1863), and Hereward the Wake (1866).

Uta Thyra Hagen was a German and American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, who called her "a profoundly truthful actress." Because Hagen was on the Hollywood blacklist, in part because of her association with Paul Robeson, her film opportunities dwindled and she focused her career on New York theatre.

Priscilla Lane was an American actress, and the youngest sibling in the Lane Sisters' family of singers and actresses. She is best remembered for her roles in the films The Roaring Twenties (1939) co-starring with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart; Saboteur (1942), an Alfred Hitchcock film in which she plays the heroine; and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), in which she portrays Cary Grant's fiancée and bride.

Takashi Yamazaki is a Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor. Known for his blockbusters featuring advanced visual effects, he is considered a leading figure in the Japanese film industry. Yamazaki is the recipient of multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, eight Japanese Academy Awards, five Nikkan Sports Film Awards, two Hochi Film Awards, and an Asian Film Award. His films have collectively grossed over $560 million worldwide.

Hideki Matsui , nicknamed "Godzilla", is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter who is the manager of the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yomiuri Giants. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

Gustav Forsling is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Forsling was selected by the Vancouver Canucks in the fifth round of the 2014 NHL entry draft, but did not play for the team. He previously played for the Chicago Blackhawks. Forsling won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with the Panthers in 2024 and 2025.

David Rockefeller was an American economist and investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the Rockefeller family from 2004 until his death in 2017. Rockefeller was the fifth son and youngest child of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and a grandson of John D. Rockefeller and Laura Spelman Rockefeller.

Sir Harry Hamilton Johnston was a British explorer, botanist, artist, colonial administrator, and linguist who travelled widely across Africa to speak some of the languages spoken by people on that continent. He published 40 books on subjects related to the continent of Africa and was one of the key players in the Scramble for Africa that occurred at the end of the 19th century.

Edward Thomas Adams was an American photographer and photojournalist noted for portraits of celebrities and politicians and for coverage of 13 wars. He is best known for his photograph of the execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém, a Viet Cong prisoner of war, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1969. Adams was a longtime resident of Bogota, New Jersey.

Rear Admiral Desmond William Piers, was a rear-admiral in the Royal Canadian Navy. Born in Halifax and long-time resident of Chester, Nova Scotia, Piers served in the RCN from 1932 to 1967. In 1930, he was the first graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada to join the RCN. He became agent general of Nova Scotia in the United Kingdom in 1977.

John Herbert McCluskey, Baron McCluskey was a Scottish lawyer, judge and politician, who served as Solicitor General for Scotland, the country's junior Law Officer from 1974 to 1979, and as a Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of Scotland's Supreme Courts, from 1984 to 2004. He was also member of the House of Lords from 1976 until his retirement in 2017.

Adriana Lima is a Brazilian model. She was a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2000 to 2018, having made her Victoria's Secret Fashion Show debut in 1999, making her the longest-running Victoria's Secret Angel and model. In 2017, she was named "the most valuable Victoria's Secret Angel" by American analytics company D’Marie. She is also known for her Super Bowl and Kia Motors commercials.

Reginald Maurice Ball, known professionally as Reg Presley, was an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the 1960s rock and roll band the Troggs, whose hits included "Wild Thing" and "With a Girl Like You". He wrote the song "Love Is All Around", which was featured in the films Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually.

Timothy Busfield is an American actor and director. He played Arnold Poindexter in the first two Revenge of the Nerds films, Elliot Weston on the television series Thirtysomething, Mark in Field of Dreams, and Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing. In 1991, he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Thirtysomething.

Christine Margaret Sinclair is a Canadian former professional soccer player. An Olympic gold medallist, two-time Olympic bronze medallist, CONCACAF champion, and 14-time winner of the Canada Soccer Player of the Year award, Sinclair is the world's all-time leader for international goals scored by men or women, with 190 goals, and is one of the most-capped international soccer players with 331 appearances.

William Mailes "Cowboy" Cowley was a Canadian professional ice hockey center who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League for the St. Louis Eagles and Boston Bruins. Described as the Wayne Gretzky of his era, Cowley twice won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's MVP, and is widely regarded as one of the best playmakers in hockey history.

James Kwalia C'Kurui is an athlete who represents Qatar after switching from his homeland Kenya. Specializing in the 3000 and 5000 metres, his personal best times are 7:28.28 minutes and 12:54.58 minutes respectively. He was born in Trans Nzoia. He is the current holder of the Asian indoor record over 5000 m which he broke in Düsseldorf in February 2009.

Annelies Marie Frank was a German-born Jewish diarist and Holocaust victim. She gained worldwide notability posthumously for keeping a diary documenting her life in hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands. In the diary, she regularly described her family's everyday life in their hiding place in a secret annex in Amsterdam from 1942 until their arrest in 1944.

Brigid Antonia Brophy was an English author, literary critic and polemicist. She was an influential campaigner who agitated for many types of social reform, including homosexual parity, vegetarianism, humanism, and animal rights. Brophy appeared frequently on television and in the newspapers of the 1960s and 1970s, making her prominent both in literary circles and on the wider cultural scene.

David John Franco is an American actor and filmmaker. He began his career with small roles in films such as Superbad (2007) and Charlie St. Cloud (2010). Following a starring role in the ninth season of the comedy series Scrubs (2009–2010), Franco had his film breakthrough with a supporting role in the buddy comedy film 21 Jump Street (2012).

Samuel Cooper was an American military officer, who served in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican–American War in the United States Army. Although little-known today, Cooper was technically the highest-ranking general officer in the Confederate States Army throughout the American Civil War, even outranking Robert E. Lee. After the conflict, Cooper remained in Virginia as a farmer.

Mohammad Javed Miandad, PP, SI, popularly known as Javed Miandad, is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer known for his unconventional style of captaincy and batting. Cricinfo described him as "the greatest batsman Pakistan has ever produced" and his contemporary Ian Chappell extolled him as one of the finest batsmen in the history of cricket.

Caleb Zackery "Don" Toliver is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. His debut mixtape, Donny Womack (2018), was released one day prior to fellow Houston rapper Travis Scott's album Astroworld, on which Toliver made a guest appearance. In the following week, he signed with Scott's record label, Cactus Jack Records, in a joint venture with Atlantic Records.

Stéphanie Szostak is a French actress and author who started her career in the early 2000s. Szostak is best known for having appeared in the films The Devil Wears Prada, Dinner for Schmucks, Iron Man 3, and R.I.P.D. Szostak starred in the USA Network original drama series Satisfaction and the ABC series A Million Little Things.

William Paul Lundigan was an American film actor. His more than 125 films include Dodge City (1939), The Fighting 69th (1940), The Sea Hawk (1940), Santa Fe Trail (1940), Dishonored Lady (1947), Pinky (1949), Love Nest (1951) with Marilyn Monroe, The House on Telegraph Hill (1951), I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951) and Inferno (1953).

Georgia Louise Harris Brown, is considered to be the second African American woman to become a licensed architect in the United States. She was also the first black woman to earn a degree in architecture from the University of Kansas. She was also the only black member of the Chicago chapter of Alpha Alpha Gamma.

George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st president of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 43rd vice president under Ronald Reagan and previously held a multitude of other federal, ambassadorial, and party positions. His son, George W. Bush, served as the 43rd president.

Avisaíl Antonio García Yaguarin is a Venezuelan former professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers, and Miami Marlins. He signed with the Tigers as a non-drafted free agent in 2007 and made his major league debut in 2012.

Roy Harper is an English folk rock singer, songwriter, poet and guitarist. He has released 22 studio albums across a career that stretches back to 1966. As a musician, Harper is known for his distinctive fingerstyle playing and lengthy, lyrical, complex compositions, reflecting his love of jazz and the poet John Keats.

Jrue Randall Holiday is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for one season with the UCLA Bruins before being selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft with the 17th overall pick.

Amadeo Raúl Carrizo Larretape, popularly known by his first name "Amadeo", was an Argentine football goalkeeper and manager. Carrizo is considered a pioneer of the position, helping to innovate techniques and strategies for goalkeepers. The IFFHS ranked Carrizo as the best South American keeper of the 20th century in 1999.

Richard Morton Sherman was an American songwriter who specialized in musical films with his brother Robert B. Sherman. According to the official Walt Disney Company website and independent fact checkers, "The Sherman Brothers were responsible for more motion picture musical song scores than any other songwriting team in film history."

Leonard Norman Wein was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men. Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen.

Antawn Cortez Jamison is an American former professional basketball player who played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He serves as director of pro personnel for the Washington Wizards. Jamison played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels, being named national player of the year in 1998.

Paul Guldin was a Swiss Jesuit mathematician and astronomer. He discovered the Guldinus theorem to determine the surface and the volume of a solid of revolution. Guldin was noted for his association with the German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler. Guldin composed a critique of Cavalieri's method of Indivisibles.

Vic Damone was an American traditional pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit "You're Breaking My Heart", and other hits such as "On the Street Where You Live" and "I Have But One Heart".

Patrick Gass served as sergeant in the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806). He was important to the expedition because of his service as a carpenter, and he published the first journal of the expedition in 1807, seven years before the first publication based on Lewis and Clark's journals.

Johanna Spyri was a Swiss author of novels, notably children's stories. She wrote the popular book Heidi. Born in Hirzel, a rural area in the canton of Zürich, as a child she spent several summers near Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.

Adriaen or Adriaan van Stalbemt or Adriaen van Stalbempt was a Flemish painter and printmaker who is known for his landscapes with religious, mythological and allegorical scenes. He was also a gifted figure painter who was regularly invited to paint the staffage in compositions of fellow painters.

John Sidney Linnell is an American musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and a co-founder of alternative rock band They Might Be Giants with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to singing and songwriting, he plays keyboard, accordion, baritone and bass saxophone, and clarinet for the band.

Mathieu David Schneider is an American former professional ice hockey player. Considered an offensive defenseman, Schneider played 1,289 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with ten different teams, scoring 233 goals and totaling 743 points. He won the Stanley Cup in 1993 with the Montreal Canadiens.

Thomas Charles Hart was a United States Navy admiral whose service extended from the Spanish–American War through World War II. Following his retirement from the Navy, he served briefly as a United States Senator from Connecticut, becoming the highest-ranking military official ever to serve in Congress.

Jamieson "Junior" Brown is an American country guitarist and singer. He has released 12 studio albums in his career, and has charted twice on the Billboard country singles charts. Brown's signature instrument is the "guit-steel" double-neck guitar, a hybrid of electric guitar and lap steel guitar.

Michael Angelo Batio, also known as Michael Angelo, Mike Batio or MAB, is an American heavy metal guitarist. He was the lead guitarist for the glam metal band Nitro in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is currently the permanent guitarist for the band Manowar.

Paul David Stenning is an English author and ghostwriter. He has written twenty-nine books, of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and biography. The best-known of his books is The Robert Pattinson Album, a biography of Robert Pattinson, first published in 2009 and appearing in seven languages since then.

Wu Chuan, courtesy name Wu qing-yuan, better known by the Japanese pronunciation of his courtesy name, Go Seigen , was a Chinese-Japanese master of the game of Go. He is considered by many players to have been the greatest Go player in the 20th century.

Patrick Anthony Jennings is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is widely recognised as one of the greatest goalkeepers in the history of the sport and was nominated for the Ballon d'Or in 1973, 1975 and 1985.

Eren Derdiyok is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is a former Swiss international. Derdiyok has played for ten different clubs in Europe, as well as a one year stint in Uzbekistan's capital with Pakhtakor FC.

John Casimir of Saxe-Coburg was the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. He was a descendant of the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin. Under his rule, the town of Coburg prospered and many Renaissance buildings were erected that still remain today.

Robin Miriam Carlsson, known professionally as Robyn, is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter and producer. Musically, she is noted for performing upbeat dance-oriented songs that often feature melancholic lyrics, and has been called the "stateswoman of alt-pop" by The Guardian.

Robert Harry Lowie was an Austrian-American anthropologist. An expert on Indigenous peoples of the Americas, he was instrumental in the development of modern anthropology and has been described as "one of the key figures in the history of anthropology".

General Jean Victor Allard was the first French Canadian to become Chief of the Defence Staff, the highest position in the Canadian Forces, from 1966 to 1969. He was also the first to hold the accompanying rank of general.

Jordan Bernt Peterson is a Canadian psychologist, author, and media commentator. He received widespread attention in the late 2010s for his views on cultural and political issues. Often described as conservative, Peterson self-identifies as a classical liberal and traditionalist.

John Augustus Roebling was a German-born American civil engineer. He designed and built wire rope suspension bridges, in particular the Brooklyn Bridge, which has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Bryan Alvarez is an American independent professional wrestler, martial artist, satellite radio host, podcaster, and journalist. Alvarez is the editor and publisher of Figure Four Weekly, a fan run, online newsletter that has covered professional wrestling since 1995.

Alexandra Jean Theresa "Allie" DiMeco is an American actress, reality television personality, multi-instrumentalist, and model, primarily known for playing the role of Nat Wolff's main love interest Rosalina in the Nickelodeon musical comedy series The Naked Brothers Band.

Philippe Coutinho Correia is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Santos. He is known for his combination of vision, passing, dribbling, and ability to conjure curling long-range shots.

Sir Michael Louis David Fabricant is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lichfield in Staffordshire, formerly Mid Staffordshire, from 1992 until his defeat in 2024.

Frances Ann O'Connor is an Australian actress. She is best known for her roles in film and television, including Mansfield Park (1999), Bedazzled (2000), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) and Wednesday (2025).

Harriet Martineau was an English social theorist. She wrote from a sociological, holistic, religious and feminine angle, translated works by Auguste Comte, and, rare for a woman writer at the time, earned enough to support herself.

Fritz Albert Lipmann was a German-American biochemist and a co-discoverer in 1945 of coenzyme A. For this, together with other research on coenzyme A, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953.

Ibrahim Jeilan Gashu is an Ethiopian professional long-distance runner who specialises in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres on the track, as well as cross country running. He is a former world champion in 10,000 metres.

James Wallace Burke was an Australian cricketer who played in 24 Test matches from 1951 to 1959. Burke holds the record for the most innings in a complete career without scoring a duck, with 44.

Barry Michael Cooper was an American writer, producer, and director, best known for his screenplays for the films New Jack City (1991), Sugar Hill (1994), and Above the Rim (1994), sometimes called his "Harlem Trilogy".

Diego Alberto Milito is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was nicknamed El Principe because of his physical resemblance with former Uruguayan footballer Enzo Francescoli, who had the same nickname.

Watson Fothergill was a British architect who designed over 100 unique buildings in Nottingham in the East Midlands of England. His influences were mainly from the Gothic Revival and Old English vernacular architecture styles.

Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, was a British statesman, diplomat and military officer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1955 to 1957.

Sir Robert George Wyndham Herbert,, was the first Premier of Queensland, Australia. At 28 years and 181 days of age, he was the youngest person ever to become premier of an Australian state.

Sonia Manzano is an American actress, writer and speaker. She is best known for playing Maria on Sesame Street from 1971 to 2015. She received a Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy Award in 2016.

Djuna Barnes was an American artist, illustrator, journalist, and writer who is best known for her novel Nightwood (1936), a cult classic of lesbian fiction and an important work of modernist literature.

Blues Traveler is an American rock band that formed in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1987. The group is known for creative segues during live performances and pioneering the H.O.R.D.E. touring music festival.

Petros G. Molyviatis was a Greek politician and diplomat who served three times as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2006, May to June 2012, and August to September 2015.

John Scott Thompson is a Canadian actor and comedian, best known as member of the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall and for playing Brian on The Larry Sanders Show.

Adrian James Toole is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played for the North Sydney Bears and Huddersfield, primarily as a prop.

Marie-Angélique Memmie Le Blanc was a feral child of 18th-century France who was known as The Wild Girl of Champagne, The Maid of Châlons, or The Wild Child of Songy.

Henry Scott Tuke was an English artist. His most notable work was in the Impressionist style and he is best known for his paintings of nude boys and young men.

Robert McGregor Innes Ireland was a British racing driver and journalist, who competed in Formula One from 1959 to 1966. Ireland won the 1961 United States Grand Prix with Lotus.

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and "Windows" are considered jazz standards.

Raitis Grafs is a Latvian former professional basketball player. He played at the center position. Grafs represented the senior men's Latvian national team. He was a FIBA EuroStar in 2007.

Zygmunt Janiszewski was a Polish mathematician, indpendence activist, a leading representative of the Warsaw School of Mathematics and the initiator of the idea of the Polish School of Mathematics.

Degaga "Mamo" Wolde was an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competed in track, cross-country, and road running events. He was the winner of the marathon at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Marina Timofeyevna Semyonova was the first Soviet-trained prima ballerina. She was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1975, and a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1988.

Jameel Jalibi was a noted linguist, critic, writer, and scholar of Urdu literature and linguistics from Pakistan. He also was a former vice-chancellor of the University of Karachi.

Francis Xavier McCloskey was an American journalist, lawyer, and politician from Indiana who served in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat from 1983 to 1995.

Ryan Anthony Klesko is an American former Major League Baseball first baseman and corner outfielder who played for the Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.

Dave Berg was an American cartoonist, most noted for his five decades of work in Mad of which The Lighter Side of... was the most famous.

Martine Dugrenier is a Canadian retired wrestler. A three time world champion, she has also competed twice at the Olympics, finishing in 5th place both times.

Arthur Fellig, known by his pseudonym Weegee, was a photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography in New York City.

Tom Misteli is a Swiss-born (Solothurn) cell biologist who has pioneered the field of genome cell biology. From 2016-2024 he was the Director of the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute, NIH.

Emperor Reizei was the 63rd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.

Anna of Württemberg was a German princess, member of the House of Württemberg, and by her two marriages duchess of Oława-Wołów and Legnica.

Robert Radclyffe, 5th Earl of Sussex, was an English peer, ambassador and military officer.

Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvray was a French novelist, playwright and journalist.

Ante Kuzmanić was a Croatian medical doctor and journalist.

Edmond Hébert, French geologist, was born at Villefargau, Yonne.

Maurice Perrault was a Canadian architect, civil engineer, and politician.

Frank Michler Chapman was an American ornithologist and pioneering writer of field guides.

Fernand Gonder was a French pole vaulter who won the gold medal at the 1906 Intercalated Games.

Hendrik Jozef Elias was a Belgian politician and Flemish nationalist, notable as the leader of the Vlaams Nationaal Verbond between 1942 and 1944.

Christie Jayaratnam Eliezer was a Ceylon Tamil mathematician, physicist and academic.

Peter Geoffrey Francis Jones was an English actor, screenwriter and broadcaster.

Margherita Hack was an Italian astrophysicist and science communicator. The asteroid 8558 Hack, discovered in 1995, was named in her honour.

James Thurston Nabors was an American actor, singer, and comedian, widely known for his signature character, Gomer Pyle.

Rona Jaffe was an American novelist who published numerous works from 1958 to 2003. During the 1960s, she also wrote cultural pieces for Cosmopolitan.

John Ayala Alonzo, ASC was an American cinematographer, television director, and actor.

Kevin Billington was a British film director, who worked in the theatre, film and television from the 1960s.

Leonard Warren Borisoff, known professionally by the stage name Len Barry, was an American singer, songwriter, lyricist, record producer, author, and poet.

Michel Bergeron is a Canadian former ice hockey coach.

Hans Binder is an Austrian former Formula One driver who raced for the Ensign, Wolf, Surtees and ATS teams.

Oğuz Abadan is a Turkish musician born in Ankara.

Philippe Bernard Bugalski was a French rally driver.

Mark Jerrold Henry is an American former powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and retired professional wrestler currently signed to WWE under a Legends contract.

Thomas Løvendahl Sørensen is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd is an American guitarist. He has released several studio albums and experienced significant commercial success as a blues rock artist.

Bruno Soriano Llido is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

Mauricio Aníbal Isla Isla is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a right-back and midfielder.

Davinson Sánchez Mina is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Süper Lig club Galatasaray and the Colombia national team.

Koni De Winter is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as centre-back for Serie A club AC Milan and the Belgium national team.