Born on Tuesday, 22nd April – Famous Birthdays

22/04/2011

Violet McGraw, American actress

Violet Elizabeth McGraw is an American actress. Her acting debut was a recurring role in the 2016 television series Love as Nina, and her first feature film was 2018's Ready Player One. In 2019 she was nominated for an OFTA Television Award for Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture or Limited Series for The Haunting of Hill House. She is also known for her roles as a young Yelena Belova in the Marvel Studios superhero films Black Widow (2021) and Thunderbolts* (2025), and as Cady in the horror films M3GAN (2022) and M3GAN 2.0 (2025).

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22/04/1992

Adam Lanza, American mass murderer (died 2012)

Adam Peter Lanza was an American mass murderer who perpetrated the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in which he murdered 20 children and six adult staff members before committing suicide as first responders arrived at the scene. Prior to the shooting, Lanza killed his mother at their home in Newtown, Connecticut. He was obsessed with previous mass murderers and studied them extensively.

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22/04/1991

Danni Wyatt, English cricketer

Danielle Nicole Wyatt-Hodge is an English cricketer who plays for Surrey, Southern Brave, England and Gujarat Giants. She plays as an all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling right-arm off break. She made her England debut against India in Mumbai on 1 March 2010.

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22/04/1990

Machine Gun Kelly, American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor

Colson Baker, known professionally as MGK and formerly Machine Gun Kelly, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, producer and actor. The stage name "Machine Gun Kelly" is derived from the nickname of Prohibition-era gangster George Kelly Barnes.

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Kevin Kiermaier, American baseball player

Kevin James Kiermaier is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2013 to 2024 for the Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Known for his strong defense, Kiermaier won the Gold Glove Award for center fielders in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2023, and the Platinum Glove Award in 2015.

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Eve Muirhead, Scottish curler

Eve Muirhead is a Scottish former curler from Perth and a former skip of the British Olympic curling team. Muirhead and the GB team became Olympic champions at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, having previously won the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

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22/04/1988

Dee Strange-Gordon, American baseball player

Devaris "Dee" Strange-Gordon, formerly known as Dee Gordon, is an American former professional baseball second baseman, shortstop, and center fielder. He played Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Seattle Mariners, and Washington Nationals.

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22/04/1987

David Luiz, Brazilian footballer

David Luiz Moreira Marinho is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Cypriot First Division club Pafos. He is primarily a centre-back, but has also been deployed as a defensive midfielder.

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22/04/1986

Amber Heard, American actress

Amber Laura Heard is an American actress. She had her first leading role in the horror film All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006), and went on to star in films such as The Ward (2010), Drive Angry (2011), and London Fields (2018).

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Marshawn Lynch, American football player

Marshawn Terrell Lynch is an American former professional football running back and actor who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. Nicknamed "Beast Mode", he spent the majority of his career with the Seattle Seahawks. He played college football for the California Golden Bears, earning first-team All-American honors and winning Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year in 2006. Lynch was selected in the first round of the 2007 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills, where he played three full seasons and earned Pro Bowl honors in 2008. He was traded to the Seahawks during the 2010 season.

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22/04/1983

Sam W. Heads, English-American entomologist and palaeontologist

Sam W. Heads is a British palaeontologist, a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, as well as a former Officer and Editor-in-Chief at the Orthopterists' Society.

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Shkëlzen Shala, Albanian entrepreneur and veganism activist

Shkëlzen Shala is a Kosovo Albanian entrepreneur, gastronome and veganism activist based in Pristina, Kosovo.

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22/04/1982

Kaká, Brazilian footballer

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, commonly known as Kaká or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Kaká was known for his explosive pace, dribbling, passing, and goalscoring, and is considered one of the greatest players of all time. With success for both club and country, he is one of the ten players to win the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League, and the Ballon d'Or.

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22/04/1980

Quincy Timberlake, Kenyan-Australian activist, engineer, and politician

Quincy Zuma Wambitta Timberlake is a Kenyan political activist, occultist, and former presidential candidate, now resident in Australia. Along with Esther Arunga and Joseph Hellon, he is the co-founder of the PlaCenta Party of Kenya, which according to its manifesto aims "to promote and protect individual rights and freedoms set forth in the Kenyan Constitution and to limit the scope of national government authority and spending."

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22/04/1979

Zoltán Gera, Hungarian international footballer and manager

Zoltán Gera is a Hungarian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Fulham, Pécsi Mecsek and Harkány SE, as well as enjoying two spells at Ferencváros and West Bromwich Albion.

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Daniel Johns, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist

Daniel Paul Johns is an Australian musician, best known as the frontman, guitarist, and main songwriter of the rock band Silverchair. Johns is also one half of The Dissociatives with Paul Mac and one half of Dreams with Luke Steele. On March 13, 2015 Johns released his first solo EP Aerial Love and on March 22, 2015, he released his first solo LP Talk. Johns' second solo album FutureNever was released on 22 April 2022.

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22/04/1978

Paul Malakwen Kosgei, Kenyan runner and coach

Paul Malakwen Kosgei is a Kenyan long-distance and marathon runner. He first came to prominence in athletics by taking the World Junior Record of 3000m steeple in 1997, and later with consecutive medals at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships from 1998 to 2000.

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22/04/1976

Dan Cloutier, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Daniel Cloutier is a Canadian ice hockey executive and former player. Previously a goaltender, he holds an executive position with the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Guelph Storm, the team with which he completed his junior career. In his 10-year National Hockey League (NHL) career, Cloutier played with the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings, spending the majority of his career in Vancouver. He employed a combination of both butterfly and stand-up goaltending and was known for wearing the uncommon birdcage-style helmet.

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22/04/1970

Regine Velasquez, Filipino singer and actress

Regina Encarnacion Ansong Velasquez is a Filipino singer and actress. She is considered one of the most influential figures in Philippine popular culture and is known for her vocal range and belting technique. She had unorthodox voice training during her childhood, where she was immersed neck-deep in the sea. Velasquez rose to prominence after winning the television talent show Ang Bagong Kampeon in 1984 and the Asia Pacific Singing Contest in 1989. Under the name Chona, she signed a recording contract with OctoArts International in 1986 and released the single "Love Me Again", which was commercially unsuccessful. The following year, she adopted the stage name Regine Velasquez for her debut studio album, Regine (1987), under the guidance of Viva Records executive Vic del Rosario and producer Ronnie Henares. She explored Manila sound and kundiman genres on her second and third studio albums, Nineteen 90 (1990) and Tagala Talaga (1991).

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22/04/1967

David J. C. MacKay, English physicist, engineer, and academic (died 2016)

Sir David John Cameron MacKay was a British physicist, mathematician, and academic. He was the Regius Professor of Engineering in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and from 2009 to 2014 was Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). MacKay wrote the book Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air.

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Sherri Shepherd, American actress, comedian, and television personality

Sherri Evonne Shepherd is an American actress, comedian, author, podcaster, television presenter and talk show host. She currently hosts the daily syndicated daytime talk show Sherri. From 2007 to 2014, Shepherd was a co-host of the daytime talk show The View, for which she received multiple Daytime Emmy Award nominations, winning one in 2009. She hosted Dish Nation from 2019 to December 2022, with her final months in limited episodes due to her talk show. She also starred in the sitcoms The Jamie Foxx Show (1999-2001), Less than Perfect (2002–2006), Sherri (2009), Trial & Error (2017–2018), and Mr. Iglesias (2019–2020).

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22/04/1966

Mickey Morandini, American baseball player and manager

Michael Robert "Mickey" Morandini, is an American former professional baseball second baseman and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and Toronto Blue Jays. His career highlights include selection as a 1995 National League (NL) All-Star, playing for the Phillies in the 1993 NL Championship Series and World Series, and appearing for the Cubs in the 1998 NL Division Series.

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Jeffrey Dean Morgan, American actor

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an American actor. He is best known for playing the character Negan in the AMC horror drama series The Walking Dead (2016–2022) and its spin-off The Walking Dead: Dead City (2023–present), for both of which he has received critical acclaim. He also appeared in television roles including: John Winchester in the CW fantasy horror series Supernatural, Denny Duquette in the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy (2006–2009), Jason Crouse in the CBS political drama series The Good Wife (2015–2016), Joe Kessler in the Amazon Prime Video adult superhero series' The Boys (2024–present), and Conquest in Invincible (2025–present). His film roles include: William Gallagher in P.S. I Love You (2007), the Comedian in the superhero film Watchmen (2009), Clay in The Losers (2010), Sgt. Maj Andrew Tanner in Red Dawn (2012), and Agent Harvey Russell in Rampage (2018). He also starred as a pivotal character in the History Channel's miniseries about the war with Mexico for the creation of Texas, Texas Rising (2015).

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22/04/1963

Rosalind Gill, English sociologist and academic

Rosalind Clair Gill is a British sociologist and feminist cultural theorist. She is currently Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at City, University of London. Gill is author or editor of ten books, and numerous articles and chapters, and her work has been translated into Chinese, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish.

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Sean Lock, English comedian and actor (died 2021)

Sean Lock was an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian. In 2000, Lock won the British Comedy Award, in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated for the Perrier Comedy Award. He was a team captain on the Channel 4 comedy panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats from 2005 to 2015, and on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown from 2012 until his death in 2021.

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22/04/1962

Jeff Minter, British video game designer and programmer

Jeff Minter is an English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the nickname Yak. He co-founded independent video game developer Llamasoft in 1982 and was the sole game designer and programmer until Ivan Zorzin started being co-credited in 2008. Minter has created dozens of games, starting in 1981 for the ZX80, then later the ZX Spectrum, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit computers, Amiga, Atari ST, Jaguar, and other systems. A majority of Minter's projects are shoot 'em ups, often based on games from the golden age of arcade video games such as Defender, Tempest, and Robotron: 2084. Minter has evolved a game design style which combines psychedelic visuals, references to ruminants, and quirky audio samples.

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Danièle Sauvageau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Danièle Sauvageau is a Canadian ice hockey executive and former coach. Sauvageau was the head coach of the Canadian national women's hockey team that won the gold medal in ice hockey at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Sauvageau was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2025 as a builder.

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22/04/1961

Jeff Hostetler, American football player

William Jeffrey Hostetler is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants, Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, and Washington Redskins. He won Super Bowl XXV with the Giants after taking over late in the regular season for an injured Phil Simms. His nickname is "Hoss."

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Alo Mattiisen, Estonian composer (died 1996)

Alo Mattiisen was an Estonian musician and composer.

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22/04/1960

Mart Laar, Estonian historian and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Estonia

Mart Laar is an Estonian politician and historian. He served as the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1992 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2002. Laar is credited with having helped bring about Estonia's rapid economic development during the 1990s. He is a member of the centre-right Isamaa party.

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22/04/1959

Terry Francona, American baseball player and manager

Terry Jon Francona, nicknamed "Tito", is an American professional baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously managed the Cleveland Indians/Guardians, Boston Red Sox, and Philadelphia Phillies. Francona played in MLB from 1981 to 1988 for the Montreal Expos, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, and Milwaukee Brewers.

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Ryan Stiles, American-Canadian actor and comedian

Ryan Lee Stiles is an American-Canadian comedian and actor. His work is often associated with improvisational comedy. He is best known for his work on Whose Line Is It Anyway and for his role as Lewis Kiniski on The Drew Carey Show. He also played Herb Melnick on the CBS comedy Two and a Half Men and was a performer on the show Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza.

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22/04/1957

Donald Tusk, Polish journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Poland

Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019 and led the European People's Party from 2019 to 2022. He co-founded the Civic Platform (PO), one of the dominant Polish political parties, and was its longtime leader – from 2003 to 2014 and again from 2021 to 2025 – before it merged into the Civic Coalition (KO) party. He is the longest-serving prime minister of the Third Polish Republic.

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22/04/1952

Marilyn Chambers, American actress

Marilyn Ann Taylor, known professionally as Marilyn Chambers, was an American pornographic actress, exotic dancer, model, actress, singer, and vice-presidential candidate. She was known for her 1972 hardcore film debut, Behind the Green Door, and her 1980 pornographic film Insatiable. She ranked at No. 6 on the list of Top 50 Porn Stars of All Time by AVN, and ranked as one of Playboy's Top 100 Sex Stars of the Century in 1999. Although she was primarily known for her adult film work, she made a successful transition to mainstream projects and has been called "porn's most famous crossover".

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22/04/1951

Aivars Kalējs, Latvian organist, composer, and pianist

Aivars Kalējs is a Latvian composer, organist and pianist.

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Ana María Shua, Argentinian author and poet

Ana María Shua is an Argentine writer. She is particularly well known for her work in microfiction.

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22/04/1950

Peter Frampton, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English-American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who rose to prominence as a member of the rock bands The Herd and Humble Pie. Later in his career, Frampton found significant success as a solo artist. He has released several albums, including his breakthrough album, the live recording Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), which spawned several hit singles and has been certified 8× Platinum by the RIAA in the United States. He has also worked with various other acts such as Ringo Starr, John Entwistle of the Who, David Bowie, Joe Bonamassa, and both Matt Cameron and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam.

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Jancis Robinson, English journalist and critic

Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She provided advice for the wine cellar of Queen Elizabeth II.

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Lee Tamahori, New Zealand film director (died 2025)

Warren Lee Tamahori was a New Zealand film director.

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22/04/1949

Spencer Haywood, American basketball player

Spencer Haywood is an American former professional basketball player and Olympic gold medalist. Haywood is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, being inducted in 2015.

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22/04/1948

John Pritchard, English bishop

John Lawrence Pritchard is a Church of England bishop. He was the Bishop of Oxford from 2007 to 2014. He is in the Open Evangelical tradition.

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22/04/1946

Steven L. Bennett, American captain and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1972)

Steven Logan Bennett was a United States Air Force pilot who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Vietnam War.

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Paul Davies, English physicist and author

Paul Charles William Davies is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute for Quantum Studies in Chapman University in California. He previously held academic appointments in the University of Cambridge, University College London, King's College London, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, University of Adelaide and Macquarie University. His research interests are in the fields of cosmology, quantum field theory, and astrobiology.

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Louise Harel, Canadian lawyer and politician

Louise Harel is a Quebec politician. In 2005 she served as interim leader of the Parti Québécois following the resignation of Bernard Landry. She was also interim leader of the opposition in the National Assembly of Quebec. She represented the riding of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in the Montreal region, and its predecessors, from 1981 to 2008. She ran for Mayor of Montreal as the representative of the Vision Montreal municipal political party in the 2009 election, but was defeated by incumbent Gérald Tremblay. In the 2013 Montreal election, Harel supported federalist Marcel Côté for mayor but failed to be elected to her own council seat.

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Archy Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, Scottish lawyer and politician

Archibald Johnstone Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope,, is a British Liberal Democrat politician.

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Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, English economist and academic

Nicholas Herbert Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford,, is a British economist, banker, and academic. He is the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics (LSE), and 2010 Professor of Collège de France. He was President of the British Academy from 2013 to 2017, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014.

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John Waters, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

John Samuel Waters Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974). Waters wrote and directed the comedy film Hairspray (1988), which was later adapted into a hit Broadway musical and a 2007 musical film. His other films include Desperate Living (1977), Polyester (1981), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), and Cecil B. Demented (2000). His films contain elements of post-modern comedy and surrealism.

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22/04/1945

Eddy Baldewijns, Belgian politician

Edouard S. L. L. J. Baldewijns is a Belgian politician, member of the Chamber of Representatives and Flemish Government minister. A member of the Belgian Socialist Party and its successor the Flemish Socialist Party, he represented Hasselt from April 1977 to May 1995 and Hasselt-Tongeren-Maaseik from June 1999 to December 1999. He was the Flemish Minister of Public Works, Transport and Spatial Planning from June 1995 to September 1998 and Minister of Education and Civil Service Affairs from September 1998 to July 1999. He was also a member of the Flemish Parliament and its predecessors, the Flemish Council and the Cultural Council for the Dutch Cultural Community, from May 1977 to July 1995.

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Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Indian civil servant and politician, 22nd Governor of West Bengal

Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi is a former administrator and diplomat who served as the 22nd Governor of West Bengal from 2004 to 2009. He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). As a former IAS officer he served as Secretary to the President of India and as High Commissioner to South Africa and Sri Lanka, among other administrative and diplomatic posts. He was the United Progressive Alliance nominee for Vice President of India in the 2017 vice-presidential elections and lost with 244 votes against NDA candidate Venkaiah Naidu, who got 516 votes.

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Demetrio Stratos, Greek-Egyptian singer-songwriter (died 1979)

Efstratios Dimitriou, known professionally as Demetrio Stratos, was a Greek-Italian vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music researcher, best known as the co-founder, frontman and lead singer of the Italian progressive rock band Area – International POPular Group.

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22/04/1944

Steve Fossett, American businessman, pilot, and sailor (died 2007)

James Stephen Fossett was an American businessman and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer. He was the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon and in a fixed-wing aircraft. He made his fortune in the financial services industry and held world records for five nonstop circumnavigations of the Earth: as a long-distance solo balloonist, as a sailor, and as a solo flight fixed-wing aircraft pilot.

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Doug Jarrett, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2014)

Douglas William Jarrett was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman, who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Chicago Black Hawks and New York Rangers.

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Joshua Rifkin, American conductor and musicologist

Joshua Rifkin is an American conductor, pianist, and musicologist. He is currently a professor of music at Boston University. As a performer, he has recorded music by composers from Antoine Busnois to Silvestre Revueltas; as a scholar he has published research on composers from the Renaissance to the 20th century.

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22/04/1943

Keith Crisco, American businessman and politician (died 2014)

John Keith Crisco Sr. was an American businessman and public official from the State of North Carolina.

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Janet Evanovich, American author

Janet Evanovich is an American writer. She began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall, but gained fame authoring a series of contemporary mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum, a former lingerie buyer from Trenton, New Jersey, who becomes a bounty hunter to make ends meet after losing her job. The novels in this series have been on The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestseller lists. Evanovich has had her last seventeen Plums debut at #1 on the NY Times Best Sellers list and eleven of them have hit #1 on USA Today Best-Selling Books list. She has over two hundred million books in print worldwide, and her books have been translated into over 40 languages.

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Louise Glück, American poet (died 2023)

Louise Elisabeth Glück was an American poet and essayist. She won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature, whose judges praised "her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal". Her other awards include the Pulitzer Prize, National Humanities Medal, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and Bollingen Prize. From 2003 to 2004, she was Poet Laureate of the United States.

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John Maples, Baron Maples, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence (died 2012)

John Cradock Maples, Baron Maples was a British politician and life peer who served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 1989 to 1992 and Shadow Foreign Secretary from 1999 to 2000. He is a former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham West from 1983 to 1992 and Stratford-upon-Avon from 1997 to 2010.

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Scott W. Williams, American mathematician and professor

Scott Williams is a professor of mathematics at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. He was recognized by Mathematically Gifted & Black as a Black History Month 2017 Honoree.

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22/04/1942

Giorgio Agamben, Italian philosopher and academic

Giorgio Agamben is an Italian philosopher whose work spans political theory, ontology, aesthetics, and literature. He is best known for developing the concepts of the state of exception and homo sacer, which explore the relationship between sovereignty, legal authority, and what he calls 'bare life'. His writings draw on sources including Aristotle, Roman law, Christian theology, Martin Heidegger, Walter Benjamin, Ludwig Wittgenstein, St. Augustine and Carl Schmitt among others, and engage critically with Michel Foucault’s account of biopolitics and biopower. Agamben’s multi-volume Homo Sacer project has been widely discussed within political philosophy, jurisprudence, anthropology, and the humanities, and he is considered one of the most influential writers in contemporary continental philosophy.

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Mary Prior, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Bristol

Alice Mary Prior served as Lord Lieutenant of Bristol from 2007 to 2017. She is currently the Pro-chancellor of University of Bristol and a trustee of the environmental fund Viridor Credits.

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22/04/1941

Greville Howard, Baron Howard of Rising, English politician

Greville Patrick Charles Howard, Baron Howard of Rising is a British Conservative politician and, before the 2010 general election, was variously an Opposition Whip and Shadow Minister for Cabinet Office, for Treasury and for Culture, Media and Sport.

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22/04/1939

Mel Carter, American singer and actor

Mel Carter is an American soul and pop singer and actor. He is best known for his 1965 million-selling recording "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me".

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John Foley, English general and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey

Lieutenant-General Sir John Paul Foley, is a retired British Army officer with a long career in military intelligence. He is the great-grandson of Henry Hodgetts-Foley, and was educated at Bradfield College.

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Ray Guy, Canadian journalist and author (died 2013)

Ray Guy was a Canadian journalist and humourist, best known for his satirical newspaper and magazine columns.

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Jason Miller, American actor and playwright (died 2001)

Jason Miller was an American playwright and actor. He won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play for his play That Championship Season, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Father Damien Karras in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist, a role he reprised in The Exorcist III (1990). He later became artistic director of the Scranton Public Theatre in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where That Championship Season was set.

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Theodor Waigel, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of Finance

Theodor Waigel is a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). He represented Neu-Ulm in the Bundestag from 1976 to 2002.

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22/04/1938

Alan Bond, English-Australian businessman (died 2015)

Alan Bond was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s; the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history; and also his criminal conviction that saw him serve four years in prison. He is also remembered for bankrolling the successful challenge for the 1983 America's Cup, the first time the New York Yacht Club had lost it in its 132-year history. He also founded Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia.

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Gani Fawehinmi, Nigerian lawyer and activist (died 2009)

Chief Abdul-Ganiyu "Gani" Oyesola Fawehinmi,, SAN, was a Nigerian author, publisher, philanthropist, social critic, human and civil rights lawyer, and politician.

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Issey Miyake, Japanese fashion designer (died 2022)

Issey Miyake was a Japanese fashion designer. He was known for his technology-driven clothing designs, notably the Pleats, Please line, exhibitions and fragrances such as L'eau d'Issey.

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Adam Raphael, English journalist and author

Adam Eliot Geoffrey Raphael is an English journalist and author. In the British Press Awards of 1973, he was named Journalist of the Year for his work on labour conditions in South Africa, and he has also been a presenter of BBC Television's Newsnight. Since 2004, he has edited The Good Hotel Guide. He is not to be confused with a BBC producer of the same name, Adam Jocelyn Raphael (1937–1999).

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22/04/1937

Jack Nicholson, American actor and producer

John Joseph Nicholson is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, often playing charismatic rebels fighting against the social structure. Over his five-decade-long career, he received numerous accolades, including three Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award.

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Jack Nitzsche, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and conductor (died 2000)

Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and others. He worked extensively in film scores for the films Performance, The Exorcist and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In 1983, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for co-writing "Up Where We Belong" with Buffy Sainte-Marie.

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22/04/1936

Glen Campbell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 2017)

Glen Travis Campbell was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television from 1969 until 1972. A revered session guitarist before breaking through as a solo performer, Campbell released 64 albums in a career that spanned five decades, selling over 45 million records worldwide, including twelve gold albums, four platinum albums, and one double-platinum album.

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Pierre Hétu, Canadian pianist and conductor (died 1998)

Pierre Hétu was a conductor and pianist. He studied music from 1955–57 at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal with Germaine Malépart (piano) and at the University of Montreal with Jean Papineau-Couture (acoustics), Gabriel Cusson and Conrad Letendre and Jean Vallerand.

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22/04/1935

Christopher Ball, English linguist and academic

Sir Christopher John Elinger Ball is a British academic, who served as Warden of Keble College, Oxford, from 1980 to 1988, and as the first Chancellor of the University of Derby, from 1995 to 2003.

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Paul Chambers, African-American bassist and composer (died 1969)

Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers Jr. was an American jazz double bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, he has become one of the most widely-known jazz bassists of the hard bop era. He was also known for his bowed solos. Chambers recorded about a dozen albums as a leader or co-leader, and more than 100 as a sideman, especially as the anchor of trumpeter Miles Davis's "first great quintet" (1955–63) and with pianist Wynton Kelly (1963–68).

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Bhama Srinivasan, Indian-American mathematician and academic

Bhama Srinivasan was a mathematician known for her work in the representation theory of finite groups. Her contributions were honored with the 1990 Noether Lecture. She served as president of the Association for Women in Mathematics from 1981 to 1983.

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22/04/1933

Anthony Llewellyn, Welsh-American chemist and astronaut (died 2013)

John Anthony Llewellyn was a Welsh chemist and a NOAA aquanaut. In August 1967, Llewellyn was one of only two non-American astronaut candidates selected by NASA as part of NASA Astronaut Group 6.

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22/04/1931

John Buchanan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Premier of Nova Scotia (died 2019)

John MacLennan Buchanan was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th premier of Nova Scotia from 1978 to 1990 and as a member of the Senate of Canada from 1990 to 2006.

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Ronald Hynd, English dancer and choreographer

Ronald Hynd is an English choreographer and former ballet dancer.

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22/04/1930

Enno Penno, Estonian politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (died 2016)

Enno Penno was an Estonian politician, who was acting as Acting Prime Minister of Estonia in exile from 1 March 1990 to 20 June 1992.

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22/04/1929

Michael Atiyah, English-Lebanese mathematician and academic (died 2019)

Sir Michael Francis Atiyah was a British-Lebanese mathematician specialising in geometry. His contributions include the Atiyah–Singer index theorem and co-founding topological K-theory. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 and the Abel Prize in 2004.

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Robert Wade-Gery, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to India (died 2015)

Sir Robert Wade-Gery was a British diplomat who was High Commissioner to India 1982–87.

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22/04/1928

Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian (died 2022)

Estelle Harris was an American actress and comedian, known for her exaggeratedly shrill voice. She was best known for her role as Estelle Costanza on Seinfeld. Her other roles included the voice of Mrs. Potato Head in the Toy Story franchise, Muriel in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and Mama Gunda in Tarzan II. During her career, Harris starred in various television commercials.

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22/04/1927

Laurel Aitken, Cuban-Jamaican singer (died 2005)

Lorenzo "Laurel" Aitken was a Cuban-Jamaican singer and one of the pioneers of ska music. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of Ska".

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22/04/1926

Charlotte Rae, American actress and singer (died 2018)

Charlotte Rae Lubotsky was an American comedic actress and singer whose career spanned sixty-six years.

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James Stirling, Scottish architect, designed the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Seeley Historical Library (died 1992)

Sir James Frazer Stirling was a British architect.

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22/04/1924

Nam Duck-woo, South Korean politician, 12th Prime Minister of South Korea (died 2013)

Nam Duck-woo was the prime minister of South Korea from 1980 to 1982.

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22/04/1923

Peter Kane Dufault, American soldier, pilot, and poet (died 2013)

Peter Kane Dufault was an American poet. He was born in New Jersey.

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Bettie Page, American model and actress (died 2008)

Bettie Mae Page was an American model who gained recognition in the 1950s for her pin-up photos. She was often referred to as the "Queen of Pinups": her long jet-black hair, blue eyes, and trademark bangs have influenced artists for generations. After her death, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner called her "a remarkable lady, an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste in fashion, someone who had a tremendous impact on our society".

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Aaron Spelling, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2006)

Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer and occasional actor. His productions included the television series Family (1976–1980); Charlie's Angels (1976–1981); The Love Boat (1977–1986); Hart to Hart (1979–1984); Dynasty (1981–1989); Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–2000); Melrose Place (1992–1999); 7th Heaven (1996–2007); and Charmed (1998–2006). He also served as producer of The Mod Squad (1968–1973), The Rookies (1972–1976) and Sunset Beach (1997–1999).

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22/04/1922

Richard Diebenkorn, American soldier and painter (died 1993)

Richard Diebenkorn was an American painter and printmaker. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s, he began his extensive series of geometric, lyrical abstract paintings. Known as the Ocean Park paintings, these paintings were instrumental to his achievement of worldwide acclaim. Art critic Michael Kimmelman described Diebenkorn as "one of the premier American painters of the postwar era, whose deeply lyrical abstractions evoked the shimmering light and wide-open spaces of California, where he spent virtually his entire life."

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Charles Mingus, American bassist, composer, and bandleader (died 1979)

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history, with a career spanning three decades and collaborations with other jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Max Roach, and Eric Dolphy. Mingus's work ranged from advanced bebop and avant-garde jazz with small and midsize ensembles to pioneering the post-bop style on seminal recordings like Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956) and Mingus Ah Um (1959) and progressive big band experiments such as The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963).

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Wolf V. Vishniac, American microbiologist and academic (died 1973)

Wolf Vladimir Vishniac was an American microbiologist. He was the son of photographer Roman Vishniac and the father of astronomer Ethan Vishniac. Educated at Brooklyn College and Stanford University, he was a professor of biology at the University of Rochester. He died on a research trip to the Antarctic attempting to retrieve equipment in a crevasse. The crater Vishniac on Mars is named in his honor.

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22/04/1919

Donald J. Cram, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2001)

Donald James Cram was an American chemist who shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Jean-Marie Lehn and Charles J. Pedersen "for their development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity." They were the founders of the field of host–guest chemistry.

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Carl Lindner, Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (died 2011)

Carl Henry Lindner Jr. was an American businessman from Norwood, Ohio, a member of the Lindner family, and one of the world's richest people. According to the 2010 issue of Forbes Billionaires List, Lindner was worth an estimated $1.7 billion.

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22/04/1918

William Jay Smith, American poet and academic (died 2015)

William Jay Smith was an American poet. He was appointed the nineteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1968 to 1970.

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Mickey Vernon, American baseball player and coach (died 2008)

James Barton "Mickey" Vernon was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who played for the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox (1956–1957), Milwaukee Braves (1959) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1960). He also was the first manager in the history of the expansion edition of the Senators, serving from 1961 through May 21, 1963, and was a coach for four MLB teams between 1960 and 1982.

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22/04/1917

Yvette Chauviré, French ballerina (died 2016)

Yvette Chauviré was a French prima ballerina assoluta and actress. She is often described as France's greatest ballerina, and was the mentor of another pair of well-known prima ballerinas named, Sylvie Guillem and Marie-Claude Pietragalla. She was awarded the Légion d'Honneur in 1964.

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Sidney Nolan, Australian painter (died 1992)

Sir Sidney Robert Nolan was one of the leading Australian artists of the 20th century. Working in a wide variety of media, his oeuvre is among the most diverse and prolific in all of modern art. He is best known for his series of paintings on legends from Australian history, most famously that of Ned Kelly, the bushranger and outlaw. Nolan's stylised depiction of Kelly's armour has become an icon of Australian art.

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22/04/1916

Hanfried Lenz, German mathematician and academic (died 2013)

Hanfried Lenz was a German mathematician, who is mainly known for his work in geometry and combinatorics.

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Yehudi Menuhin, American-Swiss violinist and conductor (died 1999)

Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, was an American-born British and Swiss violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century.

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22/04/1914

Baldev Raj Chopra, Indian director and producer (died 2008)

Baldev Raj Chopra was a prolific Indian director and producer noted for pioneering the Hindi film industry and television series. He's known for directing notable films, such as Afsana, Ek Hi Raasta, Naya Daur, Sadhna, Kanoon, Gumrah, Hamraaz, Dhund, Pati Patni Aur Woh, Insaf Ka Tarazu and Nikaah. He also produced hit films, including Dhool Ka Phool, Waqt, Ittefaq, Aadmi Aur Insaan, Chhoti Si Baat, The Burning Train, Aaj Ki Awaaz, Baghban and the TV series, Mahabharat. He was awarded Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema, for the year 1998, and Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, in 2001.

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Jan de Hartog, Dutch-American author and playwright (died 2002)

Jan de Hartog was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker.

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José Quiñones Gonzales, Peruvian soldier and pilot (died 1941)

José Abelardo Quiñones Gonzáles was a Peruvian military aviator who posthumously became a national hero for his actions at the Battle of Zarumilla during the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War of 1941.

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Michael Wittmann, German SS officer (died 1944)

Michael Wittmann was a German Waffen-SS tank commander during the Second World War. He is known for his ambush of elements of the British 7th Armoured Division during the Battle of Villers-Bocage on 13 June 1944. While in command of a Tiger I tank, Wittmann destroyed up to 14 tanks, 15 personnel carriers and two anti-tank guns within 15 minutes before the loss of his own tank.

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22/04/1912

Kathleen Ferrier, English operatic singer (died 1953)

Kathleen Mary Ferrier was an English contralto singer who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works of Bach, Brahms, Mahler and Elgar. Her death from cancer, at the height of her fame, was a shock to the musical world and particularly to the general public, which was kept in ignorance of the nature of her illness until after her death.

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Kaneto Shindo, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2012)

Kaneto Shindō was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include Children of Hiroshima, The Naked Island, Onibaba, Kuroneko and A Last Note. His screenplays were filmed by directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Kōzaburō Yoshimura, Kon Ichikawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Seijun Suzuki, and Tadashi Imai.

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22/04/1910

Norman Steenrod, American mathematician and academic (died 1971)

Norman Earl Steenrod was an American mathematician most widely known for his contributions to the field of algebraic topology.

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22/04/1909

Rita Levi-Montalcini, Italian neurologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2012)

Rita Levi-Montalcini was an Italian neurobiologist. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with colleague Stanley Cohen for the discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF).

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Indro Montanelli, Italian journalist and historian (died 2001)

Indro Alessandro Raffaello Schizogene Montanelli was an Italian journalist, historian, and writer. He was considered one of the most influential Italian journalists of the 20th century and was included among the World Press Freedom Heroes by the International Press Institute.

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Spyros Markezinis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (died 2000)

Spyridon "Spyros" Markezinis was a Greek politician, longtime member of the Hellenic Parliament, and briefly the Prime Minister of Greece during the aborted attempt at metapolitefsi (democratization) of the Greek military regime in 1973.

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22/04/1906

Eric Fenby, English composer and educator (died 1997)

Eric William Fenby OBE was an English composer, conductor, pianist, organist and teacher who is best known for being Frederick Delius's amanuensis from 1928 to 1934. He helped Delius realise a number of works that would not otherwise have been forthcoming.

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Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (died 1947)

Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten was a Swedish prince who for most of his life was second in the line of succession to the Swedish throne. He was the eldest son of Gustaf VI Adolf, who was crown prince for most of his son's life and ascended the Swedish throne three years after his son's death. The current king, Carl XVI Gustaf, is Prince Gustaf Adolf's son. The prince was killed on 26 January 1947 in an airplane crash at Kastrup Airport, Copenhagen, Denmark.

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22/04/1905

Robert Choquette, American-Canadian author, poet, and diplomat (died 1991)

Robert Guy Choquette was a Canadian novelist, poet and diplomat.

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22/04/1904

J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (died 1967)

J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in overseeing the development of the first nuclear weapons.

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22/04/1900

Nellie Beer, British politician, Lord Mayor of Manchester (died 1988)

Nellie Beer, OBE, JP, was a Conservative member of Manchester City Council from 1937 to 1972. She was Lord Mayor of Manchester from 1966 to 1967.

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22/04/1899

Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born novelist and critic (died 1977)

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin, was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian (1926–1938) while living in Berlin, Germany, where he met his wife, Véra Nabokov. He achieved international acclaim and prominence after moving to the United States, where he began writing in English. Trilingual in Russian, English, and French, Nabokov became a U.S. citizen in 1945 and lived mostly on the East Coast before returning to Europe in 1961, where he settled in Montreux, Switzerland.

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22/04/1892

Vernon Johns, African-American minister and activist (died 1965)

Dr. Vernon Johns was an American minister based in the South and a pioneer in the civil rights movement. He is best known as the pastor (1947–52) of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was succeeded there by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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22/04/1891

Laura Gilpin, American photographer (died 1979)

Laura Gilpin was an American photographer.

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Vittorio Jano, Italian engineer (died 1965)

Vittorio Jano was an Italian automobile designer of Hungarian descent, active in European racing car engine design from the 1920s through 1960s.

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Harold Jeffreys, English mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (died 1989)

Sir Harold Jeffreys, FRS was a British geophysicist who made significant contributions to mathematics and statistics. His book, Theory of Probability, which was first published in 1939, played an important role in the revival of the objective Bayesian view of probability.

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Nicola Sacco, Italian-American anarchist (died 1927)

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and anarchists, controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a guard and a paymaster, during the April 15, 1920, armed robbery of the Slater and Morrill Shoe Company in Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. Seven years later, they were executed in the electric chair at Charlestown State Prison. Most historians consider their conviction unfair due to prejudice against immigrants and radicals.

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22/04/1889

Richard Glücks, German SS officer (died 1945)

Richard Glücks was a high-ranking German SS functionary during the Nazi era. From November 1939 until the end of World War II, he commanded the Concentration Camps Inspectorate, later integrated into the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office as "Amt D". Reporting first to Theodor Eicke, then to SS chief Heinrich Himmler and finally to Oswald Pohl, he became Inspector of Concentration Camps. He retained this position despite Himmler, in whose presence Glücks would panic, having little confidence in him. Glücks was responsible for the forced labour of camp inmates and was the supervisor for the medical practices in the camps, ranging from Nazi human experimentation to the implementation of the "Final Solution", in particular the mass murder of inmates with Zyklon B gas. After Germany capitulated, Glücks committed suicide by swallowing a potassium cyanide capsule.

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22/04/1887

Harald Bohr, Danish mathematician and footballer (died 1951)

Harald August Bohr was a Danish mathematician and footballer. After receiving his doctorate in 1910, Bohr became an eminent mathematician, founding the field of almost periodic functions. His brother was the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr. He was on the Denmark national team for the 1908 Summer Olympics, where he won a silver medal.

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22/04/1886

Izidor Cankar, Slovenian historian, author, and diplomat (died 1958)

Izidor Cankar was a Slovenian author, art historian, diplomat, journalist, translator, and liberal conservative politician. He was one of the most important Slovenian art historians of the first part of the 20th century, and one of the most influential cultural figures in interwar Slovenia.

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22/04/1884

Otto Rank, Austrian-American psychologist and academic (died 1939)

Otto Rank was an Austrian psychoanalyst, writer, and philosopher. Born in Vienna, he became one of Sigmund Freud's closest collaborators, served as secretary of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, and edited leading psychoanalytic journals while publishing studies of myth and creativity. His book The Trauma of Birth (1924) proposed that the anxiety of birth precedes the Oedipus complex, coined the term "pre-Oedipal," and triggered a decisive break with Freud's developmental theory. Rank established psychotherapy practices in Paris and New York, where he promoted relationship-based treatment that emphasized emotional presence in the analytic encounter. He influenced existential and humanistic therapy, social work, and action learning, and his ideas on creativity and the double continue to inform psychological and cultural criticism.

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22/04/1879

Bernhard Gregory, Estonian-German chess player (died 1939)

Bernhard Gregory was a Baltic German chess master.

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22/04/1876

Róbert Bárány, Austrian-Swedish otologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1936)

Robert Bárány was an Austrian-born otologist. He received the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus.

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Georg Lurich, Estonian wrestler and strongman (died 1920)

Georg Lurich was an Estonian Greco-Roman wrestler and strongman of the early 20th century. Lurich was also the trainer of Estonian wrestlers and weightlifters Georg Hackenschmidt and Aleksander Aberg.

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22/04/1874

Wu Peifu, Chinese warlord, politician, and marshal of the Beiyang Army (died 1939)

Wu Peifu (traditional Chinese: 吳佩孚; simplified Chinese: 吴佩孚; pinyin: Wú Pèifú; Wade–Giles: Wu2 P'ei4-fu2; 22 April 1874 – 4 December 1939) was a Chinese warlord and major figure in the Warlord Era in China from 1916 to 1927.

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22/04/1873

Ellen Glasgow, American author (died 1945)

Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow was an American novelist who won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1942 for her novel In This Our Life. She published 20 novels, as well as short stories, to critical acclaim. A lifelong Virginian, Glasgow portrayed the changing world of the contemporary South in a realistic manner, differing from the idealistic escapism that characterized Southern literature after Reconstruction.

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22/04/1872

Princess Margaret of Prussia (died 1954)

Margaret of Prussia was the youngest child of Frederick III, German Emperor, and Victoria, Princess Royal. She was also the younger sister of Emperor Wilhelm II and the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She married Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, the elected King of Finland, making her the would-be Queen of Finland had he not decided to renounce the throne on 14 December 1918. In 1926, they assumed the titles of Landgrave and Landgravine of Hesse. The couple had six sons and lost three of them in wartime, two during the First and one during the Second World War.

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22/04/1870

Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary and founder of Soviet Russia (died 1924)

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death. As the Bolsheviks' founder, Lenin led the October Revolution, which established the world's first communist state and short-lived soviet democracy. His government won the Russian Civil War and created a one-party state under the Communist Party. Ideologically a Marxist, his developments to the ideology are called Leninism.

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22/04/1858

Ethel Smyth, English composer (died 1944)

Dame Ethel Mary Smyth was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas.

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Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, Belgian art collector and art historian (died 1901)

Frédéric Henri Godefroid Émile Constantin (Fritz) ridder Mayer van den Bergh was a Belgian art collector and art historian.

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22/04/1854

Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1943)

Henri La Fontaine, was a Belgian international lawyer and president of the International Peace Bureau. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1913 because "he was the effective leader of the peace movement in Europe."

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22/04/1852

William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (died 1912)

William IV was Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 17 November 1905 until his death in 1912. He succeeded his father, Adolphe. Like his father, William did not participate in politics, despite being vested with considerable power by the Constitution.

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22/04/1844

Lewis Powell, American soldier, attempted assassin of William H. Seward (died 1865)

Lewis Thornton Powell was an American Confederate soldier who attempted to assassinate William Henry Seward as part of the Lincoln assassination plot. Wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg, he later served in Mosby's Rangers before working with the Confederate Secret Service in Maryland. John Wilkes Booth recruited him into a plot to kidnap Lincoln and turn the president over to the Confederacy, but then decided to assassinate Lincoln, Seward, and Vice President Andrew Johnson instead, and assigned Powell the task to kill Seward.

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22/04/1832

Julius Sterling Morton, American journalist and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Agriculture (died 1902)

Julius Sterling Morton was a Nebraska newspaper editor and politician who served as President Grover Cleveland's secretary of agriculture. He was a prominent Bourbon Democrat, taking a conservative position on political, economic, and social issues, and opposing agrarianism. Among his most notable achievements was the founding of Arbor Day in 1872. In 1897 he started a weekly magazine entitled The Conservative.

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22/04/1830

Emily Davies, British suffragist and educator, co-founder and an early Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge University (died 1921)

Sarah Emily Davies was an English feminist who founded Girton College, Cambridge. She campaigned as a suffragist and for women's rights to university education. In her early life, she attended meetings of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science and befriended Barbara Bodichon and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. After moving to London with her mother in 1862, she wrote for and edited the English Woman's Journal and joined the Langham Place Group. She co-founded the London Schoolmistresses' Association and the Kensington Society, which pressured for universal suffrage, although she herself believed only unmarried women and widows should gain the vote.

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22/04/1816

Charles-Denis Bourbaki, French general (died 1897)

Charles Denis Sauter Bourbaki was a French general.

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22/04/1812

Solomon Caesar Malan, Swiss-English orientalist (died 1894)

Solomon Caesar Malan D.D., Vicar of Broadwindsor, Prebendary of Sarum, was a Geneva-born Anglican divine, a polyglot and orientalist. He published around 50 works related to biblical studies and translations.

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22/04/1766

Germaine de Staël, French author and political philosopher (died 1817)

Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein, commonly known as Madame de Staël, was a prominent French novelist, woman of letters, philosopher, and political theorist in both Parisian and Genevan intellectual circles. She was the daughter of banker and French finance minister Jacques Necker and Suzanne Curchod, a respected salonist and writer. Throughout her life, she held a moderate stance during the tumultuous periods of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, persisting until the time of the French Restoration.

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22/04/1744

James Sullivan, American lawyer and politician, 7th Governor of Massachusetts (died 1808)

James Sullivan was an American lawyer and politician in Massachusetts. He was an early associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, served as the state's attorney general for many years, and as governor of the state from 1807 until his death.

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22/04/1732

John Johnson, English architect and surveyor (died 1814)

John Johnson was an English architect and surveyor to the county of Essex. He is best known for designing the Shire Hall, Chelmsford.

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22/04/1724

Immanuel Kant, German anthropologist, philosopher, and academic (died 1804)

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher. Born in Königsberg in the Kingdom of Prussia, he is considered one of the central thinkers of the Enlightenment. His comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics have made him one of the most influential and highly discussed figures in modern Western philosophy.

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22/04/1711

Paul II Anton, Prince Esterházy, Austrian soldier (died 1762)

Prince Paul II Anton Esterházy de Galántha was a Hungarian prince, soldier and patron of music from the Esterházy family.

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22/04/1707

Henry Fielding, English novelist and playwright (died 1754)

Henry Fielding was an English writer and judge known for the use of humour and satire in his works. His famous novels include Shamela (1741), Joseph Andrews (1742), The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749) and Amelia (1751). Along with Samuel Richardson, Fielding is seen as the founder of the traditional English novel. As well as being a novelist, Fielding was also a playwright, known for his satirical comedies The Author's Farce (1730), Tom Thumb (1730), The Letter Writers (1731) and The Tragedy of Tragedies (1731). He also played an important role in the history of law enforcement in the United Kingdom, using his authority as a magistrate to found the Bow Street Runners, London's first professional police force.

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22/04/1690

John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English politician, Lord President of the Council (died 1763)

John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, 7th Seigneur of Sark, commonly known by his earlier title Lord Carteret, was a British statesman and Lord President of the Council from 1751 to 1763 and worked closely with the Prime Minister of the country, Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, to manage the various factions of the Government. He was Seigneur of Sark from 1715 to 1720, when he sold the fief. He held the office of Bailiff of Jersey from 1715 to 1763.

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22/04/1658

Giuseppe Torelli, Italian violinist and composer (died 1709)

Giuseppe Torelli was an Italian violinist, teacher and composer of the middle Baroque era.

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22/04/1610

Pope Alexander VIII (died 1691)

Pope Alexander VIII, born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 1689 to his death in February 1691. He is the most recent pope to take the pontifical name "Alexander".

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22/04/1592

Wilhelm Schickard, German astronomer and mathematician (died 1635)

Wilhelm Schickard was a German professor of Hebrew and astronomy who became famous in the second part of the 20th century after Franz Hammer, a biographer of Johannes Kepler, claimed that the drawings of a calculating clock, predating the public release of Pascal's calculator by twenty years, had been discovered in two unknown letters written by Schickard to Johannes Kepler in 1623 and 1624.

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22/04/1518

Antoine of Navarre (died 1562)

Antoine, sometimes called Antoine of Bourbon, was King of Navarre from 1555 until his death in 1562 as the husband and co-ruler of Queen Jeanne III. He was the first monarch of the House of Bourbon, of which he became head in 1537. Despite being first prince of the blood in France, Navarre lacked political influence and was dominated by King Henry II of France's favourites, the Montmorency and Guise families. When Henry II died in 1559, Navarre found himself sidelined in the Guise-dominated government, and then compromised by his brother's treason. When Henry's son, King Francis II of France, soon died in turn, Navarre returned to the centre of politics, becoming Lieutenant-General of France and leading the army of the crown in the first of the French Wars of Religion. He died of wounds sustained during the Siege of Rouen. He was the father of King Henry IV, France's first Bourbon king.

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22/04/1451

Isabella I of Castile (died 1504)

Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon from 1479 until her death as the wife of King Ferdinand II. Reigning together over a dynastically unified Spain, Isabella and Ferdinand are known as the Catholic Monarchs. Her reign marked the end of the Reconquista and also the start of the Spanish Empire, allowing Spain to dominate European politics for the next century.

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22/04/1444

Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk (died 1503)

Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk also known as Elizabeth Plantagenet was the fifth child and second daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville. She was thus a sister of Edward IV and Richard III.

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22/04/1412

Reinhard III, Count of Hanau (1451–1452) (died 1452)

Count Reinhard III of Hanau was Count of Hanau from 1451 until his death. He was the son of Count Reinhard II of Hanau and his wife, Catherine of Nassau-Beilstein.

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