Born on Friday, 15th August – Famous Birthdays

15/08/2003

Juanlu Sánchez, Spanish footballer

Juan Luis Sánchez Velasco, commonly known as Juanlu Sánchez or simply Juanlu, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a winger for La Liga club Sevilla. Mainly a right winger, he can also play as a right back.

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15/08/1999

Paola Reis, BMX rider

Paola Reis is a Brazilian BMX rider.

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15/08/1995

Chief Keef, American rapper

Keith Farrelle Cozart, better known by his stage name Chief Keef, is an American rapper and record producer. Born and raised in South Side Chicago, he began his recording career as a teenager and initially garnered regional attention and praise for his mixtapes in the early 2010s. Cozart is often credited with popularizing the hip hop subgenre drill for mainstream audiences, and is considered a progenitor of the genre.

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Setyana Mapasa, Indonesian-Australian badminton player

Setyana Daniella Florensia Mapasa is an Indonesian-born Australian badminton player. Mapasa won a silver medal at the 2013 BWF World Junior Championships mixed team when she represented Indonesia. She officially became an Australian citizen in 2014. She was selected to join the national team compete at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. She was four times women's doubles Oceania champions from 2017 to 2020 with her partner Gronya Somerville, also two times champion in the mixed doubles event in 2017 and 2018 alongside Sawan Serasinghe.

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15/08/1994

Lasse Vigen Christensen, Danish footballer

Lasse Vigen Christensen is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Danish 1st Division side Esbjerg fB.

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Kosuke Hagino, Japanese swimmer

Kosuke Hagino is a Japanese former competitive swimmer who specialized in the individual medley and 200 m freestyle. He is a four-time Olympic medalist, most notably winning gold in the 400 m individual medley at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

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15/08/1993

Clinton N'Jie, Cameroonian footballer

Clinton Mua N'Jie is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a forward.

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, English footballer

Alexander Mark David Oxlade-Chamberlain is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Scottish Premiership club Celtic.

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15/08/1992

Baskaran Adhiban, Indian chess player

Adhiban Baskaran is an Indian chess grandmaster. He was the 2008 World Under-16 Champion and the 2009 Indian champion. He is currently the 21st highest rated player in India.

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Matthew Judon, American football player

Matthew Judon is an American professional football linebacker. He played college football for the Grand Valley State Lakers, where he set the Division II record for sacks, and was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL draft. He has also played for the New England Patriots, Atlanta Falcons, and the Miami Dolphins.

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15/08/1991

Petja Piiroinen, Finnish snowboarder

Petja Piiroinen is a snowboarder from Finland. He won the gold medal at the 2011 FIS Snowboarding World Championships in the big air event. He is the younger brother of fellow snowboarder Peetu Piiroinen.

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15/08/1990

Jennifer Lawrence, American actress

Jennifer Shrader Maroney is an American actress and producer. She has starred in both action film franchises and independent dramas, and her films have grossed over $6 billion worldwide. She was the world's highest-paid actress in 2015 and 2016.

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15/08/1989

Joe Jonas, American singer-songwriter

Joseph Adam Jonas is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He rose to fame as a member of the pop rock band the Jonas Brothers, alongside his brothers Kevin and Nick. The group released their debut studio album It's About Time through Columbia Records in 2006. After signing with Hollywood Records, the group released their self-titled second studio album in 2007, which became their breakthrough record. The band became prominent figures on the Disney Channel during this time, gaining a large following through the network: they appeared in the widely successful musical television film Camp Rock (2008) and its sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010) as well as two of their own series, Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream (2008–2010) and Jonas (2009–2010).

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Ryan McGowan, Australian footballer

Ryan James McGowan is an Australian soccer player who plays as a defender for Scottish Premiership club Livingston.

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Carlos PenaVega, American actor and singer

Carlos Roberto PenaVega is an American actor and singer. He starred on the Nickelodeon series Big Time Rush as Carlos García, and is a member of the namesake group Big Time Rush. He was also the host of the network's game show Webheads. He currently voices Bobby Santiago in The Loud House franchise.

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Jordan Rapana, New Zealand rugby league player

Jordan Rapana is a former professional rugby league footballer who last played as a Fullback and/or winger for Hull F.C. in the Super League. He has played for the New Zealand Māori, New Zealand and the Cook Islands at international level.

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15/08/1988

Oussama Assaidi, Moroccan footballer

Oussama Assaidi is a Moroccan former footballer who played as a winger.

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Boban Marjanović, Serbian basketball player

Boban Marjanović is a Serbian professional basketball player for the Ilirija of the Slovenian League and the ABA League. He represented the Serbian national team in international competition.

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15/08/1987

Ryan D'Imperio, American football player

Ryan D'Imperio is an American former professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round of the 2010 NFL draft. He played college football for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. He finished his career playing 12 NFL games with two receptions and seven total yards gained.

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Michel Kreder, Dutch cyclist

Michel Kreder is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2019.

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Sean McAllister, English footballer

Sean Brian McAllister is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

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15/08/1985

Nipsey Hussle, American rapper (died 2019)

Ermias Joseph Asghedom, known professionally as Nipsey Hussle, was an American rapper, activist and entrepreneur. Emerging from the West Coast hip-hop scene in the mid-2000s, Hussle self-released his debut mixtape, Slauson Boy Volume 1, to moderate local success, leading him to sign with Cinematic Music Group and Epic Records.

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15/08/1984

Jarrod Dyson, American baseball player

Jarrod Martel Dyson is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2010 to 2021 for the Kansas City Royals, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, and Toronto Blue Jays.

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Emily Kinney, American actress and singer-songwriter

Emily Rebecca Kinney is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She is known for her role as Beth Greene on AMC's horror drama television series The Walking Dead. Kinney has also appeared on several other television series, including Showtime's critically acclaimed Masters of Sex and The CW's The Flash and Arrow. In 2016, she co-starred in the ABC series Conviction, alongside Hayley Atwell.

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15/08/1983

Siobhan Chamberlain, English association football goalkeeper

Siobhan Rebecca Chamberlain is an English sports pundit, commentator, and former professional footballer who last played as a goalkeeper for Manchester United.

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Rachel Haot, American businesswoman

Rachel Haot is an American businesswoman. She is currently Chief of Staff at Bedrock. Prior to this, she was executive director of the Transit Innovation Partnership, a public-private initiative of the Partnership for New York City and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Haot was previously the chief digital officer and Deputy Secretary for Technology of New York State for two years. Prior to this role, Rachel was Chief Digital Officer for the City of New York from January 2011 to December 2013. She co-founded and ran GroundReport between 2006 and 2010.

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15/08/1982

Casey Burgener, American weightlifter

Casey Burgener is a weightlifter for the United States. His coaches are Mike Burgener and Paul Fleschler. He was born to Leslie Burgener, who lives in the San Diego area.

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David Harrison, American basketball player

David Joshua Harrison is an American former professional basketball player. A former National Basketball Association (NBA) player for the Indiana Pacers, he was a member of the Beijing Ducks for the 2008–09 season and played with the Guangdong Southern Tigers for the next two years. He also played for the Tianjin Ronggang. At Brentwood Academy, Harrison was named Mr. Basketball in Tennessee, in both 2000 and 2001, for Division 2 schools. He was drafted by the Indiana Pacers out of the University of Colorado at Boulder with the 29th pick of the 2004 NBA draft.

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15/08/1981

Brendan Hansen, American swimmer

Brendan Joseph Hansen is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in breaststroke events. Hansen is a six-time Olympic medalist, and is also a former world record-holder in both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events.

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Óliver Pérez, American baseball player

Óliver Pérez Martínez is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher. He played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks, Houston Astros, Washington Nationals, and Cleveland Indians. He competed for the Mexico national baseball team in the 2006, 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classic.

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15/08/1980

Fiann Paul, Icelandic explorer

Fiann Paul is a Polish-Icelandic explorer known for his exploits in ocean rowing.

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15/08/1979

Carl Edwards, American race car driver

Carl Michael Edwards Jr. is an American former professional stock car racing driver and a current analyst for NASCAR on Prime Video.

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15/08/1978

Waleed Aly, Australian journalist and television host

Waleed Aly is an Australian television presenter, journalist, academic, and lawyer.

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Lilia Podkopayeva, Ukrainian gymnast

Lilia Oleksandrivna Podkopayeva is a Ukrainian former artistic gymnast. She is the 1995 world all-around champion, and the 1996 Olympic all-around and floor exercise champion. Often thought of as a complete athlete, Podkopayeva was known for combining power, style, and balletic grace.

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Stavros Tziortziopoulos, Greek footballer

Stavros Tziortziopoulos is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is the current manager of AEK Athens U12 team.

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Kerri Walsh Jennings, American volleyball player

Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings is an American professional beach volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is the beach volleyball leader in career victories as of 2016 having won 135 international and domestic tournaments.

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15/08/1977

Martin Biron, Canadian ice hockey player

Martin Gaston Biron is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender.

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Anthony Rocca, Australian footballer and coach

Anthony Rocca is a former Australian rules footballer who has played with the Sydney Swans and Collingwood in the Australian Football League. Rocca is currently serving as North Melbourne's development coach.

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15/08/1976

Boudewijn Zenden, Dutch footballer and manager

Boudewijn Zenden also known by his nickname Bolo, is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a left winger or as an attacking midfielder.

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15/08/1975

Bertrand Berry, American football player and radio host

Bertrand Demond Berry is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

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Vijay Bharadwaj, Indian cricketer and coach

Raghvendrarao Vijay Bharadwaj is an Indian cricket coach and commentator, former professional cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and right-arm offbreak bowler. He won the Man of the Series award on his debut one day international series against South Africa in the LG Cup in Kenya in the 1999–2000 season.

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Brendan Morrison, Canadian ice hockey player

Brendan Morrison is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. A centre, he played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks, Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, Washington Capitals, Calgary Flames and Chicago Blackhawks.

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Kara Wolters, American basketball player

Kara Elizabeth Wolters is an American former collegiate and professional basketball player and a current sports broadcaster. Standing at six feet seven inches (2.01 m) and nicknamed "Big Girl," she is the tallest player in University of Connecticut women's basketball history and one of the tallest women to ever play in the WNBA. During her playing career, she was an NCAA national champion (1995), FIBA world champion (1998), WNBA champion (1999), and Olympic champion (2000) becoming one of 11 women with those accolades. She also won AP College Player of the Year in 1997

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15/08/1974

Natasha Henstridge, Canadian model and actress

Natasha Tonya Henstridge is a Canadian actress. In 1995, she rose to prominence with her debut role in the science-fiction horror film Species, followed by performances in Species II and Species III. She has since starred in a string of films and television series, including Maximum Risk (1996), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), The Whole Ten Yards (2004), Ghosts of Mars (2001), She Spies (2002–2004), Eli Stone (2008–2009), and Would Be Kings (2008). For the latter, she won the Gemini Award for Best Actress. From 2019 until 2022, she starred in the CBC Television series Diggstown.

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Tomasz Suwary, Polish footballer

Tomasz Suwary is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a striker.

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15/08/1972

Ben Affleck, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Benjamin Géza Affleck is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and three Golden Globes. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educational series The Voyage of the Mimi (1984–1988). He later appeared in the independent comedy Dazed and Confused (1993) and several Kevin Smith comedies, including Chasing Amy (1997).

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Jennifer Alexander, Canadian ballerina (died 2007)

Jennifer Carrie Alexander was a Canadian ballet dancer.

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Mikey Graham, Irish singer

Michael Christopher Charles "Mikey" Graham is an Irish former singer-songwriter, actor and record producer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Ronan Keating, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately as part of Irish pop group Boyzone.

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15/08/1971

Adnan Sami, Indian singer, musician, music composer, pianist and actor

Adnan Sami Khan is an Indian singer, musician, composer, actor and pianist. He performs Indian and Western music in many languages, such as Hindi, Urdu, English, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. He has been awarded with Padma Shri for his remarkable contribution to music. His most notable instrument is the piano. He has been credited as "the first musician to have played the santoor and Indian classical music on the piano". A review in the US-based Keyboard magazine described him as the fastest keyboard player in the world and called him the keyboard discovery of the nineties.

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15/08/1970

Anthony Anderson, American comedian, actor, and producer

Anthony Anderson is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is known for his leading roles in television shows such as Andre "Dre" Johnson on the ABC sitcom Black-ish (2014–2022) and NYPD Detective Kevin Bernard on the NBC crime drama Law & Order. He has also acted in films such as Big Momma's House (2000), Barbershop (2002), Kangaroo Jack (2003), Agent Cody Banks 2 (2004), Hustle & Flow (2005), The Departed (2006), Transformers (2007), and Scream 4 (2011).

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Ben Silverman, American actor, producer, and screenwriter, founded Electus Studios

Benjamin Noah Silverman is an American media executive. He is the co-CEO and chairman of the entertainment production company Propagate.

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15/08/1969

Bernard Fanning, Australian singer-songwriter

Bernard Joseph Fanning is an Australian musician and singer-songwriter. He was the lead vocalist of Queensland alternative rock band Powderfinger from its formation in 1989.

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Carlos Roa, Argentine footballer

Carlos Ángel Roa is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the goalkeeper coach of Greek Super League club AEK Athens.

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15/08/1968

Debra Messing, American actress

Debra Lynn Messing is an American actress. After graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Messing starred in the television series Ned and Stacey on Fox (1995–1997) and Prey on ABC (1998). She achieved her breakthrough role as Grace Adler, an interior designer, on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, for which she received seven Golden Globe Award nominations and five Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, winning once, in 2003.

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15/08/1967

Tony Hand, Scottish ice hockey player and coach

Anthony Hand MBE is a Scottish former ice hockey player and coach. He was the first British player to be drafted by an NHL team when he was picked by the Edmonton Oilers in 1986.

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Peter Hermann, American actor

Peter Hermann is an American actor. He may be best known for his roles as Charles Brooks in Younger, Trevor Langan in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Jack Boyle in Blue Bloods. Hermann is the husband of fellow Law & Order franchise actor Mariska Hargitay, series lead of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

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15/08/1966

Scott Brosius, American baseball player and coach

Scott David Brosius is an American former professional baseball third baseman for the Oakland Athletics (1991–1997) and the New York Yankees (1998–2001) of Major League Baseball (MLB) who is the athletic director at Linfield University. He was an MLB All-Star in 1998 and won a Gold Glove Award in 1999. Brosius was a member of three consecutive World Series champions with the Yankees from 1998 to 2000 and won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award in 1998.

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Dimitris Papadopoulos, Greek basketball player and coach

Dimitris Papadopoulos, also commonly known by his nickname, "The Doctor", is a Greek former professional basketball player.

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15/08/1965

Rob Thomas, American author, screenwriter, and producer

Robert James Thomas is an American author, producer, director and screenwriter. He created the television series Veronica Mars, co-developed 90210 (2008–2013), and co-created Party Down and iZombie (2015–2019).

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15/08/1964

Jane Ellison, English lawyer and politician

Jane Elizabeth Ellison is a British United Nations official and former politician. A member of the Conservative Party, she was first elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for Battersea. On 7 May 2015, she was re-elected with an increased margin of 3.4%. She lost the seat to Marsha de Cordova of the Labour Party at the 2017 snap general election. In November 2017 she joined the senior leadership team of the World Health Organization serving until November 2022.

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Melinda Gates, American businesswoman and philanthropist, co-founded the Gates Foundation

Melinda French Gates is an American philanthropist. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, she attended Duke University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in computer science and economics and an MBA. She joined Microsoft in 1987 as a multimedia product developer. In the same year, she began dating the company's co-founder and then-chief executive Bill Gates, whom she married in 1994 and divorced in 2021. They have three children together.

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15/08/1963

Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mexican director, producer, and screenwriter

Alejandro González Iñárritu is a Mexican filmmaker primarily known for making modern psychological drama films about the human condition. His most notable films include Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006), Biutiful (2010), Birdman (2014), The Revenant (2015), and Bardo (2022). His projects have garnered critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including five Academy Awards.

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Simon Hart, Welsh soldier and politician

Simon Anthony Hart, Baron Hart of Tenby is a British Conservative politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire from 2010 to 2024. He served as the Chief Whip of the House of Commons and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from October 2022 to July 2024. He previously served as Secretary of State for Wales in the Johnson government from 2019 to 2022.

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Jack Russell, English cricketer and coach

Robert Charles "Jack" Russell is an English retired international cricketer, now known for his abilities as an artist, as a cricket wicketkeeping coach, and a football goalkeeping coach.

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15/08/1962

Tom Colicchio, American chef and author

Thomas Patrick Colicchio is an American celebrity chef. He co-founded the Gramercy Tavern in New York City, and formerly served as a co-owner and as the executive chef. He is also the founder of Crafted Hospitality, which includes Craft, Temple Court (NYC), Craftsteak and Small Batch restaurants. Colicchio is the recipient of five James Beard Foundation Awards for cooking accomplishments.

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Rıdvan Dilmen, Turkish footballer and manager

Rıdvan Dilmen is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or winger, notably for Fenerbahçe and the Turkey national team. During his career, Dilmen established himself as one of the most skilled players of the Süper Lig.

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Inês Pedrosa, Portuguese writer

Inês Pedrosa is a Portuguese journalist, novelist, short story writer, children's writer and playwright. She was director of the Casa Fernando Pessoa. Her novels have also been published in Brazil, Croatia, Ukraine, Germany, Italy and Spain.

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Vilja Savisaar-Toomast, Estonian lawyer and politician

Vilja Toomast is an Estonian politician, a former Member of the European Parliament. She previously belonged to the Estonian Centre Party which she decided to leave on 9 April 2012.

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15/08/1961

Ed Gillespie, American political strategist

Edward Walter Gillespie is an American politician, strategist, and lobbyist who served as the sixty-first chair of the Republican National Committee from 2003 to 2005 and was counselor to the president from 2007 to 2009 during the presidency of George W. Bush. In 2012, Gillespie was a senior member of the Mitt Romney presidential campaign.

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Matt Johnson, English singer-songwriter and musician

Matthew Johnson is an English singer-songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and only constant member of his band the The. He is also a film soundtrack composer (Cinéola), publisher, broadcaster, conservationist, and local activist.

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Gary Kubiak, American football player and coach

Gary Wayne Kubiak is an American former professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played as a quarterback for the Denver Broncos before coaching, serving as head coach for the Houston Texans from 2006 to 2013 and the Broncos from 2015 to 2016 before stepping down from the position on January 1, 2017, citing health reasons.

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Suhasini Maniratnam, Indian actress and screenwriter

Suhasini Maniratnam is an Indian actress who works in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films.

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15/08/1959

Scott Altman, American captain, pilot, and astronaut

Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman is a retired United States Navy Captain and naval aviator, engineer, test pilot and former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. His fourth mission on STS-125 was the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2018, he was inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. As of November 2022, he is the president of the Space operating group for ASRC Federal.

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15/08/1958

Simon Baron-Cohen, English-Canadian psychiatrist and author

Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College.

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Craig MacTavish, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Craig MacTavish is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player, formerly an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues. He played center for 17 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues, winning the Stanley Cup four times. He was the last NHL player not to wear a helmet during games.

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Simple Kapadia, Indian actress and costume designer (died 2009)

Simple Kapadia was a Hindi film actress and costume designer, who was active in her professional career from 1987 until her death in 2009. She won the National Film Award for Best Costume Design for Rudaali (1994).

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Victor Shenderovich, Russian journalist and radio host

Viktor Anatolyevich Shenderovich is a Russian satirist, writer, scriptwriter and radio host.

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Rondell Sheridan, American actor and comedian

Rondell Jerome Sheridan is an American actor, comedian and television director, best known for his role of Victor Baxter in the Disney Channel sitcom That's So Raven, as well as its later spin-offs Cory in the House and Raven's Home. Sheridan is an alumnus of Marquette University. Sheridan also starred as Dr. Ron Aimes on the NBC/UPN sitcom Minor Adjustments.

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15/08/1957

Željko Ivanek, Slovenian-American actor

Željko Ivanek is a Slovenian-American actor. He is a Drama Desk Award, Primetime Emmy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award recipient; and a three-time Tony Award nominee.

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15/08/1956

Lorraine Desmarais, Canadian pianist and composer

Lorraine Desmarais C.M. is a French-Canadian jazz pianist and composer.

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Freedom Neruda, Ivorian journalist

Freedom Neruda is an Ivorian journalist. In 1996, he was imprisoned for seditious libel after writing a satirical article about Ivorian President Henri Konan Bédié. The following year, he won an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists, and in 2000, he was named one of the International Press Institute's 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the past 50 years.

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Robert Syms, English businessman and politician

Sir Robert Andrew Raymond Syms is a Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Poole from 1997 to 2024. He received a knighthood in 2017.

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15/08/1954

Stieg Larsson, Swedish journalist and author (died 2004)

Karl Stig-Erland "Stieg" Larsson was a Swedish writer, journalist, and far-left activist. He is best known for writing the first trilogy in the Millennium series of crime novels, which was published posthumously, starting in 2005, after he died of a sudden heart attack. The trilogy was adapted as three motion pictures in Sweden, and one in the United States. Larsson had conceived of ten books in the series; the publisher commissioned David Lagercrantz to write the next trilogy, and Karin Smirnoff to write the third trilogy in the series, which has eight novels as of December 2025. For much of his life, Larsson lived and worked in Stockholm. His journalistic work covered socialist politics and he acted as an independent researcher of right-wing extremism.

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15/08/1953

Carol Thatcher, English journalist and author

Carol Jane Thatcher is an English journalist, author and media personality. She is the daughter of Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister from 1979 to 1990, and businessman Denis Thatcher.

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Mark Thatcher, English businessman

Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet is an English businessman. He is the son of Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, and Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet; his sister is Carol Thatcher.

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Wolfgang Hohlbein, German author

Wolfgang Hohlbein is a German writer of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. His wife, Heike Hohlbein, is also a writer and they frequently collaborate. With more than 200 published books and more than 43 million sold copies he is considered one of the most successful German writers in the fantasy genre.

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15/08/1952

Chuck Burgi, American drummer

Charles Arnold Burgi III is an American drummer. He has performed with many rock bands and musicians, ranging from local New Jersey/New York-area artists to international groups, throughout his prolific career. He is the current drummer for The Billy Joel Band.

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15/08/1951

Ann Biderman, American screenwriter and producer

Ann Biderman is an American film and television writer. She is the creator and executive producer of the NBC/TNT series Southland (2009–2013), and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Drama Series for an episode of NYPD Blue. She created, wrote, and produced the Showtime drama Ray Donovan.

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Bobby Caldwell, American singer-songwriter (died 2023)

Robert Hunter Caldwell was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He released several albums spanning R&B, soul, jazz, and adult contemporary, and was known for his soulful and versatile vocals. Caldwell released the hit single and his signature song "What You Won't Do for Love" from his double platinum debut self-titled album in 1978.

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John Childs, English cricketer

John Henry Childs is a former cricketer who played in two Test matches for England in 1988. At the age of 36 years 320 days, Childs became the oldest player since Dick Howorth in 1947 to make his England debut. He was a left-arm spin bowler, and played his domestic cricket for Gloucestershire and Essex.

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15/08/1950

Tommy Aldridge, American drummer

Tommy Aldridge is an American heavy metal and hard rock drummer. He is noted for his work with numerous bands and artists since the 1970s, such as Black Oak Arkansas, Pat Travers Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Whitesnake, Ted Nugent, Thin Lizzy, Vinnie Moore and Yngwie Malmsteen.

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Tess Harper, American actress

Tessie Jean Harper is an American actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her first film role in 1983's Tender Mercies, and for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1986 film Crimes of the Heart. Her other film appearances include Amityville 3-D (1983), Flashpoint (1984), Ishtar (1987), Far North (1988), and No Country for Old Men (2007). She also had a recurring role on the first three seasons of Breaking Bad (2008–2010) as Jesse Pinkman’s mother, as well as reprising her role in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019).

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Tom Kelly, American baseball player

Jay Thomas Kelly is an American former professional baseball player, coach and manager. As the manager of the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB) over 16 seasons from mid-September 1986 through 2001, he won two World Series championships. Currently, he serves as a special assistant to the general manager for the Twins.

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Anne, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom

Anne, Princess Royal, is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the sister of King Charles III. Third in the line of succession to the British throne at birth, she is 18th in line as of 2026. She has held the title of Princess Royal since 1987.

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15/08/1949

Phyllis Smith, American actress

Phyllis Smith is an American actress and casting director. She is best known for playing Phyllis Vance in the television series The Office and her voice role as Sadness in Pixar's animated franchise Inside Out.

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15/08/1948

Patsy Gallant, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress

Patricia Gallant is a Canadian pop singer and musical theatre actress. Of Acadian ancestry, she has recorded and performed in both English and French.

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Tom Johnston, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Charles Thomas Johnston is an American musician. He is a guitarist and vocalist, known principally as a founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter for the rock group the Doobie Brothers, as well as for his own solo career. He has played off and on with the Doobie Brothers for 50 years, in several styles.

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15/08/1947

Rakhee Gulzar, Indian film actress

Raakhee Gulzar, professionally known as Raakhee, is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi and Bengali films. One of the leading and greatest actresses of the 1970s and early 1980s, Raakhee is a recipient of several awards including two National Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards. In 2003, she received Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award.

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15/08/1946

Jimmy Webb, American singer-songwriter and pianist

Jimmy Layne Webb is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He achieved success at an early age, winning the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the age of 21.

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15/08/1945

Khaleda Zia, Bangladeshi politician, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (died 2025)

Begum Khaleda Zia was a Bangladeshi politician who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006. She was the first female prime minister of Bangladesh and the second female prime minister in the Muslim world after Benazir Bhutto. She was the wife of the former president of Bangladesh and army chief, Ziaur Rahman. She was the longest serving chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) from 1984 until her death in 2025.

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15/08/1944

Dimitris Sioufas, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Health (died 2019)

Dimitris Sioufas was a Greek lawyer and New Democracy politician.

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15/08/1943

Eileen Bell, Northern Irish civil servant and politician, 2nd Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly

Eileen Bell CBE is a retired Alliance Party politician from Dromara, Northern Ireland. She was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down from 1998 to 2007, and is a former deputy leader of the Alliance Party.

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15/08/1942

Pete York, English rock drummer

Peter York is an English rock drummer who has been performing since the 1960s. He is best known for his time with the Spencer Davis Group.

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15/08/1941

Jim Brothers, American sculptor (died 2013)

Jim Brothers was an American figurative sculptor from the U.S. state of Kansas. He died at the age of 72 at his home in Lawrence, Kansas, where he had received hospice care for cancer. His wife Kathy said he completed his final piece, a tribute to William Inge, "literally days before he died."

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Don Rich, American country musician (died 1974)

Donald Eugene Ulrich, best known by the stage name Don Rich, was an American country musician who helped develop the Bakersfield sound in the early 1960s. He was a noted guitarist and fiddler, and a member of The Buckaroos, the backing band of Don's best friend, country singer Buck Owens. Rich was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1974 at the age of 32.

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15/08/1940

Gudrun Ensslin, German militant leader, founded Red Army Faction (died 1977)

Gudrun Ensslin was a German far-left terrorist and founder of the West German far-left militant group Red Army Faction.

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15/08/1938

Stephen Breyer, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Stephen Gerald Breyer is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and replaced retiring justice Harry Blackmun. Breyer was generally associated with the liberal wing of the Court. Since his retirement, he has been the Byrne Professor of Administrative Law and Process at Harvard Law School.

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Stix Hooper, American jazz drummer

Nesbert "Stix" Hooper is an American drummer and founding member of The Crusaders.

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Pran Kumar Sharma, Indian cartoonist (died 2014)

Pran Kumar Sharma, better known as Pran, was an Indian cartoonist best known as the creator of Chacha Chaudhary (1971). He also created other characters like Shrimatiji, Pinki, Billoo, Raman, and Channi Chachi.

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Maxine Waters, American educator and politician

Maxine Moore Waters is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 43rd congressional district since 1991. The district, numbered as the 29th district from 1991 to 1993 and as the 35th district from 1993 to 2013, includes much of southern Los Angeles, as well as portions of Gardena, Inglewood and Torrance.

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Janusz Zajdel, Polish engineer and author (died 1985)

Janusz Andrzej Zajdel was a Polish science fiction author, second in popularity in Poland to Stanisław Lem. His major genres were social science fiction and dystopia. His main recurring theme involved the gloomy prospects for a space environment into which mankind carried totalitarian ideas and habits: Red Space Republics, or Space Labor Camps, or both. His heroes desperately try to find meaning in the world around them.

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15/08/1936

Pat Priest, American actress

Patricia Ann Priest is an American actress known for being the second person to portray Marilyn Munster on the television show The Munsters (1964–1966) after the original actress, Beverley Owen, left after 13 episodes.

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Rita Shane, American soprano and educator (died 2014)

Rita Shane was an American coloratura soprano.

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15/08/1935

Jim Dale, English actor, narrator, singer, director, and composer

Jim Dale is an English actor, director, narrator, singer and songwriter. In the United Kingdom he is known as a pop singer of the 1950s who became a leading actor at the National Theatre. In British film, along with Larry Dann, Angela Douglas, Patricia Franklin, Hugh Futcher, Alexandra Dane, Jill Goldston, Valerie Leon, Jacki Piper, Anita Harris and many others, he is now among the surviving actors to star in multiple Carry On films.

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Régine Deforges, French author, playwright, and director (died 2014)

Régine Deforges was a French author, editor, director, and playwright. Her book La Bicyclette bleue was the most popular book in France in 2000 and it was known by some to be offensive and to others for its plagiarism, neither of which was proved.

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15/08/1934

Bobby Byrd, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2007)

Bobby Howard Byrd was an American rhythm and blues, soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, bandleader, pianist and talent dedicated. He played a part in the development of soul and funk music in association with James Brown.

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Purushottam Upadhyay, Indian musician, singer and composer (died 2024)

Purushottam Upadhyay was an Indian musician, singer and composer who primarily worked in Gujarati and Hindi languages. He was well known in Gujarati semi-classical music and composed music for over 20 films and 30 plays. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2017.

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Reginald Scarlett, Jamaican cricketer and coach (died 2019)

Reginald Osmond Scarlett was a West Indian cricketer who played in three Tests in 1960.

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Darrell K. Sweet, American illustrator (died 2011)

Darrell K. Sweet was a professional illustrator best known for providing cover art for science fiction and fantasy novels, in which capacity he was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1983.

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Valentin Varlamov, Soviet pilot and cosmonaut instructor (died 1980)

Valentin Stepanovich Varlamov was a Russian jet pilot who was selected for Air Force Group 1, the first intake of 20 cosmonaut candidates in 1960. After his disqualification from the space program on medical grounds, he was an instructor at the cosmonaut training centre outside Moscow.

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15/08/1933

Bobby Helms, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1997)

Robert Lee Helms was an American country singer and musician. In 1957, he had a perennial Christmas hit with "Jingle Bell Rock", and two other hits that same year: "Fraulein" and "My Special Angel".

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Stanley Milgram, American social psychologist (died 1984)

Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist who conducted controversial experiments on obedience in the 1960s during his professorship at Yale.

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Mike Seeger, American folk musician and folklorist (died 2009)

Mike Seeger was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who mainly played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, harmonica, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp, and pan pipes. Seeger, a half-brother of Pete Seeger, produced more than 30 documentary recordings, and performed in more than 40 other recordings. He desired to make known the caretakers of culture that inspired and taught him. He was posthumously inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2018.

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15/08/1932

Abby Dalton, American actress (died 2020)

Gladys Marlene Wasden, known professionally as Abby Dalton, was an American actress, known for her television roles on the sitcoms Hennesey (1959–1962) and The Joey Bishop Show (1962–1965), and the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest (1981–1986).

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Robert L. Forward, American physicist and engineer (died 2002)

Robert Lull Forward was an American physicist and science fiction writer. His literary work was noted for its scientific credibility and use of ideas developed from his career as an aerospace engineer. He also made important contributions to gravitational wave detection research.

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Jim Lange, American game show host and DJ (died 2014)

James John Lange was an American game show host and disc jockey. He was known to listeners in the San Francisco and Los Angeles radio markets with stints at several stations in both markets, racking up over 45 years on the air. Lange was also known to television viewers as the host of several game shows, including The Dating Game.

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Johan Steyn, Baron Steyn, South African-English lawyer and judge (died 2017)

Johan van Zyl Steyn, Baron Steyn, PC was a South African-British judge, until September 2005 a Law Lord. He sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.

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15/08/1931

Ernest C. Brace, American captain and pilot (died 2014)

Ernest Cary Brace was the longest-held civilian prisoner of war (POW) during the Vietnam War. A decorated Marine Corps fighter pilot and mustang, Brace was court-martialed in 1961 for attempting to fake his own death. He flew as a civilian contract pilot before being captured in Laos in 1965 while flying supplies for USAID. He spent almost eight years as a POW and upon his release received a Presidential pardon in light of his good conduct.

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Richard F. Heck, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2015)

Richard Frederick Heck was an American chemist noted for the discovery and development of the Heck reaction, which uses palladium to catalyze organic chemical reactions that couple aryl halides with alkenes. The analgesic naproxen is an example of a compound that is prepared industrially using the Heck reaction.

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15/08/1928

Carl Joachim Classen, German scholar and academic (died 2013)

Carl Joachim Classen was a German classical scholar.

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Malcolm Glazer, American businessman and sports team owner (died 2014)

Malcolm Glazer was an American businessman and sports team owner. He was the president and chief executive officer of First Allied Corporation, a holding company for his varied business interests, and owned both Manchester United of the Premier League and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League.

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Nicolas Roeg, English director and cinematographer (died 2018)

Nicolas Jack Roeg was an English film director and cinematographer, best known for directing Performance (1970), Walkabout (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), Bad Timing (1980) and The Witches (1990).

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15/08/1927

Eddie Leadbeater, English cricketer (died 2011)

Edric "Eddie" Leadbeater was an English cricketer who played in two Tests in 1951. He was born in Lockwood, Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, and died in Huddersfield.

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Oliver Popplewell, English cricketer and judge (died 2024)

Sir Oliver Bury Popplewell was a British judge and cricketer. He chaired the inquiry into the Bradford City stadium fire, presided over the libel case brought by Jonathan Aitken MP against The Guardian newspaper which eventually led to Aitken's imprisonment for perjury, and was widely reported for asking "What is Linford's lunchbox?" during a case over which he was presiding, brought by Linford Christie. He played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and was president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) from 1994 to 1996. He wrote a memoir of his legal career, published in 2003.

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15/08/1926

Julius Katchen, American pianist and composer (died 1969)

Julius Katchen was an American concert pianist, possibly best known for his recordings of Johannes Brahms's solo piano works.

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Eddie Little Sky, American actor (died 1997)

Eddie Little Sky, also known as Edward Little, was an American actor. A citizen of the Oglala Lakota tribe Eddie had parts in 36 feature films and over 60 television shows, mainly westerns in the role of a Native American. He was one of the first Native American actors to play Native American roles such as his performance in the 1970 film A Man Called Horse.

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Sami Michael, Iraqi-Israeli author and playwright (died 2024)

Sami Michael was an Iraqi-Israeli author, having migrated from Iraq to Israel at the age of 23. From 2001, Michael was the President of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).

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John Silber, American philosopher and academic (died 2012)

John Robert Silber was an American academician and candidate for public office. From 1971 to 1996, he was President of Boston University (BU) and, from 1996 to 2002, Chancellor. From 2002 to 2003, he again served as President ; and, from 2003 until his death, he held the title of President Emeritus.

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Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, Greek lawyer and politician, 6th President of Greece (died 2016)

Konstantinos "Kostis" Stephanopoulos was a Greek conservative politician who served two consecutive terms as the president of Greece from 1995 to 2005.

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15/08/1925

Mike Connors, American actor and producer (died 2017)

Krekor Ohanian, known professionally as Mike Connors, was an American actor and film producer. He was best known for playing private detective Joe Mannix on the CBS television series Mannix from 1967 to 1975. This role earned him a Golden Globe Award in 1970, the first of six straight nominations, as well as four consecutive Primetime Emmy nominations from 1970 to 1973. He also starred in the short-lived series Tightrope! (1959–1960) and Today's FBI (1981–1982).

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Rose Maddox, American singer-songwriter and fiddle player (died 1998)

Roselea Arbana "Rose" Maddox was an American country singer-songwriter and fiddle player, who was the lead singer with the Maddox Brothers and Rose before a successful solo career. Her musical styles blended hillbilly music, rockabilly and gospel. She was noted for her "reputation as a lusty firebrand", and her "colorful Western costumes"; she was one of the earliest clients of Hollywood tailor, Nathan Turk.

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Oscar Peterson, Canadian pianist and composer (died 2007)

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won eight Grammy Awards, as well as a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy, and received numerous other awards and honours. He played thousands of concerts worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, simply "O.P." by his friends, and was informally known in the jazz community as "the King of inside swing".

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Bill Pinkney, American singer (died 2007)

Willie "Bill" Pinkney was an American performer and singer. Pinkney was the last surviving original member of The Drifters, who achieved international fame with numerous hit records. He was chiefly responsible for its early sounds. The Drifters have had a strong influence on soul, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll music. As an original group member, Bill Pinkney was a 1988 inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with The Drifters.

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Erik Schmidt, Swedish-Estonian painter and author (died 2014)

Erik Schmidt was a painter and writer.

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15/08/1924

Robert Bolt, English playwright and screenwriter (died 1995)

Robert Oxton Bolt was an English playwright and a screenwriter, known for writing the screenplays for Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and A Man for All Seasons, the latter two of which won him the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also was the recipient of a Tony Award, two BAFTA Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence Olivier Award.

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Hedy Epstein, German-American Holocaust survivor and activist (died 2016)

Hedy Epstein was a German-born Jewish-American political activist and Holocaust survivor known for her support of the Palestinian cause through the International Solidarity Movement.

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Yoshirō Muraki, Japanese production designer, art director, and fashion designer (died 2009)

Yoshirō Muraki was a Japanese production designer, art director, and costume designer. Muraki joined Toho Film studio in 1944. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction for his work in the films Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), Kagemusha (1980), and Ran (1985). He was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for his work in Yojimbo (1961). He is most well known for his collaborations with director Akira Kurosawa, having done work on all of Kurosawa's films from Record of a Living Being (1955) onward, with the exception of Dersu Uzala (1975). He was married to Shinobu Muraki.

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Phyllis Schlafly, American lawyer, writer, and political activist (died 2016)

Phyllis Stewart Schlafly was an American attorney and activist who was nationally prominent in conservatism. She opposed feminism, gay rights, and abortion, and campaigned against the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

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15/08/1923

Rose Marie, American actress and singer (died 2017)

Rose Marie Guy, known professionally as Rose Marie, was an American actress, singer, comedienne, and vaudeville performer with a career spanning nine decades, which included film, radio, records, theater, night clubs and television. As a child performer from the late 1920s onward, she had a successful singing career under the stage name Baby Rose Marie.

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15/08/1922

Leonard Baskin, American sculptor and illustrator (died 2000)

Leonard Baskin was an American sculptor, draughtsman, and graphic artist, as well as founder of the Gehenna Press (1942–2000). One of America's first fine arts presses, it went on to become "one of the most important and comprehensive art presses of the world", often featuring the work of poets, such as Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Anthony Hecht, and James Baldwin side by side with Baskin's bold, stark, energetic and often dramatic black-and-white prints. Called a "Sculptor of Stark Memorials" by the New York Times, Baskin is also known for his wood, limestone, bronze, and large-scale woodblock prints, which ranged from naturalistic to fanciful, and were frequently grotesque, featuring bloated figures or humans merging with animals. "His monumental bronze sculpture, The Funeral Cortege, graces the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C."

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Giorgos Mouzakis, Greek trumpet player and composer (died 2005)

Giorgos Muzakis was a prominent Greek virtuoso trumpeter and music composer.

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Sabino Barinaga, Spanish footballer and manager (died 1988)

Sabino Barinaga Alberdi was a Spanish football forward and manager.

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15/08/1921

August Kowalczyk, Polish actor and director (died 2012)

August Marian Kowalczyk was a Polish actor, theatre, television and film director who was the last survivor of a breakout of prisoners from Auschwitz Concentration Camp on 10 June 1942.

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15/08/1920

Judy Cassab, Austrian-Australian painter (died 2008)

Judy Cassab, born Judit Kaszab, was an Australian painter.

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15/08/1919

Huntz Hall, American actor (died 1999)

Henry Richard "Huntz" Hall was an American radio, stage, and movie performer who appeared in the popular "Dead End Kids" movies, including Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), and in the later "Bowery Boys" movies, during the late 1930s to the late 1950s.

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Benedict Kiely, Irish journalist and author (died 2007)

Benedict "Ben" Kiely was an Irish writer and broadcaster from Omagh, County Tyrone.

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15/08/1917

Jack Lynch, Irish footballer and politician, 5th Taoiseach of Ireland (died 1999)

John Mary Lynch was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979. He was Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1966 to 1979, Leader of the Opposition from 1973 to 1977, Minister for Finance from 1965 to 1966, Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1959 to 1965, Minister for Education 1957 to 1959, Minister for the Gaeltacht from March 1957 to June 1957, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Lands and Parliamentary Secretary to the Government from 1951 to 1954. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1948 to 1981.

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Óscar Romero, Salvadoran archbishop (died 1980)

Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was a prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Salvador, the Titular Bishop of Tambeae, as Bishop of Santiago de María, and finally as the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador. As archbishop, Romero spoke out against social injustice and violence amid the escalating conflict between the military government and left-wing insurgents that led to the Salvadoran Civil War. In 1980, Romero was fatally shot by an assassin while celebrating Mass. Though no one was ever convicted for the crime, investigations by the UN-created Truth Commission for El Salvador concluded that Major Roberto D'Aubuisson, a death squad leader and later founder of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) political party, had ordered the killing.

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15/08/1916

Aleks Çaçi, Albanian journalist and author (died 1989)

Aleks Çaçi was an Albanian author of the socialist realism period.

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15/08/1915

Signe Hasso, Swedish-American actress (died 2002)

Signe Eleonora Cecilia Hasso was a Swedish actress.

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15/08/1914

Paul Rand, American graphic designer and art director (died 1996)

Paul Rand was an American art director and graphic designer. He is known for his corporate logo designs, including logos for IBM, UPS, Enron, Morningstar, Inc., Westinghouse, ABC, and NeXT. He developed an American Modernist style from European influences and was one of the first American commercial artists to embrace and practice the Swiss Style of graphic design. Rand was a professor emeritus of graphic design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where he taught from 1956 to 1969, and from 1974 to 1985. He was inducted into the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame in 1972.

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15/08/1912

Julia Child, American chef and author (died 2004)

Julia Carolyn Child was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for having brought French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which premiered in 1963.

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Wendy Hiller, English actress (died 2003)

Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller was an English film and stage actress who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly 60 years. Writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took command of the screen whenever she appeared on film". Despite many notable film performances, Hiller chose to remain primarily a stage actress.

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15/08/1909

Hugo Winterhalter, American composer and bandleader (died 1973)

Hugo Winterhalter was an American easy listening arranger and composer, best known for his many arrangements and recordings for RCA Victor.

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15/08/1904

George Klein, Canadian inventor, invented the motorized wheelchair (died 1992)

George Johann Klein, was a Canadian inventor who is widely regarded as the most productive inventor in Canada in the 20th century. Although he struggled as a high school student, he eventually graduated from the University of Toronto in Mechanical Engineering. His inventions include key contributions to the first electric wheelchairs for quadriplegics, a novel microsurgical suturing device, the ZEEP nuclear reactor which was the precursor to the CANDU reactor, the international system for classifying ground-cover snow, aircraft skis, the Weasel all-terrain vehicle, the STEM antenna for the space program, and the Canadarm.

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15/08/1902

Jan Campert, Dutch journalist and critic (died 1943)

Jan Remco Theodoor Campert was a Dutch journalist, theater critic and writer who lived in Amsterdam. During the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II Campert was arrested for aiding Jews. He was held in the Neuengamme concentration camp, where he died.

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15/08/1901

Arnulfo Arias Madrid, Panamanian politician, 21st President of Panamá (died 1988)

Arnulfo Arias Madrid was a Panamanian politician, medical doctor, and writer who served as the President of Panama from 1940 to 1941, again from 1949 to 1951, and finally for 11 days in October 1968.

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Pyotr Novikov, Russian mathematician and theorist (died 1975)

Pyotr Sergeyevich Novikov was a Soviet mathematician known for his work in group theory. His son, Sergei Novikov, was also a mathematician.

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15/08/1900

Estelle Brody, American silent film actress (died 1995)

Estelle Brody was an American actress who became one of the biggest female stars of British silent film in the latter half of the 1920s. Her career was then derailed by a series of ill-advised decisions and she disappeared from sight for many years before re-emerging between the late 1940s and the 1960s in smaller supporting film and television roles.

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Jack Tworkov, Polish-American painter and educator (died 1982)

Jack Tworkov was an American abstract expressionist painter.

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15/08/1898

Jan Brzechwa, Polish author and poet (died 1966)

Jan Wiktor Brzechwa was a Polish poet, author and lawyer, known mostly for his contribution to children's literature.

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15/08/1896

Gerty Cori, Czech-American biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1957)

Gerty Theresa Cori was a Czech and American biochemist who in 1947 was the third woman to win a Nobel Prize in science, and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for her role in the "discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen".

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Catherine Doherty, Russian-Canadian activist, founded the Madonna House Apostolate (died 1985)

Catherine de Hueck Doherty was a Russian-born Catholic activist who founded the Madonna House Apostolate in 1947. She was a pioneer in the struggle for interracial justice, spiritual writer, lecturer, and spiritual mother to priests and laity.

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Paul Outerbridge, American photographer and educator (died 1958)

Paul Outerbridge, Jr. was an American photographer known for pioneering the carbon-transfer printing process in color photography. His work included still lives, fashion photography, advertising, and provocative female nudes.

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15/08/1893

Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer and academic (died 1950)

Leslie John Comrie FRS was an astronomer and a pioneer in mechanical computation.

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15/08/1892

Louis de Broglie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1987)

Louis Victor Pierre Raymond, 7th Duc de Broglie was a French theoretical physicist and aristocrat known for his contributions to quantum theory. In his 1924 Ph.D. thesis, de Broglie postulated the wave nature of electrons and suggested that all matter has wave properties. This concept is known as the de Broglie hypothesis, an example of wave–particle duality, and forms a central part of the theory of quantum mechanics. In 1929, de Broglie won the Nobel Prize in Physics, after the wave-like behaviour of matter was experimentally confirmed in 1927. This confirmation earned George Paget Thomson and Clinton Davisson the Nobel in 1937.

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Abraham Wachner, New Zealand politician, 35th Mayor of Invercargill (died 1950)

Abraham (Abie) Wachner was the 35th Mayor of Invercargill from 1942 to 1950. He was awarded the OBE in 1946.

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15/08/1890

Jacques Ibert, French composer and educator (died 1962)

Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert was a French composer of classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I.

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15/08/1886

Bill Whitty, Australian cricketer (died 1974)

William James Whitty was an Australian cricketer who played 14 Test matches between 1909 and 1912.

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15/08/1885

Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (died 1968)

Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big (1924), Show Boat, Cimarron, Giant and Ice Palace (1958), which also received a film adaptation in 1960. She helped adapt her short story "Old Man Minick", published in 1922, into a play (Minick) and it was thrice adapted to film, in 1925 as the silent film Welcome Home, in 1932 as The Expert, and in 1939 as No Place to Go.

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15/08/1883

Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor and architect (died 1962)

Ivan Meštrović was a Croatian sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pavao Bilinić's Stone Workshop in Split and at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where he was formed under the influence of the Secession. He traveled throughout Europe and studied the works of ancient and Renaissance masters, especially Michelangelo, and French sculptors Auguste Rodin, Antoine Bourdelle and Aristide Maillol. He was the initiator of the national-romantic group Medulić. During the First World War, he lived in emigration. After the war, he returned to Croatia and began a long and fruitful period of sculpture and pedagogical work. In 1942 he emigrated to Italy, in 1943 to Switzerland and in 1947 to the United States. He was a professor of sculpture at the Syracuse University and from 1955 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

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15/08/1882

Marion Bauer, American composer and critic (died 1955)

Marion Eugénie Bauer was an American composer, teacher, writer, and music critic. She played an active role in shaping American musical identity in the early half of the twentieth century.

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Gisela Richter, English archaeologist and art historian (died 1972)

Gisela Marie Augusta Richter was a British-American classical archaeologist and art historian. She was a prominent figure and an authority in her field.

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15/08/1881

Alfred Wagenknecht, German-American activist and politician (died 1956)

Alfred Wagenknecht was an American Marxist activist and political functionary. He is best remembered for having played a critical role in the establishment of the Communist Party USA in 1919 as a leader of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party. Wagenknecht served as executive secretary of the Communist Labor Party of America and the United Communist Party of America in 1919 and 1920, respectively.

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15/08/1879

Ethel Barrymore, American actress (died 1959)

Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarded as "The First Lady of the American Theatre". She received four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, winning for None but the Lonely Heart (1944).

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15/08/1877

Tachiyama Mineemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 22nd Yokozuna (died 1941)

Tachiyama Mineemon was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture. He was the sport's 22nd yokozuna. He was well known for his extreme strength and skill. He won 99 out of 100 matches from 1909 to 1916, and also won eleven top division tournament championships.

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15/08/1876

Stylianos Gonatas, Greek colonel and politician, 111th Prime Minister of Greece (died 1966)

Stylianos Gonatas was an officer of the Hellenic Army, Venizelist politician, and Prime Minister of Greece from 1922 to 1924.

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15/08/1875

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, English pianist, violinist, and composer (died 1912)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a British composer and conductor. He was particularly known for his three cantatas on the epic 1855 poem The Song of Hiawatha by American Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Coleridge-Taylor premiered the first section in 1898, when he was 23. Of mixed-race descent, Coleridge-Taylor achieved such success that he was referred to by white musicians in New York City as the "African Mahler" when he had three tours of the United States in the early 1900s. He married an Englishwoman, Jessie Walmisley, and both their children had musical careers. Their son, Hiawatha, adapted his father's music for a variety of performances. Their daughter, Avril Coleridge-Taylor, became a composer and conductor.

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15/08/1873

Ramaprasad Chanda, Indian archaeologist and historian (died 1942)

Ramaprasad Chanda was an Indian anthropologist, historian and archaeologist from Bengal. A pioneer in his field in South Asia, Chanda's lasting legacy is the Varendra Research Museum, he established in Rajshahi, a leading institute for research on the history of Bengal. He was the first head of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Calcutta from 1920- 1921. He was also a professional archaeologist and worked in the Archaeological Survey of India. Chanda was one of the founders the Indian Anthropological Institute and was its president during 1938–1942. He represented India in the first International Congress of Anthropology held in London in 1934. He had done original research on the somatic characters of Indian populations by using ancient Indian literature and challenged Herbert Hope Risley's theory of Indian races. Riley was the first Census Commissioner of India.

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15/08/1872

Sri Aurobindo, Indian guru, poet, and philosopher (died 1950)

Sri Aurobindo was an Indian nationalist and yogi. A revolutionary in the movement for India's independence from British rule, he advocated for complete autonomy through his writings and political activity. Following his imprisonment and acquittal, he withdrew to Pondicherry to devote himself to spiritual practice, eventually formulating the path of Integral Yoga. His extensive literary output includes the treatises The Life Divine and The Synthesis of Yoga and the epic poem Savitri.

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15/08/1866

Italo Santelli, Italian fencer (died 1945)

Italo Santelli was an Italian fencer who is considered to be the "father of modern sabre fencing".

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15/08/1865

Mikao Usui, Japanese spiritual leader, founded Reiki (died 1926)

Mikao Usui was the father of a form of energy medicine and spiritual practice known as Reiki, used as an alternative therapy for the treatment of physical, emotional, and mental diseases. According to the inscription on his memorial stone, Usui taught Reiki to over 2,000 people during his lifetime. Eleven of these students continued their training to reach the Shinpiden level, a level equivalent to the Western third degree, or Master level.

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15/08/1863

Aleksey Krylov, Russian mathematician and engineer (died 1945)

Aleksey Nikolaevich Krylov was a Russian naval engineer, applied mathematician and memoirist.

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15/08/1860

Florence Harding, American publisher, 31st First Lady of the United States (died 1924)

Florence Mabel Harding was First Lady of the United States from 1921 until the death of her husband, President Warren G. Harding, in 1923.

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15/08/1859

Charles Comiskey, American baseball player and manager (died 1931)

Charles Albert Comiskey, nicknamed "Commy" or "the Old Roman", was an American professional baseball first baseman, manager, and team owner. He played 13 seasons in the American Association (AA) for the St. Louis Brown Stockings / Browns, the Players' League (PL) for the Chicago Pirates, and the National League (NL) for the Cincinnati Reds. He was a key figure in the formation of the American League and was also the founding owner of the Chicago White Sox. Comiskey Park, the White Sox's storied baseball stadium, was built under his guidance and named for him.

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15/08/1858

E. Nesbit, English author and poet (died 1924)

Edith Nesbit was an English writer and poet, who published her books for children and others as E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 such books. She was also a political activist and co-founder of the Fabian Society, a socialist organisation later affiliated to the Labour Party.

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15/08/1857

Albert Ballin, German businessman (died 1918)

Albert Ballin was a German shipping magnate. He was the general director of the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG) or Hamburg-America Line, which for a time was the world's largest shipping company. Being the inventor of the concept of the cruise ship, he is known as the father of modern cruise ship travel. Albert Ballin was a risk-taker who was willing to challenge his colleagues, foreign competitors, and domestic politics in order to build a successful shipping company. He focused on British rivals and was determined to expand HAPAG's global reach, he also worked closely with the Kaiser and supported expansion of the German navy.

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15/08/1856

Keir Hardie, Scottish politician and trade unionist (died 1915)

James Keir Hardie was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and was its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908.

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15/08/1845

Walter Crane, English artist and book illustrator (died 1915)

Walter Crane was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of English children's illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the later 19th century.

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15/08/1844

Thomas-Alfred Bernier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician (died 1908)

Thomas-Alfred Bernier was a Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician.

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15/08/1839

Antonín Petrof, Czech piano maker (died 1915)

Antonín Petrof was a Czech entrepreneur and piano maker.

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15/08/1824

John Chisum, American businessman (died 1884)

John Simpson Chisum was a wealthy cattle baron on the frontier in the American West in the mid-to-late 19th century. He was born in Hardeman County, Tennessee, and moved with his family southwest across the Mississippi River to the newly independent Republic of Texas the year after the Texas Revolution in 1837, later finding work as a building contractor. He also served as a county clerk in Lamar County, Texas. He was of Scottish, English, and Welsh descent.

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15/08/1810

Louise Colet, French poet (died 1876)

Louise Colet, born Louise Revoil de Servannes, was a French poet and writer.

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15/08/1807

Jules Grévy, French lawyer and politician, 4th President of the French Republic (died 1891)

François Judith Paul Grévy, known as Jules Grévy, was a French lawyer and politician who served as President of France from 1879 to 1887. He was a leader of the Moderate Republicans, and given that his predecessors were monarchists who tried without success to restore the French monarchy, Grévy is considered the first real republican president of France. During Grévy's presidency from 1879 to 1887, according to David Bell, there was a disunity among his cabinets. Only one survived more than a year. Grévy paid attention chiefly to defense, internal order, and foreign relations. Critics argue that Grévy's confusing approach to appointments set a bad precedent for handling crises.

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15/08/1798

Sangolli Rayanna, Indian warrior (died 1831)

Sangolli Rayanna was an Indian military leader. Born in Sangolli, Belagavi district. His father was Bharamappa Rogannavar. His mother was Kenchava. He served as a senior commander in the military of Kittur ruled by Kittur Chennamma, the kingdom - like many others - called by the British as a princely state, during the early 19th century. After Chennamma led a failed rebellion against the British East India Company (EIC) in response to the EIC's infamous Doctrine of Lapse in 1824, Rayanna continued to resist Company rule in India. After leading another uprising against EIC authority, he was ultimately captured by the British and executed by hanging in 1831. As he played a very important role in Indian Freedom, his memorial statue was built in the village of Sangolli, Belagavi. Rayanna's life was the subject of the Kannada-language films Kranthiveera Sangolli Rayanna (1967) and Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna (2012).

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15/08/1787

Eliza Lee Cabot Follen, American writer, editor, abolitionist (died 1860)

Eliza Lee Cabot Follen was an American writer, editor, and abolitionist. In her early life, she contributed various pieces of prose and poetry to papers and magazines. In 1828, she married Prof. Charles Follen, who died on board the Lexington in 1840. During her married life, she published a variety of popular and useful books, all of which were characterized by her Christian piety. Among the works she gave to the press are, Selections from Fénelon, The Well-spent Hour, Words of Truth, The Sceptic, Married Life, Little Songs, Poems, Life of Charles Follen, Twilight Stories, Second Series of Little Songs, as well as a compilation of Home Dramas, and German Fairy Tales. Holding an interest in the religious instruction of the young, she edited, in 1829, the Christian Teacher's Manual, and, from 1843 to 1850, the Child's Friend. She died in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1860.

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15/08/1785

Thomas De Quincey, English journalist and author (died 1859)

Thomas Penson De Quincey was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821). Many scholars suggest that in publishing this work De Quincey inaugurated the tradition of addiction literature in the West.

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15/08/1771

Walter Scott, Scottish novelist, playwright, and poet (died 1832)

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature. He is known for his Waverley novels (1814–1831), which were, for nearly a century, among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe. He is also known for his narrative poems Marmion (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810). He greatly influenced European and American literature.

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15/08/1769

Napoleon Bonaparte, French general and emperor (died 1821)

Napoleon Bonaparte, later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was Emperor of the French from 18 May 1804 until his first abdication in 1814, with a brief restoration during the Hundred Days in 1815. He rose to prominence as a general during the French Revolution and led a series of military campaigns across Europe and North Africa during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. As a statesman, he implemented numerous legal and administrative reforms in France and Europe.

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15/08/1740

Matthias Claudius, German poet and author (died 1815)

Matthias Claudius was a German poet and journalist, otherwise known by the pen name of "Asmus".

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15/08/1736

Johann Christoph Kellner, German organist and composer (died 1803)

Johann Christoph Kellner was a German organist and composer. He was the son of Johann Peter Kellner.

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15/08/1717

Blind Jack, English engineer (died 1810)

John Metcalf, known as Blind Jack of Knaresborough or Blind Jack Metcalf, was an English road builder, the first professional road builder to emerge during the Industrial Revolution. Blind from the age of six, Metcalf had an eventful life, which was documented by his own account just before his death. He was an accomplished diver, swimmer, card player and fiddler, but was better known for the period between 1765 and 1792 when he built about 180 miles (290 km) of turnpike road, mainly in the north of England and as such, he became known as one of the fathers of the modern road.

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15/08/1702

Francesco Zuccarelli, Italian painter and Royal Academician (died 1788)

Giacomo Francesco Zuccarelli was an Italian artist of the late Baroque or Rococo period. He is considered to be the most important landscape painter to have emerged from his adopted city of Venice during the mid-eighteenth century, and his Arcadian views became popular throughout Europe and especially in England where he resided for two extended periods. His patronage extended to the nobility, and he often collaborated with other artists such as Antonio Visentini and Bernardo Bellotto.

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15/08/1652

John Grubb, American politician (died 1708)

John Grubb (1652–1708) was a two-term member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and was one of the original settlers in a portion of Brandywine Hundred that became Claymont, Delaware. He founded a large tannery that continued in operation for over 100 years at what became known as Grubb's Landing. He was also one of the 150 signers of the Concessions and Agreements for province of West Jersey.

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15/08/1615

Marie de Lorraine, duchess of Guise (died 1688)

Marie de Lorraine was the daughter of Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Guise and Henriette Catherine de Joyeuse and the last member of the House of Guise, a branch of the House of Lorraine.

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15/08/1613

Gilles Ménage, French lawyer, philologist, and scholar (died 1692)

Gilles Ménage was a French scholar.

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15/08/1608

Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel, English politician (died 1652)

Henry Frederick Howard, 15th Earl of Arundel PC(Ire), styled Lord Maltravers until 1640, and Baron Mowbray from 1640 until 1652, was an English nobleman, chiefly remembered for his role in the development of the rule against perpetuities.

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15/08/1607

Herman IV, landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg (died 1658)

Landgrave Hermann IV of Hesse-Rotenburg, was the first Landgrave of the semi-independent Landgraviate of Hesse-Rotenburg. He was the fourth son of the Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Kassel and his second wife Juliane of Nassau-Siegen.

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15/08/1589

Gabriel Báthory, Prince of Transylvania (died 1613)

Gabriel Báthory was Prince of Transylvania from 1608 to 1613. The Ottomans nicknamed him "Deli Kiral". Born to the Roman Catholic branch of the Báthory family, he was closely related to four rulers of the Principality of Transylvania. His father, Stephen Báthory, held estates in the principality, but never ruled it. Being a minor when his father died in 1601, Gabriel became the ward of the childless Stephen Báthory, from the Protestant branch of the family, who converted him to Calvinism. After inheriting most of his guardian's estates in 1605, Gabriel became one of the wealthiest landowners in Transylvania and Royal Hungary.

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15/08/1575

Bartol Kašić, Croatian linguist and lexicographer (died 1650)

Bartol Kašić was a Croatian Jesuit clergyman and grammarian during the Counter-Reformation, who wrote the first Illyrian grammar and translated the Bible and the Roman Rite into Illyrian.

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15/08/1507

George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, German prince (died 1553)

George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau, and also a Protestant Reformer. After 1544 he became the first ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Plötzkau.

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15/08/1455

George, duke of Bavaria (died 1503)

George of Bavaria referred to as the Rich, was the last duke of Bavaria-Landshut. He was a son of Louis IX the Rich and Amalia of Saxony.

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15/08/1432

Luigi Pulci, Italian poet (died 1484)

Luigi Pulci was an Italian diplomat and poet best known for his Morgante, an epic and parodistic poem about a giant who is converted to Christianity by Orlando and follows the knight in many adventures.

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15/08/1385

Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford, English commander (died 1417)

Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford KG was the son and heir of Aubrey de Vere, 10th Earl of Oxford. He took part in the trial of Richard, Earl of Cambridge, and Lord Scrope for their part in the Southampton Plot, and was one of the commanders at Agincourt in 1415.

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15/08/1195

Anthony of Padua, Portuguese priest and saint (died 1231)

Anthony of Padua, OFM, or Anthony of Lisbon; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões was a Portuguese Catholic priest and member of the Order of Friars Minor.

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15/08/1171

Alfonso IX, king of León and Galicia (died 1230)

Alfonso IX was King of León from the death of his father Ferdinand II in 1188 until his own death.

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15/08/1013

Teishi, empress of Japan (died 1094)

Princess Teishi , also known as Yōmeimon-in (陽明門院), was an empress consort of Emperor Go-Suzaku of Japan. She wielded major influence during the reign of her son, Emperor Go Sanjo (1068-1073), but she was de facto ruler from 1073 to 1094, during the early reign of Emperor Shirakawa.

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