Born on Sunday, 24th August – Famous Birthdays
On this day, 204 notable people were born on 24th August — spanning from 1016 to 2001. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
Sunday, 24th August 2025 marks the birth of several notable individuals across entertainment, sport and public service. Alan Walker, the British-Norwegian DJ and record producer, was born on this date in 1997 and has since become a prominent figure in electronic music production. Rupert Grint, the English actor renowned for his role in the Harry Potter film series, celebrates his birthday on 24th August, having been born in 1988. The date also saw the birth of Marnya Zanevska, a Belgian tennis player born in 1993, who has competed at the highest levels of professional tennis.
Historical perspectives on 24th August reveal a date of significance across centuries. William Wilberforce, the English philanthropist and politician instrumental in the abolition of the slave trade, was born on this date in 1759. Fernand Braudel, the influential French historian and academic, arrived on 24th August in 1902, later becoming a foundational figure in historical studies with his work on longue durée methodology.
On 24th August 2025, the weather conditions will reflect late summer patterns typical of the season. This date falls under the Virgo zodiac sign, and the moon will be in its waning gibbous phase. DayAtlas provides comprehensive information on weather patterns, significant events and notable births and deaths for any date and location, offering users a detailed historical perspective on specific days throughout the calendar.
Discover who was born today 18th April.
24/08/2001
Mildred Maldonado, Mexican rhythmic gymnast
Mildred Maldonado is a Mexican rhythmic gymnast.
24/08/2000
Griffin Gluck, American actor
Griffin Alexander Gluck is an American actor. Gluck began his career as a child actor in comedy films such as Just Go with It (2011) and Why Him? (2016). He had his first leading role as a comatose teenager in the drama series Red Band Society (2014–2015) and gained acclaim for playing a young film prodigy in the Netflix mockumentary series American Vandal (2017–2018) and as Gabe/Dodge in the Netflix horror series Locke & Key (2020–2022). He also had further leading roles in comedy films Big Time Adolescence (2019); Tall Girl (2019) and its 2022 sequel; and North Hollywood (2021). He appeared in the second season of the Freeform thriller anthology Cruel Summer (2023).
24/08/1998
Sofia Richie, American model and social media personality
Sofia Alexandra Richie Grainge is an American social media personality and model. She has been featured in campaigns by a number of major brands including Stuart Weitzman, Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors, and Adidas. She is the youngest daughter of singer Lionel Richie and sister of television personality Nicole Richie.
24/08/1997
Alan Walker, British-Norwegian DJ and record producer
Alan Olav Walker is a Norwegian DJ and record producer. His songs "Faded", "Sing Me to Sleep", "Alone", "All Falls Down", "Ignite", and "Darkside" have each been multi-platinum-certified and reached number 1 on the VG-lista chart in Norway. Walker values his anonymity and is known to wear a hoodie and mask to remain inconspicuous. His musical style is primarily described as house music, and is characterized by emotionally rich and grandiose melodies.
Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary
Karoline Leavitt is an American political spokesperson who has served as the 36th White House press secretary since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, she was the party's nominee in the 2022 election for New Hampshire's 1st congressional district.
24/08/1995
Noah Vonleh, American basketball player
Noah Vonleh is an American professional basketball player who last played for Zenit Saint Petersburg of the VTB United League. He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers.
Lady Amelia Windsor, member of the British royal family
Lady Amelia Sophia Theodora Mary Margaret Windsor is a British fashion model and a member of the extended British royal family. As of 2025, she is 44th in the line of succession to the British throne. She is a granddaughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and therefore a great-great-granddaughter of George V and Queen Mary. She is also a second cousin once removed of King Charles III.
24/08/1994
Kelsey Plum, American basketball player
Kelsey Christine Plum is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for the Phantom of Unrivaled. Nicknamed "Plum Dawg", she is a four-time WNBA All-Star and was named the WNBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2022. Plum won gold medals with the United States in 3x3 basketball in 2020 and in 5x5 basketball in 2024. She is also the founder of the Dawg Class basketball camp.
24/08/1993
Maryna Zanevska, Belgian tennis player
Maryna Volodymyrivna Zanevska is a Ukrainian-born Belgian former professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 62, achieved on 23 May 2022, and a WTA doubles ranking of 86, reached on 16 June 2014. Zanevska won one WTA Tour singles title and one title in singles and one in doubles on the WTA Challenger Tour. She also reached four WTA Tour doubles finals.
24/08/1992
Jemerson, Brazilian footballer
Jemerson de Jesus Nascimento, known simply as Jemerson, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back.
24/08/1991
Enrique Hernández, Puerto Rican baseball player
Enrique José Hernández González Jr., nicknamed Kike, is a Puerto Rican professional baseball utility player for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Houston Astros, Miami Marlins, and Boston Red Sox.
Wang Zhen, Chinese race walker
Wang Zhen is a Chinese race walker who specialises in the 10 kilometres and 20 kilometres race walk. He holds the senior Asian record for the 20 km with his time of 1:17:36 hours and is also the Asian, Chinese and junior world record holder over 10 km. He was the bronze medallist over 20 km at the 2012 London Olympics and the gold medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
24/08/1990
Juan Pedro Lanzani, Argentinian actor and singer
Juan Pedro "Peter" Lanzani is an Argentine actor and singer and former child model. He is best known for his role on the Cris Morena television series Casi Ángeles playing Thiago Bedoya Agüero, and as a member of the music group Teen Angels. He is also known for his roles in Argentina 1985 by Santiago Mitre and El Clan by Pablo Trapero.
24/08/1989
Reynaldo, Brazilian footballer
Reynaldo dos Santos Silva, known as just Reynaldo, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played as a forward.
Rocío Igarzábal, Argentinian actress and singer
Rocío Igarzábal, also known as Rochi Igarzábal, is an Argentine actress and singer.
24/08/1988
Rupert Grint, English actor
Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint is an English actor. He rose to fame for his role as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter film series, for which he was cast at age eleven, having previously acted only in school plays and his local theatre group. Grint portrayed Weasley in all eight films in the series, beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and concluding with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). Since then, he has continued to work in film, television, and theatre.
Brad Hunt, Canadian ice hockey player
Bradley Michael Hunt is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently playing in Vaasan Sport. He most recently played for the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL). He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Vegas Golden Knights, Minnesota Wild, Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche. Hunt beginning his professional career in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Chicago Wolves, where he was an All-Star in the 2012–13 season. He is considered undersized for a defenseman, but is known for possessing a hard slapshot.
Manu Ma'u, New Zealand rugby league player
Manu Maʻu is a rugby league footballer who plays as a second-row forward for the Souths Sharks in Mackay, Queensland. He has played for both Tonga and New Zealand at international level.
Maya Yoshida, Japanese footballer
Maya Yoshida is a Japanese professional footballer who captains and plays as a centre-back for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy.
24/08/1987
Anže Kopitar, Slovenian ice hockey player
Anže Kopitar is a Slovenian professional ice hockey player who is a centre and captain for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). The 11th overall pick in the 2005 NHL entry draft, Kopitar became the first Slovenian to play in the NHL upon making his debut in 2006. Kopitar has spent his entire NHL career with the Kings, has led the team in scoring in all but four seasons and is first in franchise history in points, third in goals, and first in assists. He scored his 1,000th career point in 2021. Following the 2015–16 season, he was named the Kings' captain. Noted for both his offensive and defensive play, Kopitar was awarded the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the NHL in 2016 and 2018 while also being a finalist in 2014 and 2015, as well as the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for gentlemanly play in 2016, 2023 and 2025 while also being a finalist in 2015. He was also a finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy in 2018.
24/08/1986
Joseph Akpala, Nigerian footballer
Joseph Eneojo Akpala is a Nigerian football manager and former professional footballer who played as a forward. Since 2022, he is the current assistant coach of Club Brugge. Akpala has been assistant coach at Kortrijk, taking over as caretaker coach for one match in September 2023, in between the dismissal of Edward Still and the appointment of Glen De Boeck, and taking the reins again following De Boeck's sacking in November 2023.
Arian Foster, American football player, rapper, and actor
Arian Isa Foster is an American former football player who is a musical artist under the name Bobby Feeno. He played professionally as a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for seven and a half seasons.
24/08/1984
Erin Molan, Australian journalist and sportscaster
Erin Molan is an Australian television presenter who worked on Sky News Australia, a past radio presenter on 2Day FM and a former columnist for Sydney newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
Charlie Villanueva, Dominican-American basketball player
Charlie Alexander Villanueva Mejia is a Dominican-American former professional basketball player who played for the Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons and Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Yesung, South Korean singer
Kim Kang-hoon, known professionally as Yesung, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, actor, radio personality, and television presenter. He debuted in 2005 as a member of Super Junior and its subgroups Super Junior-K.R.Y. (2006), Super Junior-H (2008) and participated in SM Entertainment's projects SM The Ballad (2014). Aside from group activities, he has recorded songs for various television dramas and movies, participated in various television dramas, movies, musicals and radio hosting.
24/08/1983
Brett Gardner, American baseball player
Brett Michael Gardner is an American former professional baseball outfielder who spent his entire 14-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees.
Marcel Goc, German ice hockey player
Marcel Goc is a German former professional ice hockey player.
24/08/1982
José Bosingwa, Portuguese footballer
José Bosingwa da Silva is a former professional footballer who played as a right-back.
Kim Källström, Swedish footballer
Kim Mikael Källström is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was noted for his play-making ability and free-kick taking.
24/08/1981
Chad Michael Murray, American actor, model, and author
Chad Michael Murray is an American actor, writer, and model. He starred as Lucas Scott in The WB/CW drama series One Tree Hill and had recurring roles as Tristin DuGray on Gilmore Girls (2000–01), Charlie Todd on Dawson's Creek (2001–02), and Edgar Evernever on Riverdale (2019), all on the same network. He currently stars as Cal Jones in the CTV romantic drama series Sullivan's Crossing (2023–present).
24/08/1979
Vahur Afanasjev, Estonian author and poet
Vahur Afanasjev was an Estonian novelist, poet, musician and film director best known for his novel Serafima and Bogdan a story following the lives in a village of Russian Orthodox Old Believers on the shore of the lake Peipus from the end of the World War II to the nineties. The novel won the 2017 Estonian Writers' Union's Novel Competition.
Orlando Engelaar, Dutch footballer
Orlando Engelaar is a former Dutch footballer who played as a midfielder. Known for his imposing physical presence and passing range, he represented the Netherlands at UEFA Euro 2008.
Michael Redd, American basketball player
Michael Wesley Redd is an American former professional basketball player. Standing 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) tall and weighing 215 pounds (98 kg), he played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), primarily with the Milwaukee Bucks. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Redd attended West High School and later Ohio State University. As an Ohio State student, he was selected 43rd overall in the 2000 NBA draft. Redd spent both his collegiate and professional career at the shooting guard and small forward positions. He was also a member of the U.S. national basketball team and was an All-Star in 2004.
24/08/1978
Derek Morris, Canadian ice hockey player
Derek Terrence Morris is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played over 1,100 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Phoenix Coyotes, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. He was originally drafted out of the Western Hockey League (WHL) 13th overall by the Calgary Flames in the 1996 NHL entry draft.
24/08/1977
Denílson de Oliveira Araújo, Brazilian footballer
Denílson de Oliveira, known simply as Denílson or sometimes Denílson Show, is a Brazilian football pundit and former professional player who played as a winger.
Robert Enke, German footballer (died 2009)
Robert Enke was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Per Gade, Danish footballer
Per Gade is a Danish former football player, who played as a defender. His preferred field position is as a right defender. He started his career with youth football in Nibe Boldklub, before he joined the Superliga team Aalborg BK, but never broke into the first team due to injuries. He moved to lower-league team FC Nordjylland in 2000, and when the club went bankrupt, he joined AC Horsens in the summer of 2004.
John Green, American author and vlogger
John Michael Green is an American author and YouTuber. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including The Fault in Our Stars (2012), which is one of the best-selling books of all time. Green's rapid rise to fame and idiosyncratic voice are credited with creating a major shift in the young adult fiction market. Green is also well known for his work in online video, most notably his YouTube ventures with his younger brother Hank Green.
Jürgen Macho, Austrian footballer
Jürgen Macho is an Austrian football coach and former goalkeeper who is goalkeeper coach of Rapid Wien. During his playing career, he kept goal at several clubs across Austria, England, Germany and Greece.
24/08/1976
Simon Dennis, English rower and academic
Simon John Dennis MBE is a British rower and Olympic gold medalist. He was born in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. He started rowing at St Paul's School, London, coached by Michael Streat and his first international appearance was in 1994 in the GB eight at the World Rowing Junior Championships, winning a bronze medal. After school, he attended Imperial College London, winning two Henley Royal Regatta races with them.
Alex O'Loughlin, Australian actor, writer, director, and producer
Alex O'Loughlin is an Australian actor. He is known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett on CBS' remake of the TV series Hawaii Five-0 (2010–2020). He had starring roles in the films Oyster Farmer (2004) and The Back-up Plan (2010), as well as on such television series as Moonlight (2007–2008) and Three Rivers (2009–2010).
24/08/1975
Roberto Colombo, Italian footballer
Roberto Colombo is an Italian former professional football goalkeeper.
Mark de Vries, Surinamese-Dutch footballer
Mark Lyndon Patrick de Vries is a Dutch football coach and former player. During his playing career he played in Holland, England and Scotland and has since coached in the Faroe Islands and Hungary. After Cambuur, he started working as a coach.
24/08/1974
Jennifer Lien, American actress
Jennifer Anne Lien is an American former actress known for playing Kes on the television series Star Trek: Voyager.
24/08/1973
Andrew Brunette, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
Andrew D. Brunette is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player who is the head coach for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). As a player, Brunette played over 1,100 career games in the NHL with the Washington Capitals, Nashville Predators, Atlanta Thrashers, Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche, and Chicago Blackhawks between 1996 and 2012. He previously served as interim head coach for the Florida Panthers, as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Wild and New Jersey Devils, and as the Wild's assistant general manager.
Dave Chappelle, American comedian, actor, producer and screenwriter
David Khari Webber Chappelle is an American stand-up comedian, actor and former sketch comedian. He debuted his half-hour TV special in 1998 and his hour-long TV special in 2000. He co-created and starred in the sketch comedy series Chappelle's Show (2003–2006) on Comedy Central before quitting in the middle of production of the third season. After a hiatus, Chappelle returned to performing stand-up comedy across the United States. By 2006, Chappelle was called the "comic genius of America" by Esquire magazine and, in 2013, "the best" by a Billboard writer. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him No. 9 in their "50 Best Stand Up Comics of All Time".
James D'Arcy, English actor
James D'Arcy is an English actor, screenwriter, and film director. He is known for his portrayals of Howard Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Agent Carter (2015–16) and the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame, and murder suspect Lee Ashworth in the second season of the series Broadchurch (2015). D'Arcy also co-starred in Christopher Nolan's war movies Dunkirk (2017) and Oppenheimer (2023). He wrote and directed Made in Italy (2020).
Inge de Bruijn, Dutch swimmer
Inge de Bruijn is a Dutch former competitive swimmer. She is a four-time Olympic champion and a former world record-holder in multiple swimming events.
Carmine Giovinazzo, American actor
Carmine Dominick Giovinazzo, is an American actor, writer, painter and musician, known for his role as Detective Danny Messer in CSI: NY.
24/08/1972
Jean-Luc Brassard, Canadian skier and radio host
Jean-Luc Brassard is a Canadian freestyle skier who won the gold medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. Brassard has been credited with popularizing the wearing of bright knee pads to show off absorption and leg position for mogul skiers to best show judges how smoothly the athlete is taking the turns. He was born in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec. In his other Olympic appearances, Brassard placed 7th in 1992, 4th in 1998 and 21st in 2002.
Ava DuVernay, American director and screenwriter
Ava Marie DuVernay is an American filmmaker. She is a recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, a BAFTA Film Award, and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee for an Academy Award and Golden Globe. In 2011, she founded her independent distribution company ARRAY. After making her directoral debut, I Will Follow (2010), DuVernay won the directing award in the U.S. dramatic competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere, becoming the first black woman to win the award.
Todd Young, American politician
Todd Christopher Young is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Indiana, a seat he has held since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Young previously served as the U.S. representative for Indiana's 9th congressional district. He was elected to the United States Senate in the November 8, 2016, general election, succeeding retiring Republican Dan Coats, and became Indiana's senior senator in January 2019 when Joe Donnelly left the seat following his defeat. From 2019 to 2021, he served as the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Young was reelected in 2022.
24/08/1970
Rich Beem, American golfer
Richard Michael Beem is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and is best known for his upset victory at the 2002 PGA Championship.
David Gregory, American journalist
David Michael Gregory is an American television personality and the former host of NBC News' Sunday morning talk show Meet the Press. Gregory has served as a CNN political analyst since 2016.
Tugay Kerimoğlu, Turkish footballer and manager
Tugay Kerimoğlu, known in England as just Tugay, is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played most notably for Galatasaray, followed by Rangers and Blackburn Rovers. After retirement, he was the coordinator of the Galatasaray youth academy, after a short spell working with Mark Hughes at Manchester City. He then served as Roberto Mancini's assistant at Galatasaray during the 2013–14 season.
24/08/1969
Jans Koerts, Dutch cyclist
Jans Koerts is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was professional from 1992 until 2007. He won Stage 3 of the 2000 Vuelta a España.
24/08/1968
Benoît Brunet, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
Joseph Jean Luc Benoît Brunet is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round, 27th overall, of the 1986 NHL entry draft. Brunet has also played for the Dallas Stars and Ottawa Senators.
Shoichi Funaki, Japanese-American wrestler and sportscaster
Shoichi "Sho" Funaki is a Japanese professional wrestling manager, color commentator and retired professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he works as a Japanese-language play-by-play commentator and an occasional interpreter for Japanese talents in the company. During his time as an in-ring performer, he became a one-time Cruiserweight Champion and a one-time Hardcore Champion.
Andreas Kisser, Brazilian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
Andreas Rudolf Kisser is a Brazilian musician, best known for being the lead guitarist for the metal band Sepultura. He has been featured on every Sepultura release since their second album, Schizophrenia. Additionally, Kisser has also been involved in other bands such as the rock supergroup Hail!, Sexoturica and, more recently, De La Tierra.
Tim Salmon, American baseball player and sportscaster
Timothy James Salmon, nicknamed "King Fish", is an American former professional baseball player and current sportcaster. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1992 to 2006 with the California / Anaheim / Los Angeles Angels as an outfielder and designated hitter. Salmon was an integral member of the Angels team that won the 2002 World Series. He is an analyst for Bally Sports West's Angels Live pre-and-postgame shows.
24/08/1967
Michael Thomas, English footballer
Michael Lauriston Thomas is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder from 1986 to 2001.
24/08/1965
Marlee Matlin, American actress and producer
Marlee Matlin is an American actress. Deaf since she was 18 months old, Matlin is known for her portrayals of deaf women, and for her activism on behalf of deaf individuals in Hollywood and other industries. Her accolades include an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for a British Academy Film Award and four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2009, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Reggie Miller, American basketball player and sportscaster
Reginald Wayne Miller is an American former professional basketball player who played his entire 18-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Indiana Pacers. Widely recognized as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, he was known for his precision three-point shooting, especially in pressure situations and most notably against the New York Knicks, for which he earned the nickname "Knick Killer". A five-time All-Star selection, Miller was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012 and named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.
Brian Rajadurai, Sri Lankan-Canadian cricketer
Brian Rajadurai is a Canadian and Sri Lankan cricket player. He started his career playing first-class cricket in his native Sri Lanka and emigrated to Canada. He has represented Canada in the 1997 ICC Trophy and the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
24/08/1964
Éric Bernard, French racing driver
Éric Bernard is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between 1989 and 1994.
Mark Cerny, American video game designer, programmer, producer and business executive
Mark Evan Cerny is an American video game designer, programmer, producer and media proprietor.
Salizhan Sharipov, Kyrgyzstani-Russian lieutenant, pilot, and astronaut
Salizhan Shakirovich Sharipov is a retired Kyrgyz cosmonaut of Uzbek descent. Sharipov is a co-author and investigator for the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity project. He has been to space twice and has conducted two space walks. Sharipov retired on 18 July 2008.
24/08/1963
John Bush, American singer-songwriter
John Bush is an American heavy metal singer. He came to prominence in the 1980s as the lead singer and lyricist of Armored Saint, a heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. In 1992, he joined thrash metal band Anthrax, with whom he remained until 2005 and briefly rejoined in 2009–2010. Bush has also been active with the reformed Armored Saint intermittently from 1999 to the present, and involved with other projects such as Metal Allegiance and Category 7.
Hideo Kojima, Japanese director, screenwriter and video game designer
Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game designer, writer, director, producer, and internet personality. He is best known for the Metal Gear franchise, which remains his most famous and acclaimed work, as well as Death Stranding and its sequel. His games are noted for being highly cinematic, the result of a passion for film and literature which began during his childhood, and he is regarded as a pioneering auteur of video games.
Peter Rufai, Nigerian footballer (died 2025)
Peter Rufai was a Nigerian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having begun his career with Stationery Stores, he competed professionally abroad in Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain in a senior career that lasted 20 years.
24/08/1962
Craig Kilborn, American television host
Craig Lawrence Kilborn is an American television host, actor, comedian, and sports commentator. Kilborn began a career in sports broadcasting in the late 1980s, leading to an anchoring position at ESPN's SportsCenter from 1993 to 1996. He was later the first host of The Daily Show, which he hosted from 1996 to 1998, and succeeded Tom Snyder on CBS' The Late Late Show from 1999 to 2004. In comedy, Kilborn is known for his deadpan delivery.
Emile Roemer, Dutch educator and politician
Emile Gerardus Maria Roemer is a Dutch politician serving as King's Commissioner of Limburg since December 2021. A member of the Socialist Party (SP), he was its leader and parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives from 5 March 2010 until 13 December 2017. Roemer served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2006 until 2018, as acting Mayor of Heerlen from 2018 to 2020, and as acting mayor of Alkmaar from 2020 to 2021.
24/08/1961
Jared Harris, English actor
Jared Francis Harris is a British actor. The son of the actor Richard Harris, he went on to study drama at Duke University and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He has received various accolades including a British Academy Television Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for a Golden Globe Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
24/08/1960
Cal Ripken Jr., American baseball player and coach
Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr., nicknamed "the Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played his entire 21-season career in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1981–2001). One of his position's most productive offensive players, Ripken compiled 3,184 hits, 431 home runs, 1,695 runs batted in, and won two Gold Glove Awards for his defense during his career. He was a 19-time All-Star and was twice named American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP), in 1983 and 1991.
24/08/1958
Steve Guttenberg, American actor and producer
Steven Robert Guttenberg is an American actor, author, businessman, producer, and director. He is known for playing Carey Mahoney in the Police Academy films from 1984 to 1987. He also acted in Three Men and a Baby (1987) and its 1990 sequel as well as the films Diner (1982), Cocoon (1985), Short Circuit (1986), The Bedroom Window (1987), The Big Green (1995) and A Novel Romance (2011).
24/08/1957
Jeffrey Daniel, American singer-songwriter and dancer
Jeffrey Glen Daniel is an American dancer, singer, songwriter, and choreographer, and a founding member of the R&B vocal group Shalamar. In Nigeria, he is best known as a judge on the first three seasons of Nigerian Idol.
Stephen Fry, English actor, journalist, producer, and screenwriter
Sir Stephen John Fry is an English actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He began his career on the sketch comedy series Alfresco (1983–1984) and the sitcom Blackadder (1986–1989), before gaining recognition as part of the comedy duo Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, appearing together in A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1989–1995) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993). His later television roles include Kingdom (2007–2009), Bones (2007–2017), and It's a Sin (2021). Fry was the original host of the comedy panel show QI (2003–2016), for which he was nominated for six British Academy Television Awards. In 2006, the British public ranked Fry number 9 in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars.
24/08/1956
Gerry Cooney, American boxer
Gerald Arthur Cooney is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 1990. He challenged twice for world heavyweight titles in 1982 and 1987. He is widely regarded as one of the hardest punchers in heavyweight history. He beat Ken Norton, S. T. Gordon, Ron Lyle, and Jimmy Young late in their careers. He boasts an 85.7% knockout to win percentage.
24/08/1955
Kevin Dunn, American actor
Kevin Dunn is an American actor who has appeared in supporting roles in numerous films and television series since the 1980s.
Mike Huckabee, American minister and politician, 44th Governor of Arkansas
Michael Dale Huckabee is an American politician, diplomat, and Baptist minister serving as the 29th United States ambassador to Israel since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007, and ran for his party's presidential nomination in both 2008 and 2016. He is the father of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the current governor of Arkansas since 2023 and a former White House press secretary.
24/08/1954
Alain Daigle, Canadian ice hockey player
Roland Alain Daigle is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played six seasons with the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League from 1974–75 to 1979–80.
Heini Otto, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager
Heini Otto is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He is currently working as a technical coach at Ajax.
24/08/1953
Sam Torrance, Scottish golfer and sportscaster
Samuel Robert Torrance is a Scottish former professional golfer and sports commentator. He was one of the leading players on the European Tour from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, with 21 Tour wins. Torrance was a member of European Ryder Cup teams on eight occasions consecutively; on Cup-winning teams four times. He was also part of the winning Scotland team at the 1995 Dunhill Cup. He was the winning non-playing captain of the European Ryder Cup team in 2002. Torrance was honoured with the MBE (1996) and OBE (2003), for his outstanding contributions to golf.
24/08/1952
Marion Bloem, Dutch author, director, and painter
Marion Bloem is a Dutch writer and film maker of Indo descent, best known as author of the literary acclaimed book Geen gewoon Indisch meisje and director of the 2008 feature film Ver van familie.
Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaican dub poet
Linton Kwesi Johnson CD, also known as LKJ, is a Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet and activist. In 2002, he became the second living poet, and the only black one, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. His performance poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican patois over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with reggae producer/artist Dennis Bovell.
24/08/1951
Danny Joe Brown, American southern rock singer-songwriter and musician (died 2005)
Danny Joe Brown was an American singer. He was the lead singer of the Southern rock group Molly Hatchet and was co-writer of the band's biggest hits from the late 1970s.
Orson Scott Card, American novelist, critic, public speaker, essayist, and columnist
Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. As of 2024, he is the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card coproduced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003). Card's fiction often features characters with exceptional gifts who make difficult choices with high stakes. Card has also written political, religious, and social commentary in his columns and other writing; he has provoked controversy and criticism for his public opposition to homosexuality.
Oscar Hijuelos, American author and academic (died 2013)
Oscar Jerome Hijuelos was an American novelist of Cuban descent, during a year-long convalescence from a childhood illness spent in a Connecticut hospital he lost his knowledge of Spanish, his parents' native language. He was educated in New York City, and wrote short stories and advertising copy.
24/08/1949
Stephen Paulus, American composer and educator (died 2014)
Stephen Paulus was an American Grammy Award winning composer, best known for his operas and choral music. His style is essentially tonal, and melodic and romantic by nature.
Joe Regalbuto, American actor and director
Joe Regalbuto is an American actor and director. He is known for his role as Frank Fontana on the CBS television sitcom Murphy Brown, which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 1989.
24/08/1948
Kim Sung-il, South Korean commander and pilot
Kim Sung-il (Korean: 김성일) is a former Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Air Force.
Jean Michel Jarre, French pianist, composer, and producer
Jean-Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient, and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompanied by vast laser displays, large projections and fireworks.
Sauli Niinistö, Finnish captain and politician, 12th President of Finland
Sauli Väinämö Niinistö is a Finnish politician who served as the president of Finland from 2012 to 2024.
Alexander McCall Smith, Rhodesian-Scottish author and educator
Sir Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith is a Rhodesian-Scottish legal scholar and author of fiction. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia and was formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law and bioethics and served on related British and international committees. He has since become known as a fiction writer, with sales in English exceeding 40 million by 2010 and translations into 46 languages. He is known as the creator of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. The "McCall" derives from his great-great-grandmother Bethea McCall, who married James Smith at Glencairn, Dumfries-shire, in 1833.
24/08/1947
Anne Archer, American actress and producer
Anne Archer is an American actress. Archer was named Miss Golden Globe in 1971, and in the year following, appeared in her feature-film debut The Honkers (1972). She had supporting roles in Cancel My Reservation (1972), The All-American Boy (1973), and Trackdown (1976), and appeared in Good Guys Wear Black (1978), Paradise Alley (1978), and Hero at Large (1980).
Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author and songwriter
Paulo Coelho de Souza is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist. He has been a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002. His 1988 novel The Alchemist is an international best-seller.
Roger De Vlaeminck, Belgian cyclist and coach
Roger De Vlaeminck is a Belgian former professional racing cyclist. He was described by Rik Van Looy as "The most talented and the only real classics rider of his generation". Nicknamed "The Gypsy" because he was born into a family of traveling clothiers, he is known for exploits in the cobbled classic Paris–Roubaix race, but his performances in other "Monument" races gave him a record that few can match. His record in Paris–Roubaix earned him another nickname, "Monsieur Paris–Roubaix".
Joe Manchin, American politician, 34th Governor of West Virginia
Joseph Anthony Manchin III is an American politician and businessman from West Virginia. Manchin served from 2001 to 2005 as the 27th secretary of state of West Virginia, from 2005 to 2010 as the 34th governor of West Virginia, and from 2010 to 2025 as a United States senator from West Virginia. Manchin was a Democrat throughout his political career until he became an independent in 2024.
Vladimir Masorin, Russian admiral
Vladimir Vasilyevich Masorin is a retired Russian admiral of the fleet who was Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy from 2005 to 2007. He was previously the Chief of the Main Staff and First Deputy Commander-in-Chief in 2005, and commanded the Black Sea Fleet from 2002 to 2005 and the Caspian Flotilla from 1996 to 2002. He was commissioned from the Nakhimov Black Sea Higher Naval School in Crimea in 1970, and commanded two destroyers, a destroyer brigade, and a squadron before reaching higher command. Masorin also graduated from the Grechko Naval Academy and the Russian General Staff Academy. As the head of the Russian navy he oversaw increased cooperation with NATO countries, for which he was made a Commander of the Legion of Merit by the United States.
24/08/1945
Ronee Blakley, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
Ronee Sue Blakley is an American actress, singer-songwriter, composer, producer and director.
Molly Duncan, Scottish saxophonist (died 2019)
Malcolm "Molly" Duncan was a Scottish tenor saxophonist, and founding member of Average White Band.
Ken Hensley, English rock singer-songwriter and musician (died 2020)
Kenneth William David Hensley was an English musician, singer, songwriter and producer, best known for his work with Uriah Heep during the 1970s.
Marsha P. Johnson, American gay liberation activist and drag queen (died 1992)
Marsha P. Johnson was an American LGBTQ activist, sex worker, and performer. Sometimes known as the "Saint of Christopher Street", she is considered an important figure in the LGBTQ and transgender rights movements due to her involvement in the Stonewall riots, her work with Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), and her advocacy for people with AIDS.
Vince McMahon, American wrestler, promoter, and entrepreneur; co-founded WWE
Vincent Kennedy McMahon is an American businessman and former professional wrestling promoter. McMahon, along with his later-estranged wife Linda, is co-founder of the modern WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Outside of professional wrestling, McMahon has occasionally ventured into promoting other sports. His projects have included the World Bodybuilding Federation and the XFL football league.
24/08/1944
Bill Goldsworthy, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (died 1996)
William Alfred Goldsworthy was a Canadian professional ice hockey right winger who played for three teams in the National Hockey League for 14 seasons between 1964 and 1978, mostly with the Minnesota North Stars. He retired from playing after two partial seasons in the World Hockey Association.
Gregory Jarvis, American engineer, and astronaut (died 1986)
Gregory Bruce Jarvis was an American engineer and astronaut who died during the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, where he was serving as payload specialist for Hughes Aircraft.
Rocky Johnson, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (died 2020)
Rocky Johnson was a Canadian professional wrestler. Among many National Wrestling Alliance titles, he was the first Black NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion as well as the NWA Television Champion. He won the WWF Tag Team Championship in 1983, along with his partner Tony Atlas, to become the first black tag team champions in WWE history. He was the father of actor and wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and the grandfather of wrestler Simone "Ava" Johnson.
24/08/1943
John Cipollina, American rock guitarist (died 1989)
John Cipollina was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. After leaving Quicksilver he formed the band Copperhead, was a member of the San Francisco All Stars and later played with numerous other bands.
24/08/1942
Max Cleland, American captain and politician (died 2021)
Joseph Maxwell Cleland was an American politician from Georgia. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a disabled U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, a recipient of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star for valorous actions in combat, as well as a United States senator (1997–2003).
Jimmy Soul, American pop-soul singer (died 1988)
Jimmy Soul was an American vocalist. He is best remembered for his 1963 number one hit, "If You Wanna Be Happy."
Karen Uhlenbeck, American mathematician
Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck ForMemRS is an American mathematician and one of the founders of modern geometric analysis. She is a professor emerita of mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin, where she held the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Regents Chair. She is currently a distinguished visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and a visiting senior research scholar at Princeton University.
Hans Peter Korff, German actor (died 2025)
Hans Peter Korff was a German actor in theatre, film and television. He worked at notable German theatres and became popular in TV series such as Diese Drombuschs.
24/08/1941
Alan M. Roberts, English academic, Professor of Zoology at the University of Bristol
Alan Madoc Roberts is an English academic serving as Emeritus professor of Zoology in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol.
24/08/1940
Madsen Pirie, British academic, President and co-founder of the Adam Smith Institute
Duncan Madsen Pirie is a British researcher and author. He is a co-founder and current president of the Adam Smith Institute, a UK neoliberal think tank which has been in operation since 1977.
Francine Lalonde, Canadian educator and politician (died 2014)
Francine Lalonde was a Canadian politician who served on both the provincial and federal levels. Prior to being elected, she was a lecturer, teacher, and unionist.
Keith Savage, English rugby player
Keith Frederick Savage is a former England international rugby union player.
24/08/1938
David Freiberg, American singer and bass player
David Freiberg is an American musician best known for contributing vocals, keyboards, electric bass, rhythm guitar, viola and percussion as a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, and Jefferson Starship. Among other tracks, he co-wrote "Jane", a hit for Jefferson Starship.
Mason Williams, American guitarist and composer
Mason Douglas Williams is an American classical guitarist, composer, singer, writer, comedian, and poet, best known for his 1968 instrumental "Classical Gas" and for his work as a comedy writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Saturday Night Live.
24/08/1937
Moshood Abiola, Nigerian businessman and politician (died 1998)
Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, also known as M. K. O. Abiola, was a Nigerian business magnate, publisher, and politician. He was the honorary supreme military commander of the Oyo Empire and an aristocrat of the Egba clan.
Susan Sheehan, Austrian-American journalist and author
Susanna Maria Sheehan was an American writer.
24/08/1936
A. S. Byatt, English novelist and poet (died 2023)
Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, known professionally by her former married name, A. S. Byatt, was an English critic, novelist, poet and short-story writer. Her books have been translated into more than thirty languages.
Kenny Guinn, American banker and politician, 27th Governor of Nevada (died 2010)
Kenneth Carroll Guinn was an American businessman, academic administrator, and politician who served as the 27th Governor of Nevada from 1999 to 2007. He previously served as interim president of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) from 1994 until 1995. Originally a Democrat, he joined the Republican Party before running for governor.
Arthur B. C. Walker Jr., American physicist and academic (died 2001)
Arthur Bertram Cuthbert Walker Jr. was an American solar physicist and a pioneer of EUV/XUV optics. He developed normal incidence multilayer XUV telescopes to photograph the solar corona. Two of his sounding rocket payloads, the Stanford/MSFC Rocket Spectroheliograph Experiment and the Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array, recorded the first full-disk, high-resolution images of the Sun in XUV with conventional geometries of normal incidence optics. This technology is used in solar telescopes such as SOHO/EIT and TRACE, and in the fabrication of microchips via ultraviolet photolithography.
24/08/1934
Kenny Baker, English actor (died 2016)
Kenneth George Baker was an English actor, comedian and musician. He portrayed the character R2-D2 in the Star Wars franchise and also appeared in The Elephant Man, Time Bandits, Willow, Flash Gordon, Amadeus and Labyrinth.
24/08/1933
Prince Rupert Loewenstein, Spanish-English banker and manager (died 2014)
Rupert, Prince zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, Count of Löwenstein-Scharffeneck was a Spanish-born Bavarian aristocrat and the longtime financial manager of the rock band the Rolling Stones.
24/08/1932
Robert D. Hales, American captain and religious leader (died 2017)
Robert Dean Hales was an American businessman and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1994 until his death. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Hales was accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. At the time of his death he was the fifth most senior apostle in the church.
Richard Meale, Australian pianist and composer (died 2009)
Richard Graham Meale, AM MBE FAHA was a highly regarded Australian composer of instrumental works and operas, and an influential music educator.
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, English cardinal (died 2017)
Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was a British Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Westminster from 2000 to 2009. He was also president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He was made a cardinal in 2001.
24/08/1930
Jackie Brenston, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (died 1979)
Jackie Brenston was an American singer and saxophonist who, with Ike Turner's band, recorded the first version of "Rocket 88" in 1951. It was noted in a subsequent interview that Brenston stated "I had a hit record and no sense".
Roger McCluskey, American race car driver (died 1993)
Roger McCluskey was an American IndyCar driver. He was raised in Tucson, Arizona.
24/08/1929
Betty Dodson, American author and educator (died 2020)
Betty Dodson was an American sex educator. An artist by training, she exhibited erotic art in New York City, before pioneering the pro-sex feminist movement. Dodson's workshops and manuals encourage women to masturbate, often in groups.
Pierre Mazeaud, French jurist, politician and alpinist
Pierre Mazeaud is a French jurist, politician and alpinist.
24/08/1927
Anjali Devi, Indian actress and producer (died 2014)
Anjali Devi was an Indian actress, model and producer in Telugu and Tamil films. She was well known for her role as the Devi Sita in Lava Kusa as well as for the title roles in movies like Chenchu Lakshmi, Suvarna Sundari and Anarkali.
David Ireland, Australian author and playwright (died 2022)
David Neil Ireland was an Australian novelist.
Harry Markowitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2023)
Harry Max Markowitz was an American economist who received the 1989 John von Neumann Theory Prize and the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
24/08/1926
Nancy Spero, American painter and academic (died 2009)
Nancy Spero was an American visual artist known for her political and feminist paintings and hand pulled prints.
24/08/1924
Alyn Ainsworth, English singer and conductor (died 1990)
Alyn Ainsworth was a British musician, singer and conductor of light entertainment music.
Louis Teicher, American pianist (died 2008)
Louis Milton Teicher was an American piano player, half of the piano duo Ferrante & Teicher.
24/08/1923
Arthur Jensen, American psychologist and academic (died 2012)
Arthur Robert Jensen was an American psychologist and writer. He was a professor of educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Jensen was known for his work in psychometrics and differential psychology, the study of how and why individuals differ behaviorally from one another.
24/08/1922
René Lévesque, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Premier of Quebec (died 1987)
René Lévesque was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to seek, through a referendum, a mandate to negotiate the political independence of Quebec. Starting his career as a reporter, and radio and television host, he later became known for his eminent role in Quebec's nationalization of hydro-electric companies and as an ardent defender of Quebec sovereignty. He was the founder of the Parti Québécois, and before that, a Liberal minister in the Lesage government from 1960 to 1966.
Howard Zinn, American historian, author, and activist (died 2010)
Howard Zinn was an American historian and a veteran of World War II. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn wrote more than 20 books, including his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States in 1980. In 2007, he published a version of it for younger readers, A Young People's History of the United States.
24/08/1921
Eric Simms, English ornithologist and conservationist (died 2009)
Eric Arthur Simms, DFC was an English ornithologist, naturalist, writer, sound recordist, broadcaster and conservationist, as well as a decorated wartime Bomber Command pilot/ bomb-aimer.
24/08/1920
Alex Colville, Canadian painter and academic (died 2013)
David Alexander Colville was a Canadian painter and printmaker.
24/08/1919
Tosia Altman, member of the Polish resistance in World War II (died 1943)
Tosia Altman was a courier and smuggler for Hashomer Hatzair and the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) during the German occupation of Poland and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
J. Gordon Edwards, American entomologist, mountaineer, and DDT advocate (died 2004)
J. Gordon Edwards was an American entomologist and proponent of the use and safety of the pesticide DDT. He was professor of entomology at San Jose State University for 40 years, and namesake to the university's entomology museum. He was an outspoken critic of Rachel Carson and efforts to ban DDT, famously eating the substance to demonstrate its safety to humans. He was also a noted mountain climber, spending nine seasons as a ranger-naturalist in Glacier National Park during the 1940s and '50s, and returning often to collect insects and map routes. His 1961 book A Climber's Guide to Glacier National Park, republished several times since, made him known as the "patron saint of climbing" in the park, where he died while hiking, aged 84.
Enrique Llanes, Mexican wrestler (died 2004)
Enrique Juan Yañez González , best known under the ring name Enrique Llanes, was one of the premier Hispanic professional wrestlers in the early days of Lucha Libre when most wrestlers were imported from outside of Mexico. Llanes held both the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Middleweight Championship during his career. Enrique Llanes is the brother-in-law to Gory Guerrero and uncle to Mando Guerrero, Chavo Guerrero, Sr., Hector Guerrero and Eddie Guerrero, his brothers Mario and Sergio Llanes also wrestled as did his son Javier Llanes. Llanes is credited with innovating the La Cerrajera submission hold.
Niels Viggo Bentzon, Danish composer and pianist (died 2000)
Niels Viggo Bentzon was a Danish composer and pianist.
24/08/1918
Sikander Bakht, Indian field hockey player and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (died 2004)
Sikander Bakht was an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who served as the 15th governor of Kerala from 2002 until his death. He was elected as the Vice President of the BJP, served as its leader in the Rajya Sabha, and as a cabinet minister in the NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In 2000, he was awarded Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour of the Government of India.
24/08/1915
Wynonie Harris, American singer and guitarist (died 1969)
Wynonie Harris was an American blues shouter best remembered as a singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. He had fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952. Harris is attributed by many music scholars to be one of the founding fathers of rock and roll. His "Good Rocking Tonight" is mentioned at least as a precursor to rock and roll.
James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Bradley Sheldon), American psychologist and science fiction author (died 1987)
Alice Bradley Sheldon, better known as James Tiptree Jr., was an American science fiction and fantasy author. It was not publicly known until 1977 that James Tiptree Jr. was a pen name of a woman, which she used from 1967 until her death. From 1974 to 1985, she also occasionally used the pen name Raccoona Sheldon. Tiptree was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2012.
24/08/1913
Charles Snead Houston, American physician and mountaineer (died 2009)
Charles Snead Houston was an American physician, mountaineer, high-altitude investigator, inventor, author, film-maker, and former Peace Corps administrator. He made two important and celebrated attempts to climb the mountain K2 in the Karakoram Range.
24/08/1909
Ronnie Grieveson, South African cricketer and soldier (died 1998)
Ronald Eustace Grieveson was a South African cricketer who played in two Tests in 1938–39. He was born and died in Johannesburg, South Africa. He attended Parktown Boys' High School in 1922 and thereafter attended St John's College, Johannesburg from 1923 until 1926 where he matriculated.
24/08/1908
Shivaram Rajguru, Indian activist (died 1931)
Shivaram Hari Rajguru was an Indian anti-colonial revolutionary and independence activist. He is best known for his involvement in the 1928 assassination of a British police officer named John P. Saunders. He was an active member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) and on 23 March 1931, he was hanged by the British government along with his associates Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev Thapar.
24/08/1907
Bruno Giacometti, Swiss architect, designed the Hallenstadion (died 2012)
Bruno Giacometti was a Swiss architect and the brother of the artists Alberto and Diego Giacometti. He was among the most notable post-World War II architects in Switzerland.
24/08/1905
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1974)
Arthur William "Big Boy" Crudup was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Glad You're Mine", later recorded by Elvis Presley and other artists.
Siaka Stevens, Sierra Leonean police officer and politician, 1st President of Sierra Leone (died 1988)
Siaka Probyn Stevens was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985, serving as Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was often characterized by patrimonial rule, violence, and self-indulgence, consolidating power by means of corruption and exploitation.
24/08/1904
Ida Cook, English campaigner for Jewish refugees, and romantic novelist as Mary Burchell (died 1986)
Ida Cook was a British campaigner for Jewish refugees and, as Mary Burchell, a romance novelist.
24/08/1903
Karl Hanke, German businessman and politician (died 1945)
Karl August Hanke was an official of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) during its rule over Germany who served as the fifth and final Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (SS). He also served as Gauleiter of Gau Lower Silesia from 1941 to 1945 and as Oberpräsident of the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia. Captured on 6 May 1945, he was shot and wounded during an escape attempt and then beaten to death by Czech guards on 8 June, after the war had ended.
24/08/1902
Fernand Braudel, French historian and academic (died 1985)
Fernand Paul Achille Braudel was a French historian. His scholarship focused on three main projects: The Mediterranean, Civilization and Capitalism (1955–79), and the unfinished Identity of France (1970–85). He was a member of the Annales School of French historiography and social history in the 1950s and 1960s.
Carlo Gambino, Italian-American mob boss (died 1976)
Carlo Gambino was a Sicilian crime boss who was the leader and namesake of the Gambino crime family of New York City. Following the Apalachin Meeting in 1957, and the imprisonment of Vito Genovese in 1959, Gambino took over the Commission of the American Mafia and played a powerful role in organized crime until his death from a heart attack in 1976. During a criminal career that spanned over fifty years, Gambino served only twenty-two months in prison for a tax evasion charge in 1937.
24/08/1900
Preston Foster, American actor (died 1970)
Preston Stratton Foster, was an American actor of stage, film, radio, and television, whose career spanned nearly four decades. He also had a career as a vocalist.
24/08/1899
Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator (died 1986)
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known works, Ficciones (transl. Fictions) and El Aleph, published in the 1940s, are collections of short stories exploring motifs such as dreams, labyrinths, chance, infinity, archives, mirrors, fictional writers, and mythology. Borges's works have contributed to philosophical literature and the fantasy genre, and have had a major influence on the magical realist movement in 20th century Latin American literature.
Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1983)
Albert Claude was a Belgian-American cell biologist and medical doctor who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1974 with Christian de Duve and George Emil Palade. His elementary education started in a comprehensive primary school at Longlier, his birthplace. He served in the British Intelligence Service during the First World War, and got imprisoned in concentration camps twice. In recognition of his service, he was granted enrolment at the University of Liège in Belgium to study medicine without any formal education required for the course. He earned his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1928. Devoted to medical research, he initially joined German institutes in Berlin. In 1929 he found an opportunity to join the Rockefeller Institute in New York. At Rockefeller University he made his most groundbreaking achievements in cell biology. In 1930 he developed the technique of cell fractionation, by which he discovered the agent of the Rous sarcoma, as well as components of cell organelles such as the mitochondrion, chloroplast, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, ribosome, and lysosome. He was the first to employ the electron microscope in the field of biology. In 1945 he published the first detailed structure of cell. His collective works established the complex functional and structural properties of cells.
24/08/1898
Malcolm Cowley, American novelist, poet, literary critic (died 1989)
Malcolm Cowley was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. His best known works include his first book of poetry, Blue Juniata (1929), and his memoir, Exile's Return, written as a chronicler and fellow traveller of the Lost Generation and an influential editor and talent scout at Viking Press.
24/08/1897
Fred Rose, American pianist, songwriter, and publisher (died 1954)
Knowles Fred Rose was an American musician, Hall of Fame songwriter, and music publishing executive.
24/08/1895
Richard Cushing, American cardinal (died 1970)
Richard James Cushing was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970 and was made a cardinal in 1958. Cushing's main role was as fundraiser and builder of new churches, schools, and institutions. Unlike his predecessor, he was on good terms with practically the entire Boston elite, as he softened the traditional confrontation between the Catholic Irish and the Protestant upper-class. He built useful relationships with Jews, Protestants, and institutions outside the usual Catholic community. He helped presidential candidate John F. Kennedy deflect fears of papal interference in American government if a Catholic became president.
24/08/1893
Haim Ernst Wertheimer, German-Israeli biochemist and academic (died 1978)
Haim Ernst Wertheimer was an Israeli biochemist.
24/08/1890
Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer, actor, and surfer (died 1968)
Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku was a Hawaiian competition swimmer, lifeguard, and popularizer of the sport of surfing. A Native Hawaiian, he was born three years before the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. He lived to see the territory's admission as a state and became a United States citizen. He was the world record holder of the 100-meters free style in swimming, and was a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming, winning medals in 1912, 1920 and 1924.
Jean Rhys, Dominican-British novelist (died 1979)
Jean Rhys was a British Creole novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she resided mainly in England, where she was sent for her education. She is best known for her final novel, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), written as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.
24/08/1888
Valentine Baker, Welsh co-founder of the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company (died 1942)
Captain Valentine Henry Baker MC AFC, nicknamed "Bake", served in all three of the British Armed Forces during the First World War. After the war he became a civilian flight instructor, and co-founder of the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company. He was the father of novelist Denys Val Baker.
24/08/1887
Harry Hooper, American baseball player (died 1974)
Harry Bartholomew Hooper was an American professional baseball right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB). Hooper batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Hooper was born in Bell Station, California, and he graduated from Saint Mary's College of California. He played for major league teams between 1909 and 1925, spending most of that time with the Boston Red Sox and finishing his career with the Chicago White Sox.
24/08/1884
Earl Derr Biggers, American author and playwright (died 1933)
Earl Derr Biggers was an American novelist and playwright. His novels featuring the fictional Chinese American detective Charlie Chan were adapted into popular films made in the United States and China.
24/08/1872
Max Beerbohm, English essayist, parodist, and caricaturist (died 1956)
Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic for the Saturday Review from 1898 until 1910, when he relocated to Rapallo, Italy. In his later years he was popular for his occasional radio broadcasts. Among his best-known works is his only novel, Zuleika Dobson, published in 1911. His caricatures, drawn usually in pen or pencil with muted watercolour tinting, are in many public collections.
24/08/1865
Ferdinand I of Romania (died 1927)
Ferdinand I, nicknamed the Unifier, was King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death in 1927. Ferdinand was the second son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, and Infanta Antónia of Portugal,. His family was part of the Swabian Catholic branch of the Prussian royal House of Hohenzollern.
24/08/1863
Dragutin Lerman, Croatian explorer (died 1918)
Dragutin Lerman was a Croatian explorer.
24/08/1862
Zonia Baber, American geographer and geologist (died 1956)
Mary Arizona "Zonia" Baber was an American geographer and geologist best known for developing methods for teaching geography. Her teachings emphasized experiential learning through field work and experimentation.
24/08/1860
David Bowman, Australian lawyer and politician (died 1916)
David Bowman was a Labor politician in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland and Queensland Leader of the Opposition from 1908 to 1912.
24/08/1852
Agnes Marshall, English culinary entrepreneur, inventor, and celebrity chef (died 1905)
Agnes Bertha Marshall was an English culinary entrepreneur, inventor, and celebrity chef. An unusually prominent businesswoman for her time, Marshall was particularly known for her work on ice cream and other frozen desserts, which in Victorian England earned her the moniker "Queen of Ices". Marshall popularised ice cream in England and elsewhere at a time when it was still a novelty and is often regarded as the inventor of the modern ice cream cone. Through her work, Marshall may be largely responsible for both the look and popularity of ice cream today.
24/08/1851
Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer and journalist (died 1924)
Thomas Kingston Kendall was an Australian cricketer, who played in two Test matches in 1877, including the inaugural Test which was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 1877.
24/08/1845
James Calhoun, American lieutenant (died 1876)
James Calhoun was a soldier in the United States Army during the American Civil War and the Black Hills War. He was the brother-in-law of George Armstrong Custer and was killed along with Custer in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. His brother-in-law Myles Moylan survived the battle as part of the forces with Major Marcus Reno and Captain Frederick Benteen.
24/08/1843
Boyd Dunlop Morehead, Australian politician, 10th Premier of Queensland (died 1905)
Boyd Dunlop Morehead was a politician in Queensland, Australia. He was Premier of Queensland from November 1888 to June 1890.
24/08/1837
Théodore Dubois, French organist, composer, and educator (died 1924)
Clément François Théodore Dubois was a French Romantic composer, organist and pedagogue.
24/08/1824
Antonio Stoppani, Italian geologist and scholar (died 1891)
Antonio Stoppani was an Italian Catholic priest, patriot, geologist and palaeontologist. He studied the geology of the Italian region and wrote a popular treatise, Il Bel Paese, on geology and natural history. He was among the first to propose a geological epoch dominated by human activities that altered the shape of the land.
24/08/1787
James Weddell, Belgian-English sailor, hunter, and explorer (died 1834)
James Weddell was a British sailor, navigator and seal hunter who in February 1823 sailed to latitude of 74° 15′ S- a record 7.69 degrees or 532 statute miles south of the Antarctic Circle- and into a region of the Southern Ocean that later became known as the Weddell Sea.
24/08/1772
William I of the Netherlands (died 1840)
William I was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1815 until his abdication in 1840.
24/08/1759
William Wilberforce, English philanthropist and politician (died 1833)
William Wilberforce was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, and became an independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Yorkshire (1784–1812). In 1785, he underwent a conversion experience and became an evangelical Anglican, which resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform.
24/08/1758
Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (died 1794)
Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was born a Princess and Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and by marriage Hereditary Princess of Denmark and Norway.
24/08/1714
Alaungpaya, Burmese king (died 1760)
Alaungpaya was the founder and first emperor of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma. By the time of his death from illness during his campaign in Siam, this former chief of a small village in Upper Burma had unified Burma, subdued Manipur, conquered Lan Na and launched successful attacks against the French and British East India companies who had given help to the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom. He added settlements around Dagon, and called the enlarged town Yangon.
24/08/1684
Sir Robert Munro, 6th Baronet, British politician (died 1746)
Sir Robert Munro, 6th Baronet was a Scottish military officer and politician whose life followed an 18th-century pattern. He fought in support of the Revolution Settlement and the House of Hanover, and their opposition to all attempts by the Jacobites to restore the House of Stuart either by force of arms or by political intrigue. He was killed at the Battle of Falkirk Muir in 1746.
24/08/1635
Peder Griffenfeld, Danish lawyer and politician (died 1699)
Count Peder Griffenfeld was a Danish statesman and royal favourite. He became the principal adviser to King Christian V of Denmark from 1670 and the de facto ruler of the dual kingdom of Denmark-Norway in the first half of the 1670s. In 1673 he was appointed as Chancellor of Denmark, elevated to count, the highest aristocratic rank in Denmark-Norway, and received the Order of the Elephant, the country's highest order. At the behest of his enemies at court, Griffenfeld was arrested in early 1676 and convicted of treason, a charge that historians agree was false. He was imprisoned for 22 years, mainly at Munkholmen in Norway.
24/08/1631
Philip Henry, English minister (died 1696)
Philip Henry was an English Nonconformist clergyman and diarist. His son Matthew Henry was a notable commentator on the Bible and also a Presbyterian minister.
24/08/1591
Robert Herrick, English poet and cleric (died 1674)
Robert Herrick was a 17th-century English lyric poet and Anglican cleric. He is best known for Hesperides, a book of poems. This includes the carpe diem poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time", with the first line "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may".
24/08/1578
John Taylor, English poet and author (died 1653)
John Taylor was an English poet who dubbed himself "The Water Poet".
24/08/1561
Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (died 1626)
Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk,, of Audley End House in the parish of Saffron Walden in Essex, and of Suffolk House near Westminster, a member of the House of Howard, was the second son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, by his second wife Margaret Audley, the daughter and eventual sole heiress of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, of Audley End.
24/08/1556
Sophia Brahe, Danish horticulturalist and astronomer (died 1643)
Sophia Thott Lange, known by her maiden name, was a Danish noblewoman and horticulturalist with knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, and medicine. She worked alongside her brother Tycho Brahe in making astronomical observations.
24/08/1552
Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter and educator (died 1614)
Lavinia Fontana was an Italian Mannerist painter active in Bologna and Rome. She is best known for her successful portraiture, but also worked in the genres of mythology and religious painting. She was trained by her father, Prospero Fontana. She is regarded as the first female career artist in Western Europe, as she relied on commissions for her income. Her family relied on her career as a painter, and her husband served as her agent and raised their 11 children. She was perhaps the first female artist to paint female nudes, but this is a topic of controversy among art historians.
24/08/1510
Elisabeth of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Calenberg-Göttingen (died 1558)
Elisabeth of Brandenburg was a Duchess consort of Brunswick-Göttingen-Calenberg by marriage to Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and Regent of the Duchy of Brunswick-Göttingen-Calenberg during the minority of her son, Eric II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, from 1540 until 1545. She is considered a "Reformation Princess", who, together with the Hessian reformer Anton Corvinus, helped the Reformation prevail in today's South Lower Saxony.
24/08/1498
John, Hereditary Prince of Saxony (died 1537)
John of Saxony, also known as "John the Younger" or "Hans of Saxony" was Hereditary Prince of Saxony from the Albertine line of the House of Wettin.
24/08/1423
Thomas Rotherham, English cleric (died 1500)
Thomas Rotherham, also known as Thomas (Scot) de Rotherham, was an English cleric and statesman. He served as bishop of several dioceses, most notably as Archbishop of York and, on two occasions as Lord Chancellor. He is considered a venerable figure in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, his town of birth.
24/08/1393
Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (died 1458)
Arthur III, more commonly known as Arthur de Richemont, was briefly Duke of Brittany from 1457 until his death. He is noted primarily, however, for his role as a leading military commander during the Hundred Years' War. Although Richemont briefly sided with the English once, he otherwise remained firmly committed to the House of Valois. He fought alongside Joan of Arc, and was appointed Constable of France. His military and administrative reforms in the French state were an important factor in assuring the final defeat of the English in the Hundred Years' War.
24/08/1358
John I of Castile (died 1390)
John I was King of Castile and León from 1379 until 1390. He was the son of Henry II and Juana Manuel of Castile. John ascended to the throne in 1379, and in 1383, he married Beatrice, the daughter of King Ferdinand I of Portugal. When Ferdinand died that same year, John, aiming to enforce his claim on the Portuguese crown through his wife, brought the country into the 1383–1385 Crisis. His forces faced resistance from Portuguese factions supporting John of Aviz. The conflict culminated in the Battle of Aljubarrota in 1385, where John suffered a defeat, ensuring Portugal's independence.
24/08/1198
Alexander II of Scotland (died 1249)
Alexander II (1198–1249) was King of Scotland from 1214 until his death. He was the son of William the Lion and Ermengarde de Beaumont, succeeding to the throne at the age of sixteen. He ruled for thirty-five years, during which time he began consolidating the Scottish kingdom. Alexander’s early reign was marked by conflict with John of England and his involvement in the First Barons' War. He supported the rebel English barons and campaigned mainly in northern England. Following John’s death in 1216, Alexander made peace with John's son and successor, Henry III of England, taking a more diplomatic approach between the two kingdoms. This was strengthened by his marriage in 1221 to Joan of England.
24/08/1113
Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (died 1151)
Geoffrey V, called the Fair, Plantagenet, and of Anjou, was the count of Anjou and Maine by inheritance from 1129, and also duke of Normandy by his marriage claim and conquest, from 1144.
24/08/1016
Fujiwara no Genshi, Japanese empress consort (died 1039)[citation needed]
Fujiwara no Genshi , born Princess Genshi (嫄子女王), was an empress consort (chūgū) of Emperor Go-Suzaku of Japan. She was the adopted daughter of Fujiwara no Yorimichi, and biological daughter of Imperial Prince Atsuyasu (敦康親王).