Born on Saturday, 13th December – Famous Birthdays
On this day, 134 notable people were born on 13th December — spanning from 1272 to 2009. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
December 13th marks the birth of several notable figures throughout history. Among those born on this date are Santi Cazorla, the Spanish footballer who became a key midfielder for Arsenal and Villarreal, and Sergei Fedorov, the Russian ice hockey player who achieved legendary status with the Detroit Red Wings during his distinguished career. Emma Corrin, the English actor known for portraying Princess Diana in the Netflix series The Crown, was also born on this date in 1995. More recently, Taylor Swift, the American singer-songwriter, was born on December 13th in 1989, going on to become one of the most commercially successful recording artists of her generation.
The historical record reveals a wealth of accomplished individuals born on December 13th across various centuries and disciplines. Ben Bernanke, the American economist who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve during the 2008 financial crisis, was born in 1953. Earlier still, George P. Shultz, who served as the 60th United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan, was born in 1920. Christopher Plummer, the Canadian actor and producer with a career spanning more than seven decades, arrived on this date in 1929.
The list extends further back in time to include several European figures of considerable historical importance. Heinrich Heine, the German journalist, poet and critic whose work significantly influenced European literature, was born on December 13th in 1797. Henry IV of France, who became the first Bourbon monarch and issued the Edict of Nantes, was born on this date in 1553. These individuals represent the diversity of achievement associated with this particular date, spanning arts, sciences, politics and athletics across multiple centuries.
DayAtlas provides comprehensive information about weather patterns, historical events, notable births and deaths for any date and location, making it a useful resource for historical research and daily context.
Discover who was born today 11th April.
13/12/2009
Maddox Batson, American singer and songwriter
William Maddox Batson is an American singer and songwriter. His debut single "Tears in the River" entered the top-twenty on Spotify's US Viral 50 chart and the song had approximately twelve million global streams by the end of 2024. As of April 2025, he has released an EP and seven singles.
13/12/2002
Brock Bowers, American football player
Brock Allen Bowers is an American professional football tight end for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). Bowers played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs, where he was a three-time All-American, two-time John Mackey Award winner, and won two national championships. He was selected by the Raiders in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft, setting rookie season records for receptions in a season and the most receiving yards by a tight end, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors in the process.
13/12/2001
Jayden Goodwin, Australian cricketer
Jayden Goodwin is an Australian cricketer. He made his first-class debut on 10 November 2021, for Western Australia in the 2021–22 Sheffield Shield season.
13/12/2000
Simona Waltert, Swiss tennis player
Simona Waltert is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of world No. 88, achieved on 20 October 2025, and a doubles ranking of No. 88, achieved on 27 October 2025. To date, she has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, one singles and five WTA 125 doubles titles.
13/12/1999
Marina Bassols Ribera, Spanish tennis player
Marina Bassols Ribera is a Spanish tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of No. 105 in singles, achieved on 5 February 2024, and of No. 194 in doubles, reached on 15 August 2022.
13/12/1996
Gleyber Torres, Venezuelan baseball player
Gleyber David Torres Castro is a Venezuelan professional baseball second baseman for the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the New York Yankees. Torres made his MLB debut in 2018 with the Yankees. He has been named an All-Star in 2018, 2019, and 2025.
13/12/1995
Emma Corrin, English actor
Emma-Louise "Emma" Corrin is an English actor who has worked on stage and screen. They gained international recognition for portraying Diana, Princess of Wales, in the fourth season of the Netflix historical drama The Crown (2020), for which they won a Golden Globe and a Critics' Choice Award, and received Primetime Emmy and Actors Award nominations. On screen, Corrin has since appeared in the romantic dramas My Policeman (2022) and Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022), the television series A Murder at the End of the World (2023), and the films Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), Nosferatu (2024) and 100 Nights of Hero (2025).
13/12/1993
Danielle Collins, American tennis player
Danielle Rose Collins is an American professional tennis player. She has reached career-high WTA rankings of world No. 7 in singles and No. 79 in doubles. Collins has won four singles titles, including a WTA 1000 title at the 2024 Miami Open, and one doubles title. She contested a major singles final at the 2022 Australian Open.
Jamal Fogarty, Australian rugby league player
Jamal Fogarty is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a halfback for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League.
13/12/1991
Dave Leduc, Canadian martial artist
Dave Leduc is a Canadian-Burmese Lethwei fighter. He is a former six-time Lethwei world champion who held the Openweight Lethwei World Championship and was undefeated under traditional rules KO to win. In 2014, Leduc first gained widespread notoriety by winning his fight in the controversial Prison Fight against an inmate inside Klongpai maximum security prison in Thailand. In 2016, he travelled to Myanmar to fight Burmese bareknuckle boxing, considered the world's most brutal sport, and defeated the reigning champion Tun Tun Min to become the first non-Burmese to win the Lethwei Golden Belt title. Leduc married Moldovan model Irina Terehova in a nationally televised traditional Burmese wedding ceremony in Yangon watched by 30 million viewers in Myanmar and became a superstar celebrity in the country. He is the biggest star in the sport of Lethwei and has been described as cultural phenomenon in Myanmar. Leduc headlined the two biggest combat events in Myanmar and Cambodia's history, with the Lethwei trilogy fight vs. Tun Tun Min in Myanmar and the Kun Khmer match vs. Prom Samnang in Cambodia, which Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Manet described as having contributed to strengthening the ties of friendship between Cambodia and Myanmar.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Russian ice hockey player
Vladimir Andreyevich Tarasenko is a Russian professional ice hockey player who is a right winger for the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL).
13/12/1990
Fletcher Cox, American football player
Fletcher Cox is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for 12 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, and was selected by the Eagles in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft. During his career, Cox won a Super Bowl, was selected to the Pro Bowl six times, and was named an All-Pro four times.
Joseph Garrett, English YouTuber, actor, and author
Joseph Mark Garrett, better known as Stampylonghead, Stampylongnose, Stampy Cat, or simply Stampy, is an English YouTuber, actor, and author best known for his Minecraft video game commentaries as the character of Stampy Cat. He is well known for his child-friendly demeanour and incorporating storytelling and education into the Let's Play format. In 2014, he was one of the ten most-watched YouTube channels in the world.
Arantxa Rus, Dutch tennis player
Arantxa Rus is a Dutch professional tennis player. She won one WTA Tour singles title at the 2023 Hamburg Open and four in doubles.
13/12/1989
Hellen Obiri, Kenyan runner
Hellen Onsando Obiri is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner. She is the only woman to have won world titles in indoor track, outdoor track and cross country. Obiri is a two-time Olympic 5,000 metres silver medallist from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she also placed fourth over the 10,000 metres. She is a two-time world champion after winning the 5,000 m in 2017 and again in 2019, when she set a new championship record. Obiri also took world bronze for the 1,500 metres in 2013 and silver in the 10,000 m in 2022. She won the 3,000 metres race at the 2012 World Indoor Championships, claimed silver in 2014, and placed fourth in 2018. She is the 2019 World Cross Country champion. Obiri triumphed in the 2023 Boston Marathon, her second marathon race. She places fifth in the half marathon on the world all-time list.
Katherine Schwarzenegger, American author
Katherine Eunice Schwarzenegger Pratt is an American author.
Taylor Swift, American singer-songwriter
Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. An influential figure in popular culture, she is known for her autobiographical songwriting and artistic reinventions. Swift is the highest-grossing live music artist, the wealthiest female musician, and one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
13/12/1988
Rickie Fowler, American golfer
Rick Yutaka Fowler is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He was the number one ranked amateur golfer in the world for 36 weeks in 2007 and 2008. On January 24, 2016, he reached a career high fourth in the Official World Golf Ranking following his victory in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. He is one of only four golfers to shoot 62 in a major championship, achieving the feat at the 2023 U.S. Open, played at the Los Angeles Country Club.
13/12/1987
James Holmes, American mass murderer
James Eagan Holmes is an American convicted mass murderer who perpetrated the 2012 Aurora theater shooting in which he killed 12 people and injured 70 others at a Century 16 movie theater on July 20, 2012. He had no known criminal background before the shooting occurred. Before the shooting, Holmes booby-trapped his apartment with explosives, which were defused one day later by a bomb squad.
13/12/1984
Santi Cazorla, Spanish footballer
Santiago Cazorla González is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for and captains La Liga club Oviedo. A former Spanish international, Cazorla operates primarily as an attacking midfielder, but also plays as a winger, central midfielder or as a deep-lying playmaker.
Hanna-Maria Seppälä, Finnish freestyle swimmer
Hanna-Maria Hintsa is a retired Finnish freestyle swimmer, who won the world title in the 100 m freestyle at the 2003 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain.
13/12/1983
Laura Hodges, Australian basketball player
Laura Ann Hodges is an Australian female professional basketball player, having played in Australia's Women's National Basketball League (WNBL), Europe, and the WNBA. She currently plays for the Adelaide Lightning in the WNBL. She currently sits on the board of the Australian Basketball Players’ Association
13/12/1982
Dan Hamhuis, Canadian ice hockey player
Daniel Hamhuis is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. A defenceman, he was drafted in 2001 by the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Ricky Nolasco, American baseball player
Carlos Enrique Nolasco is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida/Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, and Los Angeles Angels. He is of Mexican descent.
13/12/1981
Amy Lee, American singer, songwriter and pianist
Amy Lynn Lee is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the co-founder, lead vocalist, lead songwriter, and keyboardist of rock band Evanescence. A classically trained pianist, Lee began writing music at age 11 and co-founded Evanescence at 13, inspired by various musical genres and film scores from an early age. Lee has participated in other musical projects, including Nightmare Revisited and Muppets: The Green Album, and composed music for several films, including War Story (2014), Indigo Grey: The Passage (2015), and the song "Speak to Me" for Voice from the Stone (2017). She has also released the covers EP Recover, Vol. 1 (2016), the soundtrack album to War Story, the children's album Dream Too Much (2016), and collaborated with various artists including Korn, Seether, Bring Me the Horizon, Lindsey Stirling, Body Count, Wagakki Band, Halsey, Poppy, and Courtney LaPlante.
13/12/1978
Cameron Douglas, American actor
Cameron Morrell Douglas is an American actor.
13/12/1975
Tom DeLonge, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, author, and filmmaker
Thomas Matthew DeLonge is an American musician best known as the co-founder, co-lead vocalist, and guitarist of the rock band Blink-182 across three stints. He is also the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Angels & Airwaves, which he formed in 2005 after his first departure from Blink-182. DeLonge is noted for his distinctive nasal singing voice.
James Kyson, American actor
Kim Jae-hyeok, known professionally as James Kyson, is a South Korean and American actor, best known for his television work. Best known for his role as Ando Masahashi on the NBC television series Heroes, his guest appearances on television series include Hawaii Five-0, NCIS: Los Angeles, Sleepy Hollow, Elementary, and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. Earlier in his career, Kyson was credited as James Kyson Lee or James Kyson-Lee.
Matthew LeCroy, American baseball player and manager
Matthew Hanks LeCroy is an American former professional baseball catcher, first baseman, and designated hitter. He is currently the manager of the Rochester Red Wings, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.
13/12/1972
Matti Kärki, Swedish heavy metal singer
Matti Kärki, is a Swedish singer who is best known for his work with Dismember. Before he joined Dismember in 1991, he was the singer in the Swedish band Carnage (1989-1990). The first band fronted by Kärki was Therion in 1989. He also appears with the Autopsy-inspired Murder Squad since 1993. Furthermore, he was part of the experimental band Carbonized from 1988 to 1990. Kärki appeared as a guest-singer of Entombed and sang "But Life Goes On" on the Entombed show in Sala on 24 June 1990. Moreover, he was the bass player for General Surgery during 1988 to 1990, and joined again in early 2000 when the band was temporarily resurrected to record a song for the Carcass tribute album Requiems of Revulsion.
13/12/1971
Scott Sattler, Australian rugby league player
Scott Sattler is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played during the 1990s and 2000s, later becoming the Football Manager of the Gold Coast Titans. He is the son of South Sydney Rabbitohs great John Sattler. A Queensland State of Origin representative lock, he played his club football for the Gold Coast Chargers from 1992 to 1993 as well as a second spell with the club between 1997 and 1998. He also played for the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in 1994, the South Queensland Crushers between 1995 and 1996, the Penrith Panthers between 1999 and 2003 and one season with the Wests Tigers in 2004. He is the son of former player John Sattler.
13/12/1969
Sergei Fedorov, Russian ice hockey player and coach
Sergei Viktorovich Fyodorov is a Russian former professional ice hockey player and the former head coach of CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) from 2021 to 2024. During his playing career, for which he is best known for his 13 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, Fedorov was primarily a centre, but occasionally played as a winger or defenceman.
13/12/1967
Jamie Foxx, American actor, singer, songwriter, producer, and comedian
Eric Marlon Bishop, known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, singer, and film producer. He gained his career breakthrough as a featured player in the sketch comedy show In Living Color from 1991 to 1994. Following this success, he was given his own sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show, in which he starred, co-created and produced from 1996 to 2001.
13/12/1965
Petra Wimmer, Austrian politician
Petra Elfriede Wimmer is an Austrian politician and member of the National Council. A member of the Social Democratic Party, she has represented Hausruckviertel since November 2017.
13/12/1964
Krišjānis Kariņš, American-Latvian politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Latvia
Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš is a Latvian and American politician who served as the prime minister of Latvia from 2019 until 2023. A linguist and businessman by profession, he previously served as Latvia's minister of Economics and a Member of the European Parliament. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, United States, to parents who had left Latvia during the Soviet occupation, he was active in the American Latvian community throughout his youth.
13/12/1962
Rex Ryan, American football coach and analyst
Rex Ashley Ryan is an American former football coach and current analyst. Ryan was formerly the head coach of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL), and also held various coaching positions with seven other NFL and college teams.
13/12/1961
Gary Zimmerman, American football player
Gary Wayne Zimmerman is an American former professional football player who was a Hall of Fame offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) and United States Football League (USFL). He earned a Super Bowl ring with the Denver Broncos.
13/12/1960
Richard Dent, American football player
Richard Lamar Dent is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL), primarily for the Chicago Bears. He was the MVP of the Super Bowl XX. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
13/12/1959
Johnny Whitaker, American actor
John Orson Whitaker, Jr. is an American actor notable for several film and television performances during his childhood. The redheaded Whitaker played Jody Davis on Family Affair from 1966 to 1971. He originated the role of Scotty Baldwin on General Hospital in 1965, played the lead in Hallmark's 1969 The Littlest Angel, and portrayed the title character in the 1973 musical version of Tom Sawyer.
13/12/1957
Steve Buscemi, American actor and director
Steven Vincent Buscemi is an American actor, director, and producer. His accolades include two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and two Independent Spirit Awards.
Morris Day, American musician and actor
Morris E. Day is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of The Time.
13/12/1956
Phil Hubbard, American basketball player and coach
Philip Gregory Hubbard is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He won a gold medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics and after graduating from the University of Michigan, played for the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1979 to 1989. Hubbard later served as an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards from 2003 to 2009 and as the head coach of the Los Angeles D-Fenders in 2014–15.
13/12/1953
Ben Bernanke, American economist
Ben Shalom Bernanke is an American economist who served as the 14th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014. After leaving the Federal Reserve, he was appointed a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution. During his tenure as chairman, Bernanke oversaw the Federal Reserve's response to the 2008 financial crisis, for which he was named the 2009 Time Person of the Year. Before becoming Federal Reserve chairman, Bernanke was a tenured professor at Princeton University and chaired the Department of Economics there from 1996 to September 2002, when he went on public service leave. Bernanke was awarded the 2022 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, jointly with Douglas Diamond and Philip H. Dybvig, "for research on banks and financial crises", more specifically for his analysis of the Great Depression.
Bob Gainey, Canadian ice hockey player
Robert Michael Gainey is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens from 1973 until 1989. After retiring from active play, he became a hockey coach and later an executive with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars organization before returning to Montreal as general manager from 2003 to 2010. Currently, Gainey serves as a team consultant for the St. Louis Blues as well as a volunteer senior advisor for the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992. In 2017 Gainey was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.
13/12/1952
Junkyard Dog, American professional wrestler (died 1998)
Sylvester Ritter was an American professional wrestler and college football player, best known for his time in Mid-South Wrestling, where he would serve as a world heavyweight champion, and the World Wrestling Federation as the Junkyard Dog. He was known for entering the ring with his trademark chain attached to a dog collar, headlining cards that drew large crowds and regularly sold out the Louisiana Superdome and other major venues. WWE author Brian Shields called him one of the most electrifying and charismatic wrestlers in the country, particularly during his peak in the early 1980s. JYD was also known for his upper body strength, which saw him regularly bodyslam large wrestlers. The word "thump," which referred to JYD's powerslam, was prominently displayed on his wrestling trunks. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004.
Muhsin Kenon, American basketball player
Muhsin Kenon, is an American former professional basketball player, known in his playing career as Larry Kenon.
13/12/1950
Wendie Malick, American actress
Wendie Malick is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles in various television comedies. She starred as Judith Tupper Stone in the HBO sitcom Dream On and as Nina Van Horn in the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me!, with the latter earning nominations for two Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe Award.
13/12/1948
Jeff Baxter, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
Jeffrey Allen "Skunk" Baxter is an American guitarist, known for his stints in the rock bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s and Spirit in the 1980s. More recently, he has worked as a defense consultant and advised U.S. members of Congress on missile defense. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Doobie Brothers in 2020.
Lillian Board, British athlete (died 1970)
Lillian Barbara Board, was a British athlete. She won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and two gold medals at the 1969 European Championships in Athletics in Athens. Her career was cut short in 1970 when she developed the colorectal cancer that within months would claim her life at the age of 22.
Ted Nugent, American musician
Theodore Anthony Nugent is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He goes by several nicknames, including Uncle Ted, the Nuge, and Motor City Madman. Nugent initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional vocalist of the Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock and hard rock. After dissolving the band, he embarked on a successful solo career. His first three solo albums, Ted Nugent (1975), Free-for-All (1976) and Cat Scratch Fever (1977), as well as the live album Double Live Gonzo! (1978), were certified multi-platinum in the United States. His latest album, Detroit Muscle, was released in 2022. In 2023, he embarked on a farewell tour known as the "Adios Mofo Tour"; however, he has since continued to perform.
13/12/1945
Herman Cain, American businessman, politician, and activist (died 2020)
Herman Cain was an American businessman and Tea Party movement activist in the Republican Party.
13/12/1942
Howard Brenton, English playwright and screenwriter
Howard John Brenton FRSL is an English playwright and screenwriter, often ranked alongside contemporaries such as Edward Bond, Caryl Churchill, and David Hare.
Ferguson Jenkins, Canadian baseball player
Ferguson Arthur "Fergie" Jenkins is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher and coach. He played Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1965 to 1983 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox.
13/12/1940
Sanjaya Lall, Indian economist and academic (died 2005)
Sanjaya Lall was a development economist and Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford. Lall's research interests included the impact of foreign direct investment in developing countries, the economics of multi-national corporations, and the development of technological capability and industrial competitiveness in developing countries. One of the world's pre-eminent development economists, Lall was also one of the founding editors of the journal Oxford Development Studies and a senior economist at the World Bank.
13/12/1938
Gus Johnson, American basketball player (died 1987)
Gus "Honeycomb" Johnson Jr. was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and American Basketball Association (ABA). A 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), 235-pound (107 kg) forward who occasionally played center, Johnson spent nine seasons with the Baltimore Bullets before he split his final campaign between the Phoenix Suns and Indiana Pacers, where he won the ABA championship in his final game. Johnson did not come into the NBA until he was almost 25-years old. He was a five-time NBA All-Star by age 33, before chronic knee issues took their toll late in his career.
13/12/1937
Ron Taylor, Canadian physician and baseball player (died 2025)
Ronald Wesley Taylor was a Canadian professional baseball player, who went on to become a physician. Born in Toronto, Taylor was a pitcher over all or parts of 11 seasons (1962–1972) in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros, New York Mets and San Diego Padres. He was a key contributor to two World Series–winning teams: the 1964 Cardinals and the 1969 Mets. After retiring as a baseball player, he attended medical school at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1977. In 1979, he started a 30-year association with the Toronto Blue Jays as the team's physician. As a result of his pitching success, Taylor was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. He also served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Taylor was appointed a member of the Order of Ontario in 2005.
13/12/1936
Prince Karim al-Husayn Shāh, Aga Khan IV, Swiss humanitarian and religious leader (died 2025)
Shah Karim al-Hussaini, known simply as Aga Khan IV, was the 49th Imam of Nizari Isma'ili Shia Islam from 1957 until his death in 2025. He inherited the Nizari imamate and the title of Aga Khan at the age of 20 upon the death of his grandfather, Sultan Muhammad Shah. During his Imamate, he was also known by the religious title Mawlānā Hazar Imam by his Isma'ili followers.
J. C. Martin, American baseball player
Joseph Clifton Martin is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1959 to 1972. Martin played the bulk of his career with the Chicago White Sox, but is most prominent for his involvement in a controversial play that occurred during the 1969 World Series as a member of the New York Mets. He ended his career playing for the Chicago Cubs. After his playing career, he worked as a White Sox color commentator alongside Harry Caray on WSNS television in 1975.
13/12/1935
Türkan Saylan, Turkish physician and academic (died 2009)
Türkan Saylan was a Turkish medical doctor in dermatology, academic, writer, teacher and social activist. She was famous for fighting leprosy, and for founding a charitable foundation called "Association for the Support of Contemporary Living".
13/12/1934
Richard D. Zanuck, American film producer (died 2012)
Richard Darryl Zanuck was an American film producer. His 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy won the Academy Award for Best Picture. He was also instrumental in launching the career of director Steven Spielberg, who described Zanuck as a "director's producer" and "one of the most honorable and loyal men of our profession."
13/12/1933
Paul Bracq, French automotive designer
Paul Bracq is an automotive designer noted for his work at Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Citroën, and Peugeot.
13/12/1931
Ida Vos, Dutch Jewish author of books for children and adults (died 2006)[citation needed]
Ida Vos was a Dutch author. She wrote books for adults and children. In most of her books, Vos wrote about her experiences as a Jewish girl during the Second World War. Her best-known book was Wie niet weg is wordt gezien, which was awarded with a Dutch literature prize for children's books in 1982.
13/12/1929
Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor and producer (died 2021)
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. His accolades included an Academy Award, two Tony Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards, making him the only Canadian recipient of the "Triple Crown of Acting". He also received a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as a nomination for a Grammy Award.
13/12/1928
Solomon Feferman, American philosopher and mathematician (died 2016)
Solomon Feferman was an American philosopher and mathematician who worked in mathematical logic. In addition to his prolific technical work in proof theory, computability theory, and set theory, he was known for his contributions to the history of logic and as a vocal proponent of the philosophy of mathematics known as predicativism, notably from an anti-platonist stance.
13/12/1927
James Wright, American poet and academic (died 1980)
James Arlington Wright was an American lyric poet in the post-World War II decades. He often wrote about his experience of Depression-era poverty in the Midwest. His Collected Poems won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
13/12/1925
Dick Van Dyke, American actor, singer, and dancer
Richard Wayne Van Dyke is an American actor, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. His work spans screen and stage, and his awards include six Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award. He was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1993, and then the Television Hall of Fame in 1995. He was recognized as a Disney Legend in 1998. He has been honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2013, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2020.
13/12/1923
Philip Warren Anderson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2020)
Philip Warren Anderson was an American theoretical physicist who shared the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physics with Nevill Mott and John Van Vleck "for their fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems."
Larry Doby, American baseball player (died 2003)
Lawrence Eugene Doby was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who was the second black player to break baseball's color barrier and the first black player in the American League. A native of Camden, South Carolina, and three-sport all-state athlete while in high school in Paterson, New Jersey, Doby accepted a basketball scholarship from Long Island University. At 17 years of age, he began his professional baseball career with the Newark Eagles as the team's second baseman. Doby joined the United States Navy during World War II. His military service complete, Doby returned to baseball in 1946, and along with teammate Monte Irvin, helped the Eagles win the Negro League World Series.
13/12/1921
Turgut Demirağ, Turkish film producer, director and screenwriter (died 1987)
Turgut Demirağ was a Turkish film producer, director, and screenwriter. He directed 16 films between 1947 and 1973. His 1964 film Love and Grudge was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival.
13/12/1920
George P. Shultz, American economist and politician, 60th United States Secretary of State (died 2021)
George Pratt Shultz was an American economist, businessman, diplomat, and statesman who served in various positions under presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. A member of the Republican Party, he is one of the only two persons to have held four different Cabinet-level posts, the other being Elliot Richardson. As the 60th United States secretary of state, Shultz played a major role in shaping the foreign policy of the Reagan administration, and conservative foreign policy thought thereafter.
13/12/1919
Hans-Joachim Marseille, German captain and pilot (died 1942)
Hans-Joachim Marseille was a German Luftwaffe fighter pilot and flying ace during World War II. He is noted for his aerial battles during the North African Campaign and his bohemian lifestyle. One of the most successful fighter pilots, he was nicknamed the "Star of Africa". Marseille claimed all but seven of his 158 victories against the British Commonwealth's Desert Air Force over North Africa, flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter for his entire combat career. No other pilot claimed as many Western Allied aircraft as Marseille.
13/12/1916
Leonard Weisgard, American author and illustrator (died 2000)
Leonard Joseph Weisgard was an American writer and illustrator of more than 200 children's books. He is known best for his collaborations with writer Margaret Wise Brown.
13/12/1915
B. J. Vorster, South African lawyer and politician, 4th State President of South Africa (died 1983)
Balthazar Johannes Vorster, better known as John Vorster, was a South African politician who served as the Prime Minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978 and the fourth State President of South Africa from 1978 to 1979. Known as B. J. Vorster during much of his career, he came to prefer the anglicized name John in the 1970s. He was interned in 1942 by the South African government for his involvement in the pro-Nazi Ossewabrandwag, but Vorster denied this and said the official reason given to him was for being “anti-British”.
13/12/1914
Alan Bullock, English historian and author (died 2004)
Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock was a British historian. He is best known for his book Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (1952), the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which influenced many other Hitler biographies.
Larry Noble, English comedian and actor (died 1993)
Larry Noble was a Lebanese-born British stage comedian and actor best known for starring in the Whitehall farces with Brian Rix. He starred in the original production of Reluctant Heroes and as the chirpy French jockey in Dry Rot. On television, he made guest appearances in Last of the Summer Wine in 1975 and Blake's 7 in 1981. He died on 9 September 1993, aged 78.
13/12/1913
Archie Moore, American boxer and actor (died 1998)
Archie Moore was an American professional boxer and the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time. He had one of the longest professional careers in the history of the sport, competing from 1935 to 1963. Nicknamed "the Mongoose", and then "the Old Mongoose" in the latter half of his career, Moore was a highly strategic and defensive boxer. As of September 2025, BoxRec ranks Moore as the greatest light heavyweight boxer of all time.
13/12/1912
Luiz Gonzaga, Brazilian singer-songwriter and accordion player (died 1989)
Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, musician and poet and one of the most influential figures of Brazilian popular music in the twentieth century. He has been credited with having presented the rich universe of Northeastern musical genres to all of Brazil, having popularized the musical genre baião and has been called a "revolutionary" by Antônio Carlos Jobim. According to Caetano Veloso, he was the first significant cultural event with mass appeal in Brazil. Luiz Gonzaga received the Shell prize for Brazilian Popular Music in 1984 and was only the fourth artist to receive this prize after Pixinguinha, Antônio Carlos Jobim and Dorival Caymmi. The Luiz Gonzaga Dam was named in his honor.
13/12/1911
Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1999)
Trygve Magnus Haavelmo, born in Skedsmo, Norway, was an economist whose research interests centered on econometrics. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1989.
Kenneth Patchen, American poet and painter (died 1972)
Kenneth Patchen was an American poet and novelist. He experimented with different forms of writing and incorporated painting, drawing, and jazz music into his works, which have been compared with those of William Blake and Walt Whitman.
13/12/1908
Elizabeth Alexander, English geologist, academic, and physicist (died 1958)
Frances Elizabeth Somerville Alexander was a British geologist, academic, and physicist, whose wartime work with radar and radio led to early developments in radio astronomy and whose post-war work on the geology of Singapore is considered a significant foundation to contemporary research. Alexander earned her PhD from Newnham College, Cambridge, and worked in Radio Direction Finding at Singapore Naval Base from 1938 to 1941. In January 1941, unable to return to Singapore from New Zealand, she became Head of Operations Research in New Zealand's Radio Development Lab, Wellington. In 1945, Alexander correctly interpreted that anomalous radar signals picked up on Norfolk Island were caused by the sun. This interpretation became pioneering work in the field of radio astronomy, making her one of the first women scientists to work in that field, albeit briefly.
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Brazilian historian and activist (died 1995)
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira was a Brazilian intellectual and traditionalist Catholic activist, best known for the foundation of the Tradition, Family and Property organization.
Van Heflin, American film actor (died 1971)
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin Jr. was an American theatre, radio, and film actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man. Heflin won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Johnny Eager (1942). He also had starring roles in the westerns Shane (1953), 3:10 to Yuma (1957), and Gunman's Walk (1958). He portrayed a mentally disturbed airline passenger in the classic disaster film Airport (1970).
13/12/1906
Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (died 1968)
Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, later Duchess of Kent, was a Greek and Danish princess by birth and a British princess by marriage. A granddaughter of King George I of Greece and Queen Olga, she was the daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. In 1934, she married Prince George, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary. They had three children: Edward, Alexandra, and Michael. She was widowed in 1942, when her husband was killed in a plane crash while on active service, and remained active in royal duties throughout her later life, attending public engagements across the Commonwealth, including the independence celebrations for Ghana and Botswana. She died in 1968, aged 61.
Laurens van der Post, South African-English soldier and author (died 1996)
Sir Laurens Jan van der Post, was a South African Afrikaner writer, farmer, soldier, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer and conservationist. He was noted for his interest in Jungianism and the Kalahari Bushmen, his experiences during World War II, as well as his relationships with notable figures such as King Charles III and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. After his death, there was controversy over claims that he had exaggerated many aspects of his life, as well the revelation that he had impregnated a 14-year-old girl entrusted in his care.
13/12/1905
Ann Barzel, American writer and dance critic (died 2007)
Ann Barzel was an American writer, critic and lecturer on dance.
13/12/1903
Ella Baker, American activist (died 1986)
Ella Josephine Baker was an African-American civil rights and human rights activist. She was a largely behind-the-scenes organizer whose career spanned more than five decades. In New York City and the South, she worked alongside some of the most noted civil rights leaders of the 20th century, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, A. Philip Randolph, and Martin Luther King Jr. She also mentored many emerging activists, such as Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, and Bob Moses, as leaders in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
Carlos Montoya, Spanish guitarist and composer (died 1993)
Carlos García Montoya was a flamenco guitarist.
13/12/1902
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Greek philosopher and politician, 138th Prime Minister of Greece (died 1986)
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos or Panayotis Kanellopoulos was a Greek writer, politician and Prime Minister of Greece. He was the Prime Minister of Greece deposed by the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.
Talcott Parsons, American sociologist and academic (died 1979)
Talcott Parsons was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in sociology in the 20th century. After earning a PhD in economics, he served on the faculty at Harvard University from 1927 to 1973. In 1930, he was among the first professors in its new sociology department. Later, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Department of Social Relations at Harvard.
13/12/1901
Olev Roomet, Estonian singer, violinist, and bagpipe player (died 1987)
Olev Roomet was an Estonian musician, a violin player, a player of the torupill and a singer in the State Academic Male Choir of Estonia. He became interested in the Estonian bagpipe in his 50s. At the death of Aleksander Maaker in 1968, Roomer became the only living player of the torupill at that time.
13/12/1900
Jonel Perlea, Romanian-American conductor and educator (died 1970)
Ionel Perlea was a Romanian conductor particularly associated with the Italian and German opera repertories.
13/12/1897
Albert Aalbers, Dutch architect, designed the Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel (died 1961)
Albert Frederik Aalbers is a Dutch architect who created elegant villas, hotels, and office buildings in Bandung, Indonesia, during Dutch colonial rule in the 1930s. Albert Aalbers worked in the Netherlands between 1924 and 1930 and then migrated to the Dutch East Indies, after which he returned to the Netherlands in 1942 due to World War II and political circumstances following Indonesian independence. During his stay in Bandung, in a period when the city was dubbed the city of architecture laboratory, a number of his buildings were considered architectural masterpieces. Aalbers' style was inspired by expressionist Frank Lloyd Wright and modernist Le Corbusier. In Bandung, the DENIS bank in Braga Street and the Savoy Homann Hotel in Asia-Afrika Street, still carry Aalber's ocean wave ornamentation.
Drew Pearson, American journalist and author (died 1969)
Andrew Russell Pearson was an American columnist, noted for his syndicated newspaper column "Washington Merry-Go-Round". He also had a program on NBC Radio titled Drew Pearson Comments. He was known for his approach towards high-level politicians, such as senators, cabinet members, generals and American presidents.
13/12/1895
Lucía Sánchez Saornil, Spanish anarchist feminist (died 1970)
Lucía Sánchez Saornil, was a Spanish poet and anarcha-feminist activist, best known for co-founding the Mujeres Libres organisation together with Mercedes Comaposada and Amparo Poch y Gascón. Born into a working-class Madrilenian family, she taught herself from an early age and began writing poems for the burgeoning Futurist and Ultraist movements.
13/12/1887
George Pólya, Hungarian-American mathematician and academic (died 1985)
George Pólya was a Hungarian-American mathematician. He was a professor of mathematics from 1914 to 1940 at ETH Zürich and from 1940 to 1953 at Stanford University. He made fundamental contributions to combinatorics, number theory, numerical analysis and probability theory. He is also noted for his work in heuristics and mathematics education. He has been described as one of The Martians, an informal category which included one of his most famous students at ETH Zurich, John von Neumann.
Alvin C. York, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1964)
Alvin Cullum York, also known by his rank as Sergeant York, was an American soldier who was one of the most decorated United States Army soldiers of World War I. He received the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine gun nest, gathering 35 machine guns, killing at least 25 enemy soldiers, and capturing 132 prisoners. York's Medal of Honor action occurred during the United States-led portion of the Meuse–Argonne offensive in France, in which he intended to breach the Hindenburg line and force the Germans to surrender. He earned decorations from several Allied countries during the war, including France, Italy, and Montenegro.
13/12/1885
Annie Dale Biddle Andrews, American mathematician (died 1940)
Annie Dale Biddle Andrews was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.
13/12/1884
Aimilios Veakis, Greek actor, director, and playwright (died 1951)
Aimilios Veakis was a Greek actor. An active member of the National Liberation Front during the Axis occupation of Greece, he was persecuted for his leftist beliefs during the White Terror.
13/12/1883
Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian and bibliographer (died 1950)
Belle da Costa Greene was an American librarian who managed and developed the personal library of J. P. Morgan. After Morgan died in 1913, Greene continued as librarian for his son, Jack Morgan, and in 1924 was named the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library. Despite being born to black parents, Greene spent her professional career passing for white.
13/12/1882
Jane Edna Hunter, African-American social worker (died 1971)
Jane Edna Hunter, an African-American social worker, Hunter was born on the Woodburn Farm plantation near Pendleton, South Carolina. She was involved in the NAACP and NAACW. Jane Edna Hunter is widely Known for her work in 1911 when she established the Working Girls Association in Cleveland, Ohio, which later became the Phillis Wheatley Association of Cleveland.
13/12/1874
Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist and educator (died 1944)
Josef Lhévinne was a Russian pianist and piano teacher. Lhévinne wrote a short book in 1924 that is considered a classic: Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing.
13/12/1871
Emily Carr, Canadian painter and author (died 1945)
Emily Carr was a Canadian artist who was inspired by the monumental art and villages of the First Nations and the landscapes of British Columbia. She also was a vivid writer and chronicler of life in her surroundings, praised for her "complete candour" and "strong prose". Klee Wyck, her first book, published in 1941, won the Governor General's Literary Award for non-fiction and this book and others written by her or compiled from her writings later are still much in demand today.
13/12/1870
Edward LeSaint, American actor and director (died 1940)
Edward LeSaint was an American stage and film actor and director whose career began in the silent era. He acted in over 300 films and directed more than 90. He was sometimes credited as Edward J. Le Saint. LeSaint typically portrayed characters in roles of authority, including over 30 roles, both credited and uncredited, as a judge.
13/12/1867
Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian physicist and author (died 1917)
Kristian Olaf Bernhard Birkeland was a Norwegian space physicist, inventor, and professor of physics at the Royal Fredriks University in Oslo. He is best remembered for his theories of atmospheric electric currents that elucidated the nature of the aurora borealis. In order to fund his research on the aurorae, he invented the electromagnetic cannon and the Birkeland–Eyde process of fixing nitrogen from the air. Birkeland was nominated for the Nobel Prize seven times.
13/12/1864
Emil Seidel, American woodcarver and politician, 36th Mayor of Milwaukee (died 1947)
Emil Seidel was an American woodworker, patternmaker and politician. Seidel was the mayor of Milwaukee from 1910 to 1912. The first Socialist mayor of a major city in the United States, Seidel became the vice presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America in the 1912 presidential election.
13/12/1860
Lucien Guitry, French actor (died 1925)
Lucien Germain Guitry was a French actor.
13/12/1856
Svetozar Boroević, Croatian-Austrian field marshal (died 1920)
Svetozar Boroević von Bojna was an Austro-Hungarian field marshal who was described as one of the finest defensive strategists of the First World War. He commanded Austro-Hungarian forces in the Isonzo front, for which he was nicknamed the "Lion of Isonzo".
13/12/1854
Herman Bavinck, Dutch philosopher, theologian, and academic (died 1921)
Herman Bavinck was a Dutch Calvinist philosopher, theologian and churchman. He was a significant scholar in the Calvinist tradition, alongside Abraham Kuyper, B. B. Warfield, and Geerhardus Vos.
13/12/1836
Franz von Lenbach, German painter and academic (died 1904)
Franz Seraph Lenbach, after 1882, Ritter von Lenbach, was a German painter known primarily for his portraits of prominent personalities from the nobility, the arts, and industry. Because of his standing in society, he was often referred to as the "Malerfürst".
13/12/1830
Mathilde Fibiger, Danish feminist, novelist and telegraphist (died 1892)
Mathilde Fibiger was a Danish feminist, novelist, and telegraphist.
13/12/1818
Mary Todd Lincoln, 16th First Lady of the United States (died 1882)
Mary Ann Todd Lincoln was First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865. Mary Todd was born into a large and wealthy slave-owning family in Kentucky, although Mary never owned slaves and in her adulthood came to oppose slavery. Well educated, after finishing-school in her late teens, she moved to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. She lived there with her married sister Elizabeth Todd Edwards, the wife of an Illinois congressman. Before she married Abraham Lincoln, Mary was courted by his long-time political opponent Stephen A. Douglas.
13/12/1816
Werner von Siemens, German engineer and businessman, founded Siemens (died 1892)
Ernst Werner Siemens was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist. Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He founded the electrical and telecommunications conglomerate Siemens and invented the electric tram, trolley bus, electric locomotive and electric elevator.
13/12/1814
Ana Néri, Brazilian nurse and philanthropist (died 1880)
Ana Justina Ferreira Néri was a Brazilian nurse, considered the first in her country. She is best known for her volunteer work with the Triple Alliance during the Paraguayan War.
13/12/1804
Joseph Howe, Canadian journalist and politician, 5th Premier of Nova Scotia (died 1873)
Joseph Howe was a Nova Scotian journalist, politician, public servant, and poet. Howe is often ranked as one of Nova Scotia's most admired politicians and his considerable skills as a journalist and writer have made him a provincial legend.
13/12/1797
Heinrich Heine, German journalist, poet, and critic (died 1856)
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert.
13/12/1784
Archduke Louis of Austria (died 1864)
Archduke Louis, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia and Prince of Tuscany, was the 15th child of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, King of Hungary and Bohemia, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain.
13/12/1780
Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, German chemist, invented the Döbereiner's lamp (died 1849)
Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner was a German chemist who is known best for work that was suggestive of the periodic law for the chemical elements, and for inventing the first lighter, which was known as the Döbereiner's lamp. He became a professor of chemistry and pharmacy for the University of Jena.
13/12/1769
James Scarlett Abinger, English judge (died 1844)
James Scarlett, 1st Baron Abinger, was a British lawyer, politician and judge.
13/12/1724
Franz Aepinus, German astronomer and philosopher (died 1802)
Franz Ulrich Theodor Aepinus was a German mathematician, scientist, and natural philosopher residing in the Russian Empire. Aepinus is best known for his researches, theoretical and experimental, in electricity and magnetism.
13/12/1720
Carlo Gozzi, Italian playwright (died 1804)
Carlo, Count Gozzi was an Italian (Venetian) playwright and champion of Commedia dell'arte.
13/12/1678
Yongzheng Emperor of China (died 1735)
The Yongzheng Emperor, also known by his temple name Emperor Shizong of Qing, personal name Yinzhen, was the fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing emperor to rule over China proper.
13/12/1662
Francesco Bianchini, Italian astronomer and philosopher (died 1729)
Francesco Bianchini was an Italian philosopher and scientist. He worked for the curia of three popes, including being camiere d'honore of Clement XI, and secretary of the commission for the reform of the calendar, working on the method to calculate the astronomically correct date for Easter in a given year.
13/12/1640
Robert Plot, English chemist and academic (died 1696)
Robert Plot was an English naturalist and antiquarian who was the first professor of chemistry at the University of Oxford and the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum.
13/12/1585
William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (died 1649)
William Drummond, called "of Hawthornden", was a Scottish poet.
13/12/1560
Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, 2nd Prime Minister of France (died 1641)
Maximilien de Béthune Sully, 1st Prince of Sully, Marquis of Rosny and Nogent, Count of Muret and Villebon, Viscount of Meaux was a French nobleman, soldier, statesman, and counselor of King Henry IV of France. Historians emphasize Sully's role in building a strong, centralized administrative system in France using coercion and highly effective new administrative techniques. While not all of his policies were original, he used them well to revitalize France after the European wars of religion. Most, however, were repealed by later monarchs who preferred absolute power. Historians have also studied his Neostoicism and his ideas about virtue, prudence, and discipline.
13/12/1553
Henry IV of France (died 1610)
Henry IV, also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. He pragmatically balanced the interests of the Catholic and Protestant parties in France, as well as among the European states. He was assassinated in Paris in 1610 by a Catholic zealot, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII.
13/12/1533
Eric XIV of Sweden (died 1577)
Erik XIV or Eric XIV became King of Sweden following the death of his father, Gustav I, on 29 September 1560. During a 1568 rebellion against him, Erik was incarcerated by his half-brother John III. He was formally deposed by the Riksdag on 26 January 1569. Erik was also ruler of Estonia, after it placed itself under Swedish protection in 1561.
13/12/1521
Pope Sixtus V (died 1590)
Pope Sixtus V, born Felice Piergentile, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 April 1585 to his death, in August 1590. As a youth, he joined the Franciscan order, where he displayed talents as a scholar and preacher, and enjoyed the patronage of Pius V, who made him a cardinal. As a cardinal, he was known as Cardinal Montalto.
13/12/1499
Justus Menius, German Lutheran pastor (died 1558)
Justus Menius was a German Lutheran pastor and Protestant reformer whose name is Latinized from Jost or Just Menig.
13/12/1491
Martín de Azpilcueta, Spanish theologian and economist (died 1586)
Martín de Azpilcueta, or Doctor Navarrus, was a Navarrese canonist, theologian and economist.
13/12/1484
Paul Speratus, German Lutheran (died 1551)
Paul Speratus was a Swabian Catholic priest who became a Protestant preacher, reformer and hymn-writer. In 1523, he helped Martin Luther to create the First Lutheran hymnal, published in 1524 and called Achtliederbuch.
13/12/1476
Lucy Brocadelli, Dominican tertiary and stigmatic (died 1544)
Lucy Brocadelli, also known as Lucy of Narni or Lucy of Narnia, was a Dominican tertiary who was a mystic and a stigmatic. She has been venerated by the Roman Catholic Church since 1710. She is known for being the counselor of the Duke of Ferrara, for founding convents in two different and distant city-states and for her remains being returned to her home city of Narni on 26 May 1935, 391 years after her death.
13/12/1363
Jean Gerson, chancellor of the University of Paris (died 1429)
Jean Charlier de Gerson was a French scholar, educator, reformer, and poet, Chancellor of the University of Paris, a guiding light of the conciliar movement and one of the most prominent theologians at the Council of Constance. He was one of the first thinkers to develop what would later come to be called natural rights theory, and was also one of the first individuals to defend Joan of Arc and proclaim her supernatural vocation as authentic.
13/12/1272
King Frederick III of Sicily (died 1337)
Frederick III ; 13 December 1272 – 25 June 1337) was the regent of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1291 until 1295 and subsequently King of Sicily from 1295 until his death. He was the third son of Peter III of Aragon and served in the War of the Sicilian Vespers on behalf of his father and brothers, Alfonso ΙΙΙ and James ΙΙ. He was confirmed as king by the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302. His reign saw important constitutional reforms: the Constitutiones regales, Capitula alia, and Ordinationes generales.