What happened on 16th December?

On this day, 228 notable people were born on 16th December — spanning from 1364 to 2001. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

16/12/2001

Kai Cenat, American streamer

Kai Carlo Cenat III is an American online streamer, YouTuber, and internet personality who specializes in comedic live streams and videos. As of 2025, he is the most-subscribed Twitch streamer in the world, as well as the most-followed Twitch streamer with 20 million followers. He is a member of the streamer collective Any Means Possible (AMP).

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16/12/1998

Mira Antonitsch, Austrian tennis player

Mira Antonitsch is an inactive Austrian tennis player.

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Zhou Jieqiong, Chinese singer and actress

Zhou Jieqiong, known professionally as Jieqiong or Kyulkyung, is a Chinese singer and actress. She is best known as a member of the girl group I.O.I after finishing sixth in the survival show Produce 101. She also became a member of Pristin and its subgroup Pristin V. She made her solo debut with the single "Why" on September 6, 2018.

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16/12/1996

Wilfred Ndidi, Nigerian footballer

Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Süper Lig club Beşiktaş and captains the Nigeria national team.

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Sergio Reguilón, Spanish footballer

Sergio Reguilón Rodríguez is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami.

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Henry Thornton, Australian cricketer

Henry Thornton is an Australian cricketer who plays for the South Australian cricket team and the Adelaide Strikers. He made his List A debut for Cricket Australia XI against Pakistanis during their tour of Australia on 10 January 2017.

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16/12/1994

Nigel Hayes, American basketball player

Nigel Hayes-Davis is an American professional basketball player for Panathinaikos of the Greek Basketball League and the EuroLeague. He attended Whitmer High School in Toledo, Ohio and played college basketball for the Wisconsin Badgers.

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Nicola Murru, Italian footballer

Nicola Murru is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Serie C Group B club Gubbio.

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José Rodríguez, Spanish footballer

José Rodríguez Martínez is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Kategoria Superiore club Flamurtari.

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16/12/1993

Jyoti Amge, Indian actress

Jyoti Kishanji Amge is an Indian model and actress notable for being the world's shortest living woman according to the Guinness World Records.

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Stephan James, Canadian actor

Stephan James is a Canadian actor. After starring in a string of television series as a teenager, he rose to prominence upon winning a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor for his role as track and field sprinter Jesse Owens in the 2016 film Race.

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16/12/1992

Anamul Haque, Bangladeshi cricketer

Mohammad Anamul Haque Bijoy is a Bangladeshi cricketer. He is a wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman. He is the first player to score 1000 runs and most runs in a single List-A tournament.

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Tom Rogic, Australian footballer

Tomaš Petar Rogić is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

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16/12/1991

Craig Goodwin, Australian footballer

Craig Alexander Goodwin is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a left winger for Adelaide United and the Australia national team. Known for his agility, crossing and shot placement, he is Adelaide United's all-time leading goalscorer and considered one of the club's greatest players.

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David Johnson, American football player

David Jerome Johnson Sr. is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Northern Iowa Panthers and was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round of the 2015 NFL draft. Johnson spent five seasons with the Cardinals, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections in 2016. He also played for the Houston Texans and New Orleans Saints.

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16/12/1988

Mats Hummels, German footballer

Mats Julian Hummels is a German former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, he was known for his tackling, anticipation, goal scoring ability and deadly crosses.

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Anna Popplewell, English actress

Anna Popplewell is an English actress. She is known for portraying Susan Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia trilogy (2005–2010), which grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide and earned her a number of awards.

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Alexey Shved, Russian basketball player

Alexey Viktorovich Shved is a Russian professional basketball player for UNICS Kazan of the VTB United League. Standing at 1.98 m, he plays at both the shooting guard and point guard positions.

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16/12/1986

Alcides Escobar, Venezuelan baseball player

Alcides Escobar is a Venezuelan professional baseball infielder for the Centauros de La Guaira of the Venezuelan Major League. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, and Washington Nationals, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

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Pärt Uusberg, Estonian actor, composer, and conductor.

Pärt Uusberg is an Estonian composer, conductor, and actor. He is the chief conductor of Chamber Choir Head Ööd, Vend. He played Joosep in the film The Class.

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16/12/1985

Stanislav Manolev, Bulgarian footballer

Stanislav Lyubenov Manolev is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player. During his playing career, his primary position was at right-back.

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James Nash, English race car driver

James Elliott Martyn Nash is a British auto racing driver. On 16 October 2011, at the final round of the 2011 BTCC season, he clinched the independents' championship. In 2014, he is competing in the Blancpain Endurance Series for the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT.

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Amanda Setton, American actress

Amanda Setton is an American actress. She is known for her recurring role as Penelope Shafai on The CW's teen drama Gossip Girl (2008–2012), for her role as Kimberly Andrews on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live (2009–2011) and as Brook Lynn Quartermaine on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. She made her Off-Broadway debut in the comedy play Love, Loss, and What I Wore in late 2011 and was on the first half of season one of the Fox comedy The Mindy Project.

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16/12/1984

Theo James, English actor

Theodore Peter James Kinnaird Taptiklis is an English actor and producer. He gained recognition for playing Tobias Eaton in The Divergent Series (2014–2016). He has starred in the horror films Underworld: Awakening (2012) and Underworld: Blood Wars (2016), the science fiction film Archive (2020), and the dark comedy The Monkey (2025) in a dual role as a pair of twin brothers.

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16/12/1983

Kelenna Azubuike, Nigerian-American basketball player

Kelenna Azubuike is a Nigerian-American former professional basketball player and currently the Golden State Warriors television analyst on NBC Sports Bay Area.

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Frankie Ballard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Frank Robert Ballard IV is an American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has released two albums each for Reprise Records and Warner Bros. Records, and has charted eight singles on the Hot Country Songs charts.

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Joey Dorsey, American basketball player

Richard Elmer "Joey" Dorsey is an American former professional basketball player and coach, currently working for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a player development coach. He played college basketball for the University of Memphis.

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16/12/1982

Antrel Rolle, American football player

Antrel Rocelious Rolle is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes, earning unanimous All-American honors. He was selected by the Arizona Cardinals with the eighth overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft. Rolle also played for the Chicago Bears and New York Giants, winning Super Bowl XLVI with New York in 2011 over the New England Patriots.

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Anna Sedokova, Ukrainian singer, actress and television presenter

Anna Volodymyrivna Sedokova is a Ukrainian singer, actress, and television presenter. She rose to prominence in 2002 as a member of the Ukrainian pop girl group Nu Virgos—known as "VIA Gra" in both Ukraine and the Commonwealth of Independent States—in which she was nicknamed Anya (Аня). Following two years in the "golden line-up" of the group, she began pursuing a solo music career in 2006. Sedokova released a string of singles until her debut album Lichnoe (2016) was met with widespread commercial success, peaking at number two in Russia.

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Stanislav Šesták, Slovak footballer

Stanislav Šesták is a retired Slovak football striker, manager, as well as a club official and a local politician. Šesták last managed Slovakia's oldest club Tatran Prešov in 3. Liga - East.

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16/12/1981

Krysten Ritter, American actress, musician, and model

Krysten Alyce Ritter is an American actress, musician, author, and former model. After an early modeling stint, she appeared on the UPN noir mystery series Veronica Mars (2005–2006) and the CW comedy drama series Gilmore Girls (2006–2007). Her breakthrough role was Jane Margolis on the AMC drama series Breaking Bad (2009–2010), a character she reprised in its spinoff film El Camino (2019). She headlined the ABC sitcom Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 (2012–2013) before playing the character Jessica Jones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Jessica Jones (2015–2019), The Defenders (2017), and Daredevil: Born Again (2026–present). She also appeared in the Max miniseries Love & Death (2023).

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Reanna Solomon, Nauruan weightlifter (died 2022)

Reanna Solomon was a Nauruan weightlifter. She was the first female Nauruan athlete to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal, and remains one of the only three Nauruans ever to have won a Commonwealth Games gold, the others being Marcus Stephen and Yukio Peter.

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Gareth Williams, Scottish footballer

Gareth John Glyn Williams is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was capped five times for his country and last played for Watford in the Premier League, also playing for Nottingham Forest and Leicester City. His career was blighted and ultimately ended by knee injuries.

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16/12/1980

Danish Kaneria, Pakistani cricketer

Danish Parabha Shankar Kaneria is a Pakistani former cricketer who played for the Pakistan national cricket team between 2000 and 2010. A right-arm leg spinner who could bowl a googly, Kaneria played 61 Test matches for Pakistan and took 261 wickets at an average of 34.79. He was the second Hindu, after his cousin Anil Dalpat, and the seventh non-Muslim overall to represent Pakistan in international cricket.

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16/12/1979

Trevor Immelman, South African golfer

Trevor John Immelman is a South African retired professional golfer and television commentator who has played on the PGA Tour, European Tour and Sunshine Tour. He won his sole major championship at the 2008 Masters Tournament. He is the chairman of the Official World Golf Ranking board.

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Brodie Lee, American wrestler (died 2020)

Jonathan Huber, known professionally as Brodie Lee, was an American professional wrestler. Huber performed in WWE from 2012 to 2019 under the ring name Luke Harper and performed in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2020 under the name Mr. Brodie Lee.

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Daniel Narcisse, French handball player

Daniel Narcisse is a retired French handball player and French international from 2000 to 2017. He is a double Olympic champion, quadruple World champion and triple European champion, one of the most awarded French team handball players with nine international titles. He could play both centre back and left back.

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Mihai Trăistariu, Romanian singer-songwriter

Mihai Trăistariu, also known simply as Mihai, is a Romanian singer and songwriter. He represented Romania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Tornerò", finishing fourth, one of Romania's best results in the competition.

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Jessie Ward, American wrestler and producer

Jessie Lynn Whitney is an American television producer and retired professional wrestler.

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16/12/1978

John Morris, Canadian curler and firefighter

John C. Morris is a Canadian curler, and two-time Olympic gold medallist from Canmore, Alberta. Morris played third for the Kevin Martin team until April 24, 2013. Morris, author of the book Fit to Curl, is the son of Maureen and Earle Morris, inventor of the "Stabilizer" curling broom. Morris grew up in Gloucester, Ontario and at the age of five began curling at the Navy Curling Club.

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Gunter Van Handenhoven, Belgian footballer and manager

Gunter Van Handenhoven is a Belgian retired footballer and former team manager of Anderlecht. Since 18 October 2021 he was the assistant coach of Kortrijk and later got the same position at KV Mechelen.

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16/12/1977

Éric Bélanger, Canadian ice hockey player

Éric Bélanger is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played the majority of his professional career as a centre in the National Hockey League (NHL), representing the Los Angeles Kings, Carolina Hurricanes, Atlanta Thrashers, Minnesota Wild, Washington Capitals, Phoenix Coyotes and Edmonton Oilers. He was originally drafted in the fourth round, 96th overall, in the 1996 NHL entry draft by Los Angeles.

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Sylvain Distin, French footballer

Sylvain Distin is a French former professional footballer. He is left-footed and played as a centre-back, and was also capable of playing at left-back.

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16/12/1976

Jen Golbeck, American computer scientist and academic

Jennifer Golbeck is an American computer scientist and journalist. She is a professor at the College of Information, an affiliate professor in the Computer Science Department, and an affiliate professor in the Journalism Department, all at the University of Maryland, College Park. Golbeck was director of the University of Maryland Human–Computer Interaction Lab from 2011 to 2014.

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16/12/1975

Valentin Bădoi, Romanian footballer and manager

Valentin Emanoil Bădoi is a Romanian professional football manager and former player.

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Kaba Diawara, French-Guinean footballer

Kaba Diawara is a football manager and former player who played as a striker.

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Benjamin Kowalewicz, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist

Benjamin Ian Kowalewicz is a Canadian singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Billy Talent.

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Paul Maynard, English politician

Paul Maynard is a British politician who served from 2010 until 2024 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackpool North and Cleveleys. A member of the Conservative Party, he served Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pensions from 2023 to 2024. He previously as served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice in 2019 and for Transport from 2016 to 2018 and again from 2019 to 2020.

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16/12/1973

Themba Mnguni, South African footballer

Themba Mnguni is a retired South African football player who played mostly for Mamelodi Sundowns and Supersport United.

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Scott Storch, American songwriter and producer, founded Storch Music Company

Scott Spencer Storch is an American record producer and songwriter. Storch began his career as part of Philadelphia-based hip-hop band the Roots, which he joined as a keyboardist prior to the release of their 1993 debut album, Organix. He provided the keyboard riff and co-composed Dr. Dre's 1999 single "Still D.R.E.," and contributed in a similar role to several of the rapper's productions during late 1990s and early 2000s. Storch expanded his solo production work into the 2000s; he was credited on five Billboard Hot 100-number one singles—Beyoncé's "Baby Boy," Terror Squad's "Lean Back," 50 Cent's "Candy Shop," Mario's "Let Me Love You" and Chris Brown's "Run It!"—among other similarly successful chart entries throughout the remaining decade. Storch has been nominated for four Grammy Awards.

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16/12/1972

Charles Gipson, American baseball player

Charles Wells Gipson Jr. is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played 8 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners (1998–2002), New York Yankees (2003), Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2004), and Houston Astros (2005).

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Zeljko Kalac, Australian soccer player and manager

Zeljko Kalac is an Australian soccer coach and former player who is currently the goalkeeping coach for the Iraq national team. Standing at 2.02 m, Kalac is the tallest player to have represented the Australia national team.

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Paul Leyden, Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Paul Augustine Leyden is an Australian actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He is known for playing the role of Simon Frasier on the American daytime soap opera As the World Turns from 2000 to 2010.

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Travis Morrison, American singer-songwriter

Travis Morrison is an American musician and web developer from Northern Virginia, United States. He is best known as leader of indie-rock band The Dismemberment Plan and as a solo artist.

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16/12/1971

Seyhan Kurt, French-Turkish poet and sociologist

Seyhan Kurt is a French-Turkish poet, writer, anthropologist and sociologist.

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Paul van Dyk, German musician, producer and DJ

Matthias Paul, known professionally as Paul van Dyk is a German DJ, record producer and musician. Van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly added category of Best Dance/Electronic album for his 2003 release Reflections. He was voted World No. 1 DJ by DJ Magazine in its annual Top 100 DJs poll in 2005 and 2006. Also, he was the first DJ to be named number one by Mixmag in 2005. By 2008, he had sold over 3 million albums worldwide.

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Michael McCary, American R&B singer

Michael "Bass" McCary is an American musician known for being the former bass singer of the R&B group Boyz II Men, in which he was sometimes known as Mike Bass. He started having back spasms and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis during his time with the group. He continued singing with the group despite his illness until his departure in 2003. The group has stated they fired McCary because he missed shows. Since 2024, McCary has occasionally joined the group onstage. McCary is also a producer and songwriter, having worked on songs for artists such as Johnny Gill and Keith Martin.

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16/12/1970

Valerie Chow, Canadian-Hong Kong actress and publicist

Valerie Chow is a Hong Kong former actress, fashion publicist, and entrepreneur. In English language film and television roles, she was credited as Rachel Shane.

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Daniel Cosgrove, American actor

Daniel Thomas Cosgrove is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Scott Chandler on All My Children, Matt Durning on Beverly Hills, 90210, Bill Lewis on Guiding Light, Christopher Hughes II on As the World Turns and Aiden Jennings on Days of Our Lives.

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16/12/1969

Simon Grayson, English footballer and manager

Simon Nicholas Grayson is an English professional football manager and former player who is assistant coach of the Indonesia national team.

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Kent Hehr, Canadian politician

Kent Hehr is a former Canadian politician from Alberta. He served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for the riding of Calgary Centre from 2015 to 2019. Hehr was named Minister of Veterans Affairs in the federal Cabinet, headed by Justin Trudeau, on November 4, 2015, and was shuffled to be Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities in August 2017. Hehr resigned from cabinet on January 25, 2018, after allegations of workplace misconduct surfaced from when he was the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Calgary-Buffalo.

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Adam Riess, American astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic Nobel Prize laureate

Adam Guy Riess is an American astrophysicist and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute. He is known for his research in using supernovae as cosmological probes. Riess shared both the 2006 Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter and Brian Schmidt for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.

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Michelle Smith, Irish swimmer

Michelle Smith de Bruin is an Irish lawyer and retired Olympic swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, for the 400 m individual medley, 400 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley, and also won the bronze medal for the 200 m butterfly event.

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Dmitri Tymoczko, American composer and theorist

Dmitri Tymoczko is an American music theorist and composer. As a theorist, he has published more than two dozen articles dealing with topics related to contemporary tonality, including scales, voice leading, and functional harmonic norms. His article "The Geometry of Musical Chords" was the first music-theory article ever published by the journal Science. His music, which draws on rock, jazz, and romanticism, has been performed by ensembles such as the Amernet String Quartet, the Brentano Quartet, Janus, Newspeak, the San Francisco Contemporary Players, the Pacifica Quartet, and pianist Ursula Oppens.

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Craig White, English cricketer and coach

Craig White is an English former international cricketer. He is currently a cricket coach.

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16/12/1968

Wendy Doolan, Australian golfer

Wendy Doolan is a former Australian professional golfer who played mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour.

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Lalah Hathaway, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer

Eulaulah Donyll "Lalah" Hathaway is an American singer-songwriter and music producer. Credited as the "First Daughter of Soul", she is the first-born daughter of musician and soul singer Donny Hathaway.

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Greg Kovacs, Canadian bodybuilder (died 2013)

Gregory Mark Kovacs was a Canadian IFBB professional bodybuilder. According to Canadian bodybuilding publication, Muscle Insider, Kovacs retired from competitive bodybuilding in 2005 to start his own business and coach competitive athletes.

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16/12/1967

Donovan Bailey, Canadian sprinter and sportscaster

Donovan Bailey is a Jamaican-Canadian retired sprinter. He once held the world record for the 100 metres. He recorded a time of 9.84 seconds to become Olympic champion in 1996. He was the first Canadian to legally break the 10-second barrier in the 100 m. Particularly noted for his top speed, Bailey ran 12.10 m/s in his 1996 Olympic title run, the fastest ever recorded by a human at the time. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 as an individual athlete and in 2008 as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics 4 × 100 relay team. In 2005, he was also inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

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Indrek Kaseorg, Estonian decathlete

Indrek Kaseorg is a retired Estonian decathlete.

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Miranda Otto, Australian actress

Miranda Otto is an Australian actress. She is the daughter of actors Barry and Lindsay Otto and the paternal half-sister of actress Gracie Otto. Otto began her acting career in 1986 at age 18 and appeared in a variety of independent and major studio films in Australia. She made her major film debut in Emma's War in 1987 in which she played a teenager who moves to Australia's bush country during World War II.

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16/12/1966

Fatima Lamarti, Belgian politician

Fatima Lamarti is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of Vooruit, she has represented Flemish Brabant since June 2024.

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Paul McGinley, Irish golfer

Paul Noel McGinley is an Irish professional golfer. He has won four events on the European Tour. At the 2002 Ryder Cup, he famously holed a ten-foot putt on the 18th hole in his match against Jim Furyk at The Belfry which won the Ryder Cup for Europe. He was the winning captain of Europe in the 2014 Ryder Cup and the first Irishman to captain Europe's Ryder Cup side.

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Clifford Robinson, American basketball player (died 2020)

Clifford Ralph Robinson was an American professional basketball player who played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Selected in the second round of the 1989 NBA draft, he played the first eight seasons of his career with the Portland Trail Blazers, followed by stints with the Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, and New Jersey Nets. Robinson received the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 1993 and was selected as an NBA All-Star in 1994. He played college basketball for the UConn Huskies.

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Dennis Wise, English footballer and manager

Dennis Frank Wise is an English former professional football player and manager who played as a central midfielder. He spent the majority of his career at Chelsea, from 1990 to 2001.

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16/12/1965

Melanie Sloan, American lawyer and activist

Melanie Sloan is an American attorney, former counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, and the former executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit government ethics and accountability watchdog group. In March 2017, Sloan joined a new government ethics watchdog group, American Oversight, as senior adviser.

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J. B. Smoove, American comedian, writer, and actor

Jerry Angelo Brooks, known professionally as J. B. Smoove, is an American comedian, actor, and writer. After beginning his career in 1995 on Def Comedy Jam, he was a writer and performer on NBC's Saturday Night Live (2003–2006). He is best known for his starring roles on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm (2007–2024) and the CBS sitcom The Millers (2013–2015). He also portrayed a fictionalized version of himself on the BET improv-comedy reality television parody Real Husbands of Hollywood (2013–2016).

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16/12/1964

Heike Drechsler, German sprinter and long jumper

Heike Gabriela Drechsler is a German former track and field athlete who represented East Germany and later Germany. One of the most successful long jumpers of all time, she is a former world record holder and ranks third on the all-time list with her legal best of 7.48 metres in 1988. Her marginally wind-assisted jump of 7.63 metres (+2.1) in 1992 at altitude in Sestriere, is still the furthest a woman has ever long jumped. She is the only woman who has won two Olympic gold medals in the long jump, winning in 1992 and 2000.

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Todd Glass, American comedian

Todd Steven Glass is an American stand-up comedian.

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John Kirwan, New Zealand rugby player and coach

Sir John James Patrick Kirwan is a New Zealand mental health advocate, former rugby union and rugby league footballer, and former rugby union coach.

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Georgie Parker, Australian actress

Georgina Parker is an Australian television soap actress and has also appeared in film and theatre. She is a double Gold Logie winner, best known for her acting roles in Australian soap operas; as Lucy Gardiner in A Country Practice; as Theresa 'Terri' Sullivan in All Saints; and as Roo Stewart in Home and Away, as well as being a presenter on the children's program Play School.

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Billy Ripken, American baseball player and sportscaster

William Oliver Ripken, nicknamed "Billy the Kid", is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1987–1998 for the Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians (1995), and Detroit Tigers (1998). During his career, he batted and threw right-handed. He is the younger brother of Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. He serves as a radio host for XM Satellite Radio and a studio analyst for MLB Network.

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16/12/1963

Benjamin Bratt, American actor and producer

Benjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is known for playing Paco Aguilar in Blood in Blood Out. He had supporting film roles in the 1990s in Demolition Man (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994) and The River Wild (1994). From 1995 to 1999, he starred as NYPD Detective Rey Curtis on the NBC drama series Law & Order, for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

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Cathy Johnston-Forbes, American golfer

Cathy Johnston-Forbes is an American professional golfer.

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James Mangold, American director, producer, and screenwriter

James Allen Mangold is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Noted for his versatility in tackling a range of genres, Mangold made his debut as a film director with Heavy (1995), and gained recognition for the films Cop Land (1997), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Identity (2003), Walk the Line (2005), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), Knight and Day (2010), and two films in the X-Men franchise with The Wolverine (2013) and Logan (2017), the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

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Nadia Moscufo, Belgian politician

Nadia Moscufo is a Belgian trade unionist, politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of the Workers' Party of Belgium, she has represented Liège since June 2019.

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16/12/1962

Maruschka Detmers, Dutch-French actress

Maruschka Detmers is a Dutch actress. She moved to France as a teenager after finishing school, where she captured the attention of director Jean-Luc Godard. In 1983, she made her dramatic debut under Godard's direction in Prénom Carmen. Other noteworthy films include Hanna's War (1988) and The Mambo Kings (1992), but she is best known for her role in Devil in the Flesh (1986).

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William Perry, American football player and wrestler

William Anthony Perry is a former American professional football defensive tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons, primarily with the Chicago Bears. Nicknamed "the Refrigerator" due to his size, he played college football for the Clemson Tigers, winning ACC Player of the Year, and was selected by the Bears in the first round of the 1985 NFL draft. Perry gained popularity during his rookie season as a member of the 1985 Bears team that won the franchise's first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XX. During the season, Perry occasionally played fullback in goal line situations and set the record for the heaviest player to score a touchdown at 335 pounds (152 kg). He remains the heaviest player to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl and has the largest Super Bowl ring at size 23–25.

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16/12/1961

André Andersen, Russian-Danish keyboard player, songwriter, and producer

André Andersen is a Russian-born multi-instrumentalist and composer best known as the keyboardist and founder of the Denmark-based progressive metal band Royal Hunt. André started his "music life" at very young age and went the whole circle through studio sessions, live performances and literally anything in between, establishing a remarkable carrier which is still evolving, bringing him to every aspect, every corner of music industry.

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Shane Black, American actor, director, and screenwriter

Shane Black is an American screenwriter, film director, and actor, known for his distinctive style of action and action comedy films. He originated the Lethal Weapon franchise, and has also written such films as The Monster Squad (1987), The Last Boy Scout (1991), Last Action Hero (1993), and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). As an actor, Black is best known for his role as Hawkins in Predator (1987).

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Bill Hicks, American comedian and musician (died 1994)

William Melvin Hicks was an American stand-up comedian and satirist. His material— encompassing a wide range of social issues including religion, politics, and philosophy— was controversial and often steeped in dark comedy.

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LaChanze, American actress, singer, and dancer

LaChanze Sapp-Gooding, known professionally as LaChanze, is an American actress, theater producer, singer, and dancer. She won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2006 for her role as Celie Harris Johnson in The Color Purple. LaChanze has subsequently received four more Tony Awards for co-producing Kimberly Akimbo, Topdog/Underdog, The Outsiders, and Purpose.

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Sam Robards, American actor

Sam Prideaux Robards is an American actor. He is best known for his film roles in American Beauty (1999) and A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001). For his performance in the Broadway production of The Man Who Had All the Luck, he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

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Jon Tenney, American actor and director

Jonathan Frederick Tenney is an American actor. He played Special Agent Fritz Howard in TNT's The Closer and continued in its spin-off Major Crimes.

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16/12/1960

Sid Eudy, American professional wrestler

Sidney Raymond Eudy was an American professional wrestler, best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring names Sid Justice, Sid Vicious, and Sycho Sid. He was a two-time WWF Champion and two-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

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Pat Van Den Hauwe, Belgian footballer and manager

Patrick William Roger Van Den Hauwe is a former professional footballer who made 401 appearances in the Football League playing for Birmingham City, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Millwall. Born in Belgium and raised in England, he chose to play international football for Wales, making 13 appearances.

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16/12/1959

H. D. Kumaraswamy, Indian social worker and politician, 18th Chief Minister of Karnataka

Haradanahalli Devegowda Kumaraswamy is an Indian politician and film producer who is serving as the 21st Minister of Heavy Industries and 14th Minister of Steel of India since 2024. He also served as the 12th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 2018 to 2019 and previously from 2006 to 2007. He was also the leader of the opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from 2013 to 2014. He is currently the president of the Karnataka State Janata Dal (Secular). He is a member of Lok Sabha, having been elected from Mandya and the former member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Channapatna from 2018 to 2024, Ramanagara from 2004 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2018. He is the son of former Chief Minister of Karnataka & Prime Minister of India H. D. Deve Gowda.

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Alison La Placa, American actress

Alison La Placa is an American retired actress best known for playing Linda Phillips on the sitcom Duet and its spin-off Open House, playing Catherine Merrick in 49 episodes of The John Larroquette Show and the recurring role of Joanna, Rachel Green's boss who dated Chandler Bing on the sitcom Friends. Her last credit was in 2014.

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Alexander Lebedev, Russian businessman and politician

Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev is a Russian businessman, and has been referred to as one of the Russian oligarchs. Until 1992, he was an officer in the First Chief Directorate of the Soviet Union′s KGB and later one of the KGB's successor-agencies, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

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Steve Mattsson, American author and illustrator

Steve Mattsson is an American comic book writer and colorist.

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16/12/1958

Bart Oates, American football player and lawyer

Bart Steven Oates is an American former professional football player who was a center in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers. He played for the Giants from 1985 to 1993 and with the 49ers from 1994 to 1995. He was a member of the Giants teams that won Super Bowls XXI and XXV and the 49ers team that won Super Bowl XXIX. He is one of two players to be on both a Super Bowl-winning team and a team that won a championship in the original United States Football League (USFL).

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Jeff Ruland, American basketball player

Jeffrey George Ruland is an American former professional basketball player and coach, best known for his tenure as a player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) which saw him selected to two All-Star games. After playing college basketball for Iona, he started his professional career with FC Barcelona in the Liga ACB.

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16/12/1957

Antonio Vega, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2009)

Antonio Vega Tallés was a Spanish pop singer-songwriter.

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16/12/1956

Lizzy Mercier Descloux, French musician, singer-songwriter, composer, actress, writer and painter (died 2004)

Martine-Elisabeth Mercier Descloux was a French musician, singer-songwriter, and composer associated with New York City's late 1970s no wave music scene. She recorded several albums on ZE Records beginning with her 1979 debut Press Color.

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16/12/1955

Xander Berkeley, American actor and producer

Alexander Harper Berkeley is an American actor. Since beginning his career in the early 1980s, he has appeared in over 200 film and television projects. His films include Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Candyman (1992), Apollo 13, Barb Wire (1996), Air Force One (1997), Gattaca (1997), and Shanghai Noon (2000). He also appeared in the crime dramas L.A. Takedown (1989) and its remake Heat (1995), although he played a different character in each film. On television, he headlined the Citytv psychological thriller The Booth at the End (2010–2012) and was a series regular on the Fox action drama 24 (2001–2003) and The CW action thriller Nikita (2010–2012). As a guest star, Berkeley portrayed Sheriff Thomas McAllister on the CBS drama The Mentalist (2008–2013) and Gregory on the AMC post-apocalyptic horror The Walking Dead (2016–2018).

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Carol Browner, American lawyer and environmentalist, 8th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

Carol Martha Browner is an American lawyer, environmentalist, and businesswoman who served as director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. Browner previously served as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001. She currently works as a Senior Counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group, a global business strategy firm.

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Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este

Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este is a member of the Belgian royal family as the husband of Princess Astrid of Belgium. He is the head of the House of Austria-Este, a cadet branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine; he has held this position since 1996. He is a grandson of Emperor Charles I of Austria, the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.

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Chiharu Matsuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter

Chiharu Matsuyama is a Japanese folk singer and songwriter.

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16/12/1953

Rebecca Forstadt, American voice actress and screenwriter

Rebecca Forstadt is an American voice actress, best known for playing young female roles in various animated series.

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16/12/1952

Joel Garner, Barbadian cricketer and manager

Joel Garner is a former West Indian cricketer, and a member of the highly regarded late 1970s and early 1980s West Indies cricket teams. Garner is the highest ranked One Day International bowler according to the ICC best-ever bowling ratings, and is 37th in Tests. Garner was a member of the West Indies teams that won their second world title in the 1979 Cricket World Cup as well as finishing as runners-up at the 1983 Cricket World Cup.

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Francesco Graziani, Italian footballer and manager

Francesco "Ciccio" Graziani is an Italian football manager and former football player who played as a forward.

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16/12/1951

Aykut Barka, Turkish scientist (died 2002)

Aykut Barka was a Turkish geoscientist specialized in seismology. He is best known for his contributions to understanding the behaviour of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ), one of the most dangerous active faults in the world.

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Sally Emerson, English author and poet

Sally Emerson is an English novelist, anthologist and travel writer.

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Mike Flanagan, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (died 2011)

Michael Kendall Flanagan was an American professional baseball left-handed pitcher, front office executive, and color commentator. He spent 18 years as a player in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays (1987–1990).

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Robben Ford, American guitarist and songwriter

Robben Lee Ford is an American blues, jazz, and rock guitarist. He was a member of the L.A. Express and Yellowjackets and has collaborated with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Larry Carlton, Rick Springfield, Little Feat, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Kiss. He was named one of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20th Century" by Musician magazine.

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Mark Heard, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 1992)

John Mark Heard III was an American record producer, folk rock singer and songwriter from Macon, Georgia.

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16/12/1950

Claudia Cohen, American journalist (died 2007)

Claudia Lynn Cohen was an American gossip columnist, socialite, and television reporter. She is credited with putting the New York Post's Page Six gossip column on the map. The building housing the University of Pennsylvania's College of Arts and Sciences was renamed in her honor in 2008.

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Roy Schuiten, Dutch cyclist and manager (died 2006)

Roy Schuiten was a Dutch track and road racing cyclist. After retirement he became a team manager before starting a restaurant.

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16/12/1949

Billy Gibbons, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

William Frederick Gibbons is an American rock musician who is the guitarist, primary songwriter and vocalist, and a founding member of ZZ Top. He began his career in Moving Sidewalks, who recorded Flash (1969) and opened four dates for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Gibbons formed ZZ Top in late 1969 and released ZZ Top's First Album in early 1971. He has also maintained a solo career in recent years, starting with his first album Perfectamundo (2015).

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Heather Hallett, English lawyer and judge

Heather Carol Hallett, Baroness Hallett,, is a retired British judge of the Court of Appeal and a crossbench life peer. The first woman to chair the Bar Council and the fifth woman to sit in the Court of Appeal, Hallett led the independent inquest into the 7/7 bombings. In April 2019, she was appointed Chair of the Security Vettings Appeal Panel. In December 2021, she was announced as the chair of the public inquiry into the UK Government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 29 June 2022, the Government accepted Baroness Hallett's proposed terms of reference for the inquiry, with minor changes suggested by the devolved administrations.

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16/12/1947

Ben Cross, English actor (died 2020)

Harry Bernard Cross was an English actor. He was best known for his portrayal of the British Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire and for playing Billy Flynn in the original West End production of the musical Chicago.

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Vincent Matthews, American sprinter

Vincent "Vince" Edward Matthews is an American former sprinter, winner of two Olympic gold medals, at the 1968 Summer Olympics and 1972 Summer Olympics.

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Martyn Poliakoff, English chemist and academic

Sir Martyn Poliakoff is a British chemist known for his work on green chemistry and for being the main presenter on the popular YouTube channel Periodic Videos. The core subjects of his academic work are supercritical fluids, infrared spectroscopy and lasers. He is a research professor in chemistry at the University of Nottingham. As well as carrying out research at the University of Nottingham, he is a lecturer, teaching a number of modules including green chemistry.

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Trevor Żahra, Maltese novelist, poet and illustrator

Trevor Żahra is a Maltese novelist, poet and illustrator. He has published over 120 books in the Maltese language since 1971.

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16/12/1946

Benny Andersson, Swedish singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer

Göran Bror Benny Andersson is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia! For the 2008 film version of Mamma Mia! and its 2018 sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, he also worked as an executive producer. Since 2001, he has been active with his own band Benny Anderssons orkester.

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Charles Dennis, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Charles Dennis is a Canadian actor, playwright, journalist, author, director, and screenwriter.

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Trevor Pinnock, English harpsichord player and conductor

Trevor David Pinnock is a British harpsichordist and conductor.

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Tom Stern, American cinematographer

Thomas Evans Stern, ASC, AFC is an American cinematographer.

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16/12/1945

Tony Hicks, English singer and guitarist

Anthony Christopher Hicks is an English guitarist and singer who has been a member of the British rock/pop band the Hollies since 1963, and as such was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. His main roles within the band are lead guitarist and backing singer.

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16/12/1944

Jeff Kanew, American director and screenwriter

Jeffrey Roger Kanew is an American film director, screenwriter, film producer and film editor who early in his career made trailers for many films of the 1970s and is probably best known for directing the film Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and for editing Ordinary People (1980).

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Don Meyer, American basketball player and coach (died 2014)

Donald Wayne Meyer was an American college basketball coach who completed his career in 2010 as head coach of the men's team at Northern State University. He was previously head coach at Hamline University and Lipscomb University.

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16/12/1943

Steven Bochco, American television writer and producer (died 2018)

Steven Ronald Bochco was an American television writer and producer. He developed a number of television series, mostly crime dramas, including Hill Street Blues; L.A. Law; Doogie Howser, M.D.; Cop Rock; and NYPD Blue.

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Patti Deutsch, American actress and comedian (died 2017)

Patricia Deutsch Ross was an American actress who was known as a recurring panelist on the 1970s game shows Match Game and Tattletales.

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16/12/1942

Donald Carcieri, American educator and politician, 73rd Governor of Rhode Island

Donald Louis Carcieri is an American politician and corporate executive who served as the 73rd Governor of Rhode Island from January 2003 to January 2011. Carcieri has worked as a manufacturing company executive, aid relief worker, bank executive, and teacher. He is the most recent member of the Republican Party to have served as Governor of Rhode Island.

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16/12/1941

Lesley Stahl, American journalist and actress

Lesley Rene Stahl is an American television journalist. She has spent most of her career with CBS News, where she began as a producer in 1971. Since 1991, she has reported for CBS's 60 Minutes. She is known for her news and television investigations and award-winning foreign reporting. For her body of work she has earned various journalism awards including a Lifetime Achievement News and Documentary Emmy Award in 2003 for overall excellence in reporting.

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Roger Neil Wheeler, English general

General Sir Roger Neil Wheeler, is a retired British Army officer who served as Chief of the General Staff from 1997 to 2000. During his career he was involved in the Cyprus Emergency, directed military operations in Northern Ireland and led the UK's forces deployed on NATO operations in Bosnia. He is now a non-executive director of several businesses operating on an international basis.

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16/12/1939

Philip Langridge, English tenor (died 2010)

Philip Gordon Langridge was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio.

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Gordon Miller, English high jumper

Gordon Albert Miller is a former British high jumper who competed at the two Olympic Games.

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16/12/1938

Frank Deford, American journalist and author (died 2017)

Benjamin Franklin Deford III was an American sportswriter and novelist. From 1980 until his death in 2017, he was a regular sports commentator on NPR's Morning Edition radio program.

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Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress, director, and screenwriter

Liv Johanne Ullmann is a Norwegian actress and filmmaker. Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, whom she dated for five years. She acted in many of his films, including Persona (1966), Cries and Whispers (1972), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), The Passion of Anna (1969), and Autumn Sonata (1978).

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16/12/1937

Joyce Bulifant, American actress

Joyce Collins Bulifant is an American actress and author. In addition to recurring roles on television, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Marie Slaughter, Bulifant is recognized for film roles in The Happiest Millionaire and Airplane! and as a frequent panelist on game shows, including Chain Reaction, Match Game, and Password Plus.

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Edward Ruscha, American painter and photographer

Edward Joseph Ruscha IV is an American artist associated with the pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and film. He is also noted for creating several artist's books. Ruscha lives and works in Culver City, California.

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16/12/1936

Morris Dees, American lawyer and activist, co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center

Morris Seligman Dees Jr. is an American attorney, businessman, and civil rights activist who in 1971 co-founded, alongside Joseph J. Levin Jr., and served as its chief trial counsel, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

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16/12/1933

Gloria Romero, Filipino actress (died 2025)

Gloria Romero was an American-born Filipino actress. Regarded as the "Queen of Philippine Cinema", she has appeared in more than 300 film and television productions throughout her career that spanned seven decades. She was Philippines' highest paid and biggest box-office movie star during the Golden Age of Philippine cinema.

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16/12/1932

Grace Alele-Williams, Nigerian mathematician and academic (died 2022)

Grace Awani Alele-Williams OON, FMAN, FNAE was a Nigerian professor of mathematics education, who made history as the first Nigerian woman to receive a doctorate, and the first female vice-chancellor at any Nigerian university, at the University of Benin.

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Quentin Blake, English author and illustrator

Sir Quentin Saxby Blake is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his lasting contribution as a children's illustrator, Blake won the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. From 1999 to 2001, he was the inaugural British Children's Laureate. Blake is a patron of the Association of Illustrators.

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Lin Zhao, Chinese dissident and Christian executed during the Cultural Revolution (died 1968)

Lin Zhao, born Peng Lingzhao (彭令昭), was a prominent Chinese dissident who was imprisoned and later executed by gunshot by the People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution for her criticism of Mao Zedong's policies. She is widely considered to be a martyr.

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16/12/1930

Bill Brittain, American author (died 2011)

William E. Brittain was an American writer. He is best known for work set in the fictional New England village of Coven Tree, including The Wish Giver, a Newbery Honor Book.

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Sam Most, American flute player and saxophonist (died 2013)

Samuel Most was an American jazz flutist, clarinetist and tenor saxophonist, based in Los Angeles. He was "probably the first great jazz flutist", according to jazz historian Leonard Feather.

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Bill Young, American sergeant and politician (died 2013)

Charles William Young was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 until his death in 2013. A Republican from Florida, Young served as chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations from 1999 to 2005. He was the longest-serving Republican member of Congress at the time of his death.

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16/12/1929

Nicholas Courtney, Egyptian-English actor (died 2011)

William Nicholas Stone Courtney was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was best known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.

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16/12/1928

Terry Carter, American actor, director, and producer (died 2024)

John Everett DeCoste, known professionally as Terry Carter, was an African-American actor and filmmaker, known for his roles as Sgt. Joe Broadhurst on the television series McCloud and as Colonel Tigh on the original Battlestar Galactica.

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Philip K. Dick, American philosopher and author (died 1982)

Philip Kindred Dick was an American science fiction short story writer and novelist. He wrote 45 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines. His fiction explored varied philosophical and social questions such as the nature of reality, perception, human nature, and identity, and commonly featured characters struggling against alternate realities, illusory environments, monopolistic corporations, drug abuse, authoritarian governments, and altered states of consciousness. He is considered one of the most important figures in 20th-century science fiction.

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16/12/1927

Peter Dickinson, Rhodesian-English author and poet (died 2015)

Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL was an English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories.

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Randall Garrett, American author and poet (died 1987)

Gordon Randall Phillip David Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and '60s. He instructed Robert Silverberg in the techniques of selling large quantities of action-adventure science fiction, and collaborated with him on two novels about men from Earth disrupting a peaceful agrarian civilization on an alien planet.

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16/12/1926

James McCracken, American tenor and actor (died 1988)

James McCracken was an American operatic tenor. At the time of his death The New York Times stated that McCracken was "the most successful dramatic tenor yet produced by the United States and a pillar of the Metropolitan Opera during the 1960s and 1970s."

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A. N. R. Robinson, Tobagonian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (died 2014)

Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson, was a Trinidad and Tobago politician who served as the third President of Trinidad and Tobago from 1997 to 2003 and the third Prime Minister from 1986 to 1991. He is known for his resilience within the government, resigning from Eric Williams’ administration in 1970 promoted by the State of Emergency imposed on Black Power protests, and is recognized for his proposal that led to the establishment of the International Criminal Court. He is also remembered for being held hostage during the 1990 Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt, during which he ordered the army to “attack with full force” while being held at gunpoint.

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Jeffrey Stone, American actor and screenwriter (died 2012)

Jeffrey Stone was an American actor and voice-over artist. Stone was the model and inspiration for Prince Charming in the 1950 Walt Disney animated feature film, Cinderella. While he did not voice the character in the film, Stone did provide some of the film's additional voices.

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16/12/1924

Nicolas Sidjakov, Latvian-American illustrator (died 1993)

Nicolas Sidjakov was an American commercial artist and illustrator. He was a co-founder of Sidjakov & Berman Associates and later Sidjakov, Berman & Gomez design firms.

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16/12/1923

Menahem Pressler, German-American pianist (died 2023)

Menahem Pressler was a German-born Israeli-American pianist and university instructor. He co-founded the Beaux Arts Trio in 1955 and performed with the group until its dissolution in 2008, playing in hundreds of recordings and concerts. He taught at Indiana University Bloomington, and his playing was described as focused on elegance, delicacy, and clarity.

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Ernst Florian Winter, Austrian-American historian and political scientist (died 2014)

Ernst Florian Winter was an American historian and political scientist, the first director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna after World War II, and chairman of the International Council of the Austrian Service Abroad.

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16/12/1922

Cy Leslie, American record producer, founded Pickwick Records (died 2008)

Seymour Marvin "Cy" Leslie was an American businessman, the founder of Pickwick Records, and the first president and founder of MGM/UA Home Entertainment Group. Pickwick Records aimed to make music more affordable, and carried such artists as Elvis Presley at various times. MGM Home Video was one of the first companies to enter the home video business, which today has become the home entertainment industry including DVD and other sales. He began his career by founding Voco Records, producing record greeting cards, and later children's records. He was Jewish.

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16/12/1921

Eulalio González, Mexican singer-songwriter, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2003)

Eulalio "Lalo" González Ramírez, nicknamed "Piporro", was a Mexican actor, comedian, singer-songwriter, screenwriter, announcer, film director, and film producer.

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16/12/1920

Frederick Rotimi Williams, Nigerian lawyer and politician (died 2005)

Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams, QC, SAN was a prominent Nigerian lawyer who was the first Nigerian to become a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. In the 1950s, he was a member of the Action Group and subsequently became the minister for local government and justice. He was the president of the Nigerian Bar Association in 1959. He left politics in the 1960s, as a result of the political crisis in the Western Region of Nigeria.

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16/12/1917

Nabi Bux Khan Baloch, Pakistani author and scholar (died 2011)

Nabi Bakhsh Khan Baloch was a Pakistani research scholar, historian, Sindhologist, educationist, linguist and writer. He predominantly wrote in Sindhi, but also in Urdu, English, Persian and Arabic. He has been described as the "moving library" of the Pakistani province of Sindh.

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Pete T. Cenarrusa, American soldier, pilot, and politician, Secretary of State of Idaho (died 2013)

Pete Thomas Cenarrusa was an American politician from Idaho. He served continuously for over half a century in elective office, first as a member of the Idaho Legislature and then as Secretary of State. He was a member of the Republican Party.

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Arthur C. Clarke, English science fiction writer (died 2008)

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.

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16/12/1916

Ruth Johnson Colvin, American author and educator, founded ProLiteracy Worldwide (died 2024)

Ruth Johnson Colvin was an American philanthropist who was the founder of the non-profit organization Literacy Volunteers of America, now called ProLiteracy Worldwide in Syracuse, New York, in 1962. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in December 2006.

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16/12/1914

O. Winston Link, American photographer (died 2001)

Ogle Winston Link, known commonly as O. Winston Link, was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photography and sound recordings of the last days of steam locomotive railroading on the Norfolk and Western in the United States in the late 1950s. A commercial photographer, Link helped establish rail photography as a hobby. He also pioneered night photography, producing several well-known examples including Hotshot Eastbound, a photograph of a steam train passing a drive-in movie theater, and Hawksbill Creek Swimming Hole showing a train crossing a bridge above children bathing.

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16/12/1913

George Ignatieff, Russian-Canadian scholar and diplomat, 8th Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations (died 1989)

Count George Pavlovich Ignatieff was a Russian-born Canadian diplomat. His career spanned nearly five decades in World War II and the postwar period.

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16/12/1910

Freddie Brown, Peruvian-English cricketer and sportscaster (died 1991)

Frederick Richard Brown was an English amateur cricketer who played Test cricket for England from 1931 to 1953, and first-class cricket for Cambridge University (1930–31), Surrey (1931–48), and Northamptonshire (1949–53). He was a genuine all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling either right-arm medium pace or leg break and googly.

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16/12/1908

Remedios Varo, Spanish-Mexican surrealist painter & anarchist (died 1963)

María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga was a Spanish surrealist painter, writer, and graphic artist. Her work features Surrealist worlds, where science, mysticism, and magic mix together.

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16/12/1907

Barbara Kent, Canadian-born American film actress (died 2011)

Barbara Kent was a Canadian film actress, prominent from the silent film era to the early talkies of the 1920s and 1930s. In 1925, Barbara Kent won the Miss Hollywood Beauty Pageant.

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16/12/1905

Piet Hein, Danish mathematician, author, and poet (died 1996)

Piet Hein was a Danish polymath, often writing under the Old Norse pseudonym Kumbel, meaning "tombstone". His short poems, known as gruks or grooks, first started to appear in the daily newspaper Politiken shortly after the German occupation of Denmark in April 1940 under the pseudonym "Kumbel Kumbell". He also invented the Soma cube and the board game Hex.

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Ruben Nirvi, Finnish linguist and professor (died 1986)

Ruben Erik Nirvi was a Finnish linguist. He was the deputy of Finnish philology at the University of Helsinki from 1955 to 1957 and the personal additional professor of the Finnish language from 1957 to 1972. He was a special expert on Finnish, especially the Ingrian dialects. He defended his thesis Sanankieltoja ja niihin liittyviä kielenilmiöitä itämerensuomalaisissa kielissä: Riista- ja kotieläintalous.

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16/12/1903

Hardie Albright, American actor (died 1975)

Hardie Hunter Albright was an American actor.

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Harold Whitlock, English race walker and coach (died 1985)

Hector Harold Whitlock was a British athlete who competed mainly in the 50 kilometre walk. He attended Hendon School, then Hendon County School, in North London, where he planted in 1936 an oak tree sapling presented to him, along with his gold medal, by Adolf Hitler at the Olympic Games.

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16/12/1902

Rafael Alberti, Spanish poet and playwright (died 1999)

Rafael Alberti Merello was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. He is considered one of the greatest literary figures of the so-called Silver Age of Spanish Literature, and he won numerous prizes and awards. He died aged 96. After the Spanish Civil War, he went into exile because of his Marxist beliefs. On his return to Spain after the death of Franco, Alberti was named Hijo Predilecto de Andalucía in 1983, and Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universidad de Cádiz in 1985.

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16/12/1901

Margaret Mead, American anthropologist and author (died 1978)

Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, author and speaker, who appeared frequently in the mass media during the mid-twentieth century.

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16/12/1900

Lucille Lortel, American actress and producer (died 1999)

Lucille Lortel was an American actress, artistic director, and theatrical producer. In the course of her career Lortel produced or co-produced nearly 500 plays, five of which were nominated for Tony Awards: As Is by William M. Hoffman, Angels Fall by Lanford Wilson, Blood Knot by Athol Fugard, Mbongeni Ngema's Sarafina!, and A Walk in the Woods by Lee Blessing. She also produced Marc Blitzstein's adaptation of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, a production which ran for seven years and according to The New York Times "caused such a sensation that it...put Off-Broadway on the map."

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V. S. Pritchett, British writer and literary critic (died 1997)

Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett was a British writer and literary critic.

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16/12/1899

Noël Coward, English actor, playwright, and composer (died 1973)

Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".

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16/12/1896

Anna Anderson, an imposter who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (died 1984)

Anna Anderson was an impostor who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, Nicholas II and Alexandra, was murdered along with her parents and siblings on 17 July 1918 by Bolshevik revolutionaries in Yekaterinburg, Russia, but the location of her body was unknown until 2007.

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16/12/1895

Marie Hall Ets, American author and illustrator (died 1984)

Marie Hall Ets was an American writer and illustrator who is best known for children's picture books.

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16/12/1889

Kim Chwa-chin, South Korean guerrilla leader (died 1930)

Kim Chwajin, also known by his art name Paegya, was a Korean military officer, independence activist, and anarchist. Born into a noble family in the kingdom of Joseon, Kim was educated at the military academy of the newly-founded Korean Empire shortly before the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910. After spending three years in prison for freeing his family's slaves, he joined the Korean independence movement and went to Manchuria to fight against the Empire of Japan. While in Manchuria, Kim established the Northern Military Administration Office in 1919 and trained Korean soldiers in guerrilla warfare before going on to lead the Korean Independence Army to victory in the Battle of Cheongsanri.

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16/12/1888

Alexander I of Yugoslavia (died 1934)

Alexander I Karađorđević, also known as Alexander the Unifier, was King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 16 August 1921 to 3 October 1929 and King of Yugoslavia from 3 October 1929 until his assassination. His thirteen-year reign was the longest of the kingdom's three monarchs.

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Alphonse Juin, Algerian-French general (died 1967)

Army-General Alphonse Pierre Juin was a French Army officer who served in both world wars. A graduate of the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr class of 1912, he served in Morocco in 1914 in command of native troops. Upon the outbreak of the First World War, Juin was sent to the Western Front in France, where he was gravely wounded in 1915. As a result of this wound, he lost the use of his right arm.

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16/12/1884

John Gunn, Australian politician, 29th Premier of South Australia (died 1959)

John Gunn was an Australian politician who served as the 29th Premier of South Australia, leading the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party to government at the 1924 election.

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Seibo Kitamura, Japanese sculptor (died 1987)

Seibo Kitamura was a Japanese sculptor. He is known as the sculptor of the 10-meter-tall Peace Statue in Nagasaki Peace Park. He is most often referred to as "Seibo".

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16/12/1883

Károly Kós, Hungarian-Romanian architect, ethnologist, and politician (died 1977)

Károly Kós was a Hungarian architect, writer, illustrator, ethnologist and politician of Austria-Hungary and Romania.

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Max Linder, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1925)

Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle, known professionally as Max Linder, was a French actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and comedian of the silent film era. His onscreen persona "Max" was one of the first recognizable recurring characters in film. He has also been cited as the "first international movie star" and "the first film star anywhere".

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16/12/1882

Jack Hobbs, English cricketer and journalist (died 1963)

Sir John Berry Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Master", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century-maker in first-class cricket, with 61,760 runs and 199 centuries. A right-handed batsman and an occasional right-arm medium pace bowler, Hobbs also excelled as a fielder, particularly in the position of cover point. Hobbs was named as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century alongside Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Shane Warne, and Sir Viv Richards.

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Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer, conductor, and musicologist (died 1967)

Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, music pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music education.

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Walther Meissner, German physicist and engineer (died 1974)

Fritz Walther Meissner was a German physicist known for his work on superconductivity.

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16/12/1872

Anton Denikin, Russian general (died 1947)

Anton Ivanovich Denikin was a Russian military officer who served as a lieutenant general in the Imperial Russian Army and as a leading commander of the anti-Bolshevik White movement during the Russian Civil War.

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16/12/1869

Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian physician and activist, co-founded the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (died 1952)

Hristo Tatarchev was a Macedonian Bulgarian doctor, revolutionary and one of the founders of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO). Tatarchev was the first president of IMRO's Central Committee.

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Bertha Lamme Feicht, American electrical engineer (died 1943)

Bertha Lamme Feicht was an American engineer. In 1893, she became the first woman to receive a degree in engineering from the Ohio State University. She is considered to be the first American woman to graduate in a main discipline of engineering other than civil engineering.

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16/12/1867

Amy Carmichael, Irish missionary and humanitarian (died 1951)

Amy Beatrice Carmichael was an Irish Christian missionary in India who opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur. She served in India for 55 years and wrote 35 books about her work as a missionary.

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16/12/1866

Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-French painter and theorist (died 1944)

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was a Russian painter and art theorist active in Germany during the late Belle Époque and Interwar eras. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstraction in Western art. Born in Moscow, he began painting studies at the age of 30.

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16/12/1865

Olavo Bilac, Brazilian journalist and poet (died 1918)

Olavo Brás Martins dos Guimarães Bilac, known simply as Olavo Bilac, was a Brazilian Parnassian poet, journalist and translator. Alongside Alberto de Oliveira and Raimundo Correia, he was a member of the "Parnassian Triad". He was elected the "Prince of Brazilian Poets" in 1907 by the magazine Fon-Fon. He wrote the lyrics of the Brazilian Flag Anthem.

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16/12/1863

George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, novelist, and poet (died 1952)

George Santayana was a Spanish American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Born in Spain, he moved to the United States at the age of eight.

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16/12/1861

Antonio de La Gándara, French painter and illustrator (died 1917)

Antonio de La Gándara was a French painter, pastellist and draughtsman of the Belle Époque.

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16/12/1849

Mary Hartwell Catherwood, American author and poet (died 1902)

Mary Hartwell Catherwood was an American writer of popular historical romances, short stories, and poetry. Early in her career she published under her birth name, Mary Hartwell, and under the pseudonym Lewtrah. She was known for setting her works in the Midwest, for a strong interest in American dialects, and for bringing a high standard of historical accuracy to the period detail of her novels.

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16/12/1836

Ernst von Bergmann, Latvian-German surgeon and academic (died 1907)

Ernst Gustav Benjamin von Bergmann was a Baltic German surgeon. He was the first physician to introduce heat sterilisation of surgical instruments and is known as a pioneer of aseptic surgery.

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16/12/1834

Léon Walras, French-Swiss economist and theorist (died 1910)

Marie-Esprit-Léon Walras was a French mathematical economist and Georgist. He formulated the marginal theory of value and pioneered the development of general equilibrium theory. Walras is best known for his book Éléments d'économie politique pure, a work that has contributed greatly to the mathematization of economics through the concept of general equilibrium.

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16/12/1812

Stuart Donaldson, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of New South Wales (died 1867)

Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson was the first Premier of the Colony of New South Wales.

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16/12/1804

Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician and academic (died 1889)

Viktor Yakovlevich Bunyakovsky was a Russian mathematician, member and later vice president of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

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16/12/1790

Leopold I of Belgium (died 1865)

Leopold I was the first king of the Belgians, reigning from 21 July 1831 until his death in 1865.

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16/12/1787

Mary Russell Mitford, English author and playwright (died 1855)

Mary Russell Mitford was an English essayist, novelist, poet and dramatist. She was born in New Alresford in Hampshire, England. She is best known for Our Village, a series of sketches of village scenes and vividly drawn characters based upon her life in Three Mile Cross near Reading in Berkshire.

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16/12/1778

John Ordronaux, French-American soldier (died 1841)

John Ordronaux was a French-born privateer and businessman. Born in Nantes, Brittany, he eventually moved to the United States. During the War of 1812, Ordronaux captained two ships, Marengo and Prince de Neufchatel, and conducted several privateering cruises with both vessels. He captured or burnt approximately 30 British merchantmen and seized a total volume of goods worth between $250,000 and $300,000 during the war. Following the end of the conflict in 1815, Ordronaux settled in New York City in 1816 and married, having five children, including a son named John. After allegedly working in the sugar industry, he died at Cartagena, Colombia, South America in 1841.

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16/12/1776

Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German chemist, physicist, and philosopher (died 1810)

Johann Wilhelm Ritter was a German chemist, physicist and philosopher. He is associated with the German Romanticism. He is also known for discovering the ultraviolet part of the electromagnetic spectrum. He is also credited for the first achieved sustained electrolysis of water and the discovery of electroplating.

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16/12/1775

Jane Austen, English novelist (died 1817)

Jane Austen was an English writer known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century.

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François-Adrien Boieldieu, French pianist and composer (died 1834)

François-Adrien Boieldieu was a French composer, mainly of operas, often called "the French Mozart". Although his reputation is largely based upon his operas, Boieldieu composed other works and among them, his Harp Concerto in C (1800–1801) is a masterpiece of the harp repertory.

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16/12/1770

Ludwig van Beethoven, composer (died 1827)

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer, conductor, and pianist. Regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music, he was mentored during the Classical period, and his musical style was a key driver of the transition to Romantic music, and the expansion of instrumental forms such as the symphony, the piano sonata and the string quartet. His compositions have attracted extraordinary casual and scholarly interest, and remain among the most performed in the world.

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16/12/1742

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, German field marshal (died 1819)

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Graf (count), later elevated to Fürst (prince) von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall. He earned his greatest recognition after leading his army against Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

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16/12/1730

Diego Silang, Filipino revolutionary leader (died 1763)

Diego Silang y Andaya was a Filipino revolutionary leader who allied with British forces to overthrow Spanish rule in the northern Philippines and establish an independent Ilocano state. His revolt was fueled by grievances stemming from Spanish taxation and abuses, and by his belief in self-government, that the administration and leadership of the Roman Catholic Church and government in the Ilocos be invested in trained Ilocano officials. His wife, the Itneg Gabriela Cariño, took on leadership of his revolt after his assassination.

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16/12/1717

Elizabeth Carter, English poet and scholar (died 1806)

Elizabeth Carter was an English poet, classicist, writer, translator, and linguist. As one of the Bluestocking Circle that surrounded Elizabeth Montagu, she earned respect for the first English translation of the 2nd-century Discourses of Epictetus. She also published poems and translated from French and Italian, and corresponded profusely. Among her many eminent friends were Elizabeth Montagu, Hannah More, Hester Chapone and other Bluestocking members. Also close friends were Anne Hunter, a poet and socialite, and Mary Delany. She befriended Samuel Johnson, editing some editions of his periodical The Rambler.

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16/12/1716

Louis Jules Mancini Mazarini, French poet and diplomat (died 1798)

Louis Jules Mancini, 4th Duke of Nevers was a French diplomat and writer.

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16/12/1714

George Whitefield, English Anglican priest (died 1770)

George Whitefield, was an English Anglican priest and Itinerant preacher who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement.

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16/12/1630

Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, British botanist (died 1715)

Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort also known by her other married name of Mary Seymour, Lady Beauchamp and her maiden name Mary Capell, was an English noblewoman, gardener and botanist. Among her introductions to British gardening are Pelargonium zonale, Ageratum species and Passiflora caerulea.

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16/12/1614

Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg (died 1674)

Eberhard III ruled as Duke of Württemberg from 1628 until his death in 1674.

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16/12/1605

Jerome Weston, 2nd Earl of Portland, English diplomat (died 1663)

Jerome Weston, 2nd Earl of Portland was an English diplomat and landowner who held the presidency of Munster, Kingdom of Ireland.

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16/12/1585

Livia della Rovere, Italian noble (died 1641)

Livia della Rovere was an Italian noblewoman of the House of della Rovere and the last Duchess of Urbino (1599–1631).

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16/12/1584

John Selden, English jurist and scholar (died 1654)

John Selden was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned men reputed in this land".

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16/12/1582

Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey (died 1642)

Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey, 16 December 1582 – 24 October 1642, was an English peer, naval officer, soldier and courtier.

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16/12/1534

Hans Bol, Flemish artist (died 1593)

Hans Bol or Jan Bol, was a Flemish painter, miniature painter, print artist and draftsman. He is known for his landscapes, allegorical and biblical scenes, and genre paintings executed in a late Northern Mannerist style.

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16/12/1485

Catherine of Aragon, Spanish princess, Queen Consort of England (died 1536)

Catherine of Aragon was Queen of England as the first wife of Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until its annulment on 23 May 1533. She had previously been Princess of Wales as the wife of Henry's elder brother Arthur, Prince of Wales for a short time before his death.

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16/12/1364

Emperor Manuel III of Trebizond (died 1417)

Manuel III Megas Komnenos was Emperor of Trebizond from 20 March, 1390 to his death in 1417.

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