Born on Tuesday, 23rd December – Famous Birthdays

23/12/2002

Finn Wolfhard, Canadian actor and musician

Finn Michael Wolfhard is a Canadian actor, musician, and film director. He received international attention for playing Mike Wheeler on the Netflix series Stranger Things (2016–2025). He also played Richie Tozier in the horror film It (2017) and its sequel It Chapter Two (2019), and Trevor Spengler in the supernatural comedy Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and its sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024).

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23/12/2000

Victor Boniface, Nigerian footballer

Victor Okoh Boniface is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Bundesliga club Werder Bremen, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, and the Nigeria national team.

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23/12/1999

Samuel Lino, Brazilian footballer

Samuel Dias Lino is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a left winger or wing-back for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Flamengo.

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23/12/1996

Bartosz Kapustka, Polish footballer

Bartosz Kapustka is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ekstraklasa club Legia Warsaw and the Poland national team.

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23/12/1994

Reed Alexander, American actor

Reed Alexander is an American actor, journalist, and author. He is currently a correspondent for Insider, formerly “Business Insider,” covering the business of entertainment and the global media industry. Among his most recognizable credentials from his time as an actor is his role as Nevel Papperman in Nickelodeon's iCarly. He reprised the role of Nevel on an episode of Sam & Cat as well as the Paramount+ revival of iCarly.

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23/12/1992

Spencer Daniels, American actor

Spencer Eli Daniels is an American film and television actor born in Tarzana, Los Angeles. He began acting professionally at the age of ten and has appeared in over 30 films and TV series including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Star Trek (2009). He portrayed Tyler Lomand in a recurring role on the Starz series Crash (2008-2009). In 2013, he appeared in The Midnight Game which was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment.

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Mbwana Samatta, Tanzanian footballer

Mbwana Ally Samatta is a Tanzanian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ligue 1 club Le Havre, and captains the Tanzania national team.

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Jeff Schlupp, German footballer

Jeffrey Schlupp is a professional footballer who plays for EFL Championship club Norwich City. Born in Germany, he played for the Ghana national team. A versatile player, Schlupp has played as a left-back, central midfielder, left winger or forward in his career.

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23/12/1991

Kyren Wilson, English snooker player

Kyren James Wilson is an English professional snooker player from Kettering. He has won 10 ranking titles.

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23/12/1990

Brice Dja Djédjé, Ivorian footballer

Brice Florentin Dja Djédjé is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a right back or wing back for Championnat National 3 club ES Fosséenne.

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Mitch Haniger, American baseball player

Mitchell Evan Haniger is an American professional baseball outfielder who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle Mariners, and San Francisco Giants.

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Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, American actress and singer

Anna Maria Francesca Enriquez Kline is an American actress and singer. She is known for her roles as Ashley Dewitt on Hannah Montana and Ella Pador on Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. She also played Miracle Ross on Cake and was in the 2009 film Fame, in which she starred as Joy Moy. In November 2011, she began starring on Broadway in the Godspell revival at the Circle in the Square theater in New York City.

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23/12/1989

David Szymanski, American video game developer

David Szymanski is an American video game developer. Szymanski is known for having developed games such as Dusk, Iron Lung, and Gloomwood.

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23/12/1988

Mallory Hagan, American beauty queen, Miss America 2013

Mallory Hytes Hagan Stramara is an American former news anchor and beauty queen. She won Miss America 2013 as Miss New York 2012 and campaigned unsuccessfully for the Alabama House of Representatives in 2022.

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23/12/1987

Tommaso Bellazzini, Italian footballer

Tommaso Bellazzini is an Italian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Aglianese.

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Owen Franks, New Zealand rugby player

Owen Thomas Franks is a New Zealand former rugby player who last played for Crusaders in the Super Rugby competition. His usual position is tighthead prop.

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Jori Lehterä, Finnish ice hockey player

Jori Jonatan Lehterä is a Finnish professional ice hockey player who is a centre for HIFK of the Liiga. He was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the third round, 65th overall, of the 2008 NHL entry draft. He won a bronze medal with Finland at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

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23/12/1986

Thomas Bourgin, French motorcycle racer (died 2013)

Thomas Bourgin was a French motorcycle racer. He was in 68th place in the overall ranking of his first Dakar Rally.

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Beau Champion, Australian rugby league player

Beau Champion is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. He played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Melbourne Storm, Gold Coast Titans and Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League. He is the second cousin of teammate Greg Inglis. Champion's preferred playing position is at Centre after being groomed as a halfback in his debut year. Champion has represented City in the 2010 City v Country Origin as well as making the 2010 Indigenous All-Stars Squad.

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Balázs Dzsudzsák, Hungarian footballer

Balázs Dzsudzsák is a Hungarian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Nemzeti Bajnokság I club Debreceni VSC.

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T. J. Oshie, American ice hockey player

Timothy Leif "T. J." Oshie is an American former professional ice hockey right winger. He was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the 2005 NHL entry draft, as the 24th overall pick. He then spent the first seven years of his NHL career with the Blues before being traded to the Washington Capitals in 2015. Oshie won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Capitals in 2018.

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23/12/1985

Dev Hynes (also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion), English singer, songwriter, producer, and composer

Devonté Hynes, also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, composer and director based in New York City. From 2004 to 2006, Hynes was a member of the band Test Icicles, playing guitar, synth, and occasionally performing vocals. They released one full-length album in 2005. Hynes went on to release two solo studio albums as Lightspeed Champion, and subsequently five more as Blood Orange, between 2008 and 2025.

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Harry Judd, English drummer and songwriter

Harry Mark Christopher Judd is an English musician who is the drummer for the rock band McFly.

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Alison Sudol, American actress and singer-songwriter

Alison Sudol is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She was formerly known as the singer A Fine Frenzy, and is known for her role as Queenie Goldstein in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), as well as its sequels The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) and The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022). Her music has been featured in numerous television shows and movies.

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23/12/1984

Dudu Aharon, Israeli singer-songwriter

Dudu Aharon is a singer-songwriter, musician, and composer from Israel.

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Bernard Pollard, American football player

Bernard Karmell Pollard is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Purdue Boilermakers, and was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round of the 2006 NFL draft. He has also played for the Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans. Pollard was dubbed "the Bonecrusher" while at Purdue for his hard hits and tackles, and acquired the nickname "Patriot-Killer" as a professional, after inflicting injuries which would ultimately alter four New England Patriots seasons, including ending Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's 2008 season.

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Josh Satin, American baseball player

Joshua Blake Satin is an American former professional baseball corner infielder. Satin played first base, second base, and third base. During his career, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, as well as in the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres organizations.

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Sebastian Werle, German rugby player

Sebastian Werle is a retired German international rugby union player, having last playing for the RG Heidelberg in the Rugby-Bundesliga and the German national rugby union team.

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23/12/1983

Michael Chopra, English footballer

Rocky Michael Chopra is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker.

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Lisa Dobriskey, English runner

Lisa Jane Dobriskey is a retired English middle-distance runner. She was the Commonwealth Games champion in the 1500 m in 2006 and won a silver medal in the same distance at the 2009 World Championships.

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Hanley Ramírez, Dominican baseball player

Hanley Ramírez is a Dominican-American former professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Florida / Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Cleveland Indians. Ramírez is a three-time MLB All-Star and received the 2006 National League Rookie of the Year Award. While he played the majority of his career at shortstop, he also played first base, third base and left field.

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23/12/1982

Zbyněk Michálek, Czech ice hockey player

Zbyněk Michálek is a Czech former professional ice hockey defenceman. He most recently played for Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). Michálek has also previously played in the NHL for the Minnesota Wild, Arizona Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, and St. Louis Blues. He is the older brother of former NHL star Milan Michálek.

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Shaone Morrisonn, Canadian-Croatian ice hockey player

Shaone Morrisonn is a Canadian-Croatian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played for the Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals and the Buffalo Sabres during his eight-year NHL career. He currently serves as a European professional scout for the New York Rangers.

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Thomas Rohregger, Austrian cyclist

Thomas Rohregger is an Austrian former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2005 and 2013. Over his career, Rohregger competed for Elk Haus–Simplon, Team Milram and RadioShack–Leopard.

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23/12/1981

Maritza Correia, Puerto Rican-American swimmer

Maritza Correia, also known by her married name Maritza McClendon, is a former Olympic swimmer from Puerto Rico who swam representing the United States. When she qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in 2004, she became the first Puerto Rican of African descent to be a member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team. She was the first female African-American swimmer for the United States to win an Olympic medal. She also became the first black American swimmer to set an American and world swimming record.

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Yuriorkis Gamboa, Cuban boxer

Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano is a Cuban professional boxer. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight title from 2009 to 2011, and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight title from 2010 to 2011. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the flyweight division at the 2004 Olympics, and a bronze in the featherweight division at the 2005 World Championships.

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Hiro Fujiwara, Japanese manga artist

Hiro Fujiwara is a Japanese manga artist.

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Agnes Milowka, Polish-Australian diver, explorer, photographer, and author (died 2011)

Agnes Milowka was an Australian technical diver, underwater photographer, author, maritime archaeologist and cave explorer. She gained international recognition for penetrating deeper than previous explorers into cave systems across Australia and Florida, and as a public speaker and author on the subjects of diving and maritime archaeology. She died aged 29 while diving in a confined space.

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Mario Santana, Argentine footballer

Mario Alberto Santana is an Argentine football coach and former professional player, in the role of winger, currently working as the head coach of amateur club Palermo Calcio Popolare.

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23/12/1980

Cody Ross, American baseball player

Cody Joseph Ross, nicknamed "Toy Cannon" and "Ross the Boss," is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 12 seasons; with the Detroit Tigers (2003), Los Angeles Dodgers (2005–2006), Cincinnati Reds (2006), Florida Marlins (2006–2010), San Francisco Giants (2010–2011), Boston Red Sox (2012), Arizona Diamondbacks (2013–2014) and Oakland Athletics (2015). Ross won a World Series with the San Francisco Giants in 2010. He is one of the few Major League players to bat right-handed and throw left-handed.

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23/12/1979

Johan Franzén, Swedish ice hockey player

Johan Marcus Gunnar Franzén is a Swedish former professional ice hockey winger who played 11 seasons for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). His career ended early in the 2015–16 season due to post-concussion syndrome. He also played for Linköpings HC in the Elitserien.

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Scott Gomez, American ice hockey player

Scott Carlos Gomez is an American ice hockey coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League (USHL).

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Holly Madison, American model, television personality, and actress

Holly Madison is an American television personality, actress and model best known as a former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner and for her appearance in the reality television show The Girls Next Door. She also starred in her own reality series, Holly's World, which ran from 2009 to 2011. She has released two books, Down the Rabbit Hole in 2015, about her life in the Playboy Mansion and her relationship with Hefner, and The Vegas Diaries: Romance, Rolling the Dice, and the Road to Reinvention in 2016.

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Megan Mayhew Bergman, American author and educator

Megan Mayhew Bergman is an American writer and environmental journalist, author of the books Almost Famous Women, Birds of a Lesser Paradise, and How Strange a Season, and a forthcoming biography on the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. In 2015, she won the Garrett Award for Fiction.

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Kenny Miller, Scottish footballer

Kenneth Miller is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. Miller, who played as a striker, is one of only five post-war players to have played for both Rangers and Celtic.

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Yukifumi Murakami, Japanese javelin thrower

Yukifumi Murakami is a Japanese javelin thrower. He was the first Japanese athlete to win a World Championship medal in the javelin, taking bronze at the 2009 edition with a throw of 82.97 metres.

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23/12/1978

Esthero, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and producer

Esthero is a Canadian singer-songwriter who lives in Los Angeles, California. The name Esthero refers both to the singer and formerly to the two-person team of herself and producer Doc McKinney. Esthero is a portmanteau of "Esther the hero"; she claims to have gotten the name by combining the name of the heroine (Esther) and last line of the film from Sylvia Plath's only novel, The Bell Jar (1963).

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Aleš Kotalík, Czech ice hockey player

Aleš Kotalík is a Czech former professional ice hockey right winger who played nine seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, and Calgary Flames.

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Víctor Martínez, Venezuelan baseball player

Víctor Jesús Martínez, also known by his nickname "V-Mart", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher and designated hitter. Martínez played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, and Detroit Tigers. After joining the Tigers, he played mostly as a designated hitter.

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23/12/1977

Matt Baker, English television presenter

Matthew James Baker is a British television presenter. He co-presented the children's television show Blue Peter from 1999 until 2006, BBC One's Countryfile since 2009 and The One Show from 2011 to 2020, with Alex Jones.

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Alge Crumpler, American football player

Algernon Darius Crumpler is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round of the 2001 NFL draft. Crumpler also played for the Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots. He is a four-time Pro Bowl selection. He played college football for North Carolina.

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Tore Johansen, Norwegian trumpeter and composer

Tore Johansen is a Norwegian jazz trumpeter and the younger brother of drummer Roger Johansen. He has worked with Chick Corea, Karin Krog, Kenny Wheeler, Steve Swallow, Lars Jansson, Hal Galper, Siri Gellein, and Jan Gunnar Hoff.

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Jari Mäenpää, Finnish singer-songwriter and guitarist

Jari Mäenpää is a Finnish singer, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He is the founder of the melodic death metal band Wintersun for which he sings and records the majority of instruments except the drums. Before forming Wintersun, Mäenpää was also known for his role in the folk metal band Ensiferum, which he joined in 1996 after leaving his prior band named Immemorial. Wintersun was initially planned as a parallel project alongside Ensiferum, but in January 2004 he was forced to leave Ensiferum due to clashes between their touring schedule and the studio recording time he had booked for Wintersun.

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23/12/1976

Joanna Hayes, American hurdler and coach

Joanna Dove Hayes is an American hurdler, who won the gold medal in the 100 metres hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

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Brad Lidge, American baseball player

Bradley Thomas Lidge, nicknamed "Lights Out", is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Lidge played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 2002 to 2012. He played for the Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, and Washington Nationals.

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Jamie Noble, American wrestler and producer

James Gibson is an American retired professional wrestler better known by the ring name Jamie Noble. He is signed to WWE, where he works as a producer. In addition to his work with WWE, Noble is known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a former one-time ROH World Champion.

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Mikael Samuelsson, Swedish ice hockey player

Karl Mikael Samuelsson is a Swedish former professional ice hockey right winger and current player development coach for the Vancouver Canucks. Samuelsson began his career in Sweden, starting with small town team IFK Mariefred, followed by Södertälje SK as a junior in 1994. He went on to also play for Swedish teams IK Nyköping, Frölunda HC, and Brynäs IF. After being selected 145th overall in the 1998 NHL entry draft by the San Jose Sharks, he moved to North America for the 2000–01 NHL season. Samuelsson spent short stints with the Sharks, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Florida Panthers, before returning to Europe during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. As NHL play resumed, Samuelsson signed with the Detroit Red Wings, where he enjoyed individual and team success, winning the Stanley Cup with the club in 2008. After four seasons in Detroit, he signed with the Vancouver Canucks in July 2009. He enjoyed the two most successful individual seasons of his career with Vancouver, recording back-to-back 50-point campaigns in 2009–10 and 2010–11. In his third year with the club, he was traded to the Panthers for his second stint in Florida. At the end of the season, he re-signed with the Red Wings in July 2012.

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23/12/1975

Lady Starlight, American singer-songwriter

Colleen Martin, known professionally as Lady Starlight, is an American DJ and musical performer. Based in New York City's Lower East Side, she is best known for her numerous collaborations with Lady Gaga. Starlight released her debut extended play, Untitled, in 2017. The following year, she released her second extended play, Which One of Us Is Me?. Besides her own performances, she also sometimes performs with Surgeon.

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23/12/1974

Agustín Delgado, Ecuadorian footballer and politician

Agustín Javier Delgado Chalá is an Ecuadorian politician and former professional footballer who played as a forward. Nicknamed El Tín, he was the all-time top scorer for the Ecuador national team with 31 goals in 71 games before being overtaken by Enner Valencia. Delgado played professional club football in Ecuador, Mexico and England.

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Mieszko Talarczyk, Polish-Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2004)

Mieszko Talarczyk was the lead singer and guitarist of the Swedish grindcore band Nasum, Genocide Superstars, and Krigshot. Known for his engineering and production abilities, he co-founded Soundlab studios with Millencolin guitarist Mathias Färm.

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23/12/1972

Morgan, Italian singer-songwriter and composer

Marco Castoldi, better known by his stage name Morgan, is an Italian singer, songwriter and musician. His musical genres are mainly alternative rock and electronic rock, sometimes experimental rock and synth-pop. He has also been a judge for eight seasons in the Italian version of The X Factor, winning five of them through acts he mentored: Aram Quartet, Matteo Becucci, Marco Mengoni, Chiara Galiazzo and Michele Bravi. He was also a coach on The Voice of Italy in 2019.

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Christian Potenza, Canadian actor, voice actor and singer

Anthony Christian Potenza is a Canadian actor, comedian and teacher. He has voiced Jude Lizowski on 6teen as well as Brando Beaver and both of the Bison Brothers in Pikwik Pack. From 2007 to 2022, Potenza was the voice actor for Chris McLean in Total Drama.

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23/12/1971

Corey Haim, Canadian actor (died 2010)

Corey Ian Haim was a Canadian actor who rose to fame in the 1980s as a teen heartthrob. He starred in Silver Bullet (1985), Murphy's Romance (1985), Lucas (1986), License to Drive (1988) and Dream a Little Dream (1989). His role in The Lost Boys (1987) made him a household name.

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Jo Johnson, English banker, journalist, and politician

Joseph Edmund Johnson, Baron Johnson of Marylebone is a British politician and peer who was Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation from 2015 to 2018, and from July to September 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Orpington from 2010 to 2019. He currently sits in the House of Lords. His older brother, Boris Johnson, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 2019 and 2022.

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Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, English model, actress, and author (died 2017)

Tara Claire Palmer-Tomkinson was an English socialite and television personality. She appeared in several television shows, including the reality programme I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. She died from a perforated ulcer on 8 February 2017.

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23/12/1970

Catriona LeMay Doan, Canadian speed skater and sportscaster

Catriona Ann Le May Doan, is a retired Canadian speed skater and a double Olympic champion in the 500 m. She served as the chef de mission for Team Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

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Karine Polwart, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist

Karine Polwart is a Scottish singer-songwriter. She writes and performs music with a strong folk and roots feel, her songs dealing with a variety of issues from alcoholism to genocide. She has been most recognised for her solo career, winning three awards at the BBC Folk Awards in 2005, and was previously a member of Malinky and Battlefield Band.

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23/12/1968

Karyn Bryant, American journalist, actress, producer, and screenwriter

Karyn Bryant is an American actress, writer, and television personality.

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Barry Kooser, American painter and animator

Barry R. Kooser is an American artist, painter, and educator who worked at Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios between 1992 and 2003 as a background artist on films such as The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, and as background supervisor on Brother Bear. After leaving Disney, he worked independently as a painter exhibiting and selling fine art in galleries around the US. While teaching animation and story-boarding at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, he met Worker Studio founder Michael "Ffish" Hemschoot, and became a partner at the Colorado animation studio. Barry has since left Worker Studio. He is the Founder, Executive Producer and Director at Many Hoops Productions.

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Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, Puerto Rican-American photographer

Manuel Rivera-Ortiz is a stateside Puerto Rican photographer. He is best known for his social documentary photography of people's living conditions in less developed nations. Rivera-Ortiz lives in Rochester, New York, and in Zurich.

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René Tretschok, German footballer and manager

René Tretschok is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. As a player of Borussia Dortmund he was part of their Champions League victory in 1997. He scored an important goal in the semi-final of their victorious campaign against Manchester United, giving Dortmund a crucial 1–0 lead going into the second leg. He was then rewarded with a place on the bench in the final, however he remained unused for the entire match.

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23/12/1967

Carla Bruni, Italian-French singer-songwriter and model

Carla Bruni-Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa is an Italian and French singer, songwriter and fashion model who served as the first lady of France from 2008—when she married then president Nicolas Sarkozy—to 2012.

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Otis Grant, Jamaican-Canadian boxer, coach, and manager

Otis Grant is a Canadian retired boxer. As an amateur he won a silver medal for Canada at the 1987 Pan American Games, losing to Cuba's Angel Espinosa in the final. He is a two-time North American Boxing Federation (NABF) middleweight title holder, as well as recognized for being the first black Quebecer to win a WBO championship.

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23/12/1966

Badi Assad, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist

Badi Assad is a Brazilian singer, composer and guitarist in the jazz and worldbeat genres.

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23/12/1964

Eddie Vedder, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Eddie Jerome Vedder is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and one of three guitarists for the rock band Pearl Jam. He was previously a guest vocalist for supergroup Temple of the Dog, a tribute band dedicated to singer Andrew Wood.

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23/12/1963

Jim Harbaugh, American football player and coach

James Joseph Harbaugh is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach at the University of Michigan from 2015 to 2023, the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014, Stanford University from 2007 to 2010, and the University of San Diego from 2004 to 2006. Harbaugh played college football at Michigan from 1983 to 1986 and in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons from 1987 to 2000, with his longest tenure (1987–1993) as a player with the Chicago Bears.

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Jess Harnell, American singer-songwriter and voice actor

Jess Harnell is an American voice actor and singer. His roles include Wakko Warner in Animaniacs, Captain Hero in Drawn Together, Taxicrab in Jungle Junction, Chilly in Doc McStuffins, Cedric in Sofia the First, Texas in Motorcity, Grim Gloom in The 7D, Jerry in the first two seasons of Totally Spies!, Ironhide in the first three Transformers films directed by Michael Bay, Wooton Bassett in the Christian radio program Adventures in Odyssey, and the titular character in the Crash Bandicoot franchise. Harnell has also been the announcer for America's Funniest Home Videos since 1998.

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Donna Tartt, American author

Donna Louise Tartt is an American novelist. She wrote the novels The Secret History (1992), The Little Friend (2002), and The Goldfinch (2013), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was adapted into a 2019 film of the same name. She was included in Time magazine's 2014 "100 Most Influential People" list.

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Ante Zelck, German businessman

Ante Zelck is a German entrepreneur and hostel pioneer.

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23/12/1962

Bertrand Gachot, Belgian race car driver

Bertrand Jean Louis Gachot is a Belgian and French former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from 1989 to 1995. In endurance racing, Gachot won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991 with Mazda.

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Stefan Hell, Romanian-German physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

Stefan Walter Hell is a Romanian-German physicist and one of the directors of the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen, and of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, both of which are in Germany. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2014 "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy", together with Eric Betzig and William Moerner.

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Kang Je-gyu, South Korean director, producer, and screenwriter

Kang Je-gyu is a South Korean filmmaker, active as a director, scriptwriter, and producer. He rose to international prominence with his action thriller Shiri (1999) and further solidified his reputation with the critically acclaimed war epic Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (2004), both of which achieved box office success.

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Keiji Mutoh, Japanese wrestler and actor

Keiji Muto is a Japanese professional wrestling executive, actor and retired professional wrestler. He is known for his work under his real name and as his alter ego The Great Muta in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), as well as World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and during the 1980s and 1990s, and from his runs in other Japanese, American, Puerto Rican, and Mexican promotions. He was the president of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) from 2002 to 2013 and representative director of Wrestle-1 (W-1) from 2013 until its closure in 2020.

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23/12/1961

Ezzat el Kamhawi, Egyptian journalist and author

Ezzat El Kamhawi is an Egyptian novelist and journalist. In December 2012, El Kamhawi was awarded the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature for his novel House of the Wolf. In June 2022 he was awarded the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press for his article "Suspicious architecture: The obsession with grand buildings and wide streets".

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Ketan J. Patel, Kenyan-English biologist and academic

Ketan Jayakrishna Patel is a British–Kenyan scientist who is Director of the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine and the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit at the University of Oxford. Until 2020 he was a tenured principal investigator at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB).

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Carol Smillie, Scottish model and actress

Carol Patricia Smillie is a Scottish former television presenter, actress and model from Glasgow. Smillie became famous as a television presenter during the 1990s and early 2000s. She was best known for assisting Nicky Campbell on the UK version of the game show Wheel of Fortune between 1989 and 1994. Between 1996 and 2003, she was the main presenter on the BBC One home makeover show Changing Rooms.

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Lorna Tolentino, Filipino actress and producer

Victoria Lorna Perez Aluquin-Fernandez, better known by her stage name Lorna Tolentino, sometimes known as L.T., an abbreviation of her screen name, is a Filipino actress, model, film producer and television personality. Dubbed as the "Prime Star", she is known for her dramatic roles in film and television and was the fourth actress to achieve the Grandslam status for her performance in the film Narito ang Puso Ko (1992). With a career spanning five decades, she has already appeared in 100 motion pictures and is cited by critics as one of the greatest Filipino actresses in Philippine cinema. She has received numerous accolades including seven FAMAS Awards, four Luna Awards, a Gawad Urian Award and two commendations from Asian Television Award.

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23/12/1958

Joan Severance, American actress

Joan Marie Severance is an American actress and former fashion model.

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Victoria Williams, American singer-songwriter

Victoria Williams is an American singer, songwriter, and musician, from Shreveport, Louisiana, although she has resided in Southern California throughout her musical career. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the early 1990s, Williams was the catalyst for the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.

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23/12/1957

Dan Bigras, Canadian singer-songwriter

Dan Bigras is a francophone rock singer and actor from Canada. He has released a number of albums of rock music, beginning with Ange Animal in 1990.

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Peter Wynn, Australian rugby league player and businessman

Peter Wynn is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He played for the Parramatta Eels in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership competition.

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23/12/1956

Michele Alboreto, Italian race car driver (died 2001)

Michele Alboreto was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1981 to 1994. Alboreto was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1985 with Ferrari, and won five Grands Prix across 14 seasons. In endurance racing, Alboreto won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1997 with Joest, as well as the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2001 with Audi.

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Dave Murray, English guitarist and songwriter

David Michael Murray is an English guitarist, best known as a member of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. He joined Iron Maiden early in its history, and is the second-longest serving member of the band after founder Steve Harris. He and Harris are the only members of Iron Maiden to have appeared on all of the band's studio albums.

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23/12/1955

Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish poet and playwright

Dame Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, serving in this position until her term ended in 2019. She was the first female, the first Scottish-born and the first openly lesbian poet to hold the Poet Laureate position.

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Grace Knight, English-Australian singer-songwriter

Grace Ethel Knight is an English-born Australian vocalist and songwriter. During the 1980s she was a mainstay of pop group Eurogliders which formed in Perth, Western Australia. Knight later became a solo jazz singer and musician based in Sydney. In 1984, Eurogliders released an Australian top ten album, This Island, which spawned their No. 2 hit single, "Heaven ". "Heaven" also peaked at No. 21 on the United States' Billboard Mainstream Rock charts and appeared on the Hot 100. The song, written by Eurogliders' guitarist and cofounder, Bernie Lynch, and vocals by Knight, was their only hit in United States. Knight and Lynch married in 1985 but separated soon after. Another Australian top ten album, Absolutely, followed for Eurogliders in 1985, which provided three further local top ten singles, "We Will Together", "The City of Soul" and "Can't Wait to See You".

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23/12/1954

Raivo Järvi, Estonian radio host and politician (died 2012)

Raivo Järvi, commonly known under the pseudonym of Onu Raivo was an Estonian artist, radio personality and politician.

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Brian Teacher, American tennis player

Brian David Teacher is an American former professional tennis player. He reached career-high rankings of world No. 7 in singles and world No. 5 in doubles, both in 1981. Teacher is best remembered for being a major singles champion, triumphing at the 1980 Australian Open. He won eight career singles titles and 16 doubles titles.

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23/12/1953

Andres Alver, Estonian architect and academic

Andres Alver is an Estonian architect.

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Gerrit W. Gong, American religious leader and academic

Gerrit Walter Gong is an American religious leader and former academic serving as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has been a general authority since 2010 and served as a member of the church's Presidency of the Seventy from October 2015 until his calling to the Quorum of the Twelve in March 2018. He is the LDS Church's first apostle of Asian descent. Prior to becoming a general authority, he served as assistant to the president of Brigham Young University (BYU) for planning and assessment. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Gong is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator. Currently, he is the eleventh most senior apostle in the church.

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23/12/1952

William Kristol, American journalist, publisher, activist, and pundit

William Kristol is an American neoconservative writer. A frequent commentator on several networks including CNN, he was the founder and editor-at-large of the political magazine The Weekly Standard. Kristol is editor-at-large of the center-right publication The Bulwark and is among the editors of its Substack publication that bears the same name. Since 2014, he has been the host of Conversations with Bill Kristol, an interview web program.

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23/12/1951

Anthony Phillips, English guitarist and songwriter

Anthony Edwin Phillips is an English musician and composer who gained prominence as the original lead guitarist of the rock band Genesis, from 1967 to 1970. He left in July 1970 and learned to play more instruments, before he began a solo career. His departure from Genesis on the eve of the group's breakthrough to mainstream popularity has led him to be dubbed "the Pete Best of progressive rock".

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23/12/1950

Michael C. Burgess, American obstetrician and politician

Michael Clifton Burgess is an American physician and politician who represented Texas's 26th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2003 to 2025. The district is anchored in Denton County, a suburban county north of Dallas and Fort Worth. He is a member of the Republican Party.

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Richard Dannatt, Baron Dannatt, English general

General Francis Richard Dannatt, Baron Dannatt, is a retired senior British Army officer and member of the House of Lords. He was Chief of the General Staff from 2006 to 2009. Dannatt was commissioned into the Green Howards in 1971, and his first tour of duty was in Belfast as a platoon commander. During his second tour of operations, also in Northern Ireland, Dannatt was awarded the Military Cross. Following a major stroke in 1977, Dannatt considered leaving the army, but was encouraged by his commanding officer to stay. After Staff College, he became a company commander and eventually assumed command of the Green Howards in 1989. He attended and then commanded the Higher Command and Staff Course, after which he was promoted to brigadier. Dannatt was given command of the 4th Armoured Brigade in 1994 and in the following year commanded the British component of the Implementation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Vicente del Bosque, Spanish footballer and manager

Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to have won the World Cup, the Champions League, the European Championship and the Intercontinental Cup.

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Ilchi Lee, South Korean author and educator

Lee Seung-Heun, better known as Ilchi Lee, is a South Korean author and the founder of a variety of mind-body training methods, including Body & Brain, Brain Wave Vibration, Kookhak Qigong, and DahnMuDo, all falling under the umbrella name "Brain Education". Lee started teaching his methods in a park in the 1980s, and since then, the practice has developed into an international network of for-profit and non-profit entities. Lee's practices have been criticized as pseudoscience.

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23/12/1949

Adrian Belew, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual approach to the instrument, his playing cited as fluid, expressive, and often resembling "animal noises or mechanical rumblings".

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Reinhold Weege, American screenwriter and producer (died 2012)

Reinhold Charles Weege was an American television writer, producer and director.

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23/12/1948

David Davis, English politician, Minister of State for Europe

Sir David Michael Davis is a British Conservative Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Goole and Pocklington. He was previously the MP for Haltemprice and Howden and, before that, for Boothferry, where he was first elected in 1987. He served as Shadow Home Secretary from 2003 to 2008 and Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from 2016 to 2018. Davis was sworn of the Privy Council in the 1997 New Year Honours, while serving as Minister of State for Europe, a role he held from 1994 to 1997.

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Jim Ferguson, American guitarist, composer, and journalist

James Edwin Ferguson is an American guitarist, composer, journalist, and educator.

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Jack Ham, American football player and sportscaster

Jack Raphael Ham Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1971 to 1982. He is considered one of the greatest outside linebackers in the history of the NFL. Ham was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1990. He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions. In mid-2019 the newsletter of the PSU Alumni Association rated Ham first among the 100 greatest athletes, considering all sports and all previous football players, in University history.

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Rick Wohlhuter, American runner

Rick Wohlhuter is a retired American middle-distance runner.

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23/12/1947

Bill Rodgers, American runner

William Henry Rodgers is an American runner, Olympian, and former record holder in the marathon. Rodgers is best known for his four victories in both the Boston Marathon, including three straight from 1978 to 1980, and 4 straight wins in the New York City Marathon, between 1976 and 1979.

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23/12/1946

Robbie Dupree, American singer-songwriter

Robert Dupuis, known professionally as Robbie Dupree, is an American singer best known for his hit songs "Steal Away" and "Hot Rod Hearts".

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Edita Gruberová, Slovak soprano and actress (died 2021)

Edita Gruberová was a Slovak coloratura soprano. She made her stage debut in Bratislava in 1968 as Rosina in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, and successfully auditioned at the Vienna State Opera the following year, which became her base. She received international recognition for roles such as Mozart's Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte and Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss.

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Susan Lucci, American actress

Susan Victoria Lucci is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Erica Kane on the ABC daytime drama All My Children during that show's entire network run from 1970 to 2011. The character is considered an icon, and she was called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times citing her as the highest-paid actor in daytime television. As early as 1991, her salary had been reported as over $1 million a year. During her run on All My Children, Lucci was nominated 21 times for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She won only once, in 1999, after the 19th nomination; her status as a perpetual nominee for the award had attracted significant media attention since the late 1980s.

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John Sullivan, English screenwriter, producer, and composer (died 2011)

John Richard Thomas Sullivan was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends.

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23/12/1945

Adly Mansour, Egyptian lawyer, judge, and politician, President of Egypt

Adly Mahmoud Mansour is an Egyptian judge and politician who served as the president of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt. He also served as interim president of Egypt from 4 July 2013 to 8 June 2014 following the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état by the military which deposed President Mohamed Morsi. Several secular and religious figures, such as the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, the Coptic Pope, and Mohamed ElBaradei supported the coup against President Morsi and the military appointed Mansour interim-president until an election could take place. Morsi refused to acknowledge his removal as valid and continued to maintain that only he could be considered the legitimate President of Egypt. Mansour was sworn into office in front of the Supreme Constitutional Court on 4 July 2013.

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Geoffrey Wheatcroft, English journalist and author

Geoffrey Albert Wheatcroft is a British journalist, author, and historian.

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23/12/1944

Wesley Clark, American general

Wesley Kanne Clark, SSM, BVO, KBE is a retired United States Army officer. He graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1966 at West Point and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where he obtained a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He later graduated from the Command and General Staff College with a master's degree in military science. He commanded an infantry company in the Vietnam War, where he was shot four times and awarded a Silver Star for gallantry in combat. Clark served as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000, commanding Operation Allied Force during the Kosovo War. He spent 34 years in the U.S. Army, receiving many military decorations, several honorary knighthoods, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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23/12/1943

Ron Allen, American baseball player

Ronald Frederick Allen is an American former professional baseball player. He played part of the 1972 season in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals, primarily as a first baseman. He was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed.

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Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov, Russian-French mathematician and academic

Mikhael Leonidovich Gromov is a Russian-French mathematician known for his work in geometry, analysis and group theory. He is a permanent member of Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in France and a professor of mathematics at New York University.

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Terry Peder Rasmussen, American serial killer (died 2010)

Terry Peder Rasmussen was an American convicted murderer and suspected serial killer who was convicted of one murder, and linked to at least six more in a series of crimes that stretched across the contiguous United States between 1978 and 2002. Due to his use of many aliases, most notably "Bob Evans", Rasmussen is known as the Chameleon Killer.

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Harry Shearer, American actor, voice artist, and comedian

Harry Julius Shearer is an American actor, comedian, musician, radio host, writer, and producer. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a member of The Credibility Gap, a radio comedy group. Following the breakup of the group, Shearer co-wrote the film Real Life (1979) with Albert Brooks and worked as a writer on Martin Mull's television series Fernwood 2 Night.

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Queen Silvia of Sweden

Silvia is Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf. She has held this title since her marriage to Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976. The king and queen have three children: Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Carl Philip, and Princess Madeleine.

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23/12/1942

Quentin Bryce, Australian lawyer and politician, 25th Governor-General of Australia

Dame Quentin Alice Louise Bryce is an Australian academic who served as the 25th governor-general of Australia from 2008 to 2014. She is the first woman to have held the position. She was previously the 24th governor of Queensland from 2003 to 2008.

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23/12/1941

Peter Davis, English businessman

Sir Peter John Davis is a British businessman, who was, from 2000 to 2004, the CEO of J Sainsbury plc, which operates the UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's.

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Tim Hardin, American folk singer-songwriter and musician (died 1980)

James Timothy Hardin was an American folk music and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his own success, his songs "If I Were a Carpenter", "Reason to Believe", "Misty Roses" and "The Lady Came from Baltimore" were hits for other artists.

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23/12/1940

Mamnoon Hussain, Pakistani businessman and politician, 12th President of Pakistan (died 2021)

Mamnoon Hussain was a Pakistani politician, industrialist and statesman who served as the 12th president of Pakistan from 2013 to 2018. He also served as the governor of Sindh from June 1999 until being deposed in a coup d'état in October 1999, when the federal and all provincial governments were overthrown by Pervez Musharraf.

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Jorma Kaukonen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen Jr. is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist. Kaukonen performed with Jefferson Airplane, and still performs regularly on tour with Hot Tuna, which started as a side project with bassist Jack Casady, and as of early 2024 has continued for 55 years. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 54 on its list of "100 Greatest Guitarists". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of Jefferson Airplane.

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Robert Labine, Canadian politician (died 2021)

Robert "Bob" Labine was a politician in Gatineau, Quebec. He was best known for being mayor of the former city of Gatineau between 1988 and 1994 and again between 1999 and 2001.

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Jeanie Lambe, Scottish jazz singer (died 2020)

Jeanie Lambe was a Scottish jazz singer. She was married to jazz tenor saxophonist Danny Moss.

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Kevin Longbottom, Australian rugby league player (died 1986)

Kevin Longbottom was an Aboriginal Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s. Longbottom was known by the nickname "Lummy" and was renowned for his long-range goal kicking, sometimes even kicking goals from further than the halfway line. A large, barrel-chested man, he won a premiership with the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 1967, and played on the 1965 team that were runners up. He played Fullback for most of his career.

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Eugene Record, American soul singer-songwriter (died 2005)

Eugene Booker Record was an American singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. He was best known as the lead vocalist of the Chicago-based vocal group The Chi-Lites. He had international hits with "Oh Girl," "Have You Seen Her," "Soulful Strut," and "(For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People". His writing contributions earned him a Grammy Award.

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23/12/1939

Nancy Graves, American sculptor and painter (died 1995)

Nancy Graves was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and sometime filmmaker known for her focus on natural phenomena like camels or maps of the Moon. Her works are included in many public collections, including those of the National Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), the Des Moines Art Center, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and the Museum of Fine Arts. When Graves was just 29, she was given a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. At the time she was the youngest artist, and fifth woman to achieve this honor.

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23/12/1938

Bob Kahn, American computer scientist and engineer, co-developed the Transmission Control Protocol

Robert Elliot Kahn is an American electrical engineer who, along with Vint Cerf, first proposed the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), the fundamental communication protocols at the heart of the Internet.

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23/12/1937

Barney Rosenzweig, American screenwriter and producer

Barney Rosenzweig is an American television producer.

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Nelson Shanks, American painter, historian, and educator (died 2015)

John Nelson Shanks was an American artist and painter. His best known works include his portrait of Diana, Princess of Wales, first shown at Hirschl & Adler Gallery in New York City, April 24 to June 28, 1996, and the portrait of president Bill Clinton for the National Portrait Gallery.

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23/12/1936

Frederic Forrest, American actor (died 2023)

Frederic Fenimore Forrest Jr. was an American actor. A figure of the New Hollywood movement, Forrest was best known for his collaborations with director Francis Ford Coppola, playing featured roles in The Conversation (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979), One from the Heart (1982), and Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988). He was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Huston Dyer in the musical drama The Rose (1979).

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Bobby Ross, American football player and coach

Robert Joseph Ross is an American former football coach. He served as the head football coach at The Citadel (1973–1977), the University of Maryland, College Park (1982–1986), Georgia Tech (1987–1991), and the United States Military Academy (2004–2006), compiling a career college football coaching record of 103–101–2. Ross was also the head coach of the National Football League's San Diego Chargers from 1992 to 1996 and the Detroit Lions from 1997 to 2000, tallying a career NFL mark of 77–68. He guided his 1990 Georgia Tech squad to the UPI national championship and coached the 1994 San Diego Chargers to an appearance in Super Bowl XXIX.

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Willie Wood, American football player (died 2020)

William Vernell Wood Sr. was an American professional football player and coach. He played as a safety with the Green Bay Packers in the National Football League (NFL). Wood was an eight-time Pro Bowler and a nine-time All-Pro. In 1989, Wood was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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23/12/1935

Paul Hornung, American football player and sportscaster (died 2020)

Paul Vernon Hornung, nicknamed "the Golden Boy", was an American professional football halfback and kicker who played for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 to 1966.

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Johnny Kidd, English singer-songwriter (died 1966)

Frederick Albert Heath, known professionally as Johnny Kidd, was an English singer-songwriter, best remembered as the lead vocalist for the rock and roll band Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. He was one of the few pre-Beatles British rockers to achieve worldwide fame, mainly for his 1960 hit, "Shakin' All Over".

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Abdul Ghani Minhat, Malaysian footballer and manager (died 2012)

Tan Sri Datuk Abdul Ghani bin Minhat was an association football player who represented Selangor FA and Negeri Sembilan FA from the 1950s to the late 1960s. He played as a striker and winger for both the Malaya and the Malaysia national teams. He was widely known by the nickname Raja Bola and is regarded as one of Malaysia's greatest football players.

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Esther Phillips, American R&B singer (died 1984)

Esther Phillips was an American singer, best known for her R&B vocals. She rose to prominence in 1950, scoring several major R&B hits including "Double Crossing Blues" and "Mistrustin' Blues" under the moniker "Little Esther." In the 1960s, she achieved chart success with the country song "Release Me" and recorded in the pop, jazz, blues and soul genres. Phillips received four Grammy nominations, including for her album From a Whisper to a Scream in 1973, as well as for the album that featured her disco recording of "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes," which was a major hit in 1975. She died from liver and kidney failure due to long-term drug abuse in 1984.

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23/12/1933

Akihito, Emperor of Japan

Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The era of his rule was named the Heisei era, Heisei being an expression of achieving peace worldwide.

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Noella Leduc, American baseball player (died 2014)

Noella Leduc was an American pitcher and outfielder who played from 1951 through 1954 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m), 130 lb, Leduc batted and threw right-handed. She was born in Graniteville, Westford, Massachusetts.

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23/12/1932

Richard Clark Barkley, American soldier, academic, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to East Germany (died 2015)

Richard Clark Barkley was a United States diplomat. From December 1988 until October 1990, he was the last United States Ambassador to East Germany. After that, from 1991 to 1994, he was the United States Ambassador to Turkey.

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23/12/1931

Ronnie Schell, American comedian and actor

Ronald Ralph Schell is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He appeared on the May 28, 1959, episode of the TV quiz show You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx. Schell demonstrated a comic barrage of beatnik jive talk. As a stand-up comedian, he first developed his act at the hungry i nightclub in San Francisco, California, and is heard introducing the Kingston Trio at the start of the group's 1962 College Concert album. Schell is probably best known for his 1960s television role as Duke Slater in Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

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23/12/1929

Chet Baker, American jazz trumpet player, flugelhorn player, and singer (died 1988)

Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool".

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Dick Weber, American professional bowler (died 2005)

Richard Anthony Weber was an American professional bowler and founding member of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). Along with Don Carter, Weber is widely regarded as professional bowling's first superstar. He was the first player in history to earn 30 PBA Tour titles, a level reached by only seven other players since.

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23/12/1926

Robert Bly, American poet and essayist (died 2021)

Robert Elwood Bly was an American poet, essayist, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. His best-known prose book is Iron John: A Book About Men (1990), which spent 62 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, and is a key text of the mythopoetic men’s movement. He won the 1968 National Book Award for Poetry for his book The Light Around the Body.

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Harold Dorman, American singer-songwriter (died 1988)

Harold Kenneth Dorman was an American rock and roll singer and songwriter.

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23/12/1925

Duncan Hallas, English author and politician (died 2002)

Duncan Hallas was a prominent member of the Trotskyist movement and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party in Great Britain.

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Rayner Unwin, English publisher (died 2000)

Rayner Stephens Unwin CBE was an English publisher. He served as the chairman of the publishing firm George Allen & Unwin, which had been founded by his father Sir Stanley Unwin.

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23/12/1924

Bob Kurland, American basketball player and politician (died 2013)

Robert Albert Kurland was an American basketball center, who played for the two-time NCAA champion Oklahoma A&M Aggies. Standing 7-foot (2.1 m) tall, he has been credited as the first person to dunk in a college basketball game. He led the U.S. basketball team to gold medals in two Summer Olympics, and led his AAU team to three national titles. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

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23/12/1923

Onofre Marimón, Argentinian race car driver (died 1954)

Onofre Agustín Marimón was an Argentine racing driver, who competed in Formula One at 12 Grands Prix between 1951 and 1954.

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Günther Schifter, Austrian journalist and radio host (died 2008)

Günther Schifter was an Austrian journalist, radio presenter and record collector.

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James Stockdale, American admiral and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (died 2005)

James Bond Stockdale was a U.S. Navy vice admiral, aviator, and Stoic philosopher who received the Medal of Honor in 1976 for his leadership as a POW for more than seven years during the Vietnam War.

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23/12/1922

Micheline Ostermeyer, French discus thrower, shot putter, and pianist (died 2001)

Micheline Ostermeyer was a French athlete and concert pianist. She won three medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in shot put, discus throw, and high jump. After retiring from sports in 1950, she became a full-time pianist for fifteen years and then turned to teaching afterwards.

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23/12/1921

Guy Beaulne, Canadian actor and director (died 2001)

Guy Beaulne, was a French Canadian actor and theatre director.

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23/12/1919

Kenneth M. Taylor, American general and pilot (died 2006)

Kenneth Marlar Taylor was a United States Air Force officer and a flying ace of World War II. He was a new United States Army Air Corps second lieutenant pilot stationed at Wheeler Field during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Along with his fellow pilot and friend George Welch, Taylor managed to get a fighter plane airborne under fire. Taylor claimed to have shot down four Japanese dive bombers but only two were confirmed. Taylor was injured during the incident and received several awards for his efforts, including the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart.

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23/12/1918

José Greco, Italian-American dancer and choreographer (died 2000)

José Greco was an Italian-born American flamenco dancer and choreographer known for popularizing Spanish dance on the stage and screen in America mostly in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Helmut Schmidt, German soldier, economist, and politician, 5th Chancellor of Germany (died 2015)

Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. He was the longest lived chancellor in German history and had the longest post-chancellorship, at over 33 years.

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23/12/1916

Dino Risi, Italian director and screenwriter (died 2008)

Dino Risi was an Italian film director. With Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Nanni Loy, and Ettore Scola, he was one of the masters of commedia all'italiana.

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23/12/1912

Anna J. Harrison, American organic chemist and academic (died 1998)

Anna Jane Harrison was an American organic chemist and a professor of chemistry at Mount Holyoke College for nearly forty years. She was the first female president of the American Chemical Society, and the recipient of twenty honorary degrees. She was nationally known for her teaching and was active nationally and internationally as a supporter of women in science.

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23/12/1911

James Gregory, American actor (died 2002)

James Gregory was an American character actor who played roles such as Schaffer in Al Capone (1959), the McCarthy-like Sen. John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), General Ursus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), and Inspector Frank Luger in the television sitcom Barney Miller (1975–1982).

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Niels Kaj Jerne, English-Danish physician and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1994)

Niels Kaj Jerne, FRS was a Danish immunologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1984 with Georges J. F. Köhler and César Milstein "for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies".

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23/12/1910

Kurt Meyer, German SS general and convicted war criminal (died 1961)

Kurt Meyer was an SS commander and convicted war criminal of Nazi Germany. He served in the Waffen-SS and participated in the Battle of France, Operation Barbarossa, and other engagements during World War II. Meyer commanded the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend during the Allied invasion of Normandy, and was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

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23/12/1908

Gertrude Bancroft, American economist (died 1985)

Gertrude Bancroft McNally was an American economist who was chief of the economic statistics section of the United States Census Bureau until 1951. She was later associated with the Social Science Research Council and special assistant to the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Yousuf Karsh, Armenian-Canadian photographer (died 2002)

Yousuf Karsh was a Canadian photographer known for his portraits of notable individuals. He has been described as one of the greatest portrait photographers of the 20th century.

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23/12/1907

Manuel Lopes, Cape Verdean author and poet (died 2005)

Manuel António de Sousa Lopes was a Cape Verdean novelist, poet and essayist. With Baltasar Lopes da Silva and Jorge Barbosa he was a founder of the journal Claridade, which contributed to the rise of Cape Verdean literature. Manuel Lopes wrote in Portuguese, using expressions typical for Cape Verdean Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole. He was one of those responsible for describing world calamities of the droughts that caused several deaths in São Vicente and Santo Antão.

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James Roosevelt, American general and politician (died 1991)

James Roosevelt II was an American businessman, Marine officer, activist, and Democratic Party politician. The eldest son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, he served as an official Secretary to the President for his father and was later elected to the United States House of Representatives representing California, serving five terms from 1955 to 1965. Roosevelt received the Navy Cross while serving as a Marine Corps officer during World War II.

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Avraham Stern, Polish Zionist leader (died 1942)

Avraham Stern, alias Yair (יאיר), was one of the leaders of the Jewish paramilitary organization Irgun. In September 1940, he founded a breakaway militant Zionist group named Lehi, called the "Stern Gang" by the British authorities and by the mainstream in the Yishuv Jewish establishment. The group referred to its members as terrorists and admitted to having carried out terrorist attacks.

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23/12/1902

Norman Maclean, American author and academic (died 1990)

Norman Fitzroy Maclean was an American professor at the University of Chicago who, following his retirement, became a major figure in American literature. Maclean is known for his collection of novellas A River Runs Through It and Other Stories (1976), and the creative nonfiction book Young Men and Fire (1992).

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Charan Singh, Indian lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of India (died 1987)

Chaudhary Charan Singh was an Indian politician, peasant leader, author and an independence activist who briefly served as the prime minister of India from July 1979 to January 1980. Singh was principally known for his land and agricultural reform initiatives, and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Baghpat. During his premiership, he was a member of the Janata Party (Secular). He served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh as a member of Bharatiya Kranti Dal. He also briefly served as the deputy prime minister of India from January 1979 to July 1979 as a member of the Janata Party. Singh is widely regarded as the "Champion of Farmers", dedicated to advocating for the well being and rights of farmers.

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23/12/1901

Viktor Gutić, Croatian fascist official (died 1947)

Viktor Gutić was the Ustaše commissioner for Banja Luka and the Grand Prefect of Pokuplje in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), an Axis puppet state during World War II. He was responsible for the persecution of Serbs, Jews and Roma in the Bosanska Krajina region between 1941 and 1942.

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23/12/1900

Merle Barwis, American-Canadian supercentenarian (died 2014)

This article lists Canadian supercentenarians. The oldest verified Canadian person ever was Marie-Louise Meilleur, who died in 1998 aged 117 years, 230 days. As of 5 April 2026, the oldest living Canadian person is Katherine Baumchen, who was born in Saskatchewan on 10 February 1915 but currently resides in the United States, aged 111 years, 54 days. The oldest known living person in Canada is Marie Rosa, born 17 September 1915, aged 110 years, 200 days.

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Marie Bell, French actress and stage director (died 1985)

Marie Bell, born Marie-Jeanne Bellon-Downey, was a French tragedian, comic actor and stage director. She was the director of the Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris from 1962 onwards, and this theatre now bears her name.

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Otto Soglow, American cartoonist (died 1975)

Otto Soglow was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip The Little King.

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23/12/1896

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Italian lieutenant and author (died 1957)

Giuseppe Tomasi, 11th Prince of Lampedusa, 12th Duke of Palma, GE, known as Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, was a Sicilian writer, as well as the last generation of Tomasi Princes of Lampedusa before the family's and their titles' extinction. He is most famous for his only novel, Il Gattopardo, which is set in his native Sicily during the Risorgimento. A reserved, solitary, shy, and somewhat misanthropic aristocrat, he opened up only with a few close friends, and spent a great deal of his time reading and meditating. He said of himself as a child, "I was a boy who liked solitude, who preferred the company of things to that of people", and in 1954 wrote, "Of my sixteen hours of daily wakefulness, at least ten are spent in solitude."

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23/12/1895

Nola Luxford, New Zealand-American actress and broadcaster (died 1994)

Nola Luxford was a New Zealand-born American film actress, spanning from the silent film era to the 1930s. During the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she was also a writer and pioneer broadcaster, providing a daily radio programme for audiences in Australia and New Zealand.

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23/12/1894

Arthur Gilligan, English cricketer (died 1976)

Arthur Edward Robert Gilligan was an English first-class cricketer who captained the England cricket team nine times in 1924 and 1925, winning four Test matches, losing four and drawing one. In first-class cricket, he played as an amateur, mainly for Cambridge University and Sussex, and captained the latter team between 1922 and 1929. A fast bowler and hard-hitting lower order batsman, Gilligan completed the double in 1923 and was one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year for 1924. When his playing career ended, he held several important positions in cricket, including that of England selector and president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). A popular figure within cricket, he was widely regarded as sporting and friendly.

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23/12/1885

Pierre Brissaud, French illustrator, painter, and engraver (died 1964)

Pierre Brissaud was a French Art Deco illustrator, painter, and engraver. He was born in Paris and trained at the École des Beaux-Arts and Atelier Fernand Cormon in Montmartre, Paris. His father was Dr. Édouard Brissaud, a student of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot. His fellow students at Cormon were his brother Jacques, André-Édouard Marty, Charles Martin, and Georges Lepape. Students at the workshop drew, painted and designed wallpaper, furniture and posters. Earlier, Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh, and Henri Matisse had studied and worked there. Pierre's older brother Jacques Brissaud was a portrait and genre painter and his uncle Maurice Boutet de Monvel illustrated the fables of La Fontaine, songbooks for children and a life of Joan of Arc. A first cousin was the celebrated artist and celebrity portrait painter Bernard Boutet de Monvel.

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23/12/1878

Stephen Timoshenko, Ukrainian-American engineer and academic (died 1972)

Stepan Prokopovich Timoshenko, later known as Stephen Timoshenko, was a Ukrainian and later an American engineer and academician.

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23/12/1870

John Marin, American painter (died 1953)

John Marin was an early American modernist visual artist. He is known for his abstract landscape paintings and watercolors.

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23/12/1867

Madam C. J. Walker, American businesswoman and philanthropist (died 1919)

Madam C. J. Walker, Mrs. Charles Joseph Walker upon her third marriage, was an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. Walker is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the Guinness Book of World Records. Multiple sources mention that although other women might have been the first, their wealth is not as well-documented.

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23/12/1865

James M. Canty, American educator, school administrator, and businessperson (died 1964)

James Munroe Canty was an American educator, school administrator, and businessperson. Canty was an acting principal of the West Virginia Colored Institute in 1898 and is considered by West Virginia State as an acting president. Canty also served as the superintendent of Mechanical Industries for West Virginia Colored Institute from 1893 through 1914.

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23/12/1861

Edgar P. Rucker, American lawyer, politician, and businessman (died 1908)

Edgar Parks Rucker was an American lawyer, politician, and businessman in the U.S. state of West Virginia. He was a Republican who served as the 12th attorney general of West Virginia from March 4, 1897, until March 3, 1901.

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23/12/1854

Henry B. Guppy, English botanist and author (died 1926)

Henry Brougham Guppy was a British surgeon, geologist, botanist and photographer. He was awarded the Linnean Medal in 1917.

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23/12/1843

Richard Conner, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1924)

Richard Conner was an American Civil War Union Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his bravery in action.

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23/12/1839

János Murkovics, Slovene-Hungarian author and educator (died 1917)

János Murkovics was a Slovene teacher, musician, and writer in Hungary.

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23/12/1828

Mathilde Wesendonck, German poet and author (died 1902)

Agnes Mathilde Wesendonck was a German poet and author. The words of five of her verses were the basis of Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder; the composer was infatuated with her, and his wife Minna blamed Mathilde for the break-up of their marriage.

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23/12/1822

Wilhelm Bauer, German engineer (died 1875)

Wilhelm Bauer was a German marine engineer and inventor who built several hand-powered submarines.

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23/12/1819

Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch pastor and poet (died 1889)

Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate was a Dutch divine, prose writer and poet.

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23/12/1812

Samuel Smiles, Scottish-English author (died 1904)

Samuel Smiles was a British author and government reformer. Although he campaigned on a Chartist platform, he promoted the idea that more progress would come from new attitudes than from new laws. His primary work, Self-Help (1859), promoted thrift and claimed that poverty was caused largely by irresponsible habits, while also attacking materialism and laissez-faire government. It has been called "the bible of mid-Victorian liberalism" and had lasting effects on British political thought.

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Henri-Alexandre Wallon, French historian and statesman (died 1904)

Henri-Alexandre Wallon was a French historian and statesman whose decisive contribution to the creation of the Third Republic led him to be called the "Father of the Republic". He was the grandfather of psychologist and politician Henri Wallon.

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23/12/1810

Edward Blyth, English zoologist (died 1873)

Edward Blyth was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta. He catalogued the specimens in the collection in his Catalogue of the Birds of the Asiatic Society in 1849. He did not collect specimens himself but received and described bird specimens from A.O. Hume, Samuel Tickell, Robert Swinhoe among others. His Natural History of the Cranes was published posthumously in 1881.

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Karl Richard Lepsius, German Egyptologist (died 1884)

Karl Richard Lepsius was a German Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist.

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23/12/1807

Anthony Mary Claret, Spanish Roman Catholic archbishop and missionary (died 1870)

Anthony Mary Claret, was a Spanish Catholic prelate and missionary who served as Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba and was the confessor of Isabella II of Spain. He founded the congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, commonly called the Claretians.

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23/12/1805

Joseph Smith, American religious leader, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement (died 1844)

Joseph Smith Jr. was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thousands of followers by the time of his death fourteen years later. The religious movement he founded is followed by millions of global adherents and several churches, the largest of which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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23/12/1804

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French author, critic, and academic (died 1869)

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve was a French literary critic.

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23/12/1793

Dost Mohammad Khan, emir of Afghanistan (died 1863)

Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai, nicknamed the Great Emir, was the founder of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War. With the decline of the Durrani dynasty, he succeeded his brother Sultan Mohammad Khan, and became the Emir of Afghanistan in 1826. An ethnic Pashtun, he belonged to the Mohammadzai branch of the Barakzai tribe. He was the 11th son of Payandah Khan, chief of the Barakzai Pashtuns, who was killed in 1800 by King Zaman Shah Durrani.

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23/12/1790

Jean-François Champollion, French philologist, orientalist, and scholar (died 1832)

Jean-François Champollion, also known as Champollion le jeune, was a French philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure in the field of Egyptology. Partially raised by his brother, the scholar Jacques Joseph Champollion-Figeac, Champollion was a child prodigy in philology, giving his first public paper on the decipherment of Demotic in his late teens. As a young man he was renowned in scientific circles, and read Coptic, Ancient Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Arabic.

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23/12/1782

William Armstrong, American lawyer, civil servant, politician, and businessperson (died 1865)

William Armstrong was an American lawyer, civil servant, politician, and businessperson. He represented Hampshire County in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1818 to 1820, and Virginia's 16th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1825 to 1833.

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23/12/1777

Alexander I of Russia (died 1825)

Alexander I, nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russia during the chaotic period of the Napoleonic Wars.

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23/12/1766

Wilhelm Hisinger, Swedish physicist and chemist (died 1852)

Wilhelm Hisinger was a Swedish physicist and chemist who in 1807, working in coordination with Jöns Jakob Berzelius, noted that in electrolysis any given substance always went to the same pole, and that substances attracted to the same pole had other properties in common. This showed that there was at least a qualitative correlation between the chemical and electrical natures of bodies.

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23/12/1758

Nathan Wilson, American soldier and politician (died 1834)

Nathan Wilson was a United States representative from New York. Born in Bolton, Worcester County, Massachusetts, he moved with his family to Greenwich, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, where he attended school. He served two enlistments in Massachusetts regiments during the Revolutionary War in 1777 and 1780 and moved to New Perth, Washington County, New York. He enlisted as a private in the Sixteenth Regiment, Albany County Militia and was appointed by Governor George Clinton in 1791 adjutant in Washington County Militia Regiment. He was town collector in 1801 and 1802 and sheriff of Washington County from 1802 to 1806.

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23/12/1750

Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (died 1827)

Frederick Augustus I was a member of the House of Wettin who reigned as the last Elector of Saxony from 1763 to 1806 and as the first King of Saxony from 1806 to 1827. He was also Duke of Warsaw from 1807 to 1815, a short-lived disputed Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1812, and a legitimate candidate to the Polish throne.

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23/12/1732

Richard Arkwright, English businessman and inventor, invented the Water frame and Spinning frame (died 1792)

Sir Richard Arkwright was an English inventor and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution. He is credited as the driving force behind the development of the spinning frame, known as the water frame after it was adapted to use water power; and he patented a rotary carding engine to convert raw cotton to 'cotton lap' prior to spinning. He was the first to develop factories housing both mechanised carding and spinning operations.

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23/12/1713

Maruyama Gondazaemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 3rd Yokozuna (died 1749)

Maruyama Gondazaemon was a Japanese sumo wrestler, who is formally recognised as the third yokozuna. His real name was Haga Gindayu . He came from Mutsu Province in the Sendai Domain.

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23/12/1690

Pamheiba, Indian emperor (died 1751)

Gharib Niwaz, also known as Pamheiba, was the ruler of the Manipur Kingdom, ruling from c. 1709 until his death in 1748. He introduced Hinduism as the state religion of his kingdom (1717) and changed the name of the kingdom from "Kangleipaak" to the Sanskrit Manipur (1724). He changed his royal name from his birth name Pamheipa to the Persianate "Gharib Niwaz". During most of his reign he was engaged in warfare against the weakened Burmese Toungoo Dynasty.

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23/12/1689

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, French composer (died 1755)

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier was a French baroque composer of chamber music, cantatas, opéra-ballets, and vocal music. Boismortier was one of the first composers to have no patrons: having obtained a royal licence for engraving music in 1724, he made enormous sums of money by publishing his music for sale to the public.

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23/12/1621

Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of England (died 1682)

Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham,, Lord Chancellor of England, was descended from the old family of Finch, many of whose members had attained high legal eminence, and was the eldest son of Sir Heneage Finch, Recorder of London, by his first wife Frances Bell, daughter of Sir Edmond Bell of Beaupre Hall, Norfolk.

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Edmund Berry Godfrey, English lawyer and judge (died 1678)

Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey was an English magistrate whose mysterious death caused anti-Catholic uproar in England. Contemporary documents also spell the name Edmundbury Godfrey.

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23/12/1613

Carl Gustaf Wrangel, Swedish field marshal and politician, Lord High Constable of Sweden (died 1676)

Fältmarskalk Carl Gustaf Wrangel was a Swedish statesman and military commander who commanded the Swedish forces in the Thirty Years' War, as well as the Torstenson, Bremen, Second Northern and Scanian Wars.

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23/12/1605

Tianqi Emperor, Chinese emperor (died 1627)

The Tianqi Emperor, personal name Zhu Youjiao, was the 16th and penultimate emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1620 to 1627. He was the eldest son of the Taichang Emperor and an elder half-brother of the Chongzhen Emperor, who succeeded him.

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23/12/1597

Martin Opitz, German poet and composer (died 1639)

Martin Opitz von Boberfeld was a German poet, regarded as the greatest of that nation during his lifetime.

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23/12/1582

Severo Bonini, Italian organist and composer (died 1663)

Severo Bonini was an Italian composer, organist, and writer on music.

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23/12/1573

Giovanni Battista Crespi, Italian painter, sculptor and architect (died 1632)

Giovanni Battista Crespi, called Il Cerano, was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect. He is one of the most prominent of the Milanese artists of the early 17th century whose work represents a transitional phase between Mannerism and Baroque. He was highly esteemed in his day and patronized by the Fabbrica of Milan Cathedral, the civic authorities and highly distinguished private patrons, such as the Borromeo and Gonzaga families and the House of Savoy.

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23/12/1544

Anna of Saxony, only child and heiress of Maurice, Elector of Saxony (died 1577)

Anna of Saxony was the daughter of Maurice, Elector of Saxony, and Agnes of Hesse. Her wealth drew many suitors; she ultimately accepted the proposal of widowed William the Silent, and they were married on 25 August 1561. They had to flee the Netherlands in 1567 in the face of the Habsburg army dispatched to suppress the Dutch Revolt.

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23/12/1525

John Albert I, duke of Mecklenburg (died 1576)

John Albert I, in older literature known as John or Johann, was the reigning duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow from 1547 to 1556 and of Mecklenburg-Schwerin from 1556 to 1576. In 1549 John Albert I saw to it that the parliament of Mecklenburg carried through the Reformation for the entire duchy.

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23/12/1513

Thomas Smith, English scholar and diplomat (died 1577)

Sir Thomas Smith was an English scholar, parliamentarian and diplomat.

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23/12/1173

Louis I, duke of Bavaria (died 1231)

Ludwig I, called the Kelheimer or of Kelheim, since he was born and died at Kelheim, was the Duke of Bavaria from 1183 and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1214. He was the only surviving son of Otto I, Duke of Bavaria by his wife Agnes of Loon. He married Ludmilla of Bohemia, a daughter of Duke Frederick of Bohemia.

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23/12/0968

Emperor Zhenzong of Song, emperor of the Song dynasty (died 1022)

Emperor Zhenzong of Song, personal name Zhao Heng, was the third emperor of the Song dynasty of China. He reigned from 997 to his death in 1022. His personal name was originally Zhao Dechang, but was changed to Zhao Yuanxiu in 983, Zhao Yuankan in 986, and finally Zhao Heng in 995. He was the third son of his predecessor, Emperor Taizong, and was succeeded by his sixth son, Emperor Renzong at the end of his reign. From 1020 he was seriously ill, but retained power despite this. Because of his illness, day-to-day rule of China was often placed in the hands of his third wife, Empress Liu.

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