31st December — New Year's Eve & World Peace Meditation Day

On this day, 223 notable people were born on 31st December — spanning from 695 to 2002. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

31/12/2002

Ryan Flamingo, Dutch footballer

Ryan Flamingo is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Eredivisie club PSV.

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Sophia Laforteza, Filipino-American singer

Sophia Elizabeth Guevara Laforteza is a Filipino and American singer. In 2024, she made her debut as the leader of the girl group Katseye, formed through the 2023 reality show Dream Academy created by Hybe and Geffen Records.

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Joe Scally, American soccer player

Joseph Michael Scally is an American professional soccer player who plays as a full-back for Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach and the United States national team.

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31/12/2001

Katie Volynets, American tennis player

Katie Volynets is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 56 by the WTA, achieved on July 29, 2024.

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31/12/2000

Alycia Parks, American tennis player

Alycia Michelle Parks is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 40, achieved August 14, 2023, and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 27, set on September 11, 2023. Parks has won one singles title and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including a WTA 1000 doubles title at the 2023 Western & Southern Open. She has also won five singles titles and three doubles titles on the WTA Challenger Tour.

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31/12/1999

Calvin Bassey, Italian-Nigerian footballer

Calvin Chinedu Bassey is a professional footballer who plays as a left-back or a centre-back for Premier League club Fulham and the Nigeria national team.

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Leif Davis, English footballer

Leif Davis is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Premier League club Ipswich Town.

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31/12/1997

Ludovic Blas, French footballer

Ludovic Régis Arsène Blas is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Rennes.

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Cameron Carter-Vickers, English-American soccer player

Cameron Robert Carter-Vickers is a professional soccer player who plays as a center-back for Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Born in England, he represents the United States national team.

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Bright Osayi-Samuel, Nigerian footballer

Bright Osayi-Samuel is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a right-back or winger for EFL Championship club Birmingham City and the Nigeria national team.

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31/12/1996

J. J. Arcega-Whiteside, Spanish-American football player

José Joaquín Arcega-Whiteside is a Spanish former professional gridiron football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal and was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 2019 NFL draft. He was also a member of the Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, and Toronto Argonauts.

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31/12/1995

Gabby Douglas, American gymnast

Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas is an American artistic gymnast. She is the 2012 Olympic all-around gold medalist and the 2015 World all-around silver medalist. She was a member of the gold-winning teams at both the 2012 and the 2016 Summer Olympics, dubbed the "Fierce Five" and the "Final Five" by the media, respectively. She was also a member of the gold-winning American teams at the 2011 and the 2015 World Championships. Additionally, she is the 2012 U.S. champion on the uneven bars and the 2016 American Cup all-around champion.

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Edmond Sumner, American basketball player

Edmond Byron Sumner is an American professional basketball player for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). A point guard, he played college basketball for the Xavier Musketeers and averaged 15.0 points per game as a junior.

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31/12/1992

Amy Cure, Australian track cyclist

Amy Louise Cure is an Australian former professional track cyclist. She cycles for Team Jayco–AIS. She has set several world records. She won a junior world championship race in 2009, and represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is the first person in history to medal at every endurance track event at world championship level; with three newly gained medals in the team pursuit, omnium, and madison at 2017 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Hong Kong.

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Karl Kruuda, Estonian racing driver

Karl Kruuda is an Estonian rally driver.

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31/12/1991

Dennis Everberg, Swedish ice hockey player

Dennis Everberg is a Swedish professional ice hockey winger for Rögle BK of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He has previously played in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche.

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Djené, Togolese footballer

Djené Dakonam Ortega, known mononymously as Djené, is a Togolese professional footballer who plays for and captains both La Liga club Getafe and the Togo national team. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play as a right-back and defensive midfielder.

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ND Stevenson, American cartoonist

Nate Diana "Indy" Stevenson, known professionally as ND Stevenson, is an American cartoonist and animation producer. He is the developer, showrunner, and executive producer of the animated television series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, which ran from 2018 to 2020. He is also known for the science fantasy graphic novel Nimona, as co-writer of the comic series Lumberjanes, and The Fire Never Goes Out, his autobiographical collection.

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31/12/1989

Ryo Aitaka, Japanese kickboxer and professional wrestler

Ryo Aitaka is a Japanese professional wrestler and former kickboxer, who competed in the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions of K-1. He was a one-time K-1 Cruiserweight title challenger, having challenged for the title in 2020. In 2023, he took up professional wrestling, training at the Ibushi Prowrest Lab, and made his debut for Gleat on 30 December, under the ring name Riki Aitaka , and later under his real name.

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Kelvin Herrera, Dominican baseball player

Kelvin de Jesús Herrera Mercado is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals from 2011 to 2018, Washington Nationals in 2018, and Chicago White Sox in 2019 and 2020. Herrera is a two-time MLB All-Star.

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31/12/1988

Michal Řepík, Czech ice hockey player

Michal Řepík is a Czech professional ice hockey left winger. He is currently under contract with HC Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). Repik was selected by the Florida Panthers in the 2nd round of the 2007 NHL entry draft.

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31/12/1987

Javaris Crittenton, American basketball player

Javaris Cortez Crittenton is an American former professional basketball player. During his four year career, Crittenton played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, and Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Zhejiang Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association, and the Dakota Wizards of the NBA D-League. He played college basketball for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

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Seydou Doumbia, Ivorian footballer

Seydou Doumbia is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a forward.

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Danny Holla, Dutch footballer

Danny Holla is a former Dutch professional footballer who last played as a midfielder for Sliema Wanderers in the Maltese Premier League.

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Nemanja Nikolić, Hungarian footballer

Nemanja Nikolić is a former professional footballer who played as a striker.

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31/12/1986

Nate Freiman, American baseball player

Nathan Samuel Freiman is an American former professional baseball first baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics in 2013 and 2014. In 2013, baseball writer Tim Brown wrote of his 6 ft 8 in frame, "Near as anyone can tell, there's never been a taller major-league position player than Freiman."

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Kade Snowden, Australian rugby league player

Kade Snowden is a former professional rugby league footballer of the Biddabah nation, who played as a prop in the 2000s and 2010s.

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31/12/1985

Jonathan Horton, American gymnast

Jonathan Alan Horton is a former American artistic gymnast. He was a member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team and is the 2008 Olympic silver medalist on horizontal bar, the 2010 World all-around bronze medalist, a two-time Olympian, a two-time U.S. National All-Around Champion, and a 17-time medalist at the U.S. National Championships. At the 2008 Olympics, he also won a bronze medal with his U.S. teammates in the team competition. He also competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where he qualified for the horizontal bar event final and finished in sixth place. In 2016, he had surgery on his left rotator cuff and as a result was unable to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

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Jan Smit, Dutch singer and television host

Jan Smit is a Dutch singer, television host, and actor. Smit mostly sings songs in the Dutch language, in a genre known as palingsound. In addition to his solo career, in 2015 Smit joined the schlager trio Klubbb3, and in 2017 the Toppers. As a TV presenter, he has worked on programs like the Beste Zangers and Sterren Muziekfeest op het Plein Since 1999, Smit has been serving as an ambassador for the SOS Children's Villages.

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31/12/1984

Corey Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player

Corey Crawford is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. Nicknamed "Crow" by teammates and fans, he played his entire professional career with the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), who selected him in the second round, 52nd overall, of the 2003 NHL Draft. Crawford made his NHL debut for Chicago in 2006 and played with the team through the 2019–20 NHL season. He won the Stanley Cup and William M. Jennings Trophy twice with the Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015.

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Ben Hannant, Australian rugby league player

Benjamin Hannant, also known by the nickname of "Polar Bear", is a former Australian rugby league footballer and boxer.

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Édgar Lugo, Mexican footballer

Edgar Gerardo Lugo Aranda is a Mexican former professional footballer.

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Calvin Zola, Congolese footballer

Calvin Zola-Makongo, often known simply as Calvin Zola, is a Congolese former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in Kinshasa, Zaire, he began his career as a youth player at Newcastle United. Zola went on to have spells at Tranmere Rovers, Crewe Alexandra, Burton Albion and Aberdeen. His last club was Stevenage, who released him in May 2015 due to injury setbacks.

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31/12/1983

Jana Veselá, Czech basketball player

Jana Veselá is a Czech professional basketball player currently playing in the Czech League for ZVVZ USK Prague. She has played the Summer Olympics, the World Championship and the Eurobasket with the Czech Republic women's national basketball team, and she has won the Euroleague Women twice with Gambrinus Brno and Ros Casares Valencia, and the 2010 WNBA with Seattle Storm. She is 1.94 meters tall and plays as a forward.

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31/12/1982

Julio DePaula, Dominican baseball player

Julio César DePaula is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins and in the KBO League for the Hanwha Eagles.

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Craig Gordon, Scottish footballer

Craig Sinclair Gordon is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian and the Scotland national team.

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Luke Schenscher, Australian basketball player

Luke Dean Schenscher is an Australian former professional basketball player. He played four years of college basketball for Georgia Tech before having stints in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Chicago Bulls in 2006 and the Portland Trail Blazers in 2007. In 2010, he won an NBL championship with the Perth Wildcats.

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The Rocket Summer, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

The Rocket Summer is the solo project of Bryce Avary, a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and record producer based in Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas.

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31/12/1981

Jason Campbell, American football player

Jason S. Campbell is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Auburn Tigers and was selected by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft. Campbell also played for the Oakland Raiders, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, and Cincinnati Bengals. After his playing career, he became an analyst for Auburn Sports Network.

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Francisco García, Dominican basketball player

Francisco Alberto García Gutiérrez is a Dominican former professional basketball player who played ten seasons in the NBA. The 6'7", 195-pound swingman played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals before being selected by the Sacramento Kings with the 23rd overall pick of the 2005 NBA draft, where he spent the first seven-plus years of his NBA career. He also played parts of three seasons for the Houston Rockets.

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Matthew Pavlich, Australian footballer

Matthew Lee Pavlich is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Pavlich is the chief executive of the Sydney Swans.

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Margaret Simpson, Ghanaian heptathlete

Margaret Simpson is a Ghanaian heptathlete. She won a bronze medal at the 2005 World Championships, setting several personal bests in the process. Her personal best is 6423 points, achieved in Götzis in May 2005.

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31/12/1980

Jesse Carlson, American baseball player

Jesse Craig Carlson is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays.

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Matt Cross, American wrestler

Matthew Capiccioni is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring names M-Dogg 20, Matt Cross and Son of Havoc. He currently performing on the independent circuit – predominantly for Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW) where he is a former one-time JCW Heavyweight Champion. Cross has also known for worked for prominent promotions such as Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground, Chikara, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), Major League Wrestling (MLW) and the short-lived known for tenure Wrestling Society X. His main gimmick is that of an adherent of the straight edge lifestyle, a culture which he follows in real life. In 2011, Capiccioni joined the cast of the fifth season of WWE Tough Enough.

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Richie McCaw, New Zealand rugby player

Richard Hugh McCaw is a New Zealand retired professional rugby union player. He captained the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugby Player of the Year award a joint record three times and was the most capped test rugby player of all time from August 2015 to October 2020. McCaw was awarded World Rugby player of the decade (2011–2020) in 2021. McCaw is also a winner of the New Zealand sportsman of the decade award.

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Carsten Schlangen, German runner

Carsten Schlangen is a German middle distance runner who specialises in the 1500 metres.

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31/12/1979

Paul O'Neill, English racing driver

Paul O'Neill is a British auto racing driver, and the half-brother of English singer Melanie C.

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Jeff Waldstreicher, American lawyer and politician

Jeffrey D. Waldstreicher is an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. He is currently a member of the Maryland Senate, representing District 18 in Montgomery County after serving two terms in the Maryland House of Delegates.

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Ricky Whittle, British actor

Richard George Whittle is a British actor. Whittle first came to prominence as a model for Reebok in the early 2000s. He is known in the United Kingdom for his role as Calvin Valentine in the soap opera Hollyoaks. In 2009, he finished second in the BBC reality competition Strictly Come Dancing. In 2012, Whittle crossed over to American television when he booked a recurring role on VH-1's Single Ladies, followed by a recurring role on ABC's Mistresses in 2014. From 2014 to 2016, Whittle appeared in The CW's post-apocalyptic drama The 100 as Lincoln. Whittle starred in the Starz television series American Gods for three seasons.

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31/12/1977

Wardy Alfaro, Costa Rican footballer and coach

Wardy Alfaro Pizarro is a retired Costa Rican football player, who currently is goalkeeper coach at Alajuelense.

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31/12/1976

Luís Carreira, Portuguese motorcycle racer (died 2012)

Luis Filipe de Sousa Carreira was a Portuguese motorcycle road racer. He died on 15 November 2012 after an accident during qualifying in the 2012 Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix.

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Matthew Hoggard, English cricketer

Matthew James Hoggard, is a former English cricketer, who played international cricket for England cricket team from 2000 to 2008, playing both Test cricket and One Day Internationals. The 6' 2" Hoggard was a right arm fast-medium bowler and right-handed batsman.

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31/12/1975

Rami Alanko, Finnish ice hockey player

Rami Alanko is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player.

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Toni Kuivasto, Finnish footballer and coach

Toni Tapio Kuivasto is a retired Finnish footballer who last played for Veikkausliigaside Haka.

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Rob Penders, Dutch footballer

Rob Penders is a Dutch football coach and a former player who mainly played for NAC Breda during his career. He is the assistant manager of Utrecht. Penders was a defender who made his debut in professional football, being part of the RBC Roosendaal squad in the 1994–95 season. In the season 1999-2000 he joined NAC Breda. He played there for 10 seasons.

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Sander Schutgens, Dutch runner

Sander Schutgens is a Dutch runner.

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31/12/1974

Mario Aerts, Belgian cyclist

Mario Aerts is a former professional road bicycle racer, who competed between 1996 and 2011. He competed for three teams: Vlaanderen 2002, Team Telekom and the Lotto team through various sponsorships, competing with that particular team for twelve seasons during his career. During this time, he raced in the Tours de France, the Giro d'Italia, and the Vuelta a España. In the 2007 cycling season, he finished in these three major stage races in cycling. He was only the 25th racer in the history of cycling to achieve this.

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Tony Kanaan, Brazilian race car driver

Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho, nicknamed "TK", is a Brazilian retired racing driver who is the team principal of Arrow McLaren. He is best known for racing in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) from 1998 to 2002, and the IndyCar Series from 2002 to 2023. He is the 2004 IndyCar Series champion, and the 2013 Indianapolis 500 champion.

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Ryan Sakoda, Japanese-American wrestler and trainer

Ryan Keiji Sakoda was a Japanese American professional wrestler. He was best known for his appearances in WWE and later Ultimate Pro Wrestling as a part-time trainer for the wrestlers, as well as working in the independents under his real name.

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31/12/1973

Shandon Anderson, American basketball player

Shandon Rodriguez Anderson is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1996 to 2006. Growing up in Atlanta, Anderson attended the University of Georgia and played for four teams during his ten-year NBA career after being drafted by the Utah Jazz in 1996: the Jazz, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, and Miami Heat. He played the shooting guard and small forward positions.

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Malcolm Middleton, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist

Malcolm Bruce Middleton (born 31 December 1973) is a Scottish musician and member of indie band Arab Strap. He has also released seven solo studio albums and three albums performing under the pseudonym Human Don't Be Angry.

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Curtis Myden, Canadian swimmer

Curtis Allen Myden is a former breaststroke and medley swimmer from Canada, who competed at three consecutive Summer Olympics in 1992, 1996 and 2000. He won a total number of three medals at the Olympics, all of them bronze. Myden was one of Canada's leading swimmers in the 1990s. He was coached by Canadian coach Deryk Snelling.

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31/12/1972

Grégory Coupet, French footballer

Grégory Coupet is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

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Scott Manley, Scottish YouTube personality

Scott Park Manley is a Scottish-American science communication YouTuber, gamer, astrophysicist, and programmer. On his YouTube channel, he makes videos discussing space-related topics and news, mainly concerning up-to-date rocket science developments. He also plays space-themed video games, most notably Kerbal Space Program, while using his physics background to teach science concepts.

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31/12/1971

Brent Barry, American basketball player and sportscaster

Brent Robert Barry, nicknamed "Bones", is an American professional basketball coach, executive, broadcaster and former player. He is a game analyst for Amazon Prime's coverage of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The shooting guard played professionally in the NBA, winning two league championships with the Spurs in 2005 and 2007, and also won the Slam Dunk Contest in 1996. He is the son of Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry.

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Esteban Loaiza, Mexican baseball player

Esteban Antonio Loaiza Veyna [lo-EYE-sa] is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher and coach. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Loaiza was the American League's (AL) starting pitcher in the 2003 All-Star Game. That year, he led the AL in strikeouts.

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Heath Shuler, American football player and politician

Joseph Heath Shuler is an American former politician and professional football quarterback who served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 11th congressional district from 2007 to 2013. The district covers the Blue Ridge Mountains in Western North Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, he played in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons prior to his political career.

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31/12/1970

Jorjão, Brazilian footballer

Jorge Alberto da Costa Silva, known as Jorjão or sometimes Jorgeao, is a former Brazilian footballer.

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Danny McNamara, English singer-songwriter

Embrace are an English rock band formed in Bailiff Bridge, West Yorkshire, in 1990. The band consists of brothers singer Danny McNamara and guitarist Richard McNamara, bassist Steve Firth, keyboardist Mickey Dale, and drummer Mike Heaton. The group have released eight studio albums: The Good Will Out (1998), Drawn from Memory (2000), If You've Never Been (2001), Out of Nothing (2004), This New Day (2006), Embrace (2014), Love Is a Basic Need (2018), and How to Be a Person Like Other People (2022).

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Carlos Morales Quintana, Spanish-Danish architect and sailor

Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark is the eldest child of Constantine II and Anne-Marie, who were King and Queen of Greece from 1964 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1973. She was heiress presumptive to the Greek throne from her birth in 1965 until the birth of her brother Crown Prince Pavlos in 1967.

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Bryon Russell, American basketball player

Bryon Demetrise Russell is an American former professional basketball player. During a National Basketball Association (NBA) career that spanned 13 seasons, he played for the Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers and was a key member of the Utah Jazz, helping them reach back-to-back NBA finals appearances in 1997 and 1998. Russell also played for the Hollywood Fame and Long Beach Breakers of the American Basketball Association (ABA). He finished his career with the Los Angeles Lightning of the International Basketball League (IBA), winning a championship in 2009.

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31/12/1968

Gerry Dee, Canadian comedian, actor, and screenwriter

Gerry Dee is a Canadian actor, stand-up comedian, game show host, director, producer, and writer. He is also the host of Family Feud Canada. He placed third on the fifth season of Last Comic Standing, and he wrote and starred in the sitcom Mr. D, which aired on CBC Television.

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Junot Diaz, Dominican-born American novelist, short story writer, and essayist

Junot Díaz is a Dominican American writer, creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a former fiction editor at Boston Review. Central to Díaz's work is the immigrant experience, particularly the Latino immigrant experience.

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31/12/1967

Paul McGregor, Australian rugby league player and coach

Paul "Mary" McGregor is an Australian professional rugby league coach who was until August 2020, the head coach of the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre in the 1990s and 2000s.

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31/12/1965

Tony Dorigo, Australian-English footballer and sportscaster

Anthony Robert Dorigo is a former professional footballer, sports pundit and co-commentator.

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Julie Doucet, Canadian cartoonist and author

Julie Doucet is a Canadian underground cartoonist and artist, best known for her autobiographical works such as Dirty Plotte and My New York Diary. Her work is concerned with such topics as "sex, violence, menstruation and male/female issues."

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Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Indian cricketer

Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, popularly known as Siva and LS, is a former Indian cricketer and commentator. During his playing career, he was a right-arm leg-spinner. Sivaramakrishnan began his commentary career in a test match between India and Bangladesh in 2000. He also serves as one of the players' representatives on the International Cricket Council's cricket committee. He was also a part of the Indian squad which won the 1985 World Championship of Cricket.

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31/12/1964

Winston Benjamin, Antiguan cricketer

Winston Keithroy Matthew Benjamin is a former Antiguan cricketer who played 21 Tests and 85 One Day Internationals for the West Indies. He is the father of Olympic gold medalist hurdler Rai Benjamin.

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Michael McDonald, American comedian, actor, and director

Michael James McDonald is an American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for starring in the sketch comedy show MADtv from 1998 to 2008, and was the program's longest-tenured cast member, starring in ten seasons.

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31/12/1962

Tyrone Corbin, American basketball player and coach

Tyrone Kennedy Corbin is an American former professional basketball player who last worked as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets. He was first appointed the assistant coach of the Phoenix Suns, then was named the Utah Jazz’s head coach, on February 10, 2011, following the resignation of longtime coach Jerry Sloan. He was also the brief interim head coach of the Sacramento Kings in the 2014–15 season before being replaced by George Karl. Prior to that, Corbin played 16 seasons in the NBA.

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Chris Hallam, English-Welsh swimmer and wheelchair racer (died 2013)

Christopher Alexander Hallam, MBE was a Welsh Paralympian and wheelchair athlete. He competed at four Paralympic Games; Stoke Mandeville, England (1984), Seoul, South Korea (1988), Barcelona, Spain (1992) and Atlanta, United States (1996), as well as two Commonwealth Games; Auckland, New Zealand (1990) and Victoria, British Columbia (1994).

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Jennifer Higdon, American composer

Jennifer Elaine Higdon is an American composer of contemporary classical music. She has received many awards, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto and three Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto in 2010, Viola Concerto in 2018, and Harp Concerto in 2020. Elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019, she was a professor of composition at the Curtis Institute of Music from 1994 to 2021.

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31/12/1961

Rick Aguilera, American baseball player and coach

Richard Warren Aguilera is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1985 to 2000. Aguilera won a world championship as a member of the New York Mets in 1986, then won a second world championship as a member of the Minnesota Twins in 1991. He also played for the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs. In 2008, Aguilera was inducted into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame.

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Jeremy Heywood, English economist and civil servant (died 2018)

Jeremy John Heywood, Baron Heywood of Whitehall, was a British civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary to David Cameron and Theresa May from 2012 to 2018 and Head of the Home Civil Service from 2014 to 2018. He served as the Principal Private Secretary to Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 1999 to 2003 and 2008 to 2010. He also served as Downing Street Chief of Staff and the first Downing Street Permanent Secretary. After he was diagnosed with lung cancer, he took a leave of absence from June 2018, and retired on health grounds on 24 October 2018, receiving a life peerage; he died 11 days later on 4 November 2018.

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Nina Li Chi, Hong Kong actress

Nina Li Chi is a retired Hong Kong actress. She is also known by her Chinese name Li Chi or Li Zhi. She is best known for being the wife of famous martial artist and actor Jet Li.

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Fabian Nicieza, Argentine-American comic book writer and editor

Fabian Nicieza is an Argentine-American comic book writer and editor who is best known for his work on Marvel titles such as X-Men, X-Force, New Warriors, Nomad, Cable, Gambit, Deadpool and Thunderbolts, for all of which he helped create numerous characters, among them Adam X, Deadpool, Domino, Feral, G. W. Bridge, Kwannon, Shatterstar, and Silhouette. He also created and wrote the WEBTOON series Outrage.

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31/12/1960

Steve Bruce, English footballer and manager

Stephen Roger Bruce is an English professional football manager and former player who was a centre-back in a twenty-year playing career. He was most recently the head coach of EFL League One club Blackpool.

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31/12/1959

Liveris Andritsos, Greek basketball player

Liveris Andritsos is a retired Greek professional basketball player and coach. At a height of 2.02 m tall, he could play at both the small forward and power forward positions.

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Val Kilmer, American actor (died 2025)

Val Edward Kilmer was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a leading man in films in a wide variety of genres, including comedies, dramas, action adventures, westerns, historical films, crime dramas, science fiction films, and fantasy films. Films in which Kilmer appeared grossed more than $3.85 billion worldwide. In 1992, the film critic Roger Ebert remarked, "if there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it".

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Phill Kline, American lawyer and politician

Phillip D. Kline is a former American attorney who served as a Kansas state legislator, district attorney of Johnson County, and Kansas Attorney General. Kline, a member of the Republican Party, lost re-election as attorney general to Democratic challenger Paul J. Morrison in 2006. Kline was appointed by the Republican County Central Committee to fill the vacancy left by Morrison's election as Kansas attorney general, becoming district attorney of Johnson County on the day he left office as attorney general and essentially switching jobs with Morrison. Kline then ran for a full term as district attorney, but was defeated in the 2008 Republican primary.

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Baron Waqa, Nauruan composer and politician, 14th President of Nauru

Baron Divavesi Waqa is a Nauruan politician who currently serves as the secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum. He was the President of Nauru from 11 June 2013 until 27 August 2019. He previously served as Minister of Education from 2004 to 2007.

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Paul Westerberg, American musician, singer, and songwriter

Paul Harold Westerberg is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the Replacements. Following the breakup of the Replacements, Westerberg launched a solo career that saw him release three albums on two major record labels.

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31/12/1958

Geoff Marsh, Australian cricketer and coach

Geoffrey Robert Marsh is an Australian former cricketer, coach and selector. He played 50 Test matches and 117 One Day Internationals for Australia as an opening batsman. Marsh was a part of the Australian team that won their first world title during the 1987 Cricket World Cup. As the coach of Australia he was in charge when Australia won the 1999 Cricket World Cup in England. He later coached Zimbabwe (2001–2004) and Sri Lanka (2011–12).

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31/12/1956

Robert Goodwill, English farmer and politician

Sir Robert Goodwill, PC is a British Conservative Party politician and farmer who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Scarborough and Whitby from 2005 to 2024. He was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber. Goodwill served in Theresa May's government as Minister of State at the Home Office, the Department for Education, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

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Helma Knorscheidt, German shot putter

Helma Knorscheidt is an East German shot putter.

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Steve Rude, American author and illustrator

Steve Rude is an American comics artist. He is best known as the co-creator of Nexus.

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31/12/1955

Pula Nikolao Pula, 9th governor of American Samoa

Pulaali'i Tuiteleleapaga Iuli Nikolao Pula is an American Samoan politician who is currently serving as the ninth governor of American Samoa since 2025. He ran in the 2024 American Samoan gubernatorial election and defeated incumbent Lemanu Peleti Mauga in the runoff. He is the first Republican Governor of American Samoa since 1993. Previously, he had served from 1993 to 2022 in the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA), being the OIA Director from 2002 to 2022.

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31/12/1954

Alex Salmond, Scottish economist and politician (died 2024)

Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond was a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he was Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014. He then served as leader of the Alba Party from 2021 until his death in 2024.

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Hermann Tilke, German racing driver, architect and engineer

Hermann Hugo Tilke is a German engineer, racing driver and circuit designer, who has designed numerous Formula One motor racing circuits. His son is architect Carsten Tilke.

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31/12/1953

Jane Badler, American actress

Jane Badler is an American-Australian actress and singer. She is known for her role as Diana, the main antagonist in NBC's science fiction series V between 1983 and 1985. Following this, she had roles in the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest and the 1988 revival of Mission: Impossible, the latter of which was filmed in Australia which has since become Badler's home. She has also become an established nightclub singer in Australia, where she still resides, and has released three albums.

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31/12/1952

Vaughan Jones, New Zealand mathematician and academic (died 2020)

Sir Vaughan Frederick Randal Jones was a New Zealand mathematician known for his work on von Neumann algebras and knot polynomials. He was awarded a Fields Medal in 1990.

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Jean-Pierre Rives, French rugby player, painter, and sculptor

Jean-Pierre Rives is a French former rugby union player and visual artist. "A cult figure in France", according to the BBC, he came to epitomise the team's spirit and "ultra-committed, guts-and-glory style of play". He won 59 caps for France – 34 of them as captain – and was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame. After retiring from the sport, Rives concentrated entirely on his art. He is both a painter and a sculptor, and exhibiting regularly at prominent public venues all over the globe. Rives was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit by the government of France.

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31/12/1951

Kenny Roberts, American motorcycle racer

Kenneth Leroy Roberts is an American former professional motorcycle racer and racing team owner. In 1978, he became the first American to win a Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship. He was also a two-time winner of the A.M.A. Grand National Championship. Roberts is one of only four riders in American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) racing history to win the AMA Grand Slam, representing Grand National wins at a mile, half-mile, short-track, TT Steeplechase and road race events.

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31/12/1950

Bob Gilder, American golfer

Robert Bryan Gilder is an American professional golfer. He won six tournaments on the PGA Tour and currently plays on the Champions Tour, where he has ten wins since joining in 2001.

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Inge Helten, German sprinter

Ingeborg "Inge" Helten is a former athlete from West Germany, who competed mainly in the 100 metres. She was born in Westum, Sinzig, Rhineland-Palatinate.

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Cheryl Womack, American businesswoman

Verna Cheryl Womack is an entrepreneur who founded Kansas City, Missouri-based VCW and National Association of Independent Truckers, Inc. which became a $100 million a year business selling insurance to independent truckers before selling the companies to private equity investors Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. She become a major philanthropist in the Kansas City area. Among her donations was $2 million to the University of Kansas to build Arrocha Ballpark which is named for her father Demostenes Arrocha.

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31/12/1949

Ellen Datlow, American anthologist and author

Ellen Datlow is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror editor and anthologist. She is a winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Bram Stoker Award.

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Flora Gomes, Bissau-Guinean filmmaker

Flora Gomes is a Bissau-Guinean film director. He was born in Cadique, Guinea-Bissau on 31 December 1949 and after high school in Cuba, he decided to study film at the Instituto Cubano del Arte y la Industria Cinematográficos in Havana.

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Susan Shwartz, American author

Susan Shwartz is an American author.

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31/12/1948

Sandy Jardine, Scottish footballer and manager (died 2014)

William "Sandy" Pullar Jardine was a Scottish professional footballer who played for Rangers, Hearts and represented Scotland. He played over 1000 professional games and twice won the Scottish Football Writers Association Player of the Year award. He won several honours with Rangers, including two domestic trebles in 1976 and 1978, and was part of the Rangers team that won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1972. He won 38 caps for Scotland and played in the 1974 and 1978 World Cups. Jardine was also co-manager of Hearts with Alex MacDonald and later worked for Rangers.

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31/12/1947

Rita Lee, Brazilian musician and author (died 2023)

Rita Lee Jones de Carvalho, known as Rita Lee, was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, author, actress and television host. Dubbed the "Queen of Brazilian Rock", she became one of the most influential figures in the country's popular music. Renowned for her constant reinvention and versatility across musical and audiovisual production, Lee was a pioneer of both rock and pop in Brazil. She blended international and national styles, creating a distinctive hybrid sound. Her songs and performances celebrated pleasure and female agency, establishing her as a cornerstone of artistic resistance during the military dictatorship. Lee remains a major influence on multiple generations of artists, particularly women.

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31/12/1946

Roy Greenslade, English journalist and academic

Roy Greenslade is a British author and freelance journalist, and a former professor of journalism. He worked in the UK newspaper industry from the 1960s onwards. As a media commentator, he wrote a daily blog from 2006 to 2018 for The Guardian and a column for London's Evening Standard from 2006 to 2016. Under a pseudonym, Greenslade also wrote for the Sinn Féin newspaper An Phoblacht during the late 1980s whilst also working on Fleet Street. In 2021, it was reported in The Times newspaper, citing an article by Greenslade in the British Journalism Review, that he supported the bombing campaign of the Provisional IRA. Following this revelation, Greenslade resigned as Honorary Visiting Professor at City, University of London.

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Bryan Hamilton, Northern Irish footballer and coach

Bryan Hamilton is a Northern Irish former professional football player and manager. He gained 50 caps for Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1980, and later managed the national team for four years. He later became Technical Director at Antigua Barracuda F.C.

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Raphael Kaplinsky, South African international development academic

Raphael Malcolm Kaplinsky is an Honorary Professor at the Science Policy Research Unit and an Emeritus Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. In 2024 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He was an active and well-known opponent to Apartheid in South Africa during the 1960s, and played a leading role in 1968 in the Mafeje affair. Kaplinsky was not allowed to return to his country of birth until Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, after which he played an active role in policy development at the national and regional levels. He spent the bulk of his professional career at the University of Sussex where he led research programmes on industrial and technology policy and on Global value chain. He led and participated in a number of Advisory Missions to governments in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.

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Pius Ncube, Zimbabwean archbishop

Pius Alick Mvundla Ncube served as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, until he resigned on 11 September 2007. Widely known for his human rights advocacy, Ncube was an outspoken critic of former President Robert Mugabe while he was in office.

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Lyudmila Pakhomova, Russian ice dancer (died 1986)

Lyudmila Alekseyevna Pakhomova was a Russian ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union. With her husband Aleksandr Gorshkov, she was the 1976 Olympic champion, one of the oldest female figure skating Olympic champions.

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Cliff Richey, American tennis player

George Clifford Richey Jr. is an American former amateur and professional tennis player who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Richey achieved a highest singles ranking of World No. 6 and reached at least the quarterfinal stage of the singles event at all four Grand Slam tournaments.

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Eric Robson, Scottish journalist and author

Eric Bell Robson is a Scottish television broadcaster, author and documentary film maker who has lived for most of his life in Cumbria, where he has a sheep farm. For many years he was the main presenter of Brass Tacks.

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Nigel Rudd, English businessman, founder of Williams Holdings

Sir Nigel Rudd, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. In 1982, he founded Williams Holdings, a company which went on to become one of the largest industrial holding companies in the United Kingdom until its demerger in November 2000, creating Chubb plc and Kidde plc. He became the non-executive chairman of Kidde plc until December 2003. He currently presides as chairman of BBA Aviation PLC.

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Tim Stevens, English bishop

Timothy John Stevens, is a retired British Anglican bishop. He was Bishop of Dunwich from 1995 to 1999 and was Bishop of Leicester from 1999 to 2015. From 2003 to 2015, he was a member of the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual and served as Convenor of the Lords Spiritual from 2009 to 2015.

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31/12/1945

Connie Willis, American author

Constance Elaine Trimmer "Connie" Willis is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She has won more major genre awards than any other writer, including eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards. Most recently, she won the "Best Novel" Hugo and Nebula Awards for Blackout/All Clear (2010). She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Science Fiction Writers of America named her its 28th SFWA Grand Master in 2011.

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31/12/1944

Taylor Hackford, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Taylor Edwin Hackford is an American film director and former president of the Directors Guild of America. He won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for Teenage Father (1979). Hackford went on to direct a number of highly regarded feature films, including An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), The Devil's Advocate (1997) and Ray (2004), for the latter of which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director and Academy Award for Best Picture.

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31/12/1941

Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager

Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson, also known by the nickname Fergie, is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, having won more trophies than any other manager in the history of football. Ferguson is often credited for valuing youth during his time at Manchester United, particularly in the 1990s with the "Class of '92", who contributed to making the club one of the most successful in the world.

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31/12/1940

Mani Neumeier, German drummer

Mani Neumeier is a German rock musician, free-jazz drummer, artist, and frontman of the German Krautrock-band Guru Guru.

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31/12/1939

Willye White, American sprinter and long jumper (died 2007)

Willye Brown White was an American track and field athlete who took part in five Olympics from 1956 to 1972. She was America's best female long jumper of the time and also competed in the 100 meters sprint. White was a Tennessee State University Tigerbelle under Coach Ed Temple. An African-American, White was the first U.S. athlete to compete in track in five Olympics.

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31/12/1938

Rosalind Cash, American actress (died 1995)

Rosalind Cash was an American actress. Her best-known film role is in the 1971 science-fiction film The Omega Man. Cash also had another notable role as Mary Mae Ward in ABC's General Hospital, a role she portrayed from 1994 until her death in 1995.

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Atje Keulen-Deelstra, Dutch speed skater (died 2013)

Atje Keulen-Deelstra was a Dutch speed skater, who was a four-time World Allround Champion between the age of 32 and 36.

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31/12/1937

Avram Hershko, Hungarian-Israeli biochemist and physician

Avram Hershko is a Hungarian-born Israeli biochemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004.

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Barry Hughes, Welsh footballer and manager (died 2019)

Barry Hughes was a Welsh professional football player and manager, active primarily in the Netherlands. He played as a defender.

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Tess Jaray, Austrian-English painter and educator

Tess Jaray was a British painter and printmaker. She taught at The Slade School of Fine Art, UCL from 1968 until 1999. For over 20 years Jaray completed a succession of major public art projects. Jaray was made an Honorary Fellow of RIBA in 1995 and a Royal Academician in 2010 and later a Senior RA in 2013. In 2017 she received an honorary award from Norwich University of the Arts in recognition of her outstanding contribution to fine art and fine art education. In 2025 she received an honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts London (UAL).

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31/12/1934

Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan, Indian author, poet, and scholar (died 2017)

Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan was an Islamic scholar and spiritual leader of the Naqshbandia Owaisiah order of Sufism. He belonged to Awan tribe. As a mufassir, he authored four exegeses (tafsir) of the Qur'an, including Asrar at-Tanzeel. Awan was dean of the Siqarah Education System and patron of the magazine Al-Murshid and of the Al-Falah Foundation.

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Maria Krushelnytska, Ukrainian pianist (died 2025)

Maria Tarasivna Krushelnytska was a Ukrainian pianist.

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31/12/1933

Edward Bunker, American author, screenwriter, and actor (died 2005)

Edward Heward Bunker was an American author of crime fiction, screenwriter, and actor. He wrote numerous books, some of which have been adapted into films. He wrote the scripts for—and acted in—Straight Time (1978), Runaway Train (1985), and Animal Factory (2000). He also played a minor role in Reservoir Dogs (1992).

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31/12/1932

Don James, American football player and coach (died 2013)

Donald Earl James was an American college football coach and player. He served as the head coach at Kent State University from 1971 to 1974 and at the University of Washington from 1975 to 1992, compiling a career college football record of 178–76–3 (.698).

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Felix Rexhausen, German journalist and author (died 1992)

Felix Rexhausen was a German journalist, editor and author. As a journalist, he wrote for Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, and the magazines Die Zeit and Der Spiegel.

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31/12/1931

Bob Shaw, Northern Irish journalist and author (died 1996)

Robert Shaw was a science fiction writer and fan from Northern Ireland, noted for his originality and wit. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1979 and 1980. His short story "Light of Other Days" was a Hugo Award nominee in 1967, as was his novel The Ragged Astronauts in 1987.

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31/12/1930

Jaime Escalante, Bolivian-American educator (died 2010)

Jaime Alfonso Escalante Gutiérrez was a Bolivian-American educator known for teaching students calculus from 1974 to 1991 at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. Escalante was the subject of the 1988 film Stand and Deliver, in which he is portrayed by Edward James Olmos.

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Odetta, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (died 2008)

Odetta Holmes, known mononymously as Odetta, was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement", her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals.

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31/12/1929

Mies Bouwman, Dutch television host (died 2018)

Maria Antoinette "Mies" Bouwman was a Dutch television presenter.

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Peter May, English cricketer (died 1994)

Peter Barker Howard May was an English cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club, Cambridge University and England as an amateur. He was described as a "tall and handsome with a batting style that was close to classical, and... the hero of a generation of school boys" and by Wisden as a "schoolboy prodigy" who went on to become "one of England’s finest batsmen". He was made a CBE in 1981 and posthumously inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009

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31/12/1928

Ross Barbour, American pop singer (died 2011)

Ross Edwin Barbour was an American singer with the vocal quartet The Four Freshmen.

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Hugh McElhenny, American football player (died 2022)

Hugh Edward McElhenny Jr. was an American professional football halfback who played in the National Football League (NFL) from 1952 to 1964 for the San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, and Detroit Lions. He was noted for his explosive, elusive running style and was nicknamed "the King" and "Hurryin' Hugh". A member of San Francisco's famed Million Dollar Backfield and one of the franchise's most popular players, McElhenny's no. 39 is retired by the 49ers and he is a member of the San Francisco 49ers Hall of Fame.

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Veijo Meri, Finnish author and translator (died 2015)

Veijo Väinö Valvo Meri was a Finnish writer. Much of his work focuses on war and its absurdity. The work is anti-war and has dark humor.

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Tatyana Shmyga, Russian actress and singer (died 2011)

Tatyana Ivanovna Shmyga was a Soviet and Russian operetta/musical theatre performer. She went on to act in films as well. She was a People's Artist of the USSR (1978).

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Siné, French cartoonist (died 2016)

Maurice Albert Sinet, known professionally as Siné, was a French political cartoonist. His work is noted for its anti-capitalism, anti-clericalism, anti-colonialism, antisemitism, and anarchism.

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31/12/1927

Vishnudevananda Saraswati, Indian yoga guru (died 1993)

Vishnudevananda Saraswati was an Indian yoga guru known for his teaching of asanas, a disciple of Sivananda Saraswati, and founder of the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres and Ashrams (ISYVC). He established the Sivananda Yoga Teachers' Training Course, possibly the first yoga teacher training programs in the West. His books The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga (1960) and Meditation and Mantras (1978) established him as an authority on Hatha and Raja yoga. Vishnudevananda was a peace activist who rode in several "peace flights" over places of conflict, including the Berlin Wall prior to German reunification.

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31/12/1926

Valerie Pearl, English historian and academic (died 2016)

Valerie Louise Pearl was a British historian who was noted for her work on the English Civil War. She was the second President of New Hall, Cambridge.

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Billy Snedden, Australian lawyer and politician, 17th Attorney-General for Australia (died 1987)

Sir Billy Mackie Snedden, was an Australian politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party from 1972 to 1975. He was also a cabinet minister from 1964 to 1972, and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1976 to 1983.

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31/12/1925

Irina Korschunow, German author and screenwriter (died 2013)

Irina Korschunow was a German writer. Her oeuvre comprises short stories, novels theatrical works and film scripts. Born in Stendal, she started her career as a journalist and writer for children's books and young adult literature but focused predominantly on writing novels in her later years since about 1983. She was also a translator.

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Sri Lal Sukla, Indian author (died 2011)

Shrilal Shukla was a Hindi writer, notable for his satire. He worked as a PCS officer for the state government of Uttar Pradesh, later inducted into the IAS. He has written over 25 books, including Raag Darbari, Makaan, Sooni Ghaati Ka Sooraj, Pehla Padaav and Bisrampur Ka Sant.

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Daphne Oram, British composer and electronic musician (died 2003)

Daphne Blake Oram was a British composer and electronic musician. She was one of the first British composers to produce electronic sound, and was an early practitioner of musique concrète in the UK. As a co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, she was central to the development of British electronic music. Her uncredited scoring work on the 1961 film The Innocents helped to pioneer the electronic soundtrack.

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31/12/1924

Taylor Mead, American actor and poet (died 2013)

Taylor Mead was an American writer, actor and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol's underground films filmed at Warhol's Factory, including Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of (1963) and Taylor Mead's Ass (1964).

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31/12/1923

Giannis Dalianidis, Greek actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2010)

Giannis Dalianidis was a Greek film director.

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31/12/1922

Tomás Balduino, Brazilian bishop (died 2014)

Tomás Balduíno, O.P. was a diocesan bishop of the Catholic Church in Brazil.

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Halina Czerny-Stefańska, Polish pianist and educator (died 2001)

Halina Czerny-Stefańska was a Polish pianist.

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Luis Zuloaga, Venezuelan baseball player (died 2013)

Luis Zuloaga was a Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher.

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31/12/1920

Rex Allen, American actor and singer-songwriter (died 1999)

Rex Elvie Allen Sr., known as "The Arizona Cowboy," was an American film and television actor, singer and songwriter; he was also the narrator of many Disney nature and Western productions. For his contributions to the film industry, Allen received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1975, located at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard.

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31/12/1919

Tommy Byrne, American baseball player, coach, and politician (died 2007)

Thomas Joseph Byrne was an American left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for four American League teams from 1943 through 1957, primarily the New York Yankees. He also played for the St. Louis Browns (1951–52), Chicago White Sox (1953) and Washington Senators (1953). Byrne batted and threw left-handed.

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Carmen Contreras-Bozak, Puerto Rican-American soldier (died 2017)

Tech4 Carmen Contreras Bozak was the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in the U.S. Women's Army Corps (WAC) where she served as an interpreter and in numerous administrative positions.

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31/12/1918

Ray Graves, American football player and coach (died 2015)

Samuel Ray Graves was an American professional football player and college football coach. He was a native of Tennessee and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he was the starting center and team captain for the Volunteers under head coach Robert Neyland. After playing in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons, he returned to Tennessee to serve as an assistant football coach, then left for a longer stint as an assistant at Georgia Tech under head coach Bobby Dodd. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida from 1960 until 1969, where he led the Gators to their most successful decade in program history up to that point. While at Florida, he recruited and coached Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Steve Spurrier, who often praised Graves as a role model and mentor during his own successful coaching career. Graves also served as Florida's athletic director from 1960 until his retirement in 1979.

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31/12/1917

Evelyn Knight, American singer (died 2007)

Evelyn Knight was an American singer of the 1940s and 1950s. Damon Runyon, in one of his newspaper columns, described Knight as "a lissome blonde lassie with a gentle little voice and a face mother would not mind having brought home to her."

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Wilfrid Noyce, English mountaineer and author (died 1962)

Cuthbert Wilfrid Francis Noyce was an English mountaineer and author. He was a member of the 1953 British Expedition that made the first ascent of Mount Everest.

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31/12/1915

Sam Ragan, American journalist, author, and poet (died 1996)

Samuel Talmadge Ragan was an American journalist, author, poet, and arts advocate from North Carolina.

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31/12/1914

Mary Logan Reddick, American neuroembryologist (died 1966)

Mary Logan Reddick was an American neuroembryologist who earned her PhD from Radcliffe College, Harvard University in 1944. She was a full professor, first at Morehouse College, and then at the University of Atlanta from 1953 to her death. Her doctoral dissertation was on the study of chick embryos, and she went on to do research with time-lapse microscopy in tissue cultures.

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31/12/1912

John Frost, Indian-English general (died 1993)

Major-General John Dutton Frost, was an airborne officer of the British Army, best known for being the leader of the small group of British airborne troops that actually arrived at Arnhem bridge during the Battle of Arnhem in Operation Market Garden, in the Second World War. He was one of the first to join the newly formed Parachute Regiment and served with distinction in many wartime airborne operations, such as in North Africa and Sicily and Italy, until his injury and subsequent capture at Arnhem. He retired from the army in 1968 to become a beef cattle farmer in West Sussex.

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31/12/1911

Dal Stivens, Australian soldier and author (died 1997)

Dallas George "Dal" Stivens was an Australian writer who produced six novels and eight collections of short stories between 1936, when The Tramp and Other Stories was published, and 1976, when his last collection The Unicorn and Other Tales was released.

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31/12/1910

Carl Dudley, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1973)

Carl Ward Dudley (1910–1973) was an American film director and producer. He was best known for directing and producing short travelogues.

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Enrique Maier, Spanish tennis player (died 1981)

Enrique 'Bubi' Maier was a male Spanish tennis player who was mainly active in the 1930s.

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31/12/1909

Jonah Jones, American trumpet player and saxophonist (died 2000)

Jonah Jones was a jazz trumpeter who created concise versions of jazz and swing and jazz standards that appealed to a mass audience. In the jazz community, he is known for his work with Stuff Smith. He was sometimes referred to as "King Louis II", a reference to Louis Armstrong. Jones started playing alto saxophone at the age of 12 in the Booker T. Washington Community Center band in Louisville, Kentucky, before quickly transitioning to trumpet, where he excelled.

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31/12/1908

Simon Wiesenthal, Ukrainian-Austrian Nazi hunter and author (died 2005)

Simon Wiesenthal was an Austrian Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter, and writer. He studied architecture, and was living in Lwów at the outbreak of World War II. He survived the Janowska concentration camp, the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, a death march to Chemnitz, Buchenwald, and the Mauthausen concentration camp.

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31/12/1905

Helen Dodson Prince, American astronomer and academic (died 2002)

Helen Dodson Prince was an American astronomer who pioneered work in solar flares at the University of Michigan.

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31/12/1903

William Heynes, English engineer (died 1989)

William 'Bill' Munger Heynes CBE, born in Leamington Spa, was an English automotive engineer.

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31/12/1902

Lionel Daunais, Canadian singer-songwriter (died 1982)

Noël Ferdinand Lionel Daunais, was a French Canadian baritone and composer.

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Roy Goodall, English footballer (died 1982)

Frederick Roy Goodall was a professional footballer, who played for Huddersfield Town for 16 years and played 25 games for England, 12 as captain.

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31/12/1901

Karl-August Fagerholm, Finnish politician, 20th Prime Minister of Finland (died 1984)

Karl-August Fagerholm was a Finnish politician. Fagerholm served as Speaker of Parliament and three times as Prime Minister of Finland. Fagerholm became one of the leading politicians of the Social Democrats after the armistice in the Continuation War. As a Scandinavia-oriented Swedish-speaking Finn, he was believed to be more to the taste of the Soviet Union's leadership than his predecessor, Väinö Tanner. Fagerholm's postwar career was, however, marked by fierce opposition from both the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of Finland. He narrowly lost the presidential election to Urho Kekkonen in 1956.

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Nikos Ploumpidis, Greek educator and politician (died 1954)

Nikos Ploumpidis was in the leading cadre of the Greek Communist Party during the Second World War and a famous member of the wartime anti-Nazi resistance.

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31/12/1899

Silvestre Revueltas, Mexican violinist, composer, and conductor (died 1940)

Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican classical music composer, a violinist, and conductor.

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31/12/1885

Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein (died 1970)

Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg was Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as the consort of Duke Charles Edward from their marriage on 11 October 1905 until his abdication on 14 November 1918.

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31/12/1884

Bobby Byrne, American baseball and soccer player (died 1964)

Robert Matthew Byrne was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball. From 1907 through 1917, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1907–1909), Pittsburgh Pirates (1909–1913), Philadelphia Phillies (1913–1917) and Chicago White Sox (1917). Byrne batted and threw right-handed. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

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Mihály Fekete, Hungarian actor, screenwriter, and film director (died 1960)

Mihály Fekete was a Hungarian actor, screenwriter and film director.

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31/12/1881

Max Pechstein, German painter and academic (died 1955)

Hermann Max Pechstein was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and a member of the Die Brücke group. He fought on the Western Front during World War I and his art was classified as Degenerate Art by the Nazis. More than 300 paintings were removed from German Museums during the Nazi era.

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31/12/1880

Fred Beebe, American baseball player and coach (died 1957)

Frederick Leonard Beebe was an American professional baseball player. He played for the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland Indians.

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George Marshall, American general and politician, 50th United States Secretary of State (died 1959)

George Catlett Marshall Jr. was an American military officer and diplomat. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army under presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, then served as Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense under Truman. Winston Churchill lauded Marshall as the "organizer of victory" for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II. During the subsequent year, he unsuccessfully tried to prevent the continuation of the Chinese Civil War. As Secretary of State, Marshall advocated for a U.S. economic and political commitment to post-war European recovery, including the Marshall Plan that bore his name. In recognition of this work, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953, the only Army general ever to receive the honor.

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31/12/1878

Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman (died 1966)

Elizabeth Arden, also known as Elizabeth N. Graham, was a Canadian-American businesswoman who founded what is now Elizabeth Arden, Inc., and built a cosmetics empire in the United States.

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Horacio Quiroga, Uruguayan-Argentinian author, poet, and playwright (died 1937)

Horacio Silvestre Quiroga Forteza was a Uruguayan playwright, poet, and short story writer. The jungle settings of his stories emphasized the conflict between humans and nature. His portrayals of mental illness and hallucinatory states were influenced by Edgar Allan Poe. In turn, Quiroga influenced Gabriel García Márquez and Julio Cortázar.

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31/12/1877

Lawrence Beesley, English journalist and author (died 1967)

Lawrence Beesley was an English science teacher, journalist and author who was a survivor of the sinking of RMS Titanic.

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31/12/1874

Julius Meier, American businessman and politician, 20th Governor of Oregon (died 1937)

Julius L. Meier was an American businessman, civic leader, and politician in the state of Oregon. The son of the Meier & Frank department store founder, he would become a lawyer before entering the family business in Portland. Politically an independent, Meier served a single term as the 20th governor of Oregon from 1931 to 1935. He is the only independent to be elected Governor of Oregon, as well as the state’s first Jewish governor.

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31/12/1873

Konstantin Konik, Estonian surgeon and politician, 19th Estonian Minister of Education (died 1936)

Konstantin Konik was an Estonian politician and surgeon who served as a member of the Estonian Salvation Committee.

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31/12/1872

Fred Marriott, American race car driver (died 1956)

Fred Marriott was an American race car driver. In 1906, he set the world land speed record at 127.659 mph (205.5 km/h) at the Daytona Beach Road Course, while driving the Stanley Land Speed Record Car. This garnered Stanley Motor Carriage Company the Dewar Trophy. A crew of four accompanied the car to Daytona, Marriott was chosen to be driver because he was the only bachelor.

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31/12/1869

Henri Matisse, French painter and sculptor (died 1954)

Henri Émile Benoît Matisse was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter.

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31/12/1864

Robert Grant Aitken, American astronomer and academic (died 1951)

Robert Grant Aitken was an American astronomer.

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31/12/1860

Joseph S. Cullinan, American businessman, co-founder of Texaco (died 1937)

Joseph Stephen Cullinan was a U.S. oil industrialist. Although he was a native of Pennsylvania, his lifetime business endeavors would help shape the early phase of the oil industry in Texas. He founded The Texas Company, which would eventually be known as Texaco Incorporated.

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31/12/1857

King Kelly, American baseball player and manager (died 1894)

Michael Joseph "King" Kelly, also commonly known as "$10,000 Kelly", was an American baseball outfielder, catcher, and player-manager in various professional American baseball leagues including the National League, International Association, Players' League, and the American Association. He spent the majority of his 16-season playing career with the Chicago White Stockings and the Boston Beaneaters. Kelly was a player-manager three times in his career – in 1887 for the Beaneaters, in 1890 leading the Boston Reds to the pennant in the only season of the Players' League's existence, and in 1891 for the Cincinnati Kelly's Killers – before his retirement in 1893. He is also often credited with helping to popularize various strategies as a player such as the hit and run, the hook slide, and the catcher's practice of backing up first base. In 1945, Kelly was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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31/12/1855

Giovanni Pascoli, Italian poet and scholar (died 1912)

Giovanni Placido Agostino Pascoli was an Italian poet, classical scholar and an emblematic figure of Italian literature in the late nineteenth century. Alongside Gabriele D'Annunzio, he was one of the greatest Italian decadent poets.

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31/12/1851

Henry Carter Adams, American economist and academic (died 1921)

Henry Carter Adams was a U.S. economist and Professor of Political Economy and finance at the University of Michigan.

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31/12/1842

Giovanni Boldini, Italian painter (died 1931)

Giovanni Boldini was an Italian genre and portrait painter who lived and worked in Paris for most of his career. According to a 1933 article in Time magazine, he was known as the "Master of Swish" because of his flowing style of painting.

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31/12/1838

Émile Loubet, French lawyer and politician, 7th President of France (died 1929)

Émile François Loubet was the 45th Prime Minister of France from February to December 1892 and later President of France from 1899 to 1906.

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31/12/1834

Queen Kapiolani of Hawaiʻi (died 1899)

Kapiʻolani was the queen of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi as the consort of Mōʻī (king) Kalākaua, who reigned from 1874 until his death in 1891, when she became known as the Dowager Queen Kapiʻolani. Deeply interested in the health and welfare of Native Hawaiians, Kapiʻolani established the Kapiʻolani Home for Girls, for the education of the daughters of residents of the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement, and the Kapiʻolani Maternity Home, where Hawaiian mothers and newborns could receive care.

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31/12/1833

Hugh Nelson, Scottish-Australian politician, 11th Premier of Queensland (died 1906)

Sir Hugh Muir Nelson, was an Australian politician who was Premier of Queensland from 1893 to 1898.

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31/12/1830

Isma'il Pasha, Egyptian ruler (died 1895)

Isma'il Pasha, also known as Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Egypt and ruler of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain and France. Sharing the ambitious outlook of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali Pasha, he greatly modernized Egypt and Sudan during his reign, investing heavily in industrial and economic development, urbanization, and the expansion of the country's boundaries in Africa.

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Alexander Smith, Scottish poet and critic (died 1867)

Alexander Smith was a Scottish poet, labelled as one of the Spasmodic School, and essayist.

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31/12/1815

George Meade, American general and engineer (died 1872)

George Gordon Meade was an American military officer who served in the United States Army and the Union army as a major general in command of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War from 1863 to 1865. He fought in many of the key battles of the eastern theater and defeated the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg.

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31/12/1805

Marie d'Agoult, German-French historian and author (died 1876)

Marie Catherine Sophie, Comtesse d'Agoult, was a French romantic author and historian, known also by her pen name, Daniel Stern.

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31/12/1798

Friedrich Robert Faehlmann, Estonian physician, philologist, and academic (died 1850)

Friedrich Robert Faehlmann (Fählmann) was an Estonian writer, medical doctor and philologist. He was a co-founder of the Learned Estonian Society and its chairman (1843-1850).

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31/12/1776

Johann Spurzheim, German-American physician and phrenologist (died 1832)

Johann Gaspar Spurzheim was a German medical doctor who became one of the chief proponents of phrenology, which was developed c. 1800 by Franz Joseph Gall (1758–1828).

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31/12/1774

James Bunbury White, American politician (died 1819)

James Bunbury White was an American politician and millwright. He was a member of both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly, was the first to represent Columbus County in the North Carolina Senate, and was the founder of Whiteville, North Carolina.

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31/12/1763

Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (died 1806)

Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was a French Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of a Franco-Spanish fleet which was defeated by the British Royal Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

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31/12/1741

Gottfried August Bürger, German poet and academic (died 1794)

Gottfried August Bürger was a German poet. His ballads were very popular in Germany. His most noted ballad, Lenore, found an audience beyond readers of the German language in an English and Russian adaptation and a French translation.

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31/12/1738

Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of India (died 1805)

Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis was a British Army officer, Whig politician and colonial administrator. In the United States and United Kingdom, he is best known as one of the leading British general officers in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined Franco-American force at the siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America. Cornwallis later served as a civil and military governor in Ireland, where he helped to bring about the Act of Union; and in India, where he helped to enact the Cornwallis Code and the Permanent Settlement.

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31/12/1720

Charles Edward Stuart, Scottish claimant to the throne of England (died 1788)

Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1766. He is also known as the Young Pretender, the Young Chevalier and Bonnie Prince Charlie, and to Jacobites as Charles III. He is known for leading the failed Jacobite Rising of 1745 in an attempt to restore the Stuart dynasty to power.

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31/12/1714

Arima Yoriyuki, Japanese mathematician and educator (died 1783)

Arima Yoriyuki was a Japanese mathematician of the Edo period. He was the lord of Kurume Domain.

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31/12/1668

Herman Boerhaave, Dutch botanist and physician (died 1738)

Herman Boerhaave was a Dutch chemist, botanist, Christian humanist, and physician. He is sometimes regarded as the founder of clinical teaching and of the modern academic hospital along with Venetian physician Santorio Santorio (1561–1636). Boerhaave introduced the quantitative approach into medicine, along with his pupil Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777).

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31/12/1585

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general and politician, 24th Governor of the Duchy of Milan (died 1645)

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Cardona-Anglesola was one of the main Spanish military leaders during the Eighty Years' War, Thirty Years' War, and the War of the Mantuan Succession.

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31/12/1572

Emperor Go-Yōzei of Japan, (died 1617)

Emperor Go-Yōzei was the 107th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Go-Yōzei's reign spanned the years 1586 through to his abdication in 1611, corresponding to the transition between the Azuchi–Momoyama period and the Edo period.

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31/12/1552

Simon Forman, English occultist and astrologer (died 1611)

Simon Forman was an Elizabethan astrologer, occultist and herbalist active in London during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and James I of England. His reputation, however, was severely tarnished after his death when he was implicated in the plot to kill Thomas Overbury. Astrologers continued to revere him, while writers from Ben Jonson to Nathaniel Hawthorne came to characterize him as either a fool or an evil magician in league with the Devil.

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31/12/1550

Henry I, Duke of Guise (died 1588)

Henri I de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, Prince of Joinville, Count of Eu, sometimes called Le Balafré ('Scarface'), was the eldest son of François, Duke of Guise, and Anna d'Este. His maternal grandparents were Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, and Renée of France. Through his maternal grandfather, he was a descendant of Lucrezia Borgia and Pope Alexander VI.

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31/12/1539

John Radcliffe, English politician (died 1568)

Sir John Radcliffe, was the son of Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex, and his third wife, Mary Arundell.

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31/12/1514

Andreas Vesalius, Belgian anatomist, physician, and author (died 1564)

Andries van Wezel, Latinized as Andreas Vesalius, was an anatomist and physician who wrote De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem, which is considered one of the most influential books on human anatomy and a major advance over the long-dominant work of Galen. Vesalius is often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy. He was born in Brussels, which was then part of the Habsburg Netherlands. He was a professor at the University of Padua (1537–1542) and later became Imperial physician at the court of Emperor Charles V.

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31/12/1504

Beatrice of Portugal, Duchess of Savoy (died 1538)

Infanta Beatrice of Portugal was a Portuguese princess by birth and a Duchess of Savoy by marriage to Charles III, Duke of Savoy. She was the ruling countess of Asti from 1531 to 1538.

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31/12/1493

Eleonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino (died 1570)

Eleonora Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino was Duchess and for sometime regent of Urbino by marriage to Francesco Maria I della Rovere, duke of Urbino. She served as regent during the absence of her spouse in 1532.

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31/12/1491

Jacques Cartier, French navigator and explorer (died 1557)

Jacques Cartier was a French maritime explorer from Brittany. Jacques Cartier was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "Canada" after the Iroquoian names for the two big settlements he saw at Stadacona and at Hochelaga.

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31/12/1378

Pope Callixtus III (died 1458)

Pope Callixtus III, born Alonso de Borja, but referred to in English-language accounts as Alfonso de Borgia as a member of the House of Borgia, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 April 1455 to his death, in August 1458.

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31/12/0695

Muhammad ibn al-Qasim, Umayyad general (died 715)

Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim al-Thaqafī was an Arab military commander in service of the Umayyad Caliphate who led the Muslim conquest of Sindh, inaugurating the Umayyad campaigns in India. His military exploits led to the establishment of the Islamic province of Sindh, and the takeover of the region from the Sindhi Brahman dynasty and its ruler, Raja Dahir, who was subsequently decapitated with his head sent to al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf in Basra. With the capture of the then-capital of Aror by Arab forces, Muhammad ibn al-Qasim became the first Muslim to have successfully captured Indian land, which marked the beginning of Muslim rule in South Asia.

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