Died on Saturday, 14th February – Famous Deaths

14/02/2026

Tom Noonan, American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1951)

Thomas Patrick Noonan was an American actor, director and screenwriter, best known for his roles as Francis Dollarhyde in Manhunter (1986), Frankenstein's Monster in The Monster Squad (1987), Cain in RoboCop 2 (1990), The Ripper in Last Action Hero (1993), Kelso in Heat (1995), Sammy Barnathan in Synecdoche, New York (2008), Mr. Ulman in The House of the Devil (2009), Reverend Nathaniel in Hell on Wheels (2011–2014), the Pallid Man in 12 Monkeys (2015–2018), and as the voice of everyone but Michael and Lisa in Anomalisa (2015).

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14/02/2021

Carlos Menem, Argentine former president, lawyer, and statesman (born 1930)

Carlos Saúl Menem was an Argentine politician who served as the president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years, and his political approach became known as Menemism.

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William Meninger, American Trappist monk and a principal developer of Centering Prayer (born 1932)

William Austin Meninger, O.C.S.O. was an American Trappist priest who was a spiritual teacher and a principal developer of centering prayer, a method of contemplative prayer.

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14/02/2019

Andrea Levy, English author (born 1956)

Andrea Levy was an English author best known for the novels Small Island (2004) and The Long Song (2010). She was born in London to Jamaican parents, and her work explores topics related to British Jamaicans and how they negotiate racial, cultural and national identities.

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14/02/2018

Ruud Lubbers, Dutch politician and diplomat, Prime Minister and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (born 1939)

Rudolphus Franciscus Marie "Ruud" Lubbers was a Dutch politician, diplomat and businessman who served as prime minister of the Netherlands from 1982 to 1994, and as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2001 to 2005. He was a member of the Catholic People's Party (KVP), which later merged to become the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party.

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Morgan Tsvangirai, 2nd Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (born 1952)

Morgan Richard Tsvangirai was a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He was president of the Movement for Democratic Change, and later the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T), and a key figure in the opposition to then-president Robert Mugabe.

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14/02/2016

Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, English lieutenant, engineer, and politician (born 1928)

Eric Reginald Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, was an English politician and human rights campaigner. He served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Orpington from 1962 to 1970. He then served in the House of Lords, having inherited the title of Baron Avebury in 1971, until his death. In 1999, when most hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords, he was elected by his fellow Liberal Democrats to remain. When he died, he was the longest serving Liberal Democrat peer.

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Steven Stucky, American composer and academic (born 1949)

Steven Edward Stucky was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer.

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14/02/2015

Louis Jourdan, French-American actor and singer (born 1921)

Louis Jourdan was a French film and television actor. He was known for his suave roles in several Hollywood films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case (1947), Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Gigi (1958), The Best of Everything (1959), The V.I.P.s (1963) and Octopussy (1983). He played Dracula in the 1977 BBC television production Count Dracula.

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Philip Levine, American poet and academic (born 1928)

Philip Levine was an American poet best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for more than thirty years in the English department of California State University, Fresno and held teaching positions at other universities as well. He served on the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets from 2000 to 2006, and was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States for 2011–2012.

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Franjo Mihalić, Croatian-Serbian runner and coach (born 1920)

Franjo Mihalić was a Yugoslav and Croatian long-distance runner best known for his 1958 win at the Boston Marathon and his marathon silver medal in the 1956 Summer Olympics. Mihalić competed mostly in marathons, road races and cross country races, distinguishing himself by winning many top-level international competitions in the 1950s and setting a combined 25 Croatian and later Yugoslavian national records in long-distance track events between 5000 m and 25 km. In 1957, he became the inaugural winner of the Golden Badge, the award for the best sportsperson of Yugoslavia awarded by the daily Sport. He is regarded as the most accomplished male athlete in the history of Croatian, Serbian and Yugoslav track and field.

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14/02/2014

Tom Finney, English footballer (born 1922)

Sir Thomas Finney was an English international footballer who played from 1946 to 1960 as a outside left for Preston North End and England. He is widely acknowledged to have been one of England's greatest ever players. He was noted for his loyalty to Preston, for whom he made 433 Football League and 39 FA Cup appearances, scoring a total of 210 goals. He played for England 76 times, scoring 30 goals.

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Chris Pearson, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Premier of Yukon (born 1931)

Christopher William Pearson was the second leader of the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party and the first premier of Yukon.

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Mike Stepovich, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Alaska Territory (born 1919)

Michael Anthony Stepovich was an American lawyer and politician who served as the last non-interim governor of the Territory of Alaska. Stepovich served as Territorial Governor from 1957 to 1958, and Alaska was given U.S. statehood in 1959.

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14/02/2013

Glenn Boyer, American historian and author (born 1924)

Glenn G. Boyer was a controversial author who published three books and a number of articles about Wyatt Earp and related figures in the American Old West. He was the first person to reveal the existence of Wyatt Earp's second wife, Mattie Blaylock. His publications were for many years regarded as the authoritative source on Wyatt Earp's life. However, when other experts began to seek evidence supporting Boyer's work, he would or could not prove the existence of documents that he said he owned and had cited as essential sources. In one case, an individual he cited as a key source was exposed as a complete fabrication. His reputation and the authenticity of his work was seriously damaged. Although he retained many supporters, his work became surrounded by controversy. At least one critic wrote that all of Boyer's later work was "riddled with bogus material".

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Ronald Dworkin, American philosopher and scholar (born 1931)

Ronald Myles Dworkin was an American legal philosopher, jurist, and scholar of United States constitutional law. At the time of his death, he was Frank Henry Sommer Professor of Law and Philosophy at New York University and Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London. Dworkin had taught previously at Yale Law School and the University of Oxford, where he was the Professor of Jurisprudence, successor to philosopher H. L. A. Hart.

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14/02/2012

Mike Bernardo, South African boxer and martial artist (born 1969)

Michael Shawn Bernardo was a South African kickboxer and boxer from Cape Town. Bernardo was known as Beru-chan in Japan, where he has taken part in K-1 World GPs since 1994. He holds notable wins over Mirko Cro Cop, Andy Hug (2×), Francisco Filho, Branko Cikatic, Stan Longinidis, Gary Goodridge and three consecutive wins over K-1 legend Peter Aerts.

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Tonmi Lillman, Finnish drummer and producer (born 1973)

Tonmi Lillman was a Finnish musician, best known as Otus, the former drummer of the Finnish rock band Lordi.

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Dory Previn, American singer-songwriter (born 1925)

Dorothy Veronica "Dory" Previn was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter and poet.

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Péter Rusorán, Hungarian swimmer, water polo player, and coach (born 1940)

Péter Rusorán was a Hungarian swimmer, water polo player and later water polo coach. As a player, he won the Olympic Games gold medal in 1964 and the bronze in 1960 and also obtained the Universiade title in 1965. As a coach, Rusorán won a number of national league titles both in Hungary and abroad and also triumphed on two occasions in the most prestigious continental competition, the European Champions Cup.

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14/02/2011

George Shearing, English-American pianist and composer (born 1919)

Sir George Albert Shearing was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 songs, including the jazz standards "Lullaby of Birdland" and "Conception", and had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s.

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14/02/2010

Doug Fieger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1952)

Douglas Lars Fieger was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the rock band the Knack. He co-wrote "My Sharona," the biggest hit song of 1979 in the U.S., with lead guitarist Berton Averre.

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Dick Francis, Welsh jockey and author (born 1920)

Richard Stanley Francis was a British steeplechase jockey and crime writer whose novels centre on horse racing in England.

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Linnart Mäll, Estonian historian, orientalist, and translator (born 1938)

Linnart Mäll was an Estonian historian, orientalist, translator and politician.

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14/02/2009

Bernard Ashley, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Laura Ashley plc (born 1926)

Sir Bernard Albert Ashley was an English businessman and engineer. He was the husband of Laura Ashley, and was her business partner from the founding of their fashion-textiles-centred business.

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Louie Bellson, American drummer and composer (born 1924)

Louie Bellson, often seen in sources as Louis Bellson, although he himself preferred the spelling Louie, was an American jazz drummer. He was a composer, arranger, bandleader, and jazz educator, and is credited with pioneering the use of two bass drums.

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14/02/2008

Perry Lopez, American actor (born 1929)

Perry Lopez was an American film and television actor. His acting career spanned 40 years.

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14/02/2007

Ryan Larkin, Canadian animator and director (born 1943)

Ryan Larkin was a Canadian animator, artist, and sculptor who rose to fame with the psychedelic Oscar-nominated short Walking (1968) and the acclaimed Street Musique (1972). He was the subject of the Oscar-winning film Ryan.

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Gareth Morris, English flute player and educator (born 1920)

Gareth Charles Walter Morris was a British flautist. He was the principal flautist of a number of London orchestras, including the Boyd Neel Orchestra, before joining the Philharmonia Orchestra. He was the principal flautist of this orchestra for 24 years and Professor of the Flute at the Royal Academy of Music from 1945 to 1985. Morris was known for using a wooden flute, at a time when most other players had switched to using metal flutes.

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14/02/2006

Lynden David Hall, English singer-songwriter and producer (born 1974)

Lynden David Hall was an English singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who emerged during the late 1990s as part of the neo soul movement. In 1999, he was the first UK performer ever voted "Best Male Artist" by the readers of Britain's Blues & Soul magazine. His debut album, Medicine 4 My Pain, spawned the UK hit singles "Do I Qualify" and "Sexy Cinderella". In October 2003, Hall was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma; he died on 14 February 2006, aged 31.

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14/02/2005

Rafic Hariri, Lebanese businessman and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Lebanon (born 1944; assassinated)

Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004.

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14/02/2004

Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (born 1970)

Marco Pantani was an Italian road racing cyclist, widely regarded as one of the greatest climbing specialists in the history of the sport by measures of his legacy, credits from other riders, and records. He recorded the fastest ever climbs up the Tour's iconic venues of Mont Ventoux (46:00) and Alpe d'Huez (36:50), and other cyclists including Lance Armstrong and Charly Gaul have hailed Pantani's climbing skills. He is the second to last rider and one of only eight to ever win the Tour de France – Giro d'Italia double, doing so in 1998. He is the sixth of seven Italians, after Ottavio Bottecchia, Gino Bartali, Fausto Coppi, Gastone Nencini and Felice Gimondi, and before Vincenzo Nibali to win the Tour de France.

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14/02/2003

Johnny Longden, English jockey and trainer (born 1907)

John Eric "Johnny" Longden was an American Hall of Fame and National Champion jockey and a trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses who was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England. His father emigrated to Canada in 1909, settling in Taber, Alberta.

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14/02/2002

Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer and manager (born 1922)

Nándor Hidegkuti was a Hungarian football player and manager. He played as a forward or attacking midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career at MTK Hungária FC. During the 1950s he was also a key member of the Hungary national team known as the Golden Team. Other members of the team included Ferenc Puskás, Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis and József Bozsik. In 1953, playing as a deep-lying centre-forward, a position which has retroactively been compared to the modern false 9 role, he scored a hat-trick for Hungary when they beat England 6–3 at Wembley Stadium. Playing from deep, Hidegkuti was able to distribute the ball to the other attackers and cause considerable confusion to defences. This was an innovation at the time and revolutionised the way the game was played.

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Mick Tucker, English drummer (born 1947)

Michael Thomas Tucker was an English musician, best known as the drummer of the glam rock and hard rock band Sweet.

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14/02/1999

John Ehrlichman, American lawyer and politician, 12th White House Counsel (born 1925)

John Daniel Ehrlichman was an American political aide who served as White House Counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon. Ehrlichman was an important influence on Nixon's domestic policy, coaching him on issues and enlisting his support for environmental initiatives.

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Buddy Knox, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1933)

Buddy Wayne Knox was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1957 rock and roll hit song, "Party Doll".

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14/02/1998

Peter Koch (wood scientist), American industrial engineer and wood scientist (born 1920)

Peter Koch was an American engineer and wood scientist who was considered an expert in the field of wood technology by his peers. From 1963 to 1982, Koch led a team of US Forest Service scientists in forest products utilization research specific to forests of the southeastern US. Accomplishments by Koch and his research team included eight US patents plus hundreds of research publications.

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14/02/1996

Bob Paisley, English footballer and manager (born 1919)

Robert Paisley was an English professional football manager and player who played as a wing-half. He spent almost 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. Reluctantly taking the job in 1974, he built on the foundations laid by his predecessor Bill Shankly and went on to become the most successful English manager in history. Paisley is the first of four managers to have won the European Cup three times. He is also one of five managers to have won the English top-flight championship as both a player and manager at the same club.

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14/02/1995

Michael V. Gazzo, American actor and playwright (born 1923)

Michael Vincenzo Gazzo was an American playwright who later in life became a movie and television actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in The Godfather Part II (1974).

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U Nu, Burmese politician, 1st Prime Minister of Burma (born 1907)

Nu, commonly known as U Nu and also by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a prominent Burmese statesman and the first Prime Minister of Union of Burma. He was educated at Rangoon University, where he developed his political ideas and became actively involved in the student movement. Nu's involvement in the nationalist movement deepened during his university years, and he quickly emerged as a leading figure advocating for Burma's independence from British colonial rule.

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14/02/1994

Andrei Chikatilo, Soviet serial killer (born 1936)

Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo was a Ukrainian-born Soviet serial killer nicknamed "the Butcher of Rostov", "the Rostov Ripper", and "the Red Ripper" who sexually assaulted, murdered, and mutilated at least fifty-two women and children between 1978 and 1990 in the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Uzbek SSR.

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Christopher Lasch, American historian and critic (born 1932)

Robert Christopher Lasch was an American historian and social critic who was a history professor at the University of Rochester. Lasch's books, including The New Radicalism in America (1965), Haven in a Heartless World (1977), The Culture of Narcissism (1979), The True and Only Heaven (1991), and The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy were widely discussed and reviewed. The Culture of Narcissism became a surprise best-seller and won the National Book Award in the category Current Interest (paperback).

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14/02/1989

James Bond, American ornithologist and zoologist (born 1900)

James Bond was an American ornithologist and expert on the birds of the Caribbean, having written the definitive book on the subject: Birds of the West Indies, first published in 1936. He served as a curator of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. He is the namesake of the fictional British spy of the same name by writer Ian Fleming, and references to him permeate the resulting media franchise.

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Vincent Crane, English pianist (born 1943)

Vincent Rodney Cheesman, known professionally as Vincent Crane, was an English keyboardist, best known as the organist for the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and subsequently for Atomic Rooster.

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14/02/1988

Frederick Loewe, German-American composer (born 1901)

Frederick Loewe was an American composer. He collaborated with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner on a series of Broadway musicals, including Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, My Fair Lady, and Camelot, all of which were made into films, as well as the original film musical Gigi (1958), which was first transferred to the stage in 1973.

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14/02/1987

Dmitry Kabalevsky, Russian pianist and composer (born 1904)

Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky was a Soviet composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue of Russian gentry descent.

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14/02/1986

Edmund Rubbra, English composer and conductor (born 1901)

Edmund Rubbra was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak of his fame in the mid-20th century. The best known of his pieces are his eleven symphonies. Although he was active at a time when many people wrote twelve-tone music, he decided not to write in this idiom; instead, he devised his own distinctive style. His later works were not as popular with the concert-going public as his previous ones had been, although he never lost the respect of his colleagues. Therefore, his output as a whole is less celebrated today than would have been expected from its early popularity. He was the brother of the engineer Arthur Rubbra.

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14/02/1983

Lina Radke, German runner and coach (born 1903)

Karoline "Lina" Radke-Batschauer, nacida Karoline Batschauer, was a German track and field athlete. She was the first Olympic champion in the 800 m for women.

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14/02/1979

Adolph Dubs, American lieutenant and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Afghanistan (born 1920)

Adolph Dubs, also known as Spike Dubs, was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan from May 13, 1978, until his death in 1979. He was killed during a rescue attempt after his kidnapping.

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14/02/1976

Gertrud Dorka, German archaeologist, prehistorian and museum director (born 1893)

Gertrud Dorka was a German archaeologist, prehistorian, museum director and teacher. She was the museum director of the State Museum for Prehistory and Early History between 1947 and 1958.

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George Washington Bacon III, American soldier, CIA agent, and mercenary (born 1946)

George Washington Bacon III was an American soldier and intelligence officer. He served as a Green Beret in the U.S. Army, Paramilitary Officer in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and finally as a mercenary soldier.

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Charlie Christodoulou, British soldier and mercenary of the Angolan Civil War (born 1951)

Charles Christodoulou was a British soldier in the Parachute Regiment who later served as a foreign mercenary during the Angolan War of Independence of the 1970s. Known as 'Shotgun Charlie', he was involved in the murder of at least 167 people during that conflict.

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14/02/1975

Julian Huxley, English biologist and eugenicist, co-founded the World Wide Fund for Nature (born 1887)

Sir Julian Sorell Huxley was an English evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth-century modern synthesis. He was secretary of the Zoological Society of London (1935–1942), the first director of UNESCO, a founding member of the World Wildlife Fund, the president of the British Eugenics Society (1959–1962), and the first president of the British Humanist Association.

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P. G. Wodehouse, English novelist and playwright (born 1881)

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeves; the immaculate and loquacious Psmith; Lord Emsworth and the Blandings Castle set; the Oldest Member, with stories about golf; and Mr. Mulliner, with tall tales on subjects ranging from bibulous bishops to megalomaniac movie moguls.

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14/02/1974

Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricketer and coach (born 1903)

Charles Stewart Dempster was a New Zealand Test cricketer and coach. As well as representing New Zealand, he also played for Wellington, Scotland, Leicestershire and Warwickshire.

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14/02/1970

Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer and coach (born 1880)

Herbert Strudwick was an English wicket-keeper. His record of 1,493 dismissals is the third-highest by any wicket-keeper in the history of first-class cricket.

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14/02/1969

Vito Genovese, Italian-American mob boss (born 1897)

Vito Genovese was an Italian-born American mafioso and the leader of the Genovese crime family in New York City. A childhood friend and criminal associate of Lucky Luciano, Genovese took part in the Castellammarese War and helped Luciano shape the Mafia's rise as a major force in organized crime in the United States. He would later lead Luciano's crime family, which was renamed by the FBI after Genovese in 1957.

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14/02/1967

Sig Ruman, German-American actor (born 1884)

Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann, billed as Sig Ruman and Sig Rumann, was a German-American character actor known for his portrayals of pompous and often stereotypically Teutonic officials or villains in more than 100 films.

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14/02/1959

Baby Dodds, American drummer (born 1898)

Warren "Baby" Dodds was an American jazz drummer born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is regarded as one of the best jazz drummers of the pre-big band era. He varied his drum patterns with accents and flourishes, and he generally kept the beat with the bass drum while playing buzz rolls on the snare. Early influences included Louis Cottrell, Sr., Dave Perkins, and Tubby Hall. Dodds was among the first drummers to be recorded improvising while performing.

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14/02/1958

Abdur Rab Nishtar, Pakistani politician, 2nd Governor of Punjab (born 1899)

Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar was a Pakistani independence activist and politician from the North-West Frontier Province. He served as the first Minister of Communications of Pakistan from August 1947 to August 1949 and then as the second Governor of West Punjab from August 1949 to November 1951.

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14/02/1956

Harold Edward Dahl, American pilot and mercenary (born 1909)

Harold Edward Dahl was a mercenary American pilot who fought in the Spanish Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War. He was a member of the "American Patrol" of the Andres Garcia La Calle group. He was nicknamed "Whitey" due to his very blond hair.

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14/02/1952

Maurice De Waele, Belgian cyclist (born 1896)

Maurice De Waele was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer.

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14/02/1950

Karl Guthe Jansky, American physicist and engineer (born 1905)

Karl Guthe Jansky was an American physicist and radio engineer who in April 1933 first announced his discovery of radio waves emanating from the Milky Way in the constellation Sagittarius. An amateur astronomer, he is considered one of the founding figures of radio astronomy.

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14/02/1949

Yusuf Salman Yusuf, Iraqi politician (born 1901)

Yusuf Salman Yusuf, better known by his nom de guerre Comrade Fahd, was one of the first Iraqi communist activists. He was the first secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party, from 1941 until his execution in 1949. He is generally credited with a vital role in the party's rapid organizational growth in the 1940s. For the last two years of his life, he directed the party from prison.

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14/02/1948

Mordecai Brown, American baseball player and manager (born 1876)

Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown, nicknamed "Three Finger Brown" or "Miner", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher and manager during the first two decades of the 20th century. Due to a farm-machinery accident in his youth, Brown lost parts of two fingers on his right hand, and in the process gained a colorful nickname. He turned this handicap into an advantage by learning how to grip a baseball in a way that resulted in an exceptional curveball, which broke radically before reaching the plate. With this technique he became one of the elite pitchers of his era.

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14/02/1943

Dora Gerson, German actress and singer (born 1899)

Dora Gerson was a German cabaret singer and stage and motion picture actress of the silent film era. She was murdered at Auschwitz during the Holocaust.

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David Hilbert, Russian-German mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (born 1862)

David Hilbert was a German mathematician and philosopher of mathematics and one of the most influential mathematicians of his time.

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14/02/1942

Adnan Saidi, Malayan lieutenant (born 1915)

Adnan bin Saidi was a Malayan military officer who served under the 1st Malaya Infantry Brigade within the Malaya Command during the Second World War. Born in Selangor, Adnan pursued his education and graduated from the Sultan Idris Training College. He was initially a schoolteacher before enlisting in the Straits Settlements Volunteer Force (SSVF), where his leadership potential quickly became apparent. Rising through the ranks, he became a commissioned officer in the Malay Regiment, one of the few Malay officers at the time to attain such a position. Known for his discipline, strategic acumen and unwavering dedication, Adnan played a vital role in the defence of Singapore during the Japanese invasion.

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14/02/1937

Erkki Melartin, Finnish composer (born 1875)

Erkki Gustaf Melartin was a Finnish composer, conductor, and teacher of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods. Melartin is generally considered to be one of Finland's most significant national Romantic composers, although his music—then and now—largely has been overshadowed by that of his contemporary, Jean Sibelius, the country's most famous composer. The core of Melartin's oeuvre consists of a set of six (completed) symphonies, as well as is his opera, Aino, based on a story from the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, but nevertheless in the style of Richard Wagner.

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14/02/1933

Carl Correns, German botanist and geneticist (born 1864)

Carl Erich Correns was a German botanist and geneticist notable primarily for his independent discovery of the principles of heredity, which he achieved simultaneously but independently of the botanist Hugo de Vries, and for his acknowledgment of Gregor Mendel's earlier paper on that subject.

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14/02/1930

Thomas Mackenzie, Scottish-New Zealand cartographer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1853)

Sir Thomas Mackenzie was a New Zealand politician and explorer who briefly served as the 18th prime minister of New Zealand in 1912, and later served as New Zealand High Commissioner in London.

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14/02/1929

Thomas Burke, American sprinter, coach, and lawyer (born 1875)

Thomas Edmund Burke was an American sprinter. He was the first Olympic champion in the 100 and 400 meter sprint races.

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14/02/1924

Amalie Andersen, Norwegian actress (born 1861)

Tilda Amalie Andersen was a Norwegian actress.

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14/02/1923

Charles Henry Turner, American zoologist, educator, and comparative psychologist (born 1867)

Charles Henry Turner was an American zoologist, entomologist, educator, and comparative psychologist, known for his studies on the behavior of insects, particularly bees and ants. Born in Cincinnati, Turner was the first African American to receive a graduate degree at the University of Cincinnati and the first African American to earn a PhD from the University of Chicago (1907). He spent most of his career as a high school teacher at Sumner High School in St. Louis. Turner was one of the first scientists to systematically examine the question of whether animals display complex cognition, studying arthropods such as spiders and bees. He also examined differences in behavior between individuals within a species, a precursor to the study of animal personality.

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14/02/1922

Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish lawyer and politician (born 1880; assassinated)

Heikki Ritavuori was a Finnish lawyer, a politician from the National Progressive Party, a member of the Parliament of Finland and Minister of the Interior. He was the closest colleague of President K. J. Ståhlberg and was Minister of the Interior in J. H. Vennola's first and second cabinets from 1919 to 1922 for a total of 526 days. Minister Ritavuori was shot dead at the door to his home in Helsinki in February 1922.

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14/02/1910

Giovanni Passannante, Italian anarchist (born 1849)

Giovanni Passannante was an Italian anarchist who attempted to assassinate king Umberto I of Italy, the first attempt against Savoy monarchy since its origins. Originally condemned to death, his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. The conditions of his imprisonment drove him insane and have been denounced as inhumane.

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14/02/1894

Eugène Charles Catalan, Belgian-French mathematician and academic (born 1814)

Eugène Charles Catalan was a French and Belgian mathematician who worked on continued fractions, descriptive geometry, number theory and combinatorics. His notable contributions included discovering a periodic minimal surface in the space ; stating the famous Catalan's conjecture, which was eventually proved in 2002; and introducing the Catalan numbers to solve a combinatorial problem.

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14/02/1891

William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (born 1820)

William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognition for his command of military strategy but criticism for the harshness of his scorched-earth policies, which he implemented in his military campaign against the Confederate States. British military theorist and historian B. H. Liddell Hart declared that Sherman was "the most original genius of the American Civil War" and "the first modern general".

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14/02/1885

Jules Vallès, French journalist and author (born 1832)

Jules Vallès (1832–1885) was a French journalist, author, and left-wing political activist.

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14/02/1884

Lydia Hamilton Smith, African-American businesswoman (born 1813)

Lydia Hamilton Smith was an American businesswoman and the long-time housekeeper and confidante of Thaddeus Stevens, later becoming a prominent entrepreneur after his death.

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14/02/1881

Fernando Wood, American merchant and politician, 73rd Mayor of New York City (born 1812)

Fernando Wood was an American Democratic Party politician, merchant, and real estate investor who served as the 74th and 76th mayor of New York City. He also represented the city for several terms in the United States House of Representatives.

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14/02/1870

St. John Richardson Liddell, American general (born 1815)

St. John Richardson Liddell was a prominent Louisiana planter who served as a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was an outspoken proponent of Southern emancipation of slaves in order to secure foreign assistance. Following the war, Liddell had a prominent feud with a former Confederate officer, Charles Jones, who eventually murdered Liddell near his home in 1870.

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14/02/1831

Vicente Guerrero, Mexican general and politician, 2nd President of Mexico (born 1782)

Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña was a Mexican military officer from 1810 to 1821 and a statesman who became the nation's second president in 1829. He was one of the leading generals who fought against Spain during the Mexican War of Independence. According to historian Theodore G. Vincent, Vicente Guerrero lived alongside Indigenous people in Tlaltelulco and had the ability to speak Spanish and the languages of the Indigenous.

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Henry Maudslay, English engineer (born 1771)

Henry Maudslay was an English machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology. His inventions were an important foundation for the Industrial Revolution.

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14/02/1808

John Dickinson, American lawyer and politician 5th Governor of Delaware (born 1732)

John Dickinson, was an American Founding Father, attorney and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware. Dickinson was known as the "Penman of the Revolution" for his twelve Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, published individually in 1767 and 1768, and he also wrote "The Liberty Song" in 1768.

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14/02/1782

Singu Min, Burmese king (born 1756)

Singu Min was the fourth king of the Konbaung dynasty of Myanmar.

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14/02/1780

William Blackstone, English jurist and politician (born 1723)

Sir William Blackstone was an English jurist, justice, and Tory politician most noted for his Commentaries on the Laws of England, which became the best-known description of the doctrines of the English common law. Born into a middle-class family in London, Blackstone was educated at Charterhouse School before matriculating at Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1738. After switching to and completing a Bachelor of Civil Law degree, he was made a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, on 2 November 1743, admitted to Middle Temple, and called to the Bar there in 1746. Following a slow start to his career as a barrister, Blackstone was involved heavily in university administration, becoming accountant, treasurer, and bursar on 28 November 1746, and Senior Bursar in 1750. Blackstone is considered responsible for completing the Codrington Library and the Warton Building, and for simplifying the complex accounting system used by the college. On 3 July, 1753, he formally gave up his practice as a barrister, and embarked on a series of lectures on English law, the first of their kind. These talks were massively successful, earning him £453 ; they led to the publication of An Analysis of the Laws of England in 1756, which sold out repeatedly. It was used to preface his later works.

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14/02/1779

James Cook, English captain, cartographer, and explorer (born 1728)

Captain James Cook was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer who led three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans between 1768 and 1779. He completed the first recorded circumnavigation of the main islands of New Zealand, and led the first recorded visit by Europeans to the east coast of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands.

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14/02/1755

Isidro de Espinosa, Franciscan missionary from Spanish Texas (born 1679)

Isidro Félix de Espinosa (1679–1755) was a Franciscan missionary from New Spain who participated in several expeditionary missions throughout the province of Tejas. He was the president of the missionaries from the College of Santa Cruz de Querétaro.

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14/02/1744

John Hadley, English mathematician, invented the octant (born 1682)

John Hadley was an English mathematician, and laid claim to the invention of the octant, two years after Thomas Godfrey claimed the same.

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14/02/1737

Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, English lawyer and politician Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (born 1685)

Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, was a British lawyer and politician. He was Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain from 1733 to 1737.

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14/02/1714

Maria Luisa of Savoy, queen of Spain (born 1688)

Princess Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy, nicknamed La Savoyana, was Queen of Spain by marriage to King Philip V. She acted as regent during her husband's absence from 1702 until 1703 and had great influence as a political adviser during the War of the Spanish Succession, during which she was often regent while Philip fought to protect his legitimacy and his place on the throne. Despite her young age, Maria Luisa proved herself to be mature, intelligent, hard-working and resolute, and her regencies were effective, winning the respect of her subjects and becoming very popular and well-loved by her people. At the end of the War of Spanish Succession, Philip V was recognised as King of Spain, establishing the Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon, which still rules over Spain to this day. Two of her four sons, Louis I and Ferdinand VI, took their turns as King of Spain. Maria Luisa died from tuberculosis at just 25.

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14/02/1676

Abraham Bosse, French engraver and illustrator (born 1602)

Abraham Bosse was a French artist, mainly as a printmaker in etching, but also in watercolour.

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14/02/1549

Il Sodoma, Italian painter (born 1477)

Il Sodoma was the name given to the Italian Renaissance painter Giovanni Antonio Bazzi. Il Sodoma painted in a manner that superimposed the High Renaissance style of early 16th-century Rome onto the traditions of the provincial Sienese school; he spent the bulk of his professional life in Siena, with two periods in Rome.

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14/02/1528

Edzard I, German nobleman (born 1462)

Edzard I, also Edzard the Great was count of East Frisia from 1491 until his death in 1528.

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14/02/1489

Nicolaus von Tüngen, prince-bishop of Warmia

Nicolaus von Tüngen was bishop of Warmia from 1467 until 1489.

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14/02/1440

Dietrich of Oldenburg, German nobleman

Dietrich or Theoderic of Oldenburg was a feudal lord in Northern Germany, holding the counties of Delmenhorst and Oldenburg. He was called "Fortunatus", as he was able to secure Delmenhorst for his branch of the Oldenburgs.

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14/02/1400

Richard II, king of England (born 1367)

Richard II, also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince and Joan of Kent. The Black Prince died in 1376, leaving Richard as heir apparent to his grandfather, King Edward III. Upon the King's death, the 10-year-old Richard succeeded to the throne.

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14/02/1317

Margaret of France, queen of England

Margaret or Marguerite of France was Queen of England as the second wife of King Edward I. She was a daughter of Philip III of France and Maria of Brabant.

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14/02/1229

Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, king of the Isles

Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson ruled as King of the Isles from 1187 to 1226. He was the eldest son of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of Dublin and the Isles. Although the latter may have intended for his younger son, Óláfr, to succeed to the kingship, the Islesmen chose Rǫgnvaldr, who was likely Óláfr's half-brother. Rǫgnvaldr went on to rule the Kingdom of the Isles for almost forty years before losing control to Óláfr.

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14/02/1164

Sviatoslav Olgovich, Kievan prince

Sviatoslav Olgovich was Prince of Novgorod (1136–1138); Novgorod-Seversk (1139); Belgorod (1141–1154); and Chernigov (1154–1164).

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14/02/1140

Leo I, Armenian prince

Leo I, also Levon I or Leon I, was the fifth lord of Armenian Cilicia (1129/1130–1137).

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Sobĕslav I, duke of Bohemia

Soběslav I was Duke of Bohemia from 1125 until his death in 1140. He was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, the youngest son of Vratislaus II, by his third wife Świętosława of Poland.

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14/02/1010

Fujiwara no Korechika, Japanese nobleman (born 974)

Fujiwara no Korechika , the second son of Michitaka, was a kugyo of the Heian period. His mother was Takashina no Takako, also known as Kō-no-Naishi (高内侍). His sister Teishi (Sadako) was married to Emperor Ichijō, and Korechika aspired to become the regent (Sessho) for his young brother-in-law after his father's death. Korechika's ambitions pitted him against his powerful uncle, Fujiwara no Michinaga, and the resulting power struggle continued until Empress Teishi's unexpected death. This left Michinaga's daughter, Shoshi, as Ichijō's sole empress, solidifying Michinaga's power at court.

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14/02/1009

Bruno of Querfurt, German missionary bishop

Bruno of Querfurt, O.S.B. Cam., also known as Brun, was a Christian missionary, bishop, Camaldolese monk and martyr. He was active in the eastern regions of the Holy Roman Empire and became one of the leading figures in the early Christian missions to the peoples of northeastern Europe. Bruno was killed in Prussia, near the frontier of Kyivan Rus' and Lithuania, while attempting to convert the Old Prussians to Christianity. He is venerated as the "Second Apostle of the Prussians".

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14/02/0945

Lian Chongyu, Chinese general

Lian Chongyu was a general of the Chinese Min state. In 944, he and another general, Zhu Wenjin, assassinated the emperor Wang Yanxi. He then supported Zhu as the new emperor of the Min state, but the officer Lin Renhan (林仁翰) assassinated him and Zhu less than a year later and submitted to Wang Yanxi's brother Wang Yanzheng, who had been warring with Wang Yanxi.

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Zhu Wenjin, Chinese emperor

Zhu Wenjin was a general who later usurped the throne of Min, reigning from 944 to 945, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of China. In 944, he assassinated Wang Yanxi and tried to take over control of the Min state, but his officer Lin Renhan (林仁翰) assassinated him less than a year later and submitted to Wang Yanxi's brother Wang Yanzheng, who had been warring with Wang Yanxi.

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14/02/0869

Cyril, Greek missionary bishop and saint (born 827)

Cyril and Methodius were brothers, Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs".

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14/02/0269

Saint Valentine, Roman saint

Saint Valentine was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his feast day has been associated with a tradition of courtly love. He is also a patron saint of Terni, epilepsy, and beekeepers. Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a bishop – in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians. He was martyred and his body buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine since at least the eighth century.

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