What happened on 16th February?

On this day, 195 notable people were born on 15th February — spanning from 1222 to 2001. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

16/02/2001

Yuki Naito, Japanese tennis player

Yuki Naito is a Japanese tennis player. Naito has been ranked as high as world No. 169 in singles and No. 224 in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA).

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16/02/2000

Koffee, Jamaican singer, songwriter and rapper

Mikayla Victoria Simpson, who performs under the stage name Original Koffee and formerly as Koffee, is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, rapper, and guitarist from Spanish Town. She released her debut single "Burning" in 2017, and signed with Columbia Records after releasing another single the following year. Her 2019 debut EP Rapture won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. Her most recent album, Gifted was released on 25 March 2022.

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Coby White, American basketball player

Alec Jacoby "Coby" White is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels. White was a top high school player in North Carolina, finishing his career as the top prep scorer in state history. After being selected by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 2019 NBA draft with the seventh overall pick, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2020. In 2024, White finished second in NBA Most Improved Player award behind Tyrese Maxey.

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Carlos Yulo, Filipino artistic gymnast

Carlos Edriel Poquiz Yulo is a Filipino artistic gymnast. He is the 2024 Olympic gold medalist at the floor exercise and vault events. He is the first Filipino and the first male Southeast Asian gymnast to medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships with his floor exercise bronze medal finish in 2018, as well as the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to achieve a gold medal finish for the same criteria in 2019 at the same event. With multiple medals on the international stage, Yulo is the second person to win an Olympic gold medal for the Philippines and the first Southeast Asian athlete to win multiple gold medals at the Olympic Games.

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16/02/1999

Ignatius Ganago, Cameroonian footballer

Ignatius Ganago is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Nantes and the Cameroon national team.

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Marie Ulven Ringheim, Norwegian singer, songwriter and music producer

Marie Ulven Ringheim, known professionally as Girl in Red, is a Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer. Her first EPs Chapter 1 (2018) and Chapter 2 (2019) were recorded in her bedroom and feature songs about romance and mental health. Released through AWAL, her debut studio album If I Could Make It Go Quiet (2021) was a critical and commercial success, and won three Spellemann Awards, including Spellemann of the Year. She then signed to Columbia Records and released her second album, I'm Doing It Again Baby!, to moderate success in 2024.

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16/02/1998

An Hyejin, South Korean volleyball player

An Hye-jin is a South Korean professional volleyball player. She is a setter and a member of the South Korean National Team. On the club level, she plays for GS Caltex Seoul KIXX.

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Kim Suji, South Korean diver

Kim Su-ji is a South Korean diver. She competed in the 10-metre platform event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. The youngest member of the South Korean contingent at the Olympics that year, she lives in Ulsan, where she graduated from Guyeong Primary School and went on to Cheonsang Middle School. She won a bronze medal along with Cho Eun-bi in the women's 10-metre synchronised platform event at the 2013 East Asian Games in Tianjin.

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16/02/1997

Jordan Greenway, American ice hockey player

Jordan Greenway is an American professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Minnesota Wild in the second round in the 2015 NHL entry draft.

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16/02/1995

Denzel Curry, American rapper

Denzel Rae Don Curry is an American rapper. Born and raised in the Carol City neighborhood of Miami Gardens, Florida, Curry started rapping while in the sixth grade and began working on his first mixtape, King Remembered Underground Tape 1991–1995, in 2011, which was influenced by underground Florida rapper SpaceGhostPurrp. The mixtape was later featured on SpaceGhostPurrp's social media, giving Curry attention in the local music scene and resulting in him joining the former's hip-hop collective Raider Klan.

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Katy Dunne, English tennis player

Katy Dunne is a British tennis player.

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Carina Witthöft, German tennis player

Carina Witthöft is a German former professional tennis player. She won one singles title on the WTA Tour whereas on the ITF Women's Circuit, she won eleven singles titles and one doubles title. On 8 January 2018, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 48.

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16/02/1994

Annika Beck, German tennis player

Annika Beck is a German former professional tennis player. She started playing tennis at the age of four when introduced to the game by her parents. A baseliner whose favorite shot is forehand, and favorite surface is hardcourt. She was coached by Jakub Záhlava and Sebastian Sachs.

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Federico Bernardeschi, Italian footballer

Federico Bernardeschi is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a right winger or attacking midfielder for Serie A club Bologna. His nickname is "Brunelleschi", after the famous Florentine architect, for his technique and elegance on the pitch.

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Ava Max, American singer and songwriter

Amanda Ava Koci, known professionally as Ava Max, is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence in 2018 with the release of her breakthrough single "Sweet but Psycho". The song peaked at number one in 22 countries and reached number two and number ten on the Australian ARIA Charts and US Billboard Hot 100, respectively.

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16/02/1992

Nicolai Boilesen, Danish footballer

Nicolai Møller Boilesen is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a left back.

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Zsófia Susányi, Hungarian tennis player

Zsófia Susányi is a Hungarian former tennis player.

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16/02/1991

Sergio Canales, Spanish footballer

Sergio Canales Madrazo is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder.

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16/02/1990

The Weeknd, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer

Abel Tesfaye, known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. Regarded as an influential figure in popular music, he is known for his light-lyric tenor vocal range and falsetto, alternative R&B sound, and dark aesthetics, as well as the cinematic visuals and storytelling of his music videos. His accolades include four Grammy Awards, 20 Billboard Music Awards, 22 Juno Awards, 6 American Music Awards, 3 MTV Video Music Awards, and a Latin Grammy Award.

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16/02/1989

Elizabeth Olsen, American actress

Elizabeth Chase Olsen is an American actress. She gained worldwide recognition for her portrayal of Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2014, with her performance in the miniseries WandaVision (2021) earning her nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

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16/02/1988

Diego Capel, Spanish footballer

Diego Ángel Capel Trinidad is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left winger.

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Denílson, Brazilian footballer

Denílson Pereira Neves, known as Denílson, is a Brazilian former professional footballer. He mainly featured as a central midfielder who at times also played in the role of defensive midfielder. He is also a former youth captain of Brazil.

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Korbinian Holzer, German ice hockey player

Korbinian Holzer is a German professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for Adler Mannheim of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He previously played for the Anaheim Ducks, Nashville Predators, and Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL).

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Zhang Jike, Chinese table tennis player

Zhang Jike is a retired Chinese table tennis player.

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Andrea Ranocchia, Italian footballer

Andrea Ranocchia is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender.

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Kim Soo-hyun, South Korean actor and singer

Kim Soo-hyun is a South Korean actor. He is the recipient of five Baeksang Arts Awards, two Grand Bell Awards and one Blue Dragon Film Award. Kim made his television debut in 2007 with the family sitcom Kimchi Cheese Smile following a few theatrical performances. He went on to star in television dramas Dream High (2011), Moon Embracing the Sun (2012), as well as in the top-grossing films The Thieves (2012) and Secretly, Greatly (2013).

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16/02/1987

Luc Bourdon, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2008)

Luc Bourdon was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who was a defenceman for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 2006 until 2008. After overcoming childhood arthritis, he was selected third overall in the 2003 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) draft and played for the Val-d'Or Foreurs, Moncton Wildcats, and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, spending four seasons in the QMJHL. The Canucks drafted Bourdon with their first selection, 10th overall, in the 2005 NHL entry draft, and he split his professional career with the Canucks and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. Noted as a strong defenceman who could contribute on offence, Bourdon represented Canada in three international tournaments, winning two gold medals at the IIHF World Junior Championship and a silver medal at the IIHF World U18 Championship.

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Theresa Goh, Singaporean swimmer

Theresa Goh Rui Si is a Singaporean swimmer and Paralympic medalist, with a bronze at the SB4 100m breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She previously held world records for the SB4 50 metres and 200 metres breaststroke events.

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Tommy Milone, American baseball player

Tomaso Anthony Milone is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics, Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, and Toronto Blue Jays.

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Jon Ossoff, American politician and filmmaker

Thomas Jonathan Ossoff is an American politician who has served as the senior United States senator from Georgia since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the youngest incumbent U.S. senator. Before his election to Congress, he was a documentary and investigative filmmaker.

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Hasheem Thabeet, Tanzanian basketball player

Hasheem Thabeet is a Tanzanian professional basketball player for Dar City of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). He played college basketball for the UConn Huskies before being drafted second overall in the 2009 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. Thabeet's performance as a second overall draft pick has led many analysts to label him as one of the "biggest busts" in NBA history.

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16/02/1986

Diego Godín, Uruguayan footballer

Diego Roberto Godín Leal is a Uruguayan former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

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Shawne Williams, American basketball player

Shawne Brian Williams is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Memphis Tigers before being selected 17th overall in the 2006 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers.

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16/02/1985

Simon Francis, English footballer

Simon Charles Francis is an English former professional footballer who was most recently the first-team technical director at Premier League club Bournemouth.

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Stacy Lewis, American golfer

Stacy Lewis is an American professional golfer on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She has won two major championships: the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2011 and the Women's British Open in 2013. She was ranked number one in the Women's World Golf Rankings for four weeks in 2013, and reclaimed the position in June 2014 with a victory at the ShopRite LPGA Classic for another 21 weeks.

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Ron Vlaar, Dutch footballer

Ron Peter Vlaar is a Dutch former footballer who played as a centre-back.

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16/02/1984

Sofia Arvidsson, Swedish tennis player

Lena Sofia Alexandra Arvidsson is a Swedish professional padel player and a former tennis player. In her tennis career, she won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 20 singles and 13 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 1 May 2006, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 29. On 12 September 2011, she peaked at No. 67 in the WTA doubles rankings. Over her career, Arvidsson defeated top-ten players Marion Bartoli, Anna Chakvetadze, Jelena Janković, Petra Kvitová, Sam Stosur, and Caroline Wozniacki.

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Oussama Mellouli, Tunisian swimmer

Oussama "Ous" Mellouli is a Tunisian swimmer who competes in the freestyle and medley events. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the USC Trojans team based at the University of Southern California, where he studied as a computer science undergraduate and swam collegiately.

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16/02/1983

Agyness Deyn, English model, actress, and singer

Agyness Deyn is an English model and actress. She is best known for her successful modelling career in the 2000s, and has been called one of the decade's top models. Since her retirement from modelling in the 2010s, she has pursued acting and design, among other ventures.

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Tuomo Ruutu, Finnish ice hockey player and coach

Tuomo Iisakki Ruutu is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward and current assistant coach with the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League. Ruutu was drafted in the first round, ninth overall, at the 2001 NHL entry draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, the team he spent the first four seasons of his National Hockey League (NHL) career with, Ruutu has also played in the NHL for the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils, before finishing his career with Davos of the Swiss National League (NL).

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16/02/1982

Manny Delcarmen, American baseball player

Manuel Delcarmen, nicknamed The Pride of Hyde Park, is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2005 through 2010 for the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies; he was a member of Boston's 2007 World Series championship team. He later served as an assistant coach with Fisher College in Boston during the 2022 season.

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Aleksandr Dmitrijev, Estonian footballer

Aleksandr Dmitrijev is an Estonian football coach and former professional footballer, currently playing in amateur level as a midfielder for Tallinna Cosmos.

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Lupe Fiasco, American rapper

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco, is an American rapper, singer, record producer and music educator. Born and raised in Chicago, he gained mainstream recognition for his guest appearance on Kanye West's 2006 single "Touch the Sky," which peaked within the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100. He also formed the rock band Japanese Cartoon in 2008, for which he serves as lead vocalist.

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Rickie Lambert, English footballer

Rickie Lee Lambert is an English former professional footballer who is currently an Academy Youth Development Coach at Wigan Athletic. A striker, Lambert was known for his large stature and physical performances, drawing comparisons with former Southampton player Matt Le Tissier for his ability in front of goal and penalty record.

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16/02/1981

Jay Howard, English race car driver

Jay Howard is a British professional race car driver who competed in the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500. He qualified for the Indianapolis 500 in 2011, 2017 and 2018.

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Susanna Kallur, Swedish sprint hurdler

Susanna Elisabeth "Sanna" Kallur is a Swedish former athlete competing mainly in sprint hurdles. She has won several international medals, including the gold medal in the 100 m hurdles at the 2006 European Athletics Championships. Kallur previously held the world indoor record for the 60 metres hurdles for 16 years (2008–2024).

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Jerry Owens, American baseball player

Jerry Lee Owens is an American former professional baseball player. He played parts of four seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Chicago White Sox from 2006 to 2009.

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Qyntel Woods, American basketball player

Qyntel Deon Woods is an American former professional basketball player. He played mainly at the small forward position, but he also played at the shooting guard position, on occasion.

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16/02/1980

Longineu W. Parsons III, French-American musician and songwriter

Longineu Warren "LP" Parsons III is a French-born American rock musician. He is best known as the founding drummer of the American rock band Yellowcard. He played on all of the band's studio albums from their debut outing Midget Tossing (1997) through their eighth album Southern Air (2012). He departed from the band in 2014. Parsons was also the drummer of American metalcore band Evergreen Terrace from 2022 to 2026.

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16/02/1979

Stéphane Dalmat, French footballer

Stéphane Dalmat is a French former footballer who played as a midfielder.

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Eric Mun, American-South Korean singer and actor

Eric Mun, birth name Mun Jung-hyuk (Korean: 문정혁, is a South Korean rapper, songwriter and actor. He is a member and leader of the South Korean boy band Shinhwa. He is also well known for several dramas such as Phoenix, Super Rookie, and Another Oh Hae-young. He was with Top Class Entertainment from 2007 to December 2013. In 2014, Mun and his manager of 10 years, Lee Jong-hyun, set up a new management agency, E&J Entertainment, for his individual activities. Mun is also the CEO of Shinhwa Company, the home agency of his group, with Lee Min-woo as co-CEO since 2011, and with the remaining members—Kim Dong-wan, Shin Hye-sung, Jun Jin and Andy Lee—as shareholders.

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Valentino Rossi, Italian motorcycle racer

Valentino Rossi is an Italian racing driver, former professional motorcycle road racer and nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. Nicknamed "the Doctor", he is widely considered one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time. Rossi is also the only road racer to have competed in 400 or more Grands Prix. Of Rossi's nine Grand Prix World Championships, seven were in the premier 500cc/MotoGP class. He holds the record for most premier class victories and podiums, with 89 victories and 199 podiums to his name.

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16/02/1978

Tia Hellebaut, Belgian high jumper and chemist

Tia Hellebaut is a Belgian former track and field athlete. She started out in her sports career in the heptathlon, and afterwards specialized in the high jump event. She has cleared 2.05 metres both indoors and outdoors.

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Wasim Jaffer, Indian cricketer

Wasim Jaffer is a retired Indian professional cricketer. He was a right-handed opening batsman and an occasional right arm off-break bowler. In 2011 he became the highest run-scorer in Ranji Trophy cricket, surpassing Amol Muzumdar. In November 2018, he became the first batsman to score 11,000 runs in the competition. In January 2019, he became the most capped player in Ranji Trophy history with appearance of his 146th match surpassing Madhya Pradesh's Devendra Bundela (145). He was appointed as batting coach for Bangladesh cricket team. In March 2020, he announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.

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John Tartaglia, American actor, singer, and puppeteer

John Nicholas Tartaglia is an American puppeteer, actor, and singer.

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16/02/1977

Ian Clarke, Irish-American computer scientist, founded Hyphanet

Ian Clarke is the original designer and lead developer of Hyphanet.

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Ahman Green, American football player

Ahman Rashad Green is an American former professional football running back who played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, earning second-team All-American honors in 1997. Green was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the third round of the 1998 NFL draft, playing there for two seasons before being traded to the Green Bay Packers, with whom he played for eight of the next ten seasons. Green also played for the Houston Texans, and was a four-time Pro Bowl selection with the Packers, where he holds the franchise record for rushing yards. He was the head esports coach at Lakeland University until the end of 2022.

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Alexei Morozov, Russian ice hockey player and executive

Alexei Alekseyevich Morozov is the president of the Kontinental Hockey League and a Russian former professional ice hockey player.

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16/02/1976

Eric Byrnes, American baseball player and sportscaster

Eric James Byrnes, is an American baseball analyst and former outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Colorado Rockies, Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Seattle Mariners. Byrnes retired from playing in 2010 and was an analyst for MLB Network until 2021.

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Kyo, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer

Kyo is a Japanese musician, singer, lyricist and poet. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the heavy metal band Dir En Grey. He was formerly in a string of visual kei rock bands, with the most notable being La:Sadie's from 1996 to 1997. When they disbanded, he formed Dir En Grey in February 1997 with three of the other four members. Kyo formed the experimental rock band Sukekiyo in 2013, and the supergroup Petit Brabancon in 2021.

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16/02/1974

Mahershala Ali, American actor

Mahershala Ali is an American actor. He has received multiple accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $3.3 billion worldwide. In 2020, The New York Times ranked him among the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019.

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José Dominguez, Portuguese footballer and manager

José Manuel Martins Dominguez is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player.

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16/02/1973

Cathy Freeman, Australian sprinter

Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman is an Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the 11th-fastest woman of all time, set while finishing second to Marie-José Pérec's number-six time at the 1996 Olympics. She became the Olympic champion for the women's 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics, at which she had lit the Olympic Flame.

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16/02/1972

Jerome Bettis, American football player

Jerome Abram Bettis Sr. is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Nicknamed "the Bus" due to his large size and forceful running style, he is regarded as one of the greatest power runners of all time and ranks eighth in NFL rushing yards.

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Zoran Čampara, Bosnian football player

Zoran Čampara is a Serbian retired footballer who played as a defender.

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Sarah Clarke, American actress

Sarah Clarke is an American actress, best known for her role as Nina Myers on 24, and also for her roles as Renée Dwyer, Bella Swan's mother, in the 2008 film Twilight, Erin McGuire on the short-lived TV show Trust Me, and CIA Officer Lena Smith on the show Covert Affairs. She also starred as Eleanor Wish in the police procedural drama Bosch.

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Naomi Nishida, Japanese actress

Naomi Nishida is a Japanese actress. She won the Best Supporting Actress award at the 2001 Yokohama Film Festival and at the 25th Hochi Film Award for her performance in Nabbie's Love.

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16/02/1971

Michael Avenatti, American attorney and pundit

Michael John Avenatti is an American former attorney currently incarcerated in federal prison for felony fraud and extortion. He is best known for his legal representation of adult film actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against then U.S. President Donald Trump, and his multiple convictions for attempting to extort sports apparel company Nike and defrauding and embezzling settlement money from a series of other clients. In the late 2010s, Avenatti appeared extensively on television and in print as a legal and political commentator, and as a representative for prominent clients.

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Craig Laundy, Australian politician

Craig Arthur Samuel Laundy is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for Reid from 2013 until his retirement in 2019. He served as Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation in the Second Turnbull Ministry, before resigning in August 2018 following the ousting of Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister. On 15 March 2019, Laundy announced he would retire from politics at the 2019 federal election.

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16/02/1970

Angelo Peruzzi, Italian footballer and manager

Angelo Peruzzi is an Italian football coach and former goalkeeper, and a three-time winner of the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year award.

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16/02/1968

Warren Ellis, English author and screenwriter

Warren Girard Ellis is an English comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including Transmetropolitan (1997–2002), Global Frequency (2002–2004) and Red (2003–2004), which was adapted into the feature films Red (2010) and Red 2 (2013). Ellis is the author of the novels Crooked Little Vein (2007) and Gun Machine (2013) and the novella Normal (2016).

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16/02/1967

Keith Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Keith Edward Gretzky is a Canadian ice hockey executive and former player who served as interim general manager of the Edmonton Oilers from January 23 to May 7, 2019. He is the brother of Wayne Gretzky, considered by many as the best player of all time, and Brent Gretzky, who also briefly played NHL hockey.

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16/02/1965

Dave Lombardo, Cuban-American musician and songwriter

David Lombardo is a Cuban-American drummer, best known as a co-founding member of the thrash metal band Slayer. He currently plays drums with Fantômas, Dead Cross, Mr. Bungle, Empire State Bastard, and Misfits.

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16/02/1964

Bebeto, Brazilian footballer and manager

José Roberto Gama de Oliveira, known as Bebeto, is a Brazilian former professional football player who played as a forward. He entered politics in the 2010 Brazilian general elections and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro representing the Democratic Labour Party.

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Christopher Eccleston, English actor

Christopher Eccleston is an English actor. He is known for his work in various social realist television dramas, as well as for playing the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2005).

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16/02/1962

John Balance, English singer-songwriter (died 2004)

Geoffrey Nigel Laurence Rushton, better known under the pseudonyms John Balance or the later variation Jhonn Balance, was an English musician, occultist, artist and poet.

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16/02/1961

Niko Nirvi, Finnish journalist

Niko Nirvi, pen name Nnirvi, is a long-term major icon in the Finnish gaming world. He is well known for writing computer game reviews since the 1980s in MikroBitti, C=Lehti and the computer game yearbooks that were predecessors of the Pelit magazine. He has worked for the latter since its founding in 1992, and holds a column in addition to making reviews and other reports.

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Andy Taylor, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Andrew James Taylor is an English guitarist, best known as a former member of Duran Duran and the Power Station. He has also recorded and performed as a solo artist, and served as a guitarist, songwriter, and record producer for the likes of Robert Palmer, Rod Stewart, the Almighty, Thunder, Love and Money, Mark Shaw, Then Jerico, C. C. Catch, Paul Rodgers, Belinda Carlisle, and Gun.

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16/02/1960

Pete Willis, English guitarist and songwriter

Peter Andrew Willis is a retired English guitarist, best known as a founding member of the hard rock band Def Leppard. He was with Def Leppard from 1977 to 1982, when he was fired from the band and replaced by Phil Collen. His firing was due to drinking problems.

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16/02/1959

John McEnroe, American tennis player and sportscaster

John Patrick McEnroe Jr. is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 170 weeks, and as world No. 1 in men's doubles for 269 weeks. He is one of two male players to have held both No. 1 rankings, and the only one to hold both simultaneously. McEnroe was best known during his playing career for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court behavior, which frequently landed him in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities.

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Kelly Tripucka, American basketball player and sportscaster

Peter Kelly Tripucka is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1981 to 1991. He was a two-time NBA All Star and averaged over twenty points a game in five of the ten seasons that he played in. Tripucka played for the Detroit Pistons, Utah Jazz and was a member of the Charlotte Hornets during their inaugural season in the NBA. The son of NFL Pro-Bowl quarterback Frank Tripucka, Kelly was a color analyst for the New York Knicks for four years, ending with the 2011–12 season.

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16/02/1958

Natalie Angier, American author

Natalie Angier is an American nonfiction writer and a former science journalist for The New York Times. Her awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting in 1991 and the AAAS Westinghouse Science Journalism Award in 1992. She is also noted for her public identification as an atheist and received the Freedom from Religion Foundation's Emperor Has No Clothes Award in 2003.

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Ice-T, American rapper and actor

Tracy Lauren Marrow, known professionally as Ice-T, is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip-hop and heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground rapper in the 1980s and was signed to Sire Records in 1987, when he released his debut album Rhyme Pays. The following year, he founded the record label Rhyme $yndicate Records and released another album, Power (1988), which is Ice-T's only album to be certified platinum by the RIAA. His next three albums, The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech... Just Watch What You Say! (1989), O.G. Original Gangster (1991) and Home Invasion (1993), were also critically acclaimed and commercially successful, and were all certified gold in the US.

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Oscar Schmidt, Brazilian basketball player (died 2026)

Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt, nicknamed Mão Santa, was a Brazilian professional basketball player. Schmidt primarily played the power forward and small forward position, was 2.06 m tall and weighed 109 kg (240 lbs). Along with his home country, Schmidt also played in Italy for JuveCaserta and Pavia, and Spain for Fórum Valladolid. He was born in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.

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Herb Williams, American basketball player and coach

Herbert Levene Williams is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eighteen seasons from 1981 to 1999. Williams served as the interim head coach and the assistant coach of the NBA's New York Knicks. He was last an assistant coach for the New York Liberty of the WNBA.

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16/02/1957

LeVar Burton, American actor, director, and producer

Levardis Robert Martyn Burton is an American actor, director, and television host. He played Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994) and Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), and was the host of the PBS Kids educational television series Reading Rainbow for 23 years (1983–2006). Burton received 12 Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award as host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow.

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16/02/1956

Vincent Ward, New Zealand director and screenwriter

Vincent Ward is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and artist.

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16/02/1954

Iain Banks, Scottish author and playwright (died 2013)

Iain Menzies Banks was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks. His books have been adapted for theatre, radio, and television. In 2008, The Times named Banks in their list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.

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Margaux Hemingway, American model and actress (died 1996)

Margaux Louise Hemingway was an American fashion model and actress. The granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway, she gained independent fame as a supermodel in the 1970s, appearing on the covers of magazines including Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and Time.

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Michael Holding, Jamaican cricketer and sportscaster

Michael Anthony Holding is a Jamaican former cricketer and commentator who played for the West Indies cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pace bowlers in cricket history, he was nicknamed "Whispering Death" due to his undramatic but effective bowling style.

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16/02/1953

John Bradbury, English musician, songwriter, and producer (died 2015)

John "Brad" Bradbury was an English drummer and record producer. He is best known for having been the drummer in the English ska group the Specials.

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Lanny McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player and manager

Lanny King McDonald is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Rockies and Calgary Flames during his 16-year career in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played over 1,100 games in the NHL between 1973 and 1989 in which he scored 500 goals and over 1,000 points. His total of 66 goals in 1982–83 remains the Flames' franchise record for a single season.

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Roberta Williams, American video game designer, co-founded Sierra Entertainment

Roberta Lynn Williams is an American video game designer and writer. She has been named by several publications as one of the best or most influential creators in the video game industry.

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16/02/1952

James Ingram, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2019)

James Edward Ingram was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and a two-time Academy Award nominee for Best Original Song. After beginning his career in 1973, Ingram charted eight top 40 hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart from the early 1980s until the early 1990s, as well as thirteen top 40 hits on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In addition, he charted 20 hits on the Adult Contemporary chart. He had two number-one singles on the Hot 100: the first, a duet with fellow R&B artist Patti Austin, 1982's "Baby, Come to Me" topped the U.S. pop chart in 1983; "I Don't Have the Heart", which became his second number-one in 1990, was his only number-one as a solo artist.

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Peter Kitchen, English footballer

Michael Peter Kitchen is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League in the 1970s and 80s as a forward.

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16/02/1951

William Katt, American actor

William Theodore Katt is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his starring role as Ralph Hinkley/Hanley on the ABC television series The Greatest American Hero (1981–1983).

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16/02/1950

Peter Hain, Welsh politician, Secretary of State for Wales

Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain, is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State for Wales from 2002 to 2008 and from 2009 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Neath between 1991 and 2015.

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16/02/1948

Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler and coach (died 2014)

Kaiketsu Masateru was a Japanese sumo wrestler, who reached the second highest rank of ōzeki on two occasions. He also won two top division tournament championships. After his retirement in 1979 he became a coach under the name of Hanaregoma-oyakata and established Hanaregoma stable. He was also chairman of the Japan Sumo Association from 2010 to 2012.

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16/02/1947

Jaroslav Kubera, Czech politician (died 2020)

Jaroslav Kubera was a Czech politician for the Civic Democratic Party, who served in the Czech Senate representing Teplice from 2000 and the Senate President from 2018 until his death in 2020. He previously served as mayor of Teplice from 1994 to 2018.

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16/02/1944

Glyn Davies, Welsh farmer and politician

Edward Glyn Davies is a former Welsh Conservative politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Montgomeryshire from 2010 to 2019. Davies previously served as a Member of the Welsh Assembly (AM) for the Mid and West Wales region from 1999 to 2007.

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Richard Ford, American novelist and short story writer

Richard Ford is an American novelist and short story author and writer of a series of novels featuring the character Frank Bascombe.

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António Mascarenhas Monteiro, Cape Verdean politician, 2nd President of Cape Verde (died 2016)

António Manuel Mascarenhas Gomes Monteiro was the first democratically elected President of Cape Verde from 22 March 1991 to 22 March 2001.

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16/02/1942

Yang Jen-fu, Taiwanese politician (died 2024)

Yang Jen-fu was a Taiwanese Amis politician.

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16/02/1941

Kim Jong Il, North Korean commander and politician, 2nd Supreme Leader of North Korea (died 2011)

Kim Jong Il was a North Korean politician and dictator who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his own death in 2011. Posthumously, Kim Jong Il was declared an Eternal Leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).

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16/02/1940

Hannelore Schmatz, German mountaineer (died 1979)

Hannelore Schmatz was a German mountaineer and the fourth woman to summit Mount Everest. She collapsed and died as she was returning from summiting Everest via the southern route; Schmatz was the first woman and first German citizen to die on the upper slopes of Everest.

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16/02/1939

Adolfo Azcuna, Filipino lawyer and judge

Adolfo Sevilla Azcuna is a Filipino jurist who was one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution being a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 2002 to 2009. He was appointed to the Court by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on October 24, 2002. As of November 2019 he was the Chancellor of the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA), having been appointed to that position by the Supreme Court of the Philippines on June 1, 2009. The Court granted the title of "Chancellor Emeritus" upon Azcuna who served until May 31, 2021. He was succeeded by Arturo Brion who served for 2 years and was replaced by Rosmari Carandang as the fourth Chancellor who took her oath on February 23, 2022.

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16/02/1938

John Corigliano, American composer and academic

John Paul Corigliano is an American composer of contemporary classical music. With over 100 compositions, he has won accolades including a Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, and an Academy Award.

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16/02/1937

Paul Bailey, British novelist, critic, and biographer

Peter Harry "Paul" Bailey was an English novelist and critic, as well as a biographer of Cynthia Payne and Quentin Crisp.

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Valentin Bondarenko, Soviet aviator and cosmonaut (died 1961)

Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko was a Soviet fighter pilot selected in 1960 for training as a cosmonaut. He died as the result of burns sustained in a fire during a 15-day low-pressure endurance experiment in Moscow. The Soviet government concealed the death, along with Bondarenko's membership in the cosmonaut corps, until 1980. A crater on the Moon's far side is named after him.

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Yuri Manin, Russian-German mathematician and academic (died 2023)

Yuri Ivanovich Manin was a Russian mathematician, known for work in algebraic geometry and diophantine geometry, and many expository works ranging from mathematical logic to theoretical physics.

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16/02/1936

Carl Icahn, American businessman and investor

Carl Celian Icahn is an American businessman and investor. He is the founder and controlling shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, a public company and diversified conglomerate holding company based in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. Icahn's business model is to take large stakes in companies that he believes will appreciate from changes to corporate policy; Icahn then pressures management to make the changes that he believes will benefit shareholders, and him. Widely regarded as one of the most successful hedge fund managers of all time and one of the greatest investors on Wall Street, he was one of the first activist shareholders and is credited with making that investment strategy mainstream for hedge funds.

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16/02/1935

Brian Bedford, English-American actor and director (died 2016)

Brian Bedford was an English actor. Known for his work on stage and screen, he was an actor and director in various Shakespearian productions. Bedford was nominated for seven Tony Awards for his theatrical work, winning once.

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Sonny Bono, American actor, singer, and politician (died 1998)

Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and politician. In partnership with his second wife, Cher, he formed the singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republican Party, Bono served as the 16th mayor of Palm Springs, California, from 1988 to 1992, and served as the U.S. representative for California's 44th district from 1995 until his death in 1998.

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Stephen Gaskin, American activist, co-founded The Farm (died 2014)

Stephen Gaskin was an American counterculture Hippie icon best known for his presence in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco in the 1960s and for co-founding "The Farm", a spiritual commune in 1970. He was a Green Party presidential primary candidate in 2000 on a platform which included campaign finance reform, universal health care, and decriminalization of marijuana. He was the author of over a dozen books, a political activist, a philanthropic organizer and a self-proclaimed professional Hippie.

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Bradford Parkinson, American colonel and engineer

Bradford Parkinson is an American engineer and inventor, retired United States Air Force Colonel and Emeritus Professor at Stanford University. He is best known as the lead architect, advocate and developer, with early contributions from Ivan Getting and Roger Easton, of the Air Force NAVSTAR program, better known as Global Positioning System.

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Kenneth Price, American painter and sculptor (died 2012)

Kenneth Price was an American artist who predominantly created ceramic sculpture. He studied at the Chouinard Art Institute and Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, before receiving his BFA degree from the University of Southern California in 1956. He continued his studies at Chouinard Art Institute in 1957 and received an MFA degree from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1959. Kenneth Price studied ceramics with Peter Voulkos at Otis and was awarded a Tamarind Fellowship.

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16/02/1934

Ken Brown, English footballer and manager

Kenneth Brown is an English former football player and manager. As player, he made more than 400 appearances in the Football League representing West Ham United, where he spent the majority of his career, and Torquay United, and was capped once for the England national team. As manager, he took charge of Norwich City, Shrewsbury Town and Plymouth Argyle.

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August Coppola, American author and academic (died 2009)

August Floyd Coppola was an American academic, author, film executive, and member of the Coppola family.

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Marlene Hagge, American golfer (died 2023)

Marlene Hagge was an American professional golfer. She was one of the thirteen founders of the LPGA in 1950. She won one major championship and 26 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

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16/02/1932

Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Sierra Leonean economist, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of Sierra Leone (died 2014)

Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was a Sierra Leonean politician who served as the third President of Sierra Leone from 1996 to 1997 and from 1998 to 2007. An economist and attorney by profession, Kabbah spent many years working for the United Nations Development Programme. He retired from the United Nations and returned to Sierra Leone in 1992.

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Gretchen Wyler, American actress, singer, and dancer (died 2007)

Gretchen Wyler was an American actress and dancer. She was also an animal rights advocate and founder of the Genesis Awards for animal protection.

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16/02/1931

Otis Blackwell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2002)

Otis Blackwell was an American songwriter whose work influenced rock and roll. His compositions include "Fever", "Great Balls of Fire" and "Breathless", "Don't Be Cruel", "All Shook Up", and "Return to Sender", and "Handy Man".

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Bernie Geoffrion, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2006)

Joseph André Bernard Geoffrion, nicknamed "Boom Boom" or "Boum Boum", was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. Generally considered one of the innovators of the slapshot, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1972 following a 16-year career with the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League. In 2017 Geoffrion was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.

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Ken Takakura, Japanese actor and singer (died 2014)

Ken Takakura , born Takeichi Oda , was a Japanese actor and singer who appeared in over 200 films. Affectionately referred to as "Ken-san" by audiences, he was best known for his brooding style and the stoic presence he brought to his roles. He won the Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role four times, tied with Koji Yakusho for the most ever. Takakura additionally received the Japanese Medal of Honor with purple ribbon in 1998, the Person of Cultural Merit award in 2006, and the Order of Culture in 2013.

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16/02/1929

Gerhard Hanappi, Austrian footballer and architect (died 1980)

Gerhard Hanappi was an Austrian football midfielder who is often regarded as one of the greatest Austrian footballers. He is also the father of political economist Hardy Hanappi.

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Peter Porter, Australian-English poet and educator (died 2010)

Peter Neville Frederick Porter OAM was a British-based Australian poet.

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16/02/1927

June Brown, English actress (died 2022)

June Muriel Brown was an English actress and author. She was best known for her role as Dot Cotton on the BBC soap opera EastEnders. In 2005, she won Best Actress at the Inside Soap Awards and received the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2005 British Soap Awards. Brown was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours for services to drama and to charity, and promoted to an OBE in the 2022 New Year Honours. In 2009, she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, making her the second performer to receive a BAFTA nomination for their work in a soap opera, after Jean Alexander. In February 2020, at the age of 93, she announced that she had left EastEnders permanently.

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16/02/1926

Margot Frank, German-Dutch holocaust victim (died 1945)

Margot Betti Frank was the elder daughter of Otto Frank and Edith Frank and the elder sister of Anne Frank. Margot's deportation order from the Gestapo hastened the Frank family into hiding. According to the diary of her younger sister, Anne, Margot kept a diary of her own, but no trace of it has ever been found. She died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp from a typhus outbreak.

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John Schlesinger, English actor and director (died 2003)

John Richard Schlesinger was an English film, television and theatre director, and actor. He emerged in the early 1960s as a leading light of the British New Wave, before embarking on a successful career in Hollywood, often directing films dealing with provocative subject matter, combined with his status as one of the rare openly gay directors working in mainstream films.

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16/02/1925

Ed Emshwiller, American illustrator and experiment film maker (died 1990)

Edmund Alexander Emshwiller was an American visual artist notable for his science fiction illustrations and his pioneering experimental films. He usually signed his illustrations as Emsh but sometimes used Ed Emsh, Ed Emsler, Willer and others.

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16/02/1923

Samuel Willenberg, Polish-Israeli sculptor and painter (died 2016)

Samuel Willenberg, nom de guerre Igo, was a Polish-born Jewish Holocaust survivor, artist, and writer. He was a Sonderkommando at the Treblinka extermination camp and participated in the unit's planned revolt in August 1943. While 300 escaped, about 79 were known to survive the war. Willenberg reached Warsaw where, before war's end, he took part in the Warsaw Uprising. At his death, Willenberg was the last survivor of the August 1943 Treblinka prisoners' revolt.

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16/02/1922

Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, German soldier and pilot (died 1950)

Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer was a German Luftwaffe night-fighter pilot and the highest-scoring night fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. A flying ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during combat. All Schnaufer's 121 victories were claimed during World War II, mostly against British four-engine bombers, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, Germany's highest military decoration at the time, on 16 October 1944. He was nicknamed "The Spook of St. Trond", from the location of his unit's base in occupied Belgium.

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16/02/1921

Jean Behra, French race car driver (died 1959)

Jean Marie Behra was a French racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1952 to 1959.

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John Galbraith Graham, English priest and academic (died 2013)

John Galbraith Graham MBE was a British crossword compiler, best known as Araucaria of The Guardian. He was also, like his father Eric Graham, a Church of England priest.

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Vera-Ellen, German-American actress, singer, and dancer (died 1981)

Vera-Ellen was an American dancer, actress, and singer. She is remembered for her solo performances as well as her work with partners Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye, and Donald O'Connor. She is best known for her starring roles in On the Town (1949) with Kelly and White Christmas (1954) with Kaye.

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16/02/1920

Anna Mae Hays, American general (died 2018)

Anna Mae Violet Hays was an American military officer who served as the 13th chief of the United States Army Nurse Corps. She was the first woman in the United States Armed Forces to be promoted to a general officer rank; in 1970, she was promoted to brigadier general. Hays paved the way for equal treatment of women, countered occupational sexism, and made a number of recommendations which were accepted into military policy.

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16/02/1919

Georges Ulmer, Danish-French actor and composer (died 1989)

Georges Ulmer (1919–1989) was a Danish-born composer, librettist, and actor who became a naturalized French citizen. He was born Jørgen Frederik Ulmer on 16 February 1919 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and died on 29 September 1989 at Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. He was the father of singer Laura Ulmer.

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16/02/1916

Bill Doggett, American pianist and composer (died 1996)

William Ballard Doggett was an American pianist and organist. He began his career playing swing music before transitioning into rhythm and blues. Best known for his instrumental compositions "Honky Tonk" and "Hippy Dippy", Doggett was a pioneer of rock and roll. He worked with the Ink Spots, Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Jordan.

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16/02/1914

Jimmy Wakely, American country music singer-songwriter and actor (died 1982)

James Clarence Wakely was an American actor, songwriter, country music vocalist, and one of the last singing cowboys. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, he released records, appeared in several B-Western movies with most of the major studios, appeared on radio and television and even had his own series of comic books. His duet singles with Margaret Whiting from 1949 until 1951, produced a string of top seven hits, including 1949's number one hit on the US country chart and pop music chart, "Slippin' Around". Wakely owned two music publishing companies in later years, and performed at the Grand Ole Opry until shortly before his death.

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16/02/1909

Hugh Beaumont, American actor and director (died 1982)

Eugene Hugh Beaumont was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Ward Cleaver on the television series Leave It to Beaver, originally broadcast from 1957 to 1963, and as private detective Michael Shayne in a series of low-budget crime films in 1946 and 1947.

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Richard McDonald, American businessman, co-founded McDonald's (died 1998)

Richard James McDonald and Maurice James "Mac" McDonald, known as the McDonald brothers, were American entrepreneurs who founded the fast food company McDonald's.

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16/02/1906

Vera Menchik, Russian-Czechoslovak-British chess player (died 1944)

Vera Francevna Mencikova, was a Russian-born Czechoslovak chess player who primarily resided in England. She was the first and longest-reigning Women's World Chess Champion from 1927 to 1944, winning the championship a record eight times primarily in round-robin tournaments. In an era when women primarily competed against other women, Menchik was the first and only woman competing in master-level tournaments with the world's best players.

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16/02/1905

Henrietta Barnett, English Women's Royal Air Force officer (died 1985)

Air Commandant Dame Mary Henrietta Barnett was a senior officer of the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF). From 1956 to 1960, she served as its director.

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16/02/1904

James Baskett, American actor and singer (died 1948)

James Franklin Baskett was an American actor who portrayed Uncle Remus in the 1946 Disney feature film Song of the South. His performance included singing the song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah". In recognition of his portrayal of Remus, he was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1948.

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George F. Kennan, American historian and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union (died 2005)

George Frost Kennan was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly histories of the relations between the USSR and the United States. He was also one of the group of foreign policy elders known as "The Wise Men".

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16/02/1903

Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist and actor (died 1978)

Edgar John Bergen was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, vaudevillian and radio performer. He was best known for his characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Bergen pioneered modern-day ventriloquism and has been described by puppetry organization UNIMA as the “quintessential ventriloquist of the 20th century”. He was the father of actress Candice Bergen.

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16/02/1902

Cyril Vincent, South African cricketer (died 1968)

Cyril Leverton Vincent was a South African cricketer who played in 25 Test matches from 1927 to 1935. He was later chairman of the South African selectors.

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16/02/1901

Wayne King, American singer-songwriter and conductor (died 1985)

Harold Wayne King was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader with a long association with both NBC and CBS. He was referred to as "the Waltz King" because much of his most popular music involved waltzes; "The Waltz You Saved for Me" was his standard set-closing song in live performance and on numerous radio broadcasts at the height of his career. King's innovations included converting Carrie Jacobs-Bond's "I Love You Truly" from its original 24 time over to 34.

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Chester Morris, American actor (died 1970)

John Chester Brooks Morris was an American stage, film, television, and radio actor. He had some prestigious film roles early in his career, and received an Academy Award nomination for Alibi (1929). Morris is remembered for portraying Boston Blackie, a criminal-turned-detective, in the eponymous film series of the 1940s.

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16/02/1896

Eugénie Blanchard, French super-centenarian (died 2010)

French supercentenarians are citizens, residents or emigrants from France who have attained or surpassed 110 years of age. As of January 2015, the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) had validated the longevity claims of 161 French supercentenarians. France was home to the oldest human being ever whose longevity is well documented, Jeanne Calment, who lived in Arles for her entire life of 122 years and 164 days. The oldest verified Frenchman ever is Georges Thomas (1911–2024), who lived for 112 years and 195 days.

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16/02/1893

Katharine Cornell, American actress and producer (died 1974)

Katharine Cornell was a German-born American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born in Berlin to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.

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16/02/1891

Hans F. K. Günther, German eugenicist and academic (died 1968)

Hans Friedrich Karl Günther, popularly known as Hans F. K. Günther, was a German writer, advocate of scientific racism and eugenicist in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. He was also known as "Rassengünther" or "Rassenpapst". He is considered to have been a major influence on Nazi racialist thought.

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16/02/1887

Kathleen Clifford, American actress (died 1962)

Kathleen Clifford was an American vaudeville and Broadway stage and film actress of the early twentieth century. She was known for her skills as a male impersonator.

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16/02/1884

Robert J. Flaherty, American director and producer (died 1951)

Robert Joseph Flaherty was an American filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature-length documentary film, Nanook of the North (1922). The film made his reputation and nothing in his later life fully equaled its success, although he continued the development of this new genre of narrative documentary with Moana (1926), set in the South Seas, and Man of Aran (1934), filmed in Ireland's Aran Islands. Flaherty is considered the father of both the documentary and the ethnographic film.

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16/02/1878

Pamela Colman Smith, English occultist and illustrator (died 1951)

Pamela Colman Smith, nicknamed "Pixie", was a British artist, illustrator, writer, publisher, and occultist. She is best-known for illustrating the Rider–Waite Tarot for Arthur Edward Waite. This tarot deck became the standard among tarot card readers, and remains the most widely used today. Smith also illustrated over 20 books, wrote two collections of Jamaican folklore, edited two magazines, and ran the Green Sheaf Press, a small press focused on women writers.

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James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss (died 1920)

Vincenzo Colosimo, known as James "Big Jim" Colosimo or as "Diamond Jim", was an Italian-American Mafia crime boss who emigrated from Calabria, Italy, in 1895 and built a criminal empire in Chicago based on prostitution, gambling and racketeering. He gained power through petty crime and heading a chain of brothels. From 1902 until his death in 1920, he led a gang known after his death as the Chicago Outfit. Colosimo was assassinated on May 11, 1920, and no one was ever charged with his murder. Johnny Torrio, an enforcer whom Colosimo imported in 1909 from New York, seized control of Colosimo's businesses after his death. Al Capone, a close associate of Torrio, has been accused of involvement in Colosimo's murder but was not yet in Chicago at the time.

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16/02/1877

Tom Crean, Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer (died 1938)

Thomas Crean was an Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer who was awarded the Albert Medal for Lifesaving (AM).

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16/02/1876

G. M. Trevelyan, English historian and academic (died 1962)

George Macaulay Trevelyan was an English historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to the University of Cambridge and was Regius Professor of History from 1927 to 1943. He served as Master of Trinity College from 1940 to 1951. In retirement, he was Chancellor of Durham University.

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16/02/1873

Radoje Domanović, Serbian journalist and author (died 1908)

Radoje Domanović was a Serbian journalist, writer and teacher, most famous for his satirical short stories. His adult years were a constant fight against tuberculosis. This circumstance of his life, and the affection which he inspired in all who knew him, created an aura of romanticism and sentimentality which stand in contrast to his literary accomplishments as a satirist and a powerful critic of the contemporary Serbian society.

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16/02/1866

Billy Hamilton, American baseball player and manager (died 1940)

William Robert Hamilton, nicknamed "Sliding Billy", was an American professional baseball player in Major League Baseball (MLB) during the 19th century. He played for the Kansas City Cowboys, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Beaneaters between 1888 and 1901.

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16/02/1856

Ossian Everett Mills, American academic, founded Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (died 1920)

Ossian Everett Mills was the founder of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity at the New England Conservatory of Music in 1898.

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16/02/1848

Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist, geneticist, and academic (died 1935)

Hugo Marie de Vries was a Dutch botanist and one of the first geneticists. He is known chiefly for suggesting the concept of genes, rediscovering the laws of heredity in the 1890s while apparently unaware of Gregor Mendel's work, for introducing the term "mutation", and for developing a mutation theory of evolution.

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Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright (died 1917)

Octave Henri Marie Mirbeau was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the literary and artistic avant-garde with highly transgressive novels that explored violence, abuse and psychological detachment. His work has been translated into 30 languages.

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16/02/1845

George Kennan, American journalist and explorer (died 1924)

George Kennan was an American explorer noted for his travels in the Kamchatka and Caucasus regions of the Russian Empire. He was a cousin twice removed of the American diplomat and historian George F. Kennan, whose birthday he shared.

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16/02/1843

Henry M. Leland, American engineer and businessman, founded Cadillac and Lincoln (died 1932)

Henry Martyn Leland was an American machinist, inventor, engineer, and automotive entrepreneur. He founded the two premier American luxury automotive marques, Cadillac and Lincoln.

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16/02/1841

Armand Guillaumin, French painter (died 1927)

Armand Guillaumin was a French Impressionist painter and lithographer.

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16/02/1838

Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author (died 1918)

Henry Brooks Adams was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Francis Adams, Abraham Lincoln's ambassador to the United Kingdom. The posting influenced the younger man through the experience of wartime diplomacy and absorption in English culture, especially the works of John Stuart Mill. After the American Civil War, he became a political journalist who entertained America's foremost intellectuals at his homes in Washington and Boston.

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16/02/1834

Ernst Haeckel, German biologist, physician, and philosopher (died 1919)

Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel was a German zoologist, naturalist, eugenicist, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biologist and artist. He discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms and coined many terms in biology, including ecology, phylum, phylogeny, ontogeny, and Protista. Haeckel promoted and popularised Charles Darwin's work in Germany and developed the disproven but influential recapitulation theory, later generalizing it into the so called "Biogenetic Law". He wrongly claimed that an individual organism's biological development, or ontogeny, parallels and summarizes its species' evolutionary development, or phylogeny, using incorrectly drawn images of human embryonic development to derive the law. Whether they were intentionally falsified, or drawn poorly by accident is a matter of debate.

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16/02/1831

Nikolai Leskov, Russian author, playwright, and journalist (died 1895)

Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was a Russian novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and journalist, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. Praised for his unique writing style and innovative experiments in form, and held in high esteem by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky among others, Leskov is credited with creating a comprehensive picture of contemporary Russian society using mostly short literary forms. His major works include Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1865), which was later made into an opera by Shostakovich); The Cathedral Folk (1872); The Enchanted Wanderer (1873); and "The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea" (1881).

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16/02/1830

Lars Hertervig, Norwegian painter (died 1902)

Lars Hertervig was a Norwegian painter. His semi-fantastical work with motives from the coastal landscape in the traditional district of Ryfylke is regarded as one of the peaks of Norwegian painting.

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16/02/1826

Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet and author (died 1886)

Joseph Victor von Scheffel was a German poet and novelist. His novel Ekkehard (1855) became one of the most popular German novels in the 19th century.

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16/02/1824

Peter Kosler, Slovenian lawyer, geographer, and cartographer (died 1879)

Peter Kosler or Kozler was an Austrian-Slovene lawyer, geographer, cartographer, activist, and businessman. He was of Gottscheer origin, but also identified with Slovene culture and advocated for the peaceful coexistence of the Slovene and Germanic cultures in Carniola.

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16/02/1822

Francis Galton, English biologist and statistician (died 1911)

Sir Francis Galton was an English polymath and the originator of eugenics during the Victorian era; his ideas later became the basis of behavioural genetics.

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16/02/1821

Heinrich Barth, German explorer and scholar (died 1865)

Johann Heinrich Barth was a German explorer of Africa and scholar.

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16/02/1812

Henry Wilson, American colonel and politician, 18th Vice President of the United States (died 1875)

Henry Wilson was the 18th vice president of the United States, serving from 1873 until his death in 1875, and a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to 1873. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading Republican, and a strong opponent of slavery. Wilson devoted his energies to the destruction of "Slave Power", the faction of slave owners and their political allies which anti-slavery Americans saw as dominating the country.

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16/02/1804

Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist and zoologist (died 1885)

Prof Karl (Carl) Theodor Ernst von Siebold FRS(For) HFRSE was a German physiologist and zoologist. He was responsible for the introduction of the taxa Arthropoda and Rhizopoda, and for defining the taxon Protozoa specifically for single-celled organisms.

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16/02/1802

Phineas Quimby, American mystic and philosopher (died 1866)

Phineas Parkhurst Quimby was an American folk healer, mentalist and mesmerist. His work is widely recognized as foundational to the New Thought spiritual movement.

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16/02/1786

Maria Pavlovna, Russian Grand Duchess (died 1859)

Maria Pavlovna was a grand duchess of Russia as the daughter of Paul I, Emperor of all the Russias and Empress Maria Feodorovna and later became the Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach by her marriage to Charles Frederick of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1783–1853).

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16/02/1774

Pierre Rode, French violinist and composer (died 1830)

Jacques Pierre Joseph Rode was a French violinist and composer.

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16/02/1761

Jean-Charles Pichegru, French general (died 1804)

Divisional-General Jean-Charles Pichegru was a French Army officer who served in the French Revolutionary Wars. Under his command, French troops overran the Austrian Netherlands and Dutch Republic in the Flanders campaign before fighting on the Rhine front. Pichegru's Royalist views subsequently led to his fall from grace and imprisonment in Cayenne following the Coup of 18 Fructidor in 1797. After escaping into exile in London and joining the staff of Alexander Korsakov, he returned to France and planned the Pichegru Conspiracy to remove Napoleon from power, which led to his arrest and suicide. Despite Pichegru's defection, his surname is one of the names inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe.

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16/02/1740

Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (died 1813)

Giambattista Bodoni was an Italian typographer, type-designer, compositor, printer, and publisher in Parma.

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16/02/1727

Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian botanist, chemist, and mycologist (died 1817)

Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. He travelled to the West Indies as part of an Austrian expedition and collected a large number of botanical specimens and described many species. He served as the first professor of chemistry in the mining academy at Schemnitz in Austria and later worked at the University of Vienna. He was the father of the botanist Joseph Franz von Jacquin.

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16/02/1698

Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (died 1758)

Pierre Bouguer was a French mathematician, geophysicist, geodesist, and astronomer. He is also known as "the father of naval architecture".

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16/02/1643

John Sharp, English archbishop (died 1714)

John Sharp was an English divine who served as Archbishop of York.

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16/02/1620

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (died 1688)

Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as "the Great Elector" because of his military and political achievements. Frederick William was a staunch pillar of the Calvinist faith, associated with the rising commercial class. He saw the importance of trade and promoted it vigorously. His shrewd domestic reforms gave Prussia a strong position in the post-Westphalian political order of Northern-Central Europe, setting up Prussia for elevation from duchy to kingdom, achieved under his son and successor.

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16/02/1543

Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter and educator (died 1590)

Kanō Eitoku was a Japanese painter who lived during the Azuchi–Momoyama period of Japanese history and one of the most prominent patriarchs of the Kanō school of Japanese painting.

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16/02/1519

Gaspard II de Coligny, French admiral (died 1572)

Gaspard de Coligny, seigneur de Châtillon, was a French nobleman, Admiral of France, and Huguenot leader during the French Wars of Religion. He served under kings Francis I and Henry II during the Italian Wars, attaining great prominence both due to his military skill and his relationship with his uncle, the king's favourite Anne de Montmorency. During the reign of Francis II he converted to Protestantism, becoming a leading noble advocate for the Reformation during the early reign of Charles IX.

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16/02/1514

Georg Joachim Rheticus, Austrian cartographer and instrument maker (died 1574)

Georg Joachim de Porris, also known as Rheticus, was a mathematician, astronomer, cartographer, navigational-instrument maker, medical practitioner, and teacher. He is perhaps best known for his trigonometric tables and as Nicolaus Copernicus's sole pupil. He facilitated the publication of his master's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium.

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16/02/1497

Philip Melanchthon, German astronomer, theologian, and academic (died 1560)

Philipp Melanchthon was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, an intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and influential designer of educational systems. Along with Luther and John Calvin, he played a major role in shaping Protestantism.

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16/02/1471

Krishnadevaraya, emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire (died 1529)

Krishnadevaraya was emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1509 to 1529 and the third ruler of the Tuluva dynasty. Widely regarded as one of the greatest rulers in Indian history, he presided over the empire at its political and cultural zenith and is remembered as an iconic figure by many Indians. Following the decline of the Delhi Sultanate, he ruled the largest and most powerful empire in India during his time.

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16/02/1470

Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (died 1540)

Eric I, the Elder was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1495 and the first reigning prince of Calenberg-Göttingen.

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16/02/1419

John I, Duke of Cleves (died 1481)

John I, Duke of Cleves, Count of Mark. Jean de Belliqueux (warlike), was Duke of Cleves and Count of Mark.

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16/02/1331

Coluccio Salutati, Italian political leader (died 1406)

Coluccio Salutati was an Italian Renaissance humanist and notary, and one of the most important political and cultural leaders of Renaissance Florence; as chancellor of the Florentine Republic and its most prominent voice, he was effectively the permanent secretary of state in the generation before the rise of the powerful Medici family.

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16/02/1304

Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür, Chinese emperor (died 1332)

Jayaatu Khan, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Wenzong of Yuan, was an emperor of the Yuan dynasty. Apart from Emperor of China, he is regarded as the 12th Khagan of the Mongol Empire, although it was only nominal due to the division of the empire.

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16/02/1222

Nichiren, founder of Nichiren Buddhism (died 1282)

Nichiren was a Japanese Buddhist monk and philosopher of the Kamakura period. His teachings form the basis of Nichiren Buddhism, a unique branch of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism based on the Lotus Sutra.

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