Monday, 12th January 2026 in Lisbon

On this day, 250 notable people were born on 12th January — spanning from 1483 to 2012. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

12/01/2012

Artem Kotenko, Ukrainian singer

Artem Vitaliyovych Kotenko is a Ukrainian child singer. He represented Ukraine in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with the song "Hear Me Now", finishing 3rd overall with 203 points.

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12/01/2005

Yuika, Japanese singer-songwriter

Yuika is a Japanese singer-songwriter. Originally from Nara Prefecture, she begun uploading cover of songs from various artists like Mrs. Green Apple on TikTok. She became popular on TikTok after she released her debut single, "Sukidakara" in June 2021 during her first year in high school.

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12/01/2002

Eva Lys, German tennis player

Eva Lys is a Ukrainian-born German professional tennis player. Lys reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 39 on 5 January 2026. She has won 3 ITF singles titles.

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12/01/2001

Sam LaPorta, American football player

Samuel Joseph LaPorta is an American professional football tight end for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes and was named the Big Ten Tight End of the Year in 2022. He was selected by the Lions in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft. As a rookie, LaPorta was named a second-team All-Pro and voted to the Pro Bowl. He also broke the NFL record for receptions by a rookie tight end, along with setting Detroit franchise records for receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns by a tight end.

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12/01/2000

Sven Botman, Dutch footballer

Sven Adriaan Botman is a Dutch professional footballer who plays primarily as a centre-back for Premier League club Newcastle United. He has represented the Netherlands at youth levels under-15 through under-21.

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12/01/1999

Xavier Tillman, American basketball player

Xavier Justis Tillman Sr. is an American professional basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans. Tillman was selected with the 35 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings, but was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies on draft night. After nearly four seasons with the Grizzlies, Tillman was traded to the Boston Celtics in 2024 and won his first NBA Championship with the team that year in a 4-1 series against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals.

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Tyler Roberts, Welsh footballer

Tyler D'Whyte Roberts is a professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for EFL League One club Mansfield Town and the Wales national team.

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12/01/1998

Juan Foyth, Argentinian footballer

Juan Marcos Foyth is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as centre-back or right-back for La Liga club Villarreal and the Argentina national team.

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12/01/1997

Darius Slayton, American football player

Darius Slayton is an American professional football wide receiver for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Auburn Tigers and was selected by the Giants in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL draft.

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12/01/1996

Ella Henderson, English singer and songwriter

Gabriella Michelle Henderson, known professionally as Ella Henderson, is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence after competing in the ninth series of The X Factor UK in 2012 finishing in sixth place. She signed with Syco Music shortly after, and released her debut studio album, Chapter One (2014), which reached number one in the UK. The album spawned the chart-topping single "Ghost", as well as the top 20 singles "Glow" and "Yours". She went on a four-year hiatus in 2015, and released her second studio album, Everything I Didn't Say, in 2022. It became her second top 10 album in the UK.

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12/01/1995

Allisha Gray, American basketball player

Allisha Gray is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for the Mist of Unrivaled. She won a gold medal in women's 3x3 basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

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Mike McGlinchey, American football player

Michael Sean McGlinchey is an American professional football offensive tackle for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

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12/01/1994

Emre Can, German footballer

Emre Can is a German professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or centre-back for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, which he captains, and the Germany national team.

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12/01/1993

Jamel Artis, American basketball player

Jamel Gurley Artis is an American professional basketball player for Al Wahda. A native of Baltimore, he played college basketball for University of Pittsburgh.

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D.O., South Korean singer

Doh Kyung-soo, also known as D.O. (디오), is a South Korean singer and actor. He is a member of the South Korean boy band Exo. He debuted as a soloist on July 26, 2021, with his first extended play (EP) Empathy. He has since released two more EPs, Expectation (2023) and Blossom (2024), as well as a studio album, Bliss (2025).

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Zayn Malik, English singer

Zain Javadd Malik, known professionally as Zayn Malik or simply Zayn, is an English singer. He auditioned as a solo contestant for the British music competition television series The X Factor in 2010, where he ended up being a part of five-piece boy band One Direction, which went on to become one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. He left the group in March 2015 and signed a solo recording contract with RCA Records.

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Simone Pecorini, Italian footballer

Simone Pecorini is an Italian footballer who plays for Serie D club Sant'Angelo.

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12/01/1992

Ishak Belfodil, Algerian footballer

Ishak Lazreg Cherif Belfodil is an Algerian professional footballer who plays as a striker.

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Samuele Longo, Italian footballer

Samuele Longo is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Spanish Segunda Federación club Xerez Deportivo.

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12/01/1991

Pixie Lott, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress

Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her debut studio album, Turn It Up (2009), reached number six on the UK Albums Chart and sold over 1.5 million copies. It also spawned six consecutive top twenty singles on the UK singles chart, including two number-one singles, "Mama Do " and "Boys and Girls".

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Raquel Rodriguez, American wrestler

Victoria González is an American professional wrestler. She has been signed to WWE since October 2016, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Raquel Rodriguez. She is a member of The Judgment Day stable. She is a record setting six-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion, a one-time NXT Women's Champion and a record-tying two-time and inaugural NXT Women's Tag Team Champion.

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Matt Srama, Australian rugby league player

Matthew "Matt" Srama is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League. A Philippines international representative, he played at hooker. Srama was educated at Forest Lake State High School.

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Alex Wood, American baseball player

Robert Alexander Wood is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, and Oakland Athletics.

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12/01/1989

Thiemo-Jérôme Kialka, German footballer

Thiemo-Jérôme Kialka is a German former professional footballer who played as a forward. He made his professional debut with Jahn Regensburg on 31 January 2012 in a 3. Liga match against VfB Stuttgart II.

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Axel Witsel, Belgian footballer

Axel Laurent Angel Lambert Witsel is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or centre-back for Segunda División club Girona and the Belgium national team.

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12/01/1988

Claude Giroux, Canadian ice hockey player

Claude Giroux is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a forward and alternate captain for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Philadelphia Flyers and the Florida Panthers. Selected by the Flyers 22nd overall in the 2006 NHL entry draft, Giroux was named the Flyers' team captain in 2013, and became the longest-tenured captain in team history. Giroux played his 1,000th game with the Flyers on March 17, 2022. Giroux has been known to be a very flexible offensive player; capable of playing comfortably on both center and wing throughout his career.

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Hyun-soo Kim, South Korean baseball player

Hyun-soo Kim is a South Korean professional baseball outfielder for the KT Wiz of the KBO League. He has previously played in the KBO League for the LG Twins and Doosan Bears, and in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies.

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12/01/1987

Iván Nova, Dominican baseball player

Iván Manuel Nova Guance is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, and Detroit Tigers. He also played in the KBO League for the SSG Landers.

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Naya Rivera, American actress and singer (died 2020)

Naya Marie Rivera was an American actress, singer, and model recognized for her work on the popular musical comedy-drama series Glee. She began her career as a child actress and model, first appearing in national television commercials. At the age of four, she landed the role of Hillary Winston on the short-lived CBS sitcom The Royal Family (1991–1992), earning a nomination for a Young Artist Award at age five. After a series of recurring television roles and then guest spots as a teenager, she got her breakthrough role in 2009 as Santana Lopez on the Fox television series Glee. For the role, she received critical acclaim and various awards, including a SAG Award and ALMA Award, as well as earning nominations with the rest of the cast for a Grammy Award and a Brit Award.

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Salvatore Sirigu, Italian footballer

Salvatore Sirigu is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper.

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12/01/1986

Kehoma Brenner, German rugby player

Kehoma Brenner is a German international rugby union player, playing for the Heidelberger RK in the Rugby-Bundesliga and the German national rugby union team.

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Miguel Ángel Nieto, Spanish footballer

Miguel Ángel Nieto de la Calle is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a right winger.

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Dani Osvaldo, Italian-Argentinian footballer

Pablo Daniel "Dani" Osvaldo is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born and raised in Argentina, Osvaldo represented the Italy national team internationally.

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12/01/1985

Cynthia Addai-Robinson, English-American actress

Cynthia Addai-Robinson is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Naevia in the Starz television series Spartacus, DC Comics character Amanda Waller in The CW TV series Arrow, and Nadine Memphis on the USA Network series Shooter. She currently plays the role of Tar-Míriel on the Amazon Prime The Lord of the Rings series The Rings of Power.

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Artem Milevskyi, Ukrainian footballer

Artem Volodymyrovych Milevskyi is a Ukrainian former professional footballer who played as a second striker.

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Issa Rae, American actress, writer, director, producer and web series creator

Jo-Issa Rae Diop, known professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, and producer. She achieved recognition as the co-creator, co-writer, and star of the HBO comedy series Insecure (2016–2021), for which she was nominated for multiple Golden Globes Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards.

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Borja Valero, Spanish footballer

Borja Valero Iglesias is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

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12/01/1984

Jonathan Zydko, French footballer

Jonathan Zydko is a French former footballer. During his career, he played for FC Metz, VfR Aalen, 1. FC Saarbrücken, UN Käerjéng 97, Jeunesse Esch and Mondercange.

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12/01/1982

Paul-Henri Mathieu, French tennis player

Paul-Henri Mathieu is a French former professional tennis player. He won four singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best singles performance in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament was reaching the semifinals of the 2005 Canadian Open. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 12 in April 2008.

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Chris Ray, American baseball player

Christopher Thomas Ray is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants, and Seattle Mariners.

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Hans Van Alphen, Belgian decathlete

Hans Van Alphen is a Belgian decathlete.

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Dean Whitehead, English footballer

Dean Whitehead is an English football coach and former professional footballer. A midfielder who occasionally played as a right-back, he made 622 league and cup appearances in a 19-year playing career, scoring 29 goals.

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Dontrelle Willis, American baseball player

Dontrelle Wayne Willis, nicknamed "the D-Train", is an American former professional baseball pitcher. A left-hander, he played in Major League Baseball for the Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Cincinnati Reds. Willis was notable for his success during his first few years in the major leagues and for his unconventional pitching style, which included a high leg kick and exaggerated twisting away from the batter. He was named the 2003 National League Rookie of the Year and won the World Series in the same year.

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12/01/1981

Niklas Kronwall, Swedish ice hockey player

Hans Niklas Kronwall is a Swedish former professional ice hockey defenceman, who currently serves as an advisor to the general manager of the Detroit Red Wings. He previously played for the Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is one of the 30 members in the Triple Gold Club. Kronwall started his career in Järfälla HC in Sweden, and has played internationally for Sweden. In the NHL, Kronwall gained notoriety for being an open ice hitter, and the phrase "being Kronwalled" was coined to describe his signature back-pedaling hits. In 2008, he won the Stanley Cup with the Red Wings. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2026.

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Angus Macdonald, New Zealand rugby player

Angus James Macdonald is a retired New Zealand rugby union footballer. Macdonald has played for Auckland, the Blues, Toyota Verblitz, Coca-Cola Redsparks, Glasgow Warriors, New Zealand Maori and the All Blacks in a career that began in 2001. Angus Macdonald is known for his versatility, as he has played in various positions in the forwards including Lock, Flanker and Number 8. It was this ability to play multiple positions capably that led to his selection in the 2005 Northern Hemisphere tour, he joined Chris Masoe, Neemia Tialata Isaia Toeava as All Black coach Graham Henry looked to strengthen depth by breaking in players that could take up many positions. Macdonald was part of the champion Blues Super 14 campaign in 2003 and has captained his province; at the young age of 24.

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João Paulo, Brazilian footballer

João Paulo Daniel is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward.

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Luis Ernesto Pérez, Mexican footballer and manager

Luis Ernesto Pérez Gómez is a Mexican former professional footballer and current manager.

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12/01/1980

Amerie, American singer-songwriter, producer, and writer

Amerie Mi Marie Rogers Nicholson is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and writer. She has released four studio albums to date: All I Have (2002), Touch (2005), Because I Love It (2007), In Love & War (2009). She is best known for her 2005 single "1 Thing".

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Bobby Crosby, American baseball player

Robert Edward Crosby is an American former professional baseball infielder and current third base coach for the Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for the Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Arizona Diamondbacks. The son of former major league infielder Ed Crosby, he batted and threw right-handed. He was Rookie of the Year in 2004.

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12/01/1979

Lee Bo-young, South Korean actress and model

Lee Bo-young is a South Korean actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She is best known for starring in the television dramas Seoyoung, My Daughter (2012–2013), I Can Hear Your Voice (2013), Whisper (2017), Mother (2018), Mine (2021), and Agency (2023). Lee was Gallup Korea's Television Actor of the Year in 2013.

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Marián Hossa, Slovak ice hockey player

Marián Hossa is a Slovak former professional ice hockey right winger. Hossa was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the first round, 12th overall, of the 1997 NHL entry draft. After spending his first seven NHL seasons with the Senators, he played for the Atlanta Thrashers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, and Chicago Blackhawks. Over the course of his career, he made five NHL All-Star Game appearances and played in three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals with three different teams, finally winning the Stanley Cup in 2009–10 with Chicago. He won two additional Stanley Cup championships with Chicago during the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons.

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Grzegorz Rasiak, Polish footballer

Grzegorz Rasiak is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a striker.

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David Zabriskie, American cyclist

David Zabriskie is a retired professional road bicycle racer from the United States, who competed as a professional between 1999 and 2013. His main strength is individual time trials and his career highlights include stage wins in all three Grand Tour stage races and winning the US National Time Trial Championship seven times. Zabriskie is known for his quirky nature, including singing before stages and the interviews he does with fellow riders in the professional peloton which are posted on his web site.

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12/01/1978

Luis Ayala, Mexican baseball player

Luis Ignacio Ayala Hernández is a Mexican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, and Atlanta Braves. He is 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) and weighs 190 pounds (86 kg). He bats and throws right-handed.

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Jeremy Camp, American singer-songwriter and musician

Jeremy Thomas Camp is an American contemporary Christian singer and songwriter from Lafayette, Indiana. He has released eleven albums, four of them RIAA-certified as Gold, and two live albums. Camp's original music is a mixture of ballads and up-tempo songs with rock influence. He has won five GMA Dove Awards, has been nominated for three American Music Awards, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album in 2010 for his album, Speaking Louder Than Before. I Still Believe, a film based on Camp's first marriage, was released in 2020, with Camp being played by New Zealand actor KJ Apa.

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Maurizio Zaffiri, Italian rugby player

Maurizio Zaffiri is an Italian rugby union flanker. He started playing with L'Aquila Rugby. He later moved to Gran Parma Rugby and then to Rugby Calvisano. He currently plays for L'Aquila Rugby. Zaffiri has been capped for the Italian national team, making his debut in 2000 against Fiji. He has 14 caps for his country.

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12/01/1977

Yoandy Garlobo, Cuban baseball player (died 2023)

Yoandy Garlobo Romay was a Cuban baseball player who starred for the national team at the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Garlobo was the designated hitter for Cuba at the tournament, where he had a .480 batting average—second only to Ken Griffey Jr. among players with at least 20 plate appearances—and was named to the all-tournament team.

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12/01/1975

Jason Freese, American saxophonist, songwriter, and producer

Jason Jeremy Freese is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist. Since 2004, he has been the touring keyboard and saxophone player for the punk rock band Green Day. Freese has performed on over 50 albums, mainly on saxophones and keyboards, including for artists Green Day, Dr. Dre, Pitbull, Weezer, Avenged Sevenfold, Goo Goo Dolls, and Jewel.

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Jocelyn Thibault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Joseph Régis Jocelyn Thibault is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres. Thibault was born in Montreal, Quebec, and grew up in nearby Laval.

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12/01/1974

Melanie C, English singer-songwriter and actress

Melanie Jayne Chisholm, commonly known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sporty Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the Spice Girls are the best-selling female group of all time. The group went on an indefinite hiatus in 2000, before reuniting for a greatest hits album (2007) and two concert tours: the Return of the Spice Girls (2007–2008) and Spice World (2019). She is known for her unique and distinctive tone and her vocal ability.

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Tor Arne Hetland, Norwegian skier

Tor Arne Hetland is a Norwegian cross-country skiing coach and a former professional cross-country skier.

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12/01/1973

Brian Culbertson, American pianist and producer

Brian Culbertson is an American smooth jazz/R&B/funk musician and producer. His instruments include the synthesizer, piano and trombone.

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Hande Yener, Turkish singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Makbule Hande Özyener, known professionally as Hande Yener, is a Turkish singer and songwriter. She made her debut in the early 2000s, and since then has become a prominent figure of Turkish pop music with numerous songs that topped the music charts. Alongside her music career, she is also known for her choice of clothes and has renewed her image multiple times over the years. She has occasionally made changes in her music style as well; for a while, she started making electronic music, but this period was short-lived and she again returned to performing pop music. During her career, both her professional and personal life have been among the favorite subjects of columnists, and her rivalry and on and off feud with Demet Akalın were covered in the tabloids from time to time.

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12/01/1972

Priyanka Gandhi, Indian politician

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is an Indian politician who is serving as the member of the Lok Sabha for Wayanad, Kerala, since November 2024. A member of the Indian National Congress, she is also serving as a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).

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Zabryna Guevara, American actress

Zabryna Guevara is an American actress. She is known for playing the role of Melania Ortiz in 3 lbs and Sarah Essen in Gotham. Guevara is also a theatrical actress and in 2013 held the role of Yazmin in the award-winning Quiara Alegría Hudes play Water by the Spoonful at Second Stage Theater. She is of mixed Hispanic and Black descent.

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Espen Knutsen, Norwegian ice hockey player and coach

Espen Knutsen is a Norwegian former professional ice hockey player and manager. He played five seasons in the North American-based National Hockey League (NHL), and is to date the only Norwegian to have played in the NHL All-Star Game. In his native Norway, Knutsen is also known by the nickname "Shampoo" because his father is a hairdresser, and also a former hockey player whose nickname was "The Soap".

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Paul Wilson, Australian cricketer and umpire

Paul Wilson is an Australian cricket umpire and former cricketer who played one Test match and 11 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for the Australian national cricket team, as well as domestically represented South Australia and Western Australia.

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Toto Wolff, Austrian investor

Torger Christian "Toto" Wolff is an Austrian motorsport executive, investor and former racing driver. Since 2013, Wolff has served as team principal, CEO and co-owner of Mercedes in Formula One, winning eight consecutive World Constructors' Championship titles from 2014 to 2021; he also served as director and CEO of Mercedes-EQ in Formula E, winning two Formula E World Teams' Championship titles.

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12/01/1971

Arman Alizad, Iranian-Finnish tailor and television presenter

Arman Alizad is an Iranian-Finnish master tailor, fashion columnist, keynote speaker and TV personality. He is best known for the martial arts series Kill Arman, which has aired in over 100 countries around the world. Alizad has also hosted several other Finnish TV series, such as Dresscode, Unisex, Loman Tarpeessa and Arman Reilaa.

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Scott Burrell, American basketball player and coach

Scott David Burrell is an American basketball coach and former player who is currently the men's basketball head coach at Southern Connecticut State University. He has played internationally and was also a professional baseball player, being the first athlete to ever be drafted in the 1st round of two professional leagues . In 1990, Burrell was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays of MLB. He played in Minor League Baseball during the 1990 and 1991 seasons. After ending his baseball career, he was drafted in 1993 by the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA. He was later traded to the Golden State Warriors and then the Chicago Bulls, where he won a championship ring. He next played with the New Jersey Nets and then finished his NBA career with the Hornets in 2000–01. He played in other professional basketball leagues through the 2005–06 season.

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Peter Madsen, Danish engineer, entrepreneur, and convicted murderer

Peter Langkjær Madsen is a Danish convicted murderer and former entrepreneur. In April 2018, he was convicted of the August 2017 murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall on board his submarine, UC3 Nautilus, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

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12/01/1970

Zack de la Rocha, American singer-songwriter

Zacharias Manuel de la Rocha is an American musician, rapper, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Rage Against the Machine. Through both Rage Against the Machine and his activism, de la Rocha promotes left-wing politics in opposition to corporate America, the military–industrial complex, and government oppression.

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Raekwon, American rapper

Corey Woods, better known by his stage name Raekwon, is an American rapper. He rose to prominence as a founding member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, which achieved mainstream success following the release of their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang , in 1993. Raekwon would subsequently pursue a solo career, releasing his first solo album, entitled Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., in 1995. The album received critical acclaim, and is regarded by many critics as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, as well as a staple of 1990s rap.

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12/01/1969

David Mitchell, English novelist

David Stephen Mitchell is an English novelist and screenwriter, who has also translated two children's books.

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Margaret Nagle, American screenwriter and producer

Margaret Nagle is a screenwriter, producer, and activist. She has been nominated for three Emmy Awards and won three Writers Guild of America Awards.

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12/01/1968

Farrah Forke, American actress (died 2022)

Farrah Rachael Forke was an American actress best known for her roles as Alex Lambert on the NBC sitcom Wings and Mayson Drake on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. She also voiced the character Big Barda on the animated television series Batman Beyond and Justice League Unlimited, starred as Carey on the short-lived cult sitcom Dweebs, Nikki Harkin on Mr. Rhodes, Carol Ashby in the pilot episode of the 90's remake of Fantasy Island, and appeared in several made-for-TV movies such as Nurses on the Line (1993), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1993), Bionic Ever After? (1994), and theatrical movies like Disclosure (1994) and Heat (1995).

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Rachael Harris, American actress and comedian

Rachael Harris is an American actress and comedian. The accolades she has received include nominations for an Independent Spirit Award and a Saturn Award.

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Junichi Masuda, Japanese director, producer, and composer

Junichi Masuda is a Japanese video game composer, director, designer, producer, singer, programmer and trombonist, best known for his work in the Pokémon franchise. He was a member of Game Freak where he was an employee and executive at the company since 1989 after Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori founded it, starting as a music composer. In 2022, Masuda was appointed to be Chief Creative Fellow at The Pokémon Company.

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Heather Mills, English businesswoman, activist and model

Heather Anne Mills is an English former model, businesswoman and animal rights activist. She came to public attention in 1993 when she was a model and was run over by a police motorcycle in London. The accident resulted in the amputation of her left leg below the knee, but she continued to model using a prosthetic limb. She began a relationship with Paul McCartney in 2000. They married in June 2002 and Mills gave birth to a daughter the following year. They separated in 2006, and finalised their divorce in 2008.

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Mauro Silva, Brazilian footballer

Mauro da Silva Gomes, known as Mauro Silva, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

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12/01/1967

Vendela Kirsebom, Norwegian-Swedish model and actress

Vendela Maria Kirsebom is a Norwegian-Swedish model, television host, and actress.

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12/01/1966

Olivier Martinez, French actor

Olivier Martinez is a French actor. He became well known after roles in several French films such as Un, deux, trois, soleil (1993), which garnered him the César Award for "Most Promising Actor", The Horseman on the Roof (1995), and The Chambermaid on the Titanic (1997). He has also appeared in Hollywood-produced features, including the drama Before Night Falls (2000) and the erotic thriller Unfaithful (2002), and playing the role of a French drug lord in the action-crime-thriller S.W.A.T. (2003).

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Craig Parry, Australian golfer

Craig David Parry is an Australian professional golfer. He has been one of Australia's premier golfers since turning professional in 1985, and has 23 career victories, two of those wins being events on the PGA Tour; the 2002 WGC-NEC Invitational and the 2004 Ford Championship at Doral.

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12/01/1965

Nikolai Borschevsky, Russian ice hockey player

Nikolai Konstantinovich Borschevsky is a Russian former professional ice hockey player and the current head coach of the Atlant Moscow Oblast of the KHL. Nicknamed "Stick" due to his diminutive frame, he was a star in the Soviet Union and went on to play in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars. Despite a successful NHL debut in 1992–93, he never achieved the same level of success in North America, with injuries limiting his effectiveness. He retired in 1998 after a second stint with Spartak Moscow.

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Rob Zombie, American singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and director

Robert Bartleh Cummings, known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have been praised for their elaborate shock rock theatricality. He has sold an estimated 15 million albums worldwide. He rose to fame as a founding member and the frontman of heavy metal band White Zombie, with whom he released four studio albums and one techno remix album.

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12/01/1964

Jeff Bezos, American computer scientist and businessman

Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American businessman, and the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing company. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes, he was the world's wealthiest person from 2017 to 2021, and in 2026 his net worth was approximately US$284 billion.

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12/01/1963

François Girard, Canadian director and screenwriter

François Girard is a French Canadian director and screenwriter from Montreal. Born in Saint-Félicien, Quebec, Girard's career began on the Montreal art video circuit. In 1990, he produced his first feature film, Cargo; he attained international recognition following his 1993 Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, a series of vignettes about the life of piano prodigy Glenn Gould. In 1998, he co-wrote and directed The Red Violin, which follows the ownership of a red violin over several centuries. The Red Violin won an Academy Award for Best Original Score, thirteen Genie Awards and nine Jutra Awards.

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Nando Reis, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Nando Reis is a Brazilian musician and producer, best known as the former bassist and one of the lead singers of Brazilian rock band Titãs and for his successful solo career, with his own band called Nando Reis & Os Infernais. He has also produced a few albums, including some related to Cássia Eller, who has made several significant partnerships with him, and Marisa Monte. In 2012, Nando Reis was listed among the top ten Brazilian artists at the ECAD list of artists who earned the most from copyright in the first semester of that year. In 2016, he was at the 15th position, besides being 6th in the ranking of earnings from live performances and topped the ranking of earnings from music played in public places.

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12/01/1962

Joe Quesada, American author and illustrator

Joseph Quesada is an American comic book artist, writer, editor, and television producer. He became known in the 1990s for his work on various Valiant Comics books, such as Ninjak and Solar, Man of the Atom. He also worked on numerous books for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, such as Batman: Sword of Azrael and X-Factor, before forming his own company, Event Comics, where he published his creator-owned character, Ash.

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Richie Richardson, Antiguan cricketer

Sir Richard Benjamin Richardson, KCN GCM is a former Antiguan international cricketer and a former captain of the West Indies cricket team. He was a flamboyant batsman and superb player of fast bowling. He was named, in 1992, one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year. Richardson was famous for his wide-brimmed maroon hat which he wore against even the fastest bowlers, though in his later career, he started wearing a helmet instead.

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Luna Vachon, American-Canadian wrestler and manager (died 2010)

Gertrude Elizabeth Vachon was an American-Canadian professional wrestler, better known as Luna Vachon. Over her 22-year career, she wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, the American Wrestling Association, and World Championship Wrestling. She was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, and Women's Wrestling Hall of Fame.

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12/01/1961

Simon Russell Beale, Malaysia-born English actor and historian

Sir Simon Russell Beale is an English actor. Once described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation", he has received various accolades, including a Tony Award, three Laurence Olivier Awards, and two British Academy Television Awards. For his services to drama, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.

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12/01/1960

Oliver Platt, Canadian-American actor

Oliver Platt is an American actor known for his work on stage and screen. He has been nominated for five Primetime Emmys, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and one Tony Award.

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Dominique Wilkins, French-American basketball player

Jacques Dominique Wilkins is an American former professional basketball player who primarily played for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Wilkins is a nine-time NBA All-Star, a seven-time All-NBA Team member and is widely viewed as one of the most acrobatic slam dunkers in NBA history, earning the nickname "the Human Highlight Film". In October 2021, he was honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. Wilkins is the leader in most years with the Hawks, 12 seasons, the most games played in Hawks franchise history, with 882, the most minutes played with 32,545, the most career points with 23,292, and the most points per game, with 26.4 points per game.

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12/01/1959

B. Brian Blair, American wrestler and politician

Brian Leslie Blair is an American former professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name B. Brian Blair as one half of the tag team The Killer Bees in the 1980s.

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Per Gessle, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Per Håkan Gessle is a Swedish singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the male half and primary songwriter of the pop rock duo Roxette, which he formed with Marie Fredriksson in 1986 and which was disbanded after her death in 2019. The duo achieved international success in the late 1980s and early 1990s with their albums Look Sharp! (1988) and Joyride (1991), and topped the charts in the US four times, most notably with "It Must Have Been Love" which was featured in the film Pretty Woman. Prior to the formation of Roxette, he had a successful career in his native Sweden as the frontman for Gyllene Tider. The band released three number-one albums during the early 1980s but disbanded shortly after their fourth album, The Heartland Café (1984).

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Sergey Ivanenko, Russian economist and politician (died 2024)

Sergey Viktorovich Ivanenko was a Russian economist and politician. A member of Yabloko, he served in the State Duma from 1993 to 2003.

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12/01/1958

Christiane Amanpour, English-Iranian journalist

Christiane Maria Heideh Amanpour is a British-Iranian journalist and television host. Amanpour is the Chief International Anchor for CNN and host of CNN International's nightly interview program Amanpour, CNN's The Amanpour Hour on Saturdays and Amanpour & Company on PBS. She also hosts Christiane Amanpour Presents The Ex-Files with her ex-husband James Rubin on Global.

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Curt Fraser, American-Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Curtis Martin Fraser is an American former professional ice hockey player who played for the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks and the Minnesota North Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1978-79 and 1989-90. He featured in the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals with the Canucks.

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12/01/1957

John Lasseter, American animator, director, and producer

John Alan Lasseter is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and animator. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, as well as the principal creative advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering, and has served as the head of animation at Skydance Animation since 2019.

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Jeremy Sams, English director, playwright, and composer

Jeremy Sams is a British theatre director, composer, and lyricist.

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12/01/1956

Nikolai Noskov, Russian rock singer and singer-songwriter

Nikolai Ivanovich Noskov is a Russian singer and former vocalist of the hard rock band Gorky Park. He is a five-time winner of the Golden Gramophone Award. He was also a member of the Москва (Moscow) ensemble in the early 1980s, the band Гран-при in 1988 just before joining Gorky Park, and much later the band Николай (Nikolai) in the 1990s. Starting 1998, Noskov had a solo career releasing six solo albums. In 2015, he served as a jury in second season of the reality TV series Glavnaya Stsena.

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12/01/1955

Tom Ardolino, American rock drummer (died 2012)

Thomas Robert Ardolino was an American rock drummer best known as a member of NRBQ.

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Arif Yunusov, Azerbaijani author, historian, and human rights activist.

Arif Seyfulla oghlu Yunusov,, also known as Arif Yunus, is an Azerbaijani author, historian, and human rights activist. He is the head of the Department of Conflict and Migration of the Institute of Peace and Democracy, a human rights non-governmental organization (NGO). Arif Yunusov along with his wife Leyla are supporters of a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. On 28 April 2014, Arif Yunusov and his wife Leyla were jailed on charges of extortion and treason for allegedly spying for Armenia. After being detained, Arif Yunusov was sentenced to 7 years in jail; his wife, Leyla Yunus, was sentenced to 8.5 years in jail. Their sentences were suspended 15 months later, and the couple was allowed to leave for the Netherlands.

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12/01/1954

Howard Stern, American radio host, actor, and author

Howard Allan Stern is an American broadcaster, comedian, and media personality. He is best known for The Howard Stern Show, which rose to prominence through national syndication on terrestrial radio from 1986 to 2005; he has broadcast on SiriusXM since 2006.

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12/01/1953

Mary Harron, Canadian director and screenwriter

Mary Harron is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She is best known for directing and co-writing American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page and I Shot Andy Warhol.

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12/01/1952

Ramón Fagoaga, Salvadoran footballer

Ramón Alfredo Fagoaga Romero is a former Salvadoran footballer.

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Walter Mosley, American novelist

Walter Ellis Mosley is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hardboiled detective Easy Rawlins, a private investigator living in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 2020, Mosley received the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, making him the first Black man to receive the honor.

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Phil Perry, American singer-songwriter and producer

Philip Eugene Perry is an American R&B singer, songwriter, musician and a former member of the soul group, The Montclairs, from 1971 to 1975. He was also known for performing the opening song to Disney’s sitcom, Goof Troop.

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Campy Russell, American basketball player

Michael Campanella "Campy" Russell is an American former professional basketball player. He played the small forward position in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks for nine years and played in the 1979 NBA All-Star Game.

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Ricky Van Shelton, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist

Ricky Van Shelton is an American retired country music singer. Active between 1986 and 2006, he charted more than 20 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. This figure includes 10 number-one hits: "Somebody Lied", "Life Turned Her That Way", 'Don't We All Have the Right", "I'll Leave This World Loving You", "From a Jack to a King", "Living Proof", "I've Cried My Last Tear for You", "Rockin' Years", "I Am a Simple Man", and "Keep It Between the Lines". Besides these, seven more of his singles landed in the top 10 on the same chart. He also released nine studio albums, of which his first four were certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

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John Walker, New Zealand runner and politician

Sir John George Walker is a former middle-distance runner from New Zealand who won the gold medal in the men's 1500 m event at the 1976 Olympics. He was also the first person to run the mile in under 3:50. After his running career was over he was active in local government, as an Auckland Councillor and representing the Manurewa-Papakura ward.

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12/01/1951

Kirstie Alley, American actress and producer (died 2022)

Kirstie Louise Alley was an American actress. Her breakthrough role was as Rebecca Howe in the NBC sitcom Cheers (1987–1993), for which she received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 1991. From 1997 to 2000, Alley starred as the lead in the sitcom Veronica's Closet, earning additional Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. On film, she played Mollie Jensen in Look Who's Talking (1989) and its two sequels, Look Who's Talking Too (1990) and Look Who's Talking Now (1993).

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Chris Bell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1978)

Christopher Branford Bell was an American musician and singer-songwriter. Along with Alex Chilton, he led the power pop band Big Star through its first album #1 Record (1972). He also pursued a solo career throughout the mid-1970s, resulting in the posthumous I Am the Cosmos LP.

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Rush Limbaugh, American talk show host and author (died 2021)

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of The Rush Limbaugh Show, which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM radio stations from 1988 until his death in 2021.

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Drew Pearson, American football player and sportscaster

Drew Pearson is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 11 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

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12/01/1950

Randy Jones, American baseball player (died 2025)

Randall Leo Jones, nicknamed "Junkman", was an American professional baseball player who was a left-handed pitcher. He was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the San Diego Padres. A two-time All-Star selection, Jones won the National League (NL) Cy Young Award with San Diego in 1976 after finishing second in 1975. The Padres retired his number, 35.

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Sheila Jackson Lee, American lawyer, judge, and politician (died 2024)

Sheila Jackson Lee was an American lawyer and politician who was the U.S. representative for Texas's 18th congressional district, from 1995 until she died in 2024. The district includes most of central Houston. She was a member of the Democratic Party and served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council before being elected to the House. She was also co-dean of Texas's congressional delegation.

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Göran Lindblad, Swedish dentist and politician

Lars Göran Axel Lindblad is a Swedish politician and member of the Moderate Party. He served as a member of the Swedish parliament 1997–2010, representing the constituency of Gothenburg. He served as a replacement member of parliament 1993–1997, and again since 2010. Lindblad has chaired the Swedish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and served as Vice President of PACE as well as chair of the Political Affairs Committee. He was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly 2004–2010. In October 2011, he was elected President of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience.

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Bob McEwen, American businessman and politician

Robert D. McEwen is an American lobbyist and former Republican Party politician. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from southern Ohio's Sixth District, from January 3, 1981, to January 3, 1993. Tom Deimer of Cleveland's Plain Dealer described him as a "textbook Republican" who is opposed to abortion, gun control and high taxes. In the House, he criticized government incompetence and charged corruption by the Democratic majority that ran the House in the 1980s. McEwen, who had easily won three terms in the Ohio House, was elected to Congress at the age of thirty to replace a retiring representative in 1980 and easily won re-election five times.

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Dorrit Moussaieff, Israeli-Icelandic jewelry designer and businesswoman, 5th First Lady of Iceland

Dorrit Moussaieff is an Israeli jewellery designer, editor, and businesswoman who was the First Lady of Iceland from 2003 to 2016. Born in Israel, she was raised in the United Kingdom from the age of 13.

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12/01/1949

Kentarō Haneda, Japanese pianist and composer (died 2007)

Kentarō Haneda was a Japanese pianist, composer and arranger. He composed for popular anime series, movies and video games. His popular name was Haneken.

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Ottmar Hitzfeld, German footballer and manager

Ottmar Hitzfeld is a German former professional football player and a former manager. He accumulated a total of 18 major titles, mostly in his tenures with Grasshoppers, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

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Hamadi Jebali, Tunisian engineer, journalist, and politician, 19th Prime Minister of Tunisia

Hamadi Jebali is a Tunisian engineer, politician, and journalist who was Prime Minister of Tunisia from December 2011 to March 2013. He was the Secretary-General of the Ennahda Movement, a moderate Islamic party in Tunisia, until he left his party in December 2014 in the course of the 2014 Tunisian presidential election.

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Haruki Murakami, Japanese novelist, short-story writer, and essayist

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Tanizaki Prize, Yomiuri Prize for Literature, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Noma Literary Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Kiriyama Prize for Fiction, the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize, and the Princess of Asturias Awards.

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12/01/1948

Kenny Allen, English footballer

Kenneth Richard Allen is an English retired professional football goalkeeper.

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Anthony Andrews, English actor and producer

Anthony Colin Gerald Andrews is an English actor. He played Lord Sebastian Flyte in the ITV miniseries Brideshead Revisited (1981), for which he won Golden Globe and BAFTA television awards and was nominated for an Emmy. His other lead roles include Operation Daybreak (1975), Danger UXB (1979), Ivanhoe (1982) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982), and he played UK Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in The King's Speech (2010).

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Gordon Campbell, Canadian educator and politician, 34th Premier of British Columbia

Gordon Muir Campbell is a retired Canadian diplomat and politician who was the 35th mayor of Vancouver from 1986 to 1993 and the 34th premier of British Columbia from 2001 to 2011.

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Brendan Foster, English runner and sportscaster

Sir Brendan Foster is a British former long-distance runner, athletics commentator and road race organiser. He founded the Great North Run, one of the sport's most high profile half-marathon races. As an athlete, he won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics and the gold medal in the 5,000 metres at the 1974 European Championships and the 10,000 metres at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. He later provided commentary and analysis on athletics, particularly long-distance events, for BBC Sport.

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William Nicholson, English author and screenwriter

William Benedict Nicholson is a British screenwriter, playwright, and novelist who has been nominated twice for an Oscar.

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12/01/1947

Richard Carwardine, English historian and academic

Richard John Carwardine is a Welsh historian and academic. He specialises in American politics and religion in the era of the American Civil War.

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Tom Dempsey, American football player and educator (died 2020)

Thomas John Dempsey was an American professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills. Unlike the "soccer-style" approach which was becoming more widely used during his career, Dempsey's kicking style was the then-standard straight-toe style. With the Saints in 1970, he made a 63-yard field goal, setting an NFL record which stood for 43 years.

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Sally Hamwee, Baroness Hamwee, English politician

Sally Rachel Hamwee, Baroness Hamwee is a Liberal Democrat politician and their Lead Home Affairs Spokesperson in the House of Lords. She is a Life Peer and former chair of the London Assembly.

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12/01/1946

Hazel Cosgrove, Lady Cosgrove, Scottish lawyer and judge

Hazel Josephine Cosgrove, Lady Cosgrove, CBE, is a Scottish lawyer and judge who served as a Senator of the College of Justice from 1996 to 2006. She was the first woman appointed to the College of Justice.

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George Duke, American keyboard player, composer, and educator (died 2013)

George Martin Duke was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a professor of music. He first made a name for himself with the album The Jean-Luc Ponty Experience with the George Duke Trio. He is known for his 32 solo albums, as well as for his collaborations with other musicians like Stanley Clarke and Dianne Reeves, but particularly with composer, guitarist and bandleader Frank Zappa.

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12/01/1945

Maggie Bell, Scottish singer-songwriter

Margaret Bell is a Scottish vocalist. She came to fame as co-lead vocalist of the blues rock group Stone the Crows, and was described as the UK's closest counterpart to American singer Janis Joplin. Bell was also prominently featured as a guest vocalist on the song "Every Picture Tells a Story" (1971) by Rod Stewart.

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12/01/1944

Hans Henning Atrott, German author and theorist (died 2018)

Hans Henning Atrott, also Hans Atrott, was notable for his commitment in the German right-to-die movement.

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Joe Frazier, American boxer (died 2011)

Joseph William Frazier was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. Nicknamed "Smokin'", he was known for his strength, durability, formidable left hand, and relentless pressure fighting style. He won a gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics as an amateur, held the NYSAC heavyweight title from 1968 to 1973, and was the undisputed heavyweight champion from 1970 to 1973. In 1971, Frazier became the first boxer to defeat Muhammad Ali.

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Cynthia Robinson, American R&B trumpet player and singer (died 2015)

Cynthia Robinson was an American musician, best known for being a founding member of Sly and the Family Stone, for which she was the trumpeter and a vocalist. Her voice and presence were featured in the hits "Dance to the Music" and "I Want to Take You Higher." Questlove of the hip hop band the Roots has called Robinson the original "hypeman."

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12/01/1942

Bernardine Dohrn, American domestic terrorist, political activist and academic

Bernardine Rae Dohrn is a retired American law professor and a former leader of the far-left militant organization Weather Underground in the United States. As a leader of the Weather Underground in the early 1970s, Dohrn was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for several years. She remained a fugitive, even though she was removed from the list. After coming out of hiding in 1980, Dohrn pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of aggravated battery and bail jumping.

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12/01/1941

Long John Baldry, English-Canadian singer-songwriter and voice actor (died 2005)

John William "Long John" Baldry was a British and Canadian musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including the Rolling Stones, the Animals and the Beatles. Before achieving stardom, Rod Stewart and Elton John were members of bands led by Baldry. He enjoyed pop success in 1967 when "Let the Heartaches Begin" reached No. 1 in the UK, and in Australia where his duet with the American singer Kathi McDonald, a cover of the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", reached No. 2 in 1980.

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Fiona Caldicott, English psychiatrist and psychotherapist (died 2021)

Dame Fiona Caldicott was a Scottish psychiatrist and psychotherapist who also served as Principal of Somerville College, Oxford. She was the National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care in England until her death.

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Chet Jastremski, American swimmer and physician (died 2014)

Chester Andrew Jastremski was an American competition swimmer, who competed for Indiana University, and was both a 1964 Olympic bronze medalist in breaststroke and an American and world record-holder. Exceptional as a breaststroker, in his career, he set 21 national and 12 world records, and was considered by Sports Illustrated in 1961 as one of the greatest swimmers of his era. Jastremski was the first swimmer to go under one minute for the 100-yard breaststroke. He would later graduate medical school at the Indiana University in 1968 and practice medicine in Bloomington, Indiana, also serving as a swim coach for local teams.

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12/01/1940

Bob Hewitt, Australian-South African tennis player

Robert Anthony John Hewitt is a former professional tennis player from Australia. In 1967, after marrying a South African, he became a South African citizen. He has won 15 major titles and a career Grand Slam in both men's and mixed doubles.

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Ronald Shannon Jackson, American drummer and composer (died 2013)

Ronald Shannon Jackson was an American jazz drummer from Fort Worth, Texas. A pioneer of avant-garde jazz, free funk, and jazz fusion, he appeared on over 50 albums as a bandleader, sideman, arranger, and producer. Jackson and bassist Sirone are the only musicians to have performed and recorded with the three prime shapers of free jazz: pianist Cecil Taylor, and saxophonists Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler.

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Dick Motz, New Zealand cricketer (died 2007)

Richard Charles Motz was a New Zealand cricketer. A right-arm fast bowler and hard-hitting lower order batsman, Motz played 32 Test matches for the New Zealand national cricket team between 1961 and 1969. He was the first bowler for New Zealand to take 100 wickets in Test cricket.

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12/01/1938

Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Pakistani scholar and politician (died 2013)

Qazi Hussain Ahmad was an Islamic scholar, pro-Islamic democracy activist and former Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami, the social conservative Islamist political party in Pakistan.

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Alan Rees, British racing driver (died 2024)

Alan Brinley Rees was a British racing driver. He participated in three World Championship Grands Prix in the 1960s, although two of those appearances were driving Formula 2 cars. He scored no championship points. His best result was seventh place in the 1967 German Grand Prix.

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12/01/1937

Shirley Eaton, English actress

Shirley Jean Eaton is an English former actress and singer. Eaton appeared regularly in British films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and gained her highest profile for her appearance as Bond Girl Jill Masterson in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964), which gained her bombshell status. Eaton also had roles in the early Carry On films.

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12/01/1936

Jennifer Hilton, Baroness Hilton of Eggardon, English police officer and politician

Jennifer Hilton, Baroness Hilton of Eggardon, is a British Labour Party politician and former police officer with the Metropolitan Police. She was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

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Raimonds Pauls, Latvian pianist and composer

Ojārs Raimonds Pauls is a Latvian composer and a pianist who is well known in the Baltic countries and Eastern Europe. He was the Minister of Culture of Latvia from 1988 to 1993.

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Brajanath Ratha, Indian poet and activist (died 2014)

Brajanath Ratha was an Indian poet who wrote in Odia. Brajanath Ratha is internationally recognised and is the recipient of many prestigious awards like the Odisha Sahitya Academy Award, Vishuba Award, Gokarnika Award, First Shudramuni Sahitya Award and Honoured by South Korea's Ambassador, from Global Cooperation Society International, Seol, Republic of Korea for Contribution in World welfare, Cooperation and Services.

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Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Home Affairs (died 2016)

Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir twice from November 2002 to November 2005 and from March 2015 until his death on January 7, 2016. He held various positions, including minister of Tourism in Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet and minister of Home Affairs in V. P. Singh's cabinet. Sayeed began his political career in the wing of the National Conference led by G. M. Sadiq, which later merged with the Indian National Congress. In 1987, he transitioned to the Janata Dal and subsequently founded the People's Democratic Party (PDP), a regional political party that remains influential in Jammu and Kashmir, currently led by his daughter, Mehbooba Mufti.

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12/01/1935

Teresa del Conde, Mexican historian and critic (died 2017)

Teresa del Conde Pontones was a Mexican art critic and art historian.

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Kreskin, American mentalist (died 2024)

The Amazing Kreskin, also known as Kreskin, was an American mentalist who became popular on television in the 1970s. He was inspired to become a mentalist by Lee Falk's comic strip Mandrake the Magician, which features a crime-fighting stage magician. He always presented himself as a mentalist, never as a psychic, who operated on the basis of suggestion, not the paranormal or supernatural.

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12/01/1934

Alan Sharp, Scottish-American author and screenwriter (died 2013)

Alan Sharp was a Scottish novelist and screenwriter. He published two novels in the 1960s, and subsequently wrote the screenplays for about twenty films, mostly produced in the United States.

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Mick Sullivan, English rugby player and coach (died 2016)

Michael Sullivan was an English professional rugby league footballer and coach who played as a wing. He started his playing career at Huddersfield before joining Wigan for a record transfer fee in 1957. He won two Challenge Cups with the club, and won a third Challenge Cup medal with St Helens after signing with the club for another record fee in 1961.

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12/01/1933

Pavlos Matesis, Greek author and playwright (died 2013)

Pavlos Matesis was a Greek novelist, playwright and translator. He was born in Divri, a village in the Peloponnese and had a peripatetic youth. He studied acting, music and languages, and taught drama at the Stavrakou School in Athens (1963–64). He also worked as a writer at the National Theatre during 1971–73. He wrote scripts for two television series broadcast on the state channel (1974–76).

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12/01/1932

Des O'Connor, English entertainer, singer and TV presenter (died 2020)

Desmond Bernard O'Connor was an English comedian, singer and television presenter.

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12/01/1930

Tim Horton, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman, founded Tim Hortons (died 1974)

Miles Gilbert "Tim" Horton was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 24 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). He spent the majority of his career playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, later playing with the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres. Horton was a four-time Stanley Cup Champion in 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1967 with the Maple Leafs. In 2017, Horton was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history. He died at age 44 following a single-vehicle crash in which drugs and alcohol were involved.

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Jennifer Johnston, Irish author and playwright (died 2025)

Jennifer Prudence Johnston was an Irish novelist. She won a number of awards, including the Whitbread Book Award for The Old Jest in 1979 and a Lifetime Achievement from the Irish Book Awards (2012). The Old Jest, a novel about the Irish War of Independence, was later made into a film called The Dawning, starring Anthony Hopkins, produced by Sarah Lawson and directed by Robert Knights.

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Glenn Yarbrough, American singer and actor (died 2016)

Glenn Robertson Yarbrough was an American folk singer and guitarist. He was the tenor lead singer of the Limeliters from 1959 to 1963 and also had a prolific solo career. Yarbrough had a restless dissatisfaction with the music industry that led him to question his priorities, and he later focused on sailing and setting up a school for orphans.

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12/01/1929

Jaakko Hintikka, Finnish philosopher and logician (died 2015)

Kaarlo Jaakko Juhani Hintikka was a Finnish and American philosopher and logician. Hintikka is regarded as the founder of formal epistemic logic and of game semantics for logic. He was awarded the Rolf Schock Prize for philosophy in 2005, and he was chief editor of the philosophical journal Synthese 1965–2002.

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Alasdair MacIntyre, Scottish-American philosopher and academic (died 2025)

Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre was a Scottish-American philosopher who contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's After Virtue (1981) is one of the most important works of Anglophone moral and political philosophy in the 20th century. He was a senior research fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics and Politics (CASEP) at London Metropolitan University, emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and permanent senior distinguished research fellow at the Notre Dame de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. During his lengthy academic career, he also taught at Brandeis University, Duke University, Vanderbilt University, and Boston University.

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12/01/1928

Ruth Brown, American R&B singer-songwriter and actress (died 2006)

Ruth Alston Brown was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the "Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as "So Long", "Teardrops from My Eyes" and "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean". For these contributions, Atlantic became known as "the house that Ruth built". Brown was a 1993 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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12/01/1926

Morton Feldman, American composer and academic (died 1987)

Morton Feldman was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was an important exponent of indeterminacy in music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown. Feldman's works are characterized by notational innovations that he developed to create his characteristic sound: rhythms that seem to be free and floating, pitch shadings that seem softly unfocused, a generally quiet and slowly evolving music, and recurring asymmetric patterns. His later works, after 1977, also explore extremes of duration.

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Ray Price, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2013)

Noble Ray Price was an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His wide-ranging baritone is regarded as among the best male voices of country music, and his innovations, such as propelling the country beat from 2/4 to 4/4, known as the "Ray Price beat", helped make country music more popular.

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12/01/1925

Bill Burrud, American television host, producer, and actor (died 1990)

William James Burrud was a child actor and a television host and producer best known for his travel programs.

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12/01/1924

Olivier Gendebien, Belgian racing driver and businessman (died 1998)

Olivier Jean Marie Fernand Gendebien was a Belgian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1955 to 1961. Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers in the history of sportscar racing, Gendebien was a four-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Ferrari, a three-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring, and a three-time winner of the Targa Florio.

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12/01/1923

Ira Hayes, American marine who raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima (died 1955)

Ira Hamilton Hayes was a United States Marine during World War II. Hayes was an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community, located in Pinal and Maricopa counties in Arizona. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve on August 26, 1942, and, after recruit training, volunteered to become a Paramarine. He fought in the Bougainville and Iwo Jima campaigns in the Pacific War.

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12/01/1922

Tadeusz Żychiewicz, Polish journalist and historian (died 1994)

Tadeusz Żychiewicz was a Polish journalist, art historian, religious publicist, theologist, Biblicist, feuilletonist and editor of Tygodnik Powszechny, soldier of Armia Krajowa.

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12/01/1920

James Farmer, American activist and politician, co-founded Congress of Racial Equality (died 1999)

James Leonard Farmer Jr. was an American civil rights activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement "who pushed for nonviolent protest to dismantle segregation, and served alongside Martin Luther King Jr." In 1942 he was a co-founder of what became known as CORE, or the Congress of Racial Equality. He was the initiator and organizer of the first Freedom Ride in 1961, which eventually led to the desegregation of interstate transportation in the United States.

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Jerzy Zubrzycki, Polish-Australian sociologist and academic (died 2009)

Jerzy "George" B. Zubrzycki AO CBE MBE (Military) was a Polish-born Australian sociologist, widely regarded as the "Father of Australian Multiculturalism".

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12/01/1917

Walter Hendl, American pianist, composer, and conductor (died 2007)

Walter Hendl was an American conductor, composer and pianist.

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Jimmy Skinner, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2007)

James Donald Skinner was the head coach, chief scout, and farm director, director of player personnel, director of hockey operations, assistant general manager, and general manager for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League.

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12/01/1916

Ruth R. Benerito, American chemist and inventor (died 2013)

Ruth Mary Rogan Benerito was an American physical chemist and inventor known for her impactful work related to the textile industry. She notably contributed to the development of wash-and-wear cotton fabrics using a technique called cross-linking, which strengthens the hydrogen bonds between cellulose molecules of cotton fibers. She held 55 patents.

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P. W. Botha, South African politician, 8th Prime Minister of South Africa (died 2006)

Pieter Willem Botha, was a South African politician who served as the last Prime Minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and as the first executive State President of South Africa from 1984 until his resignation in 1989. Nicknamed 'Die Groot Krokodil' due to his tough political stance, he was considered the final hardline leader of South Africa during the apartheid era.

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Mary Wilson, Baroness Wilson of Rievaulx, British poet and Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 2018)

Gladys Mary Wilson, Baroness Wilson of Rievaulx was an English poet and the wife of Harold Wilson, who twice served as British prime minister. She was the first British prime minister's spouse to become a centenarian, living to the age of 102 years, 145 days.

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12/01/1915

Paul Jarrico, American screenwriter and producer (died 1997)

Paul Jarrico was an Oscar-nominated American screenwriter who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios during the era of McCarthyism.

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Joseph-Aurèle Plourde, Canadian archbishop and academic (died 2013)

Joseph-Aurèle Plourde, was a Canadian Roman Catholic bishop. He was the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ottawa from 1967 to 1989.

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12/01/1914

Mieko Kamiya, Japanese psychiatrist and psychologist (died 1979)

Mieko Kamiya was a Japanese psychiatrist who treated leprosy patients at Nagashima Aiseien Sanatorium. She was known for translating books on philosophy. She worked as a medical doctor in the Department of Psychiatry at Tokyo University following World War II. She was said to have greatly helped the Ministry of Education and the General Headquarters, where the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers stayed, in her role as an English-speaking secretary, and served as an adviser to Empress Michiko. She wrote many books as a highly educated, multi-lingual person; one of her books, titled On the Meaning of Life, based on her experiences with leprosy patients, attracted many readers.

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12/01/1912

Richard Kuremaa, Estonian footballer (died 1991)

Richard Kuremaa was an Estonian footballer – one of the most famous before World War II. He played 42 times for Estonia national football team, scoring 19 goals. Kuremaa was the Estonian top division's record goalscorer during the country's first period of independence.

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12/01/1910

Patsy Kelly, American actress and comedian (died 1981)

Patsy Kelly was an American actress. She is known for her role as the brash, wisecracking sidekick to Thelma Todd in a series of comedy shorts produced by Hal Roach in the 1930s. Kelly continued to appear in similar roles after Todd's death in 1935.

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Luise Rainer, German-English actress (died 2014)

Luise Rainer was a German-born film actress. She was the first thespian to win multiple Academy Awards, and the first to win back-to-back; at the time of her death, thirteen days shy of her 105th birthday, she was the longest-lived Oscar recipient, a superlative that has not been exceeded, as of 2026.

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12/01/1908

Jean Delannoy, French actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2008)

Jean Delannoy was a French actor, film editor, screenwriter and film director.

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Clement Hurd, American illustrator (died 1988)

Clement Gazzam Hurd was an American artist. He is known for illustrations of children's picture books, especially collaborations with writer Margaret Wise Brown, including Goodnight Moon (1947) and The Runaway Bunny (1942).

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12/01/1907

Sergei Korolev, Russian colonel and engineer (died 1966)

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was a Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer who led the development of the Soviet space program during the early years of the Space Race.

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12/01/1906

Emmanuel Levinas, Lithuanian-French historian, philosopher, and academic (died 1995)

Emmanuel Levinas was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy, existentialism, and phenomenology, focusing on the relationship of ethics to metaphysics and ontology.

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12/01/1905

Nihal Atsız, Turkish author, poet, and philosopher (died 1975)

Hüseyin Nihâl Atsız was a prominent Turkish ultranationalist writer, novelist, and poet. Atsız self-identified as a racist, Pan-Turkist, Turanist, and was the ideologue of Atsızism. He was the author of over 30 books and numerous articles and was in strong opposition to the government of İsmet İnönü, which he criticized for co-operating with the communists. He was accused of being a sympathizer of Nazi Germany and plotting to overthrow the Turkish government.

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James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist and academic (died 1997)

James Bennett Griffin was an American archaeologist. He is regarded as one of the most influential archaeologists in North America in the 20th century.

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Tex Ritter, American actor and singer (died 1974)

Woodward Maurice "Tex" Ritter was an American country music singer and actor. He was the patriarch of the Ritter acting family. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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12/01/1904

Mississippi Fred McDowell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1972)

Fred McDowell, known by his stage name Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist of hill country blues music.

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12/01/1903

Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist and academic (died 1960)

Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov was a Soviet physicist who played a central role in organizing and directing the former Soviet program of nuclear weapons. He has been called the "father of the Russian atomic bomb".

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Andrew J. Transue, American politician and attorney (Morissette v. United States) (died 1995)

Andrew Jackson Transue was an American politician and attorney from the U.S. state of Michigan. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives from 1937 to 1939.

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12/01/1901

Karl Künstler, German SS officer (died 1945)

Karl Künstler was a German SS-Obersturmbannführer and commandant of Flossenbürg concentration camp.

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12/01/1899

Pierre Bernac, French opera singer and educator (died 1979)

Pierre Louis Bernac was a French singer, a baryton-martin, known as an interpreter of the French mélodie. He had a close artistic association with Francis Poulenc, with whom he performed in France and abroad. Poulenc wrote 90 songs for him during their 25-year musical partnership.

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Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1965)

Paul Hermann Müller, also known as Pauly Mueller, was a Swiss chemist who received the 1948 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine for his 1939 discovery of insecticidal qualities and use of DDT in the control of vector diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.

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12/01/1896

Uberto De Morpurgo, Italian tennis player (died 1961)

Uberto De Morpurgo was an Italian tennis player.

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David Wechsler, Romanian-American psychologist and author (died 1981)

David "Weshy" Wechsler was a Romanian-American psychologist. He developed well-known intelligence scales, such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) to get to know his patients at Bellevue Hospital. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Wechsler as the 51st most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

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12/01/1895

Leo Aryeh Mayer, Polish-Israeli scholar and academic (died 1959)

Leo Aryeh Mayer OBE, was an Israeli scholar of Islamic art and rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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12/01/1894

Georges Carpentier, French boxer and actor (died 1975)

Georges Carpentier was a French boxer, actor and World War I pilot. A precocious pugilist, Carpentier fought in numerous categories. He fought mainly as a light heavyweight and heavyweight in a career lasting from 1908 to 1926. A French professional champion on several occasions, he became the European heavyweight champion before the First World War. A sergeant aviator during the Great War, he was wounded before returning to civilian life. He then discovered rugby union, playing as a winger.

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12/01/1893

Hermann Göring, German commander, pilot, and politician, Minister President of Prussia (died 1946)

Hermann Wilhelm Göring was a German politician, aviator, military commander, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945. He also served as Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe, a position he held until the final days of the regime.

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Alfred Rosenberg, Estonian-German architect and politician, Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories (died 1946)

Alfred Ernst Rosenberg was a Baltic German Nazi theorist, theologian, ideologue and convicted war criminal. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart, and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head of the NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs during the entire rule of Nazi Germany (1933–1945), and led Amt Rosenberg, an official Nazi body for cultural policy and surveillance, between 1934 and 1945. He also served as the editor of the Nazi Party newspaper Völkischer Beobachter. During World War II, Rosenberg was the head of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories (1941–1945). He helped direct the genocide against the Slavs. After the war, he was convicted of crimes against peace; planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression; war crimes; and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials in 1946. He was sentenced to death by hanging and executed on 16 October 1946.

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12/01/1892

Mikhail Gurevich, Russian engineer and businessman, co-founded the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau (died 1976)

Mikhail Iosifovich Gurevich was a Soviet aircraft designer who co-founded the Mikoyan-Gurevich military aviation bureau along with Artem Mikoyan. The bureau is famous for its fighter aircraft, rapid interceptors and multi-role combat aircraft which were staples of the Soviet Air Forces throughout the Cold War. The bureau designed 170 projects of which 94 were made in series. In total, 45,000 MiG aircraft have been manufactured domestically, of which 11,000 aircraft were exported. The last plane which Gurevich personally worked on before his retirement was the MiG-25.

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12/01/1890

Johannes Vares, Estonian poet, physician, and politician (died 1946)

Johannes Vares was an Estonian and Soviet poet, medical doctor, and politician.

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12/01/1889

Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, Indian-Pakistani spiritual leader (died 1965)

Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad was the second caliph, leader of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and the eldest son of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad from his second wife, Nusrat Jahan Begum. He was elected as the second successor of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad on 14 March 1914 at the age of 25, the day after the death of his predecessor Hakim Nur-ud-Din.

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12/01/1885

Thomas Ashe, Irish Republican died while on Hunger Strike (died 1917)

Thomas Patrick Ashe was an Irish revolutionary and politician. He was a member of the Gaelic League, the Gaelic Athletic Association, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and a founding member of the Irish Volunteers.

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12/01/1884

Texas Guinan, American entertainer and bootlegger (died 1933)

Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan was an American actress, producer, and entrepreneur. Born in Texas to Canadian immigrant parents, Guinan decided at an early age to become an entertainer. After becoming a star on the New York stage, the repercussions of her involvement in a weight loss scam motivated her to switch careers to the film business. Spending several years in California appearing in numerous productions, she eventually formed her own company.

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12/01/1882

Milton Sills, American actor and screenwriter (died 1930)

Milton George Gustavus Sills was an American stage and film actor of the early twentieth century.

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12/01/1879

Ray Harroun, American race car driver and engineer (died 1968)

Ray Wade Harroun was an American racing driver and pioneering race car constructor. He is most famous for winning the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911.

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Anton Uesson, Estonian engineer and politician, 17th Mayor of Tallinn (died 1942)

Anton Uesson was an Estonian politician and engineer.

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12/01/1878

Ferenc Molnár, Hungarian-American author and playwright (died 1952)

Ferenc Molnár, often anglicized as Franz Molnar, was a Hungarian-born author, stage director, dramatist, and poet. He is widely regarded as Hungary's most celebrated and controversial playwright.

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12/01/1877

Frank J. Corr, American lawyer and politician, 45th Mayor of Chicago (died 1934)

Frank J. Corr was an American politician. Corr served as the 45th mayor of Chicago, Illinois. Corr's term was as acting mayor from March 15, 1933, following the assassination of Anton Cermak until April 8, 1933. Corr was a member of the Democratic Party.

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12/01/1876

Fevzi Çakmak, Turkish field marshal and politician, Prime Minister of the Turkish Provisional Government (died 1950)

Mustafa Fevzi Çakmak was a Turkish field marshal (Mareşal) and politician. He served as the Chief of General Staff from 1918 and 1919 and later the Minister of War of the Ottoman Empire in 1920. He later joined the provisional Government of the Grand National Assembly and became the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense and later as the prime minister of Turkey from 1921 to 1922. He was the second chief of the General Staff of the provisional Ankara Government and the first chief of the General Staff of the Republic of Turkey.

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Jack London, American novelist and journalist (died 1916)

John Griffith London, better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing.

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Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer and educator (died 1948)

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was an Italian composer and teacher. He is best known for his comic operas such as Il segreto di Susanna (1909). A number of his works were based on plays by Carlo Goldoni, including Le donne curiose (1903), I quatro rusteghi (1906) and Il campiello (1936).

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12/01/1874

Laura Adams Armer, American author and photographer (died 1963)

Laura Adams Armer was an American artist and writer. In 1932, her novel Waterless Mountain won the Newbery Medal. She was also an early photographer in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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12/01/1873

Spyridon Louis, Greek runner (died 1940)

Spyridon Louis, commonly known as Spyros Louis, was a Greek water carrier who won the first modern-day Olympic marathon at the 1896 Summer Olympics. Following his victory, he was celebrated as a national hero.

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12/01/1869

Bhagwan Das, Indian philosopher, academic, and politician (died 1958)

Bhagwan Das was an Indian Theosophist and public figure. For a time he served in the Central Legislative Assembly of British India. He became allied with the Hindustani Culture Society and was active in opposing rioting as a form of protest. As an advocate for national freedom from the British rule, he was often in danger of reprisals from the Colonial government. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1955.

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12/01/1863

Swami Vivekananda, Indian monk and philosopher (died 1902)

Swami Vivekananda, born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figure in the introduction of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world, and is credited with raising interfaith awareness and elevating Hinduism to the status of a major world religion.

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12/01/1856

John Singer Sargent, American painter and academic (died 1925)

John Singer Sargent was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Belle Époque and Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, Capri, Spain, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida.

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12/01/1853

Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, Italian mathematician (died 1925)

Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro was an Italian mathematician. He is most famous as the discoverer of tensor calculus.

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12/01/1849

Jean Béraud, Russian-French painter and academic (died 1935)

Jean Béraud was a French painter renowned for his numerous paintings of life in Paris and especially its nightlife. His works depicting the Champs Elysees, cafés, Montmartre and the banks of the Seine are precisely detailed illustrations of everyday Parisian life during the Belle Époque. He also painted religious subjects in a contemporary setting.

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12/01/1837

Adolf Jensen, German pianist and composer (died 1879)

Adolf Jensen was a German pianist, composer and music teacher.

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12/01/1822

Étienne Lenoir, Belgian engineer, designed the internal combustion engine (died 1900)

Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir, also known as Jean J. Lenoir, was a Belgian-French engineer who invented the internal combustion engine in 1858. Prior designs for such engines were patented as early as 1807 and 1854.

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12/01/1799

Priscilla Susan Bury, British botanist (died 1872)

Priscilla Susan Bury, born Falkner, was an English botanist and illustrator.

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12/01/1797

Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and author (died 1873)

Gideon Brecher, also known by the pen name Gedaliah ben Eliezer (Hebrew: גדליה בן אליעזר, was an Austrian writer and physician. He was a central figure in the Moravian Haskalah.

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12/01/1792

Johan August Arfwedson, Swedish chemist and academic (died 1841)

Johan August Arfwedson was a Swedish chemist who discovered the chemical element lithium in 1817 by isolating it as a salt.

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12/01/1786

Sir Robert Inglis, 2nd Baronet, English politician (died 1855)

Sir Robert Harry Inglis, 2nd Baronet, FRS was a British Conservative politician, noted for his staunch high church views.

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12/01/1772

Mikhail Speransky, Russian academic and politician (died 1839)

Count Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky was a Russian statesman and reformist during the reign of Alexander I of Russia, to whom he was a close advisor. Honorary member of the Free Economic Society (1801) and the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1819). He later served under Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and was Active Privy Councillor (1827). Speransky is referred to as the father of Russian liberalism.

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12/01/1751

Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (died 1825)

Ferdinand I was King of the Two Sicilies from 1816 until his death. Before that he had been, since 1759, King of Naples as Ferdinand IV and King of Sicily as Ferdinand III. He was deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799, and again by a French invasion in 1806, before being restored in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

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12/01/1746

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss philosopher and educator (died 1827)

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach.

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12/01/1729

Edmund Burke, Irish philosopher, academic, and politician (died 1797)

Edmund Burke was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, and politician who is widely credited as the founder of the cultural and political philosophy of conservatism. Regarded as one of the most influential conservative thinkers and political writers of the 18th century, Burke spent the majority of his career in Great Britain and was elected as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1766 to 1794 in the House of Commons of Great Britain with the Whig Party. His writings played a significant role in influencing public views and opinions in both Great Britain and France following the French Revolution in 1789, and he remains a major figure in modern conservative circles.

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12/01/1724

Frances Brooke, English author and playwright (died 1789)

Frances Brooke was an English novelist, essayist, playwright and translator. Hers was the first English novel known to have been written in Canada.

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12/01/1723

Samuel Langdon, American minister, theologian, and academic (died 1797)

Samuel Langdon was an American Congregational clergyman and educator. After serving as pastor in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, he was appointed president of Harvard College in 1774. He held that post until 1780.

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12/01/1721

Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Prussian field marshal (died 1792)

Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was a German military officer best known for his participation in the Seven Years' War. From 1757 to 1762, he led an Anglo-German army in western Germany which successfully repelled French attempts to capture Hanover.

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12/01/1716

Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general and politician, 1st Spanish Governor of Louisiana (died 1795)

Antonio de Ulloa y de la Torre-Guiral was a Spanish Navy officer. He spent much of his career in the Americas, where he carried out important scientific work that earned him a reputation as one of the major figures of the Enlightenment in Spain. As a military officer, Ulloa achieved the rank of vice admiral. He also served the Spanish Empire as an administrator in the Viceroyalty of Peru and as governor of Spanish Louisiana.

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12/01/1715

Jacques Duphly, French organist and composer (died 1789)

Jacques Duphly was a French harpsichordist and composer.

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12/01/1711

Gaetano Latilla, Italian composer (died 1788)

Gaetano Latilla was an Italian opera composer, the most important of the period immediately preceding Niccolò Piccinni.

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12/01/1694

Godscall Paleologue, possibly last member of the Palaiologos dynasty (died ????)

Godscall Paleologue or Paleologus was the last recorded living member of the Paleologus family, and through them possibly the last surviving member of the Palaiologos dynasty, rulers of the Byzantine Empire from 1259 to its fall in 1453. The posthumous daughter of privateer Theodore Paleologus, the only surviving source on Godscall is her baptismal records. Nothing is known of her life.

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12/01/1673

Rosalba Carriera, Italian painter (died 1757)

Rosalba Carriera was an Italian Rococo painter. In her younger years, she specialized in portrait miniatures. Carriera would later become known for her pastel portraits, helping popularize the medium in eighteenth-century Europe. She is remembered as one of the most successful women artists of any era.

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12/01/1628

Charles Perrault, French author and academic (died 1703)

Charles Perrault was a French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales, published in his 1697 book Histoires ou contes du temps passé. The best known of his tales include "Little Red Riding Hood", "Cinderella", "Puss in Boots", "Sleeping Beauty", and "Bluebeard".

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12/01/1598

Jijabai Shahaji Bhosale, mother of Indian king Shivaji (died 1674)

Jijabai, was the mother of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, founder of the Maratha Kingdom. She was a daughter of Lakhujirao Jadhav of Sindkhed Raja. He belonged to the lineage of Devagiri Yadavas.

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12/01/1597

François Duquesnoy, Flemish sculptor and educator (died 1643)

François Duquesnoy or Frans Duquesnoy was a Flemish Baroque sculptor who was active in Rome for most of his career, where he was known as Il Fiammingo. His idealized representations represented a quieter and more restrained version of Italian baroque sculpture, and are often contrasted with the more dramatic and emotional character of Bernini's works, while his style shows a great affinity to Algardi's sculptures.

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12/01/1591

Jusepe de Ribera, Spanish painter (died 1652)

Jusepe de Ribera was a Spanish painter and printmaker. Ribera, Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artists of Spanish Baroque painting. Referring to a series of Ribera exhibitions held in the late 20th century, Philippe de Montebello wrote "If Ribera's status as the undisputed protagonist of Neapolitan painting had ever been in doubt, it was no longer. Indeed, to many it seemed that Ribera emerged from these exhibitions as not simply the greatest Neapolitan artist of his age but one of the outstanding European masters of the seventeenth century." Jusepe de Ribera has also been referred to as José de Ribera, and was called Lo Spagnoletto by his contemporaries and early historians.

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12/01/1588

John Winthrop, English lawyer and politician, 2nd Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (died 1649)

John Winthrop was an English Puritan lawyer and a leading figure in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of colonists from England in 1630 and served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years. His writings and vision of the colony as a Puritan "city upon a hill" dominated New England colonial development, influencing the governments and religions of neighboring colonies in addition to those of Massachusetts.

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12/01/1577

Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist and physician (died 1644)

Jan Baptist van Helmont was a chemist, physiologist, and physician from Brussels. He worked during the years just after Paracelsus and the rise of iatrochemistry, and is sometimes considered to be "the founder of pneumatic chemistry". Van Helmont is remembered today largely for his 5-year willow tree experiment, his introduction of the word "gas" into the vocabulary of science, and his ideas on spontaneous generation.

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12/01/1576

Petrus Scriverius, Dutch historian and scholar (died 1660)

Petrus Scriverius, the Latinised form of Peter Schrijver or Schryver, was a Dutch writer and scholar on the history of the Low Countries.

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12/01/1562

Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (died 1630)

Charles Emmanuel I, known as the Great and nicknamed Testa di Fuoco, was the 11th Duke of Savoy and ruler of the Savoyard states from 30 August 1580 until his death on 26 July 1630, nearly 50 years later. At the time of his death, he was the longest-reigning Savoyard monarch, a record later surpassed by his great-grandson Victor Amadeus II.

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12/01/1483

Henry III of Nassau-Breda (died 1538)

Count Henry III of Nassau-Dillenburg-Dietz, Lord of Breda, Lord of the Lek, of Dietz, etc. was a count of the House of Nassau.

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