Born on Thursday, 15th January – Famous Birthdays
On this day, 227 notable people were born on 15th January — spanning from 1432 to 2004. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
January 15th marks the birth of several notable figures across sports, entertainment and public service. Tim Stützle, the German ice hockey player born in 2002, represents a generation of European athletes who have made significant contributions to their respective fields. Similarly, Martin Luther King Jr., born on this date in 1929, became one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, shaping civil rights movements through his advocacy and ministerial work. The date has also seen the emergence of contemporary talents in music and sport, with artists and athletes continuing to be born into a world shaped by the legacies of those who came before them.
Throughout history, January 15th has marked significant moments beyond individual births. On this day in 1865, the British Parliament abolished slavery throughout the empire, a watershed moment in the history of human rights. The date reflects a pattern of notable achievements and milestones that span centuries, demonstrating how particular days can accumulate historical significance across different domains and cultures.
On Thursday, 15th January 2026, the atmospheric conditions will be overcast with temperatures around 4 degrees Celsius and moderate winds. The waning moon will be in its final quarter phase, whilst those born on this date will fall under the Capricorn zodiac sign. The combination of these celestial and meteorological conditions creates the specific environmental context for this particular date.
DayAtlas provides comprehensive information about weather patterns, historical events, notable births and deaths for any date and location, offering users detailed insights into what makes each day unique.
Discover who was born today 8th April.
15/01/2004
Grace VanderWaal, American singer-songwriter
Grace Avery VanderWaal is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She is known for her distinctive voice and has often accompanied herself on the ukulele.
15/01/2002
Tim Stützle, German ice hockey player
Tim Stützle is a German professional ice hockey player who is a centre for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Rated one of the top prospects available for the 2020 NHL entry draft, he was selected third overall by the Senators.
15/01/2000
Triston Casas, American baseball player
Triston Ray Casas is an American professional baseball first baseman for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). The Red Sox selected him in the first round of the 2018 MLB draft and he made his MLB debut in 2022. Casas was a member of the United States national baseball team at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which won the silver medal.
15/01/1998
Alexandra Eade, Australian artistic gymnast
Alexandra Eade is a retired Australian artistic gymnast.
Ben Godfrey, English footballer
Benjamin Matthew Godfrey is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Danish Superliga club Brøndby, on loan from Serie A side Atalanta. He has represented England from youth to senior level.
Chloe Kelly, English footballer
Chloe Maggie Kelly is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Arsenal and the England national team. Kelly started her senior career at Arsenal, prior to going on loan to Everton, and joining the team permanently in 2018. With Manchester City, she is a 2019–20 FA Cup and 2021–22 League Cup winner, has twice been named in the PFA WSL Team of the Year, and was the joint top assist provider in the 2020–21 WSL season. With Arsenal, she is a 2024–25 UEFA Champions League winner.
15/01/1996
Dove Cameron, American actress and singer
Dove Olivia Cameron is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame for her dual role of the eponymous characters in Disney Channel's comedy series Liv and Maddie (2013–2017) and her leading role in the network's Descendants film franchise (2015–2021); the former won her the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming.
Deebo Samuel, American football player
Tyshun Raequan "Deebo" Samuel Sr. is an American professional football wide receiver. He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round of the 2019 NFL draft. Samuel received first-team All-Pro honors with the 49ers in 2021 and played the 2025 season with the Washington Commanders after being traded to them. He is the only wide receiver in NFL history to have 20 receiving and 20 rushing touchdowns.
15/01/1994
Eric Dier, English footballer
Eric Jeremy Edgar Dier is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back and defensive midfielder for Ligue 1 club Monaco.
15/01/1993
Kadeem Allen, American basketball player
Kadeem Frank Allen is an American professional basketball player for Juvi Cremona of the Lega Serie A2. He played college basketball for Hutchinson Community College and Arizona.
15/01/1992
Joël Veltman, Dutch footballer
Joël Ivo Veltman is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a right-back or centre-back for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion.
Joshua King, Norwegian footballer
Joshua Christian Kojo King is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a forward or left winger for Saudi club Al-Khaleej.
15/01/1991
Marc Bartra, Spanish footballer
Marc Bartra Aregall is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Real Betis.
Matt Duffy, American baseball player
Matthew Michael Duffy, nicknamed "Duffman", is an American professional baseball third baseman who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, and Texas Rangers. He played college baseball at Long Beach State.
Mitch Garver, American baseball player
Mitchell Lynn Garver is an American professional baseball catcher and designated hitter for the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Minnesota Twins and Texas Rangers. Garver made his MLB debut with the Twins in 2017 and won a Silver Slugger Award in 2019. The Twins traded him to the Rangers in 2022, and he won the 2023 World Series with them. That December, he signed with the Mariners.
Nicolai Jørgensen, Danish footballer
Nicolai Mick Jørgensen is a Danish former professional footballer who plays as a forward.
Darya Klishina, Russian long jumper
Darya Igorevna Klishina is a Russian long jumper.
James Mitchell, Australian basketball player
James Robert Mitchell is an Australian professional basketball player for the Cairns Marlins of the NBL1 North. Between 2010 and 2016, he was based in his hometown of Cairns playing for the Marlins in the QBL and the Taipans in the NBL. Between 2017 and 2019, he played three seasons for the Rockhampton Rockets in the QBL and spent a season in England with the Sheffield Sharks. In 2021, he re-joined the Marlins.
15/01/1990
Sidney Franklin, American actor and tap dancer
Sidney Franklin Buehner is an American actor, tap dancer, and film director who appeared in the series Watch Over Me (2006–2007), the film Excision (2012), a production of Legally Blonde (2025), and multiple productions at La Jolla Playhouse.
Robert Trznadel, Polish footballer
Robert Trznadel is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a right-back.
Slava Voynov, Russian ice hockey player
Vyacheslav "Slava" Leonidovich Voynov is a Russian professional ice hockey defenceman for Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He was previously suspended by the National Hockey League (NHL) resulting in the Los Angeles Kings terminating Voynov's six-year, $25 million contract in 2015 but retaining his rights. Voynov was selected by the Kings in the second round, 32nd overall, of the 2008 NHL entry draft, having won two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014.
Chris Warren, American actor
Christopher Warren Jr. is an American actor. He is best known as Zeke Baylor in the High School Musical franchise, Ty in The Fosters and Jason Parker in Grand Hotel. Since 2020 he has played Hayden in BET TV series Sistas.
15/01/1989
Alexei Cherepanov, Russian ice hockey player (died 2008)
Alexei Andreyevich Cherepanov was a Russian professional ice hockey player. He was a winger for Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Previously, Cherepanov had played for Avangard's lower-level teams, and then for the senior men's team in the Russian Super League. Cherepanov was selected in the first round of the 2007 National Hockey League (NHL) Entry Draft by the New York Rangers, although he never played professional hockey in North America. Cherepanov represented Russia in international play, and played in several tournaments at the junior level. He won a gold medal at the 2007 World Under-18 Championships. While playing at the Under-20 level, Cherepanov won silver and bronze medals in 2007 and 2008.
Nicole Ross, American Olympic foil fencer
Nicole Ross is an American foil fencer. Fencing for the Columbia Lions fencing team, she won the 2010 NCAA individual women's foil title, and was a three time All-American. At the 2012 Summer Olympics she competed in individual women's foil, coming in 25th, while in the team event she and her teammates came in sixth. At the 2018 World Championships, she and Team USA won the gold medal in the women's team foil event.
Martin Dúbravka, Slovak footballer
Martin Dúbravka is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Burnley and the Slovakia national team.
15/01/1988
Daniel Caligiuri, German footballer
Daniel Caligiuri is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Skrillex, American DJ and producer
Sonny John Moore, known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, singer, and musician. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the post-hardcore band From First to Last. He recorded their first two studio albums with the band, Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Bodycount (2004) and Heroine (2006), before leaving to pursue a solo career in 2007. He began his first tour as a solo artist in late 2007. After recruiting a new band lineup, Moore joined the Alternative Press Tour to support bands such as All Time Low and the Rocket Summer, and appeared on the cover of Alternative Press's annual "100 Bands You Need to Know" issue.
Donald Sloan, American basketball player
Donald Wayne Sloan is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Texas A&M Aggies. Sloan played parts of five seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Atlanta Hawks, New Orleans Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets. He played in the NBA D-League and Chinese Basketball Association in between NBA stints.
Jun. K, South Korean singer
Kim Min-jun, known professionally as Jun. K (준케이), is a South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, dancer and actor. He is the main vocalist of 2PM, and he has written and composed several of the group's songs, including "Go Crazy!", "My House", and "With Me Again". Formerly known as Kim Jun-su (Korean: 김준수), he revealed on October 17, 2012, that due to family reasons, he would be changing his name to Min-jun, though his stage name would remain the same.
15/01/1987
Greg Inglis, Australian rugby league player
Gregory Paul Inglis, also known by the nickname of "G.I.", is a retired Indigenous Australian professional rugby league footballer, who regularly played as a centre, fullback, five-eighth and wing.
Tsegaye Kebede, Ethiopian runner
Tsegaye Kebede Wordofa is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in road running events, including marathons. He quickly rose to become a prominent distance runner after his international debut at the Amsterdam Marathon in 2007. In his second year of professional running, he won the Paris Marathon, the Fukuoka Marathon and the marathon bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Kelly Kelly, American wrestler and model
Barbara Jean Coba, known professionally as Barbie Blank and by her ring name Kelly Kelly, is an American model and former professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, as an ambassador.
David Knight, English footballer
David Sean Knight is an English footballer who last played for Spennymoor Town as a goalkeeper.
Kelleigh Ryan, Canadian fencer
Kelleigh Ryan is a Canadian Olympic fencer.
15/01/1986
Jessy Schram, American actress and model
Jessy Schram is an American actress, model and singer. Her most notable roles include Hannah Griffith in Veronica Mars, Rachel Seybolt in Life, Karen Nadler in Falling Skies, Cinderella/Ashley Boyd in Once Upon a Time and Dr. Hannah Asher in Chicago Med.
15/01/1985
René Adler, German footballer
René Adler is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, mainly for Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg.
Kenneth Emil Petersen, Danish footballer
Kenneth Emil Petersen, also known as KEP, is a Danish football pundit and former player. He played as a centre back.
Pavel Podkolzin, Russian basketball player
Pavel Nikolaevitch Podkolzin is a Russian footballer and former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a 2.26 m tall center.
15/01/1984
Ben Shapiro, American author and commentator
Benjamin Aaron Shapiro is an American conservative political commentator, media host, attorney, and movie director. He writes columns for Creators Syndicate, Newsweek, and Ami Magazine, and is editor emeritus for The Daily Wire, which he co-founded in 2015. Shapiro is the host of The Ben Shapiro Show, a daily political podcast and live radio show. He was editor-at-large of Breitbart News from 2012 until his resignation in 2016. Shapiro has also authored sixteen non-fiction books.
Victor Rasuk, American actor
Victor Rasuk is an American actor.
15/01/1983
Hugo Viana, Portuguese footballer
Hugo Miguel Ferreira Gomes Viana is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He is the current director of football of Premier League club Manchester City.
Jermaine Pennant, English footballer
Jermaine Lloyd Pennant is an English retired professional footballer who played as a winger. Pennant made over 350 league appearances for 15 clubs, and scored 25 league goals.
15/01/1982
Armando Galarraga, Venezuelan baseball player
Armando Antonio Galarraga Barreto is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. Galarraga made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the Texas Rangers on September 15, 2007. He was traded to the Detroit Tigers at the end of the 2007 season where he spent three seasons. He then played in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Houston Astros. In 2010, Galarraga was one out away from a perfect game when first base umpire Jim Joyce incorrectly called the runner safe.
Francis Zé, Cameroonian footballer
Francis Zé is a Cameroonian footballer.
15/01/1981
Dylan Armstrong, Canadian shot putter and hammer thrower
Dylan Armstrong is a Canadian athletics coach and retired competitive shot putter. He is the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist, a two-time World Athletics Championships medallist, a two-time Pan American Games champion, and the 2010 Commonwealth Games champion in that discipline. He was awarded his Olympic bronze medal in 2015, seven years after the event, following the doping disqualification of competitor Andrei Mikhnevich.
Vanessa Henke, German tennis player
Vanessa Henke, also known as Vanessa Paffrath, is a German former professional tennis player.
Pitbull, American rapper and producer
Armando Christian Pérez, known professionally as Pitbull, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He began his career in the early 2000s as a reggaeton, Latin hip-hop, and crunk performer, and signed with TVT Records to release his debut album, M.I.A.M.I. (2004). Executive produced by Lil Jon, the album entered the Billboard 200 along with his second and third albums, El Mariel (2006) and The Boatlift (2007). His fourth album, Pitbull Starring in Rebelution (2009), yielded his mainstream breakthrough, spawning the singles "I Know You Want Me " and "Hotel Room Service"—which peaked at numbers two and eight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, respectively.
El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer
El Hadji Ousseynou Diouf is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a winger or a forward.
15/01/1980
Matt Holliday, American baseball player
Matthew Thomas Holliday is an American former professional baseball left fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2004 to 2018 for the Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Cardinals, and New York Yankees. A World Series champion in 2011 with the Cardinals, Holliday played a key role in seven postseasons, including the Rockies' first-ever World Series appearance in 2007 and Cardinals' playoff success in the 2010s. His distinctions include a National League (NL) batting championship, the 2007 NL Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award, seven All-Star selections, and four Silver Slugger Awards. Other career accomplishments include 300 home runs, more than 2,000 hits, and batting over .300 eight times.
15/01/1979
Drew Brees, American football player
Drew Christopher Brees is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, he is second all-time in career passing yards, career touchdown passes, and career pass completions, and third in career completion percentage. Brees also holds the record of consecutive games with a touchdown pass, with 54 games, breaking the record held by Johnny Unitas for fifty-two years. He is regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. In 2026, Brees was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a first-ballot selection.
Michalis Morfis, Cypriot footballer
Michalis Morfis is a former Cypriot former football goalkeeper who last played for Doxa Katokopias in Cypriot First Division.
Martin Petrov, Bulgarian footballer
Martin Petyov Petrov is a Bulgarian former professional footballer who played as a winger, most notably for VFL Wolfsburg, Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, and Bolton Wanderers. He also played 90 times for Bulgaria.
15/01/1978
Eddie Cahill, American actor
Edmund Patrick Cahill is an American actor known for portraying "Miracle on Ice" goalie Jim Craig in the 2004 film Miracle, and for playing the roles of Tag Jones in Friends and Detective Don Flack in CSI: NY. He has had numerous roles in television, films, and theater. His most recent starring role was in 2016 as District Attorney Conner Wallace in Conviction.
Franco Pellizotti, Italian cyclist
Franco Pellizotti is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2001 and 2018 for the Alessio, Liquigas–Doimo, Androni Giocattoli–Sidermec and Bahrain–Merida teams. Pellizotti now works as a directeur sportif for the Team Bahrain Victorious team.
Ryan Sidebottom, English cricketer
Ryan Jay Sidebottom is a former England international cricketer who played domestic cricket for Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire and retired in 2017, after taking more than 1,000 career wickets. He is the only player in the last 15 years to win 5 county championships and also won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 with England.
15/01/1976
Doug Gottlieb, American basketball player and sportscaster
Douglas Mitchell Gottlieb is an American men's college basketball coach, former media personality and player. Doug is the current head men's basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay. He played NCAA collegiate basketball, twice leading the nation in assists, and professional basketball. As a sports talk radio host and analyst, he last worked for Fox Sports after tenures with the Pac-12 Network, CBS Sports, and ESPN.
Alexander Korolyuk, Russian ice hockey player
Alexander Ivanovich Korolyuk is a Russian former professional ice hockey winger who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the San Jose Sharks before playing the remainder of his career in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Iryna Lishchynska, Ukrainian runner
Iryna Lishchynska, née Nedelenko (Неделенко) is a Ukrainian middle-distance athlete who specializes in the 1500 metres.
Dorian Missick, American actor
Dorian Crossmond Missick is an American actor known for his role as Damian Henry in the television series Six Degrees (2006–2007) and for voicing Victor Vance in the 2006 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. He is also known for his starring role in the film Premium (2006) and his supporting roles in films such as The Manchurian Candidate (2004) and Lucky Number Slevin (2006).
Scott Murray, Scottish rugby player
Scott Murray is a former rugby union player who played lock for Scotland. He was at one time the record caps holder for Scotland having represented them on 87 occasions, five of which as captain and playing at three Rugby World Cups. He also toured with the British & Irish Lions and won Scotland player of the season three times. He is the former head coach of the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby (MLR).
Florentin Petre, Romanian footballer and manager
Florentin Petre is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, currently assistant coach at Liga I club Dinamo București.
15/01/1975
Mary Pierce, Canadian-American tennis player and coach
Mary Caroline Pierce is a French former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 3 in singles and in doubles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Pierce won 18 singles titles on the WTA Tour, including two majors at the 1995 Australian Open and the 2000 French Open, and five Tier I singles events. Pierce was a finalist at a further four singles majors, and twice at the Tour Finals.
Martin Štrbák, Slovak ice hockey player
Martin Štrbák is a Slovak former ice hockey defenceman, who last played for HC Košice.
15/01/1974
Séverine Deneulin, international development academic
Séverine Marie Paule Deneulin is a Belgian senior lecturer in International Development at the Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath, and a fellow of the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA); she is also the HDCA's secretary with a place on the executive council.
15/01/1973
Essam El Hadary, Egyptian footballer
Essam Kamal Tawfiq El Hadary is an Egyptian goalkeeping coach and former professional football goalkeeper.
15/01/1972
Shelia Burrell, American heptathlete
Shelia Burrell is an American athletics coach and former heptathlete who is the head coach of the San Diego State Aztecs women's cross country and women's track & field teams at San Diego State University (SDSU). She was a two-time representative of the United States at the Summer Olympics, competing in 2000 and 2004.
Christos Kostis, Greek footballer
Christos Kostis is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a forward. Kostis is widely regarded to be one of the most technical players Greece has ever produced, but his great injury in 1997 stopped his from making a big career. His nickname was "the Greek Cruyff" (Greek: "ο Έλληνας Κρόιφ").
Claudia Winkleman, English journalist and critic
Claudia Anne Irena Winkleman is an English broadcaster and writer. She co-presented the BBC One dance competition Strictly Come Dancing (2010–2025) and hosts the BBC One reality series The Traitors (2022–present), the latter of which won her a BAFTA award in 2023. She hosted the Saturday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 from 2020 to 2024. Winkleman was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2025 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.
15/01/1971
Regina King, American actress
Regina Rene King is an American actress, director and producer. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2019, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
15/01/1970
Michele Granger, American softball player
Michele Marie Granger is an American, former collegiate four-time NCAA Division I First Team All-American and 1996 gold medal-winning Olympian softball pitcher. She played college softball for four seasons, over five years, for California. She won a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics with Team USA. She currently holds numerous pitching records for the Bears, and is the Pac-12 Conference career leader in perfect games, no hitters, shutouts and innings pitched, simultaneously holding the NCAA lead in no-hitters (25), along with several other top-10 career records. She is a USA Softball Hall of Fame inductee.
Shane McMahon, American wrestler and businessman
Shane Brandon McMahon is an American businessman and retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE.
15/01/1969
Delino DeShields, American baseball player and manager
Delino Lamont DeShields, also nicknamed "Bop", is an American former professional baseball second baseman and current baseball coach. He played for 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, and Chicago Cubs between 1990 and 2002. He is currently the manager of the minor league Harrisburg Senators, the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.
15/01/1968
Chad Lowe, American actor, director, and producer
Charles Davis Lowe II is an American actor and director. He is the younger brother of actor Rob Lowe. He won an Emmy Award for his supporting role in Life Goes On as a young man living with HIV. He has had recurring roles on ER, Melrose Place, and Now and Again. Lowe played Deputy White House Chief of Staff Reed Pollock on the sixth season of 24, and played Byron Montgomery on Pretty Little Liars.
15/01/1967
Ted Tryba, American golfer
Ted Tryba is an American professional golfer. He has played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour.
15/01/1965
Maurizio Fondriest, Italian cyclist
Maurizio Fondriest is a retired Italian professional road racing cyclist.
Bernard Hopkins, American boxer and coach
Bernard Hopkins Jr. is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2016. He is one of the most successful boxers of the past three decades, having held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed championship at middleweight from 2001 to 2005, and the lineal championship at light heavyweight from 2011 to 2012.
Adam Jones, American musician and songwriter
Adam Thomas Jones is an American musician, songwriter, visual artist, and music video director, best known as the guitarist of Tool. Jones has been rated the 75th-greatest guitarist of all time by the Rolling Stone and placed ninth in Guitar World's Top 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists. With experience in special effects and set design in the Hollywood film industry, Jones is also the director of the majority of Tool's music videos.
James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
William James Nesbitt is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical Up on the Roof to the political drama Paddywack (1994). He made his feature film debut playing talent agent Fintan O'Donnell in Hear My Song (1991). He got his breakthrough television role playing Adam Williams in the romantic comedy-drama series Cold Feet, which won him a British Comedy Award, a Television and Radio Industries Club Award, and a National Television Award.
15/01/1964
Osmo Tapio Räihälä, Finnish composer
Osmo Tapio Everton Räihälä is a Finnish composer of contemporary music. He has written chamber music, vocal and electronic music, as well as several concertos and a few works for symphony orchestra.
15/01/1963
Craig Fairbrass, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
Craig John Fairbrass is an English actor, producer, and screenwriter. He has made appearances in For Queen and Country (1988), London's Burning (1990), Cliffhanger (1993), Killing Time (1998), EastEnders (1999–2001), The Great Dome Robbery (2002), The Long Weekend (2005), Rise of the Footsoldier film series (2007–present), The Bank Job (2008), House of the Rising Sun (2011), St George's Day (2012), Breakdown (2014), The Hooligan Factory (2014), Muscle (2019) and Villain (2020).
15/01/1961
Serhiy N. Morozov, Ukrainian footballer and coach
Serhiy N. Morozov is a former professional footballer from Ukraine who played as a forward. He became topscorer of the Meistriliiga 1994–95 by scoring 25 goals for Lantana Marlekor. He also played as a professional in Latvia. His last club was Olimpia Yuzhnoukrainsk from Ukraine. As of 2006, Morozov was working as a youth coach at MFC Mykolaiv.
Yves Pelletier, Canadian actor and director
Yves P. Pelletier is a Canadian film director, actor, and comedian. He was part of comedy troupe Rock et Belles Oreilles from 1981 to 1995. He appeared in a number of films and on television. He made his debut as a movie director with the 2004 film Love and Magnets followed by Face Time in 2010.
15/01/1959
Greg Dowling, Australian rugby league player
Greg Ian Dowling is an Australian former politician and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative prop forward, he played his club football mostly in Brisbane with a spell playing for English club, Wigan.
Pavle Kozjek, Slovenian mountaineer and photographer (died 2008)
Pavle Kozjek was a Slovenian mountaineering pioneer and a photographer.
15/01/1958
Ken Judge, Australian footballer and coach (died 2016)
Ken Judge was an Australian rules footballer and coach.
Boris Tadić, Serbian psychologist and politician, 16th President of Serbia
Boris Tadić is a Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2004 to 2012. He led the Democratic Party (DS) from 2004 to 2012 as well, and previously served as minister of defence from 2003 to 2004.
15/01/1957
David Ige, American politician
David Yutaka Ige is an American politician and engineer who served as the eighth governor of Hawaii from 2014 to 2022. A Democrat, he served in the Hawaii State Senate from 1994 to 2014 and the Hawaii House of Representatives from 1985 to 1994.
Marty Lyons, American football player and sportscaster
Martin Anthony Lyons is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle and defensive end for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1970s and 1980s. Lyons played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, earning consensus All-American honors. Selected in the first round of the 1979 NFL draft, he played his entire professional career for the NFL's New York Jets. He was a member of the Jets' famed "New York Sack Exchange," the team's dominant front four in 1981 and 1982 that also featured Mark Gastineau, Abdul Salaam and Joe Klecko. Following his playing career, he spent 22 years as a radio analyst for the Jets from 2002 to 2023.
Andrew Tyrie, English journalist and politician
Andrew Guy Tyrie, Baron Tyrie, is a British politician and former chair of the Competition and Markets Authority. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Chichester from 1997 to 2017. Tyrie was previously a special adviser at HM Treasury and chair of the Treasury Select Committee, having taken up the role on 10 June 2010. He was described by Donald Macintyre of The Independent in 2013 as "the most powerful backbencher in the House of Commons", and by The Economist as a liberal conservative.
Mario Van Peebles, Mexican-American actor and director
Mario Cain Van Peebles is a Mexican-born American actor and director. He is the son of Melvin Van Peebles, whom he played in the 2003 biopic Baadasssss!, which he also co-wrote, produced, and directed. He also starred in Heartbreak Ridge (1986), New Jack City (1991), and USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016), the latter two of which he had directed.
15/01/1956
Vitaly Kaloyev, Russian architect
Vitaly Konstantinovich Kaloyev is a Russian former architect and convicted murderer who was found guilty of the premeditated killing of an air traffic controller after his family died aboard BAL Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, which collided with DHL International Aviation ME Flight 611 over Überlingen, Germany, on 1 July 2002.
Mayawati, Indian educator and politician, 23rd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
Kumari Mayawati is an Indian politician who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1995 to 1995, 1997 to 1997, 2002 to 2003 and from 2007 to 2012. She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which focuses on a platform of social change for Bahujans, more commonly known as Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as well as religious minorities since 2003.
Marc Trestman, American football player and coach
Marc Marlyn Trestman is an American professional football coach. He led the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) to back-to-back Grey Cup victories in 2009 and 2010, and another as head coach of the Toronto Argonauts in 2017. He was also named CFL Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2017. He has also coached in the National Football League (NFL).
15/01/1955
Nigel Benson, English author and illustrator
Nigel C. Benson is a British author and illustrator.
Andreas Gursky, German photographer
Andreas Gursky is a German artist best known for his photography. He is a former professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany.
Khalid Islambouli, Egyptian lieutenant (died 1982)
Khalid al-Islambuli was an Egyptian military officer who participated in the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, during the annual 6th October victory parade on 6 October 1981. Al-Islambuli stated that his primary motivation for the assassination was Sadat's signing of the Camp David Accords with Israel and Sadat's plan for a more progressive Egypt. Al-Islambuli was tried before an Egyptian court-martial, found guilty, and sentenced to death by firing squad. Following his execution, he was declared a martyr by many in the Islamic world, and became an inspirational symbol for Islamic movements as one of the first 'modern martyrs of Islam'.
15/01/1954
Jose Dalisay, Jr., Filipino poet, author, and screenwriter
Jose Y. Dalisay Jr. is a Filipino writer. He has won numerous awards and prizes for fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction, and screenwriting, including 16 Palanca Awards.
15/01/1953
Randy White, American football player
Randall Lee White, nicknamed "the Manster", is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL) from 1975 to 1988. He played college football for the Maryland Terrapins from 1972 to 1974. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame (1994), the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1994) and the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame (1994).
15/01/1952
Boris Blank, Swiss singer-songwriter
Boris Blank is a Swiss artist and musician. He forms the musical duo Yello with Dieter Meier.
Andrzej Fischer, Polish footballer (died 2018)
Andrzej Lucjan Fischer was a Polish footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Muhammad Wakkas, Bangladeshi teacher and parliamentarian (died 2021)
Muhammad Wakkas was a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar, teacher, former Member of Parliament and State Minister. He was the founder of Jamia Imdadia Madaninagar Madrasa, the largest madrasa in South Bengal, accommodating roughly 2000 students.
15/01/1951
Ernie DiGregorio, American basketball player
Ernest DiGregorio, also known as "Ernie D.", is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Buffalo Braves, Los Angeles Lakers, and Boston Celtics from 1973 to 1978.
15/01/1950
Marius Trésor, French footballer and coach
Marius Paul Trésor is a French former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He is regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation.
15/01/1949
Luis Alvarado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (died 2001)
Luis César Alvarado Martínez was a Puerto Rican infielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). From 1968 through 1977, he played for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets and Detroit Tigers. Alvarado batted and threw right-handed.
Alasdair Liddell, English businessman (died 2012)
Alasdair Donald MacDuff Liddell was one of the architects of Britain's health strategy in the 1990s. As Director of Planning at the Department of Health (1994–2000), he led the process of setting national priorities for the National Health Service (NHS).
Ian Stewart, Scottish runner
Ian Stewart MBE is a Scottish former long-distance running athlete. Stewart was one of the world's leading distance runners between the late 1960s and mid-1970s. Stewart won the bronze medal in the Men's 5000 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Stewart also won the following championships: European 5,000 metres (1969), Commonwealth 5,000 metres (1970), European Indoor and World Cross Country (1975).
Howard Twitty, American golfer
Howard Allen Twitty is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Senior PGA Tour.
15/01/1948
Ronnie Van Zant, American singer-songwriter (died 1977)
Ronald Wayne Van Zant was an American singer, best known as the founding lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He was the older brother of Johnny Van Zant, the current lead vocalist of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Donnie Van Zant, the founder and vocalist of the rock band .38 Special.
15/01/1947
Mary Hogg, English lawyer and judge
The Honourable Dame Mary Claire Hogg, is a British lawyer and former High Court judge. She is the daughter of Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone, and his wife, Mary Evelyn Martin, and is the sister of Douglas Hogg.
Andrea Martin, American-Canadian actress, singer, and screenwriter
Andrea Louise Martin is an American and Canadian actress and comedian, best known for her work in the television series SCTV and Great News. She has appeared in films such as Black Christmas (1974) and its 2006 remake, Wag the Dog (1997), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016), Little Italy (2018) and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023). Martin is also a prolific voice actress, lending her voice to many animated series and films, including Anastasia (1997), The Rugrats Movie (1998), and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001). From 2021 to 2024, she co-starred in the supernatural drama series Evil. She plays a recurring role on Only Murders in the Building as of 2021.
15/01/1946
Charles Brown, American actor (died 2004)
Charles Brown was an American actor and a member of New York City, New York, theater troupe the Negro Ensemble Company. He was best known for his performances in Off-Broadway and Broadway plays by Samm-Art Williams and August Wilson.
15/01/1945
Ko Chun-hsiung, Taiwanese actor, director, and politician (died 2015)
Ko Chun-hsiung was a Taiwanese actor, director and politician. He had been acting since the 1960s and had appeared in more than 200 films.
Vince Foster, American lawyer and political figure (died 1993)
Vincent Walker Foster Jr. was an American attorney who served as deputy White House counsel during the first six months of the Clinton administration.
William R. Higgins, American colonel (died 1990)
William Richard Higgins was a United States Marine Corps colonel who was captured in Lebanon in 1988 while serving on a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission. He was held hostage, tortured, and, 17 months later, he was murdered by his captors.
Princess Michael of Kent
Princess Michael of Kent is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Michael of Kent, a grandson of King George V. Marie-Christine worked as an interior designer and later became an author, publishing several books on European royalty.
David Pleat, English footballer, manager, and sportscaster
David John Pleat is an English football player turned manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He had two spells as manager of Luton Town, and four as manager of Tottenham Hotspur.
15/01/1944
Jenny Nimmo, English author
Jenny Nimmo is a British author of children's books, including fantasy and adventure novels, chapter books, and picture books. Born in England, she has lived mostly in Wales for 40 years. She is probably best known for two series of fantasy novels: The Magician Trilogy (1986–1989), contemporary stories rooted in Welsh myth, and Children of the Red King (2002–2010), featuring schoolchildren endowed with magical powers. The Snow Spider, first of the Magician books, won the second annual Nestlé Smarties Book Prize and the 1987 Tir na n-Og Award as the year's best originally English-language book with an authentic Welsh background. The Stone Mouse was highly commended for the 1993 Carnegie Medal. Several others of hers have been shortlisted for children's book awards.
15/01/1943
George Ambrum, Australian rugby league player (died 1986)
George Ambrum (1943–1986) was a retired Australian rugby league player who used to play in the 1960s and 1970s.
Margaret Beckett, English metallurgist and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Margaret Mary Beckett, Baroness Beckett, is a British politician who was the United Kingdom's first female Foreign Secretary and a member of Parliament (MP) for more than 45 years, first from 1974 to 1979 and then from 1983 to 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she was and served as a minister under Prime Ministers Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Beckett was Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1992 to 1994, and briefly Leader of the Opposition and acting Leader of the Labour Party following John Smith's death in 1994. A member of the Labour Party, she served as MP for Lincoln from 1974 to 1979, and for Derby South from 1983 to 2024. Her 45 years in the House of Commons makes her the female MP in the Commons with the longest service overall, and she was the last sitting MP who served in the Labour governments of the 1970s.
Stuart E. Eizenstat, American lawyer and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the European Union
Stuart Elliott Eizenstat is an American diplomat and attorney. He served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 1993 to 1996 and as the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001. For many years, and currently he has served as a partner and Senior Counsel at the Washington, D.C.–based law firm Covington & Burling and as a senior strategist at APCO Worldwide.
Mike Marshall, American baseball player (died 2021)
Michael Grant Marshall was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1967 and from 1969 through 1981 for nine different teams. Marshall won the National League Cy Young Award in 1974 as a Los Angeles Dodger and was a two-time All-Star selection. He was the first relief pitcher to receive the Cy Young Award.
15/01/1942
Frank Joseph Polozola, American academic and judge (died 2013)
Frank Joseph Polozola was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.
15/01/1941
Captain Beefheart, American singer-songwriter, musician, and artist (died 2010)
Don Van Vliet, known by his stage name Captain Beefheart, was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the Magic Band, he recorded 13 studio albums between 1967 and 1982. His music blended elements of blues, free jazz, rock, and avant-garde composition with idiosyncratic rhythms, absurdist wordplay, and Vliet's gravelly singing voice with a wide vocal range.
15/01/1939
Per Ahlmark, Swedish journalist and politician, first Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden (died 2018)
Per Axel Ahlmark was a Swedish politician and writer. He was the leader of the Liberal People's Party from 1975 to 1978, and Minister for Employment and Deputy Prime Minister in the Swedish government from 1976 to 1978. He also served as a member of the Swedish parliament from 1967 to 1978.
Tony Bullimore, English sailor (died 2018)
Tony Bullimore was a British businessman and international yachtsman. During the 1996–97 Vendée Globe solo round-the-world yacht race, his vessel lost its keel and capsized in the Southern Ocean. He survived for four days inside the upturned hull before being located and rescued by the Australian Navy.
15/01/1938
Ashraf Aman, Pakistani engineer and mountaineer
Ashraf Aman is a Pakistani mountaineer, adventurer, and engineer. In 1977, he became the first Pakistani to reach the summit of K2. He operates the travel and tourism-based company "Adventure Tours Pakistan". He is also the vice-President of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.
Estrella Blanca, Mexican wrestler (died 2021)
Estrella Blanca was a Mexican Luchador enmascarado, or masked professional wrestler. Estrella Blanca was most known for his claim to have won more Luchas de Apuestas "bet matches" than anyone, winning more masks and hair than any other Luchador. Blanca claimed to have been in 700 Luchas de Apuestas since making his wrestling debut in 1954. "Estrella Blanca" is Spanish for "White Star".
Chuni Goswami, Indian footballer and cricketer (died 2020)
Subimal "Chuni" Goswami was an Indian professional footballer and first-class cricketer. As footballer, he played as a striker or winger, captained both the Mohun Bagan club and the India national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Asian players of all time. He also served as the Sheriff of Kolkata. Goswami scored 12 goals in 37 international appearances. He was an Olympian, represented India national team at the 1960 Summer Olympics. He also led the team to achieve the gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games, and earn the runners-up position at the 1964 AFC Asian Cup.
15/01/1937
Margaret O'Brien, American actress and singer
Angela Maxine O'Brien, known professionally as Margaret O'Brien, is an American actress. Beginning a career in feature films for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at age four, O'Brien became a child star and received a Juvenile Academy Award as the outstanding child actress of 1944 for her role in Meet Me in St. Louis. In her later career, she appeared on television, stage, and in supporting film roles.
15/01/1936
Richard Franklin, English actor, writer, director and political activist (died 2023)
Richard Kimber Franklin was an English actor, writer, director and political activist. Principally a stage actor, he also appeared as a regular character in several high-profile British television programmes, including Crossroads and Emmerdale Farm, and he portrayed Captain Mike Yates of UNIT in Doctor Who from 1971 until 1974, returning to the role on a number of occasions both on television and in Doctor Who spin-off media.
15/01/1935
Robert Silverberg, American author and editor
Robert Silverberg is a prolific American science fiction author and editor. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Grand Master of SF since 2004.
15/01/1934
V. S. Ramadevi, Indian civil servant and politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (died 2013)
V. S. Ramadevi was an Indian politician who was the first lady to become the 8th Governor of Karnataka and 9th Chief Election Commissioner of India from 26 November 1990 to 11 December 1990. She was the first woman to become Chief Election Commissioner of India. She was succeeded by T. N. Seshan. Ramadevi was the first woman to serve as Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha, from 1 July 1993 to 25 September 1997. She was also the first and to date, the only female Governor of Karnataka, from 2 December 1999 to 20 August 2002.
15/01/1933
Frank Bough, English journalist and radio host (died 2020)
Francis Joseph Bough was an English television presenter. He was best known as the host of BBC sports and current affairs shows including Grandstand, Nationwide and Breakfast Time, which he launched alongside Selina Scott and Nick Ross.
Ernest J. Gaines, American author and academic (died 2019)
Ernest James Gaines was an American author. Four of his works were made into television movies.
Peter Maitlis, English chemist and academic (died 2022)
Peter Michael Maitlis, FRS was a British organometallic chemist.
15/01/1932
Lou Jones, American sprinter (died 2006)
Louis Woodard Jones was an American athlete. He won a gold medal in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics.
15/01/1931
Lee Bontecou, American painter and sculptor (died 2022)
Lee Bontecou was an American sculptor and printmaker and a pioneer figure in the New York art world. She kept her work consistently in a recognizable style, and received broad recognition in the 1960s. Bontecou made abstract sculptures in the 1960s and 1970s and created vacuum-formed plastic fish, plants, and flower forms in the 1970s. Rich, organic shapes and powerful energy appear in her drawings, prints, and sculptures. Her work has been shown and collected in many major museums in the United States and in Europe.
Derek Meddings, British special effects designer (died 1995)
Derek Meddings was a British film and television special effects designer. He was initially noted for his work on the "Supermarionation" TV puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the 1970s and 1980s James Bond and Superman film series.
15/01/1930
Eddie Graham, American professional wrestler and promoter (died 1985)
Edward F. Gossett, better known by his ring name Eddie Graham, was an American professional wrestler, promoter, booker, and trainer.
15/01/1929
Earl Hooker, American guitarist (died 1970)
Earl Zebedee Hooker was a Chicago blues guitarist known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", he performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and John Lee Hooker and fronted his own bands. An early player of the electric guitar, Hooker was influenced by the modern urban styles of T-Bone Walker and Robert Nighthawk. He recorded several singles and albums as a bandleader and with other well-known artists. His "Blue Guitar", a slide guitar instrumental single, was popular in the Chicago area and was later overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters as "You Shook Me".
Martin Luther King Jr., American minister and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1968)
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister who was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination, which most commonly affected African Americans.
15/01/1928
Joanne Linville, American actress (died 2021)
Joanne Linville was an American actress. She later taught at the Stella Adler Academy, Los Angeles.
W. R. Mitchell, English journalist and author (died 2015)
William Reginald Mitchell was a British writer who was the editor of Dalesman magazine for twenty years and over a sixty-year period wrote over 200 books, hundreds of articles, and delivered many talks on the history and physical and natural evolution of North Britain, with particular emphasis on the Yorkshire Dales, Lancashire and the Lake District. These include the regions' biographies, social history, topography, and natural history. In the course of his career Mitchell made and collected many taped interviews with people of these regions - now housed at the Universities of Leeds and Bradford - representing a unique archive of dialect and history.
15/01/1927
Phyllis Coates, American actress (died 2023)
Phyllis Coates was an American actress with a career spanning over fifty years. She was best known for her portrayal of reporter Lois Lane in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men and in the first season of the television series Adventures of Superman.
15/01/1926
Maria Schell, Austrian-Swiss actress (died 2005)
Maria Margarethe Anna Schell was an Austrian-Swiss actress. She was one of the leading stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1954, she was awarded the Cannes Best Actress Award for her performance in Helmut Käutner's war drama The Last Bridge, and in 1956, she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for Gervaise.
15/01/1925
Ruth Slenczynska, American pianist and composer
Ruth Slenczynska is an American classical pianist and the last living piano student of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Ignacio López Tarso, Mexican actor (died 2023)
Ignacio López Tarso was a Mexican actor of stage, film and television. He acted in about 50 films and appeared in documentaries and in one short feature. In 1973 he was given the Ariel Award for Best Actor for Rosa Blanca, and the Ariel de Oro lifetime achievement award in 2007. He was honored multiple times at the TVyNovelas Awards. At the time of his death, along with Armando Silvestre, he was the oldest living actor and one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.
15/01/1924
George Lowe, New Zealand-English mountaineer and explorer (died 2013)
Wallace George Lowe, known as George Lowe, was a New Zealand-born mountaineer, explorer, film director and educator. He was the last surviving member of the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition, during which his friend Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first known people to summit the world's highest peak.
15/01/1923
Ivor Cutler, Scottish pianist, songwriter, and poet (died 2006)
Ivor Cutler was a Scottish poet, singer, musician, songwriter, artist and humorist. He became known for his regular performances on BBC radio, and in particular his numerous sessions recorded for John Peel's influential eponymous late-night radio programme, and later for Andy Kershaw's programme. He appeared in the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour film in 1967, and on Neil Innes's television programmes. Cutler also wrote books for children and adults, and was a teacher at A. S. Neill's Summerhill School and for 30 years in inner-city schools in London.
Lee Teng-hui, Taiwanese economist and politician, fourth President of the Republic of China (died 2020)
Lee Teng-hui was a Taiwanese statesman, economist, and agronomist who served as the fourth president of the Republic of China and chairman of the Kuomintang from 1988 to 2000. He was the first president to be born in Taiwan, the last to be indirectly elected, and the first to be directly elected.
15/01/1922
Sylvia Lawler, English geneticist (died 1996)
Sylvia Dorothy Lawler was an English geneticist who worked in the field of human genetics.
Eric Willis, Australian sergeant and politician, 34th Premier of New South Wales (died 1999)
Sir Eric Archibald Willis was the 34th Premier of New South Wales, serving from 23 January 1976 to 14 May 1976. Born in Murwillumbah in 1922, Willis was educated at Murwillumbah High School and the University of Sydney, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts with double honours. Enlisting during World War II, Willis served on the homefront and later served in New Guinea and the Philippines. He continued to serve the Citizen Military Forces until 1958.
15/01/1921
Cliff Barker, American basketball player (died 1998)
Clifford Eugene Barker was an American basketball player who won the gold medal with the USA national basketball team at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London and two national championships at the University of Kentucky.
Babasaheb Bhosale, Indian lawyer and politician, eighth Chief Minister of Maharashtra (died 2007)
Babasaheb Anantrao Bhosale was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from January 1982 until February 1983.
Frank Thornton, English actor (died 2013)
Frank Thornton Ball, professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was best known for playing Captain Peacock in the television sitcom Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour and as Herbert "Truly" Truelove in television sitcom Last of the Summer Wine.
15/01/1920
Bob Davies, American basketball player and coach (died 1990)
Robert Edris Davies was an American professional basketball player. Davies and Bobby Wanzer formed one of the best backcourt duos in the National Basketball Association's (NBA) early years. Davies and Wanzer led the Rochester Royals to the 1951 NBA championship. Davies was also a basketball coach at the Seton Hall University and was inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on April 11, 1970.
Steve Gromek, American baseball player (died 2002)
Stephen Joseph Gromek was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for 17 seasons in the American League with the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers. In 447 career games, Gromek pitched 2,064+2⁄3 innings and posted a win–loss record of 123–108 with 92 complete games, 17 shutouts, and a 3.41 earned run average (ERA).
John O'Connor, American cardinal (died 2000)
John Joseph O'Connor was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of New York from 1984 until his death in 2000, and was made a cardinal in 1985.
15/01/1919
Maurice Herzog, French mountaineer and politician, French Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports (died 2012)
Maurice André Raymond Herzog was a French mountaineer and administrator who was born in Lyon, France. He led the 1950 French Annapurna expedition that first climbed a peak over 8000m, Annapurna, in 1950, and reached the summit with Louis Lachenal. Upon his return, he wrote a best-selling book about the expedition, Annapurna.
George Cadle Price, Belizean politician, first Prime Minister of Belize (died 2011)
George Cadle Price was a Belizean statesman who served as the head of government of Belize from 1961 to 1984 and 1989 to 1993. He was the first minister and premier under British rule until independence in 1981 and was the nation's first prime minister after independence that year. He is considered one of the principal architects of Belizean independence. Today he is referred to by many as the "Father of the Nation". Price effectively dominated Belizean politics from the early 1960s until his 1996 retirement from party leadership, having been the nation's head of government under various titles for most of that period.
15/01/1918
João Figueiredo, Brazilian general and politician, 30th President of Brazil (died 1999)
João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo was a Brazilian military officer who served as the 30th president of Brazil from 1979 to 1985, and the last of the military regime that ruled the country following the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état. He was chief of the Secret Service (SNI) during the term of his predecessor, Ernesto Geisel, who appointed him to the presidency at the end of his own term.
Édouard Gagnon, Canadian cardinal (died 2007)
Édouard Gagnon, PSS, OC was a Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal and President of the Pontifical Council for the Family for 7 years, from 1983 to 1990. He became a cardinal on 25 May 1985.
Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian colonel and politician, second President of Egypt (died 1970)
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year. Following a 1954 assassination attempt by a Muslim Brotherhood member, he cracked down on the organization, put President Mohamed Naguib under house arrest and assumed executive office. He was formally elected president in June 1956.
15/01/1917
K. A. Thangavelu, Indian film actor and comedian (died 1994)
Karaikal Arunachalam Thangavelu popularly known as "Danaal Thangavelu", was an Indian actor and comedian popular in the 1950s to 1970s. Not known for physical, acrobatic comedy like his contemporaries J. P. Chandrababu and Nagesh, Thangavelu's humour is recognised for his impeccable timing in verbal agility and the characteristic twang of his delivery. He exclusively acted in Tamil films.
15/01/1914
Stefan Bałuk, Polish general (died 2014)
Stefan Bałuk was a Polish general and photographer.
Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian and academic (died 2003)
Hugh Redwald Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, was an English historian. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford.
15/01/1913
Eugène Brands, Dutch painter (died 2002)
Eugène Brands was a Dutch painter, an early member of the COBRA avant-garde art movement.
Lloyd Bridges, American actor (died 1998)
Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, including the actors Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges. He started his career as a contract performer for Columbia Pictures, appearing in films such as Sahara (1943), A Walk in the Sun (1945), Little Big Horn (1951) and High Noon (1952). On television, he starred in Sea Hunt (1958–1961). By the end of his career, he had re-invented himself and demonstrated a comedic talent in such parody films as Airplane! (1980), Hot Shots! (1991), and Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998). Among other honors, Bridges was a two-time Emmy Award nominee. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 1, 1994.
Miriam Hyde, Australian pianist and composer (died 2005)
Miriam Beatrice Hyde was an Australian composer, classical pianist, music educator, and poet.
Alexander Marinesko, Ukrainian-Russian lieutenant (died 1963)
Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko was a Soviet career naval officer. During the last year of World War II, he became known as the captain of the submarine S-13, which sank the German military transport ship Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic Sea in January 1945. It was evacuating soldiers, medics, and other military personnel of Army Group North, as well as civilians who wanted to flee to Germany. Around 9,300 of the more than 10,000 passengers and crew died.
15/01/1912
Michel Debré, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1996)
Michel Jean-Pierre Debré was the first Prime Minister of the French Fifth Republic. He is considered the "father" of the current Constitution of France. He served under President Charles de Gaulle from 1959 to 1962. In terms of political personality, Debré was intense and immovable and had a tendency for rhetorical extremism.
15/01/1909
Jean Bugatti, German-French engineer (died 1939)
Jean Bugatti was a French automotive designer and test engineer for Bugatti. He was the son of Bugatti's founder Ettore Bugatti.
Gene Krupa, American drummer, composer, and actor (died 1973)
Eugene Bertram Krupa was an American jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer. Krupa is widely regarded as one of the most influential drummers in the history of popular music. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of "Sing, Sing, Sing" elevated the role of the drummer from that of an accompanist to that of an important solo voice in the band.
15/01/1908
Edward Teller, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (died 2003)
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of the Teller–Ulam design inspired by Stanisław Ulam.
15/01/1907
Janusz Kusociński, Polish runner and soldier (died 1940)
Janusz Tadeusz Kusociński was a Polish athlete, winner in the 10,000 meters event at the 1932 Summer Olympics.
15/01/1905
Torin Thatcher, British actor (died 1981)
Torin Herbert Erskine Thatcher was a British actor who was noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains.
15/01/1903
Paul A. Dever, American lieutenant and politician, 58th Governor of Massachusetts (died 1958)
Paul Andrew Dever was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served as the 58th Governor of Massachusetts and was its youngest-ever Attorney General. Among his notable accomplishments was the construction of Boston’s circumferential highway Route 128, then called "Dever’s Folley," which was later expanded to Interstate 95, one of the most used national highways.
15/01/1902
Nâzım Hikmet, Greek-Turkish author, poet, and playwright (died 1963)
Mehmed Nâzım Ran, commonly known as Nâzım Hikmet, was a Turkish poet, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and memoirist. He was acclaimed for the "lyrical flow of his statements". Described as a "romantic communist" and a "romantic revolutionary", he was repeatedly arrested for his political beliefs and spent much of his adult life in prison or in exile. His poetry has been translated into more than 50 languages.
Saud of Saudi Arabia (died 1969)
Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King of Saudi Arabia from 9 November 1953 until his abdication on 2 November 1964. During his reign, he served as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 1953 to 1954 and from 1960 to 1962. Prior to his accession, Saud was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 11 May 1933 to 9 November 1953. He was the second son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia.
15/01/1896
Marjorie Bennett, Australian-American actress (died 1982)
Marjorie Bennett was an Australian actress who worked mainly in the United States. She began her acting career during the silent film era.
15/01/1895
Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973)
Artturi Ilmari Virtanen was a Finnish chemist and recipient of the 1945 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his research and inventions in agricultural and nutrition chemistry, especially for his fodder preservation method".
15/01/1893
Rex Ingram, Irish film director, producer, writer, and actor (died 1950)
Rex Ingram was an Irish film director, producer, writer, and actor. Director Erich von Stroheim once called him "the world's greatest director".
Ivor Novello, Welsh singer-songwriter and actor (died 1951)
Ivor Novello was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century.
15/01/1891
Ray Chapman, American baseball player (died 1920)
Raymond Johnson Chapman was an American baseball player. He spent his entire career as a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians of the American League.
15/01/1890
Michiaki Kamada, Japanese admiral (died 1947)
Michiaki Kamada was a vice-admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy who saw service in the Pacific Theatre of World War II.
15/01/1885
Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician and author (died 1973)
Lorenz Böhler was an Austrian physician and surgeon.
Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (died 1968)
Grover Cleveland "Slim" Lowdermilk was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox between 1909 and 1920. Lowdermilk batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Sandborn, Indiana.
15/01/1882
Henry Burr, Canadian singer, radio performer, and producer (died 1941)
Henry Burr was a Canadian singer, radio performer and producer. He was born Harry Haley McClaskey and used Henry Burr as one of his many pseudonyms, in addition to Irving Gillette, Henry Gillette, Alfred Alexander, Robert Rice, Carl Ely, Harry Barr, Frank Knapp, Al King, and Shamus McClaskey. He produced more than 12,000 recordings, by his own estimate, and some of his most popular recordings included "Just a Baby's Prayer at Twilight", "Till We Meet Again" with Albert Campbell, "Beautiful Ohio", "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" "When I Lost You" and "In The Shade of the Old Apple Tree". A tenor, he performed as a soloist and in duets, trios and quartets.
Princess Margaret of Connaught (died 1920)
Princess Margaret of Connaught was Crown Princess of Sweden as the first wife of the future King Gustaf VI Adolf. Known in Sweden as Margareta, she was the elder daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. Her marriage produced five children.
15/01/1879
Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author and playwright (died 1961)
Mazo de la Roche was a Canadian writer who was the author of the Jalna novels, one of the most popular series of books of her time.
Ernest Thesiger, English actor (died 1961)
Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger was an English stage and film actor. He is noted for his performance as Doctor Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's film Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
15/01/1878
Johanna Müller-Hermann, Austrian composer (died 1941)
Johanna Müller-Hermann was an Austrian composer and pedagogue.
15/01/1877
Lewis Terman, American psychologist, eugenicist, and academic (died 1956)
Lewis Madison Terman was an American psychologist, academic, and proponent of eugenics. He was noted as a pioneer in educational psychology in the early 20th century at the Stanford School of Education. Terman is best known for his revision of the Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scales and for initiating the longitudinal study of children with high IQs called the Genetic Studies of Genius. As a prominent eugenicist, he was a member of the Human Betterment Foundation, the American Eugenics Society, and the Eugenics Research Association, believing in genetic racial associations with intelligence. Terman also served as president of the American Psychological Association. A Review of General Psychology survey published in 2002 ranked Terman as the 72nd most cited psychologist of the 20th century, in a tie with G. Stanley Hall.
15/01/1875
Thomas Burke, American sprinter, coach, and journalist (died 1929)
Thomas Edmund Burke was an American sprinter. He was the first Olympic champion in the 100 and 400 meter sprint races.
15/01/1872
Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian author and translator (died 1944)
Arsen Kotsoyev was one of the founders of Ossetic prose, who had a large influence on the formation of the modern Ossetic language and its functional styles. He participated in all of the first Ossetic periodicals, and was one of the most notable Ossetian publicists.
15/01/1870
Pierre S. du Pont, American businessman and philanthropist (died 1954)
Pierre Samuel du Pont was an American entrepreneur, businessman, philanthropist and member of the prominent du Pont family.
15/01/1869
Ruby Laffoon, American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of Kentucky (died 1941)
Ruby Laffoon was an American attorney and politician who served as the 43rd governor of Kentucky from 1931 to 1935. A Kentucky native, at age 17, Laffoon moved to Washington, D.C., to live with his uncle, U.S. Representative Polk Laffoon. He developed an interest in politics and returned to Kentucky, where he compiled a mixed record of victories and defeats in elections at the county and state levels. In 1931, he was chosen as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee by a nominating convention, not a primary, making him the only Kentucky gubernatorial candidate to be chosen by a convention after 1903. In the general election, he defeated Republican William B. Harrison by what was then the largest margin of victory in Kentucky gubernatorial history.
Stanisław Wyspiański, Polish poet, playwright, and painter (died 1907)
Stanisław Mateusz Ignacy Wyspiański was a Polish playwright, painter, poet, and interior and furniture designer. A patriotic writer, he created symbolic national dramas accordant with the artistic premises of the Young Poland movement.
15/01/1866
Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop, historian, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1931)
Lars Olof Jonathan Söderblom was a Swedish bishop. He was the Church of Sweden Archbishop of Uppsala from 1914 to 1931, and recipient of the 1930 Nobel Peace Prize. He is commemorated in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church on 12 July.
15/01/1863
Wilhelm Marx, German lawyer and politician, 17th Chancellor of Germany (died 1946)
Wilhelm Marx was a German judge, lawyer, and politician who twice served as chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic, from 1923 to 1925 and again from 1926 to 1928. He also briefly held the position of Minister-President of Prussia in 1925. A leading figure in the Centre Party, he served as its chairman from 1922 to 1928. With a total tenure of three years and 73 days, he was the longest-serving chancellor of the Weimar Republic.
15/01/1859
Archibald Peake, English-Australian politician, 25th Premier of South Australia (died 1920)
Archibald Henry Peake was an Australian politician. He was Premier of South Australia on three occasions: from 1909 to 1910 for the Liberal and Democratic Union, and from 1912 to 1915 and 1917 to 1920 for its successor, the Liberal Union. He had also been Treasurer and Attorney-General in the Price-Peake coalition government from 1905 to 1909.
15/01/1858
Giovanni Segantini, Italian painter (died 1899)
Giovanni Segantini was an Italian painter known for his large pastoral landscapes of the Alps. He was one of the most famous artists in Europe in the late 19th century, and his paintings were collected by major museums. In later life, he combined a Divisionist painting style with Symbolist images of nature. He was active in Switzerland during the last period of his life.
15/01/1855
Jacques Damala, Greek-French soldier and actor (died 1889)
Aristides Damalas, known in France by the stage name Jacques Damala, was a Greek military officer-turned-actor, and husband of Sarah Bernhardt in his last years. Damala's characterisation by modern researchers is far from positive. His handsomeness was as notable as his insolence and Don Juan quality. Writer Fredy Germanos describes him as an opportunistic and hedonistic person, whose marriage to the great diva would inevitably intensify and maximise his vices, namely, his vanity and obsession with women, alcohol, and drugs.
15/01/1850
Leonard Darwin, English soldier, eugenicist, and politician (died 1943)
Leonard Darwin was an English politician, economist and eugenicist. He was a son of the naturalist Charles Darwin, and also a mentor to Ronald Fisher, a statistician and evolutionary biologist.
Mihai Eminescu, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (died 1889)
Mihai Eminescu was a Romanian Romantic poet, novelist, and journalist from Moldavia, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul, the official newspaper of the Conservative Party (1880–1918). His poetry was first published when he was 16 and he went to Vienna, Austria to study when he was 19. The poet's manuscripts, containing 46 volumes and approximately 14,000 pages, were offered by Titu Maiorescu as a gift to the Romanian Academy during the meeting that was held on 25 January 1902. Notable works include Luceafărul, Odă în metru antic, and the five Letters (Epistles/Satires). In his poems, he frequently used metaphysical, mythological and historical subjects.
Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (died 1891)
Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya was a Russian mathematician who made noteworthy contributions to analysis, partial differential equations and mechanics. She was a pioneer of equality for women in mathematics. Kovalevskaya was the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics, in the modern sense of that term, the first woman in Europe in modern times appointed to a full professorship in mathematics, as well as one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. According to historian of science Ann Hibner Koblitz, Kovalevskaya was "the greatest known woman scientist before the twentieth century".
15/01/1842
Josef Breuer, Austrian physician and psychiatrist (died 1925)
Josef Breuer was an Austrian physician who made discoveries in neurophysiology, and whose work during the 1880s with his patient Bertha Pappenheim, known as Anna O., led to the development of the "cathartic method" for psychiatric disorders. The method was a major initiatory factor for psychoanalysis, as developed by Breuer's friend and collaborator Sigmund Freud.
Mary MacKillop, Australian nun and saint, co-founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart (died 1909)
Mary Helen MacKillop RSJ was an Australian religious sister. She was born in Melbourne but is best known for her activities in South Australia. Together with Fr Julian Tenison-Woods, she founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, a congregation of religious sisters that established a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australia and New Zealand, with an emphasis on education for the rural poor.
15/01/1841
Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, English captain and politician, sixth Governor General of Canada (died 1908)
Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as Colonial Secretary from 1885 to 1886 and Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. An avid sportsman, he built Stanley House Stables in England and is famous in North America for presenting Canada with the Stanley Cup, the championship trophy in ice hockey. Stanley was also one of the original inductees of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
15/01/1840
Jo Abbott, American judge, politician and Confederate army officer (died 1908)
Joseph B. "Jo" Abbott was a lawyer, judge, Confederate Army officer, member of the Texas House of Representatives and a member of the United States House of Representatives from Texas.
15/01/1834
Samuel Arza Davenport, American lawyer and politician (died 1911)
Samuel Arza Davenport was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
15/01/1815
William Bickerton, English-American religious leader, third President of the Church of Jesus Christ (died 1905)
William Bickerton was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement after the 1844 succession crisis. In 1862, Bickerton became the founding president of the church now known as The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), which is one of many churches that claim to be a continuation of the Church of Christ founded by Joseph Smith Jr in 1830.
15/01/1809
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French economist and politician (died 1865)
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a French anarchist, socialist, philosopher, and economist who founded mutualist philosophy and is considered by many to be the "father of anarchism". He was the first person to call himself an anarchist, and is widely regarded as one of anarchism's most influential theorists. Proudhon became a member of the French Parliament after the Revolution of 1848, whereafter he referred to himself as a federalist. Proudhon described the liberty he pursued as the synthesis of community and individualism. Some consider his mutualism to be part of individualist anarchism while others regard it to be part of social anarchism.
15/01/1803
Marjorie Fleming, Scottish poet and author (died 1811)
Marjorie Fleming was a Scottish child writer and poet. She gained appreciation from Robert Louis Stevenson, Leslie Stephen, and possibly Walter Scott.
15/01/1795
Alexander Griboyedov, Russian playwright, composer, and poet (died 1829)
Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov was a Russian diplomat, playwright, poet, and composer. His one notable work is the 1823 verse comedy Woe from Wit. He was Russia's ambassador to Qajar Persia, where he and all the embassy staff were massacred by an angry mob in the aftermath of the ratification of the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828), which confirmed the cession to Russia of Persia's northern territories comprising Transcaucasia and parts of the North Caucasus. Griboyedov played a pivotal role in the ratification of the treaty. The immediate cause for the incident was Griboyedov giving refuge to Armenians who had escaped from the harems of the Persian shah and his son.
15/01/1791
Franz Grillparzer, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (died 1872)
Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer was an Austrian writer who was considered to be the leading Austrian dramatist of the 19th century. His plays were and are frequently performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna. He also wrote the oration for his longtime friend Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral, as well as the epitaph for his friend Franz Schubert.
15/01/1754
Richard Martin, Irish activist and politician, co-founded the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (died 1834)
Colonel Richard Martin, was an Irish politician and campaigner against cruelty to animals. He was known as Humanity Dick, a nickname bestowed on him by King George IV. He succeeded in getting the pioneering Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822, nicknamed 'Martin's Act', passed into British law.
15/01/1747
John Aikin, English surgeon and author (died 1822)
John Aikin was an English medical doctor and surgeon. Later in life he devoted himself wholly to biography and writing in periodicals.
15/01/1716
Philip Livingston, American merchant and politician (died 1778)
Philip Livingston was an American Founding Father, merchant, politician, and slave trader from New York City. He represented New York at the October 1774 First Continental Congress, where he favored imposing economic sanctions upon Great Britain as a way of pressuring the British Parliament to repeal the Intolerable Acts. Livingston was also a delegate to the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1778, and signed the Declaration of Independence.
15/01/1671
Abraham de la Pryme, English archaeologist and historian (died 1704)
Abraham de la Pryme was an English antiquary.
15/01/1623
Algernon Sidney, British philosopher (probable) (died 1683)
Algernon Sidney or Sydney was an English politician, republican political theorist and colonel. A member of the middle part of the Long Parliament and commissioner of the trial of King Charles I of England, he opposed the king's execution. Sidney was later charged with plotting against Charles II, in part based on his most famous work, Discourses Concerning Government, which was used by the prosecution as a witness at his trial. He was executed for treason. After his death, Sidney was revered as a "Whig patriot—hero and martyr".
15/01/1622
Molière, French actor and playwright (died 1673)
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world literature. His extant works include comedies, farces, tragicomedies, comédie-ballets, and more. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed at the Comédie-Française more often than those of any other playwright today. His influence is such that the French language is often referred to as the "language of Molière".
15/01/1595
Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth, English politician (died 1661)
Sir Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth, KB was an English nobleman and translator.
15/01/1538
Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (died 1599)
Maeda Toshiie was one of the leading generals of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period of the 16th century extending to the Azuchi–Momoyama period. His preferred weapon was a yari, and Matazaemon (又左衛門) was his common name; he was therefore known as Yari no Mataza (槍の又左). He was a member of the so-called Echizen Sanninshu along with Sassa Narimasa and Fuwa Mitsuharu. The highest rank from the court that he received is the Great Counselor Dainagon.
15/01/1481
Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shōgun (died 1511)[citation needed]
Ashikaga Yoshizumi was the 11th shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1494 to 1508 during the Muromachi period of Japan. He was the son of Ashikaga Masatomo and grandson of the sixth shōgun Ashikaga Yoshinori. His childhood name was Seikō (清晃), Yoshizumi was first called Yoshitō, then Yoshitaka.
15/01/1462
Edzard I, Count of East Frisia, German noble (died 1528)
Edzard I, also Edzard the Great was count of East Frisia from 1491 until his death in 1528.
15/01/1432
Afonso V of Portugal (died 1481)
Afonso V, also known as the African, was King of Portugal from 1438 until he died in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. The son of Edward, King of Portugal, and Eleanor of Aragon, Afonso acceded to the throne when he was only six years old. His early reign was marked by a struggle over the regency between his mother, Eleanor, and his uncle, Pedro, Duke of Coimbra. Pedro was appointed sole regent in 1439, but the Braganza faction at court continued to challenge his authority. Influenced by his other uncle, Afonso I, Duke of Braganza, the King dismissed Pedro in 1448 and defeated him in the Battle of Alfarrobeira in 1449.