Died on Wednesday, 21st January – Famous Deaths

21/01/2026

Virginia Oliver (born 1920), American lobster fisherwoman

Virginia Oliver was an American lobster fisherwoman.

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21/01/2025

Mauricio Funes, Salvadoran politician, 79th President of El Salvador (born 1959)

Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena was a Salvadoran politician and journalist who served as the 79th president of El Salvador from 2009 to 2014. Funes won the 2009 presidential election as the candidate of the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN).

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Garth Hudson, Canadian keyboard player, songwriter, and producer (born 1937)

Eric Garth Hudson was a Canadian multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist and occasional saxophonist for The Band. He was a principal architect of the group's sound and was described as "the most brilliant organist in the rock world" by Keyboard magazine. In 1994, Hudson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Band.

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21/01/2022

Louie Anderson, American actor and comedian (born 1953)

Louis Perry Anderson was an American stand-up comedian, actor, author and game show host. He created the cartoon series Life with Louie and the television sitcom The Louie Show, and wrote four books, including Hey Mom: Stories for My Mother, But You Can Read Them Too, which was published in 2018. Anderson was the third host of the game show Family Feud from 1999 to 2002 — the first host in its third and current run.

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Leonor Oyarzún, Chilean socialite, First Lady of Chile (born 1919)

Leonor Oyarzún Ivanovic was a Chilean family therapist and member of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). She served as the First Lady of Chile from 1990 until 1994 as the wife of President Patricio Aylwin.

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21/01/2020

Terry Jones, Welsh actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1942)

Terence Graham Parry Jones was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.

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Morgan Wootten, American high school basketball coach (born 1931)

Morgan Bayard Wootten was an American high school basketball coach for 46 seasons at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. He led the Stags to five national championships and 33 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) titles. In 2000, he was the third high school coach to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the first high school only coach to be inducted.

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21/01/2019

Kaye Ballard, American actress (born 1925)

Kaye Ballard was an American actress, comedian, and singer.

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Henri, Count of Paris, Head of the House of Orléans (born 1933)

Henri Philippe Pierre Marie d'Orléans was the Orléanist pretender to the defunct French throne as Henry VII. He used the style of Count of Paris.

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Emiliano Sala, Argentine footballer (born 1990)

Emiliano Raúl Sala Taffarel was an Argentine professional footballer who played as a striker.

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Harris Wofford, American politician, author and civil rights activist (born 1926)

Harris Llewellyn Wofford Jr. was an American attorney, civil rights activist, and Democratic Party politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1991 to 1995. A noted advocate of national service and volunteering, Wofford was also the fifth president of Bryn Mawr College from 1970 to 1978, served as chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in 1986, served as Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry in the cabinet of Governor Bob Casey Sr. from 1987 to 1991, and was a surrogate for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He introduced Obama in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center before Obama's speech on race in America, "A More Perfect Union."

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21/01/2016

Bill Johnson, American skier (born 1960)

William Dean Johnson was an American World Cup alpine ski racer. By winning the downhill at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Johnson became the first American male to win an Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing and the first racer not from an Alpine country to win an Olympic downhill race.

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Mrinalini Sarabhai, a 1992-Padma Bhushan award winner Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor. (born 1918)

Mrinalini Vikram Sarabhai was an Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor. She was the founder and director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry, in the city of Ahmedabad. She received Padma Bhushan in 1992 and Padma Shri in 1965. She also received many other citations in recognition of her contribution to art.

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21/01/2015

Marcus Borg, American scholar, theologian, and author (born 1942)

Marcus Joel Borg was an American New Testament scholar and theologian. He was among the most widely known and influential voices in Liberal Christianity. Borg was a fellow of the Jesus Seminar and a major figure in historical Jesus scholarship. He retired as Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University in 2007. He died eight years later at the age of 72, of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis at his home in Powell Butte, Oregon.

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Leon Brittan, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (born 1939)

Leon Brittan, Baron Brittan of Spennithorne, was a British Conservative politician and barrister who served as a European Commissioner from 1989 to 1999. As a member of Parliament from 1974 to 1988, he served several ministerial roles in Margaret Thatcher's government, including Home Secretary from 1983 to 1985.

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Johnnie Lewis, Liberian lawyer and politician, 18th Chief Justice of Liberia (born 1946)

Johnnie N. Lewis was a Liberian lawyer and politician who served as the 18th Chief Justice of Liberia from 2006 to 2012. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he served as a circuit judge in Liberia's judicial system.

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Canek Sánchez Guevara, Cuban author and dissident (born 1974)

Canek Sánchez Guevara (1974–2015) was a Cuban author, photographer, musician and dissident. The grandson of Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara, he grew up in the upper crust of post-revolutionary Cuban society, but soon became disillusioned with the government of Fidel Castro. After his mother's death, he went into exile in Mexico, where he worked as a writer for Proceso, penning criticisms of the Cuban government from a left-wing anarchist perspective. He died in 2015, following complications with cardiac surgery.

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21/01/2013

Ahmet Mete Işıkara, Turkish geophysicist and academic (born 1941)

Ahmet Mete Işıkara was a Turkish geophysicist and earthquake scientist known for his efforts to create public awareness of the need for earthquake-related protection and safety.

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Chumpol Silpa-archa, Thai academic and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand (born 1940)

Chumpol Silpa-archa was a Thai politician who served in the government of Thailand as Minister of Tourism and Sports from 2008 to 2013; he was also Deputy Prime Minister from 2011 to 2013. Beginning in January 2009, he was the president of the Chartthaipattana Party. He was the younger brother of Prime Minister Banharn Silpa-archa.

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Michael Winner, English director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1935)

Michael Robert Winner was a British filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous action, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, including several collaborations with actors Oliver Reed and Charles Bronson.

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21/01/2012

Jonathan Idema, American soldier, mercenary, con artist, vigilante, and criminal (born 1956)

Jonathan Keith "Jack" Idema was an American con artist, mercenary and former United States Army reserve non-commissioned officer, known for his vigilante activities during the War in Afghanistan.

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21/01/2011

Theoni V. Aldredge, Greek-American costume designer (born 1922)

Theoni V. Aldredge was a Greek-American stage and screen costume designer.

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Dennis Oppenheim, American sculptor and photographer (born 1938)

Dennis Oppenheim was an American conceptual artist, performance artist, earth artist, sculptor and photographer.

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E. V. V. Satyanarayana, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1958)

Eedara Veera Venkata Satyanarayana was an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed a total of 51 films in Telugu films and introduced many actors to Telugu cinema. He was well known for making comedy and melodrama films. In 2000, he established his own production company, E. V. V. Cinema. He died in 2011.

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21/01/2010

Paul Quarrington, Canadian author, playwright, guitarist, and composer (born 1953)

Paul Lewis Quarrington was a Canadian novelist, playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, musician, and educator.

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21/01/2009

Krista Kilvet, Estonian journalist, politician and diplomat (born 1946)

Krista Kilvet was an Estonian radio journalist, politician and diplomat.

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21/01/2006

Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovo journalist and politician, 1st President of Kosovo (born 1944)

Ibrahim Rugova was a Kosovo-Albanian politician, scholar, and writer, who served as the President of the partially recognised Republic of Kosova, serving from 1992 to 2000 and as President of Kosovo from 2002 until his death in 2006. He oversaw a popular struggle for independence, advocating a peaceful resistance to Yugoslav rule and lobbying for U.S. and European support, especially during the Kosovo War.

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21/01/2005

Theun de Vries, Dutch author and poet (born 1907)

Theunis Uilke (Theun) de Vries, was a Dutch writer and poet.

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John L. Hess, American journalist and critic (born 1917)

John L. Hess was a prominent American investigative journalist who worked for many years at The New York Times. He left the Times in 1978 and wrote a memoir about his years there, My Times: A Memoir of Dissent.

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Kaljo Raid, Estonian cellist, composer, and pastor (born 1921)

Kaljo Raid was an Estonian composer, cellist and pastor.

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21/01/2004

Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian author and playwright (born 1929)

Yordan Dimitrov Radichkov was a Bulgarian writer and playwright.

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21/01/2003

Paul Haines, American-Canadian poet and songwriter (born 1933)

Paul Haines was an American poet and jazz lyricist. Born in Vassar, Michigan, Haines eventually settled in Canada after spending time in Europe, Asia, and the United States; he had a long stint as a French teacher at Fenelon Falls Secondary School, in Ontario, Canada. Active in New York City in the 60s, he recorded Albert Ayler's Ghosts. A second recording made by Ayler called Spiritual Unity (1965) included a printed folio with text by Paul Haines called "You and the Night and Music."

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Paul Kuusberg, Estonian journalist and author (born 1916)

Paul Kuusberg was an Estonian writer and journalist. Novellas by him include "Roostetanud kastekann" (1971) and "Võõras või õige mees" (1978), which won an award in Estonia.

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21/01/2002

Peggy Lee, American singer (born 1920)

Norma Deloris Egstrom, known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, Lee created a sophisticated persona, writing music for films, acting, and recording conceptual record albums combining poetry and music. Called the "Queen of American pop music", Lee recorded more than 1,100 masters and co-wrote more than 270 songs. She is best known for her role in the Walt Disney classic Lady and the Tramp, where she voiced Darling, Peg, and the Siamese cats, among others. She received an Academy Award nomination for her role in the 1955 film Pete Kelly's Blues.

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21/01/1999

Susan Strasberg, American actress (born 1938)

Susan Elizabeth Strasberg was an American stage, film, and television actress. Thought to be the next Hepburn-type ingenue, she was nominated for a Tony Award at age 18, playing the title role in The Diary of Anne Frank. She appeared on the covers of LIFE and Newsweek in 1955. A close friend of Marilyn Monroe, she wrote two best-selling tell-all books. Her later career primarily consisted of slasher and horror films, followed by TV roles, by the 1980s.

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21/01/1998

Jack Lord, American actor, director, and producer (born 1920)

John Joseph Patrick Ryan, best known by his stage name, Jack Lord, was an American television, film and Broadway actor, director and producer. He starred as Steve McGarrett in the CBS television program Hawaii Five-O, which ran from 1968 to 1980.

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21/01/1994

Bassel al-Assad, Son of the former President of the Syrian Arab Republic Hafez al-Assad (born 1962)

Bassel al-Assad was a Syrian military officer, engineer and politician. He was the eldest son of Syrian president Hafez al-Assad. He was expected to succeed his father as president until his death in a car crash in January 1994. After his death, his younger brother Bashar became heir apparent to the Syrian presidency and ultimately succeeded their father upon his death.

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21/01/1993

Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player and manager (born 1903)

Charles Leonard Gehringer, nicknamed "the Mechanical Man", was an American professional baseball second baseman. He played for the Detroit Tigers for 19 seasons from 1924 to 1942. He compiled a .320 career batting average with 2,839 hits and 1,427 runs batted in (RBIs). He had seven seasons with more than 200 hits and was the starting second baseman and played every inning of the first six All Star Games. He won the American League batting title in 1937 with a .371 average and won the American League Most Valuable Player Award. He helped lead the Tigers to three American League pennants and the 1935 World Series championship.

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21/01/1992

Eddie Mabo, Australian land rights activist (born 1936)

Edward Koiki Mabo was a Torres Strait Islander man, known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights in Australia, in particular the landmark decision of the High Court of Australia that recognised that indigenous rights to land had continued after the British Crown acquired sovereignty and that the international law doctrine of terra nullius was not applicable to Australian domestic law. High court judges considering the case Mabo v Queensland found in favour of Mabo, which led to the Native Title Act 1993 and established native title in Australia, officially recognising the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia.

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21/01/1989

Carl Furillo, American baseball player (born 1922)

Carl Anthony Furillo, nicknamed "the Reading Rifle" and "Skoonj", was an American baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB), spending his entire career with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, primarily as a right fielder.

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Billy Tipton, American pianist and saxophonist (born 1914)

Billy Lee Tipton was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and talent broker. He is notable for having been posthumously outed as a transgender man.

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21/01/1988

Vincent Lingiari, Australian Aboriginal rights activist (born 1919)

Vincent Lingiari was an Australian Aboriginal rights activist of the Gurindji people. In his early life he started as a stockman at Wave Hill Station, where the Aboriginal workers were given beef, bread, and tobacco as their wages of $6. After the owners of the station refused to improve pay and working conditions at the cattle station and hand back some of Gurindji land, Lingiari was elected and became the leader of the workers in August 1966. He led his people in the Wave Hill walk-off, also known as the Gurindji strike.

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21/01/1987

Charles Goodell, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (born 1926)

Charles Ellsworth Goodell Jr. was an American politician who represented New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1959 to 1968 and the United States Senate from 1968 to 1971. In both cases, he took office following the deaths of his predecessors, first in a special election and second as a temporary appointee succeeding Robert F. Kennedy.

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21/01/1985

James Beard, American chef and author (born 1903)

James Andrews Beard was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, Oregon, and lectured widely. He emphasized American cooking, prepared with fresh and wholesome American ingredients, to a country just becoming aware of its own culinary heritage. Beard taught and mentored generations of professional chefs and food enthusiasts. He published more than twenty books, and his memory is honored by his foundation's annual James Beard Awards.

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Eddie Graham, American wrestler and promoter (born 1930)

Edward F. Gossett, better known by his ring name Eddie Graham, was an American professional wrestler, promoter, booker, and trainer.

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21/01/1984

Giannis Skarimpas, Greek playwright and poet (born 1893)

Giannis Skarimpas, Giannis Skarimbas, or Yiannis Skarimbas, was a Greek writer, dramatist, and poet.

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Jackie Wilson, American singer (born 1934)

Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. was an American singer who was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. Nicknamed "Mr. Excitement", he was considered a master showman and one of the most dynamic singers and performers in the 20th century. Among his hits are "Lonely Teardrops," "Baby Workout," "Reet Petite", "I Get the Sweetest Feeling" and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher". His performance style is often cited as a significant influence on contemporary and later artists such as Elvis Presley, James Brown, and Michael Jackson.

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21/01/1983

Lamar Williams, American bass player (born 1949)

Lamar Williams was an American musician best known for serving as the bassist of The Allman Brothers Band (1972–1976) and Sea Level (1976–1980).

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21/01/1978

Freda Utley, English scholar and author (born 1898)

Winifred Utley, commonly known as Freda Utley, was an English scholar, political activist and best-selling author. After visiting the Soviet Union in 1927 as a trade union activist, she joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1928. Later, married and living in Moscow, she quickly became disillusioned with communism. When her Russian husband, Arcadi Berdichevsky, was arrested in 1936, she escaped to England with her young son.

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21/01/1977

Sandro Penna, Italian poet and journalist (born 1906)

Sandro Penna was an Italian poet.

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21/01/1967

Ann Sheridan, American actress (born 1915)

Clara Lou "Ann" Sheridan was an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles in the films San Quentin (1937), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), They Drive by Night (1940), City for Conquest (1940), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), Kings Row (1942), Nora Prentiss (1947), and I Was a Male War Bride (1949).

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21/01/1963

Acharya Shivpujan Sahay, Indian author, poet, and academic (born 1893)

Acharya Shivpujan Sahay was a noted Hindi and Bhojpuri novelist, editor and prose writer. He contributed in pioneering modern trends. His auto-biographical story "Mata ka Aanchal" also featured in the NCERT Hindi textbook, Kritika, for the tenth grade. He was also conferred with the Padma Bhushan award by the Government of India.

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Spiros Xenos, Greek-Swedish painter (born 1881)

Spiros George Xenos was a Greek-Swedish artist.

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21/01/1961

Blaise Cendrars, Swiss author and poet (born 1887)

Frédéric-Louis Sauser, better known as Blaise Cendrars, was a Swiss-born novelist and poet who became a naturalized French citizen in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the European modernist movement.

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21/01/1959

Cecil B. DeMille, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1881)

Cecil Blount DeMille, often known in popular culture as Mr. DeMille, was an American filmmaker and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history, with many films dominating the box office three or four at a time. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. His silent films included social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants.

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Frances Gertrude McGill, pioneering Canadian forensic pathologist (born 1882)

Frances Gertrude McGill was a Canadian forensic pathologist, criminologist, bacteriologist, allergologist and allergist. Nicknamed "the Sherlock Holmes of Saskatchewan" for her deductive skills and public fame, McGill influenced the development of forensic pathology in Canadian police work and was internationally noted for her expertise in the subject.

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Carl Switzer, American child actor and hunting guide (born 1927)

Carl Dean Switzer was an American child actor, comic singer, dog breeder, and guide. He was best known for his role as Alfalfa in the Our Gang series of short-subject comedies.

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21/01/1955

Archie Hahn, German-American runner and coach (born 1880)

Charles Archibald Hahn was an American track athlete and is widely regarded as one of the best sprinters of the early 20th century. He is the first athlete to win both the 100 m and 200 m race at the same Olympic Games.

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21/01/1950

George Orwell, British novelist, essayist, and critic (born 1903)

Eric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism, and support of democratic socialism.

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21/01/1948

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer and educator (born 1876)

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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21/01/1945

Rash Behari Bose, founder of the Indian National Army (born 1886)

Rashbehari Bose was an Indian revolutionary leader and freedom fighter who fought against the British Empire. He was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar Mutiny and founded the Indian Independence League. Bose helped organise the Indian National Army (INA), which was formed in 1942 under Mohan Singh.

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21/01/1938

Georges Méliès, French actor, director, and producer (born 1861)

Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès was a French filmmaker, actor, magician, and toymaker. He led many technical and narrative developments in the early days of cinema, primarily in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Méliès rose to prominence creating "trick films" and became well known for his innovative use of special effects, popularizing such techniques as substitution splices, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted colour. He was also one of the first filmmakers to use storyboards in his work. His most important films include A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904).

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21/01/1937

Marie Prevost, Canadian-American actress and singer (born 1896)

Marie Prevost was a Canadian film actress. During her 20-year career, she made 121 silent and sound films.

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21/01/1933

George Moore, Irish author, poet, and critic (born 1852)

George Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a landed family of Catholics who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s. There, he befriended many of the leading French artists and writers of the day.

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21/01/1932

Lytton Strachey, English writer and critic (born 1880)

Giles Lytton Strachey was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of Eminent Victorians, he established a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit. His biography Queen Victoria (1921) was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

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21/01/1931

Felix Blumenfeld, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1863)

Felix Mikhailovich Blumenfeld was a Russian and Soviet composer and conductor of the Imperial Opera St-Petersburg, pianist, and teacher.

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21/01/1928

George Washington Goethals, American general and engineer (born 1858)

George Washington Goethals was an American military officer and civil engineer, best known for his administration and supervision of the construction and the opening of the Panama Canal. He was the first Governor of Panama Canal Zone from 1914 to 1917, and was also the State Engineer of New Jersey and the Acting Quartermaster General of the United States Army.

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21/01/1926

Camillo Golgi, Italian physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1843)

Camillo Golgi was an Italian biologist and pathologist who was awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his works on the central nervous system. He studied medicine at the University of Pavia between 1860 and 1868 under the tutelage of Cesare Lombroso. Inspired by pathologist Giulio Bizzozero, he pursued research in the nervous system. His discovery of a staining technique called black reaction in 1873 was a major breakthrough in neuroscience. Several structures and phenomena in anatomy and physiology are named for him, including the Golgi apparatus, the Golgi tendon organ and the Golgi tendon reflex.

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21/01/1924

Vladimir Lenin, Russian lawyer and politician (born 1870)

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death. As the Bolsheviks' founder, Lenin led the October Revolution, which established the world's first communist state and short-lived soviet democracy. His government won the Russian Civil War and created a one-party state under the Communist Party. Ideologically a Marxist, his developments to the ideology are called Leninism.

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21/01/1919

Gojong of Korea (born 1852)

Gojong, personal name Yi Myeongbok, later Yi Hui, also known as the Gwangmu Emperor, was the penultimate Korean monarch. He ruled Korea for 43 years, from 1864 to 1907, first as the last King of Joseon, and then as the first emperor of the Korean Empire from 1897 until his forced abdication in 1907. His wife, Queen Min, played an active role in politics until her assassination carried out by the Japanese.

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Ahmed Muhtar Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 277th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (born 1839)

Ahmed Muhtar Pasha was a prominent Ottoman field marshal and Grand Vizier, who served in the Crimean and Russo-Turkish wars. Ahmed Muhtar Pasha was appointed as Grand Vizier in July 1912 at age 72, largely due to his prestige as an old military hero.

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21/01/1918

Jan Drozdowski, Polish pianist and music teacher (born 1857)

Jan Drozdowski (1857–1918) was a Polish pianist and music teacher.

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21/01/1914

Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian painter and illustrator (born 1857)

Theodor Severin Kittelsen was a Norwegian artist. He is one of the most popular artists in Norway. Kittelsen became famous for his nature paintings, as well as for his illustrations of fairy tales and legends, especially of trolls.

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21/01/1901

Elisha Gray, American engineer, co-founded Western Electric (born 1835)

Elisha Gray was an American electrical engineer who co-founded the Western Electric Manufacturing Company. Gray is best known for his development of a telephone prototype in 1876 in Highland Park, Illinois. Some recent authors have argued that Gray should be considered the true inventor of the telephone because Alexander Graham Bell allegedly stole the idea of the liquid transmitter from him. Gray had been using liquid transmitters in his telephone experiments for more than two years previously; however, Bell's patent was upheld in court.

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21/01/1891

Calixa Lavallée, Canadian-American lieutenant and composer (born 1842)

Calixa Lavallée was a Canadian musician and Union Army band musician during the American Civil War. He was born in the Province of Canada. He is best known for composing the music for "O Canada", which officially became the national anthem of Canada in 1980, after a vote in the Senate and the House of Commons. The same 1980 Act of Parliament also changed some of the English lyrics. A further alteration to the English lyrics was made again in 2018. The original French lyrics and the music, however, have remained unchanged since 1880.

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21/01/1881

Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, Swiss lawyer and politician (born 1802)

Wilhelm Matthias Naeff was a Swiss politician and one of the seven initial members of the Swiss Federal Council (1848–1875).

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21/01/1872

Franz Grillparzer, Austrian playwright and poet (born 1791)

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.

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21/01/1870

Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher and author (born 1812)

Alexander Ivanovich Herzen was a Russian writer and thinker known as the precursor of Russian socialism and one of the main precursors of agrarian populism. With his writings, many composed while exiled in London, he attempted to influence the situation in Russia, contributing to a political climate that led to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. He published the important social novel Who is to Blame? (1845–46). His autobiography, My Past and Thoughts, is often considered one of the best examples of that genre in Russian literature.

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21/01/1862

Božena Němcová, Austrian-Czech author and poet (born 1820)

Božena Němcová was a Czech writer of the final phase of the Czech National Revival movement.

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21/01/1851

Albert Lortzing, German actor and composer (born 1801)

Gustav Albert Lortzing was a German composer, librettist, actor and singer. He is considered to be the main representative of the German Spieloper, a form similar to the French opéra comique, which grew out of the Singspiel.

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21/01/1831

Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet and author (born 1781)

Carl Joachim Friedrich Ludwig von Arnim, better known as Achim von Arnim, was a German poet, novelist, and together with Clemens Brentano and Joseph von Eichendorff, a leading figure of German Romanticism.

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21/01/1823

Cayetano José Rodríguez, Argentinian cleric, journalist, and poet (born 1761)

Cayetano José Rodríguez was an Argentine cleric, journalist and poet. He was a representative to the Congress of Tucumán of 9 July 1816 which declared the Independence of Argentina.

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21/01/1814

Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, French botanist and author (born 1737)

Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre was a French writer and botanist. He is best known for his 1788 novel, Paul et Virginie, a very popular 18th-century classic of French literature.

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21/01/1809

Josiah Hornblower, American engineer and politician (born 1729)

Josiah Hornblower was an English engineer and statesman in Belleville, New Jersey. He was a delegate for New Jersey in the Continental Congress in 1785 and 1786.

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21/01/1805

David Ker, Irish-American educator and judge

David Ker, was an Irish-born American Presbyterian minister, educator, lawyer and judge. He was the first presiding professor of the University of North Carolina.

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21/01/1795

Samuel Wallis, English navigator and explorer (born 1728)

Captain Samuel Wallis was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who made the first recorded visit by a European navigator to Tahiti.

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21/01/1793

Louis XVI of France (born 1754)

Louis XVI was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France, and Maria Josepha of Saxony, Louis became the new Dauphin when his father died in 1765. In 1770, he married Marie Antoinette. He became King of France and Navarre on his paternal grandfather's death on 10 May 1774, and reigned until the abolition of the monarchy on 21 September 1792. From 1791 onwards, he used the style of king of the French.

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21/01/1789

Baron d'Holbach, French-German philosopher and author (born 1723)

Paul Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, known as d'Holbach, was a Franco-German philosopher, encyclopedist and writer, who was a prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born in Edesheim, near Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate, but lived and worked mainly in Paris, where he kept a salon. He helped in the dissemination of "Protestant and especially German thought", particularly in the field of the sciences, but was known more for his atheism and voluminous writings against religion, famously including The System of Nature (1770) and The Universal Morality (1776).

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21/01/1775

Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian rebel (born 1742)

Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev was an ataman of the Yaik Cossacks and the leader of the Pugachev's Rebellion, a major popular uprising in the Russian Empire during the reign of Catherine the Great.

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21/01/1774

Mustafa III, Ottoman sultan (born 1717)

Mustafa III was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1757 to 1774. He was a son of Sultan Ahmed III (1703–30), and his consort Mihrişah Kadın. He was succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I (1774–89). After years of confinement following his father's deposition, he became sultan in 1757. He promoted justice, economic reform, and modernized infrastructure. Admiring Frederick the Great, he aligned diplomatically with Prussia. However, his push for war with Russia in 1768 led to disaster, exposing Ottoman military weakness despite reform efforts. The war ended with major territorial losses.

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21/01/1773

Alexis Piron, French playwright and author (born 1689)

Alexis Piron was a French epigrammatist and dramatist.

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21/01/1731

Ignjat Đurđević, Croatian poet and translator (born 1675)

Ignjat Đurđević, also known as Ignazio Giorgi was a Ragusan Baroque poet and translator, best known for his long poem Uzdasi Mandaljene pokornice. He wrote poetry in Latin, Italian, and Croatian.

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21/01/1722

Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (born 1661)

Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Member of Parliament for Hampshire and a supporter of William III of Orange.

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21/01/1710

Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic and critic (born 1638)

Johann Georg Gichtel was a German mystic and religious leader who was a critic of Lutheranism. His followers ultimately separated from this faith.

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21/01/1706

Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic (born 1649)

Adrien Baillet was a French scholar and critic. He is now best known as a biographer of René Descartes.

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21/01/1699

Obadiah Walker, English historian and academic (born 1616)

Obadiah Walker was an English academic and Master of University College, Oxford, from 1676 to 1688.

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21/01/1683

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1621)

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, was an English statesman and peer. He held senior political office under both the Commonwealth of England and Charles II, serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1661 to 1672 and Lord Chancellor from 1672 to 1673. During the Exclusion Crisis (1679-1681), Shaftesbury headed the movement to bar the Catholic heir, James II, from the royal succession, which is often seen as the origin of the Whig party. He was the first patron of John Locke, who, when they met was a quiet Oxford don and practicing physician; as part of Shaftesbury's household and retinue for 15 years, Locke became a major political philosopher.

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21/01/1670

Claude Duval, French highwayman (born 1643)

Claude Du Vall (or Duval) (c. 1643 – 21 January 1670) was a French highwayman in Restoration England. He worked in the service of exiled royalists who returned to England under King Charles II. Little else is known of his history. According to popular legend, he abhorred violence, showing courtesy to his victims and chivalry to their womenfolk, thus spawning the myth of the romantic highwayman, as taken up by many novelists and playwrights.

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21/01/1638

Ignazio Donati, Italian composer (born 1570)

Ignazio Donati was an Italian composer of the early Baroque era. He was one of the pioneers of the style of the concertato motet.

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21/01/1609

Joseph Justus Scaliger, French historian and scholar (born 1540)

Joseph Justus Scaliger was a Franco-Italian Calvinist religious leader and scholar, known for expanding the notion of classical history from Greek and Ancient Roman history to include Persian, Babylonian, Jewish and Ancient Egyptian history. He spent the last sixteen years of his life in the Netherlands.

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21/01/1546

Azai Sukemasa, Japanese daimyō (born 1491)

Azai Sukemasa was the Sengoku era head of the Azai clan. Sukemasa was a retainer of the Kyōgoku clan but when the Kyōgoku clan declined for conflicts over the succession, the Azai clan came to power with Sukemasa as its daimyō.

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21/01/1527

Juan de Grijalva, Spanish explorer (born 1489)

Juan de Grijalva was a Spanish conquistador, and a relative of Diego Velázquez. He went to Hispaniola in 1508 and to Cuba in 1511. He was one of the early explorers of the Mexican coastline, and was killed by natives in Honduras on 21 January 1527.

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21/01/1320

Árni Helgason, Icelandic bishop (born c. 1260)

Árni Helgason was an Icelandic Roman Catholic clergyman, who became the eleventh bishop of the Icelandic diocese of Skálholt in 1304. He served until his death in 1320.

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21/01/1203

Agnes II, Abbess of Quedlinburg (born 1139)

Agnes II was a member of the House of Wettin who reigned as Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg.

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21/01/1118

Pope Paschal II (born 1050)

Pope Paschal II, born Raniero Raineri di Bleda, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 August 1099 to his death in 1118. A monk of the Abbey of Cluny, he was created the cardinal-priest of San Clemente by Pope Gregory VII (1073–85) in 1073. He was consecrated as pope in succession to Pope Urban II (1088–99) on 19 August 1099. His reign of almost twenty years was exceptionally long for a medieval pope.

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21/01/0945

Yang Tan, Chinese general and governor

Yang Guangyuan, né Atan (阿檀), later known as Yang Tang (楊檀) before changing his name to Guangyuan, courtesy name Deming (德明), formally the Prince of Qi (齊王), was a general of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period Later Tang and the Later Jinstates. He rebelled against Later Jin in 944, believing that he would prevail with aid from the Khitan Liao dynasty, but after the Liao aid forces were repelled by Later Jin forces, his son Yang Chengxun (楊承勳) put him under arrest and surrendered. He was subsequently killed by soldiers sent by the Later Jin general Li Shouzhen.

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21/01/0942

An Chongrong, Chinese general (Five Dynasties)

An Chongrong (安重榮), nickname Tiehu (鐵胡), was a major general of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period state Later Jin. Late in the reign of Later Jin's founding emperor Shi Jingtang, An, discontented with the friendly relations between Later Jin and the Khitan Liao state, often provoked Liao and eventually decided to rebel against Later Jin. He was quickly defeated, however, and then was killed by his own subordinates.

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21/01/0939

Yang Pu, Chinese emperor (born 900)

Yang Pu, also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Rui of Yang Wu (楊吳睿帝), was the last ruler of China's Yang Wu dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and the only one that claimed the title of emperor. During his reign, the state was in effective control of the regents Xu Wen and Xu Wen's adopted son and successor Xu Zhigao. In 938, Xu Zhigao forced Yang Pu to yield the throne to him. Xu Zhigao then established the Southern Tang dynasty.

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21/01/0918

Liu Zhijun, Chinese general

Liu Zhijun, courtesy name Xixian (希賢), nicknamed Liu Kaidao, was a general under Zhu Wen while Emperor Taizu was a major warlord during the late Tang dynasty and then during Emperor Taizu's reign in his new Later Liang. Later, fearing that Emperor Taizu was going to act against him, he defected, first to Qi, then to Former Shu. Former Shu's emperor Wang Jian, however, also was apprehensive of his talent and later had him executed.

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21/01/0917

Erchanger, Duke of Swabia (born 880)

Erchanger was the duke of Swabia from September 915 to his death. He was the son of Berthold I, count palatine of Swabia, who is sometimes called Erchanger as well, in which case the duke is Erchanger II. His mother was possibly Gisela, daughter of Louis the German and his family is known as the Ahalolfinger.

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21/01/0496

Epiphanius of Pavia, Italian bishop and saint (born 438)

Epiphanius of Pavia (438–496), later venerated as Saint Epiphanius of Pavia, was Bishop of Pavia from 466 until his death in 496. Epiphanius additionally held the offices of lector, subdeacon and deacon.

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21/01/0420

Yazdegerd I, king of the Sassanid Empire

Year 420 (CDXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Theodosius and Constantius. The denomination 420 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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