What happened on 26th January?

On this day, 212 notable people were born on 26th January — spanning from 183 to 2009. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

26/01/2009

YaYa Gosselin, American actress

Felisita Leon "YaYa" Gosselin is an American actress. She began her career modelling for commercials and made her acting debut in After Omelas (2017). Following this, she made minor appearances in Peppermint (2018), The Purge (2018), 13 Reasons Why (2019–2020), and FBI (2019–2020). She reprised her role in its spin-off FBI: Most Wanted (2020–2022) as Tali LaCroix in which she was a regular in the second season. Gosselin gained wide recognition for playing the lead role of Missy Moreno in Netflix's We Can Be Heroes (2020).

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The Suleman octuplets

The Suleman octuplets are six males and two females, conceived via in vitro fertilization (IVF) and subsequently born to Nadya Suleman on January 26, 2009, in Bellflower, California. Residing in Lancaster, California, they are the first known octuplets to survive their infancy. The extremely controversial circumstances of their high-order multiple birth have led to debates in the field of assisted reproductive technology and an investigation by the Medical Board of California of the fertility specialist involved in the case.

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26/01/2002

Darya Astakhova, Russian tennis player

Darya Igorevna Astakhova is a Russian tennis player.

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26/01/2001

Latalia Bevan, Welsh artistic gymnast

Latalia Rene Bevan is a Welsh retired artistic gymnast. She won a silver medal on the floor exercise at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She is a six-time Northern European Championships gold medalist.

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Isaac Okoro, American basketball player

Isaac Nnamdi Okoro is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Auburn Tigers. Listed at 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and 225 pounds (102 kg), he plays the small forward position.

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26/01/2000

Ester Expósito, Spanish actress

Ester Expósito Gayoso is a Spanish actress. She is best known for her starring role as Carla Rosón Caleruega in the Netflix teen drama series Elite (2018-2021). Her other television credits include Estoy vivo (2017), La caza. Monteperdido (2019), Someone Has to Die (2020), and Bandidos (2024-2025).

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Darius Garland, American basketball player

Darius Kinnard Garland is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Vanderbilt Commodores. Born in Gary, Indiana, Garland is the son of former professional basketball player Winston Garland. Garland attended Brentwood Academy in high school, joining the varsity basketball team in eighth grade and leaving as a four-time state champion and three-time Tennessee Mr. Basketball winner. He was a five-star recruit, ranked among the best point guards in the 2018 class, and a McDonald's All-American. He is a two-time NBA All-Star.

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26/01/1999

Leonardo Balerdi, Argentine footballer

Leonardo Julián Balerdi Rosa is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Marseille and the Argentina national team.

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Travis Etienne, American football player

Travis Etienne Jr. is an American professional football running back for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Clemson Tigers and was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round 25th pick of the 2021 NFL draft.

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26/01/1998

Moonbin, South Korean singer and actor. (died 2023)

Moon Bin, also known professionally as Moonbin, was a South Korean singer, actor, and dancer under the label Fantagio. He was a member of the South Korean boy group Astro and its sub-unit Moonbin & Sanha.

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26/01/1997

Gedion Zelalem, German-born American soccer player

Gedion Zelalem is a professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for USL Championship club New Mexico United. Born in Germany, he has represented the United States at youth level.

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26/01/1996

Zakaria Bakkali, Belgian footballer

Zakaria Bakkali is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger for IR Tanger.

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Hwang Hee-chan, South Korean football player

Hwang Hee-chan is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a forward for EFL Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the South Korea national team.

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26/01/1995

Jean-Charles Castelletto, Cameroonian footballer

Jean-Charles Victor Castelletto is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Qatar Stars League club Al Duhail. Born in France, he plays for the Cameroon national team.

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Sione Katoa, New Zealand rugby league player

Sione Katoa is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who last played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL.

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26/01/1994

Montrezl Harrell, American basketball player

Montrezl Dashay Harrell is an American professional basketball player for Atléticos de San Germán of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals, winning the Karl Malone Award in 2015 as a junior for being the top power forward in the nation. Harrell was selected in the second round of the 2015 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets. He was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2017 where he was awarded as the NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2020. Harrell spent the following three seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets and Philadelphia 76ers. He missed the entire 2023–24 season after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. Harrell played for the Adelaide 36ers of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) in 2024–25.

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26/01/1993

Miguel Borja, Colombian footballer

Miguel Ángel Borja Hernández is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward for the UAE Pro League club Al Wasl and the Colombia national team.

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Lana Clelland, Scottish footballer

Lana Clelland is a Scottish professional footballer who plays for Sassuolo in the Italian women's Serie A as well as the Scotland women's national team. She is the highest foreign goalscorer in the history of Italian women's club football.

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Kevin Pangos, Canadian-Slovenian basketball player

Kevin Joseph Pangos is a Canadian-Slovenian professional basketball player for Esenler Erokspor of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. He was named the 2015 WCC Player of the Year, as well as a third-team All-American by Sporting News. Pangos has also represented Canada on the international stage.

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Alice Powell, British racing driver

Alice Elizabeth Fraser Powell is a British racing driver and commentator. In 2010, she became the first woman to win a Formula Renault championship and in 2012 became the first woman to score points in the GP3 Series. In 2014, she returned to racing in Formula Renault and added to her championship victories by taking first place in the International Class of the 2014 Asian Formula Renault Series. In 2019, Powell was one of the 18 women selected to compete in the inaugural W Series championship. During the course of the season's six races, Powell took four podium finishes, including a win at the series finale race at Brands Hatch, and finished third in the championship standings. Following an enforced hiatus caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, Powell returned to the W Series for the 2021 championship and won the opening race of the year, at the Red Bull Ring.

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Florian Thauvin, French footballer

Florian Tristan Mariano Thauvin is a French professional footballer who plays as a right winger for Ligue 1 club Lens and the France national team.

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26/01/1992

Mercedes Moné, American wrestler

Mercedes Justine Kaestner Varnado is an American professional wrestler. As of January 2024, she is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she performs under the ring name Mercedes Moné and is a former one-time AEW TBS Champion, holding the record for the longest reign in the title's history. She also appears for AEW's partners Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), as well as promotions on the independent circuit. Varnado rose to prominence during her time in WWE from 2012 to 2022, where she performed under the ring name Sasha Banks. She is the only woman to win championships across the major promotions of WWE, AEW, NJPW, and CMLL.

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26/01/1991

Esteban Andrada, Argentine footballer

Esteban Maximiliano Andrada is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Segunda División club Real Zaragoza, on loan from Liga MX club Monterrey.

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Nicolò Melli, Italian-American basketball player

Nicolò Melli is an Italian professional basketball player for Fenerbahçe of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL) and the EuroLeague. He also represents the senior Italian national team. He mainly plays at the power forward position, but he has also played at center. Melli earned an All-EuroLeague Second Team selection in 2017.

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Alex Sandro, Brazilian footballer

Alex Sandro Lobo Silva, better known as Alex Sandro is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Flamengo and the Brazil national team.

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Manti Te'o, American football player

Manti Malietau Louis Teʻo is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, earning unanimous All-American honors and receiving multiple national awards. He was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft and played in the NFL until 2021. Since 2024, Teʻo has worked as an on-air commentator and analyst for NFL Network.

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26/01/1990

Brandon Bolden, American football player

Brandon Bolden is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ole Miss Rebels. He was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2012 by the New England Patriots, where he played nine non-consecutive seasons. Primarily utilized as a special teams player, Bolden was a member of two Super Bowl-winning teams with New England. In between his two Patriots stints, he played for the Miami Dolphins in 2018. Bolden left the Patriots a second time to join the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022.

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Sergio Pérez, Mexican race car driver

Sergio Michel "Checo" Pérez Mendoza is a Mexican racing driver who competes in Formula One for Cadillac. Pérez was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 2023 with Red Bull, and has won six Grands Prix across 15 seasons.

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Peter Sagan, Slovak professional cyclist

Peter Sagan is a Slovak former professional cyclist who competed in road bicycle racing and mountain bicycle racing. Sagan had a successful junior cyclo-cross and mountain bike racing career, winning the junior cross-country race at the 2008 UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships, before moving to road racing. He ended his cycling career in 2024.

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26/01/1989

MarShon Brooks, American basketball player

MarShon Scitif Brooks is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Standing at 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), he plays at shooting guard and small forward positions. Originally drafted by the Boston Celtics with the 25th pick in the 2011 NBA draft, he was immediately traded to the New Jersey Nets.

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Emily Hughes, American figure skater

Emily Anne Hughes is an American former figure skater. She is the 2007 Four Continents silver medalist and 2007 U.S. national silver medalist. She competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics, finishing 7th.

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Torrey Smith, American football player

James Torrey Smith is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Maryland Terrapins and was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2011 NFL draft. He also played for the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Carolina Panthers. Smith is a two-time Super Bowl champion, winning Super Bowl XLVII with the Ravens and Super Bowl LII with the Eagles.

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26/01/1988

Dan Bailey, American football player

Dan Bailey is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Oklahoma State Cowboys and signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2011. Bailey spent seven years in Dallas, where he became the franchise's all-time leader in field goals made. Bailey also played for the Minnesota Vikings.

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Dimitrios Chondrokoukis, Greek high jumper

Dimítrios Chondrokoúkis is a Greek-Cypriot high jumper who competes internationally for Cyprus, since 2013. He won the gold medal at the 2012 Word Indoor Championships in Istanbul with a personal best of 2.33 meters representing Greece at the time. His personal best in the outdoor track is 2.32 m, achieved twice in İzmir in June 2011 and in the final at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea on 1 September 2011.

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26/01/1987

Sebastian Giovinco, Italian footballer

Sebastian Giovinco is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a forward. A quick and creative player on the ball, Giovinco was a versatile attacker capable of playing in multiple offensive positions but mainly operating behind a lone striker as a trequartista.

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Héctor Noesí, Dominican baseball player

Héctor Noesí is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, and Miami Marlins, and in the KBO League for the Kia Tigers.

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26/01/1986

Gerald Green, American basketball player

Gerald Green is an American former professional basketball player. He was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the 18th overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. Known for his dunking skill, he has performed well in many slam dunk competitions, having won the 2005 McDonald's All-American Slam Dunk Contest and the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, while finishing as the runner-up in the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.

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Kim Jae-joong, South Korean singer, songwriter, actor, and director

Kim Jae-joong, also known mononymously as Jaejoong in South Korea and Jejung/J-Jun (ジェジュン) in Japan, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor and director. He is a member of the Korean duo JX, a former member of JYJ and was one of the original members of boy band TVXQ!, where he was formerly known by the stage name Hero Jae-joong (영웅재중). Since 2013, he has expanded his range of activities as a solo artist, and in 2023, he formed his own agency Inkode, where he serves as the Chief Strategy Officer.

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Mustapha Yatabaré, French-Malian footballer

Mustapha Yatabaré is a professional football coach and a former forward. He is an assistant coach for Süper Lig club Gençlerbirliği. Born in France, he played for the Mali national team.

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26/01/1985

Heather Stanning, English rower

Major Heather Mary Stanning is a retired British professional rower. As a member of the Great Britain rowing team, she is a double Olympic champion, double World champion, quadruple World Cup champion and double European champion. She has also been a British champion in both women's fours and quad sculls.

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26/01/1984

Ryan Hoffman, Australian rugby league player

Ryan Hoffman is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played for Melbourne Storm and the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby League, and the Wigan Warriors in the Super League, as a second-row.

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Iain Turner, Scottish footballer

Iain Ross Turner is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper and who works as goalkeeping coach at Tranmere Rovers. He represented the Scotland under-21 team, the Scotland B team and been selected for the full Scotland squad. Turner previously played for Stirling Albion, Barnsley, Everton and several other clubs on loan.

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Luo Xuejuan, Chinese swimmer

Luo Xuejuan is a female Chinese swimmer, who competed mostly in the breaststroke. She is a former world record holder in the 50-meter breastroke.

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26/01/1983

Petri Oravainen, Finnish footballer

Petri Oravainen is a Finnish former footballer, who represented HJK Helsinki and KuPS in the Veikkausliiga and FC Zwolle in the Netherlands. Oravainen, who is 177 cm tall, played as a winger on both left and right side. He made his debut at the senior level in 2001 at the age of 18.

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Eric Werner, American ice hockey player

Eric Werner is a retired American ice hockey defenseman. He is a 1-time EIHL champion with the Nottingham Panthers, and a 1-time SIHL champion with Jesenice.

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26/01/1981

José de Jesús Corona, Mexican footballer

José de Jesús Corona Rodríguez is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest mexican goalkeepers of all time, he made 753 appearances during a 23-year professional career, and won 54 caps for Mexico.

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Gustavo Dudamel, Venezuelan violinist, composer, and conductor

Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez is a Venezuelan conductor. He is the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is scheduled to become the Music and Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic in 2026.

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Juan José Haedo, Argentine cyclist

Juan José Haedo is an Argentine former professional road racing cyclist and track cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2014. He is the brother of Lucas Sebastián Haedo.

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Colin O'Donoghue, Irish actor

Colin O'Donoghue is an Irish actor and musician, best known for portraying Captain Killian "Hook" Jones on the ABC TV show Once Upon a Time. He appeared in the horror thriller film The Rite (2011) as a skeptical novice priest, Michael Kovak. He portrayed the character of Douxie Casperan in the Guillermo del Toro animated series Tales of Arcadia for Netflix. He is also portraying Gordon Cooper on Disney+ Original Series The Right Stuff. He starred in Dolly Parton's Heartstrings as J.J. Sneed.

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26/01/1979

Sara Rue, American actress

Sara Rue is an American actress. She is best known for her performances as Carmen Ferrara on Popular, as Claude Casey on Less than Perfect, and as the Attorney General in Idiocracy. In 2011, she hosted The CW reality series Shedding for the Wedding. She had a recurring role in the comedy Rules of Engagement, as Brenda, the softball lesbian teammate and good friend of Jeff Bingham. She had a regular role as Kim on the short-lived ABC sitcom Malibu Country, and appeared in the main cast of the TV Land comedy series Impastor. She is also known for her role as Olivia Caliban in the second season of the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events.

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26/01/1978

Esteban Germán, Dominican baseball player

Esteban Germán Guridi is a Dominican former professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics, and Texas Rangers, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Saitama Seibu Lions and Orix Buffaloes.

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Corina Morariu, American tennis player and sportscaster

Corina Maria Morariu is an American former professional tennis player.

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Andrés Torres, American baseball player

Andrés Yungo Torres Feliciano Jr. is an American former professional baseball center fielder who played as a switch hitter. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, New York Mets, and San Francisco Giants.

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26/01/1977

Vince Carter, American basketball player

Vincent Lamar Carter Jr. is an American former professional basketball player who played for 22 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He primarily played the shooting guard and small forward positions, and was known for his high flying dunks, scoring ability, and athleticism. An eight-time All-Star and a two-time All-NBA Team selection, he played 22 seasons in the NBA, the second longest after LeBron James for the most seasons played in league history. He is also the only player to have played in the NBA in four different decades. In 2024, Carter was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

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Justin Gimelstob, American tennis player and coach

Justin Jeremy Gimelstob is an American retired tennis player. Gimelstob has been a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, and as of 2009 lived in Santa Monica, California.

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26/01/1976

Gilles Marini, French actor

Gilles Marini is a French actor known for his roles in the film Sex and the City, and in the American television shows Brothers & Sisters, Switched at Birth and Devious Maids. He was also the runner-up in season 8 of Dancing with the Stars, and was one of the returning celebrities in season 15. He was also a French co-host on the Netflix show Ultimate Beastmaster.

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26/01/1973

Jennifer Crystal Foley, American actress

Jennifer Amie Crystal Foley is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Christie Parker in Once and Again and Rachel Taub on House. She is the daughter of Billy and Janice Crystal.

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Larissa Lowing, Canadian artistic gymnast

Larissa Lowing-Libby is a Canadian artistic gymnast.

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Melvil Poupaud, French actor, director, and screenwriter

Melvil Matthias Julien Poupaud is a French actor.

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Brendan Rodgers, Northern Irish footballer and manager

Brendan Rodgers is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Saudi Pro League side Al Qadsiah.

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Mayu Shinjo, Japanese author and illustrator

Mayu Shinjo is a Japanese manga artist. She debuted in 1994 in Shogakukan's Shōjo Comic with "Anata no Iro ni Somaritai". She continued writing for Shogakukan until 2007, with her works appearing in both Shōjo Comic and their other magazine Cheese!. She left the company to go freelance citing a dispute over working conditions and abusive treatment by her editor.

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26/01/1972

Nate Mooney, American actor

Nate Mooney is an American actor best known for his recurring role as Ryan McPoyle on the FX comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

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26/01/1970

Kirk Franklin, American singer-songwriter and producer

Kirk Dewayne Franklin is an American gospel songwriter, composer, rapper, singer, and record producer. Franklin's accolades include 20 Grammy Awards. Variety has called Franklin a "Reigning King of Urban Gospel", and Franklin is one of the inaugural inductees into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. Franklin in the beginning of his career, included The Family, God's Property, and One Nation Crew (1NC) on his record releases.

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26/01/1969

George Dikeoulakos, Greek-Romanian basketball player and coach

George Dikeoulakos is a Greek professional basketball coach.

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26/01/1968

Jupiter Apple, Brazilian singer-songwriter, film director, and actor (died 2015)

Flávio Basso, better known by his stage name Júpiter Maçã and by its English-language variation Jupiter Apple, was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and filmmaker. Before beginning a solo career in 1994, he was already known for being a founding member of bands TNT and Os Cascavelletes, both pioneers of the Rio Grande do Sul rock scene in the mid-to-late 1980s/early 1990s.

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26/01/1967

Bryan Callen, American comedian, actor, and writer

Bryan Callen is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and podcaster. He studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Callen initiated his career as one of the original cast members on the sketch comedy series MADtv. Callen played Coach Mellor in The Goldbergs and reprised the role as a main character in the Goldbergs spinoff series Schooled. He is also a co-host of The Fighter and the Kid podcast, alongside Brendan Schaub.

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Anatoly Komm, Russian chef and businessman

Anatoly Anatolyevich Komm ; is a Russian chef and restaurateur. He is the first Russian to have an establishment listed in the Michelin Guide.

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Col Needham, English businessman, co-founded Internet Movie Database

Colin Needham is an English computer scientist who founded the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). He was its chief executive officer from its creation in 1990 until 2025, when he stepped down and instead took a role as its executive chairman.

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26/01/1966

Kazushige Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and sportscaster

Kazushige Nagashima is a Japanese tarento, sports commentator and former professional baseball player. His father is Japanese baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima.

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26/01/1965

Kevin McCarthy, American politician, 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

Kevin Owen McCarthy is an American politician who served as the 55th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from January to October 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he represented California's 22nd congressional district from 2007 to 2013, followed by California's 23rd congressional district from 2013 to 2023, and finally California's 20th congressional district in 2023 before resigning from the House of Representatives the same year.

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Thomas Östros, Swedish businessman and politician

Thomas Östros is a Swedish economist and Social Democratic politician who has been serving as vice president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) since 2020. Earlier in his career, he held positions as CEO of the Swedish Bankers' Association and Executive Director for Northern Europe at the International Monetary Fund.

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Natalia Yurchenko, Russian gymnast and coach

Natalia Vladimirovna Yurchenko is a retired Soviet artistic gymnast, who won the women's all-around gold medal at the 1983 World Championships. Renowned for her innovative and daring gymnastics, she is best known as the originator of the Yurchenko vault family, which is a round-off back handspring entry onto the vault, and then performing a series of twists and flips off.

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26/01/1964

Adam Crozier, Scottish businessman

Adam Alexander Crozier is a Scottish business executive and chairman of Whitbread and BT Group. He was formerly the chief executive of ITV plc. After a career at Saatchi & Saatchi culminating in the role of joint chief executive in 1995, he came to wide public prominence as the new chief executive of The Football Association in 2000, before in 2003 becoming the chief executive of the Royal Mail Group until 2010.

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Paul Johansson, American-Canadian actor

Paul Johansson is a Canadian actor and director in film and television, best known for playing Dan Scott on the WB/CW series One Tree Hill, and for his role as Nick Wolfe on the short-lived series Highlander: The Raven, a spin-off of Highlander: The Series. He directed the 2011 film adaptation of Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged: Part I.

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26/01/1963

Jazzie B, British DJ and music producer

Trevor Beresford Romeo OBE, better known as Jazzie B, is a British DJ and music producer. He is the founder of music collective Soul II Soul.

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José Mourinho, Portuguese footballer and manager

José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Primeira Liga club Benfica. Nicknamed "the Special One", he is one of the most decorated managers of all time. Mourinho has won league championships in four countries, is one of only seven managers to have won the European Cup with two clubs, and is the only manager to have won all three current UEFA club competitions.

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Simon O'Donnell, Australian footballer, cricketer, and sportscaster

Simon Patrick O'Donnell is an Australian former cricketer, VFL footballer, and horse racing and cricket commentator. He is currently a horse breeder and enabler. He is a former record holder for the fastest One Day International half-century. He was educated at Deniliquin High School and Assumption College. O'Donnell was a part of the Australian team that won their first world title during the 1987 Cricket World Cup.

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Tony Parks, English footballer and manager

Anthony Parks is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career spanning over 20 years, he was on the books of 15 different clubs, making more than 250 league appearances and won the 1983–84 UEFA Cup with Tottenham Hotspur. After retiring as a player he had two spells as joint caretaker manager of Halifax Town.

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Andrew Ridgeley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Andrew John Ridgeley is an English musician. He is best known for his work in the 1980s in the musical duo Wham!, which consisted of him and George Michael. Wham! were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to 1986. They scored six number one hits in the UK, and three of their singles, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", "Everything She Wants", and "Careless Whisper", also topped the US Billboard Hot 100. In 2019, Penguin Random House published Ridgeley's memoir Wham! George & Me.

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26/01/1962

Guo Jian, Chinese-Australian painter, sculptor, and photographer

Guo Jian is a Chinese Australian artist.

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Tim May, Australian cricketer

Timothy Brian Alexander May is a former Australian cricketer for South Australia. He was, until June 2013, a leading players' representative in his role as Chief Executive of the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA). May played in 24 Tests and 47 ODIs in an injury-interrupted career between 1987 and 1995. May was a part of the Australian team that won their first world title during the 1987 Cricket World Cup and the South Australian team that won the 1995-96 Sheffield Shield Competition.

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Oscar Ruggeri, Argentine footballer and manager

Oscar Alfredo Ruggeri is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as centre-back. Nicknamed El Cabezón, Ruggeri achieved success at the international level with the Argentina national team, being part of the teams that won the 1986 FIFA World Cup, two editions of the Copa América and the 1992 FIFA Confederations Cup. At the club level, Ruggeri's most successful stint was with Argentine club River Plate, where he won the 1986 Copa Libertadores the 1986 Copa Interamericana and the 1986 Intercontinental Cup. Known for his rough style of play when marking opposing players and aerial ability, Ruggeri is considered one of the all-time best defenders to come out of Argentina. Following his retirement as a player, Ruggeri turned to managing, where he held posts in Argentina, Mexico and Spain. His last job as a manager was in 2006 with Argentine club San Lorenzo. Since then, Ruggeri went on to have a career on Argentine television, as commentator on football shows. He is currently a member of 90 Minutos de Fútbol, which airs on ESPN Argentina Latin America.

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26/01/1961

Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Wayne Douglas Gretzky is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One", he has been called the greatest ice hockey player ever by the NHL based on surveys of hockey writers, ex-players, general managers and coaches. Gretzky is the leading career point scorer and assist producer in NHL history and has more assists than any other player has total career points. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season, a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, Gretzky scored more than 100 points in 15 professional seasons. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records.

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Tom Keifer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Carl Thomas Keifer is an American musician. He is the lead singer, primary songwriter, and one of the guitarists for the hard rock band Cinderella.

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26/01/1960

Charlie Gillingham, American musician

Charles Thomas Gillingham is an American keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his performance on the Hammond B-3 organ, accordion, piano, and keyboards for the band Counting Crows. He has also played the bass guitar in live shows during certain songs such as "Holiday in Spain".

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26/01/1958

Anita Baker, American singer-songwriter

Anita Denise Baker is an American jazz and soul singer. She is known for her soulful ballads, particularly from the height of the quiet storm period in the 1980s.

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Ellen DeGeneres, American comedian, actress, and talk show host

Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She starred in the television sitcoms Ellen (1994–1998) and The Ellen Show (2001–2002). She also hosted the syndicated television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003–2022), for which she received 33 Daytime Emmy Awards. In 2021, DeGeneres announced the end of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, following multiple allegations of workplace bullying. The controversy led to internal investigations and a sharp decline in public support, culminating in her decision to retire from show business in 2024.

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26/01/1957

Road Warrior Hawk, American wrestler (died 2003)

Michael James "Mike" Hegstrand was an American professional wrestler. He was best known as Road Warrior Hawk, one half of the tag team known as the Road Warriors, with Road Warrior Animal. Outside of the Road Warriors, Hawk was a sporadic challenger for world heavyweight championships on pay-per-view from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. He headlined the inaugural 1993 edition of Extreme Championship Wrestling's premier annual event, November to Remember.

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26/01/1955

Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (died 2020)

Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and one of the primary songwriters of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alex Van Halen in 1972.

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26/01/1954

Kim Hughes, Australian cricketer

Kimberley John Hughes is a former cricketer who played for Western Australia, Natal and Australia. He captained Australia in 28 Test matches between 1979 and 1984 before captaining a rebel Australian team in a tour of South Africa, a country which at the time was subject to a sporting boycott opposing apartheid.

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26/01/1953

Alik L. Alik, Micronesian politician, 7th Vice President of the Federated States of Micronesia

Alik L. Alik is a diplomat and politician from the Federated States of Micronesia who was the Vice President of the Federated States of Micronesia from May 11, 2007 to May 11, 2015.

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Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish politician and diplomat, 39th Prime Minister of Denmark

Anders Fogh Rasmussen is a Danish politician who was the prime minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the secretary general of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. He became founder of political consultancy Rasmussen Global and founded the Alliance of Democracies Foundation. He serves as a senior adviser to Citigroup. He also served as a senior advisor at the Boston Consulting Group.

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Lucinda Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Lucinda Gayl Williams is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums, Ramblin' on My Mind (1979) and Happy Woman Blues (1980), in a traditional country and blues style that received critical praise but little public or radio attention. In 1988, she released her third album, Lucinda Williams, to widespread critical acclaim. Regarded as "an Americana classic", the album also featured "Passionate Kisses", a song later recorded by Mary Chapin Carpenter for her 1992 album Come On Come On, which garnered Williams her first Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1994. Williams released her fourth album, Sweet Old World, four years later in 1992. Sweet Old World was met with further critical acclaim and was voted the 11th best album of 1992 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of prominent music critics. Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it 6th on his own year-end list, later writing that the album as well as Lucinda Williams were "gorgeous, flawless, brilliant".

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26/01/1952

Tom Henderson, American basketball player

Thomas Edward Henderson is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born in Newberry, South Carolina.

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26/01/1951

David Briggs, Australian guitarist, songwriter, and producer

David John Briggs AM is an Australian musician, songwriter and record producer, best known as lead guitarist in the rock band Little River Band between 1976 and 1981, having joined the band when original lead guitarist Ric Formosa left.

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Andy Hummel, American singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2010)

John Andrew Hummel was an American bassist and singer-songwriter best known as the bass player of Big Star.

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Anne Mills, English economist and academic

Dame Anne Jane Mills is a British authority on health economics. She is Emeritus Professor of Health Economics and Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

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26/01/1950

Jörg Haider, Austrian lawyer and politician, Governor of Carinthia (died 2008)

Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria, a breakaway party from the FPÖ.

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Ivan Hlinka, Czech ice hockey player and coach (died 2004)

Ivan Hlinka was a Czech professional ice hockey player and coach. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in Czech ice hockey history. A big centre, his playing style was comparable to Phil Esposito, often scoring with shots from the slot. He played most of his career with HC Litvínov and spent two seasons in the National Hockey League with the Vancouver Canucks. Internationally, Hlinka played for the Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2002. After retiring as a player, he turned to coaching, leading the Czech national team to gold at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and spending two seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins. His legacy includes the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament for national under-18 hockey teams, and the Ivan Hlinka Stadion.

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Jack Youngblood, American football player

Herbert Jackson Youngblood III is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. He was a five-time consensus All-Pro and a seven-time Pro Bowl selection and was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Before playing professionally, Youngblood played college football for the University of Florida, and was recognized as an All-American. He is considered among the best players Florida ever produced—a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and one of only six Florida Gators to be named to the Gator Football Ring of Honor.

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26/01/1949

Jonathan Carroll, American author

Jonathan Samuel Carroll is an American fiction writer primarily known for novels that may be labelled magic realism, slipstream or contemporary fantasy. He has lived in Austria since 1974.

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David Strathairn, American actor

David Russell Strathairn is an American actor. Known for his leading roles on stage and screen, he has often portrayed historical figures including Edward R. Murrow, J. Robert Oppenheimer, William H. Seward, and John Dos Passos. He has received accolades including an Independent Spirit Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Volpi Cup, and has been nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.

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26/01/1948

Alda Facio, Costa Rican jurist, writer and teacher

Alda Facio Montejo is a Costa Rican feminist, jurist, writer, teacher and international expert in gender and human rights in Latin America. She is one of the founding members of the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice at the International Criminal Court. Since 1991, she has been the Director of Women, Justice and Gender, a program within the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD) and vice president of the Justice and Gender Foundation. She was also one of the founding members of Ventana in the 1970s, one of the first feminist organizations in her native Costa Rica. In 2014, she was chosen to be one of the five United Nations special rapporteurs for the Working Group against Discrimination against Women and Girls. Her term came to and end in 2020 and she was succeeded by Dorothy Estrada-Tanck.

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Corky Laing, Canadian rock drummer

Laurence Gordon "Corky" Laing is a Canadian rock drummer, best known as a longtime member of the pioneering American hard rock band Mountain. He and guitarist/vocalist Leslie West were the only members to appear on every studio album.

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Jennifer von Mayrhauser, American theater, television and film costume designer

Jennifer von Mayrhauser is an American costume designer who has designed costumes for more than thirty Broadway productions, and is notable for her significant contributions in film, television, and theatre.

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26/01/1947

Patrick Dewaere, French actor and composer (died 1982)

Patrick Dewaere was a French film actor. Born in Saint-Brieuc, Côtes-d'Armor, he was the son of French actress Mado Maurin. An actor from a young age, his career lasted more than 21 years until his suicide in Paris, in 1982.

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Les Ebdon, English chemist and academic

Sir Leslie Colin Ebdon CBE DL is the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and Director of Fair Access to Higher Education.

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Redmond Morris, 4th Baron Killanin, Irish director, producer, and production manager

George Redmond Fitzpatrick Morris, 4th Baron Killanin, is an Irish film producer.

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Richard Portnow, American actor

Richard Portnow is an American actor known for such films and television series as Good Morning, Vietnam, Barton Fink, Kindergarten Cop, Man of the House, Sister Act, Seven, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Bogus, The Spirit, Law Abiding Citizen, Private Parts, Fallen Arches, Double Down, Poolhall Junkies, The Sopranos, Hannah Montana, The Nanny, Trumbo, Oldboy, Find Me Guilty, Underdogs and Boston Legal.

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Michel Sardou, French singer-songwriter and actor

Michel Charles Sardou is a French singer and occasional actor.

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26/01/1946

Susan Friedlander, American mathematician

Susan Jean Friedlander is an American mathematician. Her research concerns mathematical fluid dynamics, the Euler equations and the Navier-Stokes equations.

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Christopher Hampton, Portuguese-English director, screenwriter, and playwright

Sir Christopher James Hampton is a British playwright, screenwriter, and translator. He is best known for his play Les Liaisons Dangereuses based on the novel of the same name, and for the film adaptation. He has thrice received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay: for Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Atonement (2007) and The Father (2020); winning for the former and latter.

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Gene Siskel, American journalist and film critic (died 1999)

Eugene Kal Siskel was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert.

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26/01/1945

Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (died 1987)

Jacqueline Mary du Pré was a British cellist, widely regarded as one of the preeminent cellists of the 20th century. Born in Oxford, she began studying at the Guildhall School of Music in the mid-1950s with William Pleeth, earning the school's Gold Medal in 1960. Her musical development was further enhanced by advanced studies with prominent cellists such as Paul Tortelier, Pablo Casals, and Mstislav Rostropovich.

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David Purley, English race car driver (died 1985)

David Charles Purley, GM was a British racing driver born in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, who participated in 11 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting at Monaco in 1973.

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26/01/1944

Angela Davis, American activist, academic, and author

Angela Yvonne Davis is an American Marxist and Marxist feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, author and social theorist. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Davis was a longtime member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), running for Vice President in the 1980 and 1984 elections under that party. She is also a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). She has been active in movements such as the Occupy movement and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

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Jerry Sandusky, American football coach and criminal

Gerald Arthur Sandusky is an American convicted serial child molester and retired college football coach.

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26/01/1943

César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (died 2005)

César Dario Gutiérrez [goo-te-er'-rez], also nicknamed "Cocoa", was a Venezuelan professional baseball player. He played as a shortstop in Major League Baseball for the San Francisco Giants in the 1967 and 1969 seasons, and for the Detroit Tigers from 1969 to 1971. Listed at 5'9" and 155 lbs, he batted and threw right handed. Gutiérrez is notable for being the second player in Major League history to record seven hits in a game without making an out.

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Jack Warner, Trinidadian businessman and politician

Jack Austin Warner is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian politician, businessman, and former football executive. Warner was Vice President of FIFA and President of CONCACAF until his suspension and eventual resignation from these roles in 2011. He is also the former Minister of National Security of Trinidad and Tobago and was an elected member of the country's parliament from 2007 to 2015. He was also the owner of Joe Public F.C., a professional football club in Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago. Warner has been implicated in numerous corruption scandals and was banned for life from football related activities by FIFA in 2015. He currently faces extradition to the United States to face corruption charges.

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26/01/1940

Séamus Hegarty, Irish bishop (died 2019)

Séamus Hegarty, D.D. was an Irish Catholic prelate. He served as Bishop of Raphoe from 1982 to 1994, then as Bishop of Derry from 1994 to 2011.

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Frank Large, English footballer and cricketer (died 2003)

Frank Large was an English footballer who played for many different clubs between 1958 and 1974, including three different spells at Northampton Town. He was part of the package deal that took Allan Clarke from Fulham to Leicester City; he himself moved in the opposite direction. On his retirement, Large helped his son manage Westport United and Ballina Town, and played cricket for County Mayo Cricket Club. His son Paul Frank Large is Co-ordinator for Youth Reach in Ballina, County Mayo, and the author of Have Boots Will Travel – The Story of Frank Large.

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26/01/1938

Henry Jaglom, English-American director and screenwriter (died 2025)

Henry David Jaglom was an American actor, film director and playwright.

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26/01/1937

Joseph Saidu Momoh, Sierra Leonean soldier and politician, 2nd President of Sierra Leone (died 2003)

Joseph Saidu Momoh was a Sierra Leonean politician and military officer who served as the second President of Sierra Leone from November 1985 to 29 April 1992.

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26/01/1936

Sal Buscema, American comics artist (died 2026)

Silvio Buscema was an American comics artist, primarily for Marvel Comics, where he had a ten-year run as artist of The Incredible Hulk and an eight-year run as artist of The Spectacular Spider-Man. He was the younger brother of comics artist John Buscema.

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26/01/1935

Corrado Augias, Italian journalist and politician

Corrado Augias is an Italian journalist, writer and TV host. He was also a member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1999 for the Democratic Party of the Left.

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Henry Jordan, American football player (died 1977)

Henry Wendell Jordan was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers. He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers and was selected in the fifth round of the 1957 NFL draft. He played in the NFL from 1957 to 1969 and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Paula Rego, Portuguese-born British visual artist (died 2022)

Dame Maria Paula Figueiroa Rego was a British-Portuguese visual artist, widely considered the pre-eminent woman artist of the late 20th and early 21st century, known particularly for her paintings and prints based on storybooks. Rego's style evolved from abstract towards representational, and she favoured pastels over oils for much of her career. Her work often reflects feminism, coloured by folk-themes from her native Portugal.

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26/01/1934

Roger Landry, Canadian businessman and publisher (died 2020)

Roger D. Landry was a Canadian businessman who was president and publisher of La Presse.

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Charles Marowitz, American director, playwright, and critic (died 2014)

Charles Marowitz was an American critic, theatre director, and playwright, regular columnist on Swans Commentary. He collaborated with Peter Brook at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and later founded and directed The Open Space Theatre in London.

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Huey "Piano" Smith, American pianist and songwriter (died 2023)

Huey Pierce "Piano" Smith was an American R&B pianist and session musician whose sound was influential in the development of rock and roll.

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Bob Uecker, American baseball player, sportscaster and actor (died 2025)

Robert George Uecker was an American professional baseball catcher and sportscaster who served as the play-by-play announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB) for 54 seasons. He was also an occasional television and film actor.

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Oldo Hlaváček, Slovak actor and screenwriter (died 2025)

Oldo Hlaváček was a Slovak actor and screenwriter.

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26/01/1933

Donald Sarason, American mathematician (died 2017)

Donald Erik Sarason was an American mathematician whose research topics included Hardy space theory and VMO. As a professor at the University of California, Berkeley he became the doctoral advisor of 39 graduate students.

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26/01/1929

Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, and educator (died 2025)

Jules Ralph Feiffer was an American cartoonist and author, who at one time was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for editorial cartooning and, in 2004, Feiffer was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame. He wrote the animated short Munro, which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1961. The Library of Congress has recognized Feiffer's "remarkable legacy", from 1946 to the present, as a cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, adult and children's book author, illustrator, and art instructor.

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26/01/1928

Roger Vadim, French actor and director (died 2000)

Roger Vadim Plemiannikov was a French screenwriter, film director, and producer, as well as an author, artist, and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, such as And God Created Woman (1956), Blood and Roses (1960), The Game Is Over (1966), Barbarella (1968), and Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971).

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26/01/1927

José Azcona del Hoyo, Honduran businessman and politician, President of Honduras (died 2005)

José Simón Azcona del Hoyo was President of Honduras from 27 January 1986 to 27 January 1990 for the Liberal Party of Honduras (PLH). He was born in La Ceiba in Honduras.

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Bob Nieman, American baseball player and scout (died 1985)

Robert Charles Nieman was an American professional baseball player and scout. An outfielder, he spent all or parts of a dozen Major League Baseball seasons with the St. Louis Browns (1951–52), Detroit Tigers (1953–54), Chicago White Sox (1955–56), Baltimore Orioles (1956–59), St. Louis Cardinals (1960–61), Cleveland Indians (1961–62) and San Francisco Giants (1962). He also played one season in Japan for the Chunichi Dragons (1963). He threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) tall and weighed 195 pounds (88 kg).

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Hubert Schieth, German footballer and manager (died 2013)

Hubert Schieth was a German football player and manager who played as a forward.

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26/01/1926

Farman Fatehpuri, Pakistani linguist and scholar (died 2013)

Farman Fatehpuri was an Urdu linguist, researcher, writer, critic and scholar of Pakistan.

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Joseph Bacon Fraser Jr., American architect and businessman, co-founded the Sea Pines Company (died 2014)

Joseph Bacon Fraser Jr. was one of the founders of the Sea Pines Company, along with his brother Charles E. Fraser and father General Joseph B. Fraser who first developed Hilton Head Island into a popular destination. The Fraser Brother's pioneered many urban planning principals study and copied through the southeastern United States. He was inducted into the Home Builders Association of South Carolina Hall of fame in 2000. His philanthropic work includes past chairman of the Heritage Classic Foundation, which raises money for the non-profit PGA Heritage Classic Tournament and distributes the proceeds to local and state charities. The field house for Hilton Head Preparatory School is named in honor of him.

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26/01/1925

David Jenkins, English bishop and theologian (died 2016)

David Edward Jenkins was a Church of England cleric and theologian. He was Bishop of Durham from 1984 until 1994. After his retirement, he continued to serve as an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds.

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Joan Leslie, American actress (died 2015)

Joan Leslie was an American actress and vaudevillian, who during the Hollywood Golden Age, appeared in films such as High Sierra (1941), Sergeant York (1941) and Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).

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Paul Newman, American actor, activist, director, race car driver, and businessman, co-founded Newman's Own (died 2008)

Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, filmmaker, racecar driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He has been described as "one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars". He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, seven Golden Globe Awards, an Actor Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Silver Bear for Best Actor, a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, and nominations for two Grammy Awards and a Tony Award. Along with his Best Actor Academy Award win, Newman also received the Academy Honorary Award and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

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Ben Pucci, American football player and sportscaster (died 2013)

Benito Modesto "Ben" Pucci was an American professional football tackle who played three seasons for the Buffalo Bisons, Chicago Rockets and Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) between 1946 and 1948.

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Claude Ryan, Canadian journalist and politician (died 2004)

Claude Ryan was a Canadian journalist and politician. He was the director of the newspaper Le Devoir from 1964 to 1978, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party from 1978 to 1982, National Assembly of Quebec member for Argenteuil from 1979 to 1994 and Minister of Education from 1985 to 1989.

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26/01/1924

Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (died 2014)

Hildur Alice Nilson, known by her stage name Alice Babs, was a Swedish singer. She worked in a wide number of genres – Swedish folklore, Elizabethan songs and opera. While she was best known internationally as a jazz singer, Babs also competed as Sweden's first annual competition entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest 1958. In 1972 she was named Sweden's Royal Court Singer, the first non-opera singer as such.

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Anahid Ajemian, American violinist (died 2016)

Anahid Marguerite Ajemian was an American violinist of Armenian descent. Her career in contemporary music began from her desire to help young composers of her generation get their compositions performed. Additionally, she enjoyed performing the music of established contemporary composers. She included these composers with the traditional repertoire in her performances.

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Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and politician, Mayor of Dallas (died 1998)

Annette Louise Greenfield Strauss was an American philanthropist and politician who served as the 54th mayor of Dallas. The Annette Strauss Artist Square in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas is named in honor of her. She was the second female mayor and the second Jewish mayor of Dallas. She was also the first woman elected to the post in her own right; Harrison served as a caretaker for the last months of Wes Wise's term after Wise resigned to run for Congress.

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26/01/1923

Patrick J. Hannifin, American admiral (died 2014)

Patrick J. Hannifin was an American Navy vice admiral.

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Anne Jeffreys, American actress and singer (died 2017)

Anne Jeffreys was an American actress and singer. She was the female lead in the 1950s television series Topper.

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26/01/1922

Michael Bentine, English actor and screenwriter (died 1996)

Michael Bentine was a British comedian, comic actor and founding member of the Goons.

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Seán Flanagan, Irish footballer and politician, 7th Irish Minister for Health (died 1993)

Seán Flanagan was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and Gaelic footballer who served as Minister for Health from 1966 to 1969, Minister for Lands from 1969 to 1973 and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1965 to 1966. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Connacht–Ulster constituency from 1979 to 1989. He was as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Mayo South constituency from 1951 to 1969 and for the Mayo East constituency from 1969 to 1977.

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Gil Merrick, English footballer (died 2010)

Gilbert Harold Merrick was an English footballer and football manager. Considered one of the best goalkeepers in the UK during the mid-1950s, Merrick was one in a long line of great Birmingham City keepers which included the likes of Johnny Schofield and Harry Hibbs. Merrick spent his entire career at Birmingham City, playing more than 700 times between 1939 and 1960. He made 170 appearances during the Second World War and 485 in the Football League following the end of the war. He won 23 caps for the England national team, and played in the 1954 World Cup. After retirement as a player, he managed the club for four years.

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26/01/1921

Eddie Barclay, French record producer, founded Barclay Records (died 2005)

Édouard Ruault, better known as Eddie Barclay, was a French record producer whose singers included Jacques Brel, Dalida and Charles Aznavour. He founded record label Barclay.

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Akio Morita, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (died 1999)

Akio Morita was a Japanese entrepreneur and co-founder of Sony along with Masaru Ibuka.

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Veikko Uusimäki, Finnish actor and theater councilor (died 2008)

Veikko Johannes Uusimäki was a Finnish actor and theater councilor. During his life, he acted in a total of 25 films, in connection with which he also served as director of Yleisradio's theater services between 1973 and 1987. In 1973, Uusimäki was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal of the Order of the Lion of Finland.

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26/01/1920

Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal researcher and author (died 2009)

Hans Holzer was an American writer and parapsychologist. He wrote more than 120 books on supernatural and occult subjects for the popular market as well as several plays, musicals, films, and documentaries, and hosted a television show, Ghost Hunter.

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26/01/1919

Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (died 1949)

Valentino Mazzola was an Italian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward.

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Bill Nicholson, English footballer and manager (died 2004)

William Edward Nicholson was an English football player, coach, manager and scout who had a 55-year association with Tottenham Hotspur. He is considered one of the most important figures in the club's history, winning eight major trophies in his 16-year managerial spell, and most notably guiding the team to their Double-winning season of 1960–61.

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Hyun Soong-jong, South Korean politician, 24th Prime Minister of South Korea (died 2020)

Hyun Soong-jong was a South Korean politician who served as the prime minister of South Korea from 8 October 1992 to 25 February 1993. Hyun died on 25 May 2020 at the age of 101.

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26/01/1918

Philip José Farmer, American author (died 2009)

Philip José Farmer was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories.

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26/01/1917

Louis Zamperini, American runner and captain (died 2014)

Louis Silvie Zamperini was an American World War II veteran, Olympic distance runner, and Christian evangelist. He began running in high school and qualified for the United States in the 5,000 m event at the 1936 Summer Olympics, where he finished eighth and set a new lap record.

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26/01/1915

William Hopper, American actor (died 1970)

William DeWolf Hopper Jr. was an American stage, film, and television actor. The only child of actor DeWolf Hopper and actress and Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper, he appeared in more than 80 feature films in the 1930s and 1940s. After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, he left acting, but was persuaded by director William Wellman in the 1950s to resume his film career. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of private detective Paul Drake in the CBS television series Perry Mason.

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26/01/1914

Dürrüşehvar Sultan, Imperial Princess of the Ottoman Empire (died 2006)

Hatice Hayriye Ayşe Dürrüşehvar Sultan, after marriage named Durru Shehvar Durdana Begum Sahiba, Princess of Berar; was an Ottoman princess by birth and Hyderabadi princess by marriage. She was the only daughter of the last caliph Abdulmejid II, who was the last heir apparent to the Ottoman Imperial throne and the last Caliph of the Ottoman Caliphate.

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26/01/1913

Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (died 1990)

James Van Heusen was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television, and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his compositions later went on to become jazz standards.

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26/01/1911

Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1993)

Polykarp Kusch was a German–American physicist who shared the 1955 Nobel Prize in Physics with Willis Eugene Lamb for his accurate determination that the electron magnetic moment was greater than its theoretical value, thus leading to reconsideration of and innovations in quantum electrodynamics.

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Norbert Schultze, German composer and conductor (died 2002)

Norbert Arnold Wilhelm Richard Schultze was a prolific German composer of film music and a member of the NSDAP and of Joseph Goebbels' staff during World War II. He is best remembered for having written the melody of the World War II classic "Lili Marleen", originally a poem from the 1915 book Die kleine Hafenorgel by Hans Leip.

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26/01/1910

Jean Image, Hungarian-French animator, director, and screenwriter (died 1989)

Imre Hajdú better known by his stage name Jean Image was a Hungarian-French director, script writer and producer of French animation films.

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26/01/1908

Jill Esmond, English actress (died 1990)

Jill Esmond was an English actress of stage and screen.

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Rupprecht Geiger, German painter and sculptor (died 2009)

Rupprecht Geiger was a German abstract painter and sculptor. Throughout his career, he favored monochromicity and color-field paintings. For a time, he concentrated solely on the color red.

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Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (died 1997)

Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands. He has been called "the grandfather of jazz violinists" and continued playing concerts around the world well into his eighties.

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Robert Halperin, American yachtsman (died 1985)

Robert Sherman "Bob" Halperin, nicknamed "Buck", was an American business executive, decorated WWII naval officer and Star class yacht racer, who became an Olympic bronze medalist and Pan American Games gold medalist in the sport in the 1960s. He is best known professionally as co-founder of Lands' End, and chairman of Chicago's Commercial Light Company, founded by his father. He had formerly been a college and National Football League (NFL) football quarterback for the Brooklyn Dodgers. As a Naval officer and beach reconnaissance scout who observed, maintained, and guided critical beach landings throughout WWII, he became one of Chicago's most-decorated veterans.

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26/01/1907

Rex Connor, Australian politician (died 1977)

Reginald Francis Xavier Connor was an Australian politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1963 until he died in 1977, representing the Labor Party. He was the Minister for Minerals and Energy in the Whitlam government from 1972 to 1975.

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Dimitrios Holevas, Greek priest and philologist (died 2001)

Protopresbyter Dimitrios Holevas, more commonly known as Papa-Holevas, was a Greek Orthodox priest who was a notable member of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), set up by the National Liberation Front (EAM), a leftist resistance movement against the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II.

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26/01/1905

Charles Lane, American actor and singer (died 2007)

Charles Lane was an American character actor and centenarian whose career spanned 76 years.

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Maria von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (died 1987)

Maria Augusta von Trapp DHS, often styled as "Baroness", was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family. She wrote the memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, which was published in 1949 and was the inspiration for the 1956 West German film The Trapp Family, which in turn inspired the 1959 Broadway musical The Sound of Music and its 1965 film version.

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26/01/1904

Ancel Keys, American physiologist and nutritionist (died 2004)

Ancel Benjamin Keys was an American physiologist who studied the influence of diet on health. In particular, he hypothesized that replacing dietary saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat reduced cardiovascular diseases. Modern dietary recommendations by health organizations, and national health agencies corroborate this.

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Seán MacBride, Irish lawyer and politician, Irish Minister for External Affairs Nobel Prize laureate (died 1988)

Seán MacBride was an Irish Republican activist, politician, and diplomat who served as Minister for External Affairs from 1948 to 1951, Leader of Clann na Poblachta from 1946 to 1965 and Chief of Staff of the IRA from 1936 to 1937. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1947 to 1957.

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26/01/1902

Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (died 1940)

Menno ter Braak was a Dutch modernist writer, critic, essayist, and journalist.

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26/01/1900

Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (died 1967)

Karl Ristenpart was a German conductor.

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26/01/1899

Günther Reindorff, Russian-Estonian graphic designer and illustrator (died 1974)

Günther-Friedrich Reindorff was an Estonian graphic designer, book illustrator, and educator. He designed many postage stamps series, a large number of military insignia and bookplates, diplomas, various advertising sheets and currency in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

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26/01/1893

Giuseppe Genco Russo, Italian mob boss (died 1976)

Giuseppe Genco Russo was a Sicilian Mafia boss from Mussomeli in the province of Caltanissetta, Sicily. Genco Russo, also known as "Zi Peppi Jencu", was an uncouth, sly, semi-literate thug with excellent political connections. A vulgar man, as he used to spit on the floor no matter who was present, he was often photographed with bishops, bankers, civil servants and politicians. He was considered to be the arbiter of Mafia politics, and was regarded as the successor of Calogero Vizzini, who had died in 1954. Although by then a wealthy landowner and politician as a member of Christian Democracy (DC), Genco Russo still kept his mule in the house and the toilet outside, which was little more than a hole in the ground with a stone for a seat and no walls or door according to Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta.

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26/01/1892

Bessie Coleman, American pilot (died 1926)

Elizabeth Coleman was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license, and is the earliest known Black person to earn an international pilot's license. She earned her license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921.

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26/01/1891

Frank Costello, Italian-American mob boss (died 1973)

Frank Costello was an Italian-American crime boss of the Luciano crime family.

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August Froehlich, German priest and martyr (died 1942)

August Froehlich was an Upper Silesian Roman Catholic priest. In his pastoral activity he opposed National Socialism. He campaigned in the name of German Catholics and of Polish forced labourers. He died in Dachau concentration camp.

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Wilder Penfield, American-Canadian neurosurgeon and academic (died 1976)

Wilder Graves Penfield was an American-Canadian neurosurgeon. He expanded brain surgery's methods and techniques, including mapping the functions of various regions of the brain such as the cortical homunculus. His scientific contributions on neural stimulation expand across a variety of topics including hallucinations, illusions, dissociation and déjà vu. Penfield devoted much of his thinking to mental processes, including contemplation of whether there was any scientific basis for the existence of the human soul.

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26/01/1887

François Faber, French-Luxembourgish cyclist (died 1915)

François Faber was a Luxembourgish racing cyclist. He was born in France. He was the first foreigner to win the Tour de France in 1909, and his record of winning 5 consecutive stages still stands. He died in World War I while fighting for France. Faber was known for his long solos; he is the only rider in Tour de France history to lead solo more than 1000 km.

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Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (died 1947)

Marc Andrew "Pete" Mitscher was a pioneer in naval aviation who became an admiral in the United States Navy, and served as commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force in the Pacific during World War II.

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26/01/1885

Harry Ricardo, English engineer and academic (died 1974)

Sir Harry Ralph Ricardo was an English engineer who was one of the foremost engine designers and researchers in the early years of the development of the internal combustion engine.

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Per Thorén, Swedish figure skater (died 1962)

Per Ludvig Julius Thorén was a Swedish figure skater in the early 20th century who won a bronze medal at the 1908 Olympic Games. In Europe, the half loop jump, a variation of the loop jump, was often referred to as the Thorén jump.

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26/01/1880

Douglas MacArthur, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1964)

Douglas MacArthur was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army. He served with distinction in World War I; as chief of staff of the United States Army from 1930 to 1935; as Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area, from 1942 to 1945; as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers overseeing the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951; and as head of the United Nations Command in the Korean War from 1950 to 1951. MacArthur was nominated for the Medal of Honor three times, and awarded it for his WWII service in the Philippines. He is one of only five people to hold the rank of General of the Army, and the only person to hold the rank of Field Marshal in the Philippine Army.

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26/01/1877

Kees van Dongen, Dutch painter (died 1968)

Cornelis Theodorus Maria "Kees" van Dongen was a Dutch-French painter who was one of the leading Fauves. Van Dongen's early work was influenced by the Hague School and symbolism and it evolved gradually into a rough pointillist style. From 1905 onwards – when he took part at the controversial 1905 Salon d'Automne exhibition – his style became more and more radical in its use of form and colour. The paintings he made in the period of 1905–1910 are considered by some to be his most important works. The themes of his work from that period are predominantly centered on the nightlife. He painted dancers, singers, masquerades, and theatre. Van Dongen gained a reputation for his sensuous – at times garish – portraits, especially of women.

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26/01/1866

John Cady, American golfer (died 1933)

John Deere Cady was an American golfer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. He was the grandson of John Deere, and the great-grandson of Linus Yale, Sr.

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26/01/1864

József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (died 1934)

József Pusztai was a Slovene writer, poet, journalist, teacher, and cantor in Hungary. He was also known under the pen name Tibor Andorhegyi.

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26/01/1863

Charles Wade, Australian politician, 17th Premier of New South Wales (died 1922)

Sir Charles Gregory Wade KCMG, KC, JP was Premier of New South Wales 2 October 1907 – 21 October 1910.

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26/01/1861

Louis Anquetin, French painter (died 1932)

Louis Émile Anquetin was a French painter.

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26/01/1852

Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, Italian-French explorer (died 1905)

Pierre Paul François Camille Savorgnan de Brazza was an Italian-French explorer. With his family's financial help, he explored the Ogooué region of Central Africa, and later with the backing of the Société de Géographie de Paris, he reached far into the interior along the right bank of the Congo River. He has often been depicted as a man of friendly manner, great charm and peaceful approach towards the Africans he met and worked with on his journeys. Under French colonial rule, the capital of the Republic of the Congo was named Brazzaville after him and the name was retained by the post-colonial rulers.

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26/01/1842

François Coppée, French poet and author (died 1908)

François Édouard Joachim Coppée was a French poet and novelist.

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26/01/1832

George Shiras Jr., American lawyer and Supreme Court justice (died 1924)

George Shiras Jr. was an American lawyer who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1892 to 1903. At that time of his appointment, he had 37 years of private legal practice but had never judged a case. He is noted for his conservative voting with the majority in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. and in Plessy v. Ferguson.

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26/01/1824

Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (died 1888)

Emilian Czyrniański was a Polish chemist of Lemko descent, science writer, rector of the Jagiellonian University and co-founder of the Polish Academy of Learning. He is responsible for developing chemical nomenclature in Polish. One of his grandsons was the highly influential political activist and writer, Józef Retinger.

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26/01/1813

Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican philosopher and poet, founding father of the Dominican Republic (died 1876)

Juan Pablo Duarte y Díez was a Dominican military leader, writer, activist, and nationalist politician who was the foremost of the Founding Fathers of the Dominican Republic and bears the title of Father of the Nation. As one of the most celebrated figures in Dominican history, Duarte is considered a folk hero and revolutionary visionary in the modern Dominican Republic, who, along with military generals Matías Ramón Mella and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, organized and promoted La Trinitaria, a secret society that eventually led to the Dominican revolt and independence from Haitian rule in 1844 and the start of the Dominican War of Independence.

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26/01/1781

Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet and author (died 1831)

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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26/01/1763

Charles XIV John of Sweden (died 1844)

Charles XIV John was King of Sweden and Norway from 1818 until his death in 1844 and the first monarch of the Bernadotte dynasty. In Norway, he is known as Charles III John ; before he became royalty in Sweden, his name was Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte. During the Napoleonic Wars, he participated in several battles as a Marshal of France.

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26/01/1722

Alexander Carlyle, Scottish minister and author (died 1805)

Alexander Carlyle was a Scottish church leader, and autobiographer. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1770/71.

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26/01/1716

George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (died 1785)

Major-General George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, PC was a British Army officer and politician who served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1775 to 1782. Serving in the North ministry during the American War of Independence, he was a hardliner, "the chief architect of the American War in Britain," receiving significant blame for Britain's defeat.

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26/01/1715

Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (died 1771)

Claude Adrien Helvétius was a French philosopher, Freemason, and littérateur.

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26/01/1714

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor and educator (died 1785)

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle was a French sculptor whose work was influenced by both baroque and neo-classical trends.

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26/01/1657

William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1737)

William Wake was a minister in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1716 to his death.

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26/01/1582

Giovanni Lanfranco, Italian painter (died 1647)

Giovanni Lanfranco was an Italian Baroque painter. He was a distinguished artist of the Bolognese school, deeply influenced by Annibale Carracci's’ classicism.

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26/01/1549

Jakob Ebert, German theologian (died 1614)

Jakob Ebert was a German theologian and poet.

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26/01/1541

Florent Chrestien, French poet and translator (died 1596)

Florent Chrestien was a French satirist and Latin poet.

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26/01/0183

Lady Zhen, wife of Cao Pi (died 221)

Lady Zhen, personal name unknown, was the first wife of Cao Pi, the first ruler of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period. In 226, she was posthumously honoured as Empress Wenzhao when her son Cao Rui succeeded Cao Pi as the emperor of Wei.

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